Hey, you corporate types: this is the most challenging and rewarding position you could ever have!

It has been my experience that the mention of network marketing gets mixed reviews from the people I speak with about my business. I like to attend job networking session to offer people seeking a job an alternative. The reactions fall generally into 4 categories.

If I am talking with a long-steeped "Corporate" person, it seems that the words network marketing evoke a kind of derision, in that no one could possibly be serious about entering the profession unless they just couldn't get anything else and were in general, corporate losers. When I tell them about what I have offer, they look at me with some pity, assuming that it is I who is lost!

A second response is one evoked from those who may have tried a network marketing business, typically the MLM model, and found that it "didn't work". Therefore, their viewpoint is one of disappointment and a "not going down that road again" type response.

When I find someone who has been in multiple MLM organizations and they pronounce that they just didn't "work", I chat with that person a little more, trying to discover if the result was due to their not applying themselves or lack of support from their company or upline. It is possible that the individual, with the right coaching, could be very successful.

Third, view network marketing as a type of pyramid scheme, something to be avoided at all costs, even though they truly don't understand what it is and is not.

In the last category, there are those who are open to the idea, because where they are is not giving them what they need or desire. This generally comes down to time and/or emotional freedom, regardless of the details in the person's life. These people are my best prospects.

For those in the first three categories, I usually chat with them a little more to detect if there is any crack in their armor to enlighten them. If I find one, I continue; if not, I give my card and tell me them to contact me if their viewpoint changes.

What most people do not understand is that network marketing, particularly direct sales, is a profession in and of itself. It takes just as much work as any other profession to be successful. Since I am focusing on the views of the corporate people here, let me say this. Most in Corporate America work very hard long hours to earn their income and their employers do not mind at all dumping more work on them without an increase in pay, using the person's desire to get ahead, as a motivation factor. That is, "You will do this because I (the employer) know you want to do whatever it takes to earn more recognition and money".

Those who are very successful in network marketing learn that their success can be wildly above what they could ever earn in corporate, while doing it on their own terms. Network Marketing offers more training than any other profession, bar none! The income you can generate is unlimited! No corporation can offer that. So why would a reasonably intelligent person not consider network marketing as an option, especially now in these times of extraordinary fear about money.

The bottom line is that those of you in Corporate America, or recently released from a job in that world, should look into network marketing as your second career. Being successful in the network marketing direct sales arena, will require much more of you than corporate ever did, but the rewards are huge. You will be required to become your authentic self: not play a role and do "other duties as assigned" in your job description. You will figure out that you must be who YOU are, to attract the people to you that will benefit from joining you in your business, and then you will be the teacher as well as the student.

There is no management job in Corporate America that is more challenging, however more rewarding and will afford you the most personal growth you could hope for!