Multi-level marketing? Really?

[Complete_newbie]

Bingo.

actually if people want to think about this/help me think about it, what attracted ads/traffic there? food for thought and I bet the root of this will answer why there is proliferation of physician centric blogs (proof in the pudding I.e. Ad $$) like hey I can post about physician life and stuff, come advertise to my small but physician traffic. I bet businesses would.

[LizOB]

Anyone who posts that crap on facebook gets an automatic unfollow from me

[childay]

Amazing how much peer-pressure can influence people.  Choose your peers carefully.

[ambesima]

Im not a fan. Probability of the average person being successfully is low. I always have friends to to introduce me to a "wonderful opportunity".

[chrisCD]

I'll have to read the announcement regarding PIMD and MLMs.  I am not a fan.  They usually require high monthly spends, products are usually overpriced, and yes, you usually start by alienating friends and family.  Most people lose money and don't make $.  It is a sales job.  You have to be comfortable with sales.

That being said I did find relief for my throat with a certain essential oil mix and another one does a pretty good job on sore muscles.  But, if it weren't for the mix, I wouldn't have gotten the oil through them as you can find the underlying components much less expensively.

The one product that I was super excited about was actually an energy drink.  It was only semi-overpriced.  But, I did not get involved.

I was in Amway for quite some time and one other one.  Besides the products, there was  a lot of pressure to purchase the training products and/or go to the seminars.  Often, those that can least afford such are the ones targeted with the dreams of becoming FI and being able to RE.

 

cd :O)

[Hatton]

My cousin was indicted for mail fraud in a MLM scheme.  Beware.

[CordMcNally]

I'm not a fan of MLM schemes. I don't hold it against people if they're looking to make some extra money. To be honest, most of us hustle to make extra money. However, making extra money for me doesn't involve bothering my family and friends and trying to pressure them into buying something they likely don't need.

Social media has gotten even more annoying with everyone using that platform to promote their products and that they're a Level 50 Consultant or whatever fictitious levels have been created. I normally defriend/unfollow those who get too excessive with it. I feel like it's the online equivalent of me not going to or walking out of a brick and mortar store.

 

 

[janettebournes]

DMFA wrote:

Rose Boy wrote:

Zaphod, this is in response to the post introducing Passive Income M.D. I read through the post, and nearly did a spit-take when it mentioned he (and/or his wife) are into MLM.   I’m obviuosly not a fan of MLM schemes, but get really worried when they are incorpoated into a physician’s practice. I guess I will interested to see what PIMD has to say about it. 

Click to expand…

I admit I did one of these, too:

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I'm glad to see I'm not the only one.

I've also had to de-friend multiple people (both via social media and in person) thanks to MLM (wine services and Rodan & Fields seem to be quite popular around my neck of the woods)

As mentioned in another post, we had a couple of mid-levels and nurses that our practice had to let go since they could not control the urge to include our patients in their obnoxious R&F schemes. (Really? Peddling cosmeceuticals during patient visits after hospital administration has already asked them to stop? I'm glad they'll have plenty of time to work on their "empowering, liberating, enriching side business")

[ticker]

MLM is poison for two reasons.

The first is in the seller-client relationship: MLM commodifies friendship.  It contorts friends into clients, and that kills the essence of what friendship is.  My wife was recently excited to see an old friend send a facebook friend request.  The MLM pitch came later the same day.  My wife was legitimately hurt by the "I see what I am to you" realization, and the old friendship is, in her mind, now totally dead.

The second is in the seller-recruiting-other-sellers relationship: The majority of people selling a product in these pyramid models HAVE to lose money.  The mathematical model employed ensures that most participants have to end up negative so that those at the top can be dramatically positive. Multiple pieces of economics research have shown that the outcome cannot be otherwise.  So, the only way to make money is to sacrifice sufficient numbers of your friends beneath you in the pyramid that you can earn profits on their losses.

So, when I read, "Hey, you should try out this great R&F Reverse cream!" I just mentally substitute, "Hey, I was wondering if you'd like to slowly and expensively dissolve our friendship."

[GoBlueMD]

From what I've seen on PIMD's posting, PIMD's spouse (and himself), have replaced a substantial amount of the spouse's physician income. Allows her to do more activities with their kids etc. If they are doing this without alienating any friends and maintaining relationships (I have my doubts), then that's great.  I don't think there was an article detailing what MLM product they are slinging and their strategy, please post if indeed there. I would personally never get involved and have basically barred my spouse from doing so. We make too much money to be bugging friends to buy overpriced stuff they don't need and I'm just a fellow.

I will say there the site is a net positive. Many doctors, including myself, probably don't know how many options they have in passive investing (not MLM). The site presents a ton of ideas and general descriptions on an introductory level. Lots of marketing mixed in the site, probably on the excessive side by magnitudes.  However, I have not seen one site, including this one, try to educate the masses and not make money at the same time.

[Donnie]

As WCI mentioned, MLM’s can be effective business models where some kind of home demonstration is necessary, e.g. kitchen products, makeup, etc.

MLMs selling nutraceuticals, supplements, etc. are typically scams because legitimate products would not be sold through that channel at those prices. For example, orange juice is sold through supermarkets at $5/gallon, but goji juice blend may sold as a “superfood” through MLMs at $500/gallon. You won’t see supermarkets selling $500/gallon goji juice blends because there isn’t any actual demand for these products at that price. If the goji blend had some “super” nutritional ability, the manufacturers would prove the efficacy of the juice and sell it through normal channels at market prices.

MLMs create demand by incentivizing their agents to buy product and hoard product in the agents’ garages so that the agents can stay in the program. The products typically have limited sell through to actual consumers. The agents recruit other agents to do the same, hence the association with the pyramid scheme because there is no actual consumer of the product or intrinsic demand.

If really high prices are associated with the product compared to comparable products in a store, you can be pretty sure the MLM does not have a sustainable business model and is likely a pyramid-type scheme.

[ITEngineer]

GoBlueMD wrote:

I don’t think there was an article detailing what MLM product they are slinging and their strategy, please post if indeed there. I would personally never get involved and have basically barred my spouse from doing so. We make too much money to be bugging friends to buy overpriced stuff they don’t need and I’m just a fellow.

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In this article they say "This particular company was founded by physicians, so in some small way, I felt a little more at ease." so I assume she sells for Rodan & Fields. I'm sure many who bought WL/UL could say something similar about NWM sales people "they only sell to Doctors".......

I hate sending them more foot traffic for their blog though. It seems wrong. PoF left some pretty direct comments on this page which are a fun read.

[jfoxcpacfp]

ticker wrote:

The second is in the seller-recruiting-other-sellers relationship: The majority of people selling a product in these pyramid models HAVE to lose money.

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You're correct - we've been doing those tax returns for years. There is typically a very high mileage deduction because every trip to the grocery is an opportunity for a sale or recruitment.

[ITEngineer]

ticker wrote:

So, when I read, “Hey, you should try out this great R&F Reverse cream!” I just mentally substitute, “Hey, I was wondering if you’d like to slowly and expensively dissolve our friendship.”

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You left off the "....dissolve our friendship so I can get a Lexus" part  

[ajagannathan]

I about spit out my coffee when I read that as well.  Had a locums guy we hired a couple years back who would frequently and casually mention his sister's NuSkin business every chance he got...needless to say, we ousted him as soon as possible.  MLM is just so...ugh.