I had just started doing this blog when I met a dynamic woman at a networking event. She was on fire about some skin care cream. It was associated with a MLM company. I asked her if I could have a sample? She said, “Sure!” and handed me one out of a set.

I tried it and to be honest, I didn’t think it worked with my skin type.  However, I got sucked into selling it because it was associated with a Multilevel Marketing group.

Plus, I really liked the woman who had shared a bottle with me. She was a super woman to work with.

There are several aspects of this MLM company that I had concerns about:

The thing about Multilevel Marketing groups is that you got to drink the Kool-aid.  You got to believe that the product is the best thing on the market.

This product did not have that distinction.

The next thing is that you have to be able to sell. I used to be a good salesperson when I was younger, but as I have grown older I have come to relish my solitude.

In any MLM group you pounce on your family and friends and regale them with stories of how this product has transformed your life.

Well, my family wasn’t going to buy it and my friends didn’t want it either. Plus it took being very involved with strangers, which is something I try to limit outside of my working hours.

I threw one party and just a few people came to my house for the presentation. No one bought into the lie. That may be because my friends are pretty smart people. My family members had other priorities also.

So I struggled and prayed. I thought that this may be my ticket to paradise which would be to have a job that I could work from home. That way I could write more hours.

Well, this dream was never realized.

The best thing that could have happened was to develop a friendship with the lady who got me into the group.

That was impossible. I started avoiding her, because all she could talk about was this skin care cream. I wanted to invite her to some events that I had been invited to, but held back because I thought she might be offensive to other people.

I went to a few meetings with the group but soon I had returned to nursing and I didn’t have the time to be gone once a week or even an extra hour to host parties anymore.

I finally came to the conclusion that I did not have the personality for this kind of business. I am a writer first and foremost and writers are somewhat solitary creatures. So I pulled out little by little and eventually ended the relationship with the company entirely.

Every now and then I thought about this company and the people I had met through it. I hadn’t heard much about them lately. I started to search the internet for information. I realized that some of the people that were in my “upline” were getting sued by the owner of the company for quite a chunk of change.

All of the people I knew were now selling a different flavor of  “Kool-aid.” Apparently the owner did not like this so he filed lawsuits against some of the top earners. In fact, that company now has lawsuits coming and going like a wildfire in a California drought.

If I had been wildly successful in that company I may have been named in a lawsuit. Because the lady that was being sued was the best friend of the woman who got me to join.

In Proverbs 16:3 the Bible says: “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.”

I committed my way to the Lord during this time in my life and due to His grace He allowed me to fail. We always think that success is the only path that the Lord blesses. In this instance, I believe He blessed me with failure.