I Became a Victim of Multi-Level Marketing "Company"

You know those advertisements where you only have to "copy and paste" messages since they provide those sentences and you can apply even if you have no degree or are a High School Graduate. Then they will message you and ask you to join a group or immediately attend a seminar because if you don't, you will not qualify for it. I have seen tons of things like this. At some point, I do consider it as a scam or just like making people believe that this is a company to the next level.

I once attended a seminar from Makati since I received a text message from an unknown number but I was convinced that I filled up a form for a "job" that requires you to "mostly" work from home. It happened at night so after my class in the afternoon, I just changed my clothes and went there already. And here are my thoughts regarding my experience.

So the first thing that really bothers me is the fact that the venue was not that inviting to the audience. It was like a small altar with nothing on it but chairs, lights, microphones, and a projector. I know that start-up companies always start with small pieces or like those things that are not extravagant. However, this company earns thousands of dollars in revenue so even though it doesn't have a manufacturing company at that time, I don't know at this point, the venue could have been a larger and intimidating place. I don't want to be rude since I'm okay with simple things but I know that in the business industry, in order to convince something is stylish, you have to have fashion. There were not many people who attended the seminar but it was okay for me.

So the guy introduced this lady who was a single mom and was a businesswoman already before joining that team. In my mind, she is already a somewhat rich woman and based on how she styles and presents herself, she looks like that rich auntie you will find at a family reunion. So my expectations when I attended is they will show you how to earn already or what is the process of the business, but no. The lady just told her story and how she got into the company and how peaceful her mind is after joining. It was okay for me at that time since I'm inspired by what I heard about her. And here's the thing, one thing that I noticed about marketing strategy is that you have to be convincing enough to tell a story that is over-exaggerating yet people who don't know much about your company will be able to believe everything that you are saying. And I have to admit that I was really intimated by the fact that I will earn that promising money they present. At the end of her speech, she said that they will have another seminar where the two heads of the company will give their speech. She said that, if I'm not mistaken, it only happens once in a while that they will present for the people who are willing to learn and they will discuss how the business works and how much money will be earned. Since I was excited about it, I really don't even know why I joined but I did and paid the seminar with a fee. During the second seminar, they did discuss the products but the way these two heads presented can be somehow the same as the first woman who did a speech. I think people are just excited because these are foreigners who are experiencing first class of everything. But what's really funny is that I thought there were a lot of people who attended the second seminar but no, half of them are already part of the team who are just sitting with the audience. Overall, I was not impressed however, I am optimistic so I joined the preceding seminar. And by the way, the two heads were there all the time, it's not a "once in a while" thing. It's just part of that marketing strategy of the team. I think Filipinos are just excited to see a foreigner doing a speech even if he or she is not even that of a high-profile person.

What happened on the third time I joined the seminar was the last time I will ever join that kind of seminar. In the third part, I felt like I was attending a class and not a "work" type of thing. Although I was really into it, it got to me that this is just buying time for the people and they were just deceiving each individual. There was no excitement about it if you will look at the overall picture. And the one thing that really bothers me is the fact that these people are presenting the strategy that if you pay a certain amount, you will already have someone or two under you. It was like a pyramiding scheme done in a formal way. Some people paid and were given back a certain amount of money which is not even a fourth of what they paid. Not many people will probably notice it since they were in a place where everyone wants to earn money. My question is that why are you making these people pay? Because in my mind, since they were recruited by these two women, obviously, they will be under you. Yes, it does take a lot of effort to recruit people, however, you are not helping them to make money to the point that they will be "financially free", it was these two who are being financially stable. It was just deceiving in a nutshell.

As I was writing this, I just realized that they are making more money with the audience paying rather than when they are selling a product. There are people from that organization who said that they were earning money are happy in terms of their financial life but I don't really think so.

I am not against anything but, of course, it's always a good thing when you make money without harming people in any form of manner.

Let me know your thoughts on this type of job.