MLM Survivors Club: Re: [MLM Survivors Club] Re: Melalueca

On Saturday 05 January 2008, Lauren McGinley wrote:
> Thanks Hal, great responses so far... and as usual you covered all
> the bases and then some, Robby too! I've got a few comments.
>
> > Answer me this:
> > What kind of business do you think you can get into that requires
> > you to do nothing, buy nothing, invest nothing, no training, and
> > then earn money?
> > I mean seriously....you couldn't set yourself up in a brick and
> > mortar business this way, franchise (which flows to the top as
> > well, by the way), and expect money just to come to you?
>
> I'm just wondering why there is always that assumption that anyone
> against MLM's isn't prepared to work hard? Just my interpretation of
> the comments made. Actually, I KNOW why - it is SOP for
> distributors to promote that old "anyone who fails at MLMs, just
> didn't work hard enough, think positively enough, didn't want it bad
> enough", etc.. As if we all haven't heard it a thousand and one
> times before.

This is an interesting point that I've discussed with friends on this
board: work and work ethic. Dawn, my ex-gf, was scared to death of
working in a 9-5 job for over 40 years of her life. In her case, I
think a lot of it had to do with lack of self confidence and the
feeling that she would never be able to get a good job that she'd
enjoy. I notice a dichotomy with MLMs (okay, I notice many dichotomies
in MLMs, but this is one in particular) where they talk about how
willing they are to work hard, but on the flip side, these same drones
talk about how they're doing it so they won't have to work any more.

It's as if a good work ethic is repulsive to them and their entire
point, as drones, is to reach a point where they don't have to work.
It's an odd work-is-bad-but-my-work-is-good attitude.

Honestly, what is so bad about working in a nine-to-fiver if you have
the skill of finding a job that you enjoy? What is so bad about doing
some hard work? It's as if work is a bad thing. I cringe when I meet
people who have that attitude.

> Honestly, its so very typical of drone behavior - those that have
> been assimilated, that there's NO way the term "neutral" can come
> into play..

An excellent point. There are many of us here who say all MLMs are bad,
some think a few are okay, like Pampered Chef or maybe Avon (and I do
know some here who have sent me links about bad situations in Avon), or
maybe one or two others. Deb, who is someone I know I respect and whom
many of us do respect and hold in high regard, has told us often about
her Grandfather and how he was in Amway when the recruiting point was
that if you could sell some of the products, you could earn a few extra
bucks a month. It wasn't about getting rich, but about adding
something to your income. At one time Amway was actually a functional
MLM.

The point is that there are people here of broad opinions, but the email
from iam_tam was definitely one-sided. I know the author (is Tam a man
or woman?) thinks his/her point of view is balanced, but it isn't.
There were many comments and thought patterns in that email that are a
dead give-away about the author's point of view. It's an example of
denial. "You guys are one sided because you don't like what I say,"
but the truth is that Tam's email is quite one sided and I would hope
Tam would pay attention to what has been said in response. I asked
others to speak without malice, and I tried to, because my hope would
be that this person, who has been in MLMs for 20 years but can't cite
any significant success, would read our comments and just possibly
consider them and not consider us all "against" him/her.

I hope, but don't know, if Tam is capable of stepping back and taking a
balanced view of this topic.

> http://www.freedomofmind.com/resourcecenter/groups/a/amway/amway-
> bite-analysis-behavior.htm
>
> > And as far as the 99%+ that don't make money, that's not exactly
> > accurate..
>
> Actually, it is accurate, unless of course you don't want to be
> confused with the facts.

This is a VERY important point. Facts are clear, analysis of MLMs have
stated clearly what the odds and success rates are. You can listen to
facts or ignore them, but, as we've seen, MLM members are quite good at
explaining away any facts they don't want to acknowledge.

...
> My final question is to ask WHY you are here. You've read the group
> description and new member rules...you KNOW why WE are here. Why
> then did YOU seek this group out to defend MLMs?

I *STRONGLY* suspect Tam has NOT read the actual description or rules.
Actually, I'm pretty sure of it.

Lauren makes many excellent points that I edited out since I am not
responding to them directly, but Tam could learn a lot by reading and
paying attention to this, and all the other posts.

Hal