Multi Level Marketing - Is There Anything Better?

Multi Level Marketing - Is There Anything Better?

Much has been written about the advantages of multi level marketing over other ways to make money long before the internet came along.  Advantages such as low start up costs, minimal operating costs, ability to create wealth far beyond what a single brick and morter business could produce, no employees, no bank loans, no franchise fees, and on and on.

But since the proliferation of the internet some 20 years ago, many other types of money making businesses have appeared.  And alot of money has been made in many of them over the years.  But the question remains, Is There Any Better Way To Make Money Than Multi Level Marketing?  Let's take a look.

Affiliate Marketing Versus Multi Level Marketing

Affiliate marketing is probably the largest non multi level marketing business model in terms of popularity and money made.  Affiliate marketers don't have to create, sell, use, or even know anything about the products they sell.  They just have to be able to market.  And as the internet has grown, so has the number of people willing to spend money on digital products which promise weight loss, pet training, muscle building, making money, and just about anything people are interested in.  In other words if you developed internet marketing skills, you could make a decent living and sometimes become very wealthy.

But the downsides of affiliate marketing are many. 

First, the money made is usually a one time deal.  Once you sell a product, you could go hungry until you sell another one.  With multi level marketing, a real draw has been the residual income.  Do the work once, get paid for life.  With affiliate marketing, you must work most every day or you don't get paid.  Now don't get me wrong.  With technology, you can automate much of your marketing so you don't have to be in front of your computer all day.  But the bottom line is if you don't make a sale, that day, you don't get paid.

Second, the internet and companies on the internet are constantly changing.  What Google will accept today in the way of pay per click advertising, they may completely change their direction tomorrow.  And that is exactly what happened not long ago when many affiliate marketers, who depended on PPC advertising were suddenly stopped in their tracks.  And their income stopped as well.  You certainly don't want to depend on any one person or organization for your likelihood.  It could spell disaster.

And third, affiliate marketers are usually paid online through various online payers.  When they have their problems or suddenly change how they handle your money, you could go a period of time without being able to access the money you have earned.  This, too, has happened when PayPal decided to withhold funds when their policy changed.

Sell Your Own Products

People can be very creative when there is a great monetary incentive or when they want to eat.  Instead of marketing other people's products, you could create your own products, digital or otherwise, and have affiliate marketers sell them for you.  Typically, you would make 50% of the sale when sold by affiliates, or you could market them all by your lonesome and make 100%.  Either way, it is an alternative to affiliate marketing and multi level marketing.

Sell On Ebay

An entirely new and different business model developed when people learned how to sell on eBay.  I'm not talking about selling things you have lying around your house.  I'm talking about creating agreements with companies who make hard and soft goods to drop ship them to customers that you, as an eBay seller have marketed to on eBay as well as your own eBay store.  This is the epitomy of being a marketer when you find the products to sell and then work with the companies to set up the distribution channels to get the products to them.  All of this while you are sitting in the comfort of your own home and working whatever hours you desire.  The advantage you have is the millions of customers who use eBay on a daily basis.  You don't have to go far to find customers for your products.

Membership Sites

Along the same lines as people that create originals to sell are the people who develop websites that offer information or services and charge a membership fee to access it.  This can be a form of residual income since monthly membership fees are the norm and as long as someone sees value in what they are receiving, they may stay as members for a very long time maintaining your income from those people indefinitely.  This can be an attractive option once you have the website and its intricasies set up for such a business.

Conclusion

There are other business models that have appeared online over the past couple of decades, some worthy of pursuing, others very short lived.  And the advantages of some of them may well prove the test of time.  However, multi level marketing HAS stood the test of time and, in fact, has grown to such a point that some would say it is a saturation of the market for people looking at ways to make money.  But as is the case in free market societies, the strong will survive and the weak will die but may surface in a new, similar type business or a completely different business model.  But the bottom line is: if you need to make money outside of a job, take a look at multi level marketing.  Pick a strong, knowledgeable upline in a company that has been around for at least 2 years.

If you are interested in building a network marketing business in a completely different way than what you find today, check out my blog post: A Different Way To Build A Network Marketing Business