The Reality of Online Network Marketing
Q: The Internet seems to be teeming with multilevel marketing (MLM) possibilities, many of which are based on self-replicating Web sites. A number of them seem like fantastic business possibilities, but they are almost too simple. I was considering joining one of them, but I had some reservations. Is it possible that they are Ponzi schemes, or are they genuine businesses? A Ponzi scheme, by definition, is a fraudulent scheme in which an operator presents a business opportunity but pays participants' dividends with cash flow derived from other participants as they sign up, rather than deriving profits from offering real-value goods or services and then sharing those profits with the distributors. The first question you should ask yourself before joining up is, "Does this business provide anything of genuine value, or is the primary 'product' the pyramid scheme itself?" If the latter is true, then that is one chance to pass up. MLMs that sell home items, for example...