Tool Expenses

Following are a number of quotes from current and former distributors.

Sidney,

The material presented in the tapes and books was definitely mostly "rah rah" stuff. Yes, there was some practical material there, but you're on the mark. I recently threw away about three hundred tapes and several books. Most of the books that came down through the organization were fine ... no bad material - but it was the VOLUME of material that really started to bother me. We were on "tape of the week", "book of the month", "tape of the month" and of course we all had to have a copy of the "Profiles of Success" and our little pocket calendar. If you didn't listen to at least one tape per day you weren't comitted! "Drawing Circles" as we called it had to be done a minimum of 10 times per month to make it work. 15 times if you wanted to be a Direct. Oh yes ... and you also weren't comitted if you didn't subscribe to the yearly newsletter to the tune of $35.00.

That's just the "subscription stuff". Then, all aspiring Directs were to make sure and attend the local Seminar and Rally each and EVERY month. (If you didn't do that, you'd starve mentally). Once per quarter, if you want to really tie in to the "power" you had to go to some regional leadership meeting. Let's see, in the spring it was "Spring Leadership". Summer: "Family Reunion" Fall: "Free Enterprise Day" Winter: "Dream Night".

The smaller Seminar & Rally functions were not particularly expensive, usually about $12 to $15 a head. BUT, if you had kids, you typically had to hire a babysitter and in our case, drive to Greenville or Anderson (2 hours away or so). The S&R's took all day on Saturday so you had to have an all-day babysitter, or take the child with you (which many do). The S&R's could be fun, but it was a long day. After getting back, I was often depressed because I felt that I hadn't performed adequately in my business that month. By the time Saturday was over, I was not only depressed but had spent another $100 I couldn't afford.

You opened a can of beans, Sidney. It's 5:00AM and I'm on a roll. You asked for it! Maybe all this will help someone else from getting in the trap - I've not put this dissertation on a public forum before.

The larger functions were more expensive. Typically they ran these as package deals, including the room in the hotel and a couple of meals (which were OK). Normally the cost was right around $500.00 for a weekend function such as this, not including your transportation costs, extra eating (all but the banquets provided) and of course, babysitting if you needed it. (For this we wound up increasing the limit on a credit account somewhere).

They usually brought in the heavy hitters for these meetings and often ran them until the wee hours of the morning. I hated those functions. By the time 1:00AM rolled around sometimes, I was well past wanting to call it a night and they were still rolling up on stage. Good grief. Then we usually had to be back at it at 8:00 or 9:00 in the morning (after breakfast at 7:30). "Sleep fast" they told us. Boy, it was quite a show.

By the time the weekend was over, I was usually "motivated" again, but it might last two weeks. Pretty expensive motivation.

It's funny, now that I look back on it Sidney, that all the time this was going on I would have told you how wonderful it all was. I was digging myself a hole doing something I really didn't want to do thinking that someday, maybe, I would get it right and become successful. (rest of message lost.)