If you have the capital available and are not risk-averse, then this is traditionally the least expensive route to take. Though many people will suggest you use your personal finance when starting your business, very few will counsel you on more critical questions like: “is it safe?”

Many of my clients already run successful companies that produce the products that they intend marketing through their MLM channel. They have years of experience and they mitigate the risk by leveraging their existing infrastructure and staff or, in the case of failure, selling stock through their existing channels. In the worst case scenario, the money their current business is generating makes the risk/reward ratio palatable.

There are, however, a great many people who take their pension or a further loan on their property and invest it in a wild plan to grow an MLM business. I cannot discourage this strongly enough. If this is the position you find yourself in, then skip to the section on bootstrapping your business and invest your pension in a very safe place. Leave your home loan as it is and wait until you are successful before investing personally. Most importantly, never ever sign personal surety for anything. If you cannot get an agreement without signing surety, then walk away. The risk is just not worth it.

Having said this, I have witnessed a cash-flush company who started at zero and reached monthly sales of $60M in 18 months. If you have the money and the business experience, you will find the MLM route highly profitable, and you will be grateful not to have any partners sharing in the spoils.