I was 22 and it was the summer of 1997, two months after my graduation from college. I'd just started working as a process engineer in my hometown of Houston, TX. One day I was browsing through music albums at a Best Buy store when a gentleman I didn't recognize came up to me and claimed that he'd met me somewhere before. He initiated a conversation that I nervously and half-heartedly participated in; I was pretty sure I'd never seen the guy before in my life. Well, it turned out that he was a chemical engineer like me (though in his 40s) and we had a bit in common after all. Still, the conversation was awkward and after a few uncomfortable minutes, he have me his business card and asked for my contact info.

That was seven and a half years ago but I remember the moment well. I found out a few weeks later that what he had done was "cold contacted" me, a process that I would get quite accomplished at over the next few years. Anyway, I got a call from him the following week and he mentioned a business opportunity called "private franchising" with a company called Britt Worldwide. I'd never heard of it but was interested, so I agreed to meet with him since he wouldn't give out any specifics on the phone. He showed me a short version of the plan that week at a coffee shop and I was intrigued enough to go to an "open meeting", where a bunch of prospects like me were shown the full plan by an accomplished distributor.

The plan I was shown was the same one that Amway approves in their SA-4400: the 6-4-2 structure and modest income for a Direct (now Platinum). But then when the speaker described the Emerald and Diamond levels, he added in money from "other sources" and assigned them annual income levels of $100k and $250k respectively. I also found out at the meeting that my new friend was a Direct in the business and that I was extremely lucky to have been prospected directly by him, since with him as a sponsor I would have the best possible help and advice. Also, his sponsors were Emeralds and their sponsors were the Diamonds Kulin & Mina Desai, who were personally sponsored by Kanti & Lata Gala. I was told that I surely couldn't lose with such an outstanding line of counseling with no "deadwood" in between.

In addition, I was struck by the number of professionals in the room: a couple doctors, lawyers, lots of engineers, etc. Also quite a few business owners. To make a long story short, I was sold and bought my kit a few days later.

My first function was only a couple weeks later and I made the choice to sacrifice a valuable weekend to ride in a rented van to Dallas for Free Enterprise Weekend. The function ticket was $65, which we were told was an outright bargain for the information that was to be shared. Well, what can I say about the function? It was incredible, a tremendous motivational boost! Several new Emeralds and Diamonds shared their experiences and these were emotional stories about overcoming huge challenges but now enjoying the fruits of victory. Many big pins spoke with inspiration that weekend, including Bill & Peggy Britt, Paul & Debbie Miller, Ray & Carol Youngblood, and Larry & Pam Winters.

I returned to Houston "fired up" and within a couple months I'd committed fully to the tools system: all functions (including the $100 Britt School), three tapes a week (Standing Order, Leadership, and WWDB), *many* extra "classic" tapes, book of the month, *all* functions and meetings and "meetings after the meetings", Amvox voice messaging, extra tools inventory for prospects, Diamond lifestyle videos, various flipcharts and prospecting materials, etc. In 1999 I began keeping records of all expenses (business and personal) so I know that I spent approximately $3000 per year on tools and functions while involved, not counting vehicle gas and maintenance.

None of my friends joined (some bought products out of politeness) so I had to learn to tackle the "cold" market. I remember that the first cold contact I ever made was a very friendly Colombian guy, and the conversation went so well that I drove home in great excitement and even called my sponsor that night to tell him that I was surely going to be a millionaire, contacting was so easy! Many later contacts, of course, didn't go so well and I often went home dejected. Over time I became quite good at contacting strangers, adding 10-15 names and phone numbers to my contact list every week. My icebreaker line was similar to what my upline had used on me: "Hey I think I know you from somewhere, you look familiar." Or sometimes I'd be in a store and ask a stranger about the merits of such and such product on the shelf. Sometimes these days I'll look back on my contact list (dozens of pages of numbers, email addresses, and brief notes to help me remember them for the phone call the following week) and gape in amazement. Over at least three years, how many hours per week of my life sacrificed in walking around the stores to meet people? Easily five to ten, even more counting driving time.

Well, I made all those phone calls and showed so many plans, but due to the turnover rate my group never exceeded five people! I never even went 1000 PV. I did go 600 PV a few times, but mostly because I was close and my upline often encouraged me to stock up on inventory to get to the next bonus level for recognition.

I'd always suspected that there was a profit in the tools because I'd done cursory research on the Internet before I joined. But at that time, the critical expose sites by former pins weren't around. All we had was the anecdotal stuff on Schwartz's Untold Stories site, which I summarily dismissed as consisting of exceptional cases from other systems. Most of the experiences sounded bizarre and totally unlike what I saw in my line of sponsorship.

Well, sometime in late 2000 is when I discovered Scott Larsen's site and from there linked to Jeff Probandt's site. Jeff & Joni Probandt are former Emeralds in the Yager system. They created the site out of protest for what they saw as abuse of the tools income. For the first time I'd seen, actual figures straight from the horse's mouth were disclosed about system income as Emeralds, and the numbers were shocking! Thousands of dollars a month were coming to them from the system for speaking at functions and moving tools through the downline. Jeff states that at the time, their group was generating $50,000 per month in system money for the upline! I couldn't believe what I was reading, but I knew it was true. Then I read the transcripts of the Directly Speaking tapes.

That was the turning point for me. It was like a switch had flipped, I could see the whole charade. But since I was so involved in the system and so close to my upline and crossline buddies (I was even the best man at a crossline's wedding, didn't even know him before the business), I didn't have the courage to abruptly quit and cut off all these very nice people. In fact, even today I'm still close friends with my sponsors and visit them (they have gone inactive as well). Anyway, over the next year or so I gradually weaned myself off the system, by cutting back to one tape a week (and not listening to it), sporadically skipping the incredibly boring open meetings (during which I'd often fallen asleep even when active), cancelling the ridiculous Amvox service (now CommuniKate or something), and finally giving an excuse not to attend a major function (the cost had snuck up to $90 a person and I told my sponsor it wasn't worth that much to me, he didn't try to convince me otherwise). Of course it was clear to me why the function costs had risen so much over four years: after the launch of Quixtar and then the dot.com crash there was tremendous attrition, so the costs had to be raised to keep system money flowing.

Well that's my story. This may sound strange, but overall it was a positive experience for me. I made some friends, I learned many people skills, and received a healthy measure of confidence. But I'm also incredibly grateful to be out now, to be able to have hobbies and to live a normal life again. I'm so thankful for the Internet for making the truth so accessible. Who knows what my situation would be if I'd joined ten years earlier? Not knowing the tools secret, I probably wouldn't have quit. I'd be worse off by tens of thousands of dollars!

Btw, to the author of the site, great job on the design! I really think that with sites like this and the other exposes by former big pins, the tide has turned and that the secret tools businesses may soon be shut down and hopefully prosecuted.