| I would like to tell you a story about a woman | | | | NONE (NOT even her SPONSOR) of the |
| named Ginny Gemmel. She wanted to earn some | | | | successful salespeople told her NOT to stockpile |
| extra cash to pay for art classes to improve her | | | | on products, so her vitamins filled three shelves in |
| business of hand-painting clothes. Excited about | | | | her basement. Any money she made went into |
| selling products for Shaklee, the Emmaus, Pa. | | | | next months inventory. "Sometimes I thought this |
| housewife signed on as a distributor. Seven | | | | is crazy, but I'm also near the 18% level. Why am |
| months later she quit in disgust. Ginny says "she | | | | I not content selling fewer products, for a 5% |
| and her husband Tim, 41, a computer salesman, | | | | bonus?" She started spending a lot of time on the |
| spent so much with Shaklee that they lost their | | | | phone, and the bills ran between $100 and $150 a |
| $12,000 college fund for their three children, now | | | | month. She would leave her kids and husband at |
| 6, 11 and 16. If someone had told me in advance | | | | home, working 60 hours a week. It did a number |
| what I'd end up doing, I never would have started | | | | on her marriage, and her kids were ignored. She |
| selling". Her experience began by answering an ad | | | | then stated, "The sales leaders started laying on |
| in her local newspaper. The person on the other | | | | the guilt at the Shaklee meetings, making us feel |
| end of that ad, was a Shaklee distributor. Ginny | | | | we were lagging in our sales volume. They said, |
| started by purchasing an $18 sales kit. However, | | | | 'We've got the literature. We've got the products. |
| this is where is gets ugly. | | | | We've got the trips. What's wrong?'" She tried a |
| Her sponsor said, he would "see if she was good | | | | lot of different ways to sell for Shaklee like, but |
| enough at sales" (now, I'm thinking, what kind of | | | | nothing seemed to work. |
| sponsor would ever say that to a person in their | | | | So what's wrong with this picture? It's the |
| downline). She told him she wouldn't go | | | | SPONSORSHIP. And it's also the TRAINING. |
| door-to-door selling. He said that "you don't sell | | | | Shaklee, obviously failed miserably in these two |
| Shaklee, you share it". When she went to her first | | | | key areas. Ginny should have NEVER gone |
| Shaklee meeting, (you got to love those hotel | | | | through what she did with Shaklee. Where was |
| meetings) they all applauded to show support for | | | | her support? Instead, all she got was a guilt trip. |
| her. That made her feel great. They promised her | | | | Please be careful when signing up for ANY MLM. |
| trips and cars. So, she decided to try for the | | | | Not just Shaklee. Ask yourself these important |
| bonus of 18% of sales of distributors below her | | | | questions: |
| level in the company. That required ordering a | | | | *Who is my mentor/trainer? |
| total of $1,500 a month of vitamins and skin-care | | | | *How long have they been with the company? |
| products for her and 36 distributors that she | | | | *Will I have to go door to door selling products? |
| would sign up. She would say to her husband, | | | | *Can I physically even go door to door selling |
| "Just give me $500 from your checking account | | | | products? |
| to help bring in business, and next year we'll be in | | | | *Will this company take me away from my |
| California on a trip with Shaklee"! It was like an | | | | spouse/children? |
| addiction, she stated. Her husband even spent | | | | *Will I be led on a guilt trip every time I have to |
| $4,000 on a computer to set up a program | | | | attend a company meeting? |
| keeping track of sales for Shaklee distributors. | | | | |