Astro's One Man Fight Against MLMs

I've been perusing my access logs, and I have noticed that I am getting quite a lot of traffic from people who are googling "Andy Willoughby's Three Step Plan" and finding my little blog here. Ha ha!

Well, folks, if I can help you avoid getting involved with that bunch of frauds, then my blog has served a noble purpose, in my estimation. There are people out there such as Willoughby who market "success" through a variety of odd businesses, and prey on people who perceive themselves to be stuck in crappy jobs and have lots of debt or otherwise need to find a way to make more money. These predators take the form of Amway, Melaleuca, Shaklee, and now the Three Step Plan. They can all be lumped together under the term "Multi-Level Marketing" or "Network Marketing", and are the modern incarnations of the "pyramid" or "Ponzi" scheme.

The reason these things are scams is that they primarily benefit those who start them, and those who get in right at the beginning of building the business. It is possible to "succeed" at many of these businesses, otherwise they would not have the "testimonials" from so many people to use in their ads. The successes of the few are used to suck in a bunch of new people to keep the pyramid going. By the time you get into such a business, your hard work will not benefit you, but rather all those in your upline. You would be better off going back to school or working another real job instead of trying to build your own pyramid at the base of someone else's.

So, what is Willoughby's Three Step Plan? First, you get into the business and start buying Xango juice for about $100 per 4 bottle pack. Must be good stuff, huh? Second, you get a list of phone numbers of all the suckers calling in from all those dang radio ads everywhere. Third, you get more people signed up to the business after calling them, and they repeat the steps themselves. Lather, rinse, repeat, all with your $25 bottles of Xango juice. If this sounds to you like a good opportunity, then have at it. As for myself, no thank you, Mr. Willoughby.

Same thing with Amway, which my own father tried to work in the 80s. It didn't work. He sure tried, but you have to convert your own family to buying only from Amway, and bring in others who are willing to also convert. This is why they circulated the rumors about Proctor and Gamble being satanic: Amway's main products compete directly with P&G's. Don't do it, don't get near it, run, don't walk, away from anyone in Amway or Quixtar or any of their various incarnations.

You want to succeed? Find what you enjoy doing, and then talk to others who do that for a living. Find out what education you need to pursue that career, and then pursue it. This might be going to school to get a degree, or it might mean starting your own business. But whatever it is, YOU are the one responsible for your own success. Don't fall victim to the MLM scammers out there. Make your own success.