TEAM: Historical Reminscences & A Vision for the Future - Part II

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Historical Reminscences & A Vision for the Future - Part II
by Orrin Woodward on Fri 15 Feb 2008 10:21 AM EST

Here is Part II of my mini-book. I apologize for this history first before the announcement, but I feel people need to know the history to understand the constraints and criteria for the decisions leading to the Future of the Internet. I appreciate your patience and I will get back to writing after I post this. This could be four of five parts by the time it is done! God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Laurie and I went direct in the Amway model in March of 1995 and plateaued for the next four years. Chris and Terri joined our business a little over a year after we started and they went direct and leveled off also. We literally worked 6 to 7 days a week night after night. We may not have been the best or most talented, but we were not going to let anyone outwork us. The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing while expecting a different result. We were taught in our training systems to duplicate not innovate—I agree with this statement when what you are duplicating is working. When it is not working, then duplicating failure is insanity. We saw many of our heroes fall on hard times. In North America, the Amway business peaked in 1995 and then started a free fall backwards. From somewhere around $1.6 billion in the US in 1995 it fell to just over a billion dollars in the US market by 1999. Something was drastically wrong! The multi-cultural market building in the US was exploding, so the actual fall back of the (English speaking as a first language) was worse than the numbers explain. Many big leaders lost fifty to seventy-five percent of their groups attending functions. In late 1998, Chris and I decided we would quit the Amway business and start an internet company. This was during the internet bubble craze and start-ups companies were selling for millions of dollars.

There were two things that held us in the business during these frustrating times. First, we still believed in our small group and the cause to change our country. We believed the training systems were an incredible educational tool to bring personal responsibility and free enterprise principles back to the American people. Second, our upline came back from a diamond club all excited that Amway was going away and an entirely new business was forming. They had not announced the name, but it would be an internet model that would revolutionize the how business was done on the web! Chris and I looked at this as a Providential move as Amway was moving into the internet age and we got excited to help in the transition to the new business. They announced the name of the new company (Quixtar) and we put off our plans to build our own internet company. Perhaps Chris and I were not ready to start our own company yet and I have no complaints with the education I have received since 1999 in building the Quixtar business.

Our attitude during the formation of the new Quixtar business was to innovate and see what needed changes we could bring to the MLM/Networking Industry. We had watched so many groups go backward and were so close to quitting personally that we felt no risk in innovating. We were only platinum’s at the time and began to develop a building methodology called Team Approach. Both Chris and I were over 20 wide at one point in our businesses. We had watched the majority of our personals quit after a year or two due to lack of results. Team Approach was an answer to the lack of results by leaving no one behind. When a person starts 10 to 15 people personally in width—they have no way of helping all of them. A person does not have enough time in the day to serve 15 new people and help them achieve success. Chris and I discovered the new people go through three steps on their way to developing into interdependent teammates. Information, Progress and Profit are the three steps in that order. A new person first learns about the products and interpersonal skills first. Secondly, they review monthly to see if any progress is being made in their business. Lastly, they ask, “Am I making any money?” If they are only learning with no progress or profit, they might make it 30 to 60 days. If they are learning and making progress—they will last 6 month to a year in the business model. But if they have all three, they will stay in and become a loyal part of the community.

Team Approach allowed us to help the new person make progress and nearly doubled our retention rate of the new people. I am in business to help people win first. I only desire to benefit from any business if it is win-win. If there is no benefit for the new person, they will quit. If there is no benefit for the leader, they will not serve. The proper business marries the interest of both the new people and the leaders to generate massive success. Our business rocketed to the fastest growing business in the entire Quixtar world. We went from platinum to diamond in 17 months. Laurie and I went on to EDC in 2003. We had growth rates of over 100% in several of those years. Ken McDonald, the Quixtar Managing Director and I developed a close relationship. He helped me immensely and taught me how to navigate through the usual politics associated with any success. When you succeed you have three types of responses:

1. People who are happy for you and desire to learn.
2. People who are indifferent and continue to do what they have always done.
3. People who are envious and wish to stop the new techniques.

Ken McDonald warned me of the people against the new methods and helped Chris and I develop processes to ensure Team Approach was above reproach. I am very thankful for Ken taking me under his wing and encouraging me to develop the Team Approach methodology. Ken asked if we would share Team Approach with other organizations and we said yes. Laurie and I were also asked to speak at the prestigious Quixtar Live event in 2003. We shared a vision of Quixtar becoming the Wal-mart of the internet. I believe anytime you learn something of value that we should share the blessings with others. Many groups were taught the new methods and started achieving more success. Jim and Nancy Dornan are excellent examples of the first group of people. They have achieved phenomenal success in life and business, but are still hungry to learn and grow. Jim and I sat down at Achiever’s and he implemented the Power Player program and Team Approach. Jim told me at a later Diamond Club that his business was growing and he had achieved the incredible level of Founders Crown Ambassador. This couple deserved their success as they continually focus on serving others.

As a leader of a growing Team, I was invited to participate in meeting to help solve why the overall business in North America was not performing to expectations. I volunteered without pay to do this throughout 2003 and 2004. My goal was to improve the opportunity for all organizations and leaders in Quixtar. In late 2004, I was exposed to the first hard data on the lack of results from the new Quixtar model. Leaders do not get depressed when they confront reality, but do get depressed if they are not allowed to fix the reality. I agreed to go on the board and dedicate three years of my life with this specific intent: To fix the Quixtar business and make it the opportunity we all believe it could and should be. I still believed we were sitting on the potential best opportunity in America. I told my mentor and Pastor that I would openly share any ideas to improve the business and pray that Quixtar management would openly confront reality for the good of all. They had developed the Quixtar model to improve on the lackluster results of the previous five years, but the results were even worse in the next five years in my opinion. I didn’t go on the IBOAI board to punch the clock, make money, or politic with the company and other leaders. My goal was to improve the business and give the new person an even better opportunity to win than the one given to Laurie and me. I still believe in my heart that most of the other leaders on the IBOAI feel the same way. All of us wanted to improve the business for the new people.