Episode 6: Extra Unused Product, Anyone?

Erin: [00:00:00] Hey, I’m excited to have you back for another episode of the MLM Exposed podcast. Don’t let the title freak you out. We’re not anti MLM and these are not bash sessions. We are however, pro truth and pro dialogue and you deserve to hear it all. The good, the bad, and the ugly. If you’re new to our community, we drop a new podcast each week.

Everyone here has a story to tell. Some may horrify you, some you’ll relate to, but no matter what, the best lessons learned are through the experiences of others. And we think those stories are worth sharing. If this episode helps you, please subscribe so you don’t miss a thing, and even better, leave a review.

Unless it’s bad, then keep your opinions to yourself. J. K.! We love the truth here. Thank you again for being with us. At MLM Exposed, we believe firmly that when you know better, you do better. And we think this conversation is more relevant than ever. All my fools begin to howl, wake me up, the time is now.[00:01:00]

Can you hear the drumming? There’s a revolution coming!

So let’s talk about it. You wanna talk, you wanna tell your MLM story kind of where you got started in that realm?

Sadie: I would love to. So I actually, when I left, um, Well, when I wanted to get out of corporate America, so basically I was at a point in my life to where I wanted to work on my own time.

I wanted more time with my daughter. She was, gosh, seven at the time. So I joined this company with a girl that I used to go to high school with. And, um, honestly, I couldn’t believe that it was. That I was ever going to do something like that before, like, I was like, I can’t believe that I’m actually getting paid to share a product and people actually buying this from me.

But so a little bit about it when I, when I started, um, I didn’t really understand the concept. I never had heard of MLM before. So I just thought that I was selling a [00:02:00] product because it was never really explained to me.

So anyway, um, I worked really, really hard. Um, within that first year, I saw the vision, you know, I saw the vision. I saw what people said that you could do. Um, they said, you know, if you make some sacrifices, if you work really hard, you know, you can, you can make a lot of money doing this.

So I was like, you know what, the first month I kind of dabbled with it a little bit. I was like, okay, I think I, I mean, people are really wanting what I’m, what I’m offering. Like, I’m going to go ahead and give this a try. So I started really focusing on it and I put a lot of work in and I was working a full time job at the time.

And you got, I mean, Erin, I barely remember that whole year of my daughter’s life. Like, because I, I was thinking, okay, you know what, I’m going to make a small sacrifice. I’m going to give it everything that I have. Um, I’m sure the time freedom will come, you know, that’s what I was thinking. And that whole year that I hustled like that, I had one paycheck that was 700 bucks and the rest were under 500.[00:03:00]

And you know, my work ethic. Yep. So for somebody like me to not even make 500 a month, but at the time I didn’t know that. So I didn’t know that. After a year, I had my first paycheck that was, um, I mean, I think it was 1, 800, but here’s the kicker. So I was told that I had to get all these boxes to 400 in volume.

I just now had met somebody that was willing to actually show me a chart. I didn’t even know charting was a thing. And so I did all this charting and they’re like, okay, well, this all needs to be at 400.

But here’s the kicker. If they don’t have 400 volume, you need to go in and buy product under that person to get them at 400 volume. And I’m like, well, who’s paying for the product? And they’re like, well, you’re going to put it on your credit card. And when you get your check next month, you can just use that money to pay

Erin: it off.

Perfect. Sounds like a plausible plan,

Sadie: but Erin, I was already in deep and when you’re already into that level and you’re taught what you’re taught, [00:04:00] I didn’t know that that was wrong. I thought that’s just what everybody did. So I logged in. I got a ready to 400. I advanced my business. I got this quote 20, 000 bonus.

Um, that was paid out over like 500, 000 years. I’m being sarcastic. It’s like 22 months, but a very long time. Um, so my first paycheck went back to pay that credit card. And I remember sharing this with my sister. My sister said, Sadie, I love you. But I’m not going to pay money to make money. Like I’m not doing that.

She was, it sounds sketchy. And I kind of thought she was crazy. I was like, she’s crazy. I was like, this is what they’re all doing. Like, you know, so I just thought she was nuts. And, but what became annoying was you had to balance legs. So I had all this volume and I had, you know, you can only have 60% here and 40% there, but if you have 70% in one leg, you have to put 10% somewhere else, but where is that going to come from?

Well, hello, Sadie. Now you have to pay with your credit card to buy [00:05:00] volume on that leg to earn the paycheck that you’re supposed to already have earned. So, I think I did that.

Erin: I think we need to, I need to write down a note to talk about balance and the structure of these organizations in terms of how, is that a gotcha?

I want to know, is there any other industry where the sales that you do, the work that you do, is there any industry or any business model or any, anything that doesn’t pay you on the work that you’ve done because it got put in the wrong spot? Like, let’s table it. I don’t think there’s and

Sadie: it feels like a gotcha.

It feels like a gotcha. But anyway, so I paid that difference. So, well, what happens when you buy all this volume, you’re getting product that you don’t need. So then I have boxes of stuff that I don’t need. I’m not going to use. I couldn’t sell it. I couldn’t even get people to buy it [00:06:00] so that I was out of the money and I was throwing product away.

It’s kind of embarrassing that I’m even admitting this. I don’t think I’ve ever shared this story before with anybody. I probably

Erin: still have regular. Do you remember regular? Cause that was like 25, but the key about it was, is that it was, it was like 25 BV or whatever. It was like a, it was the perfect math.

I used to buy a lot of regular because it added up mathematically to fill a box easier than other things.

Sadie: I think I did. I don’t remember what I did, but I think I bought a lot of wraps, but I had a lot of wraps and I couldn’t get people to buy them. Um, and I, you know, I was into personal training and nutrition.

So I was one of those like, well, you eat healthy and work out. That’s. That’s where my head was with that, but so I had a lot of product that I wasn’t using, um, and I had to buy that volume in order to continue to get that bonus because if I didn’t level out those legs, I wasn’t going to get paid at that level and then I lost that 20, 000 bonus and I would not be able to get it [00:07:00] back.

So if you lose it, it’s gone, you know, like, you know, corporate America, or in, in businesses like when you sell a car you sell a house you earn a bonus you get paid a bonus. It’s not paid out over a certain period of time. So that, that to me is kind of trickery too.

Erin: Well, here’s why they do it. Because their retention isn’t high enough to maintain customers.

They know that you’re going to lose your customers. They know that you’re not going to maintain your bonus. You’re not going to maintain your volume. And in order to do that, they know you’re going to buy it. They know you’re going to have to sell, you know, your soul. You’re going to have to sign up the trash can.

You’re going to sign up your dead grandpa. And. Um, and if you don’t, you’re gonna lose your bonus and they’re not out any money. That’s why they do that. Their retention doesn’t back up their compensation and therefore. They know they’re going to get out of, it’s like when you place a bet, when you bet somebody, you bet your kid that they are, they can’t do blah, blah, blah, blah, or else you’ll give them a hundred bucks and you know, you’re not going to hand over that money.

That’s what they’re

Sadie: [00:08:00] doing. Yep. I’ve done that many times. Um, with cavities did all the time with cavities. So, um, but, uh, I remember, um, buying the volume and I remember signing up. I mean, I gave my daughter an apartment number on my house. Like, yeah. Like, you know, I remember sitting in my bed doing it, you know, yay me.

I mean, yeah. So, um, it was my address with apartment a, like, I remember doing it. Like how embarrassing,

Erin: how embarrassing. Um, who we love and adore signed up the entire Dallas Cowboys. Dallas. You

Sadie: know, and you use the same credit card. So here’s the thing. So you’re using the same credit card. So you can’t tell me the company doesn’t know that you’re tricking the system, but they don’t care that your money is buying their product that you don’t need.

They just care that they’re getting the [00:09:00] money. They don’t care. No wonder it’s shady. No wonder people have a bad taste in their mouth because ultimately I’m putting myself in debt to earn a bonus when the whole, the whole point is to, to live debt free.

I mean, now I feel dumb about it.

Erin: Okay. But then we, so you were already in doing, you were doing the MLM thing and then you met me and then I basically ruined your life for a while. No,

Sadie: you didn’t ruin my life. You know what, honestly, you know, when you look at it, you changed my life because there’s grow, you know, there’s growing opportunities through all those things that we went through.

We’re going to look at the positive here. They were growth opportunities that had to occur to get us to where we’re at today. So I met you for a reason. We went through what we went through. Um, but yeah, I, I met you. I, I remember driving to your house in Wentzville, sitting at your kitchen table and Titus was in the high chair eating his food.

Like I’ll never forget it. I brought my twin sister. No, [00:10:00] I remember. And that was the beginning, but, um, you, uh, recruited me into, uh, something else.

Erin: Sorry. Okay. So I’ll tell part of our next story because we went to another company. So Sadie and I would both say that we’re in agreement about the fact that.

We were working for a paycheck, but I think that you and I both knew that what we were doing was not anything sustainable. It was not anything that I didn’t ever feel that proud of what I was doing. I just really, I saw potential in my life. I saw potential in freedom. I saw potential in not having to go back to corporate America.

And in once you’re in deep, it’s like, you can’t see out of the hole, like you’re in a hole and you can’t see out. And so therefore. All of a sudden, everything you’re doing seems normal. Like Sadie, I think I spent 6, 000 to go triple, which was a status at that company. And in order to do that, we had a girl that returned her product.

She was a, she was [00:11:00] the Ruby. She returned her product towards the end of the month. Nobody knows. I didn’t notice it until the very end of the month. And so I had to drive a 500 check over to somebody’s house so that we could fill that box. For that girl to go Ruby and the girl that I had to drive to the house was like on some she she was having a hard time in her life.

I got there. She was Wait, did her friend come over in the bathrobe? Either her friend came over dirty in a bathrobe. I think so. I got wasted and her, and her friend came over in a bathrobe. It was either her, somebody’s vagina. I saw, okay. Like it was like dirty, drunk women on a back deck in their robes.

And I was like giving them money to go this triple diamond. Like you don’t get much lower than that.

Sadie: So I wonder, that’s not uncommon. I don’t think it’s uncommon,

Erin: but go ahead. Oh, like drunken afternoon session.

Sadie: No, just that whole scenario. Like, that happens a lot in MLM. Oh, I was like, do you think people

Erin: roll around in [00:12:00] their backyard in the dark?

Like, that’s literally what she looked like. She looked like she had been in her robe and like rolled down the hill. Like she had like grass stains on her robe. It was very bizarre. Anyways, it’s neither here nor there. But I wasn’t proud of what I was doing. And so when I got the message, hey, We’re bumping like we got to get out of here.

This is not going well. I didn’t even say bye. I was like, peace. I, I had no loyalty whatsoever. So I know that I knew. Do you see what I’m saying? Like hindsight is 2020. When I look back, I know that I wasn’t happy even if I would have never admitted it. Even if I was working 12 hours a day, I was running the ads, I was boosting the posts, I was doing the events.

I, I just, it’s on my memories that the day after my bodybuilding competition, I puked the whole night afterwards cause I ate nachos and then I barfed. The next day I had a wrap party. The next day, I was probably having a near death experience, but anyways, so I got this message. They said, we’re out [00:13:00] of here.

I said, here we go. We went to the next company, which no longer is even in existence. They’ve changed their name. Maybe we call them the company that shall not be named. I don’t know. I feel, I always feel that that

Sadie: was the biggest mistake of our lives.

Erin: It was bad. It was bad. We trusted a person that we loved and I have no regrets and I still love her dearly and I would still trust her.

If she called me about a business idea, her, her intuition is on spot. Maybe she just knew that eventually our lives would be okay. But we went to the next place and you know what? I did learn from that and we, what we did do well in the next venture was that we marketed ourselves. Yes. And

Sadie: not the

Erin: company, right?

Cause there wasn’t really much to market once we figured out that we had to market the company. But, um, what did you learn from that? What was the, I started having a panic attacks at that place. That’s really where those started for me, but give me the, give me the next couple of months of your life.

Sadie: So when [00:14:00] we, when we went to that other company, um, honestly, I didn’t really, I mean, I’m going to be very honest here.

One, one thing that I saw that I was told because Aaron, of course, you didn’t recruit me. I just, you were like the icing on the cake because I met you,

Erin: but, Oh yeah, that does make me feel better. Yeah. You, you were just

Sadie: the icing on the cake. Um, was I saw an opportunity that an MLM is kind of a thing that people talk about.

A once in a lifetime opportunity, um, getting in with the number one income earner, being with the team that started the business. Like these are all the words that I had heard. And all I thought was, man, if I would have went with her when she started, I would be so rich. Like all in my head, that’s what I was thinking.

I was like, you know what? I would have been one of those top leaders. Like I wouldn’t be, you know, hustling and grinding and missing out on my daughter’s life and, you know, living in my phone and all these things. I was like, you know what, Sadie, you need to do this. And that’s what I thought. This is an [00:15:00] opportunity that I can’t pass up.

This could change my entire life. I have to be willing to, um, to just go for it. And that’s why I went in because I was like, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, Sadie, do it. And then I remember her telling me, you know, you got to rip off the bandage. You got to go all in. And I went all in and I mean, we did pretty good, but a lot of things fell apart very quickly in that company because, you know, there was.

Somebody, oh no, we sued somebody and then that company sued us and we’re like, what just happened? And then we had five products and they were like a hundred dollars. You know, and then I was thinking, God, we joined a company that the products are not essential. They’re not needed. You know, we’re going to have to convince people to buy these products and they’re really, really expensive.

But I wasn’t thinking about that. I was thinking business getting at the right time. I wonder how many people, I mean, how many times have you heard that? And people scatter like, no, you don’t [00:16:00] know, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Like you don’t know this person, you know, and, and all these things that I did it, you know, and I, I did it and it was not.

It just did not work out. It did not work out in my in my best interest. That’s for sure But I the company just wasn’t the company, you know what I mean?

Erin: I think that they had had a couple of good years. Um, and They had a product that at one point in time,

and it was something you could post a before and after picture on Facebook and 15 people would want them. They wanted wraps. So that was a, an appealing thing. This was that same concept, but we were five years late and there were just too many spiders in the web. That’s what I discovered.

I just remember thinking like, how did we fall for this? First of all, I’m not going with you. , but how did we fall for this? How are we going to pay our bills? What did we do? And remember that was at the time that I had gotten a bad batch of night cream, the 90 night cream that [00:17:00] I really did love. Like I was, I was having great success with it until I got a toxic batch and I’m on antibiotics

five, six years later, because every once in a while I have a flare up because of that stuff.

Sadie: I remember when that happened and you’re like, I can’t post a selfie. Like I can’t even post a selfie. No, I was showing

Erin: up to events with boils on my face. Like big, huge whiteheads. This night cream

Sadie: is amazing.

Everybody went for skincare

Erin: and I had like acne everywhere. Like, but what are we going to do? I mean, I had, I had like sold my life for this, you know? Well, what

Sadie: do you do? I mean, it’s like a smack in the face and then you’re like, what, what did we just do? And then you’re like, I gave up this. Not that I mean, let’s be honest.

It was crumbling. You know, I feel like it was a hamster wheel and it was crumbling. So ultimately would have ended the same way that it ended up ending anyway. And then. You know, we end up leaving there and we went to sell wine because we thought it was awesome. I [00:18:00] remember the phone call. I remember you calling

Erin: me.

Yeah. Um, but I remember, you know, our group was like splitting off. And it was either or wine. So then the wine business, I mean, honestly like.

That’s a part of my life too, where I actually don’t even remember. Like I look at live videos where we looked really excited about wine. And I think I, I was drinking an excessive amount of wine and I thought it was going to be this easy, flashy, fun. Remember the slogan drink wine, get paid. Well,

all

Sadie: I remember is I was competing for a bodybuilding competition, so I couldn’t drink wine and I was, you know, where you made the money was.

Having people buy business kits and we can talk a whole podcast about how having people buy in when ultimately your people’s volume is coming in from buying business kits. It’s not even people buying real product. If you, I mean, come on now, that’s

Erin: a whole nother shady thing. Yeah, I mean, we just I’ll put it down on a note.

Okay. So anyways, um, that’s the story and there’s, you know, years after that. [00:19:00] And we’ve all learned the hard lessons, but I think that’s what I would love to hear your perspective on specifically today. And we can go back in the past too. And just kind of interweave is that I feel. I have been wanting to do MLM Exposed for years, but then I’m lazy, I chicken out, I’ve got imposter syndrome, I don’t want to make people mad, people call me the devil, still to this day, like I, there’s a lot of hate that comes from this conversation, but I feel like it’s more necessary than ever.

I mean, even when we just talk about our stories, like there’s part of me that’s so embarrassed, and then there’s another part of me that feels so sad for me. And for you and for everybody that was in contact with us, and I look at people today, and I think they’re worse off than we were. I think that they’re, I think people are getting taken advantage of right now more than our dumbasses back in 2016.

Like, do you feel that way? Why do you feel like it’s so bad? Am I [00:20:00] wrong? Am I off? No,

Sadie: you’re not off at all. And I will tell you that even though you feel like some people think you’re the devil, this is also the necessary, because I feel like there’s a lot of people out here that need to hear the truth because nobody told me these things and it would have been really cool.

Like I didn’t even know what MLM was. I didn’t know the inside and the outside. And if there’s some honest conversation to where it’s not bashing, it’s just, Hey, this is my experience. Um, and being honest about it, it needs to be had, and I don’t think that there’s a, that’s not a bad thing at all, but I do think that people are being taken advantage, but I think a lot of people are being taken advantage because they’re vulnerable, because the economy, people are needing an extra income, one really bad thing that people do is they hype up something with zero substance, they’re hyping up a company, um, or a product, and there’s nothing to back it, like, they’re literally building that business on hype, and then guess what happens, it crumbles and you lose your paycheck.

In my opinion, if you have to build something that you only have an income, if you’re excited and hyped and going crazy, you can only [00:21:00] maintain that for a short period of time. That is going to fizzle out a little bit. And then if your paycheck falls, you’re going to be ultimately exhausted. And then what do you have to show when it’s over?

You know, if you don’t have an income to be able to show, Hey, this is what I worked so hard for. What is that all for? Just to exhaust you and make you bitter. And I’m sorry. I know that’s not even the question you asked me, but this is just my feelings while we’re talking about it. But I feel like people are being taken advantage of.

Absolutely.

Erin: What is your opinion? You know, we’re talking about hype and excitement. I, I fell for that too. I mean, we came from the ultimate hype company, so we came when you see

Sadie: hype now, how do you feel when you see that type of stuff? Like

Erin: what goes through your head? You know, the, um, the, well, there’s like gifs that, that describe how I feel.

I it’s, it’s, it’s Robert Downey jr doing this. That’s how I feel like God. And again, it’s like part embarrassment, [00:22:00] part sadness, because I see really smart people doing really dumb shit because it’s, they’re in the hole and they can’t see out of it. Here’s an example. Let’s talk about this one. And I think that I can make fun of this one and not get kicked off of social media because most of the people that turned me in for child pornography, um, back when I, when I did a little spoof, um, are now no longer there and they’re probably three companies later, but I don’t think anybody’s there.

I think it’s done. Is it?

Sadie: I haven’t heard

Erin: another thing. Okay, so let’s, let’s use this as an example. And. We’re gonna just, we’re not gonna make fun. It’s just an example because there’s many others like it right now. Everybody’s gonna come out with a CBD and or a collagen and or some magic spray or whatever.

It’s the thing right now. Last summer, it was those strips. Okay, so there was a company that came out with little yellow strips that were similar to a Listerine strip. You put them on your tongue [00:23:00] and they, well, I watched a Zoom because I, I then became like a hater. I didn’t mean to be, but I became a hater and I watched a Zoom and on one Zoom.

There were three different testimonials and this strip that went on your tongue. Well, we’ll talk about the fact that nobody actually got the strip for a very long time. They only sold hype. That’s really what I’m going for, but I don’t know if anybody ever got the strip. No, because they didn’t ever make them.

They spent like 900 and then you got like two strips. And so then you had to talk about your experience with your two Listerine strips. And on that one zoom, I know it’s, uh, And we did this stuff. Oh my god. One, one strip, one zoom, one lady said it helped her, um, oh my gosh, it helped her clean her house.

better. Like it helped her with her ADD. One lady, it helped her walk for the first time in years, pain free. And I swear to God, the other [00:24:00] one lost a bunch of weight. Like if I, if you could combine all the medical claims into one 30 minute period from one strip that goes on your tongue, that’s a whole nother subject.

But the problem was, is that they only had one. Machine that was making these groundbreaking magical strips that went on your tongue. And so they just hyped it up for a long time. They did this big, long pre launch where everybody just recruited people. It’s like the

Sadie: 500, Aaron, like people are paying.

Erin: It was more than that.

500 was the bare minimum and you were buying air. You were buying, so, and the idea, yes. And so they only had one machine. So they were in pre launch and that was their selling point and they killed it. They killed it with a non existent product in pre launch. Where you didn’t ever, never know if you were going to get your product.

And so then the reason that I came in was because [00:25:00] there were screenshots shared of these people that were good people. It’s like me and you five years ago, there’s people, but they fell into the hole and they’re like, when am I going to get my product, I’m not going to get this product and I really need to post about it so that I can make money and pay my bills because I spent 500 on this.

So I’ll just take a picture of a post it note. Looks just like. The strip. And so they did this like distant picture of a yellow post it note. And that’s what they used to build hype around the product that actually didn’t exist. But then somebody else came in and said, well, I don’t have any post it notes, but I have a piece of cheese.

Can I just use that? It looks exactly the same. I mean, good job, Sally. That’s really creative. It did. And so I did a little spoof. And I put a piece of cheese on my tongue and I took a selfie and I made a silly post. And they literally banded together, a whole bunch of them turned that post in for [00:26:00] child pornography and got me kicked off of Facebook because Facebook, if you now probably get kicked off again, but if you, if you have a whole slew of people turn in one post for an issue, Facebook bots shut it down.

Like they wouldn’t even

Sadie: listen to what Erin

Erin: just said. I know, right. Don’t turn us like, don’t do that. Um, but. So here’s my question. Pre launch. How, how does that even, how do smart people fall for that?

Sadie: I don’t know. That’s the high. No substance. No business. There’s no business. And I don’t understand how somebody can’t see that.

And that’s why I’m like, you guys, why are you doing more of the same? I don’t understand it. I, I did a post about that the other day, just trying to find out like, what, what is it? Like, is it the excitement? Is it the rebuild? Is it because I would be so exhausted. But people fall for it [00:27:00] for a good, like you said, really smart people, educated people fall for it.

I think it’s a dream that everybody wants to have an income that pays you month after month after month. And when you. When you share a vision, and if people can, you know, if you bring in enough momentum and excitement, people fall for it. They just get excited because they have a desire to live a certain way, and ultimately people get hurt.

It’s sad. It’s really, really sad. But, and that’s why I think doing these podcasts, it’s not a bad thing. It’s a good thing to shine light on this, and once people are out of the shadow, like they get out, they’re like, Whoa, like why didn’t I see that earlier? And I feel that way looking back  I’m like, Sadie, you’re smarter than that.

Like, why would you take your own credit card and buy a bunch of crap that you don’t need? You could be spending, you know, hanging out with your daughter, watching her soccer game instead of posting about bobo wraps on freaking Thanksgiving or, [00:28:00] you know, like just all those silly things I look back and I’m like, what is wrong with you?

Erin: I, um, I think, I don’t know if I’ve told you this story, but, and I’ve probably said this on this podcast, but I. When one month where we were really back and forth on where we’re going to buy our bonus or not, like, where are we going to do it? Is it worth it? We decided inevitably that it was in our minds.

It’s worth it to spend three grand to make four, but it wasn’t just four in our minds. If we could keep it one more month, maybe we could keep it six more months, but if you lost it, you lost it. So the trash can was going in the system, but we had to go. We didn’t have enough cash. At the time, I think we were paying off our taxes.

Um,

Sadie: hold on, boy, have times change, but go ahead, which is a whole

Erin: nother I know. Yeah, which is a whole nother debacle. We didn’t have enough cash, so we had to go to my dad’s and go into his basement and he had all these Folgers cans of change and we took him to a change thing, [00:29:00] turned him in for cash, bought prepaid cards and bought our bonus back with my dad’s quarters.

Talk about bottom of the barrel. Hey dad, thanks for helping me with my college degree. And at one point in time, I worked a six figure job in corporate America, and now I’m freaking knocking on your door, going into your basement, getting your quarters so that I can buy a bonus because I’m a part of a sham.

You know

Sadie: how bad that makes me want to cry? I know. And you were down and out. And when you look back at what you had to do to dig yourself out of that hole, you know, like that wasn’t easy. I mean, you sold your damn house. Yeah. Well,

Erin: here’s, here’s what I know. And here’s what doesn’t make me cry though, is that, and this is just a silly, funny story, but I, I traveled in Mexico.

Well, you know, lots of stories about me, which, which are proof that I will, I will do whatever it takes. Okay. Um, but I, I lived in Mexico, my debit card expired. I was [00:30:00] 22 years old, 23, maybe. Um, no, I would have been 21 or 20. I would have been 21. Cause I wasn’t out of college yet lived in Mexico. My debit card expired.

It was back in the olden days when like, there was no money to be like, you had to like have your debit card. So my mom had to Western Union it to me, but for me to get to school and buy food and like do all the things I had to have money. Cause I had to get on a city bus. And so the school that I was at at the time did a study.

And if you pooped in a cup, you got 40 bucks because they wanted to study, study your poo. And if you, if you happen to be sick, you got 80 bucks. So, I mean, I already, I always had some gut issues and I was living in Mexico. So I got 80 bucks and I lived off of that for a week and listen. So when I look back at those days of digging in my dad’s basement, yes, it’s shameful and yes, there are some painful times.

But like when you were broke, did you even know you were really broke? No. When you’re

Sadie: living in it, you don’t know

Erin: any different. I didn’t, we didn’t [00:31:00] even, I knew we were stressed because we had this tax bill. We had, Ooh, let’s talk about that too. We had this tax bill and then we had Titus had kidney disease.

And so we had a big medical debt, but I didn’t know any better. And I’m just, I am a mom. That’s going to do what it takes to feed my kids period. And so I never felt sorry for myself.

Sadie: You don’t and you don’t feel any different. It’s just because we’re in a different place in our lives. Now that we look back, we’re like, oh my God, that’s so sad.

Because honestly, what it made me think of is the people that are there now that I feel sorry for, they’re going to have to experience this and I want to save them. Right. Um, but they don’t even know you’re right. They don’t even know. You don’t know. Yep.

Erin: Um, okay. So we have a few minutes left. We’ll do lots of these conversations.

We’re coming to your house in like a week. So we’ll have to do another, we’ll have to do another round of this, um, yeah, face to face. But I, I think one thing that still does happen and it goes back to hype is [00:32:00] Exactly what we’re talking about now is that people think that by joining the hypey leader or the person that has the whatever that they’re going to get what that leader has.

And that’s why people bounce and bounce and bounce and bounce. That’s why they sell hype. My question is from a leader’s perspective. So the people that are recruiting the masses, the people that are bouncing to the new sexy thing or to the flashy thing or the cheese on the tongue or the whatever, do you think they’re aware of what they’re doing or do you think they’re blind?

I think they’re blind.

Sadie: You really? Okay. One girl I just talked to, what did she say to me? So I think she knows she, she basically went to this company because she was upset about a leader that she was with. And what happened was is their paychecks crumbled. And their leaders are [00:33:00] still making money and they they moved her under somebody else so we can talk about that another time, but they took her business and place it under a new person in her business.

So she’s really upset. So she went to this new company, really not doing a lot of research, but when you talk to her now, she’s researched it and she feels better about it. But I think she went out of haste. I do think that some of the people are aware, but I do think some of the people are blinded. I don’t even know if that makes sense, but I feel like some of the bigger leaders know what they’re doing, but I feel like the people that they bring along with them, um, aren’t aware.

Um,

Erin: right. And I’m really talking more about the top dogs. I really was. I would be aware what I was doing. At this point in time in your life, you would 100% be aware. Absolutely, I would. Failure, obviously that we’ve learned and I look again, I look back at myself. Was I aware? I don’t know. Like, I don’t know.

I wasn’t aware

Sadie: in the beginning, [00:34:00] like, in the beginning, like, when, when, when I first started with it works and I went to the, I really wasn’t aware of what was going on. Like, looking back. But while I was living it, I wasn’t that aware of it. But where I’m at today in my life, I’m totally aware. And maybe that’s part of a growing too and developing.

Erin: What do you think about these companies right now that are, that are on the struggle bus? And flying people out to the corporate office and whining and dining and offering teams and etc. What do you think is happening there? So I think that

Sadie: it’s a, it’s a, a last resort to try to save themselves. I feel like companies use big leaders and if they’re able to convince these guys to come over with a little cash and a little whining and dining, they can convince those people to bring over the masses, but it’s going to be very short lived.

You know, like their goal, they, [00:35:00] and you would think they would know that because it doesn’t last forever in that type of in the MLM world. Anything that you build like that, it ends up crumbling. Um, but I think that they’re just trying to save themselves because you’ve seen it as well as I have that companies are changing names.

They’re selling out, they’re cutting ingredients there. I mean, it’s crazy. It’s really, really bad right

Erin: now. I think it’s worse than ever. I, um, I think one realization I’ve had watching it. And even when I was a part of it, but watching it is that, you know, if you are like, I worked in medical, um, like technology sales.

And consulting and actually I, I worked in consulting. So I staffed out hospitals that were doing big it implementations. I really wasn’t selling software. I was selling people. I really was because if I was working with the hospital, I was going to find them a nurse that worked in the ambulatory space.

And I was and she was the person that I [00:36:00] was selling to the hospital. So similar kind of concept. Um, If you’re a real estate agent you sell houses and or you find other real estate agents MLM is a sales force and you and it’s but they don’t call it that They they label it differently to make it sound I I don’t know.

I don’t even know why they do that, but it’s People. So these companies that are a last ditch effort, I think that’s happening a really a lot right now are trying to find the right people to bring more people to bring more people because that’s where their revenues go doesn’t matter really what their people are making their shuffling to try to to get their bottom line better, um, it was the masses.

Sadie: It’s all about volume, and they don’t care that it’s going to be people bringing in people that are buying kits to do a business Even though the volumes coming from somebody wanting to build a business, they’re not a real customer. You [00:37:00] notice that? And that’s what, 90% of MLM? Right.

Erin: So you think about a kit.

So like, let’s talk about like a wine had a 500 kit. You have to understand the value of what you’re buying. You’re buying a business. So let’s say you start a company. Let’s say you’ve been wined and dined. And you go to the latest, um, company and they’re doing a sale on business kits.

And so instead of 500, you’re getting your business kit for 300. And it comes with 40 of product. It’s literally money going into thin air. You are paying some company to be able to sell product for

Sadie: them. Yep. It’s exactly what you do. And that’s what makes it. Sketch. It’s like you’re not, and that’s why the FTC shuts it down, because you’re like, you’re not even exchanging product, like you’re literally paying money to a company for what, and then the person that enrolls all these people, that volume is not real volume.

It’s people buying [00:38:00] kits. It’s not customers buying it because they need it and they use it.

Erin: Yeah, I think that’s where I, I think it’s where I, um, you know, I, I go on to the anti MLM sites and they make me want to vomit. I feel like that, that whole realm has become such a mean, bullying, yuck kind of situation.

You’re mean girls. I’ve been on a YouTube channel, I sat for like an hour just like dying because they literally bring people’s faces on and just make fun of them. Um, I, I feel sad about that because I feel like it’s just another, you know, MLM attracts bullies and so does anti MLM, but I do think there is a problem here.

Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I agree. And I truly do think that there’s a corporate problem and then there’s an upper level echelon leadership problem. And I think the masses deserve to have the information and so that they can at least decide for themselves.

Sadie: Yeah. And do it in a very, a very [00:39:00] professional way.

Like we can have this discussion without bashing a person or making somebody feel less than, you know, we’re sharing our own experience and just things that we’re noticing that are just that maybe you should be like, Hmm, that’s a little, that’s a little odd. Maybe I should look in a little bit deeper.

Erin: Yep. What is, um, let me ask you one more question. I know you got to go. Oh, there’s that puppy dog. Um, what is the most embarrassing thing? Um, you say give me 10 more minutes. Um, what’s the most embarrassing thing you ever did at

Sadie: MLM?

Um, this may not be embarrassing to some, but it’s embarrassing to me is that, um, I had to ask people to, to buy volume under their own stuff. In order to,

um, [00:40:00] I had to ask friends if they would buy an order extra product under their accounts for me to reach a goal. And that, to me, was really, really embarrassing. Um, I don’t ever want to feel like that and. That’s a really bad feeling. You know what

Erin: I did? And I never talk about this and I always forget about it, but it like haunts me.

I have a leader. I had a leader who ended up hating me and she had her own dramas and she, she was cray too, but I made the situation worse because we were desperately trying to get her to a status and we couldn’t get people to buy the product. So we were constantly running sales. I was constantly doing, you know, buy this pack and then you get a free whatever, right?

We did so many of them. But I didn’t have the money to buy the product until I got my check. And I also knew that I needed to buy volume the next month too. So my specials were always a month behind, right? They always came. It wasn’t like [00:41:00] I was going to make a promise and break it, but they were literally so late.

And I was so embarrassed to say, we have to wait until we have to buy volume the next month. So you’re going to have to wait 30 days that I pissed. all of her people off. Like they literally thought I was like the biggest douchebag on the planet because I had to literally wait like the 25 days. Um, it was such a sham.

I mean, here’s the deal. It’s another red flag of a company. Like, let me tell you, once they start putting everything on massive sale, once you start doing constant specials and constant discounts and bogos, and once you cheapen your product to a point where that’s expected, it’s the same thing with bonuses.

It’s the same thing for the bonus culture. You create a behavior. And so nobody’s going to spend 59 on your product when they could spend 30 on your product. You’ve cheapened it. And I did that, but I not only cheapened it, but I couldn’t back up what I did for 30 days. I couldn’t, I didn’t have.

Sadie: And I think that’s so sad that you know, [00:42:00] you’re going to have to buy that much volume.

You don’t need like the there’s your sign.

Erin: Yeah. Yep. I agree. What do you think that people need to know? Like what would be, what would be the thing that you wish people asked before looking at?

Sadie: Okay. Well, today, if I were to ever look at anything, I would want to see the proof in the pudding.

I would want to see the numbers. I would want to see the paychecks. I’d want to see the longevity. I’d want to see it. Yeah. And I’m not talking about just for a month. I want to see months. I want to see what that looks like and not just from one person. I want to see it from multiple people. I would want to see the whole, the whole inside scoop.

Raise the curtains. Raise the curtains. Yeah,

Erin: but I don’t think that there’s anything behind the curtains for the most part.

Sadie: There’s, there’s not. I’ve been on zooms. Do

Erin: you remember that [00:43:00] one zoom we got on with that crazy chick that just came on and told us for an hour how awesome she was and how everybody was constantly trying to call her and remember that?

What was that about?

Sadie: Why did we get

Erin: to remember? Oh, man. She thought she was coming to recruit us to her business.

Sadie: Oh, Lord. I mean, I had a girl break down her paycheck that was with the company for four years and she made 84 a week and she didn’t want to show me her checks. She said, don’t let my success determine your success.

And I said, Oh, sweetie, I’m not. I said, I did. And I said, I’ll, I can be successful anywhere I go. I said, but can your people be successful? If you can’t help people be successful. Then what’s the point? There’s no longevity there. And so she was vulnerable and she opened it up and I would never, you know, like kudos to her, but I was like, if you’re only making 84 a week after four years with a company, even if you’re working that part time,

Erin: even if you’re dabbling, you know, you mentioned your 500 a month that you were making

do you know how many hours you probably put in for that? You were probably making[00:44:00]

Sadie: 3. I don’t remember Savannah’s life. I don’t remember that whole year. If I look back, I don’t remember the whole dang year, and that’s not what I’m working for.

Erin: Right. It’s why MLM PTSD is a thing. It’s why people get absolutely injured.

I just had a Zoom with a mama maybe an hour ago, and she’s like, you know, my mental health is literally at the brink. She said, I I have been used and abused. I’ve been treated like a number for the last 10 years of my life and I just want a break. And she said, and, and she said, I’ve taken the week off.

I’ve been very quiet and people are noticing, and I’m already getting people in my inbox asking me what’s going on. Do they care what’s going on? No, they want to recruit me to their company.

Space of vultures. Okay. Yeah. Um, well, I love you friend, and love you too, that I drug you through the mud and, um, I’m really [00:45:00] glad I met you, but. Yeah, my bad. How about the fact that I, uh, recruited you to a wine business, but I did put you at the top of my pyramid. You did.

Sadie: You did. And you know what? That’s another thing to look out for.

If somebody says, hey, I’m going to give you a leg. Oh, my God. There’s all kinds of things. We’ll have to do

Erin: this again. Remember what, remember how, how cool we thought the binary was going to be? Oh, my God. You got to get in fast. They do

Sadie: it now. They’re like, I’m going to give you a whole leg. Get in at the top.

And I’m like, you

Erin: know, you don’t get paid on that leg. The next topic that we need to talk about is binary. The

Sadie: whole podcast.

Erin: Yes. Binary equals a big fat joke. Binary equals you think it’s going to be simple, and it is simple because everyone gets effed. That’s what a binary is.

Sadie: Yep. Yep. Yep.

Erin: And if people that I cared about weren’t on Facebook,

Sadie: then I was like, oh,

Erin: this is awesome.

And they’re like, Yeah. No, we’re getting paid zero

Sadie: dollars. Yeah. 0. [00:46:00] And we can speak about

Erin: it because we did it. Yeah. I get to make fun of myself. You can call me the devil all you want, but I sure did.

Sadie: I mean, Erin put me at the top and I still had a really shitty paycheck.