The Top 3 Things I Hate about the MLM Industry

by Chuck
(MD)

What do I hate about the MLM Industry? Before I answer that question I’d like to take a moment to tell you that I am a huge fan of the MLM Industry. In fact, I’m one of the biggest fans around. However, there are some things that agitate me about network marketing.

The purpose of this article is to tell you my top 3 things I hate about the network marketing industry. They are anti-friendly company policies, poor retention rates and misinformed people. I'll cover each in more detail below.

The biggest thing I hate about the MLM industry is the restrictions that network marketing companies place on their distributors. Most companies have outdated and ineffective policies concerning internet marketing, for example. For whatever reason, they’re so focused on protecting their corporate image that they prevent their distributors from creating their own unique distributor blogs and websites.

As an example, most companies won’t allow their distributors to even mention the company name anywhere on their personal blog or website. How crazy is that?

Additionally, most companies have horrible policies about how you can advertise your business. For example, many companies won’t allow you to use their name in newspaper ads. And they have other anti-friendly distributor policies such as “no compete clauses,” which prevent you from participating in several MLM companies at the same time. One day, I hope these companies will get their act together and revise their policies to give distributors more flexibility to build their business the way they want to.

Another thing I hate about the MLM industry is the retention rates. People drop like flies in MLM. I don’t know of any other industry with so many “walking dead” business owners. For some reason, the network marketing industry has a never ending revolving door. People quit just a couple weeks, or months, after they get started.

How many regular business owners (of a traditional business) quit their business in less than 90 days? It’s a fact that most business owners (in any industry) don’t make a dollar profit in their first few months (or years) in business. But you seldom see a franchisee that spent tens of thousands of dollars for his business, quit in his first 90 days. That would be ridiculous. But network marketers do it all the time.

Another thing I hate about the MLM industry is all the pre-conceived notions that the media and non-network marketers have. It’s ridiculous. So many people claim that “network marketing is evil” or “illegal” yet they’ve never spent even one day of their life involved in the industry. How can that be?

Sadly, so many other misinformed people take their advice and refuse to learn anything about network marketing. In fact, if you mention the word network marketing to most people, they would probably run the other way.

I honestly believe that you must look at things objectively. For instance, would you avoid a restaurant just because your brother-in-law said the food sucked? Or would you visit the restaurant yourself and form your own opinion instead? Before you can determine if something is good or bad, you must evaluate the facts, do your homework, and be open-minded.

In conclusion, these are just a few things I hate about the MLM Industry. Although I love network marketing, there are a few things that absolutely drive me crazy. I’m sure some of these things bother you too. Despite a few shortcomings, it’s still an awesome industry for the average person looking to take control of their life.