Couple random things over spring break that I figured I would share. My Multi Level Marketing research has kind of been on the back burner for a while now, due to the demands of school last quarter, but never the less network marketing seems to find the most random ways of popping up in my life.

About a week ago I was at the grocery when I bumped into an old high school buddy. As we started to catch up he went off on a tangent about some random topic that he was all excited about. He started telling me about how he recently got involved in a company that allows him to determine his own pay check. So of course I knew he was talking about a commissions based job, and I asked him if he was involved with a Network Marketing Company. At this point Jim’s eyes lit up, He said “Yeah! Have you already joined one?” I briefly told him about my story with YOR Health, and how I used to think MLM was a scam. I told him that I have been researching MLM in my spare time, and was considering joining one after college if I find one that is a good fit for me.

Of course Jim used this opportunity to try to tell me why the MLM company he joined was the “perfect fit for everyone.” Truthfully, I had never even heard of the company he was talking about, and I asked him if he knew how many members they had. He informed me that they were brand new and selling a hip new “trendy beverage.” I almost fell over laughing. I was thinking to myself that the fact that he used the word “trendy” does not sound like they are going to be a company that will withstand the test of time. BUT Jim seemed pretty convinced and went on to tell me how much money this company is “going” to make in the future, and how one day he thinks it will be one of the MLM “mega giants.” I hoped for Jim’s sake that he was right, and that the reality would live up to the hype.

This leads to the main topic of this article. Despite all of Jim’s confidence in this new company, he still asked me a question on a personal level that gave me the sense that he was concerned about the decision he had made in joining this MLM company. He said “Do you really think all the big numbers are real?” I asked Jim to specify which numbers he was referring to. He stated “All of them, the amount of money the companies make, and the amount of money you can make if you join, and also the amount of people that actually do MLM?” To be honest I really didn’t know of any current global or even national statistics for Network marketing, so I told Jim I would research that and get back to him.

We exchanged phone numbers and I gave Jim the URL to my blog so he could read up on my research if he was curious.

While researching national MLM stats I came across a website called the World Federation of Direct Selling Associations (WFDSA). They seem very legit and perhaps the leading authority in the “Direct Selling” or Network Marketing Industry. On their website they have a chart for “international statistics” that appear to be estimates of Annual Retail Sales revenue in US dollars, and also the Number of people that participate in Direct Sales companies. They break it down by Country. The statistics are absolutely astounding to me. (See chart below)

After seeing this chart, I was absolutely shocked by the shear number of people participating in Network Marketing, and also the amount of sales generated by these groups. The USA alone is estimated to be $29.6 Billion dollars a year, and 15.1 million people participating in MLM?!? So why is it that I didn’t even hear about MLM till I was in College?

Anyways, I called Jim to let him know that I found something that I felt was pretty concrete validation that Network Marketing is worthwhile. Before I could even get a word out Jim said to me, “Shawn I think you are my new hero!” I laughed, and then asked him what the heck he was talking about? He told me he spent all day on my website reading my articles, and that he had such a better understanding of network marketing and MLM now. I told him that I was glad my research on the subject proved helpful to him, and had him pull up the WFDSA website to take a look at the chart. He also agreed with me that the WFDSA site was very helpful in easing some of his concerns he had about joining a network marketing company.

Jim also told me that he had never heard of YOR Health before reading about it on my blog. He told me that after he visited yorhealth’s website he realized that the company that he joined didn’t seem to have the same perks as YOR Health and their pay plan. Jim also told me he now understood what I meant by “trendy beverage” not being a long term investment in both time and money. Jim told me that he was going to try to get his money back from the company he joined, and look for a better MLM company to participate in.

I thought to myself… Did I really almost sell Jim on YOR Health?!? I mean… all he did was visit my blog, and he seemed interested in leaving his company and joining YOR Health.

UPDATE: Jim in fact did join YOR Health. When I asked him about who signed him up, he told me that he filled out a form on their website and a distributor from YOR Health called him back and got him all setup with someone here in California. I thought to myself, that it seems pretty crazy that Jim was referred by me, and someday if I ever choose to join YOR Health I will have to put that I was referred by Jim. =/ On a side note, Jim will be receiving YOR Health products soon, and he said he is willing to let me try some of them out. So I am really interested in finally getting to check out their products.

Anyways, that is the minor update to the site. I have not had a lot of time last quarter to post, but I think this quarter will be a bit lighter, and I will try to update the website more frequently.

As always thank you for reading my blog,

Shawn