“HLE” is a bit of a joke term, (or possible tongue in cheek could be a better label) coined in my Network Marketing Group - it stands for "Hens Lay Eggs" and is a take on the exponential growth theory - recruit two people, who recruit two, etc, and in six weeks you'll have 50,000 people sending you $250,000 - the false promise of MLM.

The MLM exponential growth chart makes sense mathematically but is flawed. Unfortunately the ordinary person can't see the flaw, so buy into it, and you get your 95% of people who do MLM and can't make it work. We all know the story.

The logic is the same as "Zeno's arrow", based on an ancient greek philosopher and mathematician who preceeds Archimedes and Pythagoras. Or in the famous “missing pound” logic problem. More on these in future issues.

But here is the HLE analogy explained:

A hen lays six eggs. If the chicks grow up to be hens they also lay eggs and the hen becomes a “grandmother”. There is no guarantee that all 6 chicks will lay 6 eggs, etc. Also there's nothing to stop the hen laying another batch of eggs, maybe six, maybe 5 or 8. It's not set or guaranteed.

Also there is no guarantee that the eggs will hatch into chicks – “don’t count your chickens before they hatch” after all. In this sense, an egg is a prospect, a chick is an affiliate who has signed up. Whether that chick now grows into a hen and lays their own eggs is the next issue. And a lot of that is down to how you – the mentor – or “Mother Hen” – help them develop in their early days, months, even years.

So it is with network marketing, MLM, EMM - whatever you want to call it - we call it "HLE". As Shakespeare said "a rose by any other name will still give you hay fever", or to quote Bruce Lee "it's just a name don't fuss over it"

The same goes for EMM - Exact Method Marketing - the McDonalds formula example (more on that later).

So what I now do is lead with FREE affiliate programs, the best of which is the SFI scheme with their free online VStore. This means no signup fees, no upgrade fees, no forcing the distributors to buy inventory. The money is ONLY made from the sale of the product and money is ONLY made by helping your downline make sales.

When someone joins under me they HAVE to sell the products and I HAVE to help them, I can't just sell them the opportunity as they do in so many companies that are DESIGNED to take advantage of the fact that the new affiliate won't be able to make any sales or recruit any downline. THESE schemes don't need them to - they have made the money from selling them the opportunity - the startup fee, upgrade fee, and they sell product to the distribrutor who "must stock inventory" - they don't ever expect him to be able to sell it on - they don't need him to.

HLE, taken literally, is more "viral". It's like when someone sends you a joke on email, if you look, each "level" has dozens of different names the joke has been spidered out to.

That is "viral", and that is how you pass on the products and opportunity. It spreads like a virus – person to person – which is how network marketing is supposed to work. No spam, no sticking people on autoresponders – no junk mail.

Real people, real products, real opportunities, real results.