4 Unfortunate Myths About Online MLM

By Luke Ilech
Posted Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Experts and newbies are alike in misunderstanding the way online MLM works, and under-estimating the steps involved.

2 examples of common (but untrue) MLM myths are: "An Internet Marketing Expert is an Automatic MLM expert" and "Make a Ton of Sales, And You Make a Ton Of Cash".

People fall for the same old myths about how these programs work. And these end up costing them hundreds or thousands of dollars a year in wasted time and effort.

Acquaint yourself with these 4 myths, and protect yourself from the online hype and misconceptions.

Myth #1: MLM On The Internet Can Be Wildly Profitable in One Month

The most unfortunate and damaging myth about online home business is that the income can come quickly.

It *may* be possible for a "big dog" with an established network of partners, to create a residual income of $1000 in one month. But this will never happen for the average person building from scratch.

Consider this:

The average internet MLM pays $2 - $7 per person in an organization. To earn $2000 - $7000 per month, you need 1000 people in your organization.

This is very possible to achieve. But it takes time.

Myth #2: "It’s A Ground Floor Opportunity - You Must Join Today"

When someone says: "Ground Floor Opportunity - Join Today" what are they really saying?

Is it: (1) "People who join after me have less chance of making money than I do" ? OR (2) "The company will be useless in 2 years time" ?

Would you want to take a year or two to build a good residual income, only to have that income disappear?

And what would happen to the suckers who join in 6 or 7 months time?

A good business opportunity should actually *improve* with time and exposure. It’ll be based on products (or services) - and delivering more in product value than the dollar amount people are paying for it.

(Yes it IS possible to find such companies on the internet, I know a few).

Myth #3: Make A Ton Of Sales and You Make A Ton Of Cash

The way MLM (truly) works best is if a large number of people each help each other to make a small numbers of sales.

Let me show you what I mean:

In an offline business we were in, a guy joined who was an awesome direct mail marketer. Soon he put together a masterly direct mail campaign to promote this opportunity. He invested a lot of money then unleashed his packages. In 5 weeks he had several hundred people in his downline, and was earning several thousand dollars per month.

But within two years he had dropped out of that company.

Why is this?

It’s because almost none of the people he brought in were able to do what he was able to. So he wasn’t able to help them grow their businesses. (He possibly didn’t have time to help 500 newbies). And since the monthly purchase requirement was $130 in this particular company they soon started dropping out.

The point you really ought to understand is this:

"In MLM, you don’t make much money from making sales - You make much money from building an organization!"

This brings us nicely to the next and final myth:

Myth # 4: You Build From The Top Downwards

Many people feel that you "come in at the top", then bring people in "under you". They reflect this in their attitude to the job.

If you’re smart, you’ll know better.

You build from the bottom.

At the start, there’s no one else in your business. You just have a dream, and help from your company and upline.

Imagine you’re trying to erect a building.

You find 3 bricks and place them in your foundation. But you must physically support these from below. Yes, they’re heavy at first, but you do the job. You continue to support them.

One morning you wake up and there are now 9 bricks in your structure, from the 3 you started with.

You’re supporting a 9 brick structure now, and because you do, it continues to grow. Eventually, you look up and find that you have a solid building.

Can you see it?

The bottom "bricks" are people you recruit and assist to take their first steps as marketers of your opportunity. When they help other people, your organization expands.

The point is that the engine that drives lasting MLM growth is people helping other people, in small numbers, and everybody doing their share.

At the beginning your job is to sponsor a small number of people and support them, and encourage them to make sales ... encourage them to encourage other people in the same way.

Once you build a small group of people and the helping culture takes hold, you’ll start to develop a rapidly growing organization ... that grows rapidly and wildly with a momentum you couldn’t stop, even if you tried to.

You’ll have an online home business you can be proud of.

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Luke Ilech is a freelance writer with special interest in online home business. Learn 7 closely guarded secrets to success in ANY good online networking or affiliate opportunity by visiting his website. This knowledge can pay you for years to come! And it’s still F'ree at: (http://www.systematicmlm.com/?share)

About the Author
Luke Ilech is a freelance writer with special interest in online home business. Learn 7 closely guarded secrets to success in ANY good online networking or affiliate opportunity by visiting his website. This knowledge can pay you for years to come!