Life is full of inconsistencies. We just have to power through them
Author: dezbee2008
33-year-old math enthusiast, Pokemon fan, Eurovision fan, Bingo player, anti-MLM watcher, meme consumer, YTP watcher, stans news reporters when no one else wants to, inconsistent in real life, a complete human mess, and professional social media lurker
But what is the Pomodoro Technique and why is it a popular way to break down big tasks into smaller ones?
Pomodoro is Italian for tomato and it refers to a sauce that comes from it. It also serves as a working interval to focus on a part of a larger task.
Meet Francesco Cirillo, who invented the Pomodoro technique we all know and love today.
The idea behind it is that you pick a task and you work on it for 25 minutes. 25 minutes is the kitchen timer Cirillo based his technique on. Then, you take a short break (usually 5 minutes). Then you repeat the process until you’re done with the project at hand. It also notes that after every 4th Pomodoro session you take a longer break, usually about 10 to 30 minutes.
So why use this technique to accomplish bigger tasks?
It makes the project less daunting
It prioritizes the easier tasks so that you can take on bigger ones
It reduces everyday distractions
You’re studying for a big exam but don’t want to take hours at a time without breaks
It also helps with procrastination (the main reason why I love this technique)
In short, 25-minute work intervals with 5-minute breaks is the way to go if you’re trying to get things done. However, the Pomodoro techniques have since extended to other intervals (ex. 50/10 or 45/15), so you have options of how you divide them and which tasks to take on.
Yes, I named my blog “The Most Inconsistent Person in the World”, yet, I was able to send out a post daily (so far, knock on wood). Also, my days (and even hours) are not the same. I change interests all the time. I write down things but do not actually do them. I get distracted by social media. I sometimes forget to do important things around the house, and if I do remember, I sometimes skip a step or two.
This was something that I have been fighting myself with since middle/high school. No amount of planning, coordinating, scheduling, or organizing was helping my situation. Yes, I have apps that I type out my schedule to stay on task, but so far, that has been a hit-and-miss.
If you’ve been here before, you know that my post topics are all over the place. I have changed themes several times until I found the perfect one (aka the one you’re seeing right now). I spent the first two weeks researching the internet on how to be successful in blogging. I can say their advice is all over the place (if you missed it, here’s the post).
But what about now? Am I still inconsistent with the schedule? In a way, yes, or else I would not tell you right off the bat that I’m a complete human mess. I am trying to build a structure for this blog. I posted about Eurovision and anti-MLM and started a new series on my time blogging on WordPress. I also have some ideas for my future blog posts, so keep an eye out for that.
Blogging is an outlet. I love writing, (as much as I love math). I can type my thoughts out. I can get my stuff out there for anyone who wants to read it. I have also learned how to turn my posts into podcasts. I will post about that in due course. They are all uploaded to my channel and are on a playlist, so you can check them out there. You can also subscribe there if you want.
The month’s almost over, so we’ll see where this post (and blog in general) will take me. And again, I want to thank those who came by and read even one post. I’m doing this to build an audience, and I’m grateful for every single one of you.
Let me start out by saying this… I hate that I knew who Andrew Tate and Dominick Izzo are.
They are two guys in the MLM world that have gone viral in the past month for the worst reasons. One of them is a former reality show contestant, runs a course on how to be a network marketer, and is having issues with Romanian law, while the other is a former cop and calls himself “The Bull of MLM”. Now, I’m not sure how these two got really popular, but since I have to know about them thanks to YouTube recommendations, you have to know about them too.
Before I get started here, I have to do a trigger warning… there will be instances where I will briefly mention racism, sexism, and homophobia, so if you’re not up for it, I invite you to leave the page. It’s for your mental health.
I’ll start with Andrew Tate because he was the first one I saw go viral
Real name: Emory Andrew Tate III
Has a brother named Tristan
Competed in UK Big Brother Season 17
Was a kickboxer at one point
Owns Hustler’s University where he offers courses on how to be successful
Moved to Romania because it was easier for law purposes (aka easier to evade sexual charges)
Next is Dominick Izzo who just hates everyone but won’t say that out loud (he’ll say other things out loud tho)
Self-proclaimed Top Network Marketing Recruiter (Jessie Lee Ward also claims this)
Former Cop
Podcast Host
Martial Arts Expert
Is sexist, misogynistic, and likes to fat shame women (and the best part that he thinks all of that is a flex)
As you can see, they are upstanding citizens /s. Judging by what I have both heard and read about them, I think that both men (and those like them, both men and women) do that because they lack something. Have you felt like there is a piece that is missing and you just find a way to compensate for that? Both men are loud, boastful, and are really missing something in their lives that they think they can’t control, so they have to lash out. I’m sure a licensed psychologist will look deeper into that, but I think that’s one aspect of it.
Another reason why both men are problematic are that, again, they don’t really hide their disdain for women in general. Andrew thinks that women should make money, but also think the men in their lives should get a cut for the woman’s hard work, while Dominick thinks that women are terrible network marketers because they use emotions to lead (again, a general attack on women).
And this is the part where I have to say that I have to defend hunbots because while we know they lie and scam people out of their money via an unstable business practice, we have to understand that they themselves are not the problem. Every Anti-MLM creator has said over and over again that their issue with MLM companies is the business model and their insistence to recruit vulerable people and not the reps themselves that are already in it. That’s why whenever they react to an Instagram post, or a TikTok video, or even a Zoom call, they blur names, faces, and handles (unless they present themselves as public figures, then it’s fair game). Since both Andrew and Dominick are public figures, it’s pretty much fair game
Lastly, the way they respond to the content people made about them. I have noticed that Andrew likes to send his underlings to post praising comments on his behalf to various posts calling him out for being misogynistic (see Chelsea Suarez’s video and go to the comments section) and sometimes will respond by jumping on a podcast, while Dominick does that himself. Just the other night, I watched a video from Jessica Hickson and she talked about her and her husband teaching their 5-year-old son about the value of hard work. While it’s an innocent lesson, what followed is anything but. Here’s the video if you’re up for it, because holy hell.
In short, just like hunbots are terrible, so are the hunbros, especially if they are popular enough to where they will be shoved in all of our faces for a while. Let me know if you have heard about them before (I apologize in advance for introducing you to them), but I think I’m gonna leave these hunbros alone and won’t give them any more attention than they deserve.
Yeah, I’m gonna make this a weekly series, because I am such a complete human mess, I thought I would share with you my blogging journey on WordPress
Sunday, August 21: Turned at least 5 ideas into drafts (including this post you’re seeing right now). Worked on some of them. I also went to the theme customizer page but didn’t remember what I was doing or why I was there. Published a post about my first week on WordPress
Monday, August 22: Published a scheduled article (I schedule all posts here). Scheduled some others for the week (again, including this one). Finally remembered why I went to customization… I needed something for the second sidebar because it was empty. Published a post about learning about MLM companies in general
Tuesday, August 23: Wrote and polished some draft posts that are now scheduled (I am now down to one draft post). Did research on next Monday’s blog post. Add a picture to a post that will be sent out the next day. Changed themes again until I found the best one that is suitable for both my aesthetic and easy for people to read and navigate the site. Published a post about reacting to people’s misfortunes
Wednesday, August 24: Honestly, the only thing I did today on here was write some more posts to be published later. I didn’t touch the theme (and I’m not going to touch it anymore because this time I’m satisfied with it). Did some more research on SEOs and keyword researching and I think I may have an idea as to which keywords I would use for one of my topics from here on out. Published a post about my overall love for Pokemon
Thursday, August 25: Turned some new ideas (all anti-MLM stuff) into drafts. Created two posts which will go out next week. Found out that I hit 100 views, so thank you all for coming and reading my posts. Created new accounts for my blog, so go here and here and give them a follow. Published a post about CNN International
Friday, August 26: Did no writing whatsoever today (except updating this post before it went live Sunday). Instead, I decided to update my older blog posts (plus the ones that will soon be published and future blog posts) by adding an accompanying YouTube video to each post via the Anchor podcast network, which translates your blog posts into text to speech. I will make a post about this in the future. Published a post about crypto bros taking massive losses (and the TTS video that goes with it)
I registered for a couple of free courses here and I should actually get on that, so I’ll report to you back once I actually start. Anyway, thanks for making it this far. I’m trying to do some experiments on how to make my blog more valuable to the readers, if that makes sense, but I think for now I’ll give a shoutout to Renard Moreau for writing this post on how to change it up a bit (like going to a new room or posting on a different time of the day). His blogs are valuable to those like me who are constantly looking for ways to make their blogs as fun and informative as possible.
As always, let me know your thoughts in the comments section. And if you want, share them to your followers on social media.
Junior Eurovision 2022 is around the corner (read: less than 4 months away) and having watched Eurovision for the past 13 years, I decided to go back and watch the junior editions of the contest. All 19 of them (this year is number 20).
I discovered Junior Eurovision in October 2009, about a month before it aired and 5 months after Eurovision ended. The concept is the same as the adult version: A country sends an act to sing a song on a stage for 3 minutes (2 min 45 sec on JESC) and they exchange points on a scoreboard and one country is declared the winner. They cannot vote for their own country.
But as the name is “Junior Eurovision Song Contest”, it’s about children between the ages of 9 and 14 (as of 2022) singing their own songs in front of a live audience. It airs on a Sunday afternoon or early evening depending on where it’s being held (Armenia is hosting this year, so early evening for them), which translates to a late Sunday morning my time.
As of today, I am already on Junior Eurovision 2006, which I will be watching later on today. I have already watched the first three editions from 2003 to 2005 and so far, they are okay in terms of quality (maybe it’s because of the folks who uploaded the contests. The main channel has the ones from 2010 on, but I may have to use a VPN for three of them). Having said that, not a lot of people know about this contest, but that doesn’t mean the young singers can’t transfer over to the adult version because, ahem, some have.
If you’re just finding out about the biggest global musical event and want a bit more, I think you should check out Junior Eurovision, because these kids are talented and I think that they will go on to do bigger and better things, maybe even take part in the adult edition beyond reaching the age of 16. With that, I’m going to watch the remaining editions every Saturday until this year’s contest on December 11.
Besides Anti-MLM content, I have also started watching other videos about scams and other predatory tactics. One of which involves NFTs and Crypto. Like Forex itself isn’t a scam, I don’t believe Crypto itself is either, but the people involved in it seem to think this is the next “get rich quick” scheme. I have watched videos about those who invest money into it only to lose that and more when the market goes under. Here are some of the things I’ve learned while watching this content
Decentralized currency isn’t always a good thing
Like MLM reps, crypto traders want to trade goods and services among each other without having a centralized exchange system. However, it can also backfire on them because of the major day-to-day swings. A bitcoin could be worth $400 today and tomorrow it could be $1800, or on the other spectrum, a coin could be worth $20,000 today but $5000 tomorrow.
Some have used the 2008 economic downturn as the sole reason
Okay, I can tell you this… I was in college when the 2008 economic downturn happened. My family was affected by it (and our hometown was majorly affected as well). We still had our home and everything, but jobs were scarced. I get that. I also know that even though we never really got back to where we were, new opportunities have popped up to where we can not only contribute to the economy, but we can also (at least) try to live comfortably (which is hard here in the US). For those who invest in crypto, they say they do it because they are still affected by the downturn 14 years later and they want their money back. This part here makes me sad because I too want to get things back, but this just isn’t the answer.
They hate billionaires and hedge fund managers
You know what, me too. Hard work combined with your best work ethic won’t get you to a million bucks. If you have heard the saying “the first million is the hardest to make”, there’s a reason for it. Crypto investors know this too, but want to get there quickly just to be on the same level as the billionaires and multimillionaires they despise. Hedge fund managers are also their ire because they invest on Wall Street and made millions in stocks. If you have ever lived through the 2021 GameStop and AMC stock events, you know why
They love to hold on to their “earnings”
Speaking of GameStop and AMC, crypto bros loved to hold on to their “earnings” just because of the belief that they can send the stock higher in price in order to sell it later in what they call it “to the moon”. They did it like any other investor would do… buy low and sell high. Then again, they are fighting the Wall Street investors who, and I hate to say this, have better tools for where to invest their money. They always say, “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” and again, there’s a good reason for it
Some invested in crypto to be able to pay for stuff
This I may get behind if it wasn’t being taken for the joke that it is now. They want to pay for expensive things like weddings, social events, or even want to take care of family one day. With the volatility that it has now, I really don’t see this as a viable option. It’s easier to say “maybe they shouldn’t have them if they can’t afford it”, but try telling that to them. They will double-down
Some do it to avoid paying taxes
I get it, we don’t like taxes. I don’t either, but we have to pay them every year. Some invest in it so that they don’t have to pay taxes on their crypto earnings because they feel that the government takes too much from them. Now with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, they might not be doing that for much longer, so keep that in mind when tax season comes
They don’t really own the “artwork”
Now, we’re going to go on the subject of NFTs, or non-fungible tokens. The idea is that if you buy an NFT, you own a “piece” of the item, like if it is a digital asset. These are unique and it’s a one-of-a-kind token that is irreplaceable. An example of that is the monkey “artwork” that you may have seen all over the internet. That seems simple enough, but there’s one problem with that concept that I will talk about in the next section
They see right-clicking as the enemy
So the loophole with this is that people will post their NFTs like it’s something very unique, but they’re just JPEG images that others can right-click on, just like any other image. In other words, it’s duplicatable. Having watched Noble Xenon’s Crypto Bros series, NFT bros don’t like it when people right-click their images to save, but unless they knew how to disable that, there’s nothing they can literally do.
Crypto Mining good or bad for the environment?
Back to cryptocurrency, have you ever wondered where the coins even come from? There’s something called ‘bitcoin mining’ or ‘crypto mining’, where a computer operation generates a coin for circulation. It’s also a verification system to make sure the coins go where they’re supposed to go. Forbes has more info on that, but as they use multiple computers with game cards and special CPUs to operate such a thing, I would say it’s not a good thing for the environment for the same reason physical mining isn’t. Using equipment for hours on end affect performance overall and I haven’t really seen those trying to mitigate it outside of putting a portable fan next to it.
Overall, it’s not sustainable. Crypto might be the thing of the future, but unless they have a fiat-based backup plan, I don’t think it will stand on their own. Yes, central banks are shady, but it is a “necessary evil” that we have to live with.
Where do you stand on this? Let me know below in the comments
It all started one day in 2004 after Ronald Reagan’s death that I just wanted to see what was happening. But I quickly wanted more out of it. I knew there was more of CNN than I was seeing, given that I’m living in the United States and did a bit of digging on the internet or how global the channel is. Enter CNN International.
I started watching because I wanted to know what was going on around the world. I love learning about countries, so I’m always down for Eurovision and the Olympics (and the World Cup).
I ended up tuning in to CNN International religiously (even when we got hit with 4 hurricanes that year) because of the news happening all over the world, but also because the anchors and reporters were top-notch (I’m one of those people lol).
I stopped watching in 2005 and didn’t get back to it until one day in 2009 when I was flipping through the channel at the end of my day in college and I saw that my local cable provider had added it in three days earlier. So, again, I started watching religiously.
During that time, greed took over on their part. The management (and the ones that came after) started gutting the journalists I got to know and love and replaced them with the ones that keep making headlines themselves despite the old adage that journalists should never be part of the news. I stopped watching in 2016
My last run with it went from 2019 to early 2022. It had carried me through the pandemic, but I also saw that the most meaningful shows only came on in the middle of the night, morning hours, and afternoon my time. The US primetime lineup is exactly the same as the main CNN primetime lineup (they had this for 10 years now), and I just couldn’t do it anymore. Plus, it’s hard to find the channel when you cut the cord.
So why am I bringing this up? One, I wanted to be a journalist. I love writing, but at the time, I didn’t feel like I would want to pursue the career. I always admired them, sometimes much more than most people. Two, I was in college pursuing a degree in Accounting, and this was a way for me to unwind from the coursework. Three, I got to meet other CNNI fans all over the world at the height of it between 2009 and 2011 and I felt like I have a solid network (and I still follow them on social media to this day, even if we’ve gone on to other things).
I will say this, despite the troubles… the journalists at CNN are real and credible and nothing in this world will convince me otherwise. However, the greed from both management and some of the anchors had taken over and while the new boss is trying to clean up the act, I don’t think it’ll be enough to get this longtime fan to come back. So, in short, I have moved on to getting news mainly from local sources and some independent news outlets (and no, don’t take anything at face value, no matter who is saying it).
Let me know your thoughts on the news industry as a whole.
Recently, The Pokemon Company hosted the 2022 World Championships in London. London was supposed to host it in 2020, so this year made up for lost time. After days of competition, the company released some new information on not only the newest games coming out this November, but also where they’re hosting the 2023 Worlds.
So it had me thinking about the time when I was a little girl who got into the show, had my mom buy me a gameboy and a copy of Pokemon Yellow and I would play that game for hours. I also have a Pikachu doll that has been with me for the past 23 years. And now, at the age of 33, I had gone to play the 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th, and 8th generation games (I skipped 4th and 5th), and I might be thinking of playing the latest games.
Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet are coming out November 18, and I still have no idea which starter I want, or which Pokemon I want on my team. The features that came out were amazing, and even less than 3 months out, there’s always new surprises that are coming out even before the official launch.
When I started playing Pokemon at 9 years old, there were 151 Pokemon. Yes, the Kanto 151, with the glitches that came with the first generation games (Missing No, anyone?). With the 9th generation games coming out, if they haven’t reached the number already, we’re looking to surpass 1000 species. That is a lot of ‘mons out there, and I have to hand it to those working in the industry for keeping up with it, because I totally cannot.
So, I want to know… which games did you grow up with?
The reason why I ask this is because I have been following a subreddit called the Herman Cain Awards for the past year, and to be honest, I like their mission. The subreddit was created as a cautionary tale of people who think COVID isn’t real, or it’s hoax, or it’s some bioweapon or something, refuse to get vaccinated, and then ended up either dead or disabled from it. We can go on about COVID measures all day, but this is about reacting to those featured in the subreddit
If you must ask, yes, I am vaxxed and boosted. I haven’t caught COVID yet, however, I had a standard cold mid-May. But enough about me, it had me thinking if we should feel a bit of schadenfreude over those refusing to get vaccinated and die or should we feel sorry? I’m in a mixture of both. I’m the type of person who feel sorry for strangers, even if the rest of the world decides that they didn’t need pity. I’m also feeling schadenfreude when the person who dies of COVID is a combination of racist, homophobic, transphobic, and so on.
It’s a really crazy thing that has came up during the pandemic, but it’s also relaxing, in a way. For one, I’ve learned that there are crazier people out there than I had originally thought. My mom always told me growing up that to not trust anyone because, in her words, “there’s some crazy loonies out there”, and she’s right. If they weren’t crazy before, they are now.
So, this is a short post I’m making after my long one about my pandemic pasttime so let me know your thoughts. Make sure you keep it within reason, okay.
By Security and Exchange commission, U.S. Federal Govt.This vector version by Mysid – Vectorized from Image:PyramidSchemeMS.jpg, and removed one phrase to make less US-centric., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=114608614
NEW: You can listen to this blog post here
Long post incoming. First ever one on here, so bear with me on this
For the past 2 1/2 years, I found myself watching anti-MLM content. Mind you, it’s a huge rollercoaster of emotions and gathering information on some themes I have noticed ever since I started watching in April 2020, but all-in-all, it has been eye-opening. As someone who is on a spectrum and cannot do a regular 9-5 for the life of me, seeing the movement has opened my eyes to the shady practices these companies made. Now, I don’t want to say I consumed all anti-MLM content. I also watched pro-MLM content to get a sense of what they’re doing and how they’re employing the tactics. I quickly found out that I cannot do these things without switching my personality up 180, so we’ll leave it at that.
Thanks to Steven Hassan, BuzzFeed, and Owner’s Magazine, as well as a few videos from YouTube that I will link at the bottom of the post, I have compiled a list of 30 things about MLM huns that I learned about over the course of this pandemic
Switching industry names
It’s still Multi-Level Marketing, but they will also use “social selling”, “social retail”, “direct marketing”, “direct sales”, “network sales”, or more recently… “participation selling”. Yes, Beachbody’s CEO said this. As someone who don’t really pick up similarities right away, watching anti-MLM content has simplified that for me so that when they do take on new names for their industry, I will be able to pick up on it quickly like anyone else.
Failing to actually check profiles
“Hey, hun, I check your profile and I think you would be great fit for what I do” or “Hey, girl, I checked your profile and I see you have an amazing life. You would be killing it in network marketing” are some of the messages I have seen hunbots send to people that were shared publicly. I will admit, some of it was humorous.
Pain point research
If they do actually check profiles, they will find a pain point. A “pain point” is a specific problem faced by a current or prospective customer in the marketplace. It could be used as part of a selling point by the seller to sell a product that can help that situation. An example could be someone who had problems with their pregnancy or someone trying to lose weight or it could even be a new mother on maternity leave or even if someone is going through a health crisis. For huns, though, they use these pain points to offer solutions, even where there is none. Some will use these pain points as part of brainwashing and blackmailing, which I will get to in a bit. Using pain points in sales isn’t a bad thing, but the way I have seen hunbots use them made me cringe a bit because all it does is prey on people’s desperation.
Recruitment on Social Media
This is usually done within the first few messages. Once they ‘get’ to know you, they will start their recruitment pitch. Some of the pitches they use are about having this “unbelievable opportunity” to have uncapped income (aka income potential), or the biggest line they love to use… location/financial/time freedom. They will also send you a link to buy a starter kit FROM THEM (or else they wouldn’t make money). Some will also send you a link to a Zoom call to give information that they should have given you in those first few text messages.
In-Person Recruitment
Not all MLM recruitments take place online, and some of them will start out/end online, but then if you ever get invited to a coffee chat at Starbucks, or if you ever been to Sam’s Club or Target, you might risk getting recruited. The Amway posts on r/antimlm are great examples of in-person recruitment. The common themes among Amway recruiting are someone and/or their spouse retired in their 20’s and 30’s to start a business and them handing you a book to read so it can be discussed on Zoom. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki is a popular book mentors hand out to their recruits.
The “Anyone can do it” vibe
In general, I hated this saying. It tells me that the person who uses it is privileged and doesn’t know the extra steps others use to get to that level. Huns will say this all the time when they’re on Zoom calls with their teams. “If I can do it, anyone can”. Actually, they cannot or else it would be saturated. Another thing they do is that they will recruit everyone and claim that the market is not saturated. If you recruit 5 people and they recruit 5 people each, and those 25 get 5 people each, you will get to 13 levels before you’re out of people in the world. This is called exponential growth.
The Brainwashing
This is a big thing I learned from watching and reading anti-MLM content. Let’s say the person getting recruited is worried about what their family and friends will say if they tell them about the opportunity. The hunbots will tell them to cut out ‘negativity’. That could be cutting out friends and family who saw the red flags, or blocking strangers on social media who call them a scam or a pyramid scheme. They would even go as far as to attack the anti-MLM community for spreading hate and propaganda, when really the community is raising awareness about the business model. This was a great learning lesson as someone who can easily fall for people because of their friendly tones (and they will get you with that). In the MLM world, critical thinking goes out the window.
Lovebombing
If you do sign up for the opportunity, they will shower you with lots of love. By that, I mean, they will add you to all the groups, all the chats, etc. I find this toxic because while they love you at first, they will either outright ignore you or give you the runaround if you need help. So much for friendships, right? LEAVE. CLIQUES. IN. HIGH. SCHOOL.
Double Speak (aka goalpost moving)
One of the things I hate the most, MLM or not, is the double speak. The hypocrisy is uncanny with these huns. They will tell you when recruiting about working in “pockets of time” but when you actually join, all bets are off. They expect you to work 24/7 and to attend all Zoom meetings and join accountability groups. In general, whatever they say, they will quickly jump in the opposite direction.
Treating Valid Reasons as Excuses
“I don’t have time”, “I don’t have the money”, “I’m not good at sales”, those are valid arguments. Some people don’t have the last $99 on hand to join these companies. Some have a lot on their plate and cannot make time to work the business. Some, like me, aren’t good at sales. But for these huns… they have an answer to everything. No time? Work the business while watching Netflix. No money? Put it on a credit card or skip an important bill (that makes my blood boil). Not good at sales? They will train you how to be “coachable”.
“Pyramid Schemes are Illegal”
Their go-to argument when you assert your anti-MLM position. This will also be said in their social media posts thinking they did something. There’s one problem with that statement… their products serve as loopholes. If not for fizz sticks, shampoo, and various essential oils, they would be straight-out pyramid schemes. I have also seen them perform whataboutism with reputable companies, accusing a) those companies of being pyramid schemes and b) CEOs of said companies making money off the rich.
The “titles”
National Vice President? Managing Market Builder? Five-Star Diamond? Presenter? Artist? Those are all real titles given to huns at various MLM companies. These titles mean nothing in the real world, and I always get a laugh everytime a hun presents herself as a Double Star Vice President among others who are also Diamond Star Vice President. Also, the pay isn’t great, I’ll get to that later
Emotional Damage
Yes, there’s a reason why you don’t share secrets with anyone. Huns will goad you into sharing your most intimate moments just to make a buck in sales. If you try to leave your MLM or complain that you’re not doing well in the business, they will threathen to blackmail you. This is a horrible tactic to use in general because of the tactics they use to get you to share your deepest secrets to them.
Gatekeeping Money
You’re making money. I’m making money. We spend the money on bills and things we actually like. You love Starbucks coffee? Go for it. You’re in a middle of binge-watching a show on Netflix? Have fun. You saved up enough money to buy make-up at Sephora? Girl, you deserve it. The huns think they are not only entitled to other people’s money, but they have the gall to tell people how they spend their money, like we’re not worthy enough of a paycheck. I mean, it’s my money. I spend it whatever I want (after paying bills, of course)
Hide-and-seek naming
Whether during recruitment or posting publicly on social media, one constant I see among hunbots is that they don’t reveal the company name outright. They request that you DM them to find out who they work for and what they do. There’s a few reasons why they do that. They don’t want people to search on Google. They want to build curiosity. Honestly, I think they’re doing this on purpose because they want people to jump on it real quick and not do any research beforehand, which leads to…
FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)
They’re always looking for 3 more people, but those “3 more people” can turn into 18 in a snap. Gee, I wonder why. But really, they do this because they have to replace the people that left their teams. Another way they do this is to post media about conventions, retreats, and flaunting “free stuff” in such a way that people would see it and go “oh, I wish I could be like them”. Thankfully, they don’t generate more than a few leads at a time, so make what you will.
No Means Not Right Now
No is a complete sentence. Always remember that. In the MLM world, ‘no’ is only valid for a moment. They take that no and will keep messaging their potential recruits as often as they can without breaking TOS. This is done as “checking up on their potential customers”. To me, that’s spam. This is the quickest way of getting blocked, reported, and even getting banned on social media.
Making Claims about Income
“I make 6 figures from my side hustle” isn’t the flex it usually is. Even so, they don’t really seem to back it up with hard proof. Instead, they’ll brag about having 2 houses or have a nice car. Making income claims are against the rules, but it seems to be the least enforced and making many revisions haven’t really helped
Making Claims about Health
This is especially true for wellness MLM companies. Product A would help with asthma, Product B would fix autism, Product C cures cancer, and so on. Most MLM huns don’t have the right credentials to back up what they say, and for those that do (because they do have nurses, dietiticians, and scientists among the ranks), they misuse their credentials to make false claims about the products.
Misuing figures
Have you heard these two stats: “99.x% of reps lose money in an MLM” and “Of those who make $100k a year in an MLM, 82% are women”. These are the real stats, but MLM huns have warped the latter one so much, so they be saying something like “82% of women who make $100k a year are in network marketing” I had to look it up multiple times to make sure it’s the right one because they misuse it so much
Misusing Religion
If there’s a constant element in MLMs, it’s religion. Just like in politics, MLMs misuse religion for their own gains. I have seen bible quotes misused over and over again like a game of telephone. Most claim to be Christian, but in name only. If you have heard the story about how Jesus flipped the table on greedy merchants, than you already know what this is. “God put me here, God put me there, God sent me this, God sent me that” — Now I’m Catholic, not a practicing one (I grew up with it), but I’m pretty sure that God doesn’t want us to scam people or to be greedy.
Self-Blame
AKA “If you’re not successful, it’s your fault”. The business model gets absolved of all blame and it transfers it to the individual. It’s demoralizing because it’s a brainwashing tactic that will keep you in the business far longer than you need to be and also because then they make you think that you have to work harder to at least get your upline’s attention.
Get Uncomfortable
They love saying that. Do it uncomfortable, do it scared — basically, go all in without a backup plan. That’s all I got from this, and I will say, I agree with this… but please, have a backup plan
Overpriced products
Recently, a Phoenix-based lifestyle anchor I was following posted a flash sale from Monat — $66 for 3 products, which also includes a free product if you spend $100 or more. Two things came to mind… first of all, how dare she. Her hair looked amazing before she started using the product. Two, it’s pretty obvious that this isn’t the first flash sale Monat posted this year. In fact, they do it often. This is just one example of MLM companies overpricing their products so that the uplines get a cut from their downlines depending on how far down it’s allowed. Now, back to the TV host. She might not be selling for Monat, but it’s still disappointing to see her shill for it every week.
Quotas/Inventory Loading
Have you ever heard any stories about former MLM huns telling their stories about how they had to buy products monthly to stay active? Have you ever been in an MLM where they tell you that you have to put the orders on autoship to meet your quotas? Yeah, that’s pretty much what this is. LulaRoe, Paparazzi, Young Living, Monat, Arbonne, and Herbalife are some of the MLM companies that will make you buy products in order to sell them, and often times… they can’t sell them fast enough, so they keep buying and buying products until they run out of room. I have seen photos of LulaRoe consultants donate leggings to Goodwill (a common theme on r/antimlm). I have seen pictures of Young Living and Paparazzi reps sell their products in bulk on Facebook Marketplace after they quit their businesses. It’s stupid, but also sad to see this practice happening.
Disclosure Statements
In a word, bleak. Some MLM companies post their annual income disclosure statements annually to give us a picture of how their reps are doing and also as a road map for potential recruits so that they can get a sense of how much they can make in each rank. But that’s not the only thing about income disclosure statements. Most of them don’t post them, and for those that do, it’s a huge yikes. Going by the figures, you would realize that it’s just not worth it
The CEO tagline
Being in an MLM means that you get to be your own boss, your own CEO per se, and the hunbots run with it. Most MLM CEOs are men, while the majority of their workforce are women. The truth is, they actually don’t know what it takes to be a business owner. Hell, I don’t know much about running a business either, but I’m pretty sure you have to do your own pricing, inventory, shipping, website building, etc. The lack of actual business sense rings true when they have to file their taxes… as 1099 contractors. Which leads us to…
They’re bad at taxes, mostly (but really bad)
When they file taxes, as independent contractors (and some think that a 1099 and a business owner is the same thing), they get a 1099 tax form the following January if they make $600 or more in the previous calendar year. Most will not make that much, let alone for years, but that’s not the only thing I saw with this. They also love to write off everything, and I mean everything. We’re talking travel expenses, meal expenses, gifts they have received. Yeah, it’s bad, but wait until they get a huge bill and it’s game over
Devotion to CEO and other major players
If you’re thinking of joining an MLM, get ready to fangirl the CEOs, the top leaders, and your uplines. This is part of Steven Hassan’s BITE model, and eating up the words from the major players is part of the Information portion of the model. I’ll do a blog post on that in the future, but I can tell you this… devotion is a one-way street (two-way if the downlines make them money). TL;DR, they are commercial cults.
Other MLM Competition
Finally, the last thing I learned about watching the content is that some MLM huns seem to think that other MLMs are scams. They will badmouth them and accusing them of doing the same things they’re doing (aka projection). They will also badmouth their sidelines (aka those on the same rank as them) just to save face. Some MLMs themselves go as far as to block their reps from joining other MLMs as along as they are active in them.
So these are the 30 things I learned from watching and reading anti-MLM content. If you ever got a message from someone on social media and thought about joining the MLM company, I will tell you right now… don’t. I can’t stop there, so here are some things you need to know and do before even jumping onboard
Ask them what MLM company are they with and what they do. If they cannot give an answer right away, it’s a red flag. Legitimate companies always state who they are, what they do, and most importantly, the requirements and qualifications needed to start said job.
Ask them if you have to pay to join the company. No legitimite job requires you to pay upfront before starting. If a job requires you to have a separate laptop or to have a uniform, they will provide it to you for free. Same with training. They pay you to train. In MLM companies, you have to pay for a starter kit, training, and in some cases, you have to keep buying certain items to stay active
Do your research. They will tell you, “no, don’t look it up on Google”, and that should raise enough flags for you to go on Google. Typing “is xyz an MLM” is a fantastic place to start. You can also go here and either type in the company or use the drop down button to find the name. Also, keep searching for things like reviews, lawsuits, and YouTube videos explaining the tactics the company uses. Be very wary of some companies with only positive reviews. If there are negative reviews, see them first, and weigh them with positive reviews.
If you have friends and/or family members that might be in a MLM, the best course of action is to try to talk to them about how they fare at their company. If possible, bring facts, figures, and receipts with you. They will try to either reject or rationalize the figures, but above all, make sure you remain calm but firm in your position
I want to thank you for reading if you have made it this far. This is something I wouldn’t say I’m 100% passionate about, but this is a topic that I would like to write about in this blog. If you like, stick around and read my other blog posts on other topics, or click on the links at the top of the page. I don’t have the necessary software to do videos, so instead, I will leave a few for reference
The Most Inconsistent Person in the World 