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August 18, 2006
I Kinda Miss The Tapes
By David Robison in A/QMOs
Lord knows, I have voiced my objections to certain practices of Quixtar-related "motivational organizations." And I know that everybody and their brother that usually visits this blog (myself included) can find plenty of reasons not to spend money on motivational tapes, when your business isn't producing enough profit to afford the motivation.
But, I kinda miss the tapes.
Now understand, I haven't bought a Amway/Quixtar tape since before they came out with them 'dere "new-fangled compact disc thingies." In fact, I guess the last Amway Motivational Organization tape I bought was in 1987, so I expect I have missed out on a bunch new stories of inspiration, preaching and politics, but I still kinda miss the tapes.
What do I miss?
The funny thing about these motivational tapes are...they are...well dammit, they're motivational! They make you feel good.
Now, I realize my predecessor Xanadustc, here at QBlog and his own blog, went into great detail analyzing Amway and Quixtar Motivational tapes regarding their religious messages, but I just want to mention some of my favorite stories.
I remember Ron and Toby Hale talking about feeding their children the "good food" and themselves eating only one meal and then cooking popcorn and drinking water before they went to bed to "feel full"; before they joined Amway. (This story, by the way, has a shmaltz factor of 10+)
I remember Rick Setzer talking about driving down the road in their new motor home, while his wife Sue Lynn made him a cup of coffee. For some reason in the '80s; that impressed me.
Or, Rick could describe eating a pineapple fresh from the fields in Hawaii, and have you salivating with every word; knowing in your heart of hearts, that you too, would experience the same thing one day.
I remember Effie Reed talking about wanting to divorce her husband and drinking to the point her children would "put her to bed"; before she joined Amway. (Shmaltz factor of 8, at least)
And I remember the applause. The deafening applause that went with each announcement of a speaker at the beginning of each tape. Applause, I craved. That was probably the most motivating factor of any tape I listened to.
My favorite speaker was Diamond Dewey Tobias. Dewey was from Florida. He was married to Kay. Kay looked like no other "Amway wife." She was young, tan and looked like a smart "Barbie-doll."
Dewey's tape, "An 'Open' in Atlanta," was my favorite tape. I had to order a second copy, because I wore the first one out.
Dewey could talk a coon down out of a tree. Wait, is that too "southern?" Okay you northwesterners, he could talk a salmon into a bear's mouth. Better?
Dewey would talk about going down to Cape Eleuthera in the Bahamas just to spend a few days.
"There aren't any phones there, so they can't call you. You can just lay on the beach and be worthless"
This was before cell phones.
Upon hearing the potential income in an Amway business of his own, Dewey was ready to sign up.
"The way I had it figured, a diamond could make $60,000 extra dollars a year; I'd skin dive for Roto-Rooter for an extra 60 grand a year"
And Dewey had his own phrase about just finding 6 people to build a diamondship. It didn't involve the cliche' about a "blind dog with a bone in his mouth." Dewey would say,
"Hey, even if you lived in a closet all your life, at least 6 people are going to open the door and ask you, 'What are you doing in here?'"
When Dewey Tobias finished a speech, you were motivated to join, or motivated to get others to join, so you could be just like him. But more than that, you just felt better about life, your job, and yourself, in general.
So yeah, we now live in the age of sponsoring people in MLM via websites, blogs, email and instant messaging. We've streamlined training with newsletters, e-zines and internet forums. And we motivate through flash presentations, mp3 s and streaming videos, but occasionally I miss putting a cassette tape in the car player and driving home listening to the stories, the cliche's and that wonderfully motivating applause.
I know that the current IBOs that read this blog already have in mind their favorite motivational tape, but I was wondering if the "MLM critics" still possess that ONE tape they secretly listen to?
If not, do you still remember that one speaker that you still admire? Think of it as a guilty pleasure.
C'mon tell me. It'll just be between you and me (and the 10,000 other Qblog readers)
Admit it, don't you sometimes kinda miss the tapes?
Comments
Maybe it's just me, but those topics sound either too materialistic or too tragic for my liking. I supposes they are an acquired taste.
I came across Columbo Savatore's "The Leader Decided To Lead" a couple of months ago.
Didn't listen to it though. I hucked the other ones out around 90 ought 8
Sorry Davey. I don't, but, I sure can see how you could...
Dave! You're in fine style, I see. I get what you're saying and you're right. I've stood and cheered for these speakers many times -- Rich, Jay, Doug -- it just makes ya feel good and there's something in that.
Glad you're here -- you're a breath of fresh air!!!
There is one CD that I wished I would have saved and that was Doug Wead. I can't remember the exact title but it had to do with the price of freedom. It was a very motivational talk and I must have listened to that CD 100+ times.
I don't listen to them anymore and really don't have a desire to, except for that Doug Wead tape.
No, I don't miss the tapes. Frankly, most of them that I ever heard sucked.
I really don't miss the CDs; in fact, I am as glad as can be that I don't have to listen to them any more.
I'm sure there were some I enjoyed, but I don't remember at the moment. Oh, I remember one. Samir Attalah's story (I don't remember what the title of that WWDB CD was) was amazing. What a story. Anyone not touched by it has ice water flowing through his veins.
I also liked a Bill Britt CD, the only one I ever heard (I believe), called "Father Power." It was about how important fathers are, about his own father and him, and some other stuff. He seemed like such a loving, kind man with a big heart, not like the slightly crazed borderline egomaniac I saw at last year's FED.
I know that this post may be directed to the critics, but I figured you guys wouldn't mind.
Drew I believe the tape you're talking about is Doug Wead's "What's the Value of Freedom if you Don't Use it?" (BWW113)
I would agree w/ you on that one. It's not as hyped as other speakers I've heard and to me, he comes from a humble perspective. He talks about how a couple of people hired him or a high school (and paid like $7,500 each) to find the secret in investing. He says that all these people paid money to find the secret, but only one decided to apply it. The investing tip proved to be true and the one who applied it, increased his income while the others lost $7,500. He compares it to Network Marketing in general and says how people spend all their money finding the latest technique and secrets, but almost no one applies them.
He says a lot of other good stuff too, but he ends with a bang when he begins to talk about how Czecholosvakia (spelling?) got their freedom. He talks about what it takes for a country to be truly free (political & economic freedom). Then he ends with something like:
"What is better? To be on the ground w/ your face in the mud, a gun pointed to your head and a boot on your neck? (slave, communism, etc.) Or to have no gun pointed at you and no boot on your neck, but UNWILLING to get up from the mud? (choosing to do nothing prosperous w/ your freedom)
This talk, although motivating, made me think. It made me think about the freedoms I have (I'm an immigrant) and my attitude towards the military (I was in the Marines).
Sorry Qblog, I know you don't want to hear about freedom or any of that "tapespeak", so I'll leave it at that. Thanks Drew, for the reminder. Now I have to sift through all my tapes to find it so I can listen to it again.
I don't know Dave, I can see how it is inspirational in a kind of.... oh, how do I articulate this.... maybe, in the way that you see an inspiring/feel-good movie, and while you walk out the door and to your car, you somehow feel that urge to plant a passionate kiss on your girl-friend/spouse/date...
But, in the context of a business? I never got that. In fact, most of the ones that I heard made me angry.
Dave,
It's funny that you bring the subject of tapes today. Today, for the first time in 5 years I listened to a tape: "It's Called Practice" by Bo Short. We used to absolutely love that tape with it's information and style.
I'm certainly a critic of the Quixtar business and it's motivational organizations, but I do remember how powerful some of those stories were. I remember how motivated, at times, I was to go out and do things that I didn't really enjoy doing. I guess that really does show the power that a motivation/propoganda system can have. It can cause some people to perpetually persist with a sub par business where the liklihood of success is very small.
I'm taking it slow with this tape so I don't O.D. on the stuff. I'm just listening to find some gems that might be useful with my company and employees.
I tried this two years ago, but I couldn't get two minutes into the tape without throwing it away (I may have actually broken it first). It just happened that I found another one hiding in a box this week and decided to give it another try.
What's more fun is walking around the house quoting lines from the tape and having my wife laugh and then threaten me with death :)
Good times. My wife is a thin girl, but she can give me boot to the head like Bruce Lee so I have to be careful.
Christian,
Yes, that is the one, very good tape and I think his talk can apply to many things other then network marketing.
I actually took that attitude back into my career after quitting Quixtar and found the kind of work I had been seeking for 4 years and got a $17K a year raise to boot.
Also, remember much of what he said when it comes to running my side business as well. I was not big on the tapes but that one was well worth the $7.50. Unfortunately it was the only one. That is one CD that might actually be marketable to people outside of Quixtar.
Our fav used to be Chuck Goetcshel's "start and don't stop". That used to get us motivated for awhile. THen alittle bit less. And a little bit less. After awhile longer we could find nothing to motivate us to go out and lie to people.
After all the money I lost and the pain that those tapes caused my family, I have no desire to ever listen to any of that crap ever again.
My income has gone up by A LOT since I stopped listening to tapes.
For the most part, tapes teach you to listen to tapes.
Rara,
You should consider doing a Google search on Mr. Attalah who was convicted of second degree theft in 1990.
Ty,
I know about that and also about the allegations in the other lawsuit, which I will not mention here. It shows how you can't take everyone at face value and how some people are powerful sweet talkers. Amazing. One more reason why I will double check if a big pin tells me it's dark at midnite.
You should also do a Google search on Al Keranen who is technically upline from Ty Tribble last time I checked.
QBlog said>You should also do a Google search on Al Keranen who is technically upline from Ty Tribble last time I checked.
Interesting. Here's the first result:
http://www.amquix.info/amway_al_keranen.htm
Ty, I don't think you should be pointing fingers at a fellow MLMer if your upline isn't that squeaky clean either.
My favorite tape is, without a doubt, "Contacting and Inviting: A Diamond Discussion," because it features a man who should never again be allowed near a microphone, or even allowed in a country that has a microphone in it. That man is Jack Proctor.
Jack Proctor is the "Corky" of Diamonds, because you're gonna find yourself laughing at him even though you know it's impolite and--judging by his number of speech impediments--probably even politically incorrect to do so. Listening to him stutter his way through a talk about why you need posture while contacting is priceless. Hell, it takes him two-thirds of the audio just to introduce himself. I think Scott Michael and crew secretly invited Jack along as the "what not to do" example.
For the next thirty minutes, Jack somehow manages to fit the words "standard oooperating procedures" into every sentence. I should probably point out that the rest of each of those sentences are made up of "ums" and "uhs." Just when you realize that you've stumbled upon the "Battlefield Earth" of Amway tapes, Jack kicks the part of your brain that judges whether or not things are cool right in the groin with his coup de grace: a contacting role-playing excercise that's so bad, it temporarily makes you forget about his hilarious pronunciation of the word "operating."
Jack calls an IBO on stage who's name is--I swear to God--Cinco. F'ing FIVE. He then role-plays a series of scenarios with Cinco, each of which conclude to what might be one person in the audience clapping, but is more than likely just tape static. This is hilarious when you consider that Brad DeHaven received thunderous applause for just standing up.
If you happen to live in one of the thirty-five countries where this tape hasn't been banned, I highly recommend picking one up. If, for anything, just to hear Jack say "ooperating."
Bill Childers - Then They Found Out Childers Was In - Just for the dyamite story
I too secretly miss the tapes. Finally trashed them 2 years ago. The best one I ever heard was John Terune "Shoot for the Moon" - listened to it at least 50 times. I guess he must of missed - he is now in Oasis. So much for the "system".
Posted by: k3bour | August 18, 2006 2:45 AM