by Tameria2001 39 Replies latest jw experiences
Smiddy: had a couple of encounters with a brother and a sister that was involved with different types of weight loss schemes.
The "sister" was rather plump and overweight and tried to entice my wife into the scheme ,I tactlessly told her that it didn`t seem to be doing her much good .
Hahaha!
*Ps- this thread reads like a Golden Age magazine
My JW mom remembered the CO involved in ACN telecom....Albert Cobble. He and his wife in it big time. His son was close to the top of that pyramid. He was removed forcefully from being CO. Took a little longer to evict them from the circuit apartment. LOL
Snakes (of the "not sure why I give a $hit" Sheep Class)
I know the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating at least a few of these groups, unfortunately the SEC can only do something if the company tries to go public. What the SEC was looking at is lack of disclosure of an important number: inside sales. You'll hear that "XYZ" is a $5,000,000,000 a year business. What they don't tell you is that $4,999,900,000 of those sales is to employees (or agents or whatever they call them). Most of what they move are the marketing kits, or samples or some such. The conventions of various sizes are cash cows, where they make the real money.
An elder friend from a former congregation suckered me into STS (Strategic Telecom Systems) prepaid long distance cards. I would start the other "leg" in my new congregation.
LOL.
I was given a talking to by an elder in my new congregation to cease and desist.
I hated it! What a joke. I was approached by the same elder friend about a couple of other MLM's over the years.. No thanks!
My brother did something called Kleeneze in the UK, I don't know if that's still going. I think he had to buy all the products first. It was when he was pioneering but it didn't last long, he only pioneered so he could go to bethel.
Multilevel Marketing: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver on you tube is a great explanation of why mlm businesses are awful.
My husband and i did get into tupperware and had a nice run until the Bosses put the kibosh on the good times at a circuit assembly. We did fall for Ganoderma ("healthy" coffee with mushrooms!); never got any converts but we were liking the taste of it ourselves until the price doubled. We bought products without joining, from Amway, of course; Young Living, Melaleuca, Nature's Sunshine, Townecraft cookware, Home Interiors, Beachbody, doTerra, Herbalife, Juice Plus, Mary Kay, Longaberger, Morinda, Scentsy, Shaklee, Pampered Chef, and Youngevity.
Recently read an article that made a point about mlm's ruining female friendships - nowadays if an acquaintance calls and invites you over, it's not to renew a friendship. It's more than likely a search for customers that builds widespread cynicism. Well, that was happening in the congregation too.
I have been the target of the usual MLM schemes. Amway and Shaklee. There was another one that was extremely popular, Metaluca. Same basic concept.
My deceased JW uncle was always getting involved in MLM, the one I remember that was the strangest was a company called NEMA (amen spelled backward). If I remember correctly, the hook was that everything contained vitamin C. He invested in the company, but I don't think it ever took off.
There were a couple members in my last hall that made the rounds of just about every mlm scheme. Seemed like every other month they would corner me about the latest greatest thing I had to have
JWs and MLMs are an interesting sociological phenomenon.
You have the least educated group of people in the country (by religious affiliation) who are kept busy during all, or most, of their free time with “the ministry,” both of a which make it difficult for the majority of JWs to earn a decent living. So naturally they are ripe for this kind of scam because they need to earn more than they do, and they’re not educated enough to recognize the futility of any “get-rich-quick” schemes.
But it gets better. JWs are not supposed to “conduct business” at the Kingdom Hall and are discouraged from having relationships with “worldly people.” So who will be their customers?
JWs are easy targets for getting involved in questionable business dealings which have little chance to succeed.
It’s just a recipe for frustration!
My experience of JWs and their MLM scams was interesting. It was NOW okay to call/contact/schmooze any and all worldly people I ever knew to help them sell their snake oil.
There was the telephone MLM - couple of different vitamin cos. One con JW sold me the auto detail stripe line/junk and I had it removed -- window tinting another big ticket. Whatever one's needs are from construction, medical, holistic crazy/whatever, the JWs are experts. I don't ever want to see another juicer or glass of carrot juice and turn orange as long as I live! I swear one school drop out was selling dirt in a sack that you mix with special water.
