Pyramid Scheme meeting tonight?

[A790]

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I don't understand what you mean. They're obviously not predatory in the economics sense - that is, they don't intentionally sell at a loss to bleed competing businesses to death.
If you mean predatory as in preying on dumb, lazy people who think they can become millionaires in their spare time then I'd still disagree. Conventional sales like Bowflex shows SHREDDED fitness models and the whole commercial they're talking about "15min/day". That's misleading as shit. A complete lie. I think that's far more predatory on lazy morons than someone from Watkins pointing at the one guy out of 10,000 distributors who's actually legit made a million bucks or whatever that newer lingerie/dildo one is called pointing at the one rich chick that's hosted a trillion parties for drunk housewhores and made a million bucks.

Yes, obvious scams are obvious scams and MLM is not immune to those thieves but there's plenty of that shit on the shelves in stores and I don't see people blacklisting London Drugs (or any pharmacy biz model) because you can set your money on fire with some Dr. Ho completely proven scam or GNC selling miracle powders. When you look at companies like Amway and Watkins that have been around for maybe 100+ years doing MLM, they have a few flagship products that are amazing. I wish I could buy some Watkins pepper right now! I forget what the one miracle cleaner used to be in Amway... Yes, they started branding 99% of consumer goods and that's silly, but those companies and many others have some great stuff and they're reasonably upfront about the effort required to actually pull in a reasonable income and how difficult cold-calling actually is.
I just don't see them as being more guilty of trying to separate the IQ-85 crew from their money than giant, companies selling stuff in stores that's been marketed as "something you need".
There's no pyramid scheme in: buying a cheap new car on 84 months financing, taking a realty license course, buying cigarettes, putting premium gas in a Tercel, watching Two-and-a-half Men DVD, boner pills, etc etc etc etc.
MLM doesn't have the market cornered on bullshit and it's not fair to completely dismiss them just because some of them sell horse shit, snake oil.

Two bigass paragraphs that can be summarized by one word: whataboutism.

It's wonderful that you want to defend MLM's because some of them have half-decent products. Go buy all the crap you want from whomever you please.

But don't sit there and try to tell me that MLM's aren't that bad because Bowflex is worse (or some other contrived bullshit).

[botox]

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you know, one of these times, it is gonna be legit, and we will be crying about not making $15,000 a month in our spare time, and wish we took up our normally gullible friends offer....

There's a million and one stories about making buckets of cash in your spare time and it wouldn't change a thing for me. I wouldn't doubt there are people making decent money from this but it's a low percentage and not everyone's cup of tea unless you enjoy being alienated from your friends and family. I "had" a friend that I didn't see for about 15 years and we setup a lunch and all he talked about was WFG when I just wanted lunch and reminisce about the good old days. Needless to say that was the last time I saw him.

[msommers]

Spare time $15,000/month either starts with immense capital, immense risk and/or immense time commitment that is not longer "spare."

[Misterman]

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There's a million and one stories about making buckets of cash in your spare time and it wouldn't change a thing for me. I wouldn't doubt there are people making decent money from this but it's a low percentage and not everyone's cup of tea unless you enjoy being alienated from your friends and family. I "had" a friend that I didn't see for about 15 years and we setup a lunch and all he talked about was WFG when I just wanted lunch and reminisce about the good old days. Needless to say that was the last time I saw him.

Just like Mighty Penis was getting at, these sort of anecdotal stats are not purely synonymous with MLM. Low percentage of people that get into MLM's have success.....................Just like every other business on planet earth. Majority of people starting Amazon stores fail as well, that certainly didn't stop me from getting involved in what is a proven business model. There is many proven MLM business' as well, I just wouldn't do those for a few different reasons, none of them are because of made up nonsense. Most MLM's are designed around hyping up and selling a shitty product, if I'm going to market a product I want it to be something that pretty much sells itself, something people already want or need. For that reason MLM's are no go for me. Also they have to over charge for their products compared to similar products sold on store shelves, because they have to pay these big commissions to IBO's. That puts you at a disadvantage as opposed to just marketing products from Amazon as an affiliate or something similar.

The NFL club is what I call those weirdos trying to poach their friends and family. The No Friends Left club. Again though, lots of people doing MLM may use these poor tactics(hence why so many are unsuccessful), but people seem to think that IS what MLM is. And it isn't. There is a million different ways you can market a product or service, and really that's all MLM is, you're marketing a product or service to earn a sales commission. No different than being a car salesman or realtor, most of those people have no skill or sense either. They just throw their business card at every family member or friend they can touch base with, and hope for something to pan out.

[Buster]

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Spare time $15,000/month either starts with immense capital, immense risk and/or immense time commitment that is not longer "spare."

This.

Every earned dollar sits on the risk/reward spectrum somewhere (or reward/work graph in a similar fashion).

There ain't no free lunch. (For some reason people disregard this when discussing real estate as an investment, but I digress).

[A790]

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They just throw their business card at every family member or friend they can touch base with, and hope for something to pan out.

To be expected when you recruit low-skill people that have zero sales or marketing background. How else are they going to sell their expensive laundry detergent or hock crappy financial products?

[Misterman]

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To be expected when you recruit low-skill people that have zero sales or marketing background. How else are they going to sell their expensive laundry detergent or hock crappy financial products?

Bingo!!

Ironically if they recruited high skill people, they would move far more volume with less people to manage. And those rare high skilled people are the ones at the top of organizations with "Diamond" status or whatever terminology they use.

[ercchry]

That’s the part of an mlm that I just shake my head at “if you put in the work and get outside of your sphere of influence, you can make a lot of money”

Uh... yeah, so if you’re willing to put in that level of work wtf would you chain yourself to a single fad product and the stigma of an mlm instead of just creating your own business within an area that isn’t saturated with 1000s of people selling the same damn thing as you with no restrictions on how you market your brand

[Misterman]

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That’s the part of an mlm that I just shake my head at “if you put in the work and get outside of your sphere of influence, you can make a lot of money”

Uh... yeah, so if you’re willing to put in that level of work wtf would you chain yourself to a single fad product and the stigma of an mlm instead of just creating your own business within an area that isn’t saturated with 1000s of people selling the same damn thing as you with no restrictions on how you market your brand

Because the average person that wants more isn't afraid of hard work. They just don't know what to work hard at. MLM hooks onto that and gives them a framework.

[max_boost]

Beyond we can create the first Beyond MLM millionaire lol

[CompletelyNumb]

Smart people start MLMs, they don't join them.

[speedog]

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Smart people start MLMs, they don't join them.

This.

[Disoblige]

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Beyond we can create the first Beyond MLM millionaire lol

Remember Youth Juice? lol

Edit: lmao, just realized this thread even mentioned it back years ago.

[killramos]

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Beyond we can create the first Beyond MLM millionaire lol

Wasn’t that the real estate guy turned actor?

Too soon?

[max_boost]

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Wasn’t that the real estate guy turned actor?

Too soon?

That's old news bro. But some you win and dim sum you lose.

My offer still stands and I hope for the plot twist, @ZorroAMG hand delivers me that cheque, I cash it and we make it rain at the Beyond 20 year party. Eligible members to attend have to be registered before that initial investment thread was posted. You don't wanna miss this party (if it goes down) lol

[speedog]

Here's an idea for a start-up MLM - selling car soaps/cleaners/detailing stuff. Actually I wouldn't be a bit surprised if there's not one out there already.

[ercchry]

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Because the average person that wants more isn't afraid of hard work. They just don't know what to work hard at. MLM hooks onto that and gives them a framework.

average people have no business putting up capital and working for unknown compensation. average people would be miles ahead if they put that effort into further education, or a part time job.

[max_boost]

Better off getting a mentor

[Misterman]

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average people have no business putting up capital and working for unknown compensation. average people would be miles ahead if they put that effort into further education, or a part time job.

I'm not vouching for the MLM route. You asked why people do it, and that's a reason why. But to play devils advocate, a person would have to put a lot more capital into education, and it has no guarantee of success either by any means. Actually, the fact it takes virtually no capital at all is why so many people join these MLM's. If you have 100$ of room on your credit card and a heartbeat, you're in. And ironically the fact they have no skin in the game probably plays a big role in why they never have any success. It's a lot easier to get motivated to get to work when you invested a million bucks in a Mcdonalds franchise, as opposed to 100$ in a Scentsy franchise.

[ercchry]

Education doesn’t have to come from a post secondary institution. Can be as simple as buying a book, or taking one off courses in areas of interest, etc