All year long we’ve been seeing news story after news story about how “direct selling” (the name meant to disguise multi-level marketing and confuse consumers about the true intent of the companies) is a great option for making money during difficult economic times.

We know better! People are losing just as much money with MLMs as they always have, but no one seems to want to talk about this. These “direct selling” companies want consumers to believe their mission is to sell lots of products. The truth is that their mission is to recruit a lot of people under the guise of selling products… while the real business is the recruiting and frontloading of inventory.

The CBS affiliate in Philadelphia ran a story yesterday about the direct selling opportunity and the economy… and included a clip from an interview with me. It wasn’t much, but it’s a start! At least someone is letting the other side of the story be heard!

One Comment

  1. Chuck D 08/29/2009 at 12:07 am - Reply

    While many MLM’s may not be profitable beyond the corporate doors, others have made millionaires out of millions of participants. It is the responsibility of the individual to ‘do their homework,’ to do the due diligence before investing, to make certain they have the liquidity and business acumen to manage as an entrepreneur, and the fortitude to endure the (sometimes) long learning curves.

    I have been involved with one heavily regulated MLM for nearly ten years now. The only reason I’m not sitting on my favorite beach right now is that I(!) didn’t do the work to make it happen. The/that ‘service’ is phenomenal, and I remain a customer.

    My newest venture I’ve joined is also heavily regulated, is now the #1 business in it’s class, in it’s market, but since I can’t state herein what it is, I will say it’s both recession-proof – with simple, renewable sales, and requires no inventory.

    The only guarantee I know in life beyond the certainty of ‘death and taxes,’ if you don’t work, you don’t get paid. But if you don’t do that ‘homework,’ you will work yourself silly for nothing.

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