Posted by Before we begin: As a stay-at-home mother in my early thirties, I’m a member of the prime target demographic for MLM companies. I know a lot of people who are, or have been, involved with them at one time or another. This post is not directed at any of those people in particular; it concerns the broader trends.
So, what’s an MLM, anyway?
MLM stands for Multi-Level Marketing, also known as “direct marketing,” “referral marketing,” “pyramid selling,” or “network marketing”. People who work for MLMs make their money through sales-based commissions, and also through recruiting, where they can get bonuses based on the number of people in their “downline” and/or get cuts of their downlines’ sales. When (rather, if) people show a profit in an MLM scheme it typically comes from their recruitment/downlines, rather than product sales. Does this sound like a pyramid scheme? It’s not. Technically.’
Read the rest of this article over at In This Ordinary Time.