Selling Herbalife to Succeed or Just Survive...

I remember in the 80's people wearing buttons that read "Ask me about Herbalife." Maybe you remember, depending on your age, and it may still be big in the states. I haven't noticed. But it is growing here. And Patricia, from Uruguay, in her thirties, is a distributor and just signed her first downline she tells me. The story is a familiar one. She is the mother of two and divorved. The father barely pays support and rarely sees the children. There are no laws here that enforce support. So women are often on their own to support themselves and their children. Three years ago Patricia decided she no longer wanted to be an employee. There was no future for her. She wanted to be in business for herself. Then Herbalife came along and she hustles. She sees this as her way up and out. I am told that at 35 you are considered old in the workforce and that once retired later in life one lives in poverty. It is not a pretty picture economically.

Ermes, from Paraguay, echoes the sentiments of Patricia, though she is in a better position. She is married to whom it seems is a good guy and between the two of them they are more secure. Lars, a german man, living here for three years and in the real estate business tells me his observations are that the women work very hard and that is not what he sees of the men. Now he does admit this is a generalization but more true than not, he says. I connected him with another German looking for an apartment and he tells me if it works I get a commission...that is the way it is done here. I am not really looking for another gig but...