On the Level The Internet makes MLM easier--but it won't do the work for you. Before you commit, make sure you're prepared.

Three years ago, Cynthia Marshall of San Antonio, Texas, was looking for a business opportunity. She'd recently signed up for pre-paid Internet access with FlashNet Communications, based in Fort Worth, Texas, and was happy with the price and service. "I was thinking, 'I wish a real company like FlashNet would try network marketing,' " Marshall says.

Marshall had tried her hand at selling diet pills and Tupperware but hadn't managed to build what's needed for success: a "downline" of people she'd recruited into the business. Then she received an e-mail: FlashNet was launching a new division, FlashNet Marketing Inc., to sell its services directly to consumers through a network of independent sales representatives. Marshall attended the first opportunity meeting in San Antonio in July 1997 and signed up immediately.

Since then, Marshall has personally signed up more than 100 customers, who pay $17.95 per month or $129.95 per year for Internet access and the seasonal promotions to buy electronics at a discount. By recruiting friends and family members into the business, who in turn have recruited others, she's built a downline of 360 representatives serving 3,200 customers. As with other distributors in network marketing (also called multilevel marketing, or MLM), she receives overrides on the sales generated by everyone in her group. Soon she cut back to part time at her airline job to focus on her burgeoning business.