MLM is NOT a Four-Letter Word!

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How many times have you been approached by a dear friend or family member with a business opportunity only to feel your stomach turn into knots and you begin planning your escape? 

I felt this very same icky sensation in this situation.  The key word here is “felt”, past tense.  I didn’t fully understand network marketing or multi-level marketing…at all.  All I knew was that network marketing was another word for “pyramid scheme.”  And we all know the negative connotations to this word when it relates to business.

It took me an open and willing mind to sit down and take the time to understand what this business avenue was all about.  I was encouraged by a dear friend to investigate Donald Trump’s and Robert Kyosaki’s book, “Why We Want You to Be Rich”.  More specifically, the chapter solely devoted to explaining network marketing and why it is a viable, lucrative, and legal money making opportunity.  That was just the beginning of my education.  In this book, they compare and contrast the corporate model with the MLM model.  It was quite the revelation for me when I understood that if anything is a pyramid it is the corporate model.

So as the bells began to go off and the lights began to come on, I then found myself devouring the book by Don Failla called “The 45-Second Presentation.”  Then I moved on to Tim Sales’ “The Brilliant Compensation.”  Needless to say, I became a believer.

But why is it that I and so many other people didn’t or don’t get it? 

It all boils down to classical conditioning! If you ever had to take psychology in school you most likely were introduced to this theory.  When there is a specific reaction, good or bad, to an action or we store that in our brains and we are then conditioned to associate the reaction with the action.  Do you remember Pavlov’s drooling dogs?  Pavlov was a Russian scientist who discovered that dogs would drool when he rang the dinner bell.  All of this because they associated the bell with feeding time. On the other side of this coin, if a child touches a hot stove and gets burned they most likely will not attempt to do this same action again because they associate the stove with pain.

So what does any of this have to do with network marketing?  Well how many times have you been burned, so to speak, by what seemed like a network marketing scam?  Or maybe someone you know has shared their negative experiences.  What we have to understand is that there exists a misconception of what network marketing truly is.

These people who have had negative experiences, most likely had them because they were approached by someone without a full understanding of network marketing himself.  Perhaps they came on very strong, almost desperate.

So, what is MLM and network marketing really then if it isn’t this pyramid scheme so many think it is?  Very simply put, it is the method in which a company compensates people for moving or distributing their products.  Companies generally choose MLM or network marketing because they have a very special product and want to give their product a voice.  They do not want to have it sitting on a shelf hoping and praying that people will know how special it is.  People are skeptical and they want to know the testimonies from people they trust (members in their network) about the validity of the product. 

So, is network marketing a scam?  Is MLM like a cursed four-letter word?  The answer is a resounding NO!  Network marketing is a win-win for the companies who choose this method of distribution and for the distributors who choose to champion the companies' products.