You are browsing your twitter feed and notice some eye catching headlines that make you want to click on the link that goes with it. The key word that probably gets your attention every time is “MONEY.” For example, you might recognize some of these headlines:
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Teaching others to make Massive Passive Income…
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Fed up with money making scams….
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Money making secrets revealed….
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Proven ways to make lots of money…..
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How to make $1,000 a day….
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Are you struggling to make money….
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What if I told you I can make you rich in less than two years….
When you click the link, you are directed to a site where bold and colorful fonts are flashing everywhere. You either can watch short videos to learn about how you can make money, enter your e-mail so you can get access to an eBook, click on the giant “Join Now!” button, or attempt to read a two paragraph blog while being distracted by all the publicity around the screen displaying the word “Money, money, and more money.”
Testimonials
The site might intrigue you with a story of how one man was homeless but now makes $10,000 a month because of their system. Perhaps you will even read about how one woman lost her job, husband, and was left to care for five children, but is now a top earner for the XYZ company. You will never read about anyone living very comfortable, was happy already, but now makes more money and is even happier. Chances are if they are already happy, they will not be clicking on these money making ads. You will, however, read how people went from nothing to something almost all of the time. That is one way to capture a person’s attention, especially a person who is in need. You start to think, if they can do it, I can too.
I have yet to meet a person in such a negative circumstance who got out of it because they clicked on one of these ads. I don’t know of anyone else who has met such a person either. On the other hand, I have met many women who are achieving high levels in their direct selling business but their financial gains are not that significant. In fact, most of them still have to maintain a part-time job. Even though they have a large team, receive major recognition because of their organization sales, they are not making $10,000 a month. Probably not even $2000 a month, at most. I have learned that there have been some difficult real life situations, which have been removed due to those people being part of a good direct selling company. But these individuals are not bringing in $10k a month either. I personally don’t believe direct selling can make you rich, but instead, provides a supplemental income for the majority of those who are part of a direct selling organization. I’m certain someone out there will disagree with me. I also don’t believe that these money making ads will make you rich either. Out of all of those ads you find online, a few might be with a direct sales company, while others are not.
What happened when I clicked on a money-making ad?
I decided to experiment and click on one of these links that claimed I could make lots of money online and was asked to enter some basic information. Certainly I was reluctant to do this, but for the purpose of this blog, I filled in my basic information, clicked on submit, and waited to see what happened. First, I was redirected to a page that provided me more information on what I needed to do to make lots of money. There was a lot of writing on the screen, but I scrolled and scrolled until I found what I was looking for. How much did I need to pay? The price was $97 which would have unlocked the secrets to how I could make a lot of money. Second, about 10 minutes after I submitted my personal information, I received three phone calls from three different companies who wanted to follow up with me because I expressed an interest making money. In less than five days after I clicked on that submit button, I counted a total of 15 companies trying to reach out to me, repeatedly, again as a result of me filling in my personal information online. I’ve received about 30 new SPAM e-mails from different companies. Here are a few example e-mails I received.
If I had clicked on the links in the e-mail, who knows where they would have taken me. By me clicking on one ad, I got bombarded with a lot of junk. I found out enough about the ad I clicked on and didn’t feel the need to proceed further.
Who doesn’t want to make more money? I’d be lying if I said I didn’t. If I listened to every person who tried to get me to join their direct selling team, or if I clicked on every link that promised me fortunes, I am pretty convinced I won’t see any difference in my income. However, I probably will see a significant drop in my money if I bought into any one of those empty promises. All direct selling opportunities are basically sales jobs. The people posting money making ads online are sales people too.
Whether you try to influence people online or in person, choose your tactics carefully. The more e-mails, ads, tweets, posts that promise I can make a fortune in less than three months, the less convinced that the possibility is true. I wouldn’t know who to believe and certainly won’t even try to find out. If you use Social Media to swerve people in your direction, do it in a way it doesn’t make you look like a scam artist.
Don’t give up, get smart
I feel your pain, Madeline. That was a sleazy ad at best. Most repuabe companies, whether direct sales organizations or other buiness models, will never give your information to third party sources. In fact, if they didn’t disclose that was their intention, they may have violated privacy laws. I also happen to belong to a direct-selling company that employs the MLM pay model. Unlike you, I know quite a few people who ae earning $10,000 a month (even though I’m not one of them yet). I also know people who went from rags to riches as well as many who were financially successful in traditional businesses who became more successful and gained more tim freedom as a result of direct sales. So it definitely CAN be done, and it appeals to people on both ends of the spectrum. But NO ONE can guarantee your results, partly because no one can guarantee what YOU WILL DO. Sales take work, like anything else. If a person wants to “get rich quick,” they’re better off with Lotto (and yes, there’s a HUGE dose of sarcasm in my saying they are “better off!”). Additionally, not all direct selling companies are created equal. But, with a reputable company offering the right product through established systems and one’s own reasonable effort, real success IS attainable!