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Episode 456: Multilevel Marketing Madness (Patreon)

Published:
2025-05-05 12:08:22
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Bridget Read joins us to discuss her new book Little Bosses Everywhere. We talk through the post-2020 explosion of MLMs, the specifically American history of pyramid schemes, guru charisma, dark accounting magick, and more.

Discover more episodes at podcast.trueanon.com.

Call the tip line: (646) 801-1129

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Comments

Noah

The only thing that has “multiple levels” is my love for Brace and Liz… Young Chomsky too

sono

in jan 2020 there was an epidemic at my high school of seniors recruiting underclassmen for Monat hair/skincare lmfao

Solferino

I’ve been thinking about you every second of every day for many years. Two members of your amazing family have boosted me in one week. Message received. We are going to change the f’ing world.

Natalie

I can't wait for brace and elon to meet

DoctorShields

Been waiting on some accounting-as-dark-magick talk

BRO$e

Can’t wait for brace and maye to meet

Doug Cartel

I think there's a straight line from the colonial project to modern fraud but my only two reference points for this are money laundering (dutch colonists forge wampum beads to inflate their value and make them useless as a currency) and land theft (colonists across the centuries convincing illiterate tribal chieftains to sign a 'treaty of friendship' which were actually territory cessions)

Ava

it’s true i have a puritan ancestor named Experience Powers

Neil McKay

My wife wants to come on your show she has an expertise of knowledge

Joey

Brace has a crush😍

mist

Can't wait for Maye to see Brace's meat

Anna

I used to work for an Amway contractor, as of 2024 you could still join as an ABO/IBO in India

Red

Yeah this episode was a waste o'time. Its cool I know more of the history of MLM's but I sorta can't believe you guys haven't heard of how these guys actually do business today.

Clean Shirt Piggie

Pee Wee’s Playhouse made fun of MLM with its recurring door to door salesman character. Such a great show

John Lemieux

I purchased TrueAnon’s small business P2P SAAS starter kit for only 5 easy payments of $199 and now I make $15k a month and have 25 people working directly below me. This business is scalable and a growth industry in a sea of uncertainty. The only way to lose money is to not buy in!

John Lemieux

Use my promo code “wouldyouhideme” to get 10% off your first order!

MEAT CLOWN

I'm excited to listen to this one 💦💦💦💦💦

Mango Bolsonaro

How about clutch Buddy Hield ballin’ out on the Rockets🇧🇸

Grayson Mick

Best episode in a while. Nice work yall.

Joelio

Lost my job, wife walked out, dog pooped on the carpet, portfolio red as hell, dick don’t work, kids can’t read - but I got my imaginary friendship with Brace so I’ll be ok.

Tom Servo

My new brain is EXPLOSIVE!

Anneliese

Wait I’m actually in the market for some Tupperware right now where are the MLM ladies when you need them

j

Mason St Darkness pinged me to talk about liberal Hitler again like three days after I stopped talking to the bot.

Jared Bauer

the comments on fabuloso just alienated the Latino subscribers

Colin S

LOL the UCB drop. Lotta astronauts selling MLM in my neighborhood these days.

Egg B

Hey girl!

Lesbian Event Horizon

My dad has told me that his grandparents were very successful Tupperware salespeople in the 50's. Apparently this was their full time job and they had a warehouse space. They actually did get a free new car lease every year for like 20 years. A new thunderbird apparently. I can't imagine any of this is possible now.

Howl in the Wilderness

Do you talk about self help/therapy/coaching MLMs? They’re the best.

Rodigan

Trying to get a scoop on bill belichick's gf. Their fam has been fishing in P-Town for 20 years and a friend's in-laws are P-Town fishing royalty and know dirt on everyone.

MG

I often think about how America is just a long line of scam artists going back to (at the very least) the mid-1800s with the snake oil salesmen and tent revival movements.

Zoe

Lot of "tradwife" types are super into e-MLMs, selling like, how to monetize their IG feed and then also sell courses on how to monetize their IG, etc. I ran in fundamentalist circles in the early 2000s and they all sold weird hair clips for their extra long hair. Its so bizarre how much the the field field feels like it has changed but ultimately just remains the same.

Zoe

They also sell Plexus (i think it's called); tradwives fucking love Plexus.

Zoe

I think Target sells Tupperware now

henry3000

I’m so happy there’s someone compiling all these thoughts I’ve had, my stepmom was in an MLM scheme and had a Mercedes for a few years

regular bird

If you dox just 5 babies and then get those babies to each dox 5 babies...

Eric Neilson

Google "Holton Buggs" to see one of the big wheels of the MLM world.

BruiseBlu

Liz being a raging antisemite I can ignore, but being racist to hispanics is where I draw the line. Fabuloso is the best and I need her to retract her statements by the end of Cinco de Mayo

Natalie

Late 80s marking the end of the alfalfa craze checks out bc a few years ago I found an ancient jar of alfalfa seeds at the back of my mum’s kitchen cupboard that had expired in 1993

Quinn

I’m a Big-Vitamin pig boy. Love my vitamins. Mmmm yum fish oil.

Rooti Tooti Giuliani

Brace and I have very similar instagram feeds….except I also get a lot of Mr. Biao and that little girl who steals those spicy snacks from that general store in rural china

T Sur

I would love this! I'm a big fan of hers

T Sur

Where do MLM's end and the American economy begin?

HackerBoiTellEm

I can't wait for Brace, Elon, and Maye to meat.

HackerBoiTellEm

Fantastic episode. I fucking hate it here. 🥰

Blaine

I’ll never forget when a former friend of mine tried to tell me about how great Amway is as a company. When I told him that it was an MLM scam, he said that there’s no way that the friend who poached him would have fallen for scam, because he is “really smart” and went to Harvard…

boki

Check out Global Information Network.

Egg B

(Fellow Masshole) this girl is the most Bridgewater State person out there. Her IG is crazy to me because she talks about her family like no one’s ever met a lobsterman. This is what happens when we all go astray, we are not a football people.

Richard Cochnar

Someone please do a katamari damacy super cut

Return of The Mac 2nite

Like how we’re supposed to take for granted that NYT is reporting without bias on Chinese business and policy 🤡

MCL

My family went through water filters, screen doors, Cutco, AVON, Mary Kay, Tupperware and EST/Lifespring. If they hadn’t been Catholics they would’ve loved Scientology

Return of The Mac 2nite

Your guest insists the Chinese government is effectively lying about the presence of MLM schemes and her citation is an NYT article. It’s laughable

.

Unless I misheard I think they’re talking about the comment that MLM’s are “technically” banned by the state but also allowed in China just called something else that apparently the NYT reported on. I don’t have a comment on this because I have no clue but i get their comment that the NYT shouldn’t be trusted on China. I did like how the CCP called these schemes a cult though lol.

GG Allin Dulles

I worked for an MLM-y sales company for like a week when I was 21 it was awesome, everyone who worked there there was either an axe bodyspray single diamond earring tinted out Nissan Altima driving Bluetooth earpiece guy, a dead eyed housewife on 50s amounts of benzodiazepines, or gil from the simpsons

Alexandria

As does Amazon/every retailer basically

Alexandria

If you've ever had the unfortunate fate of living in the American Midwest you can just skip this episode. Are MLM recruits up or something right now? Are more being created? This EP was just like, MLMs exist? And? I kinda thought they were trending out since we all know they are pyramid schemes now

Alex Kozak

Thanks now I’m getting weird legging ads

Rooti Tooti Giuliani

Going back to when the Dutch scammed the Indians out of Manhattan

Nite Life Jesse

The only mlm I subscribe to is BA thought

Anderson .Paakistan

The supplement industry is a scam but vitamins are definitely real and the American diet is not conducive for healthy/balanced nutrition

B R

Years ago I was at a coffee shop and I overheard this guy giving a younger woman an AGGRESSIVE sales pitch but I couldnt figure out what he was selling. I thought maybe he was recruiting for a cult but eventually figured out he was with amway. scary guy!

F

Where is the clip of the couple who were saved from a life of hash smoking and bathtub dishwashing from

Wilian Moreira

I am going to defend Brace on this one: if you are a 35+ cishet male and you flag EVERY SINGLE POST in your IG's Explore page, it defaults into pornography, violence and degeneracy. You need weeks of watching dog videos for the violence and pornography to DIMINISH, because it never goes away completely.

Rowan Byers

Social security - either public or (in theory) privatized. And the whole stock market lol

Rowan Byers

I don’t care what people think - even if by placebo effect I’m thankful for the benefits I set from my sups

Rowan Byers

Those sprouts are so tasty on a sandwich

Anderson .Paakistan

An even bigger scam from the Devos family is the Orlando Magic

Nothingburger Burgerreich

Dude there’s a city of gold dude trust me ur basically a serf here anyways dude

T. S.

TRUEANON ENAMEL PINS TRUEANON ENAMEL PINS TRUEANON ENAMEL PINS TRUEANON ENAMEL PINS

Quinn Johnson

You guys need to have Michael Judge back on

Clammy_Damp

Lol I self harmed with a cutco knife in like 2005

OG Cracker Barrel

You can’t name them all, but in WVA, Doterra and Dixie Paint rule the roost. Also, we need to make ‘folk crime’ an actual genre

zo

Oh good you’re here. I’m watching lost and finally got to the part where jack says “you killed Naomi” that was in the intro to a series you did. Does anyone know what the series was and why they chose that

jay alan

So is he god or na?

VitorLuizC

I remember my mom trying to sell Avon and losing money we didn't have (it was in Brazil)

Brooke

Can we talk about the elementary/middle/high school scholastic and sports team to MLM pipeline? Bc I swear these sports teams have my friends children selling merch for them 😒

Angel Reed

Hey, Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and Other Lies Behind MLMs by Emily Lynn Paulson - not a bad read on this topic, if anyone is looking for additional media on the MLM experience.

Jon Spinillo

*all* of the Braces need to unionize. Rockabilly Brace, Baby Brace, Coindexter, Gourmand, ….

Zzz

The harms of consumerism runs deep into the psyche — can we really blame companies like Mary Kay when people have a choice not to participate?

JULIE

katamari!!!! liz please do a skin care episode please

Cardboard

Anyone remember "Wake Up Now" circa 2015?

gtate

liz does NOT play about katamari damacy

Mangomoosh

Brother love saying dog food three times summons some kind of demon.

the empty suit

Does anyone else remember AVON parties? My mom used to take me to those and I remember growing up and learning that was an MLM and being so grateful she never fell for the AVON cult.

eduard karpoev

On the end of the show, Brace really needs to go to some catechumen classes or something. December 2023 I was kinda agnostic, now every Sunday Christian. Will change your world

T.

My mom drove me to a cutco interview when I was 17, it was a 3 hour group interview with a bunch of adults and they made me turn off my phone because it was unprofessional to be vibrating. Guy running the show was maybe 25 and had crazy dead eyes. my mom thought I was being kidnapped but then she got so mad I wasn’t answering the phone that she left and I had to walk home. They called an hour later and offered me the job and I turned it down. Was cool to see them cut a penny in half with a knife!

Simon

Good episode. Reminded me a lot of Masters of Atlantis by Charles Portis in spirit.

Matt Jolo

Nobody listens when I tell them they're going to regret buying $10,000 worth of jeggins from LuLaRoe. Is because I'm not Mormon?

JZA

What’s the audio clip around 1:07?

Zhou Biden

Such are the mysteries of the trinity

CJ

Spirulina is good tho 💚 but cut out the MLMs and middlemen and skim it straight from the pond

agentmule

Why did the walrus go to the Tupperware Party? It knew it'd find a tight seal there.

mrakobesiye

Dah nanananananana na na na na na na naaaahhh

Ellis Roper

Good thing I finished the episode before commenting…

christian

do what you gotta do

Colin English

I will not stand for the fabuloso slander all of my friends moms who clean houses for a living can’t be wrong

Brent

If pay to start, it’s 👏 not 👏 a 👏 real 👏 job 👏

Mbrosch11

Exact same story. Except my dad sat in the parking lot the whole time and was so pissed that the “interview” ended up being 4 hours long.

Steve Meyer

The most famous MlM is southern Christianity

Mountain Dew Or Crab Juice

I love googling the company I'm being recruited by and finding out they're "Technically Legal".

kenzel

The second wave of the KKK was also a multilevel marketing thing. But they had yet to innovate trapping people in debt-service.

Turlough Kelly

Interesting to hear about the crossovers with cults etc, because where I'm from, the deep recessions of the 80s/90s did spawn a bunch of acts of desperation like MLMs, but people mostly got really into mediums and psychics and faith healing and alternative religions (as well as heroin, of course).

LPO Crane Jefferson

404Media did a story on the down syndrome AI influencer filters

Mikey

Yes

TrueAnonPod

I am so far ahead of them and everyone else on it. Believe me

Vincent

I got hired by a company that turned out to be an MLM out of college. I quit before the week was out but it was a really surreal experience. The first week of training was all indoctrination about how your life was about to turn around and not to listen to anyone who might tell you anywise. Everyone made a point to ask you how your parents felt about this. They'd talk about how everyone at a desk job was a loser (which they did kinda turn out to be right about). I was going to stay because they had an hourly wage option instead of commissions and I needed the cash and I thought it would buy time to keep searching but when you said you wanted to do that they would argue with you about how dumb that was until you gave in. Eventually the guy I was shadowing dropped the name of the umbrella company Cydcor (it was a franchise model where every branch was it's own business), so I looked it up read about the business model and quit the next day. There was this single dad there who had seemed really skeptical, so I messaged him the info so he would know and asked him to give it to the other people in our training class and he seemed to think there was nothing wrong with it

_orange_lazarus

I signed up for one out of these in college out of complete pity for my cousin who was very deep into them. After I convinced some friends to let him make his pitch at their apt, which they never forgave me for, he gave me a ride back to my dorm and I saw he had the bullet points of his sales pitch printed out and taped to his steering wheel. That was so pathetic to me I never really talked to him again.

Nathan Kruse

beautiful to have a MLM episode released on Marx’s birthday 🫶

MirrorOooMirror

Wait, so we’re not marxist leninist maoists? Does this mean I have to return my guapi mao?

will michel

this episode validated a lot of my fear and paranoia about influencers

Matelda

The grocery store pill that says "vitamin D" does manage my clinical vitamin D deficiency. So at least some of the time, they put real vitamins in the bottle. But i do think Big Vitamin is a scam because it's all just the same shit they've been spraying on cornflakes since the 1960s.

Matelda

I had a "job interview" in college that turned out to be an MLM pitch. They told me i passed the interview because i was so impressive at sitting politely but i never went back because i couldn't think of anyone except my aunts to ask to buy knives, and i figured I was too introverted to become a door-to-door knife salesman.

Alexandria

Not going "undercover" in Tevas!! Girl they were not fooled lol

csalyer .

I can't tell if you wrote an "I" or lower case "l", but seeing MIM gave me flashbacks to reading about Made in Mexico Fender guitars on the ultimate-guitar forums back in the good ol days

Alexandria

Big Vitamin is a scam but vitamins are very real

Alexandria

Sorry but you're MARKS

Jennifer Hammerhead

I inherited a Mary Kay car. I was nearly assaulted multiple times just for driving it. And once for being in a cross wall.

Pigeon

Roko’s Jesus is gonna torture you for eternity if you don’t spread his faith

Pigeon

This fooled early logic fetishist Blaise Pascal

Pigeon

I remember them getting praise for letting boys join while the Boy Scouts were being homophobic. Their inclusiveness wasn’t out of any moral or political enlightenment, the Girl Scouts just saw a chance to recruit more child laborers

jethiexoxo

Love this queen. I want her book!

wailing ken jennings

Liz.Frinczhscak. Fabuloso conjures memories of entering bodegas for 8AM beers or covering [tree emote] smell from our parents. do not dismiss this fragrance merely because of its petina of bleach and lavender. there are memories locked inside the heavily regulated chemicals somehow not melting through that bottle. good.day!

Amanda Bernal

The way I was ready to wholesale so much true anon merch for my bookstore 💀yewmilliatin

Lingeyy

I genuinely thought the audio of the MLM couple’s success story was a clip from Strangers with Candy

Corey

We love when Liz makes katamari damacy analogies don't we folks

Evan

Brace: The SS 👺

MCL

Rubes

Riaz Abdulla

One hour in and I finally understand the audience that bought into Trump’s argument about tariffs

Mood Slut

Sigh. You guys get me through the lightest of days, the darkest of days

Mood Slut

There’s one in my neighborhood, it’s been well maintained and really a sight to see. Luckily I think most people where I am in Canada don’t know its provenance

CJ

Brilliant guest, great ep!

Budget Hireling

Oh I guess this is an anti-Latino podcast then with this fabuloso slander.

Manic Exposure

Oh man the UCB clip! Very nice. People of culture!

Ella Guru

By now I have listened to this four times!

Alexandria

There are scents other than lavender! Blue! Yellow! Pink! Don't sleep on Fab folks

Ethan Schulz

The thought killing is the point!!!

Anon Ibid

Purple fabuloso is the best

Flesh Colored Subaru

The Thunderball episode basically crystallized my sense of humor when I was 15

mira

Has TA done an EST/Landmark/Lifespringwhatever ep yet? I desperately want more backstory since a couple years ago multiple unrelated people in my life were telling me about how landmark changed their lives and I got in on one of the info sessions. Weird stuff

Alejandro

Liz, on behalf on the latinX community. We demand an apology for bad mouthing fabuloso

Alden Crago

Does anyone have the link to the full video with the lady talking abt the dishwasher

Killer Dan

My grandmother sold Mary Kay for years - my mother fell into it for a few years-I walked out of a cutco pitch seminar (maybe 10 people) it’s weird how women were made to go into the workforce around the time when only 1 income per household would not suffice - then credit - now how can we exploit our children on the internet?

ET

Vitamins are expensive pee. All love

ftard

I knew a guy who used to boil his fabuloso to incense his home

Chapo Bath House

Coenzyme Q10 +B2 and magnesium worked better for me than migraine drugs But also a lot of it's fake lol

dongfeng bong᷍gringø

i thought every episode of this show was teaching us podcast-to-person sass

Cee Eff

Yer da sells Avon

TrueAnonPod

Upright Citizens Brigade Season 1 Episode 4 (1998)

Raz

And we do

MCL

I feel like it must connect to synanon somehow. Lifespring hit my family in the mid 90s, it seemed real estate adjacent

Ian :3

BB thot for me 🕵️‍♂️

C.M. Worthington

Oooh. Yes. Agreed. Law & Order: Affinity Fraud Unit or FCIS: West Virginia. Either way, we need to find our Maoist Dick Wolf ASAP.

big man

Great episode tevas are genocide shoes tho

Goldie

Simon and Schuster Brace: SS!!! 🤣

fioe06 t

To drink? Yes, but I prefer pinesol for cleaning

Gallo Altanero

Learned a lot speaking with Yezidi people. Turns out the PKK and YPG/J are the good guys. “Both my parents were killed by ISIS.” And learning this. Which I knew but only the Peshmerga came to aid. Not Barzani. Not the Iraqi military not the Americans. Anyone with work in NY/Brooklyn. She just wants to be a barista or in a restaurant.

Gallo Altanero

I don’t know shit about Brooklyn and as Brace should know ISIS kicked our ass

Aaaaaaaaaaaron1

It's very gentle how Liz knows about Katamari Damacy and no other video game

Special Adeline

It's the best game, why play more when it's all downhill from there

Pearl

loved this ep

Natalie

Really enjoyed this guest! The way she explains the process of recruiting and purchase volume etc makes me feel like I actually understand what's going on, which is rare for me lol. I had a childhood friend whose mom had an entire Mary Kay room filled with products and I didn't get it at all besides thinking that meant they were rich lol

Shaggy

Legit expert on the pod and missed the opportunity to settle the argument about which level of the pyramid is the top...

Clay

What's wrong with the name Clay

pq

holy shit this comment made me so angry wtf were they thinking

pq

shout out to the other cushvlog heads thinking about how protestantism is the perfect vehicle for MLM

Khemith

I was a part of a MLM: selling chocolate for school field trips. I never made any money as I always ate my supply (violating a crack commandment)

Khemith

The Protestant separation of the sacred and the divine allowed for a free for all in the earthly realm.

Alexandria

Yeah I hope no one takes the "vitamins are fake!!" line to heart

Sam de Waele

She tap on my inner button till I feel greatness

Sam de Waele

This is a male loving male, marxist Leninist Maoist, multi level marketing podcast.

Sam de Waele

Real talk: One of my best friends at university fell so far down the gym-bro supplement/fitspo mlm that infects young people. Idk if it’s exclusively an Australian thing, but there’s a very specific type of guy here who sells fitness plans and various powders, elixirs and potions to gym goers on Facebook. He was on track to graduate as a teacher and last i saw he now sells protein powders and supplements while trying to get people on Facebook to buy his courses and fitness plans

Wagner Koop

I worked inside Amway for three weeks in 2019 in the creative department, I was really poorly managed and was not given enough to do so they fumbled (their loss but I’m glad they fired me lol), but I sometimes I like to think about the weird guy there who had impact font memes pinned in his cubicle and one of them was Grumpy Cat with text that was like “WHEN PEOPLE TELL YOU AMWAY IS A PYRAMID SCHEME”

Unelectable Airwaves

Dang, now I want a deep dive into the B2B SAS of the holy trinity.

Christopher Price

it's funny to learn that MLMs started in Long Beach, because in the tv show Lodge 49 (which is set there) there's a subplot involving MLMs. Really, one of the themes of the show is that the post-war boom was a scam that has been passed down from one generation to the next, and our nostalgia for the era is missing out being the guys on top, while we're stuck with a pink caddy's worth of useless merch and no one to sell to.

Selecao9

My mom got sucked into this stuff many years ago and I have the same amount of rage for these parasites as the guy who uhh let’s say unelected Shinzo Abe had for the psycho evangelical cult that his family had been scammed by

Callum

Oh Liz, the trinity isn’t in “the book”

Alexandria

2019 is too recent I fear

Wagner Koop

Look, it was through a hiring agency so I didn’t know who the client was basically until the interview and I needed work really bad lol

Sam de Waele

It’s closer to prowteen powdah, thank you very much

Michael S. Judge

I can do an episode explaining the triune god sometime

whalecum2020_official

I WILL NOT HAVE FABULOSO SLANDER That is racist against Hispanics

Hollz

Amazing episode!!!!! Would love to hear more hot goss abt the times and tribulations of the DeVos and Van Andel families….lived in Grand Rapids for a decade, everyone can’t stand them NOR AMWAY. But there names are on so much of what that city has. Very very incredible guest and topic.

Alexandria

This would have been more interesting

Alexandria

No shame in the game. Getcho bag!!

Gabrielle Williams

Avon was still huge in my town in rural eastern Canada through the 2000s. There’s still catalogues and the remaining local Avon lady’s number posted up in our grocery store. The seasonal tourism economy leaves most people under or unemployed for most of the year and Avon, Mary Kay etc. were the most accessible way to possibly make some cash for women. Also one of the only ways to get “nice” makeup and skincare without travelling 2+ hours. I think most people knew it was scammy but did it anyway in the hopes they would at least break even or make a few bucks. My cousins who sold it never invested more than the minimum they had to in product and seemed to offload it via the many women in our extended family pretty easily. My Christmas stocking was always full of Avon products lol. Interesting episode!

Trazdat

Holy Ghost is Yahweh’s wife, Asherah, just stripped of her explicit femininity by centuries of patriarchy.

Sarah S

Get the book if you haven’t. It is fantastic!! And so fucking relevant to right now

DarylBarenziah

In Marc reisners Cadillac desert he talks about how some of the earliest pyramid schemes was fake land deeds with the bureau of reclamation.

griffin

Where is the book link? Am i dumb?

griffin

Holy shit i am dumb

Timothy

"We were doing our dishes in the bathtub and I weighed 500 lbs" ... This must be from a movie, right??

Scott S.

Shout out to College Works painting company.

sage j.

SNL, no?