MLM? Bluergh

 

 

MLM is starting to be like the other oldest occupation in the world. Why? Because regardless of its form, the reasons ' Why you should take part in an MLM?' are still the same.

 

I encountered the scheme long ago, during my university days (somehow that part of my life seemed to be  in 1800s). And I was genuinely surprised to know that their mantra is still the same.

 

1. They will scare the hell out of you with speculation. Like ' You cannot be sure that you will continue being in employment for the next five years.'

 

Hello…of course nobody can be sure what will happen in the next five years. For example, the business cycle is between 5-8 years (sometimes ten) meaning that usually, there will be some disruption to the economy. That is why we have recession all the time.

 

Of course no one can guarantee what will happen. Even strong banks can fall; the easiest example would be Lehman Brothers. And these over-confident MLMers will keep saying' we can secure you with a sure future bla bla bla (feel free to puke here) when in reality, the system is just waiting to collapse. It will collapse at certain point because the market will be saturated eventually.

Anyways, nobody can tell what is going to happen in the next five minutes.

 

2. ' We will help you generate income. HUGE income'

Ya right. The bigger your target, the more zeroes you will have to add to the check that you are about to hand it to your upline. Trust me. I see this a lot. Years, after I forgot it ever happened, the same thing happens again and again.

 

Imagine pouring RM 10k for a RM 360 profit? Any warning bells ringing in your ears? Come on, you don't need a calculator to see this is a loss-making business.

 

3. ' What you need is money, not education'

Of all the reasons that these so-called rich people give, I find thing truly irritating; we do not need education. Students must hand over their money to MLM businesses to get more money because that is what we need. Not qualifications.

 

I think this is just a bit too cruel. Albeit the fact that Bill Gates did not earn a degree, he was a Harvard dropout. That, my friend, carries weight. But imagine if I drop out from MMU, do you think people would want to look at my qualification?

 

Any anyways, there's only one Bill Gates in the world. That shows that becoming another him is not easy-peasy.

 

A qualification is like a key. You may not become what you want to be but at least you have a choice. You did not become an engineer when you studied Mechanical Engineering but at least you have a choice. Without a degree or any qualifications, do you honestly think that you can make a choice?

 

Remember the saying ' Beggars cannot be choosers.'

 

4. Money is the most important thing.

Really? Think again. Would you rather lose your family and friends because of MLM?

 

5. ' The price is higher because we share the profits among us and so on and so forth'

Earlier, when you first started your ' business', they said that they cut the middle-man, packaging and etc. But how come the product price has gone higher? An easy example is those 'magnetic accessories', which name I would not say haha. Well, do I need to elaborate?

 

6. ' 9 out of 10 ways to earn a living is through business'

When they start using this excuse, demand to see their zakat slips, including zakat fitrah. Failure to do so might be a huge give away that these people are just fakers. And I am not responsible if anyone changes the spelling of the last word in the previous sentence.

 

I bet that they use at least one of these excuses. I'm not saying that working is the best solution; you can always start your own business but please, be realistic. There's nothing easy about accumulating wealth. We all have to work for it.

 

Regardless of whether you want to start your own business or investing, patience is the key. Remember, Rome was not built in one day. And I am sad that a lot of Malays (especially), fall into this trap. We get mad when people say we are lazy but our excitement over these stuff just proves the stereotyping to be right.

 

So I leave you with a simple physics formula

 

Work = Time x Distance. If you are not doing this, then you are probably not working. Even guards walks here and there a few times a day.