Friend trapped (network marketing)

[Saddaughter999]

Long story, but bear with me.
I had a friend who I got on really well with. We used to have playdates with the kids, do things together, etc.
About three years ago, she started selling cosmetics through a network marketing company. Initially, I saw it as a bit of a hobby for her. I even attended one of her product launch events and bought a couple of things myself.
However, over time, I started noticing that she seemed increasingly controlled by her area manager. She had to join meetings at precisely the scheduled time, be available to answer calls whenever required, and generally seemed to have very little freedom.
Every now and then, she would complain about how expensive it all was – having to pay for her own business trips, high sales targets to qualify for earnings, etc.
I got the impression she was struggling to meet her targets. At one point, she even asked me to create a "new customer" account in my own name.
Around a year ago, she started complaining about all sorts of health problems. Her GP eventually diagnosed her with health anxiety, and even her parents openly said that she was struggling with mental health issues.
I gradually distanced myself because she was constantly asking me to accompany her to A&E and almost every conversation revolved around her health.
After some time, we eventually had an honest conversation, during which she admitted that she was struggling with sales, that her area manager was putting her under a lot of pressure, and that she felt trapped.
I started wondering whether some of her health complaints might have been a way of avoiding the situation, because she simply didn't know how to get out of network marketing.
Then, yesterday, I bumped into another woman who used to be part of her team. She actually joked that the whole thing was like a cult.
Has anyone else experienced something similar? I'm starting to wonder just how much pressure these companies put on people and whether my friend's experience was more common than I realised.

It's a pyramid company and was outlawed sometime ago here. Support her but never buy or join the company. You could say that it seems an unhealthy job to be doing but don't press the issue.

I told her, however she still seems to be pressured to meet some targets, even when spending days at A&E....

Contact Trading Standards at your local council, or Citizens Advice. Don't tell your friend just try to support her by saying the targets aren't real. Basically let her rant but don't let it affect your relationship with her.

Join us at the long running MLM threadOP - it’s an absolute eye opener into this ruthless world of huns

Where I can find it please?

It’s in the money matters section - and headed Botwatch - the anti MLM thread -

Pyramid scheme or even the Avon lady

Maybe my factory potty mouth but tell manager to go f herself?, or a polite weeks notice bye bye, your mental health & physical health is worth more than that garbage.
She will feel so much better for it once she is out.
As for the fear you won't find anything else. I walked out of my toxic job in August,found a new job by September & its the end of October & I've been given a promotion. Aged 52.
I had the fear I wouldn't find anything then one day i just couldn't do it & walked away.

So, its a job, not her life, to put in her notice

Is she thinking that she won’t get any other work? How does she get paid? I don’t really how these things work.

She doesn't earn much, I believe most of the time she is even in minus balance. Products cost a lot, shampoo around £50, etc.

Oh my God, this is awful

It’s one thing to feel beholden to a boss when you’re being paid a lot of money

But she isn’t? Yeah, I don’t know how to help but it sounds like she needs help. Hopefully you’ll find some ideas on the other thread.

Network marketing / MLM (multilevel marketing) schemes, operate like cults - they’re little more than pyramid schemes and the only reason they’re legal in the UK (and some other countries) is because their victims are encouraged to sell overpriced products as well as recruiting other people to join such an amazing opportunity.

Which MLM has she joined? Forever Living, Arbonne, Younique, Tropic …? There are many more. Name and shame - we don’t hold back on the MLM Botwatch threads.

Talented Ladies has some excellent articles on how damaging MLMs are:

https://www.talentedladiesclub.com/?s=Mlm

Have a look at this BBC documentary- it’s a real eye-opener.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p076n2hg

I don’t get why she doesn’t just quit? Is she a single mum? Does she desperately need the income? The only women I know who do this crap tend to be doing it as a hobby while their husbands are the main earners, which sounds like your friend if you initially saw it as a hobby.

She probably doesn’t want to leave because she’s in minus and owes them money and they keep telling her money is around the corner every week. It isn’t. She should quit even without breaking even

As @HotAsSatansBalls has said above Talented Ladies Club is very eye opening.

MLM'S are very toxic (I have been there) and you will get people telling you "well my company is soooo supportive". BUT the only thing her upline is interested in is how much is being sold. Your friend will be pressed to buy stock, to pay for training, invest in her business, which is of course going straight into the coffers of the organisation.

She doesn't need to resign, she just needs to say that she's out, and then block on every platform. She doesn't owe them an explanation.

@Saddaughter999 she will definitely be in the red from this as a vanishingly small amount of people can turn a profit in MLM. Many think they’re in profit but once they actually tot up what it’s costing them to “earn” they’re often shocked. There is research that shows that 99.6% of people entering MLM including those dropping out early don’t earn anything or lose money when their expenses are taken into account. The rare ones who have made substantial money in the past are often wheeled out as any example of what is possible without ever explaining what is actually probable. These “successful” people, who make up a tiny percentage of the total people entering MLM have made their money by recruiting vast numbers of customers (who think they have a business). Absolutely no one makes money by selling product to genuine customers outside the scheme. Some of the most successful don’t even mention products in the training they given downlines.

As it happens I am a CBT therapist and one of the difficulties I see a lot is health anxiety. Anxiety in all its various manifestations often takes hold in a period of stress and being pressured and bullied to become more deeply financially embroiled in MLM could easily be said to be very stressful. It’s actually really hard to help someone out of MLM. Cults always make the outside seem dangerous and full of people who don’t understand or are envious and have “failed at network marketing”. The upline relationship is so often abusive, diminishing the downline’s sense of self and manipulating them and bullying them.

Come over to the botwatch thread and people there can point you towards resources that might help.

Well done @HotAsSatansBalls very handy resources!

She is with Monat.

She is SAHM, her husband earns well. Even her daughters 9 and 5 are involved as they're "models" for selling kids products, I know her husband had a really bad argument about it.

@Saddaughter999 Monat was, and still is, involved in various lawsuits. I’m amazed it’s still going.

Tell her to read this:

https://ellebeaublogger.wordpress.com/2017/02/01/chapter-1-getting-reeled-in/

Talking of Monat Lawsuits. One of my favourite MLM memes.

I'm surprised too, I know one lady who was a master of network marketing, she literally did 5 ir 6 different ones and earned really well. However, she said she left Monat after first two weeks. It must be something different from Avon, etc. And I believe it's the targets, they increase them constantly until it's unbearable 💔

@Saddaughter999 all network marketing companies are bad news for the people who join them, the business model is the problem. I’m cynical about someone who is involved in a number of MLM claiming to do really well. Most of them won’t allow involvement with other MLM at the same time. Your friend’s problem isn’t Monat specifically, her problem is MLM, so I hope she sees the light and doesn’t hop to another MLM as a way out of Monat.

And this is why so many people fall for these companies...

This image shows the Average Income (in dollars, and I don't know when, but still)

The average earnings was $114 FOR THE YEAR! some people made more, the majority sunk time money and blood sweat and tears into earning less about 30 cents a day (on average)

Those who are earning the eye watering big bucks, which is where these companies go "look what you could earn" are ruthless, they couldn't care less about the lowly joiners. They know they've hooked you in, they know you're going to buy the stuff and then when you quit, there are another 20 people who will eventually join and do the same.

I got dragged into Amway some decades ago and honestly it was one of the worst mistakes of my life. The pressure, the expense, the brainwashing, isolation from family and friends if they don't go along with it. I lost so much money and it was really bad for my mental health. It all ended up in court cases and the organisation I was in being shut down. The big cheeses all got out and into other marketing organisations and the minions were all left high and dry. These MLM scams all work along the lines of a cult and victims need help and support to leave. I still feel anxious whenever I think about it.