The 5LINX Agony Pt B

In case you didnt see the first part of this eye opening episode.  Get to see it here.

Listen closely.  The company would ONLY PAY an affiliate IF (and WHEN) a sale is made, that’s it.  It doesn’t pay for cheer leaders, doesn’t pay to wear suits and ties, they don’t pay for meetings, they don’t pay anyone to prospect (or better yet – pan handle) friends and family, they don’t pay to harass strangers, they don’t pay for restaurant presentations, yet these are the very things they strongly endorse affiliates and reps to continue to practice. 

This is not what people sign up for!!  People want relief from their life's issues.  

This is not even a ’’Home Based Business’’ like it tags itself.  This is glorified suit wearing peddling and pan–handling in disguise.  Absolutely demeaning.

Every time I called up the upline sponsor about the difficulty and the mountain load of neck breaking costs I was running up, it was quickly dismissed with ’’you are not following the system’’ .... Its a programming.  They are programmed to mindlessly repeat it to their downline members who are not ’’duplicating’’ them. 

This is hard selling!! .... Something people DONT LIKE, and DONT WANT.   The promise is ’’you will make XX amount of dollars in YY amount of time if you do ZZ stuff’’  and when it doesn’t work out (like it never does for most people) the ready made excuse is that ’’they quit too soon’’ .... ’’This is not a get rich quick scheme’’ .... this thing is merciless shark!!!

After 7 Months of this 10 foot pole shoved down my nostril, I woke up and smelled the coffee and just dropped this liability like a bad habit !!

For far too long, and for decades this nonsense has continued this way.  So many people are brainwashed into thinking are ’’investing in their business’’,  and these are average working class people unprepared to carry business costs, and business in this manner is just a pocket draining money sucker.

It was seven months of people chasing, passing out flyers, being shunned & detested by relatives, money constantly flowing out of the pocket, HEY WAIT!!!!! A root canal job doesn’t last seven months. 

My inviting upline friend later on went to become a super-star with the company, a top recruiter, walked the stage, shared hugs, took photos with many dignitaries, received ’’MVP Award’’ from the company and then ..... BOOM !!!!!  She isn’t with the company any longer !!!!!  She wouldn’t give details about what happened, all she said is ....... ’’That was the first and the very last MLM she would ever get into, she doesn’t need a downline or a team to pay her bills, and she was going back to what she enjoys ..... Real Estate Investing!!’’  

I am hoping she wasn’t FIRED from the company,  because (oh yes this company indeed TERMINATES affiliates) something tells me she left on bad terms, as their dearest ’’Ms MVP’’ who just never got to the admired & prestigious position of SVP (Senior Vice President) and never got the BMW ...... Ms MVP may have separated with 5LINX on bitter and really bad terms. All that ’’Residual Income’’ she worked so hard to build ...... Sha-zaam !!!!  Gone!!!  Just like that. 

According to her ..... ’’She is not bitter, she is wiser’’ that told me if she had a chance to do it all over again, she would gladly decline!!?  That’s what I am hearing.   But what I would say is this, if you have friends and family members who need to throw away some money, send them to 5LINX, and make sure you join first B4 they do, that way 5LINX can throw some remains of it your way.    Just kidding, but seriously what I am saying is .....

Join at your own risk.    Look, working from home DOES NOT require meetings, DOES NOT require the involvement of friends and family, chasing people and baby sitting (AKA recruiting) is not a rewarding way to earn income, and it doesn't have to be a painful experience .... like trying to fill up a basket with water.  Its not gonna happen, that's MLM, and surely that was 5LINX.

My Final Word of Advice.  Do what your gut tells you.  if you feel its a good idea to jump in, go for it.  If your gut tells you to stay away, then save yourself the agony and disappointment shared by very many people.  Your money is best kept in your wallet, not in the coffers of some fortune 500 money grabbing company.

The 5LINX Agony Pt A

Back in mid 2011 another time when Real Estate investing was hot, a facebook friend and successful Real Estate Entrepreneur asks me for a ’’favor’’ and sends me a video link ... business opportunity presentation. It basically said a technological change was sweeping itself into society and if you’re not part of it, you will be left behind and it will ’’only’’ cost $249 to be a part of this revolution.    The name of the revolution? 5LINX.

’’Getting paid on utility bills you’re already paying anyway’’ and you can also earn income everytime a person pays a bill. Sounds really goon on paper, but its such a sleazy and sneaky way to present a pyramid scheme. 

Also, you earn commissions to refer other affiliates / promoters / distributors into the deal.  The excuse phrase used to justify this trick .... ’’Save money on your current utilities and showing others to do the same’’ That psychological approach is sneaky.

My friend promised ’’In 3 short months, your financial life will change!’’  It definitely did.  But the change was not for the better, it was for much worse.

The truth is .... 5LINX is an affiliate company itself.   It doesn’t own any products except GlobaLinx (Video Phone) which costs $24.95 + Tax ....... (Skype offers same features & costs much less) RED FLAG!!  Paid the $249, then I needed to pay for a premium of membership, another $50, and the permission to promote electricity (another $45), mandatory to add GlobaLinx ($24.95), add the company replicated affiliate website (50) ...... Cost Of Entry is = $369!! Not $249!!!  (lets work with this for now)

At The time, the company paid $750 if you enrolled 2 affiliates AND twenty customer points within 30 days.  Sounds like an abundance to time to do all that, but reality soon kicked in.  You gotta place order for more utilities and services that you know you just won’t use .... I didn't need AT&T U-Verse Internet package, didn't need GlobaLinx, already had cable with Comcast, and myCricket phone was satisfactory.  Yes Cricket! All of that was so you can gather customer points, all of which came with a cost, and were really time consuming and rather tiring.  Worst of all,  the commissions on the bills came in teenie weenie, itsy bitsy, pinch – poor twenty / thirty cent commissions, and the rest goes to the company.   Very Annoying.

The real money came from recruiting people into the scheme.  At the time the company paid $50 per enrollment for the first three enrollees, then it goes to $200 per enrollment after that.  That’s just unethical !!!!

That’s the thing, the focus in the training calls ... recruit recruit recruit more ’’Business Partners’’ ...... because ..... ’’This is the best business / income opportunity on the planet’’ ..... Well only the naive would fall for that joke.

Taking the trainings also counted towards your qualification requirements that means, even if you successfully enroll people, and you still have registered services through them (customer points) you will still lose commissions.  You will not be qualified for any earnings in that pay period.  Oh Yes. YOUR MONEY IN BECOMES THEIRS!!!

The trainings were filled with sleazy peddling tactics.   Call up your closest friends and your dearest family members and ask them for a ’’favor’’ .... ask them to ’’help you out’’ ..... beg them to ’’try your services’’  ........  coz after all ’’you never know who is looking for an opportunity’’  ..... ’’They may just like it and sign up’’ Probability?  LOL.

This is not running a business, this is GLORIFIED PAN HANDLING.  
This was all too familiar.  Been down this anal road far too many times. ’’Make a list of 100 family members etc etc’’  so if you truly don’t know anybody (many people actually dont).... you’re out of luck, and as far as uplines are concerned ’’you’re just making excuses’’  ANNOYING !!!!

Followed that senseless plan again (about the 13th time) and practically EVERYONE I approached (Including the most passionate Church people) were avoiding it!  They all ducked & dodged like it was flying gorilla poop!  

I don’t do recruiting (and frankly, I don’t know it, not my personality, not my thing) and I was far behind on customer points so long story short, a lot of money went out and very little came in. Typical of MLM, Isn’t that right?

The only earning was $47, a result of ONE person, who was unfamiliar with network marketing (and its shenanigans).   She had heard about it as a source of ’’additional income’’ The intention was to register her as one of my enrolled customers, but she decided to join the deal.  

After all, I did ask her ’’for a favor’’ a favor cost her about $450 which she NEVER did earn back from the company.  She later on called in and cancelled everything, and warned me NEVER EVER TO BRING that kind of nonsense to her ever again.  How does an apology make up for this grief?  

That is yet another bridge burnt, and permanent scar from joining 5LINX or MLM. Its just luck to still have her as a friend to this day.  Heck her job (that she supposedly hates) does what 5LINX WOULD NOT DO!  Pays the bills!!  It’s amazing to see grown people cheer leading loudly for a company that does NOTHING for you except take and take.

The Rest Of The Story Pt B Right Here.

Choice Is Yours