Let’s forget about “who” or “they” for a minute and look at the facts and the “why.” Yes, this article is about sales and marketing. But sales is about thinking logically and educating people so they can make their own decisions. Here’s what “they” say about MLM and direct marketing: “It’s a pyramid scheme.” “They” say a lot of things, don’t they? “We” accept what “they” say without any thought or consideration, do we not?
History of the Pyramids
What about the pyramids? Did the ancient Egyptians erect these wonderful structures? “They” seem to say so. But here are some facts about the pyramids: The largest pyramid in the world was discovered in El Mirador, Guatemala. It is the size of downtown Los Angeles. The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt has 2,300,000 stones, weighing more than 40 tons each, built one on top of the other to a height of 135 feet on 13 square acres. There are pyramids in China, Bosnia and Japan.
Napoleon visited the Great Pyramid of Giza in 1798. The first reported discovery of a pyramid in Egypt is from 250 BC. One expedition in 1828 was led by an archaeologist, Champollion, and a second was led by another named Lespius in 1842. Basically, if you don’t agree with your original findings that these structures were built by ancient Egyptians, you can’t get a Ph. D. in Archeology Today. We believe that the pyramids were tombs of ancient pharaohs and they were buried there as mummies. The Mummy’s Curse and all those great old movies helped us achieve that end.
Here’s the thing though, no mummy has ever been found in a pyramid anywhere in the world, not even in Egypt. The mummies are found in the Valley of the King, far from the pyramids. The records of the early explorers of the pyramids go something like this: we dynamited our way to the pyramid; we find a room with what we believe to be a sarcophagus; we used pulleys to move the 40-ton stone cover of the sarcophagus and found the chamber empty. They must have been grave robbers. Than? Did grave robbers sneak into an entrance you couldn’t find and move a 40 ton slab to steal a mummy and then put it back so you could find it intact when you had to dynamite your own entrance to get in? Now that is definitely a pyramid scheme in the first order.
Here is a list of questions from physicist Nassim Haramein (born in Switzerland in 1962) that might make you think differently about the pyramids;
- If the pyramids were built during the archaeologically accepted 20-year period, then a 40-ton rock would have to be placed every 2 seconds.
- The 40-ton rocks were transported through the desert sand by rolling them on wood. Where did the wood come from? European warehouse delivery?
- The Egyptians wrote stories in hieroglyphs about life, sex, food, religion, and yet there is not a single hieroglyph about the construction of the pyramids.
- Wikipedia won’t even recognize Nassim Haramein
- You cannot get a Ph.D. in archeology if you acknowledge or ask about any of the above.
That is what a look at the first Pyramid Scheme can be. I don’t know the answers. I do believe in the process of observing and decoding what you find to formulate your own opinion. Teaching cannot progress if you repeat the same information over and over again, even if new information and ideas have emerged. Think of Copernicus!
What are they saying “they”, what does it mean?
Multi-level marketing and direct marketing are pyramid schemes. That’s what “they” say. Some people who contradict “them” are Robert Kiyosaki, an entrepreneur who sold 26 million business books. Another is Donald Trump, you know Donald, and Warren Buffet, billionaire. “Well, they’re already rich and on top, why should we trust what they say?” Who knows why they would want to help any of us succeed? Yes, but that’s another article.
Let’s go back to observe and decode. What do they say about pyramid schemes? “Only the people at the top make a lot of money.” How is the organization chart of the corporate structure of your company? How much does the CEO earn per year compared to you? How is the organization chart of your church? How about the Girl Scouts or any large non-profit organization? All corporate structures look like a pyramid where the person at the top gets the highest salary for all their work effort. Hmm?
The first multilevel marketing company.
The first true multi-level marketing company was Nutrilite. In 1945, Carl Rhenborg invented the multi-level marketing door-to-door system to market the multi-vitamin, multi-tablet mineral that he invented after years of study. Rhenborg found a way to pay people for his performance because he couldn’t afford to market his revolutionary health product in the Madison Avenue soda marketing model. He took it a notch higher by giving his reps incentives to train and recruit more reps. The birth of 2 streams of income and the development of his own business team!
Jay Van Andel and Rich Devos signed and built a network across the country. When the Food and Drug Administration couldn’t take part in this growing business and began doing research for pharmaceutical companies, Van Andel and Devos left Nutrilite and formed a new company using the same business model with different products. He may know these billionaires from his new company, American Way, now called AMWAY.
what does everything mean
In the end, it all comes down to who you are, what you think, and what you want from life. Know that and then look at the society we participate in. What is the nature of the massive events and trends happening around you right now? How much more do you work this year compared to last year? Do you earn more money for working harder? Is your income sufficient or do you need a part-time job to make ends meet? Does your money go as far this year as it did last year? What are the new expenses that come out every day? You have an Iphone?
Once you make the decision to act, you can investigate what works for you. Are there pyramid schemes out there? Sure, we know there is. Are there legitimate direct marketing opportunities? Yes there are. Perhaps there is a product or service that you are passionate about and could educate others about its benefits and build a business around that idea for yourself? Pyramid schemes have no products or services. They focus on the idea that you benefit from not selling anything to others and so on.
final thoughts
According to the US Department of Labor, you are 5 times more likely to earn $100,000 a year in Network Marketing than going to work at a job every day. You should also keep in mind that 99% of all network marketers fail and the mortality rate of all businesses they start is 95% in the first 3 years. There are no get-rich-quick schemes, only get-rich-quick schemers who work for years on how to scheme and rarely get rich from it.
So don’t buy Comet Insurance, don’t buy the rights to tolls on the Brooklyn Bridge, and don’t buy the rights to a fee charged to people who put their clock in the forecourt of Big Ben in London. Yes, those are all schemes that schemers have profited from in the past. Like the stories of the pyramids, they disappear in the dust and sometimes with your money.
Do your homework and do your research. Identify risks and rewards. Ask the right questions before making a decision. The most important thing is to get involved in changing your own life for the better. Go beyond what “They” say and discover for yourself, “what you say”!
If you have questions, send them to me and I will send you more questions to think about.
Warren Miller