Tuesday 2nd January 2007
by JennyI live in a state where there are many, many trusting (read: gullible) people. They believe what their friends tell them…if they “buy” into a certain company, sell some “fabulous” shampoo or whatever, and get their friends to buy into the company as well, they’ll receive a monthy check for $20,000…or more!
The sad thing is, this isn’t much of an exaggeration. Everywhere I turn, someone is trying to get me to join into their “downline” so that I can become as “rich” as they are. Soon, I’ll be driving a *nice* car, and I can even advertise on it with stickers! (For example: Want to get rich like me? Call me at 1-800-555-5555 and I’ll tell you how!) Another common means of advertising is the posterboard sign placed at strategic locations, such as street corners. Most often, those say “Real Estate Investor Seeks Apprentice!” Oh, how I love those! I wonder, however, if these companies are making so much money, why would they have to resort to cardboard signs placed by hand on street corners?
Another aspect of these pseudo-companies is the fact that everyone involved pesters their friends to join, and become as rich as they are. The sad thing is, most of the people involved with the multi-level companies cannot afford to join, but they take out a loan or use their credit cards in the hopes that their friends will also join, and make them all sorts of money. Nothing can end a friendship more quickly than trying to make money off of your friends.
These schemes don’t work, except perhaps for the guys that started them. The ones on the very top become what all the suckers beneath them aspire to be: rich. I guess what all of the people are buying into is simply a dream. They believe that because one guy did it, they can too. Well, good for them. What most people don’t realize is that their time and resources are much better spent doing something worthwhile, such as working hard at a legitimate job, and socking money into a 401k or ROTH IRA. That’s how you become rich. Oh, and living within your means.
All I can say is good luck to those that still believe they can “get rich quickly.” If people don’t mind losing money, time (which is also money), resources, and friends, have at it. The best advice out there, however, is that if it sounds too good to be true, it is. I know, a bit cliche, but sometimes phrases are cliche because they are used often…because they’re true.
Hi Tom,
Thanks for your response, and I appreciate you taking the time to comment. There are some good things about MLM… i.e. some people make some money. Your comments are quite typical of someone caught up in the industry, though. As I was mentioning to my husband yesterday, the only people that talk about how great the MLM industry is are the ones who have invested their money in it. No one else takes it seriously.
I do wish you all the best, though.
Jen
While I agree that a lot of things about MLM companies suck, there is also a few good things about them. I joined up with a network marketing company after seeing their products and being blown away.
After reading over a dozen books about MLM and following the industry for 1.5 years, I am more than ever convinced that the principle works.
One of the biggest problems is that people don’t want to/are never taught how to do sales properly. Everybody wants to be an entrepreneur, but if you can’t sell your product, you won’t get anywhere. To be able to still grow a distribution/sales team and get other people on board, people start hyping etc etc and the rest is well-known about MLM. Truth is, this is everything BUT a get rich quick scheme.
From reading your text I can conclude that you don’t have a clue how the MLM business model really works. I don’t mean this in a rude or confronting way or anything, but cliches turn often into prejudice.
If you don’t mind watching two short flash videos on http://www.explorefreedom.com/tom you will learn a bit more. Forget about all the other stuff on the page.
All the best, Tom
I work for a “legit” company that feels like an MLM. If we get 10,000 QC’s a day, then we get an awesome, pink go-cart (of course it has a pic of pustuals on the side of it, but oh well).
I agree with you that multi-level (AKA network) marketing companies suck. But it’s a stretch to say NOBODY makes money but the top cats. Some people grow fat off of these systems, but it’s not as easy as they make it seem. Like anything else, what you get back is in proportion to what you put in.
It was funny though, when I worked at Nu-Skin (not as a distributor but as a tech support guy) we watched an intro video and there were some distributors on there talking about how they got into it. One of them admitted that they lost almost all of their friends, but that it was okay because they made a bunch of new friends! Bahahaha!
Please contact me – I have a business opportunity. Did you know that you can make $35K/month?