A Doctor in Network Marketing?

I get funny looks from time to time.

People look at me, kind of confused and curious. "What is a doctor doing in network marketing?"

If you asked me if I would be in this business a few years ago, I would definitly have said no. But, obviously, I changed my position about it. The following tells why.

First of all, I found products that I was excited about. I had personally used p90X as well as Beachbody's supplements and online support community. Since I had never in my life gotten results anywhere near the type I had gotten with Beachbody, I was already excited about, and was already sharing that excitement with others. It was about results. I had found something that worked for me, so I naturally wanted to let my friends know so they could get great results, too.

Secondly, I realized that by coaching others to get fit, I was more consistent with my own program. I wanted to be a good example to the people I coach, which made me more consistent with my own healthy lifelstyle.

But gradually, as I learned more and more about the business model, I have learned how smart it is financially for me (and almost everyone else) to become involved in network marketing.

There are 3 big business reasons I'm in network marketing.

1. Leverage.
In medicine I put in long hours, and while I make a good income, when I am not working, I am not earning. Robert Kiyosaki calls it the E quadrant. It is the place most doctors, lawyers, and accountants live. It means that there is a limit to my income, because I am the only person generating it.

In the MLM business, I can create a passive income stream in my spare time that earns money whether I am working at it or not. It gives me a way to leverage other people's time in addition to my own. I do not have that ability in my medical practice.

2. Income Diversification.
As too many of us have learned recently, even jobs that seemed secure can be subject to loss. In the case of medicine, we face declining reimbursement from insurance, uncertainty about government run healthcare, and increasing competiion from other hospitals and provider groups. What appeared as a very stable career may not be as safe as once thought. Building a secondary business is a hedge, or safety net, to protect against an uncertain future.

3. Investment returns.
Some people look at network marketing businesses as a waste of time. While more millionaires have been produced in MLM that any other industry, they point out that most people only make a couple hundred dollars a month. That is the absolute wrong way to look at it! The fact that with a reasonable amount of work and very little investment, people can make hundreds of extra dollars a month is one of the best parts about MLM.

I look at it from the perspective of, "What would I have to invest to make the passive income I make with Beachbody?"

For instance, if you made $200 per week with Beachbody, that comes out to about $10,000 per year. Not exactly chump change.

But what would you have to invest to earn that same amount of money?

If we consider the average return of the stock market to be about 8%, then you would need to invest $125,000 in the market to earn that same $10,000.
Of course that kind of consistent return is far from guaranteed! From 1999 to 2009, the total return was negative. You could have put $10,000 in the market in 1999 and walked away 10 years later with $1000 less than you started with! And I'm sure many of us are still licking the wounds from the astounding 40% drop in one year that we recently went through.

If we look at a safer investment like CD's or money markets, what kind of investment would you need to earn $10,000 per year? At today's rates of about 2%, you would need to invest half a million dollars to walk away with a $10,000 return!

So as you can see, network marketing can give you returns far greater than with the market, with minimal financial investment and little risk. An investment of effort at the start can easily lead to an income of $200 a week (or far, far greater). To get that same return I would need to invest $125,000 in the stock market and hope for a good year or half a million dollars in a CD or money market account.

Network marketing can provides the kind of return even a doctor could get excited about.

After knowing that, if people still look at me funny, it must be because I have a drip of Shakeology on my chin!