Well have you? The question is not as strange as it first appears and arises from an email one of my contacts sent to me, asking for a critique on a program she had just joined. I wrote back and said that I had never heard of the program but that there were a number of things she should think about before going any further. For example, what would happen if no one signed up under her? Was there a product she was happy with and which others would use, was it repeatable, and so on.She wrote back in a state of great excitement to tell me that the program met all my criteria, which made her very happy. It turned out that it sold e-books.

Now I have nothing against e-books, far from it, they can be a great business resource, but I do have a story about them.

I live in rural Australia and once a week we have a local bush market where you can buy anything and everything, from egg-laying pullets to an Allis Chalmers shackle-pin. My wife and I often go, mainly looking for old plates which my wife turns into mosaics.

A couple of weeks ago I happened to be browsing one of the trash and treasure stalls when I came across a box stuffed with old 'How To Become a Millionaire' books. You name it, it was in there, from Dale Carnegie on. Without being asked the stall holder told me I could have the lot for $5 - that's about five cents on the dollar of the original price.

"Have you read any of them?" I asked.

"All of them, mate." he said "They changed my life." Which left me pondering what his starting point might have been.

The reality is of course, that the books in themselves have no value, except what we are prepared to pay for them. And reading them won't achieve very much either. What's required is Hegels principle of introducing theory into practice.

Many of the e-books currently available on the internet are those same books the stallholder had, rewritten and revamped for the new, electronic, market. Most of them are available for nothing if you know where to look, and only really make money for the authors, who churn out a 'new' one every six months or so. For a while a network flourishes, a few bucks are made, many more are lost, and the books end up in the equivalent of a trash and treasure stall.

What's the connection between this and marijuana? Well, if I was asked to name the most perfect MLM there has ever been, the trade in that particular commodity would have to come very high on my list.

Forget any moral objections you may have for a second; or even the legality of the enterprise where you happen to live. Just think about how the whole system, which grew up in the Swingin' Sixties, actually works.

Someone uses a substance from which they derive a great deal of pleasure, satisfaction, call it what you will. But it has a price, so in order to fund their habit, they buy more than they need and sell the surplus on to other users, who in turn do the same thing. Pretty soon the people at the top of the chain are making a fair income from this practice and increase their activities, which has a knock-on effect. If the law or ill-health don't intervene, the whole thing develops into a thriving business, at the bottom of which are consumers who are perfectly happy with their lot. They have easy access to a consumable item on which they place a high degree of value, even dependence. This in turn ensures repeat orders for all those above them engaged in marketing the item in question.

Pretty fair all round, wouldn't you say?

Now, can you say the same thing about the networking opportunity you are being asked to consider, or perhaps are engaged in?

If you can, congratulations. With steady persistance, training, and a fair amount of work you are going to be able to make a reasonable return on your investment. If not, I strongly urge you to consign whatever it is to the nearest trash and treasure stall, and find something else.

Of course, you can always rewrite one of the e-books and launch it under your own name. You will make money. Maybe not very much, that depends on your marketing skills, but there are always people ready to buy a dream and hope that it will turn into a reality. And what's more, a surprising number of them will be prepared to market those dreams on your behalf, without ever putting the theory contained within those books into practice. The question is, are you personally prepared to operate in this way? Because there is an alternative.

Every now and then the seemingly chaotic world of eBooks and affiliate training is penetrated by those who really do know an opener from a buying signal, and every now and then they make that knowledge available - at a price. But then, what they are able to offer is priceless, providing you do a lot more than just read it.

To be successful on the internet, no matter what you are trying to sell, those are the people you need to seek out, listen to and learn from. They are few and far between, but with the right map you can find them :o)
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Michael Sheridan is publisher of The Compleat Advertiser - a marketing resource for the net entrepreneur which builds into a powerful sales tool. Subscribe by email to mailto:tingirablue@magicbiz.net