I spent my morning not thinking about cash gifting, but reading about the new FTC guidelines and the impact they are having on MLMers. They can no longer give the big income claims like this one from the fictitious Randy:

“I made $35,902 in my first 90 days with this one-of-a-kind opportunity!”

Unless they also disclose exactly what the average person can expect to make in that same time period (per company stats) and the steps taken to get there.

For instance ‘Randy’ would need to disclose it if he had spent $10,000 on Google ads and tapped into his existing network of 2500 people to earn the $35,902 in 90 days, or whatever he actually did to make that unusually large amount in such a short time. Because that is an unusual amount, and most will never duplicate it, not just in 90 days, but never.

Network Marketers are Being Forced to Tell The Truth

But will they? I think most will try. But this is new so we’ll  have to wait and see. Meanwhile, the best thing to do if you must involve yourself in MLM is to determine (before joining the company!) how many customers you will need to make the dollar amount you want each month. Or if recruiting is your thing, how many recruits. In other words, do your homework by knowing what you want before you join.

This is the exact opposite of what has been happening. Usually, the new person is accosted, er, approached by someone they know, shown the plan and they get all excited and join right away. This is bad because they most likely didn’t start that day wanting to go into business for themselves, and they have no clue what it takes to succeed in MLM (5 years and $5000 – or thereabouts).

And with the Internet, it has been even worse. You Google network marketing and up pop thousands and thousands of “opportunities” for you to choose from. Each one promising more money than the last. These guidelines will begin changing all of that. Hopefully this will stop a lot of potential victims, er, new reps who never make a dime, from getting started in the first place.

All that said, is it surprising that I prefer affiliate programs (my current favorite is a new way to buy and sell items via online auctions, with no final value fees – look out eBay!) and cash gifting? These days we all have many choices, and so we don’t have to go down the MLM road to nowhere (for 95% or so, anyway). We can make a different choice.