Although they have been around for a number of years, "one legged" or "linear" compensation plans are very unique and have some real advantages and some disadvantages.
They have a number of different names: linear, straight, power line, power leg, profit line, fast profit, vertical or even vertical acceleration.
As in any legitimate plan, to be legal, products and goods must flow (to members and customers) and you must sponsor to get higher bonuses and incentives.
But here's the twist: All reps are essentially placed one below the other in one straight leg downward.
There are no 2 legs, 4 legs, etc to worry about.
Getting a commission check is normally calculated by a certain percentage of the sales of the people in your leg AND tied to the number of people you actually sponsored and placed in that leg.
Picture a long pipe that is filled with rubber balls from the bottom up.
You and everyone below you are connected to everyone above you.
Everyone below you counts in your volume but only to the degree that you helped fill the pipe with other people.
If you never sponsor anyone, then you may get a few extremely small bonuses that may cover your purchases but the serious money is given to the serious members that sponsor a lot of people.
The significant advantage of this type of one-legged plan is that they are extremely easy to work and explain.
Also, they give the illusion that you do not have to do anything to be successful.
There in lies a disadvantage -- if it is easy to do, it is easy not to do.
Because you could end up with thousands of people in your downline fairly quickly, if you do not sponsor anyone, you would make very little or no money.
And, if the mentality of a new person is one that I will get these people anyway, so I'll just wait and do nothing -- you could end up losing a significant cash flow.
The flip side? You still end up with a huge organization and if you are with the right company, you could start building at any time and start receiving profit.
Originally many variations of this type of plans required you to slowly be pushed up to the top of the pipe until you are pushed out! Then you would have to repurchase and reenter.
This type of older plan causing a "push up, out and reentry" has slowly gone out of favor.
People eventually start all over again and then they lose interest and money in the process.
The key is to find a company that is not interested in having you reach the top of the group and then you have to reenter again at the bottom.
Even if this is a free reentry, you and thousands of others will eventually get free reentries and then no volume will flow.
When no volume flows, no money is ever made.
Pick a company that has a monthly product/service flow and requires people to have orders to receive any bonuses.
That way you are protected from the product flow stopping all together.
Also, select a company that you do not get moved out of the way or pushed out the top.
There are very few excellent "linear plan" companies on the market.
This type of plan is not a good fit with products with a higher price tag.
Product wise, this plan is best designed for use with an easily salable product or service at the low end.