Octang Frye

Lularoe has been accused of being a pyramid scheme (which it is) in a $1 billion class action lawsuit. A lot of the plaintiffs have $20,000 inventories of cheap, gaudy leggings and clothes (as a distributor, you can't even choose which stuff you have to sell - er, I mean, share.)

I've always been fascinated with the psychology or aspirational marketing and MLM and pyramid schemes. I've known some really bright people get sucked in.
One lady was a co-worker (former maths teacher with a Masters in Mathematics, an amazing software engineer too.)

She got involved in the Kangam water scam thing, HerbalLife, the magical Organo coffee thing. It's fascinating to watch.
I had a friend a couple of years ago pitching the ItWorks! stuff - magical saran wraps with some "botanically infused" miracle ingredient. She stopped doing that one (at least her emoji saturated facebook posts stopped). I was hoping she'd seen the light (and I didn't want to pile on) but she's now selling wine at home. #bossbabe!

Lipsense, Rodan + Fields, Amway, Mary K, Thrive, Younique, Beach Body... it's amazing. And also annoying that they target stay at home mums. You can be the CEO of your own small business! Work at home in your pyjamas (sounds like depression). But pay us for the privilege of working for us. Open and max out credit cards to buy our inventory. Bug your friends. Get angry with your friends when they ignore you. Fake it 'til you make it!

Do you know anyone who got out and admitted they were scammed?
Did you yourself get sucked in? I really admire people who have the self-realization to leave cults and the like. It can be embarrassing. Whether it's $cientology or Mormonism or MLMs, you really have to applaud people who figure it out.

Pulaski

Why? Can I get applause for not getting sucked in in the first place?

Octang Frye

Well of course. It's just embarrassing - I would imagine - to admit to being fished in/taken advantage of.

scrubbedexpat099

In my time I have come across 2 where people I know were heavily involved,the most common one seems to be house flipping with lots of variants. Always wondered why if it was so good you would want to share?

Trying to remember what the other one was...Some sort of health food nutrients.

Leggings, well that seems a not obvious business.

moneypenny20

Got a friend who got into the ItWorks nonsense. Had to unfollow her on FB but it's all gone very quiet so she's followed again. Assume she got out. Another friend tried to get me into Amway, went to a couple of the Conferences/Meetings. They were scary events, very evangelical. Didn't mind the products though.

AdobePinon

Yeah, I've known a few. They never admit failure - they just move on to the next thing. Had to unfriend a couple of them, both online and in real life.

scrubbedexpat091

My sister is into the It works thing. I have FB settings to where they no longer show me her posts for the products or whatever it is..

robin1234

I quite approve of leggings. Prefer the plain black ones though.

Pulaski

Me too, but only up to a size 8, and certainly no larger than 10.
I agree, but the flesh-coloured ones can give an interesting impression.

Octang Frye

Let's face it, leggings are one of the great inventions of the modern age. I heartily approve.

Anian

My friend's wife has done pretty much every work-from-home/parties scheme out there, and never made a penny as far as I can tell. She even tried suing one for the cost of the starter kit after that one failed.

Hats off for the guy who managed to convince women that leggings/yoga pants are fine to wear everywhere, they nearly always brighten up my day.

Boomhauer

People who are smart in STEM fields aren't automatically street smart .I have known people who have no head for science, engineering etc.. but are quite sly and street smart. My engineer dad was good at math and was adept at solving techical/engineering related problems but he was scammed/cheated out of a lot of money by friends and relatives , who did not have what it took to succeed in the STEM field. There have been a few inventors who got ripped off by lawyers and businessmen. My b-in-law is an engineer but he believes in religion and god....go figure.

Boomhauer

I am back at University; it looks like the University has a female dress-code, because 90% of the girls wear black leggings.

Steerpike

Wow; I knew very little about MLMs and nothing about LLM. I just wasted half an hour of my life reading about it. I wish I hadn't. Another confirmation that Facebook is evil.
https://qz.com/1039331/mlms-like-avo...ogical-crisis/

jjmb

My sister started with Younique when my Dad moved in and she found childminding her grandkids plus childminding my Dad while working, was too much. At first she did it while she was working but she gave up working about 6 months ago and she is so much happier now. She swears she is making money from it, enough to cover the lost wages from her part-time job but to be honest, the best thing about it, as far as I can see, is that she is back to being the the confident person she was when she was younger and she looks much better. So even if she is not making money (she claims its a hobby), those benefits out weigh the negatives. Personally I would never be part of such a scheme and I have put her status as hide on FB as she only seems to post about the 'wonderful make up'.