MLM and The Ace Initiative/Brandon Odom part 3

***UPDATE 2*** The comments part of the post has been updated. New comments from "Michael Coble" and "Dr. Travis Fox" have been added.

***UPDATE 1*** Travis Fox is not a doctor. This post has been heavily updated to reflect this new information. I have posted three links in the source section that talk about his fake doctorate.

If you want to see what I previously wrote about Brandon and "Team Phoenix Marketing", you can click on part one here and part two here.

Today's blog post is, yet again, about Brandon Odom and his "new" scam, "The Ace Initiative". "The Ace Initiative" much like "Team Phoenix Marketing", "Digital Genius Lab", and "Global Affiliate Zone", is a training scam designed to teach people how to make Facebook advertisements for the sole purpose of getting new potential recruits to watch a "webinar" about joining "The Ace Initiative". After a recruit watches the vague "webinar", which explains nothing about the product or service, they are instructed to pay $99.00 a month for the opportunity to get a "90% complete system" in which "The Ace Initiative" will provide all of the necessary resources to help earn "big ticket" commissions. The "big ticket" item is a water ionizing machine from "Enagic", an MLM, that costs thousands of dollars. In order to join "The Ace Initiative", a new recruit must buy one of these water ionizing machines, even if they don't need it, to then qualify for the opportunity to sell the water ionizing machine. "The Ace Initiative", exactly like the other three listed above, is a misleading training scam designed to lure unsuspecting consumers into an MLM.

Here is what "The Ace Initiative" has to say about their service:

"Our program empowers students and clients to go from "survival mode" to "thrive mode" in every area of their lives.  Our members learn the fastest, simplest way to generating life-enhancing incomes through a profitable online affiliate business of their own. "

1. They cannot guarantee this is a "profitable online affiliate business" without expressly giving a proper income disclosure document. This is something they will never be able to provide, because the business is designed to profit from, rather than enrich the newest recruits. Here is what the FTC has to say about false income claims.

2. This is not an "affiliate business". Here is the definition of a real "affiliate marketing" business. MLM commonly uses this terminology to deceptively appear as something they are not. Affiliate marketing does not require the affiliate marketer to purchase of any goods or services in order to receive commissions and bonuses, and they do not get paid for recruitment. These are unique MLM characteristics.

"As they progress, they receive training to help them overcome obstacles and limiting beliefs and discover their true passions in life."

 "They" are not being recruited to "overcome obstacles and limiting beliefs". "They" are being recruited to spend large amounts of money on "Enagic" water ioninzing machines and useless "training". "They" are going to "discover their true passions in life" probably aren't promoting fake "training" for the "business opportunity" to sell useless water ionizing machines.

"You see, we know that success is a science.  It's a proven, duplicatable process.  Travis Fox, one of our founding partners, has perfected the use of "Subconscious Autocoding™" to help people improve their lives in a variety of areas such as competitive athletics, weight-loss, addictions, phobias, sales, business and more."

 "Success is a science" is a partially stolen quote from Oscar Wilde. "The Ace Initiative" is a plagiarized idea from "Global Affiliate Zone". "Duplicatable process" is a plagiarized line from Amway. This Amway line is the fundamental flaw in the MLM scheme. The "duplication" refers to endless recruiting rather than the focus on selling a good or service, which ensures a large number of participants will not make money.

I'm not sure what "subconscious autocoding" is, but it sounds like brainwashing. According to this biography about Dr. Travis Fox, he could be qualified to help people with the conditions and mindsets listed above , but they do not qualify him to help with business. Travis Fox is not a doctor, has never been a doctor, has no accredited degrees in psychology or clinical hypnotherapy. Regardless of Travis Fox's background, these techniques do not help with MLM. This is where the line, between appropriate and inappropriate uses of psychology, gets blurred. There are very useful situations for hypnotherapy and subconscious programming, but it can also be extremely dangerous if it is used for inappropriate self-gain, such as with MLM. I'm not sure how Dr. Fox got involved with Brandon, but this seems to be a poor business decisions.

"He teaches clients to redefine and refine, to maximum optimization, their automatic processes, interrupt conscious negative thoughts and arrive at a higher degree of "output performance" on command."

This, again, sounds like brainwashing. This is not the way in which people should be using these treatments, and it is extremely dangerous as it can manipulate unsuspecting consumers into financial peril.  People should not need to be programmed for this type of endeavor, and a doctor, which Travis Fox isn't, should not use their expertise for financial gain.

"For the past 25 years, his methodologies were reserved for the elites: professional athletes in golf, football,  competitive fighting, high-net worth individuals and top corporations.

But now you can benefit from them as well." 

This "business opportunity" has nothing in common with the professions listed above. "The Ace Initiative" is trying to use false equivocation to say the training from Dr. Fox will somehow be relevant for selling water ionizing machines.

"Our ultimate vision is to empower our program alumni to build the businesses and lives of their dreams by leveraging our expertise, resources and vast business network."

This statement is both vague and convoluted. Since "The Ace Initiative" is a "business" designed to advertise "The Ace Initiative", and subsequently sell an "Enagic" water ioninzing machine, the only way to "build the business" is to use "The Ace Initiative" so you can get more people to "build the business". In other words, in order to "leverage" their "expertise, resources and vast business network" to "build your business", you must promote "The Ace Initiative". This circular logic is used to confuse and obfuscate the reality of the scam.

"We invite you to explore how we can serve you in effecting a radical, positive change in your life today and look forward to meeting you online in our mastermind community and in person at one of our 2 or 7 day live events throughout the world."

Translation: "The Ace Initiative" can't wait for you to sign-up and start promoting them on Facebook. They can't wait for you to start recruiting and getting people to watch their "webinar". They can't wait for you and the people you recruit to buy a useless "Enagic" water ionizing machine. They can't wait for you to spend your money so they can profit.

These quotes were taken from the front page of their website, which I'm not going to link since I don't promote scams, and none of it has anything to do with what "The Ace Initiative" is or what they promote. If I did not translate a lot of the vague and misleading jargon, people would not have a clue as to what this "program" is, how much it will cost, or how a person makes money. These details are consistently avoided by Brandon, and the rest of MLMers, because they want the opportunity to brainwash their recruits before explaining the terrible "opportunity". MLMers, like Brandon, want to focus on hype and misleading testimonials rather than the actual "opportunity", because the "opportunity" is not something to be excited about.

"The Ace Initiative", exactly like "Global Affiliate Zone" (The scam that taught Brandon), and "Team Phoenix Marketing (Brandon's first attempt at running the scam), is designed as a second layer to the MLM scam. This concept was started in Amway with organizations known as "Line of Sponsorhip" (LOS). Instead of signing up for Amway directly, a recruit has to sign up for this secondary organization and purchase their "tools", for the "opportunity" to purchase Amway products. "The Ace Initiative" has the exact same relationship with "Enagic". Instead of signing up as an "Enagic" distributor, a recruit is signing up for the "The Ace Initiative" and paying for their "tools" to help market "Enagic". They have made it even more convoluted by placing "Enagic" on the back burner and treating it as an auxiliary purchase for the "opportunity", but the concept remains the same. "The Ace Initiative" is a separate cost that offers nothing of material value for the "opportunity" to earn commissions by recruiting people into "Enagic".

*UPDATE*

This section is going to be regularly updated with comments from "The Ace Initiative" members.

"Kate Mueller" says:

"I am glad I joined The ACE Initiative because it’s nothing like you describe it in your review.

I made my decision based on facts and personal experience with the system, the people who have created it and others who are part of our amazing community."

It's good to see Kate decided to read the review, address none of my points, and then blindly continue on her merry way. It seems the programming is quite strong.

Here is a comment from "Bryan Hodgson", one of the three founders and alleged "7-Figure Earner"

"2 things before moving forward with the allegations you have made against The Ace Initiative LLC:
1.) False statements of facts that harm the reputation of an individual or business, aren’t protected under constitutional free speech provisions..
You in which have done the following:
A.) Published or otherwise broadcast an unprivileged, false statement of fact about The Ace Initiative LLC.
B.) Caused material harm to The Ace Initiative LLC by publishing or broadcasting said false statements of fact.
C.) Acted Negligently or with Actual Malice.
2.) We the founders of The Ace Initiative LLC. Will allow 24 hours to have the following blog post
(http://themlmsyndrome.blogspot.mx/2018/04/mlm-and-ace-initiativebrandon-odom-part.html?m=1)
To be take down otherwise further legal action will be taken against both Geoff Rey as well as Themlmsyndrome.blogspot.com and all entities subject to this matter.
If said request isn’t met the following conversation will be communicated from and only from the attorney’s who represent The Ace Initiative LLC."

There are lots of issues with this threat, but I would first like to thank Mr. Hodgson for taking the time to be very creative in his attempt to scare me. If I were an amateur, I may actually consider this a very credible threat.

Here are some glaring issues with his comment.

1. Starting a sentence with the number "2", instead of spelling it out, makes the comment look far less professional. It is clear this was hastily put together.


2. The first sentence doesn't make sense. Why would you move forward with my allegations? Shouldn't you be moving forward with your own allegations?

3. Which alleged statements were false? I'll be more than happy to correct the record.

4. Letter "A.)" is the exact same as "1.)"

5. What is "Material Harm"?

6. Good luck proving "C.)".

7. It's probably not smart to take legal action against an alias. Good luck finding "Geoff Rey".

8. Why wouldn't you have your attorneys contact me first? It doesn't make sense to make this kind of threat, unless you don't actually have attorneys.

Again, I have to give Mr. Hodgson credit for his creativity, but he is going to have to do a lot better than this. I'm sorry to burst your bubble Mr. Hodgson, but the blog post will remain where it is.

A comment from "Michael Coble":

"Hey Geoff, The things you are sharing are inappropriate and should not be on Facebook. Please take them down. I’m a humble school teacher with a wife with fibromyalgia who the product line does wonders for. I don’t know why on earth you would go out of your way to slander our online endeavors. I get being upset if someone wasn’t up front with you but We personally are 100% upfront about all costs and investment with everyone we speak to. I’ve never had a conversation with you and you leave a 1* review full of spite on my fan page? Please remove it."

Ah, the old feel pity for me line. I don't care if you are a "humble school teacher" or a murderous gang member, you are perpetrating a fraud and you should be ashamed. I feel terrible that you have a position of influence over others, and hopefully those people do not fall prey to any of your schemes.

I'm also fairly certain you can't make the claim that these machines help with fibromyalgia. That is a violation of the FTC's rules and regulations about distributors making health claims.

Hopefully you aren't an English teacher, because nothing I have written would be considered slanderous. The correct term you are looking for is libel, which I also have not done.

 I don't need to have a conversation with a fraudster like you. You MLMers are all the same.

I had a conversation with "Dr." Travis Fox, which overall was very pleasant. However, he is a seasoned snake-oil salesman, and he has learned it is better to keep things as pleasant as possible. Here is one comment that proved he isn't as pure as he may seem.

"The product itself help with autistic son who refused the drunk water regardless of “Filter” prior use."

This is also a violation of the FTC's rules and regulations about distributors making health claims about their MLM product. This is one of the most dubious lines MLMers regularly make. Not only is there no science to support these claims, but they have a financial incentive to sell the product and they have no shame when it comes to weaponizing their children. Even if we take the premise that this machine worked for helping with autism, the fact remains that MLM is the worst possible method for selling the product, and they are trying to profit by appealing to the emotions of those that are sympathetic to the MLMers plight.

Any time an MLMer decides to weaponize the sick for their own self-gain, there should be an immediate red flag raised. The ulterior motives of these MLMers outweigh their concern for the sickly.
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Sources:

https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/selling-work-home-or-other-business-opportunity-revised-rule

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affiliate_marketing

https://www.allamericanspeakers.com/celebritytalentbios/Dr.+Travis+Fox/6051

http://fakedoctorate.blogspot.com/2017/11/reader-feedback-on-travis-fox.html

http://fakedoctorate.blogspot.com/2013/04/attorney-for-travis-fox-speaks-out.html

http://fakedoctorate.blogspot.com/2012/11/travis-fox-fake-doctorate.html

Our ultimate vision is to empower our program alumni to build the businesses and lives of their dreams by leveraging our expertise, resources and vast business network

MLM and Digital Genius Lab

Today's blog post is about a "new" scam called "Digital Genius Lab". This post may look eerily familiar to a previous post about "Team Phoenix Marketing", and their leader Brandon Odom, especially since some of the members are the same. The new leaders of this group are the "Original Power Couple", Sean Malone and his wife Melissa, as well as Chris Baden. Together, these three have created a platform called "Digital Genius Lab", which is designed to do "90% of the work" when starting your "Affiliate Marketing" business. Let me be clear, this isn't real affiliate marketing, which you can learn about here, but rather a clever ruse to get people to purchase monthly training to advertise their MLM product. These hucksters, similar to Brandon, all seemed to have started from a group called "Global Affiliate Zone" (GAZ), and have splintered into separate factions to try and create their own method for selling training and water ionizing machines. They have learned, due to their vast time in "GAZ" and other MLMs, that the money is not made by selling the MLM product, but rather coming up with a clever way to get people to want to join.

"Digital Genius Lab" seems to have risen from the ashes of "Team Phoenix Marketing", which apparently has dissipated, and has transferred some of the members to the new scam. One of the members, Ashley Krooks, is the person that originally tried to get me into "Team Phoenix Marketing", and has now become a high-ranking member of the new scam. Not only is Ashley featured in their introductory "webinar", but she has now become a "mentor". I was originally introduced to "Digital Genius Lab" through Ashley's website, which conveniently didn't change at all from her "Team Phoenix Marketing" website, and was immediately signed up for the free "webinar" and an e-mail list.

The e-mails are nearly identical to Brandon's, which spam messages as often as three times a day, and are addressed from a pseudonym "Genie", who is the wife of "Digit". These two people of mystery, that are allegedly not the "original power couple", have one sole purpose, get people to click on the "webinar" link. They use anecdotal stories, emoji's, and buzz words, such as "dreams", "9-5", "Rat race", "become your own boss", yet fail to disclose what the actual "business opportunity" is or how people will become successful. The e-mails are very similar to a robot voice calling your phone. They are written into an automated e-mailing system and eventually will repeat themselves if you stay on the e-mail list long enough.

The introductory "webinar" is also nearly identical to the "Team Phoenix Marketing" "webinar". It is an hour long video that talks about dreams, Sean Malone's struggles, how this allegedly is not another MLM, some nonsense about being involved with a non-profit in Africa, how their program is "90%" complete (same number as "Team Phoenix Marketing"), the $99.00 per month cost for their "training" (Also the same number as "Team Phoenix Marketing"), and some anecdotal rags to riches stories from some of their highest ranking members. Once again, much like the "Team Phoenix Marketing" "webinar", this "webinar" did not detail how the program was going to make you money, what the "big ticket item" is (Same terminology as "Team Phoenix Marketing"), or the role a new prospect was recruited to do. That hidden knowledge was only available after you pay the $99.00 fee.

Interestingly, reviews for "Digital Genius Lab" are already popping up online, and they are much more accurate than anything I had read from other "Team Phoenix Marketing" reviews. I'm not sure why "Team Phoenix Marketing" was able to fly under the radar, but I'm glad to see people are already investigating this fraud, which can be deemed a third generation attempt to hawk "Enagic" water ionizing machines. In fact one reviewer, Jack Cao, actually signed up for the service and went through the process of becoming a "Digital Genius Lab" member. His detailed review expressly shows the two levels of the fraud ("Digital Genius Lab" and "Enagic"), and how they use deceit to lure unsuspecting consumers into an unwanted and very expensive purchase.

"Digital Genius Lab", much like "Team Phoenix Marketing", much like "Global Affiliate Zone", are all copycat scams involving fake training and the purchase of an overpriced and unscientific water ionizing machine from "Enagic". Not only are these programs unoriginal versions of the tools scams from MLMs like "Amway", but "Enagic" is also an unoriginal version of an MLM like "Amway". These amateur charlatans are using the lessons they learned from original frauds to create new frauds with different methods of chicanery. Instead of using lecture halls, they are using YouTube. Instead of recruiting in person at Starbucks, they are using Facebook advertisements. One of the most prolific fraudster's, Robert Kiyosaki, wrote a book titled, "Businesses of the 21st Century", which couldn't be a more apt way to describe these versions of the MLM fraud.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Sources:

https://barenakedscam.com/digital-genius-lab-review

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affiliate_marketing

MLM and the Argumentum Ad Populum Fallacy

Today's blog post pertains to a common fallacy which uses popularity to determine efficacy. This tactic is commonly used as an emotional appeal instead of a logical deduction, and the idea is to obfuscate reality by suggesting a large group of people can't all be wrong. However, throughout history we have seen large groups of people are routinely wrong, and some examples involve, slave owners in the United States, Nazi's in Germany, Fascists in Italy, Islamic State in Syria and Libya, and many many others. I had previously written about the mob mentality, and how it can make people inherit certain behaviors they would deem unsavory, therefore it doesn't make sense that a large group would determine something to be authentic. If anything, a large group of people can spiral and become less good as it grows, take the government as an example. The idea that a large group of people can prove something to be legitimate is flawed, and yet this fallacy continues to be used by MLM apologists. 

One of the biggest issues with this logic is the subjectivity of determining when a group is big enough to be considered authentic. There aren't any parameters for this logic, therefore a large group to one person may be a small group to another person. The news is a great example of the inconsistency in labeling big groups and small groups. One example would be the Las Vegas shooting versus the Florida massacre. If someone were to judge these two by their identifying titles, then they would think the Florida massacre was considerably larger than the Las Vegas shooting. The actual numbers are quite different, and by a wide margin. The Florida massacre left seventeen dead and fourteen injured versus Vegas which left fifty-eight dead and eight-hundred fifty-one injured, according to Google. Yet, Vegas was labeled as a shooting and Florida was a massacre. Now, there was some clear bias as Florida involved children at a school, which is a much more emotional topic than a concert being attacked, but objectively the labels should have been reversed.

The context in which the group is being labeled is also extremely important for determining whether or not the group would be considered small or large. Going back to the Florida massacre example, a group of 17 people killed is a large number, considering a mass shooting is labeled as four or more people being killed. According to this fallacy, it would be fair to say every group of 17 people or more would be considered large, yet we know this to be untrue. If 17 senators voted against a bill, then we would consider that group to be very small and an overwhelming majority, 83 senators would make the bill pass. Therefore, simply focusing on a number cannot hold any weight, since context must be defined.

A final issue with this logic is, what happens when a big group runs into a bigger group? What I mean by this is, let's say there are approximately eighteen million MLMers in the world, according to qurora, in 2015. That would be considered a big group, except the population of the world was seven billion, meaning less than .3% of the world's population was involved in MLM. Does that now mean that MLM is not a big group? To take this a step farther, let's say people say MLM is legitimate because eighteen million people were participating. Can we then say MLM is not legitimate because seven billion people didn't?

The idea or qualifying a group as large, and therefore assuming they have an absolute truth, should be a red flag. There should be better qualifying characteristics than a number, and the person pitching the MLM should be giving those qualifications instead of this fallacy. The idea that a certain number of people couldn't be wrong is asinine, and it perpetuates a mentality of blind obedience.

Dr. Martin Luther King said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
Here is my version of this quote as it relates to this article. I have a dream that people will judge a business opportunity based on its merits and not on fallacies and misinformation.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Sources:

https://www.quora.com/How-many-MLM-network-marketing-distributors-are-there-in-the-U-S

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/14/us/florida-high-school-shooting/index.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Las_Vegas_shooting

MLM and Webinars

Today's blog post was inspired by a recent comment about "webinars" and their peddlers. A "webinar" is a lecture held on an internet platform, and unlike seminars, which are usually held in forums or halls, "webinars" require very little to host. This means the barrier to entry for hosting a "webinar" is very low, and people do not need to prove the veracity of their claims. To clarify, the "webinars" I'm referring to aren't real webinars, but rather sales scams and "MLMs" disguised as educational videos. There are plenty of actual webinars hosted by accredited professors and other experts, and they have designed their teachings to spread authentic information. Also, there are seminars that are held by fiction peddlers, such as Kiyosaki's real-estate seminars, but the cost of these seminars is substantially higher than that of a webinar. The cost of hosting a seminar prohibits amateur charlatans from entry into the seminar scams, but the internet allows people to enter the "webinar" scam field. This means people need to be more critical than ever about the information they are receiving online.

The internet and its proliferation of information comes with great opportunities for people to learn and to be swindled. Facebook is particularly dangerous since they decide what content is good for each individual and what is not. Their algorithms are designed to show a person what they think that person wants to see, and this includes which news sources they deem relevant, as well as which advertisements are most likely to be appealing to the person and their needs. Unfortunately, Facebook doesn't care about the authenticity of these advertisements and the bad actors, which can result in charlatans being given access to an unprecedented number of people for a few dollars. This also lends credibility to the bad actor's claims since, according to Facebook, they are allegedly trying to crack down on "Fake news" and other phony advertising.

YouTube has also given people an unprecedented amount of access to information and scams. The ability to load content on YouTube, with virtually no expense, has allowed lots of bad actors to come out and create "webinars". This gets compounded by the fact that YouTube also has algorithms that tries to find similar content to other videos and works handily with other platforms, such as Facebook, to further target people with specific videos. The bad actors are keen to these algorithms and regularly manipulate their videos and titles to fool the algorithms into thinking their content is something it isn't.

An example of this may be, a mother looks for part-time work-from-home on Google. Google then tells YouTube (their subsidiary) this person specifically searched for this type of opportunity and YouTube populates their recommended videos with free MLM "webinars". The "webinar" addresses specific concerns the mother has and how they can fix those problems by paying for another "webinar". Then that "webinar" says the key to the hidden knowledge is in a different "webinar" and focuses on selling their most expensive "webinar". This ultimately leads to a lot of wasted time and money, since these "webinars" hosted by "gurus" don't actually have the answers the mother is seeking.

Some examples of these bad actors are, Tyson Zahner, Eric Worre, John C. Maxwell, Robert Kiyosaki, Tai Lopez, and Tony Robbins. Please make note the last two are not specifically connected to MLM, but they still pull the same nonsense. These "webinars" are not exclusive to MLM chicanery.

I want to really emphasize these "webinars" are scams, and the people that host these "webinars" are looking to enrich themselves by taking money from their consumers. If they had the answers they claim, then they wouldn't be wasting their time making "webinars", but rather would be spending their time doing the very things they claim makes them rich. As Mark Cuban says, "If a deal is a great deal, they aren't going to share it with you."

The most important way to avoid these schemes involves the same way in which we critically investigate large purchases. The more research people can do about a "webinar" with a "guru" before paying for their services, the better that person will be equipped to deal with the deception. These bad actors don't want people to look for information about them on the web, just like Jimmy Kimmel wants you to forget he made his career from exploiting women.

MLM and "Team Phoenix" the Halloween Special, with a Scary Character Known as Brandon Odom

Today's blog post is about Brandon Odom, the creator of "Team Phoenix", and how he decided to join a MLM called "Enagic" and create a "new" way to recruit. His technique isn't actually new, but it is cleverly modified, and it does seem to be working. He is using the technique of providing a "system" in which "90%" of the work is already "completed", and all you have to do is post advertisements. Once you have posted an advertisement, simply lead the prospect to his videos and let him take care of the rest. The problem is, the way in which you make money is directly correlated to the dollars a new member spends on an Enagic machine, and you will not make any money if the prospects do not purchase this machine. There are no retail sales to outside consumers, there is no formal training about the product, aside from some goofy home made YouTube videos by current members with no formal experience in this field, and there is no control over how you want to run the "business". This, much like organizations such as "WWDB" for Amway, is another cheesy rendition of a "fool-proof system" that is designed to profit off of, rather than enrich the adherents.

Here is a link to his, "The Dream Life Blueprint":

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fteamphoenixmarketing.com%2Fthe-dream-life-blueprint&h=ATN90PejeyMxqJ010PxWQO_UcEmBNVDXaCixt8i5frfZ3UeDA1Zw-PEq5JeDUyyZJFm7hHI_q0Ftn-vY9693T-uMO30n1j-Q_QgIbodx4a8kCnFwuKWzyKCW-TISvDhX6woZjWAHhg&s=1&enc=AZNhYIdEzgA-gN2QtKbWkgb7iEIYr_2NWZM-wGciLzk-UHb1zbZR-IXQxRTLpLE4NzeKIxqWdzM3vEU98tOxkHfR.

Some key visual techniques he uses are, bigger than usual font,

lots of spacing to make the text easier to read,

bold text in random places, bold and yellow text for really "important" stuff or bold italicized words, emoji's, and pictures. All of these devices are used to create a personal connection to the reader. Because he can't personally use his voice and character, he uses these techniques to create the person he thinks you want him to be, and this is his way of manipulating the targets into trusting him.

He also chooses to use language that targets a younger age group, particularly those that have just gotten out of the military or college and are looking for their next step in life. He uses testimonials, with pictures of young folks, to help make the targeting more effective, as well as emojis and a very informal writing style. He knows, probably from many years of practice, that his target market, is going to be between the ages of 25-40, and predominantly people that are in a transition period in life.

Here is a  synopsis of this 24-page "blueprint":

Pages 1-4: This is the "introduction" (I use quotes because he doesn't actually tell you anything about the "business"), which is designed to create a persona in which a prospect can relate. He tells you a story about his life, which could be true or could be embellished. He talks about the "struggle" that every MLMer loves to mention and he doesn't hold back on trigger phrases such as, "Imagine waking up without an alarm clock", "in your brand new life", "a few thousand bucks", "you only started this venture 5 months ago but are already earning enough money to replace you're [sic] full-time income", "you're spending more time with family", "you're getting out of debt", "you've got piece [sic] of mind for retirement security", and many more. 

He also uses hyperbole to emphasize his success and dedication to creating his "system". He mentions his income is "over 6-figures", he claims he "lost over $100,000" originally, and he says he has helped people earn "millions of dollars" in commissions. This should be taken very lightly since the average MLMer makes around $2,400.00 a year, which includes the top .1% that make hudreds of thousands or millions, and most wouldn't have, or be willing to risk, "$100,000" on any investment. Also, "millions of dollars" in commissions is incredibly vague, especially since he doesn't say how many people it took to get to that number, and means virtually nothing. If it took a million people to get to two million in commissions, that would be a very bad opportunity. It is important to consider the potential spin created by statements like these.

Pages 5-9: This section is a bunch of testimonials from average looking young couples (oddly they are all white) and their success. The success they describe in these testimonials is NOT normal, and this section violates the FTC's rules about using misleading testimonials. Again, the average MLMer doesn't make anything close to the claims these people are making. On a side note, the person that originally tried to get me to join is one of the people giving a testimonial, Ashley Krooks (fitting name), and you can read about that experience in my previous "Team Phoenix" post (http://themlmsyndrome.blogspot.com/2017/05/mlm-and-team-phoenixa-new-con.html). Again, he bolds all of the monies that were claimed to be made by these people, as well as a few trigger phrases, yet he still hasn't told us what the "business" is, how we make money, or anything else that would be relevant to this subject.

Pages 10-15: This section finally begins his "blueprint" meaning the first 9 pages were completely irrelevant drivel. This particular section focuses on his first step, "Find the perfect 'high ticket' [sic] offer to promote". He emphasizes "high-ticket" (I don't understand why he puts that in quotes), because Enagic water machines are extremely expensive, and he is trying to create a logical reason for why people should spend thousands of dollars. He suggests that high-ticket items are better to sell because you don't need to sell to as many customers. His example about why high-ticket items are better is hilariously faulty, he suggests it is better to make $1,000 dollar commission on machines that cost over $4,000 (25%), than it is to sell something for $27.00 and make a $12.00 commission (44%). Percentages are what matter, and it is much more practical to sell something for $27.00 than over $4,000.00 to the public.

He then uses an Alinsky tactic by suggesting this isn't MLM. He says, "...you've probably looked into various ways of earning extra money from home before. Maybe you even got involved with a multi-level marketing (MLM) program." It isn't a coincidence that he only mentions MLM as a way of making money from home, because Enagic is a MLM, and his "Team Phoenix Marketing" is just a propaganda machine to help recruit people into the MLM. This lie, aside from being bizarre, is the ultimate betrayal of trust. He suggests this is something different from any other MLM, and yet it is exactly the same. He even brings up the "60% to 75% attrition rate for distributors in the first year", which he cleverly uses as a lie to act as though his "business" is something different. He actually takes a damning statistic and spins it to meet his need.

Finally, he goes into another bizarre example involving price and value. Here is his logic, "the price doesn't matter as long as the customer believes deep down they are getting more value than the money they're paying. In other words, as long as you can deceive the person into believing they are getting something of tremendous value, then you can charge them whatever you want. This is one of his most honest lines, and it shows his delusional thought process. Value determines price, period. If something has more value, then the price will get higher. Because the Enagic machine has no value, because it doesn't work, you have to make the person "believe" they are getting a great value. This the logic every snake-oil salesperson uses.

He still hasn't told us the product is Enagic, but he has tried to get us to enroll in his "webinar", which will hopefully be more informational.

Pages 15-17: This section focuses on "Step #2: Create an 'Automatic' Sales Process" (again I'm not sure why he puts automatic in quotes)

First he says, "Your customers need to know, like and trust you in order for them to buy from you." This is the heart of the deceit. The product isn't relevant, and instead it is all about creating the relationship. This is important, because the product he is trying to sell doesn't actually have any value. Therefore, the only way to sell this product is to get "customers" to "know, like and trust" the snake-oil salesman. 

Next he talks about his "sales funnel". Once a person signs up for his webinar, or enters an e-mail address, it is game on. You will be subjected to repeat e-mails, daily, and invitations to continuously join his "webinar". This can be automated, meaning you can have an e-mail saved to a program, and then it will shoot it out to anyone that gives their information, and it won't stop until they unsubscribe. I previously signed up for his e-mail, and received at least 3 e-mails a day, every day, and didn't get any repeat e-mails for a week. He has put a lot of time into these automated e-mails, and the e-mails, much like this "blueprint", contain nothing about the product and focus solely on trigger phrases and emotional garbage.

At the end of this section he says, "**Special Bonus: When you work with me and my team we close sales on your behalf! Watch until the end to learn more**". Again, all he wants you to do is create advertisements for him, and he never wants you to mention his product "Enagic".

He also inserts another link to watch his "Webinar".

Pages 17-21: This section focuses on, "Step #3: Find People That Will Become Customers AKA 'Targeted Traffic'".

This section will focus on creating Facebook advertisements. This is niche version of creating a "system" that will help generate "sales" to "customers". The problem is, the "system" is already saturated with the people from the testimonials section, the sales are simply disguised pay-to-play fees, and the customers are only members of the organization.

His opening paragraph has this line, "Products and services don't sell themselves. People are the ones that give value to other people in exchange for money." This is some seriously spun nonsense. Products sell themselves all the time with catchy labels, nice looking bottles, preferred shelf space, and most importantly, the ability to work. People are necessary to promote a product, and create attention toward the product, but all of that is irrelevant if the product is garbage. I don't care how good a sales person is, if they are selling bovine excrement, then they will not get sales (supposing they aren't using deceit).

He then says, "I can show you not only how to profitably get offers in front of a lot of people on social media but how to get them in front of right people that will buy!"

This, much like the rest of this, is incredibly spun to sound significant. He is only offering to help create targeted ads on Facebook, and this is something Facebook and its development team has painstakingly worked on to make as easy as possible. He doesn't have some special hidden knowledge, much like a cult leader, and this doesn't guarantee any of the successes listed in the above testimonials. In fact, since those others have already saturated the market with their advertisements, chances are strong your advertisements will not be nearly as successful.

He then uses his other "business", "Batchata Addiction", as an advertisement sample, but it is really just an extra promotion for himself. He doesn't actually talk about the process of creating a Facebook advertisement. The advertisement he posted was also a resounding failure, from a business perspective, as he spent over double on advertising compared to the typical marketing budget.

Finally, he uses more trigger phrases such as, "I've spent tens of thousands of dollars just on Facebook ads alone (and made hundreds of thousands of dollars from them)." I'll call BS on that one, and you have now created a way to get people to pay you to spend money on Facebook advertisements instead of yourself AND they are paying you to do it. Another trigger phrase, "earn over $4,000 a month in commissions from my own high-ticket sales, how I'm earning residual (passive) income at the same time." Again, I'll call BS, and it isn't "passive" or "residual" if you have to keep promoting it constantly, spend lots of money, and constantly host "webinars". That is the opposite of passive.

He wraps this section by adding another link to his webinar, and still hasn't talked about "Enagic".

Pages 21-24: This section, commonly referred to in sales as "the offer".

This section also never refers to the actual "business opportunity" (Enagic), and is only designed as a sales pitch for his own "teaching".

He starts with a meaningless recapitulation of the three steps, and then talks about the cost of his program. He says, "We planned on pricing our community membership at $499 initially. That's a killer deal for everything you get with it (more on that in a sec) but we wanted to help as many people as possible get started with their own online business so we tossed that out the window."

Lots of stuff going on in this section. First, that "$499" is a ridiculous number and should be laughed at. Second, anyone that follows up a ridiculous number with "that's a killer deal", should really be laughed at. Third, why bold "help as many people as possible"? That's not the most important part of this statement, and this language is code for extract as much money from people as possible (obviously people aren't willing to pay $499 for some random guy's "training).

Brandon then says, "It's only $99 dollars to get started and its 100% Risk-Free." 

Again, lots to unpack here. First, how many different attention grabbing devices does he need for this sentence? There might as well have been a loud siren coming out of the speakers at the same time. This looks like someone just hit the lottery. Second, how did he just chop the price down 75%? This sales tactic is known as "price anchoring", and it has become a rampant problem in most retail settings. Anything can be marked down 75% as long as the starting price is high enough, and the idea of that large savings is enticing enough to fool lots of people into paying the real retail cost. Third, and most importantly, any time someone says, "guarantee", "risk-free", "fool-proof", or any of these other disarming phrases, you must be MORE armed. These phrases are not needed if something is legitimate, and are only used to manipulate people when things aren't legitimate. Again, if someone uses a term like "100% Risk-Free" (which is redundant), you should be running in the other direction.

As if this doesn't get worse, he then says,

"Pretty sweet deal huh?"

"So...what's the catch?"

"There is NO catch."

This is as bad as it gets. The visual attention grabbing devices are over utilized. The self-contained conversation is bizarre. The the reiteration of a non-risk "opportunity" screams the opposite. This is the cheesiest and most awful sales tactics a person could use.

He gets into his return policy, which he very generously cuts in half from the usual 30 days. He says, "We're going to give you complete access to our entire training suite, marketing system and community for a FULL 14 days to decide if our program is for you. That is your 'due diligence' period." The fact that he is calling this a "due diligence" period is ridiculous. 14 days (not sure why he chose that number) is not enough time to verify whether this program is effective, unless you already know its junk.

Finally, he talks again about the price only this time it has become a monthly subscription. He says, "we only charge $99 (USD) per month for you to maintain an active subscription and get full access to everything we provide." Wait, a second. Didn't he just say this was a $499.00 program that became a $99.00 program, yet now it could be as high as $1,188.00 a year and continue to charge? This is beyond ridiculous. The idea that you would have to maintain a subscription for a one-time teaching about Facebook ads is criminal, and he is preying on people that are extremely vulnerable.

Brandon Odom, if you are reading this, I have reported you and your garbage to the FTC, and I want you to know that your days are numbered. This type of exploitative and manipulative garbage is not acceptable and should not be ignored. You are a burden and a parasite on society.

***UPDATE***

I will be adding comments from Brandon Odom's apologists to this post. These people are important to acknowledge because they reflect cult-like manipulation Brandon has used on them.

Here is the a comment from "Michael Caldwell" on 10/31/17:

Wow, that was quite the read. And absolutely missed the mark entirely. So much time and effort spent to try and tear down something that has helped so many. You can report Brandon Odom and Team Phoenix all you want. You can scream from the highest mountain that we are all scammers and this is all bullshit. And you will still be wrong. 

The system literally is only $99/month to start up. Should you like the business opportunity Enagic presents then you make a purchase of YOUR CHOICE and get started. There is ZERO catch. Dont like it? Cancel for a refund. It couldnt be any simpler than that. 

This community is full of some of the most incredible people ive ever had the pleasure of meeting. Enagics products are INCREDIBLE, and Enagic itself is beyond reproach. Go ahead, report them to. Im sure that will affect their A+ standing with the BBB. 

If you focused this energy into self improvement and working towards a future of your design you would be absolutely blown away with the results. 

Thanks for the flame on my post, ill use push myself even harder to prove every single piece of hatred and doubt in that post wrong. 

Thank you Brandon for all youve done.

Important points to focus on in this comment,

The $99.00 a month has nothing to do with Enagic. That fee is for the "Team Phoenix Marketing" program. There is no requirement to be in "Team Phoenix Marketing" if you want to be an Enagic distributor. This is the same type of scam program World Wide Dream Builders is to Amway. Michael Caldwell has attempted to conflate the two.

Enagic's products are not "INCREDIBLE", in fact they don't work at all. Lazy Man does an excellent job investigating Enagic here, http://www.lazymanandmoney.com/kangen-water-scam/

The BBB is not a credible reference for MLM legitimacy. You should look to the FTC for this.

Here is a comment from "Derk Hagglund" on 10/31/17




Shit works bro, have fun at your 9-5 Why post a picture of someone else, and since when did some goofy giant check mean anything? As many of us have learned, it isn't impossible to be successful in MLM, but the success comes from the losses of many. Another person that presumes I am in a "9-5" because I don't do MLM. Interesting trend.

MLM and Affirming The Consequent Fallacy

Today's blog post is about a trickier fallacy to identify known as affirming the consequent. This fallacy is effective because it starts with a valid or true statement and then spins that into an erroneous one. Therefore, we have to identify the error in the bridge from the original statement to the conclusion, which is difficult because most people will focus on this part the least. It is also difficult because the abuser of the fallacy may skip the bridge entirely and simply start with a correct statement and then leap to the erred conclusion. If you are unprepared to identify why the conclusion is wrong, then you may be more easily convinced by other faulty logic.

Here is the definition of affirming the consequent fallacy: "It is categorical in nature and, essentially, means reversing an argument, or putting the cart before the horse, meaning reversing or confusing the general category with the specific/sub-category.  Note that in this fallacy the premises/reasons are actually correct or valid; the error is found between the premises and conclusion.  Usually, the error occurs because we incorrectly assume that the Premise was a sufficient condition, when in fact it was only a necessary condition (one of many conditions) necessary to prove the conclusion."

In case that was confusing, let's first understand the difference between a "sufficient condition" and a "necessary condition". A sufficient condition or conditions is made up of necessary conditions which are used to predict the outcome of an event. The necessary conditions, alone, cannot be utilized to predict the outcome of an event because there are other necessary conditions that can affect the outcome. In other words, a necessary condition is a piece of a pie, whereas a sufficient condition is the entire pie.

An example of a sufficient condition: If I score an average of 95% on all of my assessments, then I will receive an A in my class.

An example of a necessary condition: If I don't get a 95% on my final exam, then I won't receive an A in my class.

The main difference between the two examples is the way they are implicated. The first condition assumes every score will add up to 95%, whereas the second example ignores all previous necessary conditions which brought us to the need for a 95% on the final exam.

The difference between the two examples is significant because people will try to use a necessary condition to prove a conclusion, even though the conclusion is created by a much more complex set of conditions. To assume you didn't receive an A in a class because you didn't get a 95% on a final exam could be erroneous because there were other grades that also affected the outcome.

Here is another example of how a necessary condition can be used incorrectly:

My car requires gas to move, therefore any time my car isn't moving it is out of gas. Obviously this is flawed as there are many reasons for why a car stops moving.

MLMs utilize this fallacy as a means to transfer fault from the MLM to the user. An MLM will try to use a necessary condition, such as "hard-work" to indicate whether or not a MLMer is successful. Even though "hard-work" or "effort" may have some correlation to success in MLM, it is far from the only variable to determine the outcome. In fact, most people would argue it has very little do with success in MLM because the actual opportunity for success is extremely low (often less than 1%). The opportunity is also an important necessary condition, again arguably more important than "hard-work", and yet a MLMer may completely leave that out when casting judgment on people that have failed in MLM. To an untrained victim of this faulty logic it may be very persuasive.

A popular example of affirming the consequent used by MLMers is, "In 2-5 years, you can earn residual income", or "In 2-5 years, you can retire from your J-O-B". Unfortunately, much like the "hard-work" example, time is not a sufficient condition for determining success in MLM. Many people have been in MLM for decades and have not retired or earned residual income, and an overwhelming majority of MLMers do not succeed in 2-5 years. Yet, MLMers will continue to repeat this line as though it is an inevitability, an infallible truth, or even a commandment.

It is important to remember that MLMers have a financial bias when it comes to recruitment and will often utilize fallacies, such as affirming the consequent, to achieve their goals and earn an extra dollar. That should be a sufficient condition for understanding why a MLMer says things that you want to hear and can be designed to mislead you into making a poor decision for your financial future.



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Source: https://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/eng207-td/Logic%20and%20Analysis/most_common_logical_fallacies.htm

MLM and Life Coaches

Today's blog post was inspired by an article on Psychcentral.com, "Should the Life Coaching Industry Be Regulated?". I have found that life coaches are very similar to the vitamin industry in the lack of regulation, but with "life coaches" it may be worse because of the inherent subjectivity. It isn't possible to be subjective when it comes to results on whether vitamins and supplements actually work, and there have been many clinical trials and prolific institutions that have proven most vitamins don't do what their labels claim. Could life coaches and their results be as quantifiable, or is the placebo effect from life coaches too hard to calculate? Should we completely stay away from life coaches, or is there a way to effectively determine if a person is providing a useful service? These are the questions that need to be asked and answered in order to determine if this is a real industry or a make-believe scheme.

First, is it possible to actually quantify the effectiveness of each life coach and whether they are meeting the objectives of their teachings? According to the article, and my own experience, it is not. There is no way to objectively give credit to the coaches for the success or failures of their students because there are too many other variables that effect the outcome. Also, there is a disclaimer at the bottom of every life coach's page explaining they are not responsible for any results, good or bad, and all testimonials are not to be considered typical. That kind of preemptive warning can lead to the conclusion that this industry is inherently flawed, and the user of these life coaches is completely at risk. The only industries that are able to operate in this manner are other deregulated groups (such as vitamins, oils, shakes), which are prime MLM "businesses". This amount of subjectivity allows charlatans to pose as authorities and take advantage.

Can life coaches actually be certified? This question can be mostly answered above, but there could be some very basic prerequisites which could help to certify the person. The life coach could at least go through a course or degree program designed to give basic information on psychology, business, and life skills, then be held accountable to a certain standard. This would eliminate a lot of the people claiming to have answers without any proof, and it would give consumers the opportunity for recourse in case a life coach did not perform to a certain standard. Life coaches would also need continuing education as the field and society evolves. Nobody wants a medical doctor that stopped learning in 1984 to be operating today, and the same should be applied to life coaches.

If life coaches could be certified, would that cut down on the unethical practices? In short, yes, because they could be held accountable for their teachings, but the field would still be largely subjective making lawsuits extremely difficult to litigate. At least the fear of being sued would prevent a percentage of life coaches from taking advantage of their clients, but there will always be some that have a reckless disregard for the rules. Certifications and licenses are not perfect, especially when it comes to ethics, which is why we have malpractice law firms.

After examining certain life coaches, in particular those that speak at MLM functions, I believe the industry needs an overhaul or it needs to be eliminated. I believe the "industry" needs to be eliminated. I do believe that there is a potential industry out there, similar to personal trainers, but the current life coaching industry is completely warped. I do not believe there is a potential industry out there, and my previous notion was inherently flawed as I thought more about it. There isn't any original concept in "life" coaching. It is a vague and unregulated way to suggest you can do the same very specific jobs as other certified professionals. It is essentially a legal loophole for college dropouts. It is too easy to call yourself a "life" coach, "guru", "leader", or even "teacher", and there are not enough regulations to protect the consumers. I'm also not completely convinced that certifying life coaches will be the remedy the field needs, but at least it is a start. There is no one certificate that can encompass everything a "life" coach claims to be.

If a "life" coach existed, then MLMs, in particular, should never be a market a life coach would speak at, let alone endorse. A life coach should be someone that helps steer a person away from scams, and anyone claiming to be a life coach that associates themselves with MLM should be disregarded entirely. It doesn't matter if they spend most of their time in ministry (Maxwell), personal development (Robbins), or "Real-Estate" (Kiyosaki). These people are taking advantage of a "Criminogenic Syndicate" (Brear), to make a quick buck, which is a complete conflict of interest as a life coach.

Source: https://blogs.psychcentral.com/nlp/2017/08/should-the-life-coaching-industry-be-regulated/

MLM and Appeal to Authority Fallacy

Today's blog post is similar to the post about checking sources, but is going to go over a couple of other authorities and how they are not reputable. Too often people are misled by people posing as authority figures, and with the proliferation of information on the internet, it is easier than ever to fall for an authority website that is actually propaganda. Whether you are trying to find the best make-up on the market, or looking to find details about particular cars, there are going to be misleading websites that will pose as objective, but are really just shills for a particular brand or company.

Appeal to Authority Fallacy: Using an authority as evidence in your argument when the authority is not really an authority on the facts relevant to the argument.  As the audience, allowing an irrelevant authority to add credibility to the claim being made.
A couple of examples of the appeal to authority fallacy from simple to more advanced:

1. A stock broker giving advice on real-estate. Even though the stock broker may be very good at investing money and understanding the market as a whole, that does not qualify them to give advice on real-estate. You wouldn't go to a hedge fund manager and ask about property values.

2. A commercial real-estate agent giving advice on residential real-estate. This one is a bit trickier, because the person is in real-estate, even though they aren't specialized in the type of real-estate you are asking about. They may even have a general idea, but they will often be very vague when it comes to investing. These two types of investments are very different and should be treated as such.

3. A residential real-estate investor in New York giving advice about real-estate in Kansas. Real-estate markets can vary largely depending on the location, and it would be wrong to assume that someone who does well in New York could have the same success in Kansas.

4. A television house-flipper giving advice about house flipping. This is possibly one of the hardest, because they are allegedly very successful at the very thing they are claiming to be experts at, but many of these successes are fictitious. It is important to separate fantasy from reality, especially when investing, and get a good understanding of what could go wrong. Nobody wants to see the house-flippers fail, except me because I'm a pessimist, and that is why you never see any bad deals on these television shows. Trust me, it isn't even close to as easy as they make it look, and these people are more so television personalities than house-flipping experts. They will also commonly sell their brand or identity to other groups that will use their likeness to run seminars.

Recently a MLM apologist was debating about the legality of MLM and why, "some are better than others", or why "MLM is legal, but there are a few bad apples". These typical blanket statements that are designed to be convincing don't actually hold any weight unless a person can make a specific example. It is as impactful as someone saying, "If you work really hard, then you could become a millionaire". While this is true, and technically more accurate than the previous blanket statements, it is just as possible to work really hard and never become a millionaire, and it doesn't tell you how working hard will make you a millionaire or if working hard is the same for everyone. Therefore, any authority used to verify an inherently weak statement, such as the three above, is probably going to be flawed.

This particular MLM apologist attempted to use a website named, "www.mlmlaw.com", which sounds extremely relevant to the topic of proving whether MLM is legal or not. The website uses a lot of mechanisms to prove authority, such as, a generic color scheme, a font that looks like something a court document would use, a bunch of legalese language, and a reference to themselves at the bottom as actual lawyers. Unfortunately, calling yourself "www.mlmlaw.com", and having law degrees, does not make you an expert on MLM and the FTC's rules. This is proven as they leave out key parts of running a legal MLM according to the FTC vs. Amway case of 1979 which specifically states that every MLM must have 70% of sales to retail customers and each distributor must have at least 10 retail customers. Both of these rules were conveniently left off the website, and the website attempted to use the famous method of obfuscating retail customers and distributors with the term "end consumer" which can also be referred to as a "end user". By creating this new term, it becomes impossible to verify whether sales are going to customers or distributors, and this completely violates the previous rules installed by the result of the Amway case in 1979. They also have pictures at the bottom showing they are members of the "Direct Sellers Association" (DSA), another propaganda group designed to lobby on behalf of MLMs and act as an authority while deregulating industries in which MLM products are sold, such as health supplements.

It isn't entirely the MLMer's fault, as these websites, and even law groups, can look like reputable places to gather information and claim a position on the topic. In fact, because the "industry" keeps growing, and more money is available because of the vast number of copycat schemes, the interest in becoming an authority becomes greater. There will be more authorities claiming to be "experts" on MLM, even though they haven't actually participated in one or have failed miserably (Kiyosaki, Maxwell, Dent et. al). They are leeching onto MLM because there is money to be made, and they will be anything you want them to be as long as you have money.

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Source: https://www.mlmlaw.com/law-library/guides-reference/multilevel-marketing-primer/

Source: https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/21/Appeal-to-Authority

MLM and Televangelism/John C. Maxwell

Today's blog post is about televangelism and how it has similar features to MLMs and their major functions. Televangelism first started with radio broadcasts in the 1920's, and the first major radio evangelist was S. Parkes Cadman (Samuel Parkes Cadman). With the advent of the radio, evangelism shifted from preachers traveling the country during The Great Depression by foot to broadcasting their message through short wave radio. S. Parkes Cadman was the first major radio evangelist, and his message was spread to over 5 million people through his Sunday afternoon program. In the 1950's radio evangelism was starting to shift to the popularly recognized televangelism of today, and by the 1980's Oral Roberts had a program that reached "80% of the potential television audience". This became the most effective way to spread the word of god, and it also became a great way to make money.

Today, televangelism is still effective in making large sums of money as preachers from megachurches, such as The Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove California, can spread their word to millions of viewers. The Crystal Cathedral has been running their own television program, "The Hour of Power" since 1970, and even though it has suffered some recent complications with bankruptcy, it still exists today.



One of the most prolific preachers from The Crystal Cathedral is "Dr." John C. Maxwell. John Maxwell has been involved in preaching and televangelism since the early 1970's after receiving a master's in divinity and a doctorate in ministry, and no those are not degrees from Hogwarts. His original mentor, Robert Schuller, was the founder of The Chrystal Cathedral, and John Maxwell has done sermons for his "Hour of Power" television show.



John Maxwell has had a long career involving his "teachings" and is a self-regarded "Leadership Expert". He has written over ninety books, and believes there is still more leadership to be taught and written. He is also an avid MLM proponent and has done many speaking engagements at MLM functions. Although he has "retired" from the evangelism, he is still regularly hawking his services as an expert in the field of MLM training, and continues to overlap the word of god with MLM.

It is my opinion that John Maxwell is a fraud, and he uses his religious training to help perpetuate his criminal enterprise. He is another "Prosperity messiah", similar to Eric Worre, and he has made a career, and many millions of dollars, selling himself as the answer to people's problems. He, much like Worre, is a narcissist of the highest degree. He has no training in business and entrepreneurship, therefore his ability to teach in anything related to business, including MLM, is not going to be trustworthy. He has been studied by other biblical scholars, and they have found errors in his understanding and his interpretation of the scriptures. He has combined two criminal "businesses" into a major profit machine, and at the ripe age of 70, he isn't done yet.

MLM and televangelism share the same recipe for deception. They utilize the thought stopping rhetoric of religion to promote fake and or criminal teachings in an effort to extract dollars from people's wallets. John Maxwell was trained by Robert Schuller, a founder of the major televangelism movement, and has found his own technique for deceiving many millions of people. He, much like Schuller, has taken the word of god as a means to an end for profit. Instead of performing at The Crystal Cathedral, you may see John Maxwell at the Las Vegas Convention Center, and instead of promoting scripture, he may be promoting leadership and the "MLM gospel".

Below is John Oliver's special on televangelists.


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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Maxwell

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Televangelism

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hour_of_Power

Source: http://www.johnmaxwell.com/

Source: http://midwestoutreach.org/2016/04/10/some-concerns-about-john-c-maxwell/

Source: http://theaquilareport.com/ten-reasons-john-maxwell-is-wrong/