A "New & Improved", EMM, Business Opportunity

Over the weekend, the unprincipled spam house "purveyor of high-quality targeted unsolicited e-mail" ("targeted unsolicited email"? What an oxymoron) known as Optin Inc. sent out a spam run shilling a "make lots of $$$$MONEY$$$$$ working at home" plan. One of these turds ended up in the inbox of an old email address of mine, now used as a spam-trap (so much for "targeted unsolicited e-mail"). My slow-roasting of that particular spammage caused me to do some 'Net searches, which led to this article. Enjoy.

Do you notice all those "Make $$$ Working From Home!" street-spam stuck on the utility poles, stop signs, and freeway overpass supports in your neighborhood? I do, and the best ones are right next to the "Posting Signs on City Property Illegal" notices. Well, even though it is nice to know I can find a job that doesn't require me to say "Do you want fries with that?", the signs are a little annoying.

Well, when a piece of spammage wound up in an old spam-trap email address of mine, I did some looking around. A Google search on one of the phrases turned up a web page with the following paragraph:

"As a Prepaid Living Independent Marketing Affiliate (IMA), you can begin building residual income by introducing Prepaid Living to others. By using Exact Method Marketing" you automate the process so that no personal contact is necessary."

Hmmmmmm, I thought. Just what is this "Exact Method Marketing""? So, back to Google, and the on the first try... paydirt. The very first hit was to this page, which points out something that I, and others like me, have been saying for some time: "Without downline duplication, the MLM business model is FATALLY FLAWED." In effect, MLM is simply another name for "pyramid scheme."

Can it really be that easy? Are the MLMers / pyramid builders giving up the fight? Not yet. Instead, some genius has cooked up this "New, Improved" way to effect funds transfers from your bank account to his. Let's take a look at the web page in question, and have a bit of fun, shall we?

"In other instances change takes place in QUANTUM LEAPS, happening so quickly it creates a phenomenon known as 'future shock' for onlookers! "

I wonder if this is what they mean by "AS SEEN ON NATIONAL TV".

"EXACTLY WHAT IS EXACT METHOD MARKETING!"

Normally, a question is ended with a '?', not an '!'. But that's OK, 'cause somehow I don't think they are going to provide an answer. At least, not the type of answer I want to see.

"After all of the hype, hoop-la and promises, after recruiting millions of believers, after literally THOUSANDS of companies joined the MLM steamroller, two simple facts emerged.

• MLM reps, across all companies and all years, FAILED 95% of the time.
• MLM companies, across all products, pay plans and years, FAILED 95% of the time

No other industry in existence has ever survived for more than a half century with a failure rate this high!"

Yep. That's what we've been saying all along.

"WHY THIS UNBELIEVABLE FAILURE RATE?"

Because the MLM business model is a fraud, designed to transfer $$$$MONEY$$$$$ from the many (95%) to the few(5%)?

"The study surveyed hundreds of MLMers who were among the 95% who had failed in one or more MLM 'opportunities' and came up with some astounding facts.

• 17% blamed their failure on lack of support from their sponsor or upline.
• 12% blamed their failure of problems with the company or companies.
• 71% blamed their failure on INABILITY TO RECRUIT, either their own or their downline's!

These numbers are particularly significant from an industry whose entire SURVIVAL depends on recruiting.

The 17% who blamed their sponsor or upline were actually also admitting that they could not successfully recruit on their own. This brings the total to a whopping 88% of all the failed MLMers who admitted that they could not do the single most important part of the MLM game - RECRUIT!"

Another significant admission. MLM depends on RECRUITING to survive, unlike most other business models, which depend on SELLING GOODS AND SERVICES to survive (unless you are Enron, in which case you depend on FRAUD AND LIES to survive... but, I digress.)

"WHAT ABOUT THE REMAINING 5% "

That would be "those at the top of the pyramid"?

"The study concluded that the success of the 5% could be credited to the ability to recruit and the willingness to work VERY hard over a long period of time. Most of the successful MLMers agreed that their success was IN SPITE OF their failed downlines, not because of them."

I disagree. I would maintain that their success was BECAUSE their failed downlines poured their hard-earned wealth into the pockets of the 5%.

"Here are the results:

• Recruiting is SELLING.


• Selling requires the ability to craft and deliver an effective presentation and the ability to close.
• Most people do not have these abilities.
• Sales training courses, classes, seminars and workshops do not help most people become effective salespersons.
• Without the ability to close sales, downline duplication cannot happen.
• Without downline duplication, the MLM business model is FATALLY FLAWED.

A business model that depends on duplication based on people performing tasks that they are incapable of performing cannot be 'fixed."'<

"Downline duplication" - now there's an interesting term. Being assaulted by their spam emails gives whole new meaning to the term "The Attack of the Clones", don't you think?

"Rather than attempt to 'fix' a fragmented, confusing and tainted business model, the result of the study was the 'quantum leap' creation of an entirely NEW business model: Exact Method Marketing."

Here we go... hang on!

"Borrowing ONLY the 'downline compensation structure' from MLM the designers stepped OUTSIDE the MLM industry for the rest of the components they needed."

So, they keep the one element that makes most MLMs illegal. It figures.

"Exact Method Marketing AUTOMATES the things that cause most MLMers to fail! Using the fast food model, Exact Method Marketing reduces the duplication process to a set of simple, NON-SALES processes that can be done, even anonymously, by anyone who has access to the Internet."

But, if I do it anonymously, how does anyone know who I am so I can get paid my $$$$MONEY$$$$$ ?

"Using state of the art technology, EMM has re-written the rules about downline duplication. For the first time in HISTORY, here is a business model, based on duplication, that removes the human element, thereby creating a 'McDonald's style', always the same, system of processes, that WORKS!"

"Do you want, FRIES with, your 'downline duplicates'?!?"

"If you have not yet enrolled in the FREE MLM-U-TURN Training course, Click here to order it FREE. This 7 day, power-packed series tells the whole truth, for the first time, about multi-level marketing and why so many people fail. It also introduces you, in full detail, to the EMM concept."

Ohhhh, so in order to find out what EMM really is, you have to sign up for their course.

"When you enroll, you'll also be given your own FREE STORE CLUB online business that will become the foundation of a wealth-building system that will change your life."

Wanna bet that the "online business' is the key to EMM? And, based on the other sites I have seen (like this one), that what that online business sells is the EMM concept, itself?

"Copyright © PrepaidLiving.com 2001."

"PrepaidLiving.com", eh? If I recall, that was the website mentioned in one of the sites. Let's check... yep, that's it. Let's surf over, and see what we can see...

Welcome! For full access, please use your personal Web site.
Example - http://www.prepaidliving.com/vip/YourUserName

Another piece of the puzzle. I'll bet that one of the things you get when you sign up is a "personal web site". Going over to the Compensation Plan page, it appears that you get a "Free CLub Store website". Hmmm, another 'web storefront' system. Oh yeah, baby, there is that "duplication process" in action! I can almost feel the $$$$MONEY$$$$$ pouring in now!

BUT... if you want "residual income" (read: more $$$$MONEY$$$$$ ), then you are encouraged to "upgrade" your membership. Sure enough, for between $10 and $50 PER MONTH, you can get the extra "goodies", including a commission on the fees/rebates/etc of your downlines, and the ability to customize the look/feel of your website (I wonder how it would look in yellow, green, and LAVENDER?)

So, who do we have to thank for this eyesore on the World Wide Web exciting new business model?

Registrant:
Prepaid Living
P. O. Box 101
Lexington, NC 27292
US

Domain Name: PREPAIDLIVING.COM

Administrative Contact:
Burks, Paul paulburks [at] lexcominc.net
P. O. Box 101
Lexington, NC, 27292
US



A check on the Better Business Bureau didn't turn up anything - anything at all - on this company. My Google Search turned up 'about 784' hits, most of which were either (1) member's VIP pages, or (2) various Web adverts or (remarkably few) adverts spammed to Web boards, or (3) omitted from the results list "in order to show you the (141) most relevant results".

One interesting point is the relative lack of spamming of this site. That may be due to their 'anti-spam' policy, which is (as written) fairly strict. They even have an 'abuse' address for reporting spam on their home page. Of course, if you do a Google search on the string "MLM Wall of Shame" you will find a lot more evidence of spamming - most of them a particular email clone which promises to get you 'more info within 24 hours' if you send email to an autoresponder. And, it appears that "EMM" isn't limited to PrepaidLiving, Com.

Before we go, a few more quotes & comments, this time from the horse's ass mouth:

"Prepaid Living's mission is to create a worldwide organization of INDIVIDUALS who are truly wealth-aware. Through the free enterprise distribution of wealth-building tools and knowledge, presented as Exact Method Marketing" Prepaid Living will create a clear, step-by-step path that leads to wealth for anyone who is willing to follow it.

By enabling those INDIVIDUALS to share with others, for profit, those same tools and knowledge, Prepaid Living will also be providing them the seed with which to begin growing their personal wealth."

Quack.

"Wealth-building is not an art. It is a science. It does not require luck or talent. It does not require much money. It ONLY requires a systematic application of certain proven money-specific steps that can be done by anyone.

Prepaid Living's EXACT METHOD MARKETING System" is a fully integrated, step-by-step system for building personal wealth.

You'll learn, in order, EXACT steps that, if followed precisely, will result in an almost miraculous transformation of your financial future."

Quack.

"Timely products that are in high demand coupled with a simple highly-duplicatable compensation plan. What could make more sense than that?"

Uh, how about "working at a REAL job"?

Remember, what I have said here is my opinion. YMMV.

Oh, yeah, I forgot...

QUACK!

Eat More Spicey Chicken!

* "There is no Spicey Chicken Cartel."

The Spicey Chicken Cartel (TinSCC) does not engage in animal testing. All our tests are performed on human subjects (or a reasonable facsimile thereof).