From my experience growing up in the JWs there were two big recurring themes when it came to making money:
1 - window washing or other janitorial work
2 - cheezy "get rich quick" schemes and other cult-like sales practices
I've seen Mary Kay, Herbalife, Usana, demonstration vacuum sales, multi-level marketing schemes, you name it.
These types of thing seem to appeal to JWs because there is no education prerequisite, there is a big carrot dangled at the end of a stick that is always achievable "if you just put some effort into it" and they tend to have very cult-like practices (conventions, in-house literature, pump-you-up sales meetings, love-bombing, etc) that are familiar to witnesses. Conversely, the people selling these schemes love JWs because they come with a built-in trusting social network.
My parents were involved in a number of these and even I got sucked into the false excitement a few times.
I'm not saying every JW is susceptible to this, as there are a lot of honest hard-working people in there, but the atmosphere was favorable to these schemes.
get rich quick schemes, multilevel marketing, pyramid schemes and JWs
by marmot 45 Replies latest watchtower scandals
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marmot
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bite me
Is this still a practice and taught today?
That is sad if it still is, making people believe that window washing will get them far in life. Okay so maybe it makes money, but what about their education? If they are busy all day washing windows do they have time for anything else?
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wanderlustguy
The conditioning for this is a side effect of the "ultimate get rich quick scheme", eternal life on a paradise. Perfect victims.
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ninja
I got conned with an extreme version of these scams......I signed up for a pyramid window washing scheme......I had to provide my own transport to Egypt and then discovered the pyramids had no windows......d'oh.....I even bought their own washing up liquid....ahem........pharaoh liquid....they must have seen me tutan-coming.....ninja...cheesy jokes a speciality
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Lady Liberty
They just can't stay away from those "PYRAMIDS" can they......LOLOLO!!!
Sincerely,
Lady Liberty
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Clam
Conversely, the people selling these schemes love JWs because they come with a built-in trusting social network.
Absolutely right. The JWs grow in a similar way that MLM businesses are designed to, ie so called geometric progression. One introduces 5 others, those 5 each introduce another five others making 25 and so on. The product is books and magazines, with the people at the top of the pyramid taking all the money and not paying commissions. It's a nice business model for the WBTS as people look to Jehovah to square them up and not the Society.
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Elsewhere
This just goes to show how closely connected the cult mentality is with multi-level marketing scams.
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marmot
LOL, ninja. I wasn' meaning to say window washing is a get rich quick scheme but it's one of the most common jobs for JWs next to these schemes.
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Clam
In an ideal world (paradise earth?) the WBTS could sell janitorial and window cleaning products through its vast sales network, ie the Witnesses.
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nvrgnbk
As I was leaving Bethel, within weeks of leaving actually, my old overseer tried to get me into Melaleuca.
I did not.
A few years later, after he had left too, he called me from the other side of the country to get me into ACN, some bullshit telecommunications thing.
He never looked me up as a friend, just as a potential part of his pyramids.
The social network JWism provides really is ideal for MLM schemes.
And the gullibility factor inherent in a cult just makes it that much sweeter.