| It is a well-known practice in business that | | | | No longer do people have to get out of the house |
| networking is the most efficient means of | | | | to run their business and many have made a |
| gathering resources. Whether it be for information | | | | success at offering the sale of products and |
| or in some instances help in difficult situations, | | | | services online. To increase their sales they simply |
| networking became the buzzword of most | | | | sold franchises who would advertise on their own |
| businesses long before the growth of the internet | | | | to bring potential customers to their unique |
| and global communications. The idea of getting to | | | | company web site. Of course, like the brick and |
| know others in similar business positions allowed | | | | mortar franchises they would pay an initial fee to |
| companies to position themselves to offer | | | | use the company's services and name as well as |
| services to others in their network, expecting | | | | an ongoing fee to continue using the company's |
| them to "return the favor" when they needed | | | | resources. |
| the services offered by their business. | | | | Still, with no protected territory the new business |
| Another method of expanding their presence and | | | | owners had little worry since the entire globe was |
| sales used prior to the internet was franchising. A | | | | their open territory. They could market online to a |
| person wanting to run his or her own business, | | | | global customer base and when the opportunity |
| but lacking a business plan or even a viable | | | | to recruit others to distribute the product and |
| product, could open a branch of an already | | | | receive a piece of their sales action, a few |
| successful business and become an owner almost | | | | decided that it is easier to sit back and collect an |
| overnight. Using the company's experience, | | | | income off the work of others, and shifted their |
| product and established name recognition, they | | | | focus to recruiting distributors instead of selling on |
| could quickly build their own business. They paid, | | | | their own. Additionally, they could urge their |
| sometime dearly for the use of the company's | | | | distributors to recruit more distributors to sell |
| name a business model, but they usually ran a | | | | more product and receive a commission on their |
| successful operation. | | | | sales as well. |
| Most pre-internet opportunities were limited by | | | | With each successive level of distributorship the |
| geography and when a person bought into a | | | | sales commission would be less, but the focus |
| franchise they were guaranteed a prescribed | | | | was to bring in as many distributors as possible, |
| market and guaranteed limited local competition | | | | rationalizing that if 1,000 distributors made sales |
| from the same company. Once the internet grew, | | | | providing the first guy on the list a nickel, they |
| offers to open franchises exploded with its | | | | made $50 for doing nothing. Being able to use the |
| growth, and the issue of a protected market was | | | | internet to reach the global audience, new |
| quickly dismissed. Building a global marketing | | | | distributors and new sales will quickly produce |
| network became the rage and today it remains | | | | more profit and using a global marketing network, |
| the goal of many businesses as well as | | | | their payback is increased income. |
| opportunity seekers. | | | | |