Budget Balance Basics: Your Guide to MLM Success When Budgeting Your Money, Effort, and Time

Working from home and being the boss of your own home business is a dream come true for me and a path that many others have or would like to follow. It’s a great feeling and a very rewarding experience in more ways than just financially.

However, not everything is easy and just fits when working on your own business from home. One of the things I struggled with and still have to work with on a daily basis is keeping a balanced budget.

I always thought that if I could work within the constraints of my available money, I was good to go. I soon learned (sort of the hard way) through trial and error and success and FAILURE that creating a working budget means much more than just keeping track of your money.

I found that there are actually 3 things you need to keep track of during your daily work schedule. Money, effort and time are very important assets that you have at your disposal every day. Each one plays an important role and neglecting one or all of them is often the difference between having a successful business, simply surviving (you know the feeling, hanging by a thread) and that dreaded word: failure.

I wrote this article to try to help others avoid some of the mistakes I’ve made. For me, one of the best parts of working in Network Marketing and really any home business is the amount of sharing and help available from people who actually follow this business plan.

So read on and learn that there is much more to budgeting for your network marketing business than just taking care of your money. To be successful in MLM, or really any home business, you need to not only budget your money but also your effort and time. Keeping track of how you do things and the results you get can help you better manage all three aspects (money, effort and time) until you find the formula that works for you and your business. Teach yourself how to create success and avoid the waste that so many who start a home business get caught up in.

Budget planning is not usually an issue that comes up when you start your network marketing business. Business planning altogether is not at the top of the list when you get hired or when you ‘discover’ your network marketing company that will make you millions. But once the dust settles and the initial ‘fire’ dies down, are you ready to do whatever it takes to succeed?

Budgeting your money, working hard, and managing time effectively are skills needed for success, but they’re not skills we’re born with. Procrastination and the lack of a boss and a deadline are real killers when you become your own boss.

Have you ever found yourself checking your email even though you checked it 10 minutes earlier? Or maybe you are reading about the next big plan that will take your network marketing business to the next level. I mean who doesn’t want to double or triple their income just by writing a better headline in their email. But honestly, if you’re just starting out and don’t have a list to send that email to, how are you going to double your money? I’m sure these programs work fine, but take a look at where you are and what you have. Where can you really spend your time, effort, and money most effectively to build your business?

I know you probably do these things because I did (and to be honest) and I still do unless I focus. To help me out, I created a little acronym: MET, which stands for Money, Effort, and Time. I ask myself, “DID YOU MEET your needs and your budget TODAY?” Before I stray down the path of easy dreams.

Let’s take a closer look at all three parts. M or Money is the part everyone thinks of when you say balancing a budget or budget basics. It really is important, but it may actually be the simplest of the three to manage. First, you need to decide how much you really have to spend on your business each month. Maybe it’s $100 or maybe $200; It’s different for everyone and it’s okay if it can only be $20. Once you determine this, you need to decide what is important to your business RIGHT NOW! If you’re just starting out, you may need business cards or some office supplies. If you’ve been working for a while, you might want to invest in an email autoresponder system or buy some leads or purchase promotional material. It all depends on your goals and where your business is on the road. But once you set your money budget, stick with it. Decide what is really needed for the place where you are. You don’t have to buy all the great-sounding products or have all the bells and whistles. Get established and then use some of that new income to help you meet more and more of your needs.

Next we have E for Effort. It really is even better to call it Effective Effort. Many of us spend a lot of time in front of the computer or looking at the phone and say that we are at work. But how much effort is really being put in and is it effective? Maybe you have two hours to work today. One around 7 pm right after dinner and one around 10 pm after the kids go to bed. Well, if we decide to spend 30 minutes reading a training manual and then 15 minutes answering an email and 15 minutes working on writing an article, we’ve done a lot of work. These are all things Network Marketers need to do. But if we did all of this at 7 and then found that we needed to call a new prospect or call one of our new team members and sat down at 10 pm to do it, we’ve wasted our time. It’s too late to make our phone calls. So even though we were very good at making our list and doing our job, we didn’t do it effectively, so we wasted some of our time. And I haven’t even mentioned that most people (myself being very guilty) get sidetracked by the cool YouTube video or the interesting email or the great sales pitch. Focus is critical to effort and making your efforts effective.

This brings us to T for Time. I’ve saved this for last because that’s where the acronym fits in, but more importantly because it’s what I consider to be their most important product. Money with which we can work and even earn more. Effort can be relearned or refocused and thus improved, but TIME is here only once. The hour I wasted or missed today cannot be replaced. He went. Time is precious and fundamental to everything you do and want to do. So take a hard look at your time and how you want to spend it and how you actually spend it. You can’t get it back. I started this home business as a way to spend more time with my family and do the things I love, so for me, budgeting this block of time came first. I too (like most network marketers) started my home business while still working my 9 to 5 job. So once I got these blocks of time out of the way, I was able to make a realistic budget of how much time I could spend on my home business Again, this is different for everyone. So don’t be guided by what someone else did, do what is right for you.

Then look back at all 3 areas and BE REALISTIC. Are you really going to work at the store at 9 on Saturday night? Do you really have an extra $250 EVERY month? Will you be able to focus and give 100% effort at 5 o’clock when the kids are hungry and the necessities for dinner are ready?

To get a real assessment of what you have to spend with money and time and how much effort you can really put into it, start tracking what you do. Look around you at successful businesses. You can bet they track things. Do you think they spend a million dollars on a Superbowl commercial and then don’t follow up to see if they’re making a profit? What is Return on Investment (ROI)? You can do the same. Create a tracking sheet to keep track of when you work on your business or when you have downtime. Keep track of where your money is going and if you have something extra to invest in your success. Keep track of what you do in the time you spend working.

Tracking will not only help you make a balanced and realistic budget, it will also help you focus and use the resources you have more effectively. Effective effort rears its head once again. See how everything keeps tying itself in one big circle.

It’s time to start. Don’t waste any more of your money, effort or time. Work on setting your goals, and then use the basics of balanced budgeting to create a balanced budget. Stay focused and realize that success doesn’t come overnight, it comes in small packages if you just have fun and enjoy what you’re doing. That’s the reason we wanted this home business in the first place – remember?

Success in this business is not defined by speed. It’s okay to take a little longer than the guy you read about online. In all honesty, it takes most Network Marketers 2-5 years to reach what they consider to be a successful level of business. Of course, the more you’ve MET your budget and the bigger the budget, you can speed things up. More money, more effective effort and of course more time can get you to your goal faster. But before you give up, look at where you are now. Are you happy with what you have or where are you going? Are you willing to spend the extra money, effort and time it takes to achieve the life you dream of, the life you deserve?

Have you met your goals? Avoid waste and start breeding successfully. Budget planning for your money, effort and time is the best way to create success. Stay focused and remember to keep all 3 aspects in mind during your daily routine.

Think about it!

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