The entrepreneurial spirit is still alive and well in the world today. Existing marketers and salesmen want to know how to expand their portfolios. Many moms and dads are looking to stay at home or reduce the number of hours and jobs they work by finding ways to earn extra income. And college graduates aspire to start their own businesses without a boatload of upfront costs.

The questions remain: Where do you start? And how can you get your foot in the door to an excellent sales opportunity?

Well, we feel like we have some excellent answers to these questions.

RS&I has partnered up with five different companies that include sales-only solutions. That means when you team up with one or all of the five programs, you’ll find low start up costs with established brands and plenty of marketing, sales and training support. No equipment or installation costs are required. All you have to do is complete the sale and earn the extra income you need.

As a quick side note, each of these five programs do require an approval from RS&I and each of the respective companies to begin selling. You'll need to meet certain requirements. The good news is, our sales team will be able to walk you through the approval process for each program, which we've already done for thousands of authorized retailers.

Take a few minutes to learn about each of these awesome direct sales opportunities below.

When it's event season, how are you going to make sure you're ready to pull off a successful event?

In-person marketing at state, county and local events is a powerful way to build consumer awareness of your business and generate sales and leads. It also takes concerted effort to pull off a successful event. We have put together the three best practices for event marketing.

It's as easy as: 1. Identify, 2. Execute and 3. Evaluate.

Follow these three steps to make sure your next event gets you the results you need! Take a few minutes to see if you've covered all your bases.

Entrepreneurs are awesome. You could say with a great deal of confidence that entrepreneurs are some of the most passionate and driven individuals in today's business world. And rightly so. There is a ton of opportunity still out there and many small businesses need to be started to create the economic competition of the American dream.

But how do these great entrepreneurs keep their businesses safe – from the very beginning?

It's a great question, because not every small business is set up from the get-go to make sure its business model will be protected from unscrupulous acts – both from inside and outside of the organization.

Not every business needs a physical fence built around it to keep the bad stuff out. However, what types of "virtual fences" need to be built? For example, what kinds of safeguards should be put in place around employees, partners, processes and every other aspect of business?

If you've previously thought about these questions or if you'd like to make sure you've already covered your bases, take a look at the four topics we've listed below. The goal is to help make sure every small business gets a "virtual fence" built, so they can focus on growing sales and profits.

When you team up with RS&I to become a Vivint.SmartHome Authorized Retailer, you get much more than just a business opportunity that you have you build all by yourself. You'll get to work with our phenomenal sales team, receive excellent training to get you on your feet and you'll have a host of pre-approved marketing materials that are ready to use to promote your new business.

That's right. In addition to everything else, you'll have pre-approved marketing materials that you can start using on day one and you don't have to invest the time and energy to develop them yourself. As a master sales agent, RS&I works directly with Vivint to get several pieces of marketing material approved and you get to benefit from our work.

Let's quickly explore the top Vivint marketing materials available.

RS&I is here to make sure you've got everything you need to be successful as an authorized retailer with any of our various programs. This blog series of "What to Expect as You Begin Your Authorized Retailer Journey" is designed to get you the information you need to get started quickly.

If you didn't get a chance to read the first part of this series, you should take a little time to review the helpful instructions and content found in that article. It'll get you going on creating a solid business plan in no time!

This second part of the series focuses on reviewing the business plan you've established and outlining what you need to do next. You'll see the need to begin developing a marketing plan, finishing up any required paperwork and acquiring some of the basics you'll need to begin working.

Let's review your next action items!