Business Systems / Network Marketing

As a philosopher I naturally dislike vagueness. Vague terms, vague concepts, and vague ideas all basically annoy my philosophical mindset. This was increasingly apparent to me this morning as I had a business discussion with a former student and her husband about getting involved in a passive income "business system." While I am 100% sold on the idea of passive income (of which investing is but one variety), I am admittedly rather skeptical of most non-traditional business schemes.

The basic idea behind the "business system" in question was a combination of affiliate marketing and direct marketing, attempting to capture the money from retail sales that traditionally goes towards distribution by streamlining or eliminating elements of the product distribution process. In theory, this is a brilliant idea and has been used by such successful strategies as Amway and other network marketing schemes.

So already familiar with the concepts involved, I patiently sat through a twenty minute presentation designed to sell one on the concepts involved in this "business system" (notice my persistent scare quotes). What were lacking were any form of specifics about this novel business system, which of course can be learned by attending a free seminar on the business system itself.

While as a teacher I appreciate the need to get across the big idea before specifics, when I asked for the quick and dirty version of what the "business system" was all about, I was consistently referred to the free seminar as a place where my specific questions could be better addressed. This brings up an interesting feature of all such business systems and network marketing systems: they have a distinctly cult-like nature due to the tendency towards secrecy rather than full disclosure about what one is getting involved in. While this strategy may be useful in convincing someone who is completely unfamiliar with all things economic, for anyone with above average economic intelligence this brushing aside of one's questions will only serve to dissuade one from wanting to get further involved in such a "business system" (which after 45 minutes on the phone I still only have a vague definition of; see above for how much I enjoy vagueness).

So will I attend the free, no-obligation seminar? Probably. I have never been one to turn away from a genuinely good business idea, although I was somewhat annoyed by the aforementioned vagueness and brushing aside of my most basic questions about what this "business system" is all about. Plus, I just bought a brand new, shiny GPS navigation system, and this will give me a chance to go for a drive and play with my new GPS toy. So I will probably go to the free seminar to learn about this "business system," but as a true philosopher I will attend with a healthy dose of skepticism.

For the newbies out there, long-term investing through a diversified portfolio of ETFs or mutual funds is a far better way to ensure one's future financial success. I would put money on the fact that the majority of people participating do not even have something as basic as a Roth IRA or a 401(k) (the bare minimum) set up for themselves. Do not forget the basics, folks. All the cleverest business schemes and systems amount to nil if you do not have sound personal finance habits in place.