MLM multilevel network marketing is a lucrative business–for the 5% who succeed. The depressing reality is that 95% of the millions of people who join even the top network marketing companies never make it.

There are four key components that must be in place for you to succeed in MLM multilevel network marketing.

• A solid company.
• A great product or products.
• A strong team (upline).
• An effective system.

A Solid Company:

This component may be the hardest to evaluate on the front end as every company will claim to be the best.

Here are a few things to look for:

• What are their assets?
• How much debt to they carry?
• Have they proven they have staying power?
• How well do they reward their distributors?
• How charitable are they as a company?
• What is the track record of the owner’s before this company?

But maybe the most important: What do their distributors have to say?

If they are financially viable, pay well, give back and receive high marks from their distributors, they are most likely a company worth working for.

A Great Network Marketing Product:

A great network marketing product is the backbone of a solid, well-respected MLM multilevel network marketing business. I would even go so far to say that it is unethical to sell something you do not believe in.

What determines if what you are selling is worth selling?

• It meets a need in a person’s life, whether real or perceived.
• It is a good value to the person buying it.
• You believe in it enough to sell it to your closest friends and family.

If what you are selling meets these criteria, you will also want to look at marketability.

1. Unlimited Audience: MLM multilevel network marketing is a numbers game. The larger your potential audience, the more potential people you have to sell to. Ideally you would like to be able to target the young and the old and men as well as women, to not disqualify entire populations of people with what you are marketing.
2. Consumable: Large sales volume is the desired result of network marketing. The faster your costumers consume the sooner they are going to re-order. It makes sense to distribute a product that has to be re-ordered on a monthly basis.
3. Convenient: You want to be part of a company that has a convenient, automated distribution plan. The less a person has to remember (or you have to call and remind them) to put in their order the better. Companies with auto-ship plans can help assure that your consumers are consistently ordering their product.
4. Timing: You want what you are marketing to be something that many people desire-something with momentum–it is up-and-coming, it is expanding into new markets, it is exciting and people are talking about it. It is so much easier and more profitable to try to sell on the front end of a revolution than the back end.
5. Profitability: How easy is it to make money in the company? What type of system do they have set up to pay their distributors? You probably will be more excited about selling a great network marketing product if you make money doing it.

Ultimately, when we define success in mlm multilevel network marketing, making money must be a significant part of the equation. Without it we just have a hobby, which is fine for some, but I doubt what you are looking for. When looking at a network marketing opportunity, you have to honestly consider whether you will be earning enough in the long run to make it worth your time.

Ask yourself:

1. What are the start-up costs going to be?
2. How much will I be spending on a monthly basis to remain active?
3. How many hours will I have to invest to be successful, and do I realistically have that many hours?
4. Does the compensation plan make sense and look like it will pay well?
5. How are those in my up line doing? The company can promise great things but what is important is how this plays out in real life.
6. How much do I really want to make: enough to pay for my product, enough to help out with the bills, or enough to become financially free?

You need to weigh out expenses against likely income and make sure you are not going to be spending more than you will be making. After all, it doesn’t do much good to make an extra $20,000 a year if you are spending that in product, training, conferences, advertising, etc. Imagine how frustrated you will be if you become “successful” in your company and still not make any money!

A Strong Team:

Anyone who wants to start a legitimate network marketing business should choose their team carefully. This begins with choosing your team and not allowing your team to choose you.

A weak up line, even in the best MLM companies, is the cause for failure of many marketers–the reason for this is that very few people research their up line before joining their company–the majority of the time they are joining at the request of family and friends. The opportunity sounds great at the moment but the excitement fades quickly as the false hopes do not become reality. Both the up line and the down line struggle along for a while but eventually just give up–sometimes intentionally and sometimes they just lose momentum over time.

A good team is crucial to your success in network marketing.
Like athletics, or a Broadway musical, or an orchestra, success in network marketing is all about the team.

Imagine being a part of a strong team:

1. You will have a strong upline supporting you and coaching you throughout your journey. Not only will they lead well, but they will be personally active, consistently placing people under you in your business. They will also provide the knowledge, training and encouragement you need to succeed.

A great up line saves you valuable time by allowing you to move in the right direction the first time. You will work smarter and not harder. Instead of wasting your own time, effort, and resources figuring everything out on your own, you benefit from those who have gone before you and the lessons they have learned. You soon find yourself achieving everything you are hoping for in your own business.

2. You will be striving to be the best you can be–playing your role and not expecting anyone else to do it for you. You will do what it takes to draw new leads and attract others to the team, as consumers as well as business builders. You will be leading those under you the same way your upline is leading you. As their coach, you will teach, train, equip and motivate your team helping to assure their success as you secure yours.

3. Those under you will be playing their role too. They will be learners who educate themselves about their new opportunity; they will ask questions and set themselves up to succeed. They will be motivated, self-starters who will multiply themselves by creating their own teams, thus strengthening the team as a whole. As you continue to develop people underneath you, you will start experiencing the power of multiplication and see true success as a team.

On any team there are advantages to being the star player. These are the players that make the team significantly better and take everyone to the next level. Be the best player you can be. Just realize that one of the things that makes a player great is the ability to make the team great. Without a strong network marketing team you will not become a top player in the industry. A great team works together to help each other succeed.

Action Steps:

• Join a great team.
• Be determined to work hard and to play your part.
• Multiply yourself through others with a powerful system.

An Effective System:
You now know the importance of joining a great company, marketing a great product and choosing the right team.

But the main reason network marketers succeed or fail comes down to one word: SYSTEM.

All mlm multilevel network marketing companies claim to have a great system–they all have their unique intricacies that sets them apart from the pack, according to their creators. But the truth is that many of them have the same basic system.

What is this system?

• Sign up (an autoship if applicable).
• Come up with a compelling “Why” that will keep you motivated when you get discouraged.
• Make a list of your 200 closest family and friends.
• Invite all of them to a living room meeting or a hotel presentation.
• When you run out of those contacts, start talking to everyone within three feet of you wherever you are (the 3 foot rule).
• When that doesn’t work there is always the option of purchasing leads.
• Get as many people as possible to sign up knowing that 10-20% of those you talk to will and 5% of those will stick with it. (Those that do say “no” really don’t mean “no” they just mean “not right now.”)
• Get those who are serious to attend your regional and national conferences.
• Keep a positive mental attitude by reading books, buying and listening to cd’s and attending hotel meetings and conferences.
• Have your downline duplicate this system with everyone they know.

This has been the standard system for years amongst almost all multi level marketing companies. There is only one problem with this: it doesn’t work for 95% of the people who try it.

Is there a better way–a better network marketing tool available?

Was there a better system than the horse and buggy? At the time most people didn’t think so. It was all most people could imagine. Why? Because that was what they were familiar with. Even when the automobile was introduced, the general population thought it was a crazy concept that would never catch on–except for the few willing to think outside the box.

Is the purpose of this post to bash traditional network marketing? Not at all. For those who succeed, it provides freedoms most people in this world, even in America, never experience.

Freedoms such as:

• Time to enjoy life.
• The ability to provide for your family.
• The reality of living debt free.
• The enjoyment of leisure and travel.

But there is a better way: ONLINE NETWORK MARKETING.

Online MLM is working through the same multi level marketing companies in a new way.

Here is the difference:

• In traditional MLM you try to convince people that they are interested in your opportunity–family and friends, those in line with you at the grocery store, and through cold calling.
• In online MLM you are attracting people to your opportunity who are already looking for an opportunity through leveraging the power of the internet.

Here is a good analogy that explains the difference between the two systems. Let’s say you decided to start a small dog breeding business. You breed dogs which sell for around $1000 each.

You have two ways you could choose to sell your puppies:

1. You could go to all of your friends, family and even total strangers and try to convince them that they should buy a $1000 dog from you. OR
2. You could advertise them online and have people contact you who are already looking to spend $1000 on a dog.

Which makes more sense? Obviously option #2. It is much easier and more enjoyable to sell puppies when others are coming to you already interested in what you are offering.

The same is true in mlm multilevel network marketing. You will enjoy yourself much more and have immeasurably greater success if you choose option #2.