Based On True Life Events. Backed up by Two Witnesses
PART 1
They would always trap you down in your most vulnerable and desperate moments. That moment you lost your job and you are looking for a new one. Or maybe, you are searching for an extra means of income. Perhaps, you just graduated from the university or college and suddenly, you saw a post on the internet or on the roadside announcing, “we are hiring, 50 dollars per hour.”
The promise and the offer seemed too good to be true, but you still reached out to them because you really needed a job. You spoke with them, and the company invited you to their office the next week. Even before you went, you had already done the math in your head. Imaging what a 50 dollars per hour would do for you? It could literally change your life much faster than you think.
When you got to their office, something felt a little off because, while you’re expecting for an interview, and the submission of your resume, you spent the rest of the day listening to their preaching. They told you that you don’t need an interview, and your resume was not really that necessary. You were told that the most important skills needed for the job is your skillset and your mindset, not necessarily your credentials. They told you that in order to proceed for the acceptance of the job, you need to purchase a form. And the form was just 2 dollars.
Now, you are left wondering how right it seemed to be looking for a job but ended up spending the little money you have on a piece of form. It didn’t really sound nice to you, and you didn’t think it’s the right thing to do. But then you wouldn’t want to lose the 50-dollar hourly salary bucks because of your inability to purchase the form. So you reluctantly purchased the form anyways. You looked around to discover that there were more than 50 applicants in the room, and a greater number of them purchased the form as well. You quickly ran the math, and that was another source of revenue for the company.
But there was something you don’t really understand. You don’t know that as long as you purchased the form and also the company’s products, you are already in business. At this point, you needed to understand two important things; getting the form merely makes you a registered member of the company, while purchasing and selling the company’s products increases your levels within the company, which they measured by points. And you needed to recruit people who would be under you because, the more you recruit people, the faster you increase in points which would help you to rise faster to the managerial level. This is because your rank in the company is calculated by points.
Now, you have been indoctrinated and you have purchased the form. You have the choice to either continue, or quit. But trying to put things straight by being honest to yourself, the whole thing did not really make sense to you especially when they said that you can buy your way up to any level in the organization, including the managerial level, as long as you have the money. This is not the kind of job that you are looking for. You don’t even want to be a sales person. You wanted to protest, but here they come with words that seemed motivating, yet a little manipulative such as:
“The gaps between the rich and poor are fear and procrastination.”
“Many people are poor today because they failed to recognize opportunities.”
They said a lot of things and now, you are almost convinced that not all opportunities are actually a scam. By now you are willing to give it a try, and you finally did.
You’ve bought their form and product. You were told that the products sell like wildfire, but it’s been two months and you have not sold any. That was when reality began to dawn on you. It’s been almost a year into this business and you couldn’t seem to be making any progress. Finally, you sadly realized that you have become another pawn in the hands of the unforgiven charlatans. Right now, you don’t know whether to leave the company or stay. You would want to leave because you are fade up, but you couldn’t just abandon the company because you have invested so much time and money in them.
PART 2
THE VICTIMS
Above was the story of my friend who lost money and time by joining Neolife, a multilevel marketing company who sold him the dream of becoming his own boss in 2023. It is painful to spend a lot of time, money, and energy in building, but only to realize that you have been building a castle in the air.
I have personally met such a company in 2017 when I was in the higher institution, about to go for my industrial training. I was hungry for ways to make money and they sold the same dreams to me packaged with the same illusion of success. But then, when I remembered what happened to my mum in 2008, I left.
Sometime in the early 2008, one day my mum returned from work with a bunch of beautiful magazines. Out of curiosity, I began flipping through the pages of the magazines filled with amazing pictures and inspiring words. My mum said to me, “this is going to change our lives.” But then the question was, ‘how?’
“This is a new business in town called GNLD.” Mum told me that a friend introduced the business to her, and most of the people doing the business are now multimillionaires. When I get to the managerial level, we would get to travel the world like these people. She said, pointing at the pictures in the magazine showing a couple in a private jet, in a pool, and in a beautiful apartment. If we manage to get to the managerial level, this is how our lives would be. We would travel the world!” My mum was excited. I was excited too. We were broke so having the ability to envision a beautiful, happy, and wealthy future was pleasant.
But the question was, what would it take to make it to the managerial level? Then my mum began to show me diagrams, pyramids representing people placed in hierarchy.
“You mean you are going to get all these people under you to become a manager and travel the world?” I was surprised, and a little scared that it would be extremely difficult to get. But my mum is a believer and a strong-minded entrepreneur. She told me that she had gotten two people already. She had also bought plenty of the company’s products which are too expensive for the average people to buy.
Guess what? 8 months later, my mum couldn’t continue with the business.
Part 3
Why You Are Likely to Fail in Multilevel Marketing
- Wrong Business Model: Now, my mum and my friend were not failures. But the business didn’t operate with the right model that gives predictable chance for your success. Come to think of the products that you are mandated to sell, they are too expensive when compared to the standard market price. So, how can the business be sustainable? How can you possibly retain your customers when the customers can easily get the same product elsewhere in a cheaper rate?
- Over-Saturated Market: But the core reason is the fact that there is almost no barrier to entry in the business. They operate as companies, yet there is no system of recruitment. It’s an all-comers As long as you can get the form, you are in. As long as you have the money, you will become a manager. A wrong system. A certain barrier in entry can help to reduce the saturation and thereby maintaining sanity in the market.
- It operates in a cult-like and Fraud-like manner: Convincing people to buy into an idea that is not yet manifesting in your life can be really difficult, and somehow seem as deception. Because, sometimes, people don’t look at what you are selling, they look at who is selling. It’s just like an obese selling a weight loss program. How can you convince people to join you to become a millionaire and travel the world while you are not yet one? People are not that dumb. And for the fact that you need a good number of people to remain at the top could be apparently difficult and almost seem like a mission impossible. Because to convince people, you need a substantial result, otherwise, it become a scam.
Conclusion
Look out for this sign in any company you are going to partner with. And whenever things began to feel off, listen to your intuition and believe your guts. But moreover, do your own due diligence. Carry out the necessary research that you need to make sure that what you are investing your time and energy in is not going to be something that would lead you to jeopardy.
Written by Chinonso Aguzie.
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