In this video we discuss the dangers of MLMs and how they can take advantage of those in precious financial and personal situations. Want more info and tips about these high-level scams ? Check out this video:kzfaq.info/get/bejne/e96ontB7pseUdIU.html

Please share this with 5 people and ask them to share this with 5 different people.

My rule of thumb is if you buy something from a company, you aren't a employee, you're a customer.

To all the moms and women who would like to get a side, part-time job: work at a local store nearby for 10-15 hours a week. You'll earn way more money than ANY mlm and it won't cost you anything.

i know its not an option for everyone, but honestly you would be better off getting a second or part time job in retail or food services. at least they pay you money for real. i wanted to work an office job but couldn't afford the minimum wage entry level pay. so i started as a waitress somewhere and worked two jobs until it balanced itself out. took hard work and time but couldn't be happier with the outcome and i didn't waste money trying one of these instead.

6. DON'T ever join a MLM, no matter what

There is podcast dedicated to MLMs called "The Dream". It is about the story of MLMs, their inner working and the consequences of joining one. I highly recommend listenning to it, it is eye opening and paints a very disturbing picture of what really goes on in these pyramid schemes (since there is absolutely no difference between pyramid schemes and MLMs).

My sister in law joined that scented oil one. We all warmed her. She was required to purchase hundreds in product a month, sold or not. Last month she and brother lost their apt because of it, and she’d drained their house savings. Now she has to live in his long haul truck while he drives (he’s a trucker) until they can get a new place. They’ve got thousands in product in storage too because she refused to part with it. Since she bought it I don’t blame her. But lucky my mom has on property unit so they not wasting more money. MLMs ruin families and never does your upline feel a touch of guilt.

I worked at the corporate HQ for an MLM, in the marketing department, for 2 years. Don't think it was an accident. Don't think they don't realize what they're doing. Of course they do. Every single thing sold to members is intended only to make more money for the people at the highest point of the Uplines. They're fully aware that new members lose money, and they purposefully prey on people's insecurities to get them to spend more. They actively work to side-step the FTC rules so they are just on the other side of the line from "pyramid scheme." But they are. They're a straight-up pyramid. I'm glad the gal in the video got out of it. The disgust/sense of hypocrisy while involved is *real*. If you're part of an MLM, be very clear: that company doesn't care about you at all. Care about yourself and get out.

I joined an MLM with my mom & I never should have let her talk me into it. I'm still in debt to this day for all the stuff we bought, trips we took, parties that no one showed up to. I spent easily $7000. I made maybe $300. I still use a lot of the products I bought, because they are great products. But the price tag was more than the credit card debt- it was the friendships I lost, the rift in the relationship with my mom. I learned a hard lesson about putting myself first instead of letting others put me last.

Me: knows what actually happens Also me: watches anyways

Any job that requires you to put forth any of your own money before you see a penny of it back is pretty much a scam. You shouldn't have to spend your own money to get a very specific job. Unless you are actually creating your own business.

I was in 3 MLM’s and hardly made any money. Beachbody, Younique, and Advocare. Total waste of effort, time, and money. I hope more and more light is shed on pyramid schemes.

This is why we need to be kind and educate these people so they can get out earlier, instead of leaving them hate messages and making them feel stupid and alone.

MLMs burned a lot of people in the 90s. Now with social media it could be a lot worse.

This came out at exactly the right time for me. A couple I vaguely approached me recently about joining an MLM as a way to retire young. They were really secretive and wouldn't tell me about the special way they were going to accomplish retiring early. I had to meet with them three times to finally learn what they were doing. It has been very strange, and it is designed so even if you are rational and think it's too good to be true, you experience a lot of self-doubt. The people involve believe so strongly in what they are doing and have programmed responses about everything to shame you into joining. I briefly thought about it but know it's not for me. Thank you for this video. It made me feel better about my experience and saying no to them.

Great vid on an under-discussed topic. MLMs are predatory, and take advantage of women and moms especially. Avoid at all costs!

MLM: Moms Losing Money

I have an acquaintance who gets trapped into a new MLM scam every year, because she's so naive and she really want to run her own business... while being a part of the MLM is NOT a business. I consider her an acquaintance because I got so fed up with her trying to make money off of me, I stopped being her friend.

Thank you for sharing this. I almost got recruited in one during High School and thankfully my dad was looking out for me and it's great that more people keep on talking about this. and I hope people never stop. MLM's prey on so many vulnerable people and it's absolutely disgusting and it's great that so many people are waking up and no longer following for the predatory marketing. It's sad to know that so many fall into that trap but it's becoming harder and harder for them. I predict a lot of these MLM companies will start failing in the future. That brings me great joy.

Only 50? Sis, I was told to prospect a minimum of 20 people a day! I am so glad I rescued myself out of that mess.

I decided quit the mlm that I was apart of this week. I had so many doubts about the one I was apart of but I ignored them for months. but once I saw that 1% success rate along side doing alot of research, I decided to quit

This is my favourite episode of Making It Work so far. Five years ago I fell victim to a pyramid scheme too, though at the time I didn't see the signs because it wasn't your "typical" or better known type of pyramid scheme such as the ones that sell beauty products, health supplements, etc. I owned a painting franchise that consumed 7 months of my life after hearing about the "opportunity" at a job fair at school. Though I wasn't required to recruit other franchise owners, the onus of hiring my own painters and marketers fell entirely on me and royalties were obscene (24% of revenue). I will say that though this experience was painful and humiliating, it made me really serious about money for the first time since it put my savings back to square one. Pyramid schemes are so predatory and come in so many different shapes. I'm glad this video is encouraging those who've been through it to talk about it more, because you definitely carry a lot of shame and have a hard time unpacking your emotions in the aftermath. Oh, and the part about them preying on your insecurities is SO TRUE. By our second interview the interviewer was asking me incredibly personal questions about hardships I'd experienced as well as my wildest dreams. An insecure college student living with her single mother, who isn't so stoked about her part-time restaurant job (even though it made more money than the stupid franchise)? A perfect candidate!

Almost got recruited by Amway a few years ago before I knew what MLM was. Went to an orientation, had a bad feeling in my gut about it, did some research, then ghosted the shit out of my recruiter. No way am I gonna let myself be suckered into something like that.

Please make your way to the antiMLM reddit.

I was in Amway for several years LTD specifically... On the positive side I learned a lot from some of the books that were recommended. I also learned to get good at relating to people. Some of the leaders seemed like good people. On the negative side. It was and still is very cult like quit and realize none of them were ever your friends. It's financially just not a solid business model unless you really are willing to just grind at an unbelievable level which honestly that level of work would also make any venture profitable. I definitely burned some bridges that I wasn't proud of when I was involved. I'm willing to bet someone with less than 1000PV will make some comment to the effect of you quit that's why it didn't work etc. It's the canned response people have to comments like this regardless of how many sources show the math that as an industry MLMs just aren't very profitable for distributors.

I think there's a Bob's Burgers episode that kind of touches on how some women can be successful at this. It boils down to attractiveness. You see a beautiful lady with a beautiful family, nice clothes, lavish life and you'll very likely will want to emulate her. But thing is, you are NOT her.

If you’re scrolling through the comments I hope you have a phenomenal day. Get ya bread and all the crumbs too. Stack and act broke Ladies and Gents 💯😤🔥👌🏾

In my senior year of high school I tried the MLM thing. I felt like an idiot afterwards for ever thinking it was worth giving a shot! ☹️

If a random acquaintance pops up and asks for your number in an odd place and talks about business, give a fake one. I have no compunctions about lying and scamming them, because that’s what they do. I had multiple people say point blank the business wasn’t Amway when I said it sounded like Amway, and sure enough it always turned out to be Amway one way or another.

This is my story too. Thank you for putting words to it.

I am sorry you got sucked into it, but glad you got out. I don't 'do' MLM. Not selling, not buying, not...anything. It has taken a while, but people within my circle know not to even bother inviting me to their 'parties' or sucking me into buying their kids' overpriced crap for fundraisers, because I do not participate in such things, universally, across the board. (putting on my Oprah voice here) "You get a NO! and You get a NO! and You get a NO!"

I got sucked into Young Living. As much as I do like their oils, some of them are ridiculously overpriced. I wouldn’t purchase anything other than their oils & thank God I never became a representative of their company.

One huge red flag about such "jobs" is that interviewer will talk about income. Phrases like "I made $10,000 my first week here" (yes, I've heard that one) is a dead give away. Legitimate employers never discuss salary/wages until later stages in hiring process.

When I was in University, a dorm-mate joined an MLM. I didn't understand it at all. He was spending long hours that affected his studies, and at the end he didn't get ANY MONEY.

I was in a few MLM's and they all sound the same. Recruit, buy products and books, brain washing meetings. I had 2 young son's and I remember that I didn't even have the gas money to go to these meetings and I pawned stuff just to be able to afford to buy books, tapes, and products. I spent way more than I made. My boys are now in their late 20's and it's still the same. You learn after getting burned a few times.

This sounds like arbonne...

One of my closest friends is into Longrich, she has been trying to recruit me for months but I've never given in. I can tell that she is not doing well but I am not sure how to help her, she still fully believes in it and regularly posts about their meetings and events.

I joined one when I was in my 30's and I completely agree with everything you said. The person who recruited me helped me open a "business" credit card, the limit was $10,000. Looking back, that was the worse financial mistake I ever made. I didn't know how to manage money at that time, had no discipline, and ran up that card, not just on the business, although about half of it was. I'll be paying that card off for a really long time. I liked the products at first but after a few years I started not liking them anymore and stopped using them. It took a long time to finally tell the person above me that I couldn't afford it anymore because I was worried that she would talk me into staying. But I told her the truth, that I needed to pay off the debt. I've made process paying off the card and it feels good but still have a long ways to go. I do need some financial advice, if anyone can help. The interest is really high, only about $100 is going towards the principal and my minimum payments are almost $300. I can't afford to pay anymore than that. Is there any way I can get the interest lowered? If I call and ask, will they just low it for me? Or is there another way of doing it?

This is definitely about Arbonne.

Thank you for creating an amazing and well spoken video on the dangers of MLM, I will definitely be sharing this with every person who messages me on social media about “joining their team”

I wonder why so many think that they will be instantly successful in sales without prior experience. These things aren't magic solutions. They're opportunities for people with an aptitude for making sales.

I’ve seen so many people get burned by MLMs. There’s only one person I know of that found success with it and it’s a youtuber who sells Stella and dot. I think because she had a built in audience to sell to already.

I got suckered into Mary Kay, and ended up losing $1000. I also tried Pampered chef but the discount alone worked for me on that, I just bought. My own stuff, did not try and make money. Interesting video.

I went through this last summer. I was in a rough place and then I met someone who talked me into it and I went with it. Within a month I left and got my money refunded and cut those guys off as I simply couldn't bring myself to manipulate people into doing something that hasn't proven itself to me. But I was encouraged to keep trying. Since then I felt so taken advantaged of and scared because of these companies and their cult like way of running things. I know better now, and if it sounds too good to be true, it is. No matter what anyone says.

So thankful I didn't fall for this as a teenager and was nearly about to join till I saw that you have to buy a kit. That's when I stopped lol, why should I buy a bunch of products from a company I've never heard of when I'm not 100% sure I can sell it? Immediately seemed weird to me. And then a few years later a girl I met ONCE at a show who hardly spoke to me (she didn't even follow me on insta) but still messaged me about a very vague 'work from home' business opportunity that she needs 'girl bosses' for (I hate when they use that annoying phrase). Anyway, I very politely told her that I wasn't interested but she became immediately defensive and really pressuring and should blindly join because I have nothing to lose. I still told her that I'm in the middle of finishing school and also have a job so I'm busy and can't put the work in or have the time for any business. But she still didn't take no or any legitimate reason for an answer. That's how brainwashed these people are, it's frustrating.

It is true. They prey on physical appearance and also finiancial aspect saying skin is going to be amazing with buying their products and it is all safe. The people that recruits us are close friends and even relatives.

I've always had the idea that if your product needs a multi-level marketing system to sell, then your product is a bad product.

Done it, been there... Never again. And today, with Amazon and other sellers, you get good quality products inexpensive. And you can always get a part time job to pay your bills. And meanwhile save money to build your dream, achieve the goal that really makes your hard sing! There are other ways to earn good honest money without loosing family and friends. Thanks for sharing.

I almost entered an MLM that requires you to pay certain amounts to join. They kept saying, the more you pay the more you benefit. I was kind of intrigued with the benefits and thought of doing further research before jumping in. They told me that if I refer more people, they will pay me but what they didn't say is that the payment is once per person (and if 20% your downliners are inactive). Worst of all, you will pay them monthly for the so called IBOs fees and if you don't pay nor your downliners pay, that cuts you off some of the benefits). I got everything set and was about to pay them when my sister called that I should send her my money cause we were supposed to contribute to buy my parents gifts for their wedding anniversary. Just that one call saved me cause when I eventually got the money, I became uninterested and focused on my small business. It was a friend of mine that introduced me to it that told me stuffs they never say that made me thank God for using my sister to stop me from making the worst mistake of my life. Now I'm perfectly fine with my little business and recently, started trading forex as another source of income.

It’s my job to set up those MLM conventions. I feel bad for every woman who attends them.

Lost approximately $170 in MLM. It's a huge amount for me. After I left the company because of loss, the company got shut down by the government for Tax related stuff. It was a good experience but also a costly one.

DONT DO MLMs........ EVER!!! The amount of money and time you spend on this crap, you could be improving yourself in some other more enriching fashion! MLMs are a scam!!!

About 4 years ago I joined a life insurance MLM. I wasted time, destroyed relationships with friends and family, and lost a total of $5,000 greens. I even lost my job because I was recruiting every one in the office. I was depressed and exhausted about the recruiting aspect of it. The only blessing I had from that experience its my husband I actually recruited him. He later admitted he only joined because he was interested on me and help quit without feeling guilt. Please do yourself a favor and NEVER JOIN AN MLM.

Always be wary of any group that focuses more on recruiting others ... it's either a MLM or a cult.

Currently rebounding from this one--sounded legit selling life insurance, but when you have to spend thousands on leads and the only ones making money have recruits, it is appearing more and more that it IS MLM no matter what they say. Ugh.

And an advertisement for an MLM just after this video!😅👍 Planet Impact sounds suspicious...

I had never linked the self help and wellness industry with MLMs before. No wonder you had people out here trying to sell over priced protein powders that you can get for half the price in stores and online. I'm glad you woke up to them.

I like how they used the word empower at the end, but, unlike all the other mlms, they used it correctly

This was my experience in a nutshell and at the time I was very young and vulnerable. I didn't do my research before joining yet I'm glad to know that I'm out of that business and I'll always be wary of people offering questionable opportunities.

Thank you for sharing your story. I'm glad you didn't lose more than $1,000 because many people lose more than that. The benefits of the products are not worth the price.

You are speaking all I experienced too! Almost as if you’re speaking my own thoughts! So glad you’re out and me too.

"uplines" should make your hair stand on end.

I had a Facebook friend who tried to sell me supplements and keto coffee. I wasn’t interested nor able to afford fancy coffee that I wasn’t interested in. I wanted to support her, but couldn’t financially. She later posted how disappointed she was in not getting support. But it comes with the territory.

I have been watching more and more anti MLM videos lately and it’s helping me to let go of the one I’m currently in. They always say you don’t have to purchase that’s why we aren’t an MLM but in the same meeting they will reiterate that your purchase is your nod to your mentorship for guiding you. I put a lot of time. And I mean ALOT of time into growing my friend base, appearing in social media all the time and messaging etc. the level of effort put in was not being reflected in the “pay out” in the business. I appreciated the community while I was doing “well” but once my client base shrunk the support disappeared as well. It’s really true that they feed on your insecurities as well as say what you want to hear. I’m fortunate for the experience. I generally broke almost even and it helped with some tax right offs etc. I don’t think I’ll continue with the “business” as it became a stresser in my life and not what was promised. Also it’s true. If you’re not one of the first to get in your just another worker ant to make your upline reach their numbers. Every month there is pressure and encouragement to hit certain numbers etc. once you do it’s impossible to maintain that unless your the PTA president with hundreds of women who envy you. Thank you for this video

The research advice is a good approach to life in general. We will trust the ones we love more than evidence sometimes.

It's so disgusting that people would willingly try and get others to spend money they don't have to do a job they know they will not succeed solely to make money off the inventory they had to buy. What kind of person can live with themselves doing that? It's on the same level as killing puppies to sell their fur.

MLMs suppose to mold your mindset from having an employee thinking to business thinking, that is what is wrong with too many mlms now they focus on selling and recruiting even to cause down lines to debts. It suppose to cause you become a better person financially and mentally.

I did home interiors in college for awhile - then longaberger and then arbonne. Ya I was a slow leaner...anytime I see someon selling something I think “they’ll learn”

I was once given an “opportunity” at the goddamn DMV. I was already in hell and this Amway lady just would not let me say no.

I should join an MLM to troll the MLM!

I tried this same sort of direct to consumer marketing company for passive income and it was worst than just getting a second job. I will pass on this sort of opportunity.

My friend is in one of these and she is always “busy” 7 days a week with meetings. She’s in terrible debt and exhausted but trying to stay positive. One day she came to me complaining that she was exhausted and had no time to herself, and I told her straight out like are they paying you? And she was like no I said, then you have no obligation to go to these meetings every day. Give yourself some time set a boundary. You deserve it so she did and took one day off which is Sunday, otherwise she still going to meetings six days a week it’s ridiculous and I can tell that she’s just burning out but she’s trying to stay positive because of probably all the peer pressure that she gets. I know exactly what it is that she’s getting from it though and it’s community, purpose, and they do go on some cool trips and have some really flashy events. She was about to quit her job to do this full-time, and I convinced her not to do it because it was the actual thing that is paying her. She listened and kept her job, and her job promoted her and gave her a raise. However, she still stuck in this MLM, which is draining her energy, but I think she will quit soon and focus on her job and get her life back.

‘It’s easy to fool people than convince then that they have been fooled”

I joined one for a little while because I wanted to get the products at a discount. At first I gave a half-hearted try at the business end of things in actually selling the products, but I never could get into it and I made only one sale. I'm sure my sponsor was disappointed with what a dud of a recruit I turned out to be, but I just did not like selling things I knew were overpriced. Eventually, I let my membership lapse when I found other products I liked just as much that I could get cheaper from a non-MLM source. Peaking behind that curtain to see how MLM consultants recruit and coach one another was something that never failed to make me feel uncomfortable.

So sorry for your experience and I'm grateful you got out before you lost more. Thank you for sharing this well-informed video. You shared your story very articulately. MLMs are the worst!!!

We full on legit had an MLM that sold kitchen knives at our PSU (PDX) job fair year before last. They were so aggressive with people, and the head of the event now vets everyone renting a booth. They paid over $1500 (we normally charge $250) to our student improvement committee, so everyone higher up turned a blind eye. A ton of girls in my dorm lost $500+ on it. With only fancy looking but cheaply made knives to show. I don’t think the company is even open anymore. It was “local startup” but full on MLM. Even college job fairs have them weasel in now, so look out!

If you have to pay to work it's a scam. My parents taught me that when I was like 5, how are people unaware of such obvious things?

Ive been with MLM before and I also lost some money,and didnt get people to buy. If people arent buying than its not worth the investment.. I know some of them tho that actually have alot of customers that are willing to spend,but thats the problem some of us do not get buyers/customers!

I'm a guy who got sucked into MLM, I should have seen the red flags from the start

bravo!!!! people need to see this!

Pyramid Scheme is just Multi Level Scheme. Simple.

Was it Herbalife? I bet it was Herbalife.

Mary Kay 🙋🏾‍♀️

I joined Beachbody because I like the workouts, I thought I could help others, and make "quick" money. The "side hustle" quickly took over my life because of the peer pressure from the upline etc. I lost over 2000 in 6 months buying products and going to events. I was on a team of 12 girls and some worked the "biz" every day and in a year they had only recruited like 3 people after inviting 1000s. MLMs are not a way to make money AT ALL! Do anything else besides an MLM. I really wish I would have never joined and spent my time doing other productive things. Lesson learned I guess.

I lost over $2000 to Mary Kay. I have a closet full of products I couldn’t sell. Thankfully I’ve been able to pay off my debt, but I was an insecure 24 year old at the time (27 now) and I felt taken advantage of in that Panera Bread where my sponsor made me open up a credit card to buy product. I experienced 100% of everything you described in this video. I’m grateful I had the sense to stop before it got too bad.

Thanks for campaigning against MLMs!

This is so my story! Except, thankfully, I didn't lose that much money in the process. Everything else, though? Spot-on.

Almost got suckered into the Prebuilt Marketing AMI mlm scheme a few years ago when I got laid off. The more questions I asked the less I liked how it sounded. It was just too obviously a pyramid scheme and I couldn't bring myself to do it thankfully.

Paying for equipment and uniform or gas is NOT the same as paying a company to push THEIR products in order to get MAYBE 20-45% back. You’re not a business owner and you’re more likely to lose more money than you make!

My sister joined an MLM (Beauty Counter), but my Mom had been purchasing the products for all of us for over a year at that point. They didn't require she purchase products to sell them. Instead, people made orders at parties/ online putting her name in as the seller. . A lot of MLMs are scams, but I have seen some that actually have good products.

Years ago an acquaintance got a hold of me on social media and asked if I'd like to go to lunch because she wanted "to talk" to me. So, ok, we met up a few days later. Boy. Was I ever disappointed. We were literally at the restaurant for 10 minutes when she hit me up about a "business opportunity". I couldn't believe it. Well, I let her ramble on, ate my lunch then told her "no, thanks". She paid the bill and we parted ways. Never spoke to her again.

I joined 3 days ago. AND INSTANTLY REGRETTED IT.

Thanks for the video, I also was in a couple of MLM's and I am happy I moved on and never looked back. I would rather do something more creative, and something that doesn't harm other people to make money.

Almost joined American Income Life. Too many things didn’t add up for me though, so I wasn’t conned. My piece of advice though is don’t hate your friend that tried to recruit you. They are just trying to be successful the same as you.

Oh my god, an mlm promotion played right before this video. Wow! How to manage it all and still stay sane.

MLMs are cults. Naturally, you will likely feel some trauma remaining from finally leaving said cult

In short, MLMs are recruiting, training and dealing with drama.

I know it sounds bad but you got the product at a discount & learnt a lot in the process. You must believe in the product and hopefully it will help you too. I agree only invest what you would spend on products you would buy anyway. It is hyped up as you need energy to get it off the ground. Only 1% achieve this. I set up an Etsy shop and spent 20,000 and never broke even. Setting up at business for 1000 feels like a lot but it really isn’t. I am sorry it was such a bad experience for you. Thanks for sharing your video.

I wouldn't say mlms are too good to be true, but definitely not for everyone. If it is impacting you negatively, it might not be for you & that's okay. I am no longer in an mlm, but I did find success there when I was there - that wasn't a common thing though I must say. There's a lot of hard work involved and you have to want it on a pro-athlete level. Everyone wants to play sports, only a few become a pro. But that doesn't mean they are failures for not making it and it doesn't mean pro athletics isn't a real thing. It just isn't for everyone. ♥️