The words ‘Ponzi’ and ‘Pyramid Schemes’ do have a strange habit of turning up whenever MLM opportunities are being discussed. Many people who are quite rightly looking at secondary income streams to offset the ravages of the World’s economy are having their lifeline stolen from them by misinformation, often from well-meaning but misguided friends and relatives. The similarities are far less important than the differences.
It’s perhaps understandable to see why MLM opportunities are sometimes branded ‘Ponzi’ or ‘Pyramid Schemes’. On the face of it, the structure of an MLM business resembles a Pyramid the moment you start drawing it out on paper. Funnily enough when you draw out the structure of a large company, or even your own family tree, nobody shouts ‘Ponzi’ or ‘Pyramid Schemes’ then!
Wikipedia defines a Ponzi scheme as ‘a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to investors from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors rather than from any actual profit earned.’ It’s clear to see why some MLM opportunities get tarred with the same brush. In some cases it’s deserved. If the only money generated is coming from sign-ups, and there is no product income generated from outside the ‘network’, then be wary. You may be looking at one of the less ethical MLM opportunities.
It’s critical that MLM opportunities generate retail income from outside the organisation. That way, the projected earnings – that always sound attractive at a high-energy presentation – do have some foundation. Charles Ponzi, an Italian American active in the US at the start of the last century was actually not the originator. That came from Charles Dickens in ‘Little Dorrit’!
Likewise, Wikipedia defines Pyramid Schemes thus: ‘A pyramid scheme is a non-sustainable business model that involves the exchange of money primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, often without any product or service being delivered’. As you can see for yourself, the two definitions are a bit similar. But neither Ponzi or Pyramid schemes have any meaningful similarity to a professionally run Multi Level Marketing operation. In other words, the MLM opportunities you’ve been looking into are almost certainly not the same thing.
If you come back with that argument to your well-meaning detractors they will almost certainly say something like ‘yes, but it’s the same structure, isn’t it?’?’ Let’s examine that for a moment. Isn’t hiring a car similar to stealing one? They both involve driving someone else’s car don’t they? Tell me, if instead of next door’s cat walking through your back yard you saw a tiger, what would be most important, the similarities or the differences?
Whichever of the hundreds of MLM opportunities you look at seriously, you cannot escape the ‘naysayers’, some of whom may be very close to home. But read up on what a Ponzi or Pyramid Scheme is, and ask yourself where the money will come from in the MLM you’re looking at. As long as you’re satisfied with that answer, then follow through on your ambition. The person telling you to stay clear is not going to put your kids through school. If they’re so smart how come they’re living in a neighbourhood you want to move out of?
In selecting one of the many MLM opportunities, once you’re satisfied that it’s neither a Ponzi nor a Pyramid scheme, you’ll be overwhelmed with choice, which is as confusing as it sounds. What chance has anyone got to make an ‘MLM Online Breakthrough’ with (at the last count) 432 MLM businesses to choose from? What may be the best option is to look for an automated MLM system which you can plug into, where all the marketing content is ‘good to go’. Then it’s all about feeding ‘traffic’ into that marketing funnel. That can remove 99% of the headaches associated with starting an MLM, and can be the Home Business Launchpad that you’re looking for.
Alun Maxwell is an experienced networker and online marketer, and helps many networkers harness the power of the internet to build their businesses. A specialist in one-to-one communication, he is hired by many top European companies as a Business Roleplayer, to help executives understand the impact of their words and behaviours on others. www.HomeBiz-Launchpad.com
www.MLM-Online-Breakthrough.com