If you are a mom or even an adult woman, there is a huge chance that you have been approached by someone about MLM (multi-level marketing). It’s likely that you have been approached multiple times about purchasing a product. Maybe it was through a Facebook friend advertising an MLM product that showed up in your feed or maybe it was one of your mom friends trying to get you to purchase something outright. It could have even been a relative hitting you up for a sale. If you showed any interest at all, there is also a chance that one of these people tried to get you to sign up to sell their amazing product. You were told you would be signing up under them and that they would mentor you. They would have also told you about what an amazing financial opportunity it was. You would have heard about the different sales levels and how quickly they jumped the sales ladder. They probably would have even told you about the car allowance that salespeople at a certain level get and that free exotic vacation they took last year because of their status in the company.
Ladies, I want you to tread very carefully when approached with an MLM opportunity. I say “Ladies” because there is a disproportionate amount of women selling MLM compared to men. Women are targeted much more often, probably because women are most likely to be the parents staying at home with their children, who are on the lookout for financial opportunities that will allow them to make money and parent at the same time.
How MLM Works
It’s important to give you some background on multi-level marketing or MLM. An MLM is a type of business structure in which a salesperson makes commission from product sales as well as the product sales of salespeople underneath them. There are literally hundreds of MLM companies out there and the are all made to sound like the best company ever, with products that just can’t miss. The more people they bring in and sign up to sell the product, the more money they will make. You will then be instructed to bring in your friends and family members to also sell this amazing product, because you will make more money this way. They will also make more money when you do this, because the more people you have under you, the more money there is to be made. The people you bring in to sell under you is referred to as your downline. You may have also heard multi-level marketing called a pyramid scheme. A lot of people in the business are now referring to these businesses under the umbrella of network marketing, because that detaches it from the negativity of MLM. This type of business structure goes back many years, but it’s become much more popular in the last 20 years because so many people use the Internet and are on social media.
Sounds great, right? Well, not so much. It can be very difficult to make money with an MLM company unless you are at the top of the giant pyramid. The people at the bottom make very little, if anything at all, and will oftentimes even lose money.
If you choose to move forward with an MLM business opportunity, expect there to be a buy-in of some kind. You will have to pay them something to have the opportunity to sell their product. Additionally, there is big chance that you will be required to purchase product to have on hand to sell. Some new salespeople get really excited, buy thousands of dollars’ worth of product to store in their garage, only to learn that nobody wants to buy it.
Personal MLM Experience
On a more personal note, I was first approached about trying an MLM product in the early 2000’s. I worked in medical research at the time and was approached by a nurse co-worker who I respected. She was a mom, but I was not yet. She had recently started selling an MLM product and convinced me to try it. She then started trying to convince me to sell it under her. She was nice at first, but then became pushy and started to make me uncomfortable. I avoided her after that.
I once ran into a fellow mom who lived in my neighborhood at a school function. While making polite small talk, I discovered she was selling a product with a company that she loved. She made it sounds amazing of course and I was always on the lookout for financial opportunities, so I asked her some questions. I ended up ordering the product, liked it, and even signed up to sell it. She became a new “friend” who messaged way too frequently, became very pushy, and even dropped off marketing materials at my door. Although I did genuinely like the product and would have continued to purchase it, salespeople for this MLM company were being pushed by the company to primarily marketing on Facebook to friends and family members. That was something I was not willing to do. I started to avoid her as well.
One of my cousins reached out to me on Facebook around five years ago. We had not spoken in a really long time, but I had positive memories of spending time with her when we were kids. In her message, she said that she wanted to catch up with me by phone and I was very excited to hear from her. About thirty seconds into our phone call after the initial pleasantries, she went into her MLM sales pitch and I was just absolutely floored. It was truly the tackiest thing ever and a huge turn off. I have not spoken with her since then.
Still Not Convinced?
Lularoe was huge a few years back. Huge! They were at the top of their game. I personally knew a lot of people selling it. It was all over social media, and many people were wearing it. It was a cute, but comfortable and somewhat affordable mom uniform. People were crazy about their leggings.
So many women were reeled into to selling for Lularoe and bought thousands of dollars’ worth of inventory that they could not get rid of. This company took advantage of moms who wanted to make money by getting them to spend money they didn’t have.
There is even a documentary about it titled “LulaRich”. I won’t tell you the full story, but I will say that it all ended very badly for a lot of people. If you don’t believe me, watch the documentary so that you can see for yourself.
Final Note
I get that jumping into MLM can be really tempting. Before you do, please remember that there are many other ways to make money that don’t require an investment of any kind and will guarantee you an income.
I have seen many moms on social media doing makeup tutorials, product demonstrations, and even telling the world their personal inspirational stories all in the name of MLM. It’s painful to watch. Please just don’t!
