A Hobby Which "Pays?" Never Heard Of It!

One of the most common mistakes we make when we first come into the Multi Level Marketing (MLM) industry is to treat this type of business lightly.

People treat their business more like a “Hobby” than what it really is … a business with unlimited income potential! However a lot of the times it's the fault of us "presenters" that people come in with this attitude.

In trying to get people to "bite" we make it sound so easy that people come in thinking, "Hey this is easy! I can do this part time and make a killing".

Their part time sometimes means "whenever". Unfortunately as in life … it's not as simple as that. See, for the most part in MLM you either make money or you don't! Unfortunately for the 95% of MLM'ers out there the latter is more common.

Granted we all come into it for our own individual goals or purposes which may range from the sense of "community" people get from being in this type of business, to the social aspect of the business … (It's not uncommon to meet couples who met through the business!)

Some people may come in for the opportunity to be involved in a "social cause" where their company or product may represent some benefit to society, etc.

Yet others come in just because of their love for a particular product or service and making money for them is just a natural consequence of sharing their love for that product. The reasons are as varied as the MLM opportunities themselves out there!

However most people come in to the MLM industry, because of the financial opportunities this industry represents. Whether it's just to "make some extra money on the side", (Even this "extra" money is different for different people) or the other end of the spectrum … the goal of "Financial Independence".

People misinterpret the common saying that "this business is not like a traditional business" since there are aspects of it that IS common to ANY business.

One of the most common aspects of neglect out there, is NOT taking the steps necessary to reap the tax benefits of owning a business!

Even if your MLM business is part time for you, there are significant benefits that can be realized from registering your business and subsequently claiming your business expenses etc. (By the way, it’s not necessary to register a business name to claim business expenses, it just looks more credible)

It just makes sense that cutting down on your overhead expenses adds to your bottom line. As one distributor put it "Even if you're not making money, but you're saving it, you can make a profit"! Talk about turning a negative into a positive!

Hey, I'm no "bean counter" (as my accountant reminds me constantly!) but it's been my experience even when I just started out over 10 years ago, that almost everything you can think of could be written off (at least to some extent) as a business expense.

You might be thinking "Yeah, but I don't have traditional business expenses, like having an office and all the overhead that goes along with that like maintenance, rent, etc."

This may be true but, your home IS your office! Yes, your home was not meant to be your office but you can apportion part of the expenses of the home that you would attribute to your business … Same goes for your car (and a bunch of other stuff) and the expenses that go along with that etc, etc.

So, make sure you cover all the bases. Talk to your accountant, tax consultant or financial adviser to explore the benefits of this aspect of being in business.

As in any business, cutting down on your expenses and getting some tax relief will go a long way towards your bottom line!

Moral of this article? Treat your business like a business and it'll pay you like a business. Treat it like a hobby and it'll pay you like one. Hobbies COST … they DON'T pay!

To YOUR Success!