"Some of your friends are already this fucked," said Steve Albini.

Within a two week period I’ve had two friends approach me about attending a seminar…one to join Ignite Energy and one to join LTDTeam.com. Being that I’m incredibly skeptical of anything and everything, especially anything that promises financial rewards, I Googled both companies because something just seemed fishy.

A couple of Google clicks on “LTDTeam.com” combined with the word “scam” immediately brought up this Yahoo answer. Likewise, one click of “Ignite” and “scam” brought up a ton of hits.

At first I felt a little insulted that these friends would try to suck me into their collective mess(es), but then I remembered that these “multi level marketing” businesses often insist that the participants try to get their friends and family involved before anyone else.

I feel sorry that someone wasn’t able to warn these two friends of mine. They are both women, but one has a rich husband and the other does not…meaning, the results are going to be much more disastrous for one of my friends.

If a mult-level marketing company tells you how much you will earn by recruiting rather than by selling, then it is moving closer to a pyramid scheme. People often get hooked in because they see all these possible profits from recruiting others: friends, families, acquaintances, the guy pumping gasoline on the other side of the pump. Unless you get in at the beginning, your earnings will come from recruiting other people.

Unless you love sales and are willing to sell to everyone – from your neighborhood letter carrier to the woman ringing people up at Luby’s Cafeteria – avoid multi-level marketing schemes.