A while ago I watched the John Oliver video about Multilevel Marketing and it compelled me to write about my experiences with one. My experiences deviate a bit from his focus, which is nothing against him, instead, I’d like to thank him for making me want to write this. The scope of MLM is broader than just the companies pushing you to buy a product and become the main customer of the product you’re trying to move. And depending on how you look at it, it can make it more vile.

First off, I never had the intention to work for a company like that. But I’d moved to England, and was in a fight of flight situation at the moment of accepting the job. That is, either I’d fight for a way to stay in England, or I’d take a flight back to my home country of the Netherlands.

In the end, I had to do both. It got incredibly messy at the end of my stay in the country, and the company I worked for didn’t make it easier.

The first warning sign was the job interview. After it had concluded, even with extra questioning, I still had no idea what the job entailed precisely. I’d realized there were a few questions to weed people out, like if you wanted to work outdoor or indoor. A trick question, because you should be eager to do both. For the most part, the interview went very well. The hiring manager had gone over my resume before I’d entered the room, which led to most of the interview being us talking about videogames, leading into talk about BioWare and how good Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2 were. It was a friendly conversation between nerds more than anything, but hey, if that’s what gets the job, then sign me on. After the interview, I’d started looking into the company online to see what precicely they do and how, only to get no real answers.

A few hours after the interview I got a call to come to the office the next day, because I was selected for the next step in the hiring process. I was only told it might rain tomorrow, so I should dress for that. Nothing else. Thankfully, I’d had the habit of always having a notebook with me, because I’d later learn this was expected of you, as you’d have to memorize a lot of info on the ride to the field and back. If you couldn’t memorize this, you’d fail. Which later on would make sense, as you’d be taught a marketing pitch later on that you’d have to memorize as soon as possible so you could teach it to the next wave.

The second warning was that we’d have to pay for the travel to the assigned areas ourselves. Even before getting the job. We had a bus ride of over half an hour to the town we’d be working in, so you can imagine how much this would cost if you’d have to not only travel to the offices every single day, but then also to the areas you’d be assigned. With all this traveling back and forth, travel expenses get extreme, and none of this is covered. You don’t just work in the town the offices are in, you’re generally working in the smaller towns surrounding it, traveling by bus or train. Also, you were hired as a freelance agent, so there’s no hourly wage. You either make your sales and get commission, or get no pay. Now imagine that alongside paying for the travel expenses, that first day of traveling along without any chance at being compensated, and the apprentice stage before being allowed into the field by yourself where you get a smaller cut of the commission. For the first few weeks, you are working at a massive loss, and it doesn’t improve too much after that either.

After your first day of traveling alongside an assigned person and passing the basic memorization test, you get your first real work day. This is when it really goes off the rails.

The day before you’re consciously left out of the room most of the sales agents are preparing themselves for the day. But after you get the job, you’re allowed in, likely because experiencing that would give too many cold feet and turn down the job immediately. But going in with the relief of having just landing a job, you’re a bit more open and accepting of anything you might come across.

Every day is started with loud music and yelling. You huddle in a circle and yell buzzwords like FANTASTIC and rehearsed lines to get everyone amped up. The reasoning is very clear, it’s to drown out thought and get everyone to feel more connected. While this is going on, everyone teaches each other similar lessons while others write down these lessons. Doesn’t matter if you wrote them down before, you write them down again. If you’ve memorized them, you can start giving the same lessons to everyone else. It keeps the wheel of people joining and leaving going without anyone at the top of the company involved.

Like John Oliver’s video mentioned you drawing three people in, and those three people drawing three more in, it comes down to that. You teach three people, the three people teach three people.

In fact, three is a core number that keeps coming up a lot at every step of the way. It likely is for every MLM company out there. One of the rules you learn early on is the Law of Averages: for every 100 potential customers you talk to, 3 will sign the contract. If you get 3 commissions every day, at least 3 days per week, you should be able to live comfortably, and you’ll get promoted and live that dream of driving a fast car, wear expensive suits, go on extravagant vacations. Everything you want is yours.

Except looking at the room around you, it’s clear even most people promoted multiple times over never quite reached these promises. Probably because of the payment structure.

That person you traveled with on your first day? That person will oversee your progress until your first promotion. She takes a cut of whatever you make. In turn, she has someone above her, he takes another cut. He also has someone above him, she takes a cut. And then there’s the owner of the company, he takes a cut off that.

It gets even more insidious.

Not only are there riches promised that never get delived. Not only is every recruit pushed to recruit more. The vibe at the offices and language used at the company promote a cult level of indoctrination. You’re not allowed to disagree with or have questions regarding anything, that’s negative. Everything positive is immediately FANTASTIC. Are friends and family questioning what goes on at the company? You should cut ties with them, they’re holding you back. And the hours… You start at 10am with your training. Go to the field at noon. Start heading back at 8pm. And leave the office at 9pm. It’s not strange to leave for for around 8am and gets home around midnight. Everyone is pushed to work an extra day on Saturday, leaving you isolated from people outside of the company for 6 full days while telling you they’re all a bad influence on your success.

What really got to me above all else is that we weren’t selling a product.

We were selling binding contracts.

Contracts that get people to donate to the Red Cross.

Multilevel marketing in the name of charity.

At first it eased my conscious. Yes, I was a disgusting door to door salesman, bothering people in the comfort of their own home, to get them to sign a contract and give me their bank details. But hey, I was doing it for a good cause, right? It ended up tainting a lot of my perception of charity for a long time. There was nothing charitable about what I was doing.

In the end I had to quit.

I just simply did not have the money to sustain working at the job I wasn’t paid to do. It had been a problem since I started, and it got to a point where I had to cut my losses. Since I’d started, payment had always been an issue. Promises regarding being paid kept being made, then broken. I didn’t receive the money I’d earned until after I quit the job.

By then, I’d already gotten a flight back to my country booked, and an eviction notice had already been given because I was behind on rent. The pay I did get felt like it was too little compared to how many people I had signed on for the Red Cross, but I didn’t have the time to fight it anymore. The damage had been done and I had to leave.

Not long after, I saw similar companies opening up in the Netherlands, all in the name of charity too. Fantastic.

I’d urge anyone considering stepping into a marketing job to read about MLM companies so they can see the warning signs ahead of time. I’m not saying every marketing company operates like an MLM company, but you don’t want to run the risk of agreeing to work for one and realizing how deep you’re in when it’s too late. They’re technically legal, but that doesn’t mean they’re not destructive, preying on the people working for them more than the actual customers. They come in more than one shape, and don’t always directly sell products of their own either. If my situation wasn’t one of desperation, I’d have left much, much sooner. At times I almost did believe some of the lies told, but for the most part, I’m glad I saw through it and didn’t stick around until it’d really ruined me.