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Loved this interview so much! I also love the photos! I have countless cringe photos from my own MLM days (😬) Thank you Laura for using your platform to discuss MLMs and the cult-like behavior that usually comes along with those $500 “welcome kits.”

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Mathematically, plain retail sales from home, where each seller works directly for the manufacturer, can work for a majority of people who try it--but multi-level marketing, where each seller pays another seller and tries to recruit more sellers, canNOT work for the majority of people involved. If it's working for you, congratulations, you got in near the top of the pyramid, enjoy it while it lasts; it won't last long, and the people below you will probably not be your friends when it crashes.

Oh, not that MLM is all bad. I once spent $50 out of the last $100 I had to buy into a vitamin powder pyramid. I never sold any vitamins; the local market was already saturated. But telling a landlord that I was working, selling vitamins, kept me decently sheltered until I found a job that actually paid! And I learned how MLM works and would never buy into it again. Call it an immunization!

With the economic depression we can expect to see more people trying direct sales. I respect them for trying and appreciate the companies that make it possible for them. They need in turn to understand that I'm trying to earn my own living, my own way, and it's not always easy and I have to decide between lights and groceries. I will not be buying any designer luggage.

And if someone you don't know VERY well calls you something like "Hun," or says it in a public place..."Hun" is in fact hatespeech, and even if some people claim it's not, "honey" is, too. If the person seems competent enough to play a verbal abuse game, I ask whether the person meant primarily to be racist, sexist, vulgar, or obscene, since "honey" qualifies on all four counts.

(If anyone who reads this *has* been addressing women who don't share their homes by anything that sounds like a term of endearment as distinct from a term of respect, you need to stop that now. Even if you use a less loathsome word than "honey" or "baby," a word that a close friend or relative might use...just STOP. I'm not *your* sister. I'm not *your* aunt. I'm not *your* "Darling." People who are close to me do not CALL a person who's already there, and continual "calling" as if for repeated assurance that I'm still there, when you can see me standing right in front of you, does make me wonder about your competence. The best choice is usually not to call at all. If you can't keep those "calls" from popping out, kindly observe the grey hair, undyed, flaunted, and call me "Ma'am.")

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Preorded this book and shared this interview! I loved Emily as a TLC host and her first book. This book and subject is something I am very interested so very excited to read! Thank you so much for sharing- this interview was fantastic!!! 🤍

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May 23, 2023
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My pleasure. #popcorn

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