I
started network marketing with N2,700, today I am a marketing
consultant
By CLEMENT ADEYI
Monday, October 9, 2006
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•Ohiare
Photo: The Sun News Publishing |
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When she graduated with BA (Hons) English and Literary Studies
about four years ago from Imo State University, little did
she know that she was going to hit a goldmine in business
through network marketing. While still in the university,
the only career dream she had was to become an actress, journalist,
script writer or public relations officer in any of the corporate
organisations based on her course of study.
But as soon as Mrs Chinyere Ohiare started her NYSC programme
with the mindset that the door to the labour market was already
at her chest, she decided to try her luck in business. So,
she opened a business centre where people made phone calls
and got their documents typed.
In the process, one thing led to another and she registered
with a manufacturing company to promote and distribute their
products for sale and was getting her commission and profits
from the exercise.
Having acquired some experiences from the job, she later registered
with a Chinese herbal product as a network marketer with only
N2,700 and bought products worth N40,000 and started distribution
and sales, making gains and getting bonuses from the company.
Today, the fair-complexioned Mbaise – Imo State-born
mother of five has not only hit it big and enjoying what she
described as “financial freedom” because of the
huge wealth she has acquired so far, but also a director and
consultant in the field of marketing. She is also a motivational
speaker.
In an interview with Daily Sun in her Lagos office, Mrs Ohiare
said with network marketing, it was possible to begin business
with a a small amount of money and become a millionaire. She
added that the nation’s poor economy and poverty was
due to laziness, lack of creativity, inability to think fast
and work smart to earn a good living.
Background
My name is Chinyere Ohiare. I am an indigene of Mbaise in
Imo State. I am a graduate of English and Literry Studies
from Imo State University. I am a business woman and my area
of business is network marketing. I am also a business consultant
and motivational speaker.
I am one of the directors of Tianshi Nigeria Limited. I try
to carry along the people that come around me by organising
training, seminar and conferences for them, trying to motivate
them into doing something for themselves in order to help
themselves in meeting their life targets.
Passion
When they see all that I discuss with them working out for
them, they get excited and are motivated. They see their life
changing like a dream. So, if they hear that I am holding
any programme, they participate and embrace it with excitement.
They cannot resist me and the programmes we undertake.
The excitement and likeness became so deep that they begin
to call me Chi-Tianshi. It is also because they see success
reflecting all around me that they believe with determination
one can really succeed in whatever one is doing.
Whenever I am not in the office or fail to give them lectures,
they miss me. Once people who are aware of our network marketing
business hear of any of our programmes and get to know that
I will be there, they turn out en masse to avail themselves
of the opportunities we create for them.
Network marketing
Network marketing is a way of marketing products. In a business
chain, you have the producers or manufacturers, then you have
the wholesalers and retailers who buy products from the producers
and sell on wholesale or retail basis to consumers. In network
marketing, distributors buy directly from the producers and
sell to the final consumers. You discover that the advertisers
or the middlemen are cut off and the money to be used for
advertising is saved, making the flow of business easy and
cost-effective.
Network marketing is a kind of business you can start with
a small amount of money.
You can as well refer to it as words of mouth marketing because
it has to do with talking to people by introducing the products
you are marketing or promoting to them and get them into the
business. In this business, for instance, while you introduce
the business to people verbally, promoting and marketing the
products, you are equally marketing yourself because you get
bonus or gains based on the number of marketers or people
you have been able to introduce to the business.
I started with a meager amount of money. I registered with
only N2,700 and bought Tianshi products worth N41,000 and
was able to create wealth based on a realistic marketing plan.
Tianshi does not use the traditional or conventional method
to market their products. All you need do is word of mouth
marketing which is professionally called network marketing.
To start, you just have to register with N2,700, then introduce
five other people who would also register and buy products
worth N41,000. Then you follow them up, monitor them and encourage
them to also introduce other people to the business and be
sure they are hardworking.
By doing this, you would soon discover that you have a network
of so many people in your team. Based on this, you would be
earning a bonus depending on the amount of products you and
your team have sold in a given month. For instance, my team
and I normally sell products worth more than one million dollars
every month. As a result, you discover yourself making a lot
of money as bonus and gains from the products you are marketing
and the number of people you have been able to introduce to
the product.
Network marketing is a stress-free profession because it saves
the marketer a lot of stress and time. You can also combine
it with a regular job if you want to do it on part time basis.
With it you can make your money fast and still do other things.
It also opens up connections with people through which you
can easily succeed in life.
You are your own boss and can make unlimited wealth. You can
also enjoy what I like to call financial freedom. That is,
you can do anything money can be used to do. I mean you won’t
be poor or lack money.
The place of network marketing in Nigerian economy
We were not taught network marketing in school, but one day
I believe they will start teaching it as a course and it will
become a profession. In some foreign universities, especially
in the United States of America, they have started teaching
network marketing. So, there is a possibility that it will
be taught in our Nigerian universities very soon.
It is not enough for our youths to go and study Medicine,
Law, Mass Communication. Time has come for us to take marketing
to another level in this country. A lot of our local products
are not well marketed, and that is why the economy continues
to be poor because brands continue to get poor patronage.
But with network marketing, you would discover that marketing
and the economy would improve seriously. As a network marketer,
you can be your own boss, set targets for yourself and hit
them easily.
Why I went for network marketing
As a graduate of English and Literary Studies, I am supposed
to be a journalist, actress or script writer in one of these
corporate companies, but I chose business, particularly network
marketing, because having considered the poor nature of the
nation’s economy, I realised that one really needs to
be hardworking. You need fresh and creative ideas that can
generate success. You really need to do something that can
make you be yourself and assert yourself very well and contribute
your own quota to improve the economy of the nation and equally
make yourself, family and people around you happy.
I also considered the fact that to be a responsible housewife
and still not be a liability to your husband by carving a
niche for yourself, network marketing was the only option.
This is simply because, with it, you are self-employed, you
can take care of the home front, and still make enough money
even more than salary earners. For me, it is not enough to
be a house wife. As a woman, you can still make positive impact
in your life time.
Also, I had studied about network marketing and discovered
that it is very intereting and full of excitement. If I were
earning N100,000 as salary, for instance I know it won’t
be enough to cater for my numerous responsibilities. I need
financial freedom. I hate poverty. That is why I went for
business and I am really getting what I want. I have realised
my dreams.
How I started
I had never worked before until I was doing my NYSC. I opened
a business centre where people used to make phone calls and
get their documents typed. After that, I picked interest in
network marketing by promoting and marketing products for
a manufacturer but later the business did not work out due
to their draconian and unstable business policies.
Though I spent only one year there, I don’t have any
regret because the experience I acquired there propelled me
to where I am today.
In my present business, I started with only N2,700. What I
did was that I registered with the company with just N2,700
as a distributor and bought their products worth N41,000 and
started selling them and making my gains. But what really
shot me to limelight was trying to introduce five more people
as distributors who also registered with the same amount and
I started earning bonus which is even much more than the gains
I was making from the sales of the products. As I continued
with the network marketing, my team increased in number and
before I knew it, we started selling products worth more than
$800,000 monthly and my bonus increased tremendously. So,
every month, I saw myself making a lot of money.
My present company
The company I do business with is a Chinese outfit that deals
in herbal products. All I do for them is distribute their
products through network marketing. The company has lucrative
marketing policies that make it easy for their workers (distributors)
to acquire fast wealth without much stress. They have a unique
way of selling their products by giving considerate working
conditions that make the business easy. That is where I made
my money.
The business
It is simply network marketing that does not require opening
a shop or office mandatorily or any elaborate structural arrangement.
That is why the business is very easy to do. All intending
distributor needs do is being hardworking by introducing other
distributors to the organisation and the products and making
contacts with the company and make your money after purchasing
the initial product load of about N41,000. With determination
and consistency in the business, the opportunity opened by
the company would transform the life of the workers or marketers
with immense wealth. Your level of success is unlimited based
on hardwork and determination.
Moreso, you stand the chance of getting awards ranging from
car, jetboat etc.
Level of success
I can confidently say that I have made a lot of success in
the business. I have attained what I would like to call ‘financial
freedom’. For instance, on November 27, 2004, I was
awarded a brand new BMW car by Tianshi. I have also won a
leisure boat which I sold. Since I started the network marketing
I have been able to travel to several foreign countries like
China, Dubai, Kenya, London and the United States of America.
This has really exposed me to different experiences, laudable
ideas and creativity that broadened the horizon of my knowledge
and expertise on the job.
Management style
My management style is simple. I try to carry my staff along
and make them feel at home. This is one of the major principles
that enhance growth and success of every organisation. As
a chief executive officer, you must relate with them closely.
With this, they would be able to feel free and prove their
mettle. Being harsh with them may make them to be reserved
and you can’t get the best out of them.
For instance, I am an international motivational speaker.
With this profession, my major pre-occupation is to motivate
people and encourage them. I try to encourage people to work
less, work smart. I feel that working smart enables you to
make more money than just trying to work hard, struggling
all day and get stipends that do not commensurate with the
struggles.
Some people believe that it is only through hard labour that
one can make it in life. This is wrong. My own style of management
is to draw people that work with me closer and give them the
right orientation that can help them in lie, not trying to
exploit their opportunities for personal gains. We work together
with understanding and like a family with everybody trying
to be imself to achieve set goals, through network marketing.
Network marketing can put end to poverty
In Nigeria, you see poverty everywhere. A lot of people complain
of not having money. A lot more, especially graduates, roam
the streets seeking employment in futility. They forget that
with network marketing they can carve a niche for themselves.
Network marketing can easily be done successfully without
much money. With a little amount of money you can go into
the business. I started with only N41,000 and today, I am
a successful woman. It is all about determination.
For instance, if you have a working line-up of marketers working
in your team, by the time you buy any product and distribute
it in large quantities, you will definitely make gains on
each unit of the product and as you continue in the sales,
your gains come in every day. So, network marketing does not
require large start-off capital. You can start with any amount
of money. It does not require investment.
As your team introduce more people to the business, so also
your bonus continues to increase and before you know it, you
will start clocking huge sums of money that you can never
earn as salary every month.
Structure of outfit
My network marketing outfit is expanding. We organise seminars
to orientate people on network marketing. I also have specialty
shops all over Lagos where products are marketed. I organise
seminars at the different centres we are located. We also
train prospective network marketers free just to enable them
have a focus in life and become successful. That is our own
way of contributing to the economy of the nation.
Impact of the business on the nation’s economy
Since the business was introduced in Nigeria, it has changed
the face of the economy in many ways, especially in the area
of employment opportunity. The huge number of network marketers
who joined the business has really reduced the unemployment
rate in the country. Those who have been in the business have
been successful and rich. A lot more of them can afford to
send their children to good schools. Also, the health products
have seriously been helping in the area of health. Tianshi’s
health products have helped in curing some chronic diseases
and sicknesses. Many distributors have been given cars and
jet boats or their monetary values.
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