MLM 101

Never heard of MLM or Multi-Level-Marketing? When writing this book Stuart Haining set out to help inform people who already have experience of the sector and just needed a third party unbiased opinion of some aspects. It was never his intention to try and educate what he calls MLM Newbies – but he realised that the book, written in his unique, engaging style, was ideal for people who wanted to go into business but weren’t sure whether MLM was for them.Quite simply MLM is a different way of distributing, selling and supporting products and services. So instead of having a traditional network of salaried staff and agents such as wholesalers who earn a margin by shifting products through a supply chain in bulk, in MLM you buy direct from the manufacturer or originator of the service. It still gets sold and supported by real people of course but these are, in effect, self-employed agents who solely earn on the basis of a commission on sales plus rewards for hitting targets. And generally these people will work from home with no need for premises or warehouses. Different levels of commission are paid depending upon your level of involvement in the company and you can also earn a small percentage of revenue from the sales of people you introduce to the network. This is called your Downline. And the person that introduced or sponsored you into the network, assuming you were introduced, will be your Upline, and they too will earn a commission from your efforts, and your team members as well as their own. For obvious reasons this organisation shape tends to be associated with a pyramid like structure – as the business starts with one of two people at the top and grows out to many. It is a common held belief that those at the top make the most money and hence any kind of pyramid selling must be a bad thing. Whilst this is in part true, it ignores the fact that pyramid selling is illegal in most countries, hence members only earn when they help people succeed, not simply by getting people to join and earning a portion of the joining fees. MLM, alongside many other new business opportunities, is often presented as a Get-Rich-Quick Scheme, and again, whilst elements are true in that MLM can make people far more successful than a day job, few things in life come easy without effort, and MLM is no exception.This Bite Sized book then helps ensure if you do venture into the MLM waters, you don’t need to be afraid as you will be better aware of both the opportunities and risks plus which steps take your forwards rather than backwards.