Not long ago my Mom's friend got me to sign up as a Monavie distributor. My wife already used the product, and she said she would build one of my legs because she had a huge network set up.
In one of our discussions, she said something I found very strange, but have since heard echoed numerous times in the MLM community... 'It's not about the product, it's about the business... the OPPORTUNITY'.
Now... I get that concept. I just think it's jacked. Yeah, people want a HBB and that means they need the business... but too often, it seems like someone or some group of people start up an MLM with the idea of 'I'm going to build an MLM, be at the top of the 'pyramid', and make billions... now all we need is a PRODUCT'. Enter: Fruit juice, health products, internet social networks and the like...
This drives me NUTS. If you don't have a product that would, by itself, be something unique and remarkable... then WHY on earth would you try to convince your friends and family, and the 'new' friends you make through your business, to SELL something for sometimes three times the price that they could easily get at Costco or on the internet???
That kind of salesmanship, in the real world, is called HIGHWAY ROBBERY. Coercing your FnF to do so to build a 'business' is no less smarmy, IMO. The fact that probably 95% of this industry is built on such disgusting profiteering is EXACTLY why MLM has such a horrible reputation in the 'real world'. It's why most of your FnF will roll their eyes at you when you bring it up.
I say it's time to STOP this self-destructive way of doing business. I say we BOYCOTT any MLM that isn't offering something UNIQUE. Something actually WORTH the money it's being sold for. Worth MORE than it's sold for, even!
Because damn it, MLM is a business... but it shouldn't be the business of selling business. It should be the business of selling a product that people want and need... and the opportunity for them to make some money selling it themselves.
My 2 cents.
I love your post Mike. For many of us the need to build your legs becomes the end all be all. For me, I believe that my company has a product that is beneficial, affordable and of high quality that offers a practical solution to issues that arise in our every day life. This is the reason that I decided to start a business in the first place, because I believe in the product. So thanks for the reminder that your product is the foundation of your business. Without a strong foundation the building will eventually collapse.
ReplyDelete-so true-
ReplyDeleteThanks Debra and Star. Glad to know someone out there is listening. :)
ReplyDeleteMike,
ReplyDeletejust wondering if you took your own advice in regards to Mona Vie? If so, great! If not, you might want to read the comparison test that The Men's Journal conducted with various leading store bought brands and a few superfruit products from network marketing companies (Mona Vie rated at the bottom of the list! Welch's grape juice scored higher!) and also take a peek at a Brunswick lab report that showed Mona Vie with an ORAC value in the low 30's...(VEMMA for example scores at 115,000)...