The Dark Side of Home Party Networks
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How Many Home Parties Can One Person Attend?
Did you know that you can make hundreds of extra dollars each and every month selling Mary Kay Cosmetics, Tupperware, f*ckerware, or specialty home candles out of your own home in your spare time?
You didn't know that?
Lucky you!
I say, "Lucky you!" because if you don't know that you can get rich selling overpriced crap at intimate little girl-parties thrown in the homes of all your female friends and relatives, then you clearly live in some alternate universe where friends and relatives know better than to ask you to attend these damned things. That's a great universe to inhabit right now, so if you live there, I suggest you lock your door and don't answer your phone either.
As for the rest of you--the ones who, like me, still live in this dingy, broke, slightly desperate universe--How many home party invitations have you personally received this month?
One? Two? Forty?
The answer in all likelihood depends heavily on how many female friends and relatives you have, and how desperate the economic situation is in the specific area in which you live.
Here in the midwestern United States, where the situation is quite desperate, many, many women are flocking to Direct Sales for the first time ever. Some of these women have lost their jobs. Some need a second job but can't find one. Many are just experiencing the money crunch felt round the world and want to help their families in any way they can.
Women are picking up Direct Sales jobs right now in record numbers because 1) these jobs are easy to get, 2) they sound possible to do from home in one's 'spare time', 3) they sound like they might be fun, and 4) they often promise great returns for minimal effort.
But is Direct Sales really the answer to the burning question, "How can I earn a living in this messed up economy?"
I'm not going to say what I think. (You've probably already guessed anyway.)
Instead, let's take a realistic look at what it takes to succeed in this mushrooming girl-friendly industry.
What Your Leader Won't Tell You
OK, first off, the very fact that you are being recruited by a leader, a sponsor, a den mother, or whatever the hell she calls herself ought to make you hesitate.
I'll never forget the Tupperware recruiter who tried to draw me in when my children were small by regaling me with tales of all the happy times she had with her reps at monthly meetings, singing Tupperware songs, dancing little Tupperware dances, cheering Tupperware cheers (I'm not making this up) and competing for brightly colored popsicle molds.
Ah, sisterhood!
She couldn't have scared me more if she'd informed me I would have to be drained of two pints of blood at the first gathering and sacrifice a kitten beneath the full moon. Naked.
So I didn't become a Tupperware lady.
Here are a few other things you might want to consider before you dive in smiling:
- Multi Level Marketing is a lot like Scientology. OK, before all you Multi Level Marketers go bananas and start castigating me for being a lying bitch who doesn't know the first thing about it, let me just say this: Go write your own hub. I'm giving my opinion, you are free to give yours, but I won't be getting into it with you here in comments. I'll just say this: The term pyramid scheme does not refer to the instant hit of enlightenment a person can get from sitting inside a triangular shaped tent. There's a reason for all those MLM team building exercises followed by force-fed injections of jello cake with Cool Whip, and that reason is this: If you weren't constantly singing, jumping, and sugaring up under the company logo you'd fast ask yourself, "What the hell am I doing here?"
- Single Level Marketing is not that easy either. Multi Level Marketing refers to the kind of Direct Sales organization (like Tupperware) that is set up such that the more reps you recruit, the higher up the organization you go and the more money you make (you typically get a percentage of your sales and your reps sales). So, in way, you become your reps' tapeworm. The more segments you grow, the more successful you are. Single level marketing on the other hand is a Direct Sales structure in which you do all the selling, either at home parties, on a website, or out of your home. With Single Level Marketing you don't have to do the Tom Cruise thing with everyone you meet, but you do have to sell harder, and sell all the time. If you're selling a product that is overpriced or untested, SLM can be pretty tough, and often you have to 'buy in' with a starter kit or some such initial expense, so you do risk losing that, no matter what they tell you.
- Don't think you can tap your friends and relatives for leads. Lots of women who get into Direct Sales think, "I've got lots of girlfriends and a ton of relatives and I've been to all of their stupid bridal and baby showers but they've been to none of mine. They'll be glad to help me get this thing off the ground, and even if they aren't glad, they owe me." Let me just ask you one question: Do you really need friends and relatives? No? Oh good, because a couple of months of MLM and they will all run for cover, or worse--lock and load--whenever they see you coming. A normal person can only eat so much lemon chiffon anything before going completely insane, so be forewarned.
- Successful MLM sales people work their butts off and live lives of not-so-quiet desperation. This business about picking up a few hundred dollars a month in your spare time? It's bunk. First of all, you know perfectly well you have no spare time. Secondly, even attending one single Direct Sales party a month as a guest feels like it lasts several lifetimes. As the hostess/rep you will have attend several each week, and you will have to come early, leave late, and do even more stuff (like place orders, deliver orders, check on orders, and return broken and unwanted orders) when you finally get back home. If this really sounds like fun to you (and it does to some women) you might hit your mark if you work hard at it. If you are just BS-ing yourself though, get real now, before you sink lots of time and/or money into something you will quickly drop.
- Direct Sales merchandise is usually horribly overpriced. Yes it's always so much better than the stuff people can buy in stores. Oh you can't buy it anywhere else. It cures leprosy, heats your home, and keeps your daughter virginal until marriage. Of course they are going to say that! it might even be slightly true. But seriously, how many people really care if their eyeliner is the most carefully-made excellent eyeliner on Planet Earth? I grant you, some women do care, and you will sell your product to them and they will love you for it. Nine out of ten of the other women you meet, however, will look at your catalog and go into instant sticker shock while smiling inanely and desperately scanning for the cheapest item so they can order it and get away from you. Your job, should you decide to accept it, is to snap them out of that trance and lie to them really fast and really a lot. You have to talk quick and be very very charming and often that doesn't work either.
- It's better for them than it is for you. It costs a direct sales company nothing to let you try to sell their product on their terms. You have to file your own quarterly taxes (assuming you ever make enough money to file taxes), and you get no benefits or perks until you rise fairly high up the organization. So at first, you have to really hustle, and 98 out of 100 new reps never make it past 'at first'. The company knows this. So think about that. Please.
On the Other Hand
You might be the kind of person who just 'fits' this lifestyle.
I personally do know a woman who quickly worked herself up to a $70,000 per year income in Direct Sales. She did that in about two years, and she was relentless. A large, affable woman who worked 20 hour days and never stopped talking and was definitely ALWAYS CLOSING (ABC, girls, ABC--Always Be Closing...), I liked her but I couldn't take her for very long.
She made it work.
I've met very few women like that.
Instead, I've met many, many women who try to do it for a couple of months, lose a friend or two, annoy a few relatives, then quietly peter out because they realize the whole thing is a bigger headache than they ever dreamed it would be, and not only that, they honestly wouldn't buy the stuff themselves if the shoe was on the other foot. They couldn't afford the stuff. They aren't selling any of it!
So that's my 2 cents, take or leave it.
Wait, don't take it...
I'm going to need it for the Party Lite event I'm invited to later this week.
I have a wicked addiction to jello cake.
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Price: $8.50
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Tupperware Unsealed: Brownie Wise, Earl Tupper, and the Home Party Pioneers
Price: $18.48
List Price: $28.00 |
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TUPPERWARE PB
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List Price: $16.95 |
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Night of the Mary Kay Commandos Featuring Smell O-Toons
Price: $1.15
List Price: $7.95 |
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Comments
Hilarious hub, lock your door and don't answer your phone either and lock and load, love it!!!
Hi Triplet Mom and MD FREE,
What provoked this hub was another invitation to a Direct Sales party back in South Bend, where I grew up. ALL of my daughter's friends and neighbors seem to be involved in this now because of the bad job market, and she literally gets several invitations a week, then feels pressured to book a party. The $25 eyeliner I bought at the last one is already broken and this next party is for candles, which I don't need. I love my daughter and she doesn't expect me to attend or buy anything, but I feel bad for her and her friends. Some of them throw parties and NO ONE shows up. It's sad, and I wish they would just stop it. Thanks for laughing! I hoped it would be a laugh, not a provocation. :)
LOL -- love your description of it! I had no idea what women did at Tupperware parties. I thought it had something to do with passing around samples and taking orders, but I guess if they involve food and music and stuff that's some of what made it work.
MLM manages somehow to stay legal, but the principle of a pyramid scheme is right there and still operates. I belong to a small business network and about two out of three comments I get on my profile are from some MLM person or other trying to recruit me, to whom I explain that I'm a novelist and artist uninterested in selling anything I did not actually create myself.
II know from having taught people to draw that it's easier for an average person without experience at either art or sales to get someone to turn into a sales personality. That takes a specific type of energetic aggression and the people who do well at it will do well no matter what flavor of it they pick. Anyone else is probably happier finding out who they are and what they're good at, because no matter what that is, there is probably some way to turn that into an income.
Hi robert--I'm glad you got a laugh out of it! I always thought that men should have to go to a tupperware party, a baby shower, and be a bridesmaid just to get a sense of what it's like to be female in the U.S., and women should have to work construction or drive a truck for a day just to see how nice men AREN'T to each other in the great wonderful male world. I think it would make us more compassionate towards each other. lol!
I agree with you that a better way to pick up money for most people is to find out who you are, do what you love, and think about how to sell it. It usually isn't as hard as people think it is. Thanks for your thoughtful (as always) comments.
Hi! Great hub! I've been approached, and have attended seminars and presentations for various types of MLM in the past and just as you say, it seems that the main idea is to recruit more people, rather than focusing on the product. Of course, every "recruiter" says the product sells itself and you hardly have to work, and they always want you to sell to your friends and relatives, and they claim you'll make a mint.
I gave up on MLM schemes and attending seminars because of all the BS, which I often found out about after checking up on the various companies online.
Also, I didn't want my friends and relatives thinking, "My God, here he comes! What is he going to try to sell me this time!?", every time I visit.
It is pretty humorous in a way when you think about it and would be more so if it weren't real. I, myself have yet to meet anyone who has profited from doing any kind of MLM, so you're one up on me there, though the woman you mention had to work 20 hour days, so while she made money, she has no time even for more than 3 hours' sleep! And forget about eating! LOL
Anyway, I wrote a hub awhile back that is sort of related, called, "Watch Out For Those Job Scams!", where I touch on some of the things I've seen and how they try to attract the unwary and desperate.
Again, great hub!
Wicked cool hub and truthful as well. I love the mary kay cartoon.
Hi myway--The internet has really made MLM into some kind of lethal virus. It was bad before, when it was mostly 50s-style home parties, but now it's just everywhere. It's just pernicious. That woman I mentioned could have sold sand to Saudi Arabia, that's just who she was. it was her genuine personality. She eventually moved into life insurance as an agent, bought her own franchise, and became quite wealthy, but as it I said, she couldn't NOT push products on people--didn't matter if it was make-up or life insurance or dog turds. And people would buy from her because it was easier to buy than get rid of her. Very few people have such a personality. (thank god!)
RVDaniels--Thanks! It was fun to write. That Mary Kay Commando cartoon is from a Berke Breathed book by the same name. It's a very funny book, but then, I'm a HUGE Opus fan. I'd love everything he draws. :)
Oh this was great, as usual. I've been to a few of these-- and I do have a little tupperware. Most of it I can live without, but now CANDLE parties? That's a maybe. We have to think about what happens when the lights go out permanently.
Rochelle--That's such a good point. I know you said it as a joke, but we do need to think about that. Canning parties or quilting parties or clothing exchange parties--all of these would be better than selling overpriced crap that can't help us and we can't afford anyway. I feel the germ of an idea taking hold (germ being the operative word here...) Thanks for reading and commenting. :)
It also made me think about garden seed exchange parties... yes it could germinate.
Good thought! Or even planting parties. People out of work could band together to get these things done. They've done it in the past. :)
Some of the Transition Towns have set up garden seed exchanges, I believe. And I've always thought it would be neat to attend a quilting bee or a barn-raising, even though I haven't the first idea how to contribute to either!
Tupperware in the UK is almost gone now, house party plans died a death many years ago. Avon Cosmetics is still hanging in, as is Kleen-eze.
The people that annoy me are the "Toys" merchants that nip into some seedy warehouse, spend a few hundred quid on toys and associated rubbish and then insist on hawking it into peoples homes ,telling them what wonderful bargains they are. Trouble is, one has no redress for faulty goods of which one finds shortly after Christmas breakfast youhave many, Plus complaining kids.
Glad I am that my wife sees to it all. I think it would drive me nuts.
This Mary Kay woman is new to me. She looks like a man in drag. Hope that doesn't offend anyone. Have attended a couple of these types of parties over the years but thankfully not many. Not for me, selling or buying.
Hi Ethel--Mary Kay is a bit alarming-looking, especially when you consider her company markets cosmetics. I'm not much of a saleperson myself. I like yard sales. And Ebay. That's about the extent of my sales expertise. :)
I think I will stick to my wife's Lingerie parties. LOL
This is too funny! As an Avon rep, I have talked with people on both sides of the discussion, who often are VERY opinionated. I promised myself when I started that I would never do a home party, for the exact reasons you have said. I never have, and my customers all know it so they don't ask for parties. I started selling the products because I like them and use them myself, and there wasn't a rep around me at the time. Now, there are two others within a few blocks!
I love your hub! Keep up the good writing. :)
Hi Paper Moon--Lingerie parties! Wow you hit the jackpot! LOL!
KY pdx--You know, I don't think Avon is so bad, seriously. I've ordered their stuff before. It's reasonably priced and, like you say, you don't have to attend a party to order it. But yeah, every other person seems to be doing this now. It gets overwhelming. Thanks for you comment!
Pam this was a hilarious look at a business that anooyed me for years, when I was trying to be a social person and 'fit in.' Of course, I never bought anything. That's when they stop inviting you. My best friend had one of those parties and did not invite me, because of my attidude. Oddly, enough, I was insulted. The free food is always welcome.
Dolores--I know what you mean. These days, I'm not hurt to be left out of these things, but when I was younger I would have felt snubbed too. The shame of it is that we shouldn't need to sell overpriced crap to get together over snacks for conversation. When I was a kid, the women in the neighborhood did this during the day just for conversation, but later women all reentered the workforce and neighbors didn't visit so much. It's sad, because it seems like these days EVERYTHING has to be structured around money or learning some skill or getting ahead. It doesn't seem like women just gather because they like to talk to each other anymore.
Gosh Pam, it's years (well maybe months!) since I got invited to a direct sales party. They used to be really popular here, but since the internet invaded our lives, they only seem to happen around Christmas. Do they still make Tupperware? My sister used to be a rep, and her kitchen cupboard looked an awful lot like the one in your picture. When she moved house she literally crated it up and tipped the lot.
Hi Amanda! They do indeed still make Tupperware, but these days you can find it in stores alongside other plastic products as well as at the traditional home parties. I think the company is trying to transition to the 21st century and is kind of flailing around at this point. Maybe it won't survive. Sadly, this direct sales craze is happening here again because people need money and jobs are short, which of course means few people can really afford to buy the stuff being sold as the prices are usually much higher and lots of it is fairly useless anyway. So it's a sad thing to watch: Lots of reps, hardly any buyers.
Loved this hub, being a bloke I have never been anywhere near a baby shower, tupperware party and thought Ann Summers was some girl down the road. All that was missing was the WORDS IN CAPS where you needed to really let loose. Do you have an X-rated version, I am sure your computer blushed as you wrote this one out.
LOL! Knell--You are not the first person to make such an observation about these rants of mine. Elena said the same thing on another hub. Now that I've heard it twice I'm going to have to take a look at myself a bit more seriously. I don't know, I've been so angry this year. I saw something in this movie recently (it was about Zen cooking, weirdly enough), and the Zen cook dude was talking about how after you've been at it awhile all this anger starts to surface and it's uncomfortable--it's old anger, it's just your body releasing it because of your practice. I thought, hmmm. What's my excuse? LOL!
I'm pretty harmless in person. Only get this way in prose. Thanks for your thoughts. :)
A pox on these MLM companies that mislead and deceive people into flogging their stuff.
When I was younger and a bit more naive, I allowed myself to be sucked into becoming an Amway distributor, mainly for the chance of getting cheap stuff to use myself.
Well, the stuff worked, but it was expensive.
I went to a couple of their sales meetings, but quickly detected the whiff of desperation from the hyped up leaders in their cheap nylon suits. I bailed out, and was subjected to a heap of emotional blackmail from the "friend" who signed me up.
Well, that was some 30 or so years ago.
If you want to learn the REAL horrors of Amway and multi level marketing companies, download free book at www.MerchantsOfDeception.com
It will make your hair stand on end.
for a full discussion of all the basic emotional triggers that are exploited by MLM companies, read Robert Cialdini's book, "Influence - the Psychology of Persuasion".
In my opinion, this is ESSENTIAL reading for all consumers.
An excellent Hub Pam - thanks.
Thanks Eric--Your comment made me realize there's a darker dark side than the humorous one I wrote about in this hub. Thanks for link to the e-book and for the warning. I always thought Amway was creepy and cultish. Thanks for validating that intuition. :)
A great writeup. I had to laugh because I remember going to a birthday party for a child of an Amway distributor and the chips, drinks, food, clothes, gifts came from Amway. Their garage was filled to the rafters with stuff. 4 years later they left Amway. It works for some and for some it doesn't. The thing that gets me about MLM's is that the personal approach introducing their product or service is so cheesy. No MLMer has ever shown me their W-2's proving their financial independence.
Hi Santo,
Thanks for sharing that. Amway does kind of seem like and alternative lifestyle or something. I think, like you say, it works for some--at least for awhile. I don't know of anyone who has stuck with it for very long.
Hilarious hub :-) I bought some expensive designer jewellery years ago from a catalogue and was then really annoyed when they tried to recruit me as a sales rep! (More than just "tried" - they sent me all sorts of communication as if I were already one of their desperados.) Even though I was pleased with my purchase they lost me as a customer for insulting me like that.
Hi daoine--That is annoying when they do that. Your comment reminded me of a coworker who was a home party jewely person--she used to corner me in the bathroom about having a party. I didn't really even know here. I remember if I saw her go in the bathroom I'd go to one on another floor. :)
I sell jewelry and I love it! The secret to direct sales is to find a company with a product you LOVE and believe in. Decide what you want out of the deal--I wanted about $500 extra a month and am bringing in 3 times that. I do NOT depend on recruiting--I don't want people under me; this is strictly part time, extra for me. I have a fulfilling career with good benefits, so I do not need it for that. I do NOT push my friends for shows or sales--they are my friends, not my customers. I do GIVE them items as gifts. They happen to like my jewelry. I guess everyone has their own opinions, but some people enjoy these, and we enjoy visiting at these shows!
A good example hub. Thank you for sharing this tips.
A friend has a creative way to prevent home-party overload.
She has the 12-16 people she knows all set up presentations at one time at her home twice a year. She invites her extensive list of friends/contacts to these twice annual parties.
They seem to work for both the saleswomen, who get their products exposted to lots of people, and for her friend, who avoid home-party overload.
My exhusband was invited to an Amway meeting in Anchorage, I went with him. The thing that got me was it felt like I was attending a strange version of a Pentacostal church.
Triplet Mom says:
5 months ago
Wow did you nail this one to the wall. I have been approached by the happy-go-lucky rep that was really too high strung for me from different companies (Amway, Tupperware, and many more) . Obviously not a good fit for me.