Doc Bunkum
03-13-2011, 08:09 AM
So I come across this blog Why I Hate MLM...MLM Exposed... (http://www.whyihatemlm.com/MLM-myths.html) and the guy makes some good points about why he hates MLM. One in particular is the line of working 2-4 years and building up a walk-away income that MLM feed prospects.
Does this really happen?
No it doesn't, according to people that have been in the industry and who are either being totally honest or their conscience has finally caught up with them. As the guy above puts it...
Your Upline will tell you in your MLM that you can earn passive income. This is not really true. Having a bunch of people paying a monthly fee or being on autoship is NOT passive income. This is not like the passive income that comes from owning rental properties, receiving distributions or dividends from a company, or royalties from a book. I am not giving a technical definition, but MLM is like a sales job with some residual income. But keep in mind that 30% of your people will quit quickly, and very few will stay for longer than 1-3 years. So, you keep having to getting new people. There are few if any people that literally stop “working” their business, and there income does not go down. I had the problem of people cancelling. I tried to relax on passive income, and it caught up to me quick, and my income went down. Its not like having an office property in an area where it will always be full and you’ll make money off of rent.
Interesting.
I went looking to see what do others have to say about residual income.
Residual Income or "Walk Away Income" are terms used by many people promoting Network Marketing opportunities. These terms mean that you can build up a group of people that you will get paid on whether you work or not, like royalty income from books or cd sales. Well, the truth is, it doesn't happen like that at all... and here is why.
This is a touchy subject amongst some people, but I want to share my opinion regarding it. I have been working full time in the home business industry for 10+ years. A period of the time was spent in multi-level marketing companies where the idea of working 2-4 years and building up a walk-away income is marketed to prospects. I have been blessed to have tremendous success in network marketing over the years, 7 years were spent in that type of marketing or pay plan.
During that time period I've had enough time to see trends and see that this concept of walk away income doesn't exist. I've met many top earners who you would think had achieved the mythical walk away income, but guess what...? They are still working today, some in their 2nd or 3rd company since I've known them!
I ask, where is the residual or walk-away income here? I say it doesn't exist. I have known reps who have had 100's of thousands of distributors on their teams at one time and now they are rebuilding and doing it all over again still promoting walk away income. It makes me want to scream! They can't see that 99.9% of the people can't do what they do and they can't even achieve the mythical income.
The Myth Of Walk Away MLM Income - Marshall Gilliam (http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Mlm---The-Myth-Of-Walk-Away-Income/595144)
Something I've always suspected. Heck, why can't an industry leader like Clements retire if residual income existed? How many companies does he claim to have been the #1 producer in? Is he still receiving residuals? If not, how come?
Anyways, Gilliam, having played the MLM game for a long time, gives some reasons why residual income is a myth:
There are many reasons why I feel this way and all are based on real life examples. One is companies change. I don't think companies like paying a million dollars a year to a someone sitting on a beach somewhere not doing anything to grow the company, so they change the compensation plan to include requirements to make these people "work", hence no "walk away". The company may go out of business or get sold, the product may have issues with a regulatory agency and people get scared and your team vanishes. One of your top leaders gets a signing bonus to move over to a new company and takes most of your team with them, then what? No walk away income and you are starting over.
Makes perfect sense to me!
So why even bother getting started in some jackass MLM venture in the first place?
Get a real job or start your own small business. We all have specialized talents and knowledge that other people will pay for if you just use your head and think a bit about how to market them.
Does this really happen?
No it doesn't, according to people that have been in the industry and who are either being totally honest or their conscience has finally caught up with them. As the guy above puts it...
Your Upline will tell you in your MLM that you can earn passive income. This is not really true. Having a bunch of people paying a monthly fee or being on autoship is NOT passive income. This is not like the passive income that comes from owning rental properties, receiving distributions or dividends from a company, or royalties from a book. I am not giving a technical definition, but MLM is like a sales job with some residual income. But keep in mind that 30% of your people will quit quickly, and very few will stay for longer than 1-3 years. So, you keep having to getting new people. There are few if any people that literally stop “working” their business, and there income does not go down. I had the problem of people cancelling. I tried to relax on passive income, and it caught up to me quick, and my income went down. Its not like having an office property in an area where it will always be full and you’ll make money off of rent.
Interesting.
I went looking to see what do others have to say about residual income.
Residual Income or "Walk Away Income" are terms used by many people promoting Network Marketing opportunities. These terms mean that you can build up a group of people that you will get paid on whether you work or not, like royalty income from books or cd sales. Well, the truth is, it doesn't happen like that at all... and here is why.
This is a touchy subject amongst some people, but I want to share my opinion regarding it. I have been working full time in the home business industry for 10+ years. A period of the time was spent in multi-level marketing companies where the idea of working 2-4 years and building up a walk-away income is marketed to prospects. I have been blessed to have tremendous success in network marketing over the years, 7 years were spent in that type of marketing or pay plan.
During that time period I've had enough time to see trends and see that this concept of walk away income doesn't exist. I've met many top earners who you would think had achieved the mythical walk away income, but guess what...? They are still working today, some in their 2nd or 3rd company since I've known them!
I ask, where is the residual or walk-away income here? I say it doesn't exist. I have known reps who have had 100's of thousands of distributors on their teams at one time and now they are rebuilding and doing it all over again still promoting walk away income. It makes me want to scream! They can't see that 99.9% of the people can't do what they do and they can't even achieve the mythical income.
The Myth Of Walk Away MLM Income - Marshall Gilliam (http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Mlm---The-Myth-Of-Walk-Away-Income/595144)
Something I've always suspected. Heck, why can't an industry leader like Clements retire if residual income existed? How many companies does he claim to have been the #1 producer in? Is he still receiving residuals? If not, how come?
Anyways, Gilliam, having played the MLM game for a long time, gives some reasons why residual income is a myth:
There are many reasons why I feel this way and all are based on real life examples. One is companies change. I don't think companies like paying a million dollars a year to a someone sitting on a beach somewhere not doing anything to grow the company, so they change the compensation plan to include requirements to make these people "work", hence no "walk away". The company may go out of business or get sold, the product may have issues with a regulatory agency and people get scared and your team vanishes. One of your top leaders gets a signing bonus to move over to a new company and takes most of your team with them, then what? No walk away income and you are starting over.
Makes perfect sense to me!
So why even bother getting started in some jackass MLM venture in the first place?
Get a real job or start your own small business. We all have specialized talents and knowledge that other people will pay for if you just use your head and think a bit about how to market them.