MLM and The Hours of Operation

Today's blog post is about a common lie that is both repeated and mutated to fit any situation. What I mean by this is, a MLMer can tell you to work as little or as much as you want in order to have success, because the system works for all types of people. I am of course referring to, as the title describes, the 10-15 hours a week rule. This rule is very similar to the 2-5 year rule (very vague), and the 10,000 hour rule (I wrote a post about this called "MLM and Arbitrary Milestones/10,000 hour rule). It incorporates the idea that you can do MLM in your spare time, and with minimal effort, and watch as the money starts rolling in. Unfortunately, the consumer is left to find out for themselves this narrative is false.

The odd thing about the 10-15 hour rule is, most people wouldn't fall for this without the other parts of the deception. If someone came to you and said, "I've got a plan to make you fabulously wealthy, and all you have to do is work 10-15 hours a week" there would be suspicions raised. However, with the accompaniment of a tangible end point such as 2-5 years, it seems more legitimate. Another way that the 10-15 hour rule is made to sound more credible is, the training system works 100% of the time as long as the consumer follows it perfectly. Again, this makes the 10-15 hour rule sound plausible, because there seems to be some sort of proven success attached to the claim.

The upsetting reality is, both parts of the comparisons given above are false. There is no 100% fool-proof system, and there is no 2-5 year guarantee. This, similarly to proofs in geometry, makes the rest of the statements false as well by association. There are no guarantees that hours given in labor will give a specific reward, and there are no guarantees that working a particular system will work every time. It is imperative to have red flags whenever someone suggests this.

The closest thing we have to a guarantee is education and trade skills. Education and trade skills are the only two investments a person can make in themselves that will increase the probability for success. Studies have shown, beyond a reasonable doubt, that people who pursue these two fields have higher salaries and more desirable positions in the workforce than those who do not.

In my other article, MLM and Arbitrary Milestones/10,000 hour rule, I went over a case study that showed chess masters differ in practice time between 2,000 hours and 25,000 hours. Therefore, effort can not reflect a guarantee. There are people that join MLM to only work 10-15 hours a week, and there are people who work MLM 40 hours and above. However, the net result is the same, and it usually a significant loss as reported by the income disclosure statements.

Be aware of buzz words, and people's motivations. Ask questions such as, "What does this person get from helping me?", or "Why does it seem like nobody else in my community has heard of this, or pursuing it?", and of course my favorite, "Does this seem too good to be true?" As Mark Cuban (billionaire investor and star of Shark Tank) has said, "...Always remember this. If a deal is a great deal, they aren’t going to share it with you."

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.

MLM and Endorsements

Today's blog post is about MLM and the endorsements they give to people or corporations which are regularly involved in our popular culture. These endorsements range from sponsoring leagues (Advocare sponsoring Major League Soccer), stadiums (Amway Center for the Orlando Magic), people (Drew Brees for advocare, Cristiano Ronaldo for Herbalife), and of course Presidential-Elect Donald Trump (ACN). It is important to remember that these endorsements do not actually reflect the opinions these people or organizations have about MLM, but rather their financial bias to support these companies. While it is unfortunate that certain stars, such as Ronaldo and Brees, feel a need to get a few extra dollars from their sponsorship with these sham businesses, we can not take their reviews of the companies with 100% certainty that they are in support of their products or practices.

This type of conditioning is a huge issue, because it gives an air of legitimacy to the sham businesses. For many people, it would be hard to believe that drinks like Gatorade, Red Bull, or Monster are actually not regularly consumed by the athletes, and that the water coolers next to their benches are simply filled with water. This type of advertising is bad enough with reputable companies, because they are utilizing the visual success of athletes to push a product that has no connection to their journey or status among the top representatives of a given sport. Therefore, to allow a sham business like Herbalife or Advocare to regularly be highlighted by professional athletes is extremely devastating.

The mayo clinic wrote an article about meal supplement shakes, and their issues with being successful for long term results (http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/expert-answers/protein-shakes/faq-20058335). Professional athletes have an extremely rigorous diet that is constructed and monitored by professional nutritionists, and to suggest they would need a weight loss shake, let alone support one is utterly ridiculous without accounting for their financial bias.

On a side note, I always laugh when I see the commercials for Dannon's Oikos Yogurt with Cam Newton, or when Clay Matthews was being paid to eat Campbell's Chunky Soup. It is clear, if you have experience with the rigorous activities, that you will not be eating processed foods. While these commercials are relatively harmless, they are not attached to businesses designed to take people's money through money making opportunities.

MLMers that try and use celebrity endorsements to verify the legitimacy of their business and the products should be taken with extreme caution. These athletes/stars have little to no background in the MLM field, and are not taking the products they are promoting.

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.

MLM and Depression

Today's post is about two types of depression that can come from MLM. The first kind of depression is developed from the programming MLMers give consumers while they are installed in their system. Most people post about the roaring energy and excitement of the seminars and major events like the FED (Freedom Enterprise Days) from Amway, but they leave out the downswing in energy after the events are done. The second type of depression is more commonly described after people leave MLM, and have to deal with the wasted monetary resources, the lost or damaged relationships, and the emotional toll of being deceived.

Depression: Clinical depression goes by many names, such as “the blues,” biological depression, and major depression. But all of these names refer to the same thing: feeling sad and depressed for weeks or months on end — not just a passing blue mood of a day or two. This feeling is most often accompanied by a sense of hopelessness, a lack of energy (or feeling “weighed down”), and taking little or no pleasure in things that once gave a person joy in the past. (http://psychcentral.com/disorders/depression/)

The first kind of depression is extremely serious, because this depression develops from the brainwashing MLMers give to their downlines. Part of the reason people get enveloped in MLM is, the excitement and thrill of the events as well as the herd support. The other part is the comedown, which is similar to a drug, after the party meetings and seminars are done. After MLMers denigrate everything about life outside of MLM, it is extremely difficult to maintain a certain level of positive energy for typical daily tasks. Work becomes a chore, or worse a nightmare, because it is getting in the way of the guaranteed freedom. Family events and activities with friends also lose their thrill, because the only goal is to become successful in MLM. As the consumer gets more and more immersed in MLM, the worse and worse they feel when they are outside of the environment.

The second kind of depression comes from the escape from MLM. After they have programmed the consumer to hate and disregard everything unrelated to MLM it is extremely difficult for many consumers to reengage in society. There will be a level of anxiety and distrust in consumers that didn't previously exist, and there will be an irrational fear of bonding with other people. Consumers will have difficulty with their conscience and the amount of damage they had caused while involved in the business. Lost friendships and family will pay a heavy toll, as well as dealing with the personal deception.

Both types of depression are very powerful and very real. MLMers perpetrate serious permanent damage to their victims, and have caused many relationships to end. Consumers must be on guard when entering a business opportunity, and they must understand that a business opportunity is just that and nothing else.

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.

MLM and Visual Appearance

Today's post is about the visual aesthetic MLMers want to portray. MLMers, by and large, are very robotic personalities, and they can be easily identified by certain traits. The clothing choice is another way MLMers condition their downline to act a certain way, and create a certain set of values they deem suitable (all puns intended) for the business. It is extremely important to create a particular facade that starts with the initial appearance, because this helps to deceive the consumer into listening to the pitch.

"If your philosophy is not unsettled daily then you are blind to all the universe has to offer."- Neil deGrasse Tyson

MLMers have been practicing their pitches for decades, and their appearance has also been carefully tailored to create a persona of magnitude. They will wear three-piece suits to every meeting, and they will be carefully manicured from head to toe. This image creates false connections in the consumers head, because they will establish this facade as someone with great power, connections, money, esteem, and success. The image an MLMer portrays can help to prevent consumers from asking questions, because the automatic response is to trust someone with this look when referencing a business topic. The consumer will be far less likely to question a MLMer that is in a three-piece suit, than they would a MLMer in a t-shirt and cargo shorts. 

I have never seen Fred (sponsor), or Tom (upline) in anything other than dress clothes. Tom was always in a nice suit, and Fred was usually in something business attire related. Fred was more charismatic than Tom and he got away with wearing some different types of clothing that weren't suits, but his attire was always professional. In fact, when he propositioned me for the business, at the comedy club, he had the opportunity to go home and change first, but opted to remain in his work clothes. He already overdressed for his job position (telemarketer), and this was an even stranger venue to be professional in appearance. He stuck out like a sore thumb, but his charisma helped to make his clothing seem normal. Even if he was a successful professional, it would have been awkward for him to show up in that kind of outfit at this type of business.

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we intend to be." -Kurt Vonnegut

This quote couldn't be more accurate about the transformation into an MLMer. The suit I wore and the attention I got when attending the MLM seminars made me into something completely different from what I was. I felt strong, important, and even a little indestructible. My descent was rapid at first, and I felt as though I had the "golden ticket" to happiness and nobody could take it away. I was becoming a phony and it felt both real and right. I was losing my ability to care about others and their opinions. I was losing my ability to think about the here and now, because my dreams had begun to take over. I was losing myself.

This particular post doesn't stop at MLM, because everyone has a facade and tries to maintain their idea of how people expect them to be. Nietzsche wrote about everyone's masks, and the difficulty in knowing who somebody truly is, but as Vonnegut said, people become the facade they are pretending to be, and the lines between identity and self become blurred. It is important to remember that MLM is a business opportunity and not who you are as a person. Don't let someone make you conform to their ideals.

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.

MLM and John Oliver

Today's post is to celebrate and acknowledge a wonderful segment presented by John Oliver. I have been a big fan of his since he was on the Daily Show, and was both excited and stunned that he actually did a piece on MLM. I found out a few months ago that you can suggest topics for him to present (this is my subtle way of suggesting I may have helped make this happen), and I suggested MLM several times on his forum. The real reason I believe he decided to make the segment is the recent address from Edith Ramirez, chairwoman of the FTC, and her remarks against MLM. She basically threw everything at MLM including the kitchen sink, and here is what she said from David Brear's article (http://mlmtheamericandreammadenightmare.blogspot.com/2016/10/edith-ramirez-recites-modified.html).

It would seem MLM has been tossed into the spotlight recently, and that doesn't seem to bode well for its future. MLM tends to slink around in the shadows of society, and gradually picks people off as targets to join while still remaining ominous. In fact, MLM only tends to come out when people are at a vulnerable place in their life, and it is interesting to see the tides turning as MLM is starting to look very vulnerable. Bill Ackman (Billionaire and CEO of Pershing Square) and Robert Fitzpatrick (Pyramid Scheme Alert) have led the charge against Herbalife, and it wasn't clear at the beginning how it would pan out, but it seems to have been a slow and steady battle with many successes. Now that the FTC has concluded their investigation, sanctioned Herbalife, and forced them to restructure their compensation plan and their opportunity pitch, there could be some real change.


Without further ado, here is the John Oliver segment on MLM. Enjoy!

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.

MLM and Repetition

Today's blog is about the outrageous amount of repetition involved with MLM, and what the side effects of this repetition have shown. Some of the most common expressions that come to mind when thinking about repetition are, "Practice makes perfect", "The more you practice the better you will get", and "Repetition is the key to success". It is important to note that these expressions have a positive connotation, but can actually be just as negative when forming certain skills and abilities. In the case of MLM, they utilize mind numbing repetition to mold their members into thoughtless beings with a single purpose of getting more recruits.

FDR said, "Repetition does not transform a lie into truth".

MLMers are designed to be reactive when opposition rears its head. They are told what to say, how to say it, and they are given reasons for why it should make sense. However, when this thought stopping jargon is analyzed, it becomes apparent that all is not as it seems. The story the MLMer weaves is merely a distraction at best, but usually a very spun lie. My echolalia post is designed to debunk some of the common thought stopping jargon, and how it sounds good on the surface but is really nonsense.

MLMers are relentless in their repetition, and they know it is a key ingredient to develop their "de facto slaves" (David Brear). They will constantly talk about the dreams, the wealth they have generated, the success they want for you, and the lies and evil that exists outside of their wholesome and glorious business. They will also make sure to denigrate any of the outside influences whenever they can, and will continue to pump the same mindless jargon into the downlines until they become exquisite replicas. They are then unleashed on the world to continue the repetition they are programmed with, and their only mission is to find new victims.

MLMs will preach about duplication, and the simplicity of the business as long as you follow their system. They will say they have all the answers, and there is a 100% success rate when you apply their system, contrasting a 0% success rate if you don't. You must repeat everything they teach you with unwavering loyalty, and you must devote your life to the business.

"By repetition, each lie becomes an irreversible fact upon which other lies are constructed." - John Le Carre

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.

MLM and the Monopolization of Information

Today's blog post was inspired by a recent read from one of my featured writers, David Brear. He has had an extensive history with MLM in his family, and he has written about their relationship to cults. While this particular blog isn't specifically identifying MLMs as cults, there is an underlying relationship between this blog and that idea, because the blog involves the psychology that is used to create cults. I will link David's article to the bottom of this post.

David's definition of monopoly of information from the article: The leaders of  pernicious cults seek to control all information entering not only their adherents’ minds, but also that entering the minds of casual observers. This is achieved by constantly denigrating all external sources of information whilst constantly repeating the group’s reality-inverting key words and images, and/or by the physical isolation of adherents. Cults leaders systematically categorize, condemn and exclude as unenlightened, negative, impure, absolutely evil, etc. all free-thinking individuals and any quantifiable evidence challenging the authenticity of their imaginary scenarios of control. In this way, the minds of cult adherents can become converted to accept only what their leadership arbitrarily sanctions as enlightened, positive, pure, absolutely righteous, etc. Consequently, adherents habitually communicate amongst themselves using their group’s thought-stopping ritual jargon, and they find it difficult, if not impossible, to communicate with negative persons outside of their group whom they falsely believe to be not only doomed, but also to be a suppressive threat to redemption.

MLMs lure consumers with the promise of a money making opportunity, but they are consistently vague about how the opportunity works until you are brought to a meeting. Their initial focus is on creating an environment where the consumer will be love bombed to earn trust, and then they will propose their irrational idea. They have to make sure a consumer is properly primed, because the consumer, in most cases, will not willingly hear the idea otherwise. Afterward, MLMers will turn their attention to outside resources designed to destroy the reputation of the MLM and attempt to discredit them.

When I was first propositioned for MLM, there was no mention of the business and how it worked. Instead, the focus was on a fantasy that everyone has and a loaded question that most people would answer affirmatively. In fact, the name of the MLM was disregarded until I was brought to an event where hundreds of people clambered together in a church to receive training. This is the beginning of the indoctrination as the herd helps the new recruit unconsciously form a consenting opinion about the opportunity. MLMers will consistently suggest that outside resources, such as the internet, family, friends, co-workers, and media outlets cannot be trusted and their information is routinely false. MLMers will follow this by suggesting they have all the answers, they will take care of your needs, wants, and desires, so long as you subordinate to their teachings or system.

This system is designed by the mentors that are all knowing, because they have videos showing their wealth. The mentors will encourage MLMers to consistently listen to recordings and attend seminars to reaffirm their message. The recordings and seminars will be repetitive and mind numbing, and will deter the MLMer from engaging in outside learning. They will continue to press their information while denigrating everyone else until the MLMer is completely indoctrinated.

Fred and Tom have been involved in MLM for over 10 years, and they are completely indoctrinated. They will discredit any outside opinion, and have begun to completely isolate themselves from society. Their attention has been solely consumed by the MLM as they continue to work toward their fantasy of retirement (similar to being beamed up by the mother ship). They are completely deluded and shells of their former selves.

Here is the link to the rest of David Brear's article: http://mlmtheamericandreammadenightmare.blogspot.com/2012/03/universal-identifying-characteristics.html

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.