What is MLM and Can You Make Money From It?

So many people these days misunderstand MLM.  There are so many misconceptions about MLM that it is hard to even understand what is MLM?  MLM simply stands for multi-level marketing.

So what is MLM and how do these companies “market”? MLM companies are usually direct sales companies.  They have independent distributors help them to sell their products, these distributors earn commissions on every product they sell.  Some companies have their distributors purchase the products and then sell them on, and some companies have the customers order directly from the company which then sends the commission to the distributor.

What is MLM – What does “multi-level” even mean?

This simply means that when you refer other people to the business, who want to become a distributor themselves, you will earn money not just from their product purchases but also from the product purchases of those people they refer.  It means that if you recruit a few hard workers you can make money by doing nothing!  The more people you recruit the more money you make.

This becomes multi-level as the commissions often go several levels down!  For example, if you recruit Susan, who recruits Gerry, who recruits Denise, you can still be earning money on the people Denise recruits.  This is why people who work hard make a FORTUNE in MLM.  They leverage themselves by growing huge organizations that make money for them.

As more people join your team, the money you earn goes up at an exponential rate.

What is MLM – The Downsides

MANY people fail in this industry because they don’t understand what they are getting into!  They think they can talk to a few family and friends, get them into business and they will become rich.  Your family and friends often don’t want a business and become uncomfortable when you try to suggest it to them.  Also, if they do get started it is unlikely they will be very motivated (ie, they weren’t actively looking for a business so they will not be as driven as others).  You need to recruit motivated people who will work hard and be successful themselves!

What is MLM – The Benefits

MLM is a cheap way to go into business for yourself.  Unlike franchises you don’t need a huge franchise fee to get started, typically you need around $500 to $2000 to get started (with fees and marketing).

You can do MLM from home!  This is one of the most appealing aspects of MLM.  You can operate your business anywhere you have access to a phone or computer.

You don’t need to do the hard slog forever!  Don’t get me wrong, you have to work HARD at first.  If you want to make significant income you should expect to be working at least one or two hours a day, and the more time you put in the faster you will acheive success.  BUT, once you’ve built a solid team the team works for you, you will get to a tipping point where you get to sit back and let the money come in with very little effort on your part.

People make fortunes in MLM and live the dream lifestyle!  It really is a great way to gain freedom from your job and live life on your terms.

What is MLM – Is MLM For You?

Don’t join an MLM company if you are looking for a hobby.  They can be hard work and you can waste a lot of money buying products and marketing your business if you don’t fully commit.  You need to make sure you are willing to put in a bit of work at the start.

MLM is like any business, it takes time for it to actually gain some traction and go into profit.  If you are ready to free yourself from your circumstances, but don’t have the budget or time to start a brick-and-mortar business MLM is the perfect way to earn.  You can work hard for 6 months, then pull back to working a couple hours a week and free yourself for a lifetime.

What is MLM – How to Find an MLM

You should choose your MLM company based on their products and compensation plan.  You simply need to ensure the products are something you can get excited about and that will excite others.  Look for something you will want to purchase yourself.  When choosing an MLM I went for a product that I knew everyone wants more of and that will gain in value over time (i.e. I will have something that is becoming more valuable instead of just a marketing gimmick).  You can learn more about the MLM I chose by watching our team Facebook presentation.

With compensation plan you simply need to know that it is possible to make money!  Consider what you want.  If you want money quickly go for a program that rewards you upfront (ie larger commissions)  in these programs you typically have less residual income so you have to keep working at them to keep your income.  Or you can go for a more traditional MLM that has more residual income so you can work hard at the start, but earn more money in the long term.

Look for someone you can work with don’t attempt to do MLM alone!  You need to sign up with someone who knows how to be a success in MLM so they can teach you and you can teach the people you recruit!

Regardless of which MLM you choose you need to know how to market it to make money online, and find people for your business (using free online methods).  Sign up for the lead generation bootcamp at the right of this page.  It will show you how to generate free MLM leads regardless of which company you choose to work with.

So What is MLM:  The BEST way to earn a huge income and have the freedom to live the life you truly desire!

P.S. Want to know the simplest and easiest way to be successful?? Join a team of thousands that are all working on the same simple plan to leverage the power of a community to ALL become a success: Learn more here.

First I feel it’s important that people follow this process for themselves. I will not be mentioning any companies by name (so you know that I am not simply trying to convince you that the company I am in is the best). And if you are reading this on Living Aloud, any comments that mention particular companies by name or have links to them will be deleted. The point of this article is that people go out and find the company that is best for them…and No, there is no “best” company that everyone should join.

One of the problems with the MLM/network marketing industry these days is that many people jump into the first company they stumble across without stopping to think if it is something they want to spend their time on, that they want to be a part of. If you are currently looking at the MLM or network marketing industry there are several key factors to consider before you commit to one. Once you’ve committed to a company you want to give it your all, you need to invest your time, efforts, and capital in just one business at the start so make sure you pick the one most suited to you.

Before you begin your search, decide what you are looking for. Get a piece of paper and answer these questions. Take the time to get clear.

1. What type of life do you want to be leading?
When I ask prospective business partners this question they often get tongue-tied. They say they just want to be able to pay the bills. If that is truly ALL you want…hit your back button now. You should not be in business, but maybe working freelance doing jobs for someone else.

Really think about what your ideal day would be. What type of work would it involve? Would you be having interesting conversations with people with a shared interest? Would there be no phone involved and you would just be working online? Where would you be? Who would be with you? The important thing here is to figure out your ideal everyday. Otherwise you wont get past the idea of just being on holiday. Holidays get boring. People need to be creating and growing. What would be fun and stimulating for you? What sort of lifestyle do you want? This can get quite specific, down to the type of house you’re in, the car in your garage, how your day would progress.

2. What are you Interested in?
What broad areas of interest do you have? Are you interested in helping the environment, traveling, shopping online, physical fitness, personal growth, fashion?

So many people join network marketing companies because they saw a good pay-plan, but never even stop to think about the products themselves. These days there are network marketing companies in most industries. The key here is that if you are going to sell products from your company they should be products that you can get excited about and that you would buy yourself.

3.What Type of Compensation Plan Suits You?
There are MLMs, Direct Sales, GPTs, etc. There are many types of compensation and you need to decide what type will get you to your ideal lifestyle. GPT (Get paid today) or Top-Tier programs tend to have extremely high commissions so you need to make very few sales to achieve a high income. They usually have less residual component so while the growth of your network can provide an incredible income you need to continue to do a certain amount of work. MLM’s tend to have a very small commission, but you get commissions down through several levels of your business. This model also requires a ton of upfront work and takes a lot longer to replace an income, but then can yield much higher residuals later on. Of course there are a few hybrids out there. Just make sure that the model you choose can really help you achieve the lifestyle you outlined in step one.

4.What Type of Leader Are You Looking For?
This is important. This person can really assist you in growing your business quickly. They have probably have made a few mistakes and also figured out what works. One key thing to remember is you don’t necessarily want to work with the top income earner in the company. They will be less likely to have time to work with you directly, also they will be less invested in your success because they have a huge organization whether or not you are successful. Find someone who resonates with you. Who deliver value to you. Make sure you have a good chat with them before you sign up. You want to be sure it’s someone who appeals to you and you can see yourself working with. They don’t have to be a friend, but if you don’t like their vibe, go find someone else.

5. Research
Now that you have your list. This is how you apply it to your research:
-Start with Industry. What opportunities are available within your listed areas of interest?

-Then look for the Comp Plan that most suits you.

-Once you’ve selected a company find a Leader that
suits you (I have in the past started with a leader I wanted to work with first and then researched their business. But if you really resonate with them, they are probably in a business that will resonate with you)

-Now have a look back at Step 1. Can this company, compensation plan, and team provide the lifestyle you are looking for? Does this company have a community you will enjoy being a part of? Does it fit in with your image of the ideal you?

One of the major reasons people fail is lack of marketing training and knowledge. A lot of network marketers don’t know anything about internet marketing and can’t train their team. However, if you can line up all the above components and find an opportunity that fits what you are looking for you can get good training elsewhere. You can continue to visit sites such as this and Network Power PRO, and apply the marketing training to your opportunity.

Just remember that you are starting a business, not a hobby, not a job. Also, you will never find a company that exactly perfectly fits everything you have on your list, but if you are clear on what you are looking for from the start you can make sure you are in an opportunity where you can really achieve YOUR dreams.

If you have spent anytime investigation MLM lead generation online you have come across the promises of “free leads”.

So do free leads actually exist? And if so are they worth your time?

Well, let’s be honest here, why would any company offer you free leads? Unless they are coming straight from your MLM company (and frankly I don’t know many companies that do this), they are trying to get your money. The idea is usually that you pay for a certain amount of paid leads, and they throw in a whole bunch free. Thus it’s not exactly free leads, but cheap leads.

When I first started in the MLM industry I struggled to create leads on my own, so I bought leads to get started. I bought 500 and got 150 leads free. Out of all those leads how many got started in my business? Zero. That’s right, not one. Why? Because paid leads are generally terrible. They don’t know who you are or how you got their details. Often their details have been sold to several marketers so they are frustrated and sick of phone calls by the time you reach them. Remember the key to MLM success is being a leader, and few of these leads will see you as a leader because they don’t have a clue who you are!

The other reason bought leads/free leads can be damaging to your business is because in order to sponsor people you must maintain your own confidence and mindset. No one will sign up with someone who sounds nervous/desperate/afraid. I don’t know one person who can take 650 “No”s without being a little put-off by it. Many network marketers already struggled with phone fear, and yes you must learn to deal with some rejection, but the amount of rejection and suspicion you receive from paid leads is enough to make you question your own abilities and business. Trust me, the potential benefit is not worth the risk to your own mindset and leadership.

So the real question is: Do GOOD free MLM leads exist?

The answer is, Absolutely YES! But their quality and potential is completely based on how they are generated. You must be generating your own leads so that when you call they know who you are, they know you are a real genuine person, the know you can actually help them achieve success. This type of lead will not destroy your confidence, but on the contrary will help you to build it up.

Ok, so I know you’re desperately trying to generate any type of lead, you’re sick of throwing money at it and the idea of generating free leads yourself seems like a complete fantasy. So here is just a few ways you can do it:

LinkedIN: A great place to meet others and discuss ideas. The idea here is you want to stay professional, and present yourself as a leader. What can you contribute? If you contribute high quality info you attract people to check out your websites and connect with you.

Article Marketing/Blog: You can set up a blog and write articles completely for free. This is a great place to establish yourself as a leader and share your knowledge.

Facebook: Facebook is a fantastic source of Free leads. It’s completely full of people looking to connect, looking to see what others out there are doing. Be careful, don’t copy what other people are doing on Facebook because the blatant advertising is frankly annoying and DOESN’T work. A lot of marketers are struggling to generate free leads here because they don’t know how.

This is just a few ways to get free leads. These methods not only get you free leads, but they will be higher quality because they already have some connection to you and some idea of who you are and how you can assist them. This has to be done properly and to stand out from the crowd you must always come from a place of assistance and giving knowledge and help, not trying to get leads.

Here’s how to start: fill in your details below to get access to a FREE 70 minute webinar on How to Market Your MLM Using Facebook (given by Jim Chao, an absolute expert at Facebook marketing) .

Fill in Your Details for Free Facebook Training