Online travel business- is it a scam?!

[amimissingsomethinggg]

My Instagram is full of people who have started their own online business. They keep posting constantly, including posts about holiday offers, how their mentors are making 6/7 figures, what am amazing community they are part of, how they are getting top tier coaching and how much financial freedom their ‘side hustle’ has given them- all they need is their phone.

Am i missing something?! I have to work my butt off to earn what I earn- not to mention how hard it has been to get where I am. Apparently they are earning the same, if not more, from the comfort of their own home- and they are able to work around their other commitments and set up a passive income stream leaving a ‘legacy’ for their children. Please enlighten me!

Sounds like a pyramid scheme/multi level marketing

They aren’t earning that - it’s all talk to get people to either book a holiday with them, or because they are talking about “financial freedom” it’s to join them. It’s an MLM. Only the top 1% in MLM’s actually make any money and the rest spend more than they make. Please don’t be sucked in.

Sounds like an MLM scheme (multilevel marketing.) The vast majority will be 'faking it until they make it' except they'll never make it...

Have thought as much. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is! I will be sticking to my usual day job...

My Facebook is full of these people. They all disappear before too long.

I know of one on insta. She is all very glam and has a huge house and is always travelling but essentially her husband has a huge building company. So she might get a discount but all the travel and their life and home and school fees are absolutely paid for by him. There is no way she is making that kind of money.

It seems to have become such a big thing of late. I'm surprised to see so many people getting sucked in- some very intelligent people too.

The contacts I know who do this, have very well paid husbands or have another day job. The holiday job is to access good rates for their own holidays!!!

I know someone who is doing this and she doesn’t even bother selling holidays now as she has got so many victims in her downline. All she seems to do is go for drinks with other team members or directors to celebrate this that and the other. So she isn’t actually ‘working’ doing anything, it’s all a facade she is just recruiting and getting cuts from that and they are recruiting and so on. So she seems to drink too much now and have a fake lifestyle of pretending to go nice places and sell trips but it’s all fake and most of these reps do not make decent £ only like the top 0.01% make good cash and that can collapse any moment because it’s based on everyone else being in your down line. Plus also you ain’t your own boss 😂😂 it’s not your business- if the MLM folds overnight everything you worked for instantly disappears. And MLM’s are folding quite a lot now

It does all seem very fake. A few of them I know fairly well- have to say I have been surprised they have gone down this route- but the way they exaggerate the truth about their lives- it's pretty much a lie! So clearly you do have to fake it to make it- and even then you probably won't!

I have looked into the model it’s awful. I don’t think you notice how much money you are not making and actually losing until further in. Most of the travel companies you have to pay £200 or so to be a member a month. You don’t get paid out on the travel bookings for months and months either, so I think it’s slow creep. You keep buying your membership thinking you will break even at some point but many don’t, and those who do.. the only way to make money is recruitment so they are making £ off the people who don’t make it, and can’t really afford the £200

It’s the most recent iteration of MLM. Beauty and health products have taken a nose dive, so selling insta images of holidays is where it’s at.

Avoid like the plague, and probably de-friend anyone who falls for that shizzle because as well as not being very business savvy, they are also willing to flog absolute shit to, or co-opt, their friends and family members. It’s shameless self-aggrandisement, with no concern for people you’re supposed to like or even love.

You are not missing something. It is, as @nutbrownhare15 and @MillicentMargaretAmanda both helpfully say, multi level marketing. Whether it is being an online travel agent, selling aloe products or even, back in the day more mundane products (and I am sure we probably name a few). They absolutely love people who know lots of other people, maybe don't have the current capacity (childcare etc.) and are legitimately looking for a "side hustle". And these people often have loving friends and family, neighbours even who will support them in this new venture, enjoy a social occasion, and buy, and also expect you to recruit more. The only winner is at the top, or further up the chain, who report fantastic insta worthy posts, fab team, etc.. All sorts of prizes for top sellers and top recruiters to lure you in, all sorts of "team belonging" type stuff. What I think happens with most, is they realise, and if they have had an outlay in the first place, are lucky to recover it, and by then they have lost a fair bit of integrity with others, friendships soon melt away once they realise you are "always on the sell". Even without ANY outlay, the cost is not worth it. I was also surprised about people I knew quite well going for this - they won't be able to tell the truth about what actually happened, they are tied legally.
I really wish that more could be done about this sort of thing. And, I'm not sure what really can be done, but I am glad you have posted, because the more people that understand what MLM scams are, the more people will question whether it is right for them. xx

There have been many well-researched studies showing that 99% or more of those involved in MLM lose money. You might as well put it on the horses.

Just while I am on the thread, anyone reading, also beware the ones that tell you that you can earn money from doing reviews of hotels etc., especially if you quite like to kindly help others with genuine reviews on tripadvisor etc. Most will quickly realise that these "paid for reviews" are to hotels you have never stayed in. There has been another thread on this, and I cannot find it now, but it is the same sort of crap, albeit not as personally damaging to relationships, but you will be out of pocket at some point in the future.

Thanks all. Your answers were what I expected and I will be avoiding!