From: mike@isgtec.com (Mike Sellers)
Newsgroups: misc.entrepreneurs
Subject: Re: MLMs=Entreprenuers?
Summary: Oy. No.
Date: 10 Sep 92 14:19:46 GMT
Organization: ISG Technologies Inc., Mississauga Ontario

ogden_jon@macmail1.rtsg.mot.com writes:
>    The truth of the matter is there are a lot of people who make that sort 
> of money in MLM's.  Yes, far less than the number of people who get involved,
> but how many people (what percentage) really make it at anything?  

MLMs are a valid method of making money, and even ethical if a true
product or service is exchanged for money (as it usually is).

This does not make them entrepreneurial (gasp! back to the subject line!).

Entrepreneurs assume the risk for an enterprise, and most often come up
with the ideas, products, and motivation for making is succeed.  MLMS
provide those who do not wish to take on the risk a ready-made idea and
product, and help greatly with the motivation and policies needed to 
make it succeed.  This is not to deride MLMs; but don't confuse them 
with entrepreneurial endevors.

> ... One has a lot better chance of
> becoming financially independent in an MLM than in their job.  

Well now, that depends on what your job is, doesn't it?  I have concluded
that my prospects within my job and my profession as a whole are brighter,
both financially and in terms of overall fulfillment, than they are with
MLMs.  What amazes me is the number of MLM folks who simply _refuse_ to
agree that this might even be possible!  Not everyone hates their job!

> Some very good
> friends of mine have reached the levels everyone talks about.  It happens all
> the time.  

No, it happens with something greater than the frequency of those in other
forms of business making a bundle of money.  Without stooping to call MLMs
pyramid schemes (they are not the same), one component that they have in common
is that both _require_ ever-larger ranks of those who have not yet made it
to supply money to those who have made it.  That is, *everyone* in MLMs who
has "made it big" has done so based on their efforts AND on the efforts of
those "below them" in their organization.  There is no way around this,
nor is there any *possible* way that everyone in the organization can make
it big.  Not that this stops people from trying, nor should it -- if they
work hard, some of them will make it big, at least financially.

> It is the nay-sayers, cows, and just generally loosers that make fun, etc.
> These people would say NO to any opportunity.  Unfortunately probably 85-90%
> of the world falls into the category of people who will never do anything. 
> I choose the be in that last 10%.

What _truly_ amazes me about a lot of folks in MLMs is their unbelievable
hubris: everyone who is not with them is a "loser," a "cow," or a "nay-sayer."
This is obviously not the case, though saying it no doubt makes them feel more
secure in what they are doing.  

Now, there *are* a lot of "nay-sayers" out there.  However, there are also
some number of folks who do not want to follow in the footsteps of someone
else (join their organization), and who have different dreams and drives.
I respect those MLM folks who, after hearing my plans for my life, genially
drop the subject of their UNBELIEVALBE OPPORTUNITY.  It is those to whom
I am immediately a "loser" for whom I lose my respect.  These who have 
convinced themselves that they are themselves not followers are the most
obnoxious and least entreprenuerial of all.

> Jon
--
              Mike Sellers      User Interface Team Leader
           mike@isgtec.com      ISG Technologies, Toronto, Canada
              "Actum ne agas" -- Do not do what has been done.
                         Furare tantum ab Optimis