We all need money for college. Most people try to get a job to relieve the financial pressure the nation’s exceptional education system places on their bank accounts. But too often, college students get roped into pyramid schemes and other get-rich-quick scams.
A pyramid scheme takes place when someone recruits others and the recruits pay a fee to get in. They in turn are encouraged to sell products that are overpriced and easily bought at any local store as well as recruit even more people.
Companies like Avon and Amway are often accused of being pyramid schemes. They prefer “multi-level marketing.” They do sell products but according to the Direct Selling Association, the average annual income of an “active salesperson” is $2,500, and USA Today reported you’d be lucky to make $1.50 an hour. You could make more money selling your own blood plasma.
For some reason, college students seem to fall for these tricks often. I understand why, though. A few years ago, I was desperate for money. Unwilling to sell my own kidneys and not ready to join the Army in order to afford an anime convention, I went to a den of crazed lunatics: Craigslist. After sifting through the ads that required either a bachelor’s degree in computer science or that I be a “hot, 21 female” I found what seemed to be a legitimate job.
I was to interview for a position at a smoothie shop, making various puréed beverages for the smoothie drinkers of my community.
Flash forward a week to the local Panera Bread, the location of my interview. That was red flag number one.
I arrived to find three people. Two of them were a married couple and the third was a man in a brown suit. They explained I was actually to buy supplies from them, attend meetings hundreds of miles away and then go about south-central Michigan selling smoothies at school events I would independently contact. Red flag number two.
When I asked if I would be paid hourly or on a salary basis, their answer was “neither.”
The man in the suit then looked at me and launched into a little speech about how he needed “energetic go-getters” and people with “vision” to sell smoothies. He claimed the company he worked for was just a “big ole company where we make a whole lotta money,” and flashed me the biggest snake oil salesman grin I’ve ever seen. Red flag number three.
I said I’d think about it. I thought about it. I did not take the job.
This kind of business model may have worked great in the days of traveling salesmen, but in the modern world we just don’t need it anymore. Avoid ads claiming you can make $20,000 a month selling $200 butter knives or a vacuum that sucks more than the company that sells it.
