@lockdownalli There are some slight differences in the set up of different MLMs. The exploitation doesn’t happen to the end customer who is not also a distributor - they choose how they spend their money. There are those that sign up for discounts who count as recruits and may have to make a minimum amount of purchases in a given period, if they’re clear on that that’s up to them. However, the exploitation happens among those that sign up as distributors as it is not made clear to them about income. Often they are told what is possible (and yes it’s possible to make a lot of money in MLM) but they are not told what is probable - that around 1% do very well and usually +80% make nothing at all. The ones who do well do it through recruiting a large downline as it is not possible to make any kind of consistent living through product sales - this isn’t made clear. The rewards are always stacked towards recruiting. This isn’t clear when they sign up. Uplines don’t get rewarded on what their downlines sell, they get rewarded on what their downlines purchase - this is exploitable.
The whole business model is built on a dodgy premise - that endless chain recruiting is sustainable. If I join an MLM tomorrow and recruit six people and those six people recruit six each and then those 36 recruit six each and so on, it only needs about 13 rounds of recruiting and we’ve run out of world population - and what if everyone on the planet doesn’t want Younique mascara?! What normally happens is the recruiting breaks down and the people at the top of the pyramid jump ship and everyone else gets left high and dry and out of pocket.
Tropic is relatively new but it’s worth looking at some who have been around longer to see how they are declining and how many people get burned (usually those that can least afford it). Forever Living is good case in point.
The other problem is the culture of MLM. There is a man in the US called Steve Hassan who is a psychologist specialising in helping people leave closed groups/cults; he calls MLM “commercial cults”, because so much of the behaviour is the same: in the early days the love bombing and ego massaging, then the separating of the individual from their normal social groups by advising the sign up to keep away from negative people who “don’t want the best for you”. Then the push to monetise your friends and family, to be a product of the product, to see success as the gift from the MLM but any failure to succeed in MLM as your fault; the law of attraction manipulation which is rife. And then if you don’t keep up the momentum the gaslighting, the bullying, the cutting off. All of this is very prevalent in MLM. However, MLM can look like a benign bit of social selling on the side, nice ladies “sharing” product. It looks like harmless fun. It’s only when you watch the industry over years and when you’re involved in helping people who have been damaged by its culture and by the business model that you realise that this is a colossal scam But one with no clear victim (as the perpetrator and victim are often the same as the “opportunity“ is passed on).
Your Tropic friend may conduct herself well, she may make reasonable money through her downlines but you can bet some of the people she’s pulled in have got burned. But Tropic isn’t the worst, that’s is true.
www.talentedladiesclub.com/articles/how-much-can-you-earn-with-mlm-tropic-skincare/
www.talentedladiesclub.com/articles/how-much-can-you-earn-with-mlm-tropic-skincare/