At the time of this writing, Multi-Level Marketing is more than 50 years old. Its truly amazing that such a ludicrous business model has survived, and even experienced incredible growth, over such a great length of time.

On the surface, this type of business has a lot of appeal. Many people are attracted to the idea of selling quality products and sharing a lucrative opportunity with their friends and neighbors.

But once you take a good hard look at the nuts and bolts of how 99% of these so-called opportunities intend to pay you for your efforts, much of the initial appeal goes right down the drain. Its fairly common for an MLMer to sell a $50 bottle of herbal tonic and make only a few bucks for themselves.

A big reason for this is the complex structure of most network marketing programs. Money is divided among so many different parties that its difficult to squeeze a decent profit out of a retail transaction.

For example, you might sell a bottle of your programs super tonic at $50, but three of your upline sponsors have to get their share of the profits before you get paid. And of course there will be at least one heavy hitter in your upline tree who gets to claim some type of over-ride bonus; this will mean more of the money you generated goes into someone elses pocket.

And lets not forget about the clever one-up option many MLMs build into their payment structure. In this scenario, a members first sale gets credited to their immediate upline.

Ive looked at many compensation plans that require a member to retail nearly $200 in product before they are even eligible for a commission. In other words, if they fall short of this monthly quota by even a few bucks, they dont get paid!

The solution to this dilemma, according to the always jovial sponsors and team leaders?

Just buy the minimum amount of product yourself so that every real sale you make generates commission. And then of course you are told to encourage anyone you refer to the business to do the same.

How reasonable does that sound to you?

Sure its great to use and believe in a product you are trying to sell. But buying $200 in vitamins or face cream every month just so you can qualify for your distributor commissions borders on the idiotic, in my opinion.

If the potential monetary gains were significant in most cases perhaps Id have a different attitude. But more often than not participants of an MLM system are paid 10% or less of the money they generate for the program.

In essence, the company owners and the professional network marketers who have helped them launch their business are keeping most of the money created by the retail and referral activity of their members.

You dont need to join an online business opportunity to put money into somebody elses pockets. Thats what a J-O-B is for.

The web is full of affiliate programs that pay their members a fair percentage on each successful transaction. There is absolutely no reason to settle for some kind of bogus MLM system that asks you to work your tail off for pennies on the dollar.