MLM Bot Watch 51: the Cult of multilevel marketing

[BSintolerant]

Lies, creative accounting and the Law of Reaction. Network marketers, we’re onto you - and so is the BBC:
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p076n2hg

Yawn is ruthless and desperate. She'll take advantage of anyone vulnerable enough to believe her lies.

If I understand correctly, that FL statement says that out of all the FBOs only 11.4% actually make any money at all?
Then it goes on to say that out of the 11.4% , 69% earned an average of $105 per month in bonus earnings.
30% earned an average of $1,493 per month and the highest earners,

That's a great find @bovneydazzlers

That's less than 1% of the 11.4% who make anything so basically 0.1% of all FBOs.

The 69% of the 11.4% who earn a grand a year (before expenses don't forget!) equates to 7.9% of all FBOs

The 30% of the 11.4% who earn $18k per year (still below the average salary in a normal job and don't forget the expenses!!) is 3.4% of all FBOs.

By just doing the % of the 11.4% who earn anything is an attempt to disguise just how poor the stats are but it is incredibly misleading.

Unfortunately, and I don't want to be unkind here, uneducated women with a poor grasp of maths are the most likely to be targeted. However there are also professionals, teachers, doctors, lawyers who either decide to see past the figures as they're blinded by the claims if glamour and riches, or believe they can be that 1%, or are desperate in their own way eg work stress, childcare issues, relationship problems, elderly parents, health issues, whatever,and this stops them making rational decisions. It seems crazy to us but it obviously happens!

The stats are very misleading, presented as they are as % of %, agreed. And tiny print somewhere amongst glossy images of health and wealth.

Yes @VTechnophobe - that 69% (of 11%) who 'earn' a grand a year are losing money, once you take into account 'training', travel, website, merchandising and other general hunning expenses. Once you factor in the 'being a product of the product/ being your own best customer', they are probably the group that is deepest in the hole with FL, and that is without going into the extras they will pay for 'mindset' books, videos, coaching etc.

The 30% (of the 11%) 'making' 18K are well below UK minimum wage (the figure is in $, UK minimum wage £17K for a 40 hour week). Once you factor the above expenses in, they are averaging well below even this.

A truthful representation of earnings would be this:

• Fewer than 0.1% make more than the minimum wage

• 3.4% make less than the minimum wage

• All the rest (96.4 %) lose money.

Their figures, not ours.

For any FL hun reading this and having trouble with figures, next time you go to an event, if they tell you there are 5,000 of you there, only 5 of you are making more than minimum wage, 160 of you are making a pittance, the rest (4,835) are actually losing money.

Wow - Those are some scary numbers.

What blows my mind, in such a heavily regulated time for most of us with JOB's, these schemes troop along regulating themselves.

If a financial institution operated like this, the directors would be in prison and a class action would be fought for by all the top 5 law firms.

We are not talking peanuts here, the amount of money that these bots lose would be a staggering number.

They also generally prey on the financially or mentally vulnerable, which is what makes it so bad for me. This is why I would have zero emotion if the top bots, lost it all and ended up destitute, they are aware of the scam, and are happily taking money from vulnerable (even if they dont realise it) people

That link was interesting but i didn't get the maths bit properly until you guys translated it. Which is what they are counting on, I guess.

That page also mentions FOREVER2DRIVE. Anyone know how that actually works? I have seen another 'encounter' with the platinum manager and his wife. Lots and lots of bentley talk going on there. They have also recruited so many family members that it scares me what will happen when someone inevitably wakes up. Or just goes bust.

'these amounts... do not include any taxes or business-related expenses incurred at the discretion of the Business Owner'

yeah, RIGHT!!

It's up to FBOs whether they pay for the website, products to demonstrate, Success Days, travel expenses etc etc etc

So homeschool now thinks she is an expert on child development. I have been watching my GDDs swimming and speaking Thai.
Both parents are teachers and they attend a prestigious school. Not bad for 2 & 3 years old.

Twenty I'm glad you're here to present the facts in the way you do so eloquently. It really helps show the stark reality.

Eye remember an old friend who did something similar at the very beginning of the Bot watch threads. His reasons were similar. Sadly his contribution was short lived. Team flappy pigeon salute.

BSintolerant and Spongebobette know what I'm going on about I believe.

Eye remember too. Bloody awful how they are no longer able to contribute.

Eye agree!

Eye also remember. Back when the suggestion that there might be similarities between MLMs and cults seemed faintly ridiculous...

Time to drink some parslai flavoured kool aid I feel. Go team 💪💣💥🔥

Merchants of Deception which really is an Eye opener is highly recommended for anyone looking for MLM / cult parallels. Pdf is available online for free.

Any Castle gossip? I'm blocked 😭🏰

I joined these discussions after eye had departed.
What actually happened?

He / She was very insightful. However, at times it was quite a lot to take in, and eye was at times unable to not name people. I think eye was blocked from posting. Hopefully eye still reads and sees the ground work put in is really paying off. I think it was quite personal to eye and had been hurt very directly. Shame, as the level of knowledge was second to none. Waves if reading!

mlmtheamericandreammadenightmare.blogspot.com/?m=1

Eye spy an eye-opening blog.

Eye remember very well.

We didn't believe him when he told us that
the widely-misunderstood phenomenon that has become popularly-known as 'Multi-Level Marketing' (a.k.a. 'Network Marketing') is nothing more than an absurd, non-rational, cultic, economic pseudo-science maliciously-designed to lure unwary persons into de facto servitude, dissociate them from external reality and not only steal their money, but also deceive them into unconsciously acting the role of bait to lure other unwary persons (particularly their friends and family members) into the same trap.
the impressive-sounding made-up jargon term, 'MLM,' is therefore, the misleading title for an enticing structured-scenario of control which has been developed, and constantly acted out as reality, by the instigators, and associates, of various copy-cat, major and minor, ongoing organised crime groups (hiding behind labyrinths of legally-registered corporate structures) to shut-down the critical, and evaluative, faculties of victims, and of casual observers, in order to perpetrate, and dissimulate, a series of blame-the-victim 'Long Cons' - comprising self-perpetuating rigged-market swindles*, a.k.a. pyramid scams (dressed up as 'legitimate direct selling income opportunites') and related advance-fee frauds (dressed up as 'legitimate: training and motivation, self-betterment, programs, recruitment leads, lead generation systems,' etc.).
Apart from an insignificant minority of shills (whose leading-role in the 'Long Con' has been to pretend that anyone can achieve financial freedom simply by following their unquestioning example and exactly-duplicating a step-by-step-plan of recruitment and self-consumption), the hidden overall net-loss/churn rate for participation in so-called 'MLM income opportunities,' has always been effectively 100%.
Taken from the blog linked above.

The term 'churn rate' still sends shivers down my spine. It is so cold and calculated. Basically the replacement rate of mlm members with new ones as they realise they have lost money.

Is it me or is Yawns FB open again?

Maybe.
Your reality is a reflection of your stongest belief after all...

Yep, it’s open. I’m now annoyed because one of my friends (the reason I came to detest FL so much) has fucking liked her status about the thank you card. I thought she was clear of all that bullshit.

It was only going to be a matter of time before Yawn started posting openly again.

Posts on her business page have been gradually increasing, the odd selfie sneaking in, pictures of #thethatch in the background and....drum roll please....she's splashed out on a new prop (the letter board thingy) for the twee quotes.

Still blocked by Yawn, will check it out when I get onto my botwatching alt on the computer.