Over the years I've received a lot of questions about SMC websites such as ViewSMC, ClickSMC, SMCandYou about how viable such an opportunity is.

I guess the blunt answer is that in my opinion there are better, more cutting edge ways to generate income online these days. That's why I was so excited about the Kindle Profits Exposed Course which you can read about here.

However, that's not to say you can't make money with SMC. When I was a teenager I had a neighbor who supported his entire family selling similar types of products. I'm not sure who his supplier was, though. But the types of products he sold were quite similar.

However, that brings up another point - when you have an organization that allows unlimited distributors - which it appears SMC does - the real question is how good of a marketer are you and how good is the marketing training that the company provides - because if everyone is selling the same products than obviously you're approaching a commodity-type situation.

Now the thing about commodity-type products that non-marketers don't get is that there are always value adds that can put in place to distinguish your offering from those of the others - even if the core product they are selling is exactly the same.

There are a couple good articles about this here:

• Selling "Commodity" Products in a Competitive Environment - from Shamus Brown's blog.
• Product Packaging: The Secret to Selling a Commodity Product - David Frey

The other way to beat out the competition is to find distribution channels that they aren't tapping. For example there may be opportunities in your local markets that most of the competitors throughout the other parts of the U.S. wouldn't have easy access to. The easiest examples would be flea markets, garage sales, bazaars, etc., although more creative thinking could go significantly beyond those basics.

Finally, finding a creative use for a product that others consider a commodity can lead to the discovery of additional distribution channels that less creative thinkers wouldn't have thought of at all. If you can find that type of profits you have the possibility of selling over larger geographic regions using advertising platforms such as Adwords or even more traditional media.

Related entry: Kindle Profits Exposed (a better opportunity in my opinion which avoids many of the hurdles that have to be overcome with the SMC opportunity and which leverages the multi-billion dollar company Amazon.com)

However, that being said, there like is decently potential in an opportunity like SMC IF you approach it differently than everyone else and I would suspect if you approach it differently than SMC itself tells you to approach it (I can't say that for sure, because I haven't seen their marketing materials - that's mainly based on the fact that they promote the opportunity heavily on TV which very likely lead to the competition problems discussed in this blog post).

Related sites: ClickSMC.com, SMCandYou.com, ViewSMC.com, SMCCorp.com