Robert
Nope,#2Consumer Suggestion
Wed, June 25, 2008
This is a true statement. 95% of those who stay in MLM for YEARS make a profit. The Problem is this: Only .01% of people invovled in Amway/Quixtar actually make a profit. The rest LOSE money. so... Take that statistic for what it's worth... 95% of .01% become wealthy... 4% of .01% make a profit, and everyone else... loses money. Sounds like a Fair deal... As for Managment in Retail being a Pyramid Scheme.... As an upper level manager, you don't SOULY make your profit by bringing new managers on board. You build up a store, then you need someone to manage what you've built so you can build more. Apples to Oranges. (Statistics taken from http://www.mlm-thetruth.com/COMPARE12MLMs-vsSellingvsNPSvsVegas-2p-6-06.pdf)
Kevin
Altadena,#3UPDATE Employee
Fri, July 20, 2007
If one looks at the success rate for people who buy gym memberships, it would be a clear scam. There is no doubt, when a whole industry has nearly a 90% failure rate, it has to be a scam. Right? Or is it that the beneficial effects of diet and exercise are irrefutable and the results lie with the gym members themselves. For the people who do not get results fall along a continuum of those who quit right away and those who don't quit, but follow a regiment that would never lead to success. Those closer to the latter category probably don't seek advice nor follow it. The same is true for the Team business, except that the success rate is substancially higher than gyms. Nevertheless, like the gym, ultimately success is to follow a proven regiment and to seek advice and training from people who have the success. You see, I floundered in the Team business and with the gym for a lot longer that I care to admit to, but on both fronts I am experiencing much better results because I sought after the right advice and training. I am much healthier and have a growing business. I understand those who experience frustration -- I did. What I found that works for me is to take the bull by the horns for I am the only one responsible for my success. And to complain is to no avail. Thanks, I hope this helps anyone seeking information. If you are not likely to work the Team business as hard as you would work a gym to get in great physical shape, you won't get in great financial shape.
Frank
Vienna,#4Consumer Comment
Tue, September 26, 2006
What people who join Quixtar Motivational Organizations like Team of Destiny fail to realize is that the most of money that is made comes from the sales of the Motivational Tools and not from the sale of Quixtar products and bonuses. Having Team of Destinay throw tool breaks to Platinums and above does not solve this inherent problem with these Motivational Orginizations. You state that when selling overpriced Quixtar products one needs to think as a business owner and not a consumer, since a consumer complains about the high prices of the Quixtar products. The only problem is that to make money retailing you would be trying to sell these products to these same complaining consumers. This is one reason why most Quixtar products are sold to Quixtar distributors themselves, or IBOs as they are now called. So to make Quixtar products more affordable you need to get IBOs below you to buy the overpriced products, yeah that makes a lot of sense. As far as quality goes, Consumer Reports rated many of their products about on par with other competing brands. There is no much superior quality to them as you state. So it is comparing apples to apples. The way McDonald franchises makes most of their money is buy selling hamburgers. The training tools that are developed are geared towards their franchises selling as many hamburgers that they can so that profits go up. The way the Diamonds in a Quixtar Motivational Organization make most of their money is buy selling tools. So if a Diamond wants to increase his profit he will come up with some new tape, or new voice mail system, or new equipment that the new distributor must have to show the business plan correctly. This is a big conflict of interest. When an IBO is told to buy book after book and CD after CD and attend convention after convention they have to wonder is it to increase their sales of Quixtar products, thus making money in retailing for themselves, or is it more to line the pockets of the big pins. A Diamond want's the IBO to build their business larger so that there will be more eager IBOs to buy their tools If you don't believe me then you need to google Quixtar and these motivational originations on the internet. The money is so good in these tools that there are multi million dollar lawsuits filed by the big pins against each other when disputes arise on how this money is distributed among them. There are also former Diamond and Emeralds who detail their stories about what is commonly known as the Tool Scam. Amway use to be a good way to make some side money, but the motivational side was abused to the point that it is now the big money maker for the Diamonds. You need to read The Millionare Next Door to see how most millionaires in this country live. They don't drive 50,000 dollars cars and live in huge mansions. They understand the concept of opportunity costs. Here are just some excerpts of people's stories about Team of Destiny. -The economics of the distribution used by Quixtar is NOT that competetive...for now. How many people really want to sit and wait for 2-5 days for stuff to be delivered to their door.. -In our involvement in TEAM what we found was that we were paying 150% more for product in many cases. I struggled with this stewardship issue as well as the rationale behind it. I could not make sense of why you would have to pay more for a box of cereal (3x more) if you were utilizing a more efficient distribution system w/out advertising. It really boils down to that. - I have been in the team of destiny for 8 months and have been on system for 4 of that, man people in the team just don't know how much they are getting screwed as i kept listening to the cd's i realized that the system is designed to sell the system lol and only a handful of cd' in all that they have teach you something - I'm not writing to slam nor promote the Team of Destiny. But I'll say this,.. while we learned a lot of great skills, met some nice folks, and found our faith in Jesus, largely due to our involvement. We also invested well over $30,000 and did not see the return. We did everything required, hit 4000 pin, was power player a couple of times, and reached turbo status. But still in the end we simply spent more money than we made pursuing the business I also found it to be an expensive business to run as well from our home (remember, we were power players!). Between the inflated product costs, $60/month or so for system, another $45/month for all the meetings, hundreds for Majors, not to mention all the travel, daycare, hotel, etc., it really added up quite significantly for us, a family that had no extra income in our budget for this. My question is this...Is the expense necessary? I found most of it quite redundant and unnecessary. Wouldn't it be nice to have that for next to nothing? have been asked by several friends to join TEAM over the past couple of years. Each time I am approached I ask the same questions: "Where does the money you make come from?" then "How can a business survive when its only customers are its own partners??"
Jeff
Longwood,#5Consumer Comment
Mon, September 25, 2006
Did you ever stop to think that the reason why so many other Quixtar IBO's are suspicious of the Team is because they can't understand why the Team is growing so fast, while compared to their organization or who got them involved. I will tell you, if you didn't hear about this IBO business through the Team, you probably won't have nearly as good of chance to be successful. The Team was founded by Orrin Woodward & Chris Brady. Their mission was to take the best parts of Direct Sales and eliminate the bad part of the business. They are the only ones that I know of who came up with an affordable franchise-like system, where if followed, even the average non-high powered salesman could be successful. It's that simple. I have been self employed for 20 years and have owned several retail stores and it just cracks me up to here people complaining about the little bit of money that they spent or lost in this kind of business. These same people would not hesitate to borrow $50,000 from a bank to open up a sexy store with their name in lights that would have no chance of succeeding in todays economic climate...and would certainly end up in bankruptcy. The difference in the way many of the people think on this blog is the reason that they don't make it in Direct sales. The problem is they think like consumers and not business owners. Not their fault, because that is the way they were taught in life. An example of this is: A consumer whould complain about the money he or she has SPENT on the educational materials for this type of business. A business owner would understand that they would need to INVEST in the tools to learn how to be successful in his or her business. Also, you hear people complaining about the high prices of the Quixtar products. Once again....thinking like a consumer. If they were thinking like a business owner (IBO Independent Business Owner) they would be more concerned about the profit built in for themselves. It's just a fact that while some of their products are priced a bit higher than a box store, as your discount level increases, it will be less expensive than anywhere available. Plus, it usually is not comparing apples to apples, because Quixtar products are usually of a much superior quality. Quixtar products are priced RIGHT... to sell and to profit. Which brings me back to the Team. Their system teaches consumers how to think like business owners and to constantly motivate them because let's face it, most people need it. It also helps to give them ammo against all the negative people who they will certainly come in contact with. Also the system tools are not designed only for personal use. In fact, if used correctly, you are suppose to hand them out to future customers or prospects to help educate them, so you don't have to...it's called leveraging your time...which obviously many of the complainers must not understand. If you had to train and educate every single person who you got involved in this business, not only would that be impossible as you grow, but it would defeat the purpose of this type of business. This business, if done correctly, creates passive or regenerative income for the rest of your life, whether your working it or not. That is where the system tools come in. It trains people in your organization to do the correct things to help them, so you don't have to...It's called duplication...like a franchise. Let's face it, if you were given a McDonalds tomorrow..without any training or system...whould you be up and running smoothly the next day? You get my point. Training & education is a necessity in every business...period. This business has very little risk and unlimited potential...if you work at it.....what more could you ask for. Also, Orrin and Chris have set up the Team a bit different than the other groups. Instead of only the top producers on the Team profiting from the educational tools...like most of the other groups, they have a profit sharing system that is very attainable at a lower level, which allows a Team member to be profitable much more quickly. They feel that if you have helped educate the people that you have brought into this business and have helped them become successful, your entitled to the profit from the tools....what a concept. What the Team does, unlike any other group that I know of is : They pay all their bills, fixed expenses, seminar sites, speakers, tool production etc...and at the end of each month, they payout all the left over profits to those who qualify based on the size of their organization and the amount of product flow...it's that simple. Plus if you do some research on the Team website the-team.biz you will also find out that Orrin and Chris have written best selling books, and the last one, which they would have made millions...they gave it all to charity. You need to read Paul Zane Pilzer's "The Next Millionaires" If you have a question about whether this is the right business to get into in todays econony. He has been an economic consultant to the las two U.S. administrations. Sincerely, Jeff
James
Little Rock,#6UPDATE Employee
Tue, June 20, 2006
I used to work for Sears...I had a manager, three assistant managers, six shift managers, and there were approx 30 employees. If you draw it out that kinda looks like a pyramid to me too. Did you know that 95% of those who stay with a Network Marketing company for 10 years, become wealthy? Weird huh.