This episode has been one of the most requested since we began unpacking the world of multi-level marketing. Whether you’re ready to leave yourself or trying to help someone you care about, we’ve got you covered. We’re breaking down why MLMs are so hard to walk away from, how to protect your finances as you exit, and how to handle those tricky conversations with friends or loved ones still involved. If you’ve ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or unsure of what to do next, this episode is your guide to reclaiming your money, your freedom, and your relationships—starting today.
Acknowledgement of Country By Natarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements.
The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708, AFSL - 451289.
Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yor the Order Kerni Whaltbury and a waddery woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow. Let's get into it.
She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcas Whiles that helps you dodge the scams, skip the gimmicks, and focus.
On real ways to create your wealth.
I'm your host, Victoria Devine, and if you've been following along, you know that I have been on and will continue to be on a little bit of a crusade against multi level marketing schemes. Yep, those too good to be true quote unquote businesses that promise big bugs but usually end up only making your upline rich. And since I started calling out MLMs. A lot of you have been reaching out with questions about affiliate marketing. Is that the same thing? Is it legit or is it just another scheme dressed up in sleek Instagram stories and seven dollar courses? Well, my friends, here is the thing. Affiliate marketing is a real, totally legitimate way to earn money by promoting products from brands you love. But there are some bad eggs out there, especially on social media, that have made affiliate marketing feel, well.
A little bit sketchy.
Let's just say there's a side to affiliate market that isn't as shiny as the Instagram stories make it seem, and we'll get into that a little bit later.
Today we're going to be diving into.
What real affiliate marketing actually looks like, and then after the break, I'm going to reveal some red flags to watch for in those social media courses that don't always live up to the hype. If you're ready to sort the real from the red flags, lets my friends get into it all right, Let's get down to basics and start from the very start.
What is affiliate marketing really?
At its core, affiliate marketing is a way to earn commission by promoting products or services.
So think of it like this.
You're recommending a product to a friend, but instead of just giving them a heads up, you're getting a special link to track the sale, and if they buy it, you get a cut. It's a way for companies to reach more customers through people who genuinely like and use their products, and for the affiliate it's a pretty handy side huzzle. You've probably seen a lot of your favorite influences using platforms like lack to Know It or who What Where and their affiliate marketing platforms.
It can be a little.
Bit strange when you see your favorite influencers saying, oh my gosh, the skirt that I'm wearing is linked here, and you're kind of thinking, well, I wish you would just tell me the brand of the skirt. But the reality is, if you are wanting to click on that link because they've essentially influenced you to purchase the product or even just look at the product, I think they deserve a cut. After all, they have influenced you, and if you're purchasing a product because of them, I think they deserve a bit of the cut. They've done a lot of the marketing work right. So typically it works like this. You sign up for an affiliate program with a big platform or a big brand. There are big names like Amazon and Lulu, Lemon, and even airlines that offer these programs. So once you're in, what will happen is you'll get a unique code or a link that's tied to your personal account, and when someone clicks that link and makes a purchase, you get to earn a percentage of that sale. That percentage is going to vary greatly, but usually it's between like five and twenty percent, depending on the brand and the.
Type of product.
And the best part, you can get started without any upfront costs, So most legitimate affiliate programs don't require you to pay any money to join them. Instead, they're betting that you're going to have some genuine recommendations that will bring them business. So the only way for you to make money is if you do and vice versa, right, because if you're signing up to an affiliate platform and sharing products that nobody's interested in, nobody's going to be making money. Some of the most popular places for affiliates to share their links so obviously Instagram, stories, blogs, YouTube channels literally all over social media and even in email newsletters. The key here is that you're genuinely recommending a product or service that you think your audience is going to benefit from. You're not actually pushing a membership or a subscription to join the affiliate program itself, right, And at the end of the day, if they look at the product and don't purchase, nobody is in a worse off position. Also, there aren't quotas to be met and things that you need to do in order to participate. Brands aren't saying you have to share this link this many times this month, and if only one person purchases, you're not getting paid. You get paid every single time it converts. And that's why for big influences and people on social media, makes a lot of sense, but they also make a lot of money. But for smaller creators often affiliate links are only going to bring in a few dollars here and there. Sounds pretty straightforward, right.
That's because when.
It's done correctly, affiliate marketing is really straightforward, really ethical, and makes a lot of sense. You're helping people find really good products and you're getting a small thank you commission in return. In this space, I don't believe there's any shame in you collecting a commission for the marketing that you've done on behalf of that brand. But here's the thing, right, there's I would say, there's a bit of a dark side to affiliate marketing on social media that's catching a lot of you off guard.
It's why a lot of.
You are asking me, is a filing marketing VI a scam? It looks really shiny, but behind the flashy promises and influencer success stories, some of these so called like affiliate opportunities are hiding something really sketchy. After the break, we're going to dive into the red flags that you need to watch out for so you don't get pulled into a side hustle that's more of a scam than a success. So stick around because I don't think you're going to want to miss this. My friends, we are back, so let's start talking about the darker side of affiliate marketing. Because before the break, we determined that affiliate marketing just makes sense. Right, this darker side of affiliate marketing seems to be spreading all over social media. Now by now you should know the basics. Real affiliate marketing is very straightforward. It's focused on promoting actual products from reputable brands. It's typically free to join, and if you're recommending products that aren't of interest to anybody, you're not making any money. But there's this whole other side to the that's making waves on TikTok and Instagram and beyond. To be honest, I just live on TikTok and Instagram where certain quote affiliate programs are advertised as the fast track way to financial freedom, and you and I both know that that's going to give me the ick immediately. They say things like all you need is your phone, a laptop, Wi Fi and one to three hours a day. They say, but instead of teaching you to promote products, they're more interested in getting you to buy their course.
Right ick.
One example of this that keeps popping up in the news is Legendary Marketer. You can look them up later and it's a perfect case study on how these schemes work. Right So, according to a report from NBC News, Legendary Marketer starts with a hook that's pretty hard to resist. A super low cost entry like a seven dollars fifteen day challenge that advertises as your first step into a side hustle that could eventually make you millions of dollars. Right at first glance, it sounds like pretty low rech. I mean it's only seven bucks and like a total win, just seven dollars, and you get to learn the ropes of affiliate marketing, right I just taught you in the first half of this episode. But moving on, after a few days, things start to shift. Suddenly you're introduced to a new coach who's pitching their business blueprint package. Right, it's a hefty twenty five hundred bucks. They frame it as absolutely essential if you're in the business for making money, and they turn up the pressure to invest in yourself. It's so important. But here's the catch. When someone buys that twenty five hundred dollar package, the person who originally referred to them gets a big cut. It's usually around one thousand dollars. So when you see those influencer or TikTok personalities saying that they're making bank with affiliate marketing in New could too, and they're calling themselves digital marketers, all thanks to them taking a chance on a seven dollar course. It's not from promoting everyday products like U Lululemon tights that you love or address that you wore to the races, and you linked it so that other people could buy it because you looked really cute in it. Their income actually comes from recruiting others to buy these high ticket up cells. It's giving multi level marketing and what's taught to these new recruits as the way to make big money. Well, of course it's selling the course to get more people, who are then encouraged to recruit others themselves to rinse and repeat. So what are you hinter watch out for. Apparently everything in twenty twenty four. But how do you actually spot when a program is more about getting you to spend than actually setting you up for success because so many of you might actually go. But v investing twenty five hundred dollars in a coach makes a lot of sense for me. So here are some key affiliate marketing course red flags.
That I have highlighted.
All right, So the first one is a low cost bait to hook you in, so that initial really low priced, so like seven bucks. It's a classic baiting tactic. It's low enough to feel like really risk free. I mean seven dollars these days is basically an oat latte right, and they lower your guard. But the real intention is to get you in the door and then get you ready to be able to be upsold to.
And this low cost.
Entry kind of acts like a gateway because once you're inside, the real pitch begins with essential upgrades that cost hundreds and even thousands of dollars, and that is giving massive red flag energy. The next is the high pressure up cell midway through. So you've gotten in and you're doing this course and you're like, this is some money win. It's seven bucks, this is fantastic, and then the course it pivots suddenly a coach or a mentor ap who's basically out of nowhere, emphasizing that to truly succeed in this world and with what you're destined to do, you need to buy their business blueprint that costs thousands. This up cell is framed as the key to making a big like you can't make a big without this, adding pressure to invest far beyond that original seven dollar latte price. The next red flag is they focus on recruitment instead of real products. We talked about this in the multi level Marketing episode. So many of the women who are involved in multi level marketing if you just do a little bit of an audit of their posts, more often than not, they're talking about this incredible opportunity joining the business. Oh my gosh, there's two spots in my downline that you could join. Like, they're not really talking about the value of the product, and to me, that's a massive red flag. Genuine affiliate marketing is all about promoting an actual product or service. They're not going, oh, join a course you could learn about this. Like, affiliate marketing is very, very simple. They signed up to a website, they got a code, and if you buy the leggings that they are talking about, they're going to make a cut. So they might talk about the leggings all the time, but in that interaction, you as the consumer, you're not misled about what purchasing is. You might be feeling a little bit misled because you're like ve, I didn't know that because my favorite influencer was promoting the leggings so often it was because they were getting paid. That's a different front story. I'm very much on the page of influencers getting paid for their recommendations because at the end of the day, that's part of the marketing wheel. But it is very transparent what you're getting. At the end of the day, if you purchase, you will receive the leggings in the mail, right Like, that's it. But these programs, however, lean really heavily on getting you to recruit others into the same course, and the income structure is built on upselling new members rather than helping you to promote a range of real products that arguably everyone would want. The next red flag I've got listed down is vague earning claims and misleading success stories. So the promoters of these courses often going to showcase really impressive earnings, same as multi level marketing people.
Right.
I saw so much content online the other week about people saying, oh, yes, but there are twenty two millionaires that have been created in Australia because of this business. Yeah great, but there's also twenty two thousand of you doing that. Numbers don't stack up. Those numbers are not impressive. But these promoters of these courses are going to often showcase super impressive earnings or talk about the freedom that they've achieved, but they're usually really vague on how they're actually making that money. They might imply that their income comes from traditional affiliate marketing, sometimes even claiming it's from a separate account or a product link that they never clearly reveal. In reality, most of their income comes from recruiting others into the same course and upselling them on really expensive packaging.
At the end of the day, influencers.
Who are really promoting and making money through affiliate marketing, they're not really talking about it, and they're not talking about it, not because they're not transparent. Influencers who are using affiliate marketing know that the reason affiliate marketing works for them is because they have a very large and engaged audience. They know that this isn't something that anybody could get into. I mean you could. You could sign up for a fe eli marketing platforms and start promoting the leggings or the dress or the shoes or whatever fashion you've got. And I mean, if you're doing fashion content, that makes a lot of sense because a few dollars here and there do add up. But if an influencer is making bank through their affiliate links, it's very unlikely that they are going to be talking about it because they know it's not easily obtainable for the average Instagram user.
Right if you're.
Finding it really hard to tell what products they're promoting. So if a company is really like a bit wishy washy, or what they're promoting or the details about their earnings seem a little bit unclear or like overly broad, to me, that's a very strong indicator. The recruitment, not general affiliate product sales are at the core of their business model. So you're asking me Va, what's the bottom line? As always, I need you to do that. Is it too good to be true?
Test?
If something promises to turn you into a millionaire working just a couple of hours a day, or claims that you'll achieve financial freedom with zero experience or effort, it's probably time to pause and think critically. Quick and easy paths to wealth are very rare, and programs that overseell simplicity are often masking what's really involved. Before you decide to dive into any course, take a few minutes to google the course name along with the word scam and see what comes up. Scanning through real people's experiences can reveal a lot about what's behind the flashy marketing works with multi level marketing as well. My friends also very spicy good for a drink on a Friday Nash. Are there consistent complaints about these high precial sales tactics? Do people mention unexpected up cells or maybe like some hidden costs. Seeing these patterns is going to be able to help you spot red flags early and avoid the trap of spending more than you'd planned, or even.
Being sold a dream.
If the main pitch is less about promoting real products and more focused on recruiting others into the program, to me, that's a definite red flag. When the emphasis shifts from actual product promotion to recruitment, it signals a structure where the real money comes from getting other people to join, not from genuine affiliate commissions. It's never about the product in that situation. This recruitment based model is often a warning sign that you're dealing with a scheme that has a lot more in common with a multi level marketing company or MLM than legitimate affiliate marketing. Right, my friend, if you enjoyed this episode, because I'm done now and one more content that keeps you one step ahead of the latest money scams, make sure that you are subscribed to She's on the Money, And if you want to see what else I'm exposing in the world of scams and multi level marketing and get rich quick schemes.
You probably should be following me on my personal.
Instagram, which is Victoria Underscore Divine and I think you'll be shocked at what I'm finding and sharing.
Have a good weekend, guys.
The ad by shared on Shees on the Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision.
If you do choose to buy a financial.
Product, read the PDS TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice.
Tailored towards your needs.
Victoria Divine and She's on the Money are authorized representatives of Money. Sheper Pty Ltd ABN three two one six four nine two seven seven zero eight AFSL four five one two eight nine