You should know exactly what to look for in evaluating an MLM opportunity. Don’t just fall for the over-hype that is so typical of someone pitching their opportunity to you.

Please do yourself a favor and answer each of these questions with your critical eye. The answers to these questions will save you years of failure and frustration.

Pillar 1: Does the company management have personal experience building their own networking organization? Have they done it with Integrity? What about their previous companies??

• Search Google for the owners of the company. Do the owners have Integrity? Add the word Scam to your search. If they have perpetrated misdeeds in the past, what are the chances they’ll do it again?
• Do the owners have a Corporate background or an in-the-field Network Marketing background?
• Read your Policies & Procedure and Terms & Conditions, Look for the word Ongoing. Look for policies that strike you as Unreasonable.  like Termination, with or without cause.
  Ask yourself Does this contract protect me or the company?  Is it clear which way it leans? The longer the contract, the greater the possibility that the policies important to you are being hidden in Legalese! Anything longer than 10-12 pages should send up red flags.
• If a company is publicly traded, Financial Decisions Will be made in Favor of the Stockholders at the Expense of the Distributors.

Check these two websites: MLMwatchdog.com and MarketWaveInc.com.

Pillar 2: Has the company passed the early failure Time Line? Are the company’s Products timed with the beginning of a massive trend of **consumer demand**?

• Beware of €œground floor opportunities and start-up companies.
• There should be no rush to get in on the ground floor.
• 99% of companies don’t last two years.
• If the company is good today, it will be great tomorrow.
• Most people don’t make money in the first two years while the company is dealing with start-up issues.
• Profit comes AFTER two years. Join then.
• Avoid companies which have passed beyond their “momentum phase and have become **household names**. (The realistic potential for big growth in gone). This does not mean the company has to be young, just on the upswing of growth. Industries such as wellness have a good chance of being on the upswing for the next 10 years. This is generally know, and written extensively about by Paul Zane Pilzer, world renowned economist.
• Do not join a company with a product that has no profit margin! (i.e  a long distance service or a vinyl record company)

Pillar 3: Does the company have Remarkable products at reasonable prices?

• All MLM companies have a good product. But, there are others available that are just as good! It should be competitively priced.
• If the product has both a Retail and a Wholesale price, your company has a Recruiting business model. STAY AWAY unless You are Red (re: Personality Colors training)!
• Beware companies with technical products – technology is so quickly outdated is makes no sense in network marketing to be the basis of a passive residual income for the future!

Warnings:

• If the product would not sell without the business opportunity attached, it is ILLEGAL.
• If you can’t pay with a credit card and Must pay by cash or money order, it is ILLEGAL.
• If distributors collect the money while the company stays at arm’s length, it is ILLEGAL.
• If you MUST have a Retail Merchant’s account, the company is SCAMMING YOU.
• When you begin to justify your product to someone, You become a salesperson.

CAUTION: Networking is a relationship business NOT a sales business.

Pillar 4: Does the Compensation Plan Pay Part-Timers?

• 95% of networkers are part-time people. Make sure that people can make a decent income working a few hours per week. Otherwise you are facing attrition when it takes retention to build a passive residual income.
• Beware of companies that advertise how many millionaires they have created. Make sure it’s not at the expense of those at the bottom. Everyone should be able to benefit.
• Take the Comp Plan Test Ask yourself this question: How many people do I need on my Team to earn a recurring income check of $500 per month? If your upline won’t or can’t answer this basic question, You should Run.
• If you are making only 5% to 8% commissions on product, You are being extremely underpaid.
• If a company stresses “Recruit, Recruit, Recruit!, You should “Run, Run, Run! The purpose of any business is moving product from the company to the end-consumer.
• The majority of your commissions MUST come from product sales; otherwise, it is a SCAM. And if you work a plan that Does Not pay on product volume, somewhere in the process. You will lose money! More important: You will lose Credibility Too!

Pillar 5: Does your Mentor offer a System for Success that will work for You?

• The team you join must have a system in place that will work for everyone who uses it.
• There must be complete resources available; books, videos and audios explaining the system.
• The system should be designed to Teach The System! Remember, you want to build your business, Not baby-sit it.
• You must take full responsibility for learning the Skill Set. Your mentor can’t do that for you. An open system will allow you to go upline for clarification and advice.
• If you don’t see the system working for you right away, don’t try to reinvent the wheel. As in everything we do in life there is a learning curve. Plug in and be patient.
• Personal development should have a big emphasis in the system. This is a relationship business, the more you know about yourself, the better you’ll relate to your clients and customers.
• DO NOT MAKE A LIST OF YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY.
• DO NOT BUY LEADS. Purchased leads require salesmanship. These methods do not work anymore. 90% of our population are NOT good salespeople. Not only that, most people don’t even like salespeople.

Before choosing a System, get a YES answer to:Can I do this? and Will my Mentor help me?

If you’d like some help figuring all of this out, do not hesitate to contact me! I can give you the tools to succeed!

To Your Awesome Success!