Caught in the MLM trap

Who else’s DMs are filled with those girlboss queens from your old high school, saying things like ‘hey babe, you would thrive in this business where you just sell products, get healthy and make money from home’? Most likely, many of our readers have received a message like this. My friends, these messages are an indicator of someone involved in an MLM scheme. I would know, I WAS one of those ‘girlboss babes’ in everyone’s DMs. 

Here’s a quick run-through of what an MLM scheme is. MLM stands for ‘multi-level marketing’, set out in a pyramid structure where financial payment is made by recruiting new people. The earnings made through a pyramid scheme essentially funnel from the people on the lower levels, right to the person or people at the top. Promises of ‘never having to work a 9-5 job again’ and gaining ‘financial freedom’ lure new recruits in, serving to make the top of the pyramid fuller and richer, while the lower levels scrape by. 

Students are prime targets for these types of schemes, because generally, the majority of us are broke. After paying rent and bills, most of our student loan is gone, with the leftover spent on the essentials (two-minute noodles and a couple boxes of piss for the weekend). Of course, when we hear phrases about financial freedom, working from home on our own schedule to work around our study commitments, and having the potential to earn beyond our wildest dreams, we are HOOKED. However, there’s much more behind the scenes than they let on. 

Keira has been approached by multiple MLM schemes since high school. However, unlike many students who fall victim to the pyramid format, she did her research beforehand and dodged getting sucked in, saying, “You pay money to join, and really, you’re just selling overpriced products with average ingredients.” The amount of money I spent on products was WAY more than the money I made from recruiting others. But in order to stay on the programme and continue recruiting others for financial gain, I had to spend a certain amount of money per month on products. There is SO much I spent on those products that I truly will never get back, roughly purchasing a minimum of $235 worth of product a month. I struggled every month just to make ends meet. I’d have to borrow money off my parents, promising that I was going to make bank from this business, which ultimately never happened. 

I’m not the only one who suffered financially from an MLM scheme. While Nelly wasn’t personally involved in an MLM business, she had to watch one of her closest friends Alex get sucked into “a quick way of making money”. With Alex being a student and a new mama, she wanted to “make her own money and also lose weight after having a baby”. Alex became so obsessed with the business, she actually ran into debt because of it, with Nelly describing it as “heartbreaking” to see. 

That brings in the other factor that lures students in: WEIGHT LOSS. The physical benefits they promise you from the products is a foolproof way of recruiting others, with Carla telling Massive how “the promise of weight loss, glowing skin, and endless energy sounded amazing” when she was approached by someone involved in a scheme. Diet culture and fatphobia is so rampant in our society, women everywhere are willing to do almost anything for a quick weight loss remedy. With toxic stereotypes, such as the ‘Fresher 15’ indicating excessive weight gain in your first year of university, the pressure to get slim and stay that way is stronger than ever. 

Like Keira said, the products are usually overpriced and contain average ingredients, despite being marketed as the pinnacle of health. Not to mention, many of the schemes advertise these physical benefits as 100% guaranteed. For Markie, this couldn’t have been more wrong. As a student struggling with weight loss, she dived right into an MLM through buying a start-up box in order to drop a few sizes. “I was literally looking for anything… it popped up as this new 30-day thing that will make you drop the weight and I didn’t.” Keira also said she almost bought the biggest subscription after seeing “how much people would lose and how fast they would lose it”. A highly promising programme guaranteeing weight loss in only a month? Who wouldn’t be locked into that? 

Not only did Markie stay at the same weight, but she ended up COVERED in an abundance of rashes, causing her to stop the programme as “the products were making me sick”. When she told her team about how she was going to quit the programme after these horrific side effects, she noted how the people involved were “toxic” and the environment was “pressurizing” because they always wanted more. Again, the pressure from these schemes is also something I experienced, as you are constantly told to advertise the programme, as well as to message EVERYONE you know trying to persuade them to join. I also felt super guilty if I didn’t stick to the ridiculously limiting programme that made me STARVING all the time, because it was getting in the way of a ‘better, healthier future’ as my team would put it. 

If you’re putting yourself financially on the line every month, obsessing over weight loss, and constantly pressured to recruit new people and make more money, your mental health can quickly decline. Only a select few truly make it to the top of the pyramid and can live sustainably off the income they receive. Not everyone loses the weight that’s expected through the programme, with some people reacting terribly to the ingredients, like Markie and her rashes. A lot of the time, you just end up losing a lot more money than you’ll ever make, wasting money and time on a programme that also may not give you the physical benefits that were so unrealistically expected. 

I have leftover products stacked up in my shelves that I can barely look at. The eating habits I developed, the self-esteem that plummeted, the obsession with weight loss, the huge amounts of money lost, the toxic environment I contributed to. Just looking at those supplements and protein powders brings back all those memories. Luckily, I wasn’t too deep in the scheme, therefore my financial situation wouldn’t suffer terribly once I quit. But I can’t lie and say it wasn’t difficult. I felt like a failure, and I was afraid of putting on the weight I had lost, even if it was lost unhealthily and obsessively. Fast forward to now, I’ve never felt better, with better eating habits, less of an obsession around my weight, and more self-confidence in my body than ever before. Getting myself out of that toxic scheme was the best decision I ever made. 

Watch out for the ‘boss babe’ ladies that pop into your private messages. The awareness around these schemes is increasing, but sometimes, there’s still that small urge of temptation. That voice saying ‘maybe this programme is legit’ or ‘maybe I really CAN make a business out of this’. My advice? Take it from someone who has been there, done that: DON’T EVEN TAKE THE RISK. Find other alternatives, like making an Only Fans or an old-fashioned lemonade stand. ANYTHING that isn’t an MLM scheme, I’m begging you.