My very best friend is apparently addicted to MLMs. I've heard the pitches for vacuums, candles, jewelry, cleaning products, you name it. I'm so sick people trying to guilt you into these scams.
I love my friend. The only area I really don't have in common with her is her "get-rick-quick" junk. She's not out to scam people, but she wants to hit the million dollar whatever.
I hate that these companies/salespeople prey on the guilt and friendships of those closest to them. Do people truly NOT see that NO ONE wants to be sold something that's a high price peice of junk just for YOU to make money??
She's gone through soooo many companies (becuase none of them actually make her money - DUH!) that I just wonder how much money she's lost in the process.
So frustrated. Just wanted to vent.
You might want to try taking a look at the site below:
http://mlmsurvivor.com/
Unfortunately cognitive dissonance is a very powerful force and can result in selective blindness when confronted with the facts. We used to deal with MLM trolls all the time on a finance-related discussion board I used to participate in, some were so far gone they had to be banned because they were stalking and posting attacks about people who brought up counterarguments to MLM.
Depending on how much she has emotionally invested it may be difficult to change her mind about MLM while still preserving your friendship. If she refuses to listen to your points you may just have to avoid that particular topic. It's certainly possible to maintain friendships like this -- I'm an atheist and I have several friends who are religious and evangelical, we just don't discuss religion. 
I have to ask what is an MLM?
I think she is referring to a multi-level marketing scheme.
Thank you, but I still don't know what that is. Like a pyramid shceme?
Kind of. Basically any business where selling the actual product is secondary to recruiting new "downlines" (people under you and you get commissions from their sales). Your "upline" gets a commission from your sales and your downline's sales. Amway is probably one of the best known/most hated.
Having a friend who's always trying to sell you something gets annoying. Doing one of these "businesses" is a sure-fire way to alienate people. 
MLM is essentially a pyramid scheme, where you are rewarded for the products you sell directly, but you are also compensated for products sold by people you recruit. The people on the top of the pyramid can make a lot of money without doing much work, but by the time the MLM scheme is publicized the pyramid has already reached the point where it is very difficult for new entrants to succeed.
Since there are multiple layers of compensation (someone on each level of the pyramid gets a cut of the sale) products have to be priced higher than usual to pay off everyone involved in the scheme. Some of the most popular MLM schemes are Amway, Quixtar, Mary Kay, Primerica, and The Pampered Chef.
If you're interested in a thorough analysis of why MLM doesn't work from a business perspective, read this article: http://www.vandruff.com/mlm.html
From the article:
Summary of What's Wrong With Multi-Level Marketing
MLMs are "doomed by design" to recruit too many salespeople, who in turn will then attempt to recruit even more salespeople, ad infinitum.
For many, the real attraction of involvement in multi-level marketing is the thinly veiled pyramid con-scheme made quasi-legal by the presence of a product or service.
The ethical concessions necessary to be "successful" in many MLM companies are stark and difficult to deal with for most people.
Friends and family should be treated as such, and not as "marks" for exploitation.
THAT was interesting! I still don't really see Mary K. or say Princess House as bad as all that, but the article did bring up some points that I do see in those companies. I am not familiar with Amways set up, maybe they are more like that article? Either way, good one. Sorry for jacking your thread OP. 
Thank you! I do know Amway. Is just telling her your not interested an option? Like she doesn't let that be it? I'm sorry if she still pushes, cause that is a dumb thing to risk a friendship over.
That's the thing about MLM...if someone gets deep enough to make MLM their full-time job, they won't make any money if they don't keep pushing products on family and friends and trying to recruit others into a market that's already oversaturated.
Re Mary Kay:
http://www.pinktruth.com/
I've lost a couple of friends because they just couldn't leave me alone about the MLM's. One was selling vitamins, the other was selling magic pills to put in the gas tank.
Okay, so here goes, I used to do Mary Kay. Well, actually no. I signed up for the discount, cause they really do have great skin care products. I did do one quick sale, cause like the site said, she needed me to qualify for $600. I went t to one meeting and found it all to be a bunch of crap. But I can see how some do succeed,cause not everyone is going to want to be a Mary Kay consultant, so I don't really see a "flooding" of the market and there is a market to just sell product...which would never be me, cause I don't wear make up and totally suck at putting it on!
I have also done Picness House and it is a totally different set-up. Really cheap to get started and no inventory or deliveries or a bunch of crap, they cut you a check directly to you of your profits and, believe it or not, I made really good money just selling. I didn't do all that recruit stuff, not me. So, I guess I say this, cause I think they all vary. You just don't know.
And YES, caking and decorating has ALWAYS been there through all that. That is for LIFE!
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