The Broken Promises of MLMs #254

that are pretty legit companies that we've heard of. But what's often the cases that there are a lot of promises made, a lot of you know, people get their hopes up and they think they're going to be able to achieve something that they aren't actually able to achieve. Those are the broken promises. And so that's why we wanted to dedicate an entire episode two MLM's because pause of those broken promises. Yeah, there's a lot to talk

about here, that's for sure. And like you said, like some of these companies, some people make money selling product for multi level marketing company, but most people don't. Most people experience the ill effects the the broken promise side of mlm s. And so yeah, we got a lot to talk about today on the show, Matt. Yeah, real quick though, before we get started, I wanted to to share a quick little tip for folks, especially as individuals

are working from home more these days. I can't remember if we've talked about this on the show, but have we talked about my noise dot nets? I don't think that's like, so this is the site where I like Matt's noise dot net or my personal noise, But this is a site. This is a tab I keep open all my browser seven like. I use it every single day,

and it is a white noise generator. And actually a listener can't remember their name, but someone wrote in and they shared the site with us because we were talking about, you know, finding ways to to keep from being distracted while we're working at home. And here's why I love

this one specifically so much, man uh. Specifically, they have this one sound it's called Irish Coast and it has all these different sliders where you can adjust the different sounds on the Irish Coast, so you can adjust the amount of like wind noise, the babbling little water bagpipe rain. Yeah, there's no bagpipe. I guess i'd be the Scottish coast. Maybe that's true. But the Irish Coast made It's so stinking good, and I kind of realized how dependent on

it I've become. It's just become so much a part of my day. You know, even when you're down here and we're both working, I just pop them in sometimes, but I don't want to hear you over there, like tapping on your keyboard, you know, double clicking with your mouse tap loudly. I'm sorry about that. I realized that any of those sounds can distract me, and so I don't I wanted to share this with our listeners if they are having a tough time focusing while they're working

at home. So you might be able to block out my sounds, but can you block out the faces I'm making at you from across the room. That's why we have a solid partition up between us. That's what you're gonna build next, I'm sure, said the office we're shunning up created barrier exactly. Sometimes it's necessary for me, I'm you know, I get excited and I just want to say hi, yeah, yeah. I wanted to mention that for

our listeners. There's this other one I actually discovered two It's called uh seven forty seven I found this one on Amazon Music. You and I we both love Amazon Music. And if you if you google seven forty seven White Noise, it'll pull up this track and you can put it on repeat on loop. It sounds just like you're sitting on an airplane, like flying to the West Coast, you know, or vice versa. That would put me to sleep. That's

the problem with some of those. Really. I like how it helps some people and and hopefully some people out there will you listen to your Irish Coast noise and it'll help them be more productive. For me, it would make me want to take a nap. I would I would need to be drinking like some coffee while I'm listening to that and working, because yeah, I would just kind of want to lay down on my keyboard and

zonc out for a little bit. I will say, if I had a weighted blanket, you know, I could do the seven forty seven with a weighted blanket for the first fifteen minutes. Because for me, anytime I get on a plane, I always take that that quick power nap at the very beginning, like when you take off, because when you during lifts off, you feel that increased weight and something about that's for me, it's super comforting. Yeah, I pass out during take off and then about fifteen

minutes later I always wake up. But but in the same way, I think there's a lot of folks who, you know, when they hear that sound of the seven forty seven jets kind of roaring in the background, it kind of puts them in that business state of mind. A lot of people actually aren't on planes these days, so they might even kind of miss that sound, you know. Good point. Yeah, we'll link to both of those in

our show notes, by the way. Alright, cool, cool, alright, Well, let's get onto the beer that we're having on the show today, Matt. This one's called Double Up and it's a West Coast I p a by Monday Night Brewing in conjunction with Cascade Brewing, one of our favorite breweries on the West Coast. Speaking of West Coast, East Coast, exactly. A nice little team up there on this one. We'll give our thoughts on this particular beer at the end of the episode, but for now, Matt, one of the

subject at hand. We're talking about the broken promises of MLMs of multi level marketing companies not too long ago, Matt. We had an interesting chat with Ben Carlson about his book on the history of scams, and I feel like he shared some really fascinating stories of some really crazy scams that have happened in the history of our country. But but those rip offs aren't necessarily confined to prior decades.

We're seeing a lot of like scams and and pyramid schemes proliferating now, and multi level marketing companies are actually like praying on people, I would say, in more severe ways right now, which means that people are often losing money they can't afford to lose because of a nifty pitch that sounds pretty great, And I feel like the people that are most at risk of signing up to to sell something for an MLM company are the people

who oftentimes are financially suffering. Maybe they've lost a job, they've been furloughed, they're looking for ways to make extra income, and the MLM pitch comes along, and it's like, that sounds really nice. Maybe I can make some side income. Maybe signing up and selling stuff for this MLM company can actually help me with with some of the missing income from losing my job. Might even say, oh, this is a blessing in disguise. Now I can pursue my

MLM dreams building my own business, right, yeah, exactly. And pyramid schemes they've always been bad. They're actually they're illegal, right. But at the same time, there are legitimate mL ms out there, but a lot of these end up taking a lot of your time and money and never actually

giving people any sort of real income in return. Mat I think the most fascinating stat that I've ever read about MLMs, the FTC, the Federal Trade Commission, actually reports that less than one percent of MLM participants actually end up making money. And I feel like that says it all right there. If you're looking for the needle in a haystack, if you think you're the only one that can make money in an MLM, maybe it's true, but the chances, the statistics point to the fact that it's highly,

highly unlikely. Dang dude. So if anybody is going to turn off the podcast, now you know, don't do that, But do know that you need to be in the one percent if you're gonna you know, make any money at all. Enjoy Like you mentioned, you know, these are companies that we're dealing with now, you know, like we're not just talking about companies from the fifties, you know, like Tupperware back when they used to have their Tupperware parties.

A lot of us have have had that pitch from my friend or even you know, a pitch on social media from someone we haven't talked to in years. There has been a recent resurgence of influencers pushing MLMs in a sense they've kind of modernized, you know, along with the technology that we have today. And you also mentioned as well that another reason that we are seeing these on the rise is because people are in more desperate times.

You know, when you have lost your job or you're earning a lot less than used to, you're looking for any way to to make additional income. You're looking for ways to replace your income. And if you get an email, you know, saying that hey, if you you know, pitching some money to do this thing, or send this email or send this letter to a bunch of other people, that kind of get your hopes up. And so it's

no wonder we've seen the spread. And so that's one of the ways we've seen MLMs grow due to the pandemic. But there have also been false health claims that different companies have made the FDC. They also stand out some letters in April to to tend different MLM companies that were making false claims in regards to how their products

were going to protect people against the coronavirus. Right, And so not only is it false statements against how individuals might be able to earn a bunch of money, but they're taking advantage of people when it comes through this health crisis as well. And unfortunately a lot of the folks who we're seeing taken in by these MLM are women. Many MLMs are based around women's clothing and beauty products, you know. And this isn't to say that men don't

also lose money through MLM involvements. Pretty Much everyone who is involved in MLM is losing money. And just like you said, one percent of folks are the ones who are making money. That means of individuals who are involved are losing money. And that doesn't even include the amount of time that they're putting towards us as well, just the money. Yeah, and all the extra Lulu Roe pants

that are left over in the garage after the fact too. Right, So let's talk about kind of the definitions, But what constitutes an m l M versus a pyramid scheme, because we're gonna kind of be talking about both in this episode. M l M s are our organizations that are focused on selling a legitimate product, but pyramid schemes are actually solely focused on recruiting other members. And so MLMs and

pyramid schemes they've got a lot in common. It's actually kind of hard to tell them apart, especially you know, on on their face. So when you're beating pitched something by a friend or a family member or uh, somebody that you used to know back in the day, and they've sent you a Facebook message, it's really hard to

know what you're getting into. Are you getting into business with a company that is selling legitimate products or are you getting into a system that forces you to actually recruit more people in order to make the majority of your earnings. And if that's the case, you're involved in a pyramid scheme. And and that's because recruiting in in many of these systems is actually how the big money

is made. You might be able to make a little bit of money if you work really really hard selling the product, but you're gonna make way more by recruiting more people to be underneath you, to start paying fees, and to start buying more product. It's important to know that that it's just incredibly hard to tell the difference when you're receiving that pitch. And that's why, you know,

we're not fans of either. Obviously, pyramid schemes are illegal, but MLMs are close enough for the most part that we think it's a bad idea to participate in m l m s pretty much altogether too. And so maybe a good question for us to answer, right, uh, is why do people participate in these MLMs. There are some benefits and promises that MLMs make do make them attractive, and one of the biggest promises is huge returns with

minimal efforts. I'm a big fan of minimal effort, you know, Like what's more enticing than that just doing nothing and perceiving a lot of money. You know, I'd be all about doing that if if I could. But there was a recent thread in our Facebook group and listener Jill she mentioned that it has been quote seriously, blood, sweat and tears unquote to make an average of two thousand

dollars a month. You know, like that's what you don't hear in these different presentations, these these pitches, these videos are are in a chat that you have with a

friend who is trying to get you involved. You know, imagine if Jill had taken the standard approach and just tossed up some social media posts, you know, she wouldn't be making any money, which is the case for the vast majority of MLM participants, and she'd probably be in debt too, because typically you gotta buy the stuff up front in hopes that you're gonna sell it right and hopes that you're gonna make some sales and start generating

that business, when many people don't exactly. Yeah, that's one of the red flags to look out for. So you know, we're gonna get into a little MLM history and we're gonna cover some of the specific ones to watch out for, and then later on we're we're going to discuss alternatives to m l m's and we'll get to all of that right after the break. All right, Matt, we're back from the break. And I think anybody that's been listening so far can tell that you and I were not

a big fans of MLM. We're not, uh and It's something that kind of keeps coming in my mind when I think about MLMs and pyramid schemes. You've seen Garden State, of course, remember that one. It's been a long time, a long time ago, but you know that scene where they go in the store and they see like an old friend from high school and he's like, hey, I would like to talk to you both about a great

opportunity you and your loved ones. That's when you run away or when someone says you're a naturally energetic person, I feel like you do great in this small business that I'm a part of, Like I'd love to talk to you about these opportunities available to us. That's when you know you're getting pitched right exactly. And and I

can anybody make money in an MLM? Sure, Like I think a small, small, probably one percent of people can make money in an MLM, And especially if you have kind of some natural tendencies, if you've always been a good salesperson or just naturally great at starting up conversations with strangers, you can potentially make money in an MLM.

Even if that's the case, though, there's still a lot of downsides too to watch out for, and some things to be wary of before you decide to go the route of an MLM as opposed to a traditional business, because those skills can make you money inside of a traditional job. With those skills in m l M isn't necessarily going to make you more money than you can

make elsewhere. But Matt, let's talk about the history of m l m s, and let's talk about some of the more predominant ones that people might hear about or might be asked to join. Maybe right now, all right, time for a little history. Man. You mentioned Ben Carlson at the beginning of the episode our interview with him a few weeks ago. He called Charles Ponzi the godfather of the financial scams genre. In the Ponzi scheme and

in pyramid schemes today are incredibly similar. About a hundred years ago, he promised returns on your money in ninety days by investing in foreign stamps. That sounds kind of weird, but you know this was the early nine hundreds, uh, and it was a different time back then. If someone were to pitch me something saying I was gonna make lots of money on postage stamps right now, I look at him like they were crazy because they probably would be,

but people believed them, you know. Uh, And ultimately people send him millions of dollars based on these promises alone. And you know what getting involved in that. That scheme of his was open to everyone. He didn't discriminate. Rich politicians and poor immigrants alike lost their money. The Boston Post ended up running the math and they uncovered the impossibility of his claims. And so that's how pyramid schemes

got started and how they happened today. Uh, someone promises incredible and impossible returns to unsuspecting victims, and they almost always spend the money to build up their own lavish lifestyle. You know, we're talking about yachts, sports cars, fancy trips, that kind of stuff. Ponzi was no different. You know, he bought a main and as well as the fanciest car of this day. So just because Ponzi was a scam, owners doesn't mean that all MLM offerings are scams. Though.

So let's make sure we discuss some of the you know, more popular MLMs that are actually you know, kind of legitimate businesses. Lets do it, yeah, Um and Matt, there are certainly a few that people are familiar with. Although before we get to kind of some of the more popular ones, there's kind of like a scheme playing on some of these principles that's going around right now that people seem to be falling forward. It's called the Susu method.

And sometimes the Susu is done with friends or family, and it can be if it's done in a particular way, just kind of this forced method of savings. But it's an odd way to do it. It's where people pull their money and a different group member receives that payout each month. Even when you're doing that with trusted friends and family, I don't think it's a good way to do things. I think there are better ways to save

your money. You don't have to pull it trusting that that money is going to come back to you at a future date. Right. But just like so many other MLMs, people are using personal relationships to exploit others for profit. Under the su Su scheme, they're using trust to leverage cash. And and here's kind of how it works. In the more nefarious ways. You put in a set amount of money every month along with maybe like ten to fifteen others in this SUSU group, let's say it's five bucks

and you all venmo or PayPal. The ringleader who is promising that you're gonna make a heck of a lot more in returns in the coming months than what you're putting in. You're told that oftentimes it's gonna be eight to ten times your initial investment. And then you see the testimonials those promises, right, the promises that will soon be broken, saying that it's gonna be gravy and you're gonna make good money, and that this is the best

method to see a return on your money. And and then it never appears and people are out the money they put in. And yeah, the rising popularity of this one in particular is something that that we wanted to mention because a lot of people are falling for it assuming that because they're invited by a friend or family member that they can't lose money and that everything is gonna be okay, and most people are losing all the money that they put in. Yeah, and and so by

that definition, this isn't necessarily MLM. This isn't, you know, multi level marketing company. This is pretty much a Ponzi scheme. You know, this is a pyramid scheme and it's also known as a blessing loom or a gifting circle. But because there are no products involved here, it is straight up something you want to avoid. Yeah, and basically to participate, I feel like you have to suspend your belief in reality, right, that what you put in is going to come out

tenfold or something like that. I mean, that's just not how things work. But oftentimes the people that are hurting the most, they want to believe in something like this, and that's why people participate, and that's why some of these schemes are are so bad. Yeah, that's right, And so let's let's talk about an actual MLM. Let's talk about lu La Row. There's a podcast that only talks about MLM is called The Dream and they actually go

pretty hard after lu La Row and rightly so. They are a woman's apparel company that is known for colorful patterns and prints. But for women to get started selling lu La Row, you need to come up with closest six thousand dollars in order to buy inventory. You know, there are lawsuits right now, you know, from customers claiming that the clothing is defective and that the returns aren't

being accepted. Uh. This is always a warning sign of an unhealthy MLM UH and returning unsold inventory is almost impossible or it comes with some insane fees if you are participating. There are actually quite a few lawsuits pending

right now against lu La Row. And so while lu La Row isn't necessarily a pyramid scheme right like, technically it is an MLM because they actually do sell products, but because of the insane fees, the upfront costs involved with purchasing inventory, just the poor business model, it's something that we would completely recommend for folks to stay away from. And historically we've seen a lot of their customers be like homemakers, a lot of military wives as well are

or used to be at least big into lu La Row. Yeah, lu La Row one of the worst. Uh. Matt Mary Kay is another big name in the MLM world. It's actually the sixth largest MLM company out there. And Pink Cadillacs were kind of their calling card. They kind of bond a generation of people who got interested in selling makeup from their home. That to me, that just sounds

like the nineties. I remember just like riding around in the car with my parents you know, and Augusta and there's like, you know, these pink little Cadillacs driving around or you know, big Cadillac spement and you know what those people are up to. Those beauty consultants were making money selling products to their friends and neighbors and as well as as they're making a cut of the sales

from their recruits. So has these elements of direct sales, but also this element of recruiting in order to make profit too. Again, whether people were successful or whether people got burnt in a big way, it's really easy to find people writing or making YouTube videos about their experience, and that makes Mary Kay similar to so many other mlm s. People are willing to publicize their involvement and how it went down. Of course, some people did make money.

I got a sweet pink Cadillac out of the deal, but that was essentially at the cost of so many other people going into debt and similar to Lulu Row, with a ton of inventory on hand that they couldn't get rid of. But Mary Kay is is just such a high profile example of an MLM. But it's not really all that different in regards to how it functions or in regards to to the results that people have experienced. Yeah,

Herbal Life that they are another major MLM. They actually had to mail checks Toto individuals as a result of a settlements with the FTC that was part of a two million dollar fine, And essentially they had to do this because they were considered basically a pyramid scheme in which participants made far more money recruiting than actually selling product. You know, this is another example of having to buy thousands of dollars of inventory upfronts, which should be a

red flag to a lot of individuals. Norwix they're another example. Technically they're not a pyramid scheme because they do sell products,

but they do rely heavily on recruiting. And that's unfortunately when things start to sour a little bit, because recruiting like that is the essence, like that is the core of a pyramid scheme, and MLM's basically like they're they're taking aspects of a pyramid scheme like that recruiting aspect, uh, And when it becomes more and more a part of their business model, like that's when they start getting in

trouble with the FTC. Yeah, Matt, And that goes back to kind of something we discussed right at the beginning, is is that it can be hard to this cipher whether a company is an m l M or whether it's more of a pyramid scheme. And some of these companies that claim that they're legitimately multi level marketing, well sometimes it doesn't stay that way, and companies find themselves in big trouble and the people that we're working for

that MLM find themselves in dire straits. So I think this brings up to Matt, what if you have a friend who's working for an MLM, what should you say to them? How should you react? And I think that can be a hard question, you know, depending on how well you know the person. If it's someone kind of out of the blue, it's easier just to kind of ignore that Facebook message or politely decline the phone call.

But if you see them in person, it can be really difficult rite and they might try to sell you something or bring you on board. And I think it's probably important for people to know that they can and should take like a actful but firm approach to any sort of pitch that they received from from somebody who is involved in MLMs, and in particular when it comes to coming under them as a recruit or working for the company and putting some of your hard earned dollars

into starting in the MLM space. There are so many ways to say, Hey, I'm glad you're doing well in this business, but I've just got a lot going on right now. I'm too busy to participate. Thank you for asking me. Just kind of sidestep that bowl, kind of rushing towards you, exactly, Yeah, a little bit of tacked exactly, h can go a long way and then maybe change the subject quickly. What else are you up to? How

are your kids? You know, I mean, so many other questions you could ask, but especially as these pitches are on the rise, it's it's important to know how to say no and to actually do so when you're presented with that, you know, some sort of MLM recruitment pitch.

That's true, man. You know, we don't want to get caught up and become a recruit to where we're working out thousands and we've got a bunch of the line in order to make sure that we don't just lose that money, and so obviously you don't want to do that. But what about, like, what are your thoughts then on on actually buying product, you know, because if I had a friend come to me, like I might consider actually purchasing some of whatever stuff they're selling to support them.

But also obviously if I only needed that product, cause I'm not going to buy something I don't need, but if I did need to maybe buy some of that stuff anyway, like I might kind of support them just to I don't know, not to just completely destroy that relationship because after that, I'm gonna feel so awkward if I knew that they spent a lot of money on it, and you know, I wasn't there to kind of be

a part of it. I think so much of it comes down to what it is that they're selling, and and so much of the time another problem with m l M is that the product is inferior. The product isn't something as good as you'd be able to get on the store or online or at a small business, and so people that work for that m l M have to resort to kind of a hard pitch mentality.

And because of that, I am more likely to say no, because I would rather spend money on a proven product, something that I can read the reviews on, something that has you know, more of a history or that I'm familiar with. So, yeah, most products being sold by an M l M. When you look at the reviews to like lou Le Row, apparently they were good in the in the getting maybe, but then they resorted to stuff

got cheap. Yeah, stuff got really cheap and people started complaining about the quality, and yeah, I'm just not gonna spend my money on something that is is not really up to snuff. And you can start by pretending you didn't hear them ask that question. It's like glad I

didn't hear you. Uh, you know, and say, while MLM's promised a great life, those fancif vacations, more time and the ability to to do whatever it is that you want to do, you know, more income than you've ever had before, most people that sign up find the opposite is true, you know. And so let's talk about essentially, you know, the antidote to MLMs and how to make decent money while having a more flexible lifestyle. We'll get

to that right after the break. All right, Matt, we're back from the break and we have ripped MLM is a new one. I think they're not that great, that kind of stuck. Yeah, and that's really I mean, in in large part because it's an unsustainable business model in so many ways. And when the products that you're selling our subpar and you have to recruit more people in order to make any money, well, at some point you run out of people and uh and willing people to

sign up and participate. Yeah, and again just kind of going back to the statistics, you know, it's it's not even just the business model. But when for people something is terrible and for one percent it's decent, well, I'm not gonna say that like, oh, that's a good thing you should consider, you know, And so for the vast majority of folks, when it is something that they need to completely avoid, I mean, we we're gonna have to side with exactly. So let's talk about alternatives right now, Matt.

For people that either you know, have heard an MLM pitch recently or they've been lucky enough not to have one hit their inbox recently, there are better opportunities for you if you're struggling right now, or if you're looking

for a way to make side income. If you are currently employed, we would say do whatever you can to essentially level up at your current job, Like, do you need another gig, do you need an opportunity quote unquote selling something on the side, or should you just put more emphasis on the job that you currently have your

day job. Paying particular attention to how you can advance, how you can make more over time, um, and how you can take on more responsibility at the job that you currently have is a much better path for so many people than signing up for an MLM side hustle. Right, that's full of all these lofty promises that are all

likelihood won't be realized. I mean, if you're hired by a certain company to begin with, like, chances are you've got some skill, you've got some talent, you know when it comes to that industry, and so even though you know that job might be feeling kind of stale these days, individuals need to look at different ways to take on more responsibility and to step it up. So aside from your main job, look to side hustles as well. It's definitely another way to avoid getting sucked into the you know,

the additional income that MLM's promise. Uh. Specifically, we would recommend for folks to check out sites like side hustle dot com where they review and rate difference online earning platforms, different places that you can work, or you can even consider posting, you know, your specific skills or services on a site like fiber dot com. Both of those are

going to be better alternatives. Uh. You know, like you're not gonna necessarily make as much money as that MLM promises, but remember those promises are empty, so instead look to the specific skills and the talents that you have. Yeah. I'd rather take a more realistic projection, right, Uh and and have that be firm than somebody that's like promises me the world, but in reality I end up getting

nothing right right. Uh And so yeah, side hustles are great work from home jobs too, if you if you need the flexibility that an MLM promises to provide, which is always part of the pitch. It's like flexibility your own boss. Yeah, it worked like you want to work exactly. Yeah, but work from home actually gives you some of that opportunity. And of course work from home jobs are kind of the standard. Right now, you're going to see more of

those listings. Flex Jobs is a is a great site to look at for legit work from home opportunities to make sure to check that out. By the way, on the note of work from home, there are work from home scams out there too when you're looking for jobs, and often those scams will involve promises similar to MLM promises, while at the same time requesting money upfront from you.

So when you're looking for a legitimate work from home job, the only thing you should ever pay upfront is for a potential background check that's typically fifty dollars or less. So if someone says I've got this great work from home job for you and you can make tons of money, all you got to do is pay me five or six dollars up front, runaway, because that is a work from home scam, which is different than the MLM but

just as nefarious. Yeah, and Joel. In addition to side hustles, you know, and just working from home like jobs that give you flexibility. Essentially, the ultimate, like the culmination of what MLMs are offering, is for you to own your own business. But you know, if you love solving problems and having a creative outlet, you know, if you are ambitious and kind of have some of the entrepreneurial spirit, then hanging your own shingle could actually be perfect for you.

Owning your own business is maybe what you need to consider, and in most cases, it doesn't actually take as much art up money as you might think. It might even cost you less to to kind of start your own business than it would be to to get started with a starter pack of leggings or even a few cases of protein shakes. If you haven't already, we'd recommend for folks to listen back to episode two forty seven. That's where we talked with Alan donnegan about starting a business

with zero dollars. It's inspiring to think that you don't need an MLM to get started, that the sky's the limit when you are creating your own business and instead of hawking someone else's junk, you know, like just some product that's maybe not made very well, you actually get

to decide the product or the service that your community needs. Yeah, I think MLM's and the pitches that you're going to receive, they're going to typically target those pain points, those uh that desire for flexibility, for increased income for owning your

own business. But these other things that we've outlined here are going to give you a better opportunity for those things the opportunity to actually make something that's sustainable, long lasting, and produces a real income over years, as opposed to the promises of quick riches, which is what a lot of the m l m s are kind of posing to people. Hey, you can make a lot of money in very little time if you come over here and do this, and that's just far from the truth for

most people that that give it a go. Yeah, they promised to make it quick and easy, you know, like that's the biggest thing. They want it to be easy for you to make this extra money. But I mean, I think all the alternatives that we gave like they are probably going to be a little bit harder, but in the end it will definitely be more worth it, Yeah for sure. And then I think too, it's important to to separate the people who are involved in an

MLM from the business model itself. I think part of the reason that we wanted to create this episode was because a listener in our Facebook group she asked whether or not she should buy a product from a friend who's involved in an MLM to support them, which is something we touched on a little bit, and most of the advice that other listeners were giving centered around the fact that they shouldn't feel obligated, but only make a

purchase if they actually like the products. I agree, Right, if there is a good product that a friend who is uh, you know, running an MLM business is selling, and I think it's a good product, i'd consider it. But it's also important to note that MLM's prey on people. Right, the business model itself borders on predatory in most cases, and for other MLM companies, praying on people is the

entire business model, depending on which one it is. But many of the lower level people like your sister's cousin or whatever, who are involved, they're not in it to that degree or with that intention, and they probably don't even fully realize exactly what's happening. They're trying something out in order to make a decent income to support their family.

So it's important when you are getting that pitch to recognize that the person giving that pitch probably doesn't actually realize exactly what they've signed up for and exactly what's happening, because if they did, if they knew the whole truth upfront, they likely would have said no from the get go

to Yeah, that's that's true. Man, and and so it's important to remember that while in m l M has the small chance of making you money, you're gonna have to work your butt off to get there, and on top of that, you might actually burn some some relational bridges along the way. If you're considering one of these things, it's important to to ask yourself, you know, like, can you afford the risk of the initial money as well as the time that's required to try and build your

business this way? Don't buy into the hype from a post on social media or from a friend who claims to be making real money. Instead, we'd recommend for you to do your research and to know the odds of success. You know. Again, according to the FDC, people who get involved in an MLM they end up losing money. And so instead of joining up, we would recommend that you try creating your own business instead, or at the very least just kind of level up a little bit at

your current job or take on a side hustle. Yeah, the likelihood of you seeing a pitch getting pitched by a friend has increased. M l m s are on the rise right now, but they're basically bad news for

for pretty much everybody. So Hopefully this episode gave you some important information to know before you get that next pitch from a friend or family member who wants to sell you on the fact that your skills can make you uh super sweet income in very little time through participating in your own business, which means participating in an

m l M with them. Yeah, that actually made me think of maybe another way to think about MLM droll, Like, when you are the product, that's when you should run away. It's one thing to sell products, but if you yourself are the product and you're getting involved into this network or the system, then that is something you definitely want to avoid. And I think that's when people begin to

feel used in the process. Yeah, exactly, it's because like, no, no, no, I have to sell you so hard on your ability to do this, because if you don't say yes, then my business isn't gonna flourish because I need more people essentially to sell underneath me. Our friendship is now gone, exactly And and and friendship can't exist in that climate.

And that's part of the issue with mL ms. And of course a lot of relationships get completely broken in the process of of doing an m l M together because of that dynamic, So stay away at all costs. That's what we would advise. All right, Now, let's get back to the beer that we had on the show today. This one's called Double Up. It's a double West Coast I p A from our friends over at Monday Night and Cascade brewing a little collab beer here. What were

your thoughts on this one? Man? This was a good one. Man. This is one that I will say, I think Kate, my wife, would really love because she's all about West Coast. I p A is they're a little more typically, a little more uh piny, a little more resony, a little more bitter. That being said, though, I will say, because it was a collab with Monday Night, I felt like it was pretty fruity, you know. I had a lot of tropical notes, had a lot of melon going on.

It was a little bit sweet, but then because of that West Coast bitterness, it kind of balanced out. So I feel like it started out sweet and tropically, but then it kind of mellowed out and kind of switched gears to the bitter notes. This one was really good, man. I was excited to see our friends over at Monday Night team up with Cascade who, by the way, makes amazing sours that I mean sours that Cascade makes I will drink any day of the week, you know. Yeah,

they're incredible. They're they're incredibly expensive, but they're worth it because they're like just aged four months and months and months, sometimes years with different fruits and stuff like that. Man, every hour I've had from Cascade has been excellent. But this isn't a sour, this is an I p A. Yeah, what were your thoughts on I really liked it, man, Yeah, I thought it was more bitter than the I p A s I'm used to drinking these days because it was in the West Coast style. It had a touch

of watermelon. Yeah. I feel like there were just a lot of melon notes going on in this one, Like not fruity in like the citrus vibe necessarily, but just kind of more of that rounded melon flavor. Yeah, exactly. So I really enjoyed it. Even though it's not the style that I gravitate towards these days, it's fun to change it up and drink a West Coast style and it's not as harsh or bitter as a traditional West

Coast ones that are just incredibly abrasive. This one took like a middle ground approach to a West Coast I p A and I really enjoyed it totally. And because it wasn't a New England style when we poured, it was nice and clear, which is clear and kind of like a burnt orange, right exactly. Yeah, unlike a lot of the IPAs were drinking these days, which basically look

like orange juice. Yeah, but yeah, man, I'm glad you and I got to share this one today on the episode while we talked about MLMs and that's gonna be it, man. Our listeners can find our show notes up on our website at how It's money dot com. Up there, we'll put some links to some of the different resources that we mentioned as alternatives to MLM, some different places that you can make extra money without necessarily harassing your friends.

Yeah exactly. And if you've been listening for a while and you haven't yet left review, well, Matt and I would really appreciate it if you let other people know what you think about the podcast, and your good review helps spread the word about the show that we're creating to let other people know where they can find help with their money. All right, that's gonna do it for this episode, Matt, until next time. Best Friends Out, best Friends Out,