If you want to have a successful online MLM business, you can immediately separate yourself from the crowd and increase your chances of success by simply creating a business plan. Now, if you're like me, the thought of creating a plan sounds about as fun as drinking bleach. But I discovered a simple method of business planning that has made a major difference for me and my team. So how do you do it? It's simple. Here are four steps to help you create a one page business plan that can make the difference between success and failure in your business. I recommend you create a new business plan every single month, analyzing the last one to see how it did, then creating a new one for the next month.

1. State your why. You have probably heard that in this game you have to have a strong why. One way I've heard it put is, "If your why doesn't make you cry it's not strong enough." So why DO you want a successful online MLM business? Travel, a car you're proud of, taking care of aging parents, putting kids through college, serving a mission for your church, changing your zip code" whatever it is for you, write it down.

2. Set your goals. I create a business plan at the beginning of every month, so I always set a monthly goal. Some months I set financial goals, other times goals for a certain number of recruits. This month for example my company has an incentive for everybody that recruits 10 or more people, so that's my goal. Everybody's goals are different and personal, the key is to have a goal and write it down!

3. List the prospecting method you are going to use, the system you need for that method, and your budget. For example, let's say my budget for marketing this month is $200. I have three columns on my business planning worksheet, "Prospecting Method", "System", and "Budget". Under the Prospecting Method column I might list E-mail marketing and Pay Per Click. The system I use for autoresponse marketing is My Direct Connections, an all in one marketing/ list management/ autoresponse tool. For Pay Per Click I might choose Google. Then I can set my budget for each one. My Direct Connections costs $39.95 a month, that leaves about $160, so I can spend $80 on autoresponder e-mail leads (I pay 3 cents for mine, so I'll get about 2,666 leads), and $80 on PPC. I then have an area for tracking, simply titled "Results", where I write down the results from each method. My goal is to spend $50 or less per sign up. Industry experts generally agree that if your marketing costs are below $50 per person you can create duplication and build a massive, successful downline.

4. Write out your follow up methods. You have probably heard the saying, "The fortune's in the follow up." Well, your business plan needs to list your follow up method. For me, I consider every single visitor to my web-site like a visitor to my store. Now, the reason I use the internet to prospect is because I don't want to run out side my "store" yelling at passers by to come in and shop. That's how MLM worked before the internet. I just want to talk to people that are interested, and have already been to my store. So once they come to my site, if they don't join automatically, I list my follow up methods, in this case:

1. Send a personally written e-mail.

2. Send a personally written short autoresponse follow up campaign.

3. Introduce myself on the phone.

4. Send them a simple info package in the mail.

So the four steps to creating a simple business plan are:

1. Write down your Why.
2. Set monthly goals.
3. Choose a prospecting method, system, and budget, then track results.
4. State your follow up method.

This simple business plan, if followed, will result not just in personal success, but help you create duplication in your organization. And when somebody in my team is struggling, I simply ask them about their plan. They usually don't have one, which is often why they are struggling. The people on my team that have a plan and are executing it aren't having struggles in their business, they are having success!

Copyright (c) 2007 Dave Sherwin