Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Multi Level Marketing Basics - The MLM Business Model

By George Dodge

MLM, or Multi Level Marketing, when combined with the Internet, creates a powerful formula for creating a successful home business and achieving financial freedom.

This business model is used by hundreds of companies to move their goods and services to the end consumer. In this article, my goal is to provide you with information on what this industry is and what it is not.

I want to give you everything you need to make an informed, educated decision about whether or not this business concept is right for you.

Multi Level Marketing is simply a business model for moving products and services from production to the consumer using independent distributors with a multi level commission payout plan. Since distributors can recruit other distributors and establish teams that work together, this business model is often also called Network Marketing.

Some people believe that Multi Level Marketing companies are nothing more than scams or illegal pyramid schemes. However, for true MLM companies, nothing could be further from the truth. These people simply do not understand how Multi Level Marketing companies work.

The first thing that you need to know is that MLM is not illegal and it is not a pyramid scheme. While the organizational structure resembles a pyramid in shape, this is true of almost all businesses. There are far more workers in the lower ranks of any business then at the top, if not, the business would collapse. Not everyone in the company can be CEO or Vice President. If fact, Multi Level Marketing companies are one hundred percent legal and many multi-million dollar companies use this business model to market their products.

Some of the best known MLM companies include Amway, Shaklee, Tupperware, Princess House, a subsidiary of Colgate Palmolive, A.L. Williams, Mary Kay Cosmetics, U.S. Sprint, MCI, Melaleuca, and NSA. These companies have been around for decades.

MLM is an explosive growth field and there are hundreds more MLM companies that, just like other companies, include some that are good and some that are not so good. Today, more and more Fortune 500 companies are even embracing Network Marketing for a portion of their marketing portfolio!

So what's the big attraction to MLM companies and programs? Well, it represents a wonderful opportunity for the "little guy" to start his own business on a part time basis and make a whole lot of money provided he or she is willing to put in some work! This is not a get rich quick scheme and work is involved, no matter what some MLM recruiters would like you to believe.

The magic of MLM is that independent distributors earn commissions not only for their own efforts, but also on the efforts of other distributors that they recruit into the business. Earning 1% of a hundred peoples efforts is always better than earning 100% on your own efforts, as John Paul Getty noted.

The term "multi level" comes from the process where by one distributor recruits other people to become distributors and the new distributors are placed under them in what is known as a downline. Each distributor is paid a retail commission on the products they sell themselves, and a wholesale commission on the products their downline sells (down to some designated level).

The larger downline a distributor can recruit, the larger will be his or her commissions as they will earn a wholesale override commission on all the products moved by their downline organization down to the designated level. These commissions can add up quickly for distributors with large downlines.

A strong incentive is thus created not only for a distributor to recruit more distributors for their downline, but also to train them to move products as well. Thus a successful distributor will want to duplicate their success by teaching their downline members how to be successful. By making their downline members successful, they make themselves more successful.

Those who can successfully recruit, train, and retain can create small fortunes and develop a large stable residual income that will support them for years to come. Although not easy, it can be quite rewarding.

Want to be your own boss? Millions of people are earning a solid income using this business model working from home. A telephone, basic computer, fax machine, a HUGE ambition, and the knowledge of how to proceed to grow your business are all it really takes! Are you ready to explore the opportunities that Multi Level Marketing offers? If you would like to know how to build a MLM business online and discover some of the popular Multi Level Marketing myths that cause people to fail in their Network Marketing businesses, click the links in the resource box below.

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