Are Virtual Assistant Jobs a Pyramid Scheme?

I got a GREAT question from a good friend yesterday who said that they saw my posts about helping other people to become Virtual Assistants, but it sounded like a pyramid scheme. So I just want to address this for anyone who is wondering the same! 🙂

First, let’s talk about what a pyramid scheme is …

A pyramid scheme is an illegal operation where you pay into an “upline” of people and there are no products or services sold. The only form of income is recruiting other people into the “team”.

Then you have Network Marketing (also known as Multi-Level Marketing) businesses, that are often confused with this business model because you can build a team of people to make residual income off your efforts as a team.

In this business type, it is not illegal, you do make an income off of products that you sell, and your team is not paying you to join, but they pay the company to join, like a franchise business opportunity.

This can be a very profitable business model if you truly love the business you’re partnering with and are willing to learn how to run a business the RIGHT way (which is a different post all together so I won’t go too much more in depth with that here) …

However, Virtual Assistants are NOT network marketers in any way.

Here are a few key differences:

In a Network Marketing Business:

• You work for a company that you’ve partnered with
• You pay to own your business within the company, like a “franchise”
• You’re a freelancer, so you can set your own schedule
• The company makes (and usually ships) the product
• The company sets the tone for marketing/ branding
• The company sets the product prices
• You sell a product and earn a commission off of the products you sell and the rest goes to the company
• The company sets up your websites, etc. for you and you just customize them with your name and picture
• You can choose your clients/ who you work with, but may have clients “assigned” to you within the company
• You can build a team to earn residual income off of your team’s sales
• You can make as little or as much as you want, but it’s all within the company’s income structure

As a Virtual Assistant:

• You work for yourself, not a company
• You don’t pay your clients to work for them
• You’re a freelancer, so you can set your own schedule (SAME)
• You offer a service, and you choose the services that you want to offer
• You decide on your own marketing/ branding
• You provide a service and you set your rates/ prices/ package types (hourly or retainer packages, not commission-based)
• All of the money that you make is yours
• You create your own websites, etc.
• You choose your clients/ who you work with
• You can hire people to work for you to make more money (so you can bring on more clients without you having to do all the work yourself, but these are YOUR employees, not businesses owners within your business)
• You can make as little or as much as you want

As you can see, there are some things that are similar, like you are a freelancer who can set their own schedule, your earning potential is up to you, and having people who work with you (MLM) or for you (VA) can help you to earn more income. But in reality, they are pretty different overall.

In a network marketing business, you are your own boss technically, but the company you work for is in charge. You don’t really have any control over most of the business.

As a VA, you are actually your own boss, you have full control over your career and business, you just offer a service to other online entrepreneurs to help their businesses to succeed.

To wrap it up …

Network marketing can be a great option for you if you align with a company’s mission and love their products.

Virtual Assisting can be a great option for you if you want to offer a service to entrepreneurs and have full control over your career.