subject: The Pros and Cons of MLM and Network Marketing [print this page] The Pros and Cons of MLM and Network Marketing
Just say the initials MLM to some people and they go scurrying for cover, fearful that you may pull out an easel and whiteboard or shove a cassette tape in their pocket.
To be sure Network Marketing has often received a lot of bad press, and sometimes rightly so. But be that as it may, it is a form marketing that not only has proved successful over time but is no doubt here to say.
For the sake of those already involved in this field, and for those contemplating beginning, what are some of the Pros and Cons. And perhaps more importantly, how can we capitalize on the Pros and minimize the Cons?
The Pros
Residual Income Let's face it, this is probably one of the main reasons people get interested in Network or MLM Marketing. In a typical job situation we get paid for what we just did. If we want to get paid again, we have to perform again. Who doesn't like the idea of continuing to receive monetary compensation perpetually for effort they put forth initially.
The possible downside to this is that with many opportunities the member has to continue to purchase products or somehow spend money to keep active in the system and receive income. It would be ideal to be involved with a business opportunity that continues to feed your place in the system from the system itself and without any out of pocket expense on your part.
Work at Home SweetWorking in your P.J.'s, what could be nicer. No commutes, no traffic (except web traffic), no cranky workmates, working your own hours, at your own pace. If you get tired of working at home, try the beach or out on the lake.
Where we run into trouble with this Pro is that typically you can't do everythingfrom the comfort of your home. Most organizations require weekly meetings or gatherings to provide continuing training and motivation for you and your downline, plus giving you a vehicle to introduce new prospects to the opportunity.
Again, it would be ideal to be able to truly work from home 100% of the time. Accomplishing your organizational meetings and training online, performed by the leaders and mentors of the company who are no doubt best equipped to train and motivate you and your team.
Leveraged Income - $20.00 an hour, $30, $75. No matter how much you can earn per hour, month, project or job, you can only work so much and for so long. The real value of leveraged income is benefiting from the efforts of others as they benefit from yours.
Unfortunately, all too often, your income is going to be limited by what you personally have been able to build in respect to a downline. And you may have to meet certain activity levels to participate.
How much better if your opportunity was based on the efforts of the whole team, where everyone shared equally in the profit that the company generates. Then you don't have a select few at the top feeding off the newbies at the bottom.
The Cons
Warm Market Now there may be a few out there who enjoy marketing to their warm market, friends, family and associates. The better question is, do they enjoy it. I would much rather talk to my kids or best friend about what is going on in their life as opposed to my latest business opportunity and how they just have to try it.
What if you had a system where you never, ever were asked to talk to anyone you know, love or care aboutunless you just can't stop yourself. And to make up for that missing market, you were continually funneled new, interested prospects to build a team with.
Meetings - As we talked about in the section under working from home, the last thing we should have to do is get all gussied up to head out to an opportunity meeting on Wednesday night. If you're gonna get gussied up, go out to dinner and a show.
Continued expense How many of you have garages or shelves full of products you had to purchase just to keep yourself active in the system or opportunity you were involved in. You find yourself the collector of goods or services that are overpriced, over-hyped, and never sold.
Could there be an opportunity with no products, no inventory, no services to sell and no phantom value you have to convince others is worth their hard earned money.
So to summarize, MLM or Network Marketing is an extremely viable and potentially profitable business opportunity for many to succeed online. You just have to weed out those that offer more Cons than Pros.
