Making Waves

Let me just say that I have started this post 300 times over the past few years. At the risk of offending my friends who sell products via this method, I want to point out something about it that I recently became aware of.

If you don't know about Multi-Level Marketing then you legit live under a rock. Beauty products, Jewelry, Health/Fitness products, etc. You see it all over your Facebook. You probably have people contacting you that you haven't spoken to in YEARS asking how you've been and oh btw, do you want to join my group and try my products? Of course it takes major balls to reach out to people like that (it's essentially cold calling, so good on you) and it is also time consuming outside your real job (which, all of them have despite the claims that you can "work from home!"). Don't get me wrong, you gotta do what you gotta do. And I got sucked in once too, which is why I'm writing this.

I, too, fell into the trap of "get healthy, make money!". I joined, paid, and after that I realized the products weren't working for me. They were making me physically sick. And I had to keep consuming them in order to make money! I also was not aware that I was signed up for automatic refills and additionally, I had to pay a fee each month! WTF! I ended up severing my ties with that company and apparently screwing over the girl who was directly up the line from me in the process. I felt terrible and it was incredibly awkward for a while.

When I joined, I was invited to join a secret Facebook group of members in this same company (I'm trying to be vague here to protect these people!) and for some reason, I never left the group. It is a group of ~130 women all who report (in some way, shape or form) to the leader who is a ~30 year old single mom. She is constantly sharing her tips on how to get more business (and more money for her, obviously) and one day recently she shared her income.

She said that after working for this company for 3 years, with 130 people working for her, she was taking home $3500 a month. Now, don't get me wrong. That is SUPER impressive for what she and her people are selling. But, if you do the math, it comes out to $42,000 per year. And that's BEFORE TAXES.

I was just shocked (and maybe I am just dumb) that she works SO HARD (allegedly) and has all these people working for her and making money for her; she's always talking about living her dream and being a stay-at-home-mom, and she makes $42K pre-taxes. Ouch. I guess it really depends on your definition of "living the dream", doesn't it? Maybe if you live in the middle of nowhere that salary would be okay. But anywhere I have lived you'd be pretty screwed.

Why am I sharing this? Because it's easy to get sucked into the game. As a Mom myself, I know how tempting it is to be a stay-at-home-mom and these companies LOVE to prey on new moms that are dying to quit their jobs and be with their babies- if only they could afford it! These Multi-Level Marketing companies claim to be the answer but unless you want to be eating table scraps (or moving to the sticks), I suggest you keep your day job.

Do I still love and support my friends who sell products via MLM? Of course. You are all bad asses and I HOPE that you become the exception to the rule and make a million dollars. I truly do. I'm sure the self-help literature that you are required to read will tell you that I am seeing the glass as half empty, but I am just reminding you that there is something in the glass already. Better be careful not to spill it. 

Love you all,

SG