It’s time for another anti-MLM Monday post. You can read my previous anti-MLM posts here
I want to ask this: how many of you have a timed job (aka 9-5, 10-6, or the like)? How many of you have jobs that are not 9-5? Does your job come with benefits, like health, time off, and tuition reimbursement? If so, I’m here to tell you this… your average MLM hun hates you.
MLM huns like to claim themselves as small business owners just for the sake of it and also to put themselves on a pedestal over those who work in “corporate America”. They see themselves as better than the people who they claim are “working for the man” and “contributing to the salary of the CEOs”. Now, corporate America has its own issues (read: billionaires who think they’re hot shit), but the main difference between corporate America and multi-level marketing companies is that the former actually pays their employees while the latter doesn’t. Corporate America is also a pyramid, but they have limited spaces. They don’t try to recruit people to work for them. Meanwhile, in multi-level marketing, they will take in anyone with a pulse.
For this week’s anti-MLM post, we will look into the MLM’s war on 9-5’s
A Reddit post from February 21, 2022, titled “I’m confused by MLM posts that knock working a 9-5”
MLM huns love to say 9-5’s are a pyramid scheme designed to make their bosses richer. They have made claim after claim that those who work 9-5 or other shifts are tied down without any dreams or goals and are there to line the pockets of their company’s CEOs. This Reddit post above explained that the OP was able to pay off and own her own car due to having a 9-5 job while the hun she was talking to only had her Mercedes due to reaching a quota in her company. In the later weeks, I will discuss the “free stuff” that gets thrown around in MLM companies
This is a YouTube video by anti-MLM advocate Monica Hayworth, published on January 20, 2020. I will be referencing this video through the post
I found an anti-MLM YouTube video from two years ago that explains the whole argument about 9-5’s that MLM reps keep spewing without context, even when they have been debunked.
Around the 2:10 mark, the “small business owner” tag gets debunked quickly. One of the reasons people join MLMs is the promise of being their own boss. The supposed benefits of time and financial freedom are enticing to people who needed a change and MLM companies prey on that. Another aspect of the “being your own boss” mantra is the tools they would receive upon joining these companies. I might dive into this another time, but the gist of it is that what they actually do is less than 1% of what real business owners do. It’s almost like the business was built for them and all they have to do is promote it.
At the 2:56 mark, the graph was shown of two triangles, one labeled “job” and the other “MLM”. Yes, both structures are in the shape of a triangle, but the difference is that in a 9-5 job (or any shift), everyone gets paid. The C-Level folks get paid, the managers and directors also get paid, and the rest of the company gets paid too. The money flows downward, with the C-Level holders getting the most (sometimes a lot more, but that’s an argument for another time) followed by managers and directors, supervisors, and finally the employees. In an MLM, the money flows upward. Huns holding higher ranks get a bigger cut of the sales their downlines made based on how big it is and how far up they go. They also stack. For example, a hun will make a 25% cut from her direct downline, a 15% cut from her second-level downline, a 10% cut from her third-level downline, and so on. Every MLM that has released an income disclosure statement has at least 60% of its workforce within the bottom 3 levels of the pyramid.
5 minutes in and there is a discussion on sales in corporate America vs MLM. Monica explains that in a regular sales job, losing a client will have implications for the whole company. In an MLM, however, it’s a revolving door. Those at the bottom keep coming and leaving because the hard work they keep putting in is not giving them the return they deserve, despite what the uplines tell them.
At the 6:45 mark, the stability is much different in a 9-5 than in an MLM. In a timed shift job, like 9-5, 10-6, 8-4, or whatever shift there is out there, you have a set of hours that you work, and you get your pay. The pay is stable because you know how much you get paid for your work hours. In an MLM, the pay fluctuates. MLM huns get drawn on the so-called “uncapped potential” to earn as much money as they want, but they could also earn nothing. In fact, in most months they lose money. Think of it like you’re sending a check to your job rather than the company paying you for your time.
At the 8-minute mark, the discussion goes into the base salary. Again, in a 9-5, you have a guaranteed salary. In an MLM, it fluctuates even day by day. In both instances, the amount is measured before taxes. That means in a 9-5, you will still have money left over, but in an MLM you’ll be running in the red
At the 9-minute mark, we’re now diving into the “free” stuff. MLM companies love to promote the “free” incentives to their reps, who in turn love to promote the same “free” incentives to their potential recruits and on their public social media posts. They also turn around and say that their 9-5 jobs don’t have them and have used this “lack of free incentives” as the reason to join the MLM.
Earlier this month, Monat held their annual Monations convention in St. Louis, Missouri. You would think that Monat paid for the airfare, lodging, and other expenses for their 25,000 reps… but it’s not the case. If they had a 9-5 and they had to go to a work conference, their company would have paid for all the expenses. But since they’re in an MLM, they had to pay for almost everything… the mandatory ticket (yeah, it was mandatory. These are the prices for the 2023 convention), the airfare, the lodging, etc. Here is the full Monations FAQ for reference, which includes a question about expenses and bringing babies onboard
Staying with the “free” incentives, MLM reps love to talk about getting their free company car from their businesses as opposed to an actual company. The problem with that, like that of the free trips, is that the rep is on the hook for at least half the car payment when they hit a certain rank, and they have to rerank to that level or higher every month or they’ll be on the hook for the entire car payment. The cars chosen by the reps are of a luxurious vibe, so the monthly payments are a lot higher than for most cars. In a 9-5, you don’t have to worry about any of that, and if you have a company car, the company is paying for all of it
The benefits are drastically different in a 9-5 versus in an MLM. In a 9-5 job, you get benefits like health, vision, dental, paid time off, maternity and paternity leave, sick leaves, etc. Sure, they could be better. They can be better, but that’s a conversation for another time. In an MLM, however, unless you’re in the top 0.0000001% of the company, you really don’t have benefits. MLM reps are 1099 independent contractors (in other words, NOT business owners), and therefore don’t have benefits. They also don’t have withholding, so they end up filing more tax returns (quarterly) than those in a 9-5
Speaking of paid time off, vacations are also different. In a 9-5, you get to plan your own vacation. You get to put in your requests and you can go wherever you want and not have to work. In an MLM, however, the way vacations work is that the reps usually beg people on social media to help them reach their goals so that they qualify for those trips. But what happens when they get there… they still had to work. Yes, they will post from their “vacation spots”, where “taking your job anywhere” is considered a flex.
The final characteristic is market saturation. Corporate jobs don’t have more people than they need. They have limited spaces and filling the spots is competitive. In an MLM, they will take in anyone over 18 with a pulse and $99 to spare. Because of how they recruit people, it’s not uncommon to see an entire neighborhood full of Mary Kay reps for example. They will deny it outright, but it’s not a secret.
In conclusion, the money flows downward in corporate America and upward in an MLM. The lowest level employees get guaranteed pay in a 9-5, although minimum wage has stalled for over a decade. The top reps make their money off the backs of their downlines, so it’s no wonder there’s a 99% fail rate. So keep that in mind if you’re approached with an opportunity to join an MLM.
We know that MLM companies love to target all kinds of women — mothers, students, military, etc. But what if they also target their spouses? What if an upline not only want her potential recruits to join but also her husband? In this week’s anti-MLM Monday series, we will talk about how MLM companies and their huns use marriage to deceive their spouses
Most of the embeds will be from Reddit
Hiding purchases behind “gifts”
First, I want to start off with a meme I found on Reddit
This is a Reddit post from March 10, 2021, titled “Stop hiding your MLM from your partner”.
Yes, the meme is hilarious, but there have been stories about MLM reps who hide the purchases they made from their spouses from them. Some of the companies would ask if they want to mark their purchases as ‘gifts’ if they share bank accounts with their spouses.
Another Reddit post that shows a Lularoe hun plotting to hide her purchase from her husband. This post was made on March 23, 2020. It’s titled “Reposted to show MLM reply — Haha, hiding purchases from your S.O. is so funny, hun”
In a relationship, one of the reasons why couples file for divorce is finances. Couples who have joint accounts will need to set boundaries on how the money is spent, how they are earned, and how they are saving their money for other things. This just tells me that the hun’s spending habits go far beyond this tactic. It tells me that she is bad at managing money. If you want to know about Lularoe’s gift/purchase tactic, I found a blog post that explains why this is bad
Retiring their spouses
One big reason why women join MLMs is to “retire” their spouses. To them, it means they earn so much money from their MLM side gigs that their husbands will no longer go to their 9-5 jobs or a first responder job that pays well and be stay-at-home dads in some cases. In reality, they want their husbands to quit their high-paying jobs so that they can join their wives’ downlines in hopes of hitting big.
A Reddit post from May 26, 2021, titled “Yeah, you’re not retiring your husband, sis”. An It Works hun had her husband become a Diamond with the company, which nets her an extra $2,000 a month with eligibility for a $10,000 bonus. Attached is 2019 It Works disclosure statement.
My problem with this is that the huns think they are absolutely sure that they will make enough money to pull their husbands out of the working world regardless of whether or not they actually love their jobs. This tactic is part of the financial freedom and time freedom categories because it involves a potential to make six- and seven-figures and therefore they pull out after working the 30 minutes a day that was promised. Most will not make enough to “retire” their spouses long term
Amway is supreme in recruiting couples
The company that is notorious for recruiting couples is Amway. Founded in 1959 by Richard DeVos and Jay Van Andel, their companies include Nutrilite and Artistry Skin Care and also run other sub-companies like World Wide Dream Builders and World Financial Group.
Being an MLM, they do have products, but you wouldn’t hear about them often. Amway is supreme when it comes to recruiting couples. The typical first interaction consists of an Amway rep at a store walking up to a couple to ask them about their financial situation. From there, they can give them a book from a fellow network marketer, and/or get their phone number to send them a Zoom link.
Amway reps might succeed in either recruiting both parties or only one of them, but even then, they will leverage the other party’s objections against their spouse and may tell them to dump them for being negative
A Reddit post from August 9, 2019, titled “A couple tried to recruit me to Amway while I was on the clock at the job I got to escape from Smart Circle”. A young guy started a new job and was approached by a young couple asking for his personal information followed by a pitch to join Amway
These are the general ways MLMs ruin marriages, but I want to add one more section on this. I probably won’t dive into it further, but if you remember what happened to Shanann Watts, there’s an MLM tie to this true crime case. More on Shannan Watts here
In conclusion, addiction to working in multi-level marketing companies can break a relationship. This was all about marriage, but the same can be applied to any relationship
I have mentioned that upon watching anti-MLM content for almost 3 years that hunbots, hunbros, and other MLM reps love to use manipulation tactics to get people to join their teams. They know they can’t sell the products by themselves and some know they joined the company by their uplines using the same tactics, but they do it anyway.
For this week’s anti-MLM post, I will tell you the manipulation tactics I have seen after watching years of anti-MLM content
Love Bombing
A Facebook post from October 21, 2020 explaining that love bombing is one of the first steps used by MLM reps to welcome new recruits to their team
When you join an MLM, the other reps under the same upline will shower you with lots of love. Sometimes too much love. That is called love bombing. They do this to make you feel welcomed and appreciated. They make you feel like you have a sisterhood. They make you feel like you’re part of a team. They even shout women empowerment at the top of their lungs. But that love doesn’t last. The love bombing and toxic positivity go out the window when you’re falling behind in making money for them
Deception
MLM reps play a long game of deception. They will post their so-called “free” cars or pictures from their “free” trips. They would also post about buying a house with their “money” or telling their followers that they were able to pay for expensive items and medical surgeries with their MLM money that they somehow couldn’t get with a regular job. Money isn’t the only motivator, as they could also claim that they feel lighter, more focused, and have more energy with their products. I will make a post about the “free” stuff they get in a later post (SPOILERS: They’re not free). The Huffington Post talks more about the art of deception from a former Mary Kay hun
Financial Manipulation
People don’t have extra money lying around to buy starter packs to run a “small business” with an MLM company for a good reason. For those that are already in, they usually don’t make enough money to buy into the products monthly to keep their accounts active or to hit the next rank for the month. Their uplines, however, feed off of their downlines, so if they don’t see enough money coming in, they would yell at their downlines essentially to make them more money. An example of that is a video from Julie Jo and it’s about a top Monat rep yelling at her downline because they are not bringing her the money (warning: bullying, essentially)
Guilting
The video example above could also be an example of general guilting. Again, MLM reps with a team will use every tactic in the book to keep their downlines in line, similar to a cult. Two weeks ago, I told you about how they would use fear, shame, guilting, and bullying to get other reps to do their bidding. Basically, whatever arsenal they have on hand as far as emotional manipulation goes, they will use it, and it makes their downlines cast blame on themselves because they did not make enough money for their uplines
Mom shaming
MLM companies love to target moms. It didn’t matter what type of mom they targeted… soon-to-be mothers, first-time mothers, pregnant mothers, single mothers, stay-at-home mothers, military mothers, moms with empty nests, etc. They usually attract them because they are either pregnant with a child or have young children and need some income while staying home. They will advertise their scam as a way for a mom to be present for their kids or as a way to keep up with their kids’ schedules. You’re probably wondering “where does the mom shaming come in”? It comes in when moms put them in daycare. Daycare is seen as an antithesis of being a “present” mom. They see it as someone raising someone else’s kid, but in reality, it’s like any other school. Speaking of, some don’t like public schools either for the same reason and will homeschool them for the sake of being a “present” mom to their kids. However, the mom shaming go beyond just present for the kids.
Body shaming
Whether they’re a mom or not, body shaming is another manipulation tactic especially deployed by wellness MLM reps to bully their downline. They will use fatphobic terms like fat and ugly to reem them for not making enough money or losing weight to their liking. If they couldn’t do it to the faces, they would also do it online, especially when they lose a downline member. Another form of body shaming is when they appropriate those before and after pictures and say something like “getting rid of curves” or “getting rid of cellulite”, two things that are being accepted in today’s body positivity culture.
Fear of missing out (FOMO)
Looking for a certain number of people. Holding conventions. Building curiosity. Spamming the timelines of their followers with materialistic things. All of that creates FOMO, the fear of missing out. They’re always looking for 3 more people to join their downlines (and may have a discount on their starter packs if necessary). They will hold in-person, packed conventions where the top leaders and those who hit certain top ranks get to walk the stage as if they had graduated from college and give unnecessary motivational speeches that would last hours. They also love to build curiosity by pretending to ask people if they are looking to change their lives and spamming their unfortunate followers by posting the glamorous “lifestyle” they spew all the time. During COVID, MLM companies insisted on holding in-person conventions without precautions after the vaccines have rolled out, and it sometimes leads to deadly consequences. (Paparazzi Convention 2021 reaction. SPOILERS: COVID deaths, the lack of mask and vaccine measures in place, and it gets worse)
Claiming to be anti-MLM
I won’t dive too much into it but just know this… just like people who love to say “I used to be a Democrat until they started being mean” or those who say “I’m not racist, but…”, “I’m not homophobic, but”, “I’m not sexist, but”, there are MLM reps that say that they used to be anti-MLM until they saw some vision from their upline or something. To me, they weren’t anti-MLM. If they were, they would find the problem with the overall structure of the business model and never join. It’s not limited to one company. Keep that in mind when you watch an MLM video.
Gaslighting
The last tactic is gaslighting. Making their downlines feel like shit. Blaming them for “not working hard enough”. Replacing the actual reality with an alternative reality. Sowing doubt by telling them their eyes deceived them. Top MLM reps especially use this tactic to keep their downlines in check if even one of them starts to question them.
Those are some of the tactics they use to manipulate their teams into doing their bidding. What do you think? Do you know of any other tactics they might have used? Let me know in the comments
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 