Be your own boss.
Work your own hours.
Earn your own income. (It’s easy!)
And do it all from home, where you get to spend more time with your kids.If you spend any time with #mom content on social media, I guarantee you’ve heard that pitch on why you should get involved in a multi-level marketing company (MLM).
But, if it all sounds too good to be true, that means your spidey sense is well tuned. What the moms in those videos don’t tell you is that a shocking 99% of people who participate in MLMs fail to ever turn a profit.
Still, millions of Americans decide to give it a shot and a disproportionate number of those participants are moms. In this edition of The First Word, let’s talk about why these MLMs target moms in the first place, what it says about America’s policy failures, and how we can fix it.
The “Mompreneur” Mirage: How MLMs Exploit America’s Broken Care System
What exactly is a multi-level marketing company?
An MLM is an operation that sells its products mostly through independent distributors. They offer people the dream of “entrepreneurship” made easy — the idea is you get to have the “good parts” of running a small business without, you know, investing years and thousands of your savings into getting one off the ground.
For those who sign up, it’s only a matter of time before the allure fades. People find that success is less about making sales and more about recruiting others to get involved with you. There’s a fine line between MLMs and illegal pyramid schemes — and some of these outfits know regular people aren’t savvy enough to spot the difference. When your income is based entirely on recruitment or you’re being required to buy a certain quantity of the product, you might be the target of an illegal scam.
They talk a lot about success stories. But here’s the thing: despite these “get rich quick” promises, the AARP Foundation found that fewer than half of participants who manage to come out ahead earn more than $5,000 a year.
So why are moms such a rich target for these schemes? The Direct Selling Association, which advocates on behalf of the MLM industry, reports that 75% of the people who sign up to sell for MLM companies are women. It’s particularly prevalent these days among military families and stay-at-home moms, and it makes sense.
When MLMs truly started taking off in the mid-twentieth century, these companies built their image around suburban moms at a time when workforce participation among women was still much lower than today. We even see these stereotypes pop up from time to time in pop culture — from the Avon lady to the mom-hosted Tupperware party.
These OG MLMs knew two things.
First, many women had built-in social networks — from church to the PTA — that would make sales and recruitment easier. It gave them an excuse to seek out connection among their peers. Even more, the idea of being a source of a little extra family income was extremely attractive.
After all, who doesn’t want to earn good money and have fun, too?!
They also knew most women had little financial independence of their own — no personal income, no access to affordable child care, and few opportunities to work for pay. MLMs exploited that yearning for autonomy by promising women a way to contribute financially without challenging the norms of the time.
Mom Guilt Is a Hell of a Drug
Where this all gets predatory is in the way these MLMs lure moms in and keep them hooked by tapping into our mom guilt.
Wish you could spend more time at home with your kids? MLMs offer a way to do that while still making an income. Want to meaningfully contribute to your family’s income? They tell you that you can do that and still have all the flexibility in the world.
These MLMs know how to weaponize empowerment language against you. They know how to prey on our pride and aspirations of being one of the “supermoms” who can have it all. Even if you know that most of these moms fail in MLMs, it’s natural to think maybe you could crack the code. And these days, social media is super-charging these lies and amplifying the pressure we already feel to be “better” moms.
But when you fail — and the statistics are pretty clear that you almost certainly will fail — these companies will help you blame yourself. You didn’t hustle enough. You didn’t make the hard ask.
People have been known to lose thousands of dollars buying inventory or paying for trainings and “starter fees.” When things don’t go to plan, the toll isn’t just financial. Emotionally, it results in burnout and shame. Some try to sweep it under the rug and hide mistakes from loved ones. There are countless stories of women who’ve seen their life in MLMs strain their marriages and friendships. Instead of reducing our economic dependence, it ends up reinforcing it.
MLMs Thrive Where Policy Fails
Here’s the thing every mom needs to know: The moms caught up in these traps are victims of a carefully designed and analytically refined predatory model.
Most women involved in MLMs are doing the extremely hard and extremely admirable thing of trying to make life better for themselves and their families. But our broken system leaves them vulnerable to being exploited by bad actors.
In America, without paid leave or affordable child care, it’s understandable for moms to seek out a source of income that comes with flexible working arrangements and the ability to be more involved in your kids’ lives. For many of us, that sounds like a dream.
It’s our policies that are letting us down. Many countries are doing a far better job than the US in supporting moms and families. Whether it’s 480 days of paid parental leave per child in Sweden to free child care for every kid under five in Tokyo to the $10-a-day child benefit program in Canada — the rest of the world is leading the pack and building societies in which it’s so much harder for MLM scams to prey on moms in the first place.
These scams’ very existence and prevalence are tell-tale signs of a broken system. Until we address the ways we’re failing moms in America and cut off the allure of what MLMs offer, we’re ensuring that many moms continue to fall into the trap.
Action Center
The Real Solution Isn’t a Side Hustle. It’s Policy.
We’re not going to fix this by warning one mom at a time. We fix it by building a country where moms don’t think they need a miracle, a side hustle, or a scam just to get by. Join us in fighting for policies that value mothers — for real.
Here are a few things you can do right now to help:
- Share this deep dive on MLMs with your mom networks. Chances are, someone has considered an MLM — or is even actively considering — trying it out. These companies thrive on people not knowing the facts.
- Keep an eye out for red flags and do your research before signing up for any so-called “business opportunity.” If it dangles promises of easy, fast money or quick fixes with little commitment, trust your gut and steer clear.
- Tell your lawmakers to pass policies that give moms better economic choices in the first place. We need paid leave. We need affordable child care.
🎁 About Those Holiday Gifts…
Every year moms make the magic happen, and every year they get…an empty stocking. So this year, let’s do better. Instead of another candle or bath set, give the gift of impact.
When you donate to Moms First, you can gift an Associate Producer credit on our upcoming documentary about American motherhood, a film uncovering the forces stacked against moms and the path to real change. Your gift will add her name as an Associate Producer in the credits of the film.
Making Headlines
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If you’ve ever felt tempted by one of these MLM promises, you’re not alone — you were targeted. And you deserve better. Thanks for standing with me to build a system where moms have real choices, real support, and real economic power.
Here’s to ending the con game — for good,
Reshma Saujani