Scott,

I joined as an IBO under a week ago. When I was asked to give up a weekend with family and friends for a seminar, I said I had plans and couldn't go to the seminar. My girlfriend and I had a dispute because I was so sure the business model would work and I was thinking about skipping the weekend for the seminar (since the open meeting
explanation is very persuasive). Anyway, I finally told my upline that I couldn't go and was immediately cornered with questions such as, "Don't you want to be successful?", and comments such as, "Success comes with sacrifice".

I am lucky that I am already a successful person in general and was able to say something along the lines of, "I already feel successful and I don't need CDs and seminars to tell me how to be successful". However, I could see where these questions and statements could really be tough for a person who is in great debt and/or suffering at an undesirable job to reply to with confidence.

To help those people in a situation like this I just wanted to help with a humble perspective. I believe that the image of success can be distorted in our lives due to a culture of materialistic values and an ever increasing importance placed on status (the Masters is the new Bachelors, etc). However, I know people who have less money than I who are just as happy in their lives and I have found that they all share one thing in common. They strive to help others and genuinely care about friends, family, and even strangers out of human decency. I made one phone call to pitch the Quixtar model to someone before I realized that I felt like a liar. I did not feel as though I was helping the other party. I was calling with the intent to better myself. People who are truly successful are those who don't need more money to be happy and as far as I can tell, IBOs only care about more money. They don't care about you or your goals. In fact, they will turn your goals around on you as weapons when they see you have doubts. They will say, "I thought your goal was...How are you going to reach that goal if you quit?". I even remember hearing "The opposite of success is not failure. It's quit. You have to fail forward to succeed but one can't succeed or fail if they quit." Later on I looked up the definition of success and sure enough the antonym is, "Failure". My upline is not only full of himself but he is also a
compulsive liar.

These people that call themselves business owners are living in a selfish mindset that is fueled by one attribute alone, greed. Ironically, most IBOs consider themselves to be pure and faithful in religious practices that view greed as one of the worst punishable temptations. Not only are these people greedy but they are also compulsive liars. I am not a religious person but I know contradiction when I see it. Why don't they see it? Now I'm not only getting out but I'm considering boycotting the partner stores and brands that associate themselves with this "business".

BTW, there's an easy way to see that the whole thing is a scam. Just ask yourself what it would be like if everyone did it, eventually. Our rights as consumers would be out the window. The people at the bottom of the pyramid would have 0 chance of making money (because everyone else is already above them). Our economy and standard of
living would crash because everyone who used to clean our streets and toilets, teach in schools, maintain our electric grids, water networks, and communications lines would have already "retired" after 5 years in the business. Suddenly the life of mediocrity sounds more like the life of a hero in the eyes of many.

My Dad was a janitor at a high school with a degree in Music Theory. Put 4 kids through college and watched us all become successful. He plays guitar in a gospel group and successfully instills joy in many people each day. That's what I call success!