Life can often in the way of one’s goals, especially if that goal is financial security, as is the case with so many of us. Raising children, getting an education, working a dead end job that isn’t conducive to financial security are all things that are entirely too common. The idea of being able to make one’s living from the comfort of their own home, on their own time even just from their phone is undeniably appealing. Too good to be true, even!

Well, dear reader, the thing is that when things are too good to be true they are often quite in fact the opposite. Companies are aware of how appealing the idea of reaching one’s financial goals with minimal time and effort can be and the shadier ones prey on it.

You’ve probably seen them all over Facebook, Twitter, and even Instagram as of lately. The people that they get to work for them really need to push the product on social media if they stand a shot at making any money at all from it which, if they do, doesn’t make up for the money they had to pay to get started or the products that they had to buy from the company.

You may even have some friends who have gotten involved with them, I’ve seen it happen a lot on campus, the appeal is understandable but the risk isn’t worth the reward at all, nor is it worth imposing upon others by trying to recruit them too.

What follows will be a short list of companies to stay away from, there're loads more out there just like them it’s just that these happen to be the ones I’ve been seeing all over social media again recently. But before I go into that let me cover something real quick, a few key terms.

Multi-level marketing is defined as a marketing strategy in which the sales force is compensated not only for sales they generate but also for the sales of the other salespeople that they recruit. This recruited sales force is referred to as the participant's "downline", and can provide multiple levels of compensation.

A pyramid scheme is defined as a business model that recruits members via a promise of payments or services for enrolling others into the scheme, rather than supplying investments or sale of products or services. At face value, they may sound different but they are, all and all, arguably fundamentally the same (it is worth noting that not absolutely every MLM company is a pyramid scheme, just a lot of them.)

You make money by getting more people to join the company and sell the product, who must do the same thing to make more money. But anyway, I digress, here’s the list I mentioned.

1. Vector Marketing

Vector Marketing specializes in selling Cutco knives. They’re a member the DSA or Direct Selling Association, an organization that supports multi-level marketing organizations. In fact, around 90 percent of the companies that are part of the DSA use the MLM model. The DSA has been on the receiving end of quite a bit of controversy lately as two of its major members, Tupperware and Avon quit the organization because of its affiliations with pyramid schemes. The way that Vector marketing works is that they advertise themselves to young people (their signs often appear on college campuses,) promising $18 an hour with the chance for growth in the company. And there’s no startup cost! My goodness gracious that’s amazing! Maybe even…too good to be true? Ding ding ding!

The catch with Vector marketing is that if you don’t sell any knives at the appointments you make, you don’t make any money. You don’t get paid for training. You don’t get a salary. You don’t get reimbursed for travel, you don’t have regular accounts that you get to work with, you don’t get benefits, you get nothing more than appointments with friends and family as they’re the only ones you can sell to. Vector marketing is not worth the time you would have to put into it in order to make money.

Vector marketing is a great way to be obliged to annoy your friends and family into buying knives from you in order to make money. There are better jobs out there, less shady jobs, jobs that you can actually grow in as opposed to just having to coerce your grandma into buying a fourth bread knife.

2. Motor Club of America (MCA)

The Motor Club of America aka MCA has been around for 86 years. They’re a well-established, honest company with an A+ Rating from the Better Business Bureau! What on earth are they doing on this list? Well, dear reader, MCA has not been around for 86 years, they’ve been around for about 43 years and they do not have an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau, they have an A+ rating from the TVC AKA the Truckers Voice in Court AKA the people that do the marketing for MCA.

That’s like using your mom as a reference on a resume. She’ll say great things about you but you know, she’s basically biologically obliged to. MCA claims to help people turn $40 into thousands in a week, outlandish statements along those lines. You need to recruit people in order to make money. The services they offer its members are available elsewhere without the monthly fees. All and all it’s just a shady organization, stay away from it.

A quick Google search will tell you a lot about a company, and the things that the internet has to say (aside from the glowing reviews that those who are unlucky enough to get tangled up with MCA are contractually obliged to write) are entirely unpleasant. Stay away from MCA, there are better, legitimate ways to make a living out there.

3. It Works

Have you tried that crazy wrap thing?! Did you see this neat infographic about how much you can make?! Are you part of the It Works family?! For just $99 a month you can sell products that work! Except they don’t work. And you won’t be making all that much, the most you’ll be making will come from people you get to work for you and, more likely than not, they won’t be making much either. It works preys on insecurities and desperation. It offers products that are seen to be magical, instant fix-alls, all natural solutions to your baby fat, your anxiety, your hair and nails. What they sell you instead are plastic wrap and vitamins that you could get at your local health food store for much cheaper.

But Julie! Look at this before and after! Yes, that’s neat, but what time of day were these photos were taken (ever notice that you look skinnier in the morning?) Were they actually taken a day apart? How different is the lighting, how much more flattering are the shorts, is the camera angled a little higher, not enough to be outright noticeable but make a difference in the picture? How much of that comes from using the magic wrap (spoiler alert, an absolutely negligible amount that you might see after you first wrap because of the sweat you’ll lose. It’s water weight. You’re losing water weight, you don’t need a “magic” wrap to do that.)

The instructions say you have to drink a certain amount of water within 72 hours in order to see the results. Anyone can “lose” that much weight by drinking so much water in that amount of time, a better-hydrated body is a better body, green plastic wrap and creams don’t have anything to do with that. As for the miracle pills for hair, sickness and stress? You can find those at any health food store for a fraction of the cost without the hassle of a subscription service and no worries about returns or cancellation fees.

There’s a lot more to be said about It Works but honestly just looking into it yourself is the best bet. If the products don’t do what they say they do then the company is shady, bottom line, and nobody needs to work for a shady company.

Question everything. Too good to be true? It probably is let’s be honest with ourselves here. Don’t be fooled by companies who want you to pay to work for them. That’s a big time red flag for something you shouldn’t get tangled up in.

Check out the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website to find out more about Pyramid Schemes and Multi Level marketing, do a lot of research and always, always do your research. There are ways to make money that doesn't require selling your soul or subpar products to people, they’re out there and you won’t even have to try to sell knives to your grandma to work for them, what a novel concept.

Feel free to contact me for any more information on anything I mentioned in this article. I did a lot of research and have a lot of resources. Questions or concerns? Let me know in the comment section of this article, let’s talk things out!