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Transcript

Why MLMs Are So Hard to Leave—And How to Do It Anyway · She's On The Money

0:00
Speaker 1: Hello.
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Speaker 2: My name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr the
0:05
Speaker 2: Order Kerni Whaltbury and a waddery woman. And before we
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Speaker 2: get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would
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Speaker 2: like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of
0:14
Speaker 2: which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country, acknowledging
0:18
Speaker 2: the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through
0:23
Speaker 2: as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and
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Speaker 2: the storytelling of you to make a difference for today
0:31
Speaker 2: and lasting impact for tomorrow. Let's get into it.
0:34
Speaker 3: She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
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Speaker 4: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the US
1:00
Speaker 4: that's here to help you dodge financial traps, identify the
1:03
Speaker 4: red flags, and stay scam free. I'm Victoria Devine and
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Speaker 4: today we're going to be picking up on a topic
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Speaker 4: that clearly struck a chord.
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Speaker 1: With so many of you.
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Speaker 4: Since our last episode on multi level marketings or MLMs dropped,
1:17
Speaker 4: it's become one of the most shared of our community.
1:20
Speaker 4: What I've really loved, though, is hearing from those of
1:23
Speaker 4: you who said it's helped you see MLMs in a
1:25
Speaker 4: whole different light. So many of you reached out to
1:28
Speaker 4: say that you're actually leaving your MLMs after realizing that
1:32
Speaker 4: these business models can impact your finances, your confidence, and
1:36
Speaker 4: your mental health. And it honestly fires me up to
1:39
Speaker 4: know that we're making a difference together. That is why
1:42
Speaker 4: I am so wildly passionate about these conversations. Multi level
1:46
Speaker 4: marketing companies don't just affect our wallets. They can impact
1:49
Speaker 4: our relationships.
1:51
Speaker 1: Our self worth, and our time.
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Speaker 4: And because this resonated so much, I've been absolutely flooded
1:57
Speaker 4: with messages asking for a deeper dive that breaks down
2:00
Speaker 4: the process of leaving an MLM and explains why you're finding.
2:05
Speaker 1: It just so hard to get out.
2:07
Speaker 4: It's also something that I wanted to dive deep into
2:10
Speaker 4: before breaking down different multi level marketing companies because I
2:14
Speaker 4: don't want to start breaking down companies with no cushion.
2:17
Speaker 1: I suppose for you guys to fall back on no.
2:20
Speaker 4: Advice, that would be against everything that I go by.
2:24
Speaker 4: So by popular demand, we're going to be unpacking that today.
2:27
Speaker 4: Are we walking you through why these companies are so
2:30
Speaker 4: effective at keeping people in, why leaving is such a challenge,
2:34
Speaker 4: and how you can exit with confidence and take back
2:37
Speaker 4: control of your finances, and how you can support a
2:40
Speaker 4: loved one who is caught up in an MLM. So,
2:42
Speaker 4: my friends, let's get straight into it. I reckon we
2:46
Speaker 4: should start with why multi level marketing companies can be
2:49
Speaker 4: so attractive in the first place. They offer this I
2:52
Speaker 4: guess idea of financial freedom and flexible schedules and even
2:56
Speaker 4: a completely built in community. It's an attractive thing right
3:00
Speaker 4: at the end of the day. So many people are
3:02
Speaker 4: going to be joining MLMs because they see these genuine
3:06
Speaker 4: reasons to join. It's not a false hope that they
3:09
Speaker 4: are buying into. It is this very legitimate option that
3:13
Speaker 4: they see in their minds to either create additional income
3:17
Speaker 4: for their family or maybe they want to gain independence,
3:20
Speaker 4: especially if you're like a single mum, like everybody wants that,
3:24
Speaker 4: or even if you are more regional and you're thinking,
3:26
Speaker 4: oh my gosh, this is so isolating. I do want
3:29
Speaker 4: extra income, and all of a sudden, on a silver platter,
3:32
Speaker 4: someone rolls out this supportive group of people that I
3:35
Speaker 4: want to be involved in.
3:36
Speaker 3: Right.
3:37
Speaker 4: I think it's also important here to acknowledge that multi
3:41
Speaker 4: level marketing companies know exactly what they're doing. They are
3:44
Speaker 4: able to sit there and see their target audience and go, well,
3:49
Speaker 4: what would be attractive to this group of people. They're
3:51
Speaker 4: able to identify all these common financial dreams and things
3:55
Speaker 4: that people in the community that they're trying to attract
3:59
Speaker 4: are interested in. Right, It's no accident that there are
4:03
Speaker 4: group trips to places like Mexico because the type of
4:07
Speaker 4: person that is attracted to that is going to think
4:09
Speaker 4: that that is absolutely incredible. And if that's not what
4:12
Speaker 4: you're into, I can almost guarantee that the entire business
4:15
Speaker 4: model is not something that you would ever be attracted
4:18
Speaker 4: to begin with.
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Speaker 1: Right, And at the end of the.
4:21
Speaker 4: Day, I think it's really important to not think that
4:24
Speaker 4: this is a failing on your intelligence or a failing
4:28
Speaker 4: on you not being able to identify an opportunity that
4:31
Speaker 4: you've been attracted to these promises, because all of us
4:34
Speaker 4: are right. And I mean, at the end of the day,
4:35
Speaker 4: that's probably why you're listening to the She'ese on the
4:38
Speaker 4: Money podcast, right, because I have told you that by
4:41
Speaker 4: listening to my podcast, I'm going to help you to
4:43
Speaker 4: create your own level of financial literacy and give to
4:47
Speaker 4: you something that you weren't afforded in the first place,
4:49
Speaker 4: that I believe that you deserved right. And if I'm
4:52
Speaker 4: able to speak in this way with conviction because I
4:54
Speaker 4: genuinely believe in what I'm doing, then other people are
4:57
Speaker 4: able to do that about other topics as well. With
5:00
Speaker 4: which is why it is so dangerous, because obviously, I
5:03
Speaker 4: think that after more than seven hundred episodes and five
5:08
Speaker 4: six years podcasting and having my own business, I think
5:11
Speaker 4: that I have earned your trust.
5:13
Speaker 1: I have proven it, I've.
5:14
Speaker 4: Walked the walk, I have shown you the people that
5:16
Speaker 4: are better off. But multi level marketing companies are in
5:20
Speaker 4: a way able to do something similar as well. So
5:23
Speaker 4: if you think for any second that it is a
5:27
Speaker 4: personal failure that you've been attracted to a multi level
5:29
Speaker 4: marketing company, or you're in a situation where you're embarrassed,
5:33
Speaker 4: I don't want you to be, because at the end
5:35
Speaker 4: of the day, all you wanted was better for your family,
5:38
Speaker 4: better for your community, and better for you, and that
5:40
Speaker 4: is so attractive. It just went in the wrong direction, right,
5:43
Speaker 4: And I mean, who wouldn't be attracted to this idea
5:47
Speaker 4: that you get to work on your own terms. But
5:49
Speaker 4: that dream is often crafted in a way in these
5:53
Speaker 4: companies to be incredibly persuasive, and as I said before,
5:56
Speaker 4: it's not an accident. Multi level marketing companies a bit
6:00
Speaker 4: built on some incredibly intentional psychological tactics that make it
6:04
Speaker 4: incredibly hard to walk away but also make it really attractive.
6:08
Speaker 1: I can almost.
6:08
Speaker 4: Guarantee if you did your own research into multi level
6:11
Speaker 4: marketing companies and who sits at the top, none of
6:15
Speaker 4: them are product specialists in the product that they sell.
6:20
Speaker 4: Say they're a skincare company, I can almost guarantee that
6:24
Speaker 4: at the top of that company, it's not a skincare specialist.
6:26
Speaker 4: It wasn't founded by somebody who actually is good at
6:30
Speaker 4: what they do. It's founded by somebody who is good
6:33
Speaker 4: at multi level marketing companies or good at network marketing,
6:37
Speaker 4: and they have then backtracked and essentially reverse engineered a
6:41
Speaker 4: system and gone, all right, well, I want to make
6:43
Speaker 4: a whole heap of money. I'm going to start a
6:45
Speaker 4: multi level marketing company, or I'm going to start another one,
6:47
Speaker 4: because most of them are serial multi level marketers or
6:50
Speaker 4: serial network marketing company enthusiasts, you could say, but they're
6:55
Speaker 4: reverse engineering it. So they go, all right, well, I'm
6:57
Speaker 4: going to try and attract a group of women because
7:00
Speaker 4: obviously that's going to work best for me, and this
7:03
Speaker 4: is how I'm going to do it. Oh, hair care fantastic.
7:05
Speaker 4: I'm going to go for that at the end of
7:07
Speaker 4: the day. I spoke about it on the last podcast.
7:10
Speaker 4: That's exactly what happens in Mona. Monee is a multi
7:13
Speaker 4: level marketing company built by someone who is fantastic at
7:16
Speaker 4: multi level marketing companies and network marketing. And I think
7:20
Speaker 4: that that's what we need to remember when we're looking
7:22
Speaker 4: at these companies because so many of you come so
7:25
Speaker 4: quickly to defend the product, and I get that the
7:28
Speaker 4: product actually might be great. There's no shame in loving
7:31
Speaker 4: a product that is made and built by a multi
7:33
Speaker 4: level marketing company. The problem that we have is with
7:36
Speaker 4: the business. The problem that we have is with the
7:39
Speaker 4: structure and the advantage that they are taking of the
7:42
Speaker 4: people involved. So back to I guess intentional psychological tactics.
7:47
Speaker 4: Even when it's not working out, they promise things and
7:51
Speaker 4: they talk to you about that's the journey. They talk
7:53
Speaker 4: to you about the community that you've built and putting
7:56
Speaker 4: in more time and energy and effort and maybe even
7:58
Speaker 4: needing to pay more for training because obviously it's on you,
8:02
Speaker 4: not the business.
8:03
Speaker 1: And one of their most powerful tactics.
8:05
Speaker 4: Is actually creating a sense of community and belonging. And
8:09
Speaker 4: this goes back to Mexico, right. Like we talked on
8:11
Speaker 4: my social media, we talked in the last podcast about
8:13
Speaker 4: these brand trips that they're able to earn and able
8:16
Speaker 4: to go on, and the way that they have their
8:19
Speaker 4: little communities inside their organizations. So you'll often see, and
8:24
Speaker 4: I know a lot of you have started to see
8:26
Speaker 4: when you start to do your own research, that these
8:29
Speaker 4: companies have I guess subcultures. They have different groups of
8:33
Speaker 4: people inside of them that attract their own community and
8:36
Speaker 4: create their own sense of belonging. And I think the
8:40
Speaker 4: hardest thing about that is if you do decide to
8:43
Speaker 4: leave that, you get booted out of that community inero
8:45
Speaker 4: point two seconds, as though you never existed and as
8:48
Speaker 4: though you were never somebody that they ever cared about.
8:50
Speaker 4: In fact, they will absolutely ostracize you because that sense
8:54
Speaker 4: of community is so tight. Multi level marketing companies create
8:59
Speaker 4: these tight kniks communities that make people feel really valued
9:02
Speaker 4: and really supported, and arguably that's a really big part
9:05
Speaker 4: of the appeal. But being able to leave One of
9:09
Speaker 4: the hardest things is you feeling like stepping away is
9:13
Speaker 4: going to have you lose friends. And I can almost
9:15
Speaker 4: guarantee if you're really deep into the multi level marketing
9:19
Speaker 4: rabbit hole, you've probably lost some personal friends. You then
9:22
Speaker 4: felt like you gained a group of friends that really
9:25
Speaker 4: got you or more on your team and wanted the
9:27
Speaker 4: best for you. But stepping away would mean losing those friends.
9:31
Speaker 4: And I can guarantee right now that those friends were
9:34
Speaker 4: never true friends to begin with. But I guess community
9:37
Speaker 4: is only part of the story. Another really powerful tactic
9:41
Speaker 4: that multi level marketing companies use is I guess this
9:43
Speaker 4: like mindset trap, and this one, to me is massive.
9:47
Speaker 4: It's the idea that success in a multi level marketing
9:51
Speaker 4: company is not about the product. It's not about your community,
9:54
Speaker 4: it's about your mindset. If you're not succeeding, it's framed
9:57
Speaker 4: that you are the problem, not the business. Multi level
10:01
Speaker 4: marketing companies are really good at making people feel personally
10:05
Speaker 4: responsible for success, which I guess can lead you down
10:08
Speaker 4: a track of self blame rather than questioning the MLM
10:11
Speaker 4: structure itself. And I mean it's very me to want
10:14
Speaker 4: to deep dive into this topic. You guys know that
10:17
Speaker 4: over the last few weeks, even over the last month,
10:19
Speaker 4: I have absolutely been going ham on this topic.
10:22
Speaker 1: Not only have I.
10:22
Speaker 4: Been going ham, but I've been having all these really
10:25
Speaker 4: deep conversations in my DMS with people who are in
10:28
Speaker 4: the process of leaving, people who are disgruntled, people who
10:31
Speaker 4: have left and felt this. I feel like there needs
10:34
Speaker 4: to be a subculture, and I'm sure that there are
10:36
Speaker 4: Facebook groups of people who have left multi level marketing
10:39
Speaker 4: companies that support each other because it is hard, it
10:42
Speaker 4: is something really challenging. But I think this self blame
10:46
Speaker 4: leads you into essentially throwing good money after bad and
10:50
Speaker 4: that's another big factor in this multi level marketing structure, right,
10:56
Speaker 4: So it's this sunk cost fallacy.
10:58
Speaker 1: So they give you.
10:59
Speaker 4: The idea that the money and the time that you've
11:01
Speaker 4: already invested would just be lost if you stopped.
11:04
Speaker 1: So if you've bought you.
11:05
Speaker 4: Know, the starter kits, or you've attended some of the training,
11:08
Speaker 4: or maybe you've been on a trip or you've paid
11:09
Speaker 4: for some of the travel, you are walked down a
11:13
Speaker 4: route of thinking, Oh, I can't all gray right now,
11:16
Speaker 4: I've already invested too much. I've put too much in
11:19
Speaker 4: But something that I was told a long time ago
11:22
Speaker 4: is the sooner you get off the train, the less
11:25
Speaker 4: expensive the return trip home is. And I think that
11:29
Speaker 4: that's a really important thing to remember that the sooner
11:32
Speaker 4: you get off, the sooner you start saving, the sooner
11:35
Speaker 4: you are in a better position. And I guess it
11:38
Speaker 4: really frustrates me that multi level marketing companies make people
11:42
Speaker 4: feel personally responsible for success of a multi million, if
11:47
Speaker 4: not billion dollar company, because that leads to self blame
11:51
Speaker 4: rather than questioning the MLM structure itself.
11:54
Speaker 1: They did that on purpose, like they.
11:56
Speaker 4: Are going to lead you down that route of essentially
12:00
Speaker 4: sliding you into saying that it is your fault. It
12:03
Speaker 4: is not you know the company. The company has set
12:05
Speaker 4: you up for success. We've given you every single tool
12:08
Speaker 4: and resource to be successful.
12:09
Speaker 1: Babe, this is your fault.
12:11
Speaker 4: And I think that it is so important to be
12:13
Speaker 4: able to identify that whether you're in a multi level
12:16
Speaker 4: marketing company or you're just in a toxic corporate job,
12:18
Speaker 4: because that still happens in quote the real world, right.
12:22
Speaker 4: These companies also rely super heavily on social proof or
12:26
Speaker 4: I guess so called success stories.
12:28
Speaker 1: You've seen them.
12:29
Speaker 4: I know, you've seen them all over your stories, you've
12:31
Speaker 4: seen them all over your Instagram, you've seen them on
12:33
Speaker 4: TikTok that before and after haircare photos. You'll often see
12:37
Speaker 4: people at the top of multi level marketing companies. I
12:40
Speaker 4: guess the high earners spook just how much that they're
12:44
Speaker 4: making as well. And I find this so interesting because,
12:47
Speaker 4: as I mentioned before, you've all seen them before and afters,
12:50
Speaker 4: but I absolutely can guarantee that you've also seen the
12:54
Speaker 4: top dogs talking about how they're making bank, how they've
12:56
Speaker 4: retired their husbands, how they're making all of these trips
13:00
Speaker 4: happen because oh my gosh, I've done so well and
13:03
Speaker 4: I got my white Range Rover and I did all
13:05
Speaker 4: of this, and you can do it too. If I
13:07
Speaker 4: can do it, you absolutely can do it. And it's
13:10
Speaker 4: this concept of I guess social proof where you go, Wow,
13:14
Speaker 4: you're right. That girl from the Gold Coast she did it.
13:16
Speaker 4: She was just a stay at home mum. I could
13:18
Speaker 4: absolutely be, you know, a stay at home mum who
13:21
Speaker 4: does that as well. I might even quit my full
13:23
Speaker 4: time job to go and do this because it looks
13:26
Speaker 4: like she's having so much more fun. It looks like
13:28
Speaker 4: the grass really is greener, and you do convince yourself
13:32
Speaker 4: that if they can do it, I can do it too.
13:35
Speaker 4: Multi level marketing companies are structured that way. It's also
13:39
Speaker 4: and I'm not going to get into it right now
13:40
Speaker 4: because we'll go to a break in a hot second,
13:41
Speaker 4: but it's also why you'll often find that multi level
13:45
Speaker 4: marketing companies have really deep religious ties, and that's because
13:49
Speaker 4: of the sense of connection. It's around community, it's around
13:53
Speaker 4: bringing people in, and I find that really toxic. Like
13:57
Speaker 4: you do you when it comes to religion. I've got
13:59
Speaker 4: absolutely no opinion on what you choose to do in
14:03
Speaker 4: that aspect, but I think it's really interesting the cult
14:06
Speaker 4: like multi level marketing behaviors and the types of religious
14:10
Speaker 4: groups that they tie themselves to, because often you'll see
14:14
Speaker 4: a really deep connection and them talking about how their
14:18
Speaker 4: religious ties are the reason for their success. So I'm
14:22
Speaker 4: going to go to a really quick break because I
14:24
Speaker 4: could yap about this all day, and when we come back,
14:26
Speaker 4: I'm going to dive really deeply into why leaving a
14:29
Speaker 4: multi level marketing company can be so emotionally challenging, and
14:33
Speaker 4: then I'm going to give you some steps to I
14:35
Speaker 4: guess help make that exit a little bit smoother. You
14:37
Speaker 4: are absolutely not alone in this and this is not
14:39
Speaker 4: something that we should be embarrassed about. So stay tuned.
14:46
Speaker 4: All right, my friends, we are back and now we
14:48
Speaker 4: get to dig into why leaving a multi level marketing
14:50
Speaker 4: business can feel so complicated and honestly, it ends up
14:54
Speaker 4: being a bit messy. If you're finding it hard to
14:56
Speaker 4: walk away, my friend, you are not alone and it's
14:59
Speaker 4: actually not na accident. As I was saying in the
15:01
Speaker 4: first half of this episode, multi level marketing businesses are
15:05
Speaker 4: designed to create I guess you would call it a
15:07
Speaker 4: sense of loyalty and then personal responsibility that makes it
15:12
Speaker 4: really tough to leave, especially when friends or family become involved.
15:16
Speaker 4: So let's break it up. First up, let's talk about
15:19
Speaker 4: the guilt many people are going to feel when they
15:21
Speaker 4: start thinking about stepping away.
15:23
Speaker 1: So multi level marketing.
15:25
Speaker 4: Businesses often recruit through friends or family, and they do
15:28
Speaker 4: this on purpose because it can make leaving feel really complicated. Like,
15:32
Speaker 4: you started this business, you were wildly passionate about it,
15:35
Speaker 4: and so you recruited your best friend and then her
15:37
Speaker 4: mum joined, and then your mum got a little bit
15:40
Speaker 4: envs and was like, oh, I want to be in
15:41
Speaker 4: on the fund and she joins. So stepping away is
15:45
Speaker 4: going to feel really icky because there's often this guilty
15:48
Speaker 4: around stepping away, especially because maybe you brought in somebody
15:52
Speaker 4: that you really care about. The point here is that
15:56
Speaker 4: it's always okay to put your and their financial wellbeing first,
16:01
Speaker 4: even if it means that you need to set boundaries
16:04
Speaker 4: with people you know or people that they know. The
16:07
Speaker 4: other thing about multi level marketing businesses is that they
16:11
Speaker 4: pray it on your personal responsibility and your self worth.
16:14
Speaker 4: Multi level marketing businesses sometimes, most of the time, make
16:19
Speaker 4: people feel that if they're not succeeding, it's their fault.
16:22
Speaker 4: I was telling you about this before. They take the
16:24
Speaker 4: responsibility away from the brand and away from the organization
16:28
Speaker 4: and put it on the shoulders of the individual, so
16:31
Speaker 4: that you feel genuinely feel as though if you're not
16:34
Speaker 4: selling the product, it's your fault. It can't possibly be
16:38
Speaker 4: the brand or the business or the business model. It
16:40
Speaker 4: definitely has to be because you're not that good at sales.
16:43
Speaker 4: And then maybe you should be spending money on training
16:46
Speaker 4: or workshops or programs that the people in your higher
16:50
Speaker 4: up or in your upline are offering and charging you
16:53
Speaker 4: through the nose for when in reality they probably have
16:56
Speaker 4: no experience in this. They're just copying somebody else that
16:59
Speaker 4: they saw doing this and knew it's another way that
17:01
Speaker 4: they can make money. And I can't say this enough times. Guys,
17:06
Speaker 4: ninety nine percent of people who are involved in multi
17:09
Speaker 4: level marketing lose money. I need to really emphasize that
17:13
Speaker 4: not succeeding in a multi level marketing business is more
17:17
Speaker 4: often than not about the person. It's about the structure.
17:21
Speaker 4: At the end of the day, being able to succeed
17:24
Speaker 4: in a multi level marketing business. Sure, it's about selling
17:27
Speaker 4: a product, but at the crux of it, to make
17:30
Speaker 4: real money, to make the money that they're glamorizing, to
17:33
Speaker 4: make the money that they are showcasing to you. That
17:37
Speaker 4: woman that you're following that's saying that you can do
17:39
Speaker 4: it too. I can promise the money she's making is
17:42
Speaker 4: only good because she's managed to recruit enough people under
17:45
Speaker 4: her to make that money. It doesn't come from just
17:49
Speaker 4: purely selling the product. And anyone who says, oh, I
17:51
Speaker 4: just signed up to sell the product only like and
17:54
Speaker 4: I'm making good money, it's not going to last because
17:57
Speaker 4: there's no longevity in that, and that's what they are promising.
18:00
Speaker 4: So when you are finally ready to step away, I
18:03
Speaker 4: need you to remember that it's not just about leaving
18:05
Speaker 4: the business behind. It's also about choosing to rebuild connections
18:09
Speaker 4: that might have been strained along the way. How many
18:12
Speaker 4: times have we heard people say, Oh, my cousin or
18:15
Speaker 4: my aunt or my friend got involved in a multi
18:17
Speaker 4: level marketing business. Time and time again, I've heard in
18:20
Speaker 4: my DMS people say, Oh, my cousin started. I haven't
18:23
Speaker 4: said anything because it's my cousin, but like I've muted
18:25
Speaker 4: all her stories. Or oh, my aunt has been doing
18:28
Speaker 4: this for ages and everybody in the family talks about
18:30
Speaker 4: it when she's not around. Oh my girlfriends started this,
18:34
Speaker 4: and oh it's getting really icky. I've literally unfollowed everything
18:38
Speaker 4: that she does and I don't follow her business. Even
18:41
Speaker 4: if you are feeling as though you know no one
18:44
Speaker 4: said anything, it might be because they just don't want
18:47
Speaker 4: to bring it up.
18:47
Speaker 1: They're not confrontational.
18:49
Speaker 4: So if you are leaving a multi level marketing business,
18:52
Speaker 4: I think it is time to invest in reconnecting with
18:55
Speaker 4: your friends and family, because many people doing multi level
18:57
Speaker 4: marketing end up isolating themselves away from friends and family
19:01
Speaker 4: who were a little bit skeptical about the business because
19:04
Speaker 4: the Multi level Marketing company told you to distance yourself
19:07
Speaker 4: from people who are threatened by you. You've seen it
19:11
Speaker 4: time and time again. They're like, Oh, they don't support
19:13
Speaker 4: you because they're just envious of what you'll be able
19:15
Speaker 4: to achieve. It's actually a joke. It makes me feel
19:18
Speaker 4: sick because not only are these people making you isolate yourself,
19:23
Speaker 4: they have absolutely no support when it doesn't work out.
19:26
Speaker 4: Reconnect with those people that you might have distanced yourself
19:29
Speaker 4: from and maybe be transparent about the fact that you
19:31
Speaker 4: are leaving the Multi Level marketing and you've learned some
19:34
Speaker 4: new stuff and like, oh, you can't believe you got
19:36
Speaker 4: caught up, but we don't need to be embarrassed about
19:38
Speaker 4: these things. I would reach out through maybe a message
19:41
Speaker 4: or a call rather than simply readding them on social
19:44
Speaker 4: media to really rebuild your trust and connection gradually. The
19:49
Speaker 4: next thing I would do is handle your upline carefully.
19:53
Speaker 4: Over the last few months, I've learned a lot about
19:55
Speaker 4: uplines and how savage they can be and how nasty
19:59
Speaker 4: PE people can be if they're still in their MLM
20:02
Speaker 4: to people leaving the MLM. So what I would do
20:05
Speaker 4: is really avoid announcing that you're planning on leaving until
20:08
Speaker 4: you're ready to formally leave.
20:10
Speaker 1: I know that this sounds.
20:13
Speaker 4: Maybe a little bit hypocritical, because these women are going
20:15
Speaker 4: to be saying you can talk to me about anything.
20:18
Speaker 4: This is something that you can't talk to them about,
20:20
Speaker 4: because the second you show any inkling of leaving, you
20:23
Speaker 4: are going to be ostracized. Some uplines might actually guilt
20:27
Speaker 4: trip you or pressure you to stay, which can be
20:30
Speaker 4: really tough to resist if you're feeling really vulnerable. These
20:33
Speaker 4: aren't the people to ask about whether you should stay
20:35
Speaker 4: or not. Because they are making money from you. Of
20:38
Speaker 4: course they want you to stay. So take steps to
20:41
Speaker 4: exit the multi level marketing business first before having a
20:45
Speaker 4: chat with them, so that we don't have any unnecessary
20:48
Speaker 4: pressure or manipulation. And I know that this might sound
20:51
Speaker 4: dramatic if you're listening and being like, oh, v like,
20:54
Speaker 4: I really doubt that'll be like that.
20:55
Speaker 1: You know, my upline is lovely. Of course they are.
20:59
Speaker 4: It's literally truly their job to be kind to you
21:01
Speaker 4: so that you recruit more people underneath them as well.
21:04
Speaker 4: And I know that that sounds very negative, but it
21:07
Speaker 4: is the way it is because it keeps people involved.
21:11
Speaker 4: And my heart absolutely breaks because I have had close
21:14
Speaker 4: to one hundred I would say conversations in my Instagram
21:17
Speaker 4: dms over the last month of people sharing with me
21:21
Speaker 4: their horror stories of what has happened to them when
21:23
Speaker 4: they've left. People literally being abused, people being verbally abused,
21:28
Speaker 4: people having people park outside their houses to overwhelm them
21:32
Speaker 4: and make them feel really scared. People you know, telling
21:36
Speaker 4: their family and friends that they're leaving for different reasons.
21:39
Speaker 4: It's actually, from my perspective, cooked what these women will
21:43
Speaker 4: do to protect a multi level marketing business that, just
21:46
Speaker 4: to point out, wouldn't even protect them when shit hit
21:50
Speaker 4: the fan. So when it comes to telling your upline
21:53
Speaker 4: that you're planning on leaving, you do not owe them
21:55
Speaker 4: any kind of explanation. The next is, and this is hard.
22:00
Speaker 4: You want to cut the ties to your multi level
22:02
Speaker 4: marketing and you want to cut them real hard. We're
22:04
Speaker 4: going to disconnect from any multi level marketing related social
22:07
Speaker 4: media groups. We're gonna leave the Facebook chats, We're going
22:10
Speaker 4: to leave the Telegram conversations. H V, how did you
22:13
Speaker 4: know that they have Telegram conversations going on. Well, my friend,
22:18
Speaker 4: all those people that I was just telling you about
22:20
Speaker 4: that are leaving multi level marketing businesses that are disgruntled
22:23
Speaker 4: sent me the links to their Telegram conversations, and because
22:26
Speaker 4: I'm brazen, i added myself to their group chats and
22:29
Speaker 4: had a little bit of a spy around before I
22:31
Speaker 4: got kicked out of them. I don't know if they've
22:34
Speaker 4: been following, but I don't think they would have been
22:36
Speaker 4: very happy to see Victoria Devine who's added herself to
22:38
Speaker 4: your group chat. But also I don't know why they're
22:41
Speaker 4: using Telegram. So Telegram as a basis, this is just
22:46
Speaker 4: like a little side conversation because I just think it's
22:48
Speaker 4: a bit of a red flag. But if any business
22:50
Speaker 4: is operating group chats on Telegram, it's because they don't
22:53
Speaker 4: want their conversations to be able to be tracked. Everyone
22:57
Speaker 4: in this day and age has WhatsApp, so I'm not
22:59
Speaker 4: sure why they couldn't you that platform. But essentially Telegram
23:02
Speaker 4: exists because it's on a super encrypted platform that can't
23:06
Speaker 4: even be hacked. If people are investigating into the platform
23:09
Speaker 4: or into groups and conversations like this, right so Telegram
23:14
Speaker 4: is super encrypted and more often than not is used
23:17
Speaker 4: by drug dealers. So I'm unsure of why they need
23:19
Speaker 4: to use a platform like that to talk about their
23:22
Speaker 4: multi level marketing business. Could it be perhaps because there's
23:25
Speaker 4: something illegal going on in there?
23:27
Speaker 1: Who knows.
23:28
Speaker 4: So when I go back to this conversation about cutting
23:31
Speaker 4: ties from your multi level marketing business, we're going to
23:34
Speaker 4: unfollow your upline, We're going to unsubscribe from group chats
23:37
Speaker 4: or newsletters. This separation is going to prevent I guess,
23:40
Speaker 4: unnecessary exposure to new sales or promotions or recruitment pressures,
23:44
Speaker 4: which is going to allow you to move on without
23:46
Speaker 4: temptation or continued involvement, Like the last thing you need
23:49
Speaker 4: is to see so many people promoting it when you've
23:53
Speaker 4: just left it and get a sense of I guess fomo.
23:56
Speaker 4: And then we're going to talk about any financial impacts
23:59
Speaker 4: of I'm going to be most passionate about this because
24:03
Speaker 4: of the financial impacts of multi level marketing businesses, but
24:06
Speaker 4: leaving them might mean facing a few short term financial losses.
24:10
Speaker 4: I need you to remember that conversation about the sooner
24:13
Speaker 4: you get off the train, the cheaper the return ticket
24:17
Speaker 4: leaving a multi level marketing business might mean that there
24:19
Speaker 4: are a few financial losses, and I need you to
24:22
Speaker 4: confront the money issues directly by I guess, assessing what
24:26
Speaker 4: you invested and making a really realistic budget to regain
24:29
Speaker 4: control of your finances. If you need to seek financial advice,
24:33
Speaker 4: my favorite platform is the National Debt Helpline, which I
24:37
Speaker 4: will put the resources and the contact information to in
24:40
Speaker 4: the show notes. But at the end of the day,
24:42
Speaker 4: seeking financial advice or assistance is really smart and it's
24:46
Speaker 4: going to put you in the best possible position. And
24:47
Speaker 4: remember that financial recovery is possible and we don't want
24:51
Speaker 4: to be throwing good money after bad. Unfortunately Australia doesn't
24:56
Speaker 4: have this, but some countries actually have buy back laws
25:00
Speaker 4: for multi level marketing products where the company has to
25:03
Speaker 4: buy it back from you. As I said before, unfortunately
25:06
Speaker 4: that doesn't exist in Australia, and if you asked, they
25:09
Speaker 4: would absolutely say no because they will say it's your fault,
25:12
Speaker 4: you shouldn't have purchased the products. But at the end
25:14
Speaker 4: of the day, it's important to know what your rights
25:17
Speaker 4: are and if you're listening to this, because your overseas
25:20
Speaker 4: absolutely have a look into it because it might actually
25:23
Speaker 4: apply to you. Now, if you've been listening to this
25:25
Speaker 4: episode because you're not involved in a multi level marketing business,
25:29
Speaker 4: but you're listening because you're worried about a loved one
25:31
Speaker 4: or a friend who's still.
25:32
Speaker 1: Involved in a multi level marketing business.
25:35
Speaker 4: Helping a loved one leave generally requires a gentle, yet
25:39
Speaker 4: supportive approach. I would avoid confrontation because they might not
25:44
Speaker 4: be ready to hear what you are willing to talk about,
25:48
Speaker 4: and multi level marketing businesses thrive on emotional bonds and
25:52
Speaker 4: criticism can trigger defensiveness. In fact, they have whole fact
25:56
Speaker 4: sheets on how to respond when somebody's not on board.
26:00
Speaker 4: They have whole fact sheets that say, if somebody says
26:03
Speaker 4: that they don't have the cash, this is what you say.
26:05
Speaker 4: If somebody says it's a scam, this is what you say.
26:07
Speaker 4: If somebody calls this business a pyramid scheme, this is
26:10
Speaker 4: exactly how you respond. It's really sad, and from a
26:14
Speaker 4: business perspective, relatively smart for them to have invested so
26:18
Speaker 4: much in sales training, but it means that they are
26:22
Speaker 4: basically hardwired to take anything that you say as not gospel.
26:27
Speaker 4: So instead, what I want you to do is listen
26:29
Speaker 4: more than you talk. I want you to create a
26:31
Speaker 4: safe space for them to share openly. You can say
26:34
Speaker 4: you're not interested in purchasing the products, but you always
26:36
Speaker 4: want to hear about it because they need someone on
26:39
Speaker 4: their team. I would focus on shared memories and maybe
26:42
Speaker 4: reminding them of their original goals to always encourage reflection,
26:46
Speaker 4: and maybe remind them of the dreams and the values
26:49
Speaker 4: they might have sidelined, which might help them to assess
26:52
Speaker 4: if the multi level marketing business truly aligns with their aspirations.
26:57
Speaker 4: I would be very patient because that's what they need,
27:00
Speaker 4: as it's probably going to take a few conversations for
27:02
Speaker 4: them to actually process their attachment whether this is a
27:05
Speaker 4: good or a bad thing. And I wouldn't support them
27:09
Speaker 4: in the way of purchasing products or joining their team,
27:11
Speaker 4: because that actually reinforces their commitment. But I would offer
27:15
Speaker 4: steady support and alternatives and that you're helping them to
27:18
Speaker 4: see a way forward on their own terms. And remember,
27:22
Speaker 4: stepping away from a multi level marketing business, it's not
27:24
Speaker 4: just a big decision. It's a really hard one to make,
27:27
Speaker 4: and the sport of family and friends can and will
27:29
Speaker 4: make all of the difference. And I mean, you obviously
27:31
Speaker 4: care a lot because you're listening to this podcast. I
27:34
Speaker 4: would potentially send this podcast to them and be like, wow,
27:38
Speaker 4: this is really interesting. Don't say wow, I need you
27:41
Speaker 4: to listen to this podcast because you finally have to
27:43
Speaker 4: leave that multi level marketing business.
27:45
Speaker 1: We don't need that. I'll say that to them for you.
27:48
Speaker 4: And if you're listening to this because personally you're considering
27:52
Speaker 4: leaving a multi level marketing business, or you're involved and
27:54
Speaker 4: someone sent this to you, no, it is completely okay
27:58
Speaker 4: to put your well being and you'll find outancial future first.
28:01
Speaker 4: I'm here that she's on the money. Community is here
28:04
Speaker 4: to support you every single step of the way. From
28:07
Speaker 4: the interactions I'm having with so many of you on Instagram,
28:10
Speaker 4: it is clear that these conversations are needed. The response
28:13
Speaker 4: to this topic has been absolutely overwhelming. It's why there
28:16
Speaker 4: has been such a gap between the content on this
28:19
Speaker 4: because I wanted to make sure that it was the
28:21
Speaker 4: right content coming out at the right time. And honestly,
28:25
Speaker 4: this overwhelming response to the content has only reinforced my
28:29
Speaker 4: commitment to keep talking about multi level marketing businesses, breaking
28:32
Speaker 4: down their tactics and sharing stories that empower you to
28:36
Speaker 4: make informed financial choices. So, my friend, if you are
28:40
Speaker 4: just as fired up about this as I am, make
28:43
Speaker 4: sure that you subscribe and stay tuned. I'm absolutely not
28:46
Speaker 4: done with multi level marketing businesses yet because there is
28:49
Speaker 4: so much to cover. So hang around. Have a good weekend,
28:53
Speaker 4: my friends, and I'll see you brighton early on Monday.
28:55
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29:17
Speaker 4: buy a financial product, read the PDS TMD and obtain
29:20
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