/biz/ - Business & Finance

yeah, what are these things? can you explain what Im seeing on my FB? This one girl keeps hash tagging shit and talking about how she owns her future and is going to be a big success. im like, success at what? What are you even doing?

>>876561

She's hustling, bro. What are you even doing? Lrn2six-figure earn

uggghhhh I fucking hate that.

Got a text from a friend I haven't talked to in years after he graduated. Really cool guy... I thought he wanted to catch up or something.

Nope. Pushing his pyramid scheme bullshit on me. Fucking retard couldn't land a job after college.

And other friends into the same shit... Always posting motivational money quotes and success stories. Yet all they do is go to conventions and talk about how they know people who are successful.

>>876569
Can you explain this pyriamid scheme ? I think i am about to be scammed by somewone i knew a while ago. He contacted me via FB and offerd me to get into a very lucrative business he and a few friends of his started. I am going to talk with them tomorrow...

>>876608
Lol

>>876608
dont sign or agree to anything just look.

you'll think about it

Has anyone here ever considered starting one of these things?
It sounds pretty hard to create a successful MLM that hooks alot of "Salespeople". Although, I suppose, if it was really THAT hard, the people that start them would get real jobs

A guy I know has this as his timeline cover photo
He's 22, dropped out of fucking high school and works at home depot earning right above minimum wage.

So much fucking cringe, like nigger what the fuck do you know about working hard

>edgy white Americans
>thinking they'll ever make six figures in their lives because they got a Comp Sci degree

>>876750
>working hard
>in customer service
>paid minimum wage

dude he is working had you dumb fuck. Rich=/=hard work.

>>876542
>Why are people this fucking dumb?

Sometimes it doesn't come with flashing bulbs that it's MLM.

I knew a guy who wanted me to go in to some "investment opportunity". It had to do with long distance phone calls. So I had a 3way call with my other friend, who knows a lot about PBXs, long distance etc. As soon as he heard the company name he said "Run! It's a scam!" Luckily I got some advice.

Another side of that coin is - it's easy to get a job selling insurance or "investment" stuff. So they call their friends and family to invest some in it. They even come over with their boss. The boss pressures you to allow automatic deductions every month from your bank account, and for an immediate list of five names of my friends and family to give. These things often have the onus of some "respectable" investment bank or insurance company, which farms out work.

>>876608
All of these MLM "business opportunities" are intentionally vague so that you don't go out and do your research before hand.

Things that are red flags when you go see your friend:
-do they pitch you for 40 mins trying to convince you to join them?
do you have to pay money up front and monthly in order to be eligible for pay (if they start talking about "residual income" and making money while you sleep, run)
-the most damning of all is if they spend like 20 mins pitching the product, but then they go into explaining a complicated compensation plan where recruiting more people into the scheme is more lucrative than actually selling the product. If they put more pressure on you to recruit more people and make a list of people in your contacts (your "warm market") then it is most likely a product based pyramid scheme.

Don't forget about the "fuck average" social media posts (usually with a picture of a scene from wolf of Wallstreet)

Some people actually make money off this things, You need to be likeable and know a lot of people but it is possible. It obviously isn't ideal and most people lose money on this shit but it's possible

>>876740
I helped my friend start one.

I drew up the compensation plan and the membership benefits. He did all the selling.

He can sell ice to Eskimos but is so bad with money he will never be anything more than a smooth talking alcoholic.

>>876769
>implying we wont all be making six figures by age 50 because of inflation.

>>876769
>>thinking they'll ever make six figures in their lives because they got a Comp Sci degree

You're nearly guaranteed a 6-figure salary if you have a comp sci degree and 5+ years of experience in North America.

Shit is in incredible demand, especially if you speak english, knowledgeable with experience and have a formal education.

>>876750
>So much fucking cringe, like nigger what the fuck do you know about working hard
He's probably working hard, but isn't really smart.

The thing is, even if you work really hard you will fail if you don't work' smart' and know your fucking limits.
If you are a broke ass Mehmed or Abdul, you will probably never be the wolf of wallstreet. But if you work hard, read a fucking lot, socialize and take action you might become wealthy in a couple of decades, this is not outlandish. Sure there are lucky people that get rich without much effort but it is really rare.

>>876750
Wait, is that a Shia Labeouf quote?

>>876750
>So much fucking cringe, like nigger what the fuck do you know about working hard

>Tfw ur guilty of this

lmao smh fam

>think MLMs are funny
>Never had any experience with them personally, no freinds fucked themselves over, nothing
>look around the internet for stories about them
>people in comment sections and on business forums defend them
spooky tbh

>>877028
Primerica, ugh its a cult.

>>876608
If you have to recruit anybody it's a pyramid scheme
If you have to sell knives, energy drinks or outdated telecommunications it's a pyramid scheme
If they tell you you will be a millionaire it's a pyramid scheme

I just remembered, I have seen this once. A friend of my mom tried to get her into the Tupperware MLM scheme. She thought it was a right laugh though and walked off

In my experience it's retard druggies and sk8r punks selling steak knives or vitamin water

Although I do know one chick who hit it big with some of the fitness supplement pyramid schemes. Makes six figures at 23 with two kids and no man and does seminars and shit

>>877194
>Makes six figures at 23 with two kids and no man and does seminars and shit

Still a terrible deal. If she's being paid six figures she has to be earning them multiple times that.

In which case if she's really so skilled to be earning $100,000's for a company she would do much better to just do it by herself.

>>877203
can't fault someone for doing something that makes them happy. All I see is what gets put on social media. hardly the most objective view, sure. but it seems to work for some people

>>877194
>>877205
Janet you can't come to book club anymore if you keep trying this

>>876569
those motivational business speakers do make some nice cash though

if I was a better orator I'd get into it even though I have 0 business experience, I love making shit up

>>877194
fuck I'm guilty of almost falling for this one cause of an FB friend

I was in 17 and stupid. Good thing I passed on it. Fuck going around selling knives

I have an ex-coworker who's knee deep in various MLM schemes. I'm always getting texts from her to meet her "mentor" or some other chump in their organization. Of course her fb is replete with inspirational messages and BS about her "business".

>have a few friends tell me about cutco
>one asks to come to my house, says he gets paid even if you don't buy anything
>ask him if he wants to come over and play CoD or Halo instead of talking about knives
>says he has to talk about knives
>who fucking cares?
>gave in and he came over and showed me a catalog and I told him I didn't want any knives
>now he's depressed

What would an employer think if they say Cutco or Mary Kay on a resume?

>>877227
even for 6 figs I wouldn't do that pathetic shit

i know a guy who actually won in a pyramid scheme. real money, some low-tier luxury cars bought and paid for. i don't think he does it anymore.

i guess it's just the lottery. someone has to be profiting, right?

>>877194

If she hit it so big why didn't she get an iphone 5S instead of a 5C?

>>877273
Yeah, and it is all fun and dandy until the fed steps in and jails all the big money makers. That's what happened to the pyramid company my father was in without realizing it when he was young. Luckily he was at the bottom of the food chain so they didn't care about him. Just make sure above all else tgat your ass can't get landed in jail and that you can just as easily leave the company if needed, and stay smart

>>877333
Because she is a normie that buys crapple and loves the pretty colors.

Also, my first ever job was with Cutco. It was my senior year of high school and my mom essentially forced me to do it.

The training was three 8-hour days. The first thing I noticed I was the only white, non ex-con looking person there. They showed so many award show videos and had sales trophies strewn throughout the office it was sickening. The training pretty much entailed memorizing the sales booklet. Literally practicing the same speech over and over. The training was unpaid of course, and the best part was they tried to market it to us as a "tuition free sales course that looks great on a resume."

They encourage you to set your first appointments with friends and family and build leads from there, so naturally I did. It felt so embarrassing to be trying to sell overpriced cutlery to people you actually know. I did two appointments, and then went to the office and quit. I am embarrassed about the whole experience to this day.

The one thing I will say is that the knives are superb. I still use the demo ones I got 6 years later and they are as sharp as ever. If they were sold in stores at a reasonable price I would definitely get some more, but as it stands I would never give money back to fucking Vector.

>>877095

>spotted the 18 year old

It's the most saturated degree right now.

>>877362
Lol what?

No it's not. There is more demand for it than actual people expected to graduate within a few years, by a lot.

It still has one of the highest post-graduation employment rates and starting salaries. Look at some statistics tbh fam. Even if people enroll in it, stupid normies usually fail by 2nd year and a whole bunch decide it isn't for them between years.

>>877348
Did you have to pay to get in?

it's funny to imagine suburban moms tricking each other into this kind of stuff. I don't know. The very premise seems hilarious

>>877382
ofc he did

>>876542
lead poisoning, oxygen deprivation during birth, undiagnosed mental illness, don't know

>>876542

Ok so this is the story of my ex gf:

>gf is cute 8/10 but totally naive about anything money related
>her mom works as a nurse
>still entry level position after 30 years
>widow, dad was even more of a failure
>he tried setting up shady businesses on ebay multiple times
>died of cancer a few years back
>4 kids at home 35, 28, 25, 20 all working low paying jobs, one is a NEET with a drug addiction.
>30k in debt
>mother refuses to open any mail
>50% of the debt is only due to reminder fees and collection agencies
>gf has savings account from her uncle to pay for her drivers license and first car
>mom steals money to pay for vacation
>they inherit 5k and some land from a distant relative
>I urge her mother to sell the land and pay off debt
>buys new car instead, land still not sold and unused

>>876750
>actually has a job
>determined, even if a little deluded
>wants to take pride in his work

Sure its cringey but at least he is trying to make something of what he's got, enough people in this world are already complaining and after the welfare teat, good on him

>>877491

>have in-depth discussion with gf about money issues
>think I can change her
>I didn't want her to become like her mother
>she's 20 but has no experience with money
>one day she wants to get a spotify premium account
>basically the first time she pays for a subscription herself
>it's like 10 bucks a month what could go wrong?
>hint: everything
>I advise her to unlock online banking on her debit account and pay by direct debit
>nope she would rather go to the bank each month and transfer the money
>doesn't even pay the first invoice
>5 months go by before she tells me
>collection agency sent her a letter
>50 bucks + 45 in fees
>asks me to pay it for her
>ditch her and run


>fast forward 3 years
>get a message on facebook
>it's her, first time she messaged me
>gets all flirty and talks about the great sex we had back then
>I get annoyed and ask her what she really wants
>lost her job and needs 3,000 to pay off collection agency
>hysterical laughter

>>877507
I feel really really satisfied right now.

>>877508
A friend told me she lost her job because she stole office supplies, I really hope that's true.

>>877515
Why would anyone steal office supplies?

>>877521
Because they're idiots. They don't think about the consequences for their actions.

>>877521
It would have been more than a pen. It would been like a hardrive or something of actual value.

If i was a business owner and my employees were constantly taking pens I'd get the shits with them and probs fire them if they kept doing it.

>>877524
>>877523
Wtf are you going to do with a hard drive. Seldom sell used ones, and I doubt your average wageslave is doing tactical corporate espionage and stealing secrets with that hard drive. Seems dumb.

>>877530
I don't know what she stole but I doubt she even knows what corporate espionage is.

>>877530
I know people that have done that.

>if i quit, everybody else is going to quit with me

>>876561
I almost got conned into it a few years ago when a friend referred me, luckily I'm not retarded.

Basically they sucker you in and tell you they need you as a salesman in the region. They sell super exclusive high quality products which are expensive ($6 for an energy drink) so you can make a profit if you sell them. They start walking you through the process and basically say they'll hook you up, there's demand for these products everywhere and you'll be able to sell out immediately. They also charge you $200 and ask for 10 people they can sucker into the scheme (very pushy about this).

In the end you end up spending $200 + whatever inventory you paid for (turns out you're their customer) and you threw 10 friends under the bus and into this scheme as well.

Crazy shit. Glad I didn't waste any more because I did my research beforehand.

>>877521
>2015
>not hoarding anything that isn't nailed down from your employer

do you even business?

>>877382
>>877472

I did not have to pay for the course, I just had to pay for the knives.

>>877333
Legit

>>877087
I betcha like 1/20 career Roulette players are successful through their "career" even though it's a negative sum game as well.

>>877234
Probably pretty good, willing to put themselves on the line and driven to make sales face-to-face

>>876542
LMFAO THIS IS FUCKING ME RIGHT NOW
Made thread about it too

>Indian
>Getting sucked into MLM scheme
>Paying to own business
>Saying they'll teach me all about finance

Fucking meme yo, it's literally like you read my post and got the idea of making this

>>876561
muh coupon program, muh energy drink, muh diet supplements program, muh healthy fooodz program, muh cabb-cha image production progrm..

>owning a car

>don't want to invest in mutual funds, but would rather let the money rot in a savings account
>believing all bankers are evil
>don't want to take loans, but uses credit cards

>have to share a % of each sale "upstream"
you don't own anything, they own you...

>>876542
>be at the gym
>cuties mirin
>everyone walks around trying to sell eachother herbalife
>everyone buys herbalife from eachother
>everyone brags about their herbalife business
>mfw

>>877585
I do. company i used to work for did "restructuring" on a regular basis. For some reason this included trashing tons of unused office supplies into the crusher. Was sad, but have post-it notes, paper clips, folders and pens and more that will last me at least a couple decades.

>>After about their fifth "restructuring" their stock hit 1.10. When I started several years before it was around 45.00.

>>877761
How is running a herbal supplements business? I was thinking of blending and selling my own.

not him but

>90% of customers will try to haggle you/tell you it's a ripoff
>people that do buy probably wont buy again because they think reason 1
>if you do get loyal customers, offer them discounts to keep them loyal, (i said if someone has bought 90 days worth of supplements from me before, their next buy is 15% off if it's 90 day + supply.
>have a recommending system, recommend a friend that buys supplements and you get additional discounts

ended up not being worth the money (netted about 15$/hr + holding onto a stash), good passive income but a part time job at a vegan grocery store was a better option for me. Bought one last big batch and gave my most loyal customers huge discounts

>>877795
meant for >>877779

>>876561
>can you explain what Im seeing on my FB?
Since it's FB, I assume you're seeing retardation

what about MLM people who post about Owner-Managers-Employees with the caption "and this isn't a pyramid scheme"

>family member gets $3000 from a bank error
>takes $500 to some shady online stock website and buys 1or 2 stocks in 10 different companies
>it cost something like $8 per transaction
>almost 1/5 of her money gone just from buying stocks

>>877194
is the name of this shit called Plexus? my mom bought into that and i swear its a fuckin scam, her whole FB wall is filled with the bullshit

> Friend gets caught in MLM scheme
> Selling fucking coffee-pod machines of all things
> "But it's really good quality and an untapped market!!!010101
> Invests about 1600 dollars in three machines
> I tell him it's a pyramid scheme
> "no, my guy at the company told me what a pyramid scheme was, and this is definately not it!!!"
> Goes on seminar with the company
> "yeeah it's all about getting people to join the company"
> Looses interest

He still keeps talking about starting up with the company again because he likes the product

Mfw all the big stores sell Senseo/Generic/Luxury Brand coffee-pod machines for 40 dollars and have sale on the pods themselves all the time.

Point is, never join an MLM

>>878459

Did an MLM myself a few years ago. Won't day which one, but the products were actually pretty good...just heaps overpriced because people gotta be paid yo.

Business system attached to it was really good as well though, which pushed me halfway to having a success mindset

>Tfw you were essentially part of an MLM/sales job but they actually paid quite well and it was very easy and chill work

feels ight, wasn't really an MLM but it was that sort of "scummy sales" job.

>>876567

+5

On topic:

>people who don't understand opportunity costs

Got two examples for you:

My mom goes shopping for groceries once a week. She goes to one supermarket to get all the general stuff then she drives 10 freaking miles to another town just to get a gallon of milk and a dozen eggs "because those are cheaper over there". Total savings: 23 cents. That is before calculating in the time and fuel the extra trip takes.

And a more severe example:

I live in a small town and our local hospital recently went bankrupt. All employees were given two options: Either lose their job and work somewhere else or accept a purchase offer from an investor under the condition that their wages will be cut by 5% for the first 3 years. Of course, they declined.

Now 1/3 or out of a job and the rest works in the next bigger hospital 30 miles away. All the people I know were offered entry level positions there and they're doing a 60 mile trip every day just to get to work.

>>877364
>fam

>>878928
Do you live in arizona?

>>877761
i have a friend on facebook constantly trying to flog that shit. is it just another pyramid scheme?

>>878955
Nope.

>>877135
I met this dope at a local Chamber of Commerce networking event who is an "Independent Associate" for Primerica.
Can you fill me in on what they do, and why they're so shit?

>>877234
>affluent former classmate hot girl defends Cutco on facebook and says she made good money while working fire them
>Doesn't realize that not everyone is a 9/10 18 year old female who's rich relatives and parent's friends buy their shitty overpriced knives like they would girl scout cookies
>"Aww, aren't you the little salesman, you go girl! Here's a check for $460, your uncle and I will take three sets!"

>>876561
>>877545
So it's pretty much this episode of Hey Arnold?

>>876561
Legal pyramid schemes. I want to be at the top of one.

>>877717
But whereas roulette is a game of chance, the MLB game is one of skill.

>>877364
I agree with the failing on second year thing. I'm a sophomore in college, but I was in a special dorm for dedicated engineering majors for freshman year. Most of them fucked off, played video games, and failed 100-level courses on fucking programming.
There's this guy on our class FB page who keeps on asking questions about how to skip his intro programming class instead of failing it three times (uni policy is that you can only take a class three times, and if you fail it, you can't get that major.) People can literally fail the most basic programming course available and still think they're up for a career in that field.

Point being, a bunch of fuckwads getting expensive college degrees that match the top 10 on some clickbait article about highest salary jobs aren't going to saturate the market unless you happen to also be a moron. The people who are actually good at math and science and can learn programming won't have any trouble getting good work.

>Joining the Mexican Navy
>AKA the easiest source of money one could possibly get
>Deal with heavy bullying from higher grade students for a total of ONE semester (Unless you're that much of an easy target, bullying in general can also be avoided for the most part if you play it smart)
>You can be half retarded and easily graduate as long as your physical condition isn't abysmal
>Once you graduate, you rank up based on time and get immediate outcomes.


Yet, most people that I've known from the Navy spiral into a destructive lifestyles very quickly. Just, why? You already took the easy path, why waste everything like that?

>>879816

Engineering in general is full of idiots who just hit the wall in second year, or fail at least one or two courses a semester. I knew a guy who failed the same 1st year calc class three times and will end up taking 6 years to do a 4 year degree. There are plenty of jabronis in his situation who go on and then whine about not getting a job lel

>>879036
>"Independent Associate" for Primerica.
>Can you fill me in on what they do, and why they're so shit?
I wouldn't be so crass.
Primerica sets very high standards for its independent associates. They are required to have been CEO of a fortune 500 company for a minimum of 5 years, served with the navy seals or British sas for a minimum of 10 years and have a direct line to royalty and/or the bush family.