2019-09-01 Cosmopolitan South Africa

Uh, am I paying my

B y ALLIE JONES

Your friends out here running side hustles? You don’t have

to bankroll them. Here’s why

BFF’s salary?

y

our second cousin’s

all over your FB feed

• she has the ‘lipstick
  of your dreams’. Your
  old varsity roommate
  is hawking protein
  shakes on Insta. And that girl from
  pre-school’s here with an e-mail
  blast asking you to splurge on her
  new line of herbal supplements.
  In the US, more than 18 million
  Americans are now in on this
  hustle, officially called direct sales
  or multilevel marketing (MLM). This
  is also a very popular stream of
  income for many South Africans.
  Here’s how it works: people
  looking to make money sign up
  to be sales reps for brands that
  don’t necessarily have physical
  stores. They pay an upfront cost
  for a whole bunch of merch ... that
  they then try to sell to make back
  their money and turn a profit.
  MLM employees can also get
  paid extra for recruiting other
  salespeople (you??).
  The sad news: 99% of people
  involved in MLM actually lose
  money, according to recent
  research. But while you can’t blame
  your girls for trying – or for hitting

...
ut
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in
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do

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invite.

Oo

h,^ g

irl,^ yo

u’re^ gonna

(^) fee
l (^) so
(^) g
oo
d.
..