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March 19, 2005
Wakeup Factor #5 - Guilt
By Dorothy Still In Oz in March of Perceptions
Guilt appears in so many forms in my QMO that a book could be written just on this one subject.
The kind of guilt I see at the functions is heartbreaking. As people are chatting before and after opens, rallies, etc., (remember, we are encouraged to come early and stay late!) inevitably they talk about what's going on in their life. If they've moved to a new house, they tell me about it excitedly, but then add the self-deprecating comment, "of course, it isn't my dream house, but then I just haven't shown enough plans yet." And they have true guilt when they say it.
In fact, I would say about 75% of conversations I have with people at functions include some kind of "I'm a loser because I haven't done this thing yet" comment. They don't think anything good should happen in their life unless it stems from this business. They're embarrassed to share about a vacation they took if it wasn't a business trip. They are embarrassed to report any "blessings" in their life if they haven't gone Platinum or Ruby.
I've seen in more than one person in my own downline how instead of building them up, the system actually has torn them down until they don't think they can do anything great in life because after all, they haven't even done this one "simple, but not easy" thing of going Ruby, Emerald, and Diamond. This is over a long period of time, of course. 5-plus years in before one truly loses any self-esteem, I think, because they've now passed the 2-5 year plan mark without having even gone direct. They're told every day on a tape that anyone can do this in 6-12 months. Most veterans in my downline have had to completely break away from the system first, and THEN they begin to build their belief back in themselves that they can achieve in something else. So much GUILT.
I lived for over 10 years with daily guilt that we hadn't been CORE consistently yet, so we weren't fulfilling our calling in life. Oh my gosh, it's overwhelming to see how twisted my thinking was.
It's my mission at functions now to stop people when they begin the guilt comments and to build them up in some way. I'm making progress with my own downline; I see them feeling more freedom to be themselves around me, now that I don't expect them to be AmQuixbots like I was. So good is coming from this transformation in me even now!
The "March of Perceptions" is a special Quixtar BLOG project featuring the perceptions of four guest bloggers during the month of March.
Comments
Howdy Randy,
Congrats on your decision.
And I don't necessarily mean the decision to sell retail, but the decision to think like an individual and take control of your business.
I am a firm believer that the "business" will never be changed by those that leave it, but rather by those that stay in and work to make it better.
Just want you to know you aren't the only IBO who has chosen to make changes from within the business.
Good Luck, and let me know if there is anything I can do to help.
Dave
Excellent decision, randy. If you are going to continue, that's the only way to go.
What do you mean by not "stressing" the tools, though? They have a tendency to make someone "stress" them if you keep them around. Not to say you can't keep your own perspective, but they add nothing and allow people you can't trust to tap into your downline. Get rid of them altogether and make sure you give full disclosure about that business to people you recruit. They trust you when they sign up, so you owe it to them.
Excellent decision, randy. If you are going to continue, that's the only way to go.
What do you mean by not "stressing" the tools, though? They have a tendency to make someone "stress" them if you keep them around. Not to say you can't keep your own perspective, but they add nothing and allow people you can't trust to tap into your downline. Get rid of them altogether and make sure you give full disclosure about that business to people you recruit. They trust you when they sign up, so you owe it to them.
what i mean is this im not going to encourage people in my downline to buy into the system of tapes and tools im going to stress more that if they want to be good at it then they should go to the local library or to a book store and get some books on buidling a strong buisiness and business ethics. "i know i spell for crap" but i dont care.
DorothyStillInOZ,
Your posts are so true. Oh my God. Upline tries to make you guilty for every thing. If you have not have any prospect in the seminar, they won't look very happy when they look at you. It's a silent treatment. If you are not moving enought Standing Orders, same problem. They deliberately make you feel guilty.
I mean diamonds should be kissing every one's ass who drove 14-20 hours to listen to their giberish, pay them ticket, bring ppl and they are the one who are to be thanked. Ha!
Here is an idea. Little expensive but fun: Take a bus load of negative ppl, all dressed up in QBlog merchandise. And go to seminar. Boo the speakers. Demand refund ;)
Disclaimer: They may not give u refund and give you a SLAPP lawsuit.
Randy, and all those who want to build an ethically sound business in Quixtar,
I commend you for encouraging independent thinking and discouraging the use of the tools. My question is if your goal is to become finacially free thru AmQ, can this be done only by moving product? Isn't the only way to earn that 6 figure diamond income only possible from tools money? I'm no math whiz, but it seems that it really isn't possible to make as much money as AmQ claims without tool money.
Don't get me wrong--I'm not trying to be negative, just realistic. The profits just wouldn't be that great without tool money.
Quixtar is, a part time product based business. Financial Freedom is a wrong dream in the first place, given the competition and MLM dynamics. Too many competitors, no check on IBO terrirtory, etc.
I mean what is freedom really? You are not working and some one else is working for you? There is nothing wrong about making money but.....how?
i now i most likely wont make 100 grand at this but if i can make an extra 5 or 6 hundred a month that would make me happy. i dont want much just a little exta and the tax deduction is also nice. consider this if i sell the xs energy drinks for 26 dollars which is the msrp. and i only pay somthing like 19 dollars for it thats a 7 dollar profit. so if i push enough producted ill make some decent cash.
Randy, if you moved enough products and had a stong team you could go Diamond. If you went Diamond and always kept Ruby volume on the side you could make well over 200K. THe key would be to make sure you always had a ton of side volume. Congrats on the decision to discourage the useless tools. There are some useful ones though that teach about the products and how to market them. Not all the tools are EVIL!
I'm glad to see someone looking realistically at the "business opportunity'" like Randy, and realizing that the profits made from a AmQ business can be a great SUPPLIMENTAL income. Also, I agree that many of the books that are on the reading list AQ are not "evil." There are great motivational, personal-growth type books that are top sellers in the non-AQ world that are very worthwhile (not that I'd want a steady diet of that genre, but to each his own...) The same goes for gaining information about the products.
As for the 200k claim, I'm just not buying that (no pun intended). I'm not being negative, just realistic. Believe me, these past few posts from Randy have given me hope for my family members in AQ, that somehow, there is a way to do this business, actually make some money, and yet have a meaningful life beyond the biz.
Go for it Randy, but don't quit your day job!
Find a job you like; do AQ on the side.
yes, many of the books are really good. But why do I have to buy them ONLY from my upline? Why can't I get them on eBay or from barnes and noble? Why doesn't my upline buy them in bulk and pass the savings on to me if they are so essential for the business? And why should I only read books from the "approved" list that my diamond has pre-authorized?
I'll tell you why: because tools is how they make their money, and they don't want me reading anything that would cast doubt upon MLM or give me the idea that there is any other way to be successful in life!
"Not all the tools are EVIL!"
b, the problem is that you cannot know which tools are useful and which are not until you've already bought them. Different people have different opinions about the usefulness of each tool, too, so there will be no standard. (I know there will be some for which the determination will be obvious, but that isn't universally true.)
They are all painted as being critical. And you are painted as not being serious if you do not utilize them, which gets back to Dorothy's point about guilt.
If you're going to use ANY of the tools, get them as cheaply as you can, throw the useless ones away (without feeling guilty about it) and share them as anyone would share useful tools - gladly and expecting to get them back.
Finally, I'd strongly suggest establishing a "Drop Dead Date." If your business is not turning a profit, in spite of your best efforts, by a particular date, you close up shop and try something different. Guilt is the thing that keeps IBOs flogging that carcass. Stay out of the trap.
Good Luck to you.
PW
Randy - just read your comment about the 'tax write-off'.
Sorry, that's another myth prommulgated by the kingpins to keep the minions plugging away.
The IRS will NOT allow to write off your Quixtar NOL (net operating loss) against your other earned income for more than 3 years. After that, if you are not showing a profit, IRS has been upheld time and again that there is no 'reasonable expectation of profit', and therefore the income is hobby income.
Hobby income is taxable on your 1040, I believe line 21. Hobby losses, ONLY TO THE EXTENT OF INCOME, are deductible on your schedule A, itemized deductions, and are subject to a 2% 'floor'.
So, for example, you earned $50,000 at your regular job, and another $6000 in AmQuix. You can deduct your losses (mileage, samples, etc) only to the extent that they exceed $1000 (2% of our hypothetical income), and only up to $6000.
Which means you're still paying taxes on that first thousand dollars...and if you don't have enough other deductions to itemize, you deduct nothing.
Your diamond doesn't have to pay your penalty and interest when you get audited, and he may have driven a beer truck before he joined Amway, so don't take his tax advice.
Just wanted to share a story about someone i know who is mixed up in Quixtar. This guy was on his last semester of his bachelor's degree. he used to be a straight A student and he was planning on going to Med School upon graduating. Now, since his involvement in Quixtar, he is flunking out of his last semester and he has no plans on finishing his bachelor's and no plans on going to Med school. He want's to focus his time on his "business". This joker spends about 40 or more hours on his business , spends about 500 dollars or more a month on the "business" and he only makes about 200 dollars a month. Do the math that's -300 dollars. The fool honestly believes he is going to be a millionaire. No one can stand to be around him because that is all he will talk about, you can't have a causal conversation with out him trying to suck you in. Quixtar has ruined his social life and his fincial life, not to mention his future. there isn't a day that goes by that i don't want to punch him in the face. just thought i would share this. just a warning I suggest noone reads my blog, it can be a little vulgar, i kept it pretty clean for this post out of respect for the owner of this Blog.
I stand corrected, and need to be specific in regards to my previous post. I stated that by merely having "Ruby Volume" on the side when you went Diamond you could make over 200K/year. You would actually have to have double-Ruby volume spread over many non-Platinum legs to do this. Impossible? Not at all. Worth it? You decide. I would say that it is. But, I would be hesitant to call this income "residual". You would be working a lot, continuously finding new business, and new salespeople. Once you had built up this "retailing empire", it would likely stand for a long time. But I wouldn't bet my financial future on it. Now, the evil tools. PW and I have had this conversation before in the Forum. PW, you aren't insinuating that you sign an IBO up, and then just expect them to know everything they need to know just from getting an IBO number, do you? They must be educated on their products. I think that is the resounding tone throughout this entire site. IBO's get registered, and are immediately set into the world with no ammo besides some tapespeak about quitting their jobs. They are told to recruit others who buy their own products who recruit others who buy their own products who recruit others who buy their own products who.....They are not trained on what they are selling, and they aren't taught how to sell what they are selling. They are taught to sell "the dream". We all agree that this cannot be the emphasis of a business model. Can a person qualify as a Diamond by building large retailing groups without "system" expenses like rah-rah functions, and tools with maybe one educational nugget on them? Yes. Once again,
"Which tool is educational to building a Quixtar business?"
.....Supercharge Your Artistry Business.....
or
...............Freedom Isn't Free...............
.....Contacting and Client Marketing.....
or
..........The Power of a Dream..........
.............How to Market Nutrilite.............
or
...............Boston to Baghdad...............
I think many are very obvious as to their usefulness to BUILDING A QUIXTAR BUSINESS. To say that the tools in and of themselves are "evil" is wrong. To assume that someone could sell/market/promote their products and services without ever being educated on them is asking a bit much also. The point is: Educational materials have their place. Buy your tools from ebay, then throw away, resell, or burn what you think has no value. Borrow tools from your upline/crossline if you don't have any money. If it has no educational, business building value, give it back, don't listen to it again, and don't promote to your upline/dowline/crossline/anyline!!! The tools are not the problem. The tools being pushed by the same hands that profit from them is the problem.
I've been an IBO since May 1999. I've shown numerous plans and gone to all of the monthly BDS and seminars and purchased tools, books, etc. Since having my daughter in 2003, I've been questioning the purchase of tools. I'm spending tonnes of money and all the tapes seem to say the same things over and over again. I told my upline that I don't want to purchase the tools anymore because I have a big box of them that haven't been listened to yet and it'll last me for a while. "Oh, but it won't be the most current information" Bull!! It's all the same. There's no "new" information. It's all the same crap. tapes, books, seminars. etc. etc. Where's the real training? Is there any training that's really needed? Shouldn't I just be trained on the actual Rules of the business? I've recently sent an e-mail to Quixtar regarding the 70% rule. I have yet to get a reply. I'm wondering if this rule applies to me? I've been told by my True North upline that it doesn't apply to us. How can that be?
Oh, and I chose not to go to Winter Conference this year due to the renovations happening at my home. Well.....I got the "it'll set you back financially" crap. My upline made me feel terrible. Is that right? Ever since then, I've been seriously considering quitting the business. tapes, books, seminars have done nothing for me. I haven't signed up any ibo's. shown numerous plans. I need to speak with someone. I'm sure my husband wants to continue with the business so I don't know how to tell him that I want to quit. Any comments?
Phil, run a complete profit/loss statement on your business (you should be doing this anyway since it is nearly tax time). Ask yourself how much money you are profitting (profits minus expenses). Now, figure out what you are making on an hourly basis, and ask yourself, is this worth it?
The reality is, all the tools, tapes, conferences, books, etc. in the world shouldn't replace profit when it comes to running a business. You have been in the business for almost six years, and if your business isn't profitable enough for you, it's time to rethink keeping it open.
Phil, I'd echo dmm's advice and also ask you to consider whether succeess is likely given that the high pins' income is from the system and not from the AmQuix products.
Is it normal practice in your group to reveal the source of the high pins' income at plan showings. If not, you should consider the ethics / morality of not telling the whole truth to prospects.
Were you told the whole truth when you saw the plan?
Hey Phil
I also was in the True North Organization, and have been at a number of the functions in Edmonton and Calgary.
Very Little info is out there for True North, and if you do a search engine on it, a bunch of Comapnies with that name come up, very little on the Crawfords.
Based on what I have seen, the Crawfords are NO DIFFERENT than any other greedy tool pusher. You need to do some number crunching with your husband and ask employees where these functions are held how much it actually costs to rent the places they use.
It is absolutely insane how much they have made off of people in the past 15 years from tapes, CD's, books and seminars. He liked to say he didn't know what it was like to work in the 90's since he retired from the oilfield in the late 80's.
He comes across as very charming (as do most of them) but he can be really demeaning and rude.
Don Lorencz has a website about the True North Organization, I would encourage you to check it out, and print it off for your husband. I spent a lot of money on the tools.
I hope you can get it under control.
Thanks everyone! I will do some number crunching!
Thanks for the support.
The fact that the Ambot terminology has surfaced from Comments to actual blogs has me grinning ear to ear.
Keep up the good work all!
I've still to number crunch our profit/loss. But, on the other hand I did do some price comparison at the *gasp* store over the weekend. I don't find the Artistry brand to be superior to brands that I used to use such as Almay. So, for the basics-- foundation, powder, mascara, and eye makeup remover, I found that I could save a total of $27 by purchasing at the store. For spray gel, I found I could save $8 per bottle. For 1L of body wash I could save $9. For dish drops, I found that Palmolive liquid costs$1.99 for 850 ml. That's a significant difference. And I'm not just pricing out the cheapy no-name brands either. I'm a bit choked at this. I was faithfully buying from myself to support my business, purchasing tools left right and center!!! Arrgh. I'm really frustrated. Am I just searching for reasons to quit? I don't know. But I do know that our family budget needs to be revisited. With a growing family, we need to be responsible with our money, don't we? WE can't just buy expensive products because we are supporting our business can we? It doesn't make sense to me. What if I don't do 100 PV one month.....what does that do to our business? Will Quixtar cancel our IBOship? Really, it was stressed at the beginning that we need to do 100PV every month, but why? Not only are the items pricey, but we are forking out $$$ in delivery charges as well. Comments?
Phil -
100PV was the "recommended" self -use while my wife and I were in the biz - 100 is a nice round number, plus being the first level to earn a bonus/rebate of 3%
Being a couple led us to hyperconsume to get to 100PV each month - either we used stuff up quicker than normal or bought more detergent, etc. before we really needed it.
The result was when we left the biz - it took about 8 months to go thru or bulit up stock of Amway products - and then discover how much less we had to spend on same products and have a choice of what brand to get and the buy when we actually needed them.
After 6 years out of the biz - we've taken the money we used to spend on tapes/books/functions/etc. every month and turned it into a very nice retirement portfolio.
Obviously you don't want it bad enough. If the dream is big enough, the facts don't count; because the dream is big enough, the facts will change. How bad do you want it? You are the only one that can do CORE steps. If you don't, that is not anyone's fault but your own. The only negative in the business are people that want freedom handed to them.
You know what, I misunderstood the message. Good for you. I still feel that if the dream is big enough the facts don't count, and because the dream is big enough the facts will change. Obviously this is something you know too!
id like to thank you for everyones input ive definatly have seen that there are negative aspects to the busniess through this blog ive always relly have seen them i just didnt want to belive them. thanks for opening my eyes. im not quiting this business im just running this very diferently. im not longer going to stress to buy the tapes,books and go to events im switching almost to 100% retail. i belive in the products most of them are a good quality product and are worth the money. when i say almost 100% let me explain. I not going to activly look for people to sell the "system" to anymore instead if i have a customer who wants to do this ill show it to them or if i meet someone who wants to do quixtar ill will find out if there will to do almost all retail and if not ill recommend they become clients or members. this is the only real way this business will work. thanks to all of you in this blog and in the fourms ive seen the truth behind affilations like wwdb.
Posted by: randy | March 19, 2005 6:24 PM