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Originally Posted by lookout123
while catching up on this thread i just had the realization that my wife is involved in what many would consider to be an MLM.
She is a distributor for Juice Plus. It has an organizational structure that would qualify it to be MLM, but there are no start up costs. These are basically vitamins (although classified as a whole food) that my wife put the family on. her sisters and various others started using the products at her recommendation and loved them. my wife realized that if she signed on as a distributor and sold only to the people who were already taking the product she makes an extra $250/month, give or take. there were no start up costs, no pressure to sign up new distributors, but there is incentive. her sister in illinois decided to sign on as a distributor. my wife gets paid for everyone her sister sells to.
intellectually i know this is MLM, but i haven't seen any of the negative elements of the classic schemes, so i'm ok with this. the lady who got her into this makes $60-70K/year just selling the product and wants my wife to do the same. we definitely won't go that route, because A) her business does better than that, B) my wife doesn't want to be a professional salesperson. so, now i am torn. should i feel slimy because i have MLM in my own family, or is this one ok? i need help people. can i show my face in public?
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Sure, show your face. I show mine. MrsV does the same for some products she is a consumer of, and distributor for, candles, for example. Sounds like you're smart enough to try to reduce your expenses by moving closer to the wholesale side of the equation, we did too. No harm no foul.
The MLMs are just a business model, and as your story clearly illustrates, it is not the business model that is bad, but the way some people use it. Sure there are variations in which one is better or worse, but much more power is in the hands of the people involved. Like your wife, she used her power to invovle herself, and a couple of others in a model that is reasonable and makes sense for her and those around her. The models that are more evil, high startup costs, minimal support, etc, she's avoided.
So, really, it's about the people. Professional salespeople are NOT evil, they perform valuable necessary services all the time, all over the place.
So show your face. And when the un-professional sales fleas descend on you bearing their get-rich-quick plague, show them your face, too. Then show them the door.