Get-rich-quick schemes

Well, I'm kind of annoyed with this. But to avoid hurting the feelings of those who have invited me to this scheme, I have decided to blog about it here, where they are unlikely to read. If you do read it, this is no commentary on you, only your choice of "investments"

Alright... let's talk about pyramid schemes. The idea being that you make money because you have people below you on your team who are making money for you. Essentially, you have to get in at the beginning to be able to make money without doing much work. Or, you set up your team and it continues growing, continuously making you more money.

So... World Ventures. First, I will admit, to the people who invited me that I did not watch the webinar, but I did a bit of research on my own. So, here's what I've learned. Essentially, they require you to pay approx $400 up front to get licensed as a travel agent. You are then eligible to buy and sell travel packages at a lower rate. However, you must maintain sales quotas to retain license. (Let me know if I get any of this wrong).

Now... my griefs. I don't disagree with becoming a travel agent if you know anything about traveling, or if you want to do this for the rest of your life. However, just to "get rich quick"...not okay. I think specifically because of the way they try to draw you in, and there have been so many people in the church against this:

1. This company first focuses on who you know. They invite you through someone you trust. You are much more likely to get involved if you know someone. In this case, the invitation was sent by former missionaries to other former missionaries (all within our mission). Marshall Romney (BYU prof and former scheme victim) says, "Ask yourself if you are interested solely because you know someone else involved. If this is the case, perhaps take a step back and really look into the background of the investment. No matter how trustworthy the source seems, potential investors should never make a decision based solely on the advice of others.” 1

2. The idea of authority goes along with the first point. Someone prominent is mentioned as agreeing with this. In this case, it was the father of one of those involved. From the email invitation I received, his parents,"who are now serving as a mission president and wife, is the one who started us on this. His dad is a huge business man and really trusts this business." Even though I don't know this man, I must trust him because a) he is a mission president and b) he is a huge business man (does that me that he is large of stature or large of influence?)

3. The ease is the next draw. Another quote from the email: "Personally I did this because I love the idea of making money that I didn’t earn and it doesn’t matter if there is 10 people on your team or 1000, you make commission on their sales." Does that sound ethical? I think this is the thing I hate the most! We have become such a selfish country that all the importance is on making money, none of the pride in earning it. So, if we can do next to nothing, and still get rich, by all means, let's do it! uggh!

4. Of course the enticement comes with a promise of increasing results. You don't do much work, you just build the team, and they continue to do the work for you. From the email: "We will never run out of returned *** missionaries, because they come home every six weeks, and even though it’s coming to the point where I don’t know half of them, you do. Also, once we have a good spot in the system, we can start bringing it into other missions like the ***** Mission, or the *** missions. in addition, tell your friends and family soon because they can be blessed with this too." Blessed. Ooh, the religious note. that should be another category entirely.

5. The thing that irks me most is the lack of disclosure. I could never get a straight answer, even though there has to be an easy way to summarize (see my sumary above). This is the first email I got about it: "I'm trying to let people from the mission know about this awesome thing that's going on. Send my a message back or give me a call at ***.
my reply in an effort to get more information: "Awesome thing going on? Ooh, do tell...."

repy I received: "Yeah, trying to get the word out to people in the mission about it. What do you have going on Tuesday at 7pm?" How did that give me more information?!?

Now, again, this in no way is a slight on the young elders who invited me to this. I have seen a lot of recent RMs fall into this trap, because of the drive for success. I believe in success. I believe in doing something to succeed. But I do not believe that money is the same as success. How blind our society has come to real success.

President Thomas S. Monson warned against this: "The 'get rich quick' theories, the philosophy of something for nothing, confusion of proper goals and objectives, have all combined to make the leader’s building task more difficult. The foundations of love- and life-established principles are crumbling before our very eyes. They are being eroded by the forces of Lucifer. Unfortunately, some of our precious youth are even now sliding to their destruction down the slippery slopes of sin." 2

I know you can get rich doing this. But is it worth your principles to obtain? Instead, find something you love. Find something you can put your heart into. Find something to succeed in, and do it. That is when we become successful!