TRUE CRIME ROCKET SCIENCE

True Crime Analysis, Breakthroughs, Insights & Discussions Hosted by Bestselling Author Nick van der Leek

Tag: most hated MLM companies

Hands Up: Since learning about the Watts case, have you tried Thrive?

July 8, 2019 / / 17 Comments

The Watts case was a tragedy, but the greatest travesty was that the case never made it to trial. Had it done so, millions of other lives could have been saved – literally millions.

Millions of Americans ruining their lives on a daily basis could have been warned through the coverage of a high-profile crime, especially when experts cross-examined the impact of MLM on the Watts family, and their finances.

This is not some obtuse legal issue; it’s a moral issue. People’s lives are being destroyed and until MLMs are stopped, it will continue to happen.

Through the TWO FACE series I’ve tried to address the MLM wrecking ball; to make it clear in no uncertain terms that MLM is evil, no ifs, buts or maybes. But misconceptions persist. People want to believe something works for them, because it’s tied to their own greed, laziness and narcissism.

Someone contacted me recently and said she’s been using the Thrive pills/formulas to lose weight. It seems the Watts case has worked a treat for Le-vel. Even folks obsessed with true crime have been tempted to use a product that’s at the epicenter of a family annihilation. It doesn’t matter though, as long as it works for me, right?

I won’t go into the merits of the product here. If you feel taking powders and supplements is a good way to lose weight and improve your appearance, well, that’s your poison.

One easy way to check how well Thrive works is to visit Nickole Atkinson’s Facebook page. Has she visibly lost weight a year since her best friend was murdered?

66018155_10212161467266468_3183143216757080064_n

Whether you support the products or not, they’re part of the MegaMachine that is Multi-Level marketing. It’s a huge $36 billion business. It is a powerful lobby group with political connections. One of its proponents is President Trump, along with many in Trump’s cabinet.

Many in Trump’s cabinet have strong ties to MLMs as well: Betsey DeVos (whose husband is the president of Amway — by the way, DeVos family has donated $200 million to the Republican party over the years), Ben Carson, Carl Icahn (a billionaire who is also a major investor in Herbalife and holds five board seats at the company), and Charles Herbster.

In this article MLM seems to be criticized, while at the same time a case is made that IF YOU WORK HARD, YOU CAN BE SUCCESSFUL. YOU CAN BE PART OF THE 1% WHO SUCCEED!

No – you can’t!

When statics show that 0.4% make any money out of MLM, what the math is showing isn’t that ALMOST 1% SUCCEED – it’s that 99%, almost everybody, fails. We might as well say everybody fails. But it’s this niggly little 0.4% that is used to argue the “truth” – that actually, it works, and it can work for you.

If MLM is a scam, why do people not involved in the MLM structure buy overpriced miracle products from scammy companies?

And for those who buy into MLM, imagine applying for a job, and being told there’s a 0.4% chance you’ll be paid a salary at the end of each month?

So is it possible to make any money doing an MLM? After finishing all of his analysis and research on various MLM data, Jon Taylor concluded, “In every case, using the analytical framework described, the loss rate for all these MLMs ranged from 99.05% to 99.99%, with an average of 99.71% of participants losing money in an MLM.

On average, one in 545 is likely to have profited after subtracting expenses and 997 out of 1,000 individuals involved with an MLM lose money (not including time invested).”

That sounds dismal unless you’re the 1 in 545 or the top 1 percent working your business. Further, it blames MLM without considering any of the individuals who joined.  MLM is a viable home-based business opportunity. Anyone interested in selling a product to generate income has the ability to achieve success. With that said, it is crucial to research and investigate the company and products thoroughly to make sure that it’s not a scam, and also, that it’s a product and system you feel you can promote.

“That sounds dismal unless you’re the 1 in 545…” No one said the 1 in 545 are rich, merely that they didn’t lose money. The reality is most LOSE money, and a tiny fraction are super rich, at the expense of everyone else.

“Anyone interested in selling a product has the ability to achieve success…” – that should read, everyone interested in selling MLM is almost guaranteed to fail. This can be derived down to anyone interested in using an MLM product is also guaranteed to fail.

If you’re aware of this [and if you’re reading this blog, right now, you are aware of this], and if  you persist regardless, then you only have yourself to blame for ruining your life, and those around you.

 

Sound Familiar? 5 of the 15 Most Hated Multi-Level Marketing Companies Right Now [August 2018]

October 29, 2018 / / 15 Comments

On August 10, 2018, just two days prior to the Watts Family Murder, Cheat Sheet published an authoritative list of the 15 most hated MLM companies in America.

The article opens with these ominous words:

If you have a social media account, then you’ve probably received a message from an old friend you haven’t spoken to in years. But usually that person isn’t reaching out because they miss you — they’re trying to rekindle your relationship so they can sell you something.

Multi-level marketing (MLM), also known as direct selling, is a strategy that some companies use to peddle their products. Consultants get paid by selling the product directly to friends and family in addition to recruiting new sellers into their “downline.” There are no physical store locations for this type of merchandise — if you want to order your leggings or anti-wrinkle cream, you have to call up your local sales rep.

Not all MLM companies are pyramid schemes — but many are universally reviled by both the people who work for them and the potential customers who are sick of constantly being pestered by friends to buy the products. Ahead, discover the most hated multi-level marking companies today — including the one with a billion dollar lawsuit pending (number 7).

Number 1 on Cheat Sheet’s list is LULAROE. Guess who sold LULAROE from home?

Number 12 on their list is YOUNIQUE. Guess who who was selling YOUNIQUE from her bathroom?

https://youtu.be/U0W8ixwbEY8

shanann-watts-6

Cheat Sheet lists LE-VEL as their 13th most hated MLM company. Cheat Sheet’s description of Le-Vel is appropriately cautious:

If you’ve seen someone wearing a curious looking sticker on their skin, you may have come in contact with a Le-Vel brand promoter. If you believe that vitamin nutrition patches are just what you’ve been missing in your life, then go ahead and strike up a conversation with them.

The company sells these patches to help with weight management, mental clarity, increased energy, improved circulation, and appetite control. Do they work? That’s for you to decide — but it won’t be cheap to find out. Like other MLM companies, the more people you recruit to sell magic vitamin patches, the more you earn.

amway-640x472

Two other hated MLM companies worth noting on this list are AMWAY and HERBALIFE.

Here’s the Cheat Sheet lowdown on Amway:

The largest and oldest MLM also has some of the biggest critics. Amway reported sales of $8.6 billion in 2017, making it a bona fide direct sales success story. But not everyone is thrilled with what they’re selling — or how they’re selling it.

MLM companies often tout flexibility and the opportunity to get rich quick. But Amway distributors aren’t always successful. One former rep put it this way:

“The two years I was supposedly building my Amway business, I lost nearly $10,000 on tapes, seminars, books, gas, and travel expenses for out-of-town seminars. My earnings? Less than $500 total. Since I was unemployed — and pretty much unemployable for any nonburger-flipping job — those $10,000 came exclusively from my grandmother, who was also my biggest (and only) Amway customer, buying expensive, ‘concentrated’ Amway products she didn’t need, every month to support me.”

Now, Herbalife.

herbalifejpg-640x399

Want proof that people hate Herbalife? The Federal Trade Commission mailed checks to 350,000 people who lost money running Herbalife businesses. This is one of the largest settlements and distributions the agency has ever made.

While they were never officially called a pyramid scheme, the PR disaster forced the company to restructure and seriously rethink their marketing efforts. The majority of profits came from recruiting new sellers, not from selling product. And that is the very definition of a pyramid scheme — whether they admit it or not.

If Shan’ann Watts was in over her head with Le-Vel, the fact that she was also drinking the MLM Kool-Aid with at least two other companies shows just how deep into a debt-trap the Watts family must have been in the summer of 2018.

Fullscreen capture 20181010 090911-002

© 2024 TRUE CRIME ROCKET SCIENCE

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑