I'm John Counsel, founder and CEO of The Profit Clinic, one of the most respected management consulting, training and publishing firms in the area of small business, home-based business, internet marketing and direct selling.

You can read my professional profile here, and my background in MLM, or network marketing here. (It's not the usual background at all!)

I created this web site to help YOU establish whether a particular MLM program is a legitimate business opportunity, or really just an illegal pyramid selling scheme posing as legitimate network marketing.

Because that's the real question here – not whether MLM (or network marketing) itself is illegal pyramid selling.

Why?

For TWO important reasons, actually.

Reason # 1

In any business system where a lot of money can be made – especially by twisting the concept or its operation to fool the uninformed or unwary – unscrupulous operators often distort or hijack legitimate MLM businesses, or set up scams that they claim are MLM, to deceive and exploit desperate, ignorant, greedy, lazy and gullible people.

Reason #2

There are always people who, for their own reasons, accuse MLM of being illegal pyramid selling (amongst other equally unpleasant allegations).

What you need to examine closely, in both instances, are the MOTIVES of each group. WHY do they do it?

The first group's motives are easy enough to identify. They're thieves, liars and crooks, basically. Or they're ignorant, gullible stooges of those crooks who don't bother to get the FACTS before they climb on board their deceptive bandwagons.

They're out to STEAL...

• your money
• your time
• your hope and
• your faith and trust in other people.

They claim that their activities are MLM because it masks the TRUTH about them. They're no different to unscrupulous political activists who cloak their real agendas in the guise of religion in order to fool the mindless masses looking for an easy way into heaven. In this case, heaven is nothing more than instant, effortless wealth.

Sorry... there's no back door to heaven or wealth. You have to invest time, effort and self-discipline to realise either vision. (Both are false visions, of course. The only ones who get to realise their own selfish visions in this way are the people running the scams!) Learn more here...

The motives of the second group are usually less obvious, but just as predictable.

The simply truth is that, in the twenty-first century, when we have...

• tough anti-pyramid laws in place in most countries,
   
• ambitious, empire-building government regulators looking to advance their careers, and
   
• crusading media "personalities" looking to boost their own profiles,

anyone who accuses a legitimate MLM program of being an illegal pyramid scheme does so for one of only three reasons.

1. Ignorance

They simply don't know what they're talking about. In their favour, though, most people who don't know the truth rarely make accusations. Instead, they worry about their lack of knowledge and raise questions or concerns. This is not only valid... it's intelligent behaviour. (It's actually the ONLY valid reason of the three.)

2. Prejudice

These people don't actually want to know the truth because they've already invested a lot of emotion in what they WANT to be the truth... their own opinions or beliefs. But opinions and beliefs have no connection to FACTS, or they're no longer opinion or belief. They're knowledge.

They're usually people who have mouthed off, in public, and now have to defend their 100%-emotional positions to the death, or look very stupid.

Or they're members of the "mediocre majority" who can't bear the thought of anyone else highlighting their own lack of achievement by actually succeeding at something. So they attack that other person and their chosen vehicle to success as a distraction — "smoke and mirrors" — to divert attention away from their own failures.

3. Malice

These people usually know the truth. But, for their own hidden agendas, they spread lies and half-truths in order to advance their own interests. They're the most dangerous of all, because they're seeking to deceive you every bit as much as the fake MLMers are.

Accusing all MLM opportunities and operators of being illegal pyramid selling because you were ripped off by a scam claiming to be MLM, is no different to accusing all medical professionals of being "quacks" because some "snake-oil peddler" sold you a fake cure, or a seedy faith healer "cured" you for money, but the "healing" didn't last.

It's understandable, given the emotional and financial hurt you suffered, but it's illogical, irrational, unreasonable and unreliable.

What you need, in order to make your own judgement about a particular MLM opportunity, is objective, factual information, insight and understanding.

That's what this web site is here to provide. And here's the best insight of all...

"Words conceal. ACTIONS reveal!"

In other words, judge people by what they DO, not by what they SAY. "By their fruits ye shall know them." Good advice in any area of life, but especially when it comes to your money!

So let's start at the most basic level. Let's look at what pyramid selling schemes actually are, and why they're illegal. Then we'll examine what MLM opportunities are, and why they're not illegal.
  
What's a pyramid selling scheme? And why is it illegal?