Are MLMs Pyramid Schemes?

[@SuperPagt]

Juste came back from one of those shitty meetings Lucky me I watched this video months ago

[@BeatTheBush]

This IS AWESOME. I'm glad the video mentally got your prepared for it so you didn't get sucked in. My new fav comment.

[@OscarMartinez817]

Same here bro Amway sure has a way of making you feel guilty by not joining them huh? 😂

[@Obenfiquista81]

Same here... A friend of mine recruited me and some other friend to go to one of these events. He never explained anything to me, at the event there weren't even any questions allowed and the guys just left. And my friend (wich by itself before the event was already trying to brainwash me with psicological stuff) is still trying to get us to take away any doubts we may have... Doubts?? I find this hilarious... They make the thing, barely even explain us what it is, and now how friend will probably be the one trying to sell us something!! This makes me sick...

[@sayanghosh8625]

Super Pagt Do you support network marketing?

[@LarryCleveland]

He’s just not awake. He’s in the debt system. It’s comfortable there making others wrong and being small an mean.

[@alexnguyen9274]

Notice the only people who oppose your video are those who are already invested in MLM with the same recycled arguments they use to convince themselves more than anyone else.

[@BeatTheBush]

I read them all the time. So I guess you seem them as well, lol.

[@singingcowboy674]

Alex Nguyen I'm in a network marketing company myself. What are those excuses and can you pinpoint the mistakes presented in the video? I agree with some of what he says. I disagree with a bit more than I agree. I think those who have never been in a company like this is ignorant as to how they operate and while it's difficult to find a good one, it's possible and if you've never been in anything you don't know the differences between the legit and the illegitimate.

[@zakariahh.johnson8561]

Alex Nguyen 1

[@DaFutureva]

@@singingcowboy674 I couldn't have said it any better. He's grouping all these mlm companies together. I've been on multiple all inclusive trips & I drive a free BMW & I didn't have to recruit anyone to do it if I didn't want to. So he's not talking about my company. We could help the ignorant but you can't cure stupidity.

[@singingcowboy674]

Yep! If you want to check out what I'm doing I'd definitely send you a link. No rules say that you can only do one singular thing. That I think may be the key to success and that is if those already in companies kept doing their main thing and have other things going as a side. That way there would be no difficulty in recruiting if everybody had that mindset. Anyway, def not going to push it on you but if you are interested in checking it out shoot me an email and I'll send you a intro link 3 min or so video that explains things. My youtube name is my gmail address. Would look forward to hearing from you even if it's for your input. Maybe I'd be interested in doing what you are doing. Never hurt anybody to check something out! :)

[@JesusChristIsLord__]

How to Lose Friends & Alienate People: MLM

[@EdmundHatcher]

So basically its like a franchise without a building

[@johndoe2240]

No, it's a cash gifting pyramid with a product or service for disguise.

[@DarkroomMedia007]

😂🤣

[@valuecalc]

John Doe , sounds like bullshit.

[@krissmiley7519]

No, a franchise sells things to consumers and , mlm sells the right to sell things to others,

[@MB90-c5k]

No b/c franchises are regulated so that they don’t saturate an area and each franchise can turn a profit. There is no such regulation in mlm. You in fact, make your best customers your competition. Recruiting ad infinitum is unsustainable. You cannot make the mlm business model viable.

[@TheRealVivia]

I think if they gotta tell you what they're doing is legal, you might wanna dip. I'm out.

[@BeatTheBush]

That's a great indicator actually of them doing grey area things. A sort of red flag warning sign.

[@TheRealVivia]

I also find that if they just keep repeating the same things more or less, ISSA SCAM. There's no real insights into things just a beat around the bust same thing different way kind of explaination, ISSA SCAM.

[@geooooooooooooo]

OR (just food for thought), maybe because the MLM industry is so tainted with the bad reputations of companies like amway, herbalife, nuskin, that now they HAVE to explain to some degree what they are doing differently or legally. Think of it as the modern third wave feminist extremists... feminism in itself is a great concept and I'm 100% on board with the original, textbook definition/idea...just like how communism was THEORETICALLY supposed to benefit everyone. but those people who tried to carry out communism changed and bent it to a terrible new ideology. nowadays these extremists put a disgusting label on ALL feminists, doesnt mean that they are all bad.

[@juancarlosrangel9917]

this guy is a fucken dumb ass! Clueless to network marketing! Here I am earning THOUSANDS of dollars daily for saying yes to network marketing! he say's "someone makes money off your purchase" YES! Just like the owner of the grocery store does too! and guess who else makes money on you buying? the cashier, the baker, and EVERY OTHER EMPLOYEE! If it wasnt for us buying at that grocery store there would be no money for ANYONE at that store! (DUMBASSES) and when he say's "Someone makes money off of you" YES! JUST LIKE YOUR BOSS makes money off of you and how your friends and families boss makes money off of them! (Once again DUMBASS) let me educate you on a "Pyramid" dummy! Your boss has some supervisors and they have more managers and at the bottom in the employee "sheepLE". Maybe you meant an Illegal pyramid?? let me educate you on that too Dumb ass. An illegal Pyramid there is NO PRODUCT or SERVICE being sold! and simply new money pays old commissions (or people that came in first) that's illegal! a network marketing company pays you for products and services BOUGHT! and guess who buys those products?? Consenting adults! who had NO ONE twist their arm! lol DUMB ASSES! p.s. I'm sure a lot of negative and broke people will talk trash on my comment and heres what I say to you. "think of me when you are fighting traffic and punching a clock on monday lol" I'll feel bad all the way to the bank with my residual income ;-) oh, and... Don't forget how your boss likes his coffee your modern day slave lol :-D

[@bluedragon8762]

Juan Carlos Rangel at least we have a stable job you need while you guys ruin families and cut relationships from your bottom level which usually goes into serious debt. Never known a baker to go into debt from their job at a grocery store but TONS of mlms have. Nor do cashiers have a higher turnover rate than mcdonalds. Try again mlm scam man.

[@christiansarti87]

Great information man, I think this type of videos are very necessary nowadays. There are a lot scams based on MLM, and are disguised very nicely. The more we learn about MLM the more we realize how close we've been to some of those scam companies (me included). Keep up the good work!

[@BeatTheBush]

This seems most effective before they are exposed to the presentations. So they are prepared for it and not buy into the whole scheme. Hence, I'll just leave this video right where it is even with all the flame I get.

[@ThousanWhite]

How is it a scam though?

[@FilmedbyEdmund]

You made such an important point, at the end of the video - relationship power. Relationships are like assets, they're super valuble, but when people stop trusting you and you loose your own credibility, well, good luck trying to rebuild it with your next "opportunity" ...

[@Basta11]

I did join one of these things when I was fresh out of high school. It was called Quikstar, which was Amway rebranded for the internet. Interestingly, Herbalife was one of their products. The point was to buy your groceries online monthly. So you spend around $200 - $300 on groceries, and get other people to join you and you get a commission off of their purchases. Of course, these products on their store were limited and extremely overpriced. Factor in shipping and handling, and it just made no financial sense. I personally needed only $100 - $150 worth of groceries monthly from a regular store. On the business side, it was very hard to get even just 1 person under you. And I felt gross selling this "opportunity" to my friends. I did the math and it requires 6 people be under you before you can make anything that looks like minimum wage salary. It seems easy, but this means you must try to convince at least 6 people to take a $100 - $200 loss on overpriced groceries for at least 2 years. My guess is chances are low that people can achieve this. I think it can be done, but its kind of sleazy because you know you're getting people into something that probably won't be good for them. Moral of the story. Look at the product being sold - is it worth buying on their own without the trappings of a "business opportunity"? If not, then its probably not a good business.

[@xiaolang97]

and they even started MLM in cryptocurrency these days

[@BeatTheBush]

Mix in any new thing and put in the same structure then BAM, MLM + new thing.

[@williamsmith3331]

LMAO

[@ShadowFeline]

My closest college friend lured me into this in a bad way. He was texting me nonstop for me to get a new job and meet up because i hated my boss at the time. I asked him if it was network marketing and his reply was along the lines of "what are you saying? Are you looking for network marketing?" I then asked him if i will go to his workplace. He said no. However, he lied to me. We did go to his workplace and it is indeed network marketing. He even laughed at me because i was duped. I did stay just for the heck of it but didn't join since i've been there. He was actually the 3rd person to lure me into one and the only one who lied to me. To make things worse, he did this at the peak of my family problems. One year later, i haven't resigned from my work and reconciled with my boss. The year after that, i cut off my contact with my college friend because i hated him for his actions.

[@alcappacino]

As a person who has attended one of these meetings, i can fully vouch for everything you said in this video. Thankfully my natural skepticism allowed me to not get involved at that one day itself. Trust me, i have friends who were unfortunate enough to be more involved into these companies, expressing deep regret few weeks/months after being compelled by their other "friends". Friendships and relationships could be quickly strained after joining this companies. There is no single person who could try to defend MLM companies. Maybe if you have no soul.

[@BeatTheBush]

Lol.. but tell that to about 30% of the people in this comments section who are pro MLMs. Check out the comments, there are numerous people defending MLMs. I don't think its about having no soul but rather the brainwashing that the presentations do on you. My favorite is all companies are pyramid schemes! etc.

[@KapilMaharjantractorspareparts]

@@BeatTheBush How about DXN mlm network generation system that I am currently working for?

[@Ather178]

Thank you so much for this video!! I attended a meeting yesterday about Amway and they kept talking about how to build assets and have a source of income even when you're not working, blah blah and it sounded interesting. But I was surprised when I thought how the hell am I going to get paid by a company if I'm not actually working. I asked the this question to one of the representatives and he gave me an example of how it works. Now My doubt was, if this company was so popular then why can't I find their products in any stores? You explained the pyramid structure very well. So the more members you trap into buying their products the more commission you get. This sucks!

[@IceyJunior]

So did you work out the Maths behind it? Imagine you own a 6000 ft^2 of stocks, you job is to distribute without any help from advertising. You think that’s an easy job? From your question, seems like you have no knowledge in supply chain management. In short, instead of paying the advertiser, the company used that money to pay you, and reinvest in their RnD team to have better product development.

[@Ather178]

@@IceyJunior yes I have no knowledge and I’m not interested in it either. I hate MLM with a passion.

[@IceyJunior]

@@Ather178 Fine by me really. Good for you, at least you blindly have passion to hate something. That makes you sounds like a true incompetent amateur.

[@Ather178]

@@IceyJunior aw I want to cry lol

[@XXXXXALEXJONESXXXXX]

I got tricked into joining a financial services company that turned out to be MLM known as Primerica. The thing I hated most was that I ruined a couple of friendships from trying to recruit them. These companies will ruin your lives. Do not be a sucker like me and fall for them.

[@BeatTheBush]

That company has came up before. Sad to hear about your friendships. The people in an MLM would just tell you you didn't try hard enough and only 'failures complain' etc. I'm just saying what they would say, lol.

[@XXXXXALEXJONESXXXXX]

That is pretty much how they would respond.

[@chaabanemarouane]

BeatTheBush do you know the different between pyramid & binair??

[@larrylentini5688]

That remark about using up your relationships is spot-on. It's a hard line I won't cross for a job.

[@BeatTheBush]

Those that recruit you will not care and want you to sell your relationships so they will get a cut.

[@laoaganlester1728]

The Philippines is bombarded with MLM or Networking or Pyramid Scheme companies that are not strictly regulated for as long as a company has business permit. Even the products are not regulated as long as "No Approved Therapeutic Claims" are put on the labels.

[@BeatTheBush]

Sorry to hear but I guess they like to prey on gullible people who will give them all their money signing up. There are plenty of them in the US as well.

[@ShinobiEngineer]

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity... ...and I’m not sure about the universe!

[@BeatTheBush]

That means they will just keep on coming up with new ways to take advantage of human stupidity. Then... profit. That's how it is.

[@ShinobiEngineer]

That's exactly right! It has happened since the beginning of human times and it will happen until it's last day. The only way to improve the situation is through education. So I guess I should thank you for your contribution... Great video!

[@zoegjdu876]

every company needs to hire ppl to expand, in network marketing we recruit distributors, but mostly are just loyal customers who love the product, and recruiting only makes you nothing!

[@419jab]

The biggest laugh I get is when people in a MLM say they own their own business. Start asking them business questions like about product overhead. They fall apart quickly and walk away usually.

[@jjb2375]

I m a network marketeer. Bill gates once said - "If i had to start all over again i would choose network marketing"

[@BeatTheBush]

Bill Gates also said right after that - "I would start my own and allow everyone to make money for me"

[@theflamingprofitsshow6090]

@@BeatTheBush lol

[@metro3537]

I almost got caught up in one of these schemes thank god I used some common sense before going threw with it. The weird thing is that the guy trying to hire me kept texting me even though I told him I’m not going to do it. They’re a bunch of weirdos lmao

[@kibawhitefang7176]

Here on KZbin, just watching these videos from Beat The Bush. But do you know what I like more than watching his videos? Comments. But do you know what I like more than reading comments?? Knowledge!!

[@BeatTheBush]

Yeah just knowing about this can save you a lot of grief if you happen to get caught up in this without knowing about this type of business first.

[@kibawhitefang7176]

+BeatTheBush I know what you mean. What I don't understand is why people have to penalize you and even call you stupid when you're just one person expressing a point of view. I was just surprised, seriously. I didn't see that coming. People all over coming around, just like the wind in turbulence.

[@BeatTheBush]

Lol. Comes with the territory, lol. You'll be glad to hear the negative comments bounces right off. I helped out a girl from Malaysia who was caught up in some sort of shady MLM. I think the chance of that happening again is worth leaving this vid up and filtering through all this flak.

[@kibawhitefang7176]

+BeatTheBush Well there is also another kind of scheme that's terrible: It's called dictatorship. It's hard these days to exchange ideas with people. It would be ironic if you have trouble to find sleep these days because of these comments. hahaha And I can already imagine it as you twitch in bed. lol

[@BeatTheBush]

All well, all the trolls does make it hard but not impossible. They seems to come near midnight interestingly.

[@szhou009]

@ BeatTheBush A few years back when I was in my first year of college, my friend invited me to seek out this business opportunity for USANA (she was ignorant too). Being the broke college student I was, I went to one of their parties, but I couldn't exactly afford to buy the product, it cost like a few hundred dollars. After the presentation, I told them I didn't have any money, but offered to help sell their products and recruit others in hopes to get a dividend, but they kept dodging me asking me "How can you sell the product without first buying it and testing it for yourself?" Then the obvious bullshit became apparent to me "Why am I paying you to sell your product?" -- biggest red flag. So I left, told them to fuck off for trying to deceive broke college students and left the premises.

[@szhou009]

@ BeatTheBush prntscr.com/f8fejm lol even wikipedia defines Herbalife to be a pyramid scheme

[@BeatTheBush]

Lol, you say you are very interested but want to find out more so you can go to another party to eat all the food. Then you forget your wallet and need to go to another part to eat more food.

[@assainscreed1234]

wiki it's not a credible search engine, it's just a bunch of people's opinions. 2nd. They asked you to put down an investment, so you can start your own business, with make your own commissions and residuals. You, my friend, are the one who is brainwashed.

[@joedoe2261]

Steven Zhou you buy the product sell and recruit people you recruit do the same thing and you earn more comssion

[@EternalSilverDragon]

"How can you sell the product without first buying it and testing it for yourself?" Sounds like a legit question to me. You'll never convince anyone to do something that you're unwilling to do. And what if someone buys from you but then has questions? You'll have no personal product experience from which to draw answers.

[@loveinseattle]

You should do a skincare video.

[@BeatTheBush]

I would feel odd doing one, but I have thought about it. Skincare video from a guy? I don't think I've seen this before.

[@loveinseattle]

+BeatTheBush you have great skin, so if you actually do anything special in terms of skincare, you should share some tips!

[@SFVone]

Agree. I'm a girl and would love to see a skincare video from a guy or girl.

[@BeatTheBush]

Thank you, it must be the camera lighting. =D I attribute it to keeping hydrated, eating fresh foods, low salt low sugar intake, and even recently I reduced my meat intake significantly.

[@thinblacknoodles]

BeatTheBush no meat is the best way and plenty of water lol GREAT video amway trying to get me this helps alot

[@RodneyDodson]

I started doTERRA 2 years ago. I hit Silver in 10 months and I hit Gold 4 months later. Going for Platinum now. You can outrank the person who enrolled you, so this whole thing about "the people at the top make all the money," might be true in pyramid schemes, but not legitimate network marketing companies. I hate working at "jobs," and this was my way out. And it worked for me. Personally, I think that the traditional job construct and having to work for the next 40 + years is a scheme. To each their own.

[@BeatTheBush]

If it works for you more power to you.

[@JohnBowl14690]

I've met probably about 30 people who tried network marketing. NOT ONE of them became successful at it. Two of them did it for over 5 years and one of them did it full time. But almost all of others quit within 2 years. One interesting note. I'm truly amazed at how only a couple of people told me they quit. If any company suckered me to waste a year or more of my time, I'm going to be upset and tell everyone I know to stay away. All I hear is, "no, I don't do Amway anymore", or "no, I quit ACN a long time ago." I guess they are too embarrassed.

[@BeatTheBush]

Hmmm. 50 people? That's a pretty large sample from just one person. I hear of these and even now, I know some people actively doing it. Ahh well, it's a fact of life and MLM doesn't seem to be going away any time soon. There's too much money behind it.

[@JohnBowl14690]

It's not that hard to meet a lot of them. I met quite a few when I attended their seminars. They show you those cheesy videos and a couple of dynamic speakers. But afterwards, you will meet quite a few of them. I've been to a couple of seminars/meetings from different MLMs. But as I count, it's probably closer to 30. I edited comment to 30.

[@genealbert7888]

The first time I heard about this kind of scheme was when I was in highschool which is 7 or 8 years ago, but still upto this day there are still a lot of people who are ignorant enough to believe that they will rich by doing the promoting and buying the product thing. The reality is, there are a lot of people mostly college students who are becoming victim of this.. I know some classmates of mine in present time (I have to stop five years because of a different reason though) who sacrificed their tuition fee hoping that they will earn it back or even more before ling.. But sadly the real world doesn't work that way, and they didn't met the deadline for the payment of their tuition.. The outcome is they are forced to stop going to school because of the unpaid tuition..

[@BeatTheBush]

Wow... sacrificed tuition? That's a new one. I think this is the result of the people selling the program to them promising a lot 'IF they are willing to put in the time' Reality is, even if they do, there is a slim chance of success. You have a higher probability to make money working fast food.

[@hasaniburrell3095]

rule number one.. never take advice from someone who has failed

[@BeatTheBush]

I saw the deceptive practices and actually never tried. I ran from this as fast as I could. You infer you should only take advice from someone who has succeeded in an MLM. Have you thought of the conflict of interest in their recommendation. They are poised to make a financial gain by saying how successful they are and in turn making you sign up. So you should take advice from a third party who has no interest in an MLM.

[@tosinmomodu]

Hasani Burrell wow that's true!

[@DJANDNELL]

Here's a third party, kzbin.info/www/bejne/m2WtZGSlq9uGms0

[@DJANDNELL]

Also read The Business of the 21st century by Robert Kiyosaki

[@iamcristinadiezofficial1806]

Indeed =) Cheers!

[@peterelias4068]

U hit the point my friend was in mlm he was forced to buy products for 5000 dollars and he was thinking that can make living of it finally sold it for 600 bugs on ebay.. Keep it up beet

[@BeatTheBush]

Ehhhh yeah... who got the $5000? $3000 went to the company. $1400 went to the person that recruited them.

[@malnasialex]

Only one thing I'd like to say: at your job can you earn more money if you work harder than your supervisor, boss or ceo? In MLM you can earn more money than the people who sponsored you, if you put the work in

[@MrGconstantine1972]

Worked for AMWAY for 2 long years, and saw only one $8.50 cheque for two years,of hard work.

[@Luthfirrahmandika]

I work in a Insurance company (Owned by government) which use Network marketing strategy. the easiest way to differentiate between the Legal Pyramid structure with the scam one is when there's no new people join the business, can u still get the bonuses? if yes then its legal (because there's repeat order from the product) if its not then its basically scam. there are 3 things that you need to know about Good MLM company : - there should be a product (physical or non physical such as insurance) -The commission you get should come from the sales of the product -Your product should have good quality to make a repeat order. Recruiting in Good MLM company is basically selling a product in a large scale. if the new member wanna re sell the product (its not compulsory) then they have a special price with extra commission (this strategy basically use in every company, the sales man sell the product then he got commission the supervisor get the bonus the CEO gets more money) This is why the reason MLM company is LEGAL. Most people think you can get rich quick without working in MLM company which is not gonna happened. you need to WORK, Real Hard to match with the math

[@BeatTheBush]

A predatory MLM could masquerade as a 'legal' MLM simply by making new members buy a set (and usually large) amount of products in order to enter the scheme. Right when this happens, the recruiting member gets a large cut. This looks like product is purchased and commission received but is really a form of recruiting bonus. The new member has a bunch of products but may find themselves not able to sell the product out due to the high price.

[@Luthfirrahmandika]

whether the price is high or not is not the case for example couple weeks ago a famous brand supreme just sold a brick for $39. can u say its a scam? thats the art of selling, if u use the product then nothing is wrong (im not working in a MLM product company) but as long as the product is useful then its okay. but if you're selling trash then it is, lot of ILLEGAL MLM company do this, we call that scheme here as Ponzi Money game and it is forbid by the government. but for example im selling Insurance protection in my company using MLM method, is it wrong? no it is not, because the people who buy the product know it is worth it. network marketing is just a strategy how the company sell their product widely without cost them huge expenses for ads (kind of like costumer create costumer) beside according to your explanation in the video, it is not as easy as that to make money. I joined the company after 12k people in the business but i managed to be the top 10 earner. its proving that not the people above you always gets more money, but those who work hard gets more money. Network marketing is not only about selling product its more than that, its like you're running your own company. manage the people, train the people to do the sales. if they cant sell then we categorise them as a Costumer (if they like the products they will buy again). and thats why nothing is wrong with that, the only thing u need to know before joining the MLM company is the quality of the product, whether can it be accepted by the market or not. if yes, then go for it

[@owusubrightful]

In this world, its either you are buying or selling..Dont listen to people who dont know anything

[@mulutlewatmulut718]

The most ilogical explanation on illegal pyramid

[@chrisuk2073]

As someone that has delivered MLM packages the whole point of MLM conferences is to convince their distributors to order their new products. They always come out with new products at these annual conferences so the company could make their money back. This is how MLM companies stay in business because so many distributors will order their new products.

[@BeatTheBush]

Or pressure everyone you know to buy your products.

[@OneCrayGuy89]

Nicely said. I’ve had a TON of MLM representatives try luring me in with their talks of “business opportunity.” Whenever I hear someone say they’re a small business owner; I pretty much tune them out. I almost got sucked into the company that does the business portals and energy drinks/cleaning supplies/supplements. I attended one of the presentations and wanted to immediately walk out, but I sat through it, not wanting to be rude, as the guy who tried recruiting me seemed like a genuinely nice person.

[@BeatTheBush]

Did you at least drink some of the energy drinks and take some samples with you? If you go in to just eat their food, then that's a different story.

[@OneCrayGuy89]

No they never offered me food or their energy drink. At the presentation, it seemed that everyone had a can of it. I was perplexed as it looked like everyone really enjoyed it and I’d never even heard of it. I’m guessing it must have not been that great because they didn’t have samples and only IBOs were drinking them lol.

[@MrFindX]

I almost got sucked into one of these things during the summer of one of my college years. Luckily I decided to take a fast food job instead. Yeah fast food isn't glamorous, but at least you make some money. In a MLM you almost always lose money

[@BeatTheBush]

Smart person!

[@patrickpetion1971]

MrFindX are you still in that fast food, now understand the owner make money of you. But listen it is illegal for you to make money from someone else

[@MarioBisiac]

translate.google.com/translate?hl=it&sl=it&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.butac.it%2Funa-guida-al-network-marketing-parte-viii%2F

[@YanBun]

I'm making money with no job want to know how just reply . I want to help you become successful too.

[@kevindimauro3937]

I made 2k in a month selling knives bro. Literally the same money as minimum wage for a ten of the hours worked.

[@EddieNMendozaJr]

What is your business?

[@depro9]

My boss takes my labor & keeps the profits I make for him. How is this different? 🤔

[@BeatTheBush]

This is your boss takes the profits that you make. And you started your own store and he take a bit of profit off every one your the profit your employee makes.

[@kaylacoffey9420]

BeatTheBush at least with a regular you get some type of pay for the work you put I

[@allegrot438]

Because I bet more than just 3% of the people that work for your boss earn a liveable wage. I'd say it's closer to... 100%? That's ~97% higher than the average pyram... mlm scheme.

[@bigelo_fx2340]

Perfect

[@petersichulansululu4155]

Exactly! Is there a system in this world that benefits the people below in the same way it benefits those at the top? Let's suppose for once people were not so sceptical wouldn't everyone make money in mlm?

[@tammytammy8183]

Some people succeed and make money but most people don’t. It’s a personal choice anyway. If I could turn back the clock I wish I never touched MLM which nearly made me lost all my family and friends.

[@buckyboy28]

I bought a complete set of Cutco knives at the thrift store for $5.99. Good knives, not worth selling your soul to them. Highly recommend them if you find them at the thrift store.

[@BeatTheBush]

At the thrift store! That's awesome! HA HA HAHAH HAHA

[@JohnBowl14690]

Technically, I actually joined Primerica, but immediately quit after my second day. I had lunch with my co-workers and tried to sell them, but one of them was actually a former Primerica agent and did it for about 6-9 months. He told me that it wasn't worth his time and he had presented the insurance to just about everyone. He only got about half dozen people to buy the insurance and a couple people to join. Those people he signed up ended up quitting quickly, and he realized that the business is like working for free. This guy was no failure. He later because wealthy off of real estate and other investments.

[@BeatTheBush]

Some people see it pretty quickly, others go through with it for years before quietly pretending it never happened.

[@assainscreed1234]

What do you do for a living?

[@omigod2010]

Red Chevy Regarding the insurance field.. The people who are still doing their profession for long term actually have a big calling, it's like a big mission (to help secure future financial risks). So it's not only about the money or business. However the system does work like the pyramid of multilevel marketing, because it's a networking system.. Not necessarily selling something, or recruiting people, but at least to let people know what they're doing. The youtubers are also doing so many levels of marketing, if you know what I mean. @BTB Though I quite disagree with your opinion regarding this topic, but I like most of your videos.. Great tips on finance stuffs, thanks! You present yourself well & pleasantly too. Keep on going strong, Bro!!

[@JohnBowl14690]

I provide services for a Data Center.

[@JohnBowl14690]

Omi2010 - MOST people in the insurance have only their pockets in mind. The fact is, if you get a small $100K UL, IUL, or WL policy, then get a small $100K term life and invest the difference via IRA, CHECK the cash value of both accounts at the end of 5 years. You will see that buying term and investing the difference is far superior.

[@jeffreyburnwood3291]

I remember when I went to an Herbalife presentation. They were showing their vacations on expensive yachts, living the dream, while giving me some samples of the products (I have to say some of them were yummy, lol). They said how the product cost at the very end, and explained how it worked to get money selling the products. I only stayed there for the free food. I ate, and I left. Haha But, everything you said, now it makes sense in that presentation of Herbalife.

[@BeatTheBush]

Huh, thanks for the insight on their presentation. Maybe it'll be good to get invited to these only to enjoy some of the festivities?

[@LarryCleveland]

But that justifies nothing. You got some free food, made the industry wrong and that doesn't mean beatthebush is right AT ALL. He just got your agreement

[@assainscreed1234]

Larry Cleveland, RDN, LD, LMT i tell you, people are sheep and they there're responses sound even more stupid.

[@LarryCleveland]

I really could give a flying fk because I worked it, I was open to coaching, I gave up thinking i knew it all, was willing to treat it like a business. Moms not in skilled nursing and still with us at 81 with the worst pain known to man. Remember you could be talking someone out of a viable option. Has to be treated as a business. The video is pointless and is just pulling for agreement of a baseless opinion. Generalizing is a weak non credible basis for a the assertion he is making. He's talking about the old way of mlm.

[@assainscreed1234]

Larry Cleveland, RDN, LD, LMT really inspiring story, seriously. i wish you and your family the best my friend.

[@kleptic]

Glad you made a video about this. I've had a bunch of friends who have fallen into these pyramid schemes and would get upset at me when I'd call out the companies. Of course they quit it months later, probably because they realized they were wrong.

[@BeatTheBush]

Seems to have stirred up a lot of ill feelings from people who have done this before. It's a bit embarrassing to have gotten suckered.

[@j.c9317]

I've attended an ACN conference in the past because few of my friends are in there. (They all wasted 3 years and ended up not making any money) All I saw was a bunch of high school kids dressed in expensive suits, holding on to a false dream that would never happen. There's this one guy who tried to lure me in, claiming that he's about to be a millionaire this year. So I asked him to show me his pay stub or his bank account. He couldn't, and he got mad and walked away lol. I started walking around talking to these IBOs. Half of them claimed to be rich and how MLM changed their life, but none of them can ever back it up. MLM is nothing more than selling empty dreams to hard working people with no money. There's a reason why these folks are so obsessed with the wolf of wall street. Because they resonate with Jordan Belfort's High pressure selling tactics. Every time I talk about MLM, it gets me into heated arguments. These brainwashed "cults" can become very upset and very defensive about their "IBO" title lol.

[@BeatTheBush]

Wow.. they resort to selling a dream by lying? I suppose that's one way to get others to sign up. The thing is, I think most people are unwilling to show you how much they make in general. However, perhaps one paycheck stub is possible if they really just want to sell you on the idea.

[@j.c9317]

Yup! And from my friend's experience, once you join in, they literally just teach you the same thing, boiler room operation, teach you to lie to others and try to get them to join. Because according to them, "membership is where the real money is." Then you have all theses kids walking around claiming to be rich and can't back up what they said

[@cancel.lgbtq.6892]

Almost 1000 dislikes are from people that got scam into MLM. One of my coworker had been trying to get us to join his stupid MLM company. It was called " Wealth Generator " then later on changed the name to " Kuvera ". Now he's trying to get us to buy this so called miracle HGH gel lol.

[@BeatTheBush]

Ahhh.. and everyday I get someone that is angry about this video and argues with essays.

[@mollynguyen834]

Loved your video, I wish I saw your video be4 and share with my friends....but still good to share the info.

[@PrevailPal]

Government is pyramid scheme Job is Pyramid scheme and etc....

[@valuecalc]

Pal94778 CryptoPal , laugh my ass off!

[@Toyota4by4shiz]

sandinyourshoes Would you like me to explain?

[@valuecalc]

Rick Grimes , only if you really want to...

[@Toyota4by4shiz]

sandinyourshoes Your job is a legal pyramid scheme. There is someone at the very top who makes more than you do, will always make more no matter what, and will never show you how to do what he/ she does to make what he/ she makes.

[@valuecalc]

@@Toyota4by4shiz , I believe it. Hell, finding a real job these days can be tough with this type of trash floating around all the time.

[@jenniferpierce3129]

As a SAHM, I've been approached with so many of these companies. It's annoying when a friend wants to finally hang out but then they're basically presenting "an opportunity" to me 🙄. Good video. Speaking of scams, have you done a video on timeshares? 😅 in all honesty, I don't understand how they work but they seem scammish...

[@BeatTheBush]

Oh my. That will really make me mad if a friend does that to me. I actually haven't done one on timeshares. I've been to a presentation and got some freebies though. Timeshare is basically you own a slice of time on a property. You must schedule in advance to use it or you can trade your time slice with a property somewhere else. However, I think you loose your credits for that year if you do not use it. I'm sure the rules vary a lot from one to another.

[@BeatTheBush]

Ok, I had to lok up this SAHM (Stay at home mom) acronym. Lol.

[@MrT1-b5f]

lol i've had friends/family who i haven't talked to in awhile suddenly wanted to hang out. and yup turns out it was pyramid MLM. very disappointed and no longer want any relationships with them.

[@D.L.W.]

Don't let this distract you from the the fact that in 1966, Al Bundy scored four touchdowns in a single game while playing for the Polk High School Panthers in the 1966 city championship game versus Andrew Johnson High School, including the game-winning touchdown in the final seconds against his old nemesis, Bubba "Spare Tire" Dixon.

[@BeatTheBush]

I don't know what you are talking about.

[@mrmikeflo11]

I was apart of one for a few months that involved selling life insurance, but you also still had to recruit. I stopped attending the meetings few months later after I passed my licensing exam, thanks to them I got my license and started my own insurance agency got my license appointed with companies outside of the pyramid scheme, and have started selling

[@Mr_Millionaire_Mindset]

You might wanna look up THE CORPORATE PYRAMID: YOUR JOB !

[@theflamingprofitsshow6090]

He doesn't have a job he's self employed lol

[@Tamar.]

After watching this video and it was the seal of a deal because i was going to commit myself to this Amway thing but I did a fair amount of research today and read of the law suits Amway faced and I can confidently say its pyramid scheme after watching this video. The business relies heavily on sponsors more than the PRODUCTS. Here is the video I watched that were attached to an Amway review and it was pretty informational kzbin.info/www/bejne/iWbbpmmYfquGm6c You'll understand what I mean when you watch it. So anyway, I just wanted to thank you for posting this! Appreciate it!!!

[@BeatTheBush]

You're welcome. It's important to find out about how everything works before you join. Otherwise, you drank the coolaid and will start regurgitating all the selling points they brainwashed you with.

[@singingcowboy674]

TAMAR LEMMA Amway is DIFFICULT and all large companies have had multiple law suits. If you went for a job interview with Johnson and Johnson you wouldn't NOT take the job because they have had law suits over years of business. No. You aren't programmed to do. Amway is a 8.6 BILLION A YEAR COMPANY. Almost 60 years old and investigated by the FTC MULTIPLE TIMES and was declared legit with every investigation. Amway isn't a scheme. It IS a difficult company to get traction in. You need to do your research more and discover WHAT makes a company a pyramid scheme. What factors go into determining such a thing? You will go much further than what you have learned in this video. Many inaccuracies in this presentation.

[@dderby5171]

@@singingcowboy674 Amway makes 8.6 billion a year off the backs of its reps.. including an unfortunate client of mine who lost thousands for years and is probably still losing thousands because he refuses to quit.

[@dderby5171]

@@singingcowboy674 Episode 7 of The Dream describes in detail how Amway carved out a loophole to protect itself and other MLMs. The attempt was successful thanks to Amway's relationship with lobbyists and politicians.

[@singingcowboy674]

@@dderby5171 I don't do Amway or really support them. Sad for your client. At some point money becomes the thing. Hope it does for him quickly. I don't however agree with your "off their backs" kind of analogy. Would I be evil and making money off the backs of my sales force (sounds like the owner of any company) if I wanted to sell CD's on the street. I can sell 10 CD's a day. I want to expand that though. So I've got my girlfriend who loves my music and wants to support me in my dream. So I tell her, "Hon, here's the deal. Every CD you sell to your friends or coworkers or whoever, I'll give you $4. Let's say I'm charging $10 a cd. Now, would you say I'm making money off the back of my girlfriend? I'm definitely profiting from her influence. But is it wrong? Yes, she makes $4 and I make $6. But I've got the expense and she doesn't. So what makes me wrong to get with 9 more of my friends and give them the same deal? Am I "making money off their backs"? In a way I guess but not against their will, I'm paying them fairly for their efforts and I have the expense. So, their friends who dig my sound think they can make my music VIRAL. They want to get in on a little piece of the action. So, I make the same deal with them. $4 per cd. Same as my frist line. But, those cats might have never came around if it weren't for the efforts of my buddy. I owe him some of the credit! He just increased my sales exponentially. So I say "Alright Joe, I'm going to give you .25 off every cd sell that was sold by your buddies who you found for me. Is that wrong? I made all that money "off his back" and now I'm giving it back to him. I'm not taking it out of their $4. I'm paying him out of my profits. I offer his guys the same deal. All the cds you sell, $4 each. All the cds that your friends sell for you, I give you and extra .25. Now, Joe is still ultimately responsible for that sale because they would have never known about my "righteous tunes" if Joe had not been street hustling them in the first place. He's taking my music to folks I may never otherwise meet. So I say Joe, I'm going to give you a nickle for every cd that is sold by any of the guys people that they brought on. I'm not taking the money to pay him out of the money that those other cats rightfully earned, I'm giving that nickle off every sale he was responsible for generating out of MY pocket. Because I know that the gaggle of $6 that I'm making now off each sale is providing me good roi. And the .30 I'm paying per sale doesn't hurt my bottom line that much. Everybody is motivated. Making a reasonable amount. And everybody is getting credit for their work. Let's say we go all the way down a few levels so that Joe is now getting a .50 cent max off the sales he's ultimately responsible for. Is HE making money off the backs of his friends? You might say. Then again his friends are making $4 a pop, the same amount he's making selling cd's. A gig they didn't have before Joe came along and introduced them to the opportunity. In my opinion you are only making money OFF THE BACKS of your distributors if YOU TAKE MONEY OUT OF THEIR CHECKS THAT THEY WOULD OTHERWISE BE MAKING TO PAY THEIR UPLINE.

[@becomemore_01]

Beatthebush, or whatever your name....YOU NEED TO GET EDUCATED....PROPERLY EDUCATED

[@Spikeman38]

I honestly bought into this mlm scheme. I was in the process of getting recruited when I decided I did not want to do this because I know it is not right. I wasted 200$ on nothing but to join and I hate it. I hope people pay attention to this video and catch the scheme before it’s too late.

[@tilini]

i'd rather just give money to people or buy them a hamburger rather than invest in their pyramid scheme.

[@BeatTheBush]

Lol, 'invest' is an interesting way to put it. Realistically, it seems you normally pay a lot for a bunch of products and you claw it back by selling them. I was thinking about the hamburger thing. Yes you can give a hamburger but even better to teach them to make a dollar so they can repeat this and get many hamburgers.

[@msanimator]

tilini Good job

[@paulbradley1983]

I love Burgers.

[@ghapz19tvvlog90]

Its absulutely ryt..im proud of u ...

[@sandeepguleria7534]

Waiting for hamburger

[@kalkeikuu]

Yes. Some of these multilevel companies are schemes, while others are really the real deal. I've researched many of these companies.

[@johndoe2240]

Which companies are the "Real deal"?

[@BeatTheBush]

I would like to also know which companies you consider the real deal. More specifically, more specifically, I would like to know the compensation structure they have and what they actually do rather than what the marketing materials say they do.

[@estherspa]

Good information. But I have a question: If MLM is a pyramid scheme, what is WalMart, Target, Macy's, Smith's, Costco, Sam's Club, etc? What are they, an obelisk?

[@BeatTheBush]

Their employees are compensated on a flat rate and not based on a percentage of people under them. They also do not make a majority of the compensation for recruiting others. They do not sell items that are materially the same as others on the open market for 2-3x the price.

[@alisonfriedman5288]

They’re all large chain retailers. Sam’s Club and Costco require a membership, but that’s only to enable the stores themselves to carry less operating overhead. In return you get certain discounts, but I’m not familiar with those

[@sogerc1]

Thx for this video. When you said "you use up your relationships" you verbalized what I was trying to tell some people I just didn't know how.

[@BeatTheBush]

=D There is a finite amount a friend is willing to take before the relationship is broken. It's best kept as an exchange rather than take and take.

[@danthelion9019]

The meeting that I came up to told me that even artists and other famous people has joined them

[@DanielLovett]

I logged into a different account just to give you an extra "like". Thanks bro! I loved your end quote: "these are relationships" - I love that.

[@BeatTheBush]

Thanks much! Appreciate the double likes! =D

[@luizalacaille9155]

Great video, but still so hard to convince people. They get very passionate about it, and they're completely brainwashed. I tried to convince a family member out of it, but it was pointless. :(

[@BeatTheBush]

Seems like I have a little more work to do in making a video good enough to convince those who are already part of one and got brainwashed in the presentations.

[@luizalacaille9155]

The more information you put out there the better, but do not beat yourself up, this things are like cults, it's nearly impossible to convince people that "their religion" is wrong. Focus on the ones who have not been trapped yet. :)

[@BeatTheBush]

Good point. I do have an idea though. =D

[@assainscreed1234]

What do you do for a living? Please, help me succeed in life. I need advice????

[@augustlinn2287]

Luiza Lacaille if someone is passionate about something why would you try to convince them out of it. What’s chaos to the fly, is normal for the spider.

[@MrDeAdJoKeRTV]

I disagree with some of this.

[@BeatTheBush]

I accept your disagreement.

[@MrDeAdJoKeRTV]

BeatTheBush you probably haven't met my company.

[@BeatTheBush]

don't know what it is of course.

[@redcloudshaman2509]

You hustlin' rocks bro?

[@theflamingprofitsshow6090]

What's your company?

[@EyeShine4YourLife]

So true - The best advice is to trust in yourself and make your own business on your own you don't need MLM to do it for yourself

[@BeatTheBush]

Yeah... making your own business is HARD. Joining an MLM only requires you to give them a few hundred dollars first. Lol.

[@kathymorris4587]

They want your 'soul' and people fall for it! You become like 'them' and you lose yourself! You can't speak for yourself anymore! So very sad! If you don't agree with what they are doing you are labeled as 'negative' and won't have a relationship with you!

[@BeatTheBush]

Thanks for your comment. I agree with you. Unfortunately, it seems like preaching to the choir if you're talking to ANYONE not affiliated with one.

[@kathymorris4587]

Yes, my daughter and her husband have been in Amway for 12 yrs! So sad because I have lost her! It hurts everyday! Can't relate to her anymore!!

[@assainscreed1234]

Kathy Morris lmao, so much b.s. It's hilarious. you lost your daughter? is she making money from it? is it working?

[@LarryCleveland]

So sad for close minded adult's children. It's 2017. I'm keeping my mom out of skilled nursing with my home based business. If I worked a soul sucking job, I would have to put her in one. Industrial Age jobs are over. Technology is forcing people out and those workers need good opportunities. Also, how many kids are moving back with their parents because they are so in debt and can't get work? They don't even have a chance at a fulfilled soul. Half the workers now are dissatisfied with their jobs. There's a health impact with that. They are made to take on more work and work longer hrs because the CEO will just replace them at lower pay for someone who is desperate for work. Talk about soul stealing. My mom stole my soul not my network marketing company!!

[@joyweaweh]

thats for people that dont know the business, the business is not for everyone,if you say no, its okay,we will still be friends, you do urs i do mine.

[@Sepharite]

My friend is heavily into his MLM. Even quit his job. He isn't making much but he says he's in it for the long haul. I don't know how to reach him and explain to him that he's being scammed.

[@kapilmaharjan8892]

Then let him go for DXN as my DXN code is 011519974

[@erostucko]

Full Disclosure: I work for an MLM company (corporate side, not sales rep). First, I agree that there are definitely problems with the MLM industry (including ethics and inflated pricing). However, if you take a step back and look at the idea behind the business model, it makes sense. If there's a product that I use and love, I can tell my friends and acquaintances about it and earn money when they buy. This is no different than KZbinrs earning money when their viewers buy products using their Amazon links. Again, there are some issues, but there are some good people out there doing good things through the MLM business model. Enjoy your videos btw ;)

[@BeatTheBush]

The difference here is the MAJORITY (over 50%) of people that participates in an MLM makes no money. The products are often expensive compared to a similar item on the open market. Question is, if you can gain $1000 for each friend you lose, will you do it? The difference here is an MLM is MULTI LEVEL and not a single level like Amazon Affiliate. You cannot recruit others to participate in Amazon Affiliate and earn a percentage off of their sales. An MLM does just this. But why is this bad? It's because the real money is made via recruiting more people. Why is it bad again? Too many people buy into this and actually loose money instead of making money. It's blood money.

[@nyman188891]

The part about MLM that gets me is that it uses your relationships to earn their money. Ruining your self image to those that matter the most and support you where the general public will not. Having a normal business job, they'll ask you to help assist their customers that are given to you. May that include your friends or family or random strangers. Again, the problem with MLM is they use your relationships against you. Relationships you built over years in school, college, church, and everywhere else.

[@ryrygigi]

erostucko I appreciate your comment. It’s disheartening that the bulk of the comments from MLM’ers are rude and they also resort to name calling. If there is valuable information to share to clarify the MLM business model, that could be achieved through using carefully considered words. They are representing MLM businesses after all.

[@maau5trap273]

Gustavo Lamonica he’s not talking about succeeding. He says majority of people lose money on MLMs

[@Angela-sz6mz]

So a corporation lmao ... sounds like you’re explaining a retail structure. CEO is the top and it trickles down to minimum wage. The only difference between those and MLM companies is society has told you the former is normal 🙄

[@thepaperheartjournals101]

You seem like a very honest person, and you are just trying to help people wich is awesome!!!

[@loosescrews7055]

This video was the most detailed, informative, and accurate I have ever seen regarding these scams . Keep up the good work. if you are familiar with them do one on Timeshare presentations. people need to stop falling victim to these predators.

[@BeatTheBush]

I only attended one or two of them to get the show tickets.

[@AppleCrider]

These are so harmful and take advantage of so many people.

[@BeatTheBush]

They also have an army of believers that makes a lot of money pushing it.

[@deoverbuurman]

BeatTheBush A bit low to take a stab at the entire industry, I agree that there are bad companies out there. But my and my gf have been doing this for 1.5y and doing 20-30k months for the last 5 months. We see everyone who is serious about it having REAL results. In our company you can actually receive all the commission of the products sold, so the upline receives no more of your commission. It's perfect this way your upline is inclined to help you kickstart your business. So many people speak negatively about it because they got sold on a dream, but it is business. YES you have to work your ass off but if you just listen and apply and not give up. Anyone can do it.. We have a 57 y/o woman and a 22 y/o girl from Iceland, both had no personal network and both just had a 2.5k month. started this business

[@nyman188891]

One of my best friends got sucked into this. I didn't let the company get between our relationship. I didn't buy into his product but I still supported his efforts if it made him happy. Sometimes in relationships you have to stick it through with them. Even if it seems more harm on you than it is for them.

[@patrickpetion1971]

Apple Crider - Financial Literacy For Students so keep going to work

[@MarioBisiac]

Prooven here. This is an italian site against false claims and fake news (i already translated for u) translate.google.com/translate?hl=it&sl=it&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.butac.it%2Funa-guida-al-network-marketing-parte-viii%2F

[@prashobcv4089]

Not all MLM companies are scams. The good selection will make you earn bigger than going into zero. Nobody force you to be a part. If you don't like, just ignore it. I will give an example. One person doesn't like you. He makes a video of your personality, behaviour and make others come and mingle with you. This is what you didn't with this video.

[@johndoe2240]

Prashob said, "Not all MLM companies are scams." Why don't you tell us which one isn't a scam instead of saying this? This means absolutely nothing without any proof or example given. Prashob said, "The good selection will make you earn bigger than going into zero." Again, provide some proof. The statistics say the exact opposite of your claim as all MLMs average a 99% failure rate. Prashob said, "If you don't like, just ignore it. I will give an example. One person doesn't like you. He makes a video of your personality, behaviour and make others come and mingle with you." This is one of the biggest problems with snowflakes like you. You get offended and make a weird fallacious analogy comparing emotions with illegal business practices. It is wrong to not inform people about the perils of MLM because they are malicious and deceitful. They target vulnerable, ill-informed, and amateurish members of society, which is an unnecessary hazard. Also, since when did "ignoring" fraud make it go away? Oh yeah, never.

[@SFVone]

Ugh. YES. I was 'scammed' into going to a presentation as well. My landlord told me it was something else. 2 minutes in I wanted to leave. I was SOOO pissed. It was Transmerica or something like that.

[@BeatTheBush]

At LEAST, you knew and didn't actually get into their sales force. That would cost you a lot more than the time.

[@thehopechase]

Nope! And they want u to advertise what a “great opportunity “ it is... to recruit new ppl. I was like, wait, u said that to me.... so basically u lied to me. To me, integrity is EVERYTHING & I’m not a dam salesperson.

[@YuShawStang]

In my country, more than 50% of the insurance companies are doing this. We have to deal with this no matter what.

[@BeatTheBush]

Which country are you in if I may ask? I guess at least there is still the other 50% you can actually purchase your insurance from?

[@YuShawStang]

I am Taiwanese. For property insurance, such as car and house, you can purchase insurance just like in States. For the other products, such as health insurance and life Insurance, these sales agencies all operate like pyramid structure. At least I have not heard any other types in Taiwan.

[@BeatTheBush]

Interesting! I was at one of those health clubs in Taiwan years ago when my friend was getting a membership. They shuffled people around and tried to sell you on these yearly memberships which are insanely high priced. No idea if they are pyramid schemes but the pricing was very suspicious.

[@YuShawStang]

Well, The story of health insurance dilemma in TW is really long, so I am not going to address. Beside the insurance plan from the government, which is mandatory to purchase but inexpensive, most of them are hooked with investment-oriented, creating the illusion that the insurance fees will return to customers. From my one month experience that I sold this insurance in TW. Perhaps, that is the reason to pay insanely high price. Plus, up to 5 levels of me could enjoy the profit.

[@f3rnando00]

thanksss for the info. I been aproach so many times by this pyramids they are multiplying. Basically they try to sell you dreams..

[@BeatTheBush]

Seems like there needs to be new regulation to protect consumers. Until then, I can make a video to warn everyone. =D

[@LarryCleveland]

It's ok to dream. Steve Jobs had a dream. Most don't have the balls to go after what would make a difference in their life. It's ok not to dream or want more for your life. You chose but why the hell make others wrong for having the permission to have a better life. I don't get the judgement around this. Rather than say the true: "I'm not interested in going after or having dreams. I'm content with slow suffering (in come cases) or living a life of quite desperation etc. People can't be that honest and tell the truth. If people gave up on everyone around them, this would be a sad world. Oh, a pyramid scheme has no real meaning. There is such thing as an illegal pyramid scheme. Network marketing companies are legal business structures. The industry has growing up to do like people in them have growing up to do and skills to learn. Transacting takes something if you are ambitious. Most people are just lazy hiding behind making everyone and everything wrong.

[@HerbalFaces]

Yes most people in network marketing will fail. Just like people fail in traditional business, marriage, becoming millionaires, college, making it to the NBA and a whole host of other things. That doesn't mean those things don't work it just didn't work for those people. You are 100% right about pyramid schemes being horrible because they are and they're illegal. However Multi level marketing is perfectly legal. In fact Warren Buffet invest HEAVY in them. A pyramid scheme is any company that pays you for recruiting others and doesn't actually sell any goods or services. Yes I'm a Network Marketing professional. I started from nothing and busted my ass to create a 6 figure income in 5 years. I now own 2 traditional businesses, and real estate. However BY FAR the best part is I actually have money to GIVE back to my community and church. Not just financially but with my time which most people don't have. If someone chooses to work in Corporate America great! However if you're going to knock a whole industry please do it with correct information

[@luizalacaille9155]

Yes, the most distinctive characteristic of this kind of "business" is that they try to sell you a "make all your dreams come true" fantasy.

[@gaslitworldf.melissab2897]

And EVERY legal endeavor is morally sound, right. Who cares about ethics? Slavery, which has been around for thousands of years was also legal until the middle of the early twentieth century. I think S. America was the last country to make it illegal. Who knows, depends on how you define slavery? Doesn't matter. It was legal and nothing outranks it in profitability. There you go. Korea, when it was still Joseon, forced the daughters of fallen nobles into state sponsored prostitution. So, it was legal and morally sound. Wonderful thinking.

[@dawayneduval]

Yes, I've been in one. I enjoyed the motivation teachings & practical work experience of how to set appointments etc. I did not enjoy being brainwashed

[@jamesjajohn3149]

They are legal in pretty much every every country, it's not really a pyramid scheme because you can overtake the person who signed you up if you are good enough. Also most businesses are pyramid shaped, most businesses have a owners and a couple directors and then a few managers and then lots of workers. I wouldn't agree it's a lot of money compared to opening a bricks and mortar shop. It's not for most people, it's requires focus and a lot of hard work over a long period of time. If you are an employee your boss or the owner is making money off of you. The main problem with mlm is that it's made to sound easy when in reality it can be hard work.

[@BeatTheBush]

Who is good enough to overtake the person who signed you up? When I say pyramid scheme, I do not mean the organizational structure as everything is organized in a pyramid such as military, corporations, government, etc. When I say pyramid scheme, I am intended to mean the ones where one level earns a direct percentage of sales of people under them. A lot of time, these schemes make money from getting people to pay a lump sum of money to join to buy the initial products they are to sell. Sometimes, the whole business makes a majority of their money from sales of products through sign ups.

[@jamesjajohn3149]

BeatTheBush . I agree with some of what you say but not all, I joined one and over took the person who sponsored me, it's fairly common for it to happen. With an illegal pyramid scheme the money goes to the top and no matter how good you are you can't over take because of the structure. It's still a hard game and it's not for most people, it took me quite some time to get any good at it, there are also a lot of bad mlm's out there.

[@ExpertCommenter1]

It's hard to do but because of the way our company is structured as well, the newest person can take over the person above them like in James case. I don't think that should be a main goal and I think most would agree with me. If it happens it happens. Just keep active and keep promoting.

[@ndosh1man]

Jamesjajohn 4

[@eccross]

Excellent point James.

[@gill4liife]

I'm part of a network marketing business... and the people at "the bottom" get paid the most, and as commissions travel upwards (max 4 levels up), the commission gets smaller and smaller

[@BeatTheBush]

Depends on how many you have recruited under you. One thing is for sure, you trade relationships for money.

[@abeness]

I got recruited back in the day when I was just a high-schooler. They tried to make me sell my PS2 + My 30+ games. Then they tried to make me call everyone I knew with a canned sales pitch. They were selling VOIP phone service, like it was going to be the next big thing. One of their top leaders was making just $60k, and was hailed as the Queen representative. Looking back, I now see how hilarious this all was.

[@BeatTheBush]

So let me get this straight. They wanted to take money from you by having you extract the value out of your video games. Despicable! I bet they pitched it saying you can be your own business owner and you will make much more than this initial fee. After you see one, you sorta see the way they all work. Hence I hope this video helps people avoid the initial trap.

[@abeness]

BeatTheBush Yes, exactly. The worst part is these MLM scams dissuade people from starting up an actual business in the future.

[@BeatTheBush]

Do you think so? I would think they realize it was all a sham and not a real business.

[@abeness]

Through my personal experience, I've noticed that some people have been discouraged from starting a business, afterwards, because they think it'll be just as hard to make money. So they stick to a 9-5.

[@BeatTheBush]

Hmmm, interesting view point. But if those who succeed tries and tries again even with failures.

[@roddreww9593]

This explaination sounds like my life back in my college days, but since I was 15 years old, I had something called a job. My current job like dozens of jobs I had befote is actually a pyramid. I am an employee and I chose to join the organization by free will. I chose to be the slave to the owner. The owner makes more money than me, but in a few mlm's, numerous recruits excel and exceed the top persons and there is no animosity. Try to research the few mlm's where the top guy encourages the way down recruit to pass him, climd higher than him. Research the few mlm's that do not require front load inventory. I was part of an mlm and I had zero inventory. Have you ever met a small neighborhood drug dealer that had zero drug inventory? The big drug dealer will deliver the product the small drug dealer has on his order list. The customers who called this small drug dealer report to his door, pay in full, and walk away with the product. Hence, no drugs sitting in storage. Small guy pays Big guy, but small guy makes profit and big guy pays bigger guy and all up the way upline to ........another country. The biggest guy in another, far away country is making profit from hundreds of thousands of clients he doesn't even know are from several countries. The biggest guy doesn't even have drug dealers in his county. He just produces it in his residence and has zero warehousing of the product. Once made it immediately is in transit to a port and shipped worldwide to fulfill orders that were called in from a cargo ship that returned to port. I joined a mlm team and I paid zero money for one year just to see their presentation. I was not scammed nor recruited forcefully, nor ENCOURAGINGLY, nor SO ARE YOU GONNA SIGN UP TONIGHT, nor HEY BUY SOMETHING, nor WE'LL GET YOU STARTED TONIGHT..... For one year, I just called my mlm friend, "Hey, are you going to Jon's meeting tonight (every Tuesday night, 7pm - 9pm )....i sat and took notes each time. I joined after one year of note taking. That's all i did at those meetings. Sometimes there were 30 people and sometimes, it was just me and 4 friends. Sometimes half the room left! Sometimes there were 60 people and for those who saw the presentstion already, they (me) had to go outside and stand and listen through the kitchen window. There were lawyers there, engineers, even DOCTORS. Even a blind guy was there. They never cheated anyone. During this time after my college years, I sat in several other mlm's and because I spent well over a year in the said house taking notes, it was EASY to sense that these other mlm's were pyramids. These other mlm's, they had only one or a half dozen similar products. The better mlm's had basic commodities like soap and laundry detergent: stuff you need to buy again like ....toilet paper. If a certain mlm did not have toilet paper, I kept my guard. The mlm where I simply attended meetings didn't just carry their mlm brand, but they had other brands you'd find in big box supermarkets. Once again, when I decided to join, I was not encouraged. My friend didn't force and NOT EVEN HINTED for me to join. He simply said, "no need to join. just be educated, informed, and keep going to the meetings with us." After year and a few months,I joined and never did anything big as an IBO. I was so lazy. I never took negatives seriously. I got about 100 prospects who said, "NO!" to my approach and meetings. I sponsored 5 people , they eventually quit, but remained customers. I made just $10 a month in profit getting toothpaste and toilet paper orders for them and families once a week on Sundays at 8pm. My order time was only 8-10pm Sundays. I lost those 5 customers after 2 years. I never saw them again. I was a Luxury Italian brand boutique manager in Honolulu, Hawaii, debt free, and had a hobby level mlm on the side that NEVER scammed me, nor forced me to have a home garage inventory. ZERO. Not even one unit of a product for potential sale was in my apartment, ever. All my friends quit because we became immersed in our J O B S which was the pyramids we chose to be under: working for the owners. We all quit that mlm, but to this day, have NO negatives nor hate to the man and his wife who shared their living room to strangers every Tuesday night and made a business presentation. I am still in a pyramid scheme: the Job. And yes, the Owner in the job situation I have now, still makes more money than me. Draw a pyramid, indicate OWNER at the top point of that pyramid and the base are all the employees and the middle are the OWNER's 'babysitters' (because workers always whine and complain) who are called THE MANAGERS. Keep in to heart, most mlm's are scams, but only a few mlm's are Upside Down Pyramids. We'll discuss that later. It's 10:00AM and like a slave, I must report to the pyramid I am employed at. I gotta go to my .......JOB.

[@BeatTheBush]

Seriously, that was too long. But I will say a good job will easily out earn an MLM position. Beware of conflict of interest because those who tell you to sign up are the ones who gains the most.

[@roddreww9593]

BeatTheBush Thank you for reading my lengthy reply. Actually, I replied this video way before I even viewed the other, numerous comments. In honesty, there are very few sincere, ethical IBO's who desire a supplemental income to the currentl bi-weekly paychecks from their employer and prefer to sponsor only a few people, but are not ambitious to move up to higher levels. Some don't even care about the bigger bonuses or fly out to an all expense paid trip to associate with the higher ups. I was that type of mlm distributor. The woman (a complete stranger I approached on campus) whom I sponsored used to be in mlm, but she wanted join again. I showed her the mlm's business plan at the library, she cut me off, asked how much to get in, and I refused to sign her up. I wanted to continue with the sales and marketing plan which I saw for 12 months and my friends refused to sign me up back then. I set up a follow up a week later and she had the money to pay for all the start up stuff. I refused. I said, "No, I just don't sign anyone immediately. Hell, you can go sign with that guy over by the candy machine. He's in the same mlm as me. I don't mind at all. Call me later and let me know if you wann go with me to Jon's weekly presentation." My friends and I took her to that house and I never signed her up till after a month. She insisted and she quit two months later. I immediately refunded her start up stuff in cash and she was puzzled. Immediately, my sponsor refunds me, and their up hill sponsor refunds them, and it goes on to the top. None of lost a cent. It still blows my mind when they say 100% refund on those start up kits. She became my customer. Just one toothpaste a month. I sold it to her at cost. I made zero profit from her. My aunt found out about my mlm and she used to buy their toothpaste, but the mlm guy moved to another state and neglected his downline. She bought toilet paper from me twice a month. I only work the phone orders on Sundays for only 2 hours. Basically, my mlm store was open once a week for two hours. If you missed it , you'd have to call next Sunday. I wanted a business that wasn't going to own me like a job. People laughed at me when I told them I made only $10 profit a month. The only ones that did not laugh were people who owned traditional brick and mortar businesses. They would not do mlm, but they saw I made profit. In 1993, I took home a monthly net income of $1,600. The old businessman said to me, "I don't care about mlm, but listen, you are working it at hobby level and you just increased your total monthy, net take-home by $10. It's not much, but it is an increase." Funny, because I was working in sales for a popular luxury retail clothing brand for women. I was a selling machine, yet in mlm, I did not make sales pitches, didn't have that charasmatic sales attitude like I had in dressing girls with my slick smiles just to reach my monthly goal, exceed that goal, and bam, get a $2,000 commission check and a seperate check for my hourly wages. I never sold mlm stuff. I just took orders like a waiter. "Hey, Rodney, I cannot believe you got suckered into that mlm! You're so stupid, You're a manager! Anyway, my Mom loved that stuff your mlm has. That all purpose cleaner. She wants to buy a case. God, so stupid you. You joined that? So call me, and let me know how much. One case for my Mom. Call me!" I never ever did selling techniques with the mlm I was in. When people found our I was in that mlm, I became their mlm bitch, but like only once or twice a month. "Call you Sunday? Call me Sunday? WHAT KIND OF BUSINESS IS OPEN ONLY SUNDAY for 2 hours! You will not make profit like that. Okay, I call you Sunday, but why?" I simply replied , ".....because we're in class right now and my mlm store is only open on Sundays. I do not do mlm full-time. I have a full-time job. I have no intention to allow mlm to occupy my life 7 days a week. Just Sunday my mlm store is open strictly for ordering. I am a slave to my job. I do not want to be a slave to my business because it would turn into a job if the order and delivery days were daily/ nightly. After making just about $10 profit a month, I did not renew in my 5th year. My sponsors quit and their sponsors quit, but we never had any negatives about the mlm we joined. We are all still friends and just never hated on mlm in general. I met rude IBO's from other mlm, but I meet rude co-workers and management personnel in numerous companies I work for. There will always be people scheming in mlm's and we find the same types of schemers in traditional businesses, church, sports teams, charitable foundations, medicine, military, and even in our jobs and yes, even relatives. I found my mlm experience wonderful because of honest, ethical people. I was in the trenches with them. I never sold a product. I just took orders.

[@M.G.R...]

*No rich person become rich joining MLM company, they create MLM company*

[@explosivemosfet1376]

Hello, i came from 5 months of research in MLM industry, reading all documentation and balances. Your video explain a situation that is really close to reality. Good work. But most of networkers, as you said, are brainwashed, so is very hard to make them understand even with data. Probably you(like me) are seen as a looser that want a common job. I m a skeptic so i like to demostrate with data(taken from balances and gov sites like FTC) but i was told that i "can t understand" and i was ignored by many mlm IBO's groups. Funny :)It Is like when you think you have more knowledge than a medic ad heal yourself with water and sugar...that are thoose pplSorry if i made any mistake. My eng is a little bit "rusty"

[@davidthosome623]

I nearly got sucked into one of these but thank goodness I told my parents and they told me what these were. I got a text from some guy out of the blue saying someone I knew had said I might be interested in a job opportunity (junior or senior in high school looking for employment at the time). I said I was and he pretty much just said $12 an hour and said it was almost a door to door sales gig but wouldn't explain what the actual job would entail. I asked my parents what to do and they found out that the company (cutco) was a mlm and that my uncle got sucked into the same thing in college. I had the interview all lined up and everything but bailed out in the end.

[@BeatTheBush]

Well.. sucks you didn't realize from watching this video. Still great your parents made you aware. =D

[@theyjustwantyourmoney4539]

I came out of MLM, I didn't make money but lost. I will never be involved in MLM or network marketing again.

[@BeatTheBush]

That is the story for most people. They will tell you that you just didn't work hard enough.

[@381MEDALLION]

I think he did a great job explaining the total BS that is network marketing!! Especially the part about selling this stuff to ur family,and how it affects those relationships

[@MikeDfromNC]

Wow, didn't expect so much misinformation in this video.

[@HP97user]

Wasted two hours of my time listening to one of these from Vector Marketing. With that company at least, they get you by disguising the information seminar as an interview and then do it in small groups so you cannot leave earlier once you realize the pyramid shape of the money flow. Such an annoying bait and switch practice.

[@BeatTheBush]

Oh, I know very well about this. Sadly, bait and switch isn't illegal so they can get away with this.

[@gambit_toys6554]

He speaks the truth. I've gone a vector marketing posted on a flyer in college. No company on the flyer. All the thumbs down are people offended because they got sucked in at one point.

[@BeatTheBush]

=D I'm used to it. All the negative comments seems to come from a bot that has the same rebuttal claims. I.e. "You don't know what you're talking about" or "Companies are pyramid schemes too" etc.

[@gambit_toys6554]

Wow. I didn't know about the bots. That's explains the 2 to 1 thumbs up down ratio vs the rest of your videos.

[@BeatTheBush]

Oh, I don't mean real bot but they sound like a robot. Where the responses are all sounding canned as if they are repeating it from the on boarding material they viewed going into the MLM.

[@ZENTCG]

I recently rescued 2 of my friends to this, we were on our way to financial independence as engineers with balanced lifestyle but.....they got hooked, was influenced to buy "inventory" they could not dispose, sell their stuff so they can "invest more for their future" and get a luxury car that made them have debt up to their eyeballs coz it is for "attracting customers". They made good money, but after I sat down with them and we computed their income there only was 20% of thousands they lost, then they ended up losing money and not gaining. Now that they are back and focused more on their investments, they never looked back.

[@BeatTheBush]

Interesting you say 'rescued' because one can get really caught up in the whole process. For any reason you give why you should not continue, there's always a very good reason to continue. From the comments you will notice about 90% agreeing and about 10% adamantly disagreeing. All I can do is put this information out there and the viewers can think for themselves.

[@assainscreed1234]

Ghouzzen cool made up story. how long did it take you to make up something like that? finacial independence from being an engineer? the percentage of that is very slim to none. Show the evidence please. Your just talking out the side of your ass.

[@ZENTCG]

brave Sure. Search salaries of software engineers in california, yep I made this up like you said 😉

[@assainscreed1234]

Ghouzzen search up salaries of network marketers.

[@assainscreed1234]

Ghouzzen you also misunderstood the term financial independence

[@SLEV7NELEV11N]

Funny.... That structure you explained sounds just like a JOB

[@RHWWFT]

The government takes a cut out of my paycheck...every week( truck driver)...so I guess the government is a MLM?

[@dannytennial5311]

No. Because the government gives you a refund if you overpay your taxes. MLM gives no refunds for working for them.

[@RHWWFT]

@@dannytennial5311 well. the government takes taxes out of my money-without my permission so i guess they are the mob then?

[@peribhaskar]

There are two Kind of people. one who get networking marketing and others who don't!!

[@BeatTheBush]

kinds*

[@theflamingprofitsshow6090]

@@BeatTheBush lol

[@nyman188891]

This is a well done video. I enjoyed it. It's true MLM takes it's toll into friendships, I have a best friend who has been sucked DEEP into one. It's honestly cool to say that I still stick with him. Being a true friend you must stick with them even if it's through moments where they are brainwashed and trying to use your relationship to help corporate douchebags money. Real friends are the ones who won't let anything get between one and another. Yeah, I hate MLM but it really is a great way to let your person know that you're a true friend by supporting them and ONLY THEM. ... If it helps others know, he eventually grew out of it. I think he started to realize he wasn't making much money at all and he calmed down about his lame ass products. Still close friends to this day!

[@BeatTheBush]

Well.. good for you. I would have to say real friends don't make you buy stuff from them. But if they ask and you refuse, it may damage some relationships if you are not true friends.

[@Penelope416]

I just went to an "event" from a company that claims that you need a financial license just to refer your warm market to financial institutions so they can start a Roth IRA. I'm not about to pay money for something that isn't required just to refer people to open up an investment account.

[@susanvelez6534]

👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼BTB, you are so right. I was taken years ago... I lost so much money. They have you go to conferences like you said benefit the permit high up. I was only 29 so I learned the hard way! :(

[@BeatTheBush]

Oh no. I'm sorry to hear that. A lot of times it's a wash. You spend a lot of time selling the inventory you bought and you barely break even. If you're good maybe you'll make minimum wage.

[@LarryCleveland]

Truth likely is you didn't get support and you didn't know how hard of a business it is. IT IS HARD and people don't like hard. It's not for everyone but it can work if people work. You have to also pick the right company and get support and be supportable (coachable) That's what the biggest fault in the industry is I see is lack of support once people get in and lack of willingness by those who get in to be coached.

[@williamvetoulis6212]

There is a definition for pyramid schemes. Nothing of which you explained. Keep up the good wotk.

[@BeatTheBush]

Thanks!

[@josefontes5679]

do you need some info about network marketing or you going to continue to post crap?

[@MightybeanKC]

I'm all for educating the public, but you need to be informed yourself first. Jumping on the bandwagon of misinformation does more harm then good. The very definition of a pyramid scheme is the "promise of payment or services for enrolling others into the scheme, rather than actually supplying products or services." The key there is the promise, but not actually delivery of anything. So pyramid schemes are illegal because they take peoples money without delivering anything for that payment, they promise something but never deliver anything. With MLM's, recruitment of other sales people is part of it, but they are selling a product. Whether it is makeup, skincare, cleaning, what have you, they still provide the product to people who buy and to people who join the MLM. That doesn't make them illegal because the customer pays for something, and the company provides the product and or services. Not a scam. Doesn't mean that finding success through an MLM is easy. You do make more when you recruit others to sell the product. However, every customer is still getting the product for their money. Many of the customers like the product and use the product. MLMs aren't for everyone. It's not a preferred method of making money for many people. It's a difficult industry and most people quit within 60 days. You're not going to be successful at anything in less than 60 days. But to say they are a scam is not just misinformation its defaming a legal corporate sales strategy. You don't have to like it, don't have to agree with it. But you don't get to defame it or spread lies about it just because you want views on your youtube channel.

[@alexan2930]

Trying to make money of family, friends, co-workers just crosses the line. I bailed almost immediately because of that.

[@BeatTheBush]

Maybe the smart ones will not bother friends and family and go with strangers.

[@noelsutter4818]

well explained! I most liked the part, where you showed up the ammount of fawors. that's a major point, which all the "MLM inhabitants" don't see at first. thumbs up! :)

[@BeatTheBush]

=D

[@carlosbarrientos594]

I actually walked out on one of this schemes .

[@BeatTheBush]

Good choice.