Ray Kroc, founder of McDonalds Corp., did not set out to sell Big Macs. His introduction to hamburgers came in the early 1950s while he was peddling milk shake machines.

A San Bernadino restaurant run by two brothers, Dick and Maurice Mac McDonald were using a number of the machines to keep up with the huge demand for milkshakes. It was here that Kroc saw a golden opportunity for lots of milkshake machine orders if only they had more restaurants! Kroc offered to open and run the restaurants, and in 1955 opened the first McDonalds in Des Plaines, IL. He bought out the McDonalds brothers for $2.7 million in 1961.

Ray Kroc understood one important fact about business that most of us simply miss. The fact is, that you will make far more money by duplicating your efforts over and over again in a mutually beneficial way, than by trying to due it all by yourself. Ray went out of his way to find qualified individuals to run and manage his restaurants, and after training them all at Hamburger University, took a small profit from each restaurant. This duplication allowed McDonalds to enjoy exponential growth over the years.

There are now over 24,500 McDonalds restaurants in 115 countries around the world!

In todays world, Ray Kroc might be looked upon as an early MLMer. He recruited owners and managers to run his businesses, he provided them with a product, he trained them to duplicate his efforts (through the use of Hamburger University), and he took a small percentage of the profits from each restaurant.

If they did not succeed, he did not succeed. No McDonalds restaurant has ever failed. (A tribute to the exceptional support system Ray Kroc implemented)

Unlike MLMs, however, the recruiting aspect of the McDonalds business was reserved strictly for Ray Kroc. Restaurant owners were not allowed to franchise themselves. If they had been allowed to franchise themselves, the McDonalds Corporation quite possibly would be much larger than it is today because of faster exponential growth.

In the MLM business, this faster growth can be achieved because each and every business owner in the network can franchise themselves. This is the extension if you will, of franchising.