Brynna 🌿 I just wanted to clear up some myths that are still going around & that affect some of us. 🌿
“I don’t support MLMs because they’re pyramid schemes.”
Sooo pyramid schemes are illegal. 🙅🏻♀️
MLM, or Multi-Level Marketing, is not.
Some people may be turned off by direct sales companies, or MLMs, because I’ve found that most people who have issues with said companies typically have had a bad experience with one in the past, which is completely understandable.
It’s all about education, customer service, & sincerity.
When I go to Target to buy a nice pizza pan, I pay “big industry” & I don’t experience great customer service. When I go to a Pampered Chef party at one of my friend’s homes & purchase a pizza stone, I’m directly affecting & blessing the life of an individual family. Plus, I get great customer service & awesome kitchen stoneware. Truthfully, I wish I were able to purchase everything from direct-sales distributors. 🤷🏻♀️
So most of you know that I use & adore Young Living plant oils, & therefore educate about them. YL is not a traditional Multi-Level Marketing company. While they do employ levels of commission, they are not marketing in the multi-level fashion. They are a Direct Sales Network Marketing company. In some MLMs, that means the reps are encouraged to find business people & not customers. They focus on getting others under them to sell the product. 👎🏻 In other MLMs, you usually have to stock product which can be a terrible obligation & a weight to bear on your shoulders. Also, you usually have to sign up for auto-ship to be a customer & are locked in. Oh, & if you want to cancel your auto-ship, you effectively cancel your whole membership. Many times you have to write a letter to cancel. Otherwise, sorry, you will get shipped more product. 😣
Young Living encourages it’s distributors to lead with the product & educate their customers. As I said, I wish I could buy more products from direct sales, hard-working men & women, rather than pay big corporations with my hard earned dollar. 🤷🏻♀️
Consider how a traditional corporation markets their products. Take L’Oreal for instance:
Based on the “Business Insider” article by Lara O’Reilly on June 6, 2015, L’Oreal spent 2.2 BILLION dollars in advertising in 2014, & that was down from the year before. Young Living, because they have their direct sales distributors spread the word for them, spent ZERO on advertising. But get this: the profit margins are close to the same. Most companies, to be solid & make a profit without going under, need to keep their expenses (advertising, human resources, real estate, etc) to around the 50% mark. Products are always marked up by 50 if not 75% or 100% more. Your hair shampoo from Target costs you $7. Target takes $3.50 of that. L’Oreal profits only $2.75 because the rest goes to marketing & overhead costs. The product itself only costs under $1 to make. What gives? ADVERTISING. 💵
With products like Young Living, they pay families rather than big business.
50% of all their profit goes right back into the distributor’s hands.
It is amazing really when you start understanding that every single company on the planet is a pyramid. 🔺😳
The difference with direct sales:
There is no one holding you back & you can work your way right on past all the top executives in the company. All of Young Living’s top ranking distributors make far more than the company’s main CEOs. 🙌🏻
That is amazing!
Full disclosure:
I use & educate about YL plant oils, buy I’m also a [paramedic wife, homeschool mom of 5, aspiring writer, attempting to grow a miscarriage ministry, and constant pursuer of health and wellness]!).🏫
My point is that all of my hats have grown because I happened across a mom with a family similar to mine- but living with so much more freedom- through social media (despite my own misunderstanding of MLM’S and Network marketing).
Humans are social beings so we are going to talk & recommend things to each other no matter what. Some companies understood that fact & created a business model reflecting this. It’s also important to understand that not all MLMs are created equal & not all individual members of different MLMs approach their business the same.
Are you not interested in plant oils for your home & health, or homeschooling, or living life to the fullest?
No problem! I won’t hold that against you. 🤣 (Kidding!)
Seriously though, everyone has different tastes & we should all respect & support one another when we can. 🥰
So, please… please, please stop & think before spreading misinformation that can hurt & affect honest, hard-working people. 🙏🏻💗
(Shared words! I only claim the [personal stuff]! 😁
