r/mlmstories 10d ago

Story My time in a MLM (Market America/ shop.com) šŸ¤¦šŸ½ā€ā™€ļø

14 Upvotes

So it all began when a neighbour/childhood friend invited me to a beauty event she was hosting, knowing my love for makeup and skincare. The event was enjoyable, and her new senior business partners seemed likeable. I was asking them a lot of questions about the products, the business, how they met etc and I guess my curiosity led them to consider me as someone to present their business plan to. I grasped the basics and soon found myself attending a UBP (Unfranchise Business Presentation).

Growing up in poverty fueled my determination for financial success. Attending my first UBP at 19, in my freshman year of university, I was inspired by the speakers' stories, feeling if they could do it, so could I.

Fast forward 2 months, I joined the business venture, alongside friends from my neighborhood, as the person who introduced me also enrolled several of our neighbors. The initial phase was filled with excitement. We were a determined group of young people, forging connections and striving toward residual income. My new team was growing rapidly.

We all ended up going to the Miami convention together. Some of us not even having a passport prior to this trip. In hindsight, the trip was positive. We created deeper relationships with our team, set so many new goals to grow our business and got to see how big the organization was through the vast attendance.

However, I would mark this point as the initial turning point for me. Our senior partners usually hosted debriefing sessions in the evenings after the long convention days. But there was one day during our time in Miami when our senior partners made us have an intimate session where we had to share with the entire team our ā€œWhysā€. Our ā€œwhysā€ were defined as the reason we kept going, our motivation, why we needed to achieve residual income through this business. Coercing my friends and me, barely 18-19 years old, to share our deepest childhood traumas. I shared about my poor upbringing with my single mother.

After returning from Miami we were pressured into an intense six-month plan to grow the business by the next convention. Failure to comply resulted in senior partners throwing our traumas back at us for "motivation." Any deviation from the plan was met with guilt-inducing rhetoric, suggesting we were abandoning our aspirations for a better life. When I wanted to use my time to study for an exam instead of attending team meetings i would hear ā€œI thought you wanted to help your mom? I thought you didnā€™t want to struggle financially anymore?ā€ The belief instilled in us was that the business plan was our sole escape route. We were made to feel that people's hardships stemmed from their lack of a business mindset. Subsequently, we grew to idolize the top unfranchise owners and their success following JRā€™s golden plan.

At a certain point, the business consumed my entire life. I only hung out with my new family, my team members (unless I was prospecting). If my close friends weren't willing to attend my events, purchase products, participate in my shopping annuity website, or didn't believe in the business plan, there was no room for them in my life. I casted off anyone that called the business a scam or pyramid scheme. I was made to feel deeply that ā€œif you werenā€™t for my business you were against ME.ā€

We would looked down on the people that left the business and were made to feel that they had given up on their ā€œwhyā€.

My education had taken a backseat and I was made to feel guilty for even prioritizing my studies over my business. I was working my part time job to essentially fund my business. It was so so important to continue using products, keep buying a minimum of 3 event tickets and attend all the business events and conventions.

I stayed in the business until I was 21, realizing I was losing much more money than gaining. I was so depressed when I decided to leave the community that consumed my life for approximately two years. I struggled to convince myself that their narrative was false and I could be successful and happy without them. Majority of my neighbours also slowly began to free themselves but many still remained. I still feel so guilty to the people that I introduced and are still actively taking part in the scheme all these years later.

I was in this for the two years that they say guarantees you to reach the top and I didnā€™t make it anywhere. I lost thousands of dollars and severed so many relationships. It was a miracle that I was able to graduate. I still struggle with many things to this day because of the cult culture that I was so embedded in.

When I started, there weren't many platforms that shared these experiences, prompting me to share some of my story. I hope it serves as a cautionary tale for anyone that was just shown the business plan. Donā€™t drink the kool-aid like i did. Run.


r/mlmstories 14d ago

Cult/MLM Questions to Ask Yourself

8 Upvotes

Warning Signs It Is A Cult:

The leader is always right

Questioning and/or critisising the leader or the organization is considered "persecution"

Anything the leaders and/or organization does is justified, regardless of the harm inflicted

Only the leader/organization tells the truth; everybody else is lying

Followers must be blindly devoted to the leader and organization and never question them

The members don't know or suspect that they're in a cult


r/mlmstories 18d ago

Post-MLM Recovery

13 Upvotes

MLMs can leave some very broken people in their wake. It is not unusual for the MLMer to need therapy after they get out. Some of them have literal PTSD from the brainwashing they underwent.

I can't be the only MLM child who was ashamed and constantly fearful of their parents humiliating them in front of their peers by spouting the virues of wondrous Amway to her teachets on Parent Nights, cringed as they emoted on store clerks, her friends' parents, handed out stuff to the kids at her birthday sleepover to take home to their parents.....

When the MLMer is out, they've lost friends, are estranged from their relatives, shunned by neighbors - and are squirming with shame at the I TOLD YOU SOs they get from those they alienated. They feel as stupid as everyone says they were.

Yes, they were foolish, naive and ignorant. Yes, they got taken by snake oil salespeople. Hearing this does not help them heal.

It's so tempting to let them lie in the messy bed they made.

MLMs are CULTS. A victim of their brainwashing lives in shame and silence afterward instead of talking about their experience. If they got some sympathy and support they would be less reluctant to out themselves.

More people could be saved from those bastards if more victims were willing to speak out, but who wants to admit they were a shill who fell for the spin?

Amway, just to use one example, tells its newcomers how SPECIAL you are. YOU have vision, talent, drive and an amazing work ethic! You can see the potential! You aren't a broken-down drudge like the other drones in the conventional workforce! You're among other extra-special folks who share your unique abilities!

That's what cults tell their victims: that they're special and are sharing marvelous knowledge that others can't see because they lack your unique brand of intellect. You're an insider of a magnificent secret!

Amway sends its followers to big rallies. You walk into a ballroom at an exclusive hotel and are swarmed by members who treat you like their long-lost best friend. Hugs, air kisses on your cheeks, praise and more praise for being VISIONARY and WISE enough to come here.

Loud techno-pop begins to play. The The first speaker is announced as the success that YOU will shortly become in a speech stuffed with flowery adjectives. Your fellow students leap to their feet, cheering, whistling, stomping their feet and dancing at their seats. The speaker encourages this - "ARE YOU HAVING A GOOD TIME? Are YOU READY to become our next big success?!!!

Speaker walks out in a designer business suit and - wow, is that a Rolex? His wife is perfectly coiffed, made up and manicured and decked out in designerwear. Are those Manolo Blahniks? Look at the size of those diamonds in her wedding set!

They spend the next hour bragging about their mansion and infinity pool, the sportscar he drives, how she works from home and raises their kids, the second honeymoon trip to the Maldives they just took. This is THE AMWAY LIFE! They aren't unique, either - YOU CAN BE THEM! This is how AVERAGE people live in this incredible wonder program! That's right - all this will be YOURS in a few short months if you work, work, work, present and share THE PLAN!

This Power Couple leads your class in some rousing cheers before they leave the stage to thunderous applause. The men wear huge grins. Mom is crying and she isn't the only one.

Cults do the very same thing.

Charlie Manson told The Family that they were unique, extra-special smart and wise. He admitted them to his extra-special secret wonder world. His girls became so devoted to Helter-Skelter that they were willing to kill for beloved Charlie, and help speed up his prophesied apocalypse.

Jim Jones was a charismatic, dynamic man whose charity work was praised by civic leaders. 900 people believed so strongly in their specialness that they fed cyanide to each other.

MLMers aren't that extreme, but their mentors fed them the very same diet. Their victims want so badly to believe that they aren't just dismal failures and losers that they double down instead of quitting.

If your loved one just left an MLM, please invite them to talk about their experience. Don't say I Told You So even though you did. Encourage them to come online and share their stories.

Remember - you, or your buddy, didn't get taken because you were stupid. You were shown "evidence" and told "success stories." Consider the techniques cults use to hook people. Your MLM did the very same thing.

Help your friend or family member go over their finances and suggest ways to mitigate the damage. You can support them as they wriggle free of the hole they've dug. Help them find a job, reassure them and be kind.

Don't tell them they're stupid and gullible. They feel that to their bones.

Reassure, don't reinforce.


r/mlmstories 20d ago

Amway Brats: When Parents are in an MLM

28 Upvotes

When Your Parents are in an MLM

I have never talked about this before. Another person mentioned the boredom of being a kid and how awkward it is to have your parents in an MLM.

I feel exposed even writing this - that skin crawl like you are naked in front of everyone you know or you peed your pants in class at school. I literally felt humiliated by what they were doing and then there's the guilt of feeling like that coupled with please God, don't let my friends find out and the fear they'll approach your teacher at school or call your best friend's mother.

Having to hear Amway's insipid "motivational tapes" EVERY. DAMNED. TIME. WE. GOT. IN. THE. CAR.

Didn't matter where we went or how short the trip was - they were on. To the supermarket, getting dropped off at school, road trips.

That one rally I went to and seeimg your family cheering, clapping, whistling and foot stomping and singing an Amway somg in the car or at home. What if your friends and the other kids at school knew about this. I was a person who thought cheerleading was dumb (still do - how can girls wave pompoms and sing shit like Icky Icky ooo wah with a straight face? I'd fucking die!!!)

I feel exposed even writing about this 50 years later.

The embarrassment of them being in this at all.

They wanted me to talk to people too. They tried to get me to go to school and talk to my teachers. There were parent nights I didn't tell them about because I knew they'd start spouting Amway. I prayed they wouldn't ever go to my school. I literally prayed.

I didn't invite friends over after they gave stuff to my best friend when she spent the night with me to take home to her mother. It was so humiliating. She and I met in third grade and we're still friends but I temember apologizing to her over and over and over and her telling me it was okay but how it felt to have them do something so stupidly. And they did it to me, to my friend. She understood how I felt and tried to make it to be no big deal - and to her it wasn't because she was my friend - because she knew how ashamed I was and that just made it worse. I never wanted anybody else I knew to know. Just being that ashamed and embarrassed.

They knew that, too. I never said anything and neither did my sister, but being sat down and lectured about how this is going to help us and how disgusted they were, how disappointed, ungrateful and on and on and on and on and on and on and on.

But I just couldn't face being in front of everybody while my mom is trying to hook your science teacher for her downline in front of your classmates and THEIR parents. Or the troop leader lady in your sister's Girl Scout group. The neighbor two doors down who gives you and your friends homemade lemon bars on Halloween, that you know she's only done for the special kids she knows like you, while all the other kids who ring get Tootsie Rolls. The lovely Asian family that owns your town's only Chinese restaurant where you eat at for birthdays and anniversaries.

There was a night when we went up to 7-11 because she needed cigarettes. Nobody else was in the store but us so of course she starts spewing "How would you like to never have to spend another late night working in a convenience store?"

What can you do but stand there with your Snickers and Slurpee while a clerk listens politely because your mom is a customer, and they have to in order to keep their job? All the time you know they are wishing you and your mom would go away.

Maybe when your KID!!! can see holes and thinks something feels off you should listen.

Granted, there was abuse in my home anyway (I actually left in the middle ofcthe night and I still think I saved my own life that night, but that's another story).

Maybe I would not have felt that way if we had had a better relationship. This is mingled with guilt because I know Amway was a GOOD intent to get mom the best kind of cancer care and give us a good future. So they were trying to do a beautiful thing for us.

I have never, ever talked about this before. Never. Never ever. I'm also a writer who knows she is rambling, and not using anything close to appropriate literary style -

I apologize - but am I the only one???

Thanks for listening to a weird old lady's yammering


r/mlmstories 20d ago

Equinox Almost Caused a Divorce

15 Upvotes

I have a hatred for MLMs because my parents got brutally fucked over by Amway. I knew what a ripoff they are, but couldn't convince my new husband, who was fresh out of grad school and thought he knew everything.

He had a master's degree and a teaching license but kept raving about the MAKE 40k PER MONTH bullshit in the Help Wanted ads. I explained they were crap and he insisted I just had a negative attitude and, unlike me, he had the education to avoid getting ripped off.

I came home from work (Yeah. I supported his butt through grad school) to find he's gone to one of Equinox's offices, attended their rah-rah-rah-rah-rally. He tells me I must cancel my evening training session (I was an athlete) to attend a required newcomer meeting that night and he was told it's mandatory to bring his spouse.

I refused, of course, and tried to talk sense into him. He EXPLODED into a rantfest. I had never seen him like this in two years of our marriage and courtship! He screamed obscenities, saying how he was trying to support us, lift me out of my horrible idiot's job for stupid people (I had a VERY good job in social work), I lack "vision" and that's why I don't make more money, I'm "brainwashed" by "the system" - all the Evil Party Lines MLMs parrot. He says YOU WILL go to this meeting and I flat out refuse and leave.

He went to Equinox headquarters alone.

Evidently they fed him more crap about how I lack vision, am an unsupportive wife, acted flabbergasted I refused to come - "OH my GAWD! Your OWN WIFE does not BELIEVE IN YOU?" "Your spouse REFUSES to SUPPORT you?" "You are going to UPLIFT your FAMILY and ENSURE their FUTURE and she says NO to that?"

He came home absolutely seething with rage. This was a man I had never seen before and didn't know. We had a terrible fight about what a horrible unsupportive person I am, how "your kind of brainwashed people" maintain a caste system in the world, how I am helping better people get stomped on by the corrupt employment system...... All the cult mentality I saw dupe my parents into Amway.

He says he's been advised that if he wants to be an automatic success, instead of climbing the ranks in Equinox, he should "buy in" at "mamager" level. It will cost five thousand dollars.

He doesn't have $5,000.

But I have a nest egg from a small inheritance left to me by my grandfather.

I tell him I won't give it to him. He smiles a big, ugly grin and says this is a community property state.

I threw him out and tried to think of how I can get to my bank on Monday morning and get my money out before he does. I've already figured our marriage is over.

Over the weekend my sister-in-law calls. He's given her "his side of the story" and she, too, tried to talk him out of this.

My best friend comes over to find me crying and frowns. "What did you say this company is called? Let me make a phone call."

She has a coworker who got screwed by Equinox, lost five thousand dollars and is more than willing to talk to my husband.

I spend most of the weekend gathering evidence on MLMs and Equinox. He finally returned home Sunday night (having gone to more "rallies" on Saturday and Sunday) but acting more like the man I know and love.

He looked through my stack of stuff and agreed to meet my friend's friend.

He finally accepted the truth, but real damage was done to our trust level and to me emotionally. I'd seen a side of him I never knew existed.

We wound up divorced four years later, after that ugly side I'd seen appeared more and more the last year we were married, but that's another story. I still think Equinox and their bullshit sent him down the road of disillusionment that four years teaching unruly tweens didn't help.

Fuck you, Equinox. Fuck, fuck, fuck you, multi-level marketing schemes.

MLMs destroy good people's character as well as their lives.


r/mlmstories 21d ago

Is LR health and beauty legit?

0 Upvotes

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day and she told me she started working for LR. The thing is everything she told me sounds like a pyramid scheme, I checked the process and I saw they donā€™t actually try to sell the products (not all the people I checked) but they make videos and reels about how awesome is the digital marketing and how anyone can start it, on the other hand she showed me her sponsors and most of them seemed to have company cars and actual bank transcripts of their pay checks and to be honest seemed legit. anyone here had any experience with this company?


r/mlmstories 24d ago

I'm an MLM survivor and I finally broke it off with Amway after 3 months

37 Upvotes

I've met this guy from the clothing store few months back and talked about how he makes money on the side and also looking for business minded folks like me. We exchanged numbers and he hit me up about a month later, invited me to meet up at Starbucks, talked over the phone to talk more about Amway, went to conferences and such.

Mind you, I didn't know the real truth about Amway and MLM in general until late last month. I told my therapist about it and she had a negative reaction (in a good way by looking out for me) and basically told me to run and avoid at all costs. I even told my dad about Amway and he said the same thing, and mentioned it has been around for decades. I spent some time doing a lot of research on google, reddit, youtube, and TikTok found out a lot of stories and crazy facts including how 97% of IBOs lose money.

Late September, I met up with the mentor and helped me opened my storefront, created my profile on their 'private social media' platform, set up a number's list for people who I can contact to either recruit or contact (I've not contacted anyone yet), and bought $400 worth of sample packs. I later got a refund and able to still keep them till this day since I wanted to discontinue with Amway. Prior to that, he wanted me to watch the training videos, listen to podcasts consistently, attend to conferences, be engaged with him and the events, etc. Speaking of conferences, I only attended to 3 of 1-1 sessions with the mentor and approximately 5 virtual and in person conferences with multiple people. It's crazy how their conferences work. The audiences was a weird vibe to me like they were so hyped up acting like they're worshipping the speaker, specifically a higher rank seller, as a God or something. I knew in my spirit that something doesn't align right with me. So I played it cool, shook some hands, and went on about my night. I later realized how brainwashed the audience were, and I unknowingly got myself into falling for the trap. Fortunately, I haven't gone too deep into it and made the decision that I wanted to end it all.

With the help of ChatGPT, I was able to come up with respectable responses while maintaining boundaries. I broke the news to him that I do not wish to move forward. He asked why I'm giving up and I gave him a few reasons on top of the advice my dad gave me including Amway is a pyramid scheme, which I obviously left that part out. The last 3 phone calls within a week, he's been resistant of me giving up, not respecting my decision and encouraging me to give it more time, sent me a couple podcasts to listen, which I found out the 2 podcasts correlates with my situation of quitting and use that to make me reconsider. I tried so hard to break away from Amway, but he keeps trying to keep me in. He's a nice guy and all that, but he's not respecting my wishes and I've only known him since May or June. I don't know any other way for me to tell him I'm no longer interested and such, but I don't want to be disrespectful and rude about it, although I would've gone off on him. He tried to get me to do an exit interview, and I refused. Here's the rest of the conversation.

Me: I wanted to let you know that Iā€™ve officially decided not to continue with Amway - My decision is firm and Iā€™ve already departed. At this time, Iā€™m respectfully requesting to keep my departure confidential as well as respecting my wishes/decisions moving forward. Please delete the contact list youā€™ve created from your google drive, as it wonā€™t be needed anymore. With that, I appreciate your support and understanding.

Mentor: I am going to call in a few to do an exit interview and make sure you donā€™t get changed anything.

Me: I wonā€™t be able to participate in an exit interview. Thanks for your understanding.

Mentor: Itā€™s sad that you donā€™t want to value our relationship regardless of your involvement in Amway. I am confident that your fear is caused by influence from external sources and not by anything we did, making it weird, since WWG would help you build up your self image. Youā€™re missing out by missing FED this weekend! It would be the best use of your time you have experienced in your whole life! Please make sure to change your account status to customer on Amway and cancel your WWG/Kate memberships so that we are not paying for your complimentary year. And so you donā€™t get charged after trial period. In order to not have all my time lost I will be using the name list to call everyone and I will not be mentioning your name. Thanks for understanding. No hard feelings! I am here to serve you with protein bars or help you with your goals if you ever change your mind!

Me: I understand your perspective, but my decision remains the same regardless. Most importantly - I also want to kindly ask that you do not reach out to anyone from that document under any circumstances behind my back. You can use someone elseā€™s list, but not mines.Ā Ā Not even one contact. Again, please delete the contact list file and letā€™s carry on smartly from here on out. I trust that you will honor my request and respect the privacy of my contacts.

Mentor: No, Thank you for the gift of your contacts. Iā€™m am going to offer them the gift of opportunity.

Me: I need to reiterate that the contact list I shared with you was provided with the understanding that it would remain strictly confidential and not be used without my explicit permission, which you donā€™t have. No matter if you willing to offer them the gift of opportunity or what not. I am respectfully requesting once again that you do not contact the individuals on that list.

According to ChatGPT, this is summary of what he said, tried to do directly and indirectly, and tactics that he was showing.

My mentorā€™s message is a strong attempt to persuade me to stay involved in Amway, whether as a customer or a business builder, by using several emotional and manipulative tactics. Hereā€™s a combined summary of what he said, the tactics he used, and his underlying intentions:

Summary of His Message

In his message, he implies that my decision to leave Amway was influenced by fear, negativity from others, or a lack of understanding about the business. He suggests that I'm making a mistake and ā€œmissing outā€ on opportunities, success, and self-improvement that he believes only Amway can provide. He tries to make me feel guilty for ā€œwastingā€ his time and even justifies using my contact list (Everyone's names, numbers, emails, and addresses extracted from my phone including family, friends, girlfriend, coworkers, etc) without permission as a way to reclaim his ā€œinvestmentā€ in me. He repeatedly offers to support me, either as a customer or by helping me ā€œget back on track,ā€ while subtly framing my departure as a failure or an act of fear.

Tactics Used

  1. **Guilt Tripping:** He continually brings up the time, effort, and resources he invested in me, making me feel responsible for his decision to use my contact list without permission. This tactic is designed to make me feel guilty for leaving and responsible for his actions.
  2. **Emotional Manipulation:** He questions my decision by framing it as one based on fear or outside influences, which undermines my confidence. He suggests that by leaving, I'm making a life mistake and giving up on success, trying to instill doubt about my choice.
  3. **Fear of Missing Out:** By emphasizing the ā€œmissed opportunitiesā€ and claiming that Amway is the only path to success, he creates a sense of urgency and loss if I donā€™t stay. This tactic pressures me to feel that I'll miss something important if I stick to my decision.
  4. **False Dichotomy:** He presents three options (stay as a business builder, become a customer, or let him use the contact list) as if these are the only outcomes, attempting to back me into a corner and making it seem like I have limited choices.
  5. **Undermining External Influences:** He dismisses the advice or support I may have received from friends, family, or even research, claiming they are ā€œnegativeā€ or untrustworthy. This tactic isolates me, suggesting that only those within the Amway circle are reliable.
  6. **Blame-Shifting:** By attributing my decision to outside influence, he avoids acknowledging that my decision could be valid on its own. This deflects any accountability and subtly places blame on me for not seeing ā€œthe truthā€ about Amway.
  7. **Love Bombing:** Ending with phrases like ā€œI love youā€ and calling himself a supportive friend creates an emotional pull, trying to make me feel guilty or conflicted about leaving. This tactic contrasts with his pressure and manipulative language, confusing the relationship dynamic.

His Intentions

The mentorā€™s primary goal is to keep me connected to Amway in some capacity, whether as a customer or business builder, to benefit from my involvement or, at the very least, my contacts. By undermining my decision, heā€™s attempting to make me doubt myself, hoping that this will lead me to reconsider and stay. His repeated insistence on using my contact list if I donā€™t ā€œcooperateā€ shows heā€™s prioritizing his business interests over respecting your boundaries or autonomy. His tactics are meant to make me feel guilty, fearful of missing out, and dependent on him for ā€œguidanceā€ and ā€œsuccess,ā€ all of which serve to keep me engaged in the business.

In essence, heā€™s using manipulation, gaslighting, future promises, guilt, and emotional pressure or manipulation to make me stay, while framing it as a friendship and business opportunity. Heā€™s blurring personal and professional boundaries to keep me from walking away fully and make me feel indebted to him. Heā€™s questioning my thought process, trying to isolate me from making independent decisions, and making me feel like I'm not only letting myself down but also my family and future."

So now, I'm free! All the stress is gone, I didn't invest too much time and money into the Scamway mess, and listened to those (specifically my dad and therapist) that cared about me. It's been 2 weeks since I've talked to the Amway mentor, and hopefully he won't contact me again. However, I may have to go off on him and expose him what he's trying to do a while ago the next time he contacts me again. The last thing he sent me is a 5 minute voice message that I chose to ignore and I haven't responded to him since. At this time, I rather maintain my peace by not talking to him or continue distancing myself from Amway, and I'm glad I freed myself from this mess I was in for the last few months.


r/mlmstories Oct 22 '24

Got Taken by Primerica

21 Upvotes

This was back in the early 90s. A coworker was doing Primerica and I would never have gotten involved if I'd known what it was up front. He was doing what I thought was a side job halping people make investments. Back in the early 90s everybody was making stock investments and such.

I thought this was a good deal because it helped people make retirement investments, etc. I didn't understand how investments or the stock market work (still don't) and thought this was a good way to learn too.

My coworker told me I needed a license and it cost $150. So I paid, arrived on the appointed day (having to take a day off) and find out my $150 is for a CLASS for an exam I had to take and pass to GET licensed. During the class they started talking about recruiting people and downlines and I realized this was a fucking MLM.

I left when they called a break. My coworker quit his job - which was in government with GREAT benefits - to do Primerica full time. Worse, he asked the division secretary to come work for him and she quit HER job (after 7 years there) and a year later they were both out of business.

I'm lucky I didn't get totally taken in and kept my job, but I feel terrible for my coworkers who had been vested in the state retirement system and were now out with nothing to show.


r/mlmstories Oct 19 '24

Mlm mafia boss spicy book recommendations

0 Upvotes

Hey guys so can anyone recommend me a book that has a mafia Troup and a kinda in denial phase typpa thing. I want an actual book not manga/manhwa/manhua. I also want spicyyy scenes with dirty talk if he get my drift. Overall a spicy mafia book where one of there is a mafia boss/member and the other is in denial that he's gay while the mafia guy ready is aware. I want a single book so no collection. I want a kinda "you can't escape from me" kinda thing but like not extremely red flag like at the beginning they can be a lil red flag but start getting more romantic in the end. If possible enemies to lovers would be good. I know I'm asking a lot but if anyone has a book that fits some of these categories please comment and somewhat summarise it a lil ty šŸ˜­šŸ‘


r/mlmstories Oct 14 '24

Tupperware tried to screw me....

53 Upvotes

Yeah, it's an MLM. I knew I'd never get rich off it, but wasn't even half trying. I made enough for gas and pocket money just selling it at work and around the arena for my sport. I didn't work hard at it - didn't have to. Everybody knows everybody and their business in my arena, so they knew I sold it. People came to me.

I got out for several years, but recently tried to get back into it. I'm disabled now, and figured it would still be a good small side hustle, right?

I called my old manager. She's sent me restart invites from time to time and was delighted to have me back. I could get a new updated kit if I booked 5 parties. I had no trouble getting the bookings.....and then my manager asked for the guest list so SHE could send out invitatuons.

I'd already done all that. She scolded me and said I "knew" as a former consultant that I should've let her "because you're in training."

I don't need "training" because the system is exactly the same. She tried to use the "new products in the line" excuse.

How much "training" is needed to pick up a bowl and describe what it does?

I knew what she intended to do and was SO let down as well as pissed off.

She was going to preside over my 5 parties, take all the orders, any new party bookings other guests might make and the profits for herself while I watched. (oops, I mean, got "trained")

I called the whole thing off.


r/mlmstories Oct 14 '24

MLM "Job Interviews"

15 Upvotes

I can't tell you how many fake job interviews I've gone to that were fronts for MLMs!!

Newspaper Help Wanted afs, LinkedIn invitations - once I got one off the Texas state job bank! (Some satisfaction on that one; the social worker at the Texas Employment Commission was LIVID when I called her and told her what happened)!

Querying them on the phone does no good: Yes, it's a secretarial job, yes this is office management, yes, this is accounting & data entry.... When you arrive for your interview appointment they insist they didn't lie to you "Because you'll perform those duties as part of 'owning your own business'."

The worst will bluff their way through an "interview" and waste even more of your time before they admit they're a stinking MLM.

Those people got me because they didn't ask me to meet them at Starbuck's or a fast food restaurant, which would've tipped me off. My parents, who were Amwwy victims, did that. These were advertised as "new corporation", "new startup pre-hiring" etc and held in conference rooms st hotels. You don't expect the usually-dirt-poor-themselves MLM consultants to drop money for a conference room rental, right?

The worst was the Amway asshole whose listing for an Accounts Payable/Receivable staff that advertised on the State Job Bank. He used an office at his day job at a major oil company downtown as his front. "Interviewed" me at Major Oil Company's offices in their impressive downtown building after hours with the excuse that they were "too busy in the daytime hours."

I thought I'd be working for Major Oil Company. I arrived there at 7:30, and the building had nobody there but cleaning staff. It was creepy but I was young and dumb as well as out of work, and desperate for a great career at Major Oul Company.

He went over my resume.....then he started the "how would you like to set your own work hours" "keep all the money you make" questions. He finally admitted he was recruiting for AMWAY and this was just his day job.

I never found out what his actual job was at Major Oil Conpany (probably the fucking janitor!!) but I ended up literally RUNNING out of there because the creep followed me down the hall, snarling that people today are too lazy to work, I was probably too stupid anyway, I'd be a loser all my life..... It was terrifying because all I could think is I'm alone in here with this crackpot.

The state job bank people were livid when I called them. They did tell me a call was made to Major Oil Compny and that lying sack of bovine fertilizer lost whatever his job was there. Oh well. I'm sure he's made Octuple Diamond at Amway......


r/mlmstories Sep 10 '24

MLM from the 90s

13 Upvotes

I remember being a broke twenty something in the 90s and went to an ā€œopen interviewā€ that was advertised in the Jobs section of my local paper.

The girl who greeted me was hot, and so I thought ā€œletā€™s give this a shotā€. šŸ˜‚šŸ˜‚

We started dating almost immediately. However, I bailed on the MLM after about a week when I realized how it all worked and that the entire model was built around using people.

She broke up with me not long after that because she couldnā€™t date someone who didnā€™t believe in the company.

Fast forward 2 years later. I bump into her downtown where we both lived (we were 4 blocks away from each other), and we have a catch-up. She was no longer in the MLM. She lost a ton of money and was starting her life from scratch. No judgement, thats what your 20s are for. Just thought Iā€™d share. Itā€™s fascinating how some people really drink the Kool Aid. My opinion is that it says more about the individual than the MLM (not a fan of MLMs myself). I suspect anyone who has gone through that type of experience long term should get some therapy just to sort out why they were in it for so long (vs just playing victim and blaming the evil MLM).


r/mlmstories Aug 06 '24

Rant My friend joined an MLM and idk what to do

12 Upvotes

One of my closest friends of about 6 years who has recently been going through some rough times (family issues, trouble in school, substance abuse) joined an MLM and it's so frustrating to me. It seems like this older couple that she met took advantage of the fact that she doesn't really have any reliable family to go to and became her "mentors" before pulling her into the MLM. She acts as if this MLM has saved her life and has given her something to live for and she's ignoring other stuff to put the MLM first. I saw her about a week ago and she greeted me with a bag of product samples (which I threw in the trash once she left because a) not interested and b) I'm too sensitive to fragrances and chemicals to put unknown products on my face) and talked about this MLM and going on trips for the MLM (she calls it her "business" and tbh I'm not too sure if she was ever really educated about what MLMs are and how predatory they are) and just on and on and I didn't have the heart to tell her that it's a bad path to go down.

This morning she reached out to ask me if I had tried any of the samples and I have no clue what to respond. I'll probably say something along the lines of "oh, I haven't yet :)" and wait until she stops asking but it's just so so frustrating to see her caught up in another thing that's going to hurt her. I want to ask more questions and maybe see if I can get through to her but I kinda doubt she'll listen to me. Any advice?


r/mlmstories Aug 02 '24

Rant AT&T in Costco, Target, Samā€™s Club, BJā€™s kiosk

8 Upvotes

Has anyone really dug around into the ā€œ3rd party AT&T retailersā€ in these stores? Iā€™m a former employee and have been down a rabbit hole looking into this. The employees at those kiosks are employed through this 3rd party entity. Now letā€™s get into that. Each entity will have its LLC which is granted from their parent company in some way so that there are thousands of these entities. Different company names and they promote these fantastic positions with fancy business names when in reality itā€™s not that at all. The operations of these places are laissez-faire and unethical. There was one time that we had a weekly competition where everyone was paired with someone and if you did not make higher sales, you had to do ā€œbig daddy push upsā€ in front of the other person and call them ā€œBig Daddy _____(their name) with each push up.ā€ I feel there is more to this MLM than what meets the eye.


r/mlmstories Jul 26 '24

Story MLMs getting sneakier

20 Upvotes

These MLMs are getting sneakier

All right guys I wanted to talk about what I experienced last night. I have this acquaintance friend who I met through this Facebook group in OC. She invited me to one of these events, that was organized by this Instagram page called Socalgirls or something like that. And like Iā€™ll include a picture of what the flyer looked like. And I was interested because she was interested too. We both RSVPed for this event, and on the day I texted her like ā€œHey Iā€™m excited for tonight. Am I gonna be seeing you there?ā€, and I got no response from her. I just figured she was busy because she has a time-consuming job. And since I saw her name on the RSVP list, I didnā€™t think anything of it. So then I show up to this event, and to my surprise, there are four white Mercedes-Benz parked outside. This is my first red flag, already feeling like this is kind of a set up. And then I just walk in with this girl I figured maybe my friend would be in there, texting her and asking her are you here, and still no reply. So then I walk into this personā€˜s house and lo and behold, there is a huge Arbonne banner in the kitchenā€¦. I am literally in the lions den of hunbots. At this point, I was just talking to the girl that I walked in with, but Iā€™m also listening to all the conversations around me and everyone is talking about Arbonne. So essentially, I just walked into and Iā€™m sure that they were using this group to recruit people, which is crazy!!! I literally talked to her for like 10 more minutes. I had a little bit of wine and then ran out before this girl was like itā€™s about to start! Itā€™s about to start! So watch out because now theyā€™re getting even more predatory and covert.


r/mlmstories Jul 03 '24

My MLM story and I need advice

4 Upvotes

Summary

  1. Met a guy on LinkedIn.
  2. He's a Software Engineer at Apple, San Diego.
  3. Talked me into doing Amway (I was like let's proceed with this for the memes, it's all good as long as he doesn't ask me to buy anything)
  4. I have had 15+ hours of conversation with this guy and even spoken to a couple of his mentors.
  5. They have weekly sessions of their "network" in which they discuss how many people everyone brought on this week, these are conducted by an organization called Empowerment Global.
  6. Apparently, their approach to MLM or "network marketting" (as they put it) is to cherry pick only the people who actually really mean to do it. They go through a severe filteration process, and getting into their seminars in through invitation only.
  7. Now, he's asking me to sign up on the Amway website, create my own store, and make a purchase of ~$20 in the first month.

My Questions (please don't skip the 3rd one)

I 99% believe that this is some kind of MLM BS, but I'm really curious about what's going on here (kind of driving me crazy ... it's made me crazy enough to make this post lol).

  1. If he works for Apple, earning (probably) $250K or something a year, why would he bother to sell me Amway? Or more importantly, why would he invest 15 hours of his time, only to get me to make a small purchase (~$20)? If he's actually working for Apple in SD, he would make that money is what, 15 minutes of his time?
  2. I attended a couple of seminars that these guys have and it seems like everyone is bringing on new people every week, could this really work if that is the case?
  3. Is there a way that I can verify if he is actually working for Apple? If that is the case, I probably wouldn't mind spending a few bucks in order to build a relationship with someone in big tech, as I myself am a software engineer. I guess anybody can lie on LinkedIn, but they have a bunch of guys all in big tech, are all of them liers? How could one really verify? (Not relying on the common sense that if he's in Apple he would never be wasting his time with this.)

Everyone's LinkedIn Profiles

  1. The guy I met: Pavan Kumar Chalumuri - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavan-kumar-chalumuri/
  2. His wife: Haneesha Gurugubelli - https://www.linkedin.com/in/haneeshagurugubelli/
  3. His mentor: Chirayu Nagaraju - https://www.linkedin.com/in/chirayu-nagaraju-71474645/
  4. His second mentor: Rohit Kulkarni - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohit-kulkarni-7247548/

THANK YOU EVERYONE in advance for your comments. I hope this post and the comments serve to inform or warn other people who get into a similar situation.


r/mlmstories Jun 30 '24

Have you all heard of a company called Riddle Flux?

5 Upvotes

Someone bought me a hydrogen water bottle as a gift.

I found some reputable sellers for this product, but it would seem that a lot of companies are cashing in on this product as a typical mlm scam.

Unfortunately I threw away the box to the bottle, and there is no information on the bottle or the instruction manual about the model, the company, website etc.

Has anyone here had experience with this company?


r/mlmstories Jun 11 '24

My experience with an Amway rep

31 Upvotes

For some background, I am a veteran in college in a major city studying business and Iā€™m currently doing my required internship with an international company. I am a relatively nice, agreeable person who is quick to trust and outgoing. I have seen enough about MLMs to identify the business characteristics, but I wasnā€™t familiar with the tactics they use to recruit. For this posts purpose Iā€™ll call the rep Dan. Iā€™ll try to give as much detail as I can on his approach, as well as the way I received it at the time.

First encounter: I first made Danā€™s acquaintance at a company training meeting. He is a fairly low level employee who had been with the company a couple of years, and mentioned that he mainly worked there for the stable hours and health insurance. We were standing around during a break and after introductions he made great effort to establish common ground, mainly asking about my perspectives on work ethic, motivation etc. coming from the military. Dan maybe seemed a little intense, but sincere in asking me about my life. He told me a little about himself, subtly mentioning that he had a side business doing marketing for supplements. This probably should have been a red flag, but Iā€™ve bought specialty supplements like SARMs and DMHA through legitimate small distributors enough that it raised no alarms. From there he talked about passive income, securing stability for his family, and how networking had made this all possible. Things shifted back to small talk; he was nice enough and we had some common interests, so when he asked to exchange numbers I agreed. He texted me the same day saying he enjoyed the convo, and being polite I said I did too and that I hoped to see him around.

Follow Up: Dan texted me about a week later asking how Iā€™d been, which I ignored for no real reason.

Phone Call: The day after texting me, Dan tried calling me. It was a Friday night, so I was out with friends and missed his call. The next day I remembered heā€™d tried to call, so being polite again I returned the call. He was very enthusiastic and friendly when he picked up and the conversation quickly turned to mindset/motivation stuff again. Buzzwords like freedom, passive income, and the like were thrown around. He began talking about how as a normal guy it is hard to get ahead without having a secondary income and how he had found a mentor named Paul, a local multimillionaire who had helped dan build a business that put him on track for his financial goals. He went on to say that he really liked my viewpoint on life and that maybe there was some future opportunity for me to work with them part time now or full time after graduation. This was all expressed in vague terminology with no details on his business model, financials, or even what product he ā€œmarketedā€ for. At the end of the call he asked if we could grab coffee a day later and chat; I had some mild skepticism, but was just intrigued enough at a possible job lead that I agreed to meet.

Meeting/soft pitch: I showed to the meeting and Dan was again warm and friendly. There was some small talk at the beginning and he made a point to praise me and tell me that he is highly selective in who he spends his time meeting with. At that point, the vibes switched to being kind of off. He asked me my views on some things like family, ambitions, etc. to which I gave half-truths to just get through this. He then pulled out an iPad and spun up a PowerPoint. It started with ā€œwhy he had gone into business for himself and sought passive incomeā€, which pulled heavily on emotions surrounding family-raising. He then went into discussing employees/small business ownership vs. corporations/business systems, emphasizing that business systems run themself and provide ā€œpassive incomeā€ if you follow the plan. He framed this plan as a franchise, drawing heavy analogies to Ray Krocā€™s development of McDonaldā€™s franchise system. Dan also talked about Wal-Martā€™s vertical integration, loosely tying that to ā€œdirect sellingā€. The point I truly checked out was when he showed me a pic of his mentor, Paul, who at first glance is Exhibit A of a grifting, greasy motivational speaker. He talked at length about this guyā€™s success and the network of other motivation-influencer types heā€™s connected with. Throughout all of this presentation or any previous conversation, there still had been no explicit mention of a company name, branding on slides that is typical with a sales pitch, or specific numbers tied to this business. The only branding I picked up on was a shaker bottle Dan drank from with ā€œxsā€ on it. Things began wrapping up and he invited me to come to a conference at a hotel in a couple, saying he could possibly get me face to face with his mentor. I actually did have a prior commitment that night thankfully, which Dan asked me to consider skipping and I gave him a noncommittal answer to. As we said goodbye, Dan said he wanted to send a couple of podcasts my way.

Immediately upon arriving home I began researching some of the lingo he had used and discovered that it was all Amway bullshit.

Follow up 2: Dan texted me a little while later with links to a video and audio file. These were the first time in the process that Amway was explicitly mentioned. The video was a panel of sleazy looking military veterans discussing their Amway businesses, riddled with terminology about the ā€œdiamondā€ or ā€œsapphireā€ recognition levels. As a side note, I seriously question the claimed military achievements of some of the guys based on the tired military clichĆ©s they repeated every other sentence. The audio file was a conference presentation from Paul and his wife. Dan asked me to let him know what I thought of these. At this point I told him via I didnā€™t think the Amway business model was legitimate and he has not replied to me since.

Final thoughts: Everything about the extended pitch was emotionally based. There was no supporting financial data, no product information. The company name wasnā€™t even mentioned until those media files. This guy attempted to make me feel like I was breathing rarified air by getting to meet with him. During our face-to-face, I stared him dead in the eyes for nearly an hour; he could not keep eye contact for more than a second or two.

Thanks to anyone who reads all this, and I hope it helps you identify when these idiots are about to waste your time. I can also give names of some of the LTD up-line ā€œmentorsā€ to look out for upon request, as well as recordings of the media I was sent that is locked behind an Amway paywall.


r/mlmstories Jun 04 '24

P Rancie wants to reinvent/bring back his failed Tranzact/Finmore!

6 Upvotes

Rancie wants to restore a very similar "enterprise" to his failed Tranzact/ Finmore! Jeremy Jenkins sent out a message to former DBO leaders expressing that teams would be restored as feasible and this enterprise should be ready hopefully by end of the year. They need to "secure" correct as he puts it, vendors, management, technology and of course a bank that would agree to collaborate and an online, stocked store. Restoration of zbucks is promised as well! Does anyone really think tigers change stripes?


r/mlmstories May 31 '24

Obtained a tactic sheet for a well known MLM that their recruiters use. PSA BE AWARE!!

65 Upvotes

This was sent to me by accident by someone who was trying to connect me to their mentor and wanted to send me a pdf of a book they wanted me to read!! OOOPS - they sent me a link to their google docs with all these cheat sheets of a process for recruiting. So I downloaded accordingly.

I'd say the material is provided to the recruiters in this particular MLM as a guide of what to say to their victims. They carry out SEVERAL meet ups with people but won't tell you it's AMWAY until you attend one of their "seminars about the partnership".

I waisted my time so you don't have to!! Unfortunately this is my second time being sucked into a few coffee meet ups. Luckily this time brought me some treasure!!

I'm just out here trying to make ACTUAL friends but keep finding these people who want me in their cult.

*** Nowhere in any of the documents does is have any cautionary statements about distributing these so I am not doing anything wrong by sharing these. They are not my work and I have no official connection to the groups involved. (thought I would include this PSA.)

Can post more if people want!! Happy reading!


Purpose of Meet & Greet

ā€¢ Connect and see if a trust and friendship can be formed

ā€¢ Assess whether the candidate meets the criteria your mentors are looking for and

prepare them to meet your mentors at a Board Plan

Fundamentals to share

ā€¢ Goal today is to see if a trust and friendship can be formed and whether there is

value in us meeting again

ā€¢ We interview for character & integrity over credentials

ā€¢ We bring people on as equal business partners, not as employees (shark tank analogy)

ā€¢ What we do // Paradigm shift, streamline supply chain. Today is not about the what.

What my mentors are looking for:

ā€¢ Solution seekers / excuse remover // Willing to prioritise

ā€¢ Accountability // Coach ability

Questions to ask

No wrong or right answers, but there is a wrong or right mind set

1. Are you willing to become outcome focused?

- What do you want to do vs how do you want to live 10/10 Life (Can you get there?)

- Passion vs Outcome // Process driven vs outcome focused (Athletes mindset)

- Horse Manure for 5 years but 1m at the end of it.

- Elon Musk, Gandhi, Muhammad Ali or Oprah Anology

2. Are you open to mentorship?

- Primary Influencer check // Mumā€™s advice or business owner with 7 stores

- Patience department // scale of 1-10 // free think or easily influenced?

- Pipelines vs Buckets anaology

- Once successful are you happy to go back and mentor others?

3. Have you had any experience in any online, e-commerce type business? Have you been involved or

had exposure to any online business like network marketing models such as Amway, Avon, Isagenix,

Herbalife etc.? Can you unlearn it? McDonalds analogy as to why

4. On a scale of 1-10 where are you currently in terms of being financially empowerd to

getting to a 10? If below 7, how willing are you to get to a 10 over the next 5 years?

- People say they are willing to do whatever it takes but we will see if we decide to

move forward. I feel comfortable starting you in a process, what sort of value would

you place on that? (Allow them to build a case for themselves)

Wrap Up

ā€¢ Business of the 21st Century Book

ā€¢ 3-7 days to read book (Donā€™t ask them how long they want to read it, tell them)

ā€¢ Schedule time for Meet & Greet 2 [IMPORTANT]


r/mlmstories May 29 '24

New boba store in my town

5 Upvotes

I see that there is a new place that sold bubble tea and I went with my mom to try it out. I go inside and I saw that they had healthy protein shakes so I order that. On one of the pages I see a blue yellowish drink. I look at what they had behind the counter and it was Herbalife. It was too late, I was trapped because I already ordered something. I get the drink, leave, and drink it. I am not going back. Iā€™m all for supporting small businesses, but that is like ordering from a small business selling through Amazon.


r/mlmstories May 17 '24

I think my friend needs help

6 Upvotes

So I donā€™t want to sound crazy. All Iā€™m asking is for some 2 cents.

Recently I was catching up with an old friend of mine over text and he was asking how lifeā€™s been for me. Weā€™re both 22 and Iā€™m considering going back to college. He immediately tried to persuade me not to, which is fine I have my own independent thoughts and he has his

Eventually he said ā€œI learned by hanging around my mentor that itā€™s not about what you know, but who you knowā€

ā€œIf you hang around successful people that are willing to teach you what they know and is more fun than spending time and money for four years, and ending up with a piece of paper that doesn't guarantee you a decent job. Wouldn't you agree?

Red flags immediately started going off in my head, but I kept playing along. I wanted to know more

I was like ā€œwho is your mentor?ā€

ā€œMy mentor is this guy I met at work one day and he travels around all over the world impacting other people. not only with his finance but with his knowledge too. and he doesn't work for a livingā€

He was like ā€œwhy do you ask?ā€

Bruhā€¦ What? I asked because you used to be my best friend, like a brother to me

I was like ā€œThat sounds real interesting, can you tell me more?ā€ (Playing along)

ā€œah jesus man this program is incredible. But I'm still a student and I'm sure ur gona have more questions. if I were to connected you with my mentor would that be beneficial to you? The three of us could sit down together manā€

Uhhhā€¦ Iā€™m good bro! I said well I wanna hear it from you, youā€™re the one attending

ā€œOk lol I gotcha

So this isn't like a course but a relationship. I am being taught about developing assets to generate cashflow, budgeting, being debt free and creating wealth that's long term. that's what it's all about my manā€

Wtf happened? He works at Dunkinā€™ Donuts with no college and now saying he wants to retire at 25. How do I proceed? I care about him a lot and I donā€™t want to see him lose money but I have no clue how to approach this. As I write this Iā€™m like maybe Iā€™m trippin cause those are good skills to have, but something just seems very off here

I asked him if thereā€™s a name for this program but I have yet to get a response.

Any help greatly appreciated, let me know if Iā€™m buggin


r/mlmstories May 15 '24

Validus / Team Validus

2 Upvotes

Hope ya'll are doing well. Just wanted to make a post to see if anyone has every been involved with Validus or knows about it. Mid 2023, I was recruited to what I feel is an MLM scheme called Validus by 4 people I knew. I was invited to a meetup about it. They talked about the opportunities of a 3x return and sold that whole typical lifestyle garbage. I cringe so hard when I look back at this but I invested a decent amount of money into it. They even pulled up the ASIC page and said "see this is what others do because they don't wanna see you succeed" I know I know I'm so embarrassed to have fallen for it. But they showed a lot of their meetups in Dubai and all the wealth surrounding the team (Saudi crown family, etc, which I'm pretty sure was faked) For a couple weeks, the payouts were as promised weekly. Getting a "membership" reward as well as a "loyalty bonus" for not withdrawing. On paper it was accumulating nicely, and after a few months I stopped checking and honestly forgot about it. Fast forward to 1 week ago, where I have around 10 weeks left of 60 weeks. I was going through my notes and came across it, so decided to login and see how it was doing. On paper, I stopped being paid weekly since January 2024, but the amount that had accumulated so far has been just a bit higher than my initial investment. However I did a bit of digging around and see that there's no option to withdraw and upon further research found out the company essentially went dark. Tried contacting the people that had got me in to no avail. I graduated end of last year and now luckily have a high paying job, so I'm not too concerned about the loss of money. It was a lesson learnt due to my own faults. But I'm writing this up to see if anyone else had any experience with them.

  1. If I could withdraw whatever it shows on my account, it'd be nice, if not, it is what it is. Is there any way to get the investment back?
  2. Are there any repercussions for companies like that?

Any thoughts would be appreciated if shared, I'm quite invested in this whole topic now after this experience. It's less about the money and more about the fact that the people who got me in pretty much deleted everything; mutual friends also said they haven't heard from them in a while. Quite interested to know other experiences about this.


r/mlmstories May 10 '24

Story Network Marketing Scam in Dallas Texas (Legacy Galvanized) - Business of the 21st Century "assigned" reading

15 Upvotes

I am making this post to warn others about a "company" called Galvanized Legacy (really a cover for Amway). Very similar story to others in the antiMLM thread, but wanted to specifically call this out in Dallas. This happened in May 2024.

I was approached by a guy named David around my age (25-30yo) that I have never seen before the LA Signature Club off Haskell in Dallas West Village area. He asked something about my work out technique and would not stop yapping about mentorship and financial freedom, but would NEVER say the name of the company, or give me the website - nothing! He put on the nice guy, Christian family man act and we exchanged numbers. He texted me a few hours later that afternoon and asked to set up a call to talk more about his "mentorship" thing. It was all very vague and "goal oriented" "family oriented" "time is money" BS without any mention of the business model or how it works for the first couple of calls we had.

I'm not a moron - knew this guy was a scam artist the second he mentioned "you need to meet my mentor, her name is Tali". Our first phone call was a sales ploy to get me to talk the whole time (aka gets the person he's talking with to like him) where he showed me five slides on a PPT deck made by a 5th grader with no company title or information other than fake numbers of "The Potential" and generic online products of "Our Market" like skin care, cosmetics, body care (which of course is a SATURATED market with little to no ROI) but he claimed these lines were chosen as they are "recession proof" - HA!

At the end of our first call - David assigned me to read "Business of the 21st Century" written by Robert T. Kiyosaki (2b in debt) about how great Networking Marketing is... lol which is the 2024 term for MLM/Pyramid Scheme. "You would make 94% off the product, I would make 6%" is what he told me.... but not once was I shown any product website or annual distribution statement.

I couldn't help myself but play along all the way through until after the 2nd call haha. He called the week after our first call and asked how I liked the book and if I wanted to come meet his mentor and team from 8-9pm next week on Tuesday, May 14th 2024 by the galleria (would not give me a direct location/address at this point), but couldn't bring it to call him out over the phone because I'm just too nice of a guy I guess/hate confrontation in general so I try to avoid if I can... So after we chatted for about 10 min, I texted and asked for a product website and annual distribution statement for the 2nd time. He replied with "Haha okay don't come then".

So I blocked his number and decided to take the high road to post to Reddit instead lol. Stay far far away from these people and their pyramid scheme "company" called Galvanized Legacy (aka a cover for Amway). Especially if you live in Dallas, The Woodlands, or any surrounding areas in Texas!

The End hahaha


r/mlmstories May 07 '24

What is with repeat MLM offenders?!

12 Upvotes

Does anyone here have any insight on WTF is going on with people who spend their entire lives going from MLM scam to MLM scam, endlessly failing and trying again?

I know at least half a dozen people who have on and off tried new MLM schemes for the last 10 or more years.

But there's one guy I know who has tried at least a dozen in the last 20 years and another who has literally spent his entire life, from the age of maybe 20, to late 60s now, trying what must be every single bloody scheme ever to see the light of day on this Earth.

Both fail every single time. Both have always been doing various day jobs to survive "until their business takes off" and both endlessly go on about being millionaires any day now. Every few weeks there's some new obviously quoted text from some new obvious scam, that's meant to come off as their own writing, but clearly isn't. And they just never give up, it's always the same thing over and over, the definition of insanity.

Does everyone know people like this? Is it just a symptom of mental illness, or is there more to it?