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

On Friday 04 January 2008, hit_magain wrote:
...
> > 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),
>
> No Sir! A brick and mortar store has customers, they pay money for
> goods or services, the money then flows down to the lowest paid
> employee. An mlm may claim they have customers but in reality the
> vast majority of any income is from their downline, customers are
> highly discouraged.

Along with that, there's another point I forgot: In many "brick and
mortar" businesses, the boss has to make sure the employees are paid
first. I've worked for companies where I found out, later, that I was
getting my full paycheck at times when the owner/boss was either
getting half his check or none at all. In what case, in an MLM, does
the upline EVER make sure the downline gets paid first?

...
> > 2 years? Another 80% fail before they make it to 5 years. And that
>
> is
>
> > the same in the network marketing business too.
>
> Sir you are Wrong Again! The truth is that about 50% of all new
> small businesses are still operating 5 years later. Actually the
> breakdown according to the SBA is 76% still operating after 2 years,
> 47% still operating after 4 years, and 38% operating after 6 years.
> The data does not take into account how many small businesses closed
> for reasons other than failure such as the owner selling or closing
> the business to retire or try other ventures.
>
> SBA Statistics:
> http://www.sba.gov./advo/stats/bh_sbe03.pdf
>
> BusinessWeek magazine
> http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/news/coladvice/ask/sa990930.htm

Thanks for these figures. I was still operating on the last I had read,
which was a 90% failure rate in the first year. I will point out that
since my figures (90% failure) are bleak, that even with my pessimistic
figures, someone still has 100 times better odds than the less than .1%
success rate that has been documented (and even admitted to by some
MLMs).

...
> > great business and anyone that wants to learn the burger business
>
> can
>
> > succeed too, its a great business I'm told. You get my point?
>
> "I'm told" (?!?), haven't you learned how great it is after 20+
> years? Thanks, but I will take my chance on the burgers, or even
> Las Vegas where the odds as lousy as they are are are vastly
> grerater than mlm.

This is a good point, as well, and one I didn't go after directly, but
in this case, we have someone who has been in MLMs for 20 years, offers
no proof of success or any qualifications to give us any reason to
believe him/her and even says they are "told" it's good -- but cannot
offer any proof of that. It's like saying, "I've told it's fun and
100% safe and risk free to strap a backpack with a large piece of cloth
in it to my back and jump out of a perfectly good airplane (that's
going to take me wherever I want to go anyway) when it's thousands of
feet in the air." It may or may not be true, but there's no offer of
proof.

...
> > too. It's the ones that succeed that just don't hang with the
>
> other
>
> > crabs in the bucket that keep pulling
> > the ones trying to move up, back down. Get my drift?
>
> The crab line was used by my sponsor and upslime 15 years ago.

Robby, you've pointed out something else that I missed. While I've
noticed and said that much of what iam_tam is saying follows the same
assumptions and leaps of logic that most MLMers use, it is quite valid
to point out that the lines iam_tam is using are the MLM cliches that
are trotted out to prove whatever they want without citing facts. This
just backs up what I've said: This person is pro-MLM.

S/he may not want to admit it, but a rose by any other name still has
thorns. I like to say I'm a bleeding heart liberal, but all my friends
tell me my opinions fall strictly into the Libertarian camp. If that's
true, then no matter what I say, I'm a Libertarian. You can call
yourself anything you want, that doesn't change what you are. I had an
ex-fiancee that said she was sensitive. If she were, that ex-fiancee
would be current-wife.

> > There are those that no matter what, they will find a way to be a
> > victim.
>
> And there will always be those who blame the victim.
>
> > There are those that no matter what, take responsibility for their
> > choices to get into business - no one chained you to a chair and
>
> beat
>
> > you to sign a paper remember? I
>
> That's about the only thing they didn't do. They just pestered and
> hounded me for days instead.
>
> > network marketing or no network marketing is soley a choice...A
> > CHOICE.
>
> Yeah and a poor (literally) choice it is.

Yes. It is choosing a job that pays you a promised salary and regular
income or starting a business that may or may not fail, or going into
something with a DOCUMENTED 99.9+% failure rate. Would Neil Armstrong
have set foot in a command capsule aimed for the Moon if he had only
a .1% chance of reaching the Moon or returning alive? Would you put
all your money and time and life on the line in Vegas for something
with a .1% chance of winning?

It's a poor choice. It's been proven many times.

Thanks, Robby, for some good points and thoughts on this!

Hal