JUST ONE THING : Maintaining Friendship After Multi-Level Marketing Dispute
Prompt: "Coerce"
She was my dearest friend. At least I thought so before the whirlwind sales company took control of her life. The soft spoken, mild mannered woman I'd known for over 10 years became unrecognizable.
I received a phone call early one Saturday morning. Bubbling with excitement, I couldn't tell what happened within the last week I saw her. She could barely finish one sentence before starting the next.
Here's what happened.
The morning of the call, I was busy with household chores. As always, I gladly took the call from her since we hadn't spoken in a week. Apparently, she'd been invited to join a company's sales team. I thought this was the break she needed to get back on her feet after she lost her job. However, I didn't understand why she wanted me to accompany her.
She insisted I go. I'd never seen her so excited, so I agreed. On the road, I made several attempts to question her about the organization. She was uninformed about it.
We arrived at the venue and was seated as guests of her sponsor. I had no idea what was in store for me. Remember, this was the late 70s. Persuasion techniques were practiced heaving in face-to-face advertising as it pertains to coercion in product sales. We were handed brochures about the company and their products.
Next, a representative stood before the crowd explaining how one could reap huge benefits selling their products. In fact, they were introducing passive income before the term was brought home to the ordinary citizen. The company's representative touted only the six figures a sales associate could make.
Source
My eyes widened. The representative made it seem so easy to earn. Also, he was extremely persuasive in convincing us of the urgency in getting started. If not, we'd miss out on the promotional items we could earn ourselves. But the items were for a limited time only. We were given enrollment forms. My friend insisted I not enroll. Instead she wanted me to sign up under her as a referral. That way, she could earn part of the sales I made.
Now, I've never been good at selling. I told her I didn't feel comfortable joining at that moment. She seemed to accept my decision. Then, she joined under her recruiter.
We left the meeting. I didn't give it any thought as I placed the brochures aside. However, she had it figured out for me. Since I was working full-time, all I had to do was to take the brochures to work and ask co-workers to buy the products. Seemed simple enough. But I was hesitant.
She called me daily over the next two weeks asking whether I'd maden any sales. I didn't want to disappoint her, so I took the brochures to my job. I couldn't believe I did that. Again, making me feel guilty for not helping.
The moment I approached one of my co-workers, I was shocked at his reaction. He informed me that I didn't want to get involved with this company. He actually referred to the selling tactics as manipulation and coercion. Then, he stated that the practice was merely a multi-level marketing (MLM) strategy built upon persuasion and modifying one's behavior.
I felt uncomfortable asking anyone else. I decided not to pursue this. She called the next week. I told her of my decision. I was again shocked at her attitude toward me. She definitely made me feel guilty by not helping her out during her unemployment.
I didn't hear from again for a year. I was helpless to prevent her, though, from diving into the murky pond of MLM.
I detest manipulation in any form. During the next year, I learned more about the company and it's tactics for recruitment. I wanted to be able to fully explain to her why I chose not to become involved.
When next I spoke to her, she called and apologized. She stated that she was no longer associated with the group. Apparently she'd lost more than one friend and alienated family as well trying to persuade them to either purchase products or join under her. I feel the real reason was the inability to sell to receive anywhere near the six figures that mesmerized her.
I can say a happy ending on the part of distancing herself from the MLM environment. BUT...she found another promising venture!
Our friendship dissolved into the murky pond.
RULES
- It can be written or Visual
- If Written - You must write a minimum of 200 words with a Target of 400 words on the daily topic.
- If Visual it must be an image of your own making
- It can be non fiction or fiction.
- It must be original thought - No Plagiarism
- You must include the #justonething
- You must include a Topic Tag - justonething
- You can post into other communities as long as the topic tag is included
- The Topics will be randomly selected
- You must post a link to your writing in the comments to the community post for that particular prompt
- You can take as long as it takes to write your post, just write it Daily
Thanks,
@justclickindiva
Happy rest of the week everyone with whatever your endeavors.
SOURCES:
a) JustClickindiva's Footer created in Canva utilizing its free background and images used with permission from discord admins.
b) Unless otherwise noted, all photos taken by me with my (i) Samsung Galaxy 10" Tablet, (ii) Samsung Phone, & (iii) FUJI FinePix S3380 - 14 Mega Pixels Digital Camera
c) Purple Butterfly part of purchased set of Spiritual Clip Art for my Personal Use
d) All Community logos, banners, page dividers used with permission of Discord Channel admins.
e) Ladies of Hive banner used with permission of and in accordance with the admin's guidelines
f) Thumbnail Image created by me in Canva with free image Source.
Wonderful story mate. Great visuals.
Thank you for visiting. It's hard to lose a friend over a referral for sales that you don't want or need.
But, it is what it is.
Take care
Nicely written. Had me reading from beginning to end with a feeling of dismay as your friend got sucked in.
I like the way you set up your page too, with the justonething rules and banners to other communities.
!CTP
!ALIVE
@justclickindiva! You Are Alive so I just staked 0.1 $ALIVE to your account on behalf of @hirohurl. (1/10)
The tip has been paid for by the We Are Alive Tribe through the earnings on @alive.chat, feel free to swing by our daily chat any time you want.
Hello @hirohurl. Thanks so much for visiting and taking the time to read my article. I appreciate your kind words. I was dismayed to lose a friend over the situation, but realized one important thing: our personalities didn't mesh. It just took that episode in our relationship to realize this.
Thanks for your support. Have a good rest of your weekend.
Excellent Read :) thanks for posting in the Just One Thing -
Sometimes peoples motivations are not driven by the heart but by the head, It is sad that it can become between people, but also shows that sometimes we never really know those around us :)
So true. Looking back, I could see it took that episode to open my eyes to her true personality. She was easily swayed by thoughts of earning lots of easy money. She immediately jumped on the next "big sales promotion" without doing her research. She didn't realize how hard it unless you have the aptitude for it. Selling is not for everyone, especially when you try to sell to your family and friends. Phones go to voicemail and they hate for you to visit.
I also realized something about myself in that I needed to learn to say "NO" and not cater to the whims of others against my better judgment.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read my article. I appreciate it and your support.
Have a good weekend.
Your content has been voted as a part of Encouragement program. Keep up the good work!
Use Ecency daily to boost your growth on platform!
Support Ecency
Vote for new Proposal
Delegate HP and earn more
Hello. Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving your support for my content. I appreciate it and that of the Community.
Sorry to hear about you losing your friend over it, sometimes people take a turn in life we can't follow or help them in.😎
Have a blessed and wonderful weekend
@justclickindiva
Made in Canva
!ALIVE
This post has been curated by the Alive And Thriving Team, we curate good content in the We Are Alive Tribe that is on topic for #AliveAndThriving, and it's included in our daily curation report on @aliveandthriving.
@justclickindiva! You Are Alive so I just staked 0.1 $ALIVE to your account on behalf of @aliveandthriving. (6/30)
The tip has been paid for by the We Are Alive Tribe through the earnings on @alive.chat, feel free to swing by our daily chat any time you want.
Thanks for your kind words. You are correct. Some situations are best to let it go.
I appreciate you taking the time to stop by and view my article. Your support and that of the community is much appreciated.
Take care.
View or trade
BEER.Hey @justclickindiva, here is a little bit of
BEERfrom @pixresteemer for you. Enjoy it!Learn how to earn FREE BEER each day by staking your
BEER.Very well written! I really like your style 😍
Since I am kind of "new" on Hive I would like to ask you a technical question if you don't mind: the banners that you use at the end, you manually insert them in every entry or is there a way where you have like a signature and every time you post they would automatically appear?
Thank you 🙏
Yes, there is a way to automatically place the information you want to show at the bottom of the post. It's called a FOOTER.
You create a footer in a template. Currently, the front-end app on Hive where you can set up a template is on PEAKd.
Inside template:
a. Write a template for: [select community from drop down list] {NOTE: you have be already subscribed to a particular community before you can publish in it}
b. Insert a temporary title; i.e. TEMPLATE for...JUST ONE THING [change later when ready to prepare your post].
c. Leave space for your STORY;
d. At bottom: add tags
e. Add footer information. I get my banners from the various communities with permission from the admins.
f. Click: SAVE
When you're ready to create a post, just visit the template and CLICK: CREATE POST
The nice thing I like about Peakd is that you can save your drafts and schedule your posts to be published later at a specific date/time.
You can set up numerous templates for different writing tasks, such as a particular contest with the specific information in it you want your readers to know.
Example: I set up a template for the JUST ONE THING.
Now all I have to do is create a specific image for the week's prompt and insert in the thumbnail.
Then, write my story.
MAKES LIFE SIMPLE.
Oh woww!! Thank you so much for explaining everything with such detail. I will follow the steps indicated for the next publication. Thank you again 🙏
if you need further assistance, just let me know.
also, my discord contact info is: justclickindiva#0675
I'll be able to send you screenshots.
Thank you very much. I really appreciate your help and kindness 🙏
It is a nice story you shared. Possibly it all happened for the best.
Hello @gratitudemine. Thanks for stopping by and viewing my story. Yes, I do believe it happened for a reason. Our personalities just didn't work well together. Sometimes you try to make it work, but then comes the push that you can't ignore.
I appreciate your support. Take care, and have a good rest of your week.
I have been in your shoes. Even twice!
Yes, these pushy sales are not for everyone. And now in the age of the internet and crypto I don't know who still needs them...
!CTP
Me either. And sorry to hear you had the same experience. It's sad to think others can be persuaded with fast talk and gimmicks. Winning a trip to Hawaii or a car you can't afford to upkeep doesn't sound appealing like it did in the early 80s.
I think those MLM companies have changed their tunes and gone online too. Don't know of many door-to-door or lunch/dinner coercion gatherings any longer.
Thanks so much for the CTP Tokens. I appreciate it.
Take care, and thanks for visiting.
I had an encounter or a few with MLM and geesh, those people really know how to guilt you into doing things.
I have only felt more icky at a call center job I had for a whole of three days.
Sorry about your friendship but glad you didn't get sucked in.
I remember those ghastly training sessions in mlm companies way back before Internet marketing was a thing... "write a list of everybody you know... friends and family..." Ugh!
How many friendships and relationships has that approach broken...?
Thanks for contributing to the #justonething community. I came here via Listnerds :)
!CTP
!ALIVE
@justclickindiva! You Are Alive so I just staked 0.1 $ALIVE to your account on behalf of @hirohurl. (4/10)
The tip has been paid for by the We Are Alive Tribe through the earnings on @alive.chat, feel free to swing by our daily chat any time you want.
Yes, they certainly contributed to breakups. I remember hearing the same comments about extended family members who were trapped in the mind control arena. But the one thing I remember vividly was my mom saying with disgust that she neither wanted nor needed the items family members were making her feel guilty for not supporting them by buying. She told me never to allow anyone to make me feel guilty about something I don't feel in my gut is right. I didn't want to name the companies. Some of them are now labeled as "cults".
Thanks for visiting. I appreciate the support.
!CTP