My parents never liked multi-level marketing. Our first exposures—when I was in junior high and high school—to Amway, Slender Now, and Cambridge, left them cold. “They just aren’t honest.” my folks would say.
The next time I came in contact with network marketing was when I was 19. A guy I was dating invited me to a family business meeting for “Winner’s Circle International.” Which turned out to really be Amway.
For the next 24 years, you could not get me within a mile of an MLM or a distributor thereof. Until I learned about BookWise.
So, here’s my problem. I hate and despise multi-level marketing. I think distributors are a despicable lot. And I want to join one. It took some time and some serious reflection to separate the dishonesty I had encountered in selling techniques from the actual business model.
In the summer of 2007, just months after joining BookWise, I attended a week of adult education courses (unrelated to business). One instructor discussed a study that had shown that used car salesmen were the least trusted profession in the country. Multi-level marketers were a close second.
Unfortunately, my experience leads me to believe that the reputation had been fairly earned. When I was finally became a network marketer myself, I was suddenly immersed in a culture that is still rife with dishonesty.
Many seem unable or unwilling to even recognize the lies for what they are. Others simply attack the messenger. If you dare to point out something dishonest, you are said to be the problem.
This blog, then, is my feeble attempt to address the issue of integrity in network marketing. We’ll look at explicit examples and discuss the good or bad in them. We’ll address how to get ahead with integrity.
I hope you’ll join me.
Alison Moore Smith
