Plexus distributors told their business is an “assignment from God”
A key-note speaker at a Plexus corporate event has told attendees that building their business ‘is an assignment from God to help you build your faith‘.
Plexus are currently running their 2019 Rise Up convention in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Plexus distributors pay up to $129 to attend the event, which the company markets as “the must-attend Plexus event of 2019”.
Plexus’ keynote speaker on the last day of the event was Bob Heilig (right).
Heilig, a former MLM distributor, now markets himself as a “virtual upline” trainer.
This can’t-miss training session will feature network marketing guru and founder of Your Virtual Upline, Bob Heilig!
Heilig begins his speech at the Plexus event by building up to the message “you are enough”.
You are here for a reason. You know that there’s more out there for you.
You know, see what’s good enough for most people is not good enough for you.
You’re not normal. This is not normal.
Coming to a place like… this is not normal!
Your friends think you’re crazy, don’t they? Your family thinks you’re out of your mind!
I’ve got news for you, you are! And you need to celebrate that.
Heilig then tackles fear for about fifteen minutes, which eventually leads into faith.
And this is my other message for you today:
I believe that your Plexus business is an assignment from God to help you build your faith.
Instead of eyebrow raised skepticism at the manipulative suggestion God wanted them to join Plexus, Plexus distributors cheered and applauded Heilig on.
Whatever your belief system is I want you to realize that there is a higher power directing your steps, to put you in these seats today.
To be clear, I don’t have a problem with personal beliefs or religion.
In this context however, we have Bob Heilig telling participants in a network marketing company that building their business is a mission from god.
The sentiment is amusing in a Blues Brothers movie. Not so much at an MLM event designed to energize participants.
In fact I’d even go so far as to say Heilig’s sentiment is dangerous.
It’s a fact that some people take their religion seriously. It’s also a fact that some people at Plexus’ Rise Up event aren’t going to make it and will quit.
When you start telling people that God has brought them to the event, directed them to work the business and has an interest in their success…
…how do you reconcile that with leaving Plexus?
It’s extremely irresponsible to peg a Plexus distributor’s success or failure to their faith.
And I’m not even going to get into what this corporate approved thinking means for Plexus atheists.
If we throw ethics and morals out the window, obviously the intent behind Helig’s words is to tap into faith as a motivator.
Why? Because faith often corresponds to irrational behavior.
You can justify leaving an MLM company if you’re losing money each month.
You can justify leaving an MLM company if you find yourself completely isolated from family and friends.
You can justify leaving an MLM company if you don’t agree with policy changes and/or decisions that might directly effect your business.
But faith? For those that are inclined, what better manipulative motivator is there?
I can’t leave my Plexus business because my faith demands I stay and keep trying. No matter the cost (on any level).
God wants me to succeed and I’m not about to abandon my religion by quitting.
Those sentiments might be easy and dismiss from wherever you’re reading this from. But hearing it live at a Plexus event is a totally different experience.
And you just know there’s distributor cliques within Plexus that are taking the message to heart and applying group-think.
By all means incorporate your religious beliefs into your business ethic on a personal level. But don’t preach at a corporate level that God is tied to your distributor’s success.
It’s just… wrong.
Quite frankly I’m appalled Plexus thought this was a suitable message for an official corporate organized event.
I’d like to say they’d learn from this but given the cheering at the event, I’m doubtful.
Additional credit to r/AntiMLM for the high-res photo source.
Update 9th August 2021 – This article originally contained an embedded video of Plexus’ 2019 Rise Up convention.
As at the time of this update that video has been removed from YouTube.
MLM and religious faith: it’s like the blade to my knife, bow to my arrow, bullets to my gun, and rope to my noose.
Oh Good Lord, what will they think of next . . .
BLAINE WILLIAMS & MARK CAMPESE, This is the scam strategy “Religion” these two fraudsters have used with Noble 8 and now PYURLIFE that they are now scamming new victims with.
I actually listened to the whole presentation that Bob made. As far as his comments about personal development were concerned he was spot on.
It is when you apply these concepts to the MLM business model they fall apart because MLM is the worse business model going.
When he came to his claiming building their business ‘is an assignment from God to help you build your faith,” is when the cult mentality kicked in that is in every MLM presentation.
You don’t listen to the negative people, you only listen to us that know what we are talking about and have experienced that prove you can overcome and achieve.
Never mind you lose friends and family support. You don’t need them, just us your fellow members and supporters.
Of course they never mention the reason why they are your supporters is how much money you can make them, which is their bottom line.
I was not shocked when he received a standing ovation from his talk and the applause he received in claiming building their business ‘is an assignment from God to help you build your faith.”
For any Christian sitting in that room when he said this should have been an affront to their Christianity. Not only that, but his wrapping himself around Christianity should have been an insult to the Christians in the room.
Instead they got caught up in the crowd and cult mentality and blindly went along with it.
I know I would have walked out because I did it in the past. In the mid-80’s I was invited to a dozen or more of these type of events. I witnessed first hand how these meetings work and the games they play.
What was even more shocking to me was that I was attending these events with fellow Christians.
When the speakers started their spiel about how this business was an answer to prayer and was God blessed I told my friends I was leaving.
They couldn’t believe I would walk out. I told them I was just as shocked at them for not wanting to walk out with me.
Needless to say that ended our friendship because I was a negative person and didn’t understand the success I was walking away from.
The irony was not one of them was still in “their business” five years later.
Interesting isn’t it that these promoters haven’t changed their tactics in over 30 years, and people are still falling for it; thus why they haven’t changed their tactics.
I’m actually glad they’re doubling down on the “Praise JEEBUS” stuff.
By linking christianity, especially fundagelism, to a quickly imploding business model, they only hasten the demise of the various hard right and far right versions of christianity out there.
I was there at Rise Up! 2019… w my wife.
I told her it felt more like a Christian Revival than a Sales convention. She felt that I was out of line…
I shrugged it off as the usual dismissal by a Christian of what an Atheist observes. But… it went on and on and on ad nauseam.
Thank you for affirming what I observed. And it goes right down to the team level.