I have not been in any kind of mlm for very long. However, I have tried them. I usually
ask a lot of questions. My first exposure to the mlm concept was Amway. My father was
proseltised by an mlm person years ago and he asked him, "is the prospect Amway?" The
guy said "no it is not". After a long two hour meeting we noticed an Amway package
hidden under the coffee table. Now, honesty and integrity is the #1 most important thing
in a persons life. When a person has compromised integrity and honesty they loose all
credibility.
At the time my father was in the Air Force in the highest level of intelligence. He was
given the task of protecting the country from external and internal threats and had
presidential authority to take anyones life without explaining it to any government
authority expcept the President of the United States and the Pentagon directly. Yet with all
of that authority it was impossible to stop this kind of lack of integrity.
I think Amway is a good business, at the core, and my parents purchase it's products.
However, the lack of integrity and morality is with people. I do not invest in a business. I
invest in people or a person. A business can be great, but if the people are losers or lack
greatly in integrity then I will not do business with them.
I have ADD, ADHD, and Aspergers Syndrome. It is both good and bad. I lack the ability to
recognize a flim flam artist often. However, It also makes me hard to deal with. So only
an honest person will work hard enough to work with me.
During my high school years I knew fellow Christians who had dishonest personalities.
They changed their grades behind the teachers back in the teachers grade book and
cheated on their tests.
I fiished my Geography B.A. Degree in 1993 and flew over to Scandinavia for three weeks
to explore the countries. There I met Zirimo from Rwanda. I worked in assisting him in
developing his country and educating the people during the Genocides. I was a success
even though I was not a financil asuccess. Rwanda now has two Internet Service Providers.
After much questioning, an Amway representative told me that Amway was probably not
good for me because I wanted to build a business in Film Production and an Amway
Representative builds his own "Amway" business. So I respected the Reps advice and left
Amway Alone. I later joined because I liked the idea of making more money and was
having trouble in the work force. This was when I lived in California.
I was then placed in a position where I had to give up my life to assist my Grandmother
who was constantly going to the emergency room about 3 times a week. I went into
Financial Debt due to not being able to make any money.
While in California, I had a coworker that constantly yelled at me and others at work. I was
a food server, at the retirement home where my Grandmother lived, then and struggling
financially. Luckily my Parents and Grandmother footed most of my living and life
expenses. They purchased a house together that I lived in for the 7 years until my
Grandmother moved and passed away.
During this time I applied for Jobs and did not find any positive responses despite my
healthy resume and college education.
I found myself financially desperate. I had borrowed money out of desperation from
Credidt cards to survive.
I then bumped into people who where nice and a part of Excell Communications. The
concept did not make sense to me. How can a person make any money with no actual
product to sell? It seemed fishy that in order to be a rep I had to pay $195 up front. When
I asked many questions it caused more people to be attracted to me because they though I
could become a member through them. At one time I decided that the loss of $195 was
not a big deal. I had no children to support. So I was somewhat free. Plus my family kept
bailing me out when I got in a pinch. So I joined. I had been communicating with Zirimo
Kuimushi Janvier in Rwanda for several years by then. So I had this great idea that I could
build my Excell business in Rwanda Africa while also providing a communication service
that could possibly stop the genocides or cause other people to avoid being killed by
providing them pagers and cell phones connected to satellites. I thought I had an
awesome idea. Knowing that network marketing or the mlm concept was a tough
prospect to sell in a market already comfortable with their own communication service,
America, I knew that the idea would be widely accepted in a country that had no
communication system yet.
The Excell people told me that if I did not understand how the profit system worked
completely, that it was ok, because I was just uneducated, and would learn as time went
by. So I thought ok. I know I have ADD, ADHD, and Aspergers Syndrome, which is a form
of educated Autism, so maybe I am too stupid to understand how it really works. So I had
business Cards made up that said, "Developing Communications in Third World Nations."
on Excell busines card stock. Through a company called "Business Cards Across America".
Using the Excel advice. I sent droves of Business Cards to Africa and received numerous
replies. And I signed up the people that replied. I wanted to help them make money as
well. At the time a lifes worth of savings was equal to about $80 American dollars. So I
footed most of the bill. At least until the Africans could begin to pay for ther own
services. I received many letters from Africa from people who wanted to sign up.
I contacted Excel's International department but received no reply. I tried to contact Kenny
Trout and received no reply. I also had purchased two shares of Excell Communications
stock at a cost of $52, a certificate I still have that is now worthless, I believe. I was able
to convince a freind of mine to become a customer. I received a statement with my
account, my friends from Nevada, and Zirimo's in Africa.
I then realized that the human mind can easily be ignorant. The more that percentages of
tellecommunications charges are multiplied the smaller that percentage becomes. 2%
times 2%, or .2 times .2 becomes .04 which means I am actually making less and less with
every new customer. I felt really stupid. How could an intelligent college grad with some
mathematical skill make such a stupid mistake. Then I realized that it was not my
mistake. I was desperate for an income and let them talk me into a system that they also
did not understand I had decided to admit that I was the one too stupid to see the profit
generating system of Kenny Trout. To tell the truth I think that Kenny Trout was also not
intelligent enough to do the simple math that would prove that this was a loosing business
prospect.
I soon realized that I was not a victim of the Excell system or Kenny Trout's scam system,
but rather a victim of my own financial desperation. At the time my own Pastor in Alaska
had also been an Excell Representative.
Using my Geography degree knowledge I drove around the Sacramento California are and
observed the number of malls that had rent space. I began to wonder just how bad the
unemployment system was inthat area. So I went home and got on the Internet and
contacted various government offices.
I contacted the Bureau of Economic Development, Bureau of the Census, and the Bureau of
Population and Demographics. Not sure if those Bureaus are correct now but I did to this
research. Using my Geography knowledge I performed a Demographyic analysis using my
Statistics for the Geographer Knowledge that I obtained from College and out book for
class titles "Scarcity and Growth: The Economics of Natural Resource Availability.
Harold J. Barnett and Chandler Morse.
I soon realized that out of all the employable population in about 23 towns and cities in
the Sacramento California region there wasn't enough jobs available for people to find
work. So if every job was ultimately filled there would still be between 25 to 28% of the
total population that would end up unemployed.
This caused me to really take notice. I realized that desperation in the economy was
leading people to second guess their own intelligence and take risks that usually their own
logic would warn them not to take.
This was both good news and bad news. Good news in that I now understood what was
going on in this economy and why people were acting so weird and grabbing on to every
bad business opportunity that promised them success.
But also bad news that I was also a statistic in this world of struggling unemployed people.
I packaged up the work I had done and contacted the bureau of Population Statistics, the
bureau of the Census, and the Bureau of Economic Development. I then sent a copy of the
information to each department and offered to provide any support I could provide.
The organizations contacted me and told me that there was not an unemploymnet crisis in
the country and that my data was flawed. However, about a month later there was a news
broadcast that stated that there was an unemployment rate in the Sacramento Valley
Region of about 25%.
At about this time my parents had me diagnosed for a disability claiming that my financial
problems were psychological. Crap. Anyway, I obtained services with the Department of
Vocational Rehabilitation, and obtained financial assistance with Social Security
Administration. I obtained my Medicare Card and my State Medical Care Card. The
financial stress was begining to be relieved. However, I was already in debt to credit cards
about $10,000 dollars and had no income aside from three forms of social security
checks.
This is when I met Equinox corporation. I saw an add in the newspaper and went to a
meeting. The man placed a light bulb in a pail of water and made it glow. Having some
electrical knowledge I knew that the salinization of the water would carry a current. So
this was not really that amazing to me. But many ignorant people were very amazed.
There seemed to be alot of people that were interested in the program. I told them that I
was interested in listening to what they had to say so I went along and listened. I later
told them that I was unemployed and had no money. Which was very close to the truth.
These people were nice enough that they told me that they would help me anyway.
At about this time, the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation paid for two suits, four
ties, and two pair of business shoes, which I purchased from JC Penneys.
This added to my collection of two other shoddy suits. One day I went to the Equinox
meeting wearing my suit and tie. Where I was immediately treated with great respect.
However, I felt that I was being brown nosed. The suit and tie did great things for the
peoples attitude toward me, however shallow it was. They did not know that I was just a
guy wearing a suit. I was not sure what was happening. I kind of liked the company but
was not really that sure of it. I had been burned before. I believed in Filtrating water and
the fact that the company seemed to be on the edge of scientific breakthroughs. However,
I thought that making a light bulb glow in salinated water was a pretty cheasy effect. Still I
thought that they were onto something.
I was honest and told the company that I was unemployed and struggling and that I had a
degree in Geography and gave them a resume. Yet it seemed to easy to get a job. I
wanted them to interview me and go through the process of a regular job interview.
Except that they seemed to want me no mater what it was that I did. I thought if I was a
serial killer or a mass murderer would they still want me? Something seemed wrong about
this.
I sat through a second meeting, conference, where they again showed the light bulb glow
and then had a live audio conference with the owner of the corporation. Then I talked with
a man who was a doctor who had been studying nerve receptors and the electrical transfer
of nerve receptors. I told them I had ADD, ADHD, and had been recently diagnosed with
Aspergers Syndrome. The doctor siad he thought their product the "Elixer of Life" was
great and that it was designed to heal or provide nutrients that would make the brain
function better. I was interested. I purchased a bottle of the "Elixer of Life" to experiment
with it. It tasted awful. I did not have the financial resources to reverse engineer it to
determine what was really in the bottle.
I was told that I could meet the business owner personally at a conference in Los Angeles
that weekend. I think I had to pay some small fee to go for bus expenses and other
expenses. I was told to bring my business suit. So I did.
On the bus trip I conversed with a Doctor/ Medical Neurologist who told me how
impressed he was with the "Elixer of Life". We had a deep intellectual conversation about
the neurons of the human brain and Atoms and Cells etc. I was beginning to feel more
comfortable about the program. I am a hard sell and I was not about to purchase a
$5,000 kit without knowing everything from the owners personal life to the background
check I was preparing to do on him. After talking with a lot of people on the buss I
realized that not many people were members or they had just become new members.
At the Conference, in Los Angeles, we were funneled into a bathroom where we all
changed into our business suits. This felt to me completely unnatural. I am used to going
to a hotel and purchasing a night and changing for the day etc. Then we all stashed our
duffel bags and our suit bags into the bus seats. I felt strange about this but I kept saying
"God, I am not going to be judgmental this time." I was on a nonjudgmental kick back
then.
At the conference they asked me if I would like to do some volunteer work at the sales
table. I really wanted to sit in the conference auditorium and anylize this business owner.
But my Suit and Tie, top notch JC Penny's, was too irristible for others I guess. So I said
sure I will be helpful. I stood behind the table and helped people purchase product and
helped stock the table. Not everyone was dressed in a suit and tie or dress. Which made
me feel wholly unnatural. I don't like dressing up. I am an Alaskan and like being dressed
natural. Or even in my Grungees. Little did I know that I was being scammed and used to
scam others.
Next door to us, on the other side of the partician was a stage where the owner was
speaking and having other people walk across the stage to confess how rich they were and
how the organization had brought them up from the ranks of poverty to riches. Typical
Rags to Riches story. None of this impressed me.
Later, I realized that, I wanted to sit down in the conference and observe the speakers. I
wanted to watch facial expressions to see if they were lying or telling the truth. Which was
often very hard to determine. People treated me very differently because I was dressed in
a Business Suit. I asked to be excused from the table that I was volunteering at. I took
some food from the food table and went to sit down in the conference and watch the
presentation.
A man was invited up to speak who was supposedly a Medical Doctor and Scientist who
spent his life researching medical solutions to ADHD and the Brain in far off countries. He
said he was hired by equinox because of his great talents. He talked about finding this
spring, in some far off country, that mysteriously sprang from a cliff side that had a
specific, and yet, perfect solution of chemicals that he could just bottle and that it
mysteriously helped the human mind. I thought, what a crock of crap! I looked around
and was astonished at how gullible the people in the audience were. They believed it. He
talked about how God led him to this spring to help save the world from their mental
problems. He said that the people living in the village were over 150 years old. I thought
that if this were true it would be plastered all over the news. Something this good could
not be kept a secret for this long. They had outdone themselves with bull crap.
I realized that they were adamant that no one bring video cameras or be allowed to video
tape the conference.
Then the owner, whoever they heck his name was, finished with an invitational to become
a member or purchase their products at the table. He said that everyone wearing a
business suit were Employees/Members etc. and that people could purchase products
from anyone at the table wearing a business suit or dress.
This is where I realized that I had been singled out earlier before for my Business Suit and
that I could be exploited as a wealthy Successful Business Man based on what others
would assume by seeing me in my Suit. I felt exploited and used. I also felt frightened
and realized that I was in the presence of Scam Artists who could do anything to scam
someone. I even realized that they had no scruples and that I had to rely on thier bus to
get back home or I might be left alone in Los Angeles with very little money to get back to
Sacramento, California. So I played along until I could get back home to Sacramento
California to my car in safety.
I spoke to no one on the bus ride on the way back. I noticed that it was very solemn on
the bus ride on the way back. I think many people felt scammed and were trying to get
back home to safety like I was.
When I was home, I performed a better business bureau search and found Equinox to have
a severe Unsatisfactory report with the BBB. I kicked myself for not having used the BBB
first to examine the businesses. I also searched doctors databases and found no record of
the name of the doctor that found the Supernatural Spring in the cliff wall of a village in a
far asian country. I think he said it was Nepal.
I then realized later that all business transactions were done in cash or on tablets and that
the receipts did not have the name of the Equinox Corporation on it. Therefore no
purchases could be traced to the Equinox Corporation.
I searched in Google the "Elixer of Life" and found an article, that has probably been
deleted, that the "Elixer of Life" is nothing more than ordinary sea water. The Salt Water
solution and a few other metalllic elements cause it to make a light bulb glow in the dark
when elextricity is passed throught the salinated solution.
This whole thing was a very elaborate scam by a few very smart but unethical individuals.
I am very glad that I did not spend much on this endeavor. I left with most of my honor
intact. I think I spent the cost of the "Elixer of life", and maybe the bus fare. However, it is
very hard for me to trust people now.
I performed a BBB search on Pre-Paid Legal Services and have recognized that they have a
very good "Satisfactory " record with the BBB. Does anyone know if they are a good
company? Or am I wasting my time? I am not looking for a millin dollar opportunity. I
am just interested in finding out if they can help me network with Leagal Cororations and
Attorneys that can provide Business Law solutions.
Sincerely,
KC
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