To ask you all to tell me WHY I shouldn't do MLM?

[ASAS]

C'mon you lot, talk me down. Thank you in advance.

I won't actually go for it, but really only because I already work from home (public sector) and find it quite isolating.

But why shouldn't I just go for MLM? Even if it doesn't work out won't I only loose £200 for the business in a box or whatever it's called.

I hate my job. I hate my organisation. Why shouldn't I try MLM? They're all off shopping or going on holiday or eating out ALL THE TIME. Why shouldn't I go for it?

I really won't but ATM can honestly see the temptation

[HyacinthFuckit]

I know this is a zombie-ish thread, but OP if you're still around and looking for an opportunity to jizz away £200 for fuck all, I'll have it.

[nephrofox]

"20% of the regular price" and "20% off the regular price" are very different

[Wadingthroughsoup]

The huge award ceremonies they do, for example, are a bit weird to watch.

Also the way 'business owners' are implored to only listen to positive responses; to ignore and avoid any negative reactions, even if it comes from their own family and their good friends.

[Wadingthroughsoup]

Alis I've read a fair bit of stuff that does make me think they are indeed akin to cults. I'm sure that might sound like an exaggeration to some, but there are certainly practices going on which look suspiciously like brainwashing, or at least evangelising.

[specialsubject]

rule 1 - if it looks too good to be true, it is.

selling overpriced shit doesn't make you any money unless you are the chief defrauder, of whom there are very few. Everyone you know will think you a fool at best, a crook at worst.

what other reasons do you need?

[MarthasHarbour]

Boomerang i love this! **

[stopfuckingshoutingatme]

get a proper job FFS, one that doesn't make people HATE you

has anyone ever bought anything from this shite and liked it? ever

[Alisvolatpropiis]

It does shock me how sucked in to it some get. Are they just not very bright people? Are these MLM companies actually cults?

[pinkcan]

Oh and it's the only kind of "job" I know of that requires no interview or selection. There's a reason for that!

[pinkcan]

Well you will lose all of your friends. You will guilt them into spending money they can't spare on products they don't want and they will resent you and avoid you. Even if they are savvy enough not to buy anything they will still avoid you and think you are stupid to get involved with it. People who previously would have enjoyed a coffee with you will suddenly become very busy and unavailable.

Selling things to your friends and family that they didn't seek to buy is a bit like blatantly picking their pockets.

[slebmum1]

Forever loving will lose you your friends, they will hide every time they see you coming.

Neal's Yard is a bit different.

[throwingpebbles]

(It seems more akin to Avon etc than the really murky MLMs )

[throwingpebbles]

I think Neals Yard is a fair bit less awful than the likes of Younqiue/ Juice Plus/Forever Living / Ariix though namechange

[Namechange02]

I read this thread with some amusement because I signed up with Neal's Yard Remedies last month. I spent £60 and got a lot more than £60 worth of products. A couple of work colleagues have bought stuff but I really did it so that I could get a 25% discount for me. But I'm not trying to recruit anyone or sell to anyone, my work colleagues just like the products so said they'd buy via my website rather than from a shop. I'm a lawyer so I made sure there were no catches before I signed up.

And all their training is free (although you have to pay for travel to get to it) - they do a lot of online training. OK there is one catch - the conference calls are not on a 0800 number but you don't have to do them.

[Agent160]

If you really want to spend the £200...Work out how many friends you have that you don't want to lose, say it's 10 (not casting aspersions about how friendly you are - just it makes my maths easier!!) and then give each of those 10 friends £20. Tell them why.

That way you've spent £200 keeping friends rather than spending £200 losing them

[FayKorgasm]

CallMe were you tying to get someone to go away?

[throwingpebbles]

But call me even at 20% off the product would have been monstrously over priced

[CallMeExhausted]

I actually bought into an MLB scheme without having good any intention whatsoever of reselling or trying to suck friends in.

I bought it because it was about 20% of the "regular" price, and I wanted to have a chance to give some as gifts.

I didn't spend an extra penny, it did for me what I was hoping, and I have never regretted it.

[ScoutsMam]

Dogs! YOU CAN BUY FL STUFF FOR YOUR DOG!

[GruntledOne]

I'm SO tempted to share one of the links on the BotWatch page on my FB page. I'd love to see the reaction of my personal JuicePlus bot.

[throwingpebbles]

That's just it skinny you may get money from them but in doing so you are lending it an air of legitimacy. And given that they make false claims about medical benefits and also explicitly target pregnant women and new mums, surely you should rethink whether you are happy to have them at events???

And yes I am uncomfortable how many committee members across the country seem to be Forever Living sellers....

Also pretty cross that I tried to raise awareness of these MLMs like Forever that exploit vulnerable new parents etc on our local NCT page and my very brief post with a link for those interested was deleted immediately.

Like I say, tacit support arguably. Perhaps borne out of naivety by committee members in part, but given how theyvexploit new mums I think NCT members at every level should be seriously considering how they handle this going forward

[maplerose]

Because you will become a boring MLM clone, all your friends and family will drop you like a stone and then come on AIBU to laugh at you behind your back.

[KitKat1985]

The £200 is just the start. Then you are expected to buy Forever Living products constantly (I'm assuming it's Forever Living you are referring to) at prices far in excess of what you would pay for equivalent products elsewhere. You will start harassing all of your family / friends to buy stuff from you making them feel at best irritated, at worst, deeply upset that you are exploiting your relationship with them in this way. You will encourage others to buy this crap by making claims that product x will help them lost weight, manage their pain, improve their skin etc. None of these claims seem to ever be verified by any credible research, but since desperate people are more likely to buy this stuff, you will be encouraged to do this anyway. You will be encouraged to 'sell the lifestyle' and post constant statuses on Facebook etc encouraging others to believe that you are living the dream when actually you are making fuck all money but are just desperately trying to hook in new recruits. You will be encouraged to find impressionable, vulnerable people to get them to sign up too (new mums desperate not to go back to work, people with financial problems, people that are just not that well educated and a bit gullible, etc). Oh and you start to talk in monotonous tones posting statuses that you have been told to say, and sounding like every other FL robot and lose all individuality.

[Skinnydecafflatte]

throwingpebbles our branch of the NCT has them at some events as they pay for the space! I'm sure they don't really get any business from the events, but hey, we get money from them! There's so many reps around this area that they can all have a turn, they only seem to want to come once and then realise that everyone avoids them like the plague. Worse is that one of our committee members has just signed up and wants to promote it at a 'social event', it's amazing how so many people are 'busy' that day...

[Boomerwang]

I don't like this sort of thing. It's not the same as Avon (in fact don't companies like Forever Living discourage people from going door to door to preserve the 'exclusive' label?) and unless you're in a position to open up a stall in various towns whenever they have a market on, you're down to begging friends and family to buy something. It won't make you a huge profit in the long run. This is something you only do if you have a real talent for selling and you don't pressure your friends. I actually had a FL rep round to my place to do a presentation as I was considering joining up as a seller. When she said it was gonna be half a week's grocery money to buy one jug of foul tasting gunk which MIGHT make you shit a bit easier I knew it wasn't the job for me.