MLM Reinvented: Internet Marketing and the New Generation of Online Millionaires

It seems an Internet marketing millionaire is born every minute somewhere in the world.

While it’s tough to pin down exactly how many there are at any given time, you can bet there are more waiting in the wings.

You may be wondering why there are so many Internet marketing millionaires these days.

MLM has been around forever, hasn’t it? This isn’t a new wheel being invented here; it’s the same thing companies like Amway have been doing for years.

Right?

Sure, MLM has been around for years.

People have been doing network sales since bygone days when a salesman would show up at your door to demonstrate the latest home gadgets.

The World Wide Web was a game changer. It allowed network salespeople to move beyond friends and family to people they didn’t even know.

And, Internet marketers suddenly found themselves with global influence.

But, it’s not just the scale of the Internet that’s helped create a new generation of online millionaires.

It’s also the technologies Internet marketers now have at their fingertips.

There was a time when forging relationships took months or years as you worked to schedule face-to-face meetings and product demonstrations.

While some of the core concepts are still there (strong pitch, good product), network building can happen in a matter of days.

And, when you think about technologies such as social networks, the process is so simplified, there’s little chance for error.

That isn’t to say top Internet marketers don’t bring their “A” games everyday or that they don’t have great skills.

Obviously, millionaires aren’t built from mediocrity.

In addition to scale and technologies, there’s also the real-time 24/7 advantages to Internet marketing.

When you aren’t hemmed in by time constraints, you can keep working long after everyone else has stopped.

Many top earners do much of their business in the evening hours when their customers have more time to dedicate to research and purchases.

But, the biggest paradigm shift of all as we moved away from in-person meetings toward Internet marketing is that the seller became the product.

Can you imagine if, back in the day, people went door-to-door selling their own expertise? It could never have happened.

Things are very different now. Because Internet marketing is an industry that isn’t clearly defined, newcomers seek out as much information as they can.

To help them navigate the industry, experts are at the ready with educational resources and tutorials, e-books, newsletters, and expert blogs.

And, because this information is so in-demand, it comes at a premium to those who want it.

In fact, while some Internet marketing experts once had their own successful Internet businesses (like me), others never distributed anything.

Their entire Internet marketing business was built on their expert advice.

Since the late 90s, MLM distributors and network salespeople have been reinventing themselves online.

Their strong personal brands position them as industry visionaries as they help mold a new generation of Internet-born millionaires.

Another interesting thing to note is that personal branding turned the traditional ideas of competition on their ears.

This is because each “product” is completely unlike the next. There aren’t multiple people selling the same thing. Everyone has a slightly different take.

And, while traditional salesmen had their own styles and sales pitches, they still found themselves competing with others to sell identical products.

When you think of it this way, it’s easy to see why there will never be total market saturation and why there’s always room for new Internet marketers.