Anyone have friends in ACN (MLM)?

If you don't know what ACN is, it is a Multi-Level Marketing company that charges people $500 to sign up in order to sell services to people, while taking in a percentage. They also get money recruiting other members which create pyramids (I believe they are a pyramid scheme), and they also charge $200 annual renewal fees. I know people who got into that and they got so brainwashed that they only talk to me and my friends about it and keep trying to get us to sign up. Anyone had any experiences with this and can offer advice on how to get these people to get out?

ACN is nothing but trouble. Stay away. MLM is basically just pyramid schemes.

Shoot me a PM. I'm in an MLM and I think I can show you how this can be a legitimate business.

Yes it is a pyramid looking compensation plan, but that does not mean you can not make a legitimate income from an MLM.

I'm not in ACN but a more profitable comp plan.

reaction said:

ACN is nothing but trouble. Stay away. MLM is basically just pyramid schemes.

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I keep telling them that but they're completely brainwashed. And they all keep saying "ACN see you at the top", a lot of horseshit but I care for them and don't want them losing their money.

Sometimes you need to lose money to learn your lesson. I've tried MLM before and it's not my bag. I'm sure some people are successful but they get in early and at the top. You want to be rich start your own MLM. The very top of the pyramid. lol

I had friends in ACN from back in the late '90's. None of them got anywhere with it. The guy who tried to get me to join begged me to the point of my coughing up the $500, but he turned out to be so broke at the time that he asked me to instead lend it to him to help pay his rent. That recruiting fee, the high pressure sales session, the whole old-school MLM cult set-up, make it one of the worst network marketing ops ever.

The modern, better MLMs don't have the pyramid aspect of a recruiting bonus, and are friendly towards letting the sales reps use current IM methods to generate sales and a downline. Several are free to join, so there is no ugly prospect of manipulating friends or family by roping them into spending money, while knowing most will fail. Some examples of the next-generation companies are GIN, Vitel, RegenerationUSA, Yagooft, NAP.

zebrahat said:

I had friends in ACN from back in the late '90's. None of them got anywhere with it. The guy who tried to get me to join begged me to the point of my coughing up the $500, but he turned out to be so broke at the time that he asked me to instead lend it to him to help pay his rent. That recruiting fee, the high pressure sales session, the whole old-school MLM cult set-up, make it one of the worst network marketing ops ever.

The modern, better MLMs don't have the pyramid aspect of a recruiting bonus, and are friendly towards letting the sales reps use current IM methods to generate sales and a downline. Several are free to join, so there is no ugly prospect of manipulating friends or family by roping them into spending money, while knowing most will fail. Some examples of the next-generation companies are GIN, Vitel, RegenerationUSA, Yagooft, NAP.

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Yea that's what I don't want to happened. They keep asking me to come to these meetings and then saying stuff like "you know (name here), he's making $3k a month and he just started" and all this crap. Whatever, I guess they need to learn a lesson the hard way, it just sucks that you can care for their well-being but they'll think you're against them.

It's all a big hype for you to join. I was at one of their recruiting meeting years ago. I saw their products and thought to myself...if I wouldn't buy it then how can I get my friends and family to buy it. Don't waste your money.

Although ACN and how they operate isn't for everyone, I looked into it and if you put the time in you can develop a solid monthly residual income that will be more consistent than any newbie internet marketer could make.

All ACN's products are, are wholesale versions of the same companies you already get your essential services through, energy, internet, phone etc.

I think it has the possibility to suck a lot of money out of people if they sign up and don't work at it, but other people who work hard at it get rich.

Evan257 said:

What is the attrition rate for ACN?

I'm in a much more established mlm. It's ideal for people who network with local business but definitely not for anyone who's shy.
1 out of 4 people who submit an application and go on their field training will actually end up making a stable income off selling products. Override income varies anywhere from 15 to 50% depending on how much your team has sold.

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Stats from third party sources (Dept of Commerce, accounting firm Arthur Anderson, etc) state the failure or attrition rate for major MLMs is 76%, with only about 1-5% making a stable income (similar to the 1-5% success rate for small business start-ups in general). Contrast this figure with the success rate for enrollees in major franchises (86%), or from buying an existing business (61%).

When the company formerly known as Pre-paid Legal filed disclosures to the SEC a few years ago about the actual success rate of its reps, it reported that about 70% make virtually no money across 12 months, 25% make $1-$1,000, and 5% make more than $1,000. I think MLM is as viable as any other direct sale field or business start-up opportunity, but the supporters should face the real numbers and risks involved, and not push it as a "guaranteed formula" for success as is too often hyped.

zebrahat said:

Stats from third party sources (Dept of Commerce, accounting firm Arthur Anderson, etc) state the failure or attrition rate for major MLMs is 76%, with only about 1-5% making a stable income (similar to the 1-5% success rate for small business start-ups in general). Contrast this figure with the success rate for enrollees in major franchises (86%), or from buying an existing business (61%).

When the company formerly known as Pre-paid Legal filed disclosures to the SEC a few years ago about the actual success rate of its reps, it reported that about 70% make virtually no money across 12 months, 25% make $1-$1,000, and 5% make more than $1,000. I think MLM is as viable as any other direct sale field or business start-up opportunity, but the supporters should face the real numbers and risks involved, and not push it as a "guaranteed formula" for success as is too often hyped.

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Maybe there is a black hat method to making money with this system but paying $500 to sign up and an annual rate for shitty compensation doesn't sound attractive.

Im in ACN it is my 3rd month, my team is #1 in the region and I my cheque the past month was for $3500 it is not a scam if you know what you are doing but companies like these never last and will just eventually end so join while you can

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Im in ACN it is my 3rd month, my team is #1 in the region and I my cheque the past month was for $3500 it is not a scam if you know what you are doing but companies like these never last and will just eventually end so join while you can

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Yeah, right...

paulyawney said:

Im in ACN it is my 3rd month, my team is #1 in the region and I my cheque the past month was for $3500 it is not a scam if you know what you are doing but companies like these never last and will just eventually end so join while you can

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Join date: January 2013, 1st post..... SEEMS LEGIT.

ACN, they still around... I first noticed them around 15 years ago, they had loads of underpaid and quite young phone workers on salary. The top guys in that particular MLM-scheme are no doubt very rich now, and the losers probably number in the hundreds of thousands.

MLM is for losers. Made for people that don't know what computers and affiliate marketing is. Poor confused people that actually PAY to join networks for selling stuff. You can tell that to your friends OP.

ThreadKiller said:

ACN, they still around... I first noticed them around 15 years ago, they had loads of underpaid and quite young phone workers on salary. The top guys in that particular MLM-scheme are no doubt very rich now, and the losers probably number in the hundreds of thousands.

MLM is for losers. Made for people that don't know what computers and affiliate marketing is. Poor confused people that actually PAY to join networks for selling stuff. You can tell that to your friends OP.

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Hmmm or you can use computers/affiliate marketing knowledge to grow your MLM business. Compete with 1000s of IMers promoting the same products or pay a bit and promote a product that only 10-20 people are promoting online. That's what I use MLM for and it works.

I'm currently in ACN (about 1 year) with a family member. To get to the OPs question, your friends are doing things wrong from the start and you're right, they probably won't make money unless they change there ways. 1st rule is you don't constantly harass people. If they say no then you move on and never mention it again. Many beginners make this mistake. Also they shouldn't be talking about what others are making. Some people make a lot of money from the start and some only start making money after a few years. It all depends on how much work you put into it and yes it's work. This is not a get rich scheme. You have to put your time in like anything else.

Is ACN a pyramid scheme. I would say no. You could make money without getting people to join and only selling services and you don't get any money for having someone join. You only get money when they signup a certain amount of clients. Another reason that this is not a scheme is because 24 governing bodies are involved in highly regulated industry. This doesn't include all the multi national companies that have associated them selves with ACN. If the company was not legit and a scam, these companies and government would not have gotten involved and allowed them to be around for 20 years.

As for some that say IM is better etc... You can't say that. Some people are better with IM and some are better MLM and some are good as workers. I've been on this site for 5 years and I've seen stories of people getting into IM and losing thousand of dollars without making any money. With ACN you pay $500 and you get a website were people could buy services in 24 countries where the services range from Telecom to energy and soon banking. How many people have hundreds of thousands of dollars to get a Rogers/Telus/Direct TV/Vodafone franchise? For $500 you could have one of each. That's making it very simple but it's just to prove that you don't get nothing for the $500. It's up to each individual to make use of all the tools you get.

As many mentioned,success is difficult and as long as you don't get to carried away, it won't cost you more than the $500 plus renewal fee. As mentioned this is really not for everyone and again for the OP just tell your friends to shut up and if they really want to succeed they should watch one of the many videos available to them that explain how to do things properly and one clearly explains not to waste your time and harass people when they clearly tell you their not interested.

The ONLY MLMs that I trust are those that meet the following criteria:
a. Free to join.
b. Provides a product or service.
c. Gets income from sources outside the company. If all the money comes from within (you) then you are pretty much being scammed.
d. Allows the bottom level to get something out of it... more than they put in.