Your MLM Business Model Versus Your MLM ‘Mission.’

Well we talked about how your MLM is positioned in the ‘new’ global economy as an attractive business opportunity. I got lots of interesting feedback on that so thanks and I’m pleased you enjoyed the post.

Today let’s talk about what happens when distributors get so caught up in their MLM mission that they often forget that they are in business to actually make a profit!

I know this to be true because I have witnessed it and been part of such a movement. When I joined my first MLM business I didn’t join because I loved MLM and had a burning desire to distribute wellness products.

I joined because I had a ‘why.’ It wasn’t a big fancy why when I got started though. When I look back I’m surprised by my own modest ambitions. My sole purpose of joining my MLM was to generate a small income in the range of $1000 or £500 per month. (This was about 6 years ago)

I had good reasons for this in that I was completing a mature student university degree program from home, had 2 very young children and all I really wanted to do was to be able to be at home to take care of them and to complete my studies.

Add to the mix that I always really detested being an employee and there are the beginnings of an entrepreneur. It doesn’t sound all that impressive does it? That’s how a big dream can start though I guess.

Anyway back to the point .. There I was wanting to earn £500 a month so I could have time freedom from a job and pay some bills. I jumped right in at the ‘top starting level’ and was shown quite perfectly how to put a lot of money on my credit cards and very quickly how to get into debt.

Hmmmm. This isn’t good I thought to myself after a few months! I am not earning any money, I am actually spending lots of money and working very hard. I was faced with a dilemma and there began my journey of trying to keep up with the MLM current of my business model which was moving way too fast for me and I was in danger of drowning.

We sold tons of products (my husband and I) and I became an expert at retailing and customer retention. That side of things was always good for me and I began to have a large monthly turnover with tons of my customers reordering and collecting.

I had a stocked ‘shop’ in my kitchen cupboard, cartons of products everywhere and I would have clients coming in and out of my home for weight loss consultations.

Well ok you think.. this isn’t too bad. You’re taking a lot of money right Rachel? Well yes I was. The only problem was that as quickly as it came in I was paying it out again to the newspapers and to the lead companies, for the recruiting side of the business.

It turns out that the ‘proven business model’ I had joined to be able to work from home and use the computer (or so I naively thought) was based on a big investment of advertising every month and unless you got lucky and enough people duplicated you quickly and really built the business for the long term, it wasn’t long before your credit card bills started piling up.

It was an expensive game to play and I learned a lot of lessons. Most people just quit then but I’m not a quitter and the more challenging it became, the more determined I became to work it out!

Then we began a long and expensive cycle of moving from one marketing method to another. When we were all burned out after buying opportunity leads that I wouldn’t even pay $1 for now, we moved on to bigger and better things..

The company would roll out a new idea. A group from a far distant land over the mountains, would make it big and their business plan would be show-cased at the latest major event.

We’d all sit there starry eyed, thinking this is the one. This is the plan we need to make it happen. And off we’d go again in our never ending cycle. All we could see was the mission!

Our plans ranged from the very expensive methods such as leads and newspaper adverts, right through to creating our own presentations and driving round the country doing one on one presentations.

After 4 years of this I suddenly realised that this was never going to change. This was all there was. The company was so mature that there were groups of established leaders who managed to create a group with whatever their system was, and the company in desperation would grasp onto the flavour of the month, revamp the system and pass it on to the distributors who weren’t fortunate enough to be in that favoured line.

Has that happened to you? I know many who have followed this kind of ‘proven system,’ and it doesn’t usually produce a good result. It leaves behind it a devastating carnage of debt and broken spirits for those who are not savvy enough to step back and view it objectively.

Usually by the time the company gets their hands on this ‘system’ they change it beyond all recognition as the executives handling it very rarely understand our business model! They think we are in a sales business and that its all about pretty brochures and websites that don’t even generate you a lead.

Distributors get stuck in the big dream and the mission. They try to rationalise their poor results and weak business plan with the fact that they are on a mission. In my opinion this borders on the dangerous and does only bad things for our industry.

So next time your company or upline rolls out a new plan for you take the time to ask yourself (and them) some questions. Do some critical thinking. Don’t be afraid to stop and think before shouting ‘yes I’m in!’

These days I take much longer to think things through before I shout those magic words. The mission is great but unless you’re a missionary make sure you are operating a business model that makes financial sense and that you can afford to operate long enough so you can start to become truly successful, both financially and personally.

As always I’d love to hear your comments and stories. Please share this post on the buttons below if you think it may help someone you know. If you have questions you can contact me directly if you prefer. My details are on the complimentary consultation page at the top of this blog.