The Harsh Reality Of The Network Marketing World
They show you the easy life and sell it hard before you see the extensive grind and the toxic culture.
“Hey man, going to this area might be something you want to do with your Arbonne stuff.”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah man, the houses are massive so clearly these people have money to burn. It’s well worth a shot.”
“Thanks, I’ll give it a try on a weekend then.”
I never expected this visit to a neighbourhood to be such an eye opening experience for me.
Near the tail end of my time with the network marketing company Arbonne — a MLM that provides plant-based skin-care and health products to men and women — I got a tip from one of my buddies to try and get people to buy products from me from that area. They were clearly rich considering how massive their houses were.
One guy proudly admitted to me he built his own house himself.
In the end, the little venture to this area was a bust. I gave free samples and my business card away but I never got any calls from people wanting the products. But I did go back home to something enlightening.
It wasn’t until near the end of my venture did I end up talking to someone who was an Arbonne rep. She was kind and openly admitted to it. She even told me they had meetings at a hotel nearby. But what was strange was she was the only one who brought this up. After all, this Arbonne rep no doubt made the rounds around her neighbourhood foisting samples and the like onto other people.
In the end, I learned that I was trying to sell on someone else’s turf. Not only that but my group wasn’t the only Arbonne group in town.
My experiences as a network marketer were only scratching the surface of what this industry was like. All around, I’d consider my time there to be a big financial sink, but I developed a passion for self-help which has led me to writing about it for several years now.
But under those more innocent times, I’ve started to notice the many issues with self-help and how it’s been connected to network marketing. Even though network marketing is a massive industry, a lot of it has been spurred on by roping people in with promises of getting their life back on track, being your own boss and many other perks that speak to people.
It’s similar to what rich self-help gurus promise.
But upon looking into the industry itself it does the exact opposite. There are several videos online outlining how only a select few people at the top make most of the profits.
And while the average person can find success regardless of that fact, there are stories where people move from company to company. Like in the case of Josie Naikoi. Amanda Garrity of Good Housekeeping wrote about her story a few years along with that of another.
Personally, when Arbonne wasn’t working out for me, I shifted to another network marketing company as well.
These events don’t happen in a vacuum. In fact, once the COVID pandemic restrictions sunk in, these events happened more often as MLMs prey on a wide variety of vulnerabilities. All the while position themselves as solid companies with great business practices.
But the reality is these companies aren’t all made out to be. Arbonne for example has MSG and plastic in their products. Their nutritional products also have sugar as a the first or second ingredient too.
And as for the communities that these are built on, they have some good, but a lot of rot underneath it all.
There Is Always A Push To Go For Those You Know
You begin to see the first signs of this in the initial steps when getting involved in a network marketing company. Whether it’s through a list, or a phrase that’s uttered, the first seemingly natural step for anyone to take to grow a network marketing empire is to talk to other people about it.
Of course as an entrepreneur it makes sense. Psychologically and realistically it helps to tell people about what you’re getting involved in. And turning to people you know makes it easier since there is a baked in intention for people to help you out.
For a start-up company or business idea this can mean getting a customer, someone willing to promote your products on social media among other things. It helps. But with network marketing, the game changes a bit.
For sure people can do all of those same things too like with any other business. But when there is an opportunity to join and the industry is in a morally grey area, things change.
It changes how others see you, especially those who are familiar with network marketing pitches. It can change the nature of the connection you have with someone.
In my case it was a burning of several bridges all because I was associated with a network marketing company.
But the biggest issue stems from your up line who encourages us to focus on those we know. They instil this idea that this is a better start than going on social media and pushing these products onto random people.
The issue with the community is they don’t fully know the relationships you have with people and what stage they are at. They just see it as a means of getting your “business” going and these are much easier of an ask than to cold call people.
But I’d argue this method is harder. Especially when people know some of the dangers of MLMs and the anti-MLM movement continues to grow. What MLM pitches have become is gaslighting. But interestingly it’s gaslighting both the one pitching and the one being pitched to.
This isn’t so different from a lot of the things self-help claims. Like how running over hot coals can purge disbelief or limitations and bolster confidence. Or how pseudoscience can remedy cancer.
It sounds outlandish, but MLMs have nestled into a delicate medium where the claims aren’t so outlandish and that people can cling to if they can’t read between the lines.
People Become A Means To An End
With MLMs suggesting extreme wealth through fancy cars and rough estimates of earning potentials, the higher echelons of your group is filled with elites. And even if they don’t call the shots, they do enforce the values that these MLMs push.
Arbonne at the time was only then getting around to being more online by having reps have their online profile and referral links. As such, the push from their marketing material and those around me were to talk to people offline rather than online where I was more comfortable.
But the biggest part is instilling that people were but a means to an end and that idea got pushed down through the chain. It’s implied when there is a “certain path” your business has to take and that this is the preferred method over whatever idea you had in mind. It’s implied when people make wild claims in order to push products. There are several “success stories” that are absolutely wild. In the case for me, it was a lot of rags to riches type stories.
For others it’s how a woman got pregnant after “years of infertility” or how a product “cured cancer.”
This isn’t different from how rich self help gurus offer expensive courses or programs after they experience some form of “enlightenment”. I recall Matthew McConaughey’s experience where he went to some undisclosed monastery and had a monk tell him “me too”. This is what sparked him to make a course and sell it hard.
Ultimately it’s all just a cash grab shrouded by a desire to help other people. And while assistance does require a price tag to it, the context matters relative to what’s being asked.
In the case of network marketing, the fact the business thrives on people being recruited for the most part, the goal gets easily twisted into a numbers game where everyone is a resource. If you want to get ahead, the goal isn’t to sell the quality products but to get more and more people underneath you to bolster your profits.
People ultimately become more tools and resources rather than genuine people who can benefit from what you are selling. And this particular environment trickles down from the very top.
All of this mixed together creates a toxic environment the more you actually look at it. On the surface it’s hard to imagine the problems the industry is facing are common occurrences.
But of course outlandish claims are going to be made when anyone can join up as long as they can cover the registration fee. This is why most businesses have interviews and screening procedures to ensure people are the right fit.
Of course people are going to join when you tell them they can work from home and make a living. Especially when the product is presented as something incredible and life-changing.
And if you do run into problems or struggles with getting the business going, self-help is introduced in that it’s a way to invest in yourself. This is also expanded on through people’s belief in the law of attraction. It conditions you to not look behind the curtain because the only reason you’re struggling is because you’re being a negative person.
Of course there are people who have seen a lot of success through network marketing. They’ll share their stories at conferences and network marketing companies do disclose how much their distributors earn generally.
But for the vast majority, they’ll never get to those higher brackets where they pull in six figures. Instead they’ll be subjected to a lot of this conditioning where the only way out is to have less regard for people and drink the kool-aid that network marketing is all about helping people with over-priced products or to leave whichever company you joined and the industry behind.
There is no other option.
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