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April 17, 2007
Visiting San Francisco
By QBlog in Miscellaneous
I'm currently in the Bay Area and will be here for the next couple of days. If you are around San Francisco and would like to have a drink with me, send an email (subject: San Francisco Drinks!) to webraw@gmail.com. I'll buy the first two rounds!
UPDATE: I'm home now. San Francisco was fun. I must return and see more of it. I was at the Web 2.0 Expo by the way.
April 16, 2007
Take Notice
By Truth in Miscellaneous
With the tax deadline coming due very soon there are all kinds of articles to read about taxes and all the subjects that go along with that.
One article I found in the New York Times was interesting to me, and I thought many IBOs should also take notice. David Cay Johnston wrote an article today about the increased audits of the middle class and found some very interesting information about middle class Americans who run a business:
"Middle-class Americans most likely to have their tax returns examined under the new strategy are those who own a business, even a side business, or are landlords or have investment income."
"Middle-class taxpayers who file a Schedule C — freelancers, consultants and very small businesses — are three times as likely to be audited as those in the same income group with no such business income."
So make sure you got those records in order and all of your ducks in a row just in case the IRS comes a calling.
April 7, 2007
Real Criticism
By Truth in A/QMOs
Whenever we signed up a new Quixtar IBO our upline taught us that we were supposed to do all we could to shield that IBO from criticism about Quixtar. Pretty much an impossible task. I never quite understood the apparent fear my upline and many other IBOs had of the criticism about Quixtar, and I still don't understand it today.
Another thing I still do not understand to this day is the blatant dismissal of anything that is perceived as negative about Quixtar. Anything that is seen as negative is immediately dismissed and is taboo to even speak about. I wondered if they even understood the consequences of closing yourself off in a bubble of your own little Quixtar world essentially detaching from reality.
Criticism exists anywhere about pretty much anything. It comes in all kinds of ways, from all different types of people, for all kinds of different reasons. Sure it's easy just to dismiss all of it as nonsense and move on about your ways paying it no mind; but the flaw in that logic is some criticism can be of great value. It can teach a lesson, give warning to bumps in the road on your journey, or even spawn an idea of new opportunity.
When I started my side business a while back one of the most important things I did was research the criticism of the industry I was about to venture into. I didn't want to be just another business in the game. I wanted to be different in my own way, and in that brand my business as unique. To do that I needed to know what others had done that was being criticized, and what they were not doing that was bringing in equal criticism.
This of course is no easy task because basically you need to sort out the BS in order to find the real criticism. After it was all said and done I realized that sorting out the BS is simply done by asking one very simple and easy question to every piece of criticism....WHY?
Quixtar sucks!....WHY?
Quixtar business will never work!....WHY?
Quixtar is nothing but a scam!....WHY?
I did Quixtar and it never worked....WHY?
Hopefully that illustrates the point. Now you also have to understand that you are not asking this question to start an argument or heated discussion about this business, you are doing it because you really want to hear that answer. The answer to your question will be how you can tell if it is just BS, or if it has any value to you. For example, if the person just looks at you with a blank stare like you just asked them what is the square root of 9,745,245 then you know they are full of BS and you can go about your day.
If they do have an answer however, the value of that answer will be completely subjective. What one person might see as valuable, another might see it as BS, and vice versa. I believe real criticism should always be embraced and not feared. Do not fear a prospect doing a Google search of Quixtar and reading the dreaded "negative" sites. Talk about the criticism during the plan, and by that I mean actually talk about it. Those rah-rah speeches about if you want to be a doctor you only talk to doctors doesn't do anything to help, trust me!
Don't feel like you need to shield anyone from anything. Instead help them understand the value in criticism and how to know if it has actual value, or if it is simply BS. Your prospects and downline are going to eventually research it anyway. If there is some criticism out there that is going to make them say no to this business, better to find out earlier then later.
April 1, 2007
Business vs. Personal Finances
By Truth in A/QMOs
When I first joined Quixtar I asked the same question of my sponsor that many prospects ask: "How much do you make?" I of course received a response that is quite similar to the one given to those other prospects: "I don't reveal my personal finances." This of course should have been a red flag for me from the jump, but I guess you live and you learn.
Since leaving Quixtar time and again I have seen Quixtar IBOs give their reasons for why they don't feel it is necessary to tell any prospect how much money they make, and to be completely candid, not one of their reasons has convinced me that they should not do it. In the end it always goes back to "It's personal", and I am not buying it.
Some of you may know that when I left Quixtar my wife and I started other businesses with modest success and as of right now I have a side business that I run. I have never considered my personal household income to be related to my business income. The amount of money that is brought into my household to live off of is certainly a private matter, unless of course I am asking for a loan of some sort. I would also agree my business income is also a private matter except in the following cases:
1. I am asking someone to invest in my business.
2. I am seeking a loan based on my business income.
3. I am claiming I can teach someone to run a successful business.
As you may have guessed already number 3 is the clincher here. According to the Quixtar Rules of Conduct, and how the plan is shown, the sponsor is going to teach his/her new downline how to build a Quixtar business. It would only make sense that if you are telling someone you can teach them to build a business that you would be able to show some measure of success in building a business yourself.
Put yourself in the prospect's shoes for just a moment. You have two IBOs who have both been in for 6 months. Both are dressed sharp, very charismatic and really know quite a bit about this plan they are showing you. So which one would you rather learn from? To hard to tell you say? Well now let's say one of them is making $1000 a month pure profit and the other guy is making $10. Now which one would you rather learn from? Makes the decision a bit easier doesn't it?
Some IBOs have said that you can tell by looking at the "fruit on the tree." Actually I am not quite sure what "fruit on the tree" means exactly since the fruit always seemed to change to fit the situation. But, for this article the fruit is going to mean the car they drive, the house they own, etc, etc. This reasoning of course has it's flaws….actually MAJOR flaws.
The biggest flaw is the only evidence you are being given is the perception that they want you to have. Fruit on the tree isn't based on any hard facts, it is simply a person's life packaged the way they want to present it to you. You have no idea what produced the funds to buy that house, car, watch, suit, dress, etc, etc. Fruit on the tree is all about showbiz, and not real business.
Now if you were to take a look at income statements for their business you would have a clear factual picture of their business, and what kind of business people they are. You would be able to see what kind of income to expense ratio they have, and proper records would also show what kind of net profit they are making each year. Things that can give someone a strong indication as to whether they want to do any business with this person.
In the end many IBOs will always fight against having to show any kind of income statement citing that it is personal information. So it appears there are some IBOs who have yet to figure out there is a difference between personal income and business income, and in business there are perfectly legitimate times that a person will request to look at your records, and my advice to anyone looking into this business is that if someone is not willing to discuss with your their measure of financial success all the while trying to get you to join their "business" team, politely say "No thanks" and go find a serious business person instead.