It was a poster taped on a street sign –
Make $12/hr with complete freedom to set your own hours!
I was 16 and this hooked me.
I called the number and was invited to a meeting in a nondescript business park in Pasadena.
The meeting went on and on about the benefits of working at the company. Flexibility, uncapped income potential, and the ability to scale up to a team.
After 1 hour in, I finally figured out that this was a sales position.
2 hours in, it was finally revealed that the company wanted sales reps to sell knives.
2 hours 1 minute in, I walked out of the meeting.
It wasn’t that I thought selling knives was below me (actually, I believed them to be quite good).
What turned me off was the feeling of being fooled.
If the company just told me the product and position clearly from the beginning, heck, I might have signed up for the job.
Why hide the real thing?
They lost my trust in an instant.
This is rampant within the network marketing world.
Everyone has had that 1 friend hit them up randomly, only to tell them about some mysterious amazing income-generating opportunity.
And the real product is hidden until the end.
This is my best guess as to why…
They not about the product. Whether it be makeup, vitamins or insurance. It’s all about story.
What is the core story?
That you are better than everyone else.
You just haven’t had the right opportunity come along.
Until now.
(Special Snowflake Positioning)
YOU can be your own boss. While others slave away at their corporate jobs earning steady benefits and a nice paycheck, YOU are working towards your dreams.
(Classic Us vs Them Positioning)
There’s untapped income potential.
As long as the potential is big, powerful, vague enough – then there will always be someone to recruit.
(Also what cults do)
These companies will never tell you about the other potential – that most of their members fail, and that the business is set up so that only a few at the top win.
Just like any other damn business.
Except normal businesses pay a regular wage and benefits.
For those exploring an MLM, network marketing company or pyramid schemes, dig into the numbers. Ask for not just average income but the proportion of who makes what.
Other than that, I think most people will make far more money, for their time, through regular jobs or starting a business…one that doesn’t hide what sells.
- Rant over.
PS for an afternoon of hilarity visit reddit.com/r/antimlm for mlm-related stories