A multi-level marketing scheme tried to recruit me. Here’s my story.

For those of you who aren’t aware, a multi-level marketing scheme (MLM) is basically a pyramid scheme but with a different name. The business model and marketing strategy “works” by endlessly recruiting more and more to be under you, so the distributor makes money from his or her own sales, as well as a percentage of the sales from the group they have recruited. It’s vicious and incredibly hard  to move up to the top. You can do a quick Google search for “MLM scam” or “MLM lawsuit” and see that  their business practices are… not it. This is my story being recruited.

A subsidiary of Cutco, a knife selling MLM, called Vector reached out to me via Instagram DM. This was the dream. I could have myself a laugh about this MLM and never reply. Until I realized I could have even more fun by playing along.

His offer was for me to do social media for his branch in Georgia for $15/hour + bonuses. He said that since I was a boss babe, I was well prepared for this kind of lifestyle. “You can make money right from your phone!” I  decided  to  opt in for an interview just to see how much more of these classic MLM catchphrases he could churn out.

He opened the interview by asking me if I knew the big white building across the street from the ice cream store in the center of town, since I was “nearby”. I was quite confused. I have never had the opportunity to go to Georgia. I am from Western Pennsylvania. No where on my Instagram does it say I am from Georgia or anything of the sort. When I told him I wasn’t familiar he said it was no worries but was just curious because “it was about 20 minutes away from my high school”. Oh, I realized that my partially revealed high school’s name in the background of my high school graduation grams must’ve been similar to a school in Georgia.

As the interview progressed, he started mentioning the fun benefits of MLM’s that they try to entice and trap you with. He started with rather simple things like a Nike gift card, or a new Yeti tumbler, but by the end he was outright saying that if I recruited enough people to join his company that I could go on an all-expenses paid, bottomless drinks trip to Cancun. What real company offers me bottomless frozen margs in Cancun for me being a boss babe from home? No companies that are up to any good. 

At the end of the interview he asked me if I was willing to accept his offer. Apparently it  was a  very exclusive offer…  he’d already interviewed  70 people and “no one  was quite a match” like me. No sir I’m not a particularly great candidate, I was probably just  the only one that gave this interview genuine effort and pretended to not realize that the first Google suggested question that comes up when you search Vector Marketing isn’t “Is Vector Marketing a scam?” 

The last thing I told him was that I wasn’t from Georgia, and never had been. I threw in a joke about peaches. I was rerouted to the Western PA branch manager, and never texted him back.

And that, is the story of  how I was recruited by an MLM.

Image via Flickr