I have been called out by some for having “attacked” several NM companies (see comments here and on Ben Fitts’s blog and comments there), to further my own interests as part owner in a tiny little start up of my own. Which I have mentioned in this blog (like here for example).
After the painful ah ha, I posted a reply on Ben’s blog here (see comments under his post) and he was gracious in his reply here.
I posted two PSs here (see bottom of post) about my wake up call as well.
It is indeed a paradigm shift for me. In one way, nothing has changed:
My goal then (in reporting and commenting on bad press we as an industry get) and now was always the same: point out practices in the field that make us sitting ducks for media who hate us, and regulators who keep hearing bad things about us. And offer alternative practices.
In another way, everything has changed. I am no longer the unaffiliated guru who’s helped reps from over 100 companies over 15 years, stay in the business.
I’m now just an old guru in a new little start up.
So, this blog will most likely shift too.
I will likely not report or comment on any bad press on specific NM companies anymore, lest it be perceived as having a hidden agenda. I’ll continue offering tips and analysis, but may post less often.
OK enough already.
If what you are saying here is that you are going to offer training here but not report negative news from other companies, but still “pitch” people that come here to your little start up then sorry Kim that’s not going to cut it.
If you’re going to be a generic trainer then train — and don’t prospect here in any way. Otherwise I for sure won’t be sending people here.
Carl
P.S. I don’t recall you referring to any negative press when you took your little shot at Shaklee. Seems to be an unprovoked attack. Here’s some advice – if you’re going to report anything, why don’t you report the positive news in the press on MLM companies. Here’s a couple of items on Shaklee that didn’t get reported here…Shaklee featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show twice Shaklee recognized as the first certified climate neutral company in the world. I’m sure you can find good news from other companies if you decide to look for it.
Kim,
I (and my organization) have been following your advice and coaching for several years (along with that of other “gurus” as well).
You have entered the strange world of transition, and along with that you are going to be getting a lot of different opinions thrown at you about your “new move”.
I have heard some folks are really kind of “upset” that you now have a big list, built on generic coaching, that you can now build a “non generic” opportunity.
But I have heard others say that they are secure with their organization / downline and they are not worried about them “listening to you”.
My only suggestion as someone in the field? Is take a page out of “Big Al’s” book and continue to promote and provide great generic training and support – but keep some kind of distance / firewall between that content / products / information and your “opportunity” as well.
For the longest time, I never knew WHAT company Big Al was in (smile), I just respected what he provided / provides me.
Again, I DO wish you best in everything and appreciate all that you have done! Keep up the great work and I know that the “balance” will all “balance out”!
Bob Gatchel
Kim I’ll be part of NMC, igaggle and your blog for as long as you are the backbone of it all.
You saved me a year ago and gave me a safe place to learn. I’ll always be thankful for what you have done for the network marketing business. I won’t say any more except Thank You Kim Klaver….
Robin
Hi Bob:
You write:
“I have heard some folks are really kind of “upset” that you now have a big list, built on generic coaching, that you can now build a “non generic” opportunity.”
I must have a really smart list then. Of my thousands of readers, almost no one has come over.
Since I have let it be known initially, through an example of an ad I’d run, ( See Ad Here) that I was involved in a new start up, perhaps a dozen of my thousands of readers are involved.
The ad pretty much does the work I need. I don’t want 100 or 500 people signing up where no one is ready to do what it takes or has delusions of easy street.
I don’t sell anyone on the “next billion dollar company” stuff.
People should not think it’s better here than where they are. It’s probably not.
All the companies have something to offer, and everyone has to deal with the fact that it is HARD to be a successful network marketer.
Thanks for your good comments.
Robin: Love you right back!
Hi Carl:
Thanks for your comments.
Re the Shaklee “dig”, were you there when Roger Barnett had just gotten a bunch of Excel reps and brought them over?
Twas the beginning of 2005. Pat Hintz, former Excel man (good one) and a group of others, were ALL touting the big fast money now available at Shaklee. Pat was then on the homepage of the Shaklee corporate website, with a little video, telling the world Shaklee was the best opportunity in the history of the world – all for $29.
On the same home page was the silhoutte of Roger Barnett (your chairman and primary owner), as the “billionnaire owner” who could teach new recruits a thing or two about making money. Even though he’d never done NM before.
When Roger promoted (or allowed) that sort of approach, very different from the previous almost stuffy image Shaklee had, THAT is when I wrote what I did – because it very suddenly became all about the big fast money – which is exactly what brought down Excel in November 2004. I’d worked with the Excel reps for the six previous years – and with Shaklee’s the previous 6 years as well.
In my “dig” post, I compared the big money approach they were promoting then, to Dr. Shaklee’s original focus, of creating his products because he loved the earth, and wanted people who cared about the environment first, to join him, and those who were seeking money, second.
Love before money, because love of something often begets money because of the effort and caring that go into things one truly loves.
So that was the time.
Roger’s focus has changed over the last two years, and promoters (good ones, and good people) like Pat are no longer front and center on the Shaklee corporate website, talking about how S is the best opp in the history of the world, for $29.
So that’s the story. That was the time.
Hope you were there then.
Today, the Shaklee.com website doesn’t even mention there IS an opportunity.
Quite a change. All for the good.
So that’s the story. Hope you were there. If not, ask those who were.
I like your approach and the method you use. I think you are doing an excellent job. We need more people like you in this industry. Thanks for all you do!!!! Sincerely, J. (a network marketing veteran of over 20 years)
Hi J.:
Can you come out and tell who you are, so I can appreciate you more?
I still don’t get the people who are upset (or whatever) about Kim posting about her company on the weblog.
There are hundreds of MLM companies out there. Reps are free to go where they choose. They WILL be pitched by other people in other companies. (I get pitched about once a week.) You cannot shelter them from other opportunities.
Anyway, what do you think are the chances that they will leave your company and join Kim’s? Close to zero, I think.
And what’s to stop them from finding this blog on their own? Nothing. That’s how I found it. I’ve been here over a year. And I haven’t joined Kim’s company. Neither has any of my downline.
But . . . I’ve had two people join my team because I’ve participated on this blog. And I’ve learned so many important things that have helped me and have helped my organization.
Do you really want to keep that from your distributors?
Walter Reade (from Wisconsin)
Ruben Cervantes
I think you are or were wrong, you may want to go back in history and take a look at that time, when the people that were in Excel entered the Shaklee picture. At that time the opportunity at Excel comm. had just imploded, and Roger took them as a group. I remember seeing one of your posts, (Unfortunately I could not find that post today) at the time, that you also would have being glad to help them. And if I had the acumen and the possibility I would have done the very same thing Roger did. _A group of trained people that already new the industry, and the income possibilities. Pat and the global success on the head.
Almost everybody won. Shaklee got an infusion of eager reps, we got some training and motivation different than we were used to, and those reps found a home that allowed them to keep the family trees in place. On the other hand some of us also resented. Old reps were not allowed to compete for the free people, we were promised some compensation that never materialized and probably the ones who resented it the most were people of other companies that were outsmarted by a new gay in town with no NM knowledge that was a few steps ahead of everybody else.
Kim,
So let me get this straight, the bad news you were “reporting” on Shaklee didn’t come from negative stories in the press or legal indictments like the other companies, but because Shaklee was promoting their business opportunity on their home page?
Wow. Well at least get the facts right.
For the record, Pat was introducing a new Fast Start business opportunity program and the cost was $299 not $29. I think it makes sense for a network marketing company to advertise a new business opportunity program. Especially one that has evolved to be so unique in creating both immediate and long term income that the company has applied for a patent on it.
Secondly in your comment you go on to say and I quote: “On the same home page was the silhoutte of Roger Barnett (your chairman and primary owner), as the “billionnaire owner” who could teach new recruits a thing or two about making money. Even though he’d never done NM before.”
In reality the script for the silhouette of Roger reads:
Anncr: Why would a 39 year old entrepreneur from a billionaire family, spend $20 million dollars searching for the perfect company and end up choosing Shaklee?
Roger: It’s simple. Shaklee is the perfect company to start a revolution.
How do I know for sure about what was said and what wasn’t? Not only was I in Shaklee at that time, I wrote that little silhouette script.
Your Shaklee slam was under a blog post entitled “For Love or Money”? Roger is a billionaire many times over – money is not his driving force. His love for Shaklee and most importantly for the Shaklee distributors is obvious to everyone who has met him whether they are in Shaklee or not. And on Oprah Winfrey’s Earth Day show millions learned another very personal reason why he loves Shaklee.
Kim, I know you blog everyday, and not every post is going to be a good one. So I’ll give you the benefit of doubt here, even despite your defense of that post.
But in light of the facts, I do believe you owe everyone at Shaklee, and especially Roger, an apology.
G’day Kim. I reckon anyone who thinks they’re being used are a bit too precious!! You’ve always been up-front about the fact you’re a shareholder in the new deal. If someone with a team feels so insecure that they feel you might steal some of their people, they need to have a check-up from the neck up. I love your work, and if I weren’t happy where I am, would check out your deal for sure. Regards, Gerry, Brisbane, Australia
Hi Carl — I know the Fast Start was $299, like it had been for Excel. however, on the video’s audio. Pat and the gal offered the opportunity for $29.
That’s another thing people in this industry do…offer the opportunity as if the sign up fee is all there is.
That’s what happened then, and anyone who still has the videos can hear it for themselves.
That was just such a change from the Shaklee I had worked with for the previous years I was amazed.
But I have spoken to Roger since, and it’s obvious the entire website has changed from what it was then, to now, without even a mention of the opportunity.
That’s the other extreme.
I am of course aware of the Excel groups that came, since I knew almost all of them. Not all went to Shaklee by any means and of course some of the initial group that came, left.
I think my friend Kathi Minsky brought over one of the biggest groups from Excel to Shaklee, that is still active.
She’s done some wonderful calls for me and my students since her move to Shaklee, showing just HOW she got such a big group in so little time. I’ve also done big trainings with her team since then, right along with other reps at Shaklee.
I too, understand your reaction and am happy that at least it could be discussed in a civil manner.
No one gets everything right all the time.
If you were a prominent Network Marketing Trainer/Mentor, who had previously had great success in the field; that fact would be largely responsible for your following. Or at least it should be, don’t you think? Contrast this to the many “experts” who have never really done a genuine, live, three-way call, but can tell you all the do’s and dont’s. Which would you respect and trust more? Oh, I forgot to mention that you were convinced the “expert” was authentic because of his self-edification on line and off.
Our country is plagued with Affluenza and disingenuitis. I tapped into Kim’s stuff back in the day of aka, Ms. Stud. Back then and now, I knew of no NWM coach that was more upfront than Kim. It was refreshing to me to hear someone finally speak the truth about the industry.
OK. I am going to pretend I am K2 (A Foggism). Intelligent enough to know integrity is a cornerstone of my success; what should I do about my start up company? Publish it or hide it under a basket? I would do as she has done partly because it is her upfront style and partly to flame proof my butt. Why? If Kim is catching all this heat for being honest, what do you think it would look like if the news leaked out slowly and unofficially through the ‘blogsphere’ ?
Enough for now,
Tom Doiron
Atlanta
The ‘evolved’ me says hey, it’s her blog she can do as she wishes and if people are secure and happy where they are, no biggy anyway.
The ‘unevolved’ me, which can poke it’s not so pretty head up at times, tends to think that Kims’ posting re: her start up is maybe playing it too close to the fire.
Neither ‘me’ has ever thought she was posting negative things for self serving purposes although when one of the posts was about my company (tho the name was not ever mentioned) I did think…hmm. Not so sure that’s a way to win friends and influence people but that was about the extent of my thoughts on it.
Truth is, Kim might be damned either way since most of us are not 100% evolved in our own journey and mind set just yet….
Imagine if she had said NOTHING at all and word got out thru the MLM Grapvine that she is part owner of a start up. Hmmmm. I’d bet she would have receieved as much if not more flack re: ‘agenda’.
At least with her being totally up front about it which is her style anyway which is why we like Kim, she does not have to offer the opposite explanation and defend herself as to why she kept it quiet. And my guess is there are those who would not have believed her reasons for that either.
Between the two, I would prefer the more up front approach as she offered.
On a personal note, I find this subject to be a great ‘test’, at least for me, about my own securities, insecurities, judgements, opinions, mind set, etc. all of which are so important to attracting what we deserve in this business and in life in general.
My .02
Ruben Cervantes Again.
Sorry I used the wrong spelling for the word “guy” in a previous comment. My apologies to Roger. I did not mean that.