The Truth About Network Marketing MLM

[TheBigHare]

Originally Posted by hugofortin

He was probably burn with some mlm scrap. The real MLMs work, if you know what to do.

He was probably burned, but what he says is fundementally correct. Anyone who ever had any sucess in MLM did it at the expense of someone else lower down the food chain.

Im not saying thats wrong, or making any sort of moral judgement, in fact the reason people generally succeed in MLM is because theyre smarter, and they work harder than 95% of the network.

It is possible to make an extremely good income, for a short period of time at least, the trick just like HYIP's is probably timing.

[Adrianne]

It's obvious to me that MyMaxMoney has been burned and burned pretty badly but I get the impression that he's more upset with himself for being suckered in, than with the companies that burned him. Thru all that ranting & raving, there was a little bit of truth to what he said about the game of networking but it's like he's putting all the blame on MLM.

When you think about it, no one is forced to join a biz. You don't have to be an experienced marketer to be able to distinguish between a bunch of hype and what's real. It just takes good old common sense. If people are in a desperate financial situation and a network marketer approaches them with a ton of promises and playing on their emotions, even in that state there still should be some warning bells & whistles going off. But because they're desperate, they make a choice to ignore the warnings and jump in head first. Once they realize what hit them, they are worst off than when they started.

Whose fault is that? The MLM'er or the prospect's? You have to be deligent when searching for a company instead of going with the first thing that sounds good and looks pretty. I've been with quite a few biz ops in the past and all of them are still around today. My problem really wasn't the company, but the people and that's where I agree with Max a little bit. But just because your sponsor tells you what you need to buy and how much of it to buy, the choice is still yours. You know what your budget is.

I don't do face-to-face marketing. The majority of the ops I've been with, my sponsors wanted me to do face-to-face marketing. So I hopped from op to op until I found one that would tailor to what I wanted....not what my sponsor said I needed to do. This is my life, my business, and my money and I would be a fool to let an upline make all my decisions for me. It all goes back to good old fashioned common sense.

[fsamec]

Originally Posted by TheBigHare

He was probably burned, but what he says is fundementally correct. Anyone who ever had any sucess in MLM did it at the expense of someone else lower down the food chain.

Im not saying thats wrong, or making any sort of moral judgement, in fact the reason people generally succeed in MLM is because theyre smarter, and they work harder than 95% of the network.

It is possible to make an extremely good income, for a short period of time at least, the trick just like HYIP's is probably timing.

Not true, not true at all! Plenty of people make it in a MLM because they help others get ahead. I have always believe that the money will come if you treat your customers and your downline the way you should. I have been in MLMs for a long time and that has always proven true for me. I am willing to state for the record that there are people that make their money by getting as many people to sign up as possible. I don't do that. My numbers are not as good as some as far as the number of people I sign up but the people I do sign up are quality people who are capable of retailing the product as well as signing people up. I am good at training and have driven as far as 1000 miles to give a two hour training session. This was totally at my expense. I have never regretted it. There are people in my downline that work twice as hard as I do and my check is just as good because I recruited quality people.

Comparing MLM to HYIP is crazy. I know of plenty of people who have gotten in later in the game that have done very well.

[MaxMyMoney]

Originally Posted by Adrianne

It's obvious to me that MyMaxMoney has been burned and burned pretty badly but I get the impression that he's more upset with himself for being suckered in, than with the companies that burned him. Thru all that ranting & raving, there was a little bit of truth to what he said about the game of networking but it's like he's putting all the blame on MLM.

When you think about it, no one is forced to join a biz. You don't have to be an experienced marketer to be able to distinguish between a bunch of hype and what's real. It just takes good old common sense. If people are in a desperate financial situation and a network marketer approaches them with a ton of promises and playing on their emotions, even in that state there still should be some warning bells & whistles going off. But because they're desperate, they make a choice to ignore the warnings and jump in head first. Once they realize what hit them, they are worst off than when they started.

Whose fault is that? The MLM'er or the prospect's? You have to be deligent when searching for a company instead of going with the first thing that sounds good and looks pretty. I've been with quite a few biz ops in the past and all of them are still around today. My problem really wasn't the company, but the people and that's where I agree with Max a little bit. But just because your sponsor tells you what you need to buy and how much of it to buy, the choice is still yours. You know what your budget is.

I don't do face-to-face marketing. The majority of the ops I've been with, my sponsors wanted me to do face-to-face marketing. So I hopped from op to op until I found one that would tailor to what I wanted....not what my sponsor said I needed to do. This is my life, my business, and my money and I would be a fool to let an upline make all my decisions for me. It all goes back to good old fashioned common sense.

I got scammed yes. More then once. When I see threads titled the truth about network marketing by someone that doesn't have a clue as to what they are talking about, its stirs up bitter memories of the past. Everything I said I stand by 100%. It may be completely biased, but its more truth then many people are willing to except.

Residual income with MLM is more Myth then Fact. How many MLM companies have been around more then 10 years? Probably less then I can count on 2 hands. How many MLM' companies have come into existence within the last 10 years? Hundreds, thousands and hundreds close or get shut down everyday. Who is going to pay you when the company closes, get busted for deceptive advertising, or decides to kick you out when your making to much. No one

I made it in MLM. This company was a respectable company with real products. I had gotten to a point where I no longer recruited. I only help those who I recruited to get to my status. Then out of know where the company gets shut down by big brother. 3 years of sacrifice added up to nothing. Most MLM's don't make it to 10 years let alone 5. So you should get that idea of residual income out of your head.

I was pissed when this happened but I didn't want to give up in the idea of residual income, so I found a better company. It was registered with the BBB, chamber of commerce, IBB, had a charity program, and the company was complaint free. This company looked so good and their main focus was the product, not the mlm plan. The product actually helped people financially. The company had been in business for more then 5 years. I gave it a shot. I promoted to all my previous downline members looking for a new company. Within 3 months I was making almost $1500 a month of sweet residual income. A year later out of where, the company decided it would be best to change to a 1 tier affiliate style program for legal reason. They put a strong focus on their product and didn't want to have legal trouble because of the MLM part of the program. Lucky me I focused on building a downline. I only had 6 people on my first level and hundreds down 4 levels. I gave away most of my recruits to my downline. My residual income check went up in smoke once again.

I tried a few others then said to hell with MLM. Its not like I was going to be making residual income forever with it. Prays Those who can build fast and deep. I found other less stressful ways to make money online. All MLM did for me is cause friends to hate me, people who want me dead for getting them involved, and no sense of residual income. So you can understand why I hate MLM so much.

[fsamec]

I guess I have been lucky. The only one I really lost on was good ole Amway or whatever they are calling themself now. EcoQuest was good to me but they seemed to loose their main focus which was air and water purification. I went from there to Natural Air, founded by the man who started Alpine which became EcoQuest. It failed because of lack of good quality assurance at the manufacturing level. It literally failed overnight. We had a high level meeting on Thursday night, everything looked good, and Friday afternoon it was out of business. A large load of equipment came in with major defects.

Now I am with Global Pure Solutions, another air and water purification company. I know the owner very well and trust him. The manufacturer has been in business for 27 years and we have an exclusive contract. I have always made money by recruiting quality people instead of just numbers. My people have a tendency to retail the product very effectively. One neat thing about Global Pure Solutions is the motto. "Twice as nice at half the price" It is a great company with superb products. What more can you ask for?

[Adrianne]

Originally Posted by MaxMyMoney

Residual income with MLM is more Myth then Fact. How many MLM companies have been around more then 10 years? Probably less then I can count on 2 hands. How many MLM' companies have come into existence within the last 10 years? Hundreds, thousands and hundreds close or get shut down everyday. Who is going to pay you when the company closes, get busted for deceptive advertising, or decides to kick you out when your making to much. No one

Companies that have been around for more than 10 years include:

Tupperware
Watkins
Melaleuca
AmeriPlan
PrePaid Legal
Exel
ACN
Mary Kay
Herbalife

Just to list a few and there are many, many more. What was the name of the companies you were with, by the way? I can definitely understand how and why you became frustrated. But that doesn't mean it isn't possible for anyone else. It takes a certain kind of mentality to work an MLM and one of the traits include being flexible to changes within the company. Not everyone is cut out for this type of biz and trying to force yourself to do it isn't going to make it happen.

I was in Melaleuca for 3 years and went through a couple of changes which ultimately made the company stronger and better. About a year ago, AmeriPlan made some changes and the IBO's are now required to pay $50/mo instead of $30/mo. Both of these companies are still going strong. I was in both and personally know people who are working them full time, and earning $15k - $20k a month.

I think your major mistake was putting all your eggs in one basket. When the basket broke, you lost all your eggs. Then you went back and did the same thing again. Where was your backup plan? I don't think it's a good idea to try to run a string of businesses because it gives the impression that a rep isn't focused. I think having 2 or 3 streams of income at the most, is a good way to cushion ourselves for the changes and/or closures that can easily come about in the MLM industry.

[notjomoma]

Here educate yourself www.mlm-thetruth.com

[mrGSH]

Great site.... There used to be some others, but I seem cannot find it. In particular there was a site that was rating different MLMs on some standard parameters...

It is not always true about MLM prices being incomparably expensive compared to the regular retail. Even with quickstar, lots of the stuff was about the same price or cheaper then regular retail. I did not join them because they actually did not have enough products that I would buy on monthly basis, to make quota, and I was a little irritated by their meetings...

The ones I am in, I like (I mean products) And I would not hesitate to recommend them to people around me, if they may benefit from them, and I always show them the cheapest way. It does cut into my commissions, but I do make some, and I can sleep well, knowing that nobody is cursing me for "loading" them... It is not for everybody to make full time income with MLM, but anybody can make some money, if company and products are reasonably good, and you like them yourself.

[fsamec]

Originally Posted by brotherZ

MLM are all scams. You won't earn money from them. They'll make money from you.

You have no idea about what you are talking about. That is like saying ALL religions are out to kill anyone who doesn't believe like they do. No truth at all. Now if you are talking about what 75% of the people in this forum call MLM you may be right. There has to be a real product that sells for a competitive price. Not selling the right to sell the right to sell the right junk that you typically see here.

I sell air and water purifier through a MLM company. Not only are they the best purifiers made but they frequently sell (retail) for half the competition. Everyone makes out!

[TheBigHare]

Originally Posted by brotherZ

MLM are all scams. You won't earn money from them. They'll make money from you.

There is some element of truth in what you say. Clearly MLM's are businesses, and as such, they exploit their distributors in order to make a profit. That dosnt mean that those distributors cant earn. For any MLM to survive in the longer term, certain distributors do need to demonstrate that it is possible to profit from the business.

One of the major issues when designing and managing an MLM commission plan, is obtaining the right balance of payments across the network. Every business needs one or two stars earning 50-100K per month, these people keep the dream alive, but they also need a decent sprinkling of mid level distributors in the 10-15,000 per month bracket, but they also need a reasonable degree of wastage in the plan.

The problem is, that the strongest players in the network will tend to morph the geneology into whats best for them, rather than whats best for the business. You also have the problem that at different stages throught the companys lifecyle, you want a different distribution of earnings, channelling funds either to top leaders, mid levels, entry levels, or indeed the company itself. You can achieve a lot of this through sales promotions, but if the plan is fundementally flawed, changes are often required. A lot of people get screwed due to these changes, but its often necessary in the best interest of the company as a whole.

Most new businesses that set up fail, most investors lose money, so its hardly surprising that most who try MLM fail, and that applies equally to the older established programs based on a solid product, as fly by night money circulation schemes based on ebooks and autosurf programs.

A lot of people dream of owning and running their own business, MLM gives these people a taste of that, at a relatively small cost, with low risk, and far more support than they'd get if left fending for themselves out in the real world, so theyre not all bad. I mean get real, what sort of business can you establish for a few hundred bucks that has the potential to make a fairly serious income within a 12 month period ?