Multi Level Marketing - am I wasting my time $$ ???

Quoting: clendonI have stated elswhere in this forum that if you are trying to make extra income in an MLM program, then scour the various forums such as this one. The key here though is EXTRA income. I would not recommend an MLM program as a full time job as even the best of them have a life expectancy of about two to three years. But they are great for extra income. Don't adjust your budget to account for this added income as it could come back to haunt you.
Excellent rule of thumb. If you are looking to retire with an online business you might as well head back to school, at least then you have a secure future.

MLM's are hit and miss at best. Even with a good sponsor/mentor you can fail. What are you willing to spend? You have to consider the time and money you'll have to put in any company you are trying.
EXTRA INCOME is what an online job should be until you can clearly see that you are making enough money to tell your boss to go take a flying leap.

Wow there is such a wealth of advice here!! I agree that the product must be marketable. There are certain products that all you have to do is say their name and the product is sold. But do you want to have to hoard product in your home, collect money, deliver the product, etc? i have a friend who was VERY successful in a very famous MLM program and earned trips to Paris, Rome and even Australia. She also earned the company car. She worked her butt off though.
I cannot be bothered collecting money and hoarding product, so I chose the Travel industry. Its in demand, and everyone does it, and it nver runs out.
I also suggest finding something that you are passionate about, that you like. That is also very important.
Good luck to you.

feeling scammed, I can so relate to what you are feeling and their has been a lot of good advice given here. I just offer to it that it is a well known fact that 95% of the people that try mlm do not succeed

On an average it takes 100-250 active people in your orginization to pull in approximately $1000 check a month.

There are a lot of good MLM Companies out there with very good products. You just need to go into it with the mindset that your income is largely based not only on your efforts but the efforts [or lack there of ] of everyone in your team.

All that you have learned is viable and can redirected into other area's that could be very profitable for you. That is what I did and I am glad I did not give up on my dreams.

MLM does work for 5% of the people who stick with it. The key is finding a unique product that you have a personal attachment to. If not that then you need a product that pays you very well and a large internet advertising budget. Then just play the numbers.

I wonder why Fellingscammed hasn't bothered to responded to a lot of very good and well thought out lengthy replies over the last 8 months?

I'm actually looking into MLMs. I've always thought they were all Pyramid SCHEMES. But the potential out there is making everyone want to join them. I'm just tired of working day to day just barely able to pay my bills. Of course it's harder now because I'm not working. I too was looking into the travel business. However, the investment is way way out of my budget. Maybe in the future once I get a job, I can probably be able to save up for my travel business if it still around since I've heard the travel business is in trouble at this time. Well.. I guess I'll continue my search for a home-based business that I can invest my $2 or $3 in it.

Any business can be frustrating. I had my own business for 5 years. I NEVER got a break. I've been working a corporate job for 10 years now and see what truly is a pyramid. I will never make more than my boss. I joined an MLM with a GREAT product and GREAT comp plan in January and things are going well.
Pyramid schemes typically don't involve product. If you can make more and increase in rank past your sponsor, you've got a business model that you should be comfortable with.
I think most people give up too quickly thinking they'll get rich quick. Also, there is a bit of laziness that can go on with people getting into MLMs. They think that just by signing on, they can make a million!
Before signing on distributors, it's key to qualify them and see what they really want and see if it's a good fit.
Again, the key is not giving up. It also helps to have a product that is a consumable and isn't available everywhere and a management team that is interested in offering training.

I've never been a fan of MLM's, you put in ALOT of work and TIME away from your family and it usually takes a long time to see real results. I make alot more money than I ever would in an MLM, plus I put alot less time in.

Once you know how to market on the internet and BUILD A LIST of emails, you will be able to build any MLM in record time.

Feelingscammed,

I am an independent distributor with MB as well, FYI as a distributor you choose to focus on team building, retail sales or fundraising with as a MB distributor many join to do retail and later see that building a team is something they can do no one is required to build a team.

You decide if you are going to succeed or not if you believe or know you are you will, if you believe you can't you won't. If all you are saying to yourself 'I can't...' you are programming your subconscious mind for failed.

Plan or write goals than take action this is the real key to success no matter what you do.

Michelle
Believe * Achieve *Succeed
Things get better by change!

The key to having major success is obviously duplication and leveraging your time to close sales. Spending all this time on marketing or prospecting is a waste of time when those things can be farmed out. To make 6 figures plus you must leverage your time.

Using a call center to call all your leads is a great way to just spend your time speaking to eager aces who are ready to join a great business. And then once they join you upsell them on a tool.

I have made great money for the past 7 years, you got to treat this like a serious business and not just a hobby. All out massive action using others people money and time is the way millionaires are made.

And oh yeah timing is important to. That is why I am so excited about myphoneroom.

You already have enough support response. But the truth is many people are working full time with an MLM business.

All it takes is a learning curve which can not be aquired in one day.

In MLM you should want to build your site. If you dont have a site get one. Optimize it and start building backlink on a consistent basis. Believe me it really works.

I know how you feel. When I first started all my friends and family said no to joining my business. So I asked myself what now? I could either quit or find another way to build the business. I chose the latter. Once I started building my business online things changed for me. Do what your heart tells you but remember true success is getting from one failure to the other with the same enthusiasm.

To your freedom and success,

Joel

MLM is a great industry... 1. I would suggest following a proven system. 2. Whatever you put into it thats what your results are 3. Stay focused and motivated

Hi Feelingscammed,
I undrestand your fustration, i been doing all that you have been through. Gave up MLM and started an import business and is still struggling to make it big. I realise that you have to get with the times and start including online marketing and make the trend my friend. Th traditional way of networking is outdated we have to use the internet as the successfull ones are doing. Find someone or an organisation that is willing to teach you to market online and have faith, you time of success is coming.

Best Regards
Greenvalleyman

I am also working too hard on my business and I think most of the big entrepreneurs also went through what we are experiencing. My mentor said something will click in mind, maybe a day, a month, a year or several years and before making it big. There will be a time where you will "finally get it". But that won't happen if you quit.

In my experience, I have a hard time recruiting people because of time and financial constraints. I diversified online. But it does not mean I won't be prospecting offline again. I'm just putting my strengths forward and then later on focus on my weaknesses.

Feelingscammed,

If you've been working your business for 3+ years and are still not getting anywhere, then all I can think is that either you have a lousy mentor or you are putting too much time and $$ into the wrong activities. I've never been a rep for Mia Bella but I know their products and most of those sorts of companies are based on the party plan style of building. If that's the case then you have to start in your local market with newspaper ads, networking functions, and a heavy emphasis on retail. That means building to a situation where you're giving parties 2-3 nights a week, and the rest of the time asking people to check out your product.

This may or may not be the way you want to do business. If time and money are an issue for you, I would suggest looking at a company where you can redirect spending away from your everyday shopping, or find a company that allows you to build online and leverage your time.

Hope this helps!
Nathan Z

Hi feelingscammed,
I understand your frustration and I hope that you and others can use this advice that I'm giving, not that I'm an expert or anything but just want to share my opinions. It does take time and energy and money. I believe that is the #1 reason that people fail at this. Many times your upline doesn't share that little nugget of information with you. As far as the legalities, MLM is legal, it is a viable source of income and is not illegitimate in any way. I feel that the horrible act of few in the past has left a bit of a black eye on the industry, but i really feel the times are changing, for reasons I am not going to get into here, because that would make this post 5 pages long and I don't want to subject anyone to my boring posts and horrible grammer. But, at the end of the day it takes time and them more time and them more time, it's hard work and might not be for everyone but if you have the right training and the right foundation, and a good plan then in my opinion anyone can do it. Some might excel faster than others and that is fine, but you need to stick with it. If it causing you financial hardship well then by all means it might be a good time to stop working your business, because you do need capital to keep the business going for the first few months to a year, just like any business. And yes, you need to grow your downline, and you need to grow it big, and there are many ways to do that and that comes back to training and marketing. I hope that you will stick with it because it can be a great way to generate income but again if it is draining your bank account you might want to reconsider doing this type of business. I hope this helped a bit

Interesting,

It all comes down to one simple thing, if you as a customer of your own company cannot save more money then you are spending starting your home business in the first month, forget it, no one else will either, and this is why most fail, they are not seeing a profit in first month, and as is well known, most will not stick to it if they are not into profit in three months.

I have come to the conclusion after years in business, if you would not be a customer without the income opportunity, look elsewhere for no one else will want to be a customer either, hence, a failure is assured. It is all about saving people money in a recession on what they are already purchasing anyhow, as in transfer buying, this is the key to success.

Success to all,

Personally I think the doors are closing on the MLM industry as we know it. The internet is killing it and most dont have a compensation plan that is commensurate with effort. I have had experience in 2 MLM's in the past and both had tiny commissions on first line sales.
If you look at something like affilliate marketing where 50% to 70% commissions are common why would you settle for 10% or less.
Give me 50% commissions "GetPaidToday" in a TopTier over putting in 3-5 years building a business plagued with dead down lines and tiny checks & complaining reps who need constant hand holding hoping to one day be "FREE". The irony of MLM is that so many come to it trying to "Get Their Time Back" only to spend ALL their time doing meetings/3way calls and presentations to their "make a list of everyone you know (friends & family)" who have no business being in business !!

Furthermore, add the fact that many MLM'rs are turning their backs on MLM forever in favour of a more popular business model (GPT)should be the "writing on the wall"