I get calls daily from people who are enraged and looking for a new MLM company because their owners have changed the deal on them. Usually they’ve added an inferior product or altered the comp plan.

 
Maybe I’m the only one to tackle this issue head-on, but downsizing has been in our industry for years. How do owners enhance profits by shrinking the organizational size of independent distributors? It’s simple…they can’t fire anyone, so they run them off with changes to compensation. It happens all the time. It’s just not called downsizing. But that’s what it is.

 
With respect to outsourcing, that’s accomplished by the new kid on the block - Affiliate Programs. Instead of building a serious infrastructure around an efficacious product, outsiders have figured out how to harness the energy of multiple companies by paying leaders fees to induce their downlines into “complimentary programs” that sell everything from websites to lead lists. It’s really very brilliant. Why invest in building an MLM company when you can pay many leaders from many companies to build a virtual one? There’s only one problem. It’s called split-focus. It’s tough enough to do one legitimate program. The last thing leaders need is to have their people focused on outside activities unless of course there’s a lot of money in it, which is usually the MLM’rs inducement.

 
This Blog is for all those who would like to avoid being downsized or outsourced. First, make certain that your owners have no plans to change the compensation structure. Most of the plans out there are very lucrative whether they are binaries or breakaways. But you don’t want to become great at a binary and then wake up one day in a uni-level.

 
If you are approached by anyone who suggests that you join a second program…run. I don’t care what they call it. You need to focus on one deal until you hit the big checks. If lead lists worked, your company would provide them for free. After all, everyone wants to earn big money so it’s very easy to find the names of such people. What you need to understand is how to build your own 30,000 person warm market. We cover that in Volume 2 of our Holy Grail series. It’s really surprisingly simple and you get better names without splitting your focus or paying for names.

 
Don’t kid yourself, even independent distributors can become victims of outsourcing and downsizing. So take a few proactive steps to avoid those situations. Above all else, don’t join additional programs or quit your own company no matter how mad the owners may make you. Even if they change plans, why walk away from thousands of dollars? Most downsizing occurs when people walk away from a company because their checks have been cut in half. But isn’t half of something better than all of nothing? If you have to join a new company, start from scratch and don’t raid your former downline, or your check will stop coming. If you get mad and walk away, you just downsized yourself. Not real bright.