Multilevel Marketing (MLM) should not be confused with illegal pyramid schemes. Multilevel Marketing is legal in all 50 states.

Multilevel Marketing Is a strategy used by many direct sales companies to sell their products and/or services. Existing staff is encouraged to promote and sell products and/or services directly to others and bring new or additional recruits into the business. Those that recruit others are paid a percentage of their recruit's sales. Multilevel Marketing Is also referred to as network marketing, and direct sales marketing. It involves person-to-person sales. It is similar but not the same as affiliate marketing.

Some of the large Multilevel Marketing-companies in the United States and the dates they were established include: (1) American Income Life Insurance - 1951, (2) Avon Products - 1866, (3) Mary Kay - 1963, (4) Shaklee - 1956, (5) Tupperware - 1964, (6) Primerica (NYSE) - 1977, (7) Cutco - 1949, (8) Discovery Toys - 1978, (9) Amway - 1959, (10) Legal Shield - 1972, (11) World Financial Group - 1991, (12) Herbalife (NYSE) - 1980, and (13) eXp Realty - 2009.

Direct Selling Association

The Direct Selling Association (DSA) is a large trade group with more than 130 company members, most of which use multi-level marketing compensation plans. DSA belongs to the National Retail Federation, which is the world's largest retail trade association.

Pyramid Schemes

A pyramid scheme is an illegal, fraudulent business model that promises substantial earnings or high returns primarily based upon recruiting new participants rather than providing valuable services or legitimate products. Often participants pay a fee to join, additional continuing training fees, and other exorbitant costs. The structure is never sustainable, typically resulting in disappointment for most participants. When new recruits cannot be found, pyramid schemes often collapse. Today, several large real estate brokerage firms are pyramid schemes. A pyramid scheme should not be confused with a multi level marketing (MLM) business models, also known as network marketing or direct marketing models.

Business Plan

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