Which MLM Company Owners Are Headed For The Rocks?

As we talked about in my last post, evaluating the corporate experience and field experience of the ownership team of an MLM company you are considering to join is crucial.

Understanding the background story of the entrepreneur’s journey into becoming the owner of an MLM company is equally prudent.

It is not surprising when a high-level leader, who has been highly paid and highly ranked, wants to transition out of the field and into starting their own company.

What propels such a decision is always personal. At some point in the success journey of every successful distributor, dissatisfaction with the ownership team dampens his/her entrepreneurial spirit.

It is common for this type of distributor to seek power when they feel powerless in influencing the ownership team’s decision making surrounding key issues that affect the field negatively; such as a cut back in the compensation plan, or an untimely product launch, or an inexplicable integrity breach, etc.

And when they feel out of control to control the company’s direction moving forward, they are driven to take control themselves by taking their network and starting their own company.

Those distributors often think that building a company requires the same experience and expertise as building a downline. After all, that is what they would be doing, right?

Sure but that’s not all they would be doing.

Running an MLM company necessitates bringing a different perspective and skillset to the table that even the most successful in the field can not bring.

Owners who have corporate experience building other network marketing companies bring a whole other dimension of experience.

And chances are that owners who have both — experience in the field and experience in corporate — are the most ideal candidates for your opportunity because they see perspectives from both sides of the table. They have their share of past successes and mistakes to stand on to create the right culture and healthy environment for your success.

I love it when my wife, Dr Yess, says that “your past failures leave clues behind into your future success.”

So when Dr Yess and I received an invitation to fly into the mansion of a respected network marketing company owner, we were so curious to meet with him and hear his story about his past failures because it would give us clues into his greatness.

Sitting at the head of his hand-carved wooden boardroom table, he painted the image of his epic failure from the time he was a first time network marketing company owner back in the early 2000s.

His company had been thriving, so outside investors wanted to get a piece of it. One such investor offered to buy 10% of his company.

And while he thought selling that company ownership percentage was a good idea, he was blinded by the fact that this influx of capital would mean an out-flux of his control.

He underestimated how such a small percentage can change the weight in decision making and direction of his company.

While his eyes were fixed north, his company started heading south. He witnessed the culture of his company deteriorating right before his eyes.

The new investors granted contracts to pay high level leaders to come over without proper production incentives.

But owners who have experience in this paid-type of leadership recruiting, called “bridge money”, know the ups and downs of this direction. And these new owners didn’t.

The downs are directly associated with what happens to the moral in the field when certain people are paid this “bridge money” to come over and aren’t honest about it with their downline, and then it starts to leak out. And that’s exactly what happened with our mansion millionaire man.

The rumor mill started to turn and leaders from other companies started coming for the wrong reasons, using the company as a revolving door creating high turnover and decreased retention, and in turn resulting in a shrinking customer base and loyal distributorship.

This was just the beginning in a series of bad decisions directed by the new investors that were so damaging to the company’s revenue and reputation, that the original owner decided to sell the rest and retire.

And his company crumbled right down when the investors acquired the rest of it.

Would our mansion millionaire man commit this same mistake in the future that almost cost him his reputation?

Well . . . we do not know what could happen in the future. But we could tell you that our mansion millionaire man had made a promise to himself that he would never sell a piece of his new network marketing company to any investor no matter how luring they may appear.

Would he make a different mistake that can adversely affect your opportunity? He probably could. But chances are that with experience comes wisdom, competence, and higher perspective.

There is SO MUCH to consider in the ideal candidate when it comes to who makes it to the Best MLM company owners list.

Another example is how much power and authority owners give their top leaders.

These leaders are responsible for large percentages of the companies revenue, their networks follow them, and they have their fingers on the pulse of their team and therefore the pulse of the company.

Owners that have experience in the field and in corporate would know what happens when they give their top earners too much power and too much say or too little power and not enough say in company decisions.

Putting the cart before the horse to cater to the top earners can be a slippery slope that topples even the biggest building. Yet not giving the top earners enough voice and influence in the direction of the company can cause many of them to take their foot off the gas, leave to go somewhere else, or want to start their own company.

Owners who lack the adequate and appropriate experience may not allow their top leaders to be heard creating a suffocating environment where leaders feel powerless.

That’s why owners who have field and corporate experience in MLM are likely to be in a better position to know how to strike and maintain this delicate balance where their leaders feel empowered, supported, and inspired and included by the ownership team.

It is easier to see now how the experience that the ownership and corporate team bring to the table can make or break whether you are able to happily stay in a company for 12 months or 12 years.

Owners who have been through what you’re going to go through, have built, lost, and re-built large organizations both in the field and from corporate will be able to put themselves in your shoes.

Owners who have a first hand understanding of what they are building from the perspective of the most important person building it, YOU, will be the best business partners you can ever find.

So the key take away questions here are:

13. What experience does the ownership team and executive team have in the field?

14. What experience does the ownership team and executive team have in corporate?

Questions 1 to 12 are discussed in my previous blog posts. To learn more about what you need to know before joining any MLM company, you can follow my posts on medium here.

Till next time,

Charles

co-authored with Maral “Dr Yess” Yessayan, PHD

P.S. You can always find me by visiting my website or following me on social media: Facebook or YouTube

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