Maddie Brown: Seeking a One-Woman Man

[absolutelyido]

On 11/19/2018 at 10:45 AM, terrymct said:

David Copperfield Jesus.

I was going to say Kenny Loggins Jesus.

[ginger90]

[deirdra]

She needs to ditch the black hair dye and choose something closer to the colour of her eyebrows.  And what is Maddie wearing? - her bathrobe & PJs for this special photo?

Edited November 26, 2018 by deirdra

[Kbo]

On 11/23/2018 at 3:33 PM, ginger90 said:

That was the best backdrop they could find?  And I’m sorry but that sweet baby looks stoned. If that’s the best they can do, that’s sad. And take off that hat!

[ginger90]

Walls seem to play a part in many pictures in this family. Perhaps they are the walls Meri built!

[laurakaye]

I barely recognized Maddie without her 54 hashtags.

 

#lulaNo4Ever #LulaNoMarie/Jane/Sarah/Rachel/Whatevercardigan #becauseIcansoshoveoff #livingmywhyjustlikeMeributbetter #boymom #husbandwife #BrownBrushfamily #TurkeyDayGobbleGobble #hidethecandiedyamsfromMom #atethepumpkinpiebeforeMomcouldthrowitinthegarbage #hahahaha

Edited November 26, 2018 by laurakaye

[ginger90]

[laurakaye]

Oh, thank goodness!  The hashtags are back!  I was wondering if she still sold LulaNo, if she was still a #boymom, or if she'd changed her son's name!  Whew!  I feel much better.

[ginger90]

14 minutes ago, laurakaye said:

Oh, thank goodness!  The hashtags are back!  I was wondering if she still sold LulaNo, if she was still a #boymom, or if she'd changed her son's name!  Whew!  I feel much better.

Happy to assist!

[Sasha888]

Good grief, look at her bent knee...the fabric is so thin and cheap that it becomes see through when stretched slightly by bending your knee. Yep, sign me up for some overpriced, ugly patterned, "turns into tights if you move" leggings!

So now we have Meri, Maddie, Christine, and Mykelti all selling LuLaNo...did I miss anyone? How many people in one family can sell the same crap without having some overlap or competition for customers?

I suspect that most LuLaRoe retailers fudge on how much money they are making...kind of like how people who gamble tell you about how much they won, but neglect to mention how much they've LOST to get that one big win at the casino.

"I earned $8,000 in one month selling LuLaRoe!" Yeah....and you bought $10,000 of inventory in one month to get that 8 grand. If you had a brain, you'd realize you're 2 grand in the hole!

I can picture Meri crowing about how much she made from a pop-up sale in Oregon, without saying how much it cost her to go on the road and pay for a hotel, etc. The rest of the family signing up to sell this garbage tells me they are not very bright people. Surely they've seen the amount of inventory Meri had in her Vegas house...rack after rack of fugly clothes...does it not occur to them that all that inventory costs money, and is sitting there unsold? 

Edited November 27, 2018 by Sasha888

[Kohola3]

3 minutes ago, Sasha888 said:

The rest of the family signing up to sell this garbage tells me they are not very bright people.

That's the understatement of the century. Dumb as rocks.

[LilWharveyGal]

40 minutes ago, Sasha888 said:

So now we have Meri, Maddie, Christine, and Mykelti all selling LuLaNo...did I miss anyone?

Their Royal Highnesses Mariah and Audrey.

[Sasha888]

4 minutes ago, LilWharveyGal said:

Their Royal Highnesses Mariah and Audrey.

Goodness yes, how could I have forgotten them! :-) 

It just amuses the hell out of me that they're all jumping on the LuLaNo bandwagon when there are tons of articles about the inferior quality of the clothing, and pending lawsuits about the questionable business practices of the company.

I wonder if they are all "downline" from Meri, or whatever the hell the terminology is...she could be getting some nice kickbacks from signing up her family members. And knowing Meri, she likely doesn't give a rat's ass if they are all going into debt to buy more inventory. As long as she's getting something out of it, she doesn't care if they're making any money.

[suomi]

The basic ingredient is a Mormon company selling "modest" clothing to Mormons. Add grifting to taste, stir, and serve with $7000 inventory. 

Read in a recent article that the buy-in is now approaching $9000 and they are "encouraged" to maintain a $20,000 inventory! The average annual "bonus" - for the small percentage who qualify - is about $90.

[laurakaye]

So how are all of the above-named Browns and Brown-adjacents affording a $9000 buy in, especially our two fave struggling grad students?  And what about saturating the market?  These people cannot possibly have enough sycophants to buy up that much merchandise.  Why is everyone except Solomon shilling this crap, and how are they making a living doing it?

[suomi]

I know, right? No benefits, they're subcontractors and responsible for their own taxes, there's a convenient glitch in the system that overcharges sales tax so they're always dealing with that. Then there are all the hidden stars-in- their-eyes costs: shipping boxes and fees, hangers, racks. it just goes on and on. Saturation? Saturation is the real reason they sell online so much. There are 10 sellers in Manhatten, population 1.6 million and there are 10 sellers in Billings MT, population 106,000. But Mormons are like lemmings when it comes to MLM. They'll scratch each other's eyes out to get to the edge of the cliff ahead of someone else. It's like LDS in Utah means Latter Day Stepford. I've lived here for 33 years and my WTF still pegs.

Flashback, and I can't believe I didn't remember this until now: when I was at WalMart 2 days before Thanksgiving, for The Very First Time I saw a Patriarch shopping with his wimmen. I about keeled over right there. AND he was exceedingly handsome. I mean, wow. Seizing my opportunity, somehow I caused him to look not at me but in my general direction (I sorta came close to grazing their cart. Mine was loaded and I'm old, so prove it, right?) There was no flicker of human recognition but his eyes were very blue. Neither of the gals gave me the time of day, as usual, and I'm used to that. He looked a few years younger than both of them. There were a couple more wives in the store, not necessarily his, I saw them a few aisles later. So I'm humming a tune in the checkout because I bagged 5 plygs, including my first buck, in less than an hour. Swear to Universe, I goes out to my car and they're parked on both sides of me!!! One vehicle to my left and two vehicles to my right. Turns out that the second set of wives in the store was his also and both looked a bit older than him as well. Not a kid in sight but it was almost 10pm so that made sense. All of their rides were mid-size SUVs and along with the groceries (and about 6 flats of bottled water) they were loading in lots of really big cartons. I tried to see what they were but it was too dark. The kicker is that I drove away first and two of the prairie brides gave me a slight but noticable smile. Which IIRC is maybe the third time in all these years because usually I get reptile face. Score! 

Edited November 28, 2018 by suomi
typo

[Sasha888]

7 hours ago, laurakaye said:

Why is everyone except Solomon shilling this crap, and how are they making a living doing it?

Solomon, ha ha ha!!! Thank you for the laugh, I needed it! :-)

I don't think they are making a living doing it...some of them don't have the personality to be selling, and selling garbage is a tough gig. I can picture Mykelti being short-tempered and rude, like Meri. Christine is very upbeat and friendly, so she probably has the best personality for it, but I think she joined this pyramid crap too late in the game. 

And Audrey? Please....she seems to get offended by the slightest thing and would need her emotional support animal when someone is a "hater".

I went out to dinner with a friend a few weeks ago, and she had on this shirt...baseball style tee, but the main part was one hideous pattern, and the sleeves were a different hideous pattern. And the two clashed horribly, they didn't compliment each other at all....and I thought to myself, this HAS to be LuLaRoe. Also it was so stretchy and thin, I smelled LuLaNo all over that debacle.

LuLaNo seems to ALL be stretchy and clingy, from what I've seen - which is fine for my very in shape gorgeous friend I guess, but I can guarantee nobody wants to see my fat ass in that crap. And that seems to be who their marketing is targeting! With the vanity sizing and all that jazz, I could overpay for a piece of junk, say "Look, I'm wearing a SMALL!" and look stuffed into my clothes like Meri. NO THANKS. 

Edited November 28, 2018 by Sasha888
It's their, not they're!

[suomi]

You're exactly right - stretchy and clingy looks good on about15% of us. I read an article where the PR dept responded to questions. Re the complaints about how thin the latest leggings are and how easily they tear, they said to handle them like you're putting on pantyhose. My hell, at about $35 those are some expensive pantyhose. They said the current fabric being used has to go through a softening process. Which, because the question was about tearing, also makes it too thin. If the cheap/rough fabric has to be tamed then why are you using it? Ohhh, I get it, the new fabric is cheap enough to offset the cost of the "softening". The answers were full of tweeker double-speak using proper language, the kind of thing most people walk away from saying no thanks. But the reps can't afford to walk and LLR knows that. And they have an F rating with the BBB! I don't understand why the gov't doesn't step in because there is massive bait and switch, which is fraud, going on. 

[ginger90]

On Facebook yard sale type pages in my area, the LuLaNo leggings are selling for $8-$15 a pair. Many are just packing it in, and “going out of business “.

[xwordfanatik]

I have several searches on eBay, and one is for a particular brand of ukulele (Mr. Xword plays almost anything with strings well.)  Lo and behold, just a couple of days ago, I got a pair of 'extra speshul' LuLaNo holiday leggings.  Apparently the seller thinks they'll sell for $40, as that was the asking price. 

Give me a break.  The day I shell out that kind of $ for ugly and probably defective crapola, well, it ain't gonna happen!  

The pic of Maddie with the stretched to the max Christmas leggings, may speak to their vanity sizing.  She's probably wearing the smallest size, just like bonus mom Meri.  Even pre-LuLaNo, Meri wore too-tight shit all the time (like the commitment ceremony dress.)  Not a good look for anyone, least of all her.

[Sasha888]

I checked out Ebay just to see how flooded it is with people trying to unload this crap - just the leggings alone there's TONS of them trying to sell for as little as $3.

One person who's obviously going out of business is trying to sell the size chart, price chart, etc that you'd put up at a pop-up sale, and I noticed this on the "How to Care" for your LuLaRoe section of that sign:

"Turn inside out, wash on cold gentle cycle or hand wash. Hang to dry or you will be sad. :-( "

Are you kidding me? At my house doing laundry is like a "survival of the fittest" test for the clothing...if you don't survive the washer, dryer, and come out wrinkle free, you go in the garbage or get donated! 

It's a hilarious coincidence that I saw this now, because I just got done doing some wardrobe thinning - and I had several pieces of clothing that caused the little voices in my head to speak up - "Oh, but it's so cute!" and then the other voice "It wrinkles terribly and you know you're too lazy to ever pick up an iron! Throw it in the damn bag!" Ha ha ha....and into the donation bag it goes.

Words like "hand wash" and "lay flat to dry" basically mean "disposable clothing" to me. I know I'm going to wear it once, then ruin it and end up throwing it away.

[Kohola3]

3 minutes ago, Sasha888 said:

At my house doing laundry is like a "survival of the fittest" test for the clothing

Hee!  Great way to describe it and I am the same way.  No special snowflake clothes in my closet!

[suomi]

The LLR herd-thinning reminds me of the saying "Nurses eat their young." The veteran/burned out reps aren't bullies but they are aggressive opportunists who are selling maybe at but usually below their cost because they're sitting on literally thousands of dollars of merch that no one wants. The starry-eyed new reps don't realize that they're priced out of business before even  getting their foot in the door because it's a buyer's market. The coaches say "sell to your family, your friends, your co-workers and they'll bring more buyers" and they have a decent month or two but not much more than that. And most don't have co-workers because the basic evil of LLR is that it attracts rural SAHMs. The contract is 20+ pages, few read all of it and fewer understand it if they do read it. They buy inventory every month even tho they haven't sold what they already have. It's like "I take speed so I can build houses faster to make more money to buy more speed." .

Meri thinks she's having an authentic LLR experience but she isn't because her TLC money cushions her. Even if she loses her entire investment she still has a home and a vehicle and a B&B and a support system and her TLC paycheck. Nobody comes out of LLR with a golden parachute but Meri went in with one. Christine is risking very little. The second generation has the most to lose but The Brown Family Inc will catch them if they fall. Pffftt.

Edited November 28, 2018 by suomi
typo

[crazycatlady58]

2 hours ago, Sasha888 said:

I checked out Ebay just to see how flooded it is with people trying to unload this crap - just the leggings alone there's TONS of them trying to sell for as little as $3.

One person who's obviously going out of business is trying to sell the size chart, price chart, etc that you'd put up at a pop-up sale, and I noticed this on the "How to Care" for your LuLaRoe section of that sign:

"Turn inside out, wash on cold gentle cycle or hand wash. Hang to dry or you will be sad. :-( "

Are you kidding me? At my house doing laundry is like a "survival of the fittest" test for the clothing...if you don't survive the washer, dryer, and come out wrinkle free, you go in the garbage or get donated! 

It's a hilarious coincidence that I saw this now, because I just got done doing some wardrobe thinning - and I had several pieces of clothing that caused the little voices in my head to speak up - "Oh, but it's so cute!" and then the other voice "It wrinkles terribly and you know you're too lazy to ever pick up an iron! Throw it in the damn bag!" Ha ha ha....and into the donation bag it goes.

Words like "hand wash" and "lay flat to dry" basically mean "disposable clothing" to me. I know I'm going to wear it once, then ruin it and end up throwing it away.

I have a cat so if I laid a wet shirt flat to dry I would literally be wearing a hair shirt.

[xwordfanatik]

18 minutes ago, crazycatlady58 said:

I have a cat so if I laid a wet shirt flat to dry I would literally be wearing a hair shirt.

I'm a CCL too, so I know what you mean!  It's happened, with more than one cat.

Really, DO any of these buyers wear this stuff in public?  Excepting the "fashion consultants" aka sellers of schlock?  Where did I read recently that the "designer" of fugly print LuLaNo quit, or something?  I believe it was in one of the articles posted in a Sister Wives thread, recently.  I know I didn't dream it.

[ginger90]

Here’s a pretty good article:

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/rolltodisbelieve/2018/10/15/the-lularoe-train-may-finally-be-wrecking-lsp-64/

[ginger90]

34 minutes ago, xwordfanatik said:

I'm a CCL too, so I know what you mean!  It's happened, with more than one cat.

Really, DO any of these buyers wear this stuff in public?  Excepting the "fashion consultants" aka sellers of schlock?  Where did I read recently that the "designer" of fugly print LuLaNo quit, or something?  I believe it was in one of the articles posted in a Sister Wives thread, recently.  I know I didn't dream it.

Here’s an article about him:

https://amp.businessinsider.com/lularoes-patrick-winget-exits-company-amid-refund-complaints-2018-10

[xwordfanatik]

That has to be what I read, thank you ginger!  

[Pickleinthemiddle]

12 hours ago, suomi said:

I bagged 5 plygs, including my first buck, 

Wow, you hit the plyg jackpot!  Once when I was in St. George I saw a few in Walmart.  But didn't see a husband.

[laurakaye]

18 hours ago, ginger90 said:

On Facebook yard sale type pages in my area, the LuLaNo leggings are selling for $8-$15 a pair. Many are just packing it in, and “going out of business “.

Just last night I saw someone advertising four pairs of LLN leggings for $15 total!  What a bargain!  Except that one pair had a pattern that looked like a close-up of a screenshot of Pac-Man and one had Miss Piggy's face as a pattern.  Now someone please tell me - who on earth wants to walk around with Miss Piggy on their backside??!?

Edited November 29, 2018 by laurakaye

[xwordfanatik]

1 hour ago, laurakaye said:

Just last night I saw someone advertising four pairs of LLN leggings for $15 total!  What a bargain!  Except that one pair had a pattern that looked like a close-up of a screenshot of Pac-Man and one had Miss Piggy's face as a pattern.  Now someone please tell me - who on earth wants to walk around with Miss Piggy on their backside??!?

Only someone that wants their butt to look like it's an ax handle wide.  Or someone without a full-length mirror.

[Sasha888]

9 hours ago, laurakaye said:

Just last night I saw someone advertising four pairs of LLN leggings for $15 total!  What a bargain!  Except that one pair had a pattern that looked like a close-up of a screenshot of Pac-Man and one had Miss Piggy's face as a pattern.  Now someone please tell me - who on earth wants to walk around with Miss Piggy on their backside??!?

Or Pac Man! I loved Ms. Pac Man as a kid, but not to the point where I'd consider it a fashion choice!

I was so interested to read in the article Ginger90 provided (thanks again Ginger90!) that for most LLR retailers, the amount of time spent vs what they actually sell comes out to about SEVENTY CENTS an hour!!! These poor women, who fall for this line of bull that they can work from home, own your own business...a lot of them are probably like Maddie, a young mom who wants to stay at home with her child, and thinks this could be their way to earn some serious coin, only to find out they invested thousands in something that will never pan out.

The Browns can bounce back from a several thousand dollar loss just by making an appearance on their show...your average person cannot. They are actually going to lose a car or max out a credit card or something and end up with no way to recover. Makes me sad. But usually, that is what's going to happen to you if you fall for the latest get-rich-quick scam.

[Natalie68]

On 11/28/2018 at 10:31 AM, Sasha888 said:

Solomon, ha ha ha!!! Thank you for the laugh, I needed it! :-)

I don't think they are making a living doing it...some of them don't have the personality to be selling, and selling garbage is a tough gig. I can picture Mykelti being short-tempered and rude, like Meri. Christine is very upbeat and friendly, so she probably has the best personality for it, but I think she joined this pyramid crap too late in the game. 

And Audrey? Please....she seems to get offended by the slightest thing and would need her emotional support animal when someone is a "hater".

I went out to dinner with a friend a few weeks ago, and she had on this shirt...baseball style tee, but the main part was one hideous pattern, and the sleeves were a different hideous pattern. And the two clashed horribly, they didn't compliment each other at all....and I thought to myself, this HAS to be LuLaRoe. Also it was so stretchy and thin, I smelled LuLaNo all over that debacle.

LuLaNo seems to ALL be stretchy and clingy, from what I've seen - which is fine for my very in shape gorgeous friend I guess, but I can guarantee nobody wants to see my fat ass in that crap. And that seems to be who their marketing is targeting! With the vanity sizing and all that jazz, I could overpay for a piece of junk, say "Look, I'm wearing a SMALL!" and look stuffed into my clothes like Meri. NO THANKS. 

So I had a thought because the Brown's are grifty.  I am not a tax expert, more of a giant novice, but I had a thought.  Meri makes $ having people underneath her.  Do the people underneath her have to sell anything for her to profit or do they just have to buy their inventory?  Could she have signed everyone up so SHE makes $, then they all can sell or not sell but then write off the loss on taxes?  They get to pluck clothes out of their inventory, write off the losses, but Meri makes $ by being the one that brought them in.  

[Sasha888]

48 minutes ago, Natalie68 said:

So I had a thought because the Brown's are grifty.  I am not a tax expert, more of a giant novice, but I had a thought.  Meri makes $ having people underneath her.  Do the people underneath her have to sell anything for her to profit or do they just have to buy their inventory?  Could she have signed everyone up so SHE makes $, then they all can sell or not sell but then write off the loss on taxes?  They get to pluck clothes out of their inventory, write off the losses, but Meri makes $ by being the one that brought them in.  

I'm very curious about this as well. If Meri's profit comes solely from having those beneath her buy inventory, she doesn't have to care if they sell diddly. Which gives her zero motivation to try to help them be successful.

I also wonder if the various family members have all signed up under Meri, or if they dislike her enough to have "joined" under someone else! And like you I suspect that these grifters have a tax angle going on.

They all seem to "pluck" from their inventory, as you say...and we can probably reasonably assume there is only one halfway decent piece of clothing in any box of LLR, so they're taking away the one item that would be the easiest to sell...and hoping idiots will buy the rest.

Unless Meri sells even the stuff she wears in her Insta posts...instead of "new with tags", you could own a piece of LuLa "worn by tv star Meri Brown"! Excuse me I have to go barf now.

Sorry everyone, I'll provide nausea medication and brain bleach for everyone I just grossed out. And sit in the corner in a self-imposed time out.

[laurakaye]

12 hours ago, Sasha888 said:

Unless Meri sells even the stuff she wears in her Insta posts...instead of "new with tags", you could own a piece of LuLa "worn by tv star Meri Brown"! Excuse me I have to go barf now.

Complete with residual orange makeup surrounding the collar of each sweater, t-shirt and cardigan!

[Sociology101]

On 11/28/2018 at 3:38 PM, xwordfanatik said:

I'm a CCL too, so I know what you mean!  It's happened, with more than one cat.

Really, DO any of these buyers wear this stuff in public?  Excepting the "fashion consultants" aka sellers of schlock?  Where did I read recently that the "designer" of fugly print LuLaNo quit, or something?  I believe it was in one of the articles posted in a Sister Wives thread, recently.  I know I didn't dream it.

I remain baffled by these styles of "fashions". The subculture around LLR is indeed cult-like. The LLR Facebook page does not disappoint. Here's an outfit that appears to perhaps appeal to a career woman. I guarantee that if I walked into the office in this my colleagues would ask about my mental well being.

 

[laurakaye]

I like the boots...and that tissue paper in the lower right is my favorite shade of blue...but the rest of it confounds me.

[suomi]

8 hours ago, Sociology101 said:

I remain baffled by these styles of "fashions". The subculture around LLR is indeed cult-like. The LLR Facebook page does not disappoint. Here's an outfit that appears to perhaps appeal to a career woman. I guarantee that if I walked into the office in this my colleagues would ask about my mental well being.

 

LOL, the bold reminds me of a former co-worker, a lippy redhead with late 80s hair. Hand on hip, green gum hanging out the corner of her mouth, looking you up and down with "Are you feelin' OK?" Her fashion sense was impeccable so there wasn't much we could do except laugh and probably not wear that outfit again. She did the same thing when a client asked for a haircut that was all wrong for them. Lock eyes in the mirror, hang the gum, "Are you feelin' alright?" I know it sounds obnoxious but it was all in the delivery and no one took offense. She was a really nice gal and she had the biggest clientele in the shop. 

One day I decided to frost my hair using a new color-coded scented product we just learned and she was my BFF so of course she would do it. I was under the dryer, cap over product, maybe halfway through the time and my head no longer smelled like blueberries and felt really hot.

"Tiff, this sorta hurts." Flipping through a magazine, "It's not on your scalp, you're a baby." A few more pages, a couple more minutes. "Tiffany, this feels really hot." "OMG, stop whining," showed me the timer. Another minute, "Tiifff ... " She flounced over, lifted the hood, pulled the cap and we saw a puff of smoke. "I told you it was hot! Rinse This Shit Off!"

Welp, those strands were as white as typing paper. We realized that because we were hee hawing we forgot the very important step of spraying the product with water before I went under the dryer. Luckily I wanted subtle so she hadn't pulled a lot of hair but there was zero pigment left, and we spent 2 hours trying to find a toner the hair would accept. It ended up looking ... not awful. Also luckily, it was at the end of the day so no clients caught that action.

After that, in addition to an occasional "Are you feelin' alright?" ... I got "Wanna un-color your hair today?" Good times. 

Edited December 1, 2018 by suomi
janky quote box

[Pickleinthemiddle]

23 hours ago, Sociology101 said:

I guarantee that if I walked into the office in this my colleagues would ask about my mental well being.

Or if there had been a power outage at your house and you had to dress in the dark.

[Sociology101]

And a huge lawsuit was filed yesterday against LLR for nonpayment to a supplier. Evidently they owe hundreds of millions to multiple suppliers. This reddit post includes the link to the lawsuit filing. https://www.reddit.com/r/LuLaNo/comments/a20twt/mydyer_lawsuit_against_llr_lists_shell_companies/

 

 

Wish I could unsee this but, to each their own and I lack the ability to look away. This person's boutique appears to be called Cover Squirrel Corner Boutique?

Edited December 1, 2018 by Sociology101
spelling

[xwordfanatik]

Why do the Browns get deeper & deeper into this LuLaNo horseshit?  It's troubling.  Where will it lead?

Makes no sense.

[Sasha888]

20 hours ago, xwordfanatik said:

Why do the Browns get deeper & deeper into this LuLaNo horseshit?  It's troubling.  Where will it lead?

Makes no sense.

Yep...why would you join when the company is being sued and it seems the shit is about to hit the fan? I guess they don't do a simple google search on the company before forking over thousands of dollars. 

As to where it will lead? It'll lead to everybody having their garages full of boxes of ugly clothes they can't sell. From what I've read, LLR isn't sending refund checks to sellers who want to quit and return their inventory, which they promised they would. 

While tons of people are trying to flee from this shady company, more and more Browns are signing up! Baffling.

[Sandy W]

Waaaay back in the 1950's there was a radio motivational speaker, Earl Nightingale, who posited the theory that went something like "do the exact opposite of what everyone else is doing and you'll never go wrong."  Could be that the Brown's got their hands on some old tapes of the radio show and took the advice literally or maybe they are looking for salvage rights when the ship sinks.

[Sasha888]

I don't know how they're getting houses, cars, etc. either. 

One of their benefactors though, is the American Taxpayer. Anything that can be purchased with a credit card won't be paid for, that's what bankruptcy is for. I imagine Mariah and Audrey are learning this...all those coffee shop & restaurant visits, gyms, Soul Cycle, blah blah blah...run it up on the credit card, and then don't pay it. Learned that from the parents. Audrey jumped right in and learned the "join a stupid pyramid scheme" quickly, I'm sure she'll learn the rest quickly as well.

The houses and land in AZ, though, yeah, you got me. The consequences for scheming and declaring bankruptcy for most people is you end up not being able to own a home (because of your shitty credit rating), and have nothing for retirement because you've cashed out any 401K or anything you had (with a big penalty) because that money was just burning a hole in your pocket. I learned that from my ex father-in-lard. :-)

[LoneWolf]

On 11/29/2018 at 5:19 PM, Natalie68 said:

So I had a thought because the Brown's are grifty.  I am not a tax expert, more of a giant novice, but I had a thought.  Meri makes $ having people underneath her.  Do the people underneath her have to sell anything for her to profit or do they just have to buy their inventory?  Could she have signed everyone up so SHE makes $, then they all can sell or not sell but then write off the loss on taxes?  They get to pluck clothes out of their inventory, write off the losses, but Meri makes $ by being the one that brought them in.  

The uplines earn money based upon how much their downlines purchase from the company.  If the downlines never sell it, it matters not because the uplines get paid already. I've had more than a few Mary Kay people aggressively pursue me (I wear makeup and its very natural--no caterpillars above my eyes, no winged out eyeliner, no false lashes) so I've seen these people "work their business" and uplines pushing downlines to put orders in. I've lost several friends because I refused to be bullied into signing up. If I get a sniff of a MK lady, I turn and bolt. No more being nice and letting the "independent business woman" do a "facial" on me. That's why the individual downlines in companies like LLR have no chance; they're put to buy more inventory regardless of their ability to sell that inventory. The uplines don't care because they get paid by the orders, not the sales. Essentially, these consultants are the customers because they purchase the inventory. If they can't resell that inventory, well then they start shaming you. "You need to work harder, quitters never win and winners never quit". They have a language unto themselves. It really is sad and predatory of women who buy into the "dream". In the day of the internet where you can research anything before jumping in, I think there is no excuse for people getting involved in these things. 

[Kohola3]

15 minutes ago, LoneWolf said:

In the day of the internet where you can research anything before jumping in, I think there is no excuse for people getting involved in these things. 

I doubt highly intelligent or self assured women buy into it.  It's the browbeaten or low self esteem or not that bright folks that believe the dream.  Sheeple who buy into the hype (and manure) spread by those who know how to sell to their fantasies.

[LoneWolf]

6 minutes ago, Kohola3 said:

I doubt highly intelligent or self assured women buy into it.  It's the browbeaten or low self esteem or not that bright folks that believe the dream.  Sheeple who buy into the hype (and manure) spread by those who know how to sell to their fantasies.

You're absolutely correct. I grew up Evangelical (I've been Catholic for five years or so--I finally feel 'at home') and these companies throw in all kinds of Christianese language in. "If you have the faith of a mustard seed you can move mountains" (Matthew 17:20) and "we're a company that puts God first, family second, and business third" (uh....not even close). That's why I feel  companies like MK and LLR are predatory: the feed off of the weak with all that "sisterhood" and disgustingly happy and peppy "positivity" for which many women are desperate. Especially in an Evangelical and Mormon environment where men rule. It is sad, I think. 

[Natalie68]

2 hours ago, LoneWolf said:

The uplines earn money based upon how much their downlines purchase from the company.  If the downlines never sell it, it matters not because the uplines get paid already. I've had more than a few Mary Kay people aggressively pursue me (I wear makeup and its very natural--no caterpillars above my eyes, no winged out eyeliner, no false lashes) so I've seen these people "work their business" and uplines pushing downlines to put orders in. I've lost several friends because I refused to be bullied into signing up. If I get a sniff of a MK lady, I turn and bolt. No more being nice and letting the "independent business woman" do a "facial" on me. That's why the individual downlines in companies like LLR have no chance; they're put to buy more inventory regardless of their ability to sell that inventory. The uplines don't care because they get paid by the orders, not the sales. Essentially, these consultants are the customers because they purchase the inventory. If they can't resell that inventory, well then they start shaming you. "You need to work harder, quitters never win and winners never quit". They have a language unto themselves. It really is sad and predatory of women who buy into the "dream". In the day of the internet where you can research anything before jumping in, I think there is no excuse for people getting involved in these things. 

Thank you so much for the explanation!  I have never gotten into these selling schemes and have tried my best to stay off their radar.  

[laurakaye]

4 hours ago, Kohola3 said:

I doubt highly intelligent or self assured women buy into it.  It's the browbeaten or low self esteem or not that bright folks that believe the dream.  Sheeple who buy into the hype (and manure) spread by those who know how to sell to their fantasies.

This reminds me - whoever mentioned the podcast "The Dream" in these threads, thank you.  It was a fascinating listen on exactly who is buying into these MLM schemes (spoiler: Meri fits the profile to a "T").

[DragonFaerie]

On November 19, 2018 at 1:18 PM, xwordfanatik said:

Wow, good catch!  Sam was so hot in "Mask."  If he never was named People magazine's sexiest man alive, he should have been.

 

I recently stumbled upon a netflix show - just starting it's 6th season.  It's called The Ranch and it stars Sam Elliot, along with a big chunk of the cast from that 70's show and occasionally appearances by Jim Beaver - aka Bobby Singer from Supernatural.  If you like Sam Elliott - definitely watch it - the first few episodes were meh, but it definitely gets a lot better and the man is still super sexy.