Apparently a lot of visitors to this blog lately believe I am being too biased in my discussing the TEAM vs. Quixtar situation, well I’m not a reporter, I’m writing a blog which I own and can write pretty much with whatever slant I like. However, I think a lot of people don’t realize that I know considerably more about TEAM than they think I do. I have attended many Tuesday meetings in the West Michigan area and two major functions at the Breslin Center in Lansing, Michigan. I have personally met diamonds Orrin Woodward, Chris Brady, Doug & Sheri Stroh, Tim Marks and Bill & Jackie Lewis. So for all those naysayers who complain I don’t know what I’m talking about, the jokes on you.
As for the case between TEAM and Quixtar, I think TEAM may have a chance at winning if only they would change the focus of their lawsuit. Currently they are trying to discredit Quixtar by saying the product prices are too high, the founding families are demanding too much profit, etc., whereas the TEAM should be focusing on the fact that during the recruiting of a new member they push joining TEAM first before even discussing the business opportunity with Quixtar. What this means is that the new IBO was actually recruited by the TEAM organization prior to joining the Quixtar LOS. This little distinction will determine everything because Quixtar is successfully getting restraining orders preventing TEAM from talking to the IBO’s that used to be in their downline, well guess what Quixtar – they joined TEAM first – which means TEAM has a legal right to communicate with it’s membership which pre-dates their agreements with Quixtar.
I don’t know why the TEAM’s legal counsel is pursuing the case in the fashion they are because it just sounds like sour grapes. They need to get smart and defend the fact that the TEAM was joined by everyone prior to their becoming IBO’s. That would solidify TEAM’s argument that they are an independent organization rather than just an arm of the Quixtar business. Quixtar will defend itself to the death and I think TEAM needs to be prepared to do the same, but Quixtar is claiming that anyone in the Quixtar business is off-limits to TEAM, but this little detail is not true because these individuals were first recruited into an organization, via a Tuesday meeting or one-on-one discussion, called TEAM.
The only way I can think of to get the non-compete and non-solicitation clauses voided from the IBO agreement, which TEAM is suing to do, is for TEAM to prove that these IBO’s joined their organization first and this would give TEAM a proprietary right to all the members of it’s organization for any purpose they see fit. But taking a stance attacking the business practices and pricing of Quixtar will spell disaster when it’s shown in court how much money these leaders of TEAM were making from their Quixtar business.
Continued… How I Think TEAM Could Win Part 2
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[tags]team, team of destiny, shaun carter, quixtar, alticor, stacking, mlm, network marketing, orrin woodward, chris brady, lawsuit, class action, ibo, training orgination, tim marks, doug stroh,amway[/tags]
I think that its about time something changed! I believe Orrin Woodward has integrity and gives hope to others in need. I think he is trying to make the world a better place. All he wants in the end is to have the cheapest prices available to IBOs and customers. Orrin will win this lawsuit because The Team has God on thier side. Orrin wants everyone to profit not just the top guy. The leaders of quixtar are in for a fight I do know that! I’m for the team!
B.G.
That is an interesting the theory. I do have one problem with it. I don’t see how Team could be a legally functioning business, without a marketable product (or product line). In other words, without Quixtar, Team is just a textbook pyramid scam with no salable product and no way of making money except recruiting and selling to new members.
A question I have is how they can hope to succeed against a company that has a track record of tenacity in law suits within the relatively short time that they are bound to their non-compete clause. It seems likely that this could be easily tied up for more than 6 months. Is there something I am missing?
As an aside, I think that you analysis and comments on this issue have been well thought out and fairly balanced. Even when I don’t agree completely, I think you have been honest and fair. Keep up the good work!
If, in fact, an individual joined TEAM first – what did they join: what did they pay to join and what services or products were received in exchange for joining TEAM. And, if they did not then become an IBO would they have a reason to continue in their relationship with TEAM?
May seem like the Chicken & Egg question, but TEAM’s motivation for offering their services (at least on the surface) would appear to be for the TEAM member to become an IBO so there was a business which required leadership training and development from the TEAM.
Now, if TEAM is a leadership training and development company in it’s own right then let them continue as an independent business and compete in that marketplace – Covey, etc. and leave the product sales to other companies.
Or, if TEAM is a leadership training and development company in need of a captive audience then they’ll need to properly establish their own product and service company as part of their efforts and build an organization of independent business owners without the classic move of raiding one organization to build another. If there next offering is solid and has value, they should be able to build it. At the end of the typical protection clauses found in most businesses, people would be able to join them. But, in the beginning it should be the merit of their new offering that counts, not the high level of emotions found in a current dispute swellling the ranks of their new business venture.
Simply said, it may appear to be a legal argument that they joined TEAM first – but on a practical, real world basis without the Quxitar connection the hook up would have had no basis in fact.
TEAM (individuals leaders and followers) ultimately have the right to go into the business world and prosper, but only in due time and not at the expense of the over 3,000,000 worldwide individuals operating in an $6.4 billion dollar environment build on over 50 years of history.
How can you be so certain that TEAM will not win??? What do you think will become of the Team members then??
@Candace – Lawsuits come down to money most of the time. Alticor has a legal and PR team with a budget that is hundreds of times larger than that of Orrin, Chris and TEAM. The odds are greatly stacked against TEAM because as the plaintiff, they have the burden of proof.
If TEAM loses, then the majority of downline members will most likely leave the business, if they haven’t started already, or if some of the leaders who remain pull their people together, they may keep going. It’s hard to say until the trial is over, which will most likely take quite a long time.
All this talk about needing a marketable product, or service to be a “legally functioning business”. Web 2.0 is hear ladies and gentlemen. Myspace does not sell or move one product or service. I could list dozens of other social networks alike. The value in Web 2.0 is “community”. This is what TEAM specializes in. We build communities offline who shop online. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again.. “You cannot measure the value of system in dollars. The value of the system can only be measured by the number of lives changed as a result of the system.” -Joel Hall
I like your article, but it won’t work for me. I’m one of the ones who was part of a group that merged with TEAM this past year. And we didn’t have a liability corporation for our Diamonds when I became an IBO, so I’d lose if the TEAM went the way you suggested. As far as how we register people, we get them signed up in the company first, get them on a monthly ditto and then encourage the system and joining the TEAM website. But see, TEAM isn’t a competing MLM, so it’s in a different category. So for the courts to let IBOs get out of the 6 month clause to go elsewhere, it has to be proven that Quixtar is not a viable business. We all signed the contract, so regardless if we joined one before the other, we signed it. It wouldn’t have been sour grapes if the company would have just let us go quietly and amicably as proposed in that final fateful meeting. I feel sorry for other Quixtar groups who are going to be stuck with all these rules and regulations and the now deal with the negativity of the Amway name. Makes my heart sad for them. It’ll make it impossible to build.
TEAM will win. Quixtar was stupid to get into a court battle with us.
I was in Amway in 1980. It is not for everyone. Thank goodness the internet allows anyone to come up with an idea and present it to the millions of web surfers to find folks who are interested in their idea. Mr Kiyosaki was correct in saying that starting a business is the best way accumulate wealth. Warren Buffet suggested that you only need one good business idea to get you on your way to wealth.