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| My
MLM Background
Some people can't figure out why I am so vocal about the things I don't like about MLM. Especially my upline and friends from other companies. I think the people I irritate the most are people who know what I have done in MLM and who want me to get in their "Opportunity Of A Lifetime" AKA "MLM of the Week". After a decade in MLM I have learned more about it than I ever wanted to know. I actually miss the good old days when I didn't know any better and could spread the lies and get some fast cash. Well, I feel kinda' bad about it now but my point is that after you have seen what I have you will be faced with a decision. Either give yourself over to the Dark Side or give up on MLM entirely. I found myself in the position on not being able to choose either one. I believe deep down in the core of my being that a company can be set up to deliver on the Promise of Network Marketing. I started out my MLM career selling the Dream for a certain soap company. I was as green as they come & I was desperate for money. I had a new baby on the way and the ups and downs of being a Painting Contractor weren't going to cut it with the added responsibility. I bought into the pitch hook, line, & sinker. A friend told me he "Was starting to work with a few millionaires from the Rocky Mountains and that they were expanding a business in our area." He said that they were looking for "A few sharp people" and that my name came up in the conversation and that they were interested in meeting me. Stop me if you've heard this one. They told me about how they had this revolutionary marketing system and how 70% of the price of a product gets wasted on jobbers, middlemen & retail stores. With their direct to the consumer from the manufacturer business model they not only saved consumers money on purchases they were making anyway but there was plenty of money left over for us (the people who introduced end consumers to the system)! Then they told me the name of the company..... I joined anyway and I am still glad that I did. When I say I joined, I mean I just about sold these people my soul. Fortunately for me they didn't require a urine test to get started. I cut my hair, got a suit, attended every meeting and did presentations 3 and 4 times a week on top of my 60-80 workweek as a contractor. I did this for a full year and at the end of that year I had spent thousands (I still have cases of the books and tapes) and had a group of four (yes 4) distributors. Sad part is I bought the kits for two of them. I now say I started out my MLM career with a year in "MLM Boot Camp". I had gotten the bug though. I was convinced that the MLM business model could work. It never dawned on me that in all those meetings I went to there was only one or two millionaires on stage and a whole auditorium full of us wanna-bees. Instead I figured I needed something people had not heard of or something easier to sell then overpriced soap. I ended up with Pre-Paid Phone Cards and let me tell you "They were spendy little cards too". Everything was just perfect for me. A start up company, no real "system" to speak of. I could waltz right in, set up shop like they ran it in the soap business and I would be a millionaire myself. It was a binary payout plan and I thought that was fantastic. So easy to explain. No "Break Aways". I spent a few thousand dollars buying 15 business centers. I applied everything I learned from the other MLM company and within a few short weeks had 50+ people in the group and was holding weekly meetings and trainings. I was going to be rich! Then the Attorney General got wind of the deal and it never picked up after that. I couldn't figure out what happened. I had no idea of the Laws that govern MLM (and apparently neither did the owners of this company). I knew what the laws were for a Contractor in my state but I never considered them for a minute in MLM & no one was very eager to educate me either. I wanted the easy money. I was blinded by the "Earning Potential" and the "Residual Income" I spent several thousands more on several other lame companies. I lost a bunch with "The Laundry Ball" which was a plastic ball filled with blue water. It was suppose to clean your clothes with "Far Infrared Waves". What a crock of, oh well. Interestingly enough we had other suckers like myself who would stand up at the meetings and give testimonials about how fresh their clothes were and how wonderful it was to not have the harsh detergents next to their skin. I know you are thinking "How far from grace can a failed soap salesmen fall". I decided that MLM was a bunch of bullshit and decided to focus on my contracting business. I figured if I spent half the energy on it as I did on my Networking I could grow it. After all I wasn't getting that family time MLM promised me because I was out pitching the dream 4 or 5 nights a week and the kid was growing up fast & I was missing it. Then as fate would have it I ran into a friend who was selling something from a start up company that was helping people loose weight. It was a MLM but I wasn't interested in the business. I just wanted to try the product. Well to make a long story short I had "My Life Changing Product Experience" with this nutritional formula. I dropped 40 pounds in 100 days. You could not shut me up. I personally put 17 people into the business in the first two weeks and I was just getting warmed up. I actually made allot of money with this company. I ended up in the top 1% of income earners in the world of MLM. I was in the top 1% of the Top 1% of distributors in a company with half a million associates. Now this is where most of the stories you have heard about the MLM superstars ends and you are suppose to be impressed and run to the back of the room to sign up. However my story didn't end there. I started running with a different crowd. I got to know owners of other MLM companies and top distributors in the industry. I had "Arrived". The only thing that bothered me was that the people in my group were not making squat. I actually like a bunch of these people and I held training sessions and sold books and tapes and found out that makes for a nice side business. Then about three years ago I learned about compressed pay plans and the theory of putting most of the money within reach of the part time networker. Up until then I didn't even realize than my company paid more to me than it did to the people who actually put our products on the streets. I started to feel bad about that and eventually lost my stomach for telling people they could make it my company. I would sit and stare at a downline report that spanned three continents and was responsible for millions in product sales and started to realize that it could all evaporate. So with lots of free time on my hands (I haven't had a job for years), and a desire to understand this industry that was supporting me and my family I decided to do some research. I have always been very intelligent, I haven't always been very smart but I am very intelligent. As I looked at half a century of Networking in America I understood why it had such a bad reputation. I also realized that I was responsible for spreading the lies and that I lived in a house near the ocean because I was a Master Dream Weaver. This all came to a head for me when I was flown to an "Invitation Only" meeting of some of the Top Producers in all of Network Marketing. I was sitting in the boardroom of the corporate headquarters for one of the giants of MLM. They had just been bought out by a multi-billion dollar company and were planning their expansion. I was invited to be a part of the core team. They had a new billion dollar producer as CEO, deep pockets and it was the best "Story" I had ever heard about in the history of MLM. The kicker was their story was 100% true, they really had put together the biggest deal in the History of MLM and they will end up being a multi-billion dollar company. I was sold. I knew that the story was everything when you are selling the business opportunity. Only one problem; Old School Compensation Plan. It was another one of those plans that reward the Heavy Hitter over the Part Time MLMer. I just couldn't stand up in front of the crowds and Lie to them. I knew too much. Instead I went back to a small 6 year old publicly traded company that has the best compensation plan that I have seen in all of MLM. I am pleased with myself for this decision & am even more pleased that I can legitimately get a part time MLMer a real check very quickly WITHOUT SCREWING ANYONE!
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