[radreality]

Originally Posted by SAMG

I Came Home One Day To Find Out That My Fiance Had Purchased A Herbalife Kit. Yes Herbalife, Im Sure Most Of You Have Heard Of Them. They Charged Her $179.00 For This Damn Kit. After I Did My Yelling And Complaining, I Told Her To Make It Work, And See What She Could Do With It. Well In Some Free Time I Decided To Read The Books, Contact The Lady She Was Dealing With And Ask Her Some Questions. In Which, Her Answers Confirmed Why I Hate Mlm.....

Herbalife First Make A Hefty Commission Just Off You Buying The Startup Program........

They have to make a commission off of the startup kit, because if they were to make a commission off of registering someone, then that would be illegal.

Come on people. DO YOUR LEGAL RESEARCH. Find out what is legal and illegal and why the companies do what they do. Things will make a lot more sense to you then.

I personally don't like MLM, but I'm not going to sit back and let people continue to make unjust opinions about completely legitimate business practices. MLM’s just get a bad rep because they put power in the hands of people who don’t know how to properly handle it and they screw it up. You aren’t going to put a low employee as CFO of a company, right? In MLM average people get put in positions where they have to start making choices without the proper training and knowledge; of course things aren’t going to work out for a lot of them and of course they aren’t going to blame themselves.

______________________________
Robert Falk
Business Developer / Investor
Self Help & Success Forum

[David C Skul]

MLM is not really entrepreneurship is however a good way for people to make money if they are relatively good sales people. I would never engage in MLM because you have ultimately have no control over what you are selling and most MLM programs are about selling the MLM program and not a product or service. One of the rare good ones I would say is Amway. Yes... Amway, they were very successful and very honest. Most of the others are pyramid or ponzie schemes. Beware and be careful.

[Ian]

Yeah I started talking to a member here, about proper business knowledge and the like, they tried to get me interested in some MLM scheme, and I smelt a rat from the start...they were WAY too pushy for my liking, now i've read this i've made my final decision, NO. I'm going to go it alone thank you very much.

Ian

[burythestar3]

I just started my first MLM business, and honestly its going great. I think it is an unbelieveable opportunity to work on the side and make some extra cash until you get to the point to solely depend on it. I just recently started and am already making money. I am enjoying myself too, and thats whats most important. If any other network marketers are around, or anyone else wants to talk email me at :

burythestar3@comcast.net

Dan

[hypnotikk]

Amway, they were very successful and very honest. Most of the others are pyramid or ponzie schemes. Beware and be careful

I think you have it backwards. Amway was well known for their bait & switch and back door tactics. Invite you to dinner and then slip in the biz when you don't expect it, and heavily push the purchase of training materials.

Of course there are scammy companies out there, but they come and go, just like traditional businesses. Enron anyone? Since we're a smaller industry, we get scrutinized when you hear of a MLM company rip people off. The sale of legitimate products is what distinguishes multi-level operations from pyramids.

When people say a company's a pyramid, they're just repeating something they heard some ignorant, broke person say.

You know how real estate works right? Most ALL say yes....Ok, then You understand that there are Brokers and Agents Right? Ok, So, You understand that when a Broker closes a house he makes a Good Profit right? Ok, then you also understand when a Agent makes a sale the Agents gets a nice Cut of the pie and the Broker gets his portion as well...Right?

btw, the corporate world is the real pyramid scheme, you know where 1 president oversees 4 Vp's, who oversee 15 exec managers who oversee 50 middle managers, who oversee 300 frontline workers?

I challenge anyone to show me a successful business model that does not take the organizational form of a pyramid. The organization is not the issue, but, like so many things in life, people get fixated on the wrong thing, in this case the organization.

Please note that franchising was once considered a scam.

Our business will survive a healthy skepticism. Make sure whatever NWM/MLM you're involved with is at least registered with the DSA.

But my purpose is not to educate people about pyramid schemes. My
purpose is to share my product/service/opportunity to see if they
will be able to benefit from what I offer.

Carry on.

[jackace]

MLM is all about sales and not much else. Selling the products and then selling the business to recruit others. If the parent company focuses on good products it could be a good opportunity, but honestly I have sat through many of the common MLM presentations, and none of them provide a very good product. The majority of their presentation is about how much money you are going to make and not what products you will be selling. Then they ask you for a payment of $100-$500 today to get started.

My beef with MLM stems from the fact that they take no real risk and almost no expense to sell their products. They push all those risks and expenses on to the people they recruit. Then they basically force you to sell to and recruit family and friends. I tried one of them for a week when they had a free trial of the business to let people see how successful you could be. My "mentors" only focus was for me to sell to and recruit my family. His techniques he wanted me to use were basic guilt trips to get my family to buy the products.

IMO if you sell your product through an MLM structure your product quality is already HIGHLY suspect to me.

[syia]

I hate MLM because.. I hate being the slave that actually making BIG MONEY for the top people in MLM

[silversurfer]

I challenge anyone to show me a successful business model that does not take the organizational form of a pyramid. The organization is not the issue, but, like so many things in life, people get fixated on the wrong thing, in this case the organization.
-----------

you do understand, right, that you misunderstand why pyramid schemes are called pyramid schemes, it's not the organizational structure, like businesses, it's the concept of paying to be part of the plan up to one person. Pyramid-shaped organizations are not the issue, duh!

But if you owned a company and hired everyone who paid you an entry fee and then never paid them a salary, no matter what you called it, no matter what the company did, they'd be called a scam.

But seriously, you don't understand pyramid schemes, so just leave that part alone.

[Dav]

For starters pyramid schemes have been outlawed since the 1960's. Now if anyone is in business you are in business to make money period. The only way you can make money is that you SELL GOODS AND OR SERVICES thus making you a salesperson. Can I ask a question. When was the last time any of you went out and had a good meal or seen a good movie or went on a awesome vacation? What was the first thing you did you went home and told someone about it. In turn that movie,restaurant, or resort makes money because of you. Did you get get anything for it? NO! My point we all network market everyday we just don't get paid for it. True MLM or network marketing companies paid people for something we do every single day. And yes MLM's are true companies and the people that run these companies are true entrepreneur's. We all get 1099's at the end of the year. Is Avon a bad company? A lot of people buy there products (an MLM company) so is Watkins, and Tupperware, etc. All these MLM's nobody seems to have a problem with. Look at any typical company in the world. There is one person at the top and everyone else falls below him/her, thus creating a pyramid picture. Is UPS,FED EX,Target, Walmart are any of these companies pyramids? NO. So I ask you what's wrong with MLM's or Network Marketing. In my opinion nothing.

[ibelieveyoucan.com]

The problem I have with MLM is probably common among many others too. It's that the product that goes along with the opportunity may just be ok, but it's often very hyped up to get people interested in the opportunity, or the opportunity, or comp plan may be good but the product sucks and after a period of time if we were already sold the opportunity and had to get in before someone else beat us in, we later find we don't really like the product, which makes it hard to promote the opportunity.

Today there are sooooo many products out there all competing for attention that I personally find it very hard to find a product that is so unique I WANT to market it. A new and unique type of product would be something I would want to promote in a MLM fashion, and then I could see spending the time to hold meetings and contact people and do the work.

Someone said earlier that if the product is so good it will sell itself. There is something to that. MLM to me has become something where so many people are hyping up either the opportunity and/or the products, and most of us that are not so young and knieve are just tired of being approached about it. We've seen it all, or tried it all and know it's the best conmen and women that succeed at it at the highest levels. Maybe that's a bit harsh. Many good folks are just convinced by the brainwashing of so much positive pitch that goes on, and the will to get ahead in life that they have become great convincers and are able to sponser more people in and convince them to duplicate the same way. Whatever it is there's something phony about it that bothers people, which brings me back to the notion that if you really have a revolutionary product, as long as people are seeing it and trying it, it will sell. If MLM is the vehicle by which it is distributed than so be it. It will be successful and worthwhile, not needing hype because honest word of mouth will sell it.

Always be careful folks because for MLM to be legal there must be a product or service provided in exchange that's tangable. Some opportunities make people a lot of money and the product is basically worthless but its legal because of the product. The legal system can't really discriminate "against products" to stop shady mlm companies unless enough complaints are made..

These are why MLM has the bad stigma attached to it...in my opinion. Now if your lucky enough to find a great gem of an opportunity with an HONESTLY good product that's unique, get in early and promote the heck out of it!

My apologies for bouncing around, was off the cuff and unplanned writing.

[mnt11592]

because its hard to do if your not at the top of the pyramid

[silversurfer]

Originally Posted by Dav

For starters pyramid schemes have been outlawed since the 1960's.

That doesn't mean they don't still exist prior to prosecution or aren't just hare's breath shy of illegal. In the 1980s we had a family friend who sold vitamins. He recruited everyone active in my elementary school PTA. My parents refused to get involved. Do you know what our neighbors found out? It's impossible to make money if there are 3 vitamin dealers on your block, setting up booths at the same street festivals and competing with each other. There is a logical limit to the number of salespeople in one area but MLM pretends there isn't and that growth can exist when a market is saturated. ehh... lies. pyramid scheme.

Originally Posted by Dav

Now if anyone is in business you are in business to make money period.

Nope. Not in the medical field where my wife works. They make products that save lives and their R+D is financed in part by a charitable foundation. Their R+D has nothing to do with making money, it's their job to make money only after the purpose of the company has been addressed and the foundation is there whether they make money or not.

I also once worked for a Not-For-Profit company.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not-for-profit_corporation

Originally Posted by Dav

The only way you can make money is that you SELL GOODS AND OR SERVICES thus making you a salesperson.

Again, no, many people involved in corporate America do no selling.

Originally Posted by Dav

Can I ask a question. When was the last time any of you went out and had a good meal or seen a good movie or went on a awesome vacation? What was the first thing you did you went home and told someone about it. In turn that movie,restaurant, or resort makes money because of you. Did you get get anything for it? NO! My point we all network market everyday we just don't get paid for it.

That sounds nothing like what happened after my last vacation. I told my friends about this great town I visited, but none of them went. They all took their kids to visit relatives over the summer. Now, only if I could make money every time a 3 yr old visits Grandma!

Originally Posted by Dav

True MLM or network marketing companies paid people for something we do every single day.

Man, you set me up for a really great comeback. Do you know what I do first thing every day? I expel crap. And I think you're doing the same.

Thanks for a great laugh.

[MasterOD1]

Because..
1. You join..then no real help Form your up line..97% of up-lines Just want you to sign up...which give the 3% who are really trying to help a bad name..
It is funny I have been in 3 MLM now..1st was not so bad.. just the Money I had to spend to keep it going..($$BOOKS,Tapes,Trips,etc$$) It will remain with out A name..

2. You pay for Your starter kits Rt ? ($$Thousands of Dollars$$) then they want you to buy books tapes..and and Don't miss the trips($$more Money$$) so you Don't miss all the top guys getting awards.($$ for signing you up$$). and tell you How to Do it..? then tell you make sure you Buy the video to show your friends..so they can join and restart all I just typed all over again..

3.There in your Face,Pushing,Yelling for you to Join..and the bad thing is really that this is mostly your friends that do this..Friendship Killer!
Make the money 1st then Buy cool things then your friend will ask How are you doing it ?? But I know you can't make money till People sign up Rt ? think about that..Hmmm

4.And The Number One reason Is.. All the MLM's out there that get in and kill it for others...I call them The MLM HOOPERs.. They Don't care one way or the other about the Company or Service...get in Quick and Out Quick.. They are the worst Online..post in the wrong area's and in every email or blog..they hit you with there Money making MLM business..like

Hello I am Joe Blow,
nice to meet you.. Ck out my site now for a way to make money now..
Bye
Hey that is A great way to meet and make friends..every time I get one like this... I trash it asap..

But when I real friends that I get to know...tells me about something about A new MLM business.. I find My self reading about the Money making MLM business..

I hope you see what I mean..

I will finish with My 3rd MLM things I have sign up for..Now when I join I join for A total diffrent things.. I Sign up for the Video Conferencing for only $9.97 a month..which is unheard of price..

and then saw that I could make some Extra Money..Note I said Extra...SO I upgraded..only cost $ 9.97 a month to be in the MLM part..which was Very cool price..and 49.95 yr cost,which rt now they are waving for new MLM's... So I really like the price allot..And I will use the site for my work..so It is A win for Me if I make money or not..I need the Cheap video Conferencing..

Now I was Very very exsided! at 1st..but now kind of let down..because of all the other MLM on the site.. that Keep emailing and posting Money Making business Ops..as noted Above..Killing Friends..

I told All my friends about the site..Allot sign up for the reason I did..and can not wait for the Video stuff..But Hated all the Emails and post about Business Opportunities..and it is a social site..So will it be great or now..remain to be seen..
As this is why My number One reason people hate MLM's Business Opportunities...maybe it is not the Business Opportunities.. it is the MLM's then self ?

If you want ck out the site here.. join link here
FriendsWin.com Social Networking that pays you back!
free to join up..And yes that is my link..Please check it out and let me know what you think..I am not asking you to Join..just see what I mean..

Peace all..

[malumu200]

It's a system already in place to make the rich richer. Only the one's who make money are the one's who were smart enough to start their own MLM.

[soundsofmoney]

People hate MLM because most people hate dealing with rejection. The reason most people in MLM face rejection is because most of the people they prospect hate MLM. So it all boils down to the numbers game: The more people they talk to, the closer they will get to a person who will love and be as passionate about MLM as they are; and those become the good producers who generate great overrides. I personally hate MLM for ME. But my best friend got me into Primerica a while back, I got excited, got licensed, made some money, but it wasn't much more than I made at my regular job. WHY? Because I find financial services to be dull and I hated prospecting for people when I wasn't excited about my business. My passion is music so I invested into another friend's record label and we've been in business since. I love scouting for talent and building contacts in the music industry. Totally different energy than Primerica. However, the friend who recruited me into primerica is averaging $300,000 a year because he LOVES his business and he is completely sold on the Idea. So he doesn't care about going through tons of contacts because he DECIDED to make that his business and his PERSISTANCE has paid off. So personally, I don't like MLM for myself, but I am convinced that it works for anyone who wants to make it work. So if you are in MLM you really have to realize that other people's opinions are none of your business. Just move on until you find your superstars. I personally think that if you are even remotely curious to know why most people hate MLM, then maybe MLM is not really for you. As a matter fact, that is one of the reasons I quit; I was never confident about the company and I felt too uncomfortable with MLM rejection (which is a different type of rejection than regular businesses face). You will never catch a real hard-core MLMer questioning others about their opinions because real MLMers don't care, they just know where they are going with or without the criticts. Listen to your successful upline, not the other broke people around you.