Multi-level marketing schemes

[Jocephus]

Michael Scott: So Jim I noticed you checking out Jan's candles.
Jim Halpert: Oh no. She just put it in front of my face.
Michael Scott: Did you know, that candles are the number one fastest growing product in the scent-aroma market? Two billion dollar a year industry. And for only ten thousand dollars YOU could become a co-owner of Serenity by Jan. What do you think about that?
Andy: Thought about it. I'm in.
Jim Halpert: I'm sorry are you really trying to get us to invest in Jan's company?
Michael Scott: [shaking his head] I'm sorry.

[Jocephus]

[IMADreamer]

I almost made this exact same rant this weekend. It's nuts how these have exploded. I know people selling oils, body wraps, candles,and who knows what other [expletive]. I'd over generalize about how they are all 20-30 something women who aren't happy with their lives, have no careers, and [expletive] jobs but I know you guys don't like me to generalize.


The worst is this guy who used to work for me though. Apparently the guys get sucked into selling utilities. He used to work for me because I fired his ass after he showed up to work hi as a kite. He was a loser anyway, and then he went to jail and got out and started working for Ambit. Whoever the [expletive] Ambit is. He could save me a fortune on my bill, even though he didn't even know what my bill was. I've never figured out how adding a middle man to the mix can save me money? Anyway I sent his dumb ass packing. Then all be damned if two days later another guy shows up wanting me to sign up for Ambit.

People are dumb.

[planet planet]

Mrs. Swirls got into Rodan + Fields last summer. She's spent (I mean I've spent) a metric [expletive] load of money on it. I'd guesstimate that her total earnings over the past year have been ~$750 or so. Expenses would be well over double that, probably closer to $2k. Some of those expenses are for her mailing out a [expletive] load of small freebie type sample kits, but a lot of it was for her to buy stuff to use to really try it out. She maintained the moral high ground that she wouldn't hock stuff on FB to everyone and promote the hell out of the stuff if she didn't have firsthand experience with it.

A friend of hers from HS is the girl that got her into it, and she (and her recruiter that got Mrs. Swirls' friend into it) were really pushing her hard for the first few months to get a bunch of people signed up beneath her and whatnot. She still doesn't have anyone beneath her where she will get a % of all their sales, which annoys them to no end (again, because they'll get a small % of all of Mrs. Swirls' sales).

She got into it knowing it wouldn't be any sort of a viable financial career, at least not within the first couple years. Her plan is to do it now when we both have full-time jobs and then in a few years when we are boggled down with kids, she can be a stay at home mom and use it as a supplement to my income. One of the other reasons she got into it was to try and meet new people/friends, since we had just moved to South Carolina from upstate New York. And now we're in the Twin Cities, and once again don't really know more than a handful of people.

We'll see. I'm still not a huge proponent of it - partially because I'm against the idea of MLM/pyramid schemes in general, and partially because I've just not really seen much of a return on our investment yet. For example, something like the first $40 you'd make on commission each month is lost for "web maintenance and consultant fees." If you don't make $40 in commission that month, they will auto-debit your bank account for any funds you are lacking.

She only does a FB post once a week or so - a lot less than some other people's feeds that I've seen.

My friend makes a [expletive] ton on Thirty-One stuff. I worked with her for awhile and she finally left to raise her family. The key is getting in early. And BTW, one of my old college roommates is hitting me up on Rodan & Fields. I don't attend any of these parties and my friends know this (mostly because I don't give a crap about their jewelry, bags, candles, skin care, etc). The weird thing is I'm in IT sales, but in St. Louis, friends DO NOT want to mix business with pleasure or network in that way. Don't know if that's the case elsewhere, but I think it's strange. I would go out of my way to introduce a good friend to my company, contacts, etc. I end up just going through the normal cold channels and when I win business at the company where they work, I let my friends know. A warm intro would be much better.

[haltz]

My grandmother drives an S550 selling a product called Beauticontrol after dropping out of HS and having four kids by age 21. I'm sure she was really good at it to get to be numero uno on the pyramid - she probably recruited every housewife in Dallas in 1982 but at this point she represents a dream that doesn't exist that they're selling to all their customers... I mean consultants. She literally has 30,000 people she gets a piece of down line. There's no way she's made a direct sale in years.

[lukethedrifter]

The future of American jobs is here. Hallelujah!

[heyzeus]

I've actually rejected a friend request twice from someone because I know she's just gonna post 8 times a day about how #beachbody #products are totally #awesome, #loseweightfeelgreat, #hashtag #summerbod.

[cardinalkarp]

I've actually rejected a friend request twice from someone because I know she's just gonna post 8 times a day about how #beachbody #products are totally #awesome, #loseweightfeelgreat, #hashtag #summerbod.

Are the beachbody products really a pyramid scheme? I just thought you bought them online or from tv advertisements.