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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M Brown
It sees like you’re making a bunch of assumptions without really investigating the company, the culture the training or the actual FACTs about Damsel.
ALSO – Your information is not up to date. It’s deceiving to publish info and have it say, “3 days ago” when in fact this is out of date. The starter kit you show is not the current one offered. The price is also incorrect. Damsel pros don’t “stay” at the 25% commission rate if they actively sell, because as soon as a person shows that they are serious about the business and sell $1000, they are bumped up to a 30% commission rate, which never drops. Pros are not expected to buy $150 every 3 months, but they are expected to sell the $150 in order to remain active and retain their team of partners (not “downline). That amounts to a couple stun guns and a couple pepper sprays, not tough to do.
No, we do not “fear-monger” – in fact there is a BIG difference in fear-mongering and educating. Sharing actual and factual statistics with others is educating. It is an unfortunate FACT that sexual assault, domestic violence, child sexual abuse and human trafficking are REAL problems. It happens. There’s much more to safety than just buying a few tools and any Damsel Pro will tell you that the company trains to this ideology. Pros stress the importance of backing up any purchase with training in the form of Jiu Jitsu or Krav Maga classes.
Damsel Pros also market online, use social media and do a great deal of charity work in the community, giving time and resources to help survivors of sexual assault. The company has raised money for the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, Wipe Every Tear, The Stitch, and the Womens & Children’s Alliance.
Just thought you and your readers might like to be apprised of the facts.
Nathaniell
Thanks for the update! The article is updated each time someone publishes comment.
Mary
I am not a representative of damsel in defense. I am, however, a survivor of an attack and know first hand that I was unprepared in every way. I don’t see telling women that they should have a mechanism of some sort to protect themselves. I see it as saying “just in case” something occurs, you may be ready. Every person man or woman who reads this article would or might say, until you or someone you know is in this situation, then you don’t really know how much this may be of benefit. I’m glad that this vehicle is available. Of course I could go to Amazon or some other place, but in looking to purchase from this company, I am also supporting a small business owner, or a survivor of a crime.
Lori
Silly, silly, man. I am not a Damsel in Defense Representative. I have been a business owner with my own website and my own products as well as drop-shipped products. There are certainly benefits to both types of sales. I am considering becoming a representative for Damsel in Defense. I came to your site to get a factual, unbiased review of the company to help me make a decision on whether to become part of the company. Unfortunately, much of your “article” is simply false. At this point, I know very little about the company — but I clearly know more than you do. I have NO problem with someone posting a review and including their opinions. That is a good thing. However, it is manipulative and dishonest to list assumptions as fact in order to enlist emotional responses and drive people to your own site as well as your own business. It is a shame, because you are clearly talented, dedicated and hard-working in order to maintain your own sales. That in itself is respectable.
Unfortunately, you are driving some readers away from the potential opportunities that you offer for consideration. As an experienced and educated person in corporate sales, MLM sales, and small business ownership — I am a perfect candidate to consider Affiliate Marketing vs. MLM sales. However, I can’t give credence to anything you have to offer based upon the content of your aforementioned review/article. I am not trying to silence your opinions. I am suggesting that you support your opinions with facts and not include false facts. You are the “influencer”, that is your role. As an ‘influencer’, it is most important that your readers (your “community”) engage or react positively to your content. That drives your success. That doesn’t appear to be happening. Lastly, I personally have a hard time comparing what you are doing to the MLM model. Correct me if I am wrong, but you are promoting businesses by providing links, banners and ads on your website. You earn a commission based upon the number of clicks or form submittals which should ultimately lead the consumer to the business/advertiser’s website. This is not a model that is comparable to the Damsels in Defense business model.
I would have responded much more positively and likely taken advantage of your training link if you had educated me on how different both models are. Completely steer away from the negativity and “dissenting opinions”. Consider focusing on why my energy, time, and yes, money should be spent on developing a very different kind of business, which is Affiliate Marketing. Then educate me on what that is and give me supporting facts that tells me about the successes, retention rate, and earning potential of Affiliate Marketing. You gave your audience specifics on the Damsel in Defense model, the potential earnings, the commissions, etc. I still have no idea what these possibilities are in what you are promoting. I am still very curious about both very different business possibilities. Unfortunately, now I am leaving your site without clicking on links and am off to scour the net and educate myself on these details and ultimately decide what is best for me personally. NOT because one is bad and the other is good – but because for me, my talents, my interests and my time are likely better suited for one opportunity versus the other.
Nathaniell
1. It’s not cute to call me a “silly man”. Let’s keep it professional Lori
2. Thanks for the success advice, but I’ll run my website how I want. If people don’t like my opinions, they can read reviews somewhere else.
3. There’s a difference between being an affiliate, and being a network marketer. People I sign up to something are not required to then turn around to sell it. How many Damsel reps make good money NOT recruiting people?
4. I understand your tactic very well, since a lot of people try this. “Oh, I was interested in WA until I read your review. Now I’m not”. It’s tired, and unoriginal. Great. Good for you. Continue your research. But don’t try to guilt-trip me into feeling bad because I lost a sale. Most of my money is made from OTHER websites not promoting WA, and I just write here to inform people how I think their time is best spent.
If you disagree, that’s fine. No skin off my nose. I just think a lot of people are wasting their time with Damsel and would be better off being “independent” of a specific company.
You want to help women with self defense? Great! You can! But sticking with one company and ignoring all the other great potential products out there is not the way to go.
You are view a fraction of a percent of what I’ve written on my website. Because YOU haven’t done your proper research, you only see that I’m negative on Damsel and Positive on WA in this instance. But there are many other products I recommend for different types of people.
Seeking Susan
If I were to have considered joining The damsels in disstress, it would not have been 100% based off of the initial blogger that gave their personal opinions. It would technically be based off of a few things, two of them being: A qualified blog detailing professional insights with facts to back them up combined with reading through the reviews of the blog by other readers who possibly might be actively apart of this business as well others claiming they’re not affiliated with the business to get a feel for the experience, culture and personalities…. among other things. I do check into sites before investing to also insure nothing has been filed on these businesses etc…
In saying this, it’s your comment as well those before you who are active affiliates that has stopped me from ANY POSSIBLE FUTURE INTERESTS. For a business derived around the safety of women, you ladies are barbaric, foul mouthed, and the most unprofessional representations that could possibly speak on this businesses behalf.
As a female, I felt threatened by the proposed opportunity here, not because of the blog, but because of the business affiliates postings on this business review, entailing first hand the complete opposite from the services this business claims to offer.
For you, who claims to be an expert in this industry, your ability to represent its very concept and deliver true perception to demonstrate its value is by far worthless and condescending.
You seem to forget that the very foundation of any business offering services and products sells itself if it’s truly all around a good one.
Mission Failed
Marla Sommers
Thank you Lori… I totally agree with you. I’m a Realtor and I’m not interested in making money with Damsel in Defense. I’m interested in the products for protection If and when the need arise.
Nathaniell
My question to you Marla is…why THIS company’s products versus another. What makes their products superior? No one is talking about that!
Crystal Johnson
I know this is an older article but wanted to touch on a couple things. I’ve been with the company for a bit and have done other direct sales companies. This is the first one I have stuck with and also the first one were I felt the founders were interested more in their customer base and their pro’s then the bottom line. They have some of the best requirements for staying active. I’m sure you think it sucks to have sales requirements but I’m sorry if my upline decides to sit back and do nothing I would be bothered by her making money off my hard work. I rely on my upline for guidance and my downline relies on me. Yes you can go on to Amazon and find cheaper products and read the reviews about how right after their warranty ended it stopped working. Your product stops working with Damsel it is replaced on our products with a lifetime warranty. Also my husband has been in the IT industry for 20 years and over half has been specialized in security and we use the Digital Defense. We don’t do it because I make tons of money of it, we use it because it is a good product for a reasonable price. I understand everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I just wish you would have reached out to Damsel for clarification if you didn’t understand something. One thing about this company is how we use our sales to make a difference in the world. I am normally not someone who sticks with a company (Younique, Norwex, and Mary Kay just to name a few of my direct sales ventures) I have to truly believe in a company or a product to ask my friends and family to part with their hard earned money. I have to believe in the product to part with my money. I hope one day you decide to review us again and reach out for more information. If your whole purpose of this though was to show how Direct Sales(MLM) is not as good or profitable as Affiliate Marketing I don’t think there would be a company out there you would give a thumbs up to.
Seeking Susan
Crystal with all due respect to you as your response here was at least somewhat non-reactive, I think you’re missing the point.
You don’t add credibility and value to the reviews you write as an affiliate by being dishonest to up-sell the product or service provided by businesses for personal gain unless you found value in promoting it. Bloggers get bashed all of the time by dishonest “sales pitches” by those who invest their money & time into it and it ends up being the opposite from the referral they read.
Bottom line is not the up line or the down line but rather if it’s a great company and product provided service, it will speak for itself.
Best wishes
McKenzee
I can’t figure out if this is a totally new article or an old one that was reposted, but it’s easy to see there wasn’t much, if any, real research put into the actual facts of the company itself. I was on the fence about whether this was actually researched or just typed up after a few google searches for images, but the part on the digital security – “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.” cemented my thought that this was written without any sort of actual research. By simply taking the time to ask a rep or calling the company itself then it would of been clearly stated that the digital security is done through Invisus, a company that has been in the digital protection industry for over 14 years, has multiple corporate clients, and has never once had a single hack into their systems. All that would of been learned by asking one question about Digital Defense.
The next comment that stuck out to me was “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).” Now, again, with just a small amount of research you would know that this statement simply is not true. One, there is study after study re-enforcing the fact that if a woman is carrying a weapon her risk of being attacked drops greatly. Simply by carrying a weapon and showing she is not weak, nor defenseless, and that she will be fighting back the odds of her becoming a target at all drops. On a personal level the products have actually been extremely useful and empowering for me – like the time I fired my stun gun in the parking lot at walmart, making the guy stop following me and turn around and leave. Or the time I pepper sprayed a large dog that ran up on myself and my child. Or my customer of mine who used her stun gun to stop a carjacking. Or my sister who made a man in a car drive off when she pulled out her pepper spray. Or another woman I know who pepper sprayed a man trying to take her purse at a gas station. Those were not false senses of security – thinking that nothing will happen to you because you’re not in a “rough” neighborhood is the false sense of security. Parking lots, bathrooms and parking garages – top three places for attacks against women. All of those are in good, bad and in between neighborhoods. And since ambush attacks are the most common forms of attacks against women – meaning it happens quickly and from behind or from the side – carrying a form of defense tool in your hand is smart, not a false sense of security. Now, a girl who I met who told me a man who had attempted to rape her at 7pm at night as she was getting in her car in the Publix parking lot only let her go because he felt her menstrual cup who then wanted to carry something on her after that – did she have a false sense of security? When you hear story after story after story about what has happened to women (and this isn’t usual coffee shop talk so just because you haven’t talked to people about it doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened to them. Most women aren’t just going to tell you what they do for a living then tell you how they were raped.) of horrific things that women have gone through and how much better they feel when they have something to level the playing field and defend themselves IF needed then you’d know that this isn’t some fear mongering campaign.
Lastly, the quality. Ah yes, the quality. These images are very old and outdated so again the lack of research is obvious here. But, if you don’t mind. Do tell you readers about voltage vs amperage. Tell them about what each does and why both are so important. Then find me the 25 million volt stun gun for $12.99 on amazon and try and tell me what the amperage is on it. Can you? Probably not. Because there is ZERO regulation on how stun guns are marketed, some amazon seller can buy cheaply made and ineffective 10,000 volt stun guns, get some shiny new boxes made and BAM! Suddenly you have a 50 million volt stun gun to sell online. Is it 50 million volts? Nope. Is there any amperage? Nope. Will it be effective in any way? Nope. But who cares, once the customer buys it then that’s not their problem, amiright? 😉 Good luck getting a return once you jokingly stun your husband or boyfriend or whoever and get really upset when it doesn’t even hurt them. Just because something looks like it works, doesn’t mean it does. It’s like a real Coach bag vs a knockoff. They might look the same, but they are not made the same and you get what you pay for. At least with Damsel they say “yes, these are more expensive. But we are ensuring a product that has a solid voltage/amperage ratio that will work when it needs to.” and if it stops working – we replace it. For free. Quality of the cheap amazon stun guns should be your concern here – THAT is the real fear mongering. Selling a product that knowingly DOES NOT WORK. But it’s cheap so in your mind it is more effective? It seems? But get back to me on the amperage.
As far as the company specifics. Again, you’re using really old and outdated material on the compensation plan and because of the lack of knowledge and research and actual real understanding of the workings of the company your opinion can’t be touted as valid so that isn’t really something I even care to dive into.
Basically, you’re resorting to bashing a company and an industry in an effort to bring people to yours. Is it really that difficult to do standing on your own? That you have to try and show what you believe to be negatives of other companies in order to promote yours? Seems like a really weird, seedy sales tactic and even if I was looking to get into affiliate marketing, this puts a really sour taste in my mouth. Best of luck to you though! And maybe next time spend more than an hour or so really finding out the facts before forming an opinion.
Sally
This is an old article reposted because I remember reading this prior to joining Damsel and the information that he is stating is false. We do NOT scare people in to a purchase, we share statistics that are truthfully.