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So a little backround: I work as a full time security officer in sunny southern California. I operate the main gates, keep a record of guests coming in, and filter out people residents don't want visiting. I now make CA minimum wage at $9.00 an hour and I clock in normally more than 40 hours a week. Recently one of the residents sons stopped to chat with me. He was surprised that I work so much(he seems to come almost every day I work and never on days I don't). He said he'd like to sit down and talk with me to see if I would be good for a project he has starting soon. When I asked what he did he replied with something along the lines of "building advertising network communities and selling them to corporations for profit." My first thought was "holy poo poo either this is total bullshit or I hit the jackpot." A few days ago I met him at a starbucks near where I work. We talked for a bit. I went in with 2 goals. 1 to get as much info as I could pertaining to the company and what he wants me to do, and 2 to impress the hell out of him. Now I may not have business world experience, every job I've ever had up to now has been retail or security(I'm 22 now) but I know when things don't seem right. And I know a pyramid scheme setup when I see one. This has it written all over it. He's dodgy thus far about the name of the company (I think he gave his initials with 'enterprises' after it) he repeatedly uses terms like 'generating wealth' instead of just saying earning extra money, he seems to only want to meet at local starbucks, he makes it very clear that this is not a get rich quick plan which MAKES it sound like he's trying to make it NOT sound like a scam, the list goes on. I just get a bad feeling from it. Except for one thing, this doesn't seem to have an initial cost like most illegal pyramid schemes. After reading up on MLM's and advertising network companies it sounds like there are some legitimate businesses that use this model effectively and legally. More interestingly there seems to be very polar views on it. Either you love it and think it's the best way to do business now a days, or you hate it and they're all scams and bullshit they never work. So as of now I have a meeting with him this Monday. I haven't committed to anything and I'm not stupid enough to take any job that comes my way. I want to do some more research on the subject before I jump in. Right now I have a low paying, but stable job that allows me to go to college and work on homework on the job. I make enough money to pay the bills and my girlfriend doesn't need to contribute much at all. This is a good setup for now and I don't need to change things up if it might effect my current monetary stability. This offer so far seems more of a time investment rather than a monetary one. Time right now, is something I have a little extra of due to my jobs nature. So if you have experience or insight with this kind of thing let me know. tl;dr A guy approached me about a 'project' he's starting that I might be good for. My bullshitometer is off the charts. Tell me about network marketing companies, MLM's, Pyramid schemes, tip's, info, questions to ask, ect ect.
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Aug 15, 2014 03:30
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 15:43 |
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The fact that you don't have a clear idea of what the job is after one meeting should set off some alarm bells, to be honest. Anyone that can't clearly explain his business plan in a few minutes isn't someone you want to go into business with. That having been said, the most basic point common to almost every pyramid scheme and MLM program I've ever heard of is that you have to recruit a team of people to work with you, so that'd be a question you could ask.
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Aug 15, 2014 03:39
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This is the classic sucker setup. He wants you in because it gets him more money, that is the ONLY reason. You mean nothing to him. Get ready for the hard sell next time you see him. There are three ways to make money: hard work, special expertise, or screwing people over. This guy has chosen the third.
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Aug 15, 2014 03:49
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Ask him if he's paying for lunch. There's one right answer. The wrong one comes out, walk. Make sure it's a good lunch. Then walk.
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Aug 15, 2014 04:26
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TwoSheds posted:That having been said, the most basic point common to almost every pyramid scheme and MLM program I've ever heard of is that you have to recruit a team of people to work with you, so that'd be a question you could ask. Yeah from the sound of how he talks about it I feel like that's the direction he is gonna go. We'll see about it. slap me silly posted:You mean nothing to him. Get ready for the hard sell next time you see him. Well that's kind of what I was expecting. The way I see it there's 2 ways I get money out of it. One, and probably the most likely, is that I make a measly commission after he takes a cut, or two he offers me a steady salary/hourly wage. He mentioned that he was looking for someone to oversee this new project after training. But then again that could just mean I'm just stuck in one of the tiers of a pyramid. There's one aspect that I didn't think of until now. Let's make a few assumptions here: His business model is all sorts of fucky but legal. It costs me no money. I don't have to recruit people, I just manage the account. I have the time to spare and don't mind making poo poo money. Would it be bad if I worked it for the sales experience? I think that I would do great in sales but the one thing that's always stopped me is the work experience. I've applied for a few sales positions with companies like Princess Cruises and various local car dealerships and followed up with every single one and it always ends with "you have no sales experience." Assuming those things are true would be a valid option? Or do you think it would just hurt me in the long run.
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Aug 15, 2014 04:41
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You're trying to persuade yourself that somebody with a legitimate job opening literally grabbed some random dude off the street to offer it to.
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Aug 15, 2014 04:56
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slap me silly posted:You're trying to persuade yourself that somebody with a legitimate job opening literally grabbed some random dude off the street to offer it to. Yes exactly. I just want this to be legit but I know it isn't. Well I know what my answer this Monday is gonna be. I'll update after the meeting.
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Aug 15, 2014 05:05
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You really do have a lot of time on your hands.
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Aug 15, 2014 05:33
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If capitalism is a religion, network marketing is the creepy spinoff cult with all the suckers.
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Aug 15, 2014 05:35
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Ask him, as a self employed "business" owner, why he tries to get people to start up and take his business. Then ask to see his yearly gross from his business. Then ask him to give you figures on how much the average person in the company makes. These figures will be online. Laugh when he can't answer the first question, roll your eyes when he won't do the second, and laugh at his face when he shows you that 90 percent of money in MLMs is paid to the top 20 people.
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Aug 16, 2014 13:46
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When you decline it, you will get many of the standard lines they use. 'Afraid of hard work?' 'You seemed like a smart guy, so I was just trying to help you out' (smart people would be doing this, what am I missing?!!?!?) Various methods of convincing you that the structure isn't a pyramid, or that all companies are pyramids will be used. In fact, read this, even print out a copy to bring along. http://www.mlmwatch.org/01General/misrepresentations.html Basically, we know that you know that you know better.
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Aug 16, 2014 17:28
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I'm doing stuff on the day we we're going to meet so I decided to cancel and not even think of pursuing it. He actually said "okay no worries" I don't think he's really aggressively recruiting.
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Aug 17, 2014 00:15
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Photosyphilis posted:He said he'd like to sit down and talk with me to see if I would be good for a project he has starting soon. When I asked what he did he replied with something along the lines of "building advertising network communities and selling them to corporations for profit." I've been confronted by a lot of MLM/pyramid scam artists, and their sales pitch is always the same- approach a stranger with promises of money, but be vague about what kind of business it is. They refuse to give you straight answers, and just keep dancing around weird promises of wealth. quote:He's dodgy thus far about the name of the company (I think he gave his initials with 'enterprises' after it) he repeatedly uses terms like 'generating wealth' instead of just saying earning extra money, he seems to only want to meet at local starbucks, he makes it very clear that this is not a get rich quick plan which MAKES it sound like he's trying to make it NOT sound like a scam, the list goes on. You were right to think that this might be a pyramid/MLM scheme, because it definitely is. And you can bet your rear end that when you meet up with this dummy for the second meeting he'll tell you, "There's a start-up cost, but there's no commitment. It's fully refundable. What've you got to lose?" Photosyphilis posted:Yes exactly. I just want this to be legit but I know it isn't. Well I know what my answer this Monday is gonna be. I'll update after the meeting. Don't even meet up with that chump. I can guarantee you that it'll be a waste of your time. melon cat fucked around with this message at 00:43 on Aug 17, 2014 |
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Aug 17, 2014 00:40
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If you work security and can get away with it, you can look into the various legitimate ways to make money online. Researching and writing poo poo seems something you can do that can suffer interuptions for your actual job. Just don't get yourself fired over it.
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Aug 19, 2014 19:05
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Photosyphilis posted:More interestingly there seems to be very polar views on it. Either you love it and think it's the best way to do business now a days, or you hate it and they're all scams and bullshit they never work. The second group is more often known as the "suckers." Do you really think a scam whose entire point is to recruit and self-promote aggressively couldn't create enough misinformation to give the impression that it's somehow worthwhile for some of its victims?
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Aug 19, 2014 21:29
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Cast_No_Shadow posted:If you work security and can get away with it, you can look into the various legitimate ways to make money online. Researching and writing poo poo seems something you can do that can suffer interuptions for your actual job. Oh? That does sound great. Could you point me in the right direction?
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Aug 20, 2014 00:12
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 15:43 |
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Photosyphilis posted:Oh? That does sound great. Could you point me in the right direction? http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3447030 I assume he talking about creating a blog and writing content about security. Once you have an audience with regular traffic, monetize it with display ads. You can then do affliate marketing for security suites, where any traffic that comes from your site to the product site and then converts into a sale, you make a commission on.
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Aug 20, 2014 00:23
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