Boy, It Glittered!

When I was in my 20’s—miserable at my job and buried in debt—a co-worker approached me with what he called the deal of a lifetime.

He was selling a new juice.

Three ounces a day, he said, and people’s health was drastically improving.

But that wasn’t the hook.

The hook was the money.

He showed me sales numbers.

Market potential.

How quickly I could start making real money.

He told me he’d been watching me and thought I’d be a great salesman.

It sounded too good to be true.

So I went all-in.

That was the day I became a salesman for what I later learned was a pyramid scheme.

Many things in life glitter that ain’t gold.

And when you’re strapped for cash, they seem to shine even brighter.

Proverbs 12:11 says: “He who tills his land will have plenty of bread, but he who pursues worthless things lacks sense.”

That verse taught me something I didn’t want to hear at the time:

Stick with proven labor instead of chasing shortcuts.

I didn’t like the job I was in.

But it paid me to work—instead of requiring me to pay just to have hope.