You know how I’ve said that context matters? It matters with most things, but I’ve specifically said it when I talk about MLMs vs traditional employment, and the promises and pitches the MLM reps will make. I was listening to another video this week where an MLM rep was exclaiming about all the wonderful things her company had to offer, and it really hit me how much of those things could be said about employment at a regular, W-2 job.
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You can make enough money to pay your bills (it’s weird that this is something they say, but they do), you can earn a company car, you can take off work when you need to, it’s personal development with a paycheck, you’ll make lifelong friends, you’ll be a leader, you’ll be making a positive difference in the world, you’ll be doing God’s work. Faith over fear, nothing worth doing is easy, we all have the same 24/7/365, lead with love, where your focus goes your future grows, all that stuff. You know it; we’ve all heard it.
Sometimes I hear that stuff and it just makes me cringe. Some of it is just ridiculous, but the worst is when it sounds almost exactly like something I believe about regular employment at a regular job. I want to throw out every one of those words and sayings from my vocabulary, and delete anything that sounds even remotely close to that from this site, my books and my videos. But today I’m reminding myself that context matters. Let’s not throw out something good, just because someone is using it in a bad way.
For example: Personal development is a good thing. Yes, it can be taken too far, if you use it as a rod to beat yourself with, and constantly tell yourself that you aren’t good enough. And yes, some people use the concept of personal development to take advantage of other people, like when MLM reps will tell their downline that the reason those in the downline aren’t seeing success is because they aren’t doing enough personal development. But taking time to learn, develop skills, and do things that grow your confidence in yourself and give you a good outlook on life - that’s great! Personal development is a great thing when you don’t take it too far, and you do it in a way that makes you happy.
I could go point-by-point, and list all the good things that I’ve seen MLM companies twist and use in a bad way, but this post would get way too long. So I’m trying to address things in chunks on my YouTube channel, and that’s been giving me some clarity. Context matters. And regular employment at a regular job absolutely wins over joining an MLM.