...is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. That's what they wanted us to believe. That's one of the messages they taught us from our earliest days in the business. So why did we stay in for five years and lose so much money?

For starters, my wife and I were sponsored by a close friend. He had no idea that he was sponsoring us into a scam, but our relationship was manipulated by a system designed to abuse and capitalize on relationships. So we trusted and registered.

When we first signed up, we were looking for a reasonable part-time income that could be earned while I stayed at home with our young son. The business was portrayed as something flexible that would do the things we hoped it would do. But after a few months, and realizing that we would have to invest some money and effort into the business in order for it to become profitable, we gradually became sold on the idea of participating in the system. That decision led to five years of investing and sacrifice that only ended when we realized that we were getting nowhere, and no one in our upline could either explain why or show us what to change in order to get different results.

We could no longer subscribe to doing something that we had been so carefully taught was insane. So we left the business.

Only after leaving did we discover that there was a secret tools enterprise. We were told in no uncertain terms that no one profited from the tools, and when we found out that there were HUGE profits being made on the tools, we dedicated ourselves to finding out what other lies we had been led to believe and "getting the word out" so that others might avoid this trap.

It's a trap that can cost a lot. For us, we spent over $35,000 on tools and expenses related to supporting our business efforts (such as airfare and hotels). Adding in the cost of the products and miscellaneous expenses related to our involvement, the total exceeds $85,000 for five years.

We were lucky. We had the wherewithall to make that money back since our departure from the business in 2000. But many are not in a position to do that, and some endanger their futures by remaining involved.

That is why I have become a sponsor here and why I am the owner/moderator at the MLM Survivors Club and a moderator at the QBlog Forum. It is why my wife and I appeared with Eric on Dateline NBC.

If enough of us enter into this conversation, we can make a difference. The only insanity would be allowing Amway/Quixtar kingpins to continue to do what they're doing and expect a different result.

Thank you, Eric and everyone associated with this effort.