Are you open-minded?

During my junior year in college, a high-school friend of mine, who I haven't talked to in ages, invited me to Starbucks to catch-up through a Facebook chat. I, of course, happily accepted as I’ve felt excited and curious at the same time. I felt excited because I’ve always wondered how he is doing with his life given that I though I’m not part of it anymore since we haven’t talked in a long time. On the other hand, I felt curious because I thought why only now that he wanted to talk to me - why not some other day in the past? Whatever the reasons he may have, I was thrilled to see him. I didn’t ask more details through chat anymore as I was expecting to get further information once we meet - and oh boy, I did.

I finally went to the coffee place and immediately saw him by the window with some man who I didn’t know. They were wearing their school uniforms so I assumed they went to the same college. Without any doubt, I met him anyway then he introduced me to his companion. When I met that person, I was expecting that he would leave us but that didn’t happen. In fact, that person, who I just met, was part of our “catch-up”. That was when I was introduced to a marketing scheme what is now popularly known as Networking or Multi-level marketing. They started off by basically selling health, beauty, and wellness products, then they presented the part-time opportunity to make money if you recruit additional members to the organization for a large fee.

Credits to http://www.newsgra.ph/3100/power-13-pinoy-mlm-memes-you-can-reply-to-recruiters/ for the image. :)

In the Philippines, there are now a number of these multi-level marketing companies and their members are growing which I found surprising. In social media, you would see a number of success stories in joining a networking agency wherein they claim to earn a lot with little efforts. It has been a funny connotation that once you're messaged by a friend "Are you open-minded?", then that means he/she plans to include you in the scheme. I once read a quote about these companies when I researched them because of meeting my friend, “The 99% pays for the lifestyle of the 1%”. Is this ethical? I think not.

In the sessions that these “businesses” are conducting, I think it opens the prospect’s greed and the chance to get financial freedom in a short time. It targets the person’s values (e.g. prosperity, family, freedom, contentedness, pleasure, etc.) on how they can attain them in such a young age. It’s too good to be true. There are other ways to invest your money in and having your own business is never easy as it usually comes with great effort and prayer.

#mba #mlm #values