Then one day someone showed me another way to accomplish the very same objectives. What was it? Well it was one of those pyramid things. So I promptly blew it off. I watched as my friend Tom, who showed me this opportunity, went on to earn millions and become a multi-millionaire. Just 5 short years later he was basically retired with a huge income that continued to pour in. All the while folks who knew Tom were saying negative things about him both to his face and behind his back. Now Tom makes over 10 million dollars per year and donates nearly 1 million each year to charities for children and to his church. He lived by and never changed his values.

After I witnessed this first hand and later became a successful stock and commodity broker myself I took a more serious look into this pyramid thing. What I discovered was astonishing and may shock you. I compared what I found to what my other friend and I were doing in life at that time. That is when I truly had my WOW Moment!!

My friend Bob was a Real Estate broker. Now before we get into the example please ask yourself a sincere question. What do realtors do when they become successful? Yes I said realtors, folks who sell houses.

Let me tell you what the successful realtors do. They go off and become their own real estate brokers and hire other realtor's. Right? Yes that's exactly what they do when they become successful.

So what happens to the broker, like my friend Bob, who got them started and paid for them to get trained, shared his call-ins, walk-ins, advertising, leads, etc... with them?

Tell me what happens to that broker with that investment in that realtor when that realtor walks out and becomes their own broker? When that realtor decides to leave and start their own Real Estate brokerage office does the broker, like Bob, who helped that new realtor get started in the business get anything for that? Silly right? Of course the broker doesn't, and Bob was in exactly that position. In fact he had effectively trained his competition when it happened to him not once, but twice in two years.

Is that what you would call a good business model? Of course not. Would you want to take on all the overhead of an office, advertising and marketing, phones, computer systems, marketing, mailings, etc... and help realtors get trained and started only to have them go off on their own and become your competition after you trained them? Foolish question right? Of course you wouldn't. This is not a business model that I as a businessman prefer to become involved with. Nor was it a business model that my friend Bob enjoyed.

But wait! Why not have incentives for the new realtor to succeed and become their own broker. Why not have incentives for them to start their own office and at the same time have incentives for the broker, like Bob, to encourage them to do just that? Why not compensate the original broker for helping a realtor become successful so that the original broker gets a small percentage from the business when a realtor they have trained becomes their own broker.

What if the original broker received an ongoing override (albeit a much smaller percentage) when that realtor becomes a broker? Maybe we could even provide further incentives for both Bob, and the new broker Bob just helped to start the new brokerage office. We could do that by giving both Bob and Bob's new broker a small percentage when that new broker helps another realtor start their own brokerage office?

Wouldn't that be a true win-win situation? It sure would. Isn't that a much better business model? You bet because it is one where everyone benefits and has a vested interest in helping others succeed? Further, if I helped more people become brokers than Bob even though Bob got me started couldn't I earn more than Bob? Surely I could. Now that's a fair compensation plan. THAT'S MLM!

Let's look at the business I was in at the time. I was a stock and commodity broker. The person who ran the office I was in, Rick, was friends with the regional manager. Rick received override commissions on the production of the entire office I was in consisting of over 50 brokers. There was also a regional manager who received override commissions on the production of all offices in the region. Then the national sales director received HUGE bonuses based on the production of the entire firm. While the CEO cashed huge even fatter checks and the owner did nothing and was worth several hundred million dollars.

Now, let me ask you, what chance would I ever have from removing myself from the creation of my income in that scenario? Could I be the regional manager? Probably not as those were all buddies of the national sales director or CEO. Would I ever work my way into becoming the CEO or national sales manager? Highly unlikely as they were friends of the guy who started the company and were really appointed positions.

On the other hand had I participated in MLM as my friend Tom had I could have been sitting on a million dollar per month residual income that continued to thrive and grow even if I settled into semi-retirement.

Subsequently I decided to try my hand at a network marketing opportunity. I quickly found that not only was it challenging but one absolutely had to do careful examination of the company behind the opportunity before banking on success. Regardless of how much time and effort I was willing to put in, that first foray into MLM was not going to work because I really did not do my homework and the company eventually went out of business.

As I knew this was a business that could lead to great success, as evidenced by my friend Tom, I decided to learn all I could about the business. I went to Tom and he suggested some reading and also spent many hours with me over lunches and dinners educating me on network marketing. I learned all about various compensation plans, I studied all the books and material I could find that were written by successful MLM professionals. What I found was that there were several criteria that all the professionals agreed were necessary for success. I have written about them in the related article link you will find below.

After a solid understanding of the industry, compensation plans, and success criteria I again became involved in network marketing. This time I went in knowing exactly what I was looking for and what to do to grow my business. The success I have experienced since can only be defined as incredible. I found an opportunity that meets all the success criteria that I learned about.

The company is relatively young, debt free, has a patented product, a fantastic management and leadership team, a great compensation plan, loads of research behind their patented product, tremendous business building tools and technologies are provided free of charge, a free web site with a very professional presentation, and it is unquestionably one of the hottest opportunities on the planet right now! My success has been nothing short of spectacular and I fully realize that absolutely anyone can do exactly what I have done which is why I am writing this little article.

I implore you, if you are seeking an opportunity that can truly set you free you absolutely must investigate this business thoroughly. Don't delay act today, and if you have any questions feel free to contact me.
About the Author

Chris Ciappa is the owner of several highly successful online business opportunity web sites including BOCOnline.com and BizOppClassifieds.com. He is a successful home business entrepreneur dedicated to helping others change their lives for the better. He also owns several other companies and holds the MCSE, MCDBA, & MCT Certifications.