Kevin Lee interviews Solomon McCluster, who runs AuntMaggie.com, a site providing various services, including consultation, strategy development, and implementation and monitoring to the Direct Selling industry. Solomon is also the Senior Software Sales Consultant at Trinity Software, a company whose software enables Party Plan & MLM Back-office services, commissions processing and ecommerce solutions.

Kevin and Solomon cover cover a lot of ground in their interview that will be of interest to students, practitioners, and aficionados of Direct Selling and Multi-level Marketing, including:

- The evolution of the MLM industry from door-to-door selling to digital sales, with a focus on social media and incentivized behavior.

- The differences between party planning companies and MLMs.

- How the rise of social media and the recent pandemic caused the industry to change as people became more comfortable with online business and virtual parties.

- The shift from traditional sales pitches to more natural product integrations in influencer marketing, with technology now enabling seamless product ordering directly from video content.

- How Shopify's merchant account program eliminated the need for MLM companies to set up their own merchant providers.

- How MLM companies have leveraged existing technology for virtual parties and meetings, leading to interest in "replicated" websites and API integration.

- How the MLM industry has evolved away from the practice of marking up products 7-10 times to pay commissions, leading to overpriced products and inefficient compensation structures.

- The importance of compliance in MLM and affiliate marketing, especially with regard to transparency and disclosure.

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