Sure, I’ve heard of Amway – I was even asked to join a long time ago after being contacted by a high school friend – but I never knew how deeply seated multi-level marketing is in America. This book researches the origin and evolution of “The Plan” – how these schemes work not by selling things but by recruiting others.
All the details are in the book and while reading I really felt like I dodged a bullet by not getting involved way back when my friend gave me a call. The book documents (with references) how even now people at the top of the pyramid are enjoying returns on the backs of those struggling at the bottom. And even as most of those at the bottom struggle, wash out and quit without making enough money to survive they are written off as people who didn’t want to work hard enough to succeed.
The biggest eye-opener for me was how people who have gotten rich through MLM schemes are sitting at the top of the current administration, still earning profits from “direct sales” businesses that have been protected through their extensive lobbying and cronies in government positions.
Honestly, it was pretty disheartening to read.
But just because it is bad news doesn’t mean we should know about it, and this author fought the good fight and wrote a book that I think would be important for newcomers to MLM to read.
My only critique was that sometimes the author gets a little too deep in the trenches of some of the legal battles. I sometimes got confused with so many similar sounding companies and organizations – but I guess that is a feature for them rather than a bug. It would have been better for me to either move all the legal battles to their own section, or else go a little lighter with the descriptions.
Next I am waiting on some books on the library, so I’ll be focusing on catching up on some articles that I’ve saved over the past few months.
