Those of you who know me at all or have spent any time around the studio, know that I without a doubt have never and will never change on a few of the “staples” do’s and don’ts of Professionalism as well as the Health & Fitness industry. Such as:
· Never, ever, ever, practice out of your Professional expertise
o Never get surgery in Costa Rica from a blind surgeon of whom says he read about how to do it in a book (duh, he’s blind LOL)
o Similarly, never get products that go in your body (aka Nutritional products) from someone who has zero Professional training or formal education in doing so.
· Never train with a “Personal Trainer” who says they don’t need a piece of paper to validate their “expertise.” Yes, you actually do. Otherwise Joe Blow the crack dealer can wake up tomorrow & decide to be your trainer. (duh, he’s skin & bones because he’s on crack!)
That being said, I’m sure it isn’t only me that has noticed a few huge fads in the past few (or more) years with two big factors coming into play that are stealing your money & leaving you with jack crap:
1. The increased obesity epidemic in America, and people becoming more self-conscious about their body image.
2. The loss of jobs all over the U.S. & thus, the increase in Entrepreneurship & Work-At-Home or “be your own boss” jobs.
What do the two factors above leave you with? I’ll tell you: A bunch of multi-level marketing (MLM) ridiculous “nutritional product/supplement” companies, otherwise known as leaches by some or hound dogs by others.
Why leeches? Leeches are known for being ambush predators which lie in wait and strike their prey using their nose in a spear-like fashion. Similarly these MLM nutrition companies sit and wait for you to run across some unqualified person living in your area of whom can come give you a bunch of empty promises and leave you with a smoking wallet with a hole in it.
Why hound dogs? A hound is a type of dog that assists hunters by tracking or chasing the animal being hunted. In the same way, these MLM nutrition companies post these same ads via social media like Facebook & Twitter, show up in the same places “conveniently” with a “convenient” bag full of flyers and a bunch of mumbo jumbo that can get you in for the low price of (Insert budget-draining # here) .
You see the ads all the time: "Make millions now, no manager" or "Work on your own, start $12,000 per week." Maybe you saw the ad in the paper, or maybe you received it in an unwanted e-mail.
Before I dive too far into the dirt & trash of it all (which is what MLM Nutritional Companies are at the core), let’s take a look at what they are.
MLM: Once Legitimate, Now a Scam
Today, and especially with the growth of the internet & self-employed entrepreneurs, it is possible for consumers to get just about whatever they want at a competitive price. There is simply no real need for distribution "systems" as there once was, and indeed the focus of all the programs is not on the products they sell (which are usually either bogus or are available somewhere else to the public at the same or lesser prices). Instead, the focus now is solely on recruiting new people to either buy into the program or else to buy products that are grossly overpriced (i.e., a $5 bottle of "energy boost/joint healing" for $26), with the idea that those people will recruit additional people who will also buy into the program or themselves buy the grossly overpriced products.
Thus, today just about ALL of the multi-level marketing nutrition programs are scams. In today's internet & work-at-home economy, there is simply no need for multi-level marketing or the overpriced products that they sell -- meaning that the only thing they are selling are memberships in anticipation that future memberships will be sold in the future, which is the classic definition of a pyramid scheme, and thus securities fraud.
Because products are available over the internet to everybody at lower costs than ever before, claims that "Multi-Level Marketing will take over the World!" are completely bogus. Indeed, the fact that no MLM schemes sell significant product to anybody other than the people who bought into the programs is proof positive that MLM is a dinosaur in today's economy, and exists only by defrauding people to buy memberships in anticipation of being able to make a profit defrauding other people into the program.
Indeed, many of these programs have been broken up for securities fraud and the people in them now have criminal records, & have likely left previous companies where they were caught & have proceeded to start a “new company” with a “new vision” and essentially steal the hard-earned money from the same families they did before. So, save your money, time & anger---avoid MLM schemes.
Buying Into the Programs
So you are being recruited to “join the ___day challenge,” their next goal is to get you "hired" to sell the same products before you figure out they are crap? This is a sure sign that it is a scam. If the product is worth the paper they printed the cheesy ads or fake studies on, the company will make its money selling the product. No program that requires you to buy into the program is real, meaning that all our scams. This isn’t just my opinion, it’s well documented all over, so feel free to research their business history via .org sites. If you have to buy into the program, forget it! It is not a real program.Sales Material
Often MLM scams have sub-scams within the main scam of buying distributorships. One of these scams is the purchasing of advertising materials. Think about it: A company wants you to sell their product but they want you to pay for the advertising materials? Especially with the huge profit margins that the top guy makes with these programs, they should at least pay for your brochures and marketing. If a company requires you to pay for advertising or marketing materials, it is a sure sign that it is a scam. The very worst programs will even require you to buy the "samples" of the product that you have paid to be able to sell! They might even go as far as to require you to buy into different levels of programs for different prices, that come with different benefits. This way, if you (when you) fail to create residual income for any period of time, they can blame it on you not choosing their “premium package” that was twice as expensive for entry as the program you chose.Training Seminars
A scam-within-the-scam is the "training seminars" offered (sometimes required) by the Nutrition MLM programs. These "training seminars" offer little training, but are mostly rah-rah seminars to boost enthusiasm and to make big bucks for the promoters. We have often seen people encouraged to take out thousands of dollars in credit card debt to go to these seminars, with the promise that they will make so much selling the MLM program that they will quickly pay back the credit card debt (this is almost never true). These training seminars can cost thousands although the company ought to be paying you to attend and learn how to sell its product. No company which requires you to pay for your own training seminar is a real program. But you also have to be leery of the companies that tell you they give you the “all expense paid” just to come check it out. Just like your good ole momma’ told you: “if it seems to good to be true, it probably is & somebody take you as a fool.” The Drop Out Rate
The "Drop Out Rate" of MLM programs is colossal: 98% will drop out immediately, meaning that only 2% will continue with the program over any long period of time. The promoters will tell this 2% that they are the "successful" ones , meaning that they have become "successful" scamming other people (who will probably spend their money and then drop out, possibly a big personal loss to them but a profit to the promoters). The Promoters know the Drop Out Rate, and know that by far most people will buy in, but then never sell anything and quit, which is one of the reasons why nutrition MLM programs are basically a legal maneuver to a criminal scheme.The promoters also tell those who stay in that they are the "well-motivated and lucky ones". This is 100% false. The people who never sold anything and dropped out are the lucky ones, since they will not be liable for securities fraud or any of the related criminal penalties that goes with promoting somebody else into the program. It is the people who stay in the program who are risking some prison time and a felony conviction for selling an unregistered security.
One of the biggest problems of Nutrition MLMs is that they are marketed to people who are down-and-out and desperate, be it financially or in health/weight, and who can ill-afford to lose their money by purchasing memberships in these bogus programs.
You Gotta Believe!
Promoters tell prospective distributors of these nutritional schemes that to be successful "you got to believe" in the program. This is part of a brainwashing/programming effort to lead you to believe that you will fall into that (falsely) "successful" 2% if you believe in the program and the products that it sells. Thus, active distributors will defend to great lengths their program and their products, to the point of slandering naysayers, spamming "negative" or competing sites with e-mail to shut them down, threats of physical harassment, etc., not to mention often buying the products themselves in substantial quantity.But the proof is in the pudding. It is an interesting phenomena of Nutritional MLM that the hardcore and brainwashed distributors who defend the products the hardest, almost always quit using those "great products" completely when they move on to the next program! They start with Amway, move on to Shakelee, but Herbalife offered a better package, but then the patch was easier to sell, but then …And believe me, the list goes on and on, with the same old story.
The point of this is that the 2% of "successful" distributors have usually been brainwashed and programmed so that they really believe the junk they are saying about the junk they are selling. But that doesn't make it any less junk, and doesn’t change the fact that they have no problem at all ripping off their neighbor, friends, fellow PTA members, and others that are gullible enough to fall for their rehearsed crap and keep them living their current lifestyle.
Building that Downline
The promise of MLM is that if you are "successful" (in defrauding others) that you will create this big "downline", i.e., multiple layers of sellers under you, which will quickly lead you to riches and allow you to retire forever with a never-ending stream of six, seven or eight-figure revenue.This promise is totally fraudulent, for at the very least- the following reasons:
1. As discussed above, the 98% drop-out rate means that you probably will never build a significant downline.
2. None of these programs last very long (Amway seems to be the sole exception, but nevertheless still not flawless), meaning that as soon as the program croaks your revenue stops.
3. The odds of anybody in your downline making any money are incredibly small (smaller than yours!), meaning that they will probably "drop out" and be mad at you for getting them into a program where they lost your money
1. The upshot being that these people will certainly not follow you to your next program (which will be necessary when your existing program finally collapses), meaning that you will have to build a completely new downline with every new program!
For all these reasons, your chances of long-term residual income with Nutritional MLMs = zero. Even if you are “successful,” the best you can hope for is a lot of hard work defrauding others to build your downline, some short-term profits until your program collapses or is shut down, and then a lot more hard work defrauding even more people into your next program, and so forth and so on until you get sick of it and drop out of MLM completely.Buying Your Own Products
To the extent MLM programs sell any product, it is usually purchased by people who -- frustrated by their ability to build a downline and pressured by their recruiters -- will themselves buy mass quantities of the nutritional (or other) product as an attempted badge of "success". Thus, newbies on the lowest levels will max out their credit cards and buy lots of worthless product themselves in a vain attempt to move on to the next level. Usually, this works only if there is a "buy in" to the next level (more $$$ for the promoters of course) but never means success to the poor sucker buying the products, although he or she will end up with a closet full of vitamins, nasty shakes, weight loss lip gloss or whatever, and usually a lot of credit card debt too.Fake It 'Til You Make It
Buying your own products is just one aspect of the Nutritional MLM method of "Fake It 'Til You Make It", meaning that even if you are having zero success, you should act like you are very successful and have already made the big time. Many programs will tell people to start living a high lifestyle (on their own credit cards, of course), go lease a new BMW, etc., so that people will believe that you are successful and they will then want to be in the program too.The problem of course is that only a small percentage ends up being halfway successful in Nutritional or any other MLM, and these only for the short time until their program collapses. Their debts and BMW leases, however, are long term and require monthly payments to maintain. I’ve personally spoken with a few people who were encouraged by promoters to lease expensive cars, and then were forced to actually live in those cars because they couldn't make the rent (and of course the cars were eventually repossessed from them too, leaving them near homeless without the care of friends/family).
Additionally, the "Fake It 'Til You Make It" is just more fraud on the people you are trying to bring in. Acting like you are making the big bucks when you are not is blatantly dishonest, but all part of the Nutritional MLM scheme of cheating people.
Fending Off Criticisms
You may see your program mentioned in an unfavorable light, such as on 60 Minutes or 20/20 or some other investigative news program. The promoters will tell you something like "their job is to bring down good companies," complete bull! Their job is to point out scams, and if your program has been featured on one of these program you can pretty much be sure it is one (if it is an Nutritional MLM program it is a 99% chance it is a scam whether it is featured on these programs or not).Survival Mode
After you have made big investments into the MLM program (or maybe several), are strung out on your credit cards, and the program isn't working out, then you will go into what is called "survival mode", where you finally give up the (false) dream of big riches with Nutritional MLM and start trying to figure out how to hold off your credit card companies while getting back to a normal lifestyle.Refunds
The worst programs will promise you some sort of refund if it all doesn't work out. These are the worst programs because the refund programs are usually contingent on this-or-that, require long forms and long waits, often the refund is only 30% or so of what you spent, and usually the refunds are illusory (meaning that the company will never pay out the refund to you). The Nutritional MLM programs which offer refunds do this to create the illusion that there is "no risk" to you, and this is a 100% fraud because as discussed, you odds of actually getting your money back is infinitesimally small.At least the companies which don't offer refunds tell you this up front so that you are not suckered into believing this nonsense.
Nutritional MLM Companies In Your Own Backyard!
What is surprising & rather shocking is the number of Fitness Professionals, especially Travis County/Wilco, who have embraced MLM Nutrition Companies and incorporated it into their practices as a Personal Trainer or Group Fitness Instructor. It is so sad that they are tarnishing not only their own image and reputation but the public's perception of Fitness Professionals/Personal Trainers in general! I make this statement based upon the following considerations which I believe many Fit Pros/Personal Trainers have overlooked.
First, there should NEVER be a time when your client sees you as "trying to flog something", regardless of what it may be. Rather, the client should always think of you as someone who is there to help him or her get results in health, fitness, & nutrition through natural methods of life balance & physical fitness. Sorry to be corny & rather “text-book,” but it is true.
When you recruit your clients as Nutritional MLM distributors, you destroy both your credibility and professionalism, not to mention the same of those in the same industry trying to do things the right way & teach their clients the right way in a feasible manner, not with $100/day bottles of monkey urine. You force your client to wonder: "is my Personal Trainer prescribing this nutritional product because it will benefit me or because it will enhance his monetary position?"
In most Nutritional MLM advertising, the nutritional products appear to be incidental to building wealth! Look at a typical Nutritional MLM ad and what do you see? Photographs of happy families standing in front of exotic and expensive automobiles and mansions. Is it an ad promoting nutrition or urging you to subscribe to "lifestyles of the rich and famous"?
Is this the public image that Fitness Professionals wish to project concerning the use of nutritional therapy in their practice?
Secondly, the passage of the Dietary Supplement Health & Education Act in 1994 placed the burden of proof on the FDA to show that a dietary substance was harmful. Since that time the FDA has been diligently searching for examples of nutritional misuse and abuse. Unfortunately, the FDA doesn't have far to look for nutritional abuse!
In my right hand I hold a bottle of "invigorating monkey urine" distributed by a large, well-known Nutritional MLM company. The "tonic monkey urine" consists of approximately 40% alcohol by volume with 6 simple sugars dissolved in it. "This invigorating monkey urine tonic will relieve the symptoms of fatigue and lethargy and pick you up" the literature touts. I bet! Of course, so will a teaspoon of honey in a shot of Jack Daniels. Let us pray, Mr. Personal Trainer, that one of your down-line distributors does not sell this product to a diabetic relative as this monkey urine tonic carries no label warnings of any kind.
In my left hand I hold a bottle of diet capsules from another MLM nutrition company. "Lose weight fast while feeling good" the literature states. This stunning product contains pure powered ephedrine, plus 2 herbals noted for having a higher caffeine content than coffee beans and, for good measure, phenylpropanolamine - a chemical compound closely related to amphetamine. Your obese patients will definitely lose weight with this product provided their hearts don't pound out of their chest first!
Originally when I began writing this blog post I had complete intentions of listing the best (there are few good at all) and worst Nutritional (Health & Wellness too) MLM companies. However, to be completely honest I decided to remain Professional avoid “bashing” these companies and their work ants sent out to suck all the contents out of your wallet. Why? Because to be quite honest it wouldn’t be very Professional or respectful, nor would it go over well with some of my friends and business colleagues of whom have recently begun dabbling in the art of manipulation and thieving (otherwise known as Nutritional MLM Companies). Therefore, I will give you the above info which is readily available all over the web as well as long as you look for it and do your homework before making decisions, then rely on you to make your own educated and informed choice.
Most people never get rich by chasing after wealth, but rather by pursuing that which they truly believe. A wise old man once said, "The golden age only comes to men when they have forgotten gold". There is no such thing as a magic pill & our bodies weren't designed to be getting our nutrition from a shake 4x/day and 2 hard to swallow bars a day. You can lose weight much faster, build long and lean muscle, look great, while spending much less and eating naturally. Ask us how HERE.
Until next time!
Keep it Fit,
Fitness Mastermind, LLC
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