What's the deal with MLM's?

So if you know me or follow me on facebook, three things are obvious. I have a family, I'm a chiropractor, and I use essential oils. I actually have two businesses. I have owned Abundant Life Chiropractic for 7 years and I have been an independent distributor with Young Living for 2 years (but only started treating it like a business since January of this year.) A question I hear all the time is "Isn't Young Living Multilevel Marketing?  I don't like MLM's."

I used to sort of feel the same way. I used to think that the products of any MLM were overpriced because they had to pay their representatives commissions. But then I started thinking a lot about MLM's and Young Living specifically, and comparing it to my chiropractic practice. I'm going to lay out some common concerns and address them.

1.  Isn't Young Living (and other MLM's) a pyramid scheme?
     
      No. Not at all. Pyramid schemes are illegal. Multilevel marketing is a legitimate business structure, and 100% legal. In a pyramid scheme, there are no goods or services exchanged, so there is nothing of value that you are paying for. There is one person at the top that gets the money. In multilevel marketing, there are goods and services provided for the money paid. If you build a business in the company, there is no limit to your success.  You do not have to be at the "top" to get paid. In fact, there are several people in my sponsor's team in Young Living that have actually achieved a higher rank than her, even though they are "under her" which simply means she enrolled them or one of her team members enrolled them.

2.  The prices of the products are jacked way up because the company has to pay commissions.
 
     YL doesn't have to pay for marketing because they have us as representatives doing that. Also, any company has payroll and marketing expenses. I own a chiropractic practice. My payroll and marketing expenses are a little high right now, at about 50% of my monthly budget. I pay a practice representative to do my marketing, so her pay kind of crosses over into the marketing budget, since that is what she does. That's not unlike what we do for YL. I think I just read that YL gives back 40% to its members in pay and incentives, and that is actually very generous among the MLM companies. That is not out of range from a regular business, therefore it would have nothing to do with jacking up the costs of the products. You get what you pay for. Things that do raise the price? Not buying land that has been farmed on in the past 50 years so that there are no trace of pesticides or antibiotic or hormone residues from farm animal waste.  Testing all of your products to meet standards, including paying for third party testing. Paying employees to weed by hand so as to not use herbicides. These are just a few of the things Young Living commits to in order to keep their oils pure and maintain the best quality possible.  Young Living (and many MLM products of other companies) cost more because of the quality. And on that note, there are other companies whose oils cost the same or more without those same standards.  Here's an excerpt from a small business page that falls in line with what I've learned about appropriate payroll and marketing costs:

General Ranges
Limiting your payroll expenses to between 15 and 30 percent of your gross income can help to keep your business in good financial standing. It’s normal, however, for certain industries to spend much more on payroll. If you are in the retail or manufacturing business, for example, you can likely to keep your payroll cost below 30 percent. This is because you would spend more on goods, merchandise or equipment than you would on wages. If you are in the service industry, however, your payroll expenses could run up to 50 percent or slightly more. This is because you would spend more money on your employees’ labor than you would on goods or merchandise.  (source)

3.  I have to sell stuff.
      First of all, in Young Living, 93% of members are just product users. You have the option of building a business, but are never pressured or expected to. I have chosen to do the business side this year. I have never been encouraged to be pushy or sales-y.  I keep my classes very educational, as did my sponsor, and I tell people how to get the oils. If they want to sign up for an account, great. If not, I'm here for you if you have questions or change your mind. The end. I'm not into stalking people and annoying them.  It's the same with my chiropractic practice. We market. I recommend treatment plans and things that will help patients. It's up to them to decide to follow through.  Marketing is not unique to MLM's, and you can be as sales-y as you want to be. But that is not the business model I was shown.

4.  You don't really have your own business. If the company fails, so do you.

      This is where research comes in, and having a rainy day fund. I can speak to Young Living concerning this. They have been in business for over 20 years. They are debt free, bringing even more stability to their business. I have owned my own business for 7 years, and am not yet debt free.  I consider my practice fairly stable, but Young Living is waaaaaaayyyyyy more stable than my little chiropractic practice. It is still up to me to do the work to build MY Young Living business.  It is also up to me, whether I am employed by someone, have my own business, or am and independent distributor for a company, to have a good sized emergency fund in case the unlikely thing happens and the company takes a hit and it affects my business. How long has the company you work for been in business?  What if they fail? This again is not a concern limited to an MLM company.

5.   You have to spend a lot of money up front.

      This is in the eye of the beholder.  "A lot" is defined differently for different people. Again, I can really only speak to Young Living on this, but I will say that their best deal for membership is their premium starter kit, which retails for $300.  When you go to Costco, you have to pay them $55 just for a membership. You don't even get anything for that. You get a membership with Young Living, which gives you 24% off retail prices and an amazing starter kit with 11 of their most common oils and a diffuser for $150.  Many people easily spend that in a day on clothes, shoes or a date night!  Every company treats their membership differently. I'm sure there are companies out there that require more spending up front or require one to spend a certain amount per month to stay active. That was another draw for me to Young Living. To stay active, you have to spend $50 per YEAR. There is no monthly requirement. They have additional rewards for people that choose to do a monthly autoship, but this is completely optional.

There are many benefits to a multilevel marketing company that having your own business or working for someone else don't have.  My income in my practice, although will grow as I grow, is limited to my ability to grow the practice. I have a limited number of team members. In my Young Living business, I have an unlimited number of team members and my income is not limited by what only I can do. My team members' growth benefits me, and me helping them grow benefits them. They are also not limited by my limitations. They can take their business as far as they want to, regardless of how well I succeed.  That is not true with my chiropractic practice.  I have very hard working employees, but I cannot give them more bonuses than what I do until the practice grows. Their personal growth and work will help my office grow, but in the end they are still limited by how far I have come with my business growth.  For an employee of a company, you might get raises, but a receptionist, for example, will never make a 6 figure income per month. Receptionists earn what is normal for the market. There is some variation, but there is a range, and there is a limit.  I don't say all this to say that everyone should quit their job or give up their business to join a multilevel marketing company. I just say it to point out that the income limitations are not there the way they are with other professions.

There are also some things that need to be made clear. If you want a six figure income in an MLM company, you have to be a six figure professional and put the six figure work in. I don't believe that people should mislead others into thinking they can "make their own hours" and devote only a few hours per week to their business and have it take over their day job income. That is not going to happen. You also have to be a great leader and team builder. You do need a strong team and support that strong team to be successful.  It's not just about selling a few products.  I think people need to have realistic expectations about the amount of work needed to launch a successful business. Again though, this is required with any business.

Let me know if you have concerns about multilevel marketing, or if you've had success with a company and what you tell people to alleviate concerns! Here is my link to my Young Living site, and to my Abundant Life Chiropractic website!

A Day in the Life of an Oil User

I giggled a little bit when I wrote this title. An "oil user." It reminds me of "drug user." Except that I use oils to try to avoid drugs.  But the way most of us "oil users" go on about our oils, you might think that they are just as needed. Maybe they are. All I know is that I enjoy my oils, they enhance my family's health, and there are no side effects.

7 am--I wake up. I drink a glass of water with a drop of lemon. That's what I should do. But I haven't started yet. Coffee is still the first thing I drink in the morning, but that's later. So after I shower, I rub Goldenseal over my liver. I ordered this oil by accident thinking it was for something else, but I later learned that it aids in liver detoxification. With the amount of toxins in our environment, and not wanting to waste a perfectly good oil, I am using it. Then I rub lemon over top--A. for the delicious smell to cover up the not-so-great smell of the goldenseal, and B. because lemon is great for detoxification as well.  Then I rub DiGize over my left abdomen. DiGize is one of those amazing oils that helps with regularity, but it's also great if you are sick with diarrhea. The chemical constituents of the oils allow them to work with your body's homeostasis (regulatory mechanism) so that it does what your body needs.  I can tell you that I've noticed quite an improvement in digestion since using the DiGize.  Then I drink an ounce of NingXia Red--Very high in antioxidants and adaptogens--find more info here. Oh, I almost forgot--deodorant. We make our own deodorant with essential oils. I will save that for another blog post. It's amazing. Even my husband loves it.

8 am--When I get ready to leave the house, I usually apply Valor or Motivation to get ready to start the day ready to take the bull by the horns. Things have been quite busy at the office, which is great, and I am doing a lot more team building with my Young Living team, not to mention three kids, so I often feel pulled in many different directions and it can be tiring! I admit I was really skeptical that an oil could motivate me to get stuff done, but the first time I tried Motivation, I was zipping around the office and getting all my reports done with energy to spare. So I ordered a bottle that day.

10 am--This is usually when I realize that I should actually drink some water. Especially since I have been detoxing from my morning routine. I put one drop of lemon oil and one drop of orange oil in a GLASS (very important, as citrus oils will "eat" plastic, and you might end up with a mess or drinking the toxins from the plastic cup).  I LOVE how my water tastes, and again, there are detoxifying properties in these oils as well as them both being high in d-limonene, a substance that has been shown to help dissolve gall stones, help acid reflux, and possibly have anti-tumor properties. 

ALL DAY--We diffuse oils every day at home and in the office. My favorite combination right now is Thieves and Orange. It smells amazing and Thieves has been shown to support the immune system and purify the air. Thieves also contains clove, one of the most powerful anti-oxidants known.

2 pm--refill the water--I usually just use the same glass, so it still tastes like the lemon and orange. I don't even have to put more drops in. These oils are strong! This is a good time to rub some peppermint oil or deep relief on my head if I'm having a stressful day--those are amazing for headaches. Maybe some more Motivation is in order too!

7 pm--Finally home. Sit down and eat dinner. More water, usually with orange in it as I sit after dinner and unwind.  When the kids get ready for bed, during cold and flu season or if nasty stuff is going around, I rub Thieves on their feet. Put some lavender on the little one so she hopefully sleeps.

11 pm--Sometimes I diffuse lavender, Valor, or Stress Away at night to help relax and unwind. My husband has his own protocol for oils that he uses. I'm going to do a hubby post one of these days too. Especially since there are a lot of hubbies out there who haven't gotten on board with oils yet. I think our men just need other men to say that this is not just a girly thing!

Until next time, happy oiling!