A Window of Opportunity: Part 2

In Part 1, I described how I unwittingly got roped into the introductory seminar of a multi-level marketing scheme.

This is what happened next.

At the start of the presentation, we were taught the distinction between between a JOB and an OPPORTUNITY.

We were then taught that there is a law that governs money — The Law of Finance.

Then we were introduced to the Cash Flow Quadrant concept (which immediately reminded me that I need to revisit Robert Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”).

There was quite a bit of information shared during seminar.

Then about halfway through I began to notice that there were a few ‘plants’ (definition 9) in the room who knew some chants that got a lot of the audience pumped up.

It then switched gears into a promotion party for already-enrolled members.

Then, when excitement levels were through the roof, my fellow neophytes were asked to sign up for the life-changing opportunity.

Looking back at the experience, I think that there are a few key reasons that people get pulled into these programmes:

1. The lack of employment opportunities and frustration with traditional employment in Nigeria;
2. The photos and testimonials of successful members making international trips and laminated copies of income cheques;
3. The atmosphere of the seminar, which went from lecture, to call-and-response fiesta, to promotion celebration; and
4. The promise of a better lifestyle (“cool wealth & good health”) bolstered with good information mixed with misinformation.

One particularly egregious instance of misinformation was the use of the supplement’s endorsement by the W.H.O. and S.A.B. (essentially the convenient props of reputable foreign organizations) to support in a inaccurate explanations of the ideal food pyramid.

Another instance of misinformation was the lead facilitator’s list of the seven requirements for success in the cash flow quadrant and his assertion that the most successful businessmen in Nigeria used all 7 to achieve success.

The list was clearly tailored to position the multi-level marketing programme as the only logical path to financial freedom.

In all the excitement of the seminar, the two facilitators failed to acknowledge the potential pitfalls, which I found to be disingenuous. These include:

1. The lack of greenfields of uninformed contacts. Most people are aware of MLM schemes;
2. That the organization providing the opportunity remains your boss. Despite how creatively the hierarchy chart is drawn, it remains a pyramid with the MLM company as your lord and provider;
3. Your success depends on recruiting new contacts, convincing them to dive in, and mentoring them to be passionate advocates like yourself; and
4. The requirement to attend twice-a-week trainings that end up shitting out other income-earning opportunities. While you’re getting wrapped up in the seminars, distributing the product, and mentoring your recruits, you don’t have time for much else.

I cannot deny the fact that some have achieved, and others will still achieve, massive success in MLM programmes.

You will be shown tangible evidence of success in photos and the programme’s lifestyle magazine.

But, I think everyone needs to make a smart decision about where to invest their time and other valuable resources.

New members will immediately find themselves hustling to recruit people and move up the pyramid as fast as possible (or really building the pyramid higher and further enriching the early recruits at the top).

On my part, the “opportunity” did not fit my life’s vision and mid-range goals. I took a hard pass.

p.s.

A definite wag of the finger at the lead facilitator for denigrating the pursuit of academic qualifications.

He was painfully correct to state that you cannot insert your degrees into the card slot of an ATM, but MLMs don’t guarantee bank alerts either.

I understood how he would take such a position — he came into the programme as a wheelbarrow pusher and worked his way up to the position of a regional recruiter and mentor without formal secondary and tertiary education.

However, creating the impression that pursuing advanced educational opportunities is a waste of time, and then preying on people’s ignorance is disingenuous and plain dishonorable.