I read this exceptional post on Orrin Woodward's blog comparing Amway to fascists, and I agree whole-heartedly.
I continue to hear stories of the behavior of Amway Corporate officials that are extremely disheartening. The once proud free enterprise organization that survived and thrived for over 40 years without a non-compete or other fascist-like principles has now reached all-time ethical lows, in my opinion. I will share the basic free enterprise principles of the right to own property that Rich Devos and Jay Van Andel espoused frequently, and I will expose the real life behavior of the Amway Corporate officials. You be the judge of whether Amway is practicing free-enterprise or Neo-Fascist behavior. I believe there are some good people at Amway Corporate, but think the power hungry, heartless lawyers and bureaucrats have taken over this once great company. I pray that Rich Devos cleans house and corrects this unconscionable behavior before Amway loses their legacy and their entire distributor force. Here are the standard principles that define property ownership.
Traditional principles of property rights includes:
1. Control of the use of the property – You can choose how to use the property and what to do with it at any time.
2. The right to any benefit gained from the property (examples: mining rights and rent) – It is your property and if there is an income earned then it is yours with no questions asked.
3. A right to transfer or sell the property – At any juncture if you decide to no longer own the property, you have the right to sell on the open market.
4. A right to exclude others from the property – No one can take or co-own your property without your direct approval.
If any other the four principles are missing, then you do not really own the property. The degree that the principles are missing determines the degree that you no longer own the property. Fascism is a form of governmental control of private property. Let’s review the American College definition of Fascism.
The difference between [socialism and fascism] is superficial and purely formal, but it is significant psychologically: it brings the authoritarian nature of a planned economy crudely into the open.
The main characteristic of socialism (and of communism) is public ownership of the means of production, and, therefore, the abolition of private property. The right to property is the right of use and disposal. Under fascism, men retain the semblance or pretense of private property, but the government holds total power over its use and disposal.
The dictionary definition of fascism is: “a governmental system with strong centralized power, permitting no opposition or criticism, controlling all affairs of the nation (industrial, commercial, etc.), emphasizing an aggressive nationalism . . .”
In my opinion and based upon my (and many others) experiences with Amway Corporate, all we would have to do is change governmental to business and nationalism with corporatism and we would have an accurate definition of Amway Corporate.
“A business system with strong centralized power, permitting no opposition or criticism, controlling all affairs of the corporation (distributors, accreditation, bonuses, legal and training companies), emphasizing an aggressive corporatism. . .”
Let’s see how well this definition fits the behavior of Amway over the past several years.
1. Strong centralized power – Nothing is allowed to be changed without the express approval of Amway Corporate. But...Quixtar can change their North American operations "back" to Amway regardless of the fact that 75% of the people had never been in Amway, nor do they want to be in Amway. Amway has total centralized control. Amway Corporate is making billions while many of the distributors are going back to work due to the failed policies of the corporation.
2. Permitting no opposition or criticism – Amway Corporate sued numerous bloggers and field leaders for daring to question the failed policies of Amway/Quixtar. Any criticism or opposition is addressed with a lawsuit or threatened lawsuits. The old saying, “If the only tool you have is a hammer then everything looks like a nail” applies here.
3. Controlling all affairs of the business (distributors, accreditation, bonuses, legal and training companies), emphasizing an aggressive corporatism- Distributors have no choice whether to come or go due to the non-compete clause that was added to the contract in 2004. Distributors are not allowed to start a new career for six months after signing a Quixtar application, even though the non-compete was not part of the distributor contract that they signed. Also, accreditation was promised to be optional, but Amway decided the next year to not pay any bonuses to distributors unless they were part of an accredited system. Privately held training companies would be controlled by Quixtar or they would terminate your contract. If you opposed any of these polices then you would be terminated or sued and in some cases both.
I attempted to the best of my ability to communicate to the IBOAI board the principles of free enterprise that were being violated by the Amway Corporation. Forty percent of the Board understood the violations of free enterprise and liberty and made a stand. In my opinion, the other 60% of the Board understood clearly what the issues were. But they pragmatically chose to keep their special positions - even if everyone on their team suffered, they would still make money by being diamonds or above. This is not an acceptable position for true leaders who are called to serve their teams.
Let me give you real life examples of how Amway distributors, in my opinion, do not actually own their own business. You read the true examples and decide for yourself. I could not morally continue to represent a business that had started practicing more Fascist principles than Free Enterprise principles. Amway Corporate will argue that distributors do “own” their business, but read this paragraph on Fascist vs. Socialism.
It is true that fascist systems permitted property ownership, while socialist ones did not. However, fascist "property rights" were only nominal: A businessman (such as Oskar Schindler) would retain legal title to his goods, but he would not retain any control over them. Because he was not politically free, the government could order him to use his property as it desired (such as by using it to produce war implements) - even if it was his property that was being used. Just as there can be no split between mind and body, there can be no split between political freedom and economic freedom. Man cannot exist without a mind and a body, and he cannot be free if someone else controls either.
This states clearly that if you do not have true economic freedom then you are not truly free politically. I personally believe that you are freer before you sign up into Amway. After you have joined Amway, you are subjected to a six-month non-compete! This is only the beginning - you are also subjected to a 2-year non-solicitation, mandatory arbitration, control over your free speech, etc. I (and others) confronted Amway/Quixtar with all of these and more and was ‘rewarded’ with termination and litigation.
Let’s review the four principles of private property and see how being an Amway distributor stacks up. Do Amway distributors truly ‘own’ their own business? You decide after hearing these true life examples.
1. Control of the use of the property – As a Quixtar business owner, I allegedly ‘owned’ my own Quixtar business. You can imagine the distributors' surprise when we found out that we would all be Amway distributors without our permission or approval. How do we have control over our business if we do not even control having a choice of whether to be involved with Amway? Amway changed the bonuses, the rules, and the name without our permission or consent. As a qualified EDC and three year IBOAI board member, I realized that I had no control over the business I allegedly ‘owned’.
2. The right to any benefit from the property (examples: mining rights and rent) – The best example (of many) that I can give is the John Delin story. John wanted to remain a Amway/Quixtar distributor, but without the new contractual principles that Amway had added to the contract. If John owned the business, then certainly he should have a right to reject the new (fascist?) contractual principles added to the contract. Here is actual exchange that is documented in a recent lawsuit filed against Amway/Quixtar.
13. Quixtar’s abuse of its superior bargaining power (in fact, its refusal to bargain at all) is not conjectural. It has happened. Repeatedly. For example, on January 23, 2008, a Quixtar distributor named John Delin sent a letter to Quixtar’s Director of Global Rules and Regulations. In that letter, Mr. Delin and his wife, Diana Delin, sought to renew their distributorship without accepting some of the conditions Quixtar had placed on renewal. They wrote:
We do not agree to Rule 6.5 and the non-compete claimed by Quixtar. There is no non-compete clause in any agreement which we have ever agreed to with Quixtar. Any statements, written or otherwise, are not agreed to.
Intellectual Property. Since when, and we both know it was when our IBO lists went online, has the organization of people that we, being my wife & I, built now become yours? I didn’t see anyone in the car with us, nor at any of the meetings, nor putting any of your dollars into, nor building any relationships with any of these people, nor anyone at any time contacting them, or helping them “build a business.” You were and always have been the SUPPLIER. . . The LOS [Line of Sponsorship, i.e. the list of recruited IBOs] and the list of names and identities of the people in our personal group are the confidential property that belong to us, not Quixtar. We do not accept the conversion of our property to Quixtar’s name.
Pricing. We have poured a sizeable investment into our business, mostly due to loyalty. We understand this. . . . However, we do know and so do you, that a lot of the product pricing is not fair. There has to be changes. We do not agree with the manner in which Quixtar has priced the products that Quixtar sells to its IBOs. Because of the high price of the products, the products cannot be sold at retail or to retail customers. Therefore, IBOs are forced to buy products for internal consumption purposes only in order to meet their performance goals.
Name Change. You have got to be kidding me!!! . . . . We agreed to build a Quixtar business. We did not agree to build an Amway business. Any change in the name will adversely affect the business and our profits.
Five days later, Quixtar responded by terminating the Delins’ distributorship.
Dear John and Diana:
We have received and acknowledge your letter dated January 23, 2007 regarding your formal protest of the renewal of IB#1229237. You state that you do not and will not agree to several of the Rules that comprise the IBO contract with Quixtar. You propose to renew your IB subject to exemption of several of these rules, as set forth in your letter. Quixtar does not accept your proposal, and, accordingly, your business is not renewed.
We would also like to remind you that although your contract with Quixtar is terminated, you are still bound by certain provisions therein, including but not limited to the provisions of Rule 6.5.
This is a perfect illustration of Quixtar’s abusive attitude toward contracts, the law, and its distributors.
In my opinion, this is an abusive display of raw power. To take away a person’s distributorship because he has a disagreement with newly added provisions to a contract? You take away a person’s business after decades of faithful service and being told over and over that he ‘owned’ something? Not only was John fired, but he can’t do anything else for six month in his chosen profession!! This is so unfair that I cannot remain silent any longer!
3. A right to transfer or sell the property – There are many examples here to choose from, but the main point is the right to sell your ownership in the business that you built. Amway/Quixtar repeatedly refused, delayed or terminated people that were attempting to sell their ‘ownership’ asset. If someone owns something, then how can Amway/Quixtar refuse the right to sell it? Jerry Harteis recently sent me an email outlining the disappointing behavior of Amway corporate. Joe Harteis (Jerry's brother) desired to sell his business to his mother and eventually join MonaVie after sitting out six months per the contract. Joe had a good sized business that would have produced income for his mom. Read the email below to see what happened instead.
"My brother Joe was terminated by Amway for asking his people if they would like to buy some MonaVie from his daughter, who is involved with MV.
"Joe was personally sponsored by my 90-year-old mother. She has been very active with Amway since they started in 1977. In fact they were recognized as commercial distributors of the year. Therefore there is no question of her competence. She is a widow and as you can imagine depends on the $ from Amway to help her to get along. Also it gives her peace knowing that she has a place to be productive and is rewarded for that effort.
"When she started back in 1977 she was told that should anyone that they personally sponsored, leave the business, that their business would just move upline. So when Joe was abruptly terminated my mom, Ruth, who raised 14 children, felt that the business that she helped Joe to build would naturally move up to her. Since she had personal relationships with those people it would only make sense to do this. However, after not receiving bonuses on my brother Joe's group, she placed a call to Amway to inquire. She told me that they decided to move that business upline to Brett Deimler, who has taken over the organization. When she asked why this was being done, she told me they replied 'because we have decided to do it that way'.
"No reasoning, no recourse, no explanation, just we've decided. Now those 30 years she spent being loyal and doing millions of dollars worth of business are wiped away by simply saying 'we just decided to'. I am still pursuing this issue for her so we may be able to resolve it.
Jerry"
No ability to sell, no ability to confront (unless you want to spend millions in arbitration), just blind obedience to the all powerful corporation is expected. What exactly can a 90-year-old great-grandmother do to protect her ‘ownership’ against a corporate behemoth?
4. A right to exclude others from the property – Amway took part of Ruth Harteis business and gave it to someone else, without her approval or consent. How can Ruth state she owns a business, when a corporation can take away from one and give to another without any agreements? This is classic Fascist behavior that would make Hitler and Mussolini proud, in my opinion. When a nation or corporation can take the ‘ownership’ away from one party and give to another with no reasonable recourse, then we do not have true private property or ownership.
I did not write this article out of malice, but out of concern for a once great business. Doug and Steve have lost their way and tuned the business over to corporate bullies. Rich DeVos, please while you still have time – fire the corporate bullies and bring honor, decency, love, and hope back to hurting/fearful distributors across the world. Free Enterprise and serving your customers worked for over 40 years. Please don’t continue the Fascist behavior by terminating and suing your former customers. I have not attacked anyone personally and only ask that you reconsider your current principles and to ask whether they are more Free Enterprise or Fascist in nature.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Tool Systems and Truth
Sorry, dear readers, that I am not as attentive to this blog as I once was. I have now joined the ranks of MonaVie distributors, and I am having so much fun building a profitable and rewarding business, I often forget that we are still in a rather ugly battle.
Last week I received a quite lengthy letter from ‘quixtarisacult” regarding Amway, tools, and Tex. Interesting reading, but I think way, way off track.
To get to the point, quixtarisacult believes that Tex, the self-appointed critic of the tools systems, is correct. Tex’s premise is that the only problem with the Amway business is the tools systems whereby “kingpin” distributors make most of their money on selling training tools to unwitting distributors and make it virtually impossible to be profitable.
I most strongly disagree with this premise. While I do believe it is true there are training systems that are abusive, this is only a result of the broken Amway business model, not the systems themselves.
The core of the problem with the Amway business is the business model itself. Love him or hate him, Orrin Woodward has reviewed a lot of this on his blog at orrinwoodward.blogharbor.com.
1. Over-priced products. I know they are great products, but the time is long past when the “premium” concept of laundry detergent will fly. What worked in the 1960’s will not work today, no matter how vigorously you deny it. Consumers have too many choices in the U.S. Amway can ignore this all they want, but the proof is in the FACT that less than 3% of their sales go to non-distributors.
2. Compensation. The average Amway diamond makes less than $150,000 per year. Really, for that amount of money it would be much easier to have a job, especially when you consider how difficult and rare it is for anyone to achieve diamond status. It is like running up a down escalator.
3. Amway Rules. This is the one that galls me the most. Let’s see, let’s start a company in the name of Free Enterprise, and then once someone registers, surreptitiously remove all their freedoms.
The definition of Free Enterprise, according to WordNet, is “an economy that relies chiefly on market forces to allocate goods and resources and to determine prices.” Instead of changing prices according to market forces, Amway instead prevents its customers (the distributors) from leaving if they don’t like the store.
Can you imagine what would happen if Costco did that? You register at Costco, and then find out that the simple Costco application form you signed legally prevents you from registering at Sam’s Club as long as you are a member of Costco, and for at least six months after resigning your Costco membership. Further, if you do register at Sam’s Club, you will be sued by Costco into certain bankruptcy because Costco will vigorously protect its other shoppers from the unfair business practices of Sam’s Club. Sam’s Club will also be sued for unfairly targeting Costco customers.
You had better not tell any other Costco shopper that Sam’s Club might have a good deal on something. That too is consider an unfair business practice and a breach of the contract you signed with Costco.
The tool systems originated to help teach success and business principles to distributors. As high-level Amway distributors realized the profitability of tools, they saw a way to make their Amway business lucrative. (It certainly isn’t lucrative with Amway’s comp plan alone.) The scam is that Amway itself prevents these distributors from telling anyone that there are profits in the tool systems.
Here is a letter we received just yesterday from a new MonaVie distributor in our team, and a former Quixtar distributor in our former Quixtar business:
“You are wonderful people and my best friends. It’s pretty intense when I think how much you two have influenced my life. It’s an overwhelming feeling. Thank you for showing me the Bible, financial truth, relationship truth, getting me hooked on self-betterment, believing in me, continuing to love me where I am all through all my poor choices, giving me the best example of parents I can find anywhere and so much more. It frustrates me when I see people walk away from your help because they are not making more money immediately. How can you put a price tag on any of those things above mentions?? And your honest friendship. Thanks for being your best.”
Tex can rant and rave all he wants. Sorry, but this letter never mentions Double X or SA-8. The letter is referring to the tool system that helped us become the kind of people who could be that kind of influence for other. And make no mistake, it is ONLY because of that tool system that we were able to learn to do any of that. Redundant? Maybe. Pricey? Sometimes. Necessary? Absolutely.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Resignations
I resigned from Amway/Quixtar ten years after I registered, not because anyone told me to leave or recruited me away, but because I was absolutely disgusted with the way I and other long-time and long-loyal IBOs were treated by the corporation after the blow-up with Orrin Woodward et al. I was appalled at the unprofessional and vindictive tone of emails and demands sent to me and my downline who had done nothing wrong other than be sponsored into a certain group.
There are those who insist I only quit because OW told me to quit. So sorry, but they are wrong. Unfortunately, OW would not talk to me about business as long as he was under the gag order imposed by an Amway-friendly judge. By the time the gag order was lifted, I had already quit.
I reluctantly waited out my six-months without joining any other MLM, although I resented it and believed it was unjust and illegal. Further more, I told NO ONE in my downline to quit; if asked, I told them to think hard about what was best for their own family and staying with Quixtar could be a viable option for them. I made it very clear that there was no other opportunity awaiting anyone.
All along, I hoped and prayed that OW and Team would come up with another business opportunity. But when I read about them going with MonaVie, my heart sank. I was NOT excited about selling juice, to put it mildly. I considered a lot of different options, not just other MLMs but things like getting a job, or starting a different kind of company. Juice was no where in my thoughts.
However, say what you will about OW. Over the past ten months, I have seen a multi-billion dollar corporation act like a schoolyard bully, twist facts, tell lies, and try to destroy the reputation of one of their brightest former IBOs. On the other hand, I have seen OW obey every single mandate—he never spoke a word outside of the gag order placed on him, he engaged in no other business, he never badmouthed or denigrated the corporation, and he never encouraged anyone else to do anything out of line either. In fact, he acted with dignity and class during what must have been a horrendous time.
So, if OW was going to sell juice, maybe I should keep an open mind. (Isn’t that what you all tell people when you show them the Amway plan?) And I did my research. On the juice, the company, the founders, the promoters, the competitors, and I found that the juice seemed to be a legitimate and beneficial product—everything it claimed to be.
I also found a pay plan that rewards people in such a fair and generous way, I was amazed! People at all levels—not just those at the top. I have seen former Founders Emerald IBOs make more in one week with MonaVie than they ever made in a month with Amway/Quixtar. And with a small fraction of their former team, mind you, and JUST ONE PRODUCT!!
There are those of you who think those of us who have joined MonaVie are just out to scam our teams for a quick buck. Yeah, right. That’s why we stuck with QSSR for so long.
And there are those of you who think that MonaVie is a flash in the pan and won’t be around very long because they only have one product. Let me think…didn’t Amway start with just one product? Wasn’t it LOC or something? And then they added a few more, but gosh, how long was it before they offered everything from soup to the kitchen sink?
The whole thing is a lot like politics—conservatives and liberals are both rabid about their own beliefs and think that the other side is just stupid. That is how I view those who think Amway is right to be suspicious about IBOs jumping ship to any other opportunity. The vast majority will ONLY jump ship if the other opportunity is better. And quite honestly, when a company charges high prices, pays very little in bonuses, reneges on incentive promises, slips in contract language making distributors virtual slaves, they have no right to wonder why anyone would look at other options.
There are those who insist I only quit because OW told me to quit. So sorry, but they are wrong. Unfortunately, OW would not talk to me about business as long as he was under the gag order imposed by an Amway-friendly judge. By the time the gag order was lifted, I had already quit.
I reluctantly waited out my six-months without joining any other MLM, although I resented it and believed it was unjust and illegal. Further more, I told NO ONE in my downline to quit; if asked, I told them to think hard about what was best for their own family and staying with Quixtar could be a viable option for them. I made it very clear that there was no other opportunity awaiting anyone.
All along, I hoped and prayed that OW and Team would come up with another business opportunity. But when I read about them going with MonaVie, my heart sank. I was NOT excited about selling juice, to put it mildly. I considered a lot of different options, not just other MLMs but things like getting a job, or starting a different kind of company. Juice was no where in my thoughts.
However, say what you will about OW. Over the past ten months, I have seen a multi-billion dollar corporation act like a schoolyard bully, twist facts, tell lies, and try to destroy the reputation of one of their brightest former IBOs. On the other hand, I have seen OW obey every single mandate—he never spoke a word outside of the gag order placed on him, he engaged in no other business, he never badmouthed or denigrated the corporation, and he never encouraged anyone else to do anything out of line either. In fact, he acted with dignity and class during what must have been a horrendous time.
So, if OW was going to sell juice, maybe I should keep an open mind. (Isn’t that what you all tell people when you show them the Amway plan?) And I did my research. On the juice, the company, the founders, the promoters, the competitors, and I found that the juice seemed to be a legitimate and beneficial product—everything it claimed to be.
I also found a pay plan that rewards people in such a fair and generous way, I was amazed! People at all levels—not just those at the top. I have seen former Founders Emerald IBOs make more in one week with MonaVie than they ever made in a month with Amway/Quixtar. And with a small fraction of their former team, mind you, and JUST ONE PRODUCT!!
There are those of you who think those of us who have joined MonaVie are just out to scam our teams for a quick buck. Yeah, right. That’s why we stuck with QSSR for so long.
And there are those of you who think that MonaVie is a flash in the pan and won’t be around very long because they only have one product. Let me think…didn’t Amway start with just one product? Wasn’t it LOC or something? And then they added a few more, but gosh, how long was it before they offered everything from soup to the kitchen sink?
The whole thing is a lot like politics—conservatives and liberals are both rabid about their own beliefs and think that the other side is just stupid. That is how I view those who think Amway is right to be suspicious about IBOs jumping ship to any other opportunity. The vast majority will ONLY jump ship if the other opportunity is better. And quite honestly, when a company charges high prices, pays very little in bonuses, reneges on incentive promises, slips in contract language making distributors virtual slaves, they have no right to wonder why anyone would look at other options.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Tales From Oz
There are some recent reports that some diamonds from Amway Australia resigned from Amway and joined MonaVie under Brig Hart. The story goes that prior to a scheduled incentive trip on a Mediterranean cruise, qualifiers were asked to sign declarations that neither they, they spouses, NOR THEIR CHILDREN were to join any other MLM. Refusal to sign meant no cruise.
In anger at Amway’s Soviet-style demands to maintain complete control over the lives of their distributors, a few decided the time had come to end their affiliations with Big Brother. Mr. IBOFightBack finds it hard to believe that these diamonds made the decision to join MonaVie in just a few short days; they must have been investigating the MonaVie opportunity for quite some time. Which of course is proof that Amway Australia had a legitimate reason for demanding the additional pledge of allegiance.
Of course those diamonds had been investigating other opportunities! And I’ll bet money they are not the only ones doing so. After the shenanigans at QSSR and Amway UK over the past year, anyone with half a brain would be stupid NOT to look at other options. (Mr. IBOFightBack?) If nothing else, it has become quite clear that no distributor, no matter how exalted by Amway or Quixtar, is safe from termination without warning or cause. Also clear is the fact that basic rights within a free society, like freedom of speech, freedom of association, and freedom to earn a living in any lawful way, are tossed aside and nullified once you sign the IBO Registration Form.
And we are surprised that some diamonds want to leave?
Make no mistake, at some point the blame will all go back to Orrin Woodward. The evil bad-boy that Amway-defenders love to hate. It’s all his fault. Again. He started it all way back when he insisted on building his Quixtar business by breaking all the rules using illegal techniques. He had the audacity to refuse to change his law-breaking ways and the corporation had no choice but to terminate him. Oh yeah, don’t forget he threatened to start his own MLM in competition with Amway/Quixtar. AND he filed that class-action lawsuit claiming Amway/Quixtar was an illegal pyramid.
That’s right, folks, it’s OW’s fault that poor Amway has to demand that each and every distributor the world over pledge their undying allegiance forever to the corporation; oh yeah, and the distributor’s families must pledge too. Who’s to say what horrible things might happen without those firm commitments to life-enslavement?
Amway/Quixtar has repeatedly alleged to courts around the country that OW convinced thousands of IBOs to quit their Quixtar businesses. If anyone would think this through (I know it’s tough for some of you), the idea that anyone, no matter how influential, could motivate others to leave a successful business is ridiculous.
For one, just the fact that many distributors did NOT quit is proof that people generally will stay with a known entity, no matter how bad, than to risk the unknown.
Two, Orrin Woodward, Chris Brady, and their wives were subject to a Restraining Order for 7-1/2 months that prevented them from communicating with anyone in their downlines about their reasons for leaving Quixtar and any other business opportunity. As far as I know, they abided by this gag order. I do not know anyone who received any kind of communication from any of them regarding whether or not to leave Quixtar, or about any possible future business. (And believe me, their were plenty of us who tried like mad to get some info.)
Three, don’t forget that Quixtar successfully subpoenaed the computers, cell phones, and hard copies of any and all communications OW had with all of the TEAM leaders and other former high-level and traitorous IBOs. To date, not a single damning piece of evidence has been found by Big Bro’s vulturous attorneys.
Four, in spite of Quixtar’s fears/hopes/allegations, neither OW nor TEAM had any backup business strategy planned and ready to go. No one had made any arrangements with any other existing MLM or had started any new MLM prior to big O’s separation from the Q.
(Unfortunately for QSSR, the Amway/Quixtar attorneys did not think to include in the distributor contract a prohibition against INVESTIGATING other opportunities. Although OW didn't announce he was going to represent MonaVie until his non-compete had expired, I am quite sure he investigated MV and other MLM’s prior to his announcement.)
Five, do you honestly believe that thousands of people who should have been happy with their Quixtar businesses would just abandon those businesses for … nothing? Remember, we are not just talking about those easily swayed, naïve IBOs that had been blinding following the sinister OW for years. We must include those people who had been in business with Amway for DECADES. Randy Haugen, Billy Florence, Chuck Goetschel, Don Wilson, et al literally abandoned their Quixtar businesses.
There are only a few possible reasons that the thousands of people who left made that decision:
1. OW is a master manipulator and successfully convinced, through mental telepathy perhaps, thousands and thousands of IBOs to leave their successful Quixtar businesses. Since no one actually heard him speak the words, and no one has produced any documented evidence that OW had direct communication with these people, these instructions could only have come through some type of other-worldly communications.
2. Mass hysteria. In the absence of communication from their leader, thousands upon thousands of previously happy IBOs decided to quit their successful businesses because it looked like everyone else was quitting. Might just have something here.
3. Or could it be that after years of frustration; after years of hoping the Quixtar/Amway management would improve its business model so that the opportunity would actually be viable for more than .00005% of those who joined; after receiving threatening and insulting emails and phone calls from a “professional” billion-dollar corporation; after seeing a fellow IBO terminated, denigrated, lied about, slandered, sued, sued again, vilified; after being told that the act of “auto-renewal” meant they gave up rights and freedoms to speak to friends and family, meet with friends and family, and pursue any other income opportunity; maybe people just quit in disgust? Hhmm.
Some have said these guys are vultures and jumped ship so they could take advantage of their downlines with another MLM get-rich-quick-scheme opportunity. Right. They had been with one MLM for twenty, thirty, even FORTY years, but always kept an eye out for that next chance to rip people off.
As hard as it was to believe the extent of the malfeasance displayed by the management of Quixtar/Amway towards the IBOs affiliated in any way with Team, it is harder still to believe that there are those who still defend the Amway/Quixtar actions.
I cannot comprehend anyone defending a non-compete clause surreptitiously added to the IBO “contract” and then enforced in this industry. The vast majority (should we say, more than 99%) of IBOs involved with Amway/Quixtar do modest volume. They may buy products for their personal use, they may have a customer or two, they may even sponsor a friend or two, but they are absolutely no threat to anyone should they decide to try something else.
In fact, NO ONE leaving would be a threat to anyone in Amway/Quixtar if the Amway/Quixtar business was fair and profitable for everyone.
In anger at Amway’s Soviet-style demands to maintain complete control over the lives of their distributors, a few decided the time had come to end their affiliations with Big Brother. Mr. IBOFightBack finds it hard to believe that these diamonds made the decision to join MonaVie in just a few short days; they must have been investigating the MonaVie opportunity for quite some time. Which of course is proof that Amway Australia had a legitimate reason for demanding the additional pledge of allegiance.
Of course those diamonds had been investigating other opportunities! And I’ll bet money they are not the only ones doing so. After the shenanigans at QSSR and Amway UK over the past year, anyone with half a brain would be stupid NOT to look at other options. (Mr. IBOFightBack?) If nothing else, it has become quite clear that no distributor, no matter how exalted by Amway or Quixtar, is safe from termination without warning or cause. Also clear is the fact that basic rights within a free society, like freedom of speech, freedom of association, and freedom to earn a living in any lawful way, are tossed aside and nullified once you sign the IBO Registration Form.
And we are surprised that some diamonds want to leave?
Make no mistake, at some point the blame will all go back to Orrin Woodward. The evil bad-boy that Amway-defenders love to hate. It’s all his fault. Again. He started it all way back when he insisted on building his Quixtar business by breaking all the rules using illegal techniques. He had the audacity to refuse to change his law-breaking ways and the corporation had no choice but to terminate him. Oh yeah, don’t forget he threatened to start his own MLM in competition with Amway/Quixtar. AND he filed that class-action lawsuit claiming Amway/Quixtar was an illegal pyramid.
That’s right, folks, it’s OW’s fault that poor Amway has to demand that each and every distributor the world over pledge their undying allegiance forever to the corporation; oh yeah, and the distributor’s families must pledge too. Who’s to say what horrible things might happen without those firm commitments to life-enslavement?
Amway/Quixtar has repeatedly alleged to courts around the country that OW convinced thousands of IBOs to quit their Quixtar businesses. If anyone would think this through (I know it’s tough for some of you), the idea that anyone, no matter how influential, could motivate others to leave a successful business is ridiculous.
For one, just the fact that many distributors did NOT quit is proof that people generally will stay with a known entity, no matter how bad, than to risk the unknown.
Two, Orrin Woodward, Chris Brady, and their wives were subject to a Restraining Order for 7-1/2 months that prevented them from communicating with anyone in their downlines about their reasons for leaving Quixtar and any other business opportunity. As far as I know, they abided by this gag order. I do not know anyone who received any kind of communication from any of them regarding whether or not to leave Quixtar, or about any possible future business. (And believe me, their were plenty of us who tried like mad to get some info.)
Three, don’t forget that Quixtar successfully subpoenaed the computers, cell phones, and hard copies of any and all communications OW had with all of the TEAM leaders and other former high-level and traitorous IBOs. To date, not a single damning piece of evidence has been found by Big Bro’s vulturous attorneys.
Four, in spite of Quixtar’s fears/hopes/allegations, neither OW nor TEAM had any backup business strategy planned and ready to go. No one had made any arrangements with any other existing MLM or had started any new MLM prior to big O’s separation from the Q.
(Unfortunately for QSSR, the Amway/Quixtar attorneys did not think to include in the distributor contract a prohibition against INVESTIGATING other opportunities. Although OW didn't announce he was going to represent MonaVie until his non-compete had expired, I am quite sure he investigated MV and other MLM’s prior to his announcement.)
Five, do you honestly believe that thousands of people who should have been happy with their Quixtar businesses would just abandon those businesses for … nothing? Remember, we are not just talking about those easily swayed, naïve IBOs that had been blinding following the sinister OW for years. We must include those people who had been in business with Amway for DECADES. Randy Haugen, Billy Florence, Chuck Goetschel, Don Wilson, et al literally abandoned their Quixtar businesses.
There are only a few possible reasons that the thousands of people who left made that decision:
1. OW is a master manipulator and successfully convinced, through mental telepathy perhaps, thousands and thousands of IBOs to leave their successful Quixtar businesses. Since no one actually heard him speak the words, and no one has produced any documented evidence that OW had direct communication with these people, these instructions could only have come through some type of other-worldly communications.
2. Mass hysteria. In the absence of communication from their leader, thousands upon thousands of previously happy IBOs decided to quit their successful businesses because it looked like everyone else was quitting. Might just have something here.
3. Or could it be that after years of frustration; after years of hoping the Quixtar/Amway management would improve its business model so that the opportunity would actually be viable for more than .00005% of those who joined; after receiving threatening and insulting emails and phone calls from a “professional” billion-dollar corporation; after seeing a fellow IBO terminated, denigrated, lied about, slandered, sued, sued again, vilified; after being told that the act of “auto-renewal” meant they gave up rights and freedoms to speak to friends and family, meet with friends and family, and pursue any other income opportunity; maybe people just quit in disgust? Hhmm.
Some have said these guys are vultures and jumped ship so they could take advantage of their downlines with another MLM get-rich-quick-scheme opportunity. Right. They had been with one MLM for twenty, thirty, even FORTY years, but always kept an eye out for that next chance to rip people off.
As hard as it was to believe the extent of the malfeasance displayed by the management of Quixtar/Amway towards the IBOs affiliated in any way with Team, it is harder still to believe that there are those who still defend the Amway/Quixtar actions.
I cannot comprehend anyone defending a non-compete clause surreptitiously added to the IBO “contract” and then enforced in this industry. The vast majority (should we say, more than 99%) of IBOs involved with Amway/Quixtar do modest volume. They may buy products for their personal use, they may have a customer or two, they may even sponsor a friend or two, but they are absolutely no threat to anyone should they decide to try something else.
In fact, NO ONE leaving would be a threat to anyone in Amway/Quixtar if the Amway/Quixtar business was fair and profitable for everyone.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth
From "Orrin Woodward MonaVie Leadership Team" found at orrinwoodward.blogharbor.com:
As I am out building my new MonaVie business, I am asked many questions about why 40% of the IBOAI Board made a stand against Amway/Quixtar and resigned from their business. I realized that many have never heard the full story. On August 9th, 2007 we decided to resign from Quixtar and Quixtar subsequently terminated us. On August 10 we were sued by Quixtar. The lawsuit put a restraining order on Chris Brady and myself (and our wives) that eventually became an injunction for over seven months. Seven months is a long time to not communicate about the future directions and plans for a leader, but I followed the law and did not violate my injunction. This left many questions unanswered and created an environment where rumors flew and many leaders mistakenly jumped at the latest rumor. I don’t blame the leaders as this was a completely new environment that had never happened before. The leaders had no direction and could not communicate with many of their mentors. I wish to share the facts from my side so that we can put closure on this portion of the story and focus on our future. I will repeat the questions that I have received and then answer each question. These answers will serve as closure and after this post I plan on focusing on my future enterprises and not continue to rehash the past. Leaders learn from the past, work in the present, and stay focused on their futures! Here are the questions.
1. What was the main reason for no longer being with Quixtar?
We challenged Quixtar and were terminated for doing so. The number one reason that I no longer could continue with Amway/Quixtar is their unwillingness to confront the big rocks that were preventing their North American business from growing. The Amway business hit 1 billion dollars in sales in 1980 and is lower than that today in 2008 even after inflation. By refusing to fix a broken business model, making promises without keeping them, replacing managers constantly, providing no vision and lastly changing the name back to Amway – I lost confidence in the capability and willingness of the Amway managers to fix the North American business. Boasting about sales in China, Korea and Russia is only a convenient way to not confront reality for a 28 year slump in North America.
I have never built the business for just my personal results and with the changes I saw in the new Amway transformation – I became convinced that we would be part of North American slump over the next 5 years. I still believe I live in the freest country in the world and did not feel I should be threatened to go into the new Amway against my will.
I did not have to have my own business and joining with MonaVie is more evidence that I would have gladly stayed with Quixtar if they would have fixed their business opportunity. Asking people to stay in a business that has not grown in 28 years and justify this action by slipping in non-competes against the wishes of the majority of the field IBO’s is unacceptable behavior in my opinion.
If you take the time to read my original letter to Doug Devos and my follow up letter to the IBOAI board, you will see that Product Value was the key concern. I don’t mind selling luxury cars as long as you provide a value story for me to explain why they are paying more for the car. If they can buy water for a buck everywhere else then someone would need to explain why they should buy water from me exclusively for 2 bucks. If there is a value story that explains the higher cost then I am happy. Repeatedly I asked Doug and the Board for value based products. The interesting point is that in the UK, Amway was able to lower the prices of their product by 2/3’s and still make money. What kind of margins do you think the founding families were making if they can lower the price 66% and still make money? This only proves they were not providing value based products. Value = Worth/Cost. To have a good value story you either raise the worth by providing feature/functions/benefits or lower the cost by reducing the sales price. Amway/Quixtar did neither and the First Circles getting started suffered the consequences of Amway’s lack of leadership.
By reading the letters, you will see that I offered to reduce my bonuses either in the Quixtar plan or by reducing the tool prices to help the First Circle. Amway refused every suggestion in my Doug Devos and IBOAI letters and I (and others) became a Pariah for daring to question 28 years of no growth. In MonaVie, we have been able to help the new people (First Circle) grow fast and make money. We also have been able to lower the cost of the tools since we can make money from the marketing plan. By my calculations, the performers in MonaVie make between 3 to 6 times more for less work. I did not demand Quixtar be the Wal-mart of the internet, but I did ask them to have a workable business model so we could grow to 1 million people. Over dinner, Jim Payne (Quixtar Managing Director and Amway VP) told me directly that he did not want us to build a million people team. This was devastating to my long-term goal and dream. This is the same Jim Payne who later told me that we were paying too much money to Team affiliated leaders in our profit sharing plan. I can only assume that Amway/Quixtar was embarrassed by its own deficient pay plan. I told Jim that Laurie and I had come too far to give up on making a difference in the lives of a million people. He said that I would have to change my goal and settle for less. I am not a settle for person and decided I must reach the families to talk directly to them and see if they felt the same way. I believe strongly in loyalty, but not to the point of killing my whole team.
When Amway did not produce even 10-15 value based products and instead announced they were going back to Amway – I knew the end was near. The Board did an emergency meeting (the first time in nearly 50 years) to discuss our concerns with the Amway change. Amway refused to discuss the concerns and plowed ahead with their initiative assuming that if they showed up to the meeting that they placed a check mark in the “We heard you” column. Isn’t it interesting that the types of changes that we had been asking for in the United States were forced upon Amway in the UK?
We came in on August 9th with the best plan that legal counsel provided us to reach a settlement. We genuinely desired to walk away peacefully and have our initial proposal to prove it. Quixtar lawyers were the ones who blew past our standstill agreement, did not even counter offer our proposal and “fired” us after we had told them we were resigning. Amway/Quixtar is the one who announced to the world that we had started a competing business even though they knew we hadn’t. I told them on August 9th that we hadn’t and wouldn’t do anything until we had reached a settlement with them. To this day I am confused on why they would do such a thing.
2. Why did you choose MonaVie since this is not a Wal-mart strategy pricing plan?
MonaVie has one of the best value stories on the market. The word of mouth marketing on users of MonaVie is incredible. I have given a bottle to numerous individuals and explained some of the benefits. After they use the product for a week they typically become the biggest advocates of the MonaVie product. Wal-mart has 93% of Americans shopping at its stores in a given year. In order to accomplish the value proposition that Wal-mart has we would need to reach our first goal of 1 million. My goal has never changed. I wanted to reach 1 million people and then see what type of value propositions we could do with a 1 million people community. Amway/Quixtar fired themselves by stating they did not want the vision we had chased for years. Laurie and I had even promoted a Wal-mart of the internet model on their 2003 Quixtar Live stage! I did not change my goal, but Quixtar changed theirs and told us they no longer wanted our vision. Not only did they do this, but they said you are not free to leave without being sued. I refuse to be bullied by anyone and their threat only made me more committed to never represent their company again!
3. Why didn’t you just start your own MLM and do the Wal-Mart model?
I did not start nor team up with any other MLM to start the Wal-mart of the internet because we are not even close to the numbers necessary to pull off this model. We must grow our numbers and that is why August 9th happened. Amway was not interested in me growing numbers and talking about a model that they had rejected. I have found a home in MonaVie where I am free to pursue my million people goal. In the process of doing this, I am keeping my eyes on the future and have teamed up with a visionary leader in Dallin Larsen who will help me accomplish our vision. A million people goal has been and is the first objective. Quixtar asked me to settle for less than a million people so I had to fire them as my partner even if it meant millions of dollars in legal bills. I made a commitment to too many people with Quixtar’s knowledge and assent to change the deal on them. Wal-mart took 30 years to develop the buying power to achieve their current success. The best leaders and the best companies have long-term goals, but they know that decades are involved in the accomplishment of these goals. I think some of our leaders were so excited about the goal that they forgot the long-term aspects of it. If this goal excites you then build in the present so we can get the numbers capable of achieving it! I strongly believe that Dallin is a partner with the vision to help the MonaVie Team achieve a million people goal. I know the landscape on our future will look different when we have accomplished our million people goal.
4. Why didn’t Team just stay leadership only and not join any MLM?
The Team never intended to be a stand alone general leadership-only business. We were limited to that role during our non-compete and followed all the rules even though we vehemently disagreed with them. I was a consultant in the past and know better than most people the difficulties associated with being a leadership consultant to Corporate America. The Team will provide a CD series (LLR) that will be general leadership for anyone wishing to learn leadership techniques in any field. But our main focus will be in building communities and Having Fun, Making Money and Making a Difference. My desire was not to own my own MLM. I can take that or leave it. My desire is to provide an environment and an opportunity for people to learn, grow and apply leadership to a specific business and fulfill their leadership potential. I am and will remain a community builder on my way to one million people. John Maxwell states, “A dog who chases two rabbits catches none.”
5. What does the future hold for you and the MonaVie Team community?
I dream of building a group of people who love one another, serve one another, edify one another, and celebrate one another’s success. I believe that society has lost a sense of community and that the MonaVie Team can play a major part in bring community back to the forefront. I believe by leading with a great product that we extend our arms wide open to bring nearly anyone into the business. When we get them in the business then we can work with them and expose them to the best leadership training out there. Many more people will listen to CD’s and learn principles of finances, leadership, parenting, faith, people skills, etc. if we are signing up 8 times as many people as previously. The future is on to a million people and continuing the virtuous cycle that has already started. The tool price has dropped 33% and can go down further as we grow numbers, serve people, and teach others how to lead through our MonaVie Team leadership training.
6. What if I don’t agree with the direction of your vision?
Laurie and I have never, nor ever will hold people against their will in our businesses. If you are not happy and feel you can lead better - I encourage you to develop your own life plan. I will not bad mouth you or try to throw obstacles in your way. I believe in a person’s right to freedom and will be proud of your success even if it means you need to go elsewhere to accomplish it. My lifetime goal has always been to provide the right information to help enhance people’s lives. I love what I do and am proud to be in the MonaVie Team where I have partners to help me achieve my long-term dream.
I have shared the questions and answered them openly and honestly. I wish I could have shared this much earlier. I will close with one of my favorite sayings - the late Michigan coach Bo Schembechler had a sign above his office door that read, “Those who stay will be champions.” Bo knew that achievement in any field takes sweat equity, setbacks, focus, and discipline. He also knew if the freshman stuck with his plan that he would produce champions on and off the field.
Laurie and I have proven our commitment to this cause and with God’s grace will advance this dream to make a difference in people’s lives. We will also refine our leadership training to prepare the next generation of leaders to increase the scope of influence to the world. I believe the same as Bo - Those who stay will be champions. God Bless, Orrin Woodward
As I am out building my new MonaVie business, I am asked many questions about why 40% of the IBOAI Board made a stand against Amway/Quixtar and resigned from their business. I realized that many have never heard the full story. On August 9th, 2007 we decided to resign from Quixtar and Quixtar subsequently terminated us. On August 10 we were sued by Quixtar. The lawsuit put a restraining order on Chris Brady and myself (and our wives) that eventually became an injunction for over seven months. Seven months is a long time to not communicate about the future directions and plans for a leader, but I followed the law and did not violate my injunction. This left many questions unanswered and created an environment where rumors flew and many leaders mistakenly jumped at the latest rumor. I don’t blame the leaders as this was a completely new environment that had never happened before. The leaders had no direction and could not communicate with many of their mentors. I wish to share the facts from my side so that we can put closure on this portion of the story and focus on our future. I will repeat the questions that I have received and then answer each question. These answers will serve as closure and after this post I plan on focusing on my future enterprises and not continue to rehash the past. Leaders learn from the past, work in the present, and stay focused on their futures! Here are the questions.
1. What was the main reason for no longer being with Quixtar?
We challenged Quixtar and were terminated for doing so. The number one reason that I no longer could continue with Amway/Quixtar is their unwillingness to confront the big rocks that were preventing their North American business from growing. The Amway business hit 1 billion dollars in sales in 1980 and is lower than that today in 2008 even after inflation. By refusing to fix a broken business model, making promises without keeping them, replacing managers constantly, providing no vision and lastly changing the name back to Amway – I lost confidence in the capability and willingness of the Amway managers to fix the North American business. Boasting about sales in China, Korea and Russia is only a convenient way to not confront reality for a 28 year slump in North America.
I have never built the business for just my personal results and with the changes I saw in the new Amway transformation – I became convinced that we would be part of North American slump over the next 5 years. I still believe I live in the freest country in the world and did not feel I should be threatened to go into the new Amway against my will.
I did not have to have my own business and joining with MonaVie is more evidence that I would have gladly stayed with Quixtar if they would have fixed their business opportunity. Asking people to stay in a business that has not grown in 28 years and justify this action by slipping in non-competes against the wishes of the majority of the field IBO’s is unacceptable behavior in my opinion.
If you take the time to read my original letter to Doug Devos and my follow up letter to the IBOAI board, you will see that Product Value was the key concern. I don’t mind selling luxury cars as long as you provide a value story for me to explain why they are paying more for the car. If they can buy water for a buck everywhere else then someone would need to explain why they should buy water from me exclusively for 2 bucks. If there is a value story that explains the higher cost then I am happy. Repeatedly I asked Doug and the Board for value based products. The interesting point is that in the UK, Amway was able to lower the prices of their product by 2/3’s and still make money. What kind of margins do you think the founding families were making if they can lower the price 66% and still make money? This only proves they were not providing value based products. Value = Worth/Cost. To have a good value story you either raise the worth by providing feature/functions/benefits or lower the cost by reducing the sales price. Amway/Quixtar did neither and the First Circles getting started suffered the consequences of Amway’s lack of leadership.
By reading the letters, you will see that I offered to reduce my bonuses either in the Quixtar plan or by reducing the tool prices to help the First Circle. Amway refused every suggestion in my Doug Devos and IBOAI letters and I (and others) became a Pariah for daring to question 28 years of no growth. In MonaVie, we have been able to help the new people (First Circle) grow fast and make money. We also have been able to lower the cost of the tools since we can make money from the marketing plan. By my calculations, the performers in MonaVie make between 3 to 6 times more for less work. I did not demand Quixtar be the Wal-mart of the internet, but I did ask them to have a workable business model so we could grow to 1 million people. Over dinner, Jim Payne (Quixtar Managing Director and Amway VP) told me directly that he did not want us to build a million people team. This was devastating to my long-term goal and dream. This is the same Jim Payne who later told me that we were paying too much money to Team affiliated leaders in our profit sharing plan. I can only assume that Amway/Quixtar was embarrassed by its own deficient pay plan. I told Jim that Laurie and I had come too far to give up on making a difference in the lives of a million people. He said that I would have to change my goal and settle for less. I am not a settle for person and decided I must reach the families to talk directly to them and see if they felt the same way. I believe strongly in loyalty, but not to the point of killing my whole team.
When Amway did not produce even 10-15 value based products and instead announced they were going back to Amway – I knew the end was near. The Board did an emergency meeting (the first time in nearly 50 years) to discuss our concerns with the Amway change. Amway refused to discuss the concerns and plowed ahead with their initiative assuming that if they showed up to the meeting that they placed a check mark in the “We heard you” column. Isn’t it interesting that the types of changes that we had been asking for in the United States were forced upon Amway in the UK?
We came in on August 9th with the best plan that legal counsel provided us to reach a settlement. We genuinely desired to walk away peacefully and have our initial proposal to prove it. Quixtar lawyers were the ones who blew past our standstill agreement, did not even counter offer our proposal and “fired” us after we had told them we were resigning. Amway/Quixtar is the one who announced to the world that we had started a competing business even though they knew we hadn’t. I told them on August 9th that we hadn’t and wouldn’t do anything until we had reached a settlement with them. To this day I am confused on why they would do such a thing.
2. Why did you choose MonaVie since this is not a Wal-mart strategy pricing plan?
MonaVie has one of the best value stories on the market. The word of mouth marketing on users of MonaVie is incredible. I have given a bottle to numerous individuals and explained some of the benefits. After they use the product for a week they typically become the biggest advocates of the MonaVie product. Wal-mart has 93% of Americans shopping at its stores in a given year. In order to accomplish the value proposition that Wal-mart has we would need to reach our first goal of 1 million. My goal has never changed. I wanted to reach 1 million people and then see what type of value propositions we could do with a 1 million people community. Amway/Quixtar fired themselves by stating they did not want the vision we had chased for years. Laurie and I had even promoted a Wal-mart of the internet model on their 2003 Quixtar Live stage! I did not change my goal, but Quixtar changed theirs and told us they no longer wanted our vision. Not only did they do this, but they said you are not free to leave without being sued. I refuse to be bullied by anyone and their threat only made me more committed to never represent their company again!
3. Why didn’t you just start your own MLM and do the Wal-Mart model?
I did not start nor team up with any other MLM to start the Wal-mart of the internet because we are not even close to the numbers necessary to pull off this model. We must grow our numbers and that is why August 9th happened. Amway was not interested in me growing numbers and talking about a model that they had rejected. I have found a home in MonaVie where I am free to pursue my million people goal. In the process of doing this, I am keeping my eyes on the future and have teamed up with a visionary leader in Dallin Larsen who will help me accomplish our vision. A million people goal has been and is the first objective. Quixtar asked me to settle for less than a million people so I had to fire them as my partner even if it meant millions of dollars in legal bills. I made a commitment to too many people with Quixtar’s knowledge and assent to change the deal on them. Wal-mart took 30 years to develop the buying power to achieve their current success. The best leaders and the best companies have long-term goals, but they know that decades are involved in the accomplishment of these goals. I think some of our leaders were so excited about the goal that they forgot the long-term aspects of it. If this goal excites you then build in the present so we can get the numbers capable of achieving it! I strongly believe that Dallin is a partner with the vision to help the MonaVie Team achieve a million people goal. I know the landscape on our future will look different when we have accomplished our million people goal.
4. Why didn’t Team just stay leadership only and not join any MLM?
The Team never intended to be a stand alone general leadership-only business. We were limited to that role during our non-compete and followed all the rules even though we vehemently disagreed with them. I was a consultant in the past and know better than most people the difficulties associated with being a leadership consultant to Corporate America. The Team will provide a CD series (LLR) that will be general leadership for anyone wishing to learn leadership techniques in any field. But our main focus will be in building communities and Having Fun, Making Money and Making a Difference. My desire was not to own my own MLM. I can take that or leave it. My desire is to provide an environment and an opportunity for people to learn, grow and apply leadership to a specific business and fulfill their leadership potential. I am and will remain a community builder on my way to one million people. John Maxwell states, “A dog who chases two rabbits catches none.”
5. What does the future hold for you and the MonaVie Team community?
I dream of building a group of people who love one another, serve one another, edify one another, and celebrate one another’s success. I believe that society has lost a sense of community and that the MonaVie Team can play a major part in bring community back to the forefront. I believe by leading with a great product that we extend our arms wide open to bring nearly anyone into the business. When we get them in the business then we can work with them and expose them to the best leadership training out there. Many more people will listen to CD’s and learn principles of finances, leadership, parenting, faith, people skills, etc. if we are signing up 8 times as many people as previously. The future is on to a million people and continuing the virtuous cycle that has already started. The tool price has dropped 33% and can go down further as we grow numbers, serve people, and teach others how to lead through our MonaVie Team leadership training.
6. What if I don’t agree with the direction of your vision?
Laurie and I have never, nor ever will hold people against their will in our businesses. If you are not happy and feel you can lead better - I encourage you to develop your own life plan. I will not bad mouth you or try to throw obstacles in your way. I believe in a person’s right to freedom and will be proud of your success even if it means you need to go elsewhere to accomplish it. My lifetime goal has always been to provide the right information to help enhance people’s lives. I love what I do and am proud to be in the MonaVie Team where I have partners to help me achieve my long-term dream.
I have shared the questions and answered them openly and honestly. I wish I could have shared this much earlier. I will close with one of my favorite sayings - the late Michigan coach Bo Schembechler had a sign above his office door that read, “Those who stay will be champions.” Bo knew that achievement in any field takes sweat equity, setbacks, focus, and discipline. He also knew if the freshman stuck with his plan that he would produce champions on and off the field.
Laurie and I have proven our commitment to this cause and with God’s grace will advance this dream to make a difference in people’s lives. We will also refine our leadership training to prepare the next generation of leaders to increase the scope of influence to the world. I believe the same as Bo - Those who stay will be champions. God Bless, Orrin Woodward
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Rumors, Hearsay, and Popular Opinion
Well dear readers, I must apologize. I have been remiss in my correspondence; it has been quite some time since we’ve talked. But…there has not been much to talk about, at least in the way of QSSR. All I have to share are rumors and innuendo, which, while none can be proven, are certainly quite fun to chuckle over.
Rumor 1: QSSR is going after Sister Sam with a vengeance we hear. Somehow, I would not be surprised. At this point, they are desperately trying to determine her true identity—can anyone guess what they will do with it when it is discovered?
Rumor 2: New MonaVie distributors are making gobs of money—way, way more than these same people made as QSSR “IBOs.” What is really tickling about this information is that many of the folks who made the leap have MonaVie group sizes that are less than 1/10th the size they had with QSSR. In one case that I can verify, the group size is less than 1/20th the former group, yet the leader made more in his fifth week with MonaVie than he EVER made with QSSR in a month. Let the good times roll.
Rumor 3: Oh this one is too, too fun. Sister Sam heard that when one former QSSR IBO returned some XS cans to the QSSR warehouse, where by Michigan law the original seller is obligated to refund the can deposits, those same cans were promptly shipped back to his home. In MonaVie boxes!
Now, I can’t verify that one. But it is delicious, isn’t it? I mean, can anyone really doubt that the once proud bastion of free enterprise would stoop to such lows?
Let’s see. I’m one of the largest privately owned companies in the world. I like my business plan, and I don’t want to change it. (Or I do want to change it, but in such a way that it will severely damage my customers and distributors. Either way, same thing.) Some distributors tell me they can’t live with this business plan and want to leave peacefully. I could do one of two things:
I could be gracious, wish them luck, and then look to my own business methods to find ways to improve my model to make it more attractive for the people who have invested years of their lives representing my products. Or…
I could litigate, slander, harass, and bully anyone who disagrees with my ideas. I am this wealthy and successful because I am brilliant and never wrong! (Or was that my dad?) Anyone who disagrees should be punished. And punished. And punished some more. I will go in to every court in the country if need be to find a judge somewhere who can be bought...er, I mean who will listen to reason. And I will instruct my employees to use big bully meanie tactics against anyone who dared turn their back on me. I will spend millions if I have to…
These comments, like all of Sister’s comments, are strictly opinion. Any resemblance to fact is purely coincidental.
Rumor 1: QSSR is going after Sister Sam with a vengeance we hear. Somehow, I would not be surprised. At this point, they are desperately trying to determine her true identity—can anyone guess what they will do with it when it is discovered?
Rumor 2: New MonaVie distributors are making gobs of money—way, way more than these same people made as QSSR “IBOs.” What is really tickling about this information is that many of the folks who made the leap have MonaVie group sizes that are less than 1/10th the size they had with QSSR. In one case that I can verify, the group size is less than 1/20th the former group, yet the leader made more in his fifth week with MonaVie than he EVER made with QSSR in a month. Let the good times roll.
Rumor 3: Oh this one is too, too fun. Sister Sam heard that when one former QSSR IBO returned some XS cans to the QSSR warehouse, where by Michigan law the original seller is obligated to refund the can deposits, those same cans were promptly shipped back to his home. In MonaVie boxes!
Now, I can’t verify that one. But it is delicious, isn’t it? I mean, can anyone really doubt that the once proud bastion of free enterprise would stoop to such lows?
Let’s see. I’m one of the largest privately owned companies in the world. I like my business plan, and I don’t want to change it. (Or I do want to change it, but in such a way that it will severely damage my customers and distributors. Either way, same thing.) Some distributors tell me they can’t live with this business plan and want to leave peacefully. I could do one of two things:
I could be gracious, wish them luck, and then look to my own business methods to find ways to improve my model to make it more attractive for the people who have invested years of their lives representing my products. Or…
I could litigate, slander, harass, and bully anyone who disagrees with my ideas. I am this wealthy and successful because I am brilliant and never wrong! (Or was that my dad?) Anyone who disagrees should be punished. And punished. And punished some more. I will go in to every court in the country if need be to find a judge somewhere who can be bought...er, I mean who will listen to reason. And I will instruct my employees to use big bully meanie tactics against anyone who dared turn their back on me. I will spend millions if I have to…
These comments, like all of Sister’s comments, are strictly opinion. Any resemblance to fact is purely coincidental.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Too Much Time?
Something that Amway/Quixtar surely did not anticipate with the implementation of the non-compete clause is the amount of free time some of us now have available. When moral and motivated leaders see injustices perpetrated on masses of unwary people, and when these same leaders have been unfairly forced to bide their time, trouble is sure to follow.
Trouble for the perpetrators of injustice, that is. You see, you don't have to be overly bright to realize that, if given enough time, good ideas will occur to even the slowest of us.
Last September I dutifully wrote to the FTC. Surprise!! I was told my issues with Amway/Quixtar were legal matters and should be handled in court. (The FTC is run by a Bush appointee, and President Bush has received substantial contributions from...you know who.)
I earnestly wrote to the attorney general, and guess what? Same response. Same situation.
I pluckily wrote to the Direct Selling Association. I don't even have to tell you the result.
I contacted my own federal, state, and local representatives. Much as they may personally dislike a certain family, as Michigan Republicans they CANNOT publically denounce the donors of millions of dollars.
So where does that leave us?
Let's go to those who have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Look out, Quixtar.
Trouble for the perpetrators of injustice, that is. You see, you don't have to be overly bright to realize that, if given enough time, good ideas will occur to even the slowest of us.
Last September I dutifully wrote to the FTC. Surprise!! I was told my issues with Amway/Quixtar were legal matters and should be handled in court. (The FTC is run by a Bush appointee, and President Bush has received substantial contributions from...you know who.)
I earnestly wrote to the attorney general, and guess what? Same response. Same situation.
I pluckily wrote to the Direct Selling Association. I don't even have to tell you the result.
I contacted my own federal, state, and local representatives. Much as they may personally dislike a certain family, as Michigan Republicans they CANNOT publically denounce the donors of millions of dollars.
So where does that leave us?
Let's go to those who have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Look out, Quixtar.
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