PrePaid Legal/Multi-level Marketing review: Don't Drink the Koolaide 2

My husband has been doing Prepaid Legal for over almost 2 years now and I've been working my own network marketing party business for 18 months. Looking at Prepaid Legal through the lens of someone feeling success in my own business is causing me to question the validity of the potential associate income.

My business is pretty cut and dry: sell the product you get a 40% buying discount. There's nothing complicated to figure out how much money you can make at it so I understood what I was getting into. With Prepaid Legal, I could NEVER figure out the payscale and anytime I asked my husband to explain it to me, he always reached for the phone and would make me speak to his upline. My husband would always say, "I can't explain it but it works".

My husband is gone every Tuesday and Thursday to his team meetings and briefings and once a month to a Saturday event. Each meeting costs at least $10-$15 each to attend. Then there's the Sunday night conference call. They are strongly encouraged to attend each event because "you never know what information you may hear that will take your business to the next level". It's been 2 years. How much longer does one need? In my business, I work independently. There are local monthly meetings I can attend if I choose to and once a week conference calls I do in my pj's if I feel like joining the call. At the end of every call, there's always a piece of knowledge or idea that I can implement to my business immediately. Every time my husband returns home from his meetings, all I hear are stories of other people's successes. I do believe that this is vital when you are setting goals, but come one...EVERY MEETING! He never shares with me exactly HOW to do the Prepaid business.

This past March, my business and Prepaid Legal had their annual conventions. My business gave us points based on our sales for the year to go towards reducing the cost of hotel, airfare, registration and purchasing product to add to your demo kit. With Prepaid Legal, you're on your own. At our convention, my company spared no expense for our two conference dinners and two lunches included in your registration. We had motivational speakers, but we also had instruction in product demos, party sales, and managing your taxes as a business owner. They also gave us free product to add to our kits. Prepaid Legal's convention did not include meals whatsoever. Halfway through the conference, my husband called asking me to wire him additional money because of the cost of everything. When he returned home all he talked about were the motivational stories and how many millionaires he met. The sales from my business paid for my hotel, registration, and spending money while at my convention. We had to pay for my husband's trip with money we did not budget for because he was convinced he'd make enough to recoup the cost. Last August he attended a second convention in Vegas. I told him he needs to make enough from Prepaid Legal in order to cover the expense and he agreed. Unfortunately, he again failed to make enough to cover the costs of the trip. Everytime I ask him what he's going to do to get the money coming in he says, "I need to meet with my upline and figure it out". Maybe if his upline wasn't sleeping with all of his downlines he'd have time to develop my husband!

Their recruiting methods make no sense. For my business, I focus on doing parties. No pressure what so ever. I give out my business card, tell them in 30 seconds or less what I do and move on. Direct and to the point. With Prepaid Legal, you give them a DVD, check back to make sure they've watched it, then set up a three way call with the potential associate, the associate and the upline. They do the entire business pitch and then if you say no, they offer you the membership. I watched my husband try to do his pitch to a sales clerk by saying, "I'm a business owner and I'm looking to add people to my team". It's several minutes before they even hear the name of the company. Then there's the meetings at our house! He gets people to come over and when they arrive, they end up watching the DVD with my husband and his upline. Total bait and switch. When I do a party, I honestly tell my customers how much I personally made at their party and that always opens the door for someone who is serious about joining my team. Prepaid Legals methods just don't seem right.

I just filed our taxes and submitted my husband's business expenses to our tax guy. My husband spent $3, 000 in 2009 to attend training events (registration for all local training events, payments for two meetings a week and a monthly Saturday meeting). There were two conventions to attend, one in Vegas and one in Oklahoma. Those came to $1, 090. His 1099 (statement from Prepaid Legal submitted to the IRS showing how much the company paid him) was $1200.

As of this writing, my husband has paid out for Prepaid Legal more than he has made. When you sell a membership, they "advance" you the signing bonus of $30. If those individuals decide to cancel their membership within 12 months of signing, you OWE the company that $30. So if you bust your tail and sign up 50 people, you'll earn a quick $1500, but if they all cancel their memberships before the 12 months is up, you owe the company that amount so the $30 you earn for signing the next new membership stays with the company until that debt is paid off. The only way to secure that membership is to sign them up as associates and get them to join your team. If you need quick money, this is not the business for you and considering the state of the economy, people need much faster returns on their initial investments.

Is the membership worth it? If you can get past the sales pitch I'd have to say yes. I've used them several times and the membership has been worth every penny.

Meredith
Lakewood, Washington