How to be Skeptical of Multi Level Marketing Scams

June 12, 2009 D. H. McKee

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A really good article about how not to fall for MLM scams. While I’ve never been dragged into one of these, I was subjected to an intense hard sell time-share scam.
Know the warning signs:
– High pressure to make a commitment right away.
– Recruiting new people is way more important that selling the “product”.
– Fees from your recruits are more important that selling or marketing anything.

We get to the bar and they’re both there with their laptops. Promoter Guy comes over to sit with us, tray of Jager shots in tow while Old Asshole Rocker Who’s Shit Smells of Sandalwood stayed at another table. The way PG started talking to us was completely different from when we did shows with us; he apparently had been studying Douchebaglish since the last time we me and was happy to share this new language with us. I instantly knew that I was not going to get a way to “get my music out there” but was puckering my butthole up for a sales pitch. Oh well, at least I’d be getting drunk for free.
He presented us with this general idea: You pay $400 in startup fees and you are given a website created for you. You then sell music from this website for $.99 a download, and you get paid for every song sold. The best part was that we could put our own songs on there and the “Burnlounge Community” would be able to see and buy our songs!

95% Of You Are Morons: Multi Level Marketing is Gibberish for Sack of Magic Beans – Part I of III
More information can be found at:
http://www.skepdic.com/pyramid.html
and
http://www.skepdic.com/mlm.html

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As a guy who occasionally curates art shows and wrangles artists together, I often have to edit and post artist bios, profile pictures, and artwork images. This can be a problem, since many artists and writers aren’t used to selling themselves. Artists rarely know how to present their art for display in a brochure, and writers aren’t used to writing about themselves.

Writers often treat the bio like it’s an interview or something. Maybe like they’re having a conversation with you, the reader. While it may work sometimes, the most common way to write a bio is to write in the 3rd person.

I’m like those writers, and I’m talking to you directly, unlike the common way to do a bio. You should see my About page. It makes sense to me, since this is a bit which describes my blog’s website. When I get famous enough that I don’t have time to talk to you, I’ll have an intern write everything in 3rd person. Until then, you get to talk to me.

Like blogs of old, this one is a personal document of the comings and goings of me. Articles I’ve written, links I’ve posted, videos I liked, etc. Here, a first-person perspective is the way to go, at least for now. So, this is my site. I’m D. H. McKee, a sometimes artist, sometimes writer. Mostly just a guy on the internet.