As the economy gets worse, you’ll probably see more desperate people looking for ways to earn money as quickly as possible. One such way is to join an MLM company. I’ll warn you - there will be more scams. So it’s more important to remember to be rational when evaluating any business opportunity.

Remember, it’s a BUSINESS DECISION not a decision based on belief or enthusiasm (though if the business checks out financially it’s great to believe in what you’re selling and the company you sign up for).

Joining an MLM company is about as easy . Anyone who is considering joining an MLM company has more than likely been introduced to the concept through a sales pitch. So these MLM tips are geared towards finding the right MLM company, and how not to get burned by joining.

First, I want to acknowledge that some MLM based companies are completely legitimate and reputable, they aren’t all evil scams waiting to pounce and suck you dry. But some are. Many of the most aggressive ones are.

Even some fully legal MLM companies knowingly deceive and manipulate potential recruits with unrealistic and hugely exaggerated promises of success and big money. So the first tip is to never make a decision about joining an MLM company until you’ve done your homework and researched the company and their track record with the Better Business Bureau.

Second, take claims and promises made with a grain of salt. No one wants to be bitter, suspicious and cynical, but MLM companies are absolutely famous for exaggeration, hyperbole, lying, whatever you want to call it. If the offer seems too good to be true, then it undoubtedly is. Don’t quit your day job just yet, wait until the checks start rolling in.

Third, make sure you read everything in the contract and registration materials of any MLM business before you sign anything. You may even want to get some help straightening out the meanings of all the legal jargon from a lawyer. This may sound excessive, but the fine print found in those documents is the way many MLM businesses circumnavigate the law.

For example, many MLM businesses include a clause in miniscule writing and in the most confusing language possible that basically says that you promise not to sue them if you lose everything while attempting to sell their products under false pretenses.

Also in the fine print, you can often find averages of how much independent distributors made the previous year. This number may be significantly different than what you were promised initially, but because the numbers are disclosed in the contract, regardless of how small and well hidden the figures may be, you can’t sue for being purposely mislead.

When considering joining an MLM business, the main thing to remember is to not get caught up in the glitter and emotion of promised success and living the American Dream.

The truth is that those who make nothing, or even go into debt as MLM distributors greatly outnumber those who hit the big money, and it isn’t necessarily for lack of dedicated effort. Be careful. Keep your head. Question everything. Good Luck.

Before anyone joins an MLM company, talk to distributors of all kinds (look for ones running ads in local classifieds sections). Ask them how much they’ve actually spent and made in the business (or for an idea of what is reasonable). Also, watch Believe the Movie. It’s a funny story but also gives some insights into the MLM business - so you’ll know what to watch out for.

I haven’t been very good at posting an MLM joke of the week, but hey, I don’t have to keep all my promises do I? It’s really just an intention…so here goes.

Adam, an MLM distributor dies and goes to heaven (of course). When he gets to heaven, St. Peter meets him at the gates. He says that Adam has a choice  - he gets to CHOOSE where he’ll go - heaven or hell.

Adam tells St. Peter that he would like to check out both, being the open minded type of guy that he is. So he takes a tour of heaven and finds it to be exactly what he expected. Peaceful, beautiful and perfect. Then he asks to go see hell so he can make an informed decision.

St. Peter takes him down to hell and Joe is shocked when he walks in. There is loud music playing, people are partying, happy, smiling, wearing nice clothing, having sparkling conversations, etc. It’s totally upbeat and he can’t believe it. He tells St. Peter that he was quite the socialite / partier on earth so he figured he will choose hell - much to his surpise.

They leave and go do the paperwork and return in about 15 min. Oh yes, there is paperwork in heaven too!

When Adam opens the doors of Hell this time, he is equally shocked. It is dark, people are wearing rags, they are NOT smiling and in fact are grimacing. They are sweating, shoveling coal, and clearly NOT happy.

Adam hurriedly goes to the guy who appears to be their leader and asks, “Hey, what gives? I was just here 15 min. ago and this place was nothin’ but a big party. Now it’s all grim and depressing.”

The leader guy looks at Adam and says: “Oh, I know what happend. When you came earlier, you must have caught us during our opportunity meeting.”

MLM distributors could make our best affiliates – because you really get the concept of sharing what you find with your friends. Plus you make money doing it! Basically that’s what affiliate marketing is, only the online version.

Believe is a comedy about the MLM business. It’s hilarious and your downline will get all the jokes!

You have a web site for your MLM business but you don’t take yourself too seriously, right? So enjoy some laughs. Post a movie review. Tell people to go to your site. We give you the banner ad and you put it up on your site. If someone clicks on it and then buys the DVD, you make a percentage of the sale. You can log on to the Believe site and get stats on your sales.

Brilliant!

Here’s where to sign up for the Believe the Movie affiliate program: http://www.believethemovie.com/store/partner/register.php

There’s a lot online about the MLM business, which made me remember something from the past. Remember those money-making chain letters that used to get distributed to your mailbox? All you had to do was send a dollar to the top three people on the list, remove the top name, add your name to the bottom, then redistribute the letter to 10 other people.

The theory was that once your name got up to the top three, thousands of people will have received the letter and will be sending you a dollar. Thousands of dollars just for sending out a letter! It couldn’t possibly be easier, could it?

However, there was a problem with the whole thing. Okay… there are a lot of problems with it. But perhaps the biggest is the fact that it’s illegal!

Then one day a new letter was introduced. Claiming to have consulted a lawyer, the new letter’s author stated that the whole process was legal as long as you gave something in return for the dollar you were asking for. In essence, you were selling a product. So the new author would promise to send you something in the mail, usually a letter of some sort.

So was the new chain letter method no longer a scam (or, more politely, no longer illegal)? Uh… I guess. I personally never bothered to waste a lawyer’s (or my) time about it. However, it’s sort of like multi-level marketing (MLM) companies.

How is MLM like a chain letter - the more sales people you bring into the business the more money you can make – more than by selling the product yourself.

So here’s the chain letter:

Follow these directions EXACTLY, and in 20 to 60 days you will receive
over $50,000.00 cash - all yours! This program has remained successful
because of the HONESTY and INTEGRITY of the participants.

Follow the directions exactly and soon people will start sending you money.
Thousands of them! THIS IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY
to GET RICH NOW, and laugh in your sleeve all the way to the BANK!!

(EtcEtcBlahblah&Blah)

Believe the Movie is a mockumentary about MLM that echoes real life, according to Lisa Steptoe. Our favorite sales diva recently blogged about Believe the Movie and how it reminded her of being an Amway distributor.

“Well, the actual movie is out on DVD and Ron and I got our copy in on Friday. We watched the movie yesterday afternoon and it was absolutely HILARIOUS…just like they said it was going to be. I had goosebumps from how eerily similar it was to our days in Am.wa.y/Qui.xta.r. “

Her MLM story is on our website and it could’ve been a scene from the movie. Let’s just say divas aren’t going to go for sharing a hotel room with 2 other couples and 2 babies.