| Author |
Message |
Kds (Kds)
Junior Member
Username: Kds
Post Number: 202
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 24, 2003 - 10:32 am: | |
Matt...
I agree... |
Matt (Matt_lamotte)
Member
Username: Matt_lamotte
Post Number: 586
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 24, 2003 - 10:13 am: | |
KDS,
O I have several of the change your life speeches on tape. Sad thing is they make sense but you can apply them to anything..not just Quixstar. You really can't knock the originators of this whole thing. What's sad is Joe Schmoe traveling all over on hardly any money straining himself and probably his family to keep his LIFELINES (sad term in itself) up and motivated. Anything that requires a pep rally that is basically required to be "in" I'll pass on. |
Kds (Kds)
Junior Member
Username: Kds
Post Number: 201
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 24, 2003 - 10:08 am: | |
Matt.....
It was fun when they'd approach me on occasion, because I'd let them lead me along with the dog and pony show and then start to question them with the hard stuff.....the response was always "I'd better have you talk with someone from my upline" (read "handler") because they were not programmed to answer the difficult questions. In fact, I doubt that they even asked these themselves when they started.
The majority of the ringleaders made their money from the system, all the motivational books/tapes...etc, they'd insist you buy if you were to be successful.....no one makes the serious money off the overpriced products.
Those 3 sites that Joe posted are just the best of about a dozen online that make fabulous reading if you are interested and have some time to kill.
Fascinating stuff. |
Matt (Matt_lamotte)
Member
Username: Matt_lamotte
Post Number: 568
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 24, 2003 - 8:25 am: | |
KDS, LMAO!!!
I too have a very close friend that was "hypnotized". All I heard for months was how easy it was. Finally me and several friends decided to give him a chance. My friend had a guy who I have to admit is very high up in the chain of Quickstar or however you spell it come over and do a presentation. I have to give the man total credit at making money with it and he had achieved a great amount of money. However I am quick to catch a conartist and this man preyed on your dreams. He made it seem like it was so simple and in a few months "I'd be making at least six figures"! Now I am not saying this is impossible but what I didn't like is how it is made possible. The whole cult feel with the conventions and "lifelines" and chains and such made these people almost....well zombie like. I do want a Ferrari but that just isn't how I want to make my money. Maybe I was making a mistake but for some reason I don't regret not continuing with it. After the meeting we had everyone got to check out the guys brand new Lexus...hmmmmmm. |
Ernie (Ernie)
Member
Username: Ernie
Post Number: 805
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 24, 2003 - 7:19 am: | |
Well fellas I have two veiws on this. One good and one bad. I'll start with the bad one. A neighbor of mine introduced me to AMWAY about 15 years ago. I tried it and man I didn't like it at all. I never wanted to hear from these guys ever again. Then about 10 years after the first time, a former boss of mine wanted me to check it out again. I was in no way goin to look at it again after my first bad experiance. But after he kept bugging, I went just to shut him up. Well this time it was way different. It made sence. What I found out was that there are different groups opperating with in the organization, and they have different ways of doing business. Well I got involved again but then dropped out. I left not because it was a scam, but because I had too many things on my plate, and I wasn't able to put in the amount of time nessesary to be successful. However I had the opportunity to talk and hang out with many of the top dogs in the business. I can tell you first hand that some of these guys make huges amounts of money. A few of the guys I got to chat with make seven and eight figures, every year. But here is the catch. You have to bust your butt for a few years with out seeing much income. That is were I found people get pissed. Not because the business doesn't work, but because they thought it was gonna be a free meal ticket. The thing is that Amway/Quixtar is a business, and if you wanna have a business you need to dedicate alot of time to it just like anything else. As far as the cult thing goes. Yeah I can see how people get that impression. Anyway if you wanna work the business and work it hard you will be successful. But if you go in thinking that you are gonna make loads of money right away with little work, prepair to be dissapointed and to get pissed off. Getting back to the cult thing. Well how I can see this is because alot of the guys are very religious. They talk about it quit a bit. Some people don't believe the same way that they do don't like having religion being talked about. What is really funny is that my neighbor who introduced me the first time, left because his people where talking to him about religion and he is a secular type person. My take on the whole thing is, if you want it to work it will, if you don't it won't. As Ripley said "Believe it or Not". |
Joe (Jts)
Junior Member
Username: Jts
Post Number: 81
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, September 20, 2003 - 2:21 pm: | |
Warren, Kds,
Very true. The Internet has really helped educate people as to the behind-the-scenes shenanigans that go on with Amway and other MLMs. If you want some very illuminating reading, check out these three sites:
http://www.amquix.50megs.com/amway.html
http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Amway/
http://www.getfacts.com/amway/
I wish I had known about these sites when I was approached - would have saved me a lot of stress and aggravation. |
Kds (Kds)
Junior Member
Username: Kds
Post Number: 195
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, September 20, 2003 - 1:54 pm: | |
Warren.....
110% truthfull.........and there's more.....believe me. It seems that MLM'ers in dealerships has really died off in the last 3 years or so, because of the internet and the ability of the real story to be told....but from 89 to about 2000 we'd get these guys 3-4 times a year after conventions....and quite often they'd come in individually...trying to prospect me and my salespeople to join their groups. That pissed me off more than anything.
While I personally don't go out of my way to make fun of a particular group of people on public BB's this story had to be told. At least those who posted here were able to recognize what they were seeing and hearing and they never went any further. |
Warren L. (Warren)
Member
Username: Warren
Post Number: 272
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Friday, September 19, 2003 - 3:11 pm: | |
kds,
are you telling the truth? That's one sick but hilarious story!! That's a story you take with you forever. |
Kds (Kds)
Junior Member
Username: Kds
Post Number: 194
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Friday, September 19, 2003 - 2:58 pm: | |
Warren....
Joe beat me to it.
Having motivation and inspiration is one thing and I am not condemning that....but watching these guys prance around the cars and talking trash was just too much....especially since you knew that none of them could pull it off.
Funny story......
1996...Hyatt Mercedes-Benz at the base of the Calgary Tower....an Amway convention had just finished across the street at the Marriot Hotel.
These guys came swarming out...no doubt fully pumped up by their ring leaders.....saw the "star" logo and came over in droves. When we realized what we were in for, we locked the doors to the showroom and went for coffee.
If you have ever seen the famous zombie movie "Night of the Living Dead" you'll know what happened next. Swarms of WalMart suited Ambots, noses pressed against the glass, pulling on the doors of the locked showroom. Gawd...it's still funny to this day when I think about it.
Sad........but true......... |
Tyler (Bahiaau)
Intermediate Member
Username: Bahiaau
Post Number: 1031
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Friday, September 19, 2003 - 1:06 pm: | |
Yikes, there are a lot of crazy people out there. I agree some of these people can be dynamic as hell. I have a relative who has been doing Amway for as long as I can remeber. He is one of the few successful ones. He drives nice cars, lives in a 7-figure house and makes well over 7-figures from his work. He makes his money by having one hell of a big "downline". You can be successful at this type of thing but it has a cost. His cost was alienation from his orininal group of friends, his family, and anyone else that gave a damn about him before. Way to costly for me to get involved in. |
Joe (Jts)
Junior Member
Username: Jts
Post Number: 78
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Friday, September 19, 2003 - 12:01 pm: | |
Warren,
Part of the ritualistic behaviour is to have pictures of nice cars, boats, homes etc. on the fridge - necessary visualization tools for when they inevitably realize they're actually losing money in order to be part of the MLM. So I guess going to a high end dealership and saying they'll be back in two years (when they "go Diamond") is part of the deal.
Next stop: big vats of Kool-Aid in the jungle.
P.S. Even when I finally directly asked, "Is this Amway?", they dodged the question and said that Amway is just one of the tools that they use. |
Warren L. (Warren)
Member
Username: Warren
Post Number: 271
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Friday, September 19, 2003 - 10:53 am: | |
Kds,
is it part of their program to go to the dealership selling their dream car? Why would you get so many in your dealership? |
Kds (Kds)
Junior Member
Username: Kds
Post Number: 193
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Friday, September 19, 2003 - 10:50 am: | |
In 16 years of selling high end cars, I HAVE NEVER sold anything, to anyone, involved in any MLM scheme....NEVER.
We'd get boatloads of these "ambots" in our showrooms...all promising us they'd be back buying one in 2 years.
I'm still waiting.
|
Warren L. (Warren)
Member
Username: Warren
Post Number: 270
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Friday, September 19, 2003 - 10:06 am: | |
Yeah from what I've read its a scam I think because in the end the products you buy are overpriced, the seminars are expensive, and its really difficult to make a lot of money. You have to recruit a lot of people and they in turn have to buy a lot. Basically if you do make a lot of money then its by making other people spend a lot of money and its also making Mr. Quixtar aka Orlando Magic owner aka Amway co owner, very very very rich. And how would you like to see every single person you meet as a potential mark. It's very similar to a cult. It makes me sad to think about, all this talent, motivation and fervor... if they really thought about it, they could make so much more putting that passion into something else. And finally, they lie to get new recruits. What do you think about a company that turns their followers into liars?
But damn, these guys are talented. SO much talent. The way they evade questions and turn them around... its truly an art. |
Kenny Herman (Kennyh)
Intermediate Member
Username: Kennyh
Post Number: 1219
Registered: 8-2001
| | Posted on Friday, September 19, 2003 - 9:33 am: | |
Warren,
My RA here at college persuaded me to come to his "private franchising" meeting to make some good side money- ended up being Quixtar. What did you think of it? Sounds like the same pyramid schemes I've heard about over the net..
Great speaker though, hard not to sign up on the spot. |
Joe (Jts)
Junior Member
Username: Jts
Post Number: 76
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Friday, September 19, 2003 - 9:30 am: | |
It is indeed strange how they can suck you in - I am a very cynical, doubting person, yet when a friend of mine (ex-friend now) took me to one of his Amway meetings (without telling me it was Amway), I actually thought it seemed like a good idea for a couple of weeks. I was listening to tapes and meeting his group etc. and then suddenly (thankfully) I realized that the whole thing was a trap - I was being invited to join a lifestyle where every single person that you meet is a potential mark/recruit. I am so glad that I bailed before I even got started, and to this day (this was four years ago) I can't believe that I actually thought about it for a couple of weeks. |
John (Cohiba_man)
Member
Username: Cohiba_man
Post Number: 271
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Friday, September 19, 2003 - 9:11 am: | |
Yeah, I got tricked into going to a Primerica meeting (under the guise of a free financial freedome seminar)and ended up coming back to 6 more because he told me he wanted me to be immersed in the culture and become part of the team, I almost considered joining despite the fact that I made more than the top producer's annual income every month, I still felt like it was a good financial opportunity...crazy. |
Joe (Jts)
Junior Member
Username: Jts
Post Number: 71
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Friday, September 19, 2003 - 8:30 am: | |
Isn't it just Amway under a new guise? i.e., same scam, different name? |
Warren L. (Warren)
Member
Username: Warren
Post Number: 267
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Friday, September 19, 2003 - 8:22 am: | |
All,
I'm obsessed with this company called Quixtar. Someone got me to go to one of their meetings. He actually tricked me into going but it was, I have to say, pretty damn amazing. The speaker was dynamic.
I learned so much about speaking technique, leading the audience, and how easy it is to persuade a general audience. These people were brain washed. It was an experience. Don't any of you fall for the false promises given by this company but I recommend attending the meetings just to learn from the experience. It was awesome, almost made me want to be a lamb going in for the slaughter.
p.s. if anyone is a quixtar member I do not mean any offense, I'm sure there is money to be made in it some way or another. |