MLM Booby Traps – "Ground Floor" Opportunities

“Ground Floor” Opportunities

By John Counsel

One of the most common claims for “hot” business opportunities of all kinds, not just MLM, is that they’re “ground floor” opportunities. The inference is that you should get in now if you want the biggest advantage for yourself.

What the promoters are really saying is “get in now, while there’s still something to be gained, because there’s no real future in this business… it’s all downhill from here!”

That’s the inescapable conclusion. The term “gound floor” opportunity implies that those who get in “on the ground floor” have a definite advantage over those who follow. In other words, the opportunity and the rewards get worse at each succeeding stage or level.

This is the exact opposite of what any worthwhile network marketing business offers.

It's the exact same as what any pyramid selling scheme offers!

A sound network marketing business opportunity will actually get better — not worse — as it grows. The more people who know about it, the easier it becomes to sell the products and sponsor new distributors, providing that the products and reward plan deliver measurable benefits. (And don’t worry about market saturation… that’s a fallacy.)

The reason why so many business opportunities are “ground floor” is simple: the products are shoddy, unsafe, overpriced, don’t work or are unnecessary. Or the rewards dwindle rapidly the further along the track you go.

The more people know about these products or opportunities, the less they want to have anything to do with them!

It’s important to understand that MLM is no different to any other business when it comes to “ground floor” opportunities.

What it all really means is that the same motives are at work here as in other booby traps mentioned in this section. You have little to gain and everything to lose by getting involved. Especially your good name — and your friends.

Be especially careful of any network marketing business promoted as “a ground floor opportunity.”

Is it really?

If it is, give it a miss, because it has a very limited future. Even if you get in for a quick killing, it will be at someone else's expense. And they’ll spread the bad news about you, your business opportunity and your business “ethics” long and loud. You’ll find it increasingly difficult to build another MLM business if you fall for this booby trap.

If the business is NOT a true “ground floor” opportunity, take a long, hard look at the people trying to recruit you by promoting it as one. They’ll almost certainly fall into one of these three groups, none of whom are particularly promising.

They’re trying to appeal to your own greed, laziness, selfishness or stupidity (or all of these!) to get you involved because they believe they have something to gain from you. After all, they’re already in earier than you, so you’re going to be worse off than they are in their own minds! If they’re willing to do this to you when it’s NOT a true “ground floor” opportunity, what might they be willing to do to you if it were? They’re out-and-out rip-off merchants… manipulators and exploiters. Join them at your peril.
They don’t understand what they’re doing. They’re just repeating what they’ve been told. They’re mindless ignoramuses. Avoid them.
They think that it’ll be more appealing to present a legitimate business as a “ground floor” opportunity! Give these people a wide berth, too… they’re just plain stupid.

Remember… the last thing you need in a sponsor is exploitation, ignorance or stupidity. Unless, of course, you’re no different to them.

The term “ground floor opportunity” is a classic Barker’s Egg. To learn the truth about this expression, and those who usually use it, take a look at this penetrating perspective. (In this case, when they say “ground floor”, they mean it – because that’s where you’re headed if you accept!)

©1997 John Counsel. All rights reserved. No reproduction or storage by any means without prior written consent of the copyright owner.

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