Is MLM Going To Be OK?

Yeah. I think so.

In this post I want to share with you my marketing playbook, as someone who has earned over a quarter of a million dollars in MLM, but NOT known as a MLM coach or digital marketing coach. 

I am known as a mom of 7, spreading peace like peanut butter, hoping it sticks to everyone and every thing. My following started from scratch and there’s no overnight success story to report.

Folding laundry on Facebook Live was the era we decided to start putting eggs in the MLM basket.

As I mentioned above, I’ve earned over a quarter of a million dollars over the last decade in one MLM, without being a top rank leader. I have a team of 1,000 customers. 

Which is why I thought speaking up would mean something here.

You don’t have to be a top earner for it to be a blessing to your family. 

It can be done with integrity and transparency. 

I have earned $4k-$6k/mo each month from 2018-2023 and earn about $2k/mo now. (I am required by law to show you the income disclosure any time I talk about money – click here to see it now. It took me a lot of work to get here.)

With the recent news of a few companies deciding to move to affiliate models (which has its flaws), everyone building teams are wondering, “is MLM going to be ok?”.

While some industry coaches in both MLM and Digital marketing are seemingly on opposite ends of the spectrum – and the peanut gallery of MLM haters be loud…

In this blog I am going to tell you my personal future plans in my MLM – and bring a hopeful approach to those of you who are feeling nervous about your future if you have a team or want to build one.

This blog in a nutshell

• We are in a trust recession (and it’s not just MLM)
• Why I pulled back from expanding my team for 2+ years
• My future in MLM
• 10 ways to build successfully in MLM and behave prosperous in 2024

The Trust Recession

Advertising has its hands all over our social media. 

While we joke about our phones listening to us, it can often times feel exhausting (and creepy) seeing items we are thinking about purchasing pop up while watching our favorite story bubbles on Instagram.

I’m fine with ads. Truly. It’s just a part of life – businesses gotta stay alive.

But if I am looking to try something completely new to me, or I am feeling vulnerable and need to learn a new skill, I turn to people I trust to give me a recommendation. 

Word of mouth advertising from a trusted source is the number one way humans make a decision to purchase something. 

If I need to learn something from someone – I am sure to find someone who holds in their hand what I hold in my heart.

2020-2021 ushered in a digital marketing revolution that has many people feeling weary these days – high ticket programs / products that are less than subpar.

“You get $50,000 worth of value for just $249!”

Yeah. Ok. 

We all know that wealthy people are willing to pay $50,000 for things, right? You do realize that wealthy people would not spend $249 for something that was worth $50,000, right?

Well – I didn’t. Until I did.

The reverse is also true.

Just because you pay $50,000 for something, doesn’t mean it’s worth $50,000. It might be worth $249. 

Which feels even more devasting. I know from personal experience after investing in a high ticket coaching mastermind back in 2022.

Between the pandemic – the rise of digital marketing scams – paired with astronomical amounts of inflation….

WE JUST WANT TO GET WHAT WE PAY FOR – AND THERE ARE FEW PEOPLE WE ACTUALLY TRUST ON THE INTERNET.

There are many people who were trained to position themselves as the expert – and then we realize they aren’t really experts.

This isn’t just the MLM space – it’s every space.

In the corporate scene, it’s not any better. Gaslighting, promises of integrity, and “everything’s fine!” is making it worse. What we are seeing is a commitment to bottom lines of profit/revenue over relationship/genuine care for the consumer.

People are squeezing everything they can out of the consumer – and it’s coming to a head.

People are more important than profit during inflation – especially in a trust recession.

WHY I STOPPED EXPANDING MY MLM TEAM FOR 2 YEARS 

warning: This portion of my blog post is incredibly riddled with emotions coming from unhealed areas of my heart. 

It will require mercy from those of you who think I am behaving petty and immature.

In August of 2021, two top leaders from my company (whom I paid to have access to their sales trainings and team building strategies – because I wasn’t on their team) made the decision to terminate their contract and in 24 hours began hosting zoom calls to “come take a look” at their new company.

It was an earthquake announcement that triggered a tsunami of smear campaigns and division in a group of thousands of us that use to behave like family. When one of these leaders tragically lost her daughter – we all rallied. When she built her home, it was “the home that happy built”…which was the name of her team.

When I asked questions in our dm’s, she told me how sad she felt for me for being so small-minded and blocked me immediately on IG – only to unblock me in November in order to watch me give birth to our son on IG live with 20,000 other people.

(I warned you this part was petty)

I watched a mass exodus of people leave our MLM, creating financial hardship for people I love. Sailors are not developed in calm seas. We licked our wounds and kept serving while taking arrows.

Then I started behaving desperate.

I signed up for a $20,000 mastermind to get help from a coach who had systems, but in my desperation and heartache I overlooked a key component to hiring anyone to help – they didn’t have an MLM team themselves. Whoops. Lessons learned. In that mastermind I also watched more 6/7 figure earners jump their MLM to go to a different company.

Wounded – then triggered. It’s fine.

I naturally and unintentionally pulled back from “building a team” because I was just so emotionally confused. I held strong and turned all my attention to people in our company who were staying and made a safe place for people to process.

I knew I loved my team – I knew I loved my online audience – and I knew I genuinely appreciate and use my MLM products. 

I decided to lean into the affiliate route – promoting product for commissions – with the understanding I would take pay-cut for putting my focus there. 

But I just needed some time to gather my thoughts, as I continued meeting with leaders 1:1 on my team and helping them earn money in more ways than just MLM.

MY FUTURE IN MLM

With the recent news of 3 different MLM’s moving to an affiliate model, leaving behind commission for team volume sales, it hasn’t effected me the way is has others.

If my company decided to make that move – it wouldn’t be as devastating. 

Young Living recently reassured its Brand Partners that they have no intent to move away from paying commissions to people who build sales teams and bring in big sales volumes for them.

I am not a fool – I understand that people / companies can change their mind. The ability to change your mind is one of my 7 core brand values, so I make room for them to change their mind without behaving cynical and giving way to skepticism as I grieve.

In fact, while I was healing (ok obviously still healing – lol), I’ve learned how to create digital products, promote other non MLM products for commission and even went back to my first love of encouraging people to grow their walk with God through the Peace On Purpose podcast.

My paycheck with YL is still an incredible $2k+/mo, making it one of my most stable monthly commissions as an influencer today.

While there may be industry wide drama – created by MLM team hopping and payout structures changing– my position still reigns true after nearly a decade of being in this industry; it’s wise to have an MLM stream.

I think if anyone is considering joining an MLM team – it’s a good idea to sign up with someone who will help you make money inside and outside of the company you partner with – but only if you really love people and want to learn sales and marketing. Cause it’s hard.

If you join it for fast money, good luck!

MLM is only fast money for people who have a large following – otherwise it’s get rich over time while you build a following or recruit others who do.

You can’t skip over the audience part.

I know other people say you don’t have to have one, but you indeed need to understand that every business has a plan for leads and increasing sales. Every business needs a lead strategy, not just mlm.

That would be an entirely different blog post.

The main reason I enjoy MLM and enjoy the model : I partner with a handful of companies and while they are fruitful, they are not as consistent or stable as my MLM affiliation. Most companies pay once for first time customers only. MLM pays far more generously for the lifetime purchases on a referral making the LTV much higher.

I am not leaving my company. 

If anything, I am praying about how to build a sales team that is dedicated to helping other people build on their PERSONAL BRAND, so they can sell anything any time. My vision for growing my team includes rich marketing skills that will last decades – not just for the next 90 days.

Which can be a hard sell for people who want money yesterday.

Wanna join my team? lol. You’ll make thousands in 5 years, maybe, if you can master the art of generating leads.

My message is the opposite of what many people are trained to do in the industry. Thank God for this trust recession. People are waking up and reformation can happen in all industries.

10 ways to build successfully in MLM and behave prosperous in 2024

The market is still very vibrant and valuable. I wouldn’t be here writing a long blog post if that were not true. 

Yes, the game has changed – but it’s still timeless as ever. If you care about people and you have a helpful product – you’re golden. Green means go.

So far in 2024, I have enrolled 5-20 new customers every month in my mlm through social media without recruiting a single person in my Dm’s. 

Here are 10 things (that are working for me) I would recommend you to do if you want to be successful in MLM in 2024:

1. Know your personal brand. (You already have one – you don’t “build it”)
2. Un-niche yourself. (don’t put yourself in a box for fast sales)
3. Research the experts you are hiring. Did they accomplish what you want to accomplish?
4. Know your audience. (get to know them – know how you can help)
5. Grow your audience. (not your following. There’s a difference)
6. Have 5-8 products/services you recommend (know their commissions, too)
7. Learn and use permission based marketing. (unlearn the “rules”)
8. Be open to marketing different from others in your mlm.
9. Leverage how interesting / unique you are (if you don’t think you are – it makes things really hard!)
10. Tell the truth – state the facts. (NEVER EVER HIDE YOU ARE DOING MLM)

I go into these things in more detail in the youtube video below – but if you really want to learn about these things in great detail, I have a year long business cohort open that has real time access to growing your audience together.

click here for my private business cohort on patreon

In Conclusion

Even if my MLM chooses not to compensate me for my leadership anymore, I am still a good leader. 

If you are a leader in MLM for any of the companies who shut down the team compensation portion of your paycheck, I am so sorry.

I don’t wish this on anyone.

There is a real Father in Heaven who promised to feed you and take care of you. It’s not cliché or rhetorical. He knew this was coming and He doesn’t drive an ambulance. There are things He has been working on behind the scenes for you, 1,000, actually, but you can only see 3 right now.

To my friends who are wondering what’s next – buckle up. It’s better than you had planned. (Ephesians 3:20)

You are equipped in leadership, all the skills you learned go with you, so this is not the end.

I know for sure that living paranoid is not the way forward – every business is susceptible to shutting down – especially in a trust recession. 

No one knows if any business – MLM or not – will be ok.

But I know you will be.