Missed it by that much! BWW Summer Conference in San Jose

It seems like only yesterday I was writing about the BWW Spring Leadership in San Jose. I just found out that I completely missed out on the BWW Summer Conference, which was again held at the San Jose Civic Auditorium, July 18-19, 2009. I had a good excuse; I was attending a wedding that weekend!

I’m fortunate that I never had an important date or anniversary conflict with a Major Function when I was in the business. I’ve read stories of people who had to choose between attending a wedding, party, children’s graduations, etc. or going to a Spring Leadership, Summer Conference, or Family Reunion. It’s my opinion that these Major Functions are all the same: heavy on the rah-rah and light on actual substance. With all due respect to those who disagree, if you’ve been to one, you’ve been to them all!

But, if people want to spend $100-200 a ticket to stand in line on a hot San Francisco Bay Area day and listen to people talk all day and night long, fine by me. I’m not stopping you.

Remember When: Amway and Enron

I was going through some old files this weekend, and I came across this letter and brochure from 1997 explaining an energy deal between Amway and Enron. Check it out (click on the image to make it bigger)!

Fortunately, the Amway-Enron deal fell apart mysteriously a few months after we received this letter and brochure. There was no official announcement that I recall being given out as to why the deal was scrubbed¹. I wonder if Amway Legal crunched some numbers and discovered that Enron wasn’t all it was cracked up to be… years before the scandal surrounding the energy company was revealed.

Here’s a PDF brochure from Amway and Enron. Enjoy reading this blast from the past (click on the image below to download the PDF)!

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¹ I spoke with another former IBO, and he said that he was able to sign up for the energy deal with Amway-Enron. The window for signing up closed pretty quickly. I must have waited too long and didn’t sign up on time before they stopped the deal.

Dude, Let the Boss Speak!

Karree Larsen is “the boss” according to her husband, Dallin Larsen, but you would never know it by watching this video. The poor lady has to sit in front of the camera with Dallin and just smile and nod from time to time. Karree, you have my sympathies.

P/L Statement from Gina

Over on Joecool’s blog, Gina has posted a detailed Profits/Loss Statement. Gina is a traditional business owner and routinely asks IBOs to produce their own P/L statement. Most (i.e. every) of the time, she’s met with either silence from the IBO or tapespeak like, “If the dream is big enough, the facts don’t matter!”

One thing that I’ve consistently said on this blog is for IBOs to keep detailed records of their income and expenses. After a year and a half, I should have quit the business after seeing no substantial results from my investment in Amway/Quixtar and the System. I stayed in for another year due in part to the excitement that was Quixtar and 9/1/99, only to decide at the end of the year that enough was enough. Quixtar was just Amway on the Internet, and nothing really had changed. Because I kept detailed records of my business, I was easily able to separate truth from hype.

IBOs in Amway and distributers in MonaVie! Are you keeping detailed records of your business? Are your profits (if you have any) being constantly put back into your business in the form of CD, meeting tickets, and product purchases? Take a look again at Gina’s P/L statement to see what you should be tracking in your business!

MonaVie Allows Social Media

Reading the latest issue of MonaVie’s On The Move magazine online, I noticed that the corporation is now allowing its distributors to share MonaVie on blogs and social networks.

In the past, I believe only Black Diamonds were actually allowed to have their own personal web sites (not counting the MonaVie-sponsored cookie cutter web sites for distributors). Of course, this hasn’t stopped distributors from posting anonymously online on many web sites.

Before distributors can post text and videos online, they have to complete this Compliance Certification course. Other things that distributors need to follow include:

• All text postings must include the Distributor’s name and ID number.
• All video must include a clear image of the Distributor’s name and ID number.
• All videos must be approved in advance by our Compliance department.
• Distributors shall use the Independent Distributor Logo.
• All postings, either text or video, must contain busines opportunity content and may only mention the product by name. All reference to the product should be made by referring the viewer to either the Independent Distributor’s website or to www.monavie.com. No testimonials of any kind will be permitted.

Bold emphasis is mine. In the past, putting up your distributor ID number was a quick way to get terminated. Somehow, I don’t think that those distributors debating the critics on sites like PurpleHorror and Lazy Man or even Orrin Woodward’s blog are going to start putting up their distributor numbers. Plus, do you really think a Black Diamond like Orrin Woodward is going to display his distributor numbers on every video and blog post he makes regarding MonaVie?

My thinking is that there’s one set of rules for Diamonds and another set of rules for everyone else.

Now, I understand why MonaVie doesn’t want people providing testimonials for something that is basically juice concentrate in a fancy wine bottle, but what are they going to say other than, “Ain’t it great! This stuff makes me healthy, wealthy and wise! Email me for more info!” or some other nonsensical drivel?

Dream Stealers?

Orrin Woodward tweeted today something that I’ve heard quite often before on stage:

No one can steal your dream. If it is lost, you surrendered it.

I’ve also read, heard from stage, and noted in the blogosphere that critics of Amway/Quixtar/MonaVie are called dream stealers.

“The dream stealers are all around,” Britt told one Amway rally in 1989. “The question is, will you let someone steal your dream?”

The dream stealers, Britt says, include “broke-losers” with jobs who reject a distributor’s efforts to sponsor them as Amway distributors.

They are also the “wimps and weenies” who gave up on their Amway business and quit, as well as neighbors, relatives, co-workers or others who plant doubts in a distributor`s mind about his efforts.

“You cannot afford to listen to the naysayers,” Britt says.

“You send them to me and I’ll kick their butts … they need a kick, cause they’re destroying one of the greatest God-pleasing businesses in the history of the universe.”

The MLM kingpins can’t have it both ways, can they? They can’t say with one hand that no one can steal your dreams yet on the other hand say that critics are stealing your dreams, can they?

Dissenting Opinions and Comments

Over on Why You Should Consider A Second Income, Amway IBO Levi has been, to use his own words, “trimming the fat” from his comments thread. While he encourages people to continue to comment, he notes that he will have to remove some comments to make room. Make room for what? Most of the comments he removed were quite relevant to the discussion at hand. I see this happen on a variety of other pro-Amway or pro-MonaVie web sites, including Orrin Woodward’s. He and Levi may talk about having their thoughts and opinions debated in a public forum, but the truth is, they will really only post those comments that confirm their side of the story.

On this site, opinions from all sides are welcome, so as long as they don’t cross the line into blatant personal attacks or are not relevant to the post.

Joecool has posted his opinion on the matter on his web site.