Checklist for a "Quality" MLM

Today's blog post is about a ridiculous checklist an MLMer posted. This was his version of key guidelines for an MLM, and somehow every MLM that doesn't meet these qualifications should be deemed inherently bad. It is important to note that this is something that was programmed into him by a maniacal MLM upline, or worse, this MLMer is the maniacal upline trying to utilize deceit by means of a worthless checklist. Without further ado, here it is:

10 ways to choose an awesome Network Marketing Opportunity.

1. Has the company been around for at least 5 years?

2. Is the company well funded?

3. Does the company offer products or services that are unique?

4. Is there a genuine need for the product or service?

5. Is the product or service trendy or just a fad?

6. Can you generate immediate income?

7. Does the marketing system take full advantage of technology?

8. Is the person who is introducing you to the opportunity committed to YOUR success?

9. Is there a way to build your business part-time without losing your full-time income?

10. Can you have FUN with this company?

Let's go through each point and dissect the inherent issues with them pertaining to MLM.

1. "Has the company been around for at least 5 years?"

This is completely backwards logic when it comes to MLM. MLMs have spread like wildfire because of social media platforms and checking to make sure an MLM has been around for at least five years is a significant hindrance on anyone's potential success with MLM. The whole point with MLM is to get in as early as possible and form the biggest team before other people come along and snatch up your prospects. If you have to wait five years before you even get started, then you might as well take a fire to your money, because the percentage of people left is incredibly small compared to the beginning.

2. "Is the company well funded?"

Not only does this have nothing to do with MLM, but if the company has already been around for five years, then it should have already proven to be "well funded". MLMs don't need a lot of funding because most of their marketing is done for slave wages based on a false premise of a "Utopian lifestyle" (Thank you David Brear) once they have committed themselves to the business. Also, when has an MLM ever told anyone anything about their funding or monetary resources? The government can't even get the biggest MLMs to release any forms or income/disclosures, therefore your chances of finding out are somewhere in the neighborhood of 0%.

3. "Does the company offer products or services that are unique?"

Let me be perfectly plain. NO MLM HAS EVER HAD A UNIQUE PRODUCT EVER! They specifically target markets with little to no regulations and they continue to pump out overpriced generic products to help compensate for the pyramid type pay structure. If an MLM ever had a unique product, then they would not market their product in an MLM but rather sell the product through normal channels such as online and brick mortar. The MLM structure is not advantageous for the consumer or the distributor because they MUST mark-up the products significantly in order to pay out the levels of the team (pyramid).

4. "Is there a genuine need for the product or service?"

Again, let me be perfectly plain since this relates to the previous point. THERE IS NO ACTUAL NEED FOR AN MLM PRODUCT OR SERVICE. There never has been and there never will be, because of the structure in which MLM is formed. These are generic products wrapped up in a misleading scheme based on the dreams of charlatans that want to take people's money. There is not one MLM product or service that has been needed in the market place and there never will be.

5. "Is the product or service trendy or just a fad"

This is the weirdest point because it actually makes no sense. You can't ask an OR question and have both words mean the same thing. I honestly can't tell what the person is asking because this is like asking do you wear clothing or garments? This is a bad attempt at a loaded question and should automatically derail anyone from being interested in a business opportunity that proposes such nonsense.

6. "Can you generate immediate income"

I have never heard of a business that generates IMMEDIATE income. In fact, most investments don't generate IMMEDIATE income and anything that suggests that there is IMMEDIATE income is a RED FLAG. This is another way of suggesting MLM is a "get rich quick scheme", which an MLM will never admit, and may deflect by saying there is IMMEDIATE income opportunities, but it takes a lot of effort and time, which completely detracts from the previous statement. If someone says there is IMMEDIATE income then it is time to IMMEDIATELY excuse yourself.

7. "Does the marketing system take full advantage of technology"

Okay, a couple of issues here. The name of the business opportunity is Multi-Level Marketing, or in this person's case "Network Marketing" (sadly has become interchangeable), so what does it mean by "marketing system"? According to MLM, their plan reflects using people involved and therefore it is discretionary as to whether or not they choose to use technology. Also, the phrasing of the question is completely bizarre. If you take away "marketing system" and put in yourself, then is this person basically asking if you utilize technology? This seems to be phrased as a question, but is more so meant as a statement or advice. This is a runner-up to point number 5 for strangeness.

8. "Is the person who is introducing you to the opportunity committed to YOUR success?"

Ah, this is a wonderful question that pulls on my philosophical heart strings. First of all, is it really necessary to capitalize "YOUR" in the question? I'm fairly confident we can understand whom this question is about. Secondly, the person introducing you to the business has a financial bias to make themselves successful before they worry about you. It seems contradictory to ask them to take time away from themselves to help you be successful in the same endeavors. It is also ludicrous to assume the person introducing you to the business does not consider the opportunity to make money off your enrollment and monthly auto ship. This question is completely asinine when it comes to the structure of MLM.

9. "Is there a way to build your business part-time without losing your full-time income?"

This seems to be a subjective question and truly depends on the person instead of the MLM. After watching many episodes of Shark Tank, I believe it is necessary to focus all of your attention on new business ventures, but again this has nothing to do with the business itself. This question seems backwards and suggests that the MLM dream business which can make you fabulously wealthy and retire should come second to your nasty old full-time "J-O-B".

10. "Can you have FUN with this company?"

Wow, this is not only irrelevant but extremely bad advice. If your livelihood was dependent on how much fun you were having, then I'm pretty sure most people would not be working. It is "FUN" to receive a paycheck for all of your efforts and be able to pay for "FUN" activities with your money. This is something that MLMs cannot supply for 99+% of their members, and that strikes me as not "FUN".

On a serious note, this check list was actually created by a real human being. This person is trying to take money from unsuspecting consumers and they do not care about the people they hurt in the process. This list is something I would expect from a kindergartner and not a fully functioning adult (I use full functioning lightly). Please be careful as this list was designed to pertain to ALL MLMs as a whole.

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 Boundaries

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.

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.

MLM and Visions of Grandeur

Today's blog post is about the delusions MLMs provide in reference to success. MLMers may start their pitch by suggesting it is a reasonable side income, but that quickly goes to the waste side when a consumer agrees to join. Instead that side income bit turns into a life long residual income bonanza filled with the most wonderful imagery their minds could conceive. Once a consumer has been pushed passed the basic levels of introduction into an MLM, then the dreaming begins and it doesn't stop until that entry level MLMer goes broke.

Psych central had a great article about the change in mindset for the millennial generation. There seems to be a larger emphasis on being famous and that stems from a set of outside influences consistently being pumped into them. Sure there have always been people that have had big dreams of success in Hollywood, but there was also less emphasis on "following your dreams" and more emphasis on getting a good education and being productive in society. Also, it was never frowned upon previously to have a middle class income and a reasonable work position, however that mindset seems to have changed and there is now a larger emphasis than ever on "making it to the top".

One of the recurring themes we continue to come back to is, a person started from the bottom and now they have arrived. There can be a multitude of different scenarios, but they always have the same formula. Everyone eats these stories up and this is why we keep pumping out more and more stories about kids from the ghetto, a different country, or disabled suddenly becoming immensely rich and successful. We see shows like Behind the Scenes from VH1, Crib's from MTV, 30 for 30 on ESPN, America's Got Talent, The Voice, or any late night talk show involving regular celebrity appearances. These stories and television shows do not show the overwhelmingly low success rate to be one of these stars, and they consistently encourage people by suggesting these lifestyles are attainable without supporting any statistics. There are so many shows suggesting being famous is not only ideal, but it is morphing into the main value and identity young people want.

MLMs are a different version of these same television shows. They consistently show outrageous amounts of wealth and luxury while preaching it can all be yours for little to no effort, very small monthly fees, and by helping your fellow members of society. They continuously leave out the statistics for success and prey upon people's insatiable need for more, especially if they are impoverished. MLMs will promise you everything under the sun and they will offer an MLMer the chance to become the person they idolize on stage. This is ultimately a false offering filled with impossible odds, but they are keen to only show the success, a similar concept to Vegas slot machines.

MLMs are preying upon people being warped by visions of grandeur as well as those with the "nothing to lose" attitude. They are striving to recruit people that are trapped in the childhood mentality of being "special" without doing anything to garner that classification. They want people looking for the big lottery win. They are going for the emotional people that can be swept up by a nice story and a fake smile. They want people that will never question their methods and simply focus on the carrot at the end of the stick.

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 Charity?

Today's blog post is about the trickery used to validate MLM by suggesting they are charitable. There are a few main issues with this logic, such as, not being able to verify the accuracy of their philanthropy, not knowing whether they are doing it because they are noble or getting a benefit (most likely the latter), sometimes not being able to verify the legitimacy of the charity, and finally there is no actual correlation between businesses being legitimate and giving to charity. With all of these reasons to ignore the idea of an MLM being legitimate because they are charitable, it still doesn't stop MLMers from espousing this as some sort of irrefutable fact. This should be regarded as a red flag instead of a means of proof to secure credibility, especially if this logic is not supported by other better forms of evidence, or worse yet a stand alone form of credibility.

I was recently watching television when an odd commercial came on the air. I remembered seeing it before, and not putting much thought into it, but this time it was different. As the commercial played I started to feel my blood boil, especially after John Oliver ripped it to shreds on one of his segments. Without further ado, here is the commercial.



On first glance the commercial seems innocent, but after further inspection it becomes clear something very shady is happening. Not only is it a bizarre premise to have "Kars 4 Kids" that are clearly not able to drive, but they don't explicitly say what the money for the donated cars will be contributed toward. After watching this commercial you are left with a bad jingle that will not leave your head for the next million years, and the idea that some weird charity is trying to get free cars to give to children.

The Wikipedia entry for 1877Kars4Kids is particularly scathing. The organization is run by an orthodox Jew and their mission statement is to utilize the funds for bringing education to secular Jews. Basically, they are taking your money and putting it toward an unverifiable purpose of re-educating bad Jews to try and turn them into good Jews. They have never been able to verify how much of the proceeds have actually gone to this endeavor, and the other causes they have helped with are pennies in the bucket compared to how much they have raised. They have even been fined by two states for showing this commercial without explicitly saying what the charity is about. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kars4Kids

Here is the brief moment John Oliver decided to go on a tangent and vilify 1877Kars4Kids.



While this is only one example of a bad charity, it is far from unique. Charities are one of the least regulated types of organizations and they are able to file tax exempt on account of them being non-profit organizations. They are one of the best vehicles for running a scam and they are one of the worst vehicles for verifying authenticity of another organization. It is far from surprising that MLMs would be involved in charities, and the insidious nature of MLMs suggest that they aren't using charities because they want to give to their respective communities.

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 Rebates

Today's blog post is focused on the psychology of turning a commissioned sales person into a customer. MLMers are taught it is necessary to purchase the products monthly to qualify for commissions and they are also supposed to purchase for their own consumption. This is an extraordinary type of logic as it forces an MLMer to continue to purchase monthly regardless of their sales, and it confuses them by giving a rebate check for their own purchases rather than an actual pay check for the sale of the goods or services. There are different types of monthly subscriptions provided by MLMs, but they all come back to the same fundamental agenda of getting the distributors to spend their hard earned dollars on the MLM rather than the MLM paying the distributors to help move their product or service.

Amway, the founder of the MLM business model, was the first to utilize this psychological manipulation in order to generate a loyal customer base. They found sales were stronger and more consistent when the members of their work force were continuously buying products instead of retail customers. Amway continues to teach distributors to buy from "Their store" instead of a big box store, because it will help them generate revenue and they need the products regardless. Amway then offers compensation in the form of a rebate at the end of the month based on the amount of product purchased by the distributor. MLMers are then confused by the concept of "Their store", because it is actually Amway they are purchasing products from and generating Amway more revenue. The concept gets more confusing once the levels are implemented, hence the name multi-level marketing. Instead of selling goods or services, they are taught to increase their revenue by signing up friends, family, acquaintances, and eventually strangers to also purchase monthly goods and repeat the process. Once they have secured a solid foundation of people purchasing monthly goods, then they will start to see a rise in their paycheck and believe they are becoming more successful. This is how the pyramid is formed.

The MLM rebate is one of the key methods to lure unsuspecting consumers into the trap. They are extremely vague about how much money you will receive monthly based on the amount of goods purchased, and they do not explain that the rebate can only grow as long as more dollars are spent on MLM products. Naturally, if an MLMer doesn't have a downline then they will notice they are spending more money than they are making, but when they see that other downline members are helping to grow their rebate checks, they begin to ignore the obvious paradox. There must be more dollars spent in order to get a larger rebate, but the dollars spent don't have to come from their pockets. This in turn leads to exponential losses for the levels of MLMers that develop underneath the original tier.

MLM, in theory, could work if the MLMers were taught to focus on the sale of  goods or services before signing up new members, but that would defeat the purpose of the multiple levels of commissions. The multiple levels are used as a ruse to lure people into the MLM as a means to purchase more goods instead of selling goods, and then teach others to repeat the process. MLMers have found it is much easier to convince people to spend their own money on a business opportunity than it is to sell the goods or services they provide.

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 George Orwell's, 1984

Today's blog post is about a book I recently read by George Orwell, 1984. The story is about a man, Winston Smith, working for the government formally known as, The Party. The Party is the government of Oceania, one of the three main super powers, and is continuously at war with either Eurasia or Eastasia, or at least that is what they tell their people, in an effort to secure power. The Party has a figure head named "Big Brother", and he is a symbol of vigilance and power as his poster is hung everywhere throughout civilization along with "telescreens" and microphones used for monitoring every citizen twenty-four hours a day. There are three castes within the society, the inner party, the outer party, and the proles. The inner party is the group of people who control the government and dictate what the people of the outer party and the proles are allowed to do. The outer party helps with mundane tasks designed to increase the inner party's influence on the other two groups. The proles (proletariat) are the working-class, and they are the slaves of society that go through the motions of life (wake up, work, have children, die) without realizing they are being controlled.

The story is an important read, because it shows the development of a totalitarian regime and it also shows how people are manipulated and conned into giving up their ability to rationally think as well as have rights. The Party is a group that learned the mistakes of previous oppressive groups, the Christians with the Crusades, and the Nazi's with the National Socialist German Workers' Party, to become the ultimate power over its people. They learned how to manipulate and destroy the past so as to control the present, and they also manipulated and destroyed language to alter the way people thought. They created a society based on faith, loyalty, and surrender under the key assumptions of "War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength".

MLMs have utilized similar techniques to create undying faith and loyalty. They have designed their business opportunity as an us versus them mentality by suggesting if you don't pursue MLM then you will be forever burdened with a 9-5 job and a life of constant struggle for the next pay check. MLMers are constantly at war with the outside world and the internet, and this war will continue as long as both exist. This technique of an ever lasting war outside of the MLM creates an odd sense of peace within as people falsely believe the leaders have their best interest at heart and somehow people within the MLM are more wholesome. It also brings a sense of unity and camaraderie as the people within the MLM band together and fight against the oppressive outside world.

MLMers preach freedom as long as they choose to follow the systems they have implemented. In fact, Amway has a special event called FED which stands for Freedom Enterprise Days in which they utilize the term Freedom as much as possible in regards to the MLM and success. Unfortunately, this is all a ruse as they utilize this "doublespeak" (saying one thing while believing another, also known as cognitive dissonance), to transform the idea of freedom into a meaning of slavery. What I mean by this is, in order to get financial freedom and live a life of luxury, you must commit yourself to the MLM entirely with both your money and time. You must show the business plans regularly, you must attend all functions, you must pay for monthly supplies, you must subordinate to your uplines. Only then, can you achieve freedom.

MLMers deliberately avoid the issues of facts and statistics. They prey on the ignorance of their followers and utilize the faith they impose as a business strength. They shun research and outside influence in an effort to keep MLMers devoted and unquestioning. If an opposing view is mentioned, then it is quickly attacked in a succinct and aggressive manner as to contain the problem as fast as possible. Similarly to an oil leak in the ocean, MLMers understand that dissenting positions can spread quickly and can be difficult, if not impossible, to remove. They are quick to attack the source of the opposing view, come up with a fallacious analogy, or simply pretend it doesn't exist, because they cannot specifically respond to the facts. MLMers understand the need for ignorance to generate strength within their organizations.

Even though George Orwell's 1984 was designed to combat a potential totalitarian government, it is easy to make connections to MLMs and their cult-like syndromes. If you are being pressured to join a MLM, please make sure to do research and examine red flags. Do not be afraid to have a dissenting opinion, and do not allow them to dictate where you get your information!

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 Religulous (Bill Maher Documentary)

Today's blog post is about a recent documentary I watched again over my holiday vacation. The documentary explores different religions that stem from the bible, and some of the interesting people involved with these different denominations of Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Mormonism, and Catholicism. While Bill Maher is not my favorite documentary host, he does a good job of plainly exposing simple "truths" upheld by religious fanatics. If you can get past his implicit bias and sensationalism, then I believe there is a lot to be learned from this documentary and there can be a lot of connections made to MLM.

The three main points I would like to focus on from this documentary are:

1. He focuses on questioning, "truths" that can't be explained by anything other than taking a leap of faith.

Throughout the documentary he confronts both followers and leaders about the supposed evidence to support claims of  miracles and teachings. He asks people to delve into their critical thinking abilities and try to describe a similar scenario to someone that is not a believer or insider without sounding crazy. An example of this is the story of Joseph Jonah, and how he survived for 3 days inside of a giant fish. There seemed to be a massive amount of cognitive dissonance around this story and the idea that maybe this wasn't factual or couldn't be proven.

MLMs have a notorious failure rate, and yet people see evidence of success within their companies. As they attend functions and seminars, they are consistently reminded that the highest ranks are achievable and they are living fabulous lives. MLMers are taught to focus on their dreams in an effort to escape the horrific reality of the scheme. Their blind faith in the evidence is only supported by the companies themselves and publications sponsored by the companies (such as the DSA, Inc Magazine) while the rest is made up hogwash from the sponsors passed down through the "leaders".

2. He focuses on the "leaders" of organized religion and how they choose to "interpret" the meanings of the bible.

The leaders in the documentary are fascinating because they embrace the writings to best conform to their ideals. One of the leaders tries to twist Jesus into a wealthy messiah that came from not-so-humble beginnings, while another actually suggested he was the second coming, but was also a descendant? There was a catholic priest that suggested science discredits the teachings of the bible and another catholic priest that basically said, they are nice stories but most of it isn't true. Finally, you have a rabbi helping Turkey fight against Israel, and you have a group of Muslims stating they preach peace while reciting scriptures that suggest imperialism and death to infidels.

MLMers have an interesting way of twisting words to better suit their needs as well, and rarely are able to come to terms with inconsistencies. At an FED I attended, I listened as MLM leaders came out on stage, after an introduction video which reflected MTV Cribs on steroids, and acted as though they were part of the common people. Meanwhile, they sat in isolation behind the scenes, and walked through the audience as celebrities, while the majority of MLMers were suffering tremendous losses for those "leaders" to have a comfortable lifestyle.

3. He focuses on the violence of religion and the us vs. them mentality.

Maher captures the violence of religion by three mediums, news footage, a death scene of Jesus Christ at an amusement park, and the language involved in the writings. There is an overlying theme between all of the Jewish denominations which is, one of them is right, and the rest are sworn enemies. The other overlying theme is the day of reckoning, known as Armageddon, which suggests everyone will perish and only the people of their chosen religion will be saved.

MLMers have a very similar view of the world, and it doesn't come as a surprise that they use religion to help fuel their objectives. While they may not be solely interested in the destruction of everyone else, they do not hesitate to impose their views while suggesting everyone else is doomed to fail. They preach their work is noble and everyone else is a slave to a time clock and a pay check, and they also preach any defectors from the group are evil (quitters, failures, deniers). They introduce only one path to salvation (retirement), and that involves endless obedience over an indiscreet timeline (your entire life to the business).

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.