What Ever Happened to Just Having a Party?

[chite]

This is part of my continuing tirade against Mary Kay. Only, this time, it's a little different. It's pretty much about most of the home based MLM businesses out there

Comments

[xo_kizzy_xo]

:nodding: The sister of a RL friend stopped selling Lia Sophia jewelery because she, I believe, hit everything you did, although I'm not sure of the intensity.

I have another RL friend who just started with a MLM. She's so enthusiastic that I don't have the heart to even begin to tell her any of this...

[chite]

kizzy, send her to Pink Truth, or let her read these. She might say "well this is different from Mary Kay" but it really isn't. All of my posts about MK are public so share away!

when a friend of mine started a Tastefully Simple business, she kept asking me to have a party, and I finally told her about inviting 75 people to get 4, and I also told her that I had used up all of my friend party karma on Mary Kay. That really sunk in with her.

True words

[wherdafux_d_cat]

This needs to be printed/published somewhere with nation-wide readership.

Re: True words

[chite]

Thank you! You're so sweet.

[imafarmgirl]

Well said. The only parties I've gone to were with my mother but we never could afford to buy enough to make people happy.

As an adult I don't have a lot of friends so don't get invited to these things, but if I did I wouldn't want to go.

[xalolo]

The most ridiculous part, of course, is that your friends buy things to support your business. But they're not supporting you at all, because it's essentially impossible to profit on MLMs. So essentially, we're all just throwing parties saying "Hey! Lets give some money to a company!"

[chite]

Yes, I was just telling a friend of mine that I find it so awful when people do the pity purchase to help their friend get started. All it serves to do is get them started in a business that can end up putting them on a hamster wheel for years, or end up losing a lot of money.

The only people who profit from MLM sales are the owners of the corporation, and perhaps a very tiny percentage of people at the very top of the pyramid.

[mickeysacks]

I'm always amazed and grateful when my friends buy jewelry that I've made... But I've never tried to market to them directly mostly for fear of being that girl... I was even a little leery of trying to get people to "like" my business page on facebook. Of course, it helps a lot that I have no intention or need of ever using my jewelry design stuff as a money making enterprise. It just feeds my bead habit (I sell stuff so I can buy more beads so I can make more stuff... maybe that's a different kind of problem :)

And at least I don't have the corporate overhead stuff (so when I do sell something the only people profiting other than me are the craft stores where I shop.)