Who is at the Helm in Your MLM?

Many new companies, including MLM, fail in their first two years or never really take off. Who do you need in leadership roles to succeed? At the very top, the person calling the shots, what you do NOT need is:People who only have corporate experience (even as entrepreneurs)
People who only know the product, like medical doctors in a health & wellness companyToo often, people join an MLM because of the business expertise of the top person or their credibility in the field of the product. Neither will create a successful MLM. Who DO you need leading the company?Someone who has been a highly successful distributor in a company
Someone who struggled to get startedOnly someone who both struggled to get started, and then succeeded, knows what it takes to create a high-retention company. You need to get the people at the bottom earning money as soon as possible or they will quit. And the people who build it big need to be rewarded well for their efforts. The company also needs to fulfill the promise of someday retiring to the beaches of the world if that is what people desire.What's wrong with typical corporate entrepreneurs running an MLM? Well, distributors are independent contractors, NOT employees. Typical entrepreneurs tend to be "red" (choleric) personalities. They rule by ordering people around. "My way or the highway." Over 90% of the population doesn't like being treated this way. They put up with it in corporate life because they have a JOB trade-time-for-money mindset and the job pays the bills.But once someone "sees the light" about leverage and residual income and they get the true MLM fever, if you treat them this way they'll go find another company that doesn't! They have already decided they are tired of being a doormat!The product experts certainly lend credibility to the company, but they won't know the first thing about running an MLM either.What happens when none of the top people understand what it's like to be a distributor? They have no idea how to design a compensation plan, so they purchase the software from someone else. BAD IDEA! If you buy the software, you cannot adjust the plan as needed when the company grows, unless you pay the software vendor to change it for you! If you know what a good compensation plan looks like, you can hire programmers to write it for you and change it as needed. You'll save money and be able to react much more quickly when needed. And practically every company needs to change the plan over time, unless they were pocketing most of the money for themselves all along and plan to continue doing that.What else happens when the top people have never been MLM distributors? They hire a bunch of lawyers to write the policies and procedures! You end up with a document in excess of 10 pages that the average person can't understand. And it is written solely in the best interest of the company (after all, that's who pays the lawyers!) with no protection for the distributors. In fact, it normally includes at least one clause giving the company the right to invent any reason they want to terminate distributors. It's bad enough to lose a regular job. But to lose a huge downline you built that has lifetime residual income potential?Before you join an MLM with plans to retire on your residual, make sure you investigate the experience of the leaders. Then ask to see their "100 year plan." Most of them will look at you like you're from Mars!