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June 24, 2006
Casey Combden Joins Task Force
By QBlog in Web Initiative
Someone recently sent me a voice message reportedly from Casey Combden of Quixtar's InterBiz motivational business. The message describes an integration between Combden's business and Orrin Woodward's Team business. It also explains an Internet task force built to "eliminate negative not only on the Internet but to eliminate negative period."
Such information seems to confirm the "Web Initiative" that I've written about previously and that Mark Glaser described in his Online Journalism Review article about companies subverting search results to squelch criticism. In the interest of public debate I'm including the message as it was sent to me in a special edition of QBlog Radio. I'm distributing it in a podcast format to increase awareness and to provide my own commentary.
I've also transcribed the entire message which you can read below. I may have misspelled names and any corrections are appreciated. And of course you can listen to the message in a variety of ways.
The player below will stream the audio in your browser and is available at Odeo or you can get the episode from iTunes or download the audio (mp3 at 13 MB) onto your computer.
MESSAGE TRANSCRIPT
Hey guys this is Casey [unintelligible] to all the business builders, hope you guys are doing great. I just want to let you know that since Orrin's come in we've had some really positive things been happening at an administrative side. I wanted to give you guys a quick "heads up." We have been getting closer and closer to partnering with Orrin. As you know he's obviously got some incredible things going on and thousands, tens of thousands of people attending his functions. His standing orders are going through the roof. And he's just got the whole power player process nailed down. And the momentum that you know we look to develop and certainly succeed with and I have you know asked him obviously if we could just learn as much as we can to plug into his system.
Couple of real big positives is that he is sending us some audios that we will be integrating into the InterBiz business system here in the next several months and Rod is receiving some of the titles. In fact one of the speakers that we're going to be getting in that has partnered with Orrin is Billy and Peggy Florence. And that's a huge opportunity for all of us. Course for those of you who know Billy and Peggy, Billy has been the president of the IBOA International board, he is an Executive Diamond. Guys very, very successful. Very wealthy. Wonderful people. Some, some of my dearest friends over the years and so it's just been a real pleasure to know them.
And so we are going to be receiving not only a combination of all the Team's audios which is Chris and Terry Brady, you know Orrin and Laurie, Tim and Amy Marks and Larry and Marsie Van Buskirk. I mean we're also going to be getting Billy and Peggy.
So, our objective is just to start integrating as quickly as possible into the InterBiz business system and adding to it. So, so that's a huge opportunity.
Second thing is, is that we have partnered with Orrin. We got into a conversation about the negative on the Internet and Orrin said that they built, specifically built a task force to eliminate their nega... to eliminate negative not only on the Internet but to eliminate negative period by doing what I'll refer to as strategic Web hosting. And they use something known as a blog. A blog is where people write articles about their day-to-day transactions. It's a journaling that's online that you just do and you kind of make notes about things that you believe or that you're positive about et cetera.
I have a very important email that Rod has sent me that I would like to send to all of you. I'm going to use Lou to manage this because obviously I can't manage all of your names and everything. But I'm going to give you Lou's Kate number here and what I want you to do is not answer me back but just send a message off to Lou to make sure that you've got the email that you want to use to produce the highest and best results.
Second thing is this, is that please pick one of the subjects there's a ton of topics there. We're going to start what we call linking between all the blog sites and ourselves just to produce a more positive appearance on the Internet. It's just an attempt to kind of push down the negative about Quixtar and specifically about either myself or InterBiz so that we have a bet... a better chance of producing a higher result.
So, so this is just our first attempt at organizing everybody and doing so in a way that can really service, you know service to obviously help build the business so that we don't have to deal with the people who get, who we lose from you know checking the Internet for either InterBiz or Casey or, or whatever it happens to be Quixtar. Quixtar is going to be tough to push down but the more positive we push up forward about Quixtar the more potential we have.
So, so things are going great and I just want to let you know obviously we're going to continue to work as closely as we can with Orrin. He has been very gracious, very generous in his time, in his energy and his staff. He's actually really pushed a lot of resources forward so that we can be blessed by it. He was really turned on and very, very excited about what we're all doing and you know there's obviously a chance for future you know collaboration together. So, this won't be for a long time but you know as we start to build more closer to their culture. Obviously that's our objective is to build towards their culture, not them towards us. So that we can obviously start seeing some greater and better results.
So, hope you're all doing great. Lou's Kate number is 866-***-****. In fact what I will probably do, Lou if you get this message you know send a message directly to everybody so that they can actually get the message. Guys we just need to have everybody, all you have to do is write a paragraph. I'd like every single person, that means husbands and wives independently I really need your support on this.
So husbands and wives independently you know if every just write three-four sentences you know, "I think InterBiz has been an incredible way for me to be a great mother. It's blessed my children. My children producing better results. I have more free time to be a mother with them. And I'm excited about the personal growth I've experienced and Casey and Jeannie have been wonderful friends." Like that's the article I need you to write. I mean something as simple as that. Or the power of the system or the power of particular CD or book. You'll get, you'll get the email from Rod and we'll make this thing fly.
So, love you guys. I really need your help on this one and we really need every single person to step forward and do this with...
A few observations about the message:
- Casey never mentions Quixtar success. He talks about the attendance at motivational functions and that Woodward's standing orders are going through the roof. But where's the mention of how many Diamonds Team broke this year or how many new Emeralds are in Billy Florence's group?
- Casey says "you know" a lot.
- Seems like there's a lot of partnering and communication going on with some of these Lines of Affiliation. Interesting.
- Giving a script to your downline to blog about is lame with a capital "L."
So, what do you think about this message? Is it newsworthy or just business as usual?
UPDATE: The Quixtar leaders seem to be emailing each other about this post. My site stats show email links from Total Production's webmail. Total Production is the company that builds a lot of Quixtar leader sites, particularly for Jody Victor and Orrin Woodward.
The person who clicked the link appears to be using the email address "jerry@totalproduction.com" which is the same address used by Gerald Smith in the Whois information for the Total Production site. Interesting that the administrative contact for the company the built Jody Victor and Orrin Woodward's sites might be getting emails about this message from Casey Combden.
Comments
5 entries found for negative.
neg·a·tive
...
n.
A statement or act indicating or expressing a contradiction, denial, or refusal.
A statement or act that is highly critical of another or of others: campaign advertising that was based solely on negatives.
Something that lacks all positive, affirmative, or encouraging features; an element that is the counterpoint of the positive: “Life is full of overwhelming odds. You can't really eliminate the negatives but you can diminish them†(Art Linkletter).
A feature or characteristic that is not deemed positive, affirmative, or desirable: “As voters get to know his liberal views, his negatives will rise†(Richard M. Nixon).
Grammar. A word or part of a word, such as no, not, or non-, that indicates negation. See Usage Note at double negative.
The side in a debate that contradicts or opposes the question being debated.
Is this a NEW web initiative or is the recording from the past. Do you have a timeline on when the recording was produced?
Dave
Remindes me of "Who Moved My Cheese", you know, they keep going back to the same things and keep getting spanked over and over again.
Should we let Google in on what is happening? Maybe they will push all these guys down to hit 20 again.
Why are they trying to bury information. If it is really false, they will be able to counter it without resorting to try ti hide it. I think that this thing will blow up in their face.
Insider, note that the usages of the word "negative" as a noun that you cited are markedly different than the way that it is used by IBOs. The grammatic structure of the IBO usage is exactly like the usage of "negative" as an adjective, as in "negative information."
By the way insider, I thought you weren't going to grace us with your presence anymore...
I'm just not going to waste my time with the idiots. Though irritating, you and QBlog at least seem somewhat educated and intelligent. :-)
"the negative" is quite obviously using it as a noun in much the same way as the Nixon quote given - "his negatives will rise".
Speaking of language usage and a previous post, QBlog - there is nothing wrong with "internet critic" as a description, with "internet" as an adjective. You are an American critic (of Quixtar) - doesn't mean you're criticising America.
In any case, language is fluid and constantly evolving - so chill out dudes! :-)
Oh - my take on the Combden post -
(a) experience shows tape and function numbers is very very strongly correlated with PV and PV growth and associated pin levels. A "cookware crown" might have the pin, but not the business. You have function attendance and tapes - you will have the business.
(b) big deal re the websites. No different to having webrings etc. These are separate individuals setting up these blogs, not the corporation putting up fake ones. Critics point out the lack of pro-IBO sites, and when a group suggests doing more, that's criticised too.
(c) QBlog - I don't think it's appropriate to publish people's private phone (kate) numbers.
What's a Kate number? Isn't it a business number?
Kate is short for Communikate, the $30+ communication system that core IBO's will be on. It is the number for their voicemail, etc.
Please pardon me if your question was for humor or rhetoric...(I'm a serious kind of guy, you know.)
these are separate individuals setting up these blogs, not the corporation putting up fake ones.
Nope. "Individuals" are not doing it on their own. They are told to do so, with only goal is to "burry the negative".
It is no differnet than stuffing newspapers with ads of your company so readers couldn't find any critical information.
Critics point out the lack of pro-IBO sites, and when a group suggests doing more, that's criticised too.
These are not real pro IBO sites. They would have, as casey said, a para or two, lauding Casey and this "bizness". And how it changed their lifes. It's Casey, or a Kingpin's attempt to burry the info he don't like by directing his followerd to blog what he told them to do.
And yeah, Casty follower's lives are sure changed. Majority losing time and money or making peanuts but their life is sure changed.
Insider,
You have yet to show your study for the correlation between tool flow and PV success. Also, Imran hit the nail on the head about your point b.
I for one welcome the new bloggers even if they are only doing it because of this Kate. One thing that Casey doesn't realize is that the more IBO bloggers out there running off with all their babble it only makes my agenda easier. All I have to do is point to those blogs and show folks the ridiculous logic that these people use when hooked into a system.
My buddy Javert over at Blogstar has already become a poster child for proving that. So when I look at it that way I say the more the better.
I am not your buddy.
I will agree w/ insider's point(a) and (b)
However, this Combden strategy won't work unless they are genuine blogs and not scripted, one-time blogs. Google is too smart for that. I am definitely for increasing the web-presence of positive information and I feel it is possible... but not in this manner. It won't work.
Can being deceptive and/or not fully disclosing information be deemed and "negative"? (tongue in cheek)
Sure you're my buddy. My delusional, Quix-bot buddy, but my buddy nonetheless.
Does this effort by Combden look familiar Javert. Kind of like what you tried to get done over at MySpace. I believe you were giving instructions on what to write as well. I guess experience taught you that this just isn't possible.
Drew - ask anyone who has some experience of probably any of the "systems" for a copy of their systems "parameters" or "vital signs". They are statistical summaries of what particular sized businesses look like. QBlog has WWDB parameters on this site. You will see there is a very strong correlation between tool/ticket flow and PV. (yes, i know correlation is not causation, but that's a discussion for another time)
QBlog - Kate is a voicemail system. Whether the number is used for business or not is irrelevant. I have number I use for business that I consider "private" and would not be happy having people publish on the internet.
Thanks Insider,
I will be sure to start asking for that from system IBOs.
One other thing, a business number that you consider private. I know some businesses have personal line numbers that are private but a Kate number is not considered that.
Matter of fact many IBOs I knew stenciled it on their vehicle. Your Kate number is a way others to contact YOUR business, unless they are supposed to call your house. You are off base on this one. You are simply trying to alter the purpose of the Kate number so you can take a jab at Qblog. We see right through it.
Is the site iboexperience.com related to this? It appears to be a new site.
Very well could be. Looks kind of like what he was asking for. Just a paragraph about how good the business is. I wonder how many of those stories there were scripted?
After taking a closer look I don't think this is it. I recognize some of the IBO's on that site as part of the Bob Durling Team in Omaha, NE. My personal opinion is Bob is in a whole other league when it comes to being delusional.
Also, there is quite a bit of talk about Doug Weir who is Bob's immediate upline. With the amount of those people on there I am imagining that they had something to do with it, but I can't say for sure.
I think it is funny that they call it the IBO experience but they only want positive and encouraging stories. Maybe they should call it "Partial IBO Experience."
Having Quixtar IBOs offer their opinions in an authentic way on a blog is a great idea.
Are they thinking about that?
Ummm...No.
They are only thinking about drowning out negative opinions.
It's the same backwards thinking that has kept AMQuixtar from keeping pace with industry growth over the last 10 years.
How hard is this to figure out?
Fix the stupid problems that then charge every IBO in the world to blog about the fixes!!!!
If the business was so good, Casey Combden and all the other Quixtar leadership would not have to subvert truth to grow their businesses. The fruits of their business would be good and others would be attracted to it. People would have positive experiences to share rather than the horror stories that most share.
Notice to those looking into this business: Do you want to be involved with people who believe that the truth about their business should be subverted? You should be demanding full disclosure on everything before buying into this.
Find a different business vehicle. The Quixtar business as vehicle is just a Yugo dressed up as a Mercedes.
Who's delusional, truth? I'm sure you thought people on your team were 'buddies' too. We all know how that turned out.
Actually, my comment on this post regarding blogging was the same advice I gave on the myspace board. And, by the way, it is still in process and working better than I had hoped.
Causation/Correlation:
I can’t disagree that tool/ticket flow and PV are linked. In fact, I’ll submit that the causative factor in higher PV is tool/tickets.
The real question is: what is the correlation between what is recommended for PV by the tools/tickets – and the ‘increase’ in PV? If a non-system IBO buys just what they want and/or can sell – well, Insider claims that’s a lower average PV than a system IBO. What’s the recommended level of ‘self-consumption’ – that is, how much more does a system IBO buy for themselves versus a non-system IBO because the system says a certain amount of ‘buying from your own store’ is a key to successful business? Don't forget, if you're not selling it, you're self-consuming it...whether you actually use it, store it in the garage, or throw it out/give it away.
If your system says ‘buy X amount of Quixtar products as part of a proven business plan’ – well, system IBOs are probably going to buy X amount. Don’t want to disappoint…don’t want to look like you’re not serious…
What percentage of system PV is self-consumed vs. sold to outside customers (not downline)?
If an IBO buys X amount of Quixtar products – and X is higher than they would consume and sell normally – then the difference is artificial. The IBO is holding up the system. Not the market.
Pays upline, but doesn’t do the individual IBO any good. At all.
Very simple definition for this sort of behavior, its called propaganda.
In the past Quix has been almost frenzied in its admonishment of anything to do with the dirty dirty internet and all of the denizens that reside there.
When I was first approached for "recruitment" I was advised to not read ANYTHING on the internet about Quix accept the safe and sanitary "truth" of the approved home site. Of course the first thing I did was go home and found this site, say thank ya.
Now Quix is stating its not only good but needed to go and actually become a part of this horrid netherworld? Oh but its Ok because its for the good of the company, a sort of distasteful crusade against the evil blog's of the nonbeliever job toting heathens. I find the irony delicious.
I hope these mixed messages will start shorting out the circuitry of the brainwashed in time. "Let our people GO!"
insider"I'm just not going to waste my time with the idiots"
Translated: I got my butt handed to me because I could not back up my claims so I decided to spout insults at everyone and now my feelings are hurt so I will only post selectively when I can win.
I'm sorry Javert maybe I didn't make myself clear enough, you are delusional. Hope we cleared that up.
As far as my old group goes they are still my buddies just like you.
So things are going well huh? So how many blogs started and how many are still going? How far up the search engine rankings have you made it?
Nice to see you at least admit your goal is to drown out the other person's opinion, it's all about information control right?
Well, the blogs I know of now have more hits and comments than you, preston, and Xanax combined. Thanks for asking. Qblog has everyone beat, but give it time. He is, after all, the author of 'blogging 101.'
If your old team are 'buddies' just like me, its no wonder you didn't make any money.
Hey "Insider",
It's nice to see you are back. By the way, I know you don't like responding to "idiots" (you are right, you don't make ad-hominem attacks), but I STILL want that link.
No "multiple footnotes and peer-reviewed published statistical papers"... JUST A LINK, SHOWING THE NET PROFIT DATA THAT YOU CLAIM QUIXTAR COLLECTS.
Just a link, Oookaaay....??
Insider says:
Speaking of language usage and a previous post, QBlog - there is nothing wrong with "internet critic" as a description, with "internet" as an adjective. You are an American critic (of Quixtar) - doesn't mean you're criticising America.
Ok. Fine by me. The IBOAI leaders criticize Scott Larsen on their Internet website so they are Internet Critics too.
LOL! Just can't stop yourself can you Javert. I asked you a simple question about how many blogs started and are still going because of your initiative and what are your page ranks.
The best you can come back with is a line about blogs you know of? ROFLMBO!!!
Of course you fail to mention which blogs those are and whether they were a part of your initiative. LOL! You make this just too easy Javert you really do.
Thats right Qblog has everyone beat and is the king of the blogs, but tell me did he ask any of those "blogs you know" to author here?
I know they were like you, telling tall tales and then never having anything to prove it. Also, they could never answer any questions. That is why my bet is I make more money at my piddly J-O-B then you do in your high-powered business.
Hey, also note that you are guys are only talking about 1 or 2 lines of sponsorship here...not the ENTIRE affiliation of Quixtar.
Also note, I am all for a positive, unscripted blog about people experiences. As I grow my business I would welcome such stories. And would like to post my own as well.
JJ
And insider criticizes the critics so he is an internet critic as well.
I beleive the business can work and is a good one I don't trust or believe in Casey and Jeannie they lie and would do anything to make a dollar. Since they felt they had to lie about there own relationship what else would they lie about.
Like Johnson I to believe the business works, just not with Casey and Jeannie. I was a loyal Iterbiz IBO--did my 100pv every month. (we were told if we did not need the stuff to bury it in the backyard) never went that far but had shelves of stuff I didn't use. But still could not see the sky for the trees. Casey was the one and only to me. But after 7 years and moving up the ladder and not getting any applause from our upline Platinum, finally woke up. But like a fool kept going to Tuesday night meetings and let myself be beat up for not showing the plan anymore. Stopped because got tired of all the goings on. Started asking people what they knew and everyone had a story but still stuck in. I got out. Could not stand it anymore. I loved Casey, but he blew that all to bits when he told so many lies. I always went to Functions, always. But he got so cheap that he stopped having the bands except on the 3 days functions. Didn't pay for any outside speakers, just the same old, same old ones. But still took all our money for the tickets they did not go down. Anyway finally got smart. Now away from it all and can't believe how free I feel. To many years of making Interbiz my full and only life. FREEEE
I think you're a complete idiot! You have no idea about InterBIZ. How about you go to one of the meetings and then maybe you can say something. Instead, you're completely wasting your time!
What fails most people in this business is the non-belief in this business, I love the poeple I've met because of this opportunity, I have not joined others upline or downline in their personal defaults,for we all have our own, let's not go far as to praise,(Theirs only one you should praise)believe in yourself thats the business,keep your eye's wide open and your heart faithfull then you can alway's see, you will always be protected and the faults (minors) of others wont seem so (major)KEEP MOVING FORWARD STEP UP SHAKE IT OFF MEASURE UP KEEP STRECHING (YOUUUU CAN DO IT)!!!
You want to know about Orrin's success with product flow and Quixtar's volume not just the continued training volume? The Orrin Woodward's organization broke four new diamonds in 2006.
Thank you for having this blog!!!
I was there when Cassey and Cathy broke as brand new emeralds. I watched them climb the ladder and become consumed with greed!
PEOPLE WAKE UP----YOU ARE IN A TAPE AND BOOK/FUNCTION CLUB!!!! HELLO!
Dear IBOs,
Please stop using the word "negative" as a noun. The word "negative" is most commonly used and accepted as an adjective preceding a noun. Creating your own version of the English language only reinforces the idea that Quixtar Motivational Organizations use cult-like tactics.
Thank you,
Don Incognito
Posted by: Don Incognito | June 25, 2006 5:59 AM