Is MLM Income Truly Passive?

MLM is a great way to create another income stream, which provides a comforting financial buffer in this economy. But it can also take a lot of time, and in an economy when people are working two and three jobs simultaneously, time is also a precious resource.

Thus it becomes important to ask, “Is MLM income truly passive?”

So whether you are already deep into your MLM business or are just considering joining an MLM business, it pays to ask some questions before investing a lot of time into a business. Who should you ask?

Your upline if you are already working an MLM business, or your potential upline if you have yet to join.

Asking Your Upline about Whether Their MLM Income is Passive
Passive income has always been touted as one of the biggest benefits of owning an MLM business. Having a passive income means that once you have built you business, you can walk away for certain periods of time and still receive that income.

After all, in the MLM infomercials you see people vacationing for weeks at a time in some tropical paradise. You see them spending lots of “quality time” with their family. You see them doing everything but business. So it is implied, if not stated outright, that an MLM business produces a fairly passive income stream.

Your job is to find out whether this is true for your MLM company and your upline.

The question to ask your upline is whether the income they are earning is truly passive. Specifically, ask them:

Would they feel comfortable walking away from their business entirely for periods of time and still earn the majority of their monthly MLM income?
How long would they feel comfortable walking away from their business, knowing that their income stream would continue?
Do their prospecting and management methods allow their downline to earn a passive stream of income? In other words, you want to find out whether the promotional methods they teach allow you to walk away from your business, or whether you are tied to the phone 24/7.
How long did it take them to build an income stream that they felt comfortable walking away from for periods of time?
Has the parent company every changed the compensation plan so that a passive income stream became non-passive (meaning they could no longer walk away from the business for periods of time)?
If their MLM income is not totally passive, what kind of effort do they have to put into their business monthly to earn their income?
At the end of the day, do they truly believe that the income stream from their MLM business is and should be passive?

Are Your Upline’s Answers about Passive Income True?
Depending on the kind of relationship you have with your upline, you may or may not get direct answers to these questions, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ask. Doing due diligence on any small business is just plain smart.

If your direct upline has not been in the business for very long, you may want to check in with your upline three or four levels above you. These people are likely to have achieved the top levels in the compensation plan, and can more accurately give you the answers to the questions above.

In my experience, an upline business builder who has successfully mentored many people has nothing to hide, and will be happy to provide truthful answers. Potential upline sponsors are a different story. They may be less than truthful in answering these pointed questions. They may give vague answers or evade the questions altogether.

My advice? If you have yet to join an MLM but are considering it, be persistent in the pursuit of these answers. It can make a big difference in the return on investment for your efforts in your MLM business.

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