Financial freedom. The thing you’re promised when you first come across a company selling amazing products that want to bring you on board to work for yourself or “create your own business”, when essentially you’re joining another version of a semi-legit pyramid scheme. So what is a pyramid scheme I hear you ask? They’re a type of sales structure where new recruits are taken on to make sales by someone where they both earn commission which goes right the way up the chain. Pyramid schemes are illegal because there’s no actual product involved, but chuck some makeup, shakes, or skincare in there and you’ve got yourself an MLM.
Some of the most well known companies that have this set up are:
- Avon
- Herbalife
- Juice Plus
- Younique
- NuSkin
- Stella & Dot
Now some people can smash this and do really well out of it, provided there’s a decent product/s or they’re really great at selling/conning people into working for them. However, I have issue with the companies that don’t have the product to back up the price tags and use badgering as a sales tactic. I don’t care how much someone tells me a product is great if I’ve tried it myself and I didn’t like it – it’s just not for me.
My first experience with this kind of scheme was the world-renown Avon. I was a mere 18 years old, fresh into adulthood and naive enough to believe I could sell sell sell. I had to purchase around £80 worth of product for my kit and pass around the brochures to everyone I knew, friends, family, neighbours – I was on it and determined to earn myself a pretty penny.
In terms of MLM’s I don’t think Avon has the same tactics of some of the shadier ones we’ll discuss today; I didn’t feel pressured to make the sales or target a particular group of people – it was simply put to me that if you sell what you can, this is what you’ll get, the recruitment of others wasn’t their focus and they just wanted their products to be sold which in MLM terms, is exactly what you want.
I’m sure you won’t be surprised to know that my “career” with Avon didn’t work and I ended up owing them money for the products which I couldn’t afford to pay for and fucked up my credit rating for a good few years after (I can’t remember what kind of letters I got, but it was close to court action so it wasn’t great).
After my experience with Avon, I made a vow to not get involved in an MLM/pyramid style scheme again, but did have my fair share of run ins; I was sold a few products from Younique (which in my opinion is massively overpriced and not worth your money), I purchased a couple of bits from Stella & Dot from a friend that was a rep (they were okayish but again, overpriced for what they were) and finally I kind of got roped into being a Nu Skin rep, but never attempted to sell the products when I came to the realisation I was being a knob again. I spent again, around £80 on a starter kit from them with the intention of trialling it out – I’d been signed off from work and was looking for something to pass the time between being sick and scratching my skin to death (if you’re a long-time reader, you’ll have guessed this was when I had hepatitis E). I had been told that I didn’t need to use the products to sell them (major red flag), but having my blog made me more cautious about selling shit I didn’t know worked, so thought I’d try it myself and see how I get on.
I wasn’t a fan of the products and decided it was a no-go, I wasn’t going to push products I don’t believe in and still stand by that today. If I wouldn’t buy it again or spend my own money on it, then I’m not going to recommend it to anyone.
I was called a couple of times and brushed the rep off eventually, but since then I’ve seen so many girls pushing the products, trying to recruit more people (all without naming the company – it’s Nu Skin’s thing) and I seemed to have that massive target all over my Instagram page for wanting to join the hoard of people pushing products.
To conclude, I’m not a fan of these schemes and don’t tend to like the products being sold – I feel like any relationship I had with someone before they became a rep has been tainted with an anticipation of waiting for the inevitable “we’ve got this new product that I really think you’d love” – I really won’t and please don’t be offended if I start to ghost you. I don’t take kindly to using a prior relationship for financial gain – I’m all for supporting people with their own business, but I draw the line at badgering and only sparking conversation to make a sale or bring me onto your team.
Have you had an experience with an MLM and what are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below.
Avon MLMbloggerexperience with an MLMfashionfashion blogfashion bloggerHerbalife MLMJuice Plus MLMMLMMLM schemesmulti-level marketing schemesNuSkin MLMStella & Dot MLMYounique MLM
I think the US must be the heartland of mlm companies! And I’m glad you got those companies out of your head. It’s overpriced and usually not the best quality.
I make it a point to not talk about my business with friends and family. Yes, you’ll always see the ‘look what I made’ post but that’s not to sell ….that’s just to say ‘look what I made’! One lady I worked with asked me to make her a couple of rugs. She wouldn’t take them from me (I tried!) so I charged her a paltry amount per rug. Aaarggghh…it’s so awkward with friends ….I’d rather give it away! You don’t make money off your friends! They’re your friends!
Ahh but mum your business is so different to an MLM! You and you alone have made and sell the products, you’ve not got masses of “recruits” doing it for you! But I get what you mean, I always charge bare minimum when it comes to friends and sewing jobs – I don’t want to take the piss! ❤️
I personally work for Nuskin, and I love every minute. I don’t ‘badger people’ or ‘pester them’ and I definitely don’t promote a product that I don’t use or love myself. If you purchase from me, it’s on your own accord and because you’ve seen my own personal results, no other reason.
I also don’t ‘con’ people into doing what I do, I help people create an extra income or other mums like myself stay at home & raise their children whilst also being able to earn a stable income. I have been lucky enough to see, witness and be apart of some people’s successes because of the company. Each individual has their own personal opinions on things, however sharing my own experience with a company such as NuSkin is that I hope to shed some light on the negative reviews that we are not one of those ‘pyramid scheme’ companies. We have been established for 34 years, LEGAL on the NYC stock exchange so all facts/figures are an open book which means as you know, if we were an illegal pyramid scheme would not be allowed. We are part of the DSA (direct sales accosication) and recommend one of the best innovative companies going forward in the world with award winning (result proven) products by forbes magazine.
i appreciate your experience was negative, which is a complete shame, as it is for some other people. however, nuskin as a company and a business has legitimately changed my life, and my sons.
Thank you for sharing your experience and I don’t doubt that the company has changed your life – you hear many a success story and if a company can change a life in a legitimate way, then that’s amazing! However, my stance is that I don’t agree with the set up of MLM’s and personally don’t like the Nuskin products having tried them myself.
I had so much makeup and hair stuff from Avon growing up and I remember it SO fondly. I’ve never actually thought about it being an MLM until you’ve just mentioned it but like you said, I never felt pressured into buying anything at all. One of my mums friends just came round with a mini catalogue once a month for us to have a browse! I always swore I’d never get into an MLM, in the beginning it wasn’t because of how terrible they clearly are but the amount of people on my facebook timeline constantly pushing these bullshit products or adding me to their Younique groups did my head in and I was like – never will I be one of those annoying people hahaha. I almost got tricked into taking part in one recently which I am honestly still fuming about. A lady contacted me about reviewing haircare products, it was just after I’d had surgery and my hair was so weak and so thin from all the trauma my body had been through. She said the range was aimed at rebuilding hair and was recommended a lot by cancer patients so me being vulnerable loved the sound of it and agreed. The products arrived and I posted them on my insta stories only to get a reply from a friend filling me in. When I contacted the woman who sent me the products, she told me if I liked them then she was hoping I’d be interested in becoming a rep and that’s when I knew it wasn’t a “collaboration” at all. She’d sent me the products to try and get me to sign up through her and make her money… Looking back I honestly think it’s so terrible how she used me when I was so vulnerable, to make money. I sent the products straight back and never messaged her again!
Alice Xx
No bloody way!! This is exactly what I hate about them – they’re preying on people’s vulnerabilities and it’s fucking disgusting! I deffo think Avon are a legit company and do MLM’s in the way they’re supposed to be, but the rest of them are all dodgy, money hungry con artists. Xxx
See I actually really like Avon, I think they’re probably one of the only companies to do things the proper way! I know there’s a scheme with The Body Shop as well where you can sell stuff from home as my sister used to do it. But there’s soooo many companies like the ones you’ve mentioned that are well dodgy, I watched a whole documentary about it and it literally ruins peoples’ lives. People literally quit their jobs and put their money and time into it, only for the people at the top to benefit and people end up in so much debt/homeless. It’s bloody awful. I’ve gotten so impatient with people contacting me from MLMs now, I’ve often messaged back quite snappy as I disagree with some of them so much. If they contact the wrong person who’s vulnerable and not well informed about MLM companies, it could seriously negatively affect them! Especially that bloody NuSkin, I think they’re one of the worst as they are one of the sneakiest. I love that you’ve brought light to such an important issue and that you can talk from your own experiences as well.
Alice xx
Ahh thanks lovely! And yeah I think Avon are one of the only ones actually do it in the way it was designed – I was just a stupid teen that didn’t know what she was doing 😂 it’s mad how many people have gone through similar things though! Xxx