From: ecrjbruce@economics.adelaide.edu.au
Newsgroups: misc.entrepreneurs
Subject: Re: MLMs=Entreprenuers?
Date: 9 Sep 92 09:38:24 GMT
Organization: Economics, University of Adelaide
NNTP-Posting-Host: eco.economics.adelaide.edu.au

In article <1992Sep8.115806.18409@hellgate.utah.edu>, llarsen%peruvian.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Loren Larsen) writes:
> In article <1992Sep8.145548.25296@lmpsbbs.comm.mot.com> ogden_jon@macmail1.rtsg.mot.com writes:

> 
> I'm going to try to summarize for all you bullish MLMers why you annoy everyone
> so much.  On the outside, people involved in MLM appear to be having this
> religious kind of experience.  It's like a conversion.  Have you ever known
> someone who has just been "saved" and they run around telling everyone they can
> find how they just have to find God or they will suffer terribly?  People in
> an MLM almost seem like they have been brainwashed and joined a cult.  am I
> saying the MLMs are cults?  No, of course not, but there are some common 
> elements.  I've been recruited by MLMers before and they always have these
> great stories to tell of how "so and so just spoke at our last meeting and
> they make $1 million every year and they don't even have to work any more."
> How many times have we heard that?  Most people I know who are in MLMs are
> really gung ho about it for a couple months and then once they find out that
> their hard sell sales pitches have lost them all their friends and now that
> they have quit their job and they have less income than they did before they
> have a big time reality check.

OK lets take this paragraph first.  Yes you usually here about the big earners,
that's only natural.  Whena life agent talks to you does he discuss the funds
that came in at the bottom? No, he shows what he CAN POSSIBLY achieve.  This is
the way life is my friend, we all market the best possabilities, MLM or
otherwise.

More importantly anyone who quits their job before making a success of their
MLM is not using one of the big advantage of MLM's.  Namely that you can
operate them in spare time.  You don't have to quit your job, unlike when you
start a regular business.  Whether you lose friends or not depends on how you
approach the business, most of my friends chose not to but respected my right
to try and make money.  I respected their right to make a choice.  At least it
was an informed choice.  They are still my friends and we still go out
together.  They often ask how things are going, and wonder why I do it, but
they do not reject me because of it.  You seem to apply a certain stereotype to
all MLMers.  WRONG! not everyone operates the same way.

> 
> The truth is very very few people strike it ruch in MLMs.  The majority of
> people I know hate the idea and are flee MLMs with more vigor than Jehovas
> Witnesses.  Most people I know in MLMs are extrelemly naive and easily 
> persuaded to jump on bandwagons too.  Of course I'm generalizing, but in MY
> experience this is 100% true without exception.

OK at least you qualify it with "in my experience", unlike our friend Aryeh
Friedman who speaks for the whole world without consulting us.  I don't jump
onto bandwagons.  I demonstrated against the Tianenmen square massacre and when
the govt. here wanted to introduce identity cards.  I believe in responsible
enviro policies, which the greenies do not.  I take what I consider to be
informeds decisions about events in my life.

> 
> Go ahead flame away as I'm sure you will.  Of course that will just reinforce
> the image I've portrayed of MLMers, but I'm sure that won't stop anyone. 

OOOHH  goodie, sarcasm.  None of this is flame but I'm sure that you will take
it as such. Maybe that will just reinforce everyones attitudes about people who
hate something and refuse to accept that others may find some merit init?


> The last question is this, is MLM a form of entrepreneurship?  Yeah, it 
> is a special case of entrepreneurship, one that requires little creativity 
> and no original development of a product or service, but it does involve
> risk.  Okay I'll grant that is is A form of entrepreneurship.  For that
> reason, there has been a SPECIAL newsgroup created just for it.  So go use it
> and DON'T crosspost.  Maybe we should rename this group 
> misc.entrepreneurs.not.mlm

Separate group, good idea.

What do you do for a living thatneeds such creativity and original development? 
You seem to think it's so easy, why not go out and makes a few million just to
prove how easy it really is for us MLMers?

regs


Rob