The Quest — Multi-level Marketing
We’re talking about finding the best possible plan to reach your ultimate Quest (in the business context). Here I want to address the touchy subject of multi-level marketing.
This piggy wants you to do your due diligence before signing on with an MLM.My business quest has been the same since I was 19 — attain financial security. It has been a rocky road, partly because I made some bad plans and partly because that quest had to take a backseat to quests that were more important. But even in the backseat, the quest was always present and nagging. Because, bills. Groceries. Smart kids headed to college. So a tried a lot of things while dealing with more pressing circumstances, and one of them was multi-level marketing.
Why do we go into multi-level marketing? Almost always, it’s a combination of genuinely liking the products and a belief in the financial potential. You don’t need a degree, you can work around your schedule, and you can make money! Money, money, money!
Of course you make money on each of the products you sell, but if you want to succeed in the business, you need to hire others to sell under you. It’s a pyramid – you get a percentage of what you sell, a smaller percentage of what your hires sell, an even smaller percentage of what their hires sell. At the sales meetings, the DM’s talk about making the team succeed, but no matter how much your “team” thrives, you only make money if your particular pyramid is selling and growing continually. So you sell to your friends and family, sign a few of them on and then start applying the pressure. They need to sign people too. It’s a bit of an ego trip, having other people “report” to you. If you’re aggressive enough and have aggressive enough friends, you might make serious money. A few people really do.
But most of us won’t. Most of us will exhaust our list of friends and families after a few months, and find ourselves making a monthly pinch of money from repeat buyers.
I’m sorry to be negative, but multi-level marketing is an area where you really have to be willing to “Kill Your Darlings.” Practiced salespeople will promise you that if you follow all the steps they give you, read all the literature and memorize the spiels, you will succeed. Many people going into multi-level marketing are doing it because they really don’t see other great options. Either they don’t have a degree or the degree isn’t helping them. All of the traditional jobs pay a pittance or the logical career options won’t accommodate their situation, whether it’s family responsibilities, physical limitations or other issues. This makes them vulnerable to the promises.
Due diligence, people. If you love the products enough to sell them around the office for a little pin money every month, great. But if you think this is your path to financial freedom, do your due diligence. Hit up Google and, just like we described in the past blog, try to prove it’s a BAD idea instead of looking for proof to reinforce your hope.
Don’t be disappointed if you discover that your MLM isn’t the answer. Be happy. You’re smarter than a lot of us who learned it the hard way. And if you’re already going this route, do your due diligence anyway, and cut your losses if you need to.
You’re on a Quest. You need a plan, a Treasure Map, if you will. So let’s make sure we have a good one!
