Most people have heard of MLM or Multi Level Marketing, and usually understand that it is basically a people's business. Some also compare to franchising, because of the similarities between the business models of MLM and franchising. Advocates of MLM name it as the ultimate people's business and say there is nothing quite like it.

Of course people that are in MLM will usually respond positively to this whereas those that are not familiar with the industry, or have had some negative experiences might be strongly opposed to this idea. One of the unique benefits of this type of business is that every individual distributor is in business for themselves but never by themselves. They will always be part of a larger organization and the compensation models are designed in such a way that every distributor can count on some sort of support from their sponsor and/or their upline.

It is proven that fortunes can be made in this type of a business and many have already done just that. Every individual distributor has the same opportunity to excel. Success or failure in MLM is dictated by results and not by politics, race, age, background or gender. In that respect, MLM is probably also the fairest business model in the world.

For many people however the true value of their MLM home based business is not directly in the financial returns. The lessons a person can learn while building his or her own MLM business is truly priceless. Many people are totally transformed through the personal growth they experience as a direct result of their challenges in their MLM businesses. It forced them to get out of their comfort zones, grow, and in many cases become a better person.

So what is so special about MLM in this respect? Doesn't every entrepreneur have to deal with challenges? The answer of course is: Yes, they do. And they also experience personal growth as a result from this. However there is a significant difference. Most entrepreneurs are self-made and many of them learned their trade largely outside of formal education. Either they were taught by a family member, a mentor or perhaps they learned everything the hard way: by trial and error. Very rarely will you find an entrepreneur that has an extensive library of books and tapes on personal development. Most businesspeople don't attend seminars and motivational trainings. They think it's all a bunch of hype. While in some cases this can be true, there are many trainings and seminars that teach the principles of success better than any textbook found in business schools.

One of the great characteristics about MLM is that this type of education is built into the training systems of all good companies. There is no business on the face of the earth that places such a strong and direct emphasis on the importance of personal development as the MLM industry. Many Non-MLM companies might argue that they spend a great deal of their budget on education; training employees and as such assisting them in personal development but in most cases what they are actually talking about is personnel development. Although the words are almost identical, their meanings are very different.

MLM is all about building and uplifting people. It is probably the best school on the planet if you want to learn about what it takes to be successful in life in general and you don't need rich parents or some kind of scholarship to enroll.

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