If you are thinking of joining a Multi Level Marketing company you need to read this, even if you have recently joined a 'networking' company, you should still read it.
After reading take a good long look at how and why you joined, and ask yourself this very simple question ; Who do I know personally, not through the company that has made any money, or even more money than they have put in, do I know anyone who has made a living from this company(again, except for those that you know through the company)?
This is an excerpt from the author's experience when invited to a 'business opportunity seminar'
.......Then the real BLAST begins when the emcee shouted “Do you want to be a millionaire!!! I didn’t saw any Spartans with Jesus’s abs but I heard them answered – Awoo! Awoo!
Beyond the dizzying strobe lights, all suddenly became clear now – This is not a concert, this is Sparta!!! LOL
I heard that question before when my college friend lured me into attending an “opportunity” seminar in a company called Forever Living. That damn question, which is of course not actually a question, followed by an enumeration of answers - that include big incomes, a new house and lot and expensive cars, financial freedom and huge bank accounts while working part-time - confirmed our suspicion that we are attending a "business opportunity presentation" of a networking company.
Worst of all worst, they will even mention God. In that concert I attended, I heard one speaker said “Those of you who wants to be a millionaire, raise your hand!” Of course not all raised their hand, so he said “God is watching you, those who didn’t raise their hand will not get the blessing.” And so the speaker will repeat the question again. It is also common for other networking companies. Well it is an age-old tactic, when men talk of God, it always give an impression that they are doing something that should not be taken lightly. Even the Pope, I suppose, will find it absurd and pointless.
Funny enough, I always feel sick in my gut that there is some hidden agenda or deception. These tactics definitely turns me off, it definitely makes me feel treated like an urban dumb.
Greed is always not Sugarfree
Marketing presentation of the most tricky pyramiding or multilevel marketing groups often start by appealing to the materialism and greed of their prospects – new home, cars, weekly cash, grand vacations. This works most of the time because, in general, we want to have everything we like. To do this, we must take from our fellow human beings who like the same thing – in our case it’s about money, and I don’t mean illegally robbed them or something like that. Yes, greed is universally condemned but it is ever present.
Sometimes, it is very obvious that some MLMers are the ones who badly need money – to the point of “sponsoring” others or paying the membership fees as loan just to make them their “downlines” so as not to lose the “opportunity.” Maybe they have not only conned them and profited at their expense, they also made them feel like losers, since they are not able to make a success of the hopeless MLM scheme. Why not simply ask friends and family or relatives for help rather than taking money from them under false pretenses – and also selling them products?
Is Multi Level Marketing Illegal?
Scary question eh? So which is legal and which is illegal?
Pyramiding involves the investment of money in which you have to recruit your downlines and earn a certain percentage from their membership fee or whatever they call it, and earn again from the recruits of the recruits. That is illegal!
To make it legal, some companies offer products, mostly food supplement, vitamins beauty products and other services which they called Multi Level Marketing.
So yes, we have to acknowledge that some multi level marketing based companies are completely legit and reputable. They are not all scams waiting to trick and lure you. But most of them are – especially the aggressive one.
However, according to the report by Max de Leon appeared in Manila Times (April 28, 2003) there is a very thin line between multi level marketing and a pyramid schemes. De Leon also mentioned that in MLMs the product is not the real reason people are enticed to join. The product offered is merely the excuse to legitimize the real and probably illegal moneymaking scam.
Anyway, it is always up to you if you will let your naivete and greed guide your decisions.
The Vandruffs further summarized that:
1. MLMs are "doomed by design" to recruit too many salespeople, who in turn will then attempt to recruit even more salespeople, ad infinitum.
2. For many, the real attraction of involvement in multi-level marketing is the thinly veiled pyramid con-scheme made quasi-legal by the presence of a product or service.
3. The ethical concessions necessary to be "successful" in many MLM companies are stark and difficult to deal with for most people.
4. Friends and family should be treated as such, and not as "marks" for exploitation.
This is taken from the excellent post;
http://www.yodisphere.com/2010/06/multi-level-marketing-mlm-pyramiding.html
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