Harry, and all.
I think you will be amused with my reply today.
Ya, I was in the same Amway group in Massachusetts.
I was around the "business" at various times in my youth and adult life.
I was at the house meeting when Jim & Connie Agard became Directs in Hudson MA.
Years later, I had worked at their huge French Chateau mansion they owned in Fitchburg, MA for both them and the former owners. Even though I was not a distributor at the time, it was neat to see the remodeling done on that grand house and I found myself driving by often just to see so many nice cars and motorhomes from time to time and guess who may be visiting & imagining what may be going on inside. The house was since sold to Bobby Orr (hockey) and now owned by a Dr.
My Mom "Helen" was Jim and Connie's much loved housekeeper often mentioned from stage during some of the bragging on how great their lifestyle is. She somewhat came with the house when the Agards moved in. They wanted Mom to move with them to Nashville but she had me and my 2 sisters to raise.
There is a family connection too as my own brother's brother-in-Law Larry & Joanie Gammell of Ashburnham MA, became directs weeks after Jim and Connie. They were always just one pin level step behind Jim & Connie and kept a friendly competition. It was always fun to hear the latest news of their successes through family circles.
Twice I visited L&J's horse ranch in Aften TN near Johnson City Tennessee. Joanie's horse was a very tall black stallion she loved to show and earn ribbons. Their son Jay liked to run us around on 4x4 trucks on the hilly property. Both their kids now live near Charlotte, NC too. Larry divorced Joanie after a rumored finding her in a compromising position and some years later he remarried a very pretty model Robin from Florence SC, moving to Manchester NH and has since divorced and remarried again a couple years ago. I think Larry is now living in Florida.
This may be news to some of you. The Agards were not actually sponsored into the Yager organization but was adopted (bonus money still going to the original sponsoring diamond leg). The Amway bonus money mattered little as the main cash cow was the tools business anyway. The same is true of the Gammells (Actually downline of Paul Morris of New Jersey), who was sponsored by an upline Direct who many despised. They aligned themselves on their own with the Yager org after first building the business on a more standard or company approved way with actual retail customers. Yagers plan was a members buying club.
At one time when I was "in" the business, I was among the work crew made up of their distributors who remodeled Connie's Mom Nora's apt in Cambridge MA which was in a 3 story building Connie's sister owned just off Fresh Pond Circle. My work was re-plumbing her bathroom. I was working and joking the days away aside pearls and emeralds doing all the physical work, but I was not to breathe a word to the other distributors.
Going back to my High School days, my best friend was the one to sponsor me the very first time when I was just 13 in Junior High School. Of all the possible odd circumstances, this same best friend in High School married the daughter of that very same and much despised Direct Distributor Ron Cormier who was our actual upline direct at the time and has been a source of irritation whenever the subject comes up to this day. I understand, as it was a huge blow to his father in laws business when we all went inactive to get away from him. As I too, joined in with the "inactive" for 6 months (secretively buying product through another group in Worcester) to get out from under that disliked Direct. We all signed back up in our desired line of sponsorship when that time period ended.
That Worcester couples names was Joe and Sharon, and I recall helping them move into a house with gargoyles on the roof corners. Can't recall their last name now.
Being so young when we first joined, we rode our bikes to white board meetings. LOL We always sat there and listened as if we were in Church but we never did actually do this business, but talked about it a lot and warmed seats and sponsored a few who did as we did. Sure, I had a few customers who bought some stuff after I dropped off my sample tote tray. I'm not sure I made anything after replenishing the used products.
My sponsor twice over many years was Cran & Peggy Smith who became best of friends for years and way beyond our Amway businesses (we vacationed together too). I've known them for many years and as it turned out before they even had children, as they lived not far from me when I lived on a farm in Ashburnham Massachusetts. Both times, I knocked on the door and asked that they please let me in (sponsor me). At the time I was still a pitiful character and could not speak to strangers and asking anyone to join me in the "business" was just not happening, but I was a great helper for whatever had to be done. While at every meeting I was like a sponge hoping to one day become the person I see before me.
Years later, Cran & Peg helped me obtain a truck driving contract at a company they both worked at (when they were Pearls) hired as financial troubleshooters for the startup company. Years later they both also worked for my own home services company in Massachusetts for a bit helping me be better organized and that I was very flexible on when they worked or gone for weeks at a time.
It may amuse you to know I was one of the 3 original delivery truck drivers for the fledgling Nasoya Foods (Tofu) and occasionally worked in the research kitchen baking samples of developing recipes using the waste byproducts. 1 overworked truck and 3 drivers delivered the goods on a grueling (quite illegal & almost always overweight) rotating 24 hour schedule.
I built 3 modest additions/remodels on 3 of Cran & Pegs homes over the years and some work for his other family members. This was years before I should have been allowed to do such projects on my own. I was always told when hired to do some project, that I could do it (as I questioned myself). It was Cran's brother who convinced me to start a Carpet Cleaning Business with his extra van setup from an existing business he recently purchased and when I was about 22. I am very grateful for that too, as that business continues for me today in my new location too.
There was times that Larry and Joanie or Jim & Connie would hide out at Cran & Peggy's home to have some very "off time". Seeing them so unkempt and pajama clad for those days was personally amusing. I don't even think they bathed when they were in this desperate recovery mode. I could easily understand the need to just be "off" for a period. I was sworn to secrecy at the time, but I don't care anymore.
I miss my buddies Cran and Peggy who now live in Tucson AZ.
When pin levels quit or sell out to upline I think it's part of the contract to not communicate with your former distributors which I think is why I've not heard from them in ages. I'll try again soon.
I wonder if you remember Don & Janet Hevener of the Charlotte region? They sold the little Lesharo motorhomes at the big gatherings in Charlotte. We continue to be best of friends and I often help them with their houseboat business. I picked Don up again the other day from the airport. They were sponsored by continuing Diamonds Jack and Effie Reid who still live on the far side of Lake Wylie in Gaston County near Charlotte, NC. I've never quite figured out why more than 45 Diamonds had moved to the Charlotte region, but than I moved here to for lots of sensible reasons.
Don and I often lament of our disgust in those upline persons who claimed to become your "friends for life" but when you quit Amway it's as if you never existed. We both say, when we said it, we meant it. There is not anyone in this business I would not like to continue genuine friendships with. We do have a common positive thinking ethic and outlook on life that should not matter if we are still "in" or not.
Talk about disgust, I could write an expose' book on the disgusting business behavior of Dexter Yager. Taking purposeful advantage of the trust he gained for private off Amway business investing. Much of his wealth is from ripping off high pin levels who invested with him. It's complicated and inappropriate and maybe unsafe for me to expose it here, but just know some of his enjoyment comes from taking unfair advantage of his own distributors and those who trusted him. There are lots of court records showing his greed and disgusting legal maneuvering.
Back than in Massachusetts, my favorite local motivational speakers were the very uncomplicated Emeralds Imelda and John Vasher who now live in Rock Hill, SC and had a paint supply store near here. Last I knew John and his son had restarted a contract painting business in our area, similar to what John operated in Sturbridge, MA for years before becoming involved in Amway.
Connie is now living in Matthews, NC (suburb of Charlotte, NC). Their kids are living in Charlotte and I think have some rental property (according to tax records). The Agard office / warehouse building in Fort Mill, SC is currently being used by a church I used to attend ("Lifesprings" - known as the local Amway church for the many Diamonds that also attended) when I moved here to Charlotte, NC area. There was a falling out at the church and they lost the multimillion dollar property.
The printing business Jim & Connie had (son in law Johnny ran that operation) may still be operated from the building, I don't know. That printing business was first started in the basement of the mansion in Fitchburg, MA. The printing machine is a huge Heidelberg press, the size of a van and took quite a skilled person to operate. I remember Jim being very proud of that investment. It was the first big thing Jim Agard bought for his Tools Business, being followed up by a tape duplication setup also in the basement in the Fitchburg house. Those basement rooms were a huge playroom and a pool table room for the former owners and when I had seen it during Agards tenure, it was more of an industrial facility.
Just for fun, I found Connie's home on the county tax records and was able to zoom down on it in Google Earth. I do that for a lot of the old higher ups in Amway. It's a fun game to recall a name and figure out where they live and eventually find it in Google Earth. I have located many of the familiar old Diamonds homes across the country.
I was such a glutton for punishment and signed up in Amway so many times. I think 6 times over the years. I'd quit or simply fade away doing my own thing and where most times I missed the excitement and need that kind of positive thinking atmosphere. There was nothing like it in my business world and I needed that "stuff". In actuality I never liked the Amway business but loved the people and the seemingly helpful efforts they invested in the people.
My success in business and relationships today I feel is a direct result of all their influence and in the many ways I learned to deal with people and psychology. Having never worked a regular job or punched a time clock is without question due to my knowing those who were involved those years. Early on, I became happily unemployable.
First time I was a dealer when I was 13 (I said I was 16 to be legal) and I was there for round robin meetings at the home of Bob Cook in Hardwick (Fish & Game Warden). That was where I fell in love with Motorhomes and his was a new egg shaped GMC. One of the training sessions was held in the motorhome and had my mind spinning of the possibilities.
And much earlier when my parents were involved in a leg of Art & Ollie Charleston. I recently wrote to Art (living in Florida) and thanked him for being so kind to me who needed a father figure. My mom would drop me off at their house when I was about 8 or 9 and Art and I would play with his model airplanes in the yard. Ollie is gone now and he's remarried to a widowed Amway diamond.
My next older brother has a negative reaction with a shiver up his spine whenever Amway is mentioned, as he had his 11th birthday party taken over by a white board meeting just as the cake was about to be cut and gifts to be opened and with all his young friends and their parents with him. Suddenly the event changed to a business meeting with all the kids in shock and having to sit on the floor listening to this crap. He almost has a seizure when Amway is mentioned.
I was hired as an occasional motorcoach driver to attend Yagers "Go Diamond Weekends" in Charlotte, NC (qualified directs and above only). I was Cran & Peggy's driver when they qualified at Pearls and had 2 brand new directs qualify on the way to Charlotte. This was before cell phones so we had to stop many times to take and process orders and hand calculate the totals and confirm with the company and than to motivate downlines to get all the qualifying done. Somewhere in Virginia they all finished qualifying and was a party atmosphere the rest of the way to Charlotte.
It was there at a Go Diamond weekend that I would sneak into the ballroom and than learned the truth about the tools business with it's unspoken income streams and requirements. I saw both delight and disgust in attendees eyes upon learning what the actual "business" was. Some walked out and quit right then. When I was caught in there, I was sworn to secrecy and kept my promise until now.
So, yes, I've been breathing the vapors of Amway for decades. My highest pin level was 4,000 PV.
Did I make any money? I don't remember any bonus check for much more than a few hundred dollars and most months no bonus or I paid out most of what I received to my own downline in nearly the same bonus bracket. I've always sucked at the paperwork so Peggy took pity on me and paid my downline bonuses for me. I made some profit from retail sales but that was insignificant. Likely I spent as much as I took in.
Did I loose money? Hard to say. I spent money on product which I used or sold. I still have some inventory of some oddball product I bought to finish qualifying for pin levels.
Have you noticed that there are so many unopened boxes of brand new 30 year old Amway Queen cookware sets? Must have been purchased during qualifying periods. It's a great product and I've bought a few of them on Ebay myself as well as some other new old inventory items they made back than.
In those years, I never had the funds to invest in a truckload of tapes to give away nor did I do out of town meetings myself with the resulting expenses. I feel bad for those who did invest in that way. If I had the money I may have been doing the same things.
I have a big box of cassette tapes I accumulated. I rarely listened to the tapes when I was "in". Some of the tapes I listened to during "out" periods, just to hear interesting personal testimony rather than the garbage on the radio when I was doing a boring painting job. Part of me wants to dispose of them and part of me wants to keep them as prevention that I don't join in a similar program in the future.
I spent money on Saturday training sessions, but I'd have gone to a movie or spent money that day doing something less productive anyway. I always learned something and chipped away at my debilitating shyness with every meeting I attended. I've spent far more for seminars and training in my carpet cleaning business. I have also spent a lot more on hotel Agard reunion gatherings, but have also spent plenty on attending the annual conferences in my cleaning industry of which there is nearly no personal growth component to those conferences.
I did spend a considerable amount traveling to the big gatherings in Charlotte, but then after visiting so many times and having Charlotte be part of my vacation plans, I wanted to live here and now do and continue to love it here and can't imagine living elsewhere. I only wish I moved earlier.
My wife at the time, spent quite a bit of time and money learning about "color analysis" from Connie and became a coordinated dresser and looked much nicer, so is that a cost? I don't know. She actually went out a few times to perform the service and did well with it, but she too with very limiting shyness decided it was too uncomfortable for her, but to this day she knows her colors and can advise her friends. Heck, I use that knowledge too.
I've bought a lot of Free Enterprise and Family Reunion tickets and enjoyed meeting backstage some big celebrities like Ronald Reagan, Johnny Cash and other well known motivational speakers (helps to have a friend who volunteered with event security - Thanks Cran).
I have fleeting thoughts about attending another Yager rally just for fun and laugh my ass off or even heckle them from the wings.
Oh, there is a lot more I could share that includes dealings with former Diamond Don Storms with an amusing religious twist few know about, characters like Ted Fish and Yagers son's fake qualifications as Direct, the Center of Free Enterprise in Franklyn Massachusetts, who divorced who and why, and more.
Everything mentioned above could be expanded into many interesting true story articles.
It's been an amusing study to watch the goings on in and around the Amway business over the years. Who succeeds, who has been excommunicated over morals issues, who has quit, etc.
I think my view and perspective is quite unique from those who's sole connection to be involved was purely profit driven and from a meeting in front of a white board.
Tom Koroskenyi
Charlotte, NC
----- Original Message -----
From: jimturner70
To: mlmsurvivorsclub@
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2008 2:28 PM
Subject: [MLM Survivors Club] Re: AGARD Downline in New England (H)
Do you know who Agard's upline diamond was/is? Could you trace out for
me the path of Diamonds between Agard and Dexter Yager? (I assume that
Yager is Agard's upline by line-of-sponsorship
Did the Agards ever break any downline diamonds?
Thank you!
--- In mlmsurvivorsclub@
wrote:
>
> Is anyone here from the Amway/Quixtar downline of Jim & Connie Agard
> (now just Jim Agard-divorced)
> 1990s & the Whiteacres (Derry, NH, I believe) were my Emeralds.
> Harry
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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