MLM's: Their Problems, the pitfalls and who gets rich

We have all seen the e-mails: "Make $2000.00 a day, working only an hour a day from home." Many, if not all of us, have clicked that button before. We are shown videos, we read testimonials, there are figures and numbers that boggle the mind. We are told there is a limited time offer, and if we act today, we can start making money the first hour we are in the program. We give out our telephone number, our e-mail, and our hopes and dreams. We want the better life, the vacations to exotic ports of call, the Escalades, the beautiful homes, the Lear Jets. We close our eyes and imagine "The Good Life."

I too have been duped by this dream more than once in my life. I started out at age 17, working with my father, selling Term Life Insurance for the company "A.L. Williams." My father and I went to the weekly sales meetings (109 miles away), we sold the insurance door to door, we worked this company full time (because they told us how much you could make part time, we figured full time we could make more), but the emphasis was not on selling Term Life Insurance, but selling the business, creating a down line. The man who sold the business to us looked successful, he drove a new Cadillac, he had a Rolex on his wrist, he built a beautiful house, he took us to expensive restaurants and said, "It is just a business expense."

My dad and I tried this for six months, and we never saw a dime. The man who was our "Sponsor" went bankrupt, because he bought all those nice things on credit, he lost his home, his car, his Rolex, his marriage and his dignity. He was over $500,000 in debt. He was also looking for that six figure income, but all he got was six figure debt.

Unfortunately I did not learn my lesson, and I went "into business" several more times in my life. I don't believe I am stupid, but I am always looking for a better way to earn a living, and still have time for my family. I have done the "regular" jobs, and they all just trade time for money, the more time you spend at the job, the more money you get. I found myself either having too much time and not enough money to do things, or enough money but not enough time. I missed out on the formative years of my older children, because I was in management, and spending 15 to 18 hours away from them a day. That is why the draw of the "Home Based Business."

Just recently I was approached by "Premier Team International" They sounded good. They have coaches, they have a weight loss program, they are just willing to help, provided you pay almost $300.00. I was excited, so I brought this to my wife. They were selling Herbalife.

Warning #1: If you have trepidation talking about a new "project" to anyone, then you need to rethink your decision about joining that company.

I looked for an opportunity to talk to my wife, I knew she would not be happy. I got her alone, where I could have complete and undivided attention, and I launched my first "Sales Pitch." I was right about her not being happy, because her mother lost a lot of money in Herbalife. We went home, and my wife typed in Herbalife into a search engine, and page after page of scams with Herbalife came up. I was mad, she ruined my illusion. This was going to take us out of the hole we had, it was going to ease my burden of being unemployed, now it was just another scam.

Looking back on the whole experience I remembered watching their videos, I noticed that they did not say who they were. Herbalife never came up. I did not know it was Herbalife, until the following day, when I asked my Coach the direct question "What are you selling?" It reminds me of when I started as an Amway distributor, a ninety minute sales promotion in a large auditorium with over a hundred people sitting there, and only in the last five minutes of the presentation did they even mention the word Amway.

Warning 2: If a company is too afraid of telling you who they are, are they really worth working for? If their reputation is so tarnished that they cannot come out and say I am with XYZ company; how easy is it going to be for you to sell their company?

Than another company tried to get me on the hook, this time I took the skeptical approach like my wife did, and I googled their name in conjunction with the word "scam." I was educated about how bad this company was, and how they were sued, how they have taken advantage of people, and how their products didn't work.

I was introduced to a Jon M. Taylor, MBA, PhD: Who apparently had problems with this MLM in the past, and I went to his site http://www.mlm-thetruth.com/. His 5 red flags of a recruiting MLM is worth reading.

The people on the testimonials; who spent their grocery money, who took their kids college money, who took the last few hundred dollars in their bank accounts, and are now making six figure incomes: If you read on the bottom of their testimonials it reads "Results not typical." Unfortunately that is probably the most truth you will get out of the presentation.

Bottom line. If you are not in the top tiers of the MLM company, you are not going to make any money. If you have to sell the company to make money and not the product, you are not going to make any money. If you have to put in more money than you make, you are not going to make any money. If there is unlimited recruiting of distributors with no territorial protection, you are not going to make any money. Remember only the top tiers of the company are those who make the money, if you are not there, you will just end up looking for that illusive end of the rainbow.

In closing, I have been down this road many times. All these roads are "Dead Ends." There is nothing there except heart ache, disappointment and strife. There are some who make it, but at what cost? How much are you willing to sacrifice to have this MLM? I am not talking about time, but I am talking about self respect. Are you willing to sell your soul to the MLM company, in order to make a few thousand dollars? Do some research, take the time to look at all aspects of the company, and only then can you make an informed decision.