when everyone you know has a MLM business

My daughter was tossing flower petals in the front yard as I was thinking about my friends. And it hit me. Tossing flowers and dancing in the beauty of it…it was a picture of the type of friend I want to be in regards to supporting my friends. As a blogger and small business owner (SnapShops), it means the world to me when a friend shares a blog post I wrote or ‘likes’ a photo on Instagram. When someone signs up for SnapShop and lets me know they were referred by a friend of mine, well, it is the biggest encouragement to me. I am grateful for the opportunity to help support my family by doing things I enjoy, when a friend supports me – it is icing on the cake.

We all have different gifts. Different passions. Different interests. Different opportunities. I want to be a friend that celebrates and supports.

Each night I open up facebook in order to find a link to the next day’s workout posted by my Crossfit gym. Inevitably in the quick search for a workout, I see posts from friends about their businesses….oils, skin care, make-up, protein powders, etc. Some days it feels like everyone I know has a MLM-based business (Multi-Level Marketing). I briefly considered building one myself.

And that is not a bad thing!

A quick scroll on social media and you undoubtedly will have read posts promoting a MLM business and the products. If you are friends with a large number of people in that realm, it can easily feel like you are the only one not working in that business model….and that you are missing out on something amazing.

A couple of months ago I was talking to a friend about how it feels like everyone is thriving with a MLM-based business. This friend of mine, she is a world changer. Everyday she is pouring her gifts and talents into vulnerable kids and families. She doesn’t get free trips. She doesn’t make a six figure income. Her employer doesn’t give her expensive gifts to celebrate a job well done. Every day she is pouring herself out at a job that she loves. Her work is often only noticed by those she is quietly serving day in and day out. She was made for the work she does and anyone that meets her knows it right away. In our conversation, she mentioned sometimes feeling silly doing a ‘normal’ job when it seemed like so many others were running MLM businesses and thriving financially…and in so many other ways.

My heart sank at her words. I knew many other women felt the same way. The career my friend is pouring into, if she stepped away from it countless lives would suffer. She could easily step into a MLM and work towards building a business, but all that she would be walking away from…well, it makes me sad to even think about that scenario.

I often think about our conversation as I’ve watched friend after friend begin building a MLM based business. I have friends at the highest levels of several MLM companies. I hear their stories, read about their success and watch them enjoy the fruits of their labor. They are doing what they love and they are having so much fun in the process. They are building up women, giving generously, starting non-profits and changing lives in positive ways. It is a beautiful thing.

I think the tricky thing for those of us not building a MLM business is to recognize that we are not all created to do the same thing, to be confident in who we are and know that is a very beautiful thing too. MLMs are designed to recruit and build a sales force. It results in a profitable business, but sometimes it can inadvertently make others feel like what they do is less than or not as valuable because the benefits are different.

My friend may not make the same income or perks that come with many MLMs. She does, however, make daily ripples in the lives of others that go on to create waves too vast to be measured. You can do that in an MLM and you can do it outside of an MLM.

Shortly after our chat, I was reading Jenn Hatmaker’s book For the Love. In it she admonishes readers to simplify their lives to what is beautiful, essential and life-giving while not making others feel guilty for making different choices.  What is life-giving, beautiful and essential to each of us is as unique as we were each created. Jenn also calls her readers to “celebrate the decent accomplishments of Ordinary Hard Life.”

I loved that line. Celebrate the decent accomplishments of an ordinary life. I’m not sure when ordinary became such a negative word. Ordinary can be the most beautiful life when we look at it through the right lens.

When my friends begin building a MLM business, I’m going to cheer them on in the same way I cheer on my other friends. I am going to support them by ‘liking’ their posts. I will also be honest when I want to cheer for them, but do not need product or want to join the business. When others criticize, I’m going cheer. I am going to recognize that my friends (and acquaintances), like me, are working to help support their family. I am going to refer business their way. I am going to check in and ask them how business is going. Instead of viewing their business as “one more MLM”, I’m going to see beyond the business model and see the friend working hard. Just like I want my friends to support me with SnapShop, I’m going to cheer for them as they do what makes them thrive.

When it comes to my friends, I’m going to throw my support around them with wild abandon.

I’m going to “like” and “share” and refer in the same way my daughter tosses flower petals.

The more she throws, the more fun she has and the more beautiful a world she creates.