Experiences with MLM.

[J. Hova]

I remember when It Works was the hot new thing and just about every 8th person on FB was pimping it. I guess that was seven or eight years ago.

A more recent experience is a few weeks back. A couple I'm friends with invited a few of us over to their house one night and we were all intrigued as they've been talking about moving south and have also been trying to have children. We all figured this was one of those two things. Nope, it was the wife going into a full blown presentation of what, I still have no idea for about 40 minutes. I have a bit of a reputation of being the one who will be the most outspoken of my friends. I realized at the end of this presentation that a few people were looking at me and everyone was uncomfortable. You remember that episode of KOTH where Bill joins the Harmonaholics? Remember Dale's diatribe at the end of that episode? Yeah.

[Non Banjoble Tokens]

All you have to do is sit on one seminar and you get a free boat.

I was like at least I'll be the fattest guy on the block getting a boat.

[agent817]

In the OP, I should have gone with a story, but better late than never.

Back in 2007, a friend of mine told me and another friend about something happening at a Starbucks, like a seminar. The friend didn't say what it was, but I recall we had arrived and for some reason there were people dressed to the nines at this place. Yes, people who work in business have coffee breaks or lunch dates at places like this, but with papers and laptops present, this was something else. I was only 20 at the time, so I didn't know what to expect. I remember me and the other friend getting application forms for Starbucks as a "just in case" sort of thing because I had no real income at that time.

People were all talking about how "voice-over internet protocol" is a good business and that you should get in and get other people to join your business venture. Even for someone who was a tad naïve at the time (and keep this mind that this was still the mid-to-late-aughts), I thought that more people were using cellphones and less were using landlines, and this stuff is supposed to cell. They were also talking about how Vonage (another example of the time period) is the new wave for landline phones. All these people were talking about was the fact that the business could help you financially and the more people you get on board, the more successful you'll be.

Then came the kicker. One girl said that in order to get in, I need to pay $390. I was like "HUH?!" Given that I had very little money at the time, I couldn't do it. Then some said that I could ask friends and family for the money and that "after a week" I could pay them back easily. As naïve as I was at the time, even I saw that there was something off about this. I also remember seeing this one woman, who looked to be a few years older than me, getting interview and saying that she worked hours and took classes part time at a community college. In a lot of ways, I hoped that she didn't get into that.

I will also say that although I attended other seminars after that, I mostly did that so that I could talk to some girls there. But other than that, I never got into that.

At least it wasn't like five years ago when an old friend who I hadn't spoken to in years suddenly reached out and had me do a Zoom meeting (two years before Zoom became all the rage) with some kind of businessman. The businessman wanted me to read one of those "self-help for success" books (which aren't bad, by the way) and then talk to him again. The businessman never said anything about what the company was or anything like that, all he said "Do you want to make money?" In the back of my mind during that Zoom call, I was like "For someone who makes money, I'm surprised you haven't changed the battery on your smoke detector." I never went through with that one, either.

[Big BosskMan]

Raise your hand if you want to get rich.