As many of us know, MLM stands for multi-level marketing or it can also be called network marketing.
One way or another we've all heard or been approached by a person promoting a business using the MLM concept. This type of profession is not far off from being a salesman, but with other ways of making money other than just making a sale. Besides making sales, the real gold mine is in recruiting, you basically sign up a potential prospect to do the exact same thing your doing, in other words, to build a team of network marketers. Rince and repeat this tactic, you have yourself a business! This all sound great, however MLM is known to have a bad reputation. Many have called it a ponzi, a scam or a pyramid scheme and still do up to this day.
Before I go any further, let me make it clear that I have nothing against network marketing. I think it's a brilliant work from home business model. Once you see the big picture on how to make money, you see past the shroud of it being a pyramid scheme. There is nothing wrong with the business strategy, the flaws actually lie on the marketers themselves. Here are a few huge problems MLM has:
- Malpractice: Marketers making get rich quick claims in a short period of time. (Huge Problem)
Holding cult like type of seminars. (Nothing wrong with a little motivation but at some point you need to discuss
product and numbers. Get to the point!)
Marketers signing a potential prospect then completely forgetting about him/her.
Marketers are extremely pushy, to the point of becoming annoying.
Spamming all over social media.
These are in my opinion are a few key reasons why MLM has a bad reputation and whoever tells you can easily make money in this business, look the other way and don't turn back, that has scam written all over it! No, network marketing is NOT easy at all! A professional would always tell you that it takes hard work and dedication to be successful in the business. There is no way around it!
Can you build a second income with MLM? Yes absolutely! Can you work part time in the business? Of course! Can you replace your existing job with MLM? If you work hard enough, yes eventually you will be able too. But it doesn't come to you, if you don't put in the work, nothing will happen. Now let me get into the pyramid scheme part. Pay close attention to the graph below:
I did mention earlier that the real way to make money in MLM is by recruiting and building a solid team. Take a house for example, without a solid foundation, you don't have a home. Same goes for business. It's a proven fact that if a marketer doesn't help his prospects on how the business works, that initial marketer will never make money. You have to educate your prospects, show them the products or services, show them the compensation plan, show them ways to attract new prospects. In other words, you're teaching your prospects how to make money so you can all make money, as a unit. Many have this misconception that only because your prospects are in your downline, you're making more money than they are. Not necessarily true! If your downline has an edge and a nose for business, your downline could easily make more money than you are. Make no mistake about it, in network marketing only if you hustle is when you get compensated.
As for the graph above, yes the CEO's are making the big money, it's their company after all. Same goes for any type of huge corporations. But the beauty of network marketing is that they give you a piece of the pie if you work hard to represent them. They do NOT pay for advertisement companies to market their brand. We the people are there to market for them and they compensate us for our efforts. They're not there to boss you around or wait for them to give you a raise (which may very well not come). No, you get to choose your own hours, work from wherever you want and whatever you get paid is determined by your hustle. Now how in the world is that a pyramid scheme?? Hence this is why I told you to carefully look at the graph above, focus and think about where you're going when you wake up every morning...