When I was around 19 years old, a friend of mine asked me to go to him to a presentation about a business opportunity. He did not know much and since I did have some experience then with business, he asked me to come.

As we got to the presentation, it quickly became obvious that something was weird. Instead of a business opportunity presentation, we ended up seeing product demonstrations. I remember some stain remover that was presented and a toothpaste.

After the presentation was over, the guy that invited my friend started talking to us and presented the “opportunity to own your own business”. It was actually an MLM, Amway.

I did not think much of it. I just did not understand how it would work to sell products that were as expensive as they were. My instincts were definitely right because MLM businesses rely on this and practically lie to get people to sell their products.

You DO NOT Own An MLM Business

One of the most annoying parts of meeting people that promote MLM products is that they tell you they started a business. Then, they try to get you on board with tales of how great it is.

Once again, you do not own an MLM business. Here’s why:

You Do Not Control ANYTHING

A corporation controls practically everything in an MLM. This includes marketing, sales, branding, products, manufacture, what you are allowed to do and what you are not allowed to do. Practically, you do not own anything, although you are taught to say and think you do.

In order to say you own a business, you need to actually own it. With MLMs, you do not even control how you promote products.

Another really important thing to understand is that you need to promote specific products. If there is something that you do not like or that you think should be better, tough luck. You cannot do anything about it and you have to promote the products that the MLM gives you. Period.

MLMs Are All About Sellers, Not Products

One of the most important parts of running this MLM “business” is recruiting new sellers. See… when you get into most MLMs, you enter a pyramid scheme. The big money is up for grabs for those at the top of the pyramid. You enter at the bottom of the pyramid and need to build your very own pyramid, one that has you at the top.

You do not really make a lot of money if you just sell products. In fact, you need to sell a lot of them to make a decent income. The real money stands in recruiting new sellers. MLMs do not make this a secret. This is why they train you to say you own a business. Then, you recruit others so you make more money. They then recruit others. You make more money, your recruit makes more money and the one that is at the bottom of the pyramid needs to do exactly the same thing.

Restricted Advertising

With MLMs, you can only advertise products in specific ways. Do you have an idea that you think would work? Well… you cannot control that. Independent advertising is not allowed. Also, in many cases, the website you have to promote is not yours. It is offered by the MLM and owned by the business. Many simply suck.

With many MLMs, advertising restrictions are huge. You are incredibly restricted. How can you own a business if you cannot promote it exactly as you want to?

The Zero Work Promise

Almost all MLMs promise you that you will make a lot of money with literally zero or very little work. Do you know people that “own” MLM businesses? Do they make a lot of money?

In order to make money, you need to work. Every single real business owner out there takes a lot of work. Money can only be made through work, time investments, financial investments and actual control. When you do not work, you do not make money.

Training Is Zero

Look at how many articles exist online about business management, how to run a business, how to open a business and similar topics. There are literally thousands of articles online.

When you are recruited by an MLM, you are offered training. The problem is that during those training sessions, you are usually just offered motivational speeches. You are not taught anything about running a business.

MLMs brainwash people. This brings me to the most important reason why you do not own a business when you promote MLM products.

You Pay To Sell Products

With any MLM, you work for a company. Not only that. You PAY to do the job. You have to meet specific sales minimums to be allowed to promote products.

No matter what you are told, most people that promote MLMs lose money. They buy the minimum or even more. Then, they rely on recruiting new people or selling products to make some money. The problem is that they fail and they never manage to do this.

You cannot say that you own a business when you pay to get a job. This is actually really messed up.

Avoid MLMs And Build Your Actual Business

The main reason why I hate MLMs is that they straight out LIE. They tell you one thing and take advantage of you. Literally hundreds of thousands of people are victims of a business structure that relies on recruiting new people. MLMs are not Ponzi schemes but they are not far off from them.

Please learn all you can about business. Avoid all MLMs because they will not make you rich. You can only really get rich with the MLM structure when you recruit a lot of people and you get them to do a lot of work.

If you were to put in the same effort into your own REAL business, you would surely make more money. A lot more money. MLMs take advantage of people.