When a friend or a cousin you haven’t heard from for so long suddenly calls you at the office and invites you to a “business opportunity” meeting, do you: a) bump off your scheduled meeting in her favor? b) think of an excuse not to go? c) tell her to bug off? Our personal finance feature today from MoneySense says there are around two million Filipinos currently in the network marketing business, based on figures from the Direct Selling Association of the Philippines. There are several variants in this business – network marketing, direct selling, and multi-level marketing. Due to unscrupulous practices of many companies in this business, there is a lot of confusion on whether network marketing is a scam or not. I have personally seen several friends and acquaintances make good, legitimate money from this kind of business. But whatever you do, when talks of checks and commissions come in, don’t be led into thinking that network marketing can make everybody rich — quickly. The truth is that network marketing is a good model for removing the middle man and distributing what he earns among consumers. But if you are not careful, you can fall for a lot of cons in this business. So, choose carefully. This article gives some tips for those who are considering of getting into network marketing or direct selling. Here’s an excerpt: 1. Figure out if you fit the profile There are probably millions more who have tried their hand at the MLM business at one time or another. Not many succeed, usually dropping after a few months. It may be easy to join but it’s certainly difficult to stay for long. You need to have a certain mindset to succeed in network marketing. “