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I’ve been fortunate to never get sucked into the MLM universe. I think maybe MLM people take one look at me and the way I dress, my lack of makeup, and think: these aren’t the droids I’m looking for.
But even though it’s not something I’ve ever been hooked into, I have always found the topic pretty interesting. Why do people fall for this stuff? Why do they exist in the first place? Can it ever be a good thing? This week, we tried to answer a few of these questions in our podcast. For this blog post, though, I’d like to dive into one aspect in particular: why MLMs are enticing. And then, let’s explore ten things you can do instead of an MLM that have all the appeal and none of the super, awful, crazy, terrible, no-good, very bad downsides!
To give you my take on why MLMs are so enticing, I’ll take you back to my college days.
I went to Texas A&M for undergrad. It’s a school that’s known for being a little cultish. Before you start there as a freshman, you go on a 3-4 day trip to a camp in the middle-of-nowhere Texas where the camp counselors (sophomores, juniors, seniors) teach you chants, secret hand signals, what you can and can’t say as a freshman (there are forbidden words), and lots of other crazy … mildly creepy traditions. It’s an immersion into Aggie culture, and it’s designed to make you feel like part of the Aggie family, to feel welcomed, loved, included, and … slightly judgmental of everyone who isn’t an Aggie. I knew it was all a little weird, but I loved it anyway. A lot of Aggies are fond of saying: From the outside looking in, you can’t understand it. From the inside looking out, you can’t explain it.
And I tell you, when you’re immersed in it, that feels deeply, cosmically true. You feel this incredible sense of “this is where I’m supposed to be” because you feel embraced and like you’re part of something. It feels good.
In the context of A&M, the whole cult vibe was pretty innocent. The dumbest thing I did was throw my hands in the air and run around screaming the letter “A.” (Yes … sigh … this actually happened. It’s a thing.) It’s mildly embarrassing in hindsight, but I also had a lot of fun, made some good friends, got my bachelor’s degree, and also met that dude I’m married to. (Hey, Robert!) All in all, it was a lot of innocent, good fun.
And I’m extremely grateful that I got to experience that sense of belonging and being “on the inside looking out” in such an innocent way, because I think many people spend their lives looking for that feeling. And when they can’t find it in a wholesome way, they’ll take it in whatever form it comes.
Which brings us to MLMs. LuLaRoe, as portrayed in the documentary, had that quality of trying to bring people into a warm, loving fold. The women we see in the documentary who signed up to be sales reps talked about wanting to be part of the LuLaMovement. They wanted to be part of a team and go to the conferences, which are basically the grown-up version of pep rallies, and feel that energy coursing through the room and get high on the drugs of companionship and passion and purpose. They wanted something to work towards, something to strive for, and they wanted to do it in a community of like-minded, empowered women.
And good grief, who can blame them. Don’t we all want community and purpose and passion? But anytime people are offering something that is nearly universally desired, I get my guard up. And I recommend you do, too. Those apps that tell you “you’ll be a whiz at the piano in no time at all” are lying. The courses that will teach you to “be rich beyond your wildest dreams in just a few years” are lying. And the people who tell you that you can be part of a family of “girlbosses” who own their own companies and do part-time work for full-time pay all for the low, low price of a $5,000 investment in leggings are ultimately … lying.
Statistics vary from survey to survey, but in general, somewhere between 0.3% and 25% of people who join an MLM make a profit. The rest either break even (read: wasted their time) or actually lose money. Oh, and out of that 25% who do make profits, until you get up into the top 1%, you’re talking profits of about a few hundred bucks per YEAR!! That’s abysmal. You genuinely might be better off gambling at an actual casino than gambling on an MLM.
If you want to try an MLM, go back and read the above paragraph. Read it over and over and over again until you really, truly, understand that MLMs are a sucker’s play and unless you’re insanely lucky and a super talented salesperson who is willing to hound friends and family and acquaintances to buy from you the same thing they could probably buy at a store for cheaper, well: You. Will. Lose. Money. And maybe alienate people you care about in the process.
So what should you do instead? We made a list of ten things to try if you want to work from home and keep your flexibility, but also want to bring in some side income. Just like an MLM, these things don’t require any kind of degree or education. Almost anyone could do these things. They’re not scams, and they don’t require you to pressure your friends or family.
- Tutor – Were you good at a particular subject in high school? Did you do well on standardized tests? Set up a tutoring business to help kids succeed!
- Teach – Can you play a musical instrument? Do you know how to garden? Do you know how to make crafts? Whatever you know how to do, offer your services as a teacher!
- Data Entry – Lots of folks need help managing their data by taking it from one source and entering it into a different type of software. And they’ll pay for it! Many data entry jobs, especially post-Covid, are remote.
- Start a Daycare – This is a great option if you have young kids of your own or are good with children. Check your local zoning laws, but if you’re already caring for some kids, why not have people bring you some more and you can care for theirs, too?
- Pet Sit – People love their pets and for good reason. They’re furry little family members who provide endless love. Create a website and start a pet-sitting business to give people peace of mind that their beloved cats or dogs are well cared for when they’re gone.
- House Sit – This could be combined with pet-sitting or you could do it all on its own. Some people hate to leave their houses unattended, especially for long trips. You can live there and get paid while they’re gone!
- Garden and Sell Your Produce – Get your hands dirty and be one with the Earth. And then sell your goodies at a local market or through a co-op!
- Learn to Code – These days, you can learn to code without going to college. Dig into a free course and see if it’s up your alley. You can learn valuable skills and most coders describe the feeling of creating software that solves real-world problems as an incredible rush.
- Start a YouTube channel, Podcast, Blog – You may hit it big. You may not. But your odds are probably better than with an MLM. And you’ll learn some skills along the way that might help you do other things. If you learn to edit videos, now you can be a video editor for somebody else if your own YouTube channel isn’t taking off.
- Freelance Writing/Editing – Are you good with grammar, spelling, and word choice? There are a lot of written words generated everyday, and people pay for them. Think about all the reading you do online – someone’s gotta write that stuff. It could be you! Look into freelance writing. Or if you’d rather edit someone else’s work, that’s a great option, too.
And there you have it. Ten ideas to get you started on a new venture you can do right from your house, maybe even in your PJs, with minimal or no upfront cost, no commitments to purchase inventory every month, no reporting to your “Upline.” And … oh yeah, an actual shot at making some side-hustle money instead of trying to sell people a product they could go buy a nearly identical version of at Target for less money. Could you fail at all these things just like an MLM? Sure. But if you’re considering an MLM and already in the mindset of “it works if you work it” and you’re willing to go market yourself and hustle, why not truly do it for yourself and not for some corporation that is doing a high-wire act to avoid being a pyramid scheme. Don’t work to make someone “above you” in the pyramid rich. You do the work. You keep the rewards.