Anti MLM Mondays Post#1: Introduction to Multi Level Marketing, and why I’m anti MLM

New series introduction

I have decided that I am going to start a new series here on this blog.  In case you haven’t read any of my posts over the last few years, I’m very anti MLM.  MLM stands for multi level marketing.  I’m not sure how often I’m going to post, it might be once a month, or every Monday, but it will be on Mondays.  With this post, let’s go over a little bit of an introduction to the anti MLM community, and why I am anti MLM (in case you’ve never watched my youtube channel).  I hope this doesn’t deter you from continuing to visit my blog, but if you give me a chance to explain why I feel this way, we might be able to at the end of the day agree to disagree.  Some of the things I mention here, are going to be topics that I go more in depth with in the future.  If any of these topics don’t make any sense to you, just stay tuned.  Along with that, some topics I have covered on my channel, but would like to better articulate my thought process here.  If you are an MLM rep, please keep in mind that I am not attacking you, I am attacking the very heavily flawed MLM business structure.

What is MLM?

MLM stands for Multi Level Marketing.  Sometimes referred to as a pyramid scheme, product based pyramid scheme, and as of lately some MLM reps have started calling it direct selling, network marketing, and even affiliate marketing.  While a lot of these things have similarities, I do believe MLM reps are starting to get affected by the negative stigma associated with the term MLM, which is why they are steering clear of the term MLM, even though that is the very definition of what they do.

In my personal opinion, I do believe most MLM companies are product base/legal pyramid schemes.  They are set up very similarly, the only difference is they found the loop hole of having a product to sell which is what makes it legal.  Or at least, the company is legal up until the FTC intervenes and sees if they are abiding by rules and regulations.  Which, in many cases, and many experiences of people I’ve talked to since starting my anti MLM content on my channel, you tend to make more money from having a downline, than sales from products.

If you still aren’t sure what MLM is, have you ever gotten a cold message from a girl you went to high school with saying they have an amazing business opportunity?  Have you ever been invited to a Facebook party out of nowhere by someone you haven’t talked to on your friends list?  Has a random person slid into your DMs on Instagram saying they love your feed and think you’d be a great model for their products or addition to their team?  These are all very typical and scripted messages that a lot of us get all the time.

My experience

In case you are new here, I was part of two different MLM companies in my life time.  While I may not have lost tens of thousands of dollars, and I do consider myself lucky compared to other MLM reps out there.  I was part of Mary Kay and Beachbody.  I’ve talked about both experiences in this post.  So I will spare you the details in this post.  However, long story short, I lost approximately $2,000 with Mary Kay (I only recouped a little bit back, however, time is something you’ll never get back).  While I was with Beachbody, I ended up working for free for several months even after I did everything my uplines told me to do to a T, and then some.  Look at some old blog posts in 2016 & 2017, I talked about Beachbody all the time.  My life revolved around Beachbody.

I did not go to any conferences with Beachbody, however I did go to one of the Mary Kay conferences.  The conference was just a bunch of “fluff” and there wasn’t much substance to the topics at hand.  There were no tips and tricks to how to grow your business, it was just a lot of motivational speaking.  Now, while I do believe motivational speeches at these types of conventions are necessary, there should be a segment where you have training.

If you’ve been around this blog since the very beginning, you know that I have gone to some blogging conferences.  These conferences had substance and actually had classes on how to create content, SEO, how to edit and write, you know, tools you actually need to succeed.  Don’t get me wrong, they did have guest speakers who were either celebrities or very well known bloggers who turned their blog into an empire, but those people weren’t just for motivation.  They asked us if we had questions and they were willing to share some industry secrets.

Sorry about the audio in this video, but it was my first ever video back on Youtube, I promise the newest ones are much better!

Why do so many people dislike MLM?

I dislike MLM companies both for personal and legitimate reasons.  I know that it may seem like I have a bias opinion because of my experience in MLM, however, after doing a ton of research, all of the facts are out on the internet.  Even the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has stated that people who join MLM companies in the high 90 percentile either lose money or never make any money.  The anti MLM community is filled with ex MLM reps who were badly burned, family and friends of MLM reps, or people who have never had any kind of affiliation with MLM companies, they just see the facts, and are looking at the business structure wondering how people are still joining these companies.

I have an anti MLM Facebook group which has membership questions, and I’ve seen people answer questions about how their marriage failed because of the cult like mentality of the MLM company.  I know that some people will say comparing it to a cult is a bit much, but if you listen to some testimonials and then compare it to the Bite Model (which is a model created to deem if something is a cult), you’ll see some eerily similar behaviors.

This top “ex hunbots unite” is part of my anti MLM merch which you can find here.

Why are they always called predatory?

This is something I will go more in depth in, in future posts, but long story short, it’s because of who they target and how they cold message.  The way the MLM structure works, is the larger of a downline that you have (recruits, or MLM reps under you), the more money you receive and less work that you are going to have to do.  Even if someone fails, you still received some kind of commission check, or made some kind of rank with signing them up under you.  If one person fails, someone else will replace them.  The viscous cycle then continues.

I don’t believe that MLM reps go into this business model as bad people.  My friend Alanda over at The Recovering Hunbot on Youtube said it so well during one of our collabs.  These reps need to become corrupt to make it to the top.  At that point, they have been so heavily brain washed, that they don’t see anything but what the company tells them, and seeing that seat at the top of the pyramid.

What are some examples of companies?

There are many well known companies that you have probably even seen advertised on TV or at local craft fairs/small business expos (which is a topic that I will rant about on a different day).  Here is a list of some well known, and maybe some ones you didn’t even know about (I’ve also linked the companies I’ve done videos on):

• Amway
• Arbonne
• Avon
• Beachbody
• Herbalife
• Isagenix
• It works
• Juice Plus
• Mary Kay
• Monat
• Nuskin
• Plexus
• Rodan + Fields
• Thirty One
• Tupperware
• Younique
• Young Living

…and the list unfortunately goes on

What is the FTC, and why is it important to MLM reps?

The FTC stands for Federal Trade Commission.  The FTC is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act.  Its principal mission is the promotion of consumer protection and the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) U.S. antitrust law through the elimination and prevention of anti-competitive business practices such as coercive monopoly.  Each MLM rep should be very well versed in what the FTC stands for and what they are doing.  Have you heard of how MLM companies have been deemed pyramid schemes, for example Advocare?  The FTC is the agency that will go after these companies and deem them illegal pyramid schemes.  The FTC has done studies and shown that MLM reps in the high 90 percentile either do not make any money, or even in most cases lose money.

Are they franchisees, small business owners, or entrepreneurs?

This is a topic that quite honestly makes me heated and where I try my best to not have a biased opinion.  As many of you know, my family and I own two small businesses.  We have gone to plenty small business expos and have seen a majority of booths be MLM companies.  These reps are not franchises, small business owners, or entrepreneurs.  They are at best an independent contractor for a company.  They are just a distributor.

Franchises do market analysis and believe in something called market saturation, whereas MLM companies do not.  They will tell you to recruit just about anyone and everyone, which is why so many of us get messages from random strangers in our DMs.  MLM distributors are not small business owners because they have absolutely no control over what they sell, how they sell it, or pricing.  The reps must abide by the MLM company, and you cannot be a small business owner, CEO, or founder, when the MLM company already has those.

Why Income Disclosure Statements are important.

Every income disclosure statement is different, and some companies (if they are privately held companies), do not need to provide one.  Some companies will say that they have not been in business long enough to create one (which is total nonsense when you’ve been in business 5+ years, you have enough data to see how much your reps are making).  An income disclosure statement shows the income of reps, the percentages of people who are making money, and the percentage of people at the top, which in some cases (for example Hempworx and Young Living) is quite alarming.

Can you imagine making $0.24 annually?  These IDS’s do not show expenses, taxes, fees, PV (personal volume), etc.  This is strictly just the reps income.  There is usually some finer print which is also important to read, because reps will try to argue that the IDS’s also include reps who are only reps for the discount, but usually if you’re good at math you can figure out just how many people are making money.  In addition to that, the discount reps are still considered part of someone’s downline, and their upline is still making commission off of them.

Some terms to know if you’re kind of lost and are new to the anti MLM community:

• hunbot/hun:  A lot of people have given MLM reps the term hunbot or hun.  This isn’t necessarily demeaning, it’s more of a slang term to describe their actions.  A lot of them start their messages with hey hun, or sometimes you’ll get a mix of hey girl.  However, since most of them say hey hun, that’s where the hun comes from.  However, the bot, is short for robot.  The reason why is because a lot of these cold messages are very scripted and they all sound exactly the same.
• Upline:  If you are part of this pyramid, I mean triangle like structure, the uplines are the reps who have a team under them.  This can be a team of two people under them, or a team of thousands under them.  They already have people under them, so think of them as your supervisor in a sense.
• Downline:  This is a term used to describe all of the people below an upline.  For example, if you just joined the MLM, you are part of someone’s downline, and once you start building a team under you, you’re also considered an upline.  Does this make sense?
• Business Opportunity:  You’ll hear this A LOT.  At this point, what I’ve noticed is the MLM reps are no longer interested in just selling you their products, but they are interested in recruiting you into this “great business opportunity.”  Or so they like to call it.  This is not a business opportunity, this is an opportunity for you to 90+% of the time lose money.  This particular strategy, just proves to me that MLM reps make more money off or recruiting rather than selling products, otherwise they would be more interested in selling you products, then recruiting.  Which, in case you didn’t know a pyramid scheme is where you make money off of recruiting.  Now do you see why a lot of people compare them to pyramid schemes?
• PV:  PV stands for personal volume.  Some MLM reps will argue that they don’t need to meet a PV to stay active as a rep, however, if you’re going to be selling a product and “swearing by it” I would hope that you are in fact using the product.  Personal volume in most MLM companies is a certain amount of money you need to spend on product a month in order to be considered an active rep, whether it be to be a rep, or a discount rep.
• BV:  BV stands for business volume.  This is usually similar to PV, however, this is how much your entire team has to make in a month in order for you to keep your rank.
• Boss Babe:  This phrase is forever ruined for me.  It started off as a phrase meant to describe women who were building their businesses and their empires, however MLM reps took over this phrase.  It is now 90% of the time, a clear indication that someone is a MLM rep.

What I don’t agree with in the anti MLM community (there are always cons)

There are always going to be cons in just about any community, or any movement.  There will be people who ruin it for the rest of us, and make us look like the mean girls that reps call us.  I’ve been called anti woman empowerment because I’m anti MLM.  However, if you look at it from a different perspective, I’m trying to save women from these predatory businesses.  If anything, the MLM company you are working for is anti women because of how much they exploit women.

Especially Younique, where they have a foundation for domestic abuse or survivors and they encourage (this word is actually an understatement, most people are forced) their reps to tell their stories.  In my opinion, that is anti woman, because that is not Younique’s story to tell to sell their foundation.  Some women go through decades of therapy and still will not publicly tell their story.  I’ve also been called a mean girl because I am against “women owning their own business” which is not the case because you do not own your own business.  Some of these reps are incredible sales people and are just so creative, where if they did actually own their own business I’d be praising them and empowering them.  However, let’s get into some things that I do not agree with.

• Hun Shaming:  In my opinion, this is where a lot of people take it a step too far.  This is where they start making fun of the MLM rep for their looks, etc.  I do not agree with this.  Do I think MLM reps give their MLM companies too much credit, in a situation like a health and fitness MLM?  Sure, I do.  The MLM company is not why they lost weight or got into shape.  They did that on their own.  I don’t like to attack the MLM reps, but the structure.  The structure is what I don’t agree with, and I do believe that MLM reps are brainwashed at some point.
• Hun Baiting:  This is exactly what it sounds like.  When an anti MLM person purposely baits a hun with malicious intent.  This is when the anti MLMer will ask them about their business opportunity or products, with no intention of ever purchasing, but just to have some “juicy content” whether it be for reddit or youtube.  I think we should be educating the MLM reps, because the only way these MLM companies will be taken down, is if the FTC starts investigating, lawsuits are very heavily publicized, and if MLM reps start walking away left and right.  These companies cannot survive without the reps.
• Attacking MLM reps right off the bat:  While I do find it comical when someone calls the MLM company a pyramid scheme and the MLM rep will retaliate and say that everything in the world is a pyramid scheme, I don’t think that this is the best way to educate.  I think that in order for this community to be heard, we have to come from an educational standpoint.  We need to approach pro MLM people a specific way.  No matter how loud and aggressive we are, most of the time people don’t respond well to that.  They immediately get defensive, and will turn into a teenager who doesn’t want to hear their parents speeches.  Most of us were there at one point, and how many times did our parents ACTUALLY get through to us?  Chances are, slim to none.

At the end of the day

I have already helped multiple people get out of their MLM company.  That is the most rewarding feeling.  To be able to talk to a random stranger and they ask you for help and then send you screenshots of their cancellation confirmation is absolutely amazing.  When people come across my videos and tell me that it’s thanks to my videos that they have left their MLM and “seen the light” it is the reason why I continue.

People have tried to discredit me and tell me that I wasn’t in MLM long enough or don’t have enough education to be able to be an expert.  I do not consider myself an expert, and I probably never will.  This is just based on my experiences (no matter how long or short they were) and from the research I have done, in addition to FACTS that either the government or MLM companies provide.  You cannot argue facts, only opinions.  If your opinions differ from mine, that is what you are entitled to, but do not try to discredit me with an asinine claim.

Some great resources if you’re looking for a more in depth analysis of the anti MLM movement:

The MLM Police Blog

Americans Against MLM

The Anti MLM Coalition

Christina Piccoli

My Youtube Channel

The Recovering Hunbot

Savannah Marie

The Genetically Modified Skeptic (he’s not strictly anti MLM, but the anti MLM content he has is top notch and his wife is creating her own anti MLM channel)

Betting On Zero Documentary (on Netflix)

Vice Documentary on Lularoe

Also, if you’re interested in any anti MLM merch, or Youtube merch to help support my channel and my mission check it out here.  There are plenty of other styles, but the below is just a photo of a few things.