MLM's - the Ultimate People-Repellant

Are you tired of your friends? Want to make them run in the other direction when they see you coming? Do you want to know with certainty that any new acquaintances will roll their eyes when they hear your voice on the phone?


Then I've got a plan for you! Spend roughly 250-500 of your well-earned dollars (to BEGIN with) and sign up for an MLM. Along with that you'll purchase the right to spend another chunk of change on required product to sell (or bury in the backyard). Further down the road you'll have the opportunity to make your upline just a little(or a LOT) wealthier by buying tapes and other 'tools' to help you build your business. But wait, there's more!


You, too, can make your income dependent on your friends', relatives', and acquaintances' willingness to listen to your sales pitch and then decide to buy everything from you even if they could get it cheaper or more conveniently through Wal-Mart or any local store on sale. You can guilt them into narrowing their choices and buying through you because they know how much you need the money.


There's an added bonus. You can convince yourself that you're doing this to further the Kingdom! That's right....you're doing more than just helping the Scamway empire!


In my lifetime, I have spent a lot of time with people of varying degrees of wealth, from the poverty level to extremely well-to-do. One thing that is hard for folks from every social strata to resist, is the lure of what appears to be a quick buck.

I have seen wonderful people of God get completely consumed with Amway. I have heard of churches having huge divisions because of MLM's. I have seen broke people stay broke because they dumped all their time into an MLM instead of getting experience or education for a career that could really help them financially.

I won't come right out and say all MLM's are bad. There could be exceptions to that rule. I just haven't found any. Of course, this is all just my opinion. Why do I feel the need to spout it here? Because I've just seen some of my sons' friends, broke and starting college, get snookered into putting good money into these things and losing it all. When my son's friend had just signed up and wanted #3 to do the same, I found a christian brother online that was involved and asked him a few questions. The responses I got back were wonderfully sweet but avoided the real answers like the plague. Do I think it was on purspose? No, I think this man and his wonderful wife were completely in denial over how much they had socked into their 'own' business, and how much they had(n't) made once you took out the cash they had spent on 'tools' to supposedly grow their business. He also gave me the spiel that it wasn't about the money, it was about growing the Kingdom. Hmmmmm? I can think of lots of things that I can do to grow the kingdom that don't involve a dime.....why blur the lines? I corresponded back and forth a few times with this couple and decided to just leave it be. In a year's time from my letter to them, I will email them again and find out just how many of the things they were told have actually materialized. I will also ask them how many of their non-mlm friends are still close to them.

I don't print this to criticize, I print it as a warning to anyone who might be considering an MLM. Do your homework! If it were any other business you were buying into, you would ask to see the owner's tax statements from the prior year to see how much the business was making. Why do any less for an MLM. If you find that you are getting a lack of straight answers.......................RUN!......as FAST as you can in the opposite direction and never look back. I don't know everything. I don't know everyone's experience, obviously, BUT I have yet to meet a person who got everything they thought they would out of one of these MLM experiences. I have never met a person who made anywhere close to a 'living wage' from one of these businesses. I have only met ONE person out of MANY who have approached me over the years about an MLM who was upfront about what the business actually was.

If you go to one of these meetings and they use 'group-think' or the cheering mob to instill a little Rah-Rah! into you.....be afraid, be very afraid. If they've told you to put a picture of your dream house/car/whatever taped to your refrigerator to keep you motivated to sell, sign people up, and sell some more......rethink the whole thing before you go a step further. Has one of these people told you that your parents or friends will have a problem with the MLM thing because they're 'old-fashioned', too old to be internet savvy, or un-enlightened? Run!!! Have you shut out your trusted friends' and family's opinions on all of this? Why? Think again.

I hope I haven't offended anyone here. If your story is different from this, by all means, set me straight. I just think there are a lot more fruitful ways to 'invest' several hundred dollars.

Proverbs23:4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint. 5 Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle. .......................23 Buy the truth and do not sell it; get wisdom, discipline and understanding.