Bullshit these days at its most toxic level isn’t what opinion people are spewing about Covid and the vaccine response. Sorry folks! That isn’t even close to the worst. The most odious lies I think you can face, are those that attempt to rob you of your time, livelihood, and even sanity. For this is a lie that hides that what you will get with it is a nightmare, masquerading instead as a way to escape, a way to win.
One of those big lies comes from Multilevel Marketing in general, but there is a second class of scumbags that follow the same deceptive model, to hide what they really are. I have recent experience with that second-class of deceivers, and I want to heed a warning to you about them, and about both of these assholes.
Let’s start with Multilevel Marketing Companies, or as they are commonly known, ‘MLM.’ Before we go further, most MLM on first glance appear to be wholly legitimate, and in most cases, they technically are. Some, most famously like Herbalife, even can be bought on the stock exchange!
Not unlike any traditional business, most MLM operations also have a product that can be easily bought and sold. At Herbalife, they sell nutritional supplements. Other MLM companies like Amway sell health and beauty home products. The claims of MLM companies tend to be loftier, and with less evidence to back up their product claims, than maybe most traditional product companies, but for the most part, that isn’t the problem.
No, the problem with MLM, in a nutshell, is that these product sales pale in comparison to what really drives most profit for MLM organizations and participants.
You see, the actual selling of physical product is secondary, and often of little importance compared to the focus on bringing other people in on your “opportunity.” I’ve unfortunately been to a few MLM meetings, and can tell you this firsthand. As far as the ‘opportunity’ goes, for anyone attuned to reality, and NOT drunk on the MLM holy gospel, what this really means is finding other suckers who you try to also bring into the business. But there is no free lunch here! No, your “friend” will have to pay a fee to join the business. The fee is key! Getting a cut of that fee when someone you recruit joins your MLM, is the only way you really make money.
So now that you have sold your soul, and will likely never be friends with the person that you brought into your MLM opportunity after shit hits the fan, a new paradigm occurs. Your former friend turned ‘sucker’ is now ‘privileged’ enough to have the same opportunity to try to scam family and friends into the same con! How wonderful! Hence when MLM is working optimally, there is a self-repeating cycle of deception, superterfuge, and world-class bullshit, all under the gauge of having a once in a lifetime chance to change your life!
In fact, that ‘life-change’ might be the only honest thing said in the typical MLM sales-pitch. For most though, it certainly isn’t a very positive development. Research has found, and unfortunately, I can testify to this, 99% of MLM participants lose money.
But losing money is one thing, as bad as it is, there is also a chance to recover and try to make that bad. Losing time is actually worse. Wasting time in a venture where you are statistically 99% likely to lose money is a travesty, especially when that time could be spent trying to learning an actual skill, or working a real job. That to me is unforgivable!
Equally unforgivable is that MLM companies aren’t at all the only places where you could easily be thrown into a time-suck. Like a man in a canoe with no paddle, who was told earlier that he would have the most advanced “canoe technology” in the world, these companies hide what is really going on, in order to leave you high and dry. If you knew what they were, you’d run, not walk away.
The biggest ‘MLM-like tricksters’ on the block are from certain marketing companies, that are really anything but. These are companies where you will literally be closer to working in a back-alley, than engaged in anything you might see out of a lofty Madison Ave firm. As you’ll learn, ‘marketing’ is not really accurate for the type of work they will have you do. That is unless your idea of “marketing” is going door-to-door hawking products to strangers you don’t know, in neighborhoods you’ve never been.
Let me give you a personal example of what I am talking about, an example I found because this company had read my resume, and was about to interview me this week. I never went through with it, something just seemed off, and it turned out I was right. As George W. Bush famoulsy said, “fool me once, shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.” Amen Dubya, amen!
The company in question is Threshold Marketing. Threshold is a self-professed “solution-oriented” company. This is important. Too many companies seem to be befuddlement-oriented. They don’t know what your problem is, and they damn sure aren’t going to take the time to find out how to answer it! let’s give Threshold an instant checkmark here.
But if having a laser-like focus on providing answers wasn’t enough, hang on to your shorts! Threshold Marketing also engages in a “stop-at-nothing attitude.” Bingo! Does it get any better than this?! Solution-oriented and a stop-at-nothing attitude?! Where the fuck do I sign up?! Can it be any surprise that when you breathe, regurgitate and even shit excellence, all this has “led to us being trusted with spreading the word far and wide about today’s best telecom services.”
Unfortunately, if you want examples of all the exemplary work Threshold Marketing does, you will find none. There are exactly zero case study examples of what their “solution-oriented” approach has done for Telecom companies, which is their focus.
You will however find more ‘buzzwordy’ sentences on Threshold’s ‘rock-solid’ approach:
An Excellent Telecom Sales & Marketing Team:
We push our people to create fresh ideas and possibilities that will help the brands we work with connecting with their audience effectively. We use practical marketing strategies to grab existing and potential customers’ attention with our out-of-the-box ideas and unique marketing approach.
Precise Marketing Strategy:
When a client approaches us, before recommending anything, we talk to them and get to know their requirements. We then do thorough marketing research on identifying the ideal buyers for the brand – those who are likely to get converted, and build a plan that will work.
Neeto! However, if you want an example of how those so-called “out-of-the-box ideas and unique marketing approaches” have worked, you will find none. Indeed, if you were looking for even a little more details on specifically what this company does, or what competencies it has, you are simply out of luck. One check of Thresehold’s ‘Service Area’ section on their website, laughably shows no areas of expertise, or even what services they are known for. You will find the locations where they would like to operate, but last I checked, targeting the North Stafford area, doesn’t count as a skill.
Furthermore, you won’t find any description of what workers at this company even do on a daily basis, and there is a good reason for that. Not telling you is part of the deception. If you actually knew and the company was clear on what they do, there is almost no chance someone would want to join. For a description of that, we have to search deep past what appear to be fake Google reviews, and turn to someone Glassdoor for the only known review of the company. Below is what an anonymous employee wrote about the company, and just so I am not a hypocrite and not fully transparent myself, you’ll find the full review, which also includes some good things she said about the company.
Not A One Size Fits All Approach
Jul 23, 2021 – Entry Level Marketing in Stafford, VARecommend
CEO Approval
Business Outlook
Pros
• Excellent sales classes • Weekly game night • Weekly grill and go • You are provided with everything you need to know about selling • Commission is really great, you really get what you work for
Cons
• Not allowed to take lunch breaks • Little to no bathroom breaks • Walking on concrete for 5-6 hours a day • You’re dropped off in a neighborhood • Women are just given pepperspray and expected to walk solo in the field • Anything can happen in the field (E.G. a neighbor claiming you can’t solicit in their neighborhood, a dog running out to you, etc.) • No time for a social life • Even though you’re supposed to be done with work at 8 PM, most people get home around 10 PM • Team leaders are expected to drive 2-3 people out into the field using their own cars. Threshold Marketing doesn’t cover the gas or maintenance • There’s a reason little to no women work there
Advice to Management
If you work at Threshold Marketing, work there to learn the sales skills, not to make a living. While the manager is an amazing person inside and out, he needs to realize that success is not a “one size fits all” approach. While skipping lunch, missing out on a social life, and staying outside for 5-6 hours a day worked for him, it doesn’t work for everyone else – especially the women in the office. As a woman and an entry level salesperson, I worked my tail off to learn as much as I could about my products, increase my sales, and eventually promote. However, because I was a woman, I got the lower hand of occurences in numerous neighborhoods – catcalling, dogs running after me, a man stalking me and claiming that, as a solicitor, I needed to leave his neighborhood. All of these occurences were very unsettling and my anxiety was always sky high out in the field. So even though I was making a pretty good income, I didn’t feel like it was worth it in the long run. If I were to give any advice to the manager, it would be to make it a rule for women to go out to the field in pairs. With all that said, I am so grateful for the sales lessons that I learned. Thanks to Threshold Marketing, my negotiation skills improved greatly.
Yikes! And yes, if I was a woman, there is no chance in hell I would want to work this job! I mean imagine a job where you were NOT a cop, and actually needed to carry pepperspray to be safe. No lunch breaks, pitching products to people you don’t know in random neighborhoods for 5-6 hours a day, getting off only one day a week, and coming home every night after 8PM is not my idea of a good time, and it probably isn’t yours either!
This is unfortunately not the first time I’ve seen this scam, a scam that prays on people desperate for work. I can attest to the fact that when you desperately want to work, you may be more willing to overlook some pretty obvious red-flags.
A few days out of college, I actually did join a company like Threshold. Stupid me! I graduated in 2007 in a very tough job market and was actually one of the first people in my group of friends to have a “job.” I was so excited!
I shouldn’t have been. The company and I use that term loosely, I later found out had changed its name about six times to hide its bad reviews. They, much like Threshold used subterfuge, and at best vague sub-truths to hide what work I would really be doing. When a boss there described the ‘innovative direct-sales approach’ that they employed to engage with their target audience, that was code for ‘you will be going door-to-door to pitch products to people who don’t want to talk to you and will rightfully hate your guts.’ It still took me two days, and a comment from a higher-up asking if he would ever be able to afford a car after working at the company for two years, for me to get the fuck out of there. Thankfully, get the fuck out of there I did!
Be on the lookout for these types of marketing companies. If it smells like a rat, it probably is.
The True Pariah 