It was Spring of 2014 and money was tight, as it is for most of us these days lets face it. I was seeing a girl I knew through mutual friends posting about this company and how it was these famous doctors new skin care line that you can personally "invest" in. It caught my attention immediately because I am an esthetician who can't really work out of the house due to being a stay at home mom and student. She messaged me one day on FB and I remember it so clearly. The moment I saw the alert I didn't open it because I knew she would see that I read it. Thanks "seen" note FB messenger lol... But then curiosity got the best of me. I opened the message and agreed to a phone chat which then led to a "3 way" phone chat and the rest is history. Even though my husband was saying "you are being sold...." I wanted to prove him wrong and I pulled out my credit card and ordered a kit that ended up costing me $750 after taxes and it wasnt even the most expensive one. I truly believed all the success stories spilled to me on the phone, and it was going to be me too... I just knew it would be if I "worked" hard enough...
I got my stuff and I immediately really liked the product. Looking back now of course I would have. I didnt use any skin care when I was pregnant, and then when I had Hope I didnt really use much due to just being tired. This skin care line I got involved with is chemically heavy so it is fast results for many. This is not to knock the skin cares effectiveness at all or even the company actually. Technically this mlm is not responsible for how upline leaders train their downlines. Anyway, so because of the product working well, that gave me a genuineness when I was spreading the word about this. I truly believed I was doing a good thing. "Working" in this kind of business is essentially bugging the people you know, or just meet, via FB message or texts... I plugged into all the FB pages and training's. I did what the leaders said because I trusted them, and that eventually led to me signing 7 consultants under me and even had 30+ customers. I was getting my monthly paycheck deposited into my account each month usually between 300-500 bucks on average which I saw as our cushion money. I thought I was soo successful or at least right on the verge of it. Then in late September of this year I had a reality check...
I added up all my checks for the year, and added all my expenses, and only made about 300 in profit... That wasn't even with my mail expenses for mailing samples. I made NO money. How could this be??!! I had these checks deposited into my account every month! I looked back and in addition to paying 25 a month for my websites and paying around 112 after tax and shipping for my personal use product to be "commissionable", I had numerous little extra charges of me placing orders through my "ghost" account to buy the products I needed, and for gifts/promotions etc... We are encouraged to do this from leaders because when you do that, it benefits your sales number for the month which also ends up benefiting your upline... It is all very confusing but this is how almost ALL MLM's work I have come to find out.
I lived and breathed this company. It was all I could think about sometimes. It was my life for a year and a half. I really truly believed I was doing something for women, and for myself and my family. In reality though, I have lost a LOT of money doing this. I have put my family in debt. Why? Because of the FB groups created by uplines waving all these success stories in your face. It seems so attainable, so and so earned her Lexus after all! In reality these are people you dont know and never would know if it werent for being added to this group... Oh and if you are not getting there, its because you have negative energy in your way, "dont give up!" The sad fact is when you aren't "giving up" you just keep going into debt month after month blaming yourself for your lack of success. If you look at all income discolsures for MLM's, only .01 percent make the big bucks. 99% are in debt and/or not making much money. This is how the business model is designed. Everyone CAN'T be successful with this, it just isn't possible. If it were, then the older MLM companies would have VERY high percentages of those at the top and they dont.. In fact they are almost worst!
I know this is long and if you made it this far I am so grateful, thank you. I want to leave you with this... When you see your sweet FB friend has joined a MLM company and is posting non stop, instead of rolling your eyes at her, or ignoring her messages, pray for her or if your not into that kind of thing, SAY something to her. This truly is a modern day cyber cult movement and even if they are not receptive, seeds will be planted...
