MLM
a friend tricked me into attending an MLM talk a few days ago.
I asked him point blank "is this an MLM talk?", thinking that he may have been tricked into it.
"noooo...."
"sure ah. you have a good feeling about this?"
"ya."
"ok i'll go."
Turns out he was in MLM.
I even paid $5 for it.
shit.
so i couldn't even walk out to save my time cos i already dumped $5 in so might as well hear them out.
---------------------------------------------
I'm quite an open minded person i think
and i didn't mind it so much that it was an MLM talk,
than the fact that he denied it when i asked point-blank.
anyway i didn't really get mad, although i was quite disappointed with the lie.
didn't understand it too.
if he was in it and truly believed in the system,
then there's no reason to be ashamed of it.
---------------------------------------------
The whole MLM system was quite troubling.
something sounded so wrong about the system but i can't get a grip on what exactly is amiss.
Obviously i've read/heard abt MLM and pyramid before but i never knew exactly why pyramid is banned and what exactly is bad about the system.
but something about it just doesn't seem right.
All i could mutter that night about my misgivings was "it's so cult-ish!"
of which i receieved a puzzled and possibly offended "huh?" response from my friend.
He brought me to talk to the speaker to answer my questions:
"where is the money coming from?"
"the money that is saved from the middle man is distributed to the network" -(fair enough)
"what exactly are you selling? are you a retailer?"
"we are both retailers and franchise. it's like mcdonald's. i'd ask if you want a franchise of this biz, and if not, then would you like to buy the coke and fries" -(sounds ok but also amiss)
---------------------------------------
"inspirational" talks like these make me nervous.
it's really like being in a cult.
to be in a room with people who are very high,
sometimes contrivingly so.
the speakers would go on and on abt the millions you can make,
the audience would nod and clap and shake hands and congratulate the big fish.
things that come to mind are recruitment talks for financial "advisors", MLM talks, and some churches (swap money with "salvation" and see the similarity in recruitment strategy)
if something is good, pple will buy for themselves.
no need to push and persuade.
I do appreciate my christian friends who invited me to their churches (out of their purest intentions i have no doubt) to open my mind to something new. but the important thing was they let me decide after that what i want. I have no patience for those orchard road salvation "pushers" whom i still remember told me buddhism was "silly".
Henry and I have had long discussions on religions. He was (still is, i think) a christian and he would list the reasons why he believed and i would list out why i thought it didn't work for me. It was very cordial and intellectual and we just agreed that each had our points of view.
anyway not to worry, i'm not into MLM.
My friend looked quite distressed (or offended?) with my doubts.
"i'm sorry i'm just very skeptical. Look i'm thinking of doing a masters in finance because i don't trust financial advisors!"
------------------------------------------------------
it still bugs me that i can't grasp what is so amiss about MLM.
after discussing with my colleagues and surfing around, i think i've found my answer.
1) all the talks and seminars revolve around getting rich. they're not in the business of selling goods, they're in the business of selling dreams. And obviously dreams are intangible so they're really selling castles in the air. (a good analogy from a website says they are selling lottery tickets. some will win, most will lose)
2) distributors are not entreprenuers but players in a complex hierachy. MJ used to be in MLM and i asked him to open an online shop which will get him so many more buyers but he said it was against the rules. if you can't innovate, you're not an "entreprenuer". (then again franchising also has rules so hmmm)
3) you can't sell a franchise you don't own. McDonald's invented Macdonald's so they can sell the franchise. but Toa Payoh McDonald's, i'm sure, can't sell McDonald's franchise to Timbaktoo. It has to come from the head office.
4) it sounds like the company is making money from the network instead of from selling products. it's like a little bubble world where all the pawns in the network will buy from the company to gain points. Nothing wrong with that, except that the company can, and most likely will, sell their goods at a slightly higher price to take advantage.
(According to my friend, the catalogue of the company goods can be found online but the prices won't be shown until you log in as a member, which is $68. So if i'm just interested in buying soap, i need to pay $68 to find out how much the soap costs????)
all the talks and books and CDs cost money too. wonder how much they make from that.
-------------------------------------
pumpkin time!
a friend tricked me into attending an MLM talk a few days ago.
I asked him point blank "is this an MLM talk?", thinking that he may have been tricked into it.
"noooo...."
"sure ah. you have a good feeling about this?"
"ya."
"ok i'll go."
Turns out he was in MLM.
I even paid $5 for it.
shit.
so i couldn't even walk out to save my time cos i already dumped $5 in so might as well hear them out.
---------------------------------------------
I'm quite an open minded person i think
and i didn't mind it so much that it was an MLM talk,
than the fact that he denied it when i asked point-blank.
anyway i didn't really get mad, although i was quite disappointed with the lie.
didn't understand it too.
if he was in it and truly believed in the system,
then there's no reason to be ashamed of it.
---------------------------------------------
The whole MLM system was quite troubling.
something sounded so wrong about the system but i can't get a grip on what exactly is amiss.
Obviously i've read/heard abt MLM and pyramid before but i never knew exactly why pyramid is banned and what exactly is bad about the system.
but something about it just doesn't seem right.
All i could mutter that night about my misgivings was "it's so cult-ish!"
of which i receieved a puzzled and possibly offended "huh?" response from my friend.
He brought me to talk to the speaker to answer my questions:
"where is the money coming from?"
"the money that is saved from the middle man is distributed to the network" -(fair enough)
"what exactly are you selling? are you a retailer?"
"we are both retailers and franchise. it's like mcdonald's. i'd ask if you want a franchise of this biz, and if not, then would you like to buy the coke and fries" -(sounds ok but also amiss)
---------------------------------------
"inspirational" talks like these make me nervous.
it's really like being in a cult.
to be in a room with people who are very high,
sometimes contrivingly so.
the speakers would go on and on abt the millions you can make,
the audience would nod and clap and shake hands and congratulate the big fish.
things that come to mind are recruitment talks for financial "advisors", MLM talks, and some churches (swap money with "salvation" and see the similarity in recruitment strategy)
if something is good, pple will buy for themselves.
no need to push and persuade.
I do appreciate my christian friends who invited me to their churches (out of their purest intentions i have no doubt) to open my mind to something new. but the important thing was they let me decide after that what i want. I have no patience for those orchard road salvation "pushers" whom i still remember told me buddhism was "silly".
Henry and I have had long discussions on religions. He was (still is, i think) a christian and he would list the reasons why he believed and i would list out why i thought it didn't work for me. It was very cordial and intellectual and we just agreed that each had our points of view.
anyway not to worry, i'm not into MLM.
My friend looked quite distressed (or offended?) with my doubts.
"i'm sorry i'm just very skeptical. Look i'm thinking of doing a masters in finance because i don't trust financial advisors!"
------------------------------------------------------
it still bugs me that i can't grasp what is so amiss about MLM.
after discussing with my colleagues and surfing around, i think i've found my answer.
1) all the talks and seminars revolve around getting rich. they're not in the business of selling goods, they're in the business of selling dreams. And obviously dreams are intangible so they're really selling castles in the air. (a good analogy from a website says they are selling lottery tickets. some will win, most will lose)
2) distributors are not entreprenuers but players in a complex hierachy. MJ used to be in MLM and i asked him to open an online shop which will get him so many more buyers but he said it was against the rules. if you can't innovate, you're not an "entreprenuer". (then again franchising also has rules so hmmm)
3) you can't sell a franchise you don't own. McDonald's invented Macdonald's so they can sell the franchise. but Toa Payoh McDonald's, i'm sure, can't sell McDonald's franchise to Timbaktoo. It has to come from the head office.
4) it sounds like the company is making money from the network instead of from selling products. it's like a little bubble world where all the pawns in the network will buy from the company to gain points. Nothing wrong with that, except that the company can, and most likely will, sell their goods at a slightly higher price to take advantage.
(According to my friend, the catalogue of the company goods can be found online but the prices won't be shown until you log in as a member, which is $68. So if i'm just interested in buying soap, i need to pay $68 to find out how much the soap costs????)
all the talks and books and CDs cost money too. wonder how much they make from that.
-------------------------------------
pumpkin time!
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