This Drives Me Nuts About MLMs!

You are correct. MLM don't work for the largest portion of people who attempt them. You don't have a franchise, you don't have a health plan, and you don't have security in your job. Most who attempt to work an MLM do work very hard, building downlines to help support themselves and those above them. MLM is a fancy title for a pyramid. those at the top raking in the benefits while those below do all the work. I don't care what company an MLM is the simple fact is they promote the 'trickle down theory' which is a blatant lie. You worked darn hard to achieve the level you did, and it was all too easily lost with no protections in place for you. That is why I would never work any of the MLM's I have been presented, Avon, Mary K, Amway. While the products may be good, the marketing is such that no one but the company comes out ahead.

MK is not an MLM, but a direct sales company. Everyone buys their product direct from corporate, not from someone in their upline. My Mom was in Shaklee once a long time ago and that was a true MLM because you had to buy your product from the person who sponsored you in, and the more people you sponsored in, the bigger the discount you could buy your product at. It was a real racket.

I hope your health improves as well. All these scams on the internet and elsewhere are blatant lies and need to be avoided at all costs. I have had numerous friends and family members try and give me schpiels about amway-like programs and others and I try to be polite and hear them out and when I say no they get all bent out of shape telling me I wasted their time. I apologize but reminded them that they actually wasted my time. I'm so sorry you've been through so much crap and glad that you found this site! There are plenty of ways to earn online, just remember that there are millions of online scams as well. Beware and good luck!

Well, I am an Arbonne Consultant and I have done my best and I have nothing but debt as well and there are many more like us i am sure. They rope you in with fancy things you could get and when you don't it is like your a failure. I know where you are comming from and I am on your side. Hope your health improves!

That is terrible about loosing your business because of health related issues. I have an Ameriplan Business and once you reach your first Pin Level your business is willable and sellable so any business you put on the books can go to whomever you want if you must leave. I also consider myself a Network Marketer. I train with successful people not only in our company but who have made a milion in network marketing and now hold training seminars etc. I also receive benefits from Ameriplan. But enough about my company. Bottom line is find a home based business you can find yourself truly believing in and looking at the big picture of the company, do your research, and no nothing is get rich quick, be ready to learn a lot of stuff about marketing. I had a great Corporate position, worked from home, traveled, had the best boss. He was not promoted for the efforts done from his team, we were the highest grossing team for the company, they downsized him after 20 some years with the company. I now know I need to be able to teach and train my downline to want to succeed. I am the boss of me! :-) Good luck with your future business. April

I'm not sure if Mary Kay is the same as tupperware (same set up i mean) But i have been a tupperware lady on and off for years. Just recently i went to join again in hopes to earn my share in this house and i'll tell ya the times have changed. Pricing for one is insane! Mary Kay has just as much if not more competetion so i'm sure you know what i mean. Then i live in the middle of nowhere now.. out where the cows are. People don't spend here. well my point is try tupperware. i went to a meeting out here and had to laugh 'cause the manager says to us girls "if you can get a $1000.00 party, now don't be scared i know some of you are sitting there saying i've never had a $500.00 party let alone a $1000.00 party" VERY modivational. :) i quit too.

Sounds like it did work for you but timing was just bad I guess. I mean you made it!! That is great, good for you! I am surprised that your own mentors did not help you to stay on as my friend is in Mary Kay and she is doing her business still but she is not leading, her mentor director is helping her out by working with her team members until she is ready to go back to it. She is focusing on her kids right now and she still sends her emails and the like to her customers she just does not do her team leading stuff. Anyway, I hope that your health is okay, and that you are able to get into a business whether it be for yourself or for an employer that will make you feel more secure. I just started a business myself, it is not MLM and it is not direct selling, and I use the products myself, it is not amway either... I have been in it for a few months now and I love it, and my Friend who is in Mary Kay has been trying to recruit me for 2 years but I just could not do the out of home meetings, nor the direct selling AND not only that but Mary Kay is so well known I also did not feel that I would make it very well, I am in a business that is not very well known and I hope to make a supplemental income, I am not looking to make a whole bunch of money just enough to supplement and allow me to stay at home for a lot longer than what we had originally planned. anyway, hope all goes well for you....I help others too and I love what I do, it is education moreso than anything.... Though most MLM's are for 1 to 2% you are definitely one of those people and you should applaud yourself for that!!

I have never done Mary Kay but i use to do Avon and i have also done Le Reve before and to be honest they werent for me, i put in ALOT of time, money and effort in my business's and when i did decide to quit all i ended up with was a debt. By the sounds of it you did very well with Mary Kay to get a car! Party plan business's are extremly hard and they just arent for everyone!

Stop worrying what everyone else says or thinks and find a new line of work that you can be successful with. You are the one who needs to be happy with themselves so do not concern yourself with these individuals. When they have to start paying your rent or bills then they can judge.

I am sorry you ended up in debt and in poor health. It happened to me too. I can tell you my horrible experiences with MLMs too. I won't get back into it unless there is something for me to gain. I am a member of Melaleuca but mostly because I like some of the products. The business side well, if it works, great.. if not then whatever. Those who actually are truely successful with MLMs probably have not much else better to do because the majority of their time is marketing like mad to make sales and to bring people in. Who really has the time and energy for that? If you want to make money, it's best to provide something that you can, a service of your own you can provide. In my case, when my mind is in a better frame whenever that will be I will be working harder at that too.

I fell for the Arbonne products. What a waste? I did not make a dime. I only brought 3 kits so I did not lose much. The uplines just used poor suckers like me to advance themselves.

That sounds awful. i tried once with another goup called melaluca but i couldn't afford the products and selling them was to much. the products are great and you can buy them from ebay so that is what i do but they wanted over 50.00 a month for me to buy from them that was a big mistake.

I always thought the Pink cars were a strange trophy. I've heard your have to work like crazy and then if you fall behind that rip that car right back and hand it to the next person in line.

I am just curious what MLM stands for. I have seen it used a bit the last few days and I have never hard of Mary Kay. Just wondering what those two things refer to.

AMEN!! I have been with a few companies over time that called me Lazy, etc. but where were they for support when you have Poor Health, or just cannot get anything going for you? It it a Shame so many people are like this. Makes me wonder what type of Moral ethics, or beliefs they might have. Even from some of them that state they are Christian, or Christian based and there to help everyone. It is a shame, and that is why now I look for more sites like this that are FREE to do and if I can earn a little from them, than good, and I am loosing nothing really but time spent if it fails.

That is the whole concept of those companies, they treat you like crap so you earn money for the company. Eventually you quit, but the people above you in the company benefit from the work you did before you quit. MLM's are all scams and should be illegal

its true, they don't work for most. i was part of several, and i couldn't afford to make it work. the amount of money i put into it, wasn't worth it because i got nothing in return. i lost more money then i earned. only a select few make it to director levals, and its true, they make it seem so easy to get more people in. i'm not saying it doesn't work, it just doesn't work for me.

I worked for Vector marketing selling Cutco. And I knew a few people who made some pretty good money with this deal. But, I also know quite a few who couldn't make barely anything. You had to generate your own leads, you had to pay out money right away, and the training classes seemed like cult brain washing to me. here check it out: http://radified.com/blog/archives/00005.html

My daughter sells MaryKay and I guess she's doing ok with it. I have to agree with you that it's not for most. She tried to get me started in it, that didn't last, I really don't have the personality for it, I've been a stay at home mom for 9 years and it's true that you can lose your self esteem, I've never had a real outgoing personality, I'm very shy and I don't like to talk to people I don't know, I gave it a good effort, I thought...she didn't think so, she still tells me that my attitude was wrong and if I changed it I could succeed, I don't agree, do they teach people to say that to recruit people?

I dove into Princess House almost two years ago because I loved the product so much I'd do anything to fill my house with it, including becomeing a consultant. When I first started out I soared into the top five in our area for three months with another team mate who started just before me. With our UO we made a great team and we always had fun, but then a second area came in to our meetings because they were part of our division and completely blew us all out of the water. Their sales and sponsorships were literally 2-3 times higher than what our top sellers were doing, and it made us feel about this -- big. After my network dwindled, I got frustrated and gave up. I'm still a consultant but I don't do in home shows anymore. I just hold my own party two-three times a year to get new things out of the catalogue, but you're right about everything you said. They push you so ard in those businesses, and if you even falter for a second, they call you a failure. I don't feel like I failed at PH. I feel like it failed my expectations and my needs as a woman.