There’s a lot of information to be digested when thinking about joining a home business model like Liberty League International.

You’ll have the sales pitches from the associates, the mass of information on the internet and a whole host of facts and figures thrown at you.

In the following post I’ve taken what I believe to be the six most common claims you’ll encounter whilst considering joining Liberty League International. I’ve decided to label these claims as myths and expose them as there was not one that could stand up to the hype upon deeper inspection.

See for yourself.

Foreword: The quotes used in this article are from Liberty League associates themselves. They are taken from Tony Rush’s Ning social network, Liberty League Life.

Note that the Ning social network is not affiliated with Liberty League International but you will need a login to access the network. You can either create your own login or use one of the generated ones over at BugMeNot. /end foreword

1. Liberty League is not a MLM company

One of the repeated claims I’ve seen in my research on Liberty League International (LLI) is that they are not a MLM company.

Wikipedia’s description of a Multi Level Marketing company is as follows;

Independent, unsalaried salespeople of multi-level marketing, referred to as distributors (or associates , independent business owners, dealers, franchise owners, sales consultants, consultants, independent agents, etc.), represent the company that produces the products or provides the services they sell.

They are awarded a commission based upon the volume of product sold through their own sales efforts as well as that of their downline organization.

Independent distributors develop their organizations by either building an active customer base, who buy direct from the company, or by recruiting a downline of independent distributors who also build a customer base, thereby expanding the overall organization.

Additionally, distributors can also earn a profit by retailing products they purchased from the company at wholesale price.

As I’ve written previously in my article on SixFigureChicks, LLI’s business model revolves around associates purchasing conference tickets and a home study course from the company and then reselling them to either potential associates or general members of the public.

Potential associates who go on to join the company then become part of the referring associate’s downline network.

No matter what spin you put on it LLI fits the MLM template and there’s no way around it. You can change the terms, call the associates whatever you want and deny there’s an upline structure in LLI (you only keep roughly 60% of the total sale, where do you think the other 40% goes?), but LLI is clearly a MLM model.

2. No cold calling or selling

When running a home business there are two unavoidable obstacles to overcome.

The first is that without advertising or selling your business, nobody knows who you are. The second is that unless you have a vast affiliate network already set up, you’re going to have to get your business out there somehow.

The big players in LLI (ie. the ones that introduced it first in their country) are right in that they don’t have to cold call or sell the company to people. They after all have schmucks under them doing this for them. Keep in mind this is the lifestyle they are trying to sell you on and encourage you to attain despite their established monopoly in the area.

For everyone else the hard reality is that to get your business out there you’re going to have to advertise and bring in those leads. Bandit signs (homemade signs stuck into the ground), car door magnets, business cards and fliers seem to be the most common choice.

Does anyone have a good contact for Bandit signs here in Melbourne? Have seen some around that look fantastic!

Liberty League Life is full of posts enquiring about the costs and legality of bandit signs, the cheapest place to get fliers made up etc.

There’s even an amusing blog section where everyone seems to be oblivious to the fact that they will all be competing in the same niche using the same keywords and similar content in promoting their LLI business.

As a new associate you’re going to have to carve out your own exposure. Here’s something to think about, there’s already thousands of LLI associate websites out there that will outrank you, people are already dropping fliers in your area and they most likely have all the good bandit sign spots too.

I spent 3 hours each day on Friday and Saturday down at Jeff’s Shed handing out fliers at the Boat Show.

Best of luck establishing yourself without resorting to cold calling or hard face to face selling.

3. No products to sell, no inventory to keep

While the inventory bit is true, it is impossible to make a profit without selling something. A profit doesn’t have to be a physical product and in the case of LLI it’s very hard to get past the fact that you will be selling their products.

Beyond Freedom, the Liberty and Summit conferences are all products in their own right. They each have a use, a purpose and can be traded just like any other product on the market.

Don’t kid yourself, unless you somehow manage to make it to the upper tiers of the company despite the already established dominating competition, you’re going to find yourself selling these products to make a living.

If you down have a large number of associates under you then there’s no other way to make money in LLI.

4. Personal development is a 16-20 billion dollar booming growth industry

The personal development industry is mostly made up of similar home based franchise systems like LLI. Let’s face it, there’s no way to measure how big of an industry is as most of these programs are tight lipped about how much funds are flying around.

What I can tell you about LLI’s income spread though is what’s posted on their website in the ‘income disclosure’ section.

They state that 85% of their associates make between $0-$35,000 with an average income of just $13,123. This 85% bracket make up 19% of the total revenue of the company.

Meanwhile 3% of members make above $150,000 and represent 45% of the total earnings revenue.

It doesn’t take a genius to see the power of the affiliate associate system at work here. Those that got in early and got people working under them and then people working under them and so forth are the ones raking in the cash at the expense of the 85% in the lower bracket.

I couldn’t find any information on Liberty League’s total membership numbers (probably a closely guarded secret, they don’t want you knowing how much competition you have as an associate), but have a look at those percentages again and ask yourself do they add up?

I also was not able to find a reputable source for the commonly quoted 16-20 billion dollar industry figure either.

5. The upfront costs involved are small, besides you’ll make all the money back

From what I gather a lot of pressure is put on new associates to purchase all three products, that is the home study course and then attendance at the two seminars. All up this comes in at around US$30,000 per annum.

The smaller seminars are held twice a year and the major one annually, seminar ticket prices do not include airfares or accommodation so you are out of pocket for them as well. On top of all this is the marketing of your business.

Word has to get out there somehow and a cookie cutter website that looks the same as everyone elses isn’t going to be enough. The bad news is it’s all going to come out of your hip pocket.

Now if you do make some sales then sure you’ll make your money back but again have a look at those income statistics I quoted previously. 85% of associates make between $0-$35,000.

Those are some crushing odds you’re working against.

Hi guys I am looking for a way to purchase my summit ticket, I have exhausted the bank avenue and I don’t own my house so equity is out. My question is does anyone know of a finance broker or an avenue for borrowing money that are willing to over look the obligations I already have?

The costs of LLI are real and guaranteed, your earnings however are not. Are you ready to go into potential financial ruin for a 15% shot at staying in the green?

6. Business sustainability

If you do make it to a LLI conference have a look around, everyone in that room with you is your competition and are working tirelessly to steal leads away from you.

Sure everyone is smiling, holding hands and patting each other on the back but at the end of the day you’re all out to undercut each other. That’s how business works.

The big $$$ in LLI is in getting people under you as associates, in other words introducing them not only to the products but getting them to join the company. Unfortunately for each person you successfully convince to join the company you directly increase your local competition.

Then there’s the mass of LLI marketing websites set up by LLI’s inhouse company Unified Wealth Solutions which all have international contact numbers also directly competing against you in your area.

 

If we put aside the flashy promises and ‘positive attitudes’ for a second, does this sound like a long-term sustainable business model to you?