Is there a difference?

Multi-Level Marketing or MLM provides you with two ways to earn a profit. The first method is the selling of products. You become the distributor and sell products purchased either through your website or from you directly.

The second way to earn a profit is to recruit other people to be part of your downline; you earn a small portion of money from them as well as any from any of the products you sell.

The people you recruit then recruit people into their downline and you also earn a portion of the sales and on it goes down the line. Some companies have put a stop where it will go 9-12 levels deep, sometimes even further.

What scares most people about MLM is the fine line between legitimate and scam. One of the easiest ways to tell the difference is if the main purpose of the program is for you to only recruit people, then that’s not a good sign. The reason being if everyone continues to recruit, soon there will be too many people and nothing to sell, and no profit margin.

Some good examples of legitimate MLM (although they don’t like to be thought of with that term) companies would be Strong Future International, WAH Powermall, or Savings Highway. With each of these companies there are products to purchase at a discount, you can recruit people for your “downline”, and your earn commissions from each level of your downline. There are no requirements for a minimum purchase to promote these programs.

An affiliate marketer is very similar to anyone in MLM. Unlike MLM, however, affiliate marketing is selling a product once, getting paid once. There is no downline for the actual products. Therefore, there are not residual incomes.

An exception would be, if someone signed up with an affiliate network (this is a site that lists companies that would like you to sell their products), under you the affiliate marketer, then you would earn a portion of whatever that person promotes. This creates the residual income, and multiple streams of income.

As an affiliate marketer you work for a wide variety of companies, rather than just one. You will get paid through the affiliate network site the amount that is posted when you sign up for the program. Usually you are paid within 30 days of any purchase, sometimes every two weeks.

It is vital that you have your own website, as you will need somewhere to promote the companies that you wish to promote. Most affiliate sites will not accept you as a customer unless you have your own domain and website. So there is a small investment.

You can be both an affiliate marketer and work MLM and have the best of both worlds.

By: Nancy Kraska

For going on 37 years in network marketing and multi-level marketing I have looked all over for a way to show the public what it is all about. I hope and pray this article will do just that for you. After being in nearly 27 companies I have begun to see which ones are good and which ones to run away from. So in this series of articles I will attempt to impart that knowledge to some of you so that you will not have the same challenges I had and I can save you years on the learning curve. I hope this series of articles will help you.

Multi-level marketing is a type of business marketing where a parent company incorporates individuals to market and promote certain products within the business. The business concept is based on establishing a group of distributors who independently promote and sell a certain product through their own business to earn a commission.

Unlike many conventional businesses, distributors can also earn a profit by recommending the company to other people, who also want their businesses and who like and sell the product. With multi-level marketing, the way to succeed is by giving others the opportunity to establish their own businesses. By bringing people in your business that share the same spirit as yourself and who want to succeed in being wealthy in the business world you can build a strong organization where the skills of all benefit everyone in the group. By utilizing contacts you already have in place as well as networking with other business minded individuals, you are well on the way to getting your business off to a huge start. The key to maintaining success with your multi-level business is to create a strong customer base that will allow your business to flourish and prosper and create an ongoing income.

Find a product (like coffee) that needs to be replenished over time so many of your customers will continue to order from you on a long term basis. Find high-quality products with unique benefits, such as 100% organically grown, infrared roasted coffee, to offer to your customers. By staying connected with everyone in your organization, it will assure that your team is on the same page at all times with their multi-level marketing business plans and forecast. Keeping the team motivated is essential for the success of everyone’s multilevel marketing business.

Copyright (c) 2008 Soaring Eagle Companies LLC

By: Robin Rushlo

Multi Level Marketing is a legitimate and revered way of doing business in the contemporary era. It is the allocation of products through referrals. But this system is more and better than being a salesman for someone. MLM uses self-determining distributors and enabling these distributors to manage their own sales force by motivating, recruiting, contributing, and training others to effectively sell goods or services.

MLM Industry

The number of companies using multi level marketing to distribute their goods, small and large multinationals alike, has been growing ever since. MLM has the benefit of very easy and quick means that lead straight to the consumers. MLM has been advantageous for them since they don’t have to confer and consult with retailers, wholesalers, and national importers to get a spot in the end-user outlets. Instead, the MLM representatives

Many smaller companies and some truly large multinationals use multi-level-marketing to distribute their goods. MLM has the advantage of very simple and fast ways that lead directly to the consumer. A company does not need to negotiate with national importers, wholesalers and retailers to get shelf space in the end-user outlet. The MLM representatives are the ones who go directly to the customers and enlighten them about the new and high quality products of the company (often bringing the products with them).

Multi Level Marketing has grown to be a multi-billion industry that has ensnared people from various walks of life. Those who engage in MLM have different backgrounds but all of them share one important attribute: the yearning to generate more income with the least possible capital used.

The Internet is filled with MLM opportunities just hanging around for you to take advantage of.

The whole starting point behind multilevel marketing is creating a downline with quality prospects. If you are unsuccessful at recruiting then you are going to fail with the whole system. Thus, optimistic and quality approach is needed.

Multi-Level

MLM is based on the downline(s) that you have. In a multi-level system, you can also put up and run your own sales force by inspiring recruits to sell products. This scene has made MLM an enticing way of establishing business at relatively low cost. It is like other retailing system which depends on costumer sales and instituting a market where consumers buy over and over. One big difference is that MLM entails a start-up cost that is usually smaller than other businesses.

Marketing

Marketing is about earning income for referral customers. A legitimate MLM company gives emphasis to dependable products or services. This business system is one where a distributor gets commissions on personal sales and those that he/she has recruited. Marketing and selling products and services from MLM have been proven to be an effective means of quickly establishing a new business.

Success is about leadership

To be triumphant in this business, you must become skilled at being a leader for yourself and steering your team to be leaders as well (which is by the way my definition of leadership). It is necessary to inspire your team and let them experience the feeling of having someone who wants them to succeed. Creating a plan for yourself and your team is also indispensable in this business. If you and your team exert 100% in this endeavor, everyone wins. Team effort is a success for you as the leader. Likewise, MLM success is a team effort.

For people like you who are steadfast to realizing our dream, Multi Level Marketing is one good approach to making this within reach.

By: Terez Dunn