Letter from a former IBO

 It is amazing what you discover once you are off "system". I have a list of things I think everyone rediscovers once they stop drining the  the purple Kool-Aid.

1). Time. It is incredible the time that is spent "running" to reach goals. You have to give up graduations, birthday parties, party invites, etc. when you are "running hard". You think that it is an honorable thing to be so totally focused. You are praised for putting your business first, you are quite the builder, aren't you? Once you miss the first Open Meeting (you feel like a bum) the next one is easier to miss. You have TIME to yourself on a Tuesday night! You can spend it with Family, Friends, pay bills, clean house, whatever, but you just bought yourself 3 hours of time. The big part is when you miss a Seminar, you feel strange the first time, but by the second seminar, you have realized you are back into mainstream society, yes, you can have friends outside of Quixtar! Just getting up every day and going to work, coming home and knowing that you no longer have to run the roads showing plans, (leaving your Family) is such a relief! Not to mention the Seminars you don't have to attend, the Leadership meetings, the PV Parties, you have so much time back life looks better and better! It has always amazed me that one of the greatest lines used to recruit People is that you will be able to spend all day with your Children if "you get this done". That is simply not true! An IBO leaves their Children, thinking the sacrifice they make will pay off later, but lets look at that point "in depth". Your Children will only be little once, the time you have spent away from them can never be "reclaimed", it is gone. Can you imagine missing a Son's football game he played in, because Mom and Dad were "running for a team goal"? Can you ever replace the fact that you were not there to share in your son's excitement and accomplishment? I don't think so. business, any business, should never come before quality time with one's Children.

2). Money. It is such a financial relief to not have to buy tools, or the expensive Quixtar products! It seems like you don't realize what you are truly spending until you quit doing just that. Once the tool money quits going out the door, plus any tools your downline may not have picked up, you start to realize just how much money you really were spending on a monthly basis. It is great to have money in your check book and wallet once more! The first real shock comes when you no longer order to get your PV for the month in "your business". You walk into a Wal-Mart or some other discount Store, (you still feel a little guilty at this point) and buy the products you truly need, not just something to get your PV quota for the month. When you have all your products tallied up at the Checkout, you have reverse sticker shock, because it costs so much less than your PV cost in "your business" ! I have personally bought basically the same product at Wal-Mart and paid $165.00 instead of $350.00 to $400.00 it would have cost me for "PV". But remember, a Quixtar person would tell you that you don't get any money back from Wal-Mart, do you? My answer would be no, but then I am not overspending like crazy to get back not enough to justify the over spending in the first place!

3). Friends. It is so nice to be able to have friendships back that don't exist strictly because of "the business". Life is far less stressful than before you were recruited, because you can plan things. You don't have to worry about running off the road at an ungodly hour in the morning, because you were out "showing the plan". You can get up on a weekend, and actually plan the entire day with your children and family! You can go to dinner with friends, and have no "hidden agenda" to recruit them into "the business". You can take a vacation that you planned for your family, that doesn't include your team, and not have to go to listen to your upline leaders talk for hours each night. You can volunteer at your Church, feed meals to the poor, whatever you choose, because you have your time back.

The major thing I have discovered since quitting was that I had to quit to win. I actually made a list of what I have given up due to no longer "running for a goal or dream". Long hours on the road night after night of showing the plan, PV parties, having to convince people that behavior at seminars was not bizarre, sleep deprivation, leadership meetings, constant tapes/CD's playing in my car or home, feeling guilt over watching news or television, leaving children with a sitter, spending far more than was necessary on products from my business, tool expenses, wear and tear on my car, and looking at any one I met with an eye towards "recruiting" them.

To those who claim this is residual income, that is just not true. Residual implies that the pipeline keeps flowing, you only have to build it once. In the case of an IBO pipeline, you must continually recruit, work with your downline, and promote system tools, (that is where the major money is anyway) in order to keep your PV qualification in place. The only "retirement" you achieve is from a traditional work week, to a work week that is differently structured and may be a seven day work week, or just may take over your entire household, let alone your life.

As for me, I still have my dreams, in fact I have always called my dreams "goals". I can now get back to the business of making my goals and dreams come true, and being ethical in the bargain.