Damsel in Defense is an unusual MLM that focuses on self-defense products for women, including products for women to carry and those for the home.
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The idea here is admirable. The company and the products focus on empowering women and giving them the ability to protect themselves and their families. In fact, the company even calls its parties Empower Hours.
Making money as a distributor could be considered empowering too. I disagree personally, as the MLM model provides less control than is ideal. Even so, it’s easy to see how the company could become popular. The same is true for many other women-focused MLMs.
I honestly like the idea of the products. The items are unusual for an MLM, which is great for sales. Finding a range of self-defense products and advice for women all in one place is pretty appealing too.
The self-defense industry itself also has decent potential. Many people are looking for ways to defend themselves. If nothing else, having self-defense knowledge and tools can help people to feel more in control of their lives.
Two Ways To Make Money With Damsel in Defense
Unique products aside, Damsel in Defense follows the same general approaches of most other MLMs. This means that there are two distinct earning approaches. One is to focus on product sales. This is the easiest approach and is most relevant for anyone wanting a little extra income.
The other angle is team building, which involves recruiting team members and making sure they stay active. Team building can be much more difficult, but the income potential is higher too.
In this post, I’m highlighting both areas and how well they work in practice. At the end of the piece, I’ll talk about whether you have a realistic chance of making consistent income with Damsel in Defense.
Make Money From Product Sales
So, the product line at Damsel in Defense is a little bit unusual. As the name suggests, the company sells self-defense items that are targeted at women.
Many of the products focus directly on self-defense. This includes stun guns, pepper sprays, personal alarms, and striking tools.
There are also various related items. Some of these help to conceal the defensive tools, while others could be used to help women feel more confident.
In general, I noticed that the prices of the products were fairly reasonable and were certainly in the range that a lot of people could afford. The range of actual self-defense products is limited. Still, there are only so many different types of products that could be offered in this field.
Personally, I’m in two minds about the products that the company sells. Yes, they do have the potential to keep women safe – and they might even be essential if you live in a rough neighborhood.
Even with this advantage, Damsel in Defense is playing on the fears of women, making them feel like they should spend a lot of money to keep themselves and their families safe.
The company often uses this idea in their marketing and there’s a good chance that distributors do too. By all means, protection is important. But, if you end up being paranoid about your safety, you probably end up in a worse spot than when you started.
The overall approach just feels manipulative to me. Now, that’s a major problem because many people selling MLM products end up trying to sell them to friends and to family. Do you really want to be manipulating your friends and family into spending money?
It is also worth noting that the company does have another slightly different product, which is a digital protection plan, ranging from $29.95 per month (for an individual) to $59.95 per month (for a family).
In terms of profits, this product would be nice for distributors. However, I doubt they would make many sales as most people wanting digital security would turn to a company that actually has a reputation in the field.
In regards to the products, I also want to point out that they’re not really that unique. Realistically, there are a lot of products out there for personal protection as-is. I suspect there is also a wide range of such products that are designed specifically for women.
Now, I’m all for women protecting themselves and their families. However, the company is more about manipulating and getting sales than it actually is about protecting. After all, there’s only so much that products can do anyway and you probably don’t protect yourself much more if you buy one product from the company versus ten.
You could actually make the argument that arming women with products that don’t actually protect them gives them a false sense of security and is more dangerous (read the comment section regarding issues with product quality)
There’s also one more thing with the products. For the most part, these are purchases that people would make once or perhaps twice.
After all, most of the products that the company sells are for worst-case situations. The products largely act to provide peace of mind. Most of them are reusable anyway.
That pattern isn’t encouraging for distributors. If you want to make money with the company, one of the key aspects is selling the products. Now, people may want to stock up on many of the items that the company sells, but even then, the products do kind of make it hard to make multiple sales.
Some of the items, particularly the stun guns, can’t be sold in all states. This further limits sales potential.
Making Sales In Practice
It’s also worth considering exactly how you make sales. Damsel in Defense is party-based. This approach seems especially common for any MLM that is specifically targeted at women. The strategy means that distributors host parties (called Empower Hours), where they promote the products.
Side Note: A lot of gals ripped into me in the comments for saying that women are targeted by MLMs. Here’s an interesting article (from a woman) called How Multi-Level Marketing Targets and Destroys Female Entrepreneurs
So, the idea is that you get people together and then pitch them the products. The company probably provides distributors with information about the strategies to use to get the most sales. At the same time, distributors will show some of the products that the company offers.
Some of these will come from the starter kit that the company provides – although distributors often end up purchasing additional products themselves.
The party model is interesting. It can work well for getting sales because there is a degree of social pressure. So, if one person buys a product, others will probably buy one too. However, the reverse is true too. If most people at a party don’t buy anything, others may choose not to as well, even if they were originally going to make purchases.
At the same time, the party model makes it difficult to sell to anyone who randomly decides that they want to buy products.
Parties tend to involve a hostess (who isn’t the distributor). The event is held at this person’s house and the guests will be their friends. Using hostesses gives the distributor access to a wider range of people to sell to. The hostess also gets bonuses, which can help to get people involved.
Still, party-based MLMs are very common and people get sick of the events quickly. Distributors often find that it gets tough to ensure consistent party attendance.
Make Money Building A Team
At baseline, distributors for the company earn 25% commission from sales they make. In theory, you could just stick to this level of the company if you wanted to earn a little bit of money. 25% is actually pretty good if you can sell enough product on a daily basis.
However, Damsel in Defense is an MLM and this means that it has a focus on recruitment and building a team. Most of the bonuses come from the people you recruit and how successful they are. For example, the figure below shows the early ranks of the company.
As you go down the ranks, you can see that the bonuses people earn increases, but so does the complexity of actually qualifying for the rank. In practice, this means that getting to (and maintaining) a given rank takes a lot of work and it’s more difficult than it first appears.
That’s one reason why most people in MLMs end up stuck on the first rank or two. After all, you have to recruit people into the company and those people need to be successful themselves.
Even if you have the skills and dedication to be successful in business, there’s no guarantee that the people you recruit will. Running any type of business is hard work. Some skill sets and personalities are much better at doing so than others.
There is one other slightly complicated thing about Damsel in Defense. This is the fact that you have to remain active to make money from the MLM portion. This practice is fairly common among MLMs, but it’s also pretty frustrating. The company explains it like this:
This means that you need to sell $150 in products every three months. If you don’t meet this requirement, you can still earn money from commissions, but you can’t earn money from your rank or your downline.
As most of the bonuses come from your rank and your downline, this means that you need to make consistent sales. Doing so mightn’t sound like a big deal, but it leaves you with less flexibility. What happens if there is a family crisis or if you simply need a holiday?
Can You Generate Reliable Income With Damsel In Defense?
The Damsel In Defense Review
Products
Business Opportunity
Final Review
While the MLM model isn't amazing, you can theoretically earn consistent income with most MLMs. Damsel in Defense is no exception. The company even has some advantages over others due to the unusual product selection.
Even so, actually being successful is an entirely different story. Most people simply aren't. Many distributors don’t have the skills or social connections needed to effectively drive sales and recruit others.
That shouldn’t be too surprising. Those skills are tough and they’re not something you can just pick up with a little bit of support and some basic training. The simple answer is that if you don’t have those skills going into an MLM, you’re never going to get very far within one.
This is a very real issue and unfortunately, it is something that the company and other distributors simply don’t teach. Without a strong mentor, and a stronger sense of self-motivation to get out, recruit, and push product, it's easy to end up like most distributors, with "non-active" status and a few gadgets laying around the house.
Another problem is that you don't end up with your own business. Even if you were very successful with Damsel in Defense, you're just selling products from a company. Your income is entirely based on their rules and their success.
This style simply doesn't work if you want a long-term reliable business. You need something where you are the one in control. That type of control will never be present with Damsel in Defense.
MLM Critic & Author: Nathaniell
What's up ladies and dudes! Great to finally meet you, and I hope you enjoyed this post. I have to be honest though. I'm not a big fan of MLM. Tried it. Hated it.
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Liz
My friend sells Damsel. I had no interest in the products, but she practically begged me to buy something. It went on for three months and I finally caved to end the discussion. I bought the junk in the trunk auto kit. The quality of the contents is awfully cheap. Seriously, it’s the cheesiest emergency kit ever. For a whole lot more money you can buy heavy duty jumper cables, a nice screw driver, decent gloves and a can of mace. After a few uses all of this stuff will fall apart. There are a few other items in the kit….like the emergency blanket, which is about 3 inches square and unfolds. It’s basically a big piece of aluminum foil. This whole idea is based on fear and the quality is not there. At least it’s not in the trunk kit.
Nathaniell
You story is one I hear over and over again with other MLM companies. If you just bought the stuff from a legit company, you could get higher quality for the same price or cheaper. These products are not meant to “work” or “be good”. They are meant to be a front to the real money-making proposition, which is to recruit people into the program. Thanks for trying out the kit and giving us your opinion!
DS
Claiming promoting “fear mongering” is how DID markets is a pretty personal opinion. Is pitching healthy food like Panera (or many other) playing to hypochondriac style fears? Is pitching nice things (clothes, cars, etc.) playing to hedonism? Is selling low cost, frugal things playing to greedy and selfish people who want to hold onto their money? Sounds like a dog whistle to me.
Nathaniell
I put people like the food babe in the same category. Using fear to sell products. Promoting a healthy lifestyle isn’t the same thing as telling someone that there’s yoga mats in their bread. But I digress.
Telling someone to be safe isn’t the same as scaring them into thinking that there’s bad guys around the corner looking to hurt them so they need to buy their product.
Mindy
Chelsea, you didn’t have the right experience. I’m with damsel in defense and it’s the best company I have been with. At my empower hours it’s not about the sale but the showing how to properly use the products and sharing safety tips. Know that that we are all not like that.
As far as the person that wrote this, I disagree with what you are saying…we don’t play on peoples fears..it’s a reality and it’s only getting worse. So many women don’t carry anything to protect themselves and we need to change that.
Chelsea
I was just invited to one of these parties. I had never heard of it and thought I was actually going to learn self defense, then realized I’m about to be pitched to buy self defense products that probably have a 50/50 chance of being affected should I be assaulted…which I was once and I will say I don’t really feel empowered by pepper spray, stun guns etc. I’d rather learn REAL self defense techniques and how to shoot a gun.
Nathaniell
Thank you for sharing your experience with Damsel In Defense parties Chelsea. If someone really wanted to teach self defense an make money, they could absolutely start a business doing that, and truly help people. But personally, I think a lot of the sellers in this space start out with the idea that they just want to make money, and use DID products as a way to drive their income. Sounds like the party didn’t focus on HOW to defend yourself, but rather which product is best to buy!
Tara
I find it ironic that you are downing MLMs, but you are the one behind “affiliate marketing.” It’s still marketing. It’s easy to bash a company that you aren’t personally apart of. Just because you don’t feel it can be successful doesn’t mean it can’t or won’t. You say you are realistic, but in reality you are blind. Success isn’t built upon realism…it’s built upon DREAMS! If you are too scared to take a chance and leap out in faith, how will you ever KNOW if you can fly? I, personally, find your tactics to bring yourself business repulsive. You don’t have to “review” other companies and put them down to promote yourself if you’re that “wonderful!”
I’m disappointed in your article. First of all, if you have never been a victim of assault you have no idea the “fear” behind the attack. You should research out the statistics of how many women, children, and even men are assaulted! The numbers would astound you! Would you rather your wife, daughter, son, mother, father, and other family members be prepared and equipped for an attack or would you rather they be as naive as you are and have them blinded by the idea that “that won’t happen to me!”???? You never know what will happen and it’s always better to be prepared! I hope you or your loved ones NEVER have to experience the aftermath of a physical or sexual assault. It definitely is NOT fun!
Nathaniell
How do you know that I’ve never been the victim of assault? I was attacked by 3 skinheads a few years ago while traveling in Europe, so I know exactly what it feels like. I never said that it’s wrong to be prepared, I just don’t like fear-mongering. Honestly, it sounds like you are more upset that I didn’t like the MLM business model than anything else. Another great example of how network marketing melts peoples minds and makes them drones for the company they work for.
The difference between MLM and affiliate marketing is clear. You can talk trash about whatever company I promote for, or the business model in general and it doesn’t affect me or my business. People still buy stuff, and I don’t have to go door to door convincing them to go to my party. The point of this article was not to say that people shouldn’t be prepared. The point was to say that I disagree with the way they’re distributing their products.
Or would you rather silence any dissenting opinions?