MLM’s and house cleaners it’s the perfect side hustle, right? The maid gets a starter kit and builds the MLM’s downline in a “recruit your friends” manner. If the products are in alignment with the house cleaning the MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) or direct selling is not a scam.
We Ask a House Cleaner about MLM’s, webinars, workshops, pow-wows, and conferences.
Angela Brown, The House Cleaning Guru gives tips to grow your cleaning business and advises against a pyramid scheme.
Today’s sponsors are My Cleaning Connection, HouseCleaning360, and Savvy Cleaner Training.
Listen: MLM’s: House Cleaners with a Side Hustle
Watch: MLM’s: House Cleaners with a Side Hustle
Hey there, I’m Angela Brown, and this is Ask a House Cleaner. This is a show where you get to ask a house cleaning question, and I get to help you find an answer.
Question: Should House Cleaners Also Do MLM’s?
MLMs and house cleaners. Oooh, we knew this topic was coming, didn’t we? Okay, here’s the conversation. Lots of house cleaners get jobs.
And no sooner are they hired than they find out the homeowner represents an MLM. MLM is short for multi-level marketing. And that is a company that bypasses the middleman to sell directly to the consumer.
Answer: How Do MLM’s Work?
MLM’s work by somebody recruiting you to join the pyramid. You get a starter kit and then you recruit your friends to buy a starter kit, who recruit their friends to buy a starter kit. Everybody makes a little money off the purchases from their “downline.”
So, you get a job as a house cleaner only to find out they want to recruit you to take their product to all your house cleaning customers.
MLM’s Are Not Scams – For the Most Part
MLM’s are not scams, but maids are a common target audience.
So, house cleaners get bombarded on a regular basis with multi-level marketing offers. They might tell you that you have an amazing personality. And because you have this vast network of houses that you clean, they want you to take their product to your customers.
The Scam is Hiring You as A House Cleaner
The scam is a homeowner will hire you for a couple of cleanings. Just long enough to recruit you into their multi-level marketing company. Once you’ve signed up – they expect you to go full time, and then they will hire another house cleaner.
Or maybe they keep you on or whatever, but the purpose is to gain access to your network of family, friends and clients.
Should You Join the MLM?
So, you’ll have to decide if the product in alignment with your brand. And why are you joining the MLM? Do you want to recruit your friends and family to join the multi-level marketing company so that you can please Mrs. Jones? Or do you love the products?
And the answer may be yes, the answer may be no.
What happens though, when you go into business with Mrs. Jones, is you muddy the waters. Instead of just a simple transaction like house cleaning where you clean in exchange for money, now you have two businesses deals.
Don’t Muddy the Waters with an MLM
So, she’s going to pay you to clean the house. That’s transaction number one. Transaction number two is you pay her for supplies, and your starter kit and you follow her around the country to workshops and seminars.
At first glance, it looks like a great idea. You are in other people’s homes, and you can promote your products to your clients and recruit them.
Wowser. You just muddied the waters with all those people.
So, what’s happening is not a cut and dried relationship. You clean the house, they give you money. And now you are accountable to them for your MLM selling and recruiting efforts.
Expectations for MLM Performance Wreck Things
“Did you recruit any people this week? How many people did you recruit? Are you going to the open workshop on Tuesday night? Are you going to this great big pow-wow they’re holding in San Diego, California that costs $1000 to attend?”
Now we’re talking about finances. We’re talking about spending less time in the house cleaning business. We’re talking about a bunch of other things that have nothing to do with your house cleaning at all.
So, is it a good idea, to work an MLM with a cleaning client? Aaaaahhhh! Okay, so my answer to the question is this, I don’t recommend it.
Say No to MLM’s With Cleaning Client’s
And I don’t recommend it for this reason. I have seen so many house cleaners get fired over the years because something went awry with a multi-level marketing company.
The homeowner may decide to get out of the MLM and then it gets weird between the homeowner and house cleaner. Or the house cleaner is not performing well in the MLM and so the homeowner replaces them with another house cleaner.
If You Do an MLM – Stick with the Plan
I’ve seen house cleaners that didn’t have the money for the startup kit for the multi-level marketing. It was a couple thousand dollars, and so the homeowner agreed to front them the money. The homeowner then expected the repayment in exchange for house cleaning. This barter method is not duplicatable at all. Because you will turn around and do your downline what your upline did to you. And if you don’t have the money for your own starter kit – you don’t have the money to front people you recruit.
The Purpose of MLM is to Rinse and Repeat
The ease of network marketing is to create a simple formula for recruiting and selling. Your network sees the ease of what you do, and they rinse and repeat what you’ve shown them.
The simplicity of the system is where you make your money. If you have a complicated barter agreement – you can’t duplicate that, neither can your downline.
Go Back to Your Reasons Why
When you take the house cleaning job it is because you need the money for your phone bill, groceries, your mortgage and car insurance. Cleaning house in exchange for MLM starter kits doesn’t pay your bills.
Now you have a starter kit, and you’re cleaning house to pay it back, so you’re not selling and you’re not recruiting. And if you’re not putting money in your pocket animosity and resentment builds.
Covert Contracts and Missed Expectations
Now imagine the homeowner that fronts you the money wants you to take a week off work to attend a motivational powwow in San Diego, CA. And you can’t go because you need the work to pay your bills. So, the homeowner doesn’t think you are serious about the MLM. And they get upset because they fronted you the money.
But you didn’t want to do the MLM in the first place – you just didn’t know how to say no.
So, there’s all this weird energy that goes back and forth.
Is it Possible You Can Make an MLM Work?
It is possible, and I’ve seen a few people do it well, but for the vast majority of people, it doesn’t work at all.
Candles, essential oils, cleaning supplies, I’ve seen so many house cleaning/client MLM deals fail.
If you want to do direct selling – that’s fine. Recruit your friends and family – but not your house cleaning clients. Don’t jeopardize your income for your dream.
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Products Most Likely You’ll Be Approached to Share (Sell)
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Young Living Thieves – http://amzn.to/2EIlBcE
doTerra essential oils – http://amzn.to/2svRYX3
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Norwex Enviro Cloths – http://amzn.to/2o06MIW
Norwex Paste – http://amzn.to/2CkANaB
Shaklee Basic H2 Organic Super Cleaning Concentrate – http://amzn.to/2HkaNA6
Amway – Legacy of Clean L.O.C. Multi-Purpose Cleaner – http://amzn.to/2o1lYFR
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