Are you in it for the long haul?

This is a question that I get from prospects more than any other.

Not, “is this a pyramid?” (It’s not. And thank God most people have enough MLM sense these days to know that much.)

No, people’s concerns are for something different. And at first it seems like an intelligent question. “How long have they been in business?” “Who’s in charge?” “How much experience do they have?” All directed at the biggest fear of MLMers everywhere:

“ARE THEY GOING TO GO OUT OF BUSINESS?”

Truth is, no legitimate MLM company starts with the intention of going out of business. Bottom line is they need one thing to keep going: a continuous flow of paying customers to buy whatever it is they’re selling. Anytime a real MLM goes under, one of two things happens:

They don’t have enough business to keep the company going, or
They get so much business that they can’t handle it.

Again, only a moron would start a company without planning to deal with either of the above. Money (or lack thereof) is at the root of both problems.

Neither one has anything to do with the distributor. Here’s my point:

NO COMPANY is worth more than the paper it’s written on. Not even Wal-Mart. Not even Microsoft. Because all a “Company” is legally is a few pieces of paper filed away in a drawer somewhere that nobody reads. And an MLM company is only as good as its ability to ship product and write good checks. If it can’t do those things, it’s no good to you. No matter where it is, who owns it, how much experience they have, or how good the products are. All those things matter, but the whole chain is only going to be as good as its weakest link.

The “company” is not bricks and mortar or articles of incorporation. It’s PEOPLE, PRODUCT, and PROFITS, and its ability to manage them. In MLM, “sales” is a company function; it’s our “job” as distributors to make them happen. PEOPLE are the only living thing in a company. Meaning, we as PEOPLE have control of the product and profits, not the other way around.

So, ask not what your company can do for you, ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR COMPANY.

You have the POWER to control your income. Decide what you want to be paid and make it happen with your company’s product and compensation plan. If you can’t, FIND ANOTHER COMPANY where you can get the job done. Simple as that. Once you have the ability to do MLM well, you won’t want to do anything else, and you can do it with any legitimate company.

The biggest asset you get from your MLM experience is your ASSOCIATION WITH PEOPLE. You make contacts that you can use for a lifetime. No need to worry about if a company folds. Work to build an association, NOT A “COMPANY”. Smart gamblers know, “you can’t beat the house”.

If you build an association with integrity, you don’t have to worry about losing a company. If my company were gone tomorrow, I could join another company the day after and within 1 year I’d be making a 6-figure income. Because there are people I can call to follow me who will run tell others. And they know that when I tell them something, they can take it to the bank.

How do you get people to follow you? Act with integrity. Focus on them and put them first; ahead of the company, ahead of the product, ahead of the comp plan and everything else. PEOPLE FIRST, PROFITS WILL FOLLOW.

The bad news is, if you’ve never made money in MLM, it’s because you’ve never had an association. The good news is, you can build one. Starting today. Tell people the truth. Always. Help them. Treat them like you want to be treated. Do that, and you’ll make money before you even realize you did it.

When asked the question, “are they in it for the long haul?”, my response:

Are you?
Are YOU in it for the long haul?