It is a fact that prospecting, or finding new people to add to your down line, is the lifeblood of a network marketer’s business. Many MLMers dole out major bucks to purchase leads from which they can prospect. But I have found some great sources of free MLM leads, and some of these outlets are listed below.

Social Networking Sites

Many network marketers are unaware of the lead generation opportunities that abound on free social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Twitter. Alexa ranks Facebook as the #2 most popular site online (second only to Google). When network marketers learn to properly leverage the visibility of these sites, their prospects expand from a small circle of friends, family and co-workers, to infinity. This is the 21st Century, and any network marketer that is not leveraging social networks to generate leads is essentially squandering opportunities to quickly and easily expand his or her organization.

Online Forums

Like social networking sites, online forums provide an opportunity to connect and network with people with similar interests. Also, like using social networks, using forums to generate leads is about making connections first and foremost. I have found that the best approach is to refrain from promoting your MLM business directly and focus on what value you can contribute to the community. Click here for a list of great forums to join.

Free Classifieds

There are many online free classifieds, and this can prove to be a great source of free MLM leads. The trick with this strategy is to be consistent and to remain focused on your target group: current or prospective MLMers. And here’s another tip: even though many services offer a free account, upgrading to a higher level, will allow you to post multiple ads in a variety of categories for a nominal fee. Click here for a list of free classifieds sites to post to.

Meetup Groups

Meetup groups (found online at Meetup.com) are my favorite places to generate free MLM leads. Meetup groups operate in every major city and towns all over the world. These groups have regular meetings, as well as special functions such as networking breakfasts, luncheons, charity events, and outings that provide great opportunities to make connections with entrepreneurs. Their entrepreneurial spirits and their willingness to make a financial commitment to their businesses make entrepreneurs excellent prospects. Also, many individual meetup groups maintain message boards, where the members can post information on a variety of topics. I have regularly posted webinar invites and articles relevant to the group, and these have generated some very nice free MLM leads for my primary business as well as my affiliate programs.

Up line’s Hotel/Home Prospecting Parties

This one is really tricky, and you have to have some really great posture to pull it off. It only works with up line sponsors who are open to the idea of “going against the grain” of their MLM company’s training. But if you master this, it’s a great way to generate free MLM leads that convert into some nice cash flow in the form of affiliate commissions.

Approach your up line sponsor a few days prior to the meeting and ask permission to talk to the group. Be up front about your intentions. Do a presentation on the benefits of affiliate marketing. Then sign up those who are interested with your affiliate programs and get them trained to do the same with their down lines. Now, some companies have strict rules regarding following other training plans, so do your research before acting on this strategy.

Prior to using any of these strategies, it’s important to understand where you focus should be and to utilize proper prospecting techniques. Remember: Your goal is to add value and help others solve their problems. Don’t spam people, and don’t openly promote your MLM business, as this will throw up a wall of resistance between you and the people you would like to prospect. But, as usual, don’t just take my word for it…take it for checking!

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I recently ran into a former co-worker of mine. We ended up spending quite a few hours reminiscing about “the good ole days,” and then the conversation turned to entrepreneurship. My husband and I have been full-time entrepreneurs now since 2005, and my friend expressed that full-time entrepreneurship was beyond his reach. Of course, I immediately objected to this belief. That’s because I have found that the formula for exiting the Rat Race is EXTREMELY simple once you get past what I call the Middle Class Rat Trap.

You see, my 18-month plan for escaping the Rat Race turned into an 8-year task. It wasn’t that my plan was unrealistic; on the contrary. It was really conservative. But I became a victim of several Rat Traps, designed to keep individuals struggling to maintain their middle class status.

Middle Class Rat Traps are the accoutrements of having a “high-paying” job. And it can be easy to fall victim to these temptations that do nothing but undermine an unfocused individual’s desire to one day exit the Rat Race. If you want to avoid these trappings, here are some tips I found helpful once I re-affirmed my goal of entrepreneurship.

Keep Your Eyes on Escape Opportunities

There is an old proverb that states, “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.” Remaining focused on your exodus goal can be easier when you are actively seeking an escape vehicle. There are a host of other activities to participate in rather than spending time in the shopping malls. Watch investment product infomercials on TV, rather than home and gardening shows. Check the local paper and the internet periodically for rental real estate for sale. The next time a family member or co-worker invites you to a network marketing prospecting meeting, go. You don’t have to commit to anything you don’t want to, but keeping your mind focused on opportunities to increase your income will cause the right opportunity to appear.

Reinvest Every Dime into Your Business

This concept is often misunderstood. I’m not advocating neglecting your bills; nor am I suggesting that you become a tight penny pincher. I’m simply advising that you create a budget that includes funding for your business (or building up capital while you look for a viable opportunity). While I do understand that money is meant to be spent and enjoyed, I feel that it is more than prudent that you stick to your budget while executing your exodus plan.

Now, it’s easy to simply add a line item into your budget for personal spending items, like concert tickets, Christmas gifts, and occasionally eating out. But be disciplined. If those concert tickets cost $130 and you’ve only budgeted $100 this month, then guess what? You had better get your buddy to cover the difference, because now is not the time to be borrowing from your business! This principle also applies to funds within your business. Unless you somehow create some uber-profitable enterprise that covers your salary and creates an extra 12 months’ worth of living expenses, take every single dime and put it back into the business in the form of cash reserves, extra loan payments (if applicable), or products that automate some of your business’s functions.

Do Not Add New Personal Debt

This one may sound simple, but one of the worst Rat Traps ever invented is the student loan. You may be thinking that your less-than-deserving colleague got the promotion over you because she’s got an MBA. But your desire for more education (and the debt that most often accompanies it) is counterproductive to your Rat Race exodus. Unless your employer covers 100% of the cost (and your studies do not detract from building your business), do not go into debt in the hope of getting a better job or a promotion.

Do Not Pay Down Personal Debt

Many people fall for this trap. But upon closer examination, it is clear to see that paying down debt does very little to move most individuals towards financial independence from their jobs. Let me give you an example. One Christmas, both my husband and I received 5-figure bonuses from our jobs. My first inclination was to pay off our car. That $20,000 would have saved us $300 a month in car payments. My husband instead suggested that we become limited partners in a real estate venture with some friends. That $20,000 investment paid us$900 a month, and then our friends bought us out for $65,000 after only 9 months. In this example, paying down debt would have cost us $600 per month in lost income, plus the buyout amount. Paying down debt may reduce your expenses, but only increasing your investments and business income can replace the income from your job.

Take Time to Re-focus

Consider periodically attending business-building seminars and workshops. Even though I traveled for work an average of 25 days of every month, I found that there were constant opportunities to attend free or low-cost seminars on tax lien certificates, online currency trading, internet marketing, and real estate investing groups, in most major cities, and even internationally.

These are just a few of the Rat Traps that kept my family in the Rat Race for so long. If you want to get on the direct path to escaping the Rat Race, avoid these and other hindrances. And as always, don’t just take my word for it…take it for checking!

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As the slump in the U. S. economy rages on, many Americans are looking into business ownership as a means to supplement, or even replace their current or former incomes. But how do you know if entrepreneurship is a good fit for you? Before you quit your job (or even take on a part-time entrepreneurial enterprise), here’s a short checklist that compares and contrasts the differences between being an employee and an entrepreneur.

Different Values

The term “entrepreneur” is derived from the French language and means “one who undertakes (some task).” Entrepreneurship is indeed an enormous undertaking. Many of the qualities that make people great employees do not translate well into entrepreneurship, and vice versa. Both employees and entrepreneurs want the same thing: financial stability. But employees and entrepreneurs have completely different values, and therefore, take different approaches to achieving financial stability. Identifying which group to align with is one of the very first tasks to accomplish.

Views on Failure

Many of us were raised to try and avoid mistakes, as their consequences can be dire and difficult to rebound from. As a result, many people fear failure, are risk averse, and will hesitate, or even neglect, to take necessary courses of action in their businesses. An entrepreneur understands that it is impossible to avoid risk, and failure is sometimes a reality of doing business, but is never finite. Entrepreneurs consider failure, but only as part of determining the most direct route towards an outcome, and should never be feared or avoided.

Delegation

Most employees buy into the idea that each person should be judged and rewarded for their individual efforts. Consequently, many employees spend their time specializing in particular fields where they can be lauded as “the best” in that area. Entrepreneurs believe in cooperation as a means of getting more done with less resources, and they leverage the individual talents of many towards a common goal.

Security versus Freedom

Many people that go into entrepreneurship do so as a means to seek the security they feel is lacking at their jobs. The problem with this mentality is that many business ventures require time, and sometimes major adjustments, before turning a profit, making security extremely illusive. An entrepreneur goes into a venture to express a level of freedom that cannot be achieved as an employee. Many entrepreneurs sacrifice their own personal security for the sake of creating a stable enterprise, refraining from taking money out of the business in the initial stages, which sometimes lasts for months, or even a few years.

Innovation

Many people do better as employees because they prefer to be supervised. Employees prefer to leave the actual strategy and much of the big picture planning to the executives and supervisors. On the other hand, entrepreneurs look for opportunities to improve old systems or create new ones. They are self motivated and require very little supervision.

Evaluating Opportunities

Employees tend to judge opportunities based primarily on cost in dollars and cents. Employees prefer to trade their time for the predictability of a steady paycheck. Entrepreneurs evaluate opportunities based on value. Entrepreneurs often leverage money to save time and other resources, or they trade their time for the prospect of learning a needed skill or building a business relationship.

Responsibility

Employees prefer to take responsibility for their own work or projects they are directly in charge of. Many employees do not feel directly responsible for the success or well-being of the company they work for as a whole. Entrepreneurs prefer that the company’s success begin and end with them. They take responsibility for everything that happens, whether or not their direct actions are involved.

In closing, there is no right or wrong way to travel the road to financial stability. There are both pros and cons to each approach. Making an honest assessment of yourself and your inclination towards one method or the other will save you a great deal of time, effort, frustration and expense. But as usual, don’t just take my word for it…take it for checking!

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