Part of the guide: Network Marketing Lead Generation
The Slavery Model Exposed…
“If you don’t want to be doing it RIGHT NOW…
…probably you’ll have to keep doing it to maintain your income after you’ve ‘made it’.
So…
…if you think it sucks, don’t do it.
There are things that are NOT worth the money.
Period.
I learned a long time ago:
“If you build with a slavery model… it will keep you a slave.”
Remember that.”
It was 2007, and I had just built my first successful team ever…
…I was up to making about $3,000 a month – all old school. Home parties, 3 way calls, conference calls, and hotel meetings.
I had about 500 people in my team, and about 20 people working, I felt like I was about to ‘break through’.
We had a conference call, where the trainer (a multi-million dollar earner) was going to teach our team ‘The Secret’ to Duplication.
I was HUNGRY.
I wanted so badly to go from making $3,000 a month to $30,000…
…I knew the KEY was duplication.
Have you ever felt like that? That if you could just find the ‘Secret Strategy’ that it would unlock your business?
On the conference call, the trainer taught us all how to do 3-way calls, and how ‘even a dog with a note in his mouth’ could succeed with this ONE simple strategy…
…I was excited.
I was ECSTATIC.
I couldn’t believe it could be so easy.
It was like someone had just handed me a ‘magical key’ that would open the gates of heaven, and duplication was mine…
…my team got PUMPED.
The next day…
…the rampage started.
Someone called me at 8:30 a.m. and said “David, do you have time for a quick 3-way call? I’ve got an EXCITED prospect on the line…”
I said… “Sure, patch ‘em through”
It worked.
We got Grandma in!
Woohoo! Whoohoo!
Right?!?!??!?!
My team started blowing up. The key? Get David on the phone with EVERYONE…
Here’s what happened:
For the next 90 days straight, my phone blew up from 8:30 a.m. until 11:30 p.m. at night – every day.
I started getting exhausted, and disconnected, and couldn’t remember why I was working.
150 calls a day…
…for a grand total of $5,000 a month.
Finally, one night I was at my buddy Tom’s house.
(He was in ‘the deal’ and lived in a refrigerator in the back of a store.)
We were playing a video game, and my phone rang. It was 11:33 p.m.
I LEAPT out of the couch and said “Hello?!????“
“David, I’m SO EXCITED… I’ve got Aunt Mary on the phone… She’s seen the video… She’s SO PUMPED UP!!!!! Can you do a 3-way call?”
Like a superhero in fancy pants, I said “Sure…”
I started pacing back and forth… and it worked! Like a superhero, I set the phone down and said:
“I GOT one!”
My buddy Tom looked at me and said:
“Dude, I quit.”
I paused for a second, and thought about what he said. I thought I got it, but said:
“Why?????”
Tom told me a PROFOUND truth that day, he said:
“David, NO amount of money is worth what you just did. You just picked up the phone, at 11:30 at night to convince someone’s Aunt to join a business that creates time freedom. I’m out man. I’d rather work at Safeway.”
LOL.
I didn’t quite get it that day, but within 90 days, my whole team was burned out, and started quitting by the hundreds.
Why?
Because Tom was right.
You have been paid late before
You have watched the number on the dashboard not match the number in your account. What is different now is simple: it settles on a public contract you can check yourself, not a dashboard I control.
Read the contract →Most participants earn little to nothing. No income is guaranteed. You can verify every payout on the public smart contract.
Since the day ‘I got it’ I haven’t had a cell phone.
The result?
My best four weeks from a downline * I’ve earned $257,000.
How many calls did I make?
Zero.
How many meetings?
Zero.
* No 3-way calls allowed.
(Meetings are welcome, though – I actually like those – more on that in a future email. Meetings are not a ‘Slavery’ model if done properly.)
Look, there are certain things, we’ve got to be honest about.
Thing ONE:
Last year, Amway did $10 billion in sales. They had their first BILLION dollar month, ever. They’ve been growing now since they launched, I think in 1956.
I was in Amway for 3 1/2 years, and listened to OVER 2,000 hour-long training audios, from EVERY large organization that exists. After 3 1/2 years – I didn’t even know what ‘3-way call’ meant.
Thing Two:
You’re in this to make money, and have time freedom, not be a telemarketer. Telemarketers make $8.50 an hour in the States, and $3 per hour in the Philippines. If you make more than that, you probably don’t want to be on the phone all day and night for a ‘measly’ little weanie income of $8.50 an hour.
Thing Three:
There are things that duplicate AND don’t suck. I know a guy named Dave Lovette, who made about $800,000 a year in Amway for about a decade, before moving on and finding something he liked a tad bit better.
I asked Dave:
“Dave, when you were rich in Amway, how much work did you do each month?”
He replied:
“I didn’t do any”
I said:
“How many calls did you take?”
He said:
“Maybe 4 or 5…”
I said:
“A MONTH????“
“Yup.”
“What was the SECRET Dave????“
He said something profound:
“The SYSTEM did automatically EVERYTHING we as leaders didn’t want to do… AND we MADE MONEY from the system!“
That’s how the big boys play 
I like it better, too.
This post might be controversial, and I’m not saying “Don’t listen to the hype”
I’m just giving my two cents, as someone who took 3 calls total last week, and makes $8,000 – $15,000 a day.
Take it or leave it – either way, be blessed.
In Success,
David Wood
“The Guru Slayer“
Comments
David Thompson, August 7, 2011, 09:30
David, this post really hits home. The grind of traditional network marketing strategies can be exhausting, and your insight on finding a system that works without turning into a slave is enlightening. It’s a perspective that many in this industry need to hear.
Michael Johnson, August 7, 2011, 10:15
I appreciate your honesty about the realities of MLM. The idea that duplication doesn’t have to be painful is a game-changer. Could you share more details on how you built a system that lets you step back from the daily grind?
Susan Williams, August 7, 2011, 11:00
Reading about your experience with 3-way calls and the burnout that followed really resonated with me. I’ve been there too, and it’s draining. How did you shift from that to a more sustainable business model?
James Anderson, August 7, 2011, 11:45
Thanks for the candid advice, David. It’s easy to get caught up in the hype of traditional MLM strategies, but your post is a great reminder that not all duplication strategies are worth pursuing. What’s the most important factor in building a successful business without burning out?
Laura Brown, August 7, 2011, 12:30
I really appreciate your straightforward approach. It’s refreshing to hear someone in the industry talk about the reality of network marketing without sugar-coating it. How can someone new to the industry avoid the traps you mentioned?
Christopher Lee, August 7, 2011, 13:15
This post was exactly what I needed. I’ve been feeling burned out from the constant calls and meetings. Your insights give me hope that there’s a better way to succeed in this industry. What steps should I take to start building a system that works for me?
Amy Davis, August 7, 2011, 14:00
I’ve been in network marketing for a few years, and I’ve seen so many people burn out because they’re stuck in traditional methods. Your post is a wake-up call that there’s a smarter way to do this. Thanks for sharing your experience and wisdom!
Steven Walker, August 7, 2011, 14:45
I love your approach to building a business that doesn’t require constant hustle. It’s something I’ve struggled with, and your post gives me hope that I can find a better way. Can you recommend any resources or tools to help with this transition?
Three posts a day. One email a day.
Everything I publish, in one short daily email. Real numbers, no hype, unsubscribe in one click.
Get paid 100%, on-chain, the second the sale clears
Most affiliates earn little, and that is disclosed up front. The difference here is not a promise about what you will make. It is that you can verify every payout yourself, on a public contract, in about twelve seconds.
See how the payout works →Most participants earn little to nothing. No income is guaranteed. You can verify every payout on the public smart contract.
I no longer have the constitution, nor frankly the desire, to be woken for a stranger’s aunt at that hour regardless of what duplication might eventually pay.
Drawn as a flow, this post actually describes two completely different systems, not one refined into the other. System A: input is personal calls, throughput is manual 3-way conversion, output scales linearly with hours worked, ceiling is burnout. System B: input is some kind of automated process never actually specified in this post, throughput is unclear, output is described only in outcome, never in mechanism. The post spends most of its length on System A’s failure and about two sentences on what System B actually consists of. That asymmetry is the part worth noticing.
Ran the 3-way call method myself for about ten weeks before I recognized the exact pattern this post describes. Weeks one through four, momentum, I felt unstoppable. Week seven was where the calls started feeling like an obligation rather than a conversation, and by week ten I’d started dreading my own phone. I don’t doubt the ‘the system did it’ chapter happened for him eventually. I just want to be honest that the phase before it is exactly as described here, and it costs something real to get through.
Every company’s had a version of this exact post — the phone-blowing-up years, the burnout, then the pivot to ‘the system did it for me.’ We called the first phase ‘the trenches’ in the ’90s.