MLM's

I follow more than a few blogs. Many are friends of mine and it's a nice way to peak into their lives. There are a few bulletin boards I follow too, most are trade related and specific to my life and career. Then there are the blogs I read related to Amway.



I've found most of them to be very critical. Over the past year a couple I know got involved with it and I couldn't help but be curious because when I was a kid in the 80's all I heard about it was that it was a pyramid scheme/scam and the adults talking about it would snigger and roll their eyes.



So I started researching. There is a lot of information out there, about Amway and other MLM's like Mona Vie and even Mary Kay and Avon. There are a whole lot of extremely negative things being said about these businesses, mostly about tool scams (tools are DVD's and books that your upline want you to buy to learn how to market your business, but a lot of this stuff is motivational crap that only makes money for the diamonds at the top who are selling the DVDs - their usefulness is peripheral at best and cuts significantly into the IBO's bottom line at worst) or forced purchase of inventory that never get sold. I looked and looked for blogs that appeared to be independent of company propaganda for positive spin and could never find any.



Finally, I've come across one Amway blog about a twenty-something who has just become an IBO and she is writing a play by play of her experience. She is getting weary, however, of the former IBO's who are posting advice in the comments section. I am interested to see where her Amway journey takes her, as I have a feeling it won't be a great experience. I really want to ask her if she has another job or if she is depending on her Amway sales and recruiting to support her.



I know of another woman who quit her fulltime job to sell Mary Kay products. She wound up almost getting evicted from her home and had to find another job several hours away from where she lives. I just found an article about how Mary Kay scams half a million women a year out of small chunks of money to start their own MK business by buying inventory that they can never resell. I personally don't use Mary Kay products, but I've tried them in the past and have been unimpressed with their quality.



I think alot of the time people who become involved with MLM's forget that the reason why they joined was to make money. When they fail to make significant headway with that they rationalize their continued membership by recognizing all the wonderful friends they've made and how their affiliation has given them a new, more positive outlook on life (even though they've almost been evicted and foodbanks stop by every so often to deliver food).

From my research, I have discerned that only about 2% (yes I actually did some math, Mona Vie actually publishes sales figures from their IBO's and I did some number crunching - too much time on my hands? I think so! ) actually make a liveable wage off of their work. The product that they sell is some sort of acai berry juice that comes in a corked wine bottle type thing that ostensibly (I love this word) boosts your immune system with all the antioxidants, helps with arthritis along with many other wild medical claims that are incidentally not medically documented by any professional medical association, if only you buy four bottles of it a month! The bottles themselves are about $30 each. Their IBO's get a discount and are expected to buy a certain amount every month for their own consumption and are also given bonuses based on how much their downline sell. Only about 2% make $45 - 50k/year. Apparently, eating an apple a day is a healthier and cheaper option.

Of course, the question I always wonder, is what is each IBO's personal goal? A little extra pocket money? Are you trying to run a whole household on your earnings? Do you really think you are going to be rich in five years when it's clear that only a very tiny minority are ever actually successful? From what I can tell with the Amway business is that the American market is saturated. The company itself clearly makes money but the sales are being generated in emerging markets like India.

There are all kinds of schemes out there designed to relieve you of your hard earned money. Be careful what you throw it away on.