MLM's sell two dreams, the one you usually see in their brochures of happy couples on the beach, in fancy boats, in front of massive houses or about to fly off into the blue yonder and the less publicized one of an ongoing income. Of the two, the second unglamorous one is by far the more important.

One must always plan for the future at any age. It is very important.

When you are young, the most common important things are; you want to be successful in your chosen profession so you must study hard and make a good living; you want to marry the right person and have a happy family life; you want to have a good social life; you want to travel and experience the world.

What else is important?

Each one has their own dreams and plans but there is one more thing that is very important for peace of mind and to retain the happiness in your family?C You have to guard against unexpected problems. One of the ways this is done is to use insurance. For example, your car is insured against accidents and at least third party liabilities. However, there are things that you cannot insure against or at least most people don't. There are many other situations where you cold end up in problems either due to some unexpected event, natural disasters or some personal tragedy.

For that you need to build up your assets or develop an independent source of income.

You can do this by savings which are invested and generate income. However, it does take time and a lot of sacrifice

So what happens if you have a financial crisis in the meantime? You could lose your job, make a bad decision; there could be financial problems in the country or other major problems caused by natural disasters, currency speculation and political problems or due to other human causes. One thing you can be sure of there will be several such crisis in your life.

Therefore it is very important to have a source of income independent of your job. It is infect vital if you do not want to land up in major problems at sometime or other.

This is why so many people join MLM's because they promise the glamorous life and "ongoing income"- the best type of income. This is despite the fact that a very small percentage of participants in each MLM do make money and most lose money and friends too.

So if ongoing income is the most desirable form of income how are you going to achieve that?

One way is to have enough money so that you can at worst put it in the bank and get interest or do something better with it like buy a property and rent it or buy shares. But how do you get the money in the first place?

Another way may be to join an MLM or an affiliate program.

Problem is there are major pitfalls in both and most participants do not benefit and infect lose large sums of money, more so in MLM's.

There are some things to watch out for when joining MLM's. Here are some general suggestions:
-Seek out MLM companies that have a wide range of products that everyone needs. The more products they have the better. Stay away from companies that have a "special niche" product even if it is the "best in the world".
-There are many near pyramid type of MLM. They grow fast and fold up fast. You can tell which companies these are because you get paid for recruiting members. So stay away from companies that pay you for recruiting members
-Some MLM's sell their products at very high prices and claim that the products are unique and not available on the general market, are superior or more concentrated or some other similar spin. My advice is to stay away from companies that have high priced products at the retail level, meaning the final consumer level.
-Some MLM's do not have good products or services and they overcome this by a lot of hype. In my opinion the hype is in inverse proportion to the quality and value of their goods or service. So stay away from companies that have too much of hype ?C they probably have something to hide.
-Most MLMers lose money because they have to buy minimum quantities they cannot sell and these pile up in their home. They then push these goods too hard on to their friends and associates who start to stay away from them. So stay away from companies that require you to buy minimum quantities every month to qualify for something or other.
-Another large drain on the resources is promotional material. Many MLM companies make their main money on selling these materials. Stay away from companies that sell you their promotional materials and inspirational tapes at anything above what it would cost them.
-If you are to sell anything, it must be something people want. It is very difficult to build a market for a new product that is "the best in the world" if it is not what people want. Stay away from companies that do not sell anything you would not normally buy or use.
Email me if you want recommendations of companies that provide for the dream without the negatives.