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Chapter

19

The Magic of Network Marketing:

Building Real Residual Income

Barry Friedman

T

here is something very special about most legitimate network market-
ing opportunities. It is not always obvious and not always fully appre-
ciated for what it is and what it can mean to most families. Behind all
of the excitement and expectations of newfound financial freedom is
the real essence of what financial security is all about. Clearly, it is very im-
portant for the new prospect or seasoned networker to look beyond the
promise of huge up-front money—the $10,000 per month in 90 days to $1
million or more per month as you build your business. While this possibility
can be real in many cases, it is more elusive for most.
When all of the dust has settled and the initial excitement has faded,
what really matters in terms of wealth generation is how much money you are
receiving each month—today—for the work that you did yesterday. That is
residual income. I believe that most of us would easily opt for $10,000 per
month for the rest of our lives (and our survivors’) rather than $50,000 per
month for a few months. When we combine the concept of residual income
with that of leverage, we are indeed on our way to permanent financial secu-
rity. I invite you to read this chapter not only from the perspective of how
residual income can impact your life but how you can use the value of resid-
ual income to attract your prospects to your networking business.
Let’s take a step back to look at the very special financial perspective of
network marketing. First, allow me to provide a little background. I have
been a financial planner since 1968 and a Certified Financial Planner (CFP)
since 1978. During this time, I have spent endless hours with clients trying to
help structure retirement plans and to help establish financial security. It has
seemed that no matter how hard most people try, they have either too little
time or too little money. There are, after all, not many ways to accumulate
significant wealth. You need to have either sufficient funds to make the most
of your limited time to accumulate or a lot of time during which to build your