ALISON SCHENK | Entertainment | CONTACT
I SURVIVED: Local Admin Assistant turned ‘Small Business Owner’ (heavy on the ‘ ‘) turned Admin Assistant has been forced to look inward today after watching a cult documentary on Netflix and relating just a little bit too hard.
A couple of years ago Betoota Heights woman Carly Woodall (34) was surprised to find a Facebook message in her inbox from an old coworker from approximately 6 jobs ago.
“I didn’t realise at the time that Facebook still had a messaging feature, to be honest”, Carly told The Advocate.
“I’m embarrassed to say, but it was to suck me into an MLM. And she got me. I got got. I felt so stupid after I realised, after the wool had been lifted. I couldn’t talk to anyone about it because I didn’t know anyone who had gone through a similar experience. Until I watched this random cult doco today”.
Carly told The Advocate she had discovered quite a lot of parallels between a cult and a ‘multi-level network marketing scheme’, and she’s still processing.
“For one, they get you when you’re down. When I got that message from my ex colleague, I was bored working in my admin job, I was living paycheck to paycheck, I felt lost. Just like those poor bastards in that doco”.
“They’re always super positive, they make incredible promises that they can’t deliver on, and you have to sink a LOT of cash to be a part of it.”
“But the kicker for me, was when your non-MLM/cult friends start to get completely sick of you. That one was tough. I cringe at the thought of how many friends DMs I slid into asking if they want to get ripped from some generic supplements and creams”.
“It got pretty hectic. I even went to a seminar in the city one time. They had a big photo of the founder up on a screen and everyone was praising it. In hindsight it was giving Scientology”.
Carly has asked for privacy at this time while she navigates the possibility that she was not just ‘Being Her Own Boss’ but was in fact a member of a highly organised cult.
“Oh god, some of them even got tattoos”.
More to come.
