It's Christmas, How Are You Doing?

Hoping this meets you and you are rejoicing! It is great to praise God for His greatest gift to us, that is, His only BEGOTTEN Son Jesus. The One who came to make us free from the effects of our sin. Have YOU accepted this greatest of gifts?

If you are not rejoicing, I pray that you will find some peace to your situation. I care for you. I know it seems the whole world is going by and no one notices your pain. Your heart SCREAMS out to be understood and heard. I care for you!!! If you would like me to pray for you, I will. Just leave a message. Since I have enabled "moderation" of comments, no one will know. God loves you, even though He seems far away, He is right by your side, He will carry you if you ask. I know, I have been there and found that it was me that distanced myself from him.

I am SO thankful for all that God has done this year. I am so thankful that we are soon to walk into the promised land. The days of no straw for making bricks are over. The days of Pharaoh falsely accusing us is over, better, brighter days are upon us. Isn't that GREAT?!.

Truly we are blessed far above those in other ages!!!!

I want to give you some good books to read this year if you are able.

First of course is the Bible. It has answers to all our questions, on life, how to live, how to treat others, how to treat ourselves.

How Now Shall We Live? by Chuck Colson

This book gives us detailed accounts of what we are facing in the culture war we are in, with great answers to what that war is pushing on us.

Spiritual Leadership by Henry Blackaby

This is a book not on the Spiritual leadership you are thinking of, it is on LEADERSHIP in general. I gives us an understanding that true Servant Leadership has a spiritual component to it.

Waking the Dead by John Eldredge

Shows our reality is really only about .05% of what is real. The spiritual is much more powerful and real. Think about it, most of what we assume will happen never does.

These are a few. Please list your favorites!

The Latest Shipment of Leadership Material

Have you received the latest leadership package from TEAM yet?????

Great stuff. The new LLR hardbound book looks GOOD. I have loaned my other one out to a Youth Counselor where I work.

I am listening to Pastor Dickie's latest CD on Character. If you have not listened to it yet, it is a WINNER.

Character counts folks. I recently received a postcard from my sister-in-law who is in Q in another BSM line. It was from the last Achievers. I wanted to send an e-mail link of the you-tube video of the "Family" member stating that nothing that TEAM was doing was inappropriate. But Character Counts. I am glad they made it. They have worked hard over the years to get where they are. Almost 13 years and they are still Platinum's but that is the way they have to build their businesses. God blesses them in other ways as well.

Please continue to respond to my last blog. YOU PEOPLE ROCK.

God Bless,

1 John 5:13

What Core Products Would You Like To See In A New MLM?

Most seem to have a vitamin or cosmetic line as their core product lines. One unique one was phone service. Here is your opportunity to voice your opinion as to what a core product would be besides Leadership training.

The most obvious question is what do you purchase most often?

Foodstuffs is the obvious answer. After that, what comes next? Fuel? Vitamins and cosmetics are lower down the line.

Here is your opportunity to let your voices be heard!

1 John 5:13

Great stuff from Latent Heat

As stated in an earlier post, I have shifted the focus of this blog to getting questions and ideas about a "possible" new business answered. Here is a comment from Latent Heat from an earlier post. I have permission to post this. I will only place those comments that I have permission to as a blog post.

latent heat said...

1john5:13,

After reading your reply I can't help but find myself challenged to participate in the discussion as I see your point. I have found this to be the only way to truly flurish even in 95% corporate world when faced with tough decisions. Ultimately, the best inputs do come from places we least expect them and it is very exciting to see someones reaction when you get excited and thank them for thier input. Anyway here are my intial thoughts:

I find that people will focus and act based upon what they are measured on. Hence, it is critical to understand what behavior will be provoked based on what measurements are used to reward. In other words: "expect what you inspect".

So, the first question is, "what is the vision, what do we truly want to achieve as a team?". If that the answer is to truly affect our culture and turn it from an entitlement mentality to a leadership driven mentality, then system counts is what should be measured by all means. However, it cannot focus on reaching and sustaining certain numbers, it must focus on growth rates. Unfortunately, since the competition is really week in the industry, reaching certain levels will be a challenge, but in my view, not a very tough one after one engages in the process. Many leaders reach a certain level and then start to rest - or camp at that stage as there is nothing to drive the hunger they had when they started. If we want to truly affect the culture of this and other countries, then growth rates must be a metric used to determine reward, else it is to easy to set up camp and get confortable as we are no longer as hungry as we once were. This also ensures that the newest person in will recieve the mentorship and leadership of those that have already walked the miles of the path that he / she will be starting down.

Just my thoughts.

November 23, 2007 6:01 AM

This is an important question. What is the vision? "Without a vision, the people perish." I think that without knowing something of what is going to happen in the next few months, the people will languish. I realize there are legal implications, but all I am asking for is "possible" answers.

That being said. A couple of observations.

1. Leadership is great, and I think that TEAM is great at promoting it within the group, however, the CD's need to be on how to build leadership mentality, not only for a possible new MLM business, but also for bringing leadership training in other businesses also. This would be an easy sell for most of us to do as we all know business owners. As these new businesses begin to build leaders the "fame" of TEAM approach to leadership training will spread.

2. Those of us who are in TEAM and were a part of Q want an alternative REAL wholesale product line to not only sell, but to help others sell as well. It is win win. We are able to build our dreams, as well as build leadership into others.

Thanks Latent,

Looking forward to some answers.

1 John 5:13

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

Wishing all a wonderful day to thank God for our many blessings He graciously bestows upon us. This is my favorite holiday for it's meaning. I always think of the old hymn "Count Your Blessings".

God bless you all,

The First John 5:13 Family!

I've Gone and Will Look to the Future!

I have about had it with the past. My wife and I made the decision to leave Quixtar when their official Blog disparaged us. You see, we ARE members of TEAM. So when we were asked to leave, we did, as I mentioned on my second blog.
There are good blogs out there to find out good information about Q. They are fun and exciting, most have been here since very early on. I like to read them for their insight. From Crazyworld, to Qreily, Barrister, to lost cents, each plays an important part.
I am now interested in the future. We only have a couple of months to go before we are free to join whatever MLM we choose, and the first person in our new business that has never been a part of Amway will be on the phone to anyone that I can remember that has been. You see, Alticor can't touch them. And I don't think there is a court in the land that would honor after the fact alterations to Q rules. Like:

Rule 397 sub paragraph A, Line 2- No IBO, Past IBO, or Anyone else never associated with Quixtar, or it's parent or sister companies, can in any way contact anyone ever associated with Quixtar, it's parent or sister companies.

OR

Rule 596 1/2 paragraph 3.222- No person who is alive today on the face of the Earth, OR is orbiting the Earth OR is on a mission outside the confines of the Earth is allowed to disparage Quixtar, it's parent or sister companies in any way including saying that it's wholesale prices are in fact retail prices (which we know they are), or in any way discourage anyone from joining our company.

Even though they would LIKE those rules to be legal, they never will be.

So, with that being said, I am going to be looking to the future. I will ask question to which anonymous bloggers can give answers to those who would like to know. Hopefully we can get some "possible" answers.

To start:

What will the possible structure of the new business model be? Will it be on a yearly or biannual basis to a supplier of good to great quality products priced at real wholesale levels?
Would there be branded products that would be owned by the new corporation?
Who will the owners of the new corporation be? Would it be structured where 1/3rd will be owned by Woodward/Brady, 1/3rd by Policy council, and 1/3rd by an Independent Owners Association? Perhaps wholly owned by the independent owners, with a Board of Directors that are voted on by the independent owners annually. With those supplying the Motivational and personal growth materials gaining intellectual rights to their materials and if they wanted using it to help out with incomes of those who are triple 50's or some number?

I am just asking for some "supposed" answers, these will be helpful for those interested in their future.

In Christ,
And may His Blessings be on you this Thanksgiving and every day!

Why "THE NEW AMWAY" Will NOT Succeed.

I know that I will be treading on dangerous territory here, but, the truth must be told.

Amway NEEDS BSM'S in order to survive. And that is why they will never outright ban them. TEX and IBOFIGHTBACK not withstanding in the fight to get Amway to ban them, Amway KNOWS if they ever do, (IF they actually intend to continue with the current business structure as an MLM) they would cease to exist as a business in less than two years.

WHY? Because the BSM's are used to brainwash for a certain amount of time, those entering into the business. For most IBO's this is short lived and they drop out within months. This is a fact that Amway cannot deny. When one came along that actually was meant as a personal improvement model that was changing peoples lives morally, spiritually and financially and actually bucked the trends in both numbers added and those that actually stayed in the business, they were jumping up and down with glee. Alticor praised them over and over. Why?

Because it was symbiotic, at least in Alticor's mind it was. Their product was being bought, and they were getting paid handsomely from partner stores. They were happy with the relationship.

All along there were calls from IBO's to stop the Business Support Material businesses, but Alticore turned a deaf ear. They have now stepped into the BSM business themselves. Why? They generate $$$. This is no secret.

Why is BSM necessary? It is because the Alticor product that is being bought is EXPENSIVE. It takes BSM (Although TEAM's was honest to say that it is ok to purchase Alticor's high price with the end of bonuses in sight) to actually make people believe Alticor products (many which they buy from other manufacturers) were superior and worth the price. They (the BSM) tried to show a per use price to get people to think they were saving money when the facts say otherwise on competing retail products from discount chains.

BSM got the name "Brainwashing Support Material" from within the company, NOT FROM THE OUTSIDE.

Now that Amway is producing it's own BSM it will not be long until other BSM's are looked at. When it is, and problems are found, there will be more high level firings of INDEPENDENT Business Owners (a copyrighted name of Alticor). All because they will not have to pay out the big bonuses to them, which will artificially prolong the impending death of Alticor.

Alticor will fall in the end, we are on the verge of seeing it in England, perhaps even in India. The US will follow. It did not have to be that way, but as Jesus said, "You cannot serve God AND Ill gotten gain".

All About Roy Boy

My wife was talking the other day about some stuff that was being discussed where she works. She likes to listen to the ladies there. There is always something interesting to talk about I suppose. They had been going on for a while when an ex-employee's name came up.

They didn't stop with his first name however. They had come up with a pejorative feature at the end. Roy Boy. NOW this was not a put down of race, but of association.

It seems that Roy had some peculiar habits. Like he came to work every day in a suit. Now that might not be peculiar had he been an insurance salesman, but that was not the case. He had a uniform that was required. So in this instance the suit was not a requirement. I have to wear business casual where I work, and am glad to do it. Anyway, they thought the suit was odd.

He also "knew" everything about everything. No matter the subject he knew something about it. After a while, they just stopped bringing things up around him. I think we have all met people like that. One thing that could have helped him would have been a personal improvement program. He obviously needed to take the focus off himself and place it on others, that way, when he did say something, people would have been willing to listen. AND they would not have thought he was odd.

The straw that broke the camels back for them was his insistence they join AMWAY. Now we who were in Quixtar understand the association, however, everyone knew what the real company was. They thought that he was odd to actually think they would join a "pyramid" scheme.

Interesting that Quixtar has decided to go back to the name everyone thinks it is anyway. Interesting they decided to ban the only program that actually was working to bring new people in. A program that helps people self improve, get their dream back, and to have a belief they can make a difference in our culture.

Instead, they are in the process of making more Roy Boy's. Good luck!

Let's pretend

Most people who have ever played "pretend" gave that up when quite young.

I remember this one kid in particular who had a "pretend" problem. I was at one of my friends houses (that was before he told me "Just Go 1John, Go") when another kid came over and asked us to "pretend" we were cowboys and Native Americans (not wanting to offend those with sensitive minds). Well my friend (which shares Teams founder's name only spelled different) told the kid to go home, and when the kid didn't, started in on him.

This of course ended a great game of 21, which I of course was winning.

"Let's pretend YOU are not here!" Oran yelled as he walked through the other kid. Of course it was hard to pretend the kid was not screaming at the top of his lungs and the driveway was not stained in the kids blood from where his knees were bleeding. But I digress.

There is a problem with pretending sometimes. When one pretends someone else does something wrong and goes to their parents to complain just to get the other siblings into trouble, they might get caught for lying. An astute parent will go to the scene of the incident and investigate, OR the astute accused will present their case to the parent with proof of their innocence. After an investigation of cause, the parent will make a judgement, and if there is enough evidence to the contrary of the original complaint will award damages to the accused.

Some people it seems NEVER GROW UP. Some people Make Stuff Up (hereafter referred to as MSU).

That is what the lawyers who brought the case in Nevada did. They MSU'd a competing MLM against TEAM. They actually brought a case to a judge with MSU in it. The only thing that I could think of is perhaps their hired guns overheard some speculation going on with IBO's at TEAM events. I have not read ANYWHERE that there is an actual competing MLM. If there is one it is INVISIBLE, it is SILENT, and it does not push any PRODUCT.

Of course the culture that these lawyers who MSU is prone to MUS (made up stuff). Say like, saying you are selling stuff at wholesale makes it so, even though retail chains are selling products of the same quality at retail for 25% or more lower.

As I read the suit they brought, I was intrigued. They said stuff, yet they provided no proof it was true. There was no evidence that what they were bringing had any hint of reality. In other words, just like their first suit against Woodward, in which they argued quite clairvoyantly that he had a competing MLM, they did so again here. Just like that kid who messed up my win at basketball.

Pretending may be fun when your a kid, but it will get you a large monetary penalty when you bring frivolous lawsuits in Nevada.

I wait patiently for the results!

What Are We In This For?

As I look at my daughter drinking a chocolate coffee freeze, (yeah, I know, that is a dangerous thing to allow a 10 year old to do!) I was thinking about why someone would be in a business like I was in.
Most who joined, did so when they understood why they actually were in debt as their yearly salary increase fell more and more behind the actual cost of living. This caused them to supplement their income with high interest credit card debt, to the point, when someone actually cared enough to come along at a time when they were ready to hear what the problem was, the finally understood there was the proverbial 2 ton pink elephant in their living room.
We did this thing to actually make a difference in our lives. But, the real way to make that improvement meant to make a real change in our thinking. This has to be, for even if we somehow got a million dollars dropped in our laps, with the same thinking that got us into the previous debt in the first place, would soon leave us in debt again. This can be seen by those who loose all their lottery winnings, and usually end up worse than before.
I actually got into this business because of a failure of my last one.
It is an interesting journey.
I was watching Public Television when they were asking for donations, (You know, during the time they actually have "good" things on!) LATE one night, when I saw this funny Asian guy talking about his Rich Dad and his Poor Dad. It piqued my interest, BUT, when they listed the prices for his books, I thought, NAH!
A couple of months later I saw Rich Dad Poor Dad in B&N, still to high.
Thanksgiving was around the corner, and I was invited to go to my Fiance's parents home. I met her sister and brother-in-law there, somehow the Rich Dad book came up.
When Christmas came, again I was invited, I got a gift from Deb's (We were married a year and a half ago.) sis and brother-in-law gave me a gift. Well, two gifts. Rich Dad and Cashflow Quadrant, by Robert Kiyosaki, that funny Asian guy I had seen months before.
While reading his Rich book, (I have always liked to read) which is a fun read, ONE PARAGRAPH STOOD OUT TO ME. It was to get involved with an MLM to learn business principles.
(Oh, a little aside note: I believe that God cares intimately for us, and will involve himself in our lives in as far as we will allow him!)
I thought, hmm, could I find the reason that my business failed? It had nagged me for some time.
God kept opening more and more doors to go through, (due to my finally doing what he wanted me to do, kinda tithing my actions, brought His blessings in other areas, I might get into those areas of obedience one day, but back to how I got into TEAM) so I walked through them.
Turns out my future sister and brother-in-law was in a company called Quixtar.
I also had a friend at work here in Quixtar as well. I had to make a decision, Deb and I were married by then, so the decision would be difficult. Either join with her sister, or join with my friend. The problem with joining her Sisters group would be the distance, over 400 miles away, or joining here with my friend, I needed to make sure that if I joined I would he helped, and would be around people that I had actual relationship with, and who had an interest in my success.
I decided to join my friend, so I approached him and said "How much to join?" (He had never approached me, so you can imagine his reaction!) Turns our there are more than one organization or groups of people in Quixtar. My friend was in TEAM, my in-laws in another. Again, God at work! (Don't get me wrong, they are godly people.) He wanted me to learn leadership principles.
If you haven't detected it yet, I try to follow God's leading and direction.
So it was of GREAT surprise when I read in the threatening e-mail that Quixtar had terminated Orrin et al. God had led me into their organization, and to read the disparaging remarks from a company that had NEVER e-mailed me before, of those who had helped me grow, was quite naturally discouraging.
THEN I read the qblog, (I didn't know one existed) that told me to Go, just Go. I did.
God was leading me through another door, and I knew I didn't want to be associated with an organization who did not care for me, only that I purchase their overrated high priced products.
So, I guess, God was the one that led me away from AMWAY.
Hey Mike, you might want to bring suit against God next, He is the one that told me to send in my resignation!

My mom taught me, "Don't wear out your welcome"!

My mom taught me a lot of things.

1. Always wear clean underwear.
2. Open doors for ladies.
3. Say "Please" and "Thank You".
4. Chew with your mouth shut! (I think she thought so highly of her cooking, she could just not bear the thought that one morsel should be lost by falling out of my mouth!)
5. NEVER WEAR OUT YOUR WELCOME

I think that was her capstone rule. She use to tell me that a lot. You see, I had low self esteem so I only had a few friends, usually one at a time. I would go there every day, and mom would say, "Don't wear our your welcome, your gonna wear out your welcome!"
For the longest time I didn't listen, I had a friend that actually liked me, for about a month, then, as if on cue I would get the old rub off, "Just GO 1John, GO!" So I would. Then I would hear the "I told you not to wear out your welcome!"
Sometimes, people would invite me over to help them, so I'd go, never knowing they were using me for their own benefit. They would say, Hey, why don't you bring pizza when you come. So I would, then they would give me a rake and while they were in eating the pizza I brought, I would be raking up their leaves. When I was done, after I had done all the work and my pizza was gone even though I got none of it (I got the little plastic pizza protector sometimes if I bought enough of the really expensive pizza), they would come to the screen door after I knocked to come in and they would say "Just GO 1John, GO!" So I did. My mom would tell me, "You shouldn't have worn out your welcome!"
I heard a story once about this bumble bee who went to his junior high Halloween party. Well later in life, this particular bumblebee found a good way to get pollen by helping a lot of other bumblebees get pollen. They really didn't care where the pollen came from, they just knew that they needed pollen to survive, and really liked the original bumble bee for bringing them to the pollen. He developed a lot of other bumble bees into those who would lead other bumble bees to the pollen. What was interesting is the particular plant that produced the pollen really like the fact that the first bumble bee brought so many pollinators, more of this later.
Eventually the first bumble bee developed a system to help other bumble bees bring other bumble bees to the pollen. It was really good for a while until the first bumble bee got into the International Bumble Bee Association. There he was informed that the pollen that was being produced by the plant had competing pollen plants that were just as good quality however they were gave their pollen up easier. So the bumble bee went to the plant and asked for pollen to be given easier. The plant said it would work on it, however it never did. Eventually the bumble bee was on vacation and ran out of pollen so he went to one of the other plant, whose Latin name was Walius Martinus, and was amazed at how easy the pollen was released.
When he came home again, he told the IBBA about it, some of the bumble bees in the IBBA thought, "You know, it would be better for the bumble bees that we have taught to come to the plant if the plant made it easier on the bumble bees."
They approached the plant, and the plant said, "NO, Why should I make it easier?" So they resigned the IBBA, met one more time, and several bumble bees after going over differing scenarios of what the plant would do, then they went over different scenarios of what their actions would be for any action the plant would do, and finally came up with a plan to FREE THE BUMBLE BEES!
They approached the plant, let the plant know they wanted out of the high work pollination of the plant and the plant stripped them of their ability to gather pollen and told them they couldn't gather pollen anywhere else for six months, and wouldn't allow them to collect the pollen that was owed them.
The plant then sent threatening e-mails to all bumble bees, told them how the original bumble bee was not flapping his wings right, which previously the plant had praised him for, and called the bumble bee really bad names.
The Plant also had an employee that like to write stupid things on the web. It was the plants official stupid writing blog. The employee told all the bumble bees to go. So they did, in accordance with plant rules. Several months later the plant sued the organization headquarters of the original bumble bee for telling the other bumble bees to go. The original bumble bee's response was that of amazement because the plant who told them to leave would have the audacity to blame the bumble bee for what the plant had done itself.
The moral of the story is this:

I never learned my mama's golden rule, I had to be told to leave by Quixtar's official blog, but I did leave because they asked me too.

Oh, yeah, mama also told me not to lie, wish other mothers would have taught their children not to lie as well. Blaming others for telling people to leave when you were the one that actually told them is bearing false witness and a lie!