Disclaimer: This is one of a series of articles which contain my personal
opinions, based upon my own experiences, about various money-making
programs. You may have had difference experiences which give you different
opinions.
I've thought long and hard about this, and spent a great deal of time
researching. This was a tough thing to admit and to confront, but here it
is. (I will add the comment that these are just my personal opinions and
should be taken as such. Other people will have formed their own opinions.)
ALL multi-level marketing is a scam. Every single one of them is a pyramid
scheme based upon the people at the top feeding on the people at the bottom.
If you are lucky enough to be one of the few at the top of the pyramid, you
might make a few dollars before (a) the police bust you or (b) the whole
thing collapses.
Oh, I know these groups will all protest that they are somehow different.
They have the answers. They know how to make money and they just want to
share it all with you, for a small fee, of course.
The truth is that these groups require immense amounts of work on your part
to even break even. You have to put your heart and soul into them, and even
then you are taking a chance.
I knew someone (named Jeff) a few years ago who was involved in Herbalife.
It was very strange watching Jeff try and sell the program to others
(including myself). He believed! It was practically a second religion for
him, and he preached about how great it was all of the time. He tried to
sell me some vitamins by proclaiming how much better than normal they were
... they were special vitamins, with a secret mix of herbs to make them more
potent and absorb better into the body. He had to justify a huge price
markup... and he preached so well that he even convinced me to buy one
bottle. Silly me, they were just vitamins.
But wait, one thing you have to understand about multi-level marketing is
you are NOT REALLY SELLING A PRODUCT. That's the key to all of these
systems. YOU ARE SELLING THE PROGRAM. Your job is to sign up people under
you who will sell for you and sign up more people under them.
That is the key thing to remember. You do make money from selling products,
like any other salesman, but the real cash is from getting other people to
make money for you. The more you get the more you make... in theory.
What really happens to the MLM companies is sad. They usually start fast and
furious, because their funding is often weak. They have to make a bang
immediately, so the initial members (the only one's who make any real money
most of the time) work hard to sign up people as quickly as they can. Every
tactic, however unethical, is okay at this point as long as thousands or
tens of thousands of members are signed up almost immediately.
Once the pyramid, uh excuse me, referral matrix has enough people signed up
the program usually gains popularity fast. Some of the people near the top
actually make some real cash, but the rest just work their butts off for
little gain. Sadly, in most cases the program collapses suddenly and without
warning - they are either shut down by the authorities for various crimes
or, more often, they just collapse because they cannot sign up new people
faster than the old ones are leaving.
That's the secret to successful MLM - you have to sign up new suckers, oh
excuse me, members faster than the old ones leave or become inactive. If you
can get enough new members working for you, then you have a chance of making
some money. Of course, you have to sacrifice your ethics and morals and toss
out the window any chance of going to heaven (or whatever you believe in),
and needless to say you'd make more money for less work at a real job, but
you could make some money.
Herbalife is the one MLM program that I can think of that has actually
survived. I'm not sure why this program is still around where virtually
every other one has failed. Perhaps it has gained almost cult status in our
society, or perhaps it's because the people involved have become fanatics or
perhaps for some reason it has just been able to continue to grow...
Personally, I would much prefer to sell something that people can actually
use - in other words, a product or service of some kind. Something that
gives people some value besides being in a program. Generally something
tangible. Also, I like charging a fair and reasonable price without a
hundred different markups going to lord knows where.
So in good conscience, I can no longer recommend any of the MLM programs on
the internet.
Now, I must include a word of caution with these warnings. This article does
not refer to affiliate programs which allow you to get a referral fee or
commission for signing up other people. These kinds of programs are fine -
as long as the primary focus is selling products or services and not the
program itself. That's the fact that makes MLM so easy-to-spot and so
vulnerable to self-destruction - the primary focus of the program is selling
the program. And when you get right down to it, a program is worthless if
the only thing of value is the program itself.
The only thing MLM programs are good for is a good laugh. Once you
understand how silly and insanely stupid they all are, you just have to
throw your head back and laugh.
About the Author
Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets. This
website includes over 1,000 free articles to improve your internet
profits, enjoyment and knowledge.
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