Although this post is hard to write, I decided to swallow my pride and admit my mistakes to prevent some other hard-working individual from making the same ones and loosing their money as I did. Making a little extra money for little to no effort in your spare time always sounds enticing. Sounds to good to be true? Well it is. For this post I will discuss Mary Kay, Thirty-One and Take Shape for Life but there are COUNTLESS other companies that fall into the category of Direct Sales or Multi-Level Marketing. These companies claim they are not one of those so-called pyramid schemes. But that is exactly what they are. The only way you make a significant amount of money is to garner a team below you, which is by definition a pyramid scheme (don’t believe me, draw out the progression of adding team members). If a company is generating almost all of their income from sales within the company it is almost always a scheme. If you are asked repeatedly to enroll more “team members”, it is a scheme. Unfortunately, I fell prey to this twice. You would think I would have learned my lesson the first time, but every company is different and claims to have worked out the kinks that companies before them have experienced.
My own darling and extremely intelligent mother had a negative experience with a direct sales company, Mary Kay, maybe you’ve heard of it ;). This company requires a certain amount in sales in a specific period of time to stay active within the company. When you first begin with any of these companies you will be excited about “making money” after partying with friends and family. But what happens when you have exhausted that list and are not having parties regularly or receiving orders? This typically occurs within three months of beginning your journey. Then it is up to you to put in orders, creating an inventory…. an inventory you never sell (I am telling you my mom had products in her closet for over 10 years after she quit the company). You want to continue the perceived initial success and will take the necessary steps to achieve it. You begin to amass a significant amount of product with expiration dates that you are desperate to sell…to no avail. You buy home party kits, mirrors, wash cloths etc. Let’s not forget about the other component to these businesses; marketing. You are required to buy your own catalogs, party invites, specials flyers etc. Additionally, what are you to do when involved in a company, like Thrity-One, that changes their product seasonally? You now have outdated product samples and sample fabrics that are now useless to you. Customers at your party want to see, feel and wear what is advertised in your current catalog. You then find yourself ordering more and more merchandise in attempt to increase revenue, spending money you will never recoup in sales. The company offers them at a “discount” to you, but regardless, you are still spending more money than you are receiving in commission checks. You have bought into the Kool-Aid. You just LOVE their products and end up buying things for yourself and gifts for family and friends come holiday time because they NEED these products as well, secretly hoping to generate an interest in the products that will lead to increased sales for you. Even when trying to sell the “retired” product, in order to move them, you need to reduce the price so significantly that you almost always lose money. You attend expensive conferences that can be “written off” come tax time but still add to the ever-mounting expenses.
But some say, “I’m just in it for the personal discount for the AMAZING product”. I know, because I said this as well when becoming a “coach” for Take Shape for Life. I was using the product myself to loose baby weight after my second child. However, I was delusional in believing this was a system that could be maintained for life. You typically consumed roughly 900 calories via their products and then was instructed to eat small meals consisting of vegetables and protein, all-the-while spending close to $300 a month just to feed myself. The program made claims that it could take away the threat of diabetes, heart disease and the like. What they did not say was that after stopping their program the weight would quickly come back, more aggresively than before. This program intelligently gave you a big discount when buying in bulk, essentially, for the enitre month. But what if you HATED the mac n cheese you just bought 20 of? Yeah, you’re stuck with it. Bleh!
There are countless Multi-Level Marketing schemes that are stealing wealth from hard-working individuals at an alarming rate. But what about those success stories about consultants and their amazing trips and cars given by their wonderful companies? Well there are those within the company that ARE making money. They are making money off of you and your sales. This demographic of consultants typically makes up less than 1% of the consultants enrolled in any given company. So, statistically, those odds are not looking good for you.
Lastly, there is an awkwardnesss that develops between you and your family and friends. Do not underestimate this factor. They become nervous that every time you talk to them that you will be pushing your product on them or asking them to have yet another party. These companies always tell you, as the consultant, that the worse thing a person can say to you after asking them to have a party is “no”. However, that’s not necessarily true. After saying “no” the relationship between the two of you endures a type of strain that can only be brought on by Direct Sales associated requests. They decline offers to go out to lunch in fear of being in an environment with no escape as you proclaim the unparalled benefits and greatness of your products and insisting they fall in love with the products too. You reach out to people you haven’t spoken to in years and are now requesting they consider having a party for you. Well, nothing screams genuine friendship like that request. People will assume that when you text them that your motive is to maintain contact for business reasons and not personal ones (This point I learned the hard way).
If you are currently in Direct Sales do not think I am condemning you as an individual. I consider myself to be a relatively intelligent woman and I fell for this TWICE. The bonuses sound great, the 50% commission seems amazing, and the discount reason enough to enroll. But in every area from skin care to purses to nutrition and even vitamin supplements, you CAN find its equal at a significantly lower cost at Wal-Mart, Target or Amazon. Don’t let this be you. Don’t believe me? Check out this video by John Oliver ( please be advised there is significant language in this video) .http://qz.com/829396/after-an-epic-rant-against-herbalife-john-oliver-announced-his-own-pyramid-scheme-to-end-all-pyramid-schemes/
ohdearlawdhavemercy 