MLM - The Last Hope For The Little Guy?

by Joseph Demasi

I have probably spoken to over a thousand individuals over the last 2 years about various businesses and opportunities. Sadly most of them never did find a business to start. A variety of different reasons, any where from no money to no time to my favorite: zero risk tolerance.

We have all heard the following quote."if you continue do the same thing for the next 3 years as the last 3, you will be in the same place that you are today except 3 years older." You may gag when you read this, but it is absolutely true. People want something different, they want something better - they frely admit that they are looking for something better: more money, more time - a better life. The only problem is, that all they do is look.

Do you know anyone that contnues to shop for clothes, but never buys any. Of course not, people need clothes, at the very least they will buy underwear even if they wear donated clothes. The reality is, that people are shopping for HOPE! It is just like buying a lottery ticket. It is nice to dream about winning, in fact you hope you win. Deep down you know that you probably won't win, but the cost of a dream is cheap at a buck. That dollar gives them the right to dream about what they will do with that million dollar jackpot: A new home, new cars, never step foot in their workplace again. People need HOPE!

People spend their whole lives building someone else's dream. They punch a clock and spend 8-10 hours a day working to make their boss's dream a reality. Their boss controls their life- tells them when to work, when to leave and when to go on vacation. Is this a life YOU WANT! Of course not , but what can you do? The traditional business costs thousands of dollars to start and even more for a known franchise. A McDonalds franchise can cost over 1 Million dollars. Yikes! Everyday working people don't have that kind of money, nor do they know how to get it.

There is hope for the little guy. It is called Multi Level Marketing, Network Marketing, Referral Marketing, etc. I have heard it called many things, including a pyramid scheme, a scam, an illegal enterprise. I am not here to argue whether MLM is legal. That was decided by the courts in 1979. In 1975 the Federal Trade Commission accused and sued Amway Corporation for operating as an illegal pyramid. After four years of litigation the court ruled that Amway’s multi-level-marketing program was a legitimate business and not a pyramid scheme. As far as I am concerned that ship has sailed.

Let's examine what MLM does for the everyday person. People can get involved and start a business for a fraction of what a stand alone business costs. Since most people are not business savvy, training and education is provided, usually for no cost or sometimes with a nominal fee.
It is true that you are a distributor of that organization and must distribute their product. That is not any different than owning a McDonalds franchise. Can you imagine going into a McDonalds and seeing a menu for Burger King?

Let's get one thing straight here. You must realize that the reason MLM exists is to give ordinary people an opportunity that they would not normally have. That is, the opportunity to participate in the profit structure of the retail sales model. No matter how you slice it, products must get into the consumer's hands. Tim Sales does a great job of explaining MLM on his site First Class MLM . The MLM companies are paying you (the distributor) to get the products into people's hands. The more product you move the more money you make- simple! This is a business after all and you are paid based on your production. This is how it should be.

After all, the company can spend millions of dollars on advertising to get the products out in the market place, but a few smart people over 40 years ago thought it would be a better model to trust word of mouth and reward the people that spread the word. You should appreciate the opportunity to make a living from this model. I do. I am thankful that I could start a business for less than $500 with the potential to make a good 6 figure income.

Next: Not all companies are created equal- what to look for when choosing a business.