Is Network Marketing Really a Pyramid Scheme?

Have you heard that network marketing is a pyramid scheme?  Yeah, I know, that idea has been around forever.  Did you know that people used to think the same thing about franchises?  Apparently enough people got over it because you are probably within a few minutes of a franchise restaurant now.  I think we are getting past that idea in network marketing too, but it does still linger with some people.  I had a customer recently criticize network marketing as a scam where a bunch of people get to sit around doing nothing and collect a check every month from the efforts of their downlines.  That does sound like a pyramid scheme and there might be some people who try to get by on that but I don’t think they last very long.

First of all, real pyramid schemes are illegal because members make money only by signing people up.  That’s it.  There’s no product or any other benefit to being a member.  The last people to sign up before the scheme collapses get screwed over.  That’s not network marketing.

A network marketing company provides a very clear purpose.  The one I am in, Nikken, offers wellness products.  My wife is with a company that offers custom greeting cards online for a fraction of the cost of a card from a card shop.  And for all those people above me who get a little bit of the money from my sales?  It works just like in the corporate sales world where district managers, regional managers, and VPs all get paid.  The people in my upline work their butts off providing training and support for their many downlines.  They put in a lot of effort and are always available.  The deserve to be compensated for that.

The great benefit of the network marketing plan for you just getting started is that you can advance in the organization as high as you want. In a traditional sales organization you have to wait for one of the people above you to leave the organization before you can advance.  That’s a pyramid.  Network marketing doesn’t have a pyramid structure.  When you join my team there is nothing to stop you from advancing beyond me.  There are at least two places in my upline where the sponsored consultant outranks their sponsor.  That won’t happen in a corporate structure and definitely not in a pyramid.

Wayne Woodworth
Internet Network Marketer
I may walk like an Egyptian but I can’t build a pyramid

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