A MUM-OF-FIVE who raked in millions by “exploiting” her cervical cancer diagnosis has revealed it is her biggest regret.
Emily Lynn Paulson acted “predatory” by using her “sob story” to drive sales of skin care products in her multilevel marketing (MLM) business.
She admitted to thinking: “How dare they say no to a woman with cancer?”
The businesswoman also bribed her recruitees to host sales events for cancer research but pocketed a lot of the profit due to the structure of MLMs.
They have a pyramid-shaped business structure in which newer participants report to whoever recruited them – and the person who recruited them makes money off of their sales.
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Many MLMs insist they are not the same as controversial pyramid schemes because they sell products.
Emily, an author and public speaker from Oregon, US, joined an unnamed MLM in 2013 as a way to “escape from the mundane day-to-day as a stay-at-home mum”.
In an essay for the Today Show, the 43-year-old detailed being “on top of the world” and “attracted to the promises” of limitless earning and all-expenses-paid trips and gifts.
She penned: “I was posting on social media multiple times a day, selling products and having parties in between playdates and dropping kids off at school.
“And signing up almost all of my friends (sometimes reluctantly) to my growing team of MLM indoctrinates.
“I believed I was helping people.
“Granting them the dream of financial freedom, a purpose beyond the four walls of their house, a possible escape from their 9 to 5 grind.
“After all, it was working for me!”
But the sad reality of MLMs is that 74% of people who join one lose or make no money, according to a 2018 AARP survey.
Two years into her MLM journey, Emily was diagnosed with cervical cancer at 36-years-old and soon began “exploiting” people.
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She shared the sad news with her MLM team - the women who recruited her, plus the women she had recruited - and some encouraged her to “use this diagnosis to her advantage”.
She explained: “I couldn’t understand how anything about this painful experience could be beneficial.
“That is, until one reminded me that many women in our MLM had monetized pity for their circumstances.
“The woman whose husband had passed away; another whose son had a life-threatening illness; another whose house was flattened in a hurricane.
“I saw firsthand how these women gained sympathy, which inevitably led to sales.”
The businesswoman began encouraging her team to host sales events for cancer research.
She would bribe them with free gifts and promise to donate a portion of the profits to charity.
Emily repented: “Not only was this flat-out bribery, it was coercive, because I was their upline.
“I was in a position of power, and they didn’t want to let me down.
“Plus, how dare they say no to a woman with CANCER who is (seemingly) trying to do a good thing?
“That pressure extended to customers as well.
“What kind of person wouldn’t buy a $50 eye cream, knowing that a few dollars of the sale would amplify something good?
“All the while, it was a duplicitous way for me to increase sales and my customer base.”
Guilt started to creep in for Emily when she realised that “what she had done wasn’t helpful or charitable”.
She reflected on her behaviour as “predatory and vile”.
The mum was diagnosed with cancer again in 2017 and ensured she didn’t use her diagnosis as a way to “manipulate” people this time round.
She said: “With more clarity, I finally understood what I had done and why it was wrong, all the while continuing to observe similar tactics being employed all around me in the MLM world.
“I witnessed women on stage at conferences telling their sad stories about how their injury or job loss or family tragedy led to an influx of customers.
“I became more aware of the success stories that started with a sob story.”
Emily now believes that mixing sales and charity is “no more than a marketing ploy” and that MLMs “rely on exploiting vulnerability”.
She has written a memoir about her time selling skin care products under an MLM which will be released later this year.
It is titled “Hey Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing".
She concluded: “Though it took me more time than I’d like, and I stayed much longer than I should.
“I eventually realised that no amount of money was worth being involved in something that allowed me to act in such a predatory manner.
“Sending in my termination form was almost as freeing as hearing ‘cancer-free’ at my five-year checkup this year. Almost.”
