There is a wide variation in the roles uplines take toward the downlines in network marketing organization. Some uplines are the ’sign em up and move on to the next’ type, often leaving the downline stranded and not really knowing what to do. Still others act as permanent mentors for their downlines and give them lots of care and guidance as long the downline remains in the organization.

I think the most sensible approach for anyone hoping to build a large network marketing organization is somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. When you think about it, the upline should take some sort of mentoring role in the beginning. A good middle ground role for an upline is to the mentor the downline only long enough to get the downline taking those first steps on their own and tapping into resources on their own. In general, get them to the point where they do business on their own. If the upline spends too much time with each downline, what happens when that upline’s organization gets large? He/she will soon become a full time mentor and if that what is the upline desires, then great. But to continue to grow that NM business, will require a structured approach to mentoring those new downlines, and letting them eventually go mostly on their own.