How To Survive Financially In A Recession

Many people today are finding themselves in stressful situations financially with no time for what is really important to them. The news can be pretty scary, there are rumours of layoffs, taxes increasing and people are having to tighten their belts and their budgets.

The current economic slump is predicted to be the longest since the great depression. A staggering 2.6 million jobs disappeared in 2008, the most since WWII and more than 11 million Americans are out of work and searching. The professional and business sectors lost nearly half a million jobs in 2008. A lot of people are scared or unsure what they'll do or how they will survive this.

In a Lou Harris pole several years ago, before this economic slump even hit us, found that the two top reasons people couldn't sleep at night were either worry about money or worry about health. How much worse must it be now?

If you want to change the kind of results you are getting in your life, then it is wise to learn from people who are already successful or who have achieved in their life what you would also like to achieve. There are people out there who are surviving these bad financial times and some that are even thriving because of them.

Someone that I look up to is Robert Kiyosaki. Today he is known as a financial wizard, but he and his wife at one time were so broke that they were living in their car. However today they are multi-millionaires and teach others how to gain wealth as well.

Robert once made a very surprising statement. He said "I've never tried to live within my means...I've always looked for ways to INCREASE my means." To most people this is a foreign idea. Most of us only look within our "rut" when we face financial difficulties instead of looking outside our "box".

At the moment the financial sector is in such bad shape that they are literally throwing hundreds of billions of dollars at it to try and save it. The government is also throwing billions of dollars at it and trying all kinds of ideas to improve the economy and are promising to create jobs to get people working. The jobs they plan on creating are repairing roads, building bridges, remodeling schools - all manual labor jobs. My definition of JOB is "Just Over Broke".

Think about it. My field of study and work experience is in the accounting field. If I go and get a job working for a chartered accountant, he may pay me $25/hour, if I'm lucky, for doing the accounting of his clients. BUT he will charge the clients $100/hour for me to do their accounting!

It's not much different in any other business. Think about your job. Who achieves their dreams? You or the person who owns the business you work for?

In his book "Rich Dad Poor Dad" Robert Kiyosaki says the following is why he wrote the book -
"I wanted to shake up parents by telling them some of the most dangerous advice they could give their children was to go to shcool, get good grades and look for a safe secure job...
With corporate mergers and downsizing happening every month, it's just too risky to play by the old rules. IN THE END, EMPLOYEES LOSE AND OWNERS AND INVESTORS WIN."

Not only are mergers and downsizing happening now, but many jobs are going overseas. I read recently about a fast food restaurant in Tennessee, that when you drive up to the drive through window, your order is being taken by an operator in Kentucky and then the order is flashed up on the screen in Tennessee to be filled when you drive up to the window! This is only a test, because ultimately they plan to have the orders taken in India!! More jobs are leaving our country every day.

You may be familiar with Robert Kiyosaki's Cash Flow Quadrant", with and E & S on one side and B & I on the other. He explains that the E and S side of the quandrant represents those who trade their time for money - the Employed and the Self-Employed. The B and I side are those who have other people and money working for them - Business Owners and Investors.

In their book "Why We Want You To Be Rich" Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki say "The number one thing people can do to increase their wealth is to start a part-time business."

In an article in Success Magazine here's what Robert Kiyosaki suggests for people who find themselves in the E or S quadrant but who want to move into the Business Owner quadrant - he recommends a network marketing business. Here are some of the reasons why he recommends network marketing:
* For people who want a change in their lives
* Personal development training
* Work in your spare time alongside your job
* No large up front investment
* Mentorship
* Tried and proven systems
* Unlimited residual income
* Great tax advantages

Some people think that the price of products is just hiked up to pay the commissions, but here's the way it really works:

TRADITIONAL MARKETING:

MANUFACTURER>>WHOLESALER>>ADVERTISER>>RETAILER>>CONSUMER

NETWORK MARKETING:

NETWORK MARKETING COMPANY>>>DISTRIBUTOR>>>CONSUMER

In network marketing the network marketeing company is the manufacturer and advertising is by word of mouth or online so the money that would normally be allocated to the Wholesaler + Advertiser + Retailer is all paid to the distributor as commissions.

The transition from a worker bee to a lonely boss is never easy, but in network marketing you are a member of a team so you have your own business but you are working with others as a team, so it isn't lonely.

Experts say that there's a history of successful endeavors that were started in a down economy. So it's not a bad time to come up with an idea for a business.

So how do you know what the current market trends are and what kind of industry you should get into? There are definite market trends that are easily identifiable that will help you decide what kind of business you should start.

I will talk about three market trends that I believe point to network marketing being the business to be in at the moment. But not just any network marketing company, specific industries will do better than others.

We have already talked a bit about this trend. There are many different groups who have been impacted by the recession. Those who recently lost a job, those afraid they will lose their job and self employed people who have either seen their revenue drop or they have gone out of business. There are real estate agents, mortgage brokers, financial consultants and loan officers whose work has either diminished or dried up. Then there's Gen Y coming out of college into a world where there are no jobs to go to. Many baby boomers have lost big on stocks or if their money is in the bank they are getting very little interest to live on. Everyone is impacted in some way.

Gloomy economic times have historically produced a renewed awareness of the need to make more money. People who were previously uninterested in starting a home based business are suddenly looking for new finanacial opportunities. They want a business that doesn't require a lot of capital, allows them to establish their own hours and offers rewards that can grow faster than capital or labour requirements.

Lou Clemeents of Marketwave says "Recession causes people to open their minds to gaining alternative sources of income."

One out of every twelve Americans are out of work, the areas that have been hit hardest are the business and financial sectors. These industries are full of talented, successful, driven people who don't just sit at home and do nothing when the chips are down. They are very interested in starting a business.

Baby Boomers lead market trends.

What do they want most?

To look and feel as young as possible!!

Throughout recent history, the baby boomers have always led the market trends. Baby boomers are those born between 1946 and 1964, the post WWII babies. When this generation were babies, the diaper and baby food industries increased, then when this group got to the age they could drive cards, the car industry took off. Then in their 20's - 30's they were getting married and starting families and wanted their own homes, so the real estate industry boomed. Now these market leaders are reaching their 60's and what do they want now? To feel and look as young as possible.

This is causing a new industry to emerge according to Paul Zane Pilzer, in his book "The New Wellness Revolution, How To Make A Fortune in the Next Trillion Dollar Industry". He describes the wellness industry as uniquely different from the well-known sickness industry. In the same book he says the definition of the Wellness Industry is "Products and services provided proactively to healthy people - that is, those without an existing disease - to make them feel even healthier and look better, to slow the effects of aging, and help to maintain good health."

Boomers may be leading the market trends but in an article from the National Centre for Complementary and Alternative Medicine they say that well over half of the population want to find ways to increase their chances of staying healthy by becoming proactive about taking care of their health and what they eat. People are smart, they realize they have to take responsibility for their own health.

There are three distinct areas of wellness that appeal to tbe baby boomers and many others sectors of the population.

1. Health.

Not only are the baby boomers becoming interested in staying healthy, most people are wanting to feel safe and save money and are beginning to realize that it's cheaper to prevent illness than to pay large medical bills.

On top of that there are definite problems with our food today. Even if you are one of those who try to eat healthily, eating organic foods and lots of fruits and veggies, there is still a problem.

With commercial farming proctices today the food producers are more interested in quantity than quality. Due to green harvest of fruit, commercial processing and genetically modified organisms, the nutrient level in our foods are being reduced. It's well known that in the last couple of days that a fruit naturally ripens on the tree is when important nutrients pass into the fruit. But when they are picked green, they miss a lot of these nutrients. Even organic foods are often picked green for transportation.

A study in Canada found that 1 orange in 1951 had the same amount of vitamin C as 10 oranges today. And some other fruits and vegetables fared even worse than that.

So all in all, there is a lot of interest these days in health and supplementing our diets with good quality supplements.

2. Weight Management

Excess body fat is at epidemic proportions. It's not only baby boomers who want to keep their weight down or lose weight. In hard economic times it's even more important for people to feel good about themselves and what better way to do that than to be trim, taught and terriffic! Of course weight management is also connected to health as well. Obesity is a large factor in heart disease and other illnesses.

I don't think there is anyone who would argue about this area being a huge trend at the moment.

3. Skin Care

Baby boomers don't ever want to look old! So good quality skin care that delivers what they are looking for is a strong business trend. Of course some of them are choosing to have cosmetic surgery but there is always going to be a large number who won't be prepared to take the risks involved in such drastic action, and I don't blame them.

Keep in mind that with all three of these areas of wellness, the baby boomers aren't looking for junk. They want good quality products that actually deliver results and they are prepared to pay for that. Most people are aware that it's safer and better to get value for money.

Jupiter research reported that online spending is set to increase to $144 billion in 2010...up 34% since 2006 and Nielson media reported in January 2009 that 875 million people shopped online - up 40% from 2 years ago. This trend is continuing even in the recession.

Those who get in to network marketing and learn how to market online will do very well in the next few years. There is a lot of good quality training online for those who want to learn how to do online marketing. Mike Klingler has excellent step by step training at Renegade University that explains in detail how to take advantage of the current trend of social networking to market any business.

Another person who has a wealth of knowledge about online marketing is Mike Dillard. He gives a lot of free training away as well as selling in depth training. Some of the things he gives away are -

free video about ppc
free video series showing them how to build their business on a budget
Free 7 Day Magnetic Sponsoring Video Boot Camp
free video interview series with recruiting expert Mark Wieser on the techniques on how to talk to prospects and how Mark personally sponsors more than 250 a year and how you can too.

Perry Belcher is an expert on all the different Social Media sites and how to use them to your best advantage.

The thing with the new trend towards social networking sites is that it is free. Sure it takes time but so does any business. There is no longer the need to spend large amounts of money trying to market your network marketing business. The internet and social networking sites have changed the way we do business for ever.

The trend toward social marketing with Twitter, Face Book etc is going to explode internet sales.

These three trends of Wellness, Business Ownership and Online Buying & Social Marketing are combining to create what Paul Zane Pilzer calls the "Perfect Storm of Opportunity".

There are hundreds of network marketing companies for you to choose from to get started on your way to getting yourself out of the economic doldrums. My favourite is one that encompasses all three areas of wellness as well as all three market trends -

WELLNESS TECHNOLOGIES -
Patented Health Supplements
Weight Management solution that tackles the excess fat problem
Skin Care line that is formulated without Paraben preservatives

BUSINESS OWNERSHIP - Network Marketing home business opportunity

ONLINE BUYING/SOCIAL NETWORKING - Network marketing can be done online as well as offline but the way of the future is definitely online.

And on top of that it is absolutely RISK FREE because there is a 6 Month money back satisfaction guarantee on every product.

But don't take my word for it. Do your own homework and choose a company for yourself, but make sure it caters to the baby boomers so that you have the benefit of the largest number of consumers who would want your products. And make sure that the products are top quality. Many network marketing health products don't really have their own reasearch, they just borrow some research that has been done on what they ascertain as a similar product. That is not going to wash with the baby boomers or any other astute buyers.

The bottom line is that your products have to deliver what they say they will or you won't last in business whether it's network marketing or traditional business.

Happy business hunting!!