MLMers have key issues when forming proper boundaries for a business relationship. They do not understand the concept between private life and public life while confusing a business opportunity with a hobby or activity. Real businesses may have team building activity days to help enhance camaraderie or to show appreciation for their workers by recognizing them for their value, but they understand this is meant to encourage productivity and help their bottom line while also paying their employees during these activity days. MLMers reverse this and make activity days such as conferences and seminars into the main priority of the business and they also force their MLM downlines to pay to attend.
MLMers insist that these activity days are something special, and that they can be a breakthrough moment waiting to happen. This is a universal lie designed to keep downlines paying more money while having a smile on their face. These major conferences are nothing more than a theatrical activity day designed to instill energy and camaraderie within your LOS, and any upline that suggests the material being discussed has any business value is purposely tricking downlines into making them more money.
MLMers insist that these activity days are something special, and that they can be a breakthrough moment waiting to happen. This is a universal lie designed to keep downlines paying more money while having a smile on their face. These major conferences are nothing more than a theatrical activity day designed to instill energy and camaraderie within your LOS, and any upline that suggests the material being discussed has any business value is purposely tricking downlines into making them more money.
Uplines utilize their edification and position to manipulate boundaries in an effort to extract as much cash from their downline as possible, and if it isn't through conferences then it may be through monthly auto ships or tools. They will pretend to be a support system, a mentor, and act as though they have your best interest at heart while telling you to do things that only take you further from your goals. They may insist you increase your personal volume per month in order to get to the next level of the hierarchy when in actuality that takes more money out of your pocket. They may also insist that you continue to maintain a high monthly purchase rate, even though they know you are not doing well with sales. Then if you aren't doing well with the monthly sales, they may make you double down on your losses by suggesting you need more tools to help learn how to sell better. These tools are designed to reinforce your passion for the business and have no merit for increasing business productivity.
MLMers will control the way a downline thinks and alter their course of thought to an endless stream of positive thought. This may include insisting they don't listen to family members, friends, partners, acquaintances, or anyone that has been in a downline's life. MLMers will insist that the business comes first and slowly absorb more and more time for the business as opposed to personal life. They may eventually suggest keeping all of your relationships in the business, and try to dissolve any romantic relationships you have. They will destroy all boundaries separating a professional life from a private life.
Finally, MLMers will seek to transform their downlines into themselves and then repeat the process. They will work on an MLMers individuality and destroy it causing nothing to remain except for the programmed thought speech created by the MLMers. They will convert the downline while sending it out into the real world to do the same to others.
If you have a story involving abuses from your upline and would like me to share it on this blog as a guest post, then please e-mail me and I will be more than happy to post it! Your stories are not as unique as you may think, and your stories are some of the most impactful resources we have to fight MLMs. I will keep your anonymity upon request.
MLMers will control the way a downline thinks and alter their course of thought to an endless stream of positive thought. This may include insisting they don't listen to family members, friends, partners, acquaintances, or anyone that has been in a downline's life. MLMers will insist that the business comes first and slowly absorb more and more time for the business as opposed to personal life. They may eventually suggest keeping all of your relationships in the business, and try to dissolve any romantic relationships you have. They will destroy all boundaries separating a professional life from a private life.
Finally, MLMers will seek to transform their downlines into themselves and then repeat the process. They will work on an MLMers individuality and destroy it causing nothing to remain except for the programmed thought speech created by the MLMers. They will convert the downline while sending it out into the real world to do the same to others.
If you have a story involving abuses from your upline and would like me to share it on this blog as a guest post, then please e-mail me and I will be more than happy to post it! Your stories are not as unique as you may think, and your stories are some of the most impactful resources we have to fight MLMs. I will keep your anonymity upon request.
An MLM scam like Amway simply can't allow any boundaries to exist between the public life of doing business and the private life that an individual leads apart from business. You have to eat, sleep, and breathe Amway, 24/7.
ReplyDeleteThis is no different from any cult, where the ideology that drives members is expected to dominate every aspect of their lives.
That's why the biggest lie promulgated by Amway is the one that says "You can do this business part-time!" That is an absolute and total fabrication. Once Amway gets its claws into you, you will be sucked dry not just of your money, but of every single moment of your time.
'Amway,' like all 'MLM cults, has totally controlled the reality of its core-adherents. This has been mainly achieved by ritualising their means of thought (ie their vocabulary and imagery) and by cutting them off from all external sources of information.
DeleteAlthough they have been arbitrarily defined in their take-it-or-leave-it contracts as: 'distributors, business owners, members,' etc., the brutal truth is that active 'MLM' adherents can only be accurately described as deluded de facto slave recruiters.
Even when 'MLM' adherents have abandoned their group, their model of reality has invariably remained controlled, because they will still thoughtlessly describe their 'MLM' experience using their group's ritual 'business' jargon.
Let's face it, most ex-'MLM' adherents instinctively prefer to cling to the ritual belief that they once a 'distributor' or a 'business owner' rather than face the ego-destroying reality that they once a deluded de facto slave recruiter controlled by comic-book fiction constantly presented as fact.
This is why couselling ex-'MLM' adherents can be a very dfficult task. To date, most remain incapable of facing the truth. An interesting exercise is always to ask ex-'MLM' adherents to try to describe their experience without using any of the vocabulary which they were taught by their group.
However, falling for an 'MLM' racket at a moment of vulnerabilty is nothing to ashamed of; for ritual 'MLM/business' jargon/imagery has to some extent controlled, and still controls, the reality of all casual 'MLM' observers.