With the economy spiraling downwards, more and more people are asking themselves How Can I Make More Money? Many are looking for alternative ways to generate income for financial relief, while some are looking for a vehicle to create total financial freedom. Coupled with the fact that more and more people, from Warren Buffet to Richard Branson, are endorsing network marketing, it’s not too hard to see why so many people are getting involved with network marketing.

If you’ve wondered or looked into the industry, you probably wondered if it was right for you. In this short article, I will give you the good and bad of joining a network marketing company.

Network marketing can be a very fun and lucrative profession, but it can also be extremely frustrating. The network marketing industry, over the last 50 years, has created more millionaires than any other industry, but there is a staggering failure rate in the industry. If you’re thinking about joining a company, it’s important to know what you’re getting into before you get started.

Many people got involved in network marketing only to find their friends and family started avoiding them like the plague because the word gets out that they are in a “recruiting thing” and they want to get them in the “recruiting thing” too. (see my blog: Network Marketing, Are you Hunting or Fishing- Feb 10,2010)

Many people are told that it’s a scam, pyramid scheme or that it will never work.

It’s true there are scams out there, but there are also excellent business opportunities in the market place as well. After looking at some statistics, you can see why so many people want to join a network marketing company. For example, the average income in the U.S. for someone who graduates high school but doesn’t have a college degree, is less than $26,000 a year.   No Network Marketing Company can make any income claims or guarantees, but after taking some time to learn how to actually build a business, what could have been many peoples’ annual income turns into a monthly income. More important than the money, is the quality time Network Marketing allows you to spend with your family and the cool places to travel to.

So does that automatically mean you should join a company? No, the truth is you should join a company if you plan on learning how to properly do the business and treating your business like a business. Now, I’m not talking about joining for the sake of getting a discount on the products because you’re a consumer. That’s all fine and good, if that’s what you are looking for, but I’m talking about if you want to build a business that will give you the ability to make more money or total  financial freedom and the time to enjoy that freedom.  And, yes, there may be a period when you are learning and not making as much as you would like. Just understand that statistics show that for anyone who learns how to and is proactively building their network marketing business, the chances of earning an annual income of six-figures or more are significantly higher than any other profession in the world.

So the question you need to ask yourself is, are you looking to make more money part time or are you serious about your long-term success? Either way Network Marketing is an excellent business model to help you reach your goals.