MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING COMPANIES: the sinister, low-life, unethical, pyramid-shaped, modern snake-oil salesmen following in the footsteps of Mr. Charles Ponzi… or so I thought. Working a closing shift one night last week, i quickly became bored and as usual broke out some reading material. Thoroughly engaged in my book, The Millionaire Next Door: The secrets of America’s Wealthy, I was caught off guard when a customer ripped open the front door and strolled inside. Observing the cover of my book that was now lying down on the counter, he struck up a conversation regarding, this book, other business related books and business in general. I quickly became very excited as I only recently began to read these books and have never been able to discuss them with anyone before. After about five minutes or so he began to tell me about the company he was working for: their amazing product and how they are one of the quickest companies to ever reach a billion dollars in revenue. All of this information was quite stimulating as I am very interested in the stories of such successful businesses and had no longer than a few hours prior realized that I needed to find a new job or create a business venture of my own. After about a 20 minute conversation, he gave me his card, a sample of the product he was selling for the company and promised to send me an email with more information regarding a job? Or business opportunity? It wasn’t quite clear at the time. Anyhow, I went home that night to have my hopes dashed when I found out this company, Mona Vie, was a multi-level marketing company.
I have always understood multi-level marketing companies to be somewhat of a scam where people who get in earlier (or are at the top of the pyramid) have the potential to make quite a bit money. On the other hand those who are hired later (or are at the bottom of the pyramid) have a much greater chance of losing the money they put into the company and essentially being exploited. I remembered one thing that the Mona Vie distributor had said about how Donald Trump and best-selling author, Robert Kiyosaki, were both endorsing these multi-level marketing companies and decided to investigate. What I found shocked me. He was not lying. My two heroes that I look up to for advice and hoped to be like some day as they had both made their fortunes investing in real estate were pushing some barely-legal con-artist run corporate structure on their loyal fans. I needed to do more research and develop a better understanding of exactly how these companies operate.
It appears that the main argument in support of these companies is that the pyramid structure actually resembles the same pyramid structure which makes up compensation plans of corporations across the globe where a few ‘higher-ups’ earn many times what the numerous employees of lower levels earn. After visiting many sites in support of and against MLMs and Mona Vie all of the information I gathered did not sway my opinion on these companies; I was still unsure what to think. My decision not to bother pursuing this company stemmed mainly from what I viewed on Mona Vie’s website. It was simple. There were three steps: 1.View the opportunity (I did so and found that the speakers for the company sounded corny and full of B.S.) 2. Buy the product and 3. Become linked with a fantastic global support network. The order was what got through to me the most. I was expected to spend several hundred to thousands of dollars on a product before I was ever trained to sell it? This did not make sense to me. I was also weary of this amazing support network because it sounded like it involved purchasing a number of books on selling and establishing connections with distributors above me who no doubt have their own problems to worry about besides training me. Though their helping me may well benefit themselves, they may possibly have no obligation to teach me.
As for Robert Kiyosaki, who I believed to be an quite an honest man, I remained disappointed until I began to look under the surface and see what should have been obvious. A YouTube video in which Robert Kiyosaki discusses several concepts from his Rich Dad series is currently circulating under quite a few titles. Though I have no idea what the original title of this video was, it has been renamed to suit the need of those at Monie Vie and has been posted to their website in order help with their process of recruiting distributors. The new title states, “Robert Kiyosaki on MLM business Opportunity,” clearly distorting the original meaning of the video. What he actually describes in the video, besides several concepts from his earlier books, is the opportunity in working for direct sales companies because of the extensive training they provide you with. Most likely, he is referring to reputable companies that have some sort of a screening process and train those who they feel are most qualified thoroughly.
Donald Trump has also started a network marketing company that sells medical products. It is hard to say whether this is simply in his nature and he is the type of man who would sell his mother if the profit was large enough or he has actually created a legitimate and ethical company. From my understanding, all that would be required to avoid exploitation and unethical practices in a network marketing company is provide a legitimate product and to extensively train employees on sales before requiring them to purchase it. However, the majority of these MLM companies appear to only train in why their product is so great, rather than sales techniques and practices (from my experiences with several of them at least). Overall, it appears that jobs in direct selling can be quite beneficial but only if a number of conditions are satisfied by the company. If I ever decide to get into this line of work (which could provide a great experience I’m sure), it would only be for a well established company with a reputation for a great sales training program and legitimate products. I will make sure I avoid any ‘on the rise’ companies that are ‘making millionaires every week’. Stay cynical my friends…just a little.
Below is the Kiyosaki video that I mentioned- under one its many titles on You Tube.
Categories: