There’s a rather spirited debate going on these days within the Home Business community over which business model, GPT or MLM, offers the best chance for success and profitability. GPT stands for Get Paid Today or Get Paid To, depending upon who you listen to. MLM of course stands for Multi Level Marketing, also referred to as Network Marketing. Disciples from each of these camps vow and declare, often with lots of graphs and charts, income disclaimers and of course a whole host of “expert” opinions, that their business model is superior. GPT practitioners even go so far as to proclaim the demise of MLM, complete with obituaries. So, what’s the truth in all of this rhetoric, which business model is superior? In my opinion, neither. But the debate is fun, none the less.
Business people, people in general, are as different as night and day. Personality traits such as likes, dislikes, emotional and psychological makeup, strengths, weaknesses, interpersonal abilities differ from person to person. Therefore the business model that is right for one entrepreneur is not necessarily right for another. There is no “one size fits all,” when it comes to business opportunities. That would be like saying everyone is cut out to be a doctor, a lawyer, a professional athlete. The personality traits and abilities that make one likely to succeed in MLM do not necessarily lead to success in a GPT business and vice versa. To borrow an analogy from the sporting world, MLM is more of a team sport, like Baseball or Basketball. GPT is more like Golf. You don’t have to have a team mentality to play Golf, but you certainly do if you want to play Baseball.
MLM requires networking, team building, mentoring, growing and working a downline. GPT on the other hand is more like a “fee for service” business; read a survey, fill out some kind of form, mail off an envelope and get paid for doing it. Even if you have a GPT website where other people do the work and you get paid, then share a percentage with the workers, it’s still fee for service. It’s not necessary to build a team or interact with people at all. You don’t really need good people skills. In MLM you must absolutely possess good interpersonal abilities and good communication skills. You must also have a thick skin and be able to handle rejection because not everyone you show your business opportunity or product to, will buy. With GPT you don’t have to depend upon other people in order to succeed. In MLM, your success is completely dependent upon the success of others, the success of your team.
So to insist that one or the other, MLM or GPT, is superior is in a word, absurd. As I said earlier, one size does not necessarily fit all. One business model is potentially just as successful and profitable as the other in the hands of the right practitioner. The right practitioner is the one who is properly equipped, adequately trained and possessing of the appropriate personality traits and skill sets necessary to succeed with their particular business. Conversely, one is potentially as disastrous as the other in the hands of the wrong practitioner, one who does not posses the necessary abilities, personality and training. In my opinion therefore, neither business model is superior to the other and it’s about time we put the whole GPT vs. MLM debate to rest.
