How to Choose the Best Network Marketing Business for You

While network marketing, also called MLM or multi-level marketing, used to have a terrible reputation, it has now become one of the fastest growing ways for the average person to build a residual income for retirement.

Famous people like Donald Trump and Robert Kyosaki (Rich Dad) are now endorsing network marketing because it offers business systems people can use to start their own home based and can be started part time and with very little money.

Good network marketing companies have systems just like franchises but unlike a franchise, they don't cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Many can be started for only a few hundred dollars.

So how do you find the right one for you?

Ask this list of questions to help you decide which of the hundreds of available opportunities will be the best fit for you.

1. Do you have a passion or strong interest in the product/service being sold? Start with this because if you are considering doing something you are not interested in just for the money, you will probably fail. Would you buy the product/service yourself even if there was no opportunity associated with it?

2. Has the company been in business for at least 5 years? A little known fact is that 95% of all network marketing companies fail in their first year and only 1% are left after 5 years. You don't want to put a lot of time and effort into building a business that fails and have your income stop through no fault of your own.

3. Has the company's ship already sailed? While you don't want a company that is too new to know if they will survive, you also don't want a company with millions of people already in it. Look for a company with fewer than 200,000 distributors.

4. Is there a proven demand and both a large business and consumer market? A product/service with proven demand by a large number of consumers and businesses who have money to spend and are willing to buy is ideal. You don't to be selling a product anyone can just buy at Wal-Mart for less money and the only reason you are selling it is for the opportunity. Ideally you also want a product/service that can be sold to businesses in easily identifiable niche markets with proven financial justification.

5. Is there any competition? Your product/service should have no realistic competition in it's market because it will represent a technological, ease of use or price breakthrough. You want a product/service that will expand it's market, not just take sales from the competition. Look for price advantages of 50 - 75% or more.

6. Can you earn immediate income as well as passive residual income? Does the comp plan allow for substantial amounts of both? You don't want to have to build a huge downline just to get enough income to stay afloat.

7. Can you do it part time without leaving your job? The best and least risky way to start a business is to be able to do it part time while keeping your current job and only do it full time when the income from it exceeds your job. Can you do it at home at your convenience by phone and using the Internet without attending or conducting any home parties or opportunity meetings?

8. Will you be getting one-on-one personal help from your sponsor? You want a sponsor who is already successful in the business and who has the time and desire to work with new people to develop them into leaders. It's no good if your sponsor has no time for you and is spending all their time looking for new recruits.

9. Is there a simple, proven system that anyone can do to build their business? You need simple systems to follow that anyone can do with minimal training. There should be complete online training and system that allow a new person to sign up someone else their first day in the business. Can you succeed without any sales skills by letting the system do the selling?

10. Is the business on the leading edge of technology? The best businesses are technology leaders, not followers. They take advantage of the Internet and web 2.0 technology.

If you can find a network marketing business that meets all these criteria, you are well on your way to financial independence and a passive income you can depend on for your future.