If the answer you are looking for is a resounding ‘NO’, then you have come to the right place.
Some try to differentiate between MLM (multi-level marketing) and Network Marketing, personally, I don’t see much of a difference, in fact, none whatsoever, a pig in a dress, is still a pig.
Let me give you a little history about myself and my personal experience with MLM businesses.
I was seventeen and a junior in high school when I joined Amway for the first time, it was the winter of 1963. I didn’t know it was MLM, I saw an ad for a part time job, I don’t even remember where I saw the ad.
Long story short, I filled out an application and started selling soap door to door as well as to my family. I had no idea I was in an MLM business, I had sold products door to door since I was about 12 years old, Cloverine Brand Salve and American Greeting Cards were my flagship products. It was how I made my spending money. There was always a closet in my parent’s home that stored my inventory. I bought products from different companies I found in magazines and sold them for a profit, sometimes at retail, but most of the time at a discount. I made some money and had a few loyal customers who loved my products or maybe they just felt sorry for the kid on the bicycle. Amway’s laundry detergent, SA8 was by far the most popular product I sold.
In all the time I was selling Amway products, half of my junior year and all of my senior year, I never once heard from anyone in my upline. I was totally unaware that an upline existed. I was buying and selling soap for a profit. I first heard about my sponsor when Amway informed me that he had resigned from Amway, and if I had a new sponsor, I never heard from him either.
After I graduated from high school in June of 1964, I left Amway behind and entered the Army, still not aware that I had been in an MLM business.
It was some years later that I was actually infected with MLM Disease, a disease that is usually feared and at the same time, detested by the victim’s spouse. An affliction similar to Malaria in that once you have contracted the condition, it only temporarily subsides, usually after a large dose of the temporary cure, commonly referred to as absolute disillusionment and failure, but it is never really cured and has a tendency to flare up uncontrollably every time you are approached by someone with an unbelievable opportunity. Do you recognize these symptoms? Since you are reading this, you most likely have fallen victim to the disease already and spend a great deal of your time, just like I did, searching for that elusive permanent cure. Success!
I have been in an out of numerous multi-level businesses for the past 20 or 30 years. There was a repeat at Amway, some 20 plus years ago, I ran around from one appointment to the next drawing circles on a whiteboard, and spent a fair amount of my time being stood up at one fast food restaurant or another. After three years I finally stopped going to meetings. My Amway experience proved to be so painful and costly I thought I was completely and irreversibly cured of MLM fever forever. In fact I ignored all attempts and pleas to get involved in any and all of the best opportunities coming down the pike. I thought I had beaten the addiction and would never fall victim to an irresistible offer again. Foolish me, I obviously didn’t understand the deep and powerful pull of this addiction. I now liken it to a Black Hole, once caught in it’s field of influence, it’s almost impossible to escape. I didn’t realize at the time that there could only be one cure for this addiction. Success!
To read more of my journey and the answer to whether network marketing really works, look for my next blog.
Or call me on 856-264-7802 and we can swap stories and I can tell you the bottom line on whether it will actually work and what you can do to be successful.
Es
Es Riggins
856-264-7802
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