Hi MumsNet,
Long-time lurker here but felt compelled to say something about this thread.
It's incredibly toxic. You're all in here laughing, pointing fingers, judging people for trying something new. How are they offending or hurting you in anyway? You can politely decline if you're approached, you can unfriend/block them on facebook, I don't get what your issue is with it.
You say it's like a crazy cult but that's also what this thread seems to be. A load of people clapping to the same tune so they can feel their opinion is validated by others.
I'm not a distributor but my wife is and no, she's not making a boat load of money. She had the 9-5, she hated it, was on all sorts of anti-depressants and other mood managing pills. She heard about FL, I told her to do whatever she wants to do and I will support her. She makes a couple of hundred a month, supplement that with my income and we have enough to get by. Sure we're worse off financially but guess what, she's happy. She smiles when she talks about work. She's off the pills. Is that so bad? That someone just wanted to break away from the monotonous 9-5 work 40 years, retire at 65 with a small pension and a thank you letter?
Sure there are some bad apples, the people who constantly harass others about the business, the ones who have this facade that the products they sell are liquid gold and can cure all your problems. But you'll get that anywhere.
Another thing I see on here is FL people 'making money off others'. For those of you work and earn a salary - where do you think that money comes from? If you go into Boots and buy a cream for your child's eczema and it doesn't work. What happens? You'll probably put it in the bathroom cupboard and forget about it and try another cream. Boots sold that product to you and made money from you even though the product didn't work. Do they get flack for it? No. If that happens with FL, it's the end of the world and the person who sold that is lying, manipulative, horrible person. Boots still markets and advertises just as the FL people do. The only difference being that FL is done face-to-face, Boots is done through TV and billboard advertising.
God forbid these FL people try something different and take a bit more control of their lives. Facebook is what you make of it. Don't like something you see - ignore it, hide/remove/block/unfriend that person and get on with your life. Everyone in here is seemingly willing these FL people to fail just so your own viewpoint can have some credence. Sure the main business is a bit culty but so is every successful company. I remember back in my early 20s working for a broadband supplier and the first 2 weeks of training there was like being indoctrinated to a cult. They would have you believe that they were THE best broadband suppliers ever and that none of the others were even worth their salt and that we were so lucky to be working for a company that actually cares about its employees. Training finished, I'm on the shop floor and I'd be told off for going to the toilet outside my break, yeah, great company.
To finish, let me put something across - if you want other people to fail so you can feel better or because you disagree with their business practices or because you don't particularly get along with that person - does that make you feel good about yourself?
Blowing out other people's candles won't make yours shine any brighter.