Just How Far Down Are You?
By Joe Myna   © All Rights Reserved

Have you noticed the proliferation of thinly disguised 'pyramid schemes' on the Internet lately?

You know what a "pyramid plan" is; think chain letter, MLM sales, etc. Ever hear of a guy named Ponzi? He polished the idea of taking money from Peter to pay Paul! Of course for every Paul you need an increasing number of Peters. It works fine for a period of time, then you sort of peter-out! An excellent example of this is the U.S. Social Security system about to meet the same fate. While a chain letter is considered a onetime plan, Multi Level Marketing (MLM) is alleged to be 'self-replenishing.' Frankly, for either plan to be successful on behalf of everyone, you must first presuppose a perfect world. You know, where you sell 6 people, each of these six people entice 6 more, and so on, and on. This of course is constructed on a fallacious premise, if not every single person in the world would be selling Amway today! Surprise! As we do not actually reside in a perfect world this type program, in reality, only provides the early birds the pleasure of consuming most of the worm. Your individual success, if any, is dependant upon your particular location in the ruse, I mean organization. The Internet counterpart is normally camouflaged as membership sales, where the value offered is incidental to the members periodic fee. The product or service's existence is solely to provide a measure of legality to the scheme. The true function of the recurring payment is to provide compensation (referred to as 'commissions') for those persons of elevated ranking. Your reward, if any, is from those considered, pardon the expression, below you. Also, if you acquire no recruits, then those 'tiers' they hyped you on, could become real 'tears.' This also begs the thought, are levels really on the level? As Will S. once said, "Aye, that's the rub!" Today we are constantly bombarded with adverts that proclaim; "Amazing Money Maker of The Century", Just Launched! Note the word launched is normally associated with the birth of a ship, however it's appropriate here as both have the promise of floating, while possessing the distinct ability to sink! I often wonder why some companies don't say; "Just Opened," "We're Here," "Just starting," "Just began," or maybe, "Just Re-Launched," explaining "We tried this last year but it went down faster then than the Titanic. I often see ads declaring "We are Pre-Launching!" Yet I cannot recall having witnessed their follow up ads affirming, "We've pre-launched long enough and are ready now to actually launch!" Most of these same proclamations usually begin something like this; "Our top people," make $20,000.00 a minute while vacationing at a posh island resort." All this sounds great, however I can't help but wonder that if they "just launched," where did these "top-people" come from? The publication of each stunning event is often heralded by a major Internet "Guru." Who declares that they, with their infinite wisdom fully intact, have scrupulously explored every aspect of the concept, determining it to be, not only legally sound, but a sure fire winner and imploring you to get aboard quickly. Presumably, before it sinks! While the program may sound great, I often mull over the fact that if I do join, just where among the numbers will I reside? I am also quickly notified that for self-enrichment I can start my own down-line. This way I won't be only a mere "down-liner," I'll have down-liners of my own! Then I realize that while I may have a down-line of my own, I am still merely someone else's "down-liner!" Just where in the scheme of things am I? Perhaps, they could provide numbers and sub-numbers relative to your position in the company to emblazon on your shirt pocket demonstrating your current, if only fleeting position. After all, how proud can you be of your importance and stature in this monolithic corporation if you don't know where in the heck, you are! To my recruits I may be the top-dog, number one, the linchpin, but as to my "up-line," simply a lowly number. At least I have the distinction at all times of being a contributor! Being located down the up-line is really not so bad, if you are not too far down-line, but the thought of dwelling somewhere near the bottom, well that's what gets me down! But, not to worry, the same "investigating Guru" will soon discover another "Amazing Money Maker of The Century."

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JOE MYNA is webmaster at www.anezbiz.com and involved in direct marketing for over 30 years. Mr. Myna first went online in 1996. Mr. Myna is author of "Internet Profits - The Quick Way" Download free now at http://www.anezbiz.com/Quick.exe

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