Friday Fun: MLM

[belovedgandp]

I am quick to mute people who go all in on MLM. I do have a few that I recently had to re-mute because they are going strong on a few of the different weight loss or collagen fads. Those are the ones that drive me really crazy; when they will not actually name the product or company.

I still get the occasional Pampered Chef or Usborne book invites. And, then the beachbody and nail posts float by occasionally.

I am in the middle of reading "Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism" by Amanda Montell and it has some interesting looks at MLMs and how the fit the cult-culture.

[WatchingThemGrow]

Pruvit Ketones are the ones I’m seeing. One sweet friend is killing me with her posts about it. I need to mute her, but I dearly love her. Do you know anyone selling that? She looks great and says how great she feels, but I’m not believing it’s anything more than exercise and eating healthier.

What are you all thinking about Pampered Chef? I need some new cutting boards and to replace a few items of theirs I really like….but don’t want to spam people or seem like I’m getting something at a discount if they buy something.


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[AnnieW625]

I buy MLM products that I feel like are quality products. I bought Mary Kay and Avon for years because I liked the products and I knew people who sold them. When they stopped selling them I stopped buying the products.

My BFF still does Pampered Chef. She lives in a different part of the state though so I never have to attend her parties. When I need something though I do order from her but their stuff lasts forever.

I have bought Tupperware as needed as well from people having parties. I love Tupperware as well so I will always buy from someone.

My aunt is still actively selling Arbonne and has been since 2009 iirc. I do like the products I have tried (and loved their baby line) but it is just that much out of my budget most of the time and I am happy with my current skincare routine. And I don’t have to deal with my aunt’s sales tactics. Although she has been not as pushy recently.

My cousin who is also an esthetician was doing R+F for a while but I think she stopped. Her regular esthetician business is doing just fine though and I don’t live close enough to see her on a regular basis so I never really asked her why she was selling R+F.

I sold Beautycounter for about 18 months from
March, 2019 through November, 2020. I had a hard time getting new business during Covid and honestly the only reason I lasted until November was because there were no new client or sales requirements for part of 2020 due to covid. By the time I lost my consultant title though I was honestly getting annoyed with the “build your business” push that had been happening since Covid. My goal was never really to get a team going but to get products at a discount. I was in a team in another part of the country too and maybe that wasn’t an advantage for me, but I could tell from that team leader’s FB page that her buying group on FB was still really active and most likely more interested in the products than what I could drum up interest on my own with my very small group. What I also found from Beautycounter in my old area was that most of the people who were interested in it already got into it through the initial sales person in my area (who is a digital and fashion entrepreneur in my old area-I met her through a moms group when DD1 was a baby). Her network is huge and I am honestly surprised she isn’t a managing director. It was very hard to get business going because I felt like she and her team of consultants (I am probably friends on FB with 5-6 of them and then know of another 3-4 consultants through my kids old schools) already had the market covered in my old area. I still buy a few items though. They have also changed some products in the last year that I really don’t care for (cream blush instead of powder blush, cream eyeshadow instead of powder shadow, the original foundation was 10x better than the current one) as well so my buying has gone down a bunch.

I haven’t watched the LuLaRich documentary but I am somewhat interested in it.


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[lizzywednesday]

I have a friend who is Very Successful selling Monat, another trio of friends selling some kind of cosmetics (not sure which kinds), and a friend selling ColorStreet. I have an acquaintance who still sells DoTerra. A former coworker was selling Origami Owl and a lot of my extended acquaintances were selling Silpada when that was a thing.

My BFF was very into BeachBody, but I hadn't realized that was an MLM.

Another friend sold Plexus/Pink Drink (anonymously reported it as a scam and then hid those posts because ... I love my friend, but some of the ad copy she was posting was dangerously unscientific) ... and I've since un-friended the friend who was selling It Works! (we disagree philosophically and it's much better for us not to be connected online.)

[RiverRat]

I’m in Canada and the big one here is GelMoments. It’s the gel nail polishes. I have a few of them because Dd got a light for Christmas last year and the polishes work with it. Other than those few I bought, I stay away from all MLM.


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[KpbS]

Plexus is still a thing here but I’ve blocked everyone I knew that was selling it.

[AngB]

DH has a coworker who has gotten very high up at Doterra (I think, he's kinda unreliable as far as companies go....it's essential oils though.) He says she makes 6 figures selling it as a full time job (plus her downline which I'd guess is extensive.) They just built a vacation home in Florida. So I guess they are doing okay.

I sold Pure Romance for like a year and a half or so. The people I know still selling it (many have quit) seem to be doing okay but I do agree there are a lot fewer.

MLMs are definitely totally a scam and even cult. They all say the same crap too. I don't know if my peer group has mostly aged out of that stage or if covid put a huge dent in it or both.

[StantonHyde]

Well, Utah is the MLM capital so we see all sorts of stuff. Thankfully, nobody I know sells any of it!!!!

[okinawama]

We are prior military, and for many reason, military spouses seem to be very susceptible to falling prey to MLM’s . So, all that to say, I know plenty of peoples involved in MLM’s of all sorts. Due to the sheer number of friends involved in MLM’s, I have some that are at the very top of their companies, which seems to fuel many others in our circle of friends to join. The number of FB/Instagram stories, messages, and posts that I receive are absolutely maddening.

[carolinamama]

The volume of MLM posts seems to have fallen in the last few years. I had many FB friends selling Rodan and Fields for years after a few from our larger moms group joined and recruited from that pool. Now I see a past co-worker posting very frequently about a weightloss program that she never names (I'll DM you is always the answer when anyone asks) and a CBD oil mlm that a neighbor sells. I wonder if my age has anything to do with the fall off. I suspect the prime recruiting grounds are mainly women who want to make money while staying home with their kids. They also crave the social belonging the mlms promote after being isolated at home with little kids. I don't get nearly the number of messages about joining an mlm as I did 5 years ago so I'm guessing most people I know have stopped selling.

LulaRich and The Dream podcast were both certainly eye-opening to me.