I would never do MLM again in my life

NSA and the chocolate business were enough to give me a bad taste. It's better to sell indep. then to hike the price of a cheap product so that all of the upline can get paid

I am sorry to hear that you are not doing well in this business.

If you would just stick it out and learn from your successful upline, you would have done well in this business.

You have not failed.....You quit. There is a difference.

Not true my friend. Do the math. only a handful will make it big.

I actually agree with you both, but try2vape has a very good point.
So depending on where you are in life realizing when something is
not working out for you and cutting your losses is a good skill to have.

I think mlm can work well for those who have other means of making money
already and can afford to stick with mlm longer before seeing the results.

Interesting take. Note that MOST in any business Are NOT doing it BIG. Trying to isolate this to MLM is what many do but MLM is a business like any other. It just doesn't happen that way, many factors. However, anyone can learn to make their mlm biz profitable. It's a process like any other biz.

As to the mlm you were in, I wouldn't make a judgment based on an "a" mlm biz. Retail products are sold at various prices for various profit at various venues. Thus, that statement is not practical, unless you plan to buy nothing ever again, anywhere. In other words majority of things can be acquired cheaper than the price one paid at any given time.

MLM is designed to provide a franchise biz model at a NON franchise price. Ease of entry, and simplicity of the success model of building a network has confused many as to "what it actually takes" to succeed in establishing a successful and profitable home business.

Why one person is saying they will not do mlm again, they will then go and get or continue to participate in a job that has the same structure and profit application but without that individual being able to truly empower themselves with the rewards of creating your income with your own business.

As recent years have shown, having and banking on a job to sustain one's life is not wise. Doing for self is essential for survival.

MLM makes a ton of sense because of the power and potential of leverage is unmatched in another business except trading the financial markets

NSA. Is that the water filters? I used those back in the 90s.

A good MLM product should not be more expensive than the shop bought equivalent. It should only be more expensive if it is better quality, etc.

It is important to keep in mind that a lot of the price of shop bought products is made up of wages and marketing, just like in MLM.

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience try2vape.

Maybe a different opportunity would work better for you?

I said that once upon a time and this month I have started 2! I figure if I can make it with affiliate marketing, I can make it with MLM.

FreeCashMan: However, anyone can learn to make their mlm biz profitable. It's a process like any other biz.
I have cut my losses from MLM. When I went into business for myself in 2004, I still have my business. I was able to triple my nursing pay. I did MLM in between and have always lost.

MLM is not like other businesses who bring in the big guns to make you think it will be you.

I agree you can make some change with MLM but to say all have the same opportunity is mathematically impossible

From my experience, I've seen 95% of people give up from the MLM within 1-2 years.

robinincarolina: I said that once upon a time and this month I have started 2!
Congrats

Where did this 95% failure number come from. Who keep the statistics???? Just saying!

People make it in nursing, people fail in nursing. People love nursing, people hate nursing. Sounds like direct sales mlm.

If you were in a mlm in which others succeed then it's not the mlm.

Yes many mlm bring in big hitters to bring energy and excitement, however, if they built a network somewhere, then they once built that network. The most valuable asset of mlm is NOT the company but your network.

The saying of not what you know but who you know.

I'm sorry for you failure and happy for your nursing success.
However, when Nursing MLM would be way more profitable then one person doing Nursing. Thus the hospitals hire many nurses.

So the key point of what you stated was you've seen 95% of people "GIVE UP"....Well that is the answer.

I've never seen a person give up looking for a job until they found one. The same goes with finding home business success.

All the best

After a year of hard work and still losing money in several MLM's it's not worth it. When you get a degree in Nursing, you work hard and you get paid. In MLM, most work non stop and get paid little, don't you think? Come on, be honest.

Try2vape, what mlm's have you done?
What type of marketing have you done?

I am being honest. Most people fail because of marketing and mindset. Especially marketing.

If a person is not having success, in my experience their 'failure' is one of the 3:
1) Not Marketing Consistently,
2) Not Marketing Effectively,
3) Not Marketing Consistently or Effectively.

I "lost" over $1300 in my first online biz venture Passport to Wealth. Notwithstanding it wasn't a business model that was going to last, since then and because of PPW I learned how to market consistently and effectively to get results.

Your Nursing, or any job, thought asserts that all nurses are excelling and earning income, and we know that is not true. I've talked to many burned out nurses that hate their job. A job pays because it's a linear exchange of time & task for wages by someone else that takes the risk of time & task for profits.

As Jim Rohn said "Profits are better than Wages." Of course wages come easier than Profits from business ownership.

However, the risk of depending on a job to earn a living over one's lifetime has now become greater that and opportunity in which one does something for themselves to survive and thrive.

There is not a lot of difference to MLM and any other marketing, except the profit of a sale is spread over number of people.

In fact that sounds just like the high street shops. Someone makes the product, someone wholesales the product and someone retails the product. They all take a cut of the profit.

The key to all of them is not the levels, but the marketing.

I have done MLM in the past. Not now. I always failed. But I know it was my fault not the marketing plan. I found it hard to talk to people about the product or opportunity. I didn't market. How could I make any money. The problem was me not the system.

If I find a good MLM product I may get back into it as it would be so much easier now with the internet.

FreeCashMan: Where did this 95% failure number come from. Who keep the statistics???? Just saying!
That has been the stats for years - and I know it's true after doing several myself.

While I agree wholeheartily that mlm is a great way to go if you can find something that you believe in, the stats are still the stats.

robinincarolina: I said that once upon a time and this month I have started 2! I figure if I can make it with affiliate marketing, I can make it with MLM.
Congrats and much success to you!

newbiz02: I think mlm can work well for those who have other means of making money
already and can afford to stick with mlm longer before seeing the results.
Great point.

Cheers to all!

That's funny mountainmom, but it's true that's how the story goes based on one's experience and perception.

However, my point was as Tim Sales explained in his video:

MLM: Do Most People Fail?
http://youtu.be/FclI8hGQgb4

The notion that failure in mlm is greater than other business failures is by individuals is just not true.

You have succeed in your affiliate marketing because you learned how to marketing to the right audience to get the results that made your business profitable.

With the internet and access to mass markets nationally and globally failure to find some success in mlm is a matter of marketing, notwithstanding some businesses and/or their products tied in with mlm is just bad business.

If one is looking to succeed only on free marketing then that will typically result in a longer time frame to establish consistent leads that subsequently become new team members/sales. So with free marketing a 60-90 days time frame is reasonable, if being done right. Of course most are not doing it effectively, so if getting started for the first time then more like 4-6 months.

If using paid marketing then being able to be consistent with it over a 30-60 day period should turn out to be productive faster. Again, if being done effectively.

I just dislike seeing people asserting that mlm success is not really plausible without first qualifying and quantifying that assertion.

Yes, mlm success is not likely if one does NOT get their mind right and their marketing right to make success happen. However, one won't succeed on a job either without applying the right methods to do the task hired for.

try2vape: Not true my friend. Do the math. only a handful will make it big.
Wrong, I read somewhere that in a course of over 10 years, 100,000 new people in the US alone become millionaires from MLM.

robinincarolina: I said that once upon a time and this month I have started 2! I figure if I can make it with affiliate marketing, I can make it with MLM.
The money that you get from MLM is going to be lower when you start out. But long term, it is more worth it then regular affiliate programs.

It's all about DELAYED GRATIFICATION.

I have been in the industry for nine years now making great money doing various things. Yes 98% of network marketing companies market whimsical flimsy products where the prices are jacked up to pay the upline. Most of these products people would never buy if the opportunity was not attached to it. That is the key. You must offer a product or service that people will buy month after month even if they fail in the business. If you can beat your competition on price or service you have an edge and can prosper.

Yes 90% + fail in network marketing because quite frankly people get sold on the hype of quick profits. It takes time to build and unfortunately most people have an employee mindset as you mention above. Work hard and get paid. But that pay usually stays constant. With networking you work hard in beginning and get paid a little but that goes up exponentially as you hone your skills and get better. Most do not have the backbone for that. But the rewards in networking or MLM greatly exceed what 99% of the population can ever make at a job if they stick to it.

I love this industry because there is never a shortage of leads out there, people looking to make money (especially in this economy) and looking to save money. Team up with a legitimate, compliant company that markets a product or service people already buy so you are not trying to sell someone on overpriced chocolate. Then mass market. I teach people how to mass email market ( not spam) and how to market locally to small business owners and other sales pros such as realtors, insurance agents, etc.

Like anything in life only a small percentage of people excel at anything. If you take the time to build it and do it you can make a fortune.

Chris

Good points,

I remember when I went through the same doubt about MLM and after trying a few times, with no luck, I hung it up and shifted to affiliate marketing, did well, but like everything, nothing lasts forever.

I remember NSA too, and the chocolate deals, in fact, I researched them all over the years and am always looking for the next best deal. lol NSA was hot back in early 90's and I had a few friends that did well, but living in an area of all natural wells, didn't see the value since it required selling to those with bad water, so I skipped it.

I learned long ago that if you don't see a few failures along the way, then you will never see any success. It takes more than a couple failures to stop anyone who is successful, just ask anyone how many times they failed before they made it, and every singe one will tell you their stories of failures.

Not to say MLM is for everyone, it is not, just like sales is not for everyone, and in my opinion, if you are not a good sales person, you will never make it in MLM industry. Sure, luck and timing has a lot to do with success, and getting into NSA late was a sure strategy for failure. As to overpriced chocolate, yes, tough sale in a recession, so it is not easy to pick the right business at the right time.

I have seem it all, and like most who have been in the industry for the long haul, many have made it a full time occupation, but the failure rate will always be a high 95% plus for most, been that way for years as I have experienced, but there are some I know who were lucky and did really well simply because they ended up with a heavy weight in their downline, so you never know.

Success to all,