Good question. Lots of answers.

Group 1.  

You can simply participate in MLM just to save money on your personal purchases. Buying products and services at wholesale prices makes sense. Buying product and services at retail won’t make you rich. In fact, if everyone knew they could purchase at the wholesale price, just for becoming a distributor, why wouldn’t everybody already be an MLM distributor? Because they don’t know. Become one of the smart consumers. Save money. Become an MLM distributor and purchase at the distributor wholesale price.

Group 2.

Most people want a little more out of life. They want another car, a newer car, a different house, more vacations, and extra money for bills, retirement, or the fun activities available to people with available cash. You can have this extra money by working part-time in your own MLM business.

How much extra part-time income can you expect? Do you want $500 extra per month? $1,500 extra per month? Or, $5,000 extra per month? You be the judge. It depends on the time you are willing to invest, and your skill.

Let’s look at your time. Everyone has 24 hours in a day. Some people complain, "I don’t have time for anything!" That’s not true. These people have the same 24 hours a day that you do. The secret is how people choose to allocate their time.

If you allocate eight hours a day for cable TV, you won’t have time to build your part-time business. If you allocate four nights a week to bowling, your available time will diminish.

Time is one-half the formula for your MLM success. The more time you can devote to your business, the more money you’ll make. Some people allocate 3-5 hours a week to their business, others spend 10-12 hours a week. It’s your decision how much time you can invest in building a permanent part-time income.

The other half of your formula calls for skill. Skill can be learned. When you join, you will have several mentors who can help you learn and improve your skills. Your sponsor, your sponsor’s sponsor, and other upline leaders have a financial stake in your future. The more you are successful, the more they are successful. You’re on the same team. Use your team members to help you succeed.

Your part-time business requires sweat equity (time and training). You’re not risking thousands of dollars on a franchise or business, but you can still get the rewards. Maybe you build your business to $300 a month and feel comfortable. Would $300 a month make a difference in your lifestyle? It sure could.

The $50 Payoff

I know of one instance where a $50 monthly bonus check made all the difference in the world for one distributor. I had lunch with the young man several years ago. He was a vegetable farmer from Missouri. When his $50 bonus check arrived in the mail, he was so excited he couldn’t stop talking about it. I couldn’t figure out why, so I asked him, "Why all this excitement over a $50 bonus check?"

He answered,

"You see, I’m a vegetable farmer. After all my expenses, I end up with about $5 a month that I can call my own. That’s it. Just $5. Well, I got this $50 bonus check, and that’s 10 times more spending money that I usually have. I can take the family to a movie, have dinner out, or a dozen different choices I never had before."

He got me thinking. If your regular job pays all your day-to-day expenses, then any bonus check your receive for your part-time business is "fun money." It’s not spoken for. So, if you have an extra $500 bonus check a month, WOW! You could use it to make payments on a brand new car. Or, get a larger house. Or, take a cruise every two or three months. Set up an investment program and retire early. Or, ???? Hmmm. Extra money really means more once your everyday expenses are covered by your salary.

The $100,000 Problem

Sometimes the part-time bonus checks even exceed your full-time salary. My good friend, Tom, had a problem.

His regular job earned him $50,000 a year. After working his MLM business part-time for three years, his part-time MLM bonus income neared $100,000 a year. Now, I wouldn’t think he had a problem, but he came to me with a worried face and said,

"Tom, I’m just getting too busy. I’m afraid I won’t be able to service both my job and my part-time business fairly, unless I give up one of them. I like giving good service and doing things first class."

Well, my friend had good MLM skills, his part-time income certainly was the exceptional, but I really questioned his business sense.

I said, "If you are making twice as much part-time in MLM as your full-time salary, I think it would make sense to quit your full-time job and enjoy your $100,000 part-time income."

He agreed. Now his part-time MLM income continues to increase and he has time to work out at the gym, spend time with his family, visit friends on the telephone, travel, and yes, he still fits in his MLM business. While he may have been confused originally on which career to give up, it does prove that you don’t have to be a nuclear scientist to build large incomes in MLM.

Another friend, Bob, used a conservative investment strategy to build a fortune from a relatively modest MLM monthly bonus check of only $500.

How did he do it?

He said to himself, "My monthly job earnings pays all my bills, so I’ll just use the extra $500 a month to pay off my house mortgage faster. In only four years time his house was completely paid off. Now, he had an extra $1,000 a month free because there were no more mortgage payments, and the additional $500 a month MLM bonus check. With the $1,500 total free monthly spendable cash, where should he invest it?

Bob purchased the house next door. The tenants’ rent payment paid the monthly mortgage. Bob invested the extra $1,500 of his monthly cash flow to accelerate his mortgage repayment schedule. In about five years, the house next door was completely debt free.

Now Bob’s financial picture looked like this. His regular job paid all his living expenses, plus he had $1,000 a month free because he had no mortgage on his personal residence. Rental income from the house next door added an additional $1,000 of monthly cash flow. And, Bob’s bonus check still averaged and extra $500 a month. So what did Bob do with his extra $2,500 in extra cash flow?

He purchased another house down the street. The tenants’ rent paid the monthly mortgage plus Bob added an additional $2,500 a month in principal reduction.

Soon Bob’s financial picture looked like this. His regular job paid all his living expenses, plus he had $1,000 a month free because he had no mortgage on his personal residence. Rental income from the house next door added an additional $1,000 of monthly cash flow. Rental income from the house down the street added an additional $1,000 of monthly cash flow. And, Bob’s bonus check still averaged and extra $500 a month. So what did Bob do with his extra $3,500 in extra cash flow?

Well, you get the picture. Bob never earned more than an average $500 bonus check, yet now, he is financially secure. Even if Bob were to lose his job and his MLM company go out of business, his monthly rental collections would support him nicely. As of today, his monthly net income is over $5,000 from rental payments alone.

Group 3.

Finally, there is a full-time career in MLM. It takes time, you have to develop and learn the skills, and it probably won’t happen overnight. In fact, some people with great part-time MLM incomes never quit their jobs because they love their jobs. They love what they do. The extra money from their part-time income guarantees they will always have choices. Their choices.

However, many people jump at the chance to leverage their MLM incomes even higher by making MLM their full-time career. What incomes do these experienced, skilled, full-time professionals make? A lot. If you pay your dues, you should expect to be rewarded. Many times you’ll hear of certain MLM professionals earning unbelievable incomes of six figures a month. Well, these people are the exception. The real full-time success stories in MLM are those leaders who have time with their families, time for their church, time for their hobbies, and time for whatever they desire because they receive a four or five figure monthly MLM bonus check and now have the time to enjoy it.

So, how much can you make in MLM?

It’s entirely up to you.

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Tom "Big Al" Schreiter is a seasoned marketer and professional recruiter. You can subscribe to Big Al's Recruiting Newsletter  at http://www.fortunenow.com