In my last article I asked the question is MLM a scam? Most people would say it is because let’s face it; there are a lot of not so honest people out there in MLM. This unfortunate reason makes it hard for the people who do run a legitimate business and not a Pyramid Scheme. Within a pyramid scam, you cannot make more money than the people above you. In other words, you cannot make more money than the person who introduced and only the people at the top actually make money.

 

This is not true with a Network Marketing company. The plain truth about Muli Level Marketing is that there is a fair amount of work involved and it is not a get rich quick scheme. Most who fail at MLM don’t plan to fail they fail to plan. There is no guidance or leadership in most MLM’s. You sign up, are told the sky is the limit, you buy the product and pretty much you are on your own. This is NOT the way to run any business.

 

     The other challenge I see is commitment: most network marketers fail after 90 days. Let me ask you this: how long did you go to college or high school? So why not give your home based business that same commitment? Seek out advice and do your research and ask questions. If you are considering starting a home based business, and a lot of people are in this economy; you need to be Teachable, motivated, and have the burning desire to succeed. You will need a Mentor, someone to guide you and prevent you from making the mistakes others have made and not become one of the statistics. Let your Mentor teach and you learn to be the student and watch amazing things happen. Not all MLM’s offer mentoring or coaching so be careful on which company you join.

 

 

 

 

MLM Scams: is there such a thing or is it just a whole lot of people wrong here? Well yes there are some scams out there and there are also some good MLM companies out there too. As my gramps used to say “One bad apple spoils the bunch.” So let’s dig in to what is a scam?   

To correctly and safely identify MLM scams a person has to first know a lot about MLM.

Most beginners in MLM and those just considering MLM don’t know much about MLM so what most people do is they automatically group all of MLM, or at least most MLM deals, into the group of ‘MLM scams’.

Although this is not fair to the MLM industry it does help many people, who know very little about MLM, from getting taken by those few MLM scams that do exist because they then decide to not get involved in MLM or network marketing.

Okay, so just what can you do to protect yourself from MLM scams? That is the $64,000 question! The answer is not so simple.

You have to do your homework and undertake a very detailed investigation of the company you are looking at. Here are some basic questions to ask yourself:  How much Money or income do you want to earn from your home based business? What MLM opportunities are a best match for you? and How will I get MLM leads?

You have to have a keen understanding of how MLM really works so that what may at first appear okay turns out looking like a scam, after a little investigation.

And what looked a little funny may actually turn out, after a thorough look, to be okay to pursue.

You have to get educated on the whole concept of MLM scams.

At some level the person makes an emotional decision about doing an MLM program. And when the emotion clears up and level-headedness appears the person begins to see the deal, for the first time, for what it actually is.

And more often than not the deal isn’t what it first appeared, through emotion laden eyes, to be.

So keep your emotions out of any decision you make about joining, or not joining, an MLM deal and you’ll be virtually guaranteed to not find yourself in the middle of another of those many MLM scams.

New to Twitter? There are no set rules on how to tweet on Twitter, but I can tell you what works and what doesn’t. Some people are on Twitter purely to promote themselves or their business. And you can tell by the automated message you get: “Hi thanks for following… go here and buy my product.” Some are there just for the social interaction, they are what I call the “Real People.” Remember Twitter is a SOCIAL NETWORK and everyone can benefit from it if they apply some basic rules of etiquette to their Twitter experience. If you are brand new to twitter and don’t know where to begin, get this Twitter How To.

Here is a fast list of do’s and don’ts:

 

Don’t send spammy messages: Like my example above; don’t let your first message be about selling something. You wouldn’t do that at a party, you would say a little something about yourself . Do the same on Twitter.

 

Be active! Tell your followers what’s up. Give people useful information, or send them a link to what you found. Tiny URL is great for make long URL’s shorter.

 

Don’t use auto direct messages, it’s a big turn off and viruses can be spread by the links most people will not click on them anyhow.

 

Put a picture of yourself on your profile, let people see you are a real person. If I see the little brown default icon as your pic, I fgure you to be a spammer and will not follow you.

 

Like they say in Hawaii Just have Fun!

I was on a forum the other day when someone posted Is MLM a scam? Let’s just call him Joe; Joe was new to the concept of MLM or Multi Level Marketing aka Network Marketing. Joe had jumped right in to a business not knowing how to run a business or where to start. Joe used emotion to make a decision that he should have used logic. We have all been there admit it, that new car, house, or gadget. We bought it on emotion, not thinking about tomorrow sort of like our current state of the economy. From what I read Joe was signed up and forgotten about. He was left to run this home based business on his own. Then when Joe called up his uncle Bill and told him about this incredible business opportunity his uncle told Joe that this was a pyramid scheme and he wanted nothing to do with it. Wow! Joe thought this was going to be his way out of the rat race, put his kids through college and sip on those drinks with the little umbrellas on the beach somewhere and collect a paycheck.

 

    Ok so is MLM a Scam? Well I guess that depends on who you talk to. With our current economy and unemployment, people have been flocking to the home based business arena a lot lately. The problem is that while there are good companies out there, people sometimes don’t understand how MLM works or they get very little guidance.  The pyramid scheme theory? Here’s my take on that: You work at a company, you have X amount of bosses who have X amount of bosses until you get to the top boss or CEO. Ok draw that out and you have… you guessed it a pyramid! 

 

MLM is not a scam if people are shown how to run the business and are guided through the steps to get where they want to be. They need a Mentor that will help them through the whole process, and make them successful in the business. More on MLM in my next post.