What's the deal with the bad rap, anyway?

Photo credit:  Microsoft

Why does MLM and/or Network Marketing have such a bad rep?  The different levels are like status achievements for people.  Just like in corporate America where an IC strives to get to a higher level such as Manager, Director, Sr Director, VP, etc. 

Why is that a bad thing?  People by nature are title-driven to show achievement.  Just as it’s a bragging right to say you reached X level in that popular video game, it’s the same to say you reached a certain status with a direct sales organization.

What some may not realize is that some MLM/Network Marketing pay structures aren’t a pyramid (not to be confused with pyramid scheme, which is not a legal setup and where goods are not exchanged for money). What I mean by that is the pay structures aren’t such that those at the top get the most amount of money for the least amount of work and rely on people below them to bring in money.  If you want to get paid and make a certain amount of money, you must hustle just like everyone else.

In fact, many of the pay structures are set up to reward those that work hard and those at lower levels can even out-earn people above them by doing a higher volume in sales because of how the commission is structured. 

Why isn’t it a good thing to reward people for the hard work they do?  Compare MLM/Network Marketing to Corporate America jobs where you are fighting with other people for a piece of the pie, and at the end of the day, you may be the highest performer, but you may not even get the highest raise because of how a company does their annual review system.  If you’re in a ranking or calibration-type system, your performance is subjective, based on who is discussing you and how well your manager can speak about your accomplishments.  And what about those managers that don’t even attend, and their people are never even discussed and get the short end of the stick when their money is divvied up?  Yes, I speak from experience.

We work at corporate jobs because they give us a sense of comfort. We get health insurance, we get paid on a regularly basis, and we feel relatively secure that our job will always be there.  Really, it’s a false sense of comfort.  Anything can happen to the company and you could either not get paid, be laid off, or even be fired for some mistake you or someone else did. 

People miss out on their potential because it’s uncomfortable to go out on your own and not have a consistent hourly or salaried paycheck.  It’s also uncomfortable to have to buy your own health insurance if you work for yourself...or get the other perks you enjoyed at your corporate job.  But if you stop and think about it, really think about it—is your comfort really outweighing the cons of working for someone else?  Could you have untapped earning potential that is being held back by your inability to get out of your comfort zone?

To conclude my thoughts, I leave you with this:  just because a few bad apples got into the box doesn’t mean all the apples are bad.  Before you make a blanket assessment and think all MLMs or Network Marketing businesses are a scam or a pyramid scheme, I urge you to actually look at how the comp and title structures work.  I think you’ll be quite surprised, and it may even have you jumping from your corporate job to working for yourself. 

As I finish out this post, I’m reminded of a meme circling the interwebs.  It’s a picture of a sea of cubicles and the words, “No thanks, sounds like a cubicle scheme to me.”