What's the Deal with Kimberly? Part 2
Why MLMs are the ultimate Kimberly factory, and some examples of my own BS.
If you haven’t already, make sure to go back and read part 1:
Take me to your leader
All cults need a dynamic, charismatic leader, and MLMs are no different. Charles Mansion, Jim Jones, and Keith Rainerie didn’t get a following because they said, ‘Hey, how about we kill and/or abuse people!’ They coerced in many tiny ways to make their followers believe in them and their cause. Doesn’t matter if the cause is religious or selling eye cream. When you’re surrounded by people who amplify and endorse what you do, you’re never held accountable for your harm, and you make a fuck ton of money, you feel pretty amazing about yourself.
How many examples do we have of regular ass people who somehow rose to fame and had a huge following, and then terrible shit came out about them? Rachel and the late Dave Hollis? Tony Robbins? Andrew Huberman? Jay Shetty? And no matter how large their “cancellations” were, they still have a big enough contingent of people who will follow them no matter what. (If you ask yourself, ‘who?’ then, see, it worked.)
If you want more content about how people get coerced into cults, listen to two of my fave podcasts, A Little Bit Culty by Sarah Edmondson and Nippy Ames and Sounds Like a Cult by
I’m not saying that everyone who is rich or everyone who has a following lets the fame get to their head, nor does everyone who becomes a cult leader become wealthy; I’m just saying that in closed environments like MLMs, it makes the brainwashing coercion that much easier.
No means NO not right now
One of the most important hallmarks in Kimberly’s training is that you’re taught never to take no for an answer. No, really. Every NO is one step closer to a yes. I’m here to tell you that line of thinking does something very fucked up to your brain over time. You become so numb to people shutting you down that you don’t hear it, all while copying, pasting, negotiating, and convincing to control the conversation.
I’ll show you one example. A former RF rep asked me if I would join her new MLM almost five years ago. I hadn’t yet written my book, but was still with R+F, hoping to leave. I told her NO thanks, I’d never do another MLM as long as I lived and wished her luck. She proceeded to… well…. look: