quote:
Originally posted by troy_heagy:
quote:
Originally posted by Paul:
What's wrong with Amway products? Their business practices....
Exactly. They deceive people into believing they can make a living by selling Amway products. That is not true. It's a Ponzi/Pyramid scam. (reference: www.worldwidescam.com for more info on Ponzi/pyramid scams and why they don't work.)
I think you're being selective in your argument about MLM's. If you'll read on, here's more on how they feel about the fact MLM's can and do work provided you do your homework.
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Does the WorldWide Scam Network hate all MLMs?
Sure seems that way sometimes, doesn't it? But actually, no. We hate the scams and the scammers. The Internet is such an incredible resource, but multi-level marketing con men use it to take advantage of others and enrich themselves while flooding cyberspace with spam, e-mail hype, and self-replicating business and promotional web sites, and trashing the Internet marketplace with psuedo-scientific junk, vaporware malls and services, and useless and sometimes dangerous snake-oil potions and pills.
Is Network Marketing a viable career choice? Can you really make a decent living selling products through an honest MLM program?
In our opinion, the answer is a definite "Yes"!
Here is our theory in this regard:
The more honest the company, the people behind it, and the product they are selling, the harder you are going to have to work to make a living wage. This assumes that the product, whatever it is, has real intrinsic value, the company has a fair compensation plan, and their promotions and sales techniques are professional, legal, and ethical.
If you get involved with the typical scam highlighted on the WWSN which features known celebrity scammers such as Mark Yarnell or Phil Piccolo selling dubious products or services promoted through mass e-mail spamming, with large upfront fees used to fuel recruitment commission schemes, promises of fast and easy wealth, and an exciting new patented compensation plan, 5% of you will work real hard and make some pretty good money - for awhile. The other 95% will quit and lose everything they have invested, in time, money, effort, and emotions.
So you're saying that Network Marketing is always a bad career choice?
Not necessarily! We're saying it is a legitimate career option which should be considered along with any others which best utilize your interests, talents and abilities. But honest Network Marketing is not an easy road to wealth - it is simply another choice available to you. If you want to join a reputable company with a genuine product or service for sale, be prepared to work as hard as you would with any other job.
Are there ANY advantages to working in Network Marketing?
Sure - the same benefits and risks which would accompany a choice to be independent and self-employed in any other field of sales or service.
If you have a pleasant personality and good self-confidence and you're willing to work the phone and get out and sell your product, you could do very well in an honest MLM program. But, as in any other job, you must do the work, provide the service, or sell the product to earn the money.
As a self-employed business person you will also be able to legally avail yourself of various income tax benefits, make your own decisions regarding time, money and effort invested in your business, and control your own destiny in a way a salaried worker never can. If you are really good and stay with the program a long time, the options of residual sales from an expanding downline can be an important income source for your future.
You also have a good chance of failing, often for reasons you have no control over; you will be responsible for your own payment of income taxes, providing your own health insurance, and establishing and funding your own savings or retirement program.
How do I know which programs to avoid?
Watch the WorldWide Scam Network! We can't get to them all, but we make every attempt to highlight the worst of the bunch.
How do I tell whether a Network Marketing program is a good one or a bad one?
We have read through the "Twelve Tests for Evaluating a Network Marketing (MLM) Opportunity" and feel these are good standards to measure a program by. Take any example of an MLM listed on the WWSN home page, and they will fail nearly all of the criteria given there. If the program, product, people or "opportunity" you are considering does not pass all of these "Twelve Tests", than walk away from it - and you'll be glad you did!
If these MLM scams are so bad, why don't the authorities shut them down?
Con Artists and MLM scam programs move at the speed of the Internet - the American Justice system still moves slower than the Pony Express. By the time complaints are received and an investigation is initiated, the program has already collapsed, the web sites are deleted, the money is moved offshore, and the founders have launched another program with a new variation on the same old scam.
With all of the problems facing the American people and the law enforcement agencies these days, a $25 investment in Going Platinum will never even show up on their radar. And with established rights of due process (which we fully support) the time frame from complaint to conviction is usually measured in years. The life of an Internet MLM scam is often measured in months.
Can anything be done to stop these criminals and their endless parade of money games and product scams?
Yes - and we're doing it right here on the WorldWide Scam Network. Use the "Twelve Tests for Evaluating a Network Marketing (MLM) Opportunity" as your standard for making a choice whether or not to participate in any network marketing program. And inform and educate others you know, through e-mail, public messages and posts, conversations and phone calls, that NOBODY gets rich sitting at home in their underwear doing nothing...
Money does not come out of thin air and people who get rich quick in MLM are quite literally STEALING it out of the pockets of their downline, who will NEVER have the opportunity to do the same.
A career in Network Marketing can be exciting, rewarding, and lucrative - IF you find a good company and you're willing to work long and hard to build your business.
The WorldWide Scam Network
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I agree, many are scams, but in life and everything else, you are involved with a MLM situation. Every job is designed in the same fashion, guy on top makes the biggest money guy on bottom makes the least. More guys on bottom than on top. guy on bottom gets paid from the top, but guy on bottom does all the grunt work and actually produces in the income, while guy on top "manages".
Social Security is a big one, people being paid out with money being paid in from current workers.
So, I think calling a company (particularly amway or even amsoil a scam, I hardly think so. The key is can you make money on the product retail, where you don't have to rely on a downline, and if it has the ability to do that, then the company and yourself can stand by itself.
NetWork marketing is just another way to sell, and it is very successful in many organizations. I myself have been involved in a few. Did they work, yep, they did, but like many companies you get involved in, you have the same problem as some and that is a new company that explodes as it being new, can't manage and end up folding because they failed to think it through and can't keep up with it.
This isn't to say there isn't bad ones, and what I look at is do they have a product that is able to be sold retail so I'm not stuck with an inventory of stuff and can I make money on the product. I can honestly say that I am currently in one and have done quite well for only been in it 3 months. I've right at $400.00 on just the mlm side of this business and have sold all my products with no problem. There are things to look for when getting involved in this type of business, and you do have to know what to look for as there was and still is many that do scam you into thinking you're going to be rich, and that my friend, I walk away from.
I can go on, but I think you get my drift, just because a company has a optional mlm business opportunity, doesn't qualify it as bad.
JMO.
bob
