My MLM Story - Experience in Network Marketing

Multi-level marketing, also known as network marketing, has been around for many years now. It is a controversial business model but is supposedly also making a lot of money for some people. With a healthy level of skepticism I've talked to different MLM people and looked into different network marketing programs in the past like Quixtar, also known as Amway, and I'd like to share some of what I've learned.

I was in my freshman year of college when I got my first exposure to the MLM company Amway. I was approached by a fellow student who was in his junior year about this 'business opportunity'. Being a young, ambitious and impressionable college student, I listened intently as he shared how I could retire at the age of 25 and live a life of luxury.

Although I was curious and intrigued, I also needed the business model to make sense to me so I also began to ask very pointed questions and did my own research. I was a big fan of Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor, at the time and he had always said that he only invests in what he knows, explaining why he opted to stay out of the then tech boom.

As it turns out Warren Buffett is as wise as they say.  So before I jumped into this opportunity of a lifetime, I decided I needed to really understand how this works before I dive in.

So I begin to search on the Internet for people's experiences with MLM, specifically Amway.  You may not be surprised to find countless numbers of people expressing the evils of Amway.  It was hard to find a review of Amway that didn't involved pure hatred.  The ones that weren't were trying to promote their MLM business.

There were a couple of reasons why these critics didn't help my investigation of Amway.  First of all, it was the late 1990's and the Internet was still not a great source for reliable information.  Secondly, the people who were criticizing were just ranting with nothing reasonable to back them up.  Till this day, I wish I had been able to find a credible source that steered me away with actual evidence.

Anyways, after I failed to find any reliable information on Amway and other MLM programs, I just continued to investigate it with this Amway guy I met in college.

So even before I really took a close look at the MLM model, I wanted to see some real results from real people.  There were of course a lot of talk about the earning "potential" and there were some stories here and there about the ones making millions from it, but no matter how hard I tried from this vast group of Amwayers, I could not find a single real life success story.  All the success stories seemed only to be in their marketing materials.

I repeatedly asked the Amway guy that was trying to recruit me how much HE made from network marketing and he repeatedly dodged the question.  I was young and naive so I gave him the benefit of the doubt.  I even asked the guy that was above him in the MLM level.  He wouldn't tell me straight either.

All I wanted to know was how much did they make last month from Amway!  Seemed like a simple question.  Their lack of transparency put red flags up for me, but still, I was young and trusting so I again gave him the benefit of the doubt and went along.

Finally, I agreed to go to one of their rally things where they try to inspire people and the presentation they use to hook in new MLM recruits.  This young, enthusiastic Tony Robbins wannabe got up and preached about how great Amway was and how multi-level marketing was going to make everyone rich. 

Okay, I figured this guy probably makes a lot of money from network marketing since they're having him speak and all. Well, I walked out after the cult-like rally and saw his car.  It was a early 1990's model Acura with a cheesy slogan on his license plate about getting rich.  I assumed this guy was making it big, but he was driving a used car that was probably about 8 or 9 years old.  This was the huge red flag that I was hoping I wouldn't find.

So to make a long story short, I discovered that the network marketing concept is actually not that bad. It sort of makes sense. Companies spend probably 20-30% of their budget on marketing, advertising and sales. All companies like Quixtar (Amway) was doing was not doing the traditional marketing and instead giving their Amway reps a commission as it were.

Then the system is set up so that if you recruit more Amway reps, you make a cut of their commission as well as a cut from everyone they recruit. Not unlike a sales manager who gets a cut of his sales reps commissions. Of course the cut gets smaller at each level, but the growth potential is exponential. Once your network is at the 7th or 8th level, you end up having hundreds of network marketers below you.

So I found that there is nothing inherently wrong with the MLM concept. Here's where the rub came in for me and what I feel like people should be realistic about.

Working for an insurance agency or any sales organization is an MLM.  I learned how to sell insurance from a veteran in the industry who owned his own brokerage.  Why did he want to help me?  Because he was going to get a cut from everything I made.

Yes, the concept works and it has tons of potential.  But the reality is, it's stinking hard, just like any other great business opportunity.  It takes hard work.  If it didn't then everyone would do it!  The problem was that all the network marketers I've known makes it sound easy, but it's not.  Realistically, it's a very, very, very difficult sales job and you have to be a good sales person to be successful! 

So that's not to say that some aren't successful at this because some clearly are.  But honestly, I've not met one.  But I guess the successful ones are by the pool sipping pina coladas.

Relationship Tension

Here's the other thing to watch out for.  MLM companies encourage you to recruit your friends and family.  Believe me, network marketing programs can make relationships really awkward really fast.  You may even end up losing some.

I have friends that started doing a network marketing business and they almost lost friendships over it.  It was really sad.

Okay, now that I've told you how hard network marketing is, I'm now going to tell you a decent one that I've found. I like this one because you can legitimately market it on the Internet without bugging your friends or family. And you don't have to be the weird MLM guy at Barnes and Noble creeping around the Business section for new recruits. I've had this happen to me several times by the way!

Blastoff Network is partnering up with companies like Southwest Airlines Vacations and CircuitCity.com. Also, credible news outlets like Dallas Morning News has recently signed partnerships with them as well.

I'm going to be trying this out and see how it works. If it doesn't work out, I still get like 5% rebate on everything I buy through them so no real loss, just a little discount when I'm shopping online.

I'm going to be doing various Internet marketing campaigns with this, starting with some article marketing among other things. If you'd like to do this with me, I'll be sharing how different Internet marketing strategies are working so the people who sign up in my network will get more people under them too.