My First MLM adventure, and I will call it an adventure because you never know what you are going to get into, had a highly absorbable product that worked.  I would tell people about it, give them the risk free 30-day trial opportunity and they would.  After using the product for a few months I would offer to teach them how they could get there product for less.  As they already loved the product they of course where interested.  I would then teach them the principles of sharing a great product with others and the finical benefits and watch their commission checks go from paying ½ then to all their product and then providing an income.  It was fun helping people help themselves! 

My commission checks went over $10,000 a month.  And the whole project was fun and exciting.   At that time I was also employed full time as a Junior Engineer.   A friend and colleague sent me a prank/joke email that had a little window pop up that asked if you where happy with your salary.  I clicked the “Yes” button and the window went away.   My thought was that was kind of dumb.  Later in a meeting the prank email was discussed as she had sent it to all in the room.  I was the first to speak, and said, I didn’t get it?  She then explained that if you try to click the “NO” the window moved somewhere else on the screen, and a “No’ answer was impossible.  I latter went back to the email, and then got a good laugh.  The financial independence was nice!!!    At this same time my boss somehow found out about my good fortune, and skeptically asked if it was true why I was still working,  his and  my relationship was somewhat strained.  The financial freedom was empowering.    Our conversation ended with me saying “I’m staying, not because I have to but because I want to, and very few people like their job that much including you.”

 The company had just a few owners who were fine with each other when the company was small but as exponential growth occurred greed of the whimsical few caused problems.  One owner was kicked out, and law suites began, and company capital was eroded to feed the war effort.  Commission plans were changed, with the intent to retain more dollars in the company to fight the war.  I’m sure this short sided plan was implemented to try and survive not thrive.  This action however caused loss of confidence amongst the distributors.  Every MLM company knows that if you cut the hand of that feeds you (the distributors) off, you will die.  This gave a little temporary funding for the battle but in the end the owner who was kicked out won ownership but the damage was already done. 

I watched a fast death of my commission checks as they went from $10,000 plus a month down to $5,000 a month and then a slower death as over the last 10 years the check has dropped down to around $200 a month.

So a few lessons learned:
First:  I was sure glad I didn’t burn the bridge with my boss.
Second: it’s fairly easy to get use to living on more money each month. It’s a little harder getting use to living on less each month.
Third:  If this opportunity ever comes my way again remember First: Pay off debt, Second: Save, and Third: Only play with saved money.

And my forth criteria that the "Company" must have an ownership structure that does not lend itself to the whimsical fantasies of a few.