Hello fellow readers,

I often just open SOGR onto any page and then read that page. Last night I opened the page where it says:
"You can make your business do for your employees what this book is doing for you. You can so conduct your business that it will be a sort of ladder, by which every employee who will take the trouble may climb to riches himself; and given the opportunity, if he will not do so it is not your fault."

My personal interpretation is that this basically says that MLM can be good.

I used to have a problem with MLM, basically I thought it was a business to be embarrassed about. But that's probabally because of the image created by poor struggling friends that come with their products which you feel obliged to buy to help them out.

What do you think?

I think we're very good at seeing what we want to see. There are "normal" businesses that offer that type of opportunity and not. There are MLM businesses that do and don't.

Due diligence is required when deciding to work in any business. Mr. Wattles warns that if a business takes advantage of people one should leave it immediately. That's really what we need to know. Does the business offer "more to all, and less to none" or not?

Well to tell you the truth I have never really been involved in a MLM business! I always had a problem with it. I've seen some poor friends trying to sell me over priced cosmetics on that basis.
I've just started out as an affiliate member of a couple of places like this one, which I approove of.

MLM means multilevelmarketing right? I had to stop and try to figure out what you were referring to.

I think having been exposed to people trying to get me involved and the techniques they used to make me want to join (I didnt), MLM might sometimes involve what we would consider "forcing ones will" upon someone else- which Wattles says to avoid.

I dont know if all MLM groups use the same techniques, but the one I was exposed to certainly did things. Constant phone calls to me, nagging, telling me I needed the products personally, questioning why I didn't want to get involved, etc.

I guess I'd say if you look at the MLM and can honestly and truthfully say you dont feel like you are trying to force or coerce anyone to do anything you can proceed...

Hello Richcroc,
Well, I agree completely. But then again, I am an MLMer. There are numerous parts in SOGR that I feel support the idea of MLM. On pg 17 it says "...., but in such a way that when you get it every other person whom you affect will have more then he has now". And later on the same page he says "They have organized production and will soon be succeeded by the agents of the multitude, who will organize the machinery of distribution", which is essentially what MLM is.
There are many more throughout the book but you get the idea.
There are many good MLM companies out there that have been around for years and do business all over the world, so there must be something good about them or it wouldn't last that long.
I think usually what people usually have problems with is certain MLMers rather than MLM itself, which is actually 100% "More life to all, less to none"

Brian

Yeah I think you would have to look at the techniques used by the MLM company. I was involved with one for awhile and while it seemed great on the surface, their way of recruiting was very desperate, needy and pushy. They encourgaged you to point out peoples failures as a way of getting them to join and implied that you could never achieve your dreams if you didn't join their business. I don't think all MLM companies are like that, there are a few bad apples out there that have given all of them the bad name that is accociated with MLM. If I were ever to get involved in another one, which seems highly unlikely at the moment, I would want to know how the go about recruiting people, whats their strategy.

Shannon

Well ... I think that you will attract the kinds of offers, opportunities, businesses, people, experiences of all kinds (etc.) that match the quality of your focus, faith, and feelings.

No exceptions.

So if you think MLM is a scam or misleading or whatever, that's the kind of MLM (and/or MLM'ers) you'll attract.

If you think it's a wonderful thing, you'll attract ...

I don't disagree with MLM, but the other side of it is, if the program is still new in existence the pioneer will become really rich because of so many recruits that will join. But once the program last for a long period and the last downline has no more to recruit, what will happen? That's where MLM becomes insignificant, because the last one can't earn anymore. Crisologo Ramasasa

quote:

Originally posted by Richcroc:
Well to tell you the truth I have never really been involved in a MLM business! I always had a problem with it. I've seen some poor friends trying to sell me over priced cosmetics on that basis.
I've just started out as an affiliate member of a couple of places like this one, which I approove of.

quote:

Originally posted by Crisologo Ramasasa:
I don't disagree with MLM, but the other side of it is, if the program is still new in existence the pioneer will become really rich because of so many recruits that will join. But once the program last for a long period and the last downline has no more to recruit, what will happen? That's where MLM becomes insignificant, because the last one can't earn anymore. Crisologo Ramasasa

Take a minute to put this in perspective and maybe you may find that you uncover some limiting thoughts here, and are concerned with lack rather than seeing abundance.

MLM has been around for a very long time - Amway have been around for 50 year or so (give or take).

Consider that across the world there are maybe a few million people actively involved at present. That represents about 0.5% of the eligible population, and it has taken 50 years to get that far.

Geographic boundaries are crumbling with better communication and increase trade and with online businesses on the internet, which makes it easier to sponsor internationally.

When exactly will it be that the last downline has no more to recruit?

quote:

Originally posted by MC2:
I guess I'd say if you look at the MLM and can honestly and truthfully say you dont feel like you are trying to force or coerce anyone to do anything you can proceed...

Well from many MLMers point of view they are only doing you a big favour trying to make you realize what a great opportunity this "thing" is, overall they tend to forget that they don't know what is for anyone elses good, so their experience would be they are living the way of more to all and less to none, at best.

Anyway, a question to MLMers out there - What if your recruits recruits etc, people in this system that you are making money from are being taken advantage of? Does it really bother you? or do you put your head in the sand and mumble something like these things don't happen in my mlm-organisation.

Don't know about you fellow readers but I read the "Formless Substance" as a model of reality rather than a proven fact. It doesn't change anything but makes you think twice about limitless supply. What I'm implying is that MLM isn't creative enough to be limitless.

I think wonderful thoughts therefore everything in the world is wonderful... I rest my case.

quote:

What I'm implying is that MLM isn't creative enough to be limitless.

Perhaps not, but when I saw Wattles say in SOGR:"They have organized production and will soon be succeeded by the agents of the multitude, who will organize the machinery of distribution". I absolutely associated it with MLM.

MLM may not be a panacea, righting all wrongs, but it is a stage of development, of socialogical evolution that certainly improves on the "Trusts" and corporations as they have been.

quote:

What if your recruits recruits etc, people in this system that you are making money from are being taken advantage of? Does it really bother you? or do you put your head in the sand and mumble something like these things don't happen in my mlm-organisation.

You can't be taken advantage of if you don't focus on that kind of thing. You get what you attract/create through your thinking. Each of us has that control over our own experience and no one can cause anything to happen to us that we haven't attracted.

So if you choose to bury your head in the sand -- or more positively put, if you choose NOT to focus on bad things happening -- then you can create an organization that will be as Mr. Wattles describes. You'll only attract the kind of people who will be assets to you and you to them.

Network marketing was the industry I was in when I first read SOGR. It was THAT business that skyrocketed in a very short time thanks to the change in my thinking. And a BIG part of that change was that I stopped thinking of the people who signed up and then proceeded to do nothing as "losers." I started imagining big success and wonderful people to spend time with. I started to imagine the business as FUN and as a big blessing to everyone involved.

And everything changed. A very short time later everyone in the company heard the CEO announce on the distributor voice mail system that my partner and I had "come from out of nowhere" to making -- well, let's just say it was a whole lot of money "overnight."

Just seven years to that overnight success! And the greatest part of it happened in the six months or so after SOGR arrived and brought us a bunch of Aha! Moments.

quote:

You can't be taken advantage of if you don't focus on that kind of thing. You get what you attract/create through your thinking. Each of us has that control over our own experience and no one can cause anything to happen to us that we haven't attracted.

But not everyone share this belief, ie about that level of control. May I ask how you came to this conclusion? Far more interesting than mlm imho.

So if someone get punched in the face, he did ask for it right Sorry, silly example just couldn't resist.

Hi There

Like any business, any venture in life and indeed any people you may come across in your life there are good ones and their are those whose integrity is questionable......MLM is no different and you cannot dump all MLM businesses into one pot. Some MLM business systems will be better than others and some business operators within the larger company will be better/have more integrity than others.

What really fascinates me about MLM is the level of right/wrong judgement that is maintained about the industry. What is that all about??? There seems to be a high fear level around MLM, why is this???

Affiliate programs or any other type of referral for profit system work in the same way to MLM but no-one seems to be bothered by these!!

I will be interested to hear your views.

Helen

quote:

Originally posted by Zero:

quote:

You can't be taken advantage of if you don't focus on that kind of thing. You get what you attract/create through your thinking. Each of us has that control over our own experience and no one can cause anything to happen to us that we haven't attracted.

But not everyone share this belief, ie about that level of control. May I ask how you came to this conclusion? Far more interesting than mlm imho.

So if someone get punched in the face, he did ask for it right Sorry, silly example just couldn't resist.

Zero,

Have you read the book (SOGR) and /or any other material on the Law of Attraction? You will find your answers there.

quote:

Originally posted by Dazzer:

quote:

Originally posted by Zero:

quote:

You can't be taken advantage of if you don't focus on that kind of thing. You get what you attract/create through your thinking. Each of us has that control over our own experience and no one can cause anything to happen to us that we haven't attracted.

But not everyone share this belief, ie about that level of control. May I ask how you came to this conclusion? Far more interesting than mlm imho.

So if someone get punched in the face, he did ask for it right Sorry, silly example just couldn't resist.

Zero,

Have you read the book (SOGR) and /or any other material on the Law of Attraction? You will find your answers there.

Please tell me, where in SOGR does it say that we control/attract EVERYTHING in our lives?

Sure we can go outside the book (Wattles was a great thinker, yet he didn't know everything and made some assumptions) - but there are different views and material on the Law of Attraction. Are you referring to the new-age influenced ones? Please define LOA.

quote:

Please tell me, where in SOGR does it say that we control/attract EVERYTHING in our lives?

Pretty much all the way through it!

"There is a thinking stuff....

A thought in this substance produces the thing that is imagined by the thought"

Whatever we think we create/attract.

quote:

Originally posted by Dazzer:

quote:

Please tell me, where in SOGR does it say that we control/attract EVERYTHING in our lives?

Pretty much all the way through it!

"There is a thinking stuff....

A thought in this substance produces the thing that is imagined by the thought"

Whatever we think we create/attract.

Don't disagree on that, or that we create all the time, even if we are not conscience or careful about what we are creating, however there's a difference between this and saying that we attract EVERYTHING that comes into our lives. Someone somewhere on these boards mentioned natural disasters etc.

One viewpoint tells us that we don't have to be a victim of circumstances, the other states that there are no circumstances. From a motivational perspective I can see the point in believing in the latter. From a logical perspective I cannot, and even Wattles talks about securing a logical basis for faith. Therefor all I wanted to know was howto come to this conclusion.

The question is does it really matter exactly how much in control we are? Personally when it comes to ourselves I think not. However when it comes to how we relate to other people it's a very important question to consider.

Actually, phrasing it slightly differently, the only thing that we can control in ourselves - our thoughts, actions and attitudes.

What we create and attract is a consequence of those thoughts.

WE actually do not "control" the creative process in that we do not determine HOW something is done or shows up. We determine the "what" through our CMI.

However, if this is a law that applies to things we consciously create then if it is Universal Law then it follows that it applies to Everything!

It is similar to laws of physics and mechanics. There are things that we consciously design and make which harness those laws, eg automobiles and airplanes which we then use to travel, but the laws of gravity and inertia will still apply and impact on our lives whether we consiously think about them or not.

Yes, again I don't disagree on that, and 'control' may very well have been the wrong use of word here - sorry for being misleading. But that doesn't change the point. Still don't see howto come to the conclusion that we create EVERYTHING that comes into our lives.