Legitimate network or multi-level marketing opportunities are not illegal pyramid schemes. For a company to be legitimate, they must not pay their members for simply recruiting other members. Commissions must come from products being sold, not from sign-up fees.

From over 10 years in the industry, I have yet to see a perfect company, and I don't believe that there is one. Not yet, anyway. When looking for a company to represent, look for a company that has all the key ingredients for success, such as management experience, financial strength, products that people want or need, fair compensation plan, and distributor support.

It's best to promote just one company, especially if you're new to the industry. Success in network marketing requires a lot of focus, and promoting more than one company may force you to spread yourself too thin. However, in rare cases, 2 companies can compliment each other and can be promoted at the same time. There are also a few companies out there that lend themselves well as a secondary to your main company. Examples of such companies are lead generation, advertising, and marketing support programs. But if you do decide to promote one of these programs in addition to your primary program, make sure to keep it simple and duplicatable. I've seen distributors of some very simple and duplicatable companies complicate their support system by promoting too many secondary programs and marketing tools. This is especially true among internet centric distributor groups. Remember, simplicity is the key to success. Giving your new distributors too much to do and complicating your support system is not duplicatable.

Success in network marketing does not involve luck, for the most part. It requires hard work and persistance. My advice is to choose one company that has all the right elements that you look for in a company. Now, there is no such thing as a perfect company, so choose one with negatives that you and most people can live with. Then promote, promote, and promote. Commit to working the business for at least a year. This will give you enough time to learn the system and create enough momentum for a growing, successful organization. The key is to not quit no matter how good the next opportunity that comes along might seem.

Yes, you can. Thank god for technology and the internet. There are lots of companies now and distributor groups who specialize in marketing exclusively via the internet and are doing extremely well. In fact, marketing via the internet is very effective since most people feel exactly as you do about personal selling. If you can send email, you can do amazingly well in this industry. You need to find a company and/or a distributor group with an automated internet marketing system in place.