Six Important Considerations
Before we use the MLM Income calculator, you would be wise to take a minute to consider some important points that you won't hear from the salesperson who's trying to sell you on the idea of joining.
#1: You Will NOT Be a Business Owner
No matter how hard others try to convince you otherwise, joining an MLM company means that you are a commissioned sales person, not a business owner.
Business owners can make company decisions, commissioned salespeople cannot. And one of the decisions you won't have a say in is whether or not the MLM company decides to go out of business.
Imagine spending months or years to build an MLM organization and a respectable income, only get a notice from the company owner stating they've decided to go out of business. It happens all the time.
#2: MLM is NOT Easy
Like any other business, you can expect to put in many hours of work before you see any profits. It takes the average business two years of long hours and hard work before they start seeing profits, and another year or two before the owners can claim they're making more money working for themselves than they could make working for someone else.
#3: Commission Checks Are NOT Profits
If you decide to become a commissioned salesperson for an MLM company, be sure to keep track of every hour you spend learning and working on building your commission check.
Also, keep track of every expense you incur along the way. Expenses to track include expenditures for things such as sales kits, marketing material, demo products, advertising, long distance calls, gas and wear and tear on your automobile, and so on.
Why keep track of all the time and expense?
Because you won't be able to claim you've made a profit until your cumulative commission checks total up to more than what it cost you to build the commission checks. And that includes an amount for what your time is worth (you could have earned a wage with those hours).
#4: Five Do NOT get Five
What causes the average, otherwise shy person to think they can be a wealth-generating salesperson? It's because someone showed them "the math."
I'm sure you've heard it. All you have to do is find five people to join, and those five will find five, and those five will get five, and six months later you will have 20,000 people working for you, and you'll be earning $10,000 per month. Really?
Here's the reality. Using the 80/20 formula, to sign up five people, you will need to start with a list of 125 prospects. Why 125? Because out of the 125 prospects only 20% (25) will agree to hear your sales presentation. And of those 25, only 5 (20%) will join.
But wait! Did you know the average MLM associate quits after just four months? That means that you will need to recruit five new people (another 125 prospects) every four months to keep from going backward. And guess what, this applies to your entire organization! (The MLM Income Calculator will alert you to 80/20 numbers when you click the "Show Summary" button.)
Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to discourage you or tell you it can't be done. I want you to know what the MLMs sales-presentation isn't going to tell you.
The truth is, all sales-presentations are manipulative and misleading, because they exaggerate and emphasize the positive aspects of buying while downplaying and ignoring the negative.
My mission is to alert you to what the sales-presentations aren't telling you (the negative) so that hopefully you can make more informed decisions.
#5: Friends and Family Are NOT Prospects
The minute you approach a friend or family member with a business proposition, an element of trust is lost that may never be reclaimed. It's a no-win situation.
Your friend or family member will always feel guilty for either turning you down or for not working as hard as you think they should be.
Sure, your friend or family member might beat the odds and end up thanking you for showing them the opportunity. But do you want to take the chance they won't?
#6: Have You Dreamed of the Day You Could Sell This Product?
In my experience, what separates happy, successful people from unhappy, not-so-successful people, is successful people tend to choose to pursue a work they are truly and genuinely passionate about -- irrespective of what that work might pay.
The happy, successful people don't need to be told to study, or practice, or work harder. They do all those things on their own because there's nothing else they would rather do!
One of the primary problems with MLM opportunities is that you end up with an organization full of people that constantly need to be motivated ... because selling your product is not what they've dreamed about doing with their lives.
In other words, most of your downline didn't choose to be part of your organization because they were truly and genuinely passionate about selling your product. Instead, the only reason they chose to sign up -- other than perhaps not being able to say "no" to pressure -- was for the money.
Unfortunately, most associates quickly learn (usually within four months) that it's going to take a lot of unenjoyable time and effort before they see any significant amount of money.
So the next time you are presented with an income opportunity, I encourage you to ask yourself this question:
If money were no object, would I agree to volunteer to perform this work full time, free of charge?
If the answer is "yes," then it's worth further investigation. If the answer is "no," I suggest you keep looking.