Objectivism and MLMs
I had to ask here. What is the Objectivist's take on multi-level marketing? We've all seen it: the starry-eyed soap-selling friend, "fake it till you make it", etc... I have my own take on MLMs but wanted to hear your opinions.
Paying $75 for vitamins you can get at the supermarket for $8 is right out, even if they come with fancy marketing.
invited to participate in something like that before. One time, I went to some meeting, when the guy said something like, "When you get these other salespeople working the sell the product..."without telling me how I was supposed to do this, and I knew right there that I wasn't going to fall for it. And a friend of mine once tried to recruit me into sales for Amway, but I didn't trust the idea (not that I thought my buddy would cheat me, but I think maybe he was being suckered himself), and I called it "Shamway", and didn't get into it.---I just don't get very enthusiastic about proposals that don't make sense.
I used many tools to achieve this. I had automated tracking of my team and I had weekly conference calls with them and weekly personal calls with those directly below me to discuss goals, problems they were having, news, changes, and training. I had an automated lead generator and I had an automated dialing program so that I could contact many people during the day. I had my own website and my own credit card processing program linked to my organization and my bank. I had automated order and shipping system linked to my organization so ordering and shipping products was simplified.
I gained so much doing this and it was not easy. It takes a lot of time, and training but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I learned how to develop a team, how to help others succeed and how to make money. I also learned a lot about customer service, solving problems and creating return customers. I quit when Herbalife was having a lot of problems and my entire organization moved to another company. Thousands of them. It took 2 years before I started turning a profit, but it was worth it to me. I did all of this while still working full-time as a Vice President of a $6 million dollar company. It was kind of fun and a change of pace for me.
As long as the company is open about it's MLM program, it is consenting behavior between adults...fine with me...
the whole medical profession has been co-opted by the pharma industry and today's medical profession is in the toilet...one has to educate oneself and do as much prevention as possible...
just trying to stay away from the govt and medicals....
John Galt is talking to the scab Dagny in the Gulch in front of Galt's power station.
Most of the most successful companies are led by a charismatic salesperson (aka Bill Clinton type) that I reject as a fast talking used car salesman who is running a Ponzi scheme.
Here are some statistics:
NFL $9.5B
Music Industry: $16.5B
Video Gaming: $67B
Movie Industry: $80B
Organic Products: $91B
Network Marketing: $167B
I've seen many here call Network Marketing a pyramid scheme. I call that corporate America. I can never make as much as the Dr. I work for, nor more than the incompetent manager that is above me. In Network Marketing I can make as much as I choose by choosing how hard I want to work. Eddie Willers was never going to make more than Jim Taggart, even though he was far more competent.
When I told people I liked Star Wars, Disney didn't send me a check for marketing their product. PURE does send me a check for telling people I like their products and sharing with others how they can also get a check.
I’m guessing that the government at the Gulch would even allow blatant pyramid scheme’s, unless it violated individual rights. Gulch individuals, using rational selfishness and understanding that there is no free lunch, wouldn’t be good marks. How long can a pyramid scheme last with out a continuous inflow of marks?
The nature of a pyramid scam becomes obvious much sooner even to those who can't see it conceptually when there is a small population that is quickly drained. Even James Taggart, if he had somehow snuck into the Valley, would not have gotten anywhere with it against the number or kinds of people there.
I think they would as long as the schemes don't cross the line into flat out lying to get money, fraud. I actually think it's a good thing that most people understand pyramid schemes as a bad choice, yet the gov't has not declared war on them. The concept that gov't not using force on its citizens to stop them is not tantamount to endorsing their actions is so important.
The biggest pyramid scheme is social insecurity. Opps my mistake. Social insecurity is not a mere pyramid scheme; It is deviously worse. You have a free choice to join at the bottom of a pyramid scheme.
Real Ponzi schemes are where there is no product and the payoff comes from the first being paid by the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. generations signing up for the fraud. Even those are less detrimental than a government enforced (use of violence to ensure compliance) schemes that continue to expand in size and cost driving labor to constantly try to increase production to maintain equilibrium.
I was required to listen to motivational speaker after motivational speaker and at some point realized none directly spoke of calling people on the phone to sell a product and hopefully recruit some into doing the same thing I was in order to take my cut off those I sucked in beneath me.
I was among several recruits during a conference call when we were told we would have to get "leads," that supposedly meaning people susceptible toward cooperating on the telephone.
I was provided with a link that had leads for the taking. I saw two photographed broadly smiling men in suits lovingly extending their arms to the word, "LEADS!" Below that were leads that cost around $100 each to expose the lists.
Me dino complained about the cost of leads to my recruiter, who sourly said, "No, YOU don't have to BUY leads." She suggested that I instead start with family and friends.
Family and friends?
This led me dino to looking up MLM scams and to an email conversation with and ex-MLM person. He told me he was a member of the NFAFL, which means, "No Friends And Family Left."
After all that nonsense, I off and-on, due to my corrections career, had no serious problem working for four different security guard contractors up until 2013 when health problems influenced a full retirement.
ever heard of it before.
At the same time it's not you working with a W2 for your underlings. It's a company paying you like a contractor with a W9, meaning you owe Uncle Sam every year.
I acted out the role of an MLM "Triple Crystal" and my product de jour was Pond Scum -- a most fabulous elixir that put a spring in my step and a million dollars in my pocket. There were a number of props -- including a large poster showing all the wonderful Circles as I shared the joy of building a business and a family (in terms of the down-stream).
I even shared a few testimonials, including a letter from Marge Gimble from Pascagoula, who wrote:
"During the first forty-seven years of my life, I could scarcely keep down a meal. I have been using your product for the past two weeks and my intestines have never felt better. Thank you, thank you. You're beautiful people.
Sincerely,
Marge Gimble
PS: My long lost dog returned home only last week. Coincidence? I don't think so."
The speech was a hit -- in large part because most folks had become acquainted with both the "circles" and the MLM "pitch."