Anti MLM Mondays Post 5: Response to "anti MLMers are privileged."

This shirt is part of my merch.

Before we get into today’s post I wanted to quickly say that if you have not seen my video from last week, the FTC has sent out warning letters to some well known MLM companies. I will leave that video here because it also has links to the article and how to report if you see any health or income claims by any MLM reps.

The other day, I came across an article that was titled “It’s privilege that lets you be anti MLM.” If you go to this article, please do not trash talk the person. Be respectful and factual in your responses because we are not here to bully anyone who does not agree with the anti MLMers. We are here to educate and spread awareness about the predatory business practices these MLM companies encourage.

I’ve written this post, along with made a video. If you’re more of a Youtube kind of person the video will be at the end of this post.

Anything that will be italicized will be that person’s article.

Dissecting the article Part 1

If you are proudly anti-mlm, don’t go patting yourself on the back quite yet.

You may think that you’re standing against a business model that is exploitative and harms women, but you need to look closer and realize that it is not about the people that you think you are helping, it is about you. If you’re anti-mlm on principle then just know that you aren’t helping anyone but yourself.

Let me start by saying I don’t want to imply that if I could do anything other than direct sales that I would because I am partnered with a company that has values that mirror mine, a mission I believe in, and products that help me and others reduce environmental impact and I will not be ashamed of that.

But setting that aside, what options do you think stay-at-home moms have for income? I hate to get all pity party here, but I’m in a position that a lot of moms find themselves in. My husband is a school teacher. I have a liberal arts degree. I do not qualify to do any job that would even come close to paying for child care, so working at home with flexible hours is the only way to keep my family financially afloat.

My response:

Firstly, it’s interesting that she said “a company that has values that mirror mine” because the values of MLM companies are predatory, so is she saying that she is predatory? I’m all for reducing environmental impact, obviously, but how do we actually know it’s reducing impact? Does she actually know? I mean we see certain makeup MLM reps say they’re cruelty free when they don’t have a certificate to provide.

Secondly, there are many options for stay at home moms. I made a video about other side hustles besides MLM which I linked in the video description of my response to this article. Also, now this may be kind of controversial, but don’t try and throw a pity party on your degree. YOU chose to study that. I know that sounds a little harsh, but do not throw your consequences to your decisions on people who are anti MLM. This is coming from someone who has their MBA and has A LOT of student loans to show for it. I’ve been paying off my student loans since 2009 and still have a little under $60k to pay off. Does it suck to have to pay all of that off? Yes, it definitely does, but just like you, I chose to go to college.

Dissecting the article Part 2

What about customer service jobs from home? Again, doing customer service for someone else is not a very fulfilling career and does not let me flex my creativity but also those companies are not crazy about you not being able to guarantee no screaming babies in the background.

My response:

I worked in customer service for most of my life. While working at an office job for me was mundane at times, I did like the stability. I had specific hours, I had PTO, 401k, and benefits. I didn’t have to work from anywhere, and I could actually enjoy time with my friends and family instead of constantly being on my phone. Also, you don’t have to be on the phone 24/7 in customer service, plus a lot of stuff is also via the internet. Most of my communication was done via email and chats. I rarely ever had to get on the phone.

Dissecting the article Part 3

If you are strident about MLM companies all being exploitative, why are you not equally upset about companies (like Amazon) that pay about 4 cents an hour for transcription services, and survey sites that pay maybe 50 cents for thirty minutes of work (or you can do that work and they can just say “actually you didn’t qualify so you get nothing”)? If you worry about poor women being taken advantage of, start shouting from the rooftops about those practices. What about self-publishing companies that prey on people’s dreams of writing a book? Many claim to be real publishers but instead charge hundreds to thousands of dollars on “marketing packages” that don’t do anything.

My response:

Just because I’m anti MLM, doesn’t mean that I don’t care what other companies do. I don’t agree with any exploitative business, however, I can only go after one industry at a time. MLMs prey upon mostly women, especially women at their most vulnerable state. Just the other day I had someone comment on one of my Youtube videos asking for help on how to get his wife out of the MLM. His wife has early onset dementia and her uplines keep trying to get her to order more inventory and keep telling her she’s going to make it. Along with this, you don’t have to do any of those things. Surveys we know are sometimes not paying that well, but that’s something I do when I’m literally just hanging out and bored which is very rare nowadays. If you’re looking for a way to self publish, check out Savy Writes Books on Youtube. She’s self published. It IS possible.

Dissecting the article Part 4

But that doesn’t encroach on your life.

Those don’t require you to say a polite “No, thank you” to an amateur sales pitch. Because you don’t actually care about what’s best for me. You care about worrying I’ll annoy you.

Just because it’s annoying to you that your friends want to sell to you doesn’t make the companies evil. People usually want to sell to you because it’s a product that benefitted then and they want it to help you too. If I owned a brick and mortar business would I tell you about what I sell if I thought it would help you?

My response:

Here is the difference. When you do those other jobs, you don’t have to send a copy and paste cold message and it doesn’t require you to keep a PV, nor does it make you recruit people. We know in MLMs, you will only make good money with a downline. I do get annoyed, so does everyone else who’s anti MLM, why do you think we’re so loud about this? So I’ll give her that, that we are annoyed. Also, I have a brick and mortar business. MLM is NOT the same. People come to ME to purchase a product. I don’t have to slip into people’s dms. I’m not cold messaging to recruit people. I also know about our product, and am very educated on the product and industry as a whole, unlike Hempworx huns.

Dissecting the article Part 5

When you say that you will not support direct sellers what that says to me is that you would rather see me a miserable drone than in a position where I can stretch my creativity and do work I’m proud of. Yet you shroud that in a mask of concern for me.

And supporting a friend in direct sales does not mean spending money or hosting parties if you don’t want to.

My response:

The author of this does not know much about anti MLMers. If she would take a second to really truly listen she would understand why we don’t support the reps. Reason being, is because the money they will get ends up going to their uplines, and the scammers all the way at the top aka the MLM itself. If you aren’t going to support the MLM industry and the structure, you cannot support the products because that’s what keeps the MLM in business. That’s common sense.

Dissecting the article Part 6

If you believe all mlms are pyramid schemes then you are willfully ignorant.

First of all, pyramid schemes are illegal. All companies are shaped like a pyramid and in a pyramid scheme there is no product and nothing of value being sold. I know, I know, you’ve heard all these stats about how many people lose money on MLMs. I’m not sure how they calculate those stats but you have to remember that many people sign on as consultants to get a discount on products they like with no intention of selling. That’s going to skew the numbers. Plus it is work and not everyone accepts that when they join. In general you are goin to get out of it what you put in, so you need to invest your energy and not everyone is prepared to do that.

My response:

Wow, calling people ignorant will easily dilute your message you are trying to provide us. Yes, pyramid schemes are illegal, however so are drugs and you can still get drugs. The emphasis within MLMs is to recruit recruit recruit. It’s not just on the sales of the products. Sometimes, income disclosure statements actually give you the amounts of how many consultants are just discount reps and you can figure out the percentages on your own, which are still alarming. Plus those IDS’s only show the income, not including expenses, fees, PV, etc. Let’s not forget about the most recent Advocare situation. They had to restructure and were deemed a pyramid scheme and they had a product. Herbalife had to restructure in 2016 and was fined $200 million. So explain that please. Do not even try to make a comment about everything being a pyramid. Because people at an office are guaranteed a paycheck. What about you? Are you guaranteed a paycheck? If you have a downline then yes, but if you’re just selling product good luck. She also said that you have to invest a lot of time into MLM, but yet reps are hypocrites with saying it’s so easy you can work from anywhere, and then they turn around and say but it’s really hard and not for everyone.

Dissecting the article Part 7

Are there bad and exploitative MLM companies? Yes, there are.

That doesn’t mean you write off the entire business model, one of the few that can benefit stay-at-home-moms and people with few financial options. I had a bad experience with an MLM once. I was going to meet a college friend of my husband’s for the first time and she suggested that we stop by where her work was having a conference to meet up. That ended up being us trapped in a crazy sales pitch for BS miracle water and I was super pissed off. We were there for four hours! I never spoke to her again.

That doesn’t mean that I started saying that all companies structured in this way are the same. They are not. Most direct sales companies have a very low buy-in,and make excellent products that people are proud to sell. Most direct sellers don’t go looking for a product they can hack, they fall in love with a product and want to share all the good that it has done for them.

My response:

Oh, you were pissed off? But didn’t you just say earlier that it’s basically a bad thing that people who get pitched are annoyed? This is what I mean when I say reps contradict themselves ALL. THE. TIME. Also, I will do whatever I damn please because MLMs are exploitative whether it’s obvious or not. They are all the same exact problematic structure. I made a video about this topic and how MLM reps try the argument of “my MLM is different.” They are not different. Some just have less of Regina George’s of the world.

Dissecting the article Part 8

Are you worried about this new business harming your friendship?

Yes mlms done badly can hurt friendships. Some people do start seeing their friends as marks and that sucks. But it’s not guaranteed. (A few of my closest friends are people I met because I bought something from them!) I know that when I share a product with you it is not because I have a product to sell but because I thought it would enhance your life and I care about you.

If your response is to get angry at me—who is really destroying our friendship?

My response:

Again, funny because she just said that you shouldn’t get annoyed at your friends, but she got annoyed at her friend. Now she’s talking about how MLMs do hurt friendships. Hm, I wonder why? There is no right way to do MLMs. There was a time and place for MLMs back in the 1950’s-60’s because women didn’t really have a place in the work force. They were all stay at home wives, and MLMs gave them the opportunity to make some extra cash for their families and hang out with adults instead of screaming babies all day long. Back then, market saturation wasn’t really the same as it is today. There is a new MLM popping up every single day. Back then it wasn’t as predatory as it is today.

Dissecting the article Part 9

On the other hand you should not feel pressure to buy because you pity someone. Respect that they are learning to run a business. Go to parties if you enjoy them, buy if it’s something you want or need, say no thanks if you don’t. Going to a party does not obligate you to buy anything. If you do like the products you can host a party to get discounts and free stuff. Yay. But if you don’t like the products just say no thanks. Tell your friend if these parties aren’t your thing. Ignoring invites means she’ll probably keep trying because she has no feedback so just say no if you want to say no. If you fear that your friend will start looking at you as a mark then tell her that fear. No need to be cruel about it. Talk through it and communicate. If you’re really friends is that so hard?

My response:

It would be nice if a simple no thank you actually worked. Because it doesn’t. Being an ex rep I know that no doesn’t mean no it means not right now. That’s what was drilled into my head by both MLMs. It would be so nice if a simple no actually worked. Just the other day I had someone pitch me (all of my profile’s say I’m anti MLM). I responded with a polite “thank you so much for thinking of me, however if this is for an MLM company, I do apologize but I do not support that business structure.” I didn’t attack the person and call it a pyramid scheme. I didn’t act aggressive and mean like some anti MLMers and quite frankly, I wasn’t in the mood at the time to educate them on the harmful structure they are a part of because I was tired. The response I got was not very nice and then I got blocked. So, a simple no thank you, does not work.

Dissecting the article Part 10

It helps to think of (legit) MLM companies like a franchise. You have a start up cost and you are selling someone else’s product (although the buy-in for direct sales companies tends to be around $100, while getting started with a franchise is thousands and thousands of dollars). You wouldn’t tell a franchise owner that they are not really a business owner.

My response:

NO, NO, NO. This person does not know the first thing about business if she thinks MLMs are like franchises. They are completely different. Franchises do a market analysis to ensure that the businesses will be profitable. They also believe in market saturation, which MLM companies do not. Why do you think that is? Because the employees (aka reps) are their customers. Which means, the more reps and market saturation, it doesn’t matter to them if you’re not making money because they’re still making money off of you. It is not the same thing.

Dissecting the article Part 11

Please don’t roll your eyes at the people in your life trying to sell. Don’t refuse to shop direct sales because you think that’s a moral high ground. Life is hard enough for people in tight finances and you being smug about hating direct sales is only adding more challenge.

My response:

Life is definitely hard for people in tight financial situations, however, their financial situation will be even tighter if they waste their time, energy, and money on MLMs. Take a look at the BITE Model, one of the cult tactics is to exploit you financially. MLM companies exploit financially.

My Final Thoughts

I think it’s safe to say that I do not think anti MLMers are privileged. I have my own financial struggles, and being a business owner in today’s world is freaking scary. I’m not privileged financially. We had to work hard to get to where we are today, and we aren’t even close to where we want to be. I’m privileged in the fact that I do not have children so I don’t have little mini me’s to be worried about. Honestly, we cannot have children with how our lives are. It’s just not feasible at this point in time, and we do not plan on having them in the future. I prefer aunt life. I hope that maybe the author of the article comes across my blog post and we can have a civil conversation. I’m a libra so I’m always playing devil’s advocate and would love to see if she has any responses to mine. I do not have anything against this person and I’m sure she’s a really great person. Most MLM reps are. If you read my last anti MLM post, I talked about how I’m anti MLM and not anti Hun. I’ve seen too much of an aggressive mean girl shift in the anti MLM community which I do not agree with. I don’t condone bullying or hun baiting. In my opinion that is wrong and honestly makes our community look like a joke.

MLM reps are the side effect of the illness, and the illness is the MLM company themselves. MLM reps are just the messengers of what the MLM company tells them. Have you ever heard the expression “don’t shoot the messenger?” Think about that next time you want to make fun of a rep who is most likely not like the legitimate scammers within an MLM company which is the people who created it and maybe the select few bad apples that have a giant downline.