Answering The Age-Old Question - Is It OK To Be Working In More Than One MLM Program?
The age-old question "Is it OK to work in more than MLM program?" has been asked many times of myself as well as others in the network marketing industry.
This article will address the question so that you can use it to help your recruiting efforts in your chosen opportunity.
Many people think that they can work multiple programs effectively, but many top gun professionals who have been involved in the industry disagree.
So what is the answer? To begin, we first need to take a look at the 3 types of people who enroll in a network marketing business, keeping in mind that not all are joining to run it as a business.
This is the key to understanding the answer.
1.
Wholesale Customers - this LARGE group makes up the bulk of the distributors who join any MLM program.
Most of them did not intentionally enroll to be a customer.
Most initially enrolled because they saw an "opportunity" but over time they never made a real effort to build the business.
For one reason or another moved away from the business aspect, but continued to purchase the products because they received some sort of benefit from them.
They may end up staying a wholesale customer for years, earning commissions for the person who signed them up as well as the upline that they are part of, but they are not taking advantage of the business themselves.
2.
Retailers - these distributors are looking to make some extra money by simply reselling the company's products.
They retail products through a variety of methods including home parties, craft shows, vendor booths, or by simply sharing the products with their family, friends, neighbors, etc.
They are content to make retail profits through the sales they make, but will only earn income when they sell products, and so do not take advantage of network marketing's greatest benefit - leveraging the sales of others to generate ongoing commissions for themselves.
They are either not interested in this aspect of the opportunity, or they are simply not willing to approach others about their business opportunity for one reason or another.
3.
Commission-driven distributor - these are the distributors who have seen the big picture either from a video about the opportunity, an opportunity meeting, or direct contact with another distributor.
They saw the opportunity and decided that they wanted to build a team and create ongoing residual income.
These people make up the smallest percentage of distributors in any given network marketing company, but they have by far the greatest opportunity to make an above-average income.
In some cases, extremely successful distributors who build growing teams that duplicate their success and methods earn "cartoon money" - that is, they can end up making so much money that it doesn't seem real - it's like out of a cartoon! Another name of this is "mailbox money" which stems from the fact that your commission check is in your mailbox every 30 days.
These days, most commissions are deposited in bank accounts by direct deposit each month, but the concept remains the same - money in your account every month.
Now, from the perspective of someone with over 25 years experience in network marketing, I can safely say that those distributors who fall into either #1 or #2 above can "work" with more than one MLM company with little or no concern.
These distributors may enroll in several opportunities in order to get a better wholesale price on products they resell or personally consume.
It will not have any bearing on building a business because they are not.
However, those distributors who fall into #3 should avoid being involved in more than one MLM program at all costs.
Why? The answer is simple - if you are building a commission check, you need to focus on one business.
You cannot control or be of service to your downline if you are promoting two different business opportunities.
Being in more than one opportunity also sends a mixed message to your downline.
Even if you don't tell them outright, they still may find out that you are working one or more other programs.
By doing so, you are telling them (either outright or by them finding out) that you do not have faith that one of the programs will be successful, therefore you feel the need to not put "all your eggs in one basket" and work multiple programs.
Even if the programs are not related in any way, this still represents a conflict.
In addition, you are doing a disservice to your teams in both (or more) opportunities.
If you are promoting more than one business, you are telling your downline members that is also what they should be doing.
They will do what you do, not what you say! If you "take your eyes off the ball" and have a downline organization that is doing the same, you are scattering your focus and your income potential in multiple directions.
Of course, that means you are also splitting your volumes, which has the detrimental effect of not maximizing either compensation plan! If your organization grows large, most companies expect you (contractually) to help your team and promote their business to the sole exclusion of other opportunities.
A company could even step in and move your organization to your upline or sideline who is working their opportunity full-time and is deemed to be a better "role model" to your team.
In makes sense that any company would not want any of their representatives talking about another opportunity that potentially has the ability to take volume (and income) away from them.
In order to protect their interests they may end up doing something you won't like very much such as moving your downline! The bottom line is this - in my 25+ years in MLM I have never seen multiple MLM programs as a successful way to develop long-term monthly residual income.
If you respect yourself, your downline and your company - don't do it!
This article will address the question so that you can use it to help your recruiting efforts in your chosen opportunity.
Many people think that they can work multiple programs effectively, but many top gun professionals who have been involved in the industry disagree.
So what is the answer? To begin, we first need to take a look at the 3 types of people who enroll in a network marketing business, keeping in mind that not all are joining to run it as a business.
This is the key to understanding the answer.
1.
Wholesale Customers - this LARGE group makes up the bulk of the distributors who join any MLM program.
Most of them did not intentionally enroll to be a customer.
Most initially enrolled because they saw an "opportunity" but over time they never made a real effort to build the business.
For one reason or another moved away from the business aspect, but continued to purchase the products because they received some sort of benefit from them.
They may end up staying a wholesale customer for years, earning commissions for the person who signed them up as well as the upline that they are part of, but they are not taking advantage of the business themselves.
2.
Retailers - these distributors are looking to make some extra money by simply reselling the company's products.
They retail products through a variety of methods including home parties, craft shows, vendor booths, or by simply sharing the products with their family, friends, neighbors, etc.
They are content to make retail profits through the sales they make, but will only earn income when they sell products, and so do not take advantage of network marketing's greatest benefit - leveraging the sales of others to generate ongoing commissions for themselves.
They are either not interested in this aspect of the opportunity, or they are simply not willing to approach others about their business opportunity for one reason or another.
3.
Commission-driven distributor - these are the distributors who have seen the big picture either from a video about the opportunity, an opportunity meeting, or direct contact with another distributor.
They saw the opportunity and decided that they wanted to build a team and create ongoing residual income.
These people make up the smallest percentage of distributors in any given network marketing company, but they have by far the greatest opportunity to make an above-average income.
In some cases, extremely successful distributors who build growing teams that duplicate their success and methods earn "cartoon money" - that is, they can end up making so much money that it doesn't seem real - it's like out of a cartoon! Another name of this is "mailbox money" which stems from the fact that your commission check is in your mailbox every 30 days.
These days, most commissions are deposited in bank accounts by direct deposit each month, but the concept remains the same - money in your account every month.
Now, from the perspective of someone with over 25 years experience in network marketing, I can safely say that those distributors who fall into either #1 or #2 above can "work" with more than one MLM company with little or no concern.
These distributors may enroll in several opportunities in order to get a better wholesale price on products they resell or personally consume.
It will not have any bearing on building a business because they are not.
However, those distributors who fall into #3 should avoid being involved in more than one MLM program at all costs.
Why? The answer is simple - if you are building a commission check, you need to focus on one business.
You cannot control or be of service to your downline if you are promoting two different business opportunities.
Being in more than one opportunity also sends a mixed message to your downline.
Even if you don't tell them outright, they still may find out that you are working one or more other programs.
By doing so, you are telling them (either outright or by them finding out) that you do not have faith that one of the programs will be successful, therefore you feel the need to not put "all your eggs in one basket" and work multiple programs.
Even if the programs are not related in any way, this still represents a conflict.
In addition, you are doing a disservice to your teams in both (or more) opportunities.
If you are promoting more than one business, you are telling your downline members that is also what they should be doing.
They will do what you do, not what you say! If you "take your eyes off the ball" and have a downline organization that is doing the same, you are scattering your focus and your income potential in multiple directions.
Of course, that means you are also splitting your volumes, which has the detrimental effect of not maximizing either compensation plan! If your organization grows large, most companies expect you (contractually) to help your team and promote their business to the sole exclusion of other opportunities.
A company could even step in and move your organization to your upline or sideline who is working their opportunity full-time and is deemed to be a better "role model" to your team.
In makes sense that any company would not want any of their representatives talking about another opportunity that potentially has the ability to take volume (and income) away from them.
In order to protect their interests they may end up doing something you won't like very much such as moving your downline! The bottom line is this - in my 25+ years in MLM I have never seen multiple MLM programs as a successful way to develop long-term monthly residual income.
If you respect yourself, your downline and your company - don't do it!