At our sole discretion…

Everything is subject to change at the sole discretion of the Company…

Signing documents and agreements is something that a lot of us take for granted. It is part of the way we live – a bureaucracy requires paperwork, and paperwork requires someone to be responsible for it, and a signature denotes responsibility.

The implication of signing a document is that you have read it and understood the content, and that you agree with the content as it is written. However, it is often the case that we place our signature on documents that we have not read or understood. One of the reasons for this is that we are all in a hurry. Another reason is that none of us like to admit (to anyone) that we don’t understand something.

I will illustrate with an example. You need a loan, so you go to the bank and talk to one of the loan officers. Even before you have met the loan officer, it is likely that you are feeling intimidated by them. That is just natural – they have the power to award or withhold the loan that you need, and powerful people can be intimidating. In any case, you complete the loan application process and are told that you have been approved to receive the money. You still have to complete the formalities – signing the loan agreement – but the money is as good as in your pocket.

The loan officer prints out the agreement (16 pages of writing, with 6pt font), places it in front of you, and tells you: “This is a standard agreement, with standard legal information, but you should read it before you sign it”. They then hand you a pen, and proceed to look at their watch.

What do you do? You are under pressure because the intimidating person seems to be in a hurry. In addition, you know that the loan has been approved, subject to your signature appearing on the agreement. You could ignore the loan officer, and proceed to read the agreement in detail, stopping and asking questions whenever you don’t understand something. The drawback of this is that there is likely to be a lot of legal jargon, and you may have to ask a lot of questions. A much easier solution is to flip through the agreement (supposedly speed-reading), nod and say “mm-hmm” a few times, and then sign on the dotted line… all done.

We are conditioned to choose the easier solution, because it means we get our money quicker, and we don’t have to risk displaying our ignorance. Six months later, a letter arrives from the bank saying that the interest-rate on the loan has been increased by 25 basis points (0.25%) as per the loan agreement. While this may be an unwelcome surprise, it doesn’t change the fact that you could have known about this before signing the agreement.

When you join a network marketing company, you are less likely to be intimidated by your sponsor. However, you will still be in a hurry – the opportunity of a lifetime is not sitting around waiting for you to read and understand a “policies and procedures” document. Your sponsor may also be in a hurry, because they may get a bonus on the number of people they sponsor every month. It is unfortunately also possible that your sponsor will, directly or indirectly, discourage you from reading the legal documentation, because they either haven’t read it themselves, or they don’t understand it.

The fact is that by not reading before signing, you are remaining dependent on others to carry you through life. If others don’t have your best interests at heart, then you will fall, and there will be no-one there to help you. Life will happen to you, and it will be full of bad surprises.

I am not saying that you will avoid nasty surprises if you read all documents before signing your name on them. However, you are more likely to be prepared for the surprises, if they eventuate. A phrase you will find in almost all policies and procedures documents for MLM companies is the following: “… may change at the sole discretion of the Company”.

This is basically a get-out-of-jail-free card for the company. Unfortunately, you do not have any similar cards, and you have to rely on that they will not use that card to send you to jail. If the policies and procedures document you are about to sign has a large number of these phrases, then you should probably be somewhat more cautious. The question that needs to be asked is: Why would a successful company be so afraid of its distributors that it creates a whole bunch of get-out-of-jail-free cards for itself?

Next time you are presented with a situation when your signature is required, take the time to fully read and understand what you are committing to. Even if there is nothing untoward in the document you are signing, you will feel better, because you will be in charge of your life. The way I see it, the few minutes it takes to make sure you know what you are signing, is time well spent. It is okay to not understand what is written. It is okay to ask questions. It is okay to be in control of your life.