The real cost of being a “Boss Babe”

Why MLMs are horrible for everyone, but especially women

Olivia Hunt / Assistant Arts and Culture Editor

Are you ready to become a #BossBabe? Want to work from wifi? Do you want to buy yourself a Mercedes Benz? Then this pyramid scheme, I mean, business opportunity — is for you!

In all seriousness, multi-level marketing companies (MLMs) are an ever-growing industry around the world, and have rightfully attracted criticism for their questionable business practices. Many opponents of MLMs accuse them of being dangerous pyramid schemes. Others, including the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), advise people to, at the very least, be wary of MLMs. So, what kind of businesses are they really?

At face value, MLMs constitute a very complex referral system. This alone isn’t usually cause for alarm, as positive word of mouth is the best type of marketing that a business can receive. If you and your friend both enjoy a product, then taking advantage of a referral incentive can be great. What MLMs have successfully done, however, is stretched this business strategy to its absolute limits. 

Most MLMs — such as Arbonne, Beachbody, and Monat — work by giving referral incentives (mostly in the form of cash) to members who successfully get other people to purchase products from the business. They then go one step further to give referral incentives to those referred by the people that a given person signed up. But for MLMs, referring (or rather recruiting) people to join the company isn’t simply a marketing exercise — it’s the business itself. This kind of referral program, when laid out, does tend to make an interesting shape.

The basic idea behind someone joining an MLM is that they will buy the company’s products at a wholesale rate, and sell them to friends and family. This simply means that a member is a commission-only salesperson or an individual retailer for a very specific set of products. To be clear, there is nothing morally wrong with the direct sales and retailing aspect of an MLM — problems arise from the other side of the business. The most lucrative business opportunity in these companies is by building your own sales teams. This translates to convincing your friends and family to also sign up for the company and purchase products that they will hopefully go out and sell (whether in-person or through social media).

A more concrete terminology for the MLM “Boss Babe” phenomenon is simply “lifestyle marketing.” Basically, it’s selling the ‘American Dream’ of freedom–both financially and time-wise. Boss Babes, or MLM distributors, tend to ‘sell’ the prospect of living a luxury lifestyle … far more often than their actual products. The reason for this is because it’s much more time effective to recruit someone else to join your business than to make one sale. By promoting images of their “luxury lifestyle” and designer products, MLM distributors sell the false promise that, not only is it easy to make money from participating in an MLM as a “side hustle,” but that it’s able to fund an upper-middle-class lifestyle. It’s important to note that it’s extremely difficult to make money in an MLM unless you are a celebrity, or at least an influencer with a large following. There is absolutely no guaranteed income. 

A common rebuttal from MLM members is that when you go into business, there is always risk involved. They also note that the price of buying inventory to sell for the company (which can range from $50-$300) is far less than the amount it would cost to start one’s own business. On paper, this actually sounds pretty reasonable. Even the most expensive MLM company represents a much smaller investment upfront.

However, this all starts to fall apart when you consider that, first off, not everyone wants to go into business for themselves. Even if they did, it’s likely that they wouldn’t want to go into business selling whichever specific product it is that they will be forced to sell — from essential oil and vitamins to shampoo and skincare.

Yet most businesses fail. A discouraging statistic of the business world is that only about 40% of new businesses ever end up making any money,  according to Forbes. This statistic is even worse for people starting a business for the first time. 

In the world of MLMs, however, it gets even more grim. MLM companies are obligated to release income disclosure statements every year, which details the payment of bonuses, and how much is paid to specific groups of people. The average from the top 10 MLM companies reveals that only about 30% of active members get paid anything at all. Of these members, only about 12% make more than $1,000 a year. Two percent make more than a minimum-full time wage, and only a few dozen people make more than $100,000 in annual income.

Spotting an MLM isn’t always easy, and conducting thorough research to avoid false opportunities is often entirely up to an individual. In the Fall of 2019, even USD allowed MLMs to partake in the Alcala Bazaar. Vector Marketing, for instance, (an MLM that sells Cutco knives) operated its own booth and tried to rope students into joining. This was a negligent move on part of USD. The school either did not do its due diligence, or doesn’t care about students’ financial wellbeing. In the future, hopefully USD can take some of the burden off of students by blocking MLMs from recruiting on campus and spotlighting deceptive advertising practices. 

To help their recruiting efforts, MLMs often use what business.com calls the “language of success.” They may call recruits “entrepreneurs” or “small business owners,” and encourage members to think of themselves in that way. I’m sure that many female USD students have witnessed their more nuanced tactics for recruiting women through social media. 

For example, many MLMs use hashtags such as “#thefutureisfemale” or “#momboss” to position themselves as professionals aiming to empower women and facilitate their financial freedom. But, in actuality, they’re doing the opposite. Women who get deceived into joining MLMs aren’t CEOs at all; they can’t establish their own business practices or create their own products, and are forced to answer the demands of those above them (called uplines). Oh yeah, and they happen to be the only ones benefiting from all their labor.  MLMs that stress the whole “Boss Babe” idea capitalize on the double standard that women must first acknowledge their weakness before celebrating their accomplishments. 

When you hear about people not making money from MLMs, many MLM distributors are quick to say, ‘well they just didn’t work hard enough.’ The “Boss Babe” mentality is that people should be working 24/7, and if they don’t, then they aren’t working hard enough. At the same time, they should view their MLM as a source of “side income,” not necessarily one’s full-time job. 

But being a part of an MLM isn’t a job — it’s a business. Any “Boss Babe” or MLM rep promising actual “employment” is being deceptive and is certainly someone you wouldn’t want to go into business with. Women are strong, capable, and powerful. Our time and labor isn’t free. So no thanks, I’ll pass on your “opportunity.” 

The views expressed in the editorial and op-ed sections are not necessarily those of The USD Vista staff, the University of San Diego, or its student body.