My Journey With a MLM Company - Chapter 1: The Exposure)

I was first exposed to MLMs as a young girl when I use to find Avon catalogs on our doorstep. Later on in my adult life, I was approached by an Avon representative about the business opportunity. I never considered it then because I was too busy working in corporate America. Not to mention my lack of desire in selling make-up or beauty products. Last fall, towards the end of September 2008, I was again exposed to a MLM company and its intriguing business opportunity. That was when my journey started.

MLM stands for Multi-Level Marketing. What does that mean? In its most simple definition, it means selling products or services directly to the consumers by word of mouth. No billboards, ads, commercials. Just plain word-of-mouth sales. MLM is also referred to as "network marketing" or "direct-sales marketing". The organizational structure of MLMs consist of an upline and downline.

The "sales" people are called "independent distributors" of the company. They are 1099 wage-earners in the eyes of the IRS. These independent distributors are not employees of the company because if they were employees, they would be considered W-2 wage-earners by the tax man. Yes, we all know what W-2 means....a consistent paycheck every pay period. Independent distributors are on a commission-basis income. You sell, you earn. You earn a percentage of you how much you sell. The more volume you sell, the bigger your commission. This is the oversimplified explanation of compensation with MLM companies. If you want details on the different types of comp plans, click here, or ask the MLM company you're interested in joining.

Let's go back through time to early May 2008 so I can tell you how all this came about. My husband, John, was approached by a gentleman who worked on the same floor of his office building about an opportunity. This gentleman, I'll call him "D", worked in the securities and insurance industry. He proceeded to talk to my husband about a part-time business he was involved in that sells health and wellness products for a start-up company. One of its product lines was a nutritional vitamin supplement in pill form. He gave my husband a 3-day sample pack and asked him to try it.

Fast forward to mid June. "D" stopped by John's office to ask how the vitamins worked for him. John, of course, had forgotten about the 3-day sample pack that was buried in his bag somewhere. He fessed up that he hadn't taken them....doesn't even know really where they are. "D" gave John another set as long as John promised to take them and he would follow up with John later in the month. True to his word, John takes the sample for 3 days and even found the first set of samples. 6 days of vitamins!

Early July came around. "D" came knocking on the door wondering how John felt after taking the pills. The 2 effects John noticed after 3 days of pill-popping:
1. He felt a bit more energy waking up in the mornings. He didn't feel as tired as before.
2. It seemed to have the ability to "clean out" his digestive system (i.e. he was more regular).

Then "D" pitched the business opportunity and wanted John to meet with a person that started with this company since its inception. John said he was too busy and he'll let "D" know when he has some free time. That was that. Fade out.

Fade in. It's now late August. "D" gave John a business card with the company's website on it and told him to check it out. John came home, handed the card to me and told me the whole story. Since I wasn't busy with work he asked if I could check it out. I said I would and the card sat on my desk for about 3 weeks.

One mid September afternoon, John called me from his office and asked if I looked at the website. I asked, "What website"? "OH, that website. Of course I did". So, what did I think of it? "Uummm...good". To which he replied, "You haven't checked it out, have you"? A non-committal, "Not really" came forth from my lips. End of conversation. John came home that evening asking me to go with him to a meeting with "D" and his two upline partners the following week. I agreed to go out of guilt.

We drove out to the peninsula for a late afternoon meeting at 3 PM. There we met "M", "J" and "D". "M" was in the holistic industry and worked with chiropractors and other health practitioners. She was at the Presidential Director level and has been with the company for a little over 2 years. "J" has been with the company for 3 of its 3.5 years in existence. His level in the company is Ambassador. We sat down to listen to a sales pitch about the company: its vision, goals, products, founders and how much $$ to buy in if we want the business opportunity and become distributors. "J" did most of the talking. I remember thinking to myself: This is one eloquent young man. How old is he anyway? He can't be more than 30 years. Probably mid to late twenties. I like him. After the sales pitch, the Q&A followed. Our questions were answered by "M" and "J". "D" didn't do much talking. No sales pressure. Are we interested in the business opportunity? We said we would think about it.

A couple of weeks later, after doing our due diligence about the company, the founders, the products, the googling, the BBB, the competition within the health and wellness industry and the various MLM companies out there, we decided that this may be a great time to get into the business. Our justifications for taking this leap of faith were:
a. We know the business model works if managed properly. AVON, Mary Kay, Herbalife, all operate with the same business model and have been around for years and years.
b. It's a 3.5-yr old start-up company backed by a billion-dollar publicly-traded company, Blyth Inc. What start-up do you know of that has a billion dollar partner? Why not start with a company at the top of the tier and reap the rewards later?
c. It has real products that are sold and the vitamins seem to have a positive effect.
d. It is ready to go global within a year or two so it gaining momentum.
e. It has a social networking platform that pays its distributors. Facebook, with a paycheck!

So, in November 6, 2008, I became an independent distributor of Visalus Sciences. Plopped down $500 to buy-in as a distributor. This included two free months of my own website, some marketing materials, and a 30-day supply of one of the product lines. I chose the weight management product, the Trim Slim Shape (TSS). I wanted to try this out to make sure that what I was selling really works plus I wanted to lose 10 pounds.

I was ready to start my new adventure into multi-level marketing. Visalus, here I come! I'm getting my free BMW in 30 days. Yes, free BMW! But I leave that for Chapter 2.