Business Update

Well, Mikel and I have nearly completed one half of our 6 month 'waiting out sentence' imposed by the Big Company of Alticor. If a business launches in February, we will be ready!!

I love that we can still use our Leadership Development materials. I am so grateful that when we decided to join back up with Amway- Quixtar, that we also joined TEAM. Actually, we would not have rejoined that business if it was not for Team.

We have known that the Amway business model is really a great business. It is not a get rich, quick scam, but hard work is necessary to achieve your dreams. We just know that this type of business is better fitting to our personalities and desired lifestyle than working an 8 to 12 hour shift, 40 hours a week until we retire.

When a breech of trust was unable to be resolved, our great Leaders in Team and the adopted Leaders from my business, made a very difficult decision to put honesty and integrity- their characters on the line and stand up for everyone who wants to build a profitable and honest business.

I thank them everyday for standing up for the right. I am grateful that I can be among their community who are praying and spreading the message of Team. We want to change the world and bring back responsibility, ownership of choices, high morals, honesty, integrity, respect, etc., to our communities.

So we basically divorced Alticor. Alticor fired our fearless leaders and Alticor thought it would have very little impact on their business. However, they did not count on over 30,000 IBO's resigning from the Amway-Quixtar business opportunity. We looked at all the options and decided to follow where our true Leaders would Lead us.

So we are not longer 'property' of Amway. This is another big mistake the company made. They have called us Team Community Members 'their property', cattle, and other fun names. They told us to: 'Just Go Team, Go' or the same words, different order. It is not even worth my time to research what exactly they wrote. It was offensive.

The Big Company approved all of our training materials, praised our leaders, praised our businesses and the growth the Team experienced. They did this for nearly nine years, then all of the sudden one day last summer, they told my leaders goodbye and fired them.

Then they started to write letters saying the Team Business Methods were not legal, they were no longer approved by the Company. They told us we could be in serious trouble if we continued to associate with our leaders. They threatened some of our people. They made ultimatums.

They have made it impossible for us to continue to make a living at what we love best. They have tried to control our lives. But we have news for them, we will prosper in just a very few months and they will be left in our dust. It will be sad but life will go on and those who see the vision of the future, will join us or another worthy, honestly run business and we will all achieve our dreams.

It takes a community to change the world and we are growing a large community of very special people.

The Team and my Church are not affiliated. However, there are times when I can not tell the difference between the two. I am sure that everyone in Team can say that about their own religions. Team is helping people discover or rediscover the good in human kind. Team helps us to develop ourselves to be the best we can be, therefore we become the best person we can be in all life's situations.

I can thank Team Leadership and Learning Service for many of the great things that have happened to myself and my family over the last 9 months. What precious experiences we have had as a couple and a family. We have a thirst for knowledge.

I have always loved to read and I love picking out self-help books. I love that through the Team Program, we are exposed to many books about leadership and self improvement. I love to listen to CD's that tell processes and stories of change in people and how they can now influence others. I love to see the DVD's. I love to go to the meetings and associate with such fine and hungry people.

There is a greatness of being with like minded people. I love attending Church because most of the people who are there, are there for the same reason I am. We are like minded in our spiritual path. I like attending Team functions, because we are like minded in our personal growth and financial prosperity paths. I am blessed to be a part of Team. I can not say that enough.

I am excited that in a few months, my community of like minded business owners, will have an opportunity to again purchase products over the Internet and save money, time and at the same time depending on our efforts we will make money too. We will do this as a Team, Together Everyone Achieves More.

I am sorry that Amway has chosen to head down a different path of business. My leaders have been trying for years to get Amway to listen to the Independent Business Owners and learn from those of us in the field what things work and what doesn't work. However, I believe that the Amway Owners/ Managers are living a "WIIFM" (what's in it for me) method of operation.

There are many things that people have heard about Amway. Some of it is true and some is not. I had to make up my own mind on what I was going to believe. I do know that at one time the company was doing things right, with great character and the company flourished.

I do believe that somewhere, some people got involved and became greedy. That is when the company started to have massive problems. Today they are floundering and trying to put any and all blame on the Independent Business Owners. They do not want to take responsibility for their own business mistakes. This will be their ultimate downfall. Having a scapegoat is not the solution, owning up to making bad judgement calls is the beginning of the solution. They have done much mudslinging on the Internet- they seem to not be worried about who they hurt as long as their objective is met. This is really sad.

Even though their name conjured up a bad taste in many people's mouths, I knew when we signed up with Amway that the business plan was genius. The plan is still a great one. But for the plan to work, it would need to be continually tweaked. The plan, with adjustments made to reflect new information and technical abilities, is really a great method for helping me and my family achieve our goals and dreams. The plan will return. Better suited for the present and future.

I have always tried to defend the Amway name and business, but I have not been able to do so since August, when they tried to take away my Leadership Materials. They tried to shut Team down and have not succeeded. They will never be able to stop the good, we as the Team Community (ies) can do.

I believe that God will be with us, because we want to make the world a better place. Our world, our America, our Canada- my family, my friends, my neighbors, my city, my state. We just want to be able to help people rediscover their goals and dreams. We want to help people have a purpose in life and leave legacies. All good stuff.

OK, I am done for now. Maybe I will get my thoughts better organized in the future. Or maybe I will just let them come as they may.

Have a great day.