My Experience with MLM

For some people that sign up with an MLM company, it may be the lure of easy money. The thought of a big income made quickly, and with very little effort, does sound tempting. Of course, an MLM just wouldn’t be an MLM without the promise of the “residual income” that can be made if you will just “build a team of leaders”, get “on fire”, etc.

Some of us sign up simply to get a discount on products we already use, and then somehow convince ourselves that as long as WE love the product, we might as well sell it because we just know that EVERYBODY ELSE we know is going to love it too. It usually doesn’t end up working out this way, but we manage to tell ourselves that it will.

In my case, I stumbled across a candle company that happened to be an MLM. Their product line looked very interesting, and as I searched for information about them, I ran across many websites where people were talking about what great incomes they were making, just by sharing these candles with others, and how much fun they were having in the business.

I enjoy scented candles, and these products really did look like they would be fun to sell-and I could certainly use more income myself, so I signed up with the company and enrolled in their monthly auto-ship program.

At first, things went well. I sold a few candles to family members, and two or three to friends of ours. I stayed up very late at night, reading distributor training sites and discussion boards, eagerly making plans to “grow my business”. I purchased catalogs and other supplies. I ordered business cards and made samples. I really thought I could do this.

Shortly after that, I got bogged down. I am quiet and shy, and don’t enjoy chit-chatting and small-talking with strangers, let alone trying to sell them a product! Even though I carried business cards and samples with me, somehow I just couldn’t bring myself to open up a conversation about the candles. I never took the cards or samples out of my purse. This was my first clue that I was not cut out for MLM.