Almost got sucked into an mlm tonight

[halmerej]

Im such an idiot. I was approached by a random man on the street today who asked about my shoes. Somehow the conversation drifted into business and entrepreneurship. He told me about a business seminar he was going to. I went. I was really excited until the giant screen showed the word
AMWAY.

Dont be an idiot like me. Trust no one.

AMWAY is still preying on young naive people like me

 

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[Get Right]

You're not a real entrepreneur until you have an MLM story

 

[Ninjakid]

Lol these MLM guys are like the shadiest people. They're the PUA of entrepreneurship.

*Sees random guy on the street. Alright remember, come up with clever opener.
"Hey man, I like your shoes!"

"uhhh. thanks."

"Hey, you like shoes, I like shoes. We have something in common!" *wink wink

"I guess so."

"So what do you do for a living besides have an awesome fashion sense?" *wink wink

"Entrepreneurship."

"Dude, like, no way. That's me too! Here, take my card, and let's go to this business seminar together, then we can do… entrepreneur stuff." *wink wink.

Sure enough, you showed up, you were disappointed. He never liked you, you were just a number.

Goddamnit MLM.

 

[Runum]

I did a quick google of MLM, what exactly is bad about it? It seems like a good marketing strategy, and even companies like Avon and Tupperware I read use MLM. It just seems like a more in-depth commission system.

Welcome to the Fastlane. Have you read the book? those questions are answered there.

How about posting an intro? Are you here to promote an MLM?

 

[Kingmaker]

Check out their ripoffreport claims. Lol. Sad to read. Keep at it though.
http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/Nu-Im...COMPANY-WONT-PAY-lowell-Massachusetts-1233681
http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/Nu-Im...STAY-AWAY-DONT-BE-ANOTHER-VICTIM-Lowel-956959

Lol at the second ripoff report where dude gets arrested by police after getting his 3rd soliciting warning. MLMs can really train some bulletproof drones as their salespeople

 

[GrayCode]

You're not a real entrepreneur until you have an MLM story

i got asked by someone i knew to come to a "Business Meeting". I went.. AMWAY ran it.

After about 10 mins, i was disgusted...

Host: " I am a Triple Platinum Member and i make 400k per year!"

Host: "...And now lets meet Bob, he is a Quadruple Platinum Triple Double Gold Member, He makes 900k/yr! and he got me in"

 

[wade1mil]

I did a quick google of MLM, what exactly is bad about it?

It's a 100% commission job that pays the equivalent of $0.03 per hour that's sold to unsuspecting victims as a "business" by people who actual own a business.
Own Tupperwear = business
Sell tupperwear = sucker

 

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[Deleted35442]

Im such an idiot. I was approached by a random man on the street today who asked about my shoes. Somehow the conversation drifted into business and entrepreneurship. He told me about a business seminar he was going to. I went. I was really excited until the giant screen showed the word
AMWAY.

Dont be an idiot like me. Trust no one.

AMWAY is still preying on young naive people like me

Haha. That's how it happens man. One more under their "pyramid" so to speak. Since we're on the topic. I have a horror story for you from a company that calls themselves Nu Marketing. We had a 1-on-1 "interview" for all of us, the "candidates." I was younger and naive and hadn't touched college yet. The interviewer liked me and the others (all of them) were instantly invited back into a room. We were talked to constantly about the "money-making potential" as you went door-to-door pitching cable/internet subscriptions for I believe was Xfinity or Fios, I forget. They keep going on without getting to the point trying to build up peoples excitement, I finally ask "What are you offering us?" and he's all "Ahhh, getting to that" another 20 minutes, nothing. I get up and proclaim "This is bullshit. I'm out." and this obviously threw him off script and left him bemused. "Uhhh....Yeahh...It's not a good fit anyways." he says, or something along those lines. I walked out.

Check out their ripoffreport claims. Lol. Sad to read. Keep at it though.
http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/Nu-Im...COMPANY-WONT-PAY-lowell-Massachusetts-1233681
http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/Nu-Im...STAY-AWAY-DONT-BE-ANOTHER-VICTIM-Lowel-956959

 

[Envision]

But you can make 500k in your first 6 months guys...

Obviously you don't believe in the law of attraction

 

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[OVOvince]

im sad to say that last night i could not save my aquaintance. we lost another one

stay safe everyone its dangerous out there

 

[ExCubeCommando]

You're not a real entrepreneur until you have an MLM story

LOL...it's sort of like military boot camp. It will help toughen you up mentally if you can endure 8 weeks of it. Once the smoke clears, you leave it behind, change direction and head toward the real world training with stuff that matters!

 

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[SenGracic]

My friend called me since he missed me ( no news for more than two months of course) and wanted to see me and talk a little.
A few minutes after he arrived he HAD to talk about this BIG opportunity.
The opportunity was Kyani.
Told him I don't believe in MLMs unless I start them, he talked to me about it for 20 minutes even called his sponsor ( his girlfriend ) and showed me all the papers. She started talking about how she made 40,000$ in a few weeks and more is coming BUT when I asked to see her account balance the check was on it's way.
When I told them I had to leave they started telling how they would pay the first 500$ for me because they're going to be big and how much they love me they want me to make it too with them. Told them no again and stop annoying me with it... no more calls for two weeks. I guess the love is gone.

The only good thing in MLMs is the fact that you HAVE to learn to network and it can be useful.

 

[hellolin]

I almost got sucked into becoming a customer of Trans-america finance, not the good part but the life insurance part of it, went home and researched it and found out its a really bad deal, since I was in business school I was able to see how bad their finance deal is from both a customer and a seller stand point of view. The guy who tried to sell me is still trying to reach me, because me and him did have a good conversation and he is one of their "platinum" members, I have tried to block him on everything I own yet he still somehow find ways to contact me, gonna give those guys some credit for sticking though. It does seem like guys who can make MLM a career are excellent in networking and marketing skills, they should have no problem just sell everything period.

 

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[Castillo]

I did a quick google of MLM, what exactly is bad about it? It seems like a good marketing strategy, and even companies like Avon and Tupperware I read use MLM. It just seems like a more in-depth commission system.

Yes, it can be a great way to distribute your product very quickly by giving people incentives of "profound wealth", but the issue is that they don't give a flying F*ck about the product, and it's not following the CENTS rules of the fastlane whatsoever. You don't own the company, they make you think that you can "start your own company" when really all you're doing is making money for the top few people. There is potential to make great money, but the odds are VERY slim if you are not the one creating it. They don't show you who's above you because they don't want you to see how far down the line you are. They only allow you to see who's under you just to make you feel like you're at the top. Half of them are scams, and the other half people don't actually care for the product.

 

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[Castillo]

Don't feel bad dude, at least you didn't buy. One time in college I was in a very vulnerable position and a "friend"exploited that by getting me to drop a grand in a pyramid. I was broke after that. And it was all my fault. And I still feel stupid about it.

That's what happens to a lot of people. They hit a setback in life, but have the courage to be ambitious, and then comes along some a**hole mlm dude and takes that ambition down the wrong lane. Knowledge is a weapon man, defend yourself.

This x10^ I dropped about 600 back when I wasn't even of age... That's how much they don't care. I was 17, and they convinced me to use my mom's information and credit card (though I paid for it out of my pocket) It's ridiculous how much they don't care.

What's also shitty is when you see the person later in life and you don't have the same relationship with them as you did before, knowing how they betrayed you.

 

[Castillo]

h

Lol what a damn coincidence but one of my acquaintances texted me about joining a business. I had a feeling it was a pyramid but didn't tell him.


Now I texted him back with a long as paragraph telling him to just drop it and to put his energy somewhere more positive. I'm about to tell him to buy TMF lol

Aha good dude. I have just started reading in the last month ish and I've downed like 4 books already I just can't stop absorbing knowledge. I also refer my friends to TMF but none of them wants the time to sit down and read them... I have one buddy who's wanting to get into trading and stuff because he's getting flaunted by all of these big numbers that these people are gaining but the courses are like 1500 bucks and i'm like duuuudeeee just read this book and i can assure you you'll have such a different perspective on life.

 

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[W4RHRSE]

But you can make 500k in your first 6 months guys...

Obviously you don't believe in the law of attraction

Working part time...

Don't forget that part lol

 

[W4RHRSE]

im sad to say that last night i could not save my aquaintance. we lost another one

stay safe everyone its dangerous out there

Oh my God!!! They signed Kenny!!! You bastards!!!! lmao

 

[Joshua R. Gill]

I dont hate on MLMs. What I hate is the mentality that unless you're in one (theirs specifically), you're not living the dream and you're pretty much sheeple like everyone else in the hard working world! Anyways, I'm also excited learning their business models and systems, there are a bunch of pretty good ones out there. Just cant get past the tribe thing.

 

[Kevk001]

Ahhhh it was a bad start to the year for me from people trying to sucker me.
1) January--some 'friend' tried to get me to buy a condo for a great deal, I was a little ignorant. Then 10 days before signing he said he wanted 10% of the deed.
2) I called my other friend bob about this. I wasn't going to give the deed to guy #1, but wanted to know how to handle it. He recommended cutting my losses--I did, cancelled the contract. There were too many red flags. Then bob tried to get me to drop $2000 to get started on a real estate mlm when I already lost a lot of money cancelling my contract. I then isolated myself from EVERYBODY and got a new apartment and started coding a new website.
3) Went to best buy to get a new laptop. Friend #1 (self-claimed cia agent) was probably the guy who stole my other one in december. Some guy at best buy approached me and connected with me because of my ambition. Told me about a conference. We met at starbucks a week later. Before he started talking I asked if the company was mlm. He said yes. It was Amway. He gave his pitch anyway and I knew all the references to the books he read, but I knew even more than him. We started talking to each other in quotes from books we read. Now I am scam proof after an expensive 2 months.

Sorry But I won't say you're scam proof. You certainly are more experienced now, but not scam proof. People think scam is one thing or the other as if it's got a color or code name. To be scam proof you have to have an eye for deal making. The art of the deal is to recognize good deals from bad ones, and in most cases turn bad deals in your favor while always creating a win win. You will never grow if you don't learn to navigate in trouble waters thinking you can shelter away from one thing or the other. I can point out a few things here you neglected to notice.
1) you were excited to make a deal without asking yourself what is he getting out of it. See if you were to ask, you would've known about the 10% before hand.
2) You never base your final decision on someone else's opinion. You can seek for advice but always make your final decision after exhausting trying to make a deal with any other trick you might have. People always have an end game whether they are friends, wife, girlfriend, family.
3) Make connections, study them and always think of a win win situation creating a positive dialogue. Although that guy wanted you to join his venture, as a true deal maker you could've come up with any other to pick his interest as an entrepreneur, keeping an open dialogue as to shutting down on one topic trading pointless quotes.

To be safe from scams you have to keep your business eye open with a constant win win attitude.

 

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[Deleted35442]

Lol at the second ripoff report where dude gets arrested by police after getting his 3rd soliciting warning. MLMs can really train some bulletproof drones as their salespeople

Arrested. Could you imagine? Such a bullshit operation telling you to lie to sell their shit, F*cking you about on paying you, and after you incur the cost of getting arrested due to them "sorry, you're a SUB-CONTRACTOR." Did I call that or what? Still, if this guy was sitting in the room with me during this group "pep talk" / "post-interview bash" after I called them on it and walked out, I have no sympathy.

 

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[steve10765]

Thanks for the reply @mcastillo

@Runum
I have not read the book yet, I was going to post an intro and was reading the guidelines saying we should mention how we plan to achieve our goal etc. So instead of posting I decided to go work on that goal, then came back to the forum.
Also I know Fastlane is a great book and I plan on buying it soon, but it's always good to have a view from the outside, IE looking at other's views on topics, such as MLM. From what I read it was noticeable that MLM can be dishonest etc, but it did at least seem like a good business strategy if done honestly. I came back for some clarification.

 

[Castillo]

Thanks for the reply @mcastillo

@Runum
I have not read the book yet, I was going to post an intro and was reading the guidelines saying we should mention how we plan to achieve our goal etc. So instead of posting I decided to go work on that goal, then came back to the forum.
Also I know Fastlane is a great book and I plan on buying it soon, but it's always good to have a view from the outside, IE looking at other's views on topics, such as MLM. From what I read it was noticeable that MLM can be dishonest etc, but it did at least seem like a good business strategy if done honestly. I came back for some clarification.

Very understandable. It's always great to be on the outside of things. Avon is a great MLM from what I can see, they truly believe in their product. I know a bunch of people who used to purchase products only from them, and not have to join like how you have to with other MLM's. They definitely can be a good thing.

 

[OVOvince]

Don't feel bad dude, at least you didn't buy. One time in college I was in a very vulnerable position and a "friend"exploited that by getting me to drop a grand in a pyramid. I was broke after that. And it was all my fault. And I still feel stupid about it.

That's what happens to a lot of people. They hit a setback in life, but have the courage to be ambitious, and then comes along some a**hole mlm dude and takes that ambition down the wrong lane. Knowledge is a weapon man, defend yourself.

 

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[Deleted20833]

Lmao, I got invited to a "business mastermind" 2 years ago

They didn't reveal the big MLM surprised until about an hour
into the "business presentation"

 

[Evil_Jester]

Ahhhh it was a bad start to the year for me from people trying to sucker me.
1) January--some 'friend' tried to get me to buy a condo for a great deal, I was a little ignorant. Then 10 days before signing he said he wanted 10% of the deed.
2) I called my other friend bob about this. I wasn't going to give the deed to guy #1, but wanted to know how to handle it. He recommended cutting my losses--I did, cancelled the contract. There were too many red flags. Then bob tried to get me to drop $2000 to get started on a real estate mlm when I already lost a lot of money cancelling my contract. I then isolated myself from EVERYBODY and got a new apartment and started coding a new website.
3) Went to best buy to get a new laptop. Friend #1 (self-claimed cia agent) was probably the guy who stole my other one in december. Some guy at best buy approached me and connected with me because of my ambition. Told me about a conference. We met at starbucks a week later. Before he started talking I asked if the company was mlm. He said yes. It was Amway. He gave his pitch anyway and I knew all the references to the books he read, but I knew even more than him. We started talking to each other in quotes from books we read. Now I am scam proof after an expensive 2 months.

 

[Timbonitus]

One of my clients wants me to write reviews of mlm opportunities so I do a lot of research into these schemes, and they're literally always a scam. You might make a few dollars in the beginning but then it trickles down. What really sucks is when people who really need cash sign-up for these schemes, like my parents, and they'll refuse to believe that it's just a scheme. They work like full-time for these schemes and only get back false promises and excuses...

 

[CycleGuy]

How does everyone handle someone they do normal business with pitching them a random MLM?

Last week I just had an older established business owner start a pitch for an MLM...
Him:
"I'm doing something that LOTS of other business owners are doing in the area, it takes little to no start up cost and almost no time"
"This is invite only, and I know you would be perfect"
"I thought it sounded too good to be true as well, but I'm cashing checks with commas in them"
"This is going so good I'm going to retire from xyx business soon"
"I can't explain it all here now, you'll have to come by the shop sometime to hear everything"

This really sucks because I use this guy for certain skilled mechanical jobs. So now anytime I need actual business done I'm going to get pitched MLM BS.

 

[Ubermensch]

Im such an idiot. I was approached by a random man on the street today who asked about my shoes. Somehow the conversation drifted into business and entrepreneurship. He told me about a business seminar he was going to. I went. I was really excited until the giant screen showed the word
AMWAY.

Dont be an idiot like me. Trust no one.

AMWAY is still preying on young naive people like me

Thank you for continuing to show @Andy Black and @Vigilante why starting an MLM (sometime in the future...) is so irresistible and tempting to me.

85% of the noobs on this site annoy me.

Most of the people on this site annoy me.

A lot of you are talkers, not doers.

A lot of you love to type and type and type and type about money - and don't make money.

A lot of you just sit, and think, and wait, and make no moves.

So, please excuse my @jon.a level of a superiority complex.

My avatar is for the talkers, not the doers, The Matrix robots hiding behind their laptops and desktops; my avatar in the faces of every single human being that makes passive aggressiveness, laziness, and mediocrity the norm.

And yet, what better way to repay the bleating and bumbling masses than to give them some Orwellian, Nietzschean soup that they simply cannot resist?

Why not give nectar to nitwits?

Why not start an MLM, especially one with a legitimate shot of outdoing Ambit Energy?

 

[halmerej]

Soo funny. Same guy approached me today,months later.

"Hey, how are those headphones working for you?"
"I know you! You're that AMWAY guy!"
"Well,yeah but I just wanted to know about the headphones"
"No, thank you"
I really need to dress nicer. I must look really desperate. What are the chances the same guy would approach me ?

 

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