Feb 05, 2008 01:41 PM
5707 Views
Questnet gold scheme is the buzz thats
taking rounds in Bangalore nowadays. Not that it hasn’t been around,
but sounds like it has caught up once again. Last week one of my friend
pulled me over for one such meeting where the talented marketers tried
to convince me to enroll for this questnet business. I made an attempt
to understand this is all about and how it works. After analyzing it
thoroughly, it made me wonder how the so called ‘intelligent IT’ folks
are falling prey for a vulnerable business model in which QuestNet is
operating. Let me write here on what I mean by vulnerable business
model.
To become a QuestNet ‘partner’(business term), one needs to pay
about INR 33k. By paying so, you become the privileged owner of a ‘Gold
Coin’ of about 6 grams - this costs about INR 6k. They claim to have
numismatic value for all the coins that they are giving away. I need to
reiterate the actual meaning for numismatic here, refer to wikipedia
for more information. Usually, gold coins get high value over a period
of time - probably not in the life span of one generation. Also, I did
a bit of search on EBay and other internet sites to figure out how much
value these questnet coins can fetch. To my surprise, there were
neither bidders nor any proof of a successful selling of such a coin.
Now the net loss for an individual by becoming ‘business partner’ is
INR 27k. Now they propose a multi level marketing(MLM) plan to make up
your lost money. This goes something like this - Introduce a couple of
people as partners and you attract a commission Rs 1916/- per head. Let
us assume you introduced A & B. Now to reclaim your money in the
form of commission, ask those 2 folks to introduce another 2 each - say
A introduces A1, A2 and B gets in B1, B2. This sequence goes on to get
your already paid partnership money in the form of a “Interest free
commission”. There is a catch again, one need to keep introducing new
people in the counts of 3, 6, 9, 12, 15…. in a group. If anyone fails
on either side of the binary tree, progress halts. In turn this cuts
short the money you have already paid.
Now, let me put it in mathematical form.
This diagram(thanks to Wikipedia) represents what I have explained all
this while. It is mathematically proved that the Number of nodes with
two children is always less than half the total number of nodes - Well
known as ‘Binary Tree Fact’. All the people who enter such a business
model at the very early stages are the lucky ones. They will get to
spread and introduce new ‘Partners’ to the chain. However, over a
period of time this will reach the saturation level. This is very well
shown in the diagram. If you observe the Blue circles, they are the one
who joined in the early stages. They represent 11.8% percent of overall
population while the circles indicated in Red counts to 88.1%. Hence
the top 12% gets benefited from this kind of business model while the
alarming 88% will be on the losing side. Think twice before you get in
to this kind of businesses. It is up to you to decide on whether you
belong to profitable 12% or loss making 88% depending on how you take
it to the next level.
Why to become a fool by depositing your hard earned money with
someone and they try to get it back by putting others in a fix? If you
want to lose your friends and start looking at everyone including
friends, relatives, co-workers etc., as targets, then this business is
for you. Is this justified trap others to get back your own money in
the form of commission? It will kill your good relationship with
everyone around you, value of which cannot be quantified. No matter how
much you make, you need people and time to enjoy in the society. Even
in this material world, money is not everything. There is always life
beyond making money, at least not at the cost of making others fools
too. Think again. do you really want to get in?
I blog regularly at https://mohanbn.com and write my observations. Feel
free to visit the site for reviews on other products as well.
