Believe - The Movie: Available on DVD

I written twice about Believe - A Hilarious Movie about Network Marketing - when only the trailers for the movie were available....

http://salesdiva.blogspot.com/2007/03/believe-hilarious-movie-about-network.html

http://salesdiva.blogspot.com/2007/04/this-weeks-funny-mlm-story-contest.html

Well, the actual movie is out on DVD and Ron and I got our copy in on Friday. We watched the movie yesterday afternoon and it was absolutely HILARIOUS...just like they said it was going to be. I had goosebumps from how eerily similar it was to our days in Am.wa.y/Qui.xta.r. Ron and I sat there roaring at how the actors said the same things, how the meetings were the same and how we could put a name (someone for our organization) to every single person portrayed in that movie. Hilariously uncanny. I told Ron that I went through a little of what each and every wife in that movie experienced - except I'm a little disappointed that I didn't end up writing my own MLM - Wives Survival Tips Book like one of the wives did in the movie. That would have been classic.

If you get a chance, go check out the website at www.believethemovie.com and watch the trailers. An absolute scream!...and guess what? My Funny MLM story is still up on the website. The only reason it is so dang hilarious is cause there is a huge amount of truth behind this mocumentary. You have to see it to BELIEVE.

Amafights/Quixspats - Part 2

To know where I stand before I go on with another MLM rant read Amafights/Quixspats - Part 1.

I'm really pissed off now with all of the drama over Am.w.ay/Qu.ix.t.ar and the Books, Tapes Functions (Tools) business - Especially after I received the following email:

To Free URA Members,

Transition to the Top

Hi everyone,
The UR Association Board and Leadership have been considering the format of the various URA memberships and access to urassociation.com. After seven months of providing complimentary access to the community website, we have decided to discontinue this abbreviated version of access to the website. We want to offer only the best community website where business owners have full access to Events, Education, Videos, Resources, and Photos.

When will the complimentary websites be discontinued?
The website will be suspended on March 1st. We encourage you to upgrade to the basic, premium, or premium plus membership to gain the benefits of being a UR Association Member. Thanks for all you do and keep up the good work!

In other words, unless you pay a minimum of $25.00/month (basic package) and get a few tapes and other business support material automatically sent to each month whether you need it or not, you can't access the organizations website and find out about events or other resources available to you. Uh, huh. I thought (and according to the Business Support Material Agreement everyone has to sign) that the tools of the business were VOLUNTARY. Lies from the pits of Hell. There isn't anything voluntary in that letter.

Like I've said before, STOP lying! JUST STOP THE MADNESS. Everyone knows that there is a side business to this MLM and that is a Tools/Business Support Material Business. A lot of money is made off of new distributors and all of those who don't reach the Profit Sharing (or whatever they call it now...Q12 or something) Direct Distributor Level. All you hear about at business meetings, rally's, functions, night owls, team meetings..blah, blah, blah is about how "the only way to succeed in the business is to learn from the system - read the books, listen to the tapes, attend the functions." BULLSHYT.

I've been a REAL Business Owner/Entrepreneur for 8 years vs 12 years as an Independent Business Owner (MLM) and there ain't nothing independent about it. Basically, what they are telling you is that you MUST read what they tell you to read, listen to what they tell you to listen to, and attend the meetings they tell you to in order to succeed. If you don't, then they (your upline) won't help you. You can't think for yourself, you can develop your own business strategies, you can't pick the books you think would be best to help you succeed - basically you can't do anything without the consent & approval of your upline. Totally different story when you are REALLY in business for yourself - we make our own business decisions, we attend functions/conventions that we decide are relevant and make good business sense, we purchase business support materials when we NEED them, we purchase products & services at a REASONABLE price, we sell products & services at COMPETITIVE prices - that's what is INDEPENDENT. They need to change the name to Independent Business Owner (IBO) to Dependant Business Owner (DBO) cause that is what you really are.

While we still have an active IBO-ship (and we will keep it that way cause we ain't gonna throw away the little bit of change we get each month for building a network over 12 years), I am so glad we are NOT actively building this business. I don't think I could stomach listening to more Bull served up on a silver platter. I'm not gonna give UR Association $290/year to distribute amongst the upline or to whoever just to look at the calendar. At this point, I don't give a rats patootie what is going on in the organization.

And mark my words...I wouldn't be surprised if I get some nasty letter saying that because of my "negative" attitude that they are gonna terminate my IBO-ship. Wouldn't be surprised at all - it wouldn't have been the first time they've done it, no would it. And then I'm really gonna have something to say.

Amafights/Quixspats

My husband and I were Amway/Quixtar Distributors for over 12 years...can you even believe it...before we decided that we needed to move on and focus our energies on other ventures that were significantly more profitable. I've kept my peace about the business to myself for the most part, you can revisit two other posts where I've mentioned our experience in Amway/Quixtar...

http://salesdiva.blogspot.com/2007/03/believe-hilarious-movie-about-network.html

http://salesdiva.blogspot.com/2007/04/this-weeks-funny-mlm-story-contest.html

Although Ron and I are no longer actively "building the business" anymore, we still have an organization that generates a nice monthly residual income that pays for a couple of "toys/niceities" and keeps me in decandent shoes and clothes. I don't begrudge a dollar of it and gladly satisfy the "member/client" volume each month inorder to keep that check coming. HOWEVER, I have had just about enough of the drama and intrigue that has gone on over the past couple of months to put down a few rambling thoughts on it all.....

1. I'm just sick and tired of all the BULLDOOKIE about the "books, tapes, functions." It makes me sick to hear about the UK putting a halt on the business over there because of serious questions about the BTF's. Or the mess in India over the same nonsense. WHY DON'T YOU PEOPLE JUST FESS UP!!!!! A good majority of the money in the business is made by higher level pins through the sale of the books, tapes and functions. JUST ADMIT IT. I'm a freakin math major and the daggon numbers just don't add up. I'm not buying it, that a new Diamond Direct (based on what you show in the plan and all the other "bonuses") adds up in the first year to a $500K house & 2 new porches paid for in cash the first year. BULL! Ron and I combined made from our jobs (and now more) what they were claiming these Diamonds made and WE CAN'T PAY FOR OUR HOUSE OUTRIGHT.

JUST STOP THE MADDNESS. Tell everyone that if and when they get to a certain level they will make a whole heap a lot of money from the btf and that is why you have to shove them down everyone's throat. If Ron and I had known that from the beginning, perhaps we would have gone direct and stayed there and more so we could REAP the rewards of the big money.

2. Amway/Quixtar...WHOEVER...just fired/let go (did they resign - who knows) about 12 IBO's cause they didn't like their business practices. SO, what about the thousands of people that are beneath them. You sent out this fancy letter letting the rest of us IBO's know that you kicked thse people out of the door, but do you even give a damn about the thousands of IBO's who were under those Diamonds. Obviously not...this is from the Alticore (the parent company of Amway/Quixtar) blog...http://media.alticorblogs.com/2007/08/10/just-go-team/ . What kind of professional response is "Just Go TEAM Go"...away.

3. I'm sick of the infighting. I'm sick of hearing about a new change every 5 seconds...Changing the name from Quixtar back to Amway....teams breaking away or not from Bri.t.t...new "motivation" systems to get your "tools" from (of course, NO DISCLOSURE, on who is making all the money from the "tools"....the Communikate voicemail URGING you to change over IMMEDIATLY (what ya gonna do if I don't?)...blah blah blah.

4. I'm still saddend over the loss of so many people I thought were friends. The only propaganda that I bought over the 12 years was the "friends for life" stuff. What was always left off and I never saw it coming was that what they really meant was "friends for life...ONLY if you are actively building the business." There were some people that I thought I got really close to...one was the daughter of my upline and she pretty much spat me out and said "screw you" (her husband seems to still be a decent person). The only people we are still on a speaking basis with is our immediate upline and a few of the people we personally sponsored. That part of the business...the relationships you "think" you've built...it's all a lie and I've still haven't gotten over it yet.

5. Prices. Most of the products simply are not retailable anymore. No matter how you slice it/dice it or how concentrated you make it, we just can't compete on just about all of the products except the Nutrition Line...and that was the only line Ron and I focused on YEARS before it became popular. I think Ron snapped a head gasket when he went to hear G.re.g Du.nca.n speak about how the company focus was as a Health & Beauty company. He was waxing eloquently on everything Ron had been teaching our group for years and people in the audience we lapping it up like it was the freakin' gospel. Ron was usually treated with skeptisim. That was one of the breaking points for him...no longer would he expend his intellectual capital in an area where nobody will list nor will he get paid. Best to focus on the real estate deal. The returns were much higher.

6. Just keep doing what your doing!!!!!!! That was my breaking point, almost 2-3 years before Ron snapped. I just shut my mouth and ate a piece of humble pie cause I wasn't going to kill my man's dream. If I heard that priceless BULLSHYAT quote one more STOOOOOPIT time, I would scream. IF YOU KEEP DOING WHAT YOU ARE DOING, YOU GET THE SAME DAYMN RESULTS...STOOPIT. So when, we had lunch with our upline Diamond one day to go over our business and get some advise as to why were were not growing, what we could do to step up our pace, etc...YA KNOW WHAT THIS MAN SAID!!!...Just keep doing what you are doing! I WAS DONE WITH THE BUSINESS FROM THAT MOMENT ON. Ron could do what he wanted but, LISA LEE had had enough. I pushed away from the table and said...NO MORE JELLO FOR ME, MA. Took Ron 2 more years to see the light, but nobody can say that I wasn't the dutiful, supportive wife.

Whew. I'm tired. I'm glad we are done. I'm glad that my man found his "thing" and together again we are achieving our dreams of walking the "beaches of the world" NOW! Ron worked like a dog for 12 years for that little residual check we get, so we are going to now ignore all the drama and cash our checks for as long as possible.

Believe - A Hilarious Movie About Network Marketing

Believe - A Hilarious Movie About Network Marketing -www.believethemovie.com

Coming from someone who spent 12 years building a relatively successful Network Marketing business, this satire is some hilarious stuff. I have been laughing my but off on how close to home some of the trailers from the movie were to my actual experiences. Now understand, I'm not going to sit here and bad mouth network marketing as a whole. We had a lot of fun along the way, met a lot of interesting people and parlayed some of those relationships and the network we developed over the years into a extremely successful real estate asset and development business. As a result of "keeping our minds open" to other possibilities (we were always considered heretics), we were able to become very successful and financially well off in a way other than "the business". NO WAY, you say. I know, I know. There is not supposed to be any other way to make money and become financially free besides network marketing and if you are not "building the business" then you are a LOSER! WHATEVER! You can make a lot of money in network marketing, it is possible and I've been close enough to people who have, but - sportsfans - don't let the hype fool ya - it ain't the only way.



Ron says that someone in our upline or organization is going to read this and try to burn me at the stake. Isn't it a shame that I should have to worry about what my alledged "friends" in the business would do or say to me because I found something satirical and funny (usually there is some truth in the joke when it is really funny) about network marketing. SO BE IT. It really doesn't matter anyway because almost all of our upline stopped calling, stopped inviting us to their social events, stopped talking to us - basically stopped being friends - because we were no longer "building the business". We found out who our real friends were then. Interesting. As far as I'm concerned, the truth of the matter is that it was probably just too negative to be around us if we were not out "showing the plan" every night. Oh well, their loss. We miss ya, but life goes on and the residual check keeps coming - JUST LIKE YOU SAID IT WOULD - if we built a stable, successful business. I thought we were supposed to be able to "retire" when we wanted to? Ha, rhetoric. You really are not supposed to EVER stop. Why would you want to?



Enough of my droning on. You've got to check this site out - www.believethemovie.com - read the movie synopsis and watch the trailers for a great laugh and inside looking into the network marketing industry. I'll keep a watch out for the witch burning crew....