Are MLMs Good Opportunities For Entrepreneurial Women?

If you’re interested in running a home-based business and achieving a high level of success, multi-level marketing might be the way to do it. This model has gained traction in recent years, but it’s hardly new. Multi-level products like Mary Kay have proven lucrative to independent-minded women for decades.

What’s unfortunate about this business model is that some scammers have used them to perpetuate either pyramid schemes or outright theft. It can also sometimes be hard to make money in MLM, and some people write it off because they simply didn’t put the work into it that they should have. An MLM opportunity can be good, but you should know what you’re doing and consider a few things before you join.

Do Lots of Research First

Before you start going all in on every MLM opportunity that presents itself, you should know exactly who is in the distribution chain and what the company is like. Look at how long it’s been in business and what its reputation is like in network marketing. Solicit advice from others who have been a part of the company before, and be wary if you’re looking to join a brand new company.

Choose a Company Whose Products You Like

As with any sales or marketing gig, you’re always going to do better with the products you like and would use. If you’re using the product anyway, the wholesale discount alone may make the opportunity make sense. For example, doTERRA offers as much as 55 percent off retail price to distributors—many of whom are women. You need to determine how much product you can reasonably sell before you can find out if these opportunities make sense for you. Building leads from customers and then turning them into sales agents for you really depends on how persuasive you can be, and they’re more apt to like what you’re selling if you genuinely believe in it. If you do believe in it, there are a lot of different ways to sell it, including house parties, your own social media and website space, and even street presentations. If you have proven to yourself that you can sell, then you definitely have what it takes to be successful with this strategy.

Set Realistic Expectations for Commitment and Income

The Balance explains it can take different levels of commitment in order to start seeing MLM go from a loss to again, and possibly to a full-time high-paying business. It’s usually best not to quit your full-time job right away, at least not until you’ve had a chance to see what your proposed MLM gig can offer. It’s important to know that those who make six figures in income doing this are a very small group, but they have stayed at it for a while and have become very proficient at what they do to make it that far. Most people have just made this kind of business a hobby for a little extra income. If you do discover that you have what it takes to be successful at it, however, you just might be able to take it to a full-time level.

Our conclusion is that multi-level marketing as full-time work can be very involved, and some people are just not meant to do it. Nonetheless, if you do consider yourself to be a go-getter and you like selling things, it definitely doesn’t hurt to get your feet wet. Just be aware that while the initial investment to get in it is usually small, there will usually be ongoing financial commitments that you’ll need to be prepared for.