My Money, My Risk and Your Behind the Scenes look at Building a Home Based Business

Before I even touch on the challenge behind this title, I wanted to introduce myself to those in the Sparkplugging community that don’t ‘officially’ know me yet.  My name is Amber Watson-Tardiff and I am Wendy’s behind the scenes assistant.   I occasionally write on our SOHO News, Tools and Technology blog, answer your burning questions via email and stay connected with most of you on Twitter.

Now that we’ve been introduced, let me explain the purpose of this post (and the posts to come).

Basically, I am about to become your guinea pig.

Many of you have expressed a desire to start a home based business but are scared to do it.  You wonder, “Will I fall for a scam?” or “Can I really sell enough products/recruit enough people to make an honest living at home?”

I’ve actually had the same questions myself so I decided to use my own money, take my own risk and start a home based business (otherwise known as network marketing or MLM) to give you an open and honest look at what it takes to succeed (or fail miserably) in this field.

An Overview of Why I Choose Network Marketing

I’ve been following network marketing for 7 months now and I know the opportunity to make A LOT of money is there (meaning $200,000 to 1 million dollars a year).  But I wanted to know if these companies can really back up their claims that ANYONE can do this with NO EXPERIENCE necessary.  I also wanted to know if it was possible to make my monthly quotas without annoying the crap out of my family and friends, or whether I would be forced to put up my own money to float things along in a down month.

I may not have the answers to those questions yet, but I’m actively pursuing them on a daily basis.  After spending a few weeks on training sites such as Danijohnson.com to brush up on my skills, I began to compile a list of companies that I thought I’d like to get started under.  I figured it would have to be a company that sold something I liked or one that was doing good things in the world so I could sleep at night knowing I put something helpful in the hands of a client.

After days of research, I finally ended up with a super reputable company in the health and wellness industry.  Without naming names, their green cleaning products are one of “Oprah’s favorite things” and the high profile/scientific endorsements behind these products are a mile long.  I figured if I was really gonna do this, I might as well start out with PR on my side

I will admit that googling “Network Marketing Companies” and “Home Base Business” turned up some very shady results.  The companies looked cheesy, spammy and borderline fraudulent- so much so that I was afraid they’d take my money and vanish in a few months.  In fact, as I scrolled through the google results, I almost changed my mind about the project in general- but in the end, I was determined to give network marketing a fair shot.

So like any good consumer, I asked my business coach friends (including our very own Marla Tabaka) where to turn.  I let them know that my goal was not to “get rich quick” and I needed a legit company in which I could naturally grow a home based business.  I was then put in contact with my current “upline” (or the network marketing term for the person one level above me) and just started training today to become an independent distributor.  (Ahhh ..the power of ‘word of mouth’ marketing.  Don’t underestimate it folks.)

What’s to Come

I am going to blog with as much detail as I can on this endeavor without getting myself in trouble with the company’s legal department.  I will tell you how much it cost me to get started and my continued monthly investments.  I will tell you how hard or easy it is to meet my monthly goals, and I how much I’ve honestly made at the end of each month.

I’ll also reveal the top marketing and sales tips I learn along the way to help you grow your home business right along with me.  From this information, you should be able to gauge whether or not network marketing is the right business for you and whether you could ultimately succeed if this happened to be your work at home job.

At the end of the day, that is the true focus of this site and Wendy’s vision.  Sparkplugging teaches and equips people to work at home.  You’ve already heard the ups and downs of freelancing from Lorna and Tamara, running a crafting business from Lisa, virtual assisting from Teresa, marketing from Susan and the truth behind blogging for dollars and life as a solopreneur from Wendy.  Now it’s time to find out what’s really behind those claims of “Make Millions Working from home” once and for all!  (Note: The person I am training under does happen to make a 6 figure income doing this thing, but scouts honor I am starting from scratch!).

So I hope you join me on this wild (and scary) journey I’m about to take.  I want to be as open as possible, so if you have additional questions or want more information about the business (I’d rather name names or help you get started privately), then please email amber @ sparkplugging.com.

Stay tuned and welcome aboard!

Newspaper image courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons Arist liewcf

Money at hand image photo of Flickr Creative Commons Arist d79focus