Multilevel Marketing, commonly called MLM, Network Marketing or direct sales is one of the highest potential income sources anywhere, but particularly on the Internet. It has been claimed that in the last 10 years more people have become millionaires through MLM's than in any other business or profession.

I don't know how true that is, but I do know a lot of people have made a lot of money through MLM's.

Multilevel Marketing is also known as Pyramid Schemes and a number of other less-than-complimentary names. This is unfortunate because MLM's have a lot of potential.

There are some things you need to know about an MLM before you join one though:

• You need to be selling something. It can be selling a product or a service, but it must be selling. If all the MLM does is recruit new members, then it is what is called a "Ponzi Scheme" and it's illegal.

• They have to have a good product. You can send all the traffic in the world to an MLM website, but if the product they are offering has no appeal, it won't sell no matter what you do. If it doesn't sell, you won't make any money. Simple as that.

• They have to have "staying power.” That is, they have to be good enough to last for a long time. Many MLM's are gone in a year or two and no matter how well they were paying you, once they've folded, you won't get any more money.

• Plan on working at it for a long time to realize any significant income. MLM's don't usually build quickly, so you have to be very persistent. Once they do start to build though the growth is exponential and the income unlimited.
  

One of the worst parts of promoting MLM's is the rejection you will face. Try to think of this differently. I like to think of myself as the miner prospecting for gold during the gold rush. I sift through tonnes of dirt to find my one or two pieces of gold. All I am doing is prospecting, the more 'dirt' I can sift through the closer I am to finding my 'gold'.

If you have done the research on your MLM company then you will have chosen one with a product that has an attraction to a mass market so you are not limited to one demographic of the community. Look at the economic environment, what are the trends or 'boom' industries?

Research has shown that health, weight management and anti-ageing are some of the fastest growing industries worldwide. - A huge market is starting to unfold as the 'baby boomer' generation ages and increasingly becomes more concerned with staying healthy and youthful.

If nothing else, being involved with an MLM company can teach you business and personal skills that can be used in any walk of life. Most MLM companies are very proactive in the area of personal development and from my experience it is this that is the key to a persons success with an MLM business - and maybe in life generally. Taking a close look at ourselves is one of the hardest things to do. We can blame multilevel marketing, the company, the products or even the weather for our demise but lack of personal development would definitely be one of the main causes.

Are MLMs Ethical?
Many people question the ethics of MLM. They claim that the people on the top get all the benefit from the people working below them while the people below don't get much if anything at all. Nothing could be further from the truth!

Think about where you work. Isn't it true that the boss is getting paid out of the money YOU are making for the company? And what about the Chairman of the Board? What is he producing that makes him so valuable to the company? Did he make any sales? Did he build any of the products? No, YOU did, but he's raking in the big bucks for it.

With an honest MLM, you can easily make more than the boss if you put the effort into it. He gets a little bit from your sales, but you get the lion's share - not like a conventional job where you sweat on the assembly line while the CEO sits in an air-conditioned office getting million-dollar bonuses!

But isn't this just a big 'pyramid scheme'? Yes and no. Anyone who works a conventional job is in a pyramid scheme. Every company, army, and government in the world is built on the pyramid concept. However, with multilevel marketing, you aren't held back by the people above you like you are in a conventional job.

With an MLM, you can build your business as large and as profitable as you want it to be.

Paul Marsland is an independent distributor for a network marketing company trading in 59 countries who have 25 years of experience behind them. Along with his wife Annette they run their MLM business, full time from home. For more information please go to: http://livin-the-good-life.biz/?refid=goart-567883273