Like any other MLM business opportunity you're likely to come across, ACN (American Communication Network, Inc.) has it's fair share of good, bad, and downright ugly. It's crucial that you're familiar with all aspects of whatever MLM business you decide to go with so you know which ones are "doable" and will play to your strengths.

At this point, it's important to distinguish between a legitimate MLM business opportunity and a fraud. For that, let's start with a practical definition for an "MLM business." Any MLM is essentially a retail system where people, most often called "distributors," build and manage their own sales force, or network. These distributors are compensated based on the sales of the sales force under them in addition to their personal sales. If you're trying to figure out if an alleged "MLM business opportunity" is for real or not, watch out for compensation plans that only pay you to recruit new people into the network but don't compensate you (no matter how little) for sales at your level.

The Company

Let's get back to ACN. The company started out in 1992 as the marketing arm for LCI communications, a long distance reseller. It was founded by Robert Stevanovski, Greg Provenzano, Tony and Mike Cupisz with only 20 distributors. In it's first year, revenues reached $2 million and by 1998, it reported an annual revenue of $98.1 million. ACN operates in 20 countries which include Australia, New Zealand as well as parts of Europe, Asia and North America.

Another thing to take notice of is that Donald Trump (you know from the hit series "The Apprentice" - his trademark phrase is "Your Fired!") actively endorses ACN. This endorsement gives the company serious credibility as a legitimate MLM business opportunity. Think about it. Why would a billionaire risk ruining his reputation partnering with an illegitimate company? He wouldn't, plain and simple.

The Product

Among other products, ACN provides a digital phone service, high speed Internet access, a wireless service, local and long distance calls, satellite TV, video phone, and home security services. No red flags here. The very fact that they've been in business since 1992 should also tell you that they're here to stay and not some fly-by-night MLM business. So far, so good.

It seems like the easiest thing to sell because you won't have any inventory to buy or keep every single month; you won't need to approach the same customer every month to make a new sale once a deal is closed; and you won't have to ask people to spend money that isn't already part of their budget for those monthly services. And then you get to the compensation plan.

The Compensation Plan

ACN's compensation plan is one of the more complicated plans you'll come across in MLM. You can look up the details on your own but the bottom line is that it will take an enormous amount of work to get to the point where it pays off for the distributor in residuals. This is not said to discourage you, but rather to warn you. Distributors can choose between 2 starting levels, either $99 or $499. To merely qualify for the meager 2%-8% commission on acquiring new customers (depending on what starting level you choose --$99 or $499), you would have to maintain at least 6 "connected" long distance customers or 8 customers using any ACN service. Once you qualify, you receive 0.25% from levels 1 through 5 of your downline, 1% on level six, and 6% on level 7. So to get to 6% commissions, you would have to build your own network to seven levels and make sure everyone on that line is at top performance in order to meet additional requirements of the compensation plan. That's a lot of work with very little incentive to keep you going while you're building up your network!

For example, just to qualify for the first earned level - Executive Team Trainer - you must be a Team Trainer with a minimum of 20 personal billing customers and have directly sponsored and qualified 3 Team Trainers by helping each of them acquire 6 "connected" long distance customers or 8 customers using any ACN service within the required time(4 weeks). Each earned level comes with its own set of arcane qualifying criteria making the top earned level-- Regional Vice President - almost as easy as hitting the lottery.

The Verdict

I'm not against working hard towards achieving a worthwhile goal but in the final analysis, ACN's compensation plan is simply not designed for someone just starting out in an MLM business. This MLM opportunity is only for power recruiters who can maintain the extremely high level of commitment needed to see their efforts amount to something substantial. I would not be surprised to see unusually high attrition levels with this MLM business. Not that it bothers ACN much since they'll still be making money every month from every customer you've ever acquired, even if you decide ACN isn't the right fit for you and leave. One way to combat a high attrition rate and become the power recruiter necessary to really build your ACN MLM business is through the biggest marketplace on the planet - the Internet. This way you really can market ACN all across the globe.