MoneyOnComputer

[genieswish]

I'd be really interested to hear if anyone does/has made a sustainable income or makes any money at all through multi level marketing? Would you mind sharing the company and details?

Recently I've been researching Empowernetwork. I'm not involved with the company or endorsing it in anyway, just that it seems to be everywhere you turn! The really interesting thing about this one is that if you type empowernetwork scam into big G, most of the sites it throws out are actually their own blogs! Is this a very clever way of hiding independant reviews I wonder? Will it collapse eventually or can it be seen as a real work at home opportunity?

I'm of an an age when i remember these types of pyramid schemes http://groups.google.com/group/news.admin.net-abuse.email/browse_thread/thread/9b512792a4acd066/f839a99addf465e8#f839a99addf465e8

I know things have evolved since then, but i can't help associate MLM with SCAM. Anyone have an opposing view?

[Sugarhill]

I can't say that I'm necessarily a proponent of MLMs, but I find that the people that are most adamant against them are the people who were not or could not be successful at them. I've known many people that have made money through Avon, Mary Kay, Amway and the like. Yes, it does become a pyramid and the ones at the top make the most, but how is that really different from most businesses?

I think a lot of the people that get into them only see what the guy that is recruiting has become and completely ignores or never notices what he did to get there. Now, there are some people whose real skill is recruitment, but can I be mad at them? Nope. They are doing their job, they are making it work for them.

If you don't like talking to people or selling stuff, then why would you invest money and time into something that requires both in order to be successful?

My mother used to sell Mary Kay. She had no desire to recruit anyone into it. She was happy with the amount of money that she was going to make doing her own work. People need to understand what they are entering into.

But, when I have some time, I will look into Empower with some detail and tell you what I think.

[genieswish]

I totally agree with you on companies such as Avon that have an actual product to sell along side the recruitement bonus, where I have a problem is when there really isn't a viable product as such.
Empower say their product is a blogging platform that you pay $25 a month for - it's basically a wordpress blog though? They also claim that you receive 100% commission - but thats not true unless you buy into the "inner circle" once you've signed up (another $100 a month), and then there's more stuff such as webinars that you are strongly encouraged to buy into, at a cost of $500.
You're going to spend all of your time trying to get people to sign up under you using really hard sell tactics, knowing full well that the majority are just going to be wasting their money. It all just leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth - especially if it's friends and family you are trying to recruit.

[classy_ally]

I have been in that boat before and it had a lot of holes in it. I invested so much money and later I realized that the successful people have many people they know and bring them into the business. The people on the bottom are fighting for scraps. It's surely not for me.

[UmmiNoor]

I used to be quite active in a few MLM companies but they don't translate to a stable long-term income. For one thing, if the company does have products to sell, they're so expensive; more expensive than the ones that you can get easily at your local supermarket so selling these products is totally impossible.

The one test you can do to decide if an MLM product is a good product to sell is to ask yourself - If you're not a member of the company, would you go out of your way to buy the product? If you won't, no other people will so it's not an MLM company that you want to be involved in.

I will be wary of MLM companies that have no product to sell but shares or stocks in the company. This is obviously a pyramid scheme and the pyramid will topple and you will lose money if not friends.

[genieswish]

I wouldn't be a big fan of recruiting friends, i'd feel too responsible for them - especially if they didn't have what it takes to be successfuly, unless it was maybe for something like scentsy, where they could get by just selling the products.
The promises of 30k a month do seem to be somewhat stretched expectations though - maybe the top dogs, but for the average minion I'd love to know the actual average.

[tajnz]

Personally I'm not a fan of MLM schemes or programs even though some of them do work for others. I just know how annoying it is when someone tries to sell me makeup, kitchen containers, vitamins ect.. Growing up my mother tried a lot of MLM schemes and one of her refferers was quite succesful and even was given a free car. However she had to work extremely hard to keep being successful in the company and often worked 12 hour days just to keep up the front.

I think the problem is that you have to sell and recruit to make money and you don't tend to make passive income with MLM. Yes you can refer people but you can't force them to be active. In saying that if you're still interested good luck!