Are you looking into an MLM ”opportunity”? Are you looking for some more information deciding if this is for you or not? Asking yourself ”Is MLM for me”?

In this article we will take a closer look at the things you need to know and find out BEFORE signing up for any MLM opportunity.

I am not a MLM, Multi Level Marketing, hater. I think though before you jump into something that will take a lot of your time and money, you should research it first. This goes for anything not just MLM or network marketing.

I will throw some questions your way, so that you can make a decision for yourself, if MLM is for you or not.

10 Tips Before Joining an MLM Opportunity

1. Have Realistic Expectations

One of the most important things when looking into a Multi Level Marketing, MLM or network marketing business is to have realistic expectations and KNOW what you are getting yourself into.

Don`t just buy into the dream or hype of tremendous success, look at the stats, facts and numbers.

Frankly, look at yourself and be honest. Is this something you will commit to, take action with and follow through with?

Please don`t fall for the sales pitch, these will all be similar. No matter the product or company it will be the video or talk that will…

• Change your life…
• The one time opportunity…
• The key to your destiny…

Look beyond the ”dream”. Scrape off the hype and see if you can back it up with evidence and real numbers. Look at the product, the company and the facts.

Depending on the program you are looking into, between 99 – 95% of the people joining an MLM company will lose money. They often claim themselves that you have to be one of the 5% to make it.

To be fair, this is the case with most things though. For anything to work you have to:

1. Take action
2. Stick with it

When things get a little tough and you get ”no for an answer” for the 26th time, will you still move on, persist and stick with it?

Quitting is not just with MLM or network marketing, it`s with a lot of things in life. If things does not go our way or if we are ”no good” at it from the beginning, we sometimes quit.

I wonder how many unused golf bags are sitting in people`s garage… 🙂

One year for mother`s day my husband got us all (me and our two kids) tennis rackets. At the first ”practice” we were down at the court hitting some tennis balls. My husband reach for the ball and pulled a muscle. We haven`t been back since.

We didn`t fail tennis… we quit…

As with any business or with anything that you want to be good at, you have to look at things long-term. Signing up with a program and thinking that you will make a massive amount of money within a month, is just not realistic.

Do your homework, know what you are signing up for. That way you have much better odds of succeeding.

Ask Yourself This:

Is this opportunity something that I am willing to commit to long term?

Is this something that I am highly passionate about, even after I see behind the ”hype”?

Am I having realistic expectations?

Am I comfortable asking family and friends to buy the products or join the program, if this is required?

2. Know The Differences Between Pyramid Schemes and MLM

First off pyramid schemes are illegal, here is a screen shot and explanation of what it is.

This is the definition of MLM multi level marketing in Google.

As you can see the MLM focus on the product, the sale. Where the pyramid scheme focus on the enrollment of signing up other people. If your “opportunity” looks like an Pyramid scheme stay away from it.

3. Know The Product

For any business to work long-term for you, you have to like the product. If you don`t use or enjoy, or even like the product, then you will have no interest in sharing it with others.

We share and talk about things we enjoy and love, right.

As parents we talk about our kids all the time because we love them. Not comparing kids and products, but you get the idea :).

You also want to research the market for similar products, who are the competitors and where can you get the products. Know your market before you get into it, it will benefit you.

Say that your MLM company is promoting a mascara that you love. Research it, what are other users saying about the product. Are there similar options out there? Do your own research, about the product.

If the product is not for you, then I would move on and find something else. There are plenty of ”opportunities”.

Another thing to look at is if the company guarantee the quality of the product. Is there a money back guarantee? If there is, what does it look like?

One company that I ran into, had a money back guarantee as long as the product was not opened or used… how are you then suppose to know if it is working for you or not!

Ask Yourself This:

Do you use the product? Do you love the product?

Even though you say “no thank you” to the opportunity will you still be using the product?

Do you know the market?

Do you know the product money back guarantee (even the fine print 🙂 ) ?

4. Know The Company

Research the company as well. What kind of feedback and reputation does it have online? Are there complaints, if there is what kind of complaints.

I am not saying to believe everything that is written online, but look for a pattern. Is there a lot of people addressing the same issue? Is it an issue that shows on numerous websites?

I was researching one MLM company and on many different sites the customers, not the representatives, were addressing a similar problem. It was about a price raise that they never got notified about. They signed up believing they would pay one price then that price got raised without notification.

Another recurring issue was the difficulty to leave the company as a customer.

These are issues, to be aware of and address if you choose to work with the company.

You also want to look at the company and see how long it`s been around. Is it a solid company that will be here 5, 10 years from now? There has been more than a few of the MLM companies that has closed the doors.

Another question to ask yourself would be, is this a company I would feel proud working with and represent?

Ask Yourself This:

Is this a company I see myself represent?

How is their reputation?

How long has the company been around?

Is the Focus on the Product or on Recruiting New People.

Are people talking about the product because they use it and love it, and then mention that there is an opportunity to make money with it.

OR is the sales rep presenting the ”opportunity” trying to recruit you before you have even tried the product?

You want to feel good about the product and experience, you don`t want to feel pushed into something that you really don`t want to do. I am not saying that salesmen should not present their product, but there are different ways to do so. Is the person presenting the opportunity pushy or patient with you?

Ask Yourself This:

Is this an opportunity that you have seeked out yourself or is somebody, trying to ”convince” you that this is the right thing?

5. How Much Will It Cost You?

Know the numbers of the product/s. How much does it cost? Are they similar prized to other options? If it is more expensive, know why.

How much will you make with this MLM opportunity, what is your commission? You need to look at the income potential AND the costs.

Start Up Cost

Most businesses will have a startup cost. If you plan on starting a brick and mortar business this can be very costly. You have to compare apples to apples though.

Comparing the start up cost of a brick and mortar business, with an MLM business will not be comparable. You will just not receive the same thing.

Take a close look at what`s included in the ”startup kit. With most companies you will need a product kit to get started and to be able to receive commission. These can cost anywhere from $99 and up to a few hundred or thousand dollars.

Ask Yourself This:

What is included in the start-up kit?

If I sell the products do I get my money back?

Is there any training or education on how to turn this into a profitable business?

Autoship

This is a setup where you have to have a monthly subscription of the product. A lot of times this is required for you to make a commission. This is how the companies get inventory moving.

If everybody is required to spend a certain amount of money monthly or buy a certain amount of products monthly then the company is moving products (and making money).

Make sure you know what the Autoship requirements are and if it`s something that you are ok with. Will you use the Autoship requirement yourself, can you sell it or will it only cost you money?

Ask Yourself This:

What are the Autoship requirements?

Am I ok with the monthly minimum purchase?

Other Expenses

You also need to include other expenses. Do you have to get brochures, catalogs, flyers, samples, website, gas or education material? Do they push for meetings out of town, conventions or training?

6. How Much Money Can You Make?

We covered what costs and expenses you have to be aware of. You also need to know the income potential. What will it take to reach a certain amount of money? How much do you need to sell to reach that amount? How much of your time will that take?

Say that you would like to make an extra $500 / month.

How much would you have to sell to get to that point? This would depend on the cost and commission of the product.

Let`s play around with some numbers.

To make it simple let`s say it`s, your second month, so you do not have the cost of the start up kit.

Product A cost $20.

You make 20% commission.

Your expenses are $100 for monthly autoship and $100 for  gas, samples and catalogs.

If you sell products for $3500, with a 20% commission you will make $700.

$700 – $200 = $500

How many products, do you have to sell?

$3500 / $20 = 175 products

If you work 5 days a week, 20 days a month that will mean you have to sell 8 to 9 products daily. That is almost 44 products weekly.

I`m not saying it`s not doable, you have to put in your own numbers and make a decision if it is reasonable and doable for YOU.

Ask Yourself This:

How much money would you like to make?

How many sales will it take to reach that number?

What will you have to do to reach that sales number?

7. Understand the Numbers and the Compensation Plan

For you to be able to fill in the numbers you have to understand the numbers and the compensation plan.

Some of the compensation plans and payouts are complicated, I`ve looked at some of them and had no idea what I was looking at. You get this amount of points in the left leg if you…

NO, please just show me how much money I will make if I sell 1 unit AND how much money I will make if I recruit Sam and he sells one unit.

Some companies are pretty straightforward, some are page after page with rules and regulations, make sure you read the fine print and understands it.

Understand the Payout.

I was reading about one MLM company that have a cash back savings program. They pay back 25% as a commission of the items the people that you refer purchase. You want to read the fine print though…

If a $1000 item was purchased at Lowes for example. Person 1 that bought the item gets 8% back. You, as a referrer, would think you would get 25% of that 8%, $20.

That is not the case. The MLM company claimed to only get 1.5% commission, $15 so you would get 25% on that. You make $3.75 of that $1000 purchase.

Make sure you understand how the plans and payout works.

Ask Yourself This:

Do you understand the compensation plan?

Do you understand the payouts?

Does It Cost a Fortune to Promote B2B?

Some of these programs you have to pay for different levels. So say you want to approach a business with the MLM opportunity, can you do that or will it cost thousands of dollars to get to that commission level, were you are allowed to bring in businesses?

8. The Training

Is there training lined up for you to become successful with this business model? There should be. I am not talking about, the ” don`t take NO for an answer” approach, but a training model that will help you succeed.

If you are encouraged to use social media to promote your product is there training on HOW to do it?

If you are encouraged to do parties, is there a training on HOW to do it.  A way that makes you feel good about it and excited to share?

If you are given a website, is there training on how to get visitors to your site? And how to get the site visible in Google and other search engines?

Ask Yourself This:

What kind of training is available?

How do I plan on getting customers? Online, parties, sales meetings…

Is there training provide on HOW to do this?

9. Get Your Questions Answered

If you are asking tricky questions do you get satisfied answers? This could be questions about the products or organization, is the answers reflecting back on ”don`t miss this opportunity”, or do you get satisfying answers? Get all your questions answered before you make a decision.

Is the person that presented this opportunity to you, helpful in general or is it just up until the deal is closed? That is of course hard to answer but ask other people that are working with your up line if they get the answers and support that they need?

The same goes for company support. Is it easy to get help if you run into issues? If you want to quit your autoship, will that be easy to take care of?

Ask Yourself This:

Does your questions get good answers?

Is the company easy to get hold of and get support from?

10. Do a Little Research Among Family and Friends Before…

BEFORE joining the company you are looking into, call your family and friends and ask if they would be interested in buying from you. Less pressure because you are not selling anything, yet…  + you will probably get a pretty honest view of what people think about the company, if they have any experience with it.

I wanted to get some feedback on MLM in general and asked a question about it over at WA.

I got an overwhelming amount of answers, both through the thread and people that contacted me through private message. The members were very willing to share their MLM experiences.

Some of them have had good experiences with MLM, but some had a very negative view of MLM. One of the conclusion is that a lot of people feel very strongly, one way or another, about this subject.

Maybe you do too, I would love to hear from you. What is your experience with MLM companies? Would love to hear good, bad and everything in between. Please share below.

Now What?

By now you have probably figured out if MLM is for you or not. If it is then by all means go ahead and pursue what you were looking into.

If you don`t feel 100% about it, find something else.

It could be another type of business, it could be setting up a website on any topic you want and make money off that.

That`s how I make my full time income. I sit at the kitchen table, create websites (very easy with today`s technology) and I make good money doing it too. For me that`s the perfect lifestyle because I get to spend most my time with my kids. You can read my story here.