Wednesday 31 July 2013

The "Opportunity"

A long time ago, I mentioned something about an opportunity that was presented to me while I was working a shift at my fast food job. The woman wouldn't go into much detail about it, other than her husband would set up a meeting with me and we'd talk from there.

I was intrigued. Also, kind of desperate for a job. Any job. So I agreed. Don't worry, I didn't end up in some guys basement or in the ditch somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Trust me, that would make a great series of blog posts (or maybe I'd just write a book about my experiences and sell it) but what transpired was not exactly pleasant.

And to think, I almost didn't back out in time.


Our first meeting felt more like an interview than anything. The man across from me, tried to get to know me a bit better, we'll call him K, and his wife, L. I badgered him with as many questions as possible. He kept information scant, insisted that what he would eventually share with me was again, an opportunity, not a job.

And only after getting to know me a bit better would he share what exactly this opportunity was. This included going to meetings with other potential candidates, and individual one-on-one meetings. He wanted to see that I had the motivation and ambition to do this, to go through and learn, and be coachable.

But here was the kicker, K had been working at this "opportunity" for 3 years with his wife, L. And now, were on the verge of making 60k a year, without doing a thing. The people who had coached the two of them, were now making well over 100k a year, without a thing and were now retired. Everyone discussed so far is under 30.

I was being baited. I knew it, but I kept going. I wanted to see if any of this could be true.


To put things in perspective, in theory, if the third phase of Project Derp was successful for me, I could be making 60k a year without any additional effort. Unfortunately, I still can't make phase 2 of the project self-sufficient (I'm halfway there though). What I saw was potentially another way to get to that level of income, and I had to know if it was possible.

And so, I sat through the group meetings, listened to how great this thing was, success stories, how easy things would be. And a red flag began to raise in my head.

Pyramid.

It had to be. We're entering scam territory here.

But no no no, they said. we're better than that, because we're something called MLM or Multi-level Marketing. And it works.

Hmmm....

The fun thing about being a Psychologist is that you begin to notice psychological tricks and tactics used more often in your everyday life. And here, I was being bombarded with them. The biggest one were the inspirational recordings and books to keep you in, positive, and convinced that everyone around you is just as positive and hard working as you are. Ignore outside influence and objections and stay with us.

Bit of a cult mentality going on here. And my science upbringing would kill me if I didn't try to be objective about the entire situation. I began to do my own research, look into this "opportunity" a bit further and come to my own conclusions.

What I found was partially surprising.

And some, not very.

Unfortunately, the head company behind this has been known to shut down blogs or go after bloggers who write disparaging things. So this company will have to remain anonymous in my post. What I can tell you is that they've been around for a while and are well-known for their sketchy tactics.

Unsurprisingly, many people have lost a lot to this MLM stuff. And I'm not talking about just money. Success rates were unsurprisingly low and other statistics and calculations provided were less than satisfactory. That being said, it was possible to this to succeed and work. K and L did, as well as the people who mentored them. Talking to people I know in real life also revealed similar (albeit rare) success stories. You just have to really, really work hard at this for a while

The more I looked into it, the more I realized how it wasn't worth the effort needed to succeed. The chances were slim, many problems were already arising, and don't get me started on the individual cost. There were plenty of other things I could devote my time and energy to with a greater chance of success.

I'm not exactly rolling in cash here.

Yes, some of my money did go into this before I was fully aware of what I was getting into. But don't worry, I have successfully gotten most of it refunded back to me. Actually just today I confirmed the last bit of money being returned. It could have been a lot worse, but overall I only lost a little bit over $100.

Not a bad price to pay considering how it really could have been a lot worse. Especially if I had continued with this for a longer period of time. Things really rack up very quickly.

Needless to say, K and L haven't contacted me since. Good, now maybe I can focus on things that might actually give me financial independence.

28 comments:

  1. Sounds like you were smart enough to get out while the getting was good.

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  2. Sorry to hear it was such a bust. I have a friend who recently went through something similar. MLM is basically the new name for a pyramid scheme and I think I would have gotten out as soon as that was said.

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  3. Heh. A friend of mine ran into this recently as well. He's a hobbyist marketeer, so he just went to their little presentation, took note of the flaws and everything, and bombarded them with it. This kind of stuff is always sketchy, and I'm always inclined to belief these people are paid to scam others, instead of recruiting them for their own benefit.

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  4. I fell for one of those years ago when I'd just finished Uni. I went to one meeting, but it became obvious very quickly what they were doing and I never went back for a second.

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  5. Ugh, I'm glad you got out early!!

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  6. I have friends who fall for every "get rich quick" scheme going, too. But you know what? There's no magic shortcut. To make a comfortable income, get an education or training in a specific field and then work hard at a career for a decade or two. That's how it's done. Well, done legally.

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  7. My fiancee got into something sorta like that (but the company she found wasn't part of the internet) I stopped her before she did anything.

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  8. You're right it definitely could have been a lot worse Damien.

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  9. This could probably get you in a lot of trouble.. Good that you decided to quit early!

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  10. Pyramid scheme, multi-level marketing, triangle shaped business model... they can call it whatever the hell they want, it's still a scam. One of our acquaintances actually joined one of those and put on a demonstration for us... it was pathetic (like, she was just begging us at the end), it lacked any form of proper business model (I tore her apart in front of her 'boss'... he wasn't happy about that), and it was truly like you said, a cult. Glad you dodged it!

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  11. Yeah those things have a possibility of working, but really the only ones who get rich are the ones who created it.

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  12. My rule of thumb is if it "sounds to good to be true..." Glad you got out of it. If only people like that weren't out to swindle the rest of us.

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  13. I've heard of companies doing that. It's so scary!

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  14. I had no idea! Very proud of you for being so in tune to BS!

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  15. good that you realized it earlty

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  16. I'm really glad to hear that you ended up getting out of this one man because it sounds dodgy, I started hearing alarm bells too that suggested a pyramid scheme to me which was scary, glad it turned out to be something you got away from easy enough.

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  17. Ugh. Congratulations, you have dipped a toe into the pool of the desperate. Those motherf--kers prey on the desperate, feed them lines about wealth, then bleed them dry. Shit like this pisses me off so much, because I have lost count of the amount of these type of companies have tried to sucker me in.

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  18. Thank goodness you had the brains to see a scam. I have a feeling they've suckered in quite a few...who weren't so lucky or smart.

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  19. MLM = Pyramid scheme. "Opportunity" = give us cash. That's shorthand.

    A few years ago, a colleague who had a marketing company was contacted by a potential client about doing their marketing and website. And when they met, they offered to pay her in - I kid you not - used sex toys, instead of cash.

    Needless to say that deal didn't work out.

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  20. Oh. That happens. Someone once tried to sucker me into it. I sat through it, then started telling them everything they were going to tell me before they did. The lead guy, the lead 'coach' if you will, was so surprised he was positive he wanted me under him.

    NOPE

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  21. You know what popped up on my screen for this article was an ad for a multi level marketing scheme, and Stewie from Family Guy was on the ad. Now, I am 1000% sure they didn't have permission to do that. Scammin' flim flammers!

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  22. 'Financial independence', people fall for MLM and pyramid schemes thinking that they will attain financial independence easily. We cannot ignore the fact there are quite a few who have made a lot of money through these schemes. Others and that forms the majority simply lost the initial capital or got back only a little like you.

    Being a psychologist you noted the games these people play. Interesting ! Good that you stressed this point. This is how they attract people. It is always important to differentiate between reality and negativity. If the reality is gloomy there is no point in bombarding people with inspirational quotes etc. to keep them in a soap bubble of positivity. Accept it and work upon to improve it or try something else, it is much better than ignoring reality. You simply waste time !

    With great effort I resisted the urge to join such schemes. Lost some 'friendships' too for not joining their team of distributors. No regrets at all. I didn't lose any money !

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  23. MLM is a big NO NO to me! They are just starting the conversation and I would automatically give them a non-negotiable "NO!".

    Good thing you were able to get out of it.

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  24. Ugh, my mom is a sucker for those types of things. No thank you.

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  25. At least you learned something out of it and didn't end up homeless because of it

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  26. A big salute to you. You've done a good research on that company before they drag you in.

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