OK, I will add it if you say so, but I don't know what it is. We don't have that here in Canada. We do have CAA (like AAA) but that is not sold through multi-level sales here. How does that work in the states?
Cog
get rich quick schemes, multilevel marketing, pyramid schemes and JWs
by marmot 45 Replies latest watchtower scandals
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WTWizard
Perhaps it's because there is the promise of getting rich with little or no effort. You get into Herbalife or some other MLM, get some downloads, and then live on residual income. You can then spend all your time in field circus and be set for life.
Or, that's the theory. I have checked out Herbalife in its entirity. First, I have little good to say about the program. The products are crap. You can get better products at a health food store. The catalogs did not give product quantities (how many fluid ounces in that bottle); neither did the website. The sales tax was not properly set up (you had to enter your state tax, and it was one tax. Many states have sales tax on some items but not everything; some states have different tax laws). There also seemed to be just one more thing to do before you got in.
Then, once you are in, the typical income is nowhere near where they claim. They claim a person could make around $30,000 a month. What they don't tell you is that the average MLM person might make $1500 or so a month, and that's "excellent". It is a lot of hard work buying leads and knocking on doors or advertising a Web site that gets few or no hits. There is a lot of expensive accounts to keep up (not the least being $60 a month on Master Card/Visa). You have to pay for the web site. Then if you choose to buy leads, that costs extra (and there is no guarantee that the leads will be productive). This is typical of most MLM programs.
I have also checked out a couple of other programs that are less known. These are a bit cheaper (no expensive Web site maintenance or credit card accounts). They, too, are hyped up. They each have their own little game to keep your downlines from making you money. Some have a "tree", which you have to have downlines on each side to make money. What they don't tell you is that all the members are always placed on the same side of the tree, stopping you from ever making a penny on downlines. All scams.
This is why, when I see requests for work at homes, I say it's so important to be wary of the scams. There are so many products that do nothing (I saw a program where you sell courses and seminars designed to teach the person to sell the very same course--a blatant scam). In order for a program to work, it has to be legal and easy enough to properly set up with no charges or "just one more step" toward setup. It also has to be set up so you will make money; they shouldn't be able to stop you from making money just by placing all your downlines and business on the wrong side of a tree. The best programs create some value for society.
I have a perfect potential for a huge income. It will involve a huge amount of work, too. Anyone that will develop a program for actually debugging computer programs and actually compiling error and program instability issues, and actually fixing them instead of just throwing them out, is going to make a killing. This could be a competitor to Windows and Linux. Or, it could be a program that would install itself in a computer (similar to spyware, but this one monitors computer errors and corrects the program). Whatever it is, you are going to make more money (and have to do more work in developing and marketing the product) than you will ever make in Herbalife.
Fair warning: Those looking to get residual income and pioneer need not apply, since there is a lot of upgrading work inherent with the computer software industry.
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marmot
Somebody mentioned Aloette, that just triggered a hidden childhood memory of accidentally taking a big gulp of that foul-tasting aloe vera juice from the fridge when I thought it was a jug of water. Yep, mom was into that too.
You also mentioned water filters and tupperware, ditto. She also sold Electrolux.
One that she was also trying to get me into was some sort of computer data back-up MLM scheme. This was at the beginning of the internet and the gist was that you would set up a home computer with tape drive back ups (or, if you could afford one, a CD burner) and do remote information storage for business who didn't want to lose their data in case of a disaster or computer failure. Of course, the claims of potential income were vastly exaggerated and the service itself wasn't an easy sell, especially at the rates you would have to charge to cover your costs.
Then there was one that my dad tried really hard to get me into that I can't remember the name of. It was some telecommunications re-selling service that was based around you pressuring your family members and acquaintances to switch to their long distance service and you would get a cut every time they made a phone call. I remember being dragged to one of their meetings and sitting through a terrible motivational speaker and being told that I, too, could become a "regional manager" for just $400.
Gah, there are probably more that I've suppressed over the years. -
wha happened?
Oh gosh don't get me started. My ex wife's family is big into this. Every new one would result into a phone call to us. I'm in sales, so they asssumed I would jump on board. Every single time I would decline and tell them to just get a damn job. They would call everyone on the phone list. Funny because they all have a closet full of unsold junk.
More recently I got ambushed by an invite to a couples house and it turned out to be a meeting with a brother who was selling greed. It was disgusting. He would through the carrot out of the potential money, and then slide in the "This is how we support our pioneering schedule expenses" line. Of course everyone bought it except me. I haven't heard from the couple since that meeting.
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horrible life
I have a friend that is looking in to this, wanting me to also. I knew right away that it was a mlm. There is no way, I would be roped into one of these. Someone mentioned Avon. I really thought Avon, was just a sales oriented business, not a mlm. Is it?
http://mxi.myvoffice.com/chocworld/index.cfm
Xocai products are produced with unprocessed, non-alkalized, non-lecithinized cacao powder, combined with the Acai berry and blueberries. The combination of these ingredients, in their natural state, provide a product that is packed full of the most powerful antioxidants! Xocai is... 'The Healthy Chocolate'
The Xoçai Business Opportunity is your vehicle to happiness. Through this remarkable opportunity, you can place yourself in control. You can free up your schedule to spend time doing the things you enjoy — leisure activities, family time, volunteering, and pursuing hobbies.
When looking at any new business opportunity, you've got to ask yourself these questions: Is the product unique? Does it have vast market appeal? Is the company guided by a management team with a proven track record? Is the compensation worth my effort?
With Xoçai, the answer is "yes" to all of these questions. Xoçai is truly unique; the antioxidant properties of dark chocolate and the açai berry offer incredible benefits. These benefits enrich and enhance the lives of everyone, so there is, indeed, huge market appeal.
The company itself is guided by a team with decades of collective success in the network marketing world; they know what it takes to bring new products to market and do so successfully. And the compensation plan offered by Xoçai is easy to understand and very, very lucrative.
Now is the time to take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity. A singular product with universal appeal. Leadership that understands the business from the inside out. A compensation plan that recognizes and rewards every effort you make. -
freetosee
This reminds me of when many in my congregation got involved in selling Amway products.
When my parents and other jws came back from their first seminars my mother said, "it was just like at the kindom hall. We had to do a demo on the platform and after each part there was counceling from a trainer, just like the elders at TMS." She kept repearing, "it was just the same, it was just the same.."
too bad I was to young to click onto the similarities..
fts
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horrible life
She kept repearing, "it was just the same, it was just the same.."
Sounds a little like interfaith worship to me.
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katiekitten
My cousin is an elder and many years ago he got into a couple of the pyramid schemes. I was most offended when he invited me round and then made me sit down and watch a cheesy video trying to recruit us to the pyramid.
The worst type of pyramid scheme are those where there is really no product, but each person has to pay a large fee for the priviledge of joining the selling scheme. The product is just an excuse for the pyramid, and generates very little by way of sales. The real money is in commission from recuiting the next line of people. Each person is supposed to recruit 6 people and gets a commission on each person recruited underneath them, from the joining fee they have paid. I worked out that by line 12 the whole world would have to be recruited (or something silly like that).
I dodnt join, and I will always remember my cousins smug derision of my decision - "well, WHEN I get my first cheque for £10,000 I will show you". That was in 1989, and he still hasnt shown me. Stupid cretin.
I believe this type of scheme is illegal now due to is economy busting potential?
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hillbilly
about 30 years ago a JW tried to get me into a tire modification deal. He had some goofy rig that could cut new whitwalls into auto tires.
You could cut narrow white lines or make gangster whitwalls or any thing in between.
I went up to take a look... he ruined a couple of tires trying to demo the machine for me.
Bonus... to do it the tire had to come off the rim... If i remember he figured he could do this for about enough money that I would work for free for the work involved.
I did Trimline for a while... that Bro was OK. He had some real business and management background and cut a better deal than many of the other franchisers I heard about.
IF you dont know much it's easy to get sucked into a job that offers "something for nothing"
Jeff
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SirNose586
Oh man, Goji juice is making the rounds now! The brother is getting sucker after sucker to buy his juice! Good thing I've never been approached, or I would have to humiliate the poor brother who is trying to hook everybody.
The fam used to rock Melaleuca products like crazy. We've slowly weaned off the stuff, though it took nearly a decade. Now we buy products that work.