I’m gonna be brutally honest here.
Some of my MLM friends may not like this.
Here’s my truth: MLM’s have a bad name.
I ignore most of them like the plague.
There. I said it.
So, why am I a part of an MLM business?!??!??!?!?
I went in kicking & screaming.
For those not aware; I belong to doTERRA; an essential oil company who chose to use the multi-level marketing as their structure to share their products.
When I was a little girl, I remember my someone coming over and giving my family a demonstration on some cleaning products. The company was called Amway. (mmm hmmm) This person stayed a LOOOOOONG time. I remember it was dinner time & they were STILL there & my mother telling them that she needed to go & they kept on talking. After the presentation I overheard my parents saying how uncomfortable they were, how pushy he was & he stayed too long. That was my first experience with an MLM.
I was approached by several other MLM’s in my lifetime. Each had very similar experiences as the above.
And that is how I thought all Network Marketers were.
And that is also why I DID NOT want to join doTERRA when my sister approached me. (Also, let’s mention that I thought essential oils were smelly & just weird. But, that’s a whole nother blog.)
I have since learned that PUSHY MLMers are those who are not successful. None of the pushy people who approached me previously are still doing that business.
Hmmm… I wonder why?
Here’s what I know today.
Multi Level Marketing is simply a way that companies choose to market their product. And, when done the correct way….it’s VERY effective. Why?
Let’s look at doTERRA for instance. If we sold our bottles of oil in a regular store, you would have no idea how to use them or why. There has to be some education about how to use them & what they’re for.
Person to person is THE BEST way to teach others how to use a product.
When my son was dealing with chronic ear infections, my sister gave me some Tea Tree essential oil to try. That stuff was smelly, but wow…it worked! There is NO WAY I would have ever gone to the store to get Tea Tree oil on my own. I needed my sister to tell me about it & educate me.
I had several friends who knew that my son was having problems with his ears & was told he might eventually have to have surgery to put tubes in his ears to drain them. When I told my friends that I had used Tea Tree oil & my boy was no longer having any ear pain and didn’t need surgery, they were like – “What? What is that stuff?”
So, I held a class on essential oils where they could learn. From that class, they wanted to hold their own class. And when they held a class, some of their friends wanted to hold a class.
It was this amazing chain of helping people understand that there were BETTER choices out there than just taking drugs with side effects.
None of us would have ever gotten this kind of help if doTERRA chose to simply put their oils on a shelf in the store.
I don’t feel like I am a PUSHY Multi-level Marketer.
I have MORE friends because of the work I do.
I have helped MORE people because of the work I do.
The secret is to really have the passion for what you’re doing & share it authentically.
PUSHY is not any part of that.
Essential oils come up in natural conversations for me.
There is no awkwardness.
And, I thoroughly enjoy my job. (Can I really call it a job?)
I also believe that doTERRA makes it easier for us who use essential oils. We don’t “sell” the business side. 67% of the people in doterra order regularly every month because they use the oils and they work. There is no ploy to order just so you can make money & recruit people. Just order to get the discount. We have the highest retention rate of any company.
Okay. Enough. This is NOT a blog all about the awesomeness of doTERRA. (Although I am a little biased…okay?)
My take on Multi Level Marketing did a 180 when I saw how “effective” people do it.
There are too many people out there giving MLM’s a bad name. Too many people who don’t understand the power of just sharing what you’ve learned and being fully into wanting to “help others.”
I probably didn’t change your mind about MLM’s. But, I hope I made you think.