MLMSurvivor.com

Updated April 10, 2003

I must correct a statement on your site regarding Rivage personal care products. Rivage is a PARTNER store for Team In Focus, and NOT our cosmetic line!! Our cosmetic line is called Belezza, and it is manufactured in North America and uses formulas developed over 30 years in Hollywood by Alan Apone, one of the top Hollywood makeup artists. Please post this IMMEDIATELY so as to correct the statement I found on your site.

04/08/03

I would like to respond to the article that I read regarding Diamonds involved in TIF. Several years ago I saw THE PLAN.....The very first open I attended was presented by none other than Denny Plauck. The very first rally I went to had Denny and Lori as the guest speakers. My first free enterprise I had the privilige of seeing them walk across the stage as brand new Diamonds. I was elated for them, because their story was a true rags to riches story and they overcame so many obstacles. I've had the privilege of seeing several of the TIF Diamonds speak. Mike and Lynn Jakubik, and Gerry Betterman (when he was single).

Of course, in time I dropped out. A few years later, I joined again right before Quixtar opened. It was awesome to see this dynamic website opening. My sponsors then are still 2 of my best friends although they are no longer in the business.

This year my fiance and I joined again. (First for him and Third time for me) He basically joined due to my EXCITEMENT. I knew that there were tools involved and told him, but to both of our shocks, the night that we signed up, we spent over $400 for things we did not need, and were NONREFUNDABLE, nor were we told about this TOOL expense. He was livid and with just cause. I had never been in the dark before about the cost of the tool kit and this time we were until that first night. The price was never so high either. I had paid $150 in the past for both the distributorship and tools combined.

I always knew subconsiously that the real money was made by the tools, but never realized just how much or that it was corrupt in any way. I truly applaud the efforts of TIF and am SOOOOOO disgusted by Alticor for terminating 6 of them. To the rest of the TIF team................HURRAY for you for resigning!!!!!!!!!! You are thetrue heroes. I wish all of you the best of luck in the future and thank you for having such integrety and honesty. I knew there was a reason why I had so much admiration for you back then.......I still do now and it is even bigger.

06/30/2002

I was going to fax you a letter that Larry Harper of Quixtar sent our downline but not the Qualified Platinums. See we are part of the Team In Focus deal and they are tring to ruin all of us. The letter specifically tells our people if their platinum is in TIF, to call them and they will reassign a new platinum for them to work with. Total attempt at circumvention.

06/06/2002

An open letter to the Team in Focus Herd.

Who was it that said, "People cannot consistently act or perform at a level or manner that is inconsistent with their value systems..." It didn’t take long for the "value systems" of the "founders" to rear it’s ugly head... Those of you who are "buying" into the hype, here are few questions you might want to ask the person who is telling you how great this is...

1. If the driving force behind the Round Table Alliance is open and transparent disclosure of everything going on in the business, why was the formula used to determine the original base of distributors in their binary plan never disclosed in writing? Did they really use pin level, application date to Nashville, and Standing Order Participation to determine your placement, or did your "founder" just protect their little group of favorites? Where did you wind up, do you really think you were placed there to protect your best interest, or the interests of the "founders" who drew up the group?

2. If everything is supposed to be open and above board, why are your "spill" IBCs in the binary plan not shown to you on the site? Is there something to hide there (like maybe all that spill you were promised might just be going somewhere else, or maybe there are a whole lot more people there than you are being told)?

3. Why isn’t your upline’s binary group shown on the site? Are you sure they are only getting the benefit of two legs?

4. It’s been a MONTH since everyone was terminated and/or quit, there are still no products to market, prices to compare, or income projections. So you have had nothing to show or sell but "hype" for a month; but the initial "long week" period of "activation" was only extended ONE WEEK? (Remember that was supposed to get you into the big 2% pot to be paid out next year).

5. You can "activate" your business by purchasing a Starter Box for $300 to earn the required 100 points, or you can purchase $100 worth of nutritional items to earn 100 points (John Terhune promised a 1 to 1 dollar to point ratio on a conference call again today), but the nutritionals won’t be available until after the close of the promotion cut-off. So I guess that means that although the purchase of the starter box is "not required", it still remains the only way to qualify yourself for the 2% pot. I forgot, you can sell two (right and left), but doesn’t that mean the only people who don’t have to eventually purchase one of the $300 boxes are the folks at the top of the heap, and just who do you think they are?

6. Remember all those years (when your founders were getting paid handsomely by their BSM businesses) when you were told, "Nobody can build this business on just on or two tapes a week, we can’t tell you that it is required, but we’ve never seen anyone be successful in this business without being on at least SOT1 & SOT2 every week." Remember the SOS system for Team in Focus didn’t even have an option for less than two tapes a week. Why, now that the founders have so graciously opted to "sell" the training materials at "cost", are you suddenly able to be successful with just one tape per week? By the way, what formula will be used to determine "cost", and who will administer and disclose it? Will they be using the same "fuzzy" accounting that couldn’t tell the difference between $88/month (the previously touted cost of the SOS program on all the tapes and Kates) and $95.33/month (the actual per month cost of twenty six $44 hits to your credit card annually)?

7. Why would the founders be considering classifying CommuniKate as a tool? Could it be so they don’t have to pay out the commissions Webley is paying them?

8. Why are they not going to pay commissions on personal purchases? The company line is "to protect the economic viability of the company." It couldn’t be because most if not all of their current IBCs come from a" personal consumption only" mentality with little or no training in retail selling. No, it couldn’t be that because that would mean nobody would be earning much of a commission check, and that would increase the company’s bottom line, and that would mean the stockholders or partners in Team in Focus would be getting bigger dividends at the end of the year. Now just who are the stockholders of Team-in Focus again?

I know how giddy most of you are because you are finally out from under the crushing weight of the AMWAY name. I was also. Take a moment, draw a deep breath, and do something that most of us haven’t done in a long time - think for yourself... These guys just lost their only means of earning a living. Most of their businesses had reached the point that they were about to have to go back to lawyering, house painting, wildcatting, bean counting, playing music in bars, peddling house plans, teaching school etc., even the most mild mannered church mouse will attack if cornered. You are dealing with very dangerous people who have their backs to the wall and have been trained by the best con-artists in the business, Gooch, Childers, Stewart, Yager, Foley et al. Which brings me to the final question you should ask... if these guys are such paragons of integrity, why did it take them so long to correct the BSM problem? Why didn’t they do something about it while they were all qualifying as Amway Diamonds every year, why did they have to wait to "correct" the situation until most if not all had fallen out of qualification, and their names started showing up on the internet?

Looks to me like the founders might just be relying on the old George Carlin quote, "Never underestimate the power of stupid people acting in large numbers."

05/13/2002

I have shared a little bit of my Amway experince with you already. Im the sucker who tried to build it in the UK. I remember going to those corn ball meetings were Barry and Luronda Joye would stand up there and brag about how much money they made. He use to take these keys out of his pocket to his brand new Harley and wave them around in the air. The English and including myself would just eat it up up. Practically drooling all over ourselves with envy. Not even aware of how much mind control was going on. Man Im telling you they had me doing things that I would never do in my right mind. Oh well....... take care

http://www.teaminfocus.co.uk/profiles/joye.htm Heres one of the biggest scam artists I have ever seen He use to brag about having a runway for his plane at his house.....Blah Blah

office@teaminfocus.co.uk When we cut and pasted a bunch of these letters over to this office. They werent happy.....Truth hurts......They hurt alot of people it will be nice to see there kingdom come crashing down.

05/14/2002

Hello, Friends!

I'm a TIF IBO (sorry, make that "IBC"). I've been actively "building" the A/Q business for over three years. (Not with any profit, mind you. But, that's another story for another day!) I was a "go-getter" for over one and a half years straight. Showing plans, making contacts and phone calls constantly. If I was home at night (which was rare) I was on the phone, setting up meetings. (Yes I felt totally freaking guilty if I happened to catch myself sitting with my wife and children engaging in some "loser" preoccupation such as watching television! How f**king stupid can someone be???!!!!)

During my life as a ProNet go-getter, I met people who informed me about the "tape scam". I asked my platinum. He told me to look at the 6-4-2 comp plan, and see if it mentions tapes. (My question was not really answered!) Then a few days later, my platinum called me to tell me about the five or ten cents per tape that ProNet pays its directs simply to "cover expenses of shipping and handling the 100 or so tapes that flow through a direct's group. That sounded legit to me. However, the question of emeralds and diamonds making any money from system sales, above "shipping and handling", was completely denied. (Yes, I was told not to listen to the "quitters" and the "know-it-alls".)

Well, anyway, that was before the big TIF change for the better. About a year ago, my upline platinum came over for a "counseling session" to show me something new. It was the precursor to the Entry Level plan. Basically, it went like this: You sign up for $299, sign up two people for $299, and you get $50. This went on to the point where you would be making tons of money with NO product moving. Ooops! My dumbass had researched legal businesses, and this looked out of bounds. We'll be paid for sponsoring new people, without product flow? How is this legal? My question was addressed in the form of another question: "Do you really think that Mr. X (our sacred diamond) would tell us to do something illegal? (Hey, Bevis.... huh huh!)

Any, next the plan had a product. The Entry plan product was a "web-based business owner's franchisee license that could be sold, or duplicated, or franchised, two times". In other words, you get in, get two people in, and you make money. Still, no real products, but, there was mention of a product line that was being developed for future distribution, which was to pay in uni-level fashion starting at 25%. (Uni-level meant that you would only need one leg on the product side. In fact, we were advised to only build one leg on the products side, because one leg twenty deep would pay $50,000+. Plus, if anyone cared to build three legs twenty deep (Emerald in the "old model"), it would pay the same as Diamond, i.e., a six-figure residual income, and then you could go to the beach.

However, the official plan as shown in open meetings always promoted (and still does) sponsoring at least two new people into the entry level side (including buying a $300 MAP pack each), as a requirement for you to ever be able to participate in the products side and its inherent income. The entry level plan requires doing at least 100 points before activation of the products side. By the way, now, the products side requires three legs (not one!) each of which must do at least 100 point before you get paid from that side of the plan. (Hum, two sides with 100 point requirements each!) (By the way, the products side is called the "Foundation Plan".) I was in Nashville at the official launch of the TIF comp plan. (The Temptations Review was rocked the freaking house, y'all!) John Terhune was onstage "interviewing" a lawyer (sorry, his name eludes my memory!), who happens to be the nation's expert in this industry, and was present during the 1977 FTC court trials. He volunteered to the audience the fact that the refusing to participate in the entry level plan could NOT prevent anyone from earning an income from the foundation side. He told us that if we promoting the TIF entry level as step one, i.e., requirement one, of the overall business, then we were not promoting this thing legally. (So, why the surprise and confusion when Alticor sent out its letter informing the world that the TIF entry level plan is not legal?) Anyway, he definitely wanted to make that clear to us. He informed us that the ONLY way we could legally make money in this industry is by moving the products to customers, NOT by merely sponsoring other people who use the products, and NOT by selling MAP packs or other forms of the support system. After the lawyer left, Marshall Douglas got on stage and made a joke about not promoting the MAP packs, however, then making it clear that all the diamonds and other leaders got theirs MAP packs...

The rest is history in the making: Bo Short resigned from both corporations, diamonds got fired, others resign, etc. Lots of un-answered questions regarding who is making the decisions at the corporate level of Alticor, is it the DeVos VanAndel families, or is it the Dexter and his crooked cronies who are sapping their own downlines?

Now, before you, devoted IBO's, get your hackles up, remember, I'm one of you... Well, sort of... Alright, I WAS one of you! Let me say this: The "system" promotes the perpetual promotion of the sale of "...books, tapes, and seminars..." rather than the sale of core-line products, and remember one thing, product flow happens to be the main subject when showing the comp plan. In defense of the "system" I will say that the books are some of the finest. However, they say nothing about this business in particular. They are written by some of the finest authors on the planet. Now, the tapes are exciting. Yes, it's exciting to listen to multi-millionaires tell you that "you can do it, too". However, what I've found to be the proverbial fly in the ointment here, is this: When you "plug in" and buy tapes, you are no longer your upline's "partner". You become your upline's "customer". This is due to the fact that you are now buying something from your upline, at a mark-up. You become your upline's source of income. This is wrong. As a "partner" you have access to the products at the same "wholesale" price as your upline. However, with regard to the tapes, etc., this is NOT the case. You cannot purchase a tape for the same "wholesale" cost as does Tim, the Dolphin, Foley; Hal,the fisherman, Goooooch, Billy Bob, "snort snort," the throat clearer, Childers; or any of those "awesome diamonds!" Thus, your upline makes money off of you, furthermore, your upline makes money when you don't! (A fact that is always, denied at open meetings!) No, the system is not a bad thing, however, the fact that the system is what finances the diamond lifestyle is a bad thing.

Now, back to TIF: Now that I've been told "the rest of the story" regarding the system, I've asked the following unanswered question: If these TIF diamonds have been so against the payment plan of the system for so long, then why did they participate in it for so many years? Why did they continue to hide the truth from us, "pieces of coal"? (Besides the obvious fact that they were getting richer and richer!) But, seriously, folks, why didn't they put their foot down and disclose the "rest of the story" back when they first found out about it?

Well, they've done it now, and that's all that counts... Or is it? Now, we're told that no one will make any money from the sale of tapes into their downlines. Furthermore, everyone will purchase all such materials at "cost". Well, here's another question that hasn't been answered yet: How do you, the awesome diamonds, define the term "cost"? Whose "cost" are we getting these tapes at? Why am I asking this question? My platinum informed me that the tapes will cost around $3.00 per tape. And that will cover ONLY the cost of the production of the tapes.

(Enter an outside source of information) I spoke with a gentleman who started his own MLM company. (Nice guy, and yes, he tried to recruit me!) He informed me that he uses tapes as contacting tools. He told me how much one of these tapes costs. He told me that it depends on the size of the tape order. However, considering the fact that his company is new, and he doesn't buy the same volume of tapes as someone with a much larger business, his tapes cost him somewhere between forty to forty-five CENTS per tape!!! Woo, Nellie! So, why is a TIF tape so much more? My guess is that is isn't more. My guess is that the extra money is financing some hidden portion of the business. I'm not sure whether it's being used to pay-off the big pins, however, the TIF group could stand a bit more of the truth than is being filtered down into the lower levels. (Which is another question: If there have been NO volume from products, how can there be upper-level pins?) (Sorry, that's being nitpicky!)

Also, TIF is NOT the only MLM business in the world, and it certainly is NOT the only one with any amount of character in its leadership!

Am I disgruntled? Yes, I'm disgruntled! About NOT making any notable amount of money with A/Q? No, not at all! I'm disgruntled about being so deceived by my upline who promoted themselves to me as being my friends and business partners who cared about me and my family. Well, I found out that as soon as I stopped doing go-getter, and stopped attending all the local meetings, (I've got a second job that occupies my evenings! But, that's unacceptable...I've let the team down. I'm on longer on the "team"! Yea, right!) that I've been left in the wake, no more weekly phone calls that begin with "Hey, winner!" It's just as well, I'm enjoying my free time with my family again, without the former guilt! (Make me puke!)

One more little bit of useless babble: Back when I was "going diamond", I actually hated my house, because it wasn't a diamond house. I hated my job, because it was a J-O-B, a bad word, something I had no control over, etc. I hated anyone who wouldn't at least buy products from us, (Family members? won't support our financial future?!?!?! For shame!!!!) I hated the fact that I'd spent all that time and energy in college getting a degree, because I could have been building the business. All the while, I believed that I was among the elite few who truly understood success and happiness. A ridiculous misconception.

Is the networking industry a bad thing? Absolutely NOT! Network marketing is a good thing, with lots of potential. If you wish to become involved in this industry, however, beware of the company you choose, and especially beware of the "upline" you choose! Research research research! And, don't get fooled into believing that your happiness and success are in direct proportion to belonging to the sub-culture created by your upline. There are good and bad in everything. Just look out for it in everything you do!

Love and best wishes for your continued success!

06/17/2002

Updated June 25, 2002

I have worked to achieve the Platinum level in Quixtar. Since the inception of TIF, I have decided to distance myself from the Quixtar Corporation because of their commitment to continued corruption by archaic BSM systems. Through the years our tapes teach us that integrity and honesty are omnipotent. Now that the money pipeline of many current Diamonds is being threatened due to the come-uppance of a corrupt system, the true character or lack of character of both the corporation and medieval diamonds are showing through. Knowing this makes every tape I've heard, every speech I've heard about integrity, a bald faced lie.

I personally can no longer associate with what is wrong. I have thrown a lot of money into an old vacuum. There's a word for those who continue to do this in the name of loyalty.

I have now associated myself with Team IN Focus. The reason? Seems like the leadership are actual leaders and are adhering to eternal principals. Even if there were a collapse of the new order, I could still no longer associate with wrong-doing. What's wrong is wrong, even if everyone is doing it. What's right is right, even if you're the only one doing it.

I truly feel for the former Diamonds that are now surrounded by the Third Reich. The battle is fierce due to what I believe is severe panic. Those who choose to stay with old BSM corruption are probably seeing their income go away. Many big achievers are now looking in the Classifieds, which is a by product of building a corrupt system. Everyone gets found out for everything. We all will be recognized publicly for what we do in private. Slick Bill even knows that.

I have even received a "panic" phone call from my former diamond. That's ok. He's just doing what he feels is right. The part of his income he used to earn from my loyalty to the old BSM system is gone.

None of this should come as a surprise to anyone at all. We all as Americans have learned of these pratfalls in our history books and Sunday school lessons. These lessons do not have to be learned or believed to remain absolute. Eternal truths and principals require not my, our your belief to remain absolute. Water is still wet even if you don't believe it. The water don't care if you do or if you don't.

Until the Corporation decides to come clean and rid itself any and all corruption, it is a matter of time only before the iceberg rips a big enough hole in the hull.

I have a severe interest in any current diamonds that now will come clean, meet with the corporation and work like hell to fix this problem like good business people. This is leadership.

When I see nothing but a panic to cover up, deny, revoke, penalize, terminate, chastise, cajole and lie, I see nothing but pure evil in the name of a residual income.

Enough

05/07/2002

The soap opera continues. I felt compelled to write from a different perspective. Most of the time we hear from the "powers that be," analysts, experts, know-it-alls....and rarely the people on the front line. I (who will remain nameless) am a former Quixtar IBO who has been wooed by the honesty, sacrifice, and integrity of the RTA (round table alliance of former A/Q {Amway/Quixtar} Diamonds). I am on the team of one of the 5 diamonds who were terminated, but I'm also on the team of the creator of the letter from "upline to downline" (also published here a few days ago). I hate that all of the dirty laundry has to go public, but that's par for the course now.

Let me briefly state that I am one of the people who has never seriously profited from this whole process, but I have profited enough to see that the potential is there. In many things in life, I've found that investigation is the best policy, but for this instance, I feel certain things are obvious.

1) There is seemingly at least a law suit every other month from one party to another in the A/Q Business world and inevitably they are all about the major functions and the BSMs (more commonly referred to as 'the system'). There's no way that there are THAT many lawsuits filed with absolutely no grounds.

2) Just by doing the math it's obvious that the enormous wealth that has been achieved by a few at the top cannot happen exclusively in product sales.

3) For my 5 years of participation...the vast majority of the BSMs have been geared on the system (books, tapes, & meetings) being the secret (boy is that true) and hardly nothing published about the products.

4) The wealth of the older diamonds (25 years or longer) is vastly greater than the younger leaders...even if the younger leaders organizations are larger.

5) I've always been taught that the real worth of my business was how many people were on the tapes & coming to meetings.

Even with all this I never realized what was going on until TIF broke it's ties w/the Yager based "InterNet" tool system (March 2001). At that point they laid out their reasoning for the break & that we were going to have a separate compensation plan for the BSMs. This was a red flag for me because for 18 months I was plugging into ProNet (also under fire in law suits) meetings since moving from Louisville to South Florida. We had always been welcome at the ProNet meetings. Now, however, I recall that at the end of the meetings they would announce that in addition to the Quixtar opportunity...anyone who wanted to have "REAL" success needed to become a part of ProNet. They would even say "Quixtar only cares about moving products, they're simply a shopping portal; but we actually care about you and you having a successful business." That's when they told all of the prospective IBOs that after they spent $100 to get their Quixtar IBO numbers that they needed to pay another $150 to get their ProNet Starter Box. I remember leaning over to my downline IBOs & whispering, "Boy I'm glad our system doesn't cost that much." But now I have upline (some who haven't corresponded with me in over a year) e-mailing me daily encouraging me to stay in a business I haven't made any money in.

Now I'm thinking..."here we have ProNet-on the one hand-saying you MUST pay the $150 to participate in their BSM program which has no compensation except for the top money earners, and on the other hand we have TIF saying it is NOT MANDATORY to purchase a MAP pack, but if anyone (regardless of income level) moves one, there is a compensation plan that is equal across the board, and laying out a BSM (foundational) compensation plan that can be profited from WITHOUT mandatory participation as well." Furthermore, TIF has taken the extra step (already mentioned in an earlier letter) to completely remove all markups on BSMs, by sending our support materials AT COST along with our products. Hence, nobody (even the former diamonds) will profit from the sale or distribution of BSMs. So that automatically puts to rest the biggest travesty in network marketing to date...the lopsided distribution of the profits from motivational tools.

In conclusion, this seems like a no-brainer for me personally, but what I fail to understand is how ProNet and other organizations like them can operate for years & years with no resistance from A/Q Corp. and they're telling me that TIF's way is illegal?

GIMME A BREAK!! SHOW ME THE MONEY!! GO TIF!! BYE A/Q!!

05/07/2002

And even if your not terminated, just wait til your upline drives all your people out of the business with there scheming and cheating.
You can't get paid on nothing. I went Direct too. I had my picture
in the Amagram too. I had a couple of real good checks. But after I paid off my credit card bill for all the tools and function tickets and hotel rooms and gasoline charges and meals out, there wasn't much profit left. I actually make more profit running 2500 PV and being unplugged from the system than I did running 7500 PV totally plugged in. I believed the hype and then I learned the truth once I was let in on the little tool rebate secret when I went Direct. Then I became disillusioned, but not before I saw my whole organization wiped out by my upline (who by the way are now in terrible financial straights). I've apologized to my kids for ignoring them all those years. I've apologized to my downline for all the crap they had to put up with. My wife's health has been damaged because of sleep depriviation and the fact that she went to a major function 2 days after being in a car wreck instead of staying home in bed where she should have been. Boy, what a trooper she was. I'm ashamed of what I put her through and only hope her health doesn't get worse. She shouldn't suffer because of me.

I've read dreamer's posts and he sounds just like all the other obnoxious little snot-nosed Ambots I used to hang around. But alot of those snot-nosed Ambots are working jobs now and eating crow just like I am. I wonder if dreamer is still living at home with Mama and Daddy. If so, that's how he can afford to not have a j-o-b. He'll blow smoke in here as long as we continue to fan the flames. Ignore him and he'll go pester someone else. And w ho knows? Maybe in a year or two, when Quixtar has totally gone down the tubes, he'll come back and apologize. But I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it.

5/27/02

I was going to fax you a letter that Larry Harper of Quixtar sent our downline but not the Qualified Platinums. See we are part of the Team In Focus deal and they are tring to ruin all of us.

The letter specifically tells our people if their platinum is in TIF, to call them and they will reassign a new platinum for them to work with. Total attempt at circumvention.

Rivage is the new cosmetic line for Team in Focus. If you go to a search engine and look up Rivage,you will see it is a company owned by some affiliates that are from countries that are not the biggest fans of the U.S.A.

I wonder if the new distributors are aware of this fact.

Thanx for the great work brother Survivor !

Please edit out suggestion 1 below; suggestion 2 is the meat. And feel free to post this -- sans the e-mail address.

A heads up on 2 things about the TIF situation:

(1)Please post the full TIF rebuttal to the Quixtar notice e-mailed en-masse to the TIF downline on the Survivor website next to Devos' May 8 audio-clip comments. I believe that this rebuttal document was written by one of the terminated diamonds -- a Florida lawyer named John Terhune. [This has been available since April 23 at resources/TIF.pdf]

(2)Please make this clear:

(a)Amway corporate's legal team that made the surmisation that TIF's plan was illegal made this decision based on a "draft" version of the TIF plan.

(b)This legal team relied solely on info supplied by Amway corporate to make the decision -- they did not contact TIF directly.

(c)Somewhere around the Jan 2k2 timeframe, Amway corporate caught a terminal case of "selective perception" and continued to harp on the illegality of the TIF plan based on the incomplete information. About this same time, Doug Devos went from being a volunteer speaker at a major TIF function that same month to being totally unreachable by phone with anyone from TIF -- & no return calls either.

Why did they do this? Because for TIF's plan to be allowed would be the beginning of the end for the Black hat status quo. The corporation has never had the backbone to follow thru on taking action against the slimy-ness of the "hidden income stream" on BSM's that only 4% of the distributors even know about much less participate in.

Will Amway corporate's "selective perception" problem miraculously be "cured" when the board gets together in a few months to hear-out any outstanding formal grievances from current or former TIF distributors? We'll see. But all signs point to no -- the old guard has too much at stake.

Prediction? Dexter Yager's main "tap root" was thru Hal Gooch. Hal's largest diamond was Ken Stewart. Ken is suing everybody & their brother over the tool mess -- so he's out. Under Stewart in his largest leg were 5 of the 18 TIF diamonds. All these guys are now GONE. Also, crossline from Stewart under Gooch were the remaining 13 diamonds that formerly belonged under the Tim Foley camp as part of "Pronet". Add it all up, and 22 years of Diamondships in Dexter Yager's largest leg are dust in the wind. Can internal misinformation from the Black hats prevent the inevitable? Postpone, yes. Prevent -- not on your life!

Very soon, watch for more Diamonds to do the same as TIF and "get out" (but much more pro-actively rather than violently) and you better believe that they'll take their lucrative downlines with them. The Amway corporation had a chance to face-down the Black hats; but the corporation caved -- pure & simple.

Just like the day that CBS 60 Minutes compromised their journalistic integrity bowing to pressure from CBS corporate -- things will never be the same. And no matter how much spinning may yet occur with the folx in Ada Michigan, pure & simple -- it's over.

Quite frankly, I don't think that the Black hats care what may soon happen -- they're sick-rich with much of their wealth well-protected from litigation. If Quixtar/Amway went belly-up or shrank to a mere shadow of its former self tomorrow, rest-assured that these guys won't feel the pain one bit.

A little final advice? MLM does work; it's an ingenious form of leverage and it is a legitimate business. Just do your homework next time and really understand what the compensation versus time possibilities are. There aren't any promises in MLM -- but such is life. There always will be a correlation between risk .vs. reward. Losing $10,000 to $30,000 and 2 years of nights & weekends out of your life to ultimately fail in MLM is nothing compared to a 6-figure loss & 3 to 5 years of 7-day full-time work-weeks to ultimately fail in "traditional" business. Just take your experience, to whatever degree that it didn't turn out as planned, and write it off as simply "tuition in the school of hard-knocks". Then appreciate any good that did come of it and move on!

My personal experience? I directly attribute the tripling of my earning potential from $50k to $150k in the traditional corporate world to what I learned from Amway. Did I make any real money in Amway? Some. Did I get rich? No. Did the business pay for itself even though I netted a loss? ABSOLUTELY!

Signed,

An Amway Distributor since 1989 who's leaving to run with Team In Focus

Dear all TIF compratiots and curious people,

Being very close to the situation. I know that TIF will be cancelling the MAP pack program soon for another program (legal this time). I just quit and for some reason they want me back.

I felt it important to relay the events the way I witnessed them.

Here is the timeline and events that occurred while I was involved with TIF:

February 2001 - TIF announces they teamed with a technology company to help fix the tool problem.

March 2001 - We logged into a website teaminfocus.com where we could order tools and get paid comp on them. It all worked pretty good. We even started receiving checks for tool volume for the first time! We also had access to a real comp plan for tools. We were the first to create what they called a transparent plan! (Not sure what all the talk about Quixtar not allowing us to solve the tool problem was about. They ok'd the whole program and it worked for us. I even have a tape that proves it!)

January 2002 - We were notified by our upline that we were changing direction to create explosive growth (The MAP PACK). My wift and I were confused, We were all getting paid our tool comp checks and things were going fine. What I found out was that the diamonds took a financial hit because of paying all of us part of the tool money they were keeping for so long. It had nothing to do with Quixtar(They really dont meddle in the tools side) not sponsoring them to fix the tool business and much to do with personal pocketbooks.

March 2002 - They said they found a new technology partner that could create the momentum so they started talking to us about the MAP PACK program and how it would light a fire in our business. One of our diamonds even put a tape together about the whole thing.

May 1st - I went to the website and it was down. The next day I see a new site with registration for the MAP PACK. We were fired up. We have been pushing this MAP PACK to all of our friends.

May 4th - I read some lawsuits implicating Don Brindley as a co conspirator in bring down a diamond organization through a group called ProNet and Global Services (his company). I asked around and found out he is our new president of Team In Focus.

May 5th - I hear all the diamonds are suspended from Quixtar for the MAP PACK! I am concerned that I am part of a pyramid scheme so I call my lawyer. Looks like it, smells like it? Jack you be the judge.

May 6th - I do some research on our legal council listed in another article on this website. Our diamond said he was the best. He is Ted Lindauer. He is infamous for the Purchase Plus scam that got shutdown by the FTC in late 2000. Apparently Purchase Plus still owes customers $100 Million dollars. Here is a link to the article I found

http://www.dispatch.com/news/newsfea00/sep00/406791.html

May 9th - I learn that TIF has dropped the MAP PACK for yet another direction, I like my leadership but how loyal must one be? Also nothing on the website works and the phone is disconnected...

May 9th - I Listen to Doug DeVos give a pretty good speech! I wonder just how did me and my upline leadership get into this mess?

Back to my day job! From here on just watchin....

It's interesting how the words of the law can be twisted to read and look anyway you wish. That's why there are so many judgments and opinions that can be found on any one law. Quixtar's attorneys have determined the Entry Level Plan is illegal. The TIF attorneys have determined the Entry Level Plan is legal. Which is correct? You could probably talk to any attorney and get a different opinion as well as any judge. Has the FTC or the SEC looked at the plan? If they haven't, shouldn't they? Then all of this bantering back and forth can be put to rest.

Do you need a copy of the Amway letter to the IBO's condeming the TIF? It is pretty interesting. The former diamonds are making a big play to PR and try and take the group elsewhere. I can say that I have a close personal exposure to one of them from previous involvement in the organization that was booted out. This was not a legitimate deal. They were presenting it as if you want us to help you and you want to get in you have to do TIF. In addition there were meetings at the local level of directs explaining how much more money they would make. Of the $300 cost for the kit, products that used to cost $100 - $150 they say $80 goes to diamonds and $120 into the compensation plan. Essentially they just figured out a way to package and charge mo money. Sure they could pass some on in the compensation plan because they had more than doubled the original cost. It has been very intense watching all this from near and afar. What will be more interesting is to see which MLM offers them the most money to make the switch en mass. The tool system has never been excellent or really terrible. Its like the IRS you just accept its there. TIF was not a fix. It might be good PR to say it is but the intent here is mo money. After all we are talking about Ron Rummel etc. Look at what Probrandt went through. Let me know if you need the letter.

One more boring letter.

I personally can no longer associate with what is wrong. I have thrown a lot of money into an old vacuum. There's a word for those who continue to do this in the name of loyalty.

Until the Corporation decides to come clean and rid itself any and all corruption, it is a matter of time only before the iceberg rips a big enough hole in the hull.

I have a severe interest in any current diamonds that now will come clean, meet with the corporation and work like hell to fix this problem like good business people. This is leadership.

When I see nothing but a panic to cover up, deny, revoke, penalize, terminate, chastise, cajole and lie, I see nothing but pure evil in the name of a residual income.

Enough

The soap opera continues.

I felt compelled to write from a different perspective. Most of the time we hear from the "powers that be," analysts, experts, know-it-alls....and rarely the people on the front line. I (who will remain nameless) am a former Quixtar IBO who has been wooed by the honesty, sacrifice, and integrity of the RTA (round table alliance of former A/Q {Amway/Quixtar} Diamonds). I am on the team of one of the 5 diamonds who were terminated, but I'm also on the team of the creator of the letter from "upline to downline" (also published here a few days ago). I hate that all of the dirty laundry has to go public, but that's par for the course now. Let me briefly state that I am one of the people who has never seriously profited from this whole process, but I have profited enough to see that the potential is there. In many things in life, I've found that investigation is the best policy, but for this instance, I feel certain things are obvious.

2) Just by doing the math it's obvious that the enormous wealth that has been achieved by a few at the top cannot happen exclusively in product sales.

4) The wealth of the older diamonds (25 years or longer) is vastly greater than the younger leaders...even if the younger leaders organizations are larger.

5) I've always been taught that the real worth of my business was how many people were on the tapes & coming to meetings.

Furthermore, TIF has taken the extra step (already mentioned in an earlier letter) to completely remove all markups on BSMs, by sending our support materials AT COST along with our products. Hence, nobody (even the former diamonds) will profit from the sale or distribution of BSMs. So that automatically puts to rest the biggest travesty in network marketing to date...the lopsided distribution of the profits from motivational tools.

GIMME A BREAK!! SHOW ME THE MONEY!! GO TIF!! BYE A/Q!!

And even if your not terminated, just wait til your upline drives all your people out of the business with there scheming and cheating. You can't get paid on nothing. I went Direct too. I had my picture in the Amagram too. I had a couple of real good checks. But after I paid off my credit card bill for all the tools and function tickets and hotel rooms and gasoline charges and meals out, there wasn't much profit left. I actually make more profit running 2500 PV and being unplugged from the system than I did running 7500 PV totally plugged in. I believed the hype and then I learned the truth once I was let in on the little tool rebate secret when I went Direct. Then I became disillusioned, but not before I saw my whole organization wiped out by my upline (who by the way are now in terrible financial
straights). I've apologized to my kids for ignoring them all those years. I've apologized to my downline for all the crap they had to put up with. My wife's health has been damaged because of sleep depriviation and the fact that she went to a major function 2 days after being in a car wreck instead of staying home in bed where she should have been. Boy, what a trooper she was. I'm ashamed of what I put her through and only hope her health doesn't get worse. She shouldn't suffer because of me.

I've read dreamer's posts and he sounds just like all the other obnoxious little snot-nosed Ambots I used to hang around. But alot of those snot-nosed Ambots are working jobs now and eating crow just like I am. I wonder if dreamer is still living at home with Mama and Daddy. If so, that's how he can afford to not have a j-o-b. He'll blow smoke in here as long as we continue to fan the flames. Ignore
him and he'll go pester someone else. And w ho knows? Maybe in a year or two, when Quixtar has totally gone down the tubes, he'll come back and apologize. But I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it.

So Team in focus wants to set up a new pyramid tools scheme. You want to make it more fair? Everyone can benefit from the tools? No new more fair plan can change the facts of the tools business.

The pyramid is negative. Redistributing the money to more people will not change the fact that millions of recruits are losing billions of dollars. That is the real problem. A negative pyramid will still be negative. You make it sound too simple when you say you are defenseless against the info on the internet about the tools system. The real info is about the pyramid. The mathematics of the pyramid is your real enemy. You say you are proud of involvement in Amway/Quixtar and your pin level? How much have the people in your group lost in total? If you think you are more sincere than the unfocused diamonds, then open your eyes and look at what your group has accomplished. What is the total number of people that have been recruited into your group, and what is the average amount of money they have lost? Just think, if any of you TIF diamonds did this, you could become the first honest diamond.

Imagine if you guys had just decided to stop selling tools? Nobody could complain, or threaten you in any way. You would be immune to the wrath of Britt, Yager, or anyone from the corp. If any of you thinks there could actually be some value to some tape, just make it available as an MP3 on the internet for free. That would solve the tools problem. You probably would have kept your downlines, and even absorbed those of the unfocused diamonds like Britt and Yager. You would have been left with no competition except from Sheriff.

Your recent coverage of the termination and resignation of 17 amway/quixtar diamonds was very well done and factual. As an individual who is close to this situation I'd like to ask you to add this question to your closing section.

"Why is Jeff Yeager (son of Dexter Yeager) who has never built the amway/quixtar business or finished high school, on the same board of directors that conspicuously excludes Doug Devos?"

Thank you.

he article you have posted about Team in Focus is great. I am a Team in Focus IBO. I just got off a conference call with 800 of our distributors to discuss what is going on. Mike Jakubik even mentioned the article on your site. Team in Focus is trying to reform the MLM industry. In the wake of being terminated or disowning their business they have decided upon further changes to the tool side of the business. Originally Team in Focus was started with Quixtar's blessing to reform the tool business and make it a transparent profit generating opportunity for everyone in the organization. It did not matter what your pin level was or who you knew, you had an opportunity for income. Quixtar received so much pressure from other organizations that the founders were put in a position that they either terminated their businesses, or in the case of the Andrews, Jakubiks, and Trehunes , had their businesses taken from them. Some of the Diamonds had been involved with Amway / Quixtar for almost 30 years. On Sunday the 21rst of April, in meetings all over the country, the founders informed the organization what had taken place with the Quixtar that Friday. They also announced that we would now move forward to develop our own product lines. That we would receive income from the two compensation plans that they had set up. A binary plan called the entry plan, and a secondary plan called the foundation plan. They also announced something that will hopefully change our industry for the better. For now on all business support materials would be sold at cost! If a tape were to cost $2.00 to manufacture and ship the IBO will be able to purchase it for $2.00. Needless to say they received a standing ovation for several minutes at our meeting. Team in Focus will be a product focused business with at least two different income streams. One for immediate income and one for residual or ongoing income. I am of course a bit biased, but it is exciting to be part of a group of people who are standing up to do something that is so right. I hope that Amway / Quixtar is concearned. Team in Focus is an organization of 18 former Diamonds and their organization of 50,000 IBOs. We will change the industry, we will make MLM an honest and profitable way of making a secondary income to compliment peoples current career choice. For more information see teaminfocus.com you will need this number to enter the visitor site XXXXXXX. Thank You.

To Whom It May Concern,

I was directed to your site regarding the issues surrounding the Team In Focus situation. It was with great surprise that I saw my name. Please be advised that I resigned from Team In Focus on October 12, 2001. It was also on or about this date that we resigned our affiliation with the Quixtar business as well. Thank you in advance for correcting your information.

Sincerely,

Bo Short

My wife and I just resigned our Quixtar business after 14 years and having reached the Ruby IBO level.

Why did we leave? After fourteen years, we finally were involved with a group of Diamonds who were actually trying to do something about the inequities of the Business Support Materials, BSM business. Why was that important? Just review the lawsuit section of this site; most, if not, all of the lawsuits involving Amway/Quixtar are the result of some dispute with the handling of BSM monies and bonuses (Yes, fellow AMBOTS, there is a VERY lucrative profit margin on the BSMs, in fact, most of what pays for those shiney new cars and vulgar homes you brandish about in your PROFILES OF SUCCESS get paid for by BSM money not Amway/Quixtar money).

Anyway, this group of diamonds banned together to make the BSM business totally published, and make the profits available to everyone. At first the corporation agreed to help, in fact, offered to bankroll the project, but then did a 180 degree turn around (one would assume after receiving pressure from the IBOA good-ol-boy cigar smoking club). Not only did Amway/Quixtar pull their support (stating the diamonds "had nothing in writing", they eventually terminated the diamonds.

The corporation had the chance to do the right thing and they wimped out. Instead they issued a legal opinion stating "98% of the IBO's should not participate in the income nor should they even be aware of it."

Does that sound like the AMerican WAY to you? Anyway a portion of every dollar you spend with them goes to support their legal defense of that position.

Hi, my name is *** and I have been and still am currently a Quixtar IBO. I find your site very interesting and have never visited it before but we have had some interesting turn of events that I believe you would like to know about and possibly put on your site. Please do not publish anything on your site until you have the whole story. We are going through some stuff right now and I don't want anyone's current Quixtar income to be effected until we are ready to "throw the tea in the harbor".

Here's the end of the story, (it's very long and detailed and if you would like more information, I will be very happy to go into further detail). Friday, April 19, 2002 3 diamondships were terminated and 15 others resigned and all over the Business Support Material Business. A group of 18 loosely related diamonds came together about 2 years ago and decided they wanted to make this BSM fiasco transparent and they wanted to include even the newest person in the compensation. At first, they had the full support of the corporation but pressure began to mount and 6 weeks later, after these Diamonds had already rolled out their vision to their groups mind you, the corporation turned a cold shoulder to them. As I said, the whole story is quite detailed but you get the idea.

Team in Focus is overcoming and we have our own website, we own our Line of Sponsorship tree and we have created a way for the newest person, if they chose, to grow and operate their business in the black within a very short period of time. Because of the separation between Team in Focus and the Quixtar corporation, we now have control over the profit margins in the products. We are currently working on a line of products that will be improved over what we had, they will be cheaper to the end consumer and there will be more profit for everyone on them. The BSM for this group now is decommissioned, as in, we will be selling all tools at costs and no one makes a penny on them. We have an entry level plan which has been the true bone of contention between TIF and Quixtar after the corporation's approval and support faded into thin air.

With all the garbage (no offense) on the internet about MLM's I thought it would be nice to have some positive story about those who risked and lost everything for honor, integrity and transparency and how they are winning and truely committed to helping the newest person win too. This is not just lip service. People don't resign multi million dollar businesses for lip service. These former diamonds are the real thing.

Thank you for listening to my story.

Comments from Readers about the Team In Focus Severance from Quixtar

Amway/Quixtar Lawsuits