http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/ Information, Perceptions and Discussion about Quixtar en-us truth@cox.net 2008-04-12T08:01:04+00:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/archives/2008/04/perfect_water_now_not_as_perfect.php Since I first found out about this new perfect water product that Amway is going to be distributing the thing that of course caught my attention was the claims that were being made about this product. The whole deal about having improved flexibility, balance, and strength in just seconds with one ounce I found to be quite outrageous. No surprise to me however was the comments from those who came here defending such ridiculous claims. In this situation however this story actually has a different twist from the outrageous product claims that have been made about Amway products of the past. A quick trip over to amquix.info shows several articles that Scott Larsen has written about perfect water and in many of those articles he has screen shots of the perfect water website as it has evolved. The twist on this product is that the manufacturer was making the claims... 8421@http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/ Amway 2008-04-12T08:01:04+00:00 http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/archives/2008/04/go_memphis.php I don't really follow College Basketball or any basketball for that matter. Right now I am actually going through football withdrawals, and using baseball to get me through as rough as that is. But I know Qblog loves his Memphis basketball team and they are in the Final Four so I thought I would make mention of it and let's see if they can win it all.... 8420@http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/ Miscellaneous 2008-04-05T05:22:33+00:00 http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/archives/2008/03/amway_and_their_perfect_water.php Around the web I have been seeing more and more articles about the Perfect Water product from Amway. Of course it is open to some skepticism because of the claims that are being made, which are that you can have better balance, strength and flexibility after even just one ounce and this can occur within seconds. Apparently there are demonstrations of this being done by IBOs and many of those videos can be found on the web. A search for Amway and Perfect Water on YouTube will show several videos from open meetings of these "demonstrations". I have watched several videos and I have a hard time believing some of the claims that they are making can happen with just one ounce of water, and occur in an instant on top of that. So I have included a couple of videos in this post, one of them is a demonstration... 8419@http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/ Amway 2008-03-27T17:42:50+00:00 http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/archives/2008/03/carnegie_on_wealth.php Do you know who Andrew Carnegie is? As far as Forbes is concerned he is the second richest man in the history of the world second only to John D. Rockefeller. Just to give you an idea of what being that high on that list means Bill Gates ranks 20th on the list and Warren Buffet ranks 41st. That ranking is based on their highest ever net worth. So needless to say Andrew had quite a bit of spare change in his pocket. His view on wealth though is what I have always admired. Carnegie was known for being a big philanthropist, and it was said that he wouldn't give a begger a dime, but he would build him a library. He felt that his purpose of being rich was to use the money to make society better as a whole. By the time he died he had given away... 8418@http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/ A/QMOs 2008-03-13T18:50:32+00:00 http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/archives/2008/02/typical_prospecting_story.php I found an interesting post on a forum where an individual talks about getting prospected at a car show by an IBO. Sadly the way he describes the story happens more often then it should and is the primary reason IBOs have a bad stereotype attached to them. Recently I was at the Philly Auto Show admiring the new Challenger and a guy started talking to me about how what I do and where i'm from yada yada yada. Anyway he tells me he has a business and he is looking to do business down my way with Circut City and Best Buys and also is promoting a new energy drink. So I left him my number and he gave me a business card and said next time he was in my area we should meet about me helping him with his business in my area. About a week later... 8417@http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/ A/QMOs 2008-02-28T21:56:58+00:00 http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/archives/2008/02/fred_harteis_resigns_from_quixtar.php Over on Fred Harteis's blog Fred has posted his explanation of his resignation from Quixtar. I found this to be the most interesting part of his post: "As an IBO I have entered into many discussions concerning issues I have had with Quixtar i.e.: product pricing, the IBO compensation plan, negative on the web." Negative on the web? Now I know Fred didn't specify exactly, but most of the negative on the web is due to abusive practices by motivational organization leaders. I wonder how many other leaders complained about the negative on the web with Quixtar. Were they looking to Quixtar to do something about it? Isn't that kind of like expecting someone to clean up a mess that you made yourself? The way I see it if the IBO leaders showed more concern for their downline making a profit rather then buying tools and getting tickets to the... 8416@http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/ A/QMOs 2008-02-22T18:24:38+00:00 http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/archives/2008/02/walmart_and_amway_quixtar.php When I was in Quixtar I remember many times references to Wal-Mart being used. During an open meeting the speaker would tell the prospects that instead of spending their money at Wal-Mart they could buy from their own company and make money. IBOs tell people that Wal-Mart never gave them a check for shopping there like they get from their own business. Wal-Mart this and Wal-Mart that. Pretty much every time a reference to a traditional business was used it was Wal-Mart. So when I saw an article by Ray Alexander in the Opportunity Zone titled "Not Wal-Mart and never want to be" I couldn't help but laugh a little. The question isn't that IBOs need to compete with the Wal-Marts, Sam's Clubs, etc. It's a matter of IBOs need to stop comparing themselves to them. You see an IBO can argue that the quality of their products are so... 8415@http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/ Amway 2008-02-18T23:32:10+00:00 http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/archives/2008/02/more_on_the_amway_arbitration_case.php As expected the reversal of the arbitration ruling in the Morrison case has made it's rounds and now the IBOAI, Alticor, and even others are putting their two cents in. Of course most of what is being said I don't think is even addressing the issues. To me it looks like more damage control then anything. At any rate there are apparently some things that the IBOAI want you to know. 1. The decision in this case could be changed in future court proceedings. (Much like how the earlier decision in favor of Amway was later changed in future court proceedings). 2. The Morrison decision was based upon arbitration agreement rules that were in effect in 1998 and have since changed. For instance Amway can no longer make changes to the agreement without the consent of the IBOAI. 3. The dispute arose before January 1, 1998 when the arbitration agreement... 8414@http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/ Amway 2008-02-11T23:24:28+00:00 http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/archives/2008/02/court_rules_against_amway_arbitration.php The Fifth Circuit US Court of Appeals has ruled against Amway/Quixtar in the Morrison case regarding the arbitration decision. From what I gather Morrison lost against Amway in arbitration (no surprise there) then objected to the arbitration when Amway went back to federal district court to get a judgement on the arbitration decision. The district court decided in Amway's favor, and Morrison appealed the ruling. The case ended up with the US Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit and the district courts ruling was reversed and the arbitration ruling was vacated. The reversal of the decision seems to be mostly based off of the fact that the arbitration was invalid and unenforceable because Amway continued to reserve the right to modify or revoke the arbitration agreement at-will. So basically since Amway was not bound to the arbitration provision they could not enforce it on anyone else. I have never been a... 8413@http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/ Amway 2008-02-09T18:18:40+00:00 http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/archives/2008/02/new_event_rule_posted.php Over at the Ada-Tudes blog there has been a post about Quixtar's new rule which will allow sales of products at events. Of course as with just about everything in Amway or Quixtar there are restrictions. Here is what was posted as the "pending" rule for event sales: 4.3.3 Event Sales: The display and sale of health, beauty and sports nutrition products by IBOs only at temporary (no more than 10 days) health and beauty shows and certain kinds of sporting events (e.g.: bike race, marathon, 3-on-3 basketball tournament) are permitted. The following information must be received by the Corporation, in writing, 30 days prior to the event, to allow sufficient time to grant approval. 4.3.3.1. A written description of the type of event (including date of event). 4.3.3.2. Name of the specific product(s) to be displayed and sold. 4.3.3.3. A list of specific literature to be used at the... 8412@http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/ Quixtar 2008-02-04T14:36:56+00:00 http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/archives/2008/01/kill_the_wiki.php Should the Quixtar Wiki be killed? As much as I'd love to see this collaborative website flourish I recognize that without regular attention and management, it's become a link-spam magnet and a bit of an embarrassment. A quick glance at the recent changes reveals lots of activity but virtually all of it related to spammers and link bots. So, my inclination is to kill the thing because I don't have the time to manage the site and nobody else is knocking down the door volunteering to manage it for me. However, if you think I should keep the site up please let me know why and maybe provide some solutions for the current spam problems. I have thought of some tougher wiki software that does a better job of blocking out the spammers but the site is still left needing someone to populate it with content and frankly, that's a... 8411@http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/ Blog News 2008-01-27T05:04:28+00:00 http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/archives/2008/01/price_vs_value.php There has been quite a fuss lately over the prices of Quixtar products. Of course this has always been an issue, but has been put more in focus lately because of the whole Quixtar v. TEAM mess. The simple arguments are that Amway/Quixtar prices are too high, and of course the common theme for the defense is that the value of the product justifies the high prices. Personally I can see both sides of this debate. I don't necessarily agree 100% with either side in this debate, but I think both sides make some pretty valid points. I was over on the Ada-Tudes blog and was reading the post by Ray Alexander titled "Not Wal-Mart and Never Want to Be". While reading this post and many of the comments that were left I got to thinking about a seminar I attended with my wife when she was an owner of... 8410@http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/ Quixtar 2008-01-22T04:25:33+00:00 http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/archives/2008/01/couldnt_do_any_worse.php Over on the Ada-tudes blog there was an article by Todd Krause which seemed to address some comments made on an earlier article he wrote about Quixtar sales. Anyway I found it a bit funny that he was addressing those who made statements to the effect that the corporation does not have the credibility to tell IBOs how to sell or build Quixtar/Amway businesses. Todd Krause agreed with the statements saying it was not their intention to go around IBO leaders. Well in my opinion the corporation is doing more to teach IBOs how to sell a product then IBO leaders are. IBO leaders are concentrating on teaching IBOs how to sell a "system". One look at the numbers that only 3.4% of all Quixtar sales were sold to actual customers tells you how good the IBO leaders have been at teaching selling techniques. So I don't think the IBOs... 8409@http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/ Quixtar 2008-01-19T03:26:56+00:00 http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/archives/2008/01/gotta_love_technology.php I just saw an article on Fox News website about a Marine who was able to see his child born thanks to streaming video over a webcam. I thought it was a nice story to see. I know so many of those troops are not only in a high stress environment the likes of which many of us will never know, but many of them miss out on life back at home. Away from their young children missing some pretty special moments. I know it's not the same as being there, but it's pretty cool how technology can make moments like this happen.... 8408@http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/ Miscellaneous 2008-01-17T07:24:44+00:00 http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/archives/2008/01/retailing_in_quixtar_part_3_10_50_100.php For the final part of the Retailing in Quixtar series I am going to address the Quixtar rule that states an IBO must make at least one sale to 10 different people, sell 50PV worth of product, or sell $100 worth of product in order to get downline bonuses. This rule was referred to as the ten customer rule in the FTC v. Amway decision and here is what was written about it in the decision: 74. Amway's 'ten­customer' rule provides that distributors may not receive a performance bonus unless they prove a sale to each of ten different retail customers during each month. (RX 331, pp. 1­B and 17­B) The Direct Distributors have the primary responsibility for enforcing the ten­customer rule in their own group. (S. Bryant, Tr. 4061­62) The ten­customer rule was started by Amway about 1970. Prior to that, there was a 25 sales rule which required... 8407@http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/ Quixtar 2008-01-15T22:09:29+00:00