Network Marketing is NOT the lottery

There must be a lot of people who just sit around and dream up schemes to prey on the hopes and dreams of would-be network marketers. It's easy to think of the promises you can make: pay only once, never sponsor anyone, never sell any product, get "spillover" from the "heavy hitters" in your upline. These all sound so enticing -- just sign up, pay your fee, and walk out to the mailbox every week to collect your big checks.

I've seen hundreds of these deals. Many of them are quite clever. The sound great on paper. They are legal (though sometimes just barely). They have a great story, a lot of excitement, and convey a sense of urgency -- if you don't get in now, you'll miss all the action.

In my opinion, many of these deals are just thinly disguised chain letters. They give network marketing a bad name. The products, if there are any, are overpriced, of poor quality, and largely ignored. The "opportunity" is played up real big, sometimes to the point where the products are not even mentioned.

Wouldn't it be nice if there were a program you could join that would make you rich, or at least give you a comfortable income, through little or no effort on your own part? Sounds great, doesn't it?

So does the lottery. I can go over to the 7-Eleven and buy a $1 lottery ticket. All I have to do is pick the right six numbers out of 50 -- that shouldn't be too hard. Then tomorrow night I'll be worth $11 million.

Here's a word of advice. Even though the odds on the lottery are several million to one (a proportion which, in the course of our normal reality, we cannot comprehend), you're a lot better off buying 150 lottery tickets than you are investing $150 in a get-rich-quick MLM program.

Think about it. If there were really a program that would make you rich without having to work, how could such a thing ever sustain itself?

So, if you want to gamble, if you think you might get lucky, do your state treasury a favor and play the lottery. Or jet down to Biloxi and play the slot machines.

If you want to work in network marketing, find a company that provides good products or services, and good value for the money. Then set about networking to find the people who can benefit from the products, and help them learn how to tell others about the products.

That's the only way to make money in networking.