"But I Made a Lot of Money" / "Look at all those Successful People!"

Credit: Wow Blog.

A common argument by MLMers is the argumentum ad populum -- so many people are successful, why won't you be? If they are all successful, can they all be wrong?

There are two reasons. First of all, they are likely simply lying. Statistics show that the average MLMer loses money and only a tiny fraction makes more than a part-time minimum wage job would have made with a lot more security and less effort.

But suppose they are correct? If so, then this is another reason to not join the MLM. As MLMs are pyramid schemes, where money is made by those in the top from those on the bottom, if many people are successful it merely means the pyramid's top -- joining it being the only way to make money -- is already full, so your chances of making money are even smaller than they already were.

I mean, would you buy a scratchcard from someone who told you to buy it because he already had won the grand prize in that batch?  

So the next time someone tells you to join an MLM because they made it big, tell them 'that's why I'm not joining!'.