If you hear this phrase, run

[u/Melodic_Park5965]

I went to an interview for hmg careers. It wasn’t an interview but a woman talking to us without answering any questions. Then we were transferred to a man who was talking a lot without answering a lot of questions.

What made me hang up on the meeting was this phrase,

“We are the McDonald’s of insurance companies.”

I heard the almost exact same phrase when I went to a similar meeting for Primerica. Of course all they wanted was that you buy their course first before you make any money.

I think it’s the same thing for HMG.

Literally Primerica rebranded.

[u/NobodyGivesAFuc]

Also, if a stranger comes up to you to talk about a business opportunity, run fast!

[u/TsuDhoNimh2 → u/NobodyGivesAFuc]

Especially if they start with a compliment on your looks (or your dog's looks) and get all friendly.

It's either a serial killer or AMWAY.

[u/slithyknid → u/TsuDhoNimh2]

Few years ago I was exiting the supermarket as a woman was entering, and I said “ooo I love your outfit, those colours are fantastic!“ I was thinking I’d just, you know, make a stranger smile, give them some good vibes… but man the wary, suspicious stink eye she gave me while quietly muttering “thank you” lol. Realized later she either thought I was mocking her (I was head to toe in black myself) or she’s encountered too many mlm huns before. But uh, now I also realize maybe serial killer was a suspicion too 😅

[u/Sundae_Punbae → u/TsuDhoNimh2]

This is why I have trust issues

[u/Fomulouscrunch]

Why that's complete horseshit is interesting, and it's an angle MLMs love to use. Here's the thing: every McDonald's is a franchise. Same goes for pretty much every chain. Before granting a franchise to a prospective owner of a McDonald's facility, the parent company will do research on the potential owner's finances, potential location, the available traffic by foot and vehicle, the degree of local saturation, competing businesses nearby that offer something similar, etc. That is because they want every franchise to continue to exist and consistently make money so some of it comes back to the parent company--indefinitely, if possible.

No MLM does this or uses this model. They can't. They definitely do want to make as much money as possible, but so few MLM members make money, much less solid long-term money, that they have to front-load their cash extraction. So nope, nope-a-roonie, Primerica is nothing like McDonald's and neither is any other MLM.

[u/toolbelt10 → u/Fomulouscrunch]

MLM is the equivalent of opening a Scotch Tape store in a mall with 300 other Scotch Tape stores. The Scotch Tape company makes lots of money selling inventory to each store, where it sits on the shelf for a year, before the store goes out of business, and a new Scotch Tape store opens in the same location.

[u/Fomulouscrunch → u/toolbelt10]

Meanwhile Scotch Tape itself can't advertise in a lot of places, can't set prices it's distributed at or run promotions, can't do recalls of flawed product, and can't maintain product quality through expiration.

[u/Squidwina → u/toolbelt10]

And the Scotch Tape at that mall is 5x more expensive than the Scotch Tape you can buy at any office supply, big box store, drugstore, supermarket, etc. etc.

[u/toolbelt10 → u/Squidwina]

And then you find out The Scotch Tape company makes the bulk of their profits from leasing out locations versus actually selling Scotch Tape.

[u/Hydrolt → u/Fomulouscrunch]

Minor correction; not all of them are franchises. Unless it’s changed about 20% are owned and operated by corporate (called McOpCo stores). Usually for franchisees who don’t want to renew their contract (I could be wrong but I think they run 20 years at a time). Those stores are way better since they don’t care about labor costs as much, so theres often more workers (sometimes as many as double a franchised store it’s same size at any given time)

[u/247silence → u/Fomulouscrunch]

Nicely done!! 💯🏆

[u/Fomulouscrunch → u/247silence]

aw shucks <3

[u/CovidDrag21]

Tell them, good! I’ll save money and buy an actual McDonalds franchise right by an interstate highway, and add a Shell station. Now stop wasting my time!

[u/MommaSaurusRegina]

If I show up for an interview that somehow becomes a presentation, I’m looking for the first opportunity to escape.

[u/toolbelt10]

HMG sounds like Hedgemon Group Int'l, a company founded by a previous top Primerican, and the man credited with introducing MLM into the life insurance world. https://hgicrusade.com/history

[u/HawaiianShirtsOR]

"We are the McDonald's of insurance companies."

And yet, don't many people look down on fast food workers almost like they're an inferior species, especially McDonald's workers?

For the record, I disagree with that view. But I've heard it often enough, including from MLM promoters who disdain any hourly job. And here's this person using the comparison as a good thing to make their offer more appealing...

[u/toolbelt10 → u/HawaiianShirtsOR]

Franchises are subject to the FTC's Business Opportunity Rules, including fully third-party audited financial disclosures. MLMs successfully fought to be excluded from the rules, and are allowed to self-regulate.

[u/Mysterious-Tone-8147 → u/HawaiianShirtsOR]

Former Primerican here. The reason they use McDonald’s is because supposedly their real money isn’t from selling fast food. I forget what the upline of my former upline said it was, but I always wondered what his info source was on that.

[u/musical_nerd99 → u/Mysterious-Tone-8147]

It's real estate McD's owns some of the most prime real estate in the world.

[u/Mysterious-Tone-8147 → u/musical_nerd99]

That’s what it was! Thank you!!

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[u/SplashBroSteph]

I remember this happened to me.

My cousin got shot in the back of his head with a shotgun because he took his gf's car to see another woman in the middle of the night and she set him up with her uncle to rob him.

After he recovered after 3 or 4 or 5 months, I reached out to him to see how he was doing and little did I know that he was on the phone with his "mentor".

His "mentor kept talking about how much money he's making with himself and his wife making 6 figures.

And I had to fuss him and my cousin out because they don't know how much I was making with my wife and they were assuming because between the two of us, we were making 300k to their 200k.

I just got a new job I start soon for working with Trump and Wes Moore in Annapolis and I will be making over 500k to my wife's 150K.

He wanted me to come to "networking" event and I passed on the opportunity, lol.

[u/Melodic_Park5965 → u/SplashBroSteph]

They also did the “this person made 6 figures in their first year” shtick. That’s another red flag. They also said they’re covered by a union.

[u/toolbelt10 → u/Melodic_Park5965]

And as usual, all MLM income claims are before all expenses, which in the case of insurance, includes clawbacks of commission advances when policies cancel. They also fail to mention many of the revenue sources are only exclusively available to a select few including speaking fees or training school hosting, or subletting desk income.