Pyramid Schemes.

This new guy at work is trying to get me into this pyramid scheme thing of his. I acted about as uninterested as i could. He kept pushing. Poor kid is like 19 I think. He didn't ask, he told me he was going to pick me up tonight to go to some "meeting". (He's going to pick me up rather than I meet him there so I can't get away lol.) I asked him what this meeting thing and his whole deal was about. Was he selling something, cult meeting, or what? He first told me he didn't want to go into to much detail and would rather let the speaker at the meeting tell me. (cult LOL!) Then he started telling he was in the business of saving peoples lives and all about family. (cult) He was super vague, but finaly i got it out of him. They sell organic energy drinks. Totaly a pyramid scheme. He said it was not. I asked him if there was a dude at the top, a few people under him, lots more people under those people, and you make money buy bringing more people in to buy a "start up' package. " Well ya" he said. TO FUNNY. I forgot all about him till he just woke me up with a "text confermation" about tonights pick up, even after I told him no thank you. UUUUuuuuughhhhhh!

 

Totaly! I remember my dad got mixed up in a scheme like this selling this waterless car wash spray stuff in the 90's. I think he still has 8 cases in his basement. lol.

 

Is the kids last name Madoff?

 

You are using the wrong terms. It is not a "Pyramid Scheme", it is "Multi-Level Marketing".

 

Name, smame... Direct Selling, Multi-Level Marketing, Amway, Pre-Paid Legal - I spent a short stint as a VP of a MLM company and I would say this:

Many offer some good products. Many sell CRAP. If you were good at selling seeds or magazine subscriptions and manage yourself like a business and are hard working (know what it is to make a living as a self-employed person) sometimes you can make a good living. If you think it is going to make you rich - most often it will not. If it is what you want to do with your life, go for it. These companies sell 'a dream' (of 'doing what you want, when you want to' - 'become rich and wealthy [as we have made 10 people in our organization]). If you can make money at the same time great. Most do not.

 

I got tricked into the whole quikstar thing when i was 19....i wasted a few days and about 90 bucks on that crap....

I cant stand these sort of things.

 

Mona Vie?

 

90 bucks - that's a bargain - think of people that have a garage full of 'product!'

 

Yes, thats it. Monavie..... what ever than means

 

Haha, I know a lot of people in my town do that. They make juice and energy drinks from some kind of berries native to Brazil or something like that. Suppose to be very healthy but I don't know if it is..the drinks themselves are tasty but extremely expensive. No idea if it is a scam or not.

edit: The people also have Mona Vie stickers all over their cars/ trucks.

 

From a friends facebook

 

I got rangled when I was 19 into Quixtar by a guy that was my supervisor at the time... I was pretty pissed when I realized it - particularly because he used his position as supervisor to influence me. Eff that! I promptly quit a few months later when I found a new job...

 

I don't understand how it is a scam because I don't know much about it. Do they steal your money? What exactly happens?

 

Multi level 101:

It is a scam if you have to stock a bunch (or any) inventory... if the deal is different for newbies... and if there is no way for you to reach higher levels, no matter what your sponsor does.

Many businesses like Amway and Melaleuca are legitimate businesses and actually make a product that people buy... One is or was 'multi-level' and the other is or was known as 'direct sales'.

Only get into a business if you like the product and only after using the products so you can relay to others with some belief in what you are involved with is a good thing! Never get involved if you are required or even asked to buy large amounts of product to stock at your home.

Now, if you want to get a better price on what you like using, you can 'join' the program... You may need a 'starter kit' with info and sales aids... perhaps a few products or samples as well. These are or should be inexpensive and refundable if you change your mind. Products that don't move or are returned to you should be bought back by the company.

Sales/ Sponsoring... Make a little money and/or bonus points by selling to friends or family who also want what you like using... This helps lower the cost of what you like using as well as introduces a good product to others. IF family or friends like the product enough to also want to buy direct at a savings and maybe also share it with others, then you can sponsor them... as you were sponsored. As a reward for your efforts or sharing the product/ business, you get a percentage of what ever your new business associates buy... paid by the company to you.

It is a win-win and although it looks like a pyramid on paper, it is more of a 'family tree' with the company paying everyone a small percentage for the products consumed by the 'family' members in each person's 'family'.

True pyramids don't create income by selling products and nobody can ever pass up the person who enrolled them. In a legitimate direct sales business, everyone is free to grow as much as they can and it doesn't matter what the sponsor does.

Now, people are another matter! A good company (like Amway) can have short-sighted people who don't follow company policy in recruiting or sales... That is no fault of the company. If something seems wrong, then switch directions. The person who invited you must have believed it to be a good thing that you would get excited about too, so don't be too hard on him. A simple no thanks should work. Otherwise, many millionaires have achieved success with direct sales... It can be a way out of your rut!

For the record, I am not in any direct sales or multi-level business anymore. I was 20-30 years ago... (Amway, then Melaleuca) and although I never got rich, I enjoyed the products at a discount and sponsored a couple of friends. I still use some products from Melaleuca Inc. today!

 

are you serious! put me down for 3 cases of the stuff!

 

lol some people can be so gullable. My cousin got sucked into that monavie stuff and tried to get me to...haha the first thing I told him is be careful and not to spend too much money on it.

I have a friend from school & hockey as a kid who asked me about 7 years ago to join quixtar. I was kinda disappointed that he wasted my time and a starbucks visit to tell me about it. To this day he still tries to get me to join. The funny thing is he dropped out of college to concentrate on this and he always talks about the keys to success in life and bla bla bla. I now make about twice as much money as he does and I have finished college and got my degree. He is still wasting his time trying to sell stuff from his cookie cutter website that quixtar gave him. I could write the HTML for that website in my sleep.

Another funny one is the whole Ignite natural gas MLM scheme. My grandfather tried to get me into that about a year ago. I felt bad but kinda laughed at him and told him I don't get involved in MLM stuff.