Should you join an MLM to have your own business?
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In this video, we’re going to talk about whether or not you should join an MLM to have your own online business.
I’m going to share a number of reasons why you may want to join an MLM and reasons why you may not want to.
The whole purpose here is to give you the information you need to make an educated decision.
At the end, I’ll give you my reasons for leaving MLMs and choosing to do my own thing, completely. So stick around.
Intro:
MLMs or multi-level marketing companies are a type of business model that has independent contractors advocating the company’s products and business opportunity directly to their own audience.
This is known as the direct sales business model.
However, with MLMs, they take things a few steps further with team building (aka, recruiting recruiters) and incentivizing what are essentially known as brand ambassadors to build a team of ambassadors with the goal of increasing their monthly earnings potential.
Why You Should Join An MLM
I’m not going to waste any time in this video/article. I’m just going to jump right in to our main focus.
Low Overhead Costs
The number one reason why you should join an MLM would be to have low overhead costs and limited liability. Starting any kind of business has a lot of upfront expenses. If you’re like me, you want a location-independent online business. That means that you don’t want to be tied down by a physical store-front. You want to be able to get up and go whenever you want without having to worry about your bottomline.
Location Flexibility + Limitations
Joining an MLM means that you can work from anywhere that the MLM does business. The only limitation here is that you can only do business in the countries your MLM is in. This doesn’t mean that you have to be in the USA, for example, to be able to conduct your business. It does mean that you can only sell to people inside of the countries where your MLM is allowed.
For example, let’s say you live in the USA, but maybe you’re on vacation in France, and you’re sharing about your favorite products on Instagram stories like you always do. But you run into one small problem, you just met someone at your hotel who keeps asking you where you got that purse you’ve been carrying.
The problem: your MLM isn’t approved to do business in France.
That means that while you can keep selling online, you can’t sell products to someone in France. This is usually due to the company not having a business license to sell and ship products to France.
So, basically, if you really wanted to make that sale, you’d have to find a way to personally ship them that purse, but this would ultimately defeat the purpose of doing everything online.
Hopefully that makes sense.
No Physical Stock Required
One more reason to join an MLM is that you don’t have to keep a physical stock of the products you’re marketing.
The MLM does that for you. All you have to do is direct your customer to a link that allows them to purchase products directly from the MLM.
This link is usually one that has a referral code embedded in it. This referral code tells the MLM’s algorithm to give you credit for the sales completed through your link.
Your account is then updated and you eventually get paid the commission for those sales.
And all you had to do was share your personal experience with the products on social media, network with people who showed interest in your Stories, and answer their questions about the products and the company.
Why You Should Not Join An MLM
Ok, now that I’ve mentioned the reason you should join an MLM. Let me share the reasons why you shouldn’t or may not want to.
Online Business Is More Flexible
Since you still want a location-independent online business, it’s important to note that a non-MLM online business is way more flexible.
Mostly because you’re not bound by the regulations and compliance bodies of a company.
Instead, you have the freedom and flexibility to offer your product or service directly to anyone, anywhere and your only limitation is your language skill.
Of course, there’s always laws and regulations that have to be upheld, but the online world is your oyster in terms of how far your online reach can go.
You’re not limited by location or by a company’s ability to ship somewhere. Instead, if you’re choosing to sell a physical product, there are a ton of ways to sell physical products all over the world through various shipping companies.
If, however, you choose a digital product-based business, you have even more flexibility. You wouldn’t even need a website right away, which is a huge upfront cost saver.
You Keep 100% of Your Profits
With an MLM, you’re subject to commission percentages and stringent requirements in order to maintain your qualification to earn your commission.
But with an online business, you get to name your prices and keep your profits (revenue and profits are two different things).
Of course, like with any good free market, you’ll want to conduct simple market research to help you determine your pricing.
But the point here is that you actually have the capacity to make such decisions.
You Don’t Have To Worry About Losing Your Business
Recently, a lot of MLMs have closed their doors. And, of the ones who have remained open, some have changed form the MLM model to an affiliate marketing structure. This means that all the ambassadors who’ve spent years team-building just lost all of that work and future income.
The difference with running your own online business is that you don’t have to worry about a company making choices that are only in that company’s best interest.
You get to decide your business model and the way in which you conduct your business.
You have full autonomy within the confines of the law. You don’t have to worry about losing more than half of your income because a company has chosen to change the primary business structure that they’ve been pushing on you for decades.
Finally, My Thoughts
This may or may not come as a surprise, but I do not recommend joining an MLM in order to have your own business.
The simple reason is because with an MLM you have no true control.
You’re just a glorified sales-person with no earnings guarantees.
With your own business, you truly have the freedom to do whatever you want (within the confines of the law). You really are your own boss.
And yes, I understand that starting your own business can be costly up front and can cost a lot until you see consistent revenue (there’s a difference between revenue and profits).
But the reality is that it’s still yours.
You get to decide when something is working and when something isn’t. You get to determine the direction of your company, as well as its mission, vision, and values.
Closing Thoughts
Regardless of my opinion, however, I hope that this video/article was helpful to you. I hope that it was informative enough and helped simplify your decision-making process for whichever way you decide to go.
Keep in mind that there are a lot of people who have produced a full-time, livable income from their MLM business. I’m in no way saying it doesn’t work. What I am saying is that you have to do your research before jumping in.
Make sure you know exactly what you’re getting into. And don’t feel obligated to stay with it if it doesn’t feel right.
Remember that your life is yours to live how you decide is best for you. Don’t ever allow anyone to dictate to you which way you should or shouldn’t go.
It’s up to you.
You’re the one who has to be comfortable with the work and results.
Thank you so much for watching. I hope you enjoyed this free online lesson. If you found it helped, be sure to give this video a like.
Let me know in the comments below if you’ve ever considered or are part of an MLM right now? I’d love to know your thoughts on this topic.
Up Next…
The Reality of Joining An MLM: My first-hand experience. So stay tuned!
