Scam Psychology: Misconstruing quote from Zig Ziglar about Positive Thinking

Every once in a while, you'll see some MLMer pull out this quote as a reaction to criticism:

Positive thinking will let you do everything better better than negative thinking will. 

Remember, this is in reaction to criticism, not "general application", that the quoter basically threw the quote out, meaning "why are you so negative? think positive!"

Live video feed of Zig Ziglar speaking at the Get Motivated Seminar at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Some of the folks may have even gotten the source, Zig Ziglar, correct. Zig Ziglar is a almost legendary salesman and motivational speaker. He has left a lot of positive legacy when he died in 2012 after decades in the field.

I have a lot of respect for Zig Ziglar, which is why I need to point out that this is a total mangling of the original Zig Ziglar quote, and is taken out of context.

In other words, Zig Ziglar NEVER meant for this quote to be used in deflection of criticism. And to understand this, you need to read the ENTIRE quote by Zig Ziglar, which will prove it was taken out of context.

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MLM Basics: Six Factors to Consider When Evaluating an Income Opportunity

There are always new income opportunities launched daily. Many of them are downright... WTF? How can any one put money into something like that? While others do look pretty legitimate.

However, it seems nobody bothered to compile a list of things you should know BEFORE you even consider an income opportunity, i.e. basic financial competence... or even basic critical thinking competence.

So here a list of six factors for you think about before you even go to any seminars or such:


One or two examples are noise, not proof

Everybody puts their best face forward, but the emphasis is always on being the "authentic self". If you are poor, you won't come across as a millionaire for long. Same thing with income opportunities. The talkers will usually parade their top earners, but how many of them are there, and do they have an income disclosure statement? How many people actually made decent amount of money?

Most MLMs participants (90% or more) make minimal money. Average sales (not profit) as per DSA for 2014 is about $2000 per year per participant. If a few people made six or seven figures, then the vast majority made practically nothing. And since you're starting, you'll make practically nothing for a few years. Is it worth the time to "try it out" for a few years? Can you afford to?


There are no "secrets" nowadays

In the age of Internet there are no 'secret' ways to make money. ANYTHING can be researched. Something you have no data on, you can Google. If even Google can't find much on it, you either have a language barrier (the "opportunity" started as something in a different country, like China), or it's so new there is nothing on it (who? what? WTF?). NEITHER of which you should touch, no matter how much it had been talked up.

Most likely, the opportunity involves selling something you don't understand, but think you do... Amber, Bitcoin, other cryptocurrency, and so on. As you have no information to judge, you will tend to rely on the PR copy, and that's when you run into problems, as PR copies do not have to be the truth or the whole truth.