MLM or multi level marketing as it is also known has over recent years received some bad press. The main reason for it's somewhat tarnished reputation has more to do with miseducation than hard facts. People hear the term MLM and immediately their guard is up expecting all kinds of double dealings and get rich quick schemes. Then they switch off to whatever you have to say about your latest hot opportunity after which point everything goes straight in one ear and out of the other. This is a little sad because real MLM is a legitimate business opportunity designed to sell real products or services and reward everyone involved. The best way to explain what makes a real MLM business is perhaps to exclude those things that are no such thing.

An legitimate MLM business is not one that has no real products or services to sell. Companies spring up all the time especially on the internet that are to say the least a little vague about what they are actually selling. These types of business are only interested in recruiting members into a "downline" for a monthly fee in exchange for some flimsy marketing system that is designed purely to recruit more of the same. Nothing is ever sold to anyone but fees are taken and commissions are paid to those who bring other folks into the system. The end result is that when the supply of folks coming in at the bottom is no longer sufficient to finance the commission payments up the line the whole thing collapses in on itself. This is called a pyramid scheme and most governments have outlawed such programs as totally illegal. So always check that any company you are considering joining sells real products or services and not just online marketing system.

Not so long ago there was a proliferation of pay to surf programs that operated under the guise of internet marketing companies. The way they worked was that you invested money with them and they then paid you a huge return on that investment if you clicked on other peoples adds whilst surfing the internet. The only problem was that the adds you surfed were placed by other folks also surfing for money with the same program just as you. What was more these programs were offering to pay you comission on the money folks you signed up paid into the program. You don't need to be Einstein to work out that with no product or service being sold and money going out in interest/commissions the system was unsustainable. Once the supply of new people coming in dried up the whole thing went belly up and most folks lost whatever they had invested at the time. This was a classic "ponzi" scheme named after a guy called Charles Ponzi a criminal who in the 1920s defrauded thousands of dollars from investors in similar pyramid type schemes.

A genuine MLM business is one that offers real products or services at sensible prices and does not charge fees just to partake. There are plenty of them out there and folks are making a real living out of MLM selling a huge range of products from soap to credit cards. Multi level marketing does exactly what it says on the tin. It markets at multi levels with everyone sharing the work load and being rewarded for their efforts. You are encouraged to recruit people into the business and yes you do also leverage your commissions through their efforts. The difference is however that everyone earns directly from their own sales and is rewarded accordingly.