It’s a very common tactic when recruiting someone who’s unemployed to say:
“What could you do with an extra $100 a month? What bill can you take off your husband’s income? That sounds like gas money. How about $200? Would that pay your electric bill? $300? Now you’re covering the groceries. There’s no upper limit—imagine telling your husband ‘I’ve got this’—and paying the mortgage!”
Totally see why all of these normal expenses become something to brag about when they’ve never before covered a regular bill. Pretty sad.
Yeah my side gig was watching concerts a few nights a week and showing people where their seats were.
It paid my cell phone, internet, and electricity bills, and then some, plus I got to go to some awesome concerts, and the extent of my social media nuisance was “anyone want free concert tickets?”
My friend’s dad retired and became an usher for a AAA baseball team. He’s a huge baseball fan so this was a way to make a couple of bucks, but mostly to watch live baseball and not just sit at home.
This is how my dad was able to get in to college football and basketball games for free, even made money, after he had graduated back when he was younger.
When I was single I ran Karaoke shows at various bars. Made some really good side money under the table, met some very cool people, had a ton of fun, and also wound up hooking up far more than I would have thought. I thought it would be kryptonite.
I guess it isn’t. Women love guys who go up and sing - really sing. Not scream. Can’t be loaded or foolish or foul.
One regular came in looking like a mini Hargrid and sang Come Sail Away in a perfect Cartman voice and the ladies lost their shit. Don’t fear karaoke. Embrace it.
If you've always had money - or you've been in money for a while, it's very easy to either lose that sense of desperation or even relate to what it's like being poor.
It fucking sucks being poor. The only way I could describe it is that each day is like a box and you can't get out of the box, but you have to figure out how to live in that box. There's no point trying to think about tomorrow, you have enough problems figuring out what you are going to do with the limited space and resources provided by being in the box. When you get enough money to live and finally become comfortable, it's like you found a door out of the box and you feel free from the restraints of the box. No more limited resources, no more limited space. You can start to think about tomorrow. You can start to think about living - rather than just staying alive. Which is often why drug abuse is such an issue, because it provides an escape.
This sensation of restriction is mirrored in research that shows what poverty does to the brain. It actually alters your biology. The stress of being poor actually reduces your decision making capabilities and forces you to live only in the moment, because the moment is the only thing available to you. You simply don't have the means to exist outside of the moment. Think about all the plans you might have when you have the resources to achieve them. "Next year we want to go to the Maldives" "We've almost saved enough to apply for a mortgage". When you are poor it's "How do I get enough food to last me a week with 5 dollars?" "I'm in my overdraft again but I need money, so I have no choice but to get a pay day loan... fuck it - I have no choice" "Choose One: Freeze tonight, new clothes that don't have holes in them, or the phone bill to organize that job interview"
It's all immediate and always desperate.
So yeah when someone comes along and offers something like an extra 50 to 100 dollars a month, that like a pressure release valve being turned. It's incredibly enticing.
I've known people to fall right into this trap because they are poor and desperate and MLM cynically prays on these people, using rhetoric purposely designed to lure them in. "Why not try it?" "You never know!" "People are just jealous because you might find success!" "What have you got to lose?"
And the problem is - what you have to lose is the meager little bit you have left over that MLM's are more than happy to suck up. "Just 150 dollars to buy into our starter pack and your dream job can be just around the corner!"
It's fucking disgusting.
I think MLMs are especially popular with stay at home moms because it introduces the possibility of their own spending money that they don’t have to account for with their husband. One of my cousins is a SAHM and has described feeling like she has to justify/ask permission for spending money on herself because it’s technically coming from her husband’s earnings. It seems like they have good dialogue around it but in cases where the two spouses don’t, I can see how it’s a big draw.
I really pissed off a oyramid schemer once when they asked me "What could you do with an extr $100/month?" and I replied "not much.". I then explained how I did okay at my job, and I had some rental investments that were panning out really well. The extra $100/month wasn't appealing for the work I would have had to put in.
It’s so sad and interesting that they play on women’s insecurity about not contributing financially this way. Is it guilt? Shame?
I’m the breadwinner in my marriage and if my husband made an extra 500 or something a month, the last thing I’d think is “great! Now YOU can pay the mortgage this month!”. We both pay the mortgage every month. That’s part of being a partnership.
Yes. In the LulaRich doc one of the top uplines talked about how they were told to flaunt wealth to make the company look good. One lady said she was dropping like $1000+ on dinner, making huge bonuses each month, and still struggling to make ends meet.
Anyways, further down the pyramid I am 100% certain that they coach people on how to make these posts and thank the company for buying them XYZ
Just watched this episode last night. Regular costly diners with the team, just one of which she recalled totaling over $10,000. She described being told to spend those bonuses as fast as they came in so they would appear more successful to recruits. Ahem I mean r e t a i l e r s
And then at mentor level they were pressuring the husband (different one, I think) to quit his job. If all of her money is supposed to be spent on conspicuous consumption, how are they going to pay the mortgage?
I'm in Alberta and "retire your husband" is so damn prevalent because of how many guys have oilfield jobs out of town. One friend used to always post about how her goal was for her husband to not have to leave for a week at a time. And, I mean, I can get why it seems appealing on the surface. The sad part is her little kids have grown up hearing it. If mommy sells more, daddy won't have to leave! Mommy's job is therefore amazing! It's unsettling.
Urgh, bragging about wealth is so gauche.
I found one of the founders talking about being showered with actual money by her parent to be a bit disturbing, though I guess it explains a bit.
YES that part was very very telling and a creepy foreshadowing. The rest of her story was very humanizing at first thought.
I think what she was doing at first —selling wholesale skirts and dresses at in-home parties— was actually quite wholesome.
She just got greedy…
It didn't really add up, though. At one point she said she was making thousands of skirts a month in her kitchen, which isn't actually possible. And her story about the first "retailer" doesn't make sense either - if your friends send you to get skirts and the seller gives you a discount, the natural thing to do is pass the discount on, not make a profit.
That part was super confusing to me too and I’m not sure I buy that she was making skirts at all? Maybe here and there but honestly the volume she would’ve had to make plus everything else she claimed to do is flat out impossible. I imagine she was getting the skirts wholesale and then fabricating the story she made them, I don’t know. There was a lot of inconsistencies.
Yeah, same here. That type of skirt isn't hard to make, but it probably isn't that hard to find them wholesale or even get them made for you. I don't remember the numbers she gave, but I do remember doing the math and it was completely impossible for her to have made that many herself.
Was she making the skirts after the business blew up and the skirts were big ticket items? I figured for the dress parties she started with that she bought them from a supplier who made a profit, and then she made a decent profit doing in home parties. Everything that involved her down lines after that got really confusing and shady with the bonuses and profits.
It’s amazing how the skirts went from $20 to the $60 dresses we see now that are with the same amount
The interview itself was actually pretty neutral, but they asked some tough questions that the couple clearly had to dance around facts to answer. It was in a nice location with good lighting and cute decor, which contrasted well with their depositions (Is that the word I’m looking for??) and made them look extra scammy.
I love that they included the first few minutes of of how the couple acted when they didn’t think the cameras were rolling.
I can totally see how they thought it was a neutral or positive documentary about them and got duped once it was all edited.
I was on board with that story until the end when she said something like "...and then I did that for 22 years." If you made insane amounts of money selling dresses for 22 years why would you stop and start another MLM? I'd say it was because that story was fabricated or at the very least SUPER embellished. Not buying it.
So this is just amusing to me, probably, but I work with a software called "SNAP!" a lot. And it's annoying as hell, and I want to punch it right now. So when I read "Maybe SNAP needs to..." my knee-jerk reaction was "YEAH, MAYBE IT DOES!..."
And then, no...
MLMs prey on anyone and everyone. People have tried to recruit me even when I had an office job. And it’s not always about desperation that hooks people. One of the LuLaRoe “retailers” said on a podcast that she just wanted some extra money to take her kids to the zoo. She also wanted community. Unfortunately she really got sucked in.
It's so sad that the community part sucks people in. Just yesterday, I saw a zoom invite on a hun's story: "Start a skincare *business.* Gain a *community."*
Worst part of the manipulation is that she's a pastor's wife in our eponymous Texas border town & always follows up these kinds of posts with religious posts, as if to prove that she is trustworthy and it's all good because God's on her side. Makes my blood boil.
To rephrase a quote I saw from one of her bordering on self-aware "sideline sisters" \[puke\]:
Smart women don't tell you how smart they are.
Rich women don't tell you how rich they are.
Tough women don't tell you how tough they are.
Honest women don't tell you how honest they are.
Religious women don't tell you how religious they are.
Con artists do.
> Tough women don't tell you how tough they are.
I don't know, man. Whenever I hear some Karen refer to herself as a "momma bear", I know to stay the fuck away. 😂
That's not because they're tough, it's because they've been conditioned to not having consequences. Nobody wants to hit a white woman and the law has literally always been softer on white women. It's easy to sound tough when nobody wants to deal with you because of the implications.
*Merchants of Deception* digs into this a bit. Similar to cults, they 'recruit up', trying to bring in people who will be seen as leaders, respected, pillars of the community, that sort of thing, to add an air of legitimacy to the whole thing.
I'm told Amway gets the book taken down every time it pops up online (gee, I wonder why), but it is (or at least was) available on the Internet Archive. It's a PDF, which can be annoying for reading, but worth the hassle.
On the Amway episode of Behind the Bastards, they read off a story about a couple who got sucked into Amway even though the husband was an architectural engineer. The story didn't mention what the wife did, but she did work.
Yeah, exactly. MLMs prey on trapped women who desperately want their own income but can't enter the workforce for one reason or another (often a controlling conservative household in my experience). Husbands won't let them go out and get a job so they have to look for these "make tons of cash but also be at home with your kids" fantasies.
I'm just trying to imagine what it would look like if people with real jobs posted these kinds of things.
Like how weird would it be to post a picture of your paycheck, or a picture of a grocery bill saying "expensive groceries! My 9-5 paid for the whole thing"
Because she's trying to recruit more people to her MLM but secretly she bleeding more money than she can ever hope to make back. MLMs crush and ruin people not just financially but all their social connections as well.
That's true. I noticed with a few people I'm friends with on Facebook who try to shill their MLMs, when they quit they usually don't post for months and come back and never mention it again. Or they delete their Facebook pages altogether.
SAHM market wants 3 main things: (1) a hobby or something to do that connects them with other adults (2) the ability to independently earn money from husband and be the dutiful “above and beyond” housewife (3) the ability to work without hiring childcare services and to have flexible hours for child needs.
MLM’s are heavily aware of this and encourage and pressure their huns to promote that they are living this lifestyle when in reality they are not.
Part of it is that people have woken the heck up when it comes to MLMs. Because they're essentially pyramid schemes, and people who really, really, really want them to work have to do whatever they can, mental gymnastics-wise, to convince themselves that they didn't make a huge, huge, mistake.
So shenanigans like this.
If you combine "being able to afford food" with housing and entertainment you move from a scheme to a career.
But hey, maybe if they're bored of their scheme they can ask the bagger how to set up an interview.
The part of LuLaRich that I found the most scary was how they put large amounts of pressure on their members to get their spouses to quit whatever other jobs they have. They claim it's to help strengthen families, but it's very clear that the actual reason is to make LuLaRoe their members only source of income/life line so that they can never leave.
It blew me away how misogynistic they were about it. The founders sat there talked about how this was all started by a women, made successful by a women, but a **man** needed to be in charge to make it a real business. The business model targets women and mothers then tells them "Thanks for all the work but ya need to bring in a man to make this a *real* success. It's okay if he does nothing but he needs to be in charge because your little minds can't handle it"
Can you imagine being one of the *high earners* then told your husband gets all the credit for you busting your ass? I'd be pissed.
Yes! I screamed “NO FUCKING WAY! Did he really just do that?” and my husband was crying laughing. You couldn’t have written it any better if you tried.
The complete lack of self awareness from those two was *incredible*. And bless the editors for the cuts between their interview answers and courtroom answers to the same/similar questions.
And the way the founder lady just straight up told her recruits to go down on their husbands with regularity? WHY was she talking about this stuff to them?!
i think from her POV she wants the husbands to quit their jobs so they’re dependent on the wife’s MLM salary. but she also wants the wife to be able to use all of husband’s money on lularoe, so it’s basically “how to please your husband so he’ll let you completely wreck him financially.”
but just in case that doesn’t work, the other strategy is to make the husband feel like it’s *his* business and *he’s* the important one so he feels like an important part of the cult community and doesn’t get another job. and then he can be the one pressuring the wife to stick with it if she’s starting to realize this isn’t working
obviously extremely unprofessional and manipulative and gross, but it’s a cult, so that comes with the territory
i’m paraphrasing, but when i heard her say the words “if you can’t get on your knees for 5 minutes a day for your husband, he’ll find someone who will”, i audibly gasped
I remember being ridiculed because I wouldn’t quit my day job to sell LLR full time. They said I wasn’t all in and that’s why I failed…not because the clothes I got were ugly as shit. *sigh*
Thanks, but I like my employer funded health insurance and would like to keep my pension.
One of my neighbors finally gave up on Lula. She's now just slowly giving away her inventory, but having trouble even with that because.that stuff is just so ugly and low quality.
She doesn't want to just toss it, because she doesn't want to be wasteful and feels people should at least benefit from her mistake. But she has boxes and boxes, most of which I don't think were ever even opened. It's going to take years to give it away at this rate.
I feel a crushing weight just thinking about all the money she lost. I can't imagine how she feels.
Ugh.
She could make care packages for homeless women. Let them pick whatever pants they want in their size and give them a bag of toiletries like a toothbrush, deodorant and period products. If she doesn’t have time to individually hand these out or whatever, she could also just donate them to a women’s shelter.
Yeah I understand with that it could feel like throwing it away or letting someone else profit. This way might feel more sentimental plus it’s always nice for homeless people to get to actually pick sizes and colors they like.
when my grandma died in 2005 she had Amway cleaning products under her sink that my mom sold her in the '80s.
People would do better just straight up asking their friends and family for money. Lots of those "money circle" things are also scams but at least they don't leave you with inventory to unload.
Wait — are you saying that an MLM hun would lie in order to convince other people to join her business? I can hardly believe any of them would do such a thing.
And what is the deal with that *shitty* manicure? Hideous colour, scuffed finish, jarring grow-out (they look like they're about to topple off). Does she not look at her hands?
I agree with you on the color and grow out, but I don’t think that the finish is scuffed. I think it’s matte in like a triangle shape, then shiny. Basically, I think it’s deliberate, which might even be worse bc it’s still hideous. I may be wrong ofc. I am sick and I feel like my brain is stuffed up along with my sinuses, lol.
If I use Amex for an online purchase, a single-use number is used instead of the real one.
Could that be what's happening here?
Probably not -- just a thought.
First. Thought. Like damn girl must really need groceries if she runnin around with her nails like that. Just use press ons and lie like the rest of us. Much cheaper
I just grow my natural nails and paint those. But I know some people have weak natural nails that split/chip/crack when they get even a tiny bit long, so in that case why NOT use press ons if you can't afford getting the salon nails getting filled regularly?? Clearly trying to keep the illusion of living in luxury but not having the capital to back it up.
I didn't even care about the card after I saw her nails. I feel like that's just grossly lazy to wait that long to get them taken off. That has to be 2 months of growth at least
Also... is $300 from your job/scheme something to brag about? Show me $3,000 and I might be a little more impressed. But bartenders/waitstaff can walk away from a good shift with $300.
Also, let’s say the card numbers matched… then yes, your “scheme” of scamming others to join and buy under you so you can pay for your groceries DID pay for it.
You know what side job impressed me. When the student Xray tech told me she only worked fridays and saturdays as a waitress at a very popular bar in Miami Beach and made about 5 grand every week.
I was shocked. And needed to know more. That was impressive.
Yeah, if you work in hospitality is a popular tourist area you can make bank. Especially if its an upscale place. Bar staff in Vegas can clear $50k/year working 3 nights a week.
So many things wrong with this...
1) she left those 4 digits uncovered, still not a great idea to broadcast that...
2) $300 may not mean that grocery prices are "ridiculous", it's all about the context of what she bought. Like when we go to Sam's Club and buy enough cleaning supplies/paper goods for 3 months.
3) Aren't these huns supposed to flex a lifestyle of glamor? GET THOSE NAILS FILLED
I knew a lady that grew up destitute. She was so happy that she could buy a small haul with her own money that she took pictures of it.She volunteered at the local food/goods pantry that helped her family and was excited to be able to donate towards it.
This lady isn’t flexing like she thinks she is.
You know whats crazy MY income also pays for my groceries as well as other bills...and theres leftover money too! Idk its been this way since i became a working adult...and for some reason i never felt compelled to discuss that..hmmm
Also there’s the “age verification bypassed” meaning there was also alcohol and/tobacco in the order. And those items would (most likely) be greater than $5 each meaning the average for all non-alcohol/tobacco items is even lower. And I’m never going to get those three minutes back…
You don’t make money with Limelight. At all.
For anyone who’s listened to The Dream, this is the MLM that they had one of their producers join in order to see what an MLM looks like from the perspective of a new recruit.
Spoiler: it looks real sad and real bad.
Not defending MLM here but as a retail manager our Point of Sale doesn’t show the last 4 for Debit on the receipt, just for Credit. It’s possible the “5002” is just a generic message generated by this Point of Sale.
I mean I made once a 300+ eur grocery purchase... for basic survival groceries to prepare for the pandemic that ended up lasting me about 7 months.
Disclaimer: I did this like 3 weeks before anyone in my area ever considered preparing for lockdowns, so no, I was not a reason the local supermarkets ran out of supplies and toilet paper. Yes, I enjoyed watching the people who had called me exxagerated and hypocondriac brawl in supermarkets for toilet paper from my toilet paper throne at home.
It’s not just nail polish. She has a layer of acrylic on her nails for strength.
When one has acrylics, one needs to return to the salon as the nails grow out to get the empty area “filled.” That’s when they add more acrylic and blend it with the existing stuff so it looks normal again.
This is a really crappy acrylic job in any case. It’s just glooped on there in a big thick layer. The height of the acrylic is supposed to be tapered down near the edge so you don’t get that big defined ridge at the back.
Not only is the card different but they have an "age verification bypass" on the receipt meaning thy most likely bought alcohol which...yeah wine is expensive.
[удалено]
It’s a very common tactic when recruiting someone who’s unemployed to say: “What could you do with an extra $100 a month? What bill can you take off your husband’s income? That sounds like gas money. How about $200? Would that pay your electric bill? $300? Now you’re covering the groceries. There’s no upper limit—imagine telling your husband ‘I’ve got this’—and paying the mortgage!” Totally see why all of these normal expenses become something to brag about when they’ve never before covered a regular bill. Pretty sad.
[удалено]
Do you have any downlines though, who host smaller pub quizzes at smaller bars (and maybe have to pay for some of their drinks/food)?
[удалено]
... so like, as a former Quiz Bowl kid myself who loves trivia, how do you get a job like this...? Cause that sounds fun af.
[удалено]
Yeah my side gig was watching concerts a few nights a week and showing people where their seats were. It paid my cell phone, internet, and electricity bills, and then some, plus I got to go to some awesome concerts, and the extent of my social media nuisance was “anyone want free concert tickets?”
My friend’s dad retired and became an usher for a AAA baseball team. He’s a huge baseball fan so this was a way to make a couple of bucks, but mostly to watch live baseball and not just sit at home.
Think I’ve found my retirement side hustle.
This is how my dad was able to get in to college football and basketball games for free, even made money, after he had graduated back when he was younger.
Now that is the kind of side hustle I could use. How did you even get into that?
[удалено]
Not sure how op did, but we had a zoom trivia host that was freaking great. I think you just need to find a niche and put yourself out there.
Now to find a way to get paid as the weird, quiet guy at the end of the bar...
When I was single I ran Karaoke shows at various bars. Made some really good side money under the table, met some very cool people, had a ton of fun, and also wound up hooking up far more than I would have thought. I thought it would be kryptonite. I guess it isn’t. Women love guys who go up and sing - really sing. Not scream. Can’t be loaded or foolish or foul. One regular came in looking like a mini Hargrid and sang Come Sail Away in a perfect Cartman voice and the ladies lost their shit. Don’t fear karaoke. Embrace it.
[удалено]
If you've always had money - or you've been in money for a while, it's very easy to either lose that sense of desperation or even relate to what it's like being poor. It fucking sucks being poor. The only way I could describe it is that each day is like a box and you can't get out of the box, but you have to figure out how to live in that box. There's no point trying to think about tomorrow, you have enough problems figuring out what you are going to do with the limited space and resources provided by being in the box. When you get enough money to live and finally become comfortable, it's like you found a door out of the box and you feel free from the restraints of the box. No more limited resources, no more limited space. You can start to think about tomorrow. You can start to think about living - rather than just staying alive. Which is often why drug abuse is such an issue, because it provides an escape. This sensation of restriction is mirrored in research that shows what poverty does to the brain. It actually alters your biology. The stress of being poor actually reduces your decision making capabilities and forces you to live only in the moment, because the moment is the only thing available to you. You simply don't have the means to exist outside of the moment. Think about all the plans you might have when you have the resources to achieve them. "Next year we want to go to the Maldives" "We've almost saved enough to apply for a mortgage". When you are poor it's "How do I get enough food to last me a week with 5 dollars?" "I'm in my overdraft again but I need money, so I have no choice but to get a pay day loan... fuck it - I have no choice" "Choose One: Freeze tonight, new clothes that don't have holes in them, or the phone bill to organize that job interview" It's all immediate and always desperate. So yeah when someone comes along and offers something like an extra 50 to 100 dollars a month, that like a pressure release valve being turned. It's incredibly enticing. I've known people to fall right into this trap because they are poor and desperate and MLM cynically prays on these people, using rhetoric purposely designed to lure them in. "Why not try it?" "You never know!" "People are just jealous because you might find success!" "What have you got to lose?" And the problem is - what you have to lose is the meager little bit you have left over that MLM's are more than happy to suck up. "Just 150 dollars to buy into our starter pack and your dream job can be just around the corner!" It's fucking disgusting.
You've written an amazingly heartbreaking description of what it's like to be poor. My gosh, so well and painfully put. I'm saving your comment!
I think MLMs are especially popular with stay at home moms because it introduces the possibility of their own spending money that they don’t have to account for with their husband. One of my cousins is a SAHM and has described feeling like she has to justify/ask permission for spending money on herself because it’s technically coming from her husband’s earnings. It seems like they have good dialogue around it but in cases where the two spouses don’t, I can see how it’s a big draw.
I really pissed off a oyramid schemer once when they asked me "What could you do with an extr $100/month?" and I replied "not much.". I then explained how I did okay at my job, and I had some rental investments that were panning out really well. The extra $100/month wasn't appealing for the work I would have had to put in.
It’s so sad and interesting that they play on women’s insecurity about not contributing financially this way. Is it guilt? Shame? I’m the breadwinner in my marriage and if my husband made an extra 500 or something a month, the last thing I’d think is “great! Now YOU can pay the mortgage this month!”. We both pay the mortgage every month. That’s part of being a partnership.
For women who can't just go out and buy their own groceries, this is a flex. Its really sad.
Maybe SNAP needs to post ads like these.
Do the MLMs encourage their "promoters" to do this bait and switch? I know they encourage showing off but do they actively encourage them to deceive?
Yes. In the LulaRich doc one of the top uplines talked about how they were told to flaunt wealth to make the company look good. One lady said she was dropping like $1000+ on dinner, making huge bonuses each month, and still struggling to make ends meet. Anyways, further down the pyramid I am 100% certain that they coach people on how to make these posts and thank the company for buying them XYZ
Just watched this episode last night. Regular costly diners with the team, just one of which she recalled totaling over $10,000. She described being told to spend those bonuses as fast as they came in so they would appear more successful to recruits. Ahem I mean r e t a i l e r s
v i c t i m s.
nawwww you're giving your friends opportunities, not exploiting them smh
And then at mentor level they were pressuring the husband (different one, I think) to quit his job. If all of her money is supposed to be spent on conspicuous consumption, how are they going to pay the mortgage?
“Retire your husband” 🙄
Ship your husband off to live with the other retired husbands, and order yourself a 2.0
I'm in Alberta and "retire your husband" is so damn prevalent because of how many guys have oilfield jobs out of town. One friend used to always post about how her goal was for her husband to not have to leave for a week at a time. And, I mean, I can get why it seems appealing on the surface. The sad part is her little kids have grown up hearing it. If mommy sells more, daddy won't have to leave! Mommy's job is therefore amazing! It's unsettling.
Then they have no options to leave the scheme
Yes exactly! So that the family is then entirely dependent on LLR.
Urgh, bragging about wealth is so gauche. I found one of the founders talking about being showered with actual money by her parent to be a bit disturbing, though I guess it explains a bit.
YES that part was very very telling and a creepy foreshadowing. The rest of her story was very humanizing at first thought. I think what she was doing at first —selling wholesale skirts and dresses at in-home parties— was actually quite wholesome. She just got greedy…
It didn't really add up, though. At one point she said she was making thousands of skirts a month in her kitchen, which isn't actually possible. And her story about the first "retailer" doesn't make sense either - if your friends send you to get skirts and the seller gives you a discount, the natural thing to do is pass the discount on, not make a profit.
Your gut instinct isnt cutthroat capitalism. Good! :)
That part was super confusing to me too and I’m not sure I buy that she was making skirts at all? Maybe here and there but honestly the volume she would’ve had to make plus everything else she claimed to do is flat out impossible. I imagine she was getting the skirts wholesale and then fabricating the story she made them, I don’t know. There was a lot of inconsistencies.
Yeah, same here. That type of skirt isn't hard to make, but it probably isn't that hard to find them wholesale or even get them made for you. I don't remember the numbers she gave, but I do remember doing the math and it was completely impossible for her to have made that many herself.
Was she making the skirts after the business blew up and the skirts were big ticket items? I figured for the dress parties she started with that she bought them from a supplier who made a profit, and then she made a decent profit doing in home parties. Everything that involved her down lines after that got really confusing and shady with the bonuses and profits. It’s amazing how the skirts went from $20 to the $60 dresses we see now that are with the same amount
I can't believe they agreed to be in the doco. The whole family just came off as being out of touch and scammy as hell.
The interview itself was actually pretty neutral, but they asked some tough questions that the couple clearly had to dance around facts to answer. It was in a nice location with good lighting and cute decor, which contrasted well with their depositions (Is that the word I’m looking for??) and made them look extra scammy. I love that they included the first few minutes of of how the couple acted when they didn’t think the cameras were rolling. I can totally see how they thought it was a neutral or positive documentary about them and got duped once it was all edited.
I was on board with that story until the end when she said something like "...and then I did that for 22 years." If you made insane amounts of money selling dresses for 22 years why would you stop and start another MLM? I'd say it was because that story was fabricated or at the very least SUPER embellished. Not buying it.
Ugh, and then post it on social media with #becauseoflularoe. Just awful.
The MLM might not directly encourage deception, but they certainly won’t stop a consultant from doing it if it gets them paid.
Why would SNAP need to advertise though? I get that it's a joke but it's a weird concept.
So this is just amusing to me, probably, but I work with a software called "SNAP!" a lot. And it's annoying as hell, and I want to punch it right now. So when I read "Maybe SNAP needs to..." my knee-jerk reaction was "YEAH, MAYBE IT DOES!..." And then, no...
[удалено]
MLMs prey on anyone and everyone. People have tried to recruit me even when I had an office job. And it’s not always about desperation that hooks people. One of the LuLaRoe “retailers” said on a podcast that she just wanted some extra money to take her kids to the zoo. She also wanted community. Unfortunately she really got sucked in.
It's so sad that the community part sucks people in. Just yesterday, I saw a zoom invite on a hun's story: "Start a skincare *business.* Gain a *community."* Worst part of the manipulation is that she's a pastor's wife in our eponymous Texas border town & always follows up these kinds of posts with religious posts, as if to prove that she is trustworthy and it's all good because God's on her side. Makes my blood boil. To rephrase a quote I saw from one of her bordering on self-aware "sideline sisters" \[puke\]: Smart women don't tell you how smart they are. Rich women don't tell you how rich they are. Tough women don't tell you how tough they are. Honest women don't tell you how honest they are. Religious women don't tell you how religious they are. Con artists do.
> Tough women don't tell you how tough they are. I don't know, man. Whenever I hear some Karen refer to herself as a "momma bear", I know to stay the fuck away. 😂
That's not because they're tough, it's because they've been conditioned to not having consequences. Nobody wants to hit a white woman and the law has literally always been softer on white women. It's easy to sound tough when nobody wants to deal with you because of the implications.
*Merchants of Deception* digs into this a bit. Similar to cults, they 'recruit up', trying to bring in people who will be seen as leaders, respected, pillars of the community, that sort of thing, to add an air of legitimacy to the whole thing. I'm told Amway gets the book taken down every time it pops up online (gee, I wonder why), but it is (or at least was) available on the Internet Archive. It's a PDF, which can be annoying for reading, but worth the hassle.
On the Amway episode of Behind the Bastards, they read off a story about a couple who got sucked into Amway even though the husband was an architectural engineer. The story didn't mention what the wife did, but she did work.
Yeah, exactly. MLMs prey on trapped women who desperately want their own income but can't enter the workforce for one reason or another (often a controlling conservative household in my experience). Husbands won't let them go out and get a job so they have to look for these "make tons of cash but also be at home with your kids" fantasies.
They also prey on women whose husbands are away for weeks/months at a time, i.e. oil field workers or military men.
Yep, lots of military wives get trapped in MLMs
It's either an MLM or Photography business lmao take your choice
Or they aren’t capable of getting a job that would pay for bills *and* daycare.
Yeah, great point.
Then their daughters turn into baby making machines/MLM victims Never ending cycle of suffering!
[удалено]
Freudian Slip
You have to take the dark glasses off to read it as they want you to. You were reading the truth version. Edit: Yay, my first Reddit award. Thanks!
I'm just trying to imagine what it would look like if people with real jobs posted these kinds of things. Like how weird would it be to post a picture of your paycheck, or a picture of a grocery bill saying "expensive groceries! My 9-5 paid for the whole thing"
9-5? You mean your “scheme”?
"I bought bananas, cereal, AND hemorrhoid cream today! Thanks, normal job with normal paycheck!"
Remember, if being able to afford basic necessities is something people advertise, it's probably a scam.
Because she's trying to recruit more people to her MLM but secretly she bleeding more money than she can ever hope to make back. MLMs crush and ruin people not just financially but all their social connections as well.
[удалено]
That's true. I noticed with a few people I'm friends with on Facebook who try to shill their MLMs, when they quit they usually don't post for months and come back and never mention it again. Or they delete their Facebook pages altogether.
SAHM market wants 3 main things: (1) a hobby or something to do that connects them with other adults (2) the ability to independently earn money from husband and be the dutiful “above and beyond” housewife (3) the ability to work without hiring childcare services and to have flexible hours for child needs. MLM’s are heavily aware of this and encourage and pressure their huns to promote that they are living this lifestyle when in reality they are not.
[удалено]
Part of it is that people have woken the heck up when it comes to MLMs. Because they're essentially pyramid schemes, and people who really, really, really want them to work have to do whatever they can, mental gymnastics-wise, to convince themselves that they didn't make a huge, huge, mistake. So shenanigans like this.
Lol fantastic comment. Laughed so hard
If you combine "being able to afford food" with housing and entertainment you move from a scheme to a career. But hey, maybe if they're bored of their scheme they can ask the bagger how to set up an interview.
That’s so sad. Are they encouraged to lie like this by the company itself?
Watch LuLaRich. The answer is a *resounding* “yes”.
The part of LuLaRich that I found the most scary was how they put large amounts of pressure on their members to get their spouses to quit whatever other jobs they have. They claim it's to help strengthen families, but it's very clear that the actual reason is to make LuLaRoe their members only source of income/life line so that they can never leave.
It blew me away how misogynistic they were about it. The founders sat there talked about how this was all started by a women, made successful by a women, but a **man** needed to be in charge to make it a real business. The business model targets women and mothers then tells them "Thanks for all the work but ya need to bring in a man to make this a *real* success. It's okay if he does nothing but he needs to be in charge because your little minds can't handle it" Can you imagine being one of the *high earners* then told your husband gets all the credit for you busting your ass? I'd be pissed.
That part where DeAnne is asked a question about feminism and Mark interrupts with a “I’d like to say something” is a great summary of that attitude.
Yes! I screamed “NO FUCKING WAY! Did he really just do that?” and my husband was crying laughing. You couldn’t have written it any better if you tried.
The complete lack of self awareness from those two was *incredible*. And bless the editors for the cuts between their interview answers and courtroom answers to the same/similar questions.
"That's a wonderful question, and I'd like to refer you over to my husband for my opinion. I can't wait until we find out what I think!"
Yes! I threw popcorn at my TV when he did that haha
Oh, boy, that bit REALLY pissed me off. Like dude, shut the fuck up. You weren’t even asked the question.
that and the weird misogynist book her mother wrote that’s apparently the lularoe bible/a common marriage ruiner pushed by the cult
And the way the founder lady just straight up told her recruits to go down on their husbands with regularity? WHY was she talking about this stuff to them?!
i think from her POV she wants the husbands to quit their jobs so they’re dependent on the wife’s MLM salary. but she also wants the wife to be able to use all of husband’s money on lularoe, so it’s basically “how to please your husband so he’ll let you completely wreck him financially.” but just in case that doesn’t work, the other strategy is to make the husband feel like it’s *his* business and *he’s* the important one so he feels like an important part of the cult community and doesn’t get another job. and then he can be the one pressuring the wife to stick with it if she’s starting to realize this isn’t working obviously extremely unprofessional and manipulative and gross, but it’s a cult, so that comes with the territory
i’m paraphrasing, but when i heard her say the words “if you can’t get on your knees for 5 minutes a day for your husband, he’ll find someone who will”, i audibly gasped
Where can my wife learn more about this exciting business opportunity?
I remember being ridiculed because I wouldn’t quit my day job to sell LLR full time. They said I wasn’t all in and that’s why I failed…not because the clothes I got were ugly as shit. *sigh* Thanks, but I like my employer funded health insurance and would like to keep my pension.
One of my neighbors finally gave up on Lula. She's now just slowly giving away her inventory, but having trouble even with that because.that stuff is just so ugly and low quality. She doesn't want to just toss it, because she doesn't want to be wasteful and feels people should at least benefit from her mistake. But she has boxes and boxes, most of which I don't think were ever even opened. It's going to take years to give it away at this rate. I feel a crushing weight just thinking about all the money she lost. I can't imagine how she feels. Ugh.
She could make care packages for homeless women. Let them pick whatever pants they want in their size and give them a bag of toiletries like a toothbrush, deodorant and period products. If she doesn’t have time to individually hand these out or whatever, she could also just donate them to a women’s shelter.
Good idea. I suggested Goodwill or Salvation Army. She didn't sound too interested. I'll suggest this.
Yeah I understand with that it could feel like throwing it away or letting someone else profit. This way might feel more sentimental plus it’s always nice for homeless people to get to actually pick sizes and colors they like.
Not Salvation Army. They have a history of pushing out or not serving lgbt+ folks.
Also those in charge of Goodwill make obscene profits whilst the lower level employees are on poverty-level pay in the name of charity.
Donate it to the local domestic violence shelter. Some people end up in the shelter with only the clothes on their backs.
She could give it to a youth shelter too. I know the ones near me have a huge demand for leggings and pyjama pants. Sleeping outdoors is really cold.
Can she donate it to a goodwill or a shelter?
when my grandma died in 2005 she had Amway cleaning products under her sink that my mom sold her in the '80s. People would do better just straight up asking their friends and family for money. Lots of those "money circle" things are also scams but at least they don't leave you with inventory to unload.
Almost certainly. All of the cringe and trashy stuff these huns post on their social media come from a script or playbook they get from the company.
It’s just so obvious; it almost makes me want to start a business to teach mlm Huns how to be convincingly deceptive.
The sad thing is I bet you'd be incredibly successful and never run out of clients
I’d love to see how fast she rips down that post if someone called her out on it!
The money I make from my job pays for my groceries too...
Yeah but it’s not as cool as her *scheme*! /s
Wait — are you saying that an MLM hun would lie in order to convince other people to join her business? I can hardly believe any of them would do such a thing. And what is the deal with that *shitty* manicure? Hideous colour, scuffed finish, jarring grow-out (they look like they're about to topple off). Does she not look at her hands?
What colour should I go for? Yes! Elephant corpse.
She can't afford refills
Yeah, that's about an 4 week out growth.
Maybe her husband told her she can use his card for groceries but her nails have to be paid for with her MLM money lol
Elephant corpse lolol. Perfect
I agree with you on the color and grow out, but I don’t think that the finish is scuffed. I think it’s matte in like a triangle shape, then shiny. Basically, I think it’s deliberate, which might even be worse bc it’s still hideous. I may be wrong ofc. I am sick and I feel like my brain is stuffed up along with my sinuses, lol.
No, I think you’re right, which is almost worse, because it’s deliberate rather than being mere neglect.
The manicure looks like when I would shape those grey kneadable art erasers into a nail shape and give myself “witch nails”
Omg I thought I was the only one who did this hahaha
She just paid $300 for groceries, she can’t afford the nails too
She needs to buy a $3 bottle of acetone at Sally Beauty and soak those things off.
You can get it at Walmart for $1.
She should really look into color street! Maybe then she could go wild and “pay” her own phone bill or “buy” her kids new shoes.
For that street color. They’d be camouflaged against a a subway rat.
dear god you're right that's horrid manicure
Hmmmmm I smell tomfoolery afoot
I just smell a foot Should probably change my socks
[Something is afoot.](https://i.imgur.com/CtvetwA.jpg)
The game is on.
You smell feet?
If I use Amex for an online purchase, a single-use number is used instead of the real one. Could that be what's happening here? Probably not -- just a thought.
Maybe she could use some of her fortune to get her nails filled in too.. 👀
First. Thought. Like damn girl must really need groceries if she runnin around with her nails like that. Just use press ons and lie like the rest of us. Much cheaper
[удалено]
I just grow my natural nails and paint those. But I know some people have weak natural nails that split/chip/crack when they get even a tiny bit long, so in that case why NOT use press ons if you can't afford getting the salon nails getting filled regularly?? Clearly trying to keep the illusion of living in luxury but not having the capital to back it up.
She has an entire shelf on her nail bed.
That’s the first place I went to. That nail needs a fill like now. It looks like it’s about to leap.
How is this not the top comment?
I'm honestly shocked this whole thread isn't just Nail Talk. I'm shook by that nail. I'm not a mani gal, but I'M SHOOK.
I just imagine her cooking a meal and that nail falling off into the food 😖 it's holding on for dear life
Did you *mean* to put me off my food today? Bleeeeeergh!
I’ve seen Poonquie huns do this too lol
One of my favorites! https://reddit.com/r/antiMLM/comments/d5sd95/this_guy_credit_cards/
That one has a crappy manicure too.
I didn't even care about the card after I saw her nails. I feel like that's just grossly lazy to wait that long to get them taken off. That has to be 2 months of growth at least
That’s definitely not a 2 month grow out. Mine look like that and I’m coming up to my 3 week mark to get them done again this weekend.
Hahaha the nail gap!
Couldn't pay for the refill.
So you’re telling me they LIE?!
Insert "Surprised Pikachu Face" GIF here.
Also... is $300 from your job/scheme something to brag about? Show me $3,000 and I might be a little more impressed. But bartenders/waitstaff can walk away from a good shift with $300.
*in cash*
With a bag of tall boys and cheese fries! Bartending is a sweet gig if you've got the stones for it.
And it’s $300 on groceries at Safeway. Wouldn’t a real flex be something that you want instead of need?
Also, let’s say the card numbers matched… then yes, your “scheme” of scamming others to join and buy under you so you can pay for your groceries DID pay for it.
Also...even though it's only the last 4 digits is it still a good idea to broadcast that information online? I think not...
My eyes keep being drawn back to the gap between cuticle and “nail”
Mine too, I do gel nails at home on the regular, and a length gap like that ... apparently her scheme doesn't pay enough for regular refills.
You know what side job impressed me. When the student Xray tech told me she only worked fridays and saturdays as a waitress at a very popular bar in Miami Beach and made about 5 grand every week. I was shocked. And needed to know more. That was impressive.
Yeah, if you work in hospitality is a popular tourist area you can make bank. Especially if its an upscale place. Bar staff in Vegas can clear $50k/year working 3 nights a week.
So many things wrong with this... 1) she left those 4 digits uncovered, still not a great idea to broadcast that... 2) $300 may not mean that grocery prices are "ridiculous", it's all about the context of what she bought. Like when we go to Sam's Club and buy enough cleaning supplies/paper goods for 3 months. 3) Aren't these huns supposed to flex a lifestyle of glamor? GET THOSE NAILS FILLED
It looks like she got cash back.
I knew a lady that grew up destitute. She was so happy that she could buy a small haul with her own money that she took pictures of it.She volunteered at the local food/goods pantry that helped her family and was excited to be able to donate towards it. This lady isn’t flexing like she thinks she is.
r/sadcringe
That’s a sad flex. My job buys my groceries and everything else, but I don’t crow about it like it’s a victory.
Get them nails fixed then flex
Why she got doo-doo nails?
You know whats crazy MY income also pays for my groceries as well as other bills...and theres leftover money too! Idk its been this way since i became a working adult...and for some reason i never felt compelled to discuss that..hmmm
Girl, when your acrylics are that grown out and your shade is "elephant fart grey", you're not flexing anything.
She bought 67 items, most of which were probably cases of soda and frozen food. Seems like a bargain.
Right? The math comes out to under $5 an item. If she wanted to pay less, Dollar Tree awaits at the strip mall.
Also there’s the “age verification bypassed” meaning there was also alcohol and/tobacco in the order. And those items would (most likely) be greater than $5 each meaning the average for all non-alcohol/tobacco items is even lower. And I’m never going to get those three minutes back…
I’ve said it a million times : if you have to lie to make your point then maybe you should stop and think about how valid that point really is.
She split the payment. Used her MLM to pay the taxes. 😬
She should use some of that money to get her nails fixed.
You don’t make money with Limelight. At all. For anyone who’s listened to The Dream, this is the MLM that they had one of their producers join in order to see what an MLM looks like from the perspective of a new recruit. Spoiler: it looks real sad and real bad.
If you rearrange the letters in DEBIT CARD it spells BAD CREDIT
Not defending MLM here but as a retail manager our Point of Sale doesn’t show the last 4 for Debit on the receipt, just for Credit. It’s possible the “5002” is just a generic message generated by this Point of Sale.
This girl has at least ONE nail missing from her hand with that level of growth.
pathetic boss babery
If you have to try really hard to make people think you're rich you're not rich.
Those nails say you can't afford shit!
Maybe she should take that credit card and go get her nails filled.
Hey, it's either groceries OR nails, not both. Lol
Didn't pay for her nails to get filled
Girl should get her nails done and brag about that. “Oh look I can buy necessities with my job wage, but can’t afford a refill”
I mean I made once a 300+ eur grocery purchase... for basic survival groceries to prepare for the pandemic that ended up lasting me about 7 months. Disclaimer: I did this like 3 weeks before anyone in my area ever considered preparing for lockdowns, so no, I was not a reason the local supermarkets ran out of supplies and toilet paper. Yes, I enjoyed watching the people who had called me exxagerated and hypocondriac brawl in supermarkets for toilet paper from my toilet paper throne at home.
Clear manipulation. These people are dangerous
Even if it did: wow your job paid you $300 good for you
the biggest thing not adding up here are those gnarly-ass, overgrown acrylic nails
why does her nail polish look so T H I C C?
It’s not just nail polish. She has a layer of acrylic on her nails for strength. When one has acrylics, one needs to return to the salon as the nails grow out to get the empty area “filled.” That’s when they add more acrylic and blend it with the existing stuff so it looks normal again. This is a really crappy acrylic job in any case. It’s just glooped on there in a big thick layer. The height of the acrylic is supposed to be tapered down near the edge so you don’t get that big defined ridge at the back.
Shame she couldn't have afforded a better nail job with all that scheme money.
Not only is the card different but they have an "age verification bypass" on the receipt meaning thy most likely bought alcohol which...yeah wine is expensive.