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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Cessna
Hahahahah I had to chuckle because after you talked about MLM and compared it to affiliate marketing you put your link to get affiliates under you. What’s the difference because it is free to join? If someone does join they still have to work and promote themselves to make a profit. To each their own whatever way you can enjoy more money I say go for it.
Nathaniell
The difference is that people who sign up for affiliate training don’t have to sell affiliate training. They can sell hair products, health products, athletic products, gaming products, etc etc ad nauseam. I don’t make money if their business make money. I’m only showing people where to get training. I get paid if they sign up to the training.
Sara
While everyone is entitled to their opinion… I have to disagree. Clearly the author already has a biased opinion of direct sales companies… noted. A more beneficial “report” would be one without the biased opinion being blatantly obvious.
Now, someone commented that they were “begged” into buying a junk in the trunk… you do realize that one, you’re a grown woman. If you didn’t want to buy… just say no. ALSO, if you thought it was such cheap quality or if it really broke, you would know that damsel in Defense has a lifetime warranty on all their security on the go items. So you could get your money back or a whole new product. 😏And your friend is a terrible friend for 1- begging you and she’s not a very good damsel pro for being completely unprofessional. The products will sell themselves.
As far as “playing on fear” … if the author EVER attended an empower hour, they would know that is not the case at all. In fact it’s even stated the first few minutes of ebery empower hour. They are simply bringing more awareness. No one ever plans to be sexually assaulted yet, 1 in 5 women are. No one ever plans to be in a domestic violence situation yet, 1 in 3 women are. (This is not to say that men aren’t. In fact every 16.4 seconds a man is a survivor of domestic violence). This is just providing people with awareness, knowledge on safety practices AND if they so choose, a non lethal tool. All backed by lifetime warranties.
As far as making money, I literally sold $1880 working 8 days my first month. Money is to be made. (With no one under me) I’ve never felt like I was selling anything. However, I also have an extensive background in the military and o also train women on how to get away just by using their hands.
We only make 4% on down line sales… it’s not much.
Also, I’ve only had two customers use their lifetime warranties after something broke and one use it after they sprayed their pepper spray Bc they were attacked. All three customers got a brand new product. Free.
As for the person commenting about mace. I hope you never try to use mace on someone who has taken drugs or drank alcohol Bc it won’t work if they can’t feel pain. Mace is only an irritant. Pepper spray is an inflammatory, meaning your capillaries will swell regardless of you are under the influence of something. I doubt your mace carries a lifetime warranty or that you were properly instructed on how to use it, when you need to replace it, how far it sprays etc. ours sprays 16feet, have a UV dye in it that lasts for a week. It also is 18% oc which is the highest you can buy. Most other sprays are 10-12% oc.
Don’t knock it until you try it. Have a REAL experience with damsel in Defense. And you would not being saying half the stuff that you are saying.
I’ve seen this article before too… only it was written by someone else… hmmmm
Nathaniell
Accusing me of plagiarism….nice. This is an original article. I can’t help if other people are saying the same things about this company.
And just so you know, all opinions are “biased”. Should I delete your comment because it’s biased? As someone that doesn’t make a full time income doing this, I feel like you are not giving the full story about Damsel in Defense. As someone that hasn’t tried at least 10 comparable products, I also feel like you cannot have an opinion on the quality of the products in comparison to Damsel. As someone who has not studied business in school, I also feel like you do not have the right to have an opinion on MLM companies in comparison to other business mdoels.
See how easy it is to discredit someone saying their “opinion is invalid”.
Selling $1880 worth or product is fine – or was that the commission? Either way, many people experience a “bump” in the first month because your friends are too scared to tell you they don’t want to buy your crap. How sustainable was this? Are you doing it consistently? Probably not.
suzi
A friend of mine started talking about a group she joined (or something) that was helping empower women and she talked about human trafficking etc. It was a short conversation and I didn’t think much more about it, then last time I saw her she had a little DID booklet and asked if I was going to the party. I glanced at the cover and asked if it was selling handbags (because I think she had something like that a year or so ago) so she explained it a bit and I took the catalog home. As soon as I started looking at it I realized it was a MLM scam like all the rest. One of the items I thought might be kind of cool was a flashlight with hidden taser. It was $60 which I thought didn’t sound too bad but I looked on Amazon and they had well-reviewed ones for $12.99. I talked to her later and she said not many people came but they got a lot of orders. I told her the Amazon price and she came back with the “guarantee” and “training” bull. They didn’t get training if they weren’t there and you are more likely to ask for and get a refund from Amazon that an MLM that your friend is going to move on from in 6 months. I swear, she has been involved in so many MLMs I absolutely will not buy anything from her ever! Thank you for your article, I was beginning to wonder if I was just too cynical!
Jules
I am a woman who worked in a rough neighborhood for 25 years and nothing happened. I got a new job in a “good” neighborhood and in 6 months had the scariest moment in my life happen. To make a story short, coming home one night at 12am because I work the late shift, I was driving home when I came upon an African American male dressed only in kaki shorts standing in the middle of the road. I braked so hard everything in my car flew forward, including my phone. This man continued to block my way and stared banging on the hood of my car. I saw another male approach my car from the side. This was then I realized this was a “set up, ” one distracts and one takes over. I really had no defense other than my car. The man blocking me only moved after I told him I would run him over ‘right now” because I had no other defense. This night had stuck with me for years. Shortly after that I awoke from a dream and thought someone was in my house and I realized I had nothing to defend myself with. These products have given me a sense of empowerment but also safety.
Nathaniell
That’s great that these TYPES of products make you feel safe. But why buy Damsel in Defense versus another brand that’s cheaper and more effective?
McKenzee
Nathaniell –
What makes other brands more effective? Specifically? Do you have knowledge on amperage and voltage? How it is regulated? The difference between mace and pepper spray? How OC% affects people? What makes other brands cheaper and more effective?
Trinity
I agree. Its a MLM company. You can start your own company and sell similar products. Why makes someone else rich. Its the lack of knowledge at the bottom. It just doesn’t make sense. The time and effort you spend trying to get a trip or some other incentive you can pay for your own trip through your own business. You can go to gun show and get better deal with similar products. I don’t knock self-defense products, I just disagree with the MLM aspect.