Calling all #BossBabes and #SHEeos, are you ready to #rise to the challenge and become your own boss? Do you want time to make money while staying at home taking care of your kids (and husband, #lolz)? Well, join my team with LuLaRoe! Wait no, Arbonne! Ah, shoot, no, I meant LuminUS! A life-changing opportunity that’s only available for a select few more girls on my team awaits! #itsnotapyramidscheme

Death in the Downline gives us a humorous look into the dangers of “direct selling” (because pyramid schemes are illegal, duh!) and the manipulative cult tactics they use to entrap women into their schemes. I really enjoyed this book, especially how - while it definitely went into how those entrenched in this #hustle culture change as people, it never demonizes the women trapped in the cult and who are too ashamed to see a way out. 

While taking some extremes about the measures some of the women stuck in MLM cults do to keep their downlines and their wealth, at many points the things in this book echoed what anyone who has escaped these cults have talked about. LuminUS is a fake MLM company - but the things it is doing reflects very real companies that have ruined countless lives. The founder, pushing for women to serve their husbands while also looking a certain way - to the point of potentially dangerous plastic surgery? Look no further than LuLaRoe! A MLM company that gives out flashy cars and other “benefits” while never actually footing any of the danger in the cost? One that has too many products to keep track of, with shady ingredient labels and insistence on how “miracle” their stuff is? Arbonne comes to mind. Not to mention the countless other MLM’s that have come and gone, still tricking desperate women into shelling out money they don’t have with the promise of a better life.

Humorous, dramatic, and deadly all at once, Death in the Downline lets us explore these manipulative cult tactics from the safety of our homes - and allows us a glimpse into the fragile, house-of-cards lives many of these women have to live to try to survive being a #BossBabe. While criticizing those at the top of this pyramid, this book handles understanding that many of the women lower on the pyramid are victims themselves - even when they are still taking advantage of other women, as well. 

As I was reading, I was reminded of two sets of videos I’d watched münecat on YouTube deepdive onto both LuLaRoe (LuLaRoe: The Real Untold Story) and Arbonne (Arbonne is a Cult), two very informative videos that gave me a stronger understanding of MLM cult tactics and shady business practices, and if you have any interest in MLM content - and I feel like anyone who is reading this book does - I’d highly suggest checking them out. In many ways the things reflected in this fictional MLM are the very same things done by real companies taking advantage of desperate women, and the better we all understand how this is done, the better we can help our friends and our family escape the cult.