Multi Level Marketing, a scam or...?
There has been much talk about Multi Level Marketing, and many relate MLM to being dishonest schemes. In this day and age, everyone wants to be an entrepreneur, make quick money and ride the entrepreneurship wave with the likes of Mark Zukenberg and Elon Musk; the new generation of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. A bit closer to home would be emulating the wealth and success of Tan Sri Anthony Francis "Tony" Fernandes of Air Asia or Tan Sri Vincent Tan of BERJAYA Corporation. What the mass population did not know is the amount of effort that was put into getting where they are today.
In my opinion, Multi Level Marketing is just a form of distribution. What was once deemed as "Direct Selling" has evolved into "Multi Level Marketing". Just like how Dell changed the Personal Computer Market years ago by going straight to consumers, Direct Selling companies engage individuals who sign on as distributors to directly market a company's product to the public. It is like being able to personally be a distributor for Apple or Samsung; buying direct from the principle and without having a company. How's that for new age business?
Where Direct Selling companies only reward distributors for individual sales, the Multi Level Marketing companies will reward their distributors for BOTH individual sales of products, and from collective product sales of their organization of recruited distributors. From here, I need to caution that there is a big difference between legitimate MLM companies and fraudulent companies who take advantage of this MLM model of business to make a quick buck. Most people who fall into scams are those who are greedy and lazy. Yes. You read right. Greedy and lazy people with ill-mentality of wanting to earn fast money, form the majority of those getting burnt by scams. And of course, there are the ignorant and ill-informed ones who do not want to do any research of their own, who chooses to blindly believe whatever their friends or family tells them. In life, it is all a matter of choice. The more knowledgeable we are , the better informed our choices. So if you happen to be reading this, and you were scammed before, then I'd say, you have no one to blame but yourself. Rest assured, with every experience and failure, we should become smarter.
I am sure that out there, there are people who have never heard of MLM and do not have friends who have done MLM before. But generally, our population would consist of these few categories of people:
People who have never been personally involved with Multi Level Marketing, but heard lots of horror stories about it.
People who dabbled with MLM and assuming that they chose a legitimate one, failed miserably when the dream did not match the reality or the work involved.
People who got stuck with bad advice from people of bad integrity (mostly in form of a sponsor or up-line), causing them to suffer sizable financial losses from stocking unusable or unwanted inventory.
People who are thriving and doing well with a legitimate MLM company, who are widely successful, earned lots of money and continue to earn more.
Before you decide to run out and join the ranks of those in Category 4, let me remind you that it is important to:
1. CHOOSE A LEGITIMATE MLM company.
What is legitimate? One that has integrity, and conforms to strong code of ethics and laws. Ideally if it has many years of operations under its belt, preferably listed on some American stock exchange market because of the standards of transparency that is required to be listed, and has many third party endorsements , such as being rated by reputable companies like Dun & Bradstreet. Why is this important? Because the last thing you'd want is the company going bust when you're building your business. I'd go with companies that have been around for a minimum of 30 years. And as much as I hate to say this, I'd avoid any locally made MLM company, because of our poor standards of regulations. Trust me, you'd probably need to escape and hide in a different state or country because all your down-line friends and family would think that you've deliberately scammed them and want to beat the shit out of you to get their money back.
2. CHOOSE ONE THAT PAYS WELL
Seriously, this is very, very important. Work with a company that pays the distributors well. The last thing you'd want is to slog days and nights for years for a dream that would not come true. Like in the words of famous French-Buddhist Monk, Matthieu Ricard, "if you are searching for the sun in a cave facing North, no chance". Choose a company that would be bold enough to put it on public domain that they would like to pay their distributors or sales leaders well. Especially if it is an American company, because people over there take things very seriously and would sue for a quick buck if it weren't true. Also do not be fooled by short term gains. We are in business for long term. The business must be scalable, and if it is in many different countries, that's a high ceiling! This MLM company, ideally, must also pay well perpetually, with an option for us to let our next of kin inherit the business.
3. CHOOSE ONE THAT HAS WHAT THE MARKET NEEDS, AND WITH TECHNOLOGY TO PROVE IT
In case of business, there is no point representing a company that sells things that no one wants. It is going to be an uphill battle to get anyone interested. This is simple economics; demand and supply. If there is no demand, no point supplying! Creating demand is not as simple as you think. If you have so much money to burn to create demand, I'd say, why not spend it by buying a luxury condo, or a round trip across the globe? It would make you feel better. Think sustainability and scalability. Our world population of 7 billion people, what does everyone want? If it can cater to needs of masses, and consumed at a constant and consistent rate, that's something that you would like to be part of.
4. CHOOSE A TEAM THAT KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE DOING, AND HAS TRACK RECORDS TO PROVE IT
Note that I said "prove it" twice. Due diligence, peeps! If you really want to venture into entrepreneurship, then you MUST gather evidence. Many times, be it in business, social or corporate, it is the blind leading the blind, hoping to arrive at a good destination. Dont leave your business to chance. Make informed choices. Choose a team with a good system for success. Systems do not produce results overnight. If this system is less than 30 years old, I'd say it is not a well-oiled machine. It has to stand the test of time, and the changes of the market. If you want to learn something, learn from the best. Learn from people that have produced results and have the track record to prove it. Multi Level Marketing is a business of duplication. How much money you make depends on how well you duplicate your team. Hence good training and support would come in to teach you how to manage your business, your processes and your people.
You see, I believe that there are many perks of different business models, and everyone needs to evaluate what is the best model for them. We live in the Knowledge Era today, and our smart phones are like dictionaries and encyclopedias. It would be ignorant of us not to make informed choices. If or when you do choose to be an entrepreneur, regardless what form of distribution model you desire; then make sure you wear some visors, and stay away from negative dream killers. You truly can't have a positive life when you are surrounded by negative people; and gravity always wins. We are the sum of the success of our 5 best friends together.
So, is Multi Level Marketing, a scam or a legitimate business? Well.. you decide. And if you do decide to embark on a MLM journey, then strive to be the very best and the very top. In my opinion, only when one learns how to be truly authentic, to be real and sincere; to have integrity - have courage to say what my "heart" means instead of what my "mind" wants people to believe; to be responsible, taking ownership and accountability of one's own thoughts & actions; and most importantly work on enriching others; can one be able to manifest a greater tomorrow, today. Have a great week, ya'll.
In my opinion, Multi Level Marketing is just a form of distribution. What was once deemed as "Direct Selling" has evolved into "Multi Level Marketing". Just like how Dell changed the Personal Computer Market years ago by going straight to consumers, Direct Selling companies engage individuals who sign on as distributors to directly market a company's product to the public. It is like being able to personally be a distributor for Apple or Samsung; buying direct from the principle and without having a company. How's that for new age business?
Where Direct Selling companies only reward distributors for individual sales, the Multi Level Marketing companies will reward their distributors for BOTH individual sales of products, and from collective product sales of their organization of recruited distributors. From here, I need to caution that there is a big difference between legitimate MLM companies and fraudulent companies who take advantage of this MLM model of business to make a quick buck. Most people who fall into scams are those who are greedy and lazy. Yes. You read right. Greedy and lazy people with ill-mentality of wanting to earn fast money, form the majority of those getting burnt by scams. And of course, there are the ignorant and ill-informed ones who do not want to do any research of their own, who chooses to blindly believe whatever their friends or family tells them. In life, it is all a matter of choice. The more knowledgeable we are , the better informed our choices. So if you happen to be reading this, and you were scammed before, then I'd say, you have no one to blame but yourself. Rest assured, with every experience and failure, we should become smarter.
I am sure that out there, there are people who have never heard of MLM and do not have friends who have done MLM before. But generally, our population would consist of these few categories of people:
People who have never been personally involved with Multi Level Marketing, but heard lots of horror stories about it.
People who dabbled with MLM and assuming that they chose a legitimate one, failed miserably when the dream did not match the reality or the work involved.
People who got stuck with bad advice from people of bad integrity (mostly in form of a sponsor or up-line), causing them to suffer sizable financial losses from stocking unusable or unwanted inventory.
People who are thriving and doing well with a legitimate MLM company, who are widely successful, earned lots of money and continue to earn more.
Before you decide to run out and join the ranks of those in Category 4, let me remind you that it is important to:
1. CHOOSE A LEGITIMATE MLM company.
What is legitimate? One that has integrity, and conforms to strong code of ethics and laws. Ideally if it has many years of operations under its belt, preferably listed on some American stock exchange market because of the standards of transparency that is required to be listed, and has many third party endorsements , such as being rated by reputable companies like Dun & Bradstreet. Why is this important? Because the last thing you'd want is the company going bust when you're building your business. I'd go with companies that have been around for a minimum of 30 years. And as much as I hate to say this, I'd avoid any locally made MLM company, because of our poor standards of regulations. Trust me, you'd probably need to escape and hide in a different state or country because all your down-line friends and family would think that you've deliberately scammed them and want to beat the shit out of you to get their money back.
2. CHOOSE ONE THAT PAYS WELL
Seriously, this is very, very important. Work with a company that pays the distributors well. The last thing you'd want is to slog days and nights for years for a dream that would not come true. Like in the words of famous French-Buddhist Monk, Matthieu Ricard, "if you are searching for the sun in a cave facing North, no chance". Choose a company that would be bold enough to put it on public domain that they would like to pay their distributors or sales leaders well. Especially if it is an American company, because people over there take things very seriously and would sue for a quick buck if it weren't true. Also do not be fooled by short term gains. We are in business for long term. The business must be scalable, and if it is in many different countries, that's a high ceiling! This MLM company, ideally, must also pay well perpetually, with an option for us to let our next of kin inherit the business.
3. CHOOSE ONE THAT HAS WHAT THE MARKET NEEDS, AND WITH TECHNOLOGY TO PROVE IT
In case of business, there is no point representing a company that sells things that no one wants. It is going to be an uphill battle to get anyone interested. This is simple economics; demand and supply. If there is no demand, no point supplying! Creating demand is not as simple as you think. If you have so much money to burn to create demand, I'd say, why not spend it by buying a luxury condo, or a round trip across the globe? It would make you feel better. Think sustainability and scalability. Our world population of 7 billion people, what does everyone want? If it can cater to needs of masses, and consumed at a constant and consistent rate, that's something that you would like to be part of.
4. CHOOSE A TEAM THAT KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE DOING, AND HAS TRACK RECORDS TO PROVE IT
Note that I said "prove it" twice. Due diligence, peeps! If you really want to venture into entrepreneurship, then you MUST gather evidence. Many times, be it in business, social or corporate, it is the blind leading the blind, hoping to arrive at a good destination. Dont leave your business to chance. Make informed choices. Choose a team with a good system for success. Systems do not produce results overnight. If this system is less than 30 years old, I'd say it is not a well-oiled machine. It has to stand the test of time, and the changes of the market. If you want to learn something, learn from the best. Learn from people that have produced results and have the track record to prove it. Multi Level Marketing is a business of duplication. How much money you make depends on how well you duplicate your team. Hence good training and support would come in to teach you how to manage your business, your processes and your people.
You see, I believe that there are many perks of different business models, and everyone needs to evaluate what is the best model for them. We live in the Knowledge Era today, and our smart phones are like dictionaries and encyclopedias. It would be ignorant of us not to make informed choices. If or when you do choose to be an entrepreneur, regardless what form of distribution model you desire; then make sure you wear some visors, and stay away from negative dream killers. You truly can't have a positive life when you are surrounded by negative people; and gravity always wins. We are the sum of the success of our 5 best friends together.
So, is Multi Level Marketing, a scam or a legitimate business? Well.. you decide. And if you do decide to embark on a MLM journey, then strive to be the very best and the very top. In my opinion, only when one learns how to be truly authentic, to be real and sincere; to have integrity - have courage to say what my "heart" means instead of what my "mind" wants people to believe; to be responsible, taking ownership and accountability of one's own thoughts & actions; and most importantly work on enriching others; can one be able to manifest a greater tomorrow, today. Have a great week, ya'll.
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