Last night I had the privilege of listening to an interesting interview Todd Falcone had with Scott Allen. Scott is the author of The Virtual Handshake, the Entrepreneurs Guide for About.com. (You can download Scott Allen and David Teten’s Virtual Handshake book for free. In printed form it is better to purchase The Virtual Handshake here). In addition to Scott’s Virtual Handshake book and postings at About.com, he contributes to Fast Company and writes a blog about business networking site, LinkedIn called LinkedIntelligence.

From the The Virtual Handshake Blog and Resource Site

Scott (Allen) is a recognized authority, having been quoted or featured in ABCNews.com, The Washington Post, CFO Magazine, Christian Science Monitor, Sales and Marketing Management, Networking Times, Southwest Airlines Spirit, Worth and other major publications, as well as appearing on radio and at industry conferences. He consults with businesses and individuals on the strategic use of social software and with social software companies on product design.

Scott briefly mentioned six areas you should consider when checking out any network marketing company. They are very close to the ones Richard Paul Evans uses. The six things Scott says to use are: who, what, where, when, how, and why.

Who ~ Who is behind the company? And who is your upline?

Let’s look at the people behind BookWise. Have they been successful and reputable in their previous businesses? I challenge you to Google their names and you’ll learn more about the fantastic leadership team at BookWise: Richards Paul Evans, Robert G. Allen, Dennis Webb, Andy Compas, Mark W. Hurst, and Christopher Pair.

Who is your upline? Are you going to get support from your upline? Or will you be left to wander in the dark? This doesn’t mean that you can’t get involved with someone who is new to MLM or new to the company. The question is are they someone you can trust? Is there a strong team of leaders in your upline who can assist you. Do they have systems and tools in place to help you?

What ~ What is the product?

Is the product something that you can feel good about representing? You can’t go wrong with books. Scott says “Is it something that would sell well in a retail store or via other traditional marketing and distribution channels?” Yes - books have sold well for hundreds of years. The industry just keeps getting stronger and stronger. Books make a difference in the lives of others and the world.

Where ~ Where is the product being promoted and where can you promote it?

With BookWise your product is promoted constantly. It is promoted on the news, at the water cooler at offices around the world. Why even Oprah Winfrey promotes my product.

Just take a look at all the buzz about the latest Harry Potter book: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. The buzz resulted in increased sales for us. Because I live close to the corporate office I was able to pick take our son to pick up our family copy at midnight. I didn’t have to wait in a long line. I didn’t have to wear a wristband for weeks to hold a place. I just walked up and picked it up. In and out in five minutes. Lucky yes. Others simply had it delivered to their home by the post office. Convenient!

Where ~ Where can you promote it?

As long as you don’t make outrageous claims and follow some common sense rules you are free to use your own website or blog to promote BookWise. (Corporate approval required). If you make unrealistic income claims, or promises that are inaccurate then you lose the option to promote the BookWise opportunity online. Currently BookWise is available in the US, but plans are in the works to open to other parts of the world.

When ~ When will you start making money?

With BookWise it is realistic to start making money on your first month. With a start-up of just $39.95 and a monthly cost of $35.00 you become profitable much quicker. We were profitable our first month. Enroll just one new member or associate a month and your monthly membership cost is covered.

How ~ How was the opportunity presented to you?

Were you recruited using high pressure sales techniques? How does the company operate? Were you led to believe you were looking at one type of opportunity when it was another type. Perhaps you’ve been invited to some business meeting where the get you to the meeting under the presumption that it is a job interview. Or perhaps they wouldn’t even tell you what they meeting was about. Were not afraid to tell you right up front what the BookWise opportunity is about. We don’t have to be afraid.

Why ~ Why are you doing this? Why are you interested in the opportunity?

Why do you want to get involved with a network marketing company? This is a question that only you can answer as it is very personal. For me they why was this: BookWise is a company I can feel good about. I feel good about the product. I feel good about the people. But the primary reason is that I can truly help make a difference in the lives of others. Even if it is by brining them books that change their outlook of themselves for the better. Even if it is bringing them books that entertain. But more importantly I can feel good knowing that I can help make a difference in the lives of others forever. The tips they learn on the WealthWin calls can change their financial future forever. The knowledge they can learn through mentoring done by Richard Paul Evans and Robert Allen are priceless. Then add on top of that the fantastic income that can be earned and for me it is simply a no-brainer. Its priceless.

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Organization. Sometimes it haunts me. It’s as if something from my past has come forth to say, “remember me.” It’s not that I don’t know how to be organized. It do. It’s just that I am a very busy mom who is pulled in many directions. I run two successful businesses, help my husband with another, teach my children at home, and volunteer in the community. Obviously I have to be somewhat organized to pull-off the productivity I do. But it has become more and more difficult. Primarily because my brain just doesn’t work like I expect it to. You see I have ADHD, memory loss caused by a couple of automobile accidents, fibromyalgia, and post-traumatic stress disorder that throws me into a foggy not there feeling once in awhile. My brain just doesn’t cooperate like I want it to. So I have to develop systems to keep track of the info and hope that nothing falls through the cracks.

So how do I cope and still manage to get everything done that I need to? I don’t. Not really. There is always more dishes to do, a cupboard to be cleaned out, another towel to wash, and a new business associate to train. In other words if you run a successful business and have a family there is always more to do, and there will always be.

At least I don’t get everything done that I expect to get done. My husband keeps telling me to not expect so much from myself. But that is part of the reason why I do get done what I do. I expect to.

Tip #1 ~ Expect More from Yourself. Plan on accomplishing a lot.

Tip #2 ~ Take advantage of those small minutes of time. It’s amazing how much you can get done in the minute or two while you are waiting for someone, or while you are on hold.

Tip #3 ~ Take advantage of technology to manage and train your down line. Record your training and upload it to a website.

Tip #4 ~ Make your one-on-one training with your down line about mentoring, dream building, and overcoming individual problems rather than training on the kit, training on the compensation plan etc.

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I have a love/hate relationship with working at home. I love the fact that I can work (my business) at any time of the day. Yet, I hate the fact that I can work my business any time of the day. You see I tend to work to much. I wake up and work at 3:00 a.m. If I wasn’t working at home I’d probably read or paint. I work first thing upon rising. I work after dinner. I know about the advantages of setting hours for working at home. But that’s sometimes a little easier said than done.

I love the fact that I am home with my kids all day long. I hate the fact that I am home with kids all day long. Don’t get me wrong this is one of the perks I really do love about having a home-based business. But I find that my kids resent that I am home, but not really home. I’m home, but on the phone, on a conference call, or working on the computer. They love my business, they respect my entrepreneurial spirit, but sometimes I think they wish for a mom that always had the laundry done, and regularly baked cookies like I use to. In other words I may be here physically, but not truly 100% here for them.

I love the friendships I’ve made as a result of my work-at-home business. I’ve met wonderful people that I wouldn’t have met without this business. But I do miss the sense of community you get with a corporate job.

Today I stumbled upon a post at lifehack.org, produced by some Open Source techies who have created a co-working community. Coworking is a cafe-like community/collaboration space for developers, writers and independents. You can see their video below.

Now I’m wondering if this would work for us stay-at-home working moms - something like a “Mom’s Cafe.” A place where we could work part-time, or even full-time if desired. I’m picturing a sunny lofty type of office where we could come in and work for a few hours a day, and then return home to our families leaving our business life behind us. I’m thinking perhaps their are quite a few of us BookWise associates, Pampered Chef representatives, Avon representatives, and the like that would perhaps love a place to set-up a shared office space.

So you work-at-home moms, what do you think? Do you see a benefit to this? Is this something that you could see yourself participating in.

You can find additional coworking information at technorati, at pbwiki.com, at podtech.net or the coworking community blog.

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