Orrin Woodward on LIFE & Leadership

Inc Magazine Top 20 Leader shares his personal, professional, and financial secrets.

  • Orrin Woodward

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    Former Guinness World Record Holder for largest book signing ever, Orrin Woodward is a NY Times bestselling author of And Justice For All along with RESOLVED & coauthor of LeaderShift and Launching a Leadership Revolution. His books have sold over one million copies in the financial, leadership and liberty fields. RESOLVED: 13 Resolutions For LIFE made the Top 100 All-Time Best Leadership Books and the 13 Resolutions are the framework for the top selling Mental Fitness Challenge personal development program.

    Orrin made the Top 20 Inc. Magazine Leadership list & has co-founded two multi-million dollar leadership companies. Currently, he serves as the Chairman of the Board of the LIFE. He has a B.S. degree from GMI-EMI (now Kettering University) in manufacturing systems engineering. He holds four U.S. patents, and won an exclusive National Technical Benchmarking Award.

    This blog is an Alltop selection and ranked in HR's Top 100 Blogs for Management & Leadership.

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LIFE Leadership Business

Posted by Orrin Woodward on May 18, 2015

LIFE Leadership Business

Here is a fantastic video that answers several of the common questions asked about compensated communities. Network Marketing has been around for many years, but many still do not understand how and why people and companies are attracted to this business model.

LIFE Leadership has created the best paying compensated community in the profession and has helped thousands of people eliminate tens of thousands of dollars debt previously poured into the Financial Matrix hole. What is your plan to escape the Financial Matrix?

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

Posted in LIFE Leadership | 21 Comments »

Founding Fathers Financial Matrix

Posted by Orrin Woodward on April 30, 2015

“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks…will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered…. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.” – Thomas Jefferson in the debate over the Re-charter of the Bank Bill (1809)

The Financial Matrix isn’t just for individuals. In reality, all levels of government are trapped in the Financial Matrix debt system. The more I study, the more I realize just how deep the rabbit hole goes! This much I know: getting out and staying out of debt is the quickest path out of the Financial Matrix system of control. Please watch the video below before reading the rest of the article to understand what is going on.

The Five Laws of Decline have infected our financial system. This is not shocking since the Founding Fathers neglected to lock this door effectively. As expected,  once fallen man was given the opportunity to manipulate our monetary system, he did. The final blow was the creation of our Federal Reserve System married to the fractional-reserve banking system. This cartel originally promised to be the guard against inflation, but it has actually caused the largest growth of inflation in recorded history.

Shamefully, however, only a few brave leaders will speak the truth for fear of losing popularity and credentials. Nonetheless, if our State leaders will not speak out against this injustice, then its time for Society’s leaders to do so. This is the purpose of my recently released book The Financial Matrix and numerous blog articles. Dr. Murray Rothbard (one of the few brave individuals) identified the Federal Reserve as the engine of inflation when he wrote:

The Gonzalez proposal to have the president instead of regional bankers appoint regional Fed presidents would, in the eyes of those officials, “make it harder for the Fed to clamp down on inflation.” Why? Because, the “sure way” to “minimize inflation” is “to have private bankers appoint the regional bank presidents.” And why is this private banker role such a “sure way”? Because, according to the Fed officials, private bankers “are among the world’s fiercest inflation hawks” (New York Times, October 12, 1993).

The worldview of the Federal Reserve and its advocates is now complete. Not only are the public and politicians responsive to it eternally subject to the temptation to inflate; but it is important for the Fed to have a cozy partnership with private bankers. Private bankers, as “the world’s fiercest inflation hawks,” can only bolster the Fed’s eternal devotion to battling against inflation.

There we have the ideology of the Fed as reflected in its own propaganda, as well as respected Establishment transmission belts such as the New York Times, and in pronouncements and textbooks by countless economists. Even those economists who would like to see more inflation accept and repeat the Fed’s image of its own role. And yet every aspect of this mythology is the very reverse of the truth. We cannot think straight about money, banking, or the Federal Reserve until this fraudulent legend has been exposed and demolished.

Because I was began my career as an engineer, I live by the principle, “In God we trust, all other must have data.” If the Federal Reserve and Big Banks cartel is truly effective in fighting inflation, then we should see this in the data. Not surprisingly, the data confirms Rothbard’s diatribe against the money cartel. Look at the graph below and notice how the consumer price index (CPI) remained stable from 1775 until after the 1913 formation of the Federal Reserve. Notice how the gold-standard amongst nations kept inflation in check because when the FRB banks got out of control, other countries forced them to deflate back to reality. Now, the gold standard check is gone and we live in a debt system designed around fiat (money backed by nothing) system. The Federal Reserve system, instead of being an inflation fighter, is actually the inflation instigator! Indeed, the Federal Reserve/Big Banking cartel has been the impetus behind the massive explosion of inflation across the civilization since nearly every modern economy uses the US dollar bill as its unit of money for international trade.

inflation_deflation_US_Fed_200_years

The data is clear. The Financial Matrix is real and it is wiping out the value of people’s money as they go further and further into debt to survive. The only question is: what are you going to do to protect your family? As for me and my family, we escaped the Financial Matrix and are going to help others do the same.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

Posted in Finances, Freedom/Liberty, LIFE Leadership, Orrin Woodward | 17 Comments »

Fractional Reserve Banking: Power, Profits, & Pain

Posted by Orrin Woodward on April 19, 2015

6a00e54eedbee1883401b7c77b0f32970b-320wiThe key to understanding the Financial Matrix is to recognize how the banking system uses the fractional reserve banking (FRB) process in partnership with the central bank to form a bank cartel insured by the national government. Without this trilateral partnership, the banking cartel, with the FRB systems inherent inconsistencies would cause the cartel to collapse under its own weight. Indeed, the whole point of my new book to be released by LIFE Leadership next week is to describe a plan out of the FRB fueled banking cartel to protect your family. Just how bad is the FRB system?

Imagine playing a game of musical chairs where the same chair is fraudulently issued to 10 different people without their knowledge. While the music is playing, during the “boom” phase, everyone is happy and the economy appears to be growing rapidly;  however, as debt increases, so too do the prices of everything caused by the predictable inflation. Eventually the prices of houses, cars, and other big ticket items outrun the ability of the consumers to service the debt and the music stops abruptly. The “boom” period has now transformed into the “bust” phase as the highly unstable and inflated money supply burst because the consumers cannot afford to pay the interest and principal payments on their bloated debt. 

Not surprisingly, when the music stops, the consumers discover they do not have actual chairs (real commodity money) to sit down in. Thus, the weakest financially crash to the ground first, but it doesn’t stop there. For the failure of the banks marginal loan qualifiers causes a cascading effect (I would say like a row of falling dominoes, but I don’t want to mix my metaphors 🙂 ) until only the most conservative financially can survive at all during the bust.

For example, remember how the failures of the riskiest mortgages brought the failures of many others who thought they had solid mortgages? The domino effects of bad bad loan failures to “good” loan failures happened when the housing prices dropped 50% or more during the “bust”. Loans, in other words, that are good when house is worth $500,000 and a person owes $400,000, are defaulted upon when house falls in price to only $250,000 and the person still owes $400,000! The person has quickly realized he is missing his chair. 

Of course, the banks win during the “boom” with massive amounts of profit from interest payments and also win during the “bust” because they are insured from loss by government bailouts and the central bank money injections. The coup-de-grace is when they also foreclose on real properties for pennies on the dollar leaving the debtor bankrupted.  Absurdly, the system is set up for “heads” the bankers win and “tails” the borrowers lose. For the consumers are bankrupted by the counterfeit paper chairs and the banks are bolstered by bailouts and property surrendered by debtors as collateral. Sadly, it doesn’t even end there.  Because now the bank cartel can start the music all over again, offering incredible interest rates and no money down, to seduce new borrowers into the shearing room for the next game of musical chairs.  

The more I study the money system, the more amazed I am at the gullibility of the masses and governments to support a game that leads to their own demise. It’s seems like the modern world enjoys to punish itself for Big Banker profits. In reality, the Financial Matrix relies upon the unsuspecting people’s Financial Literacy ignorance. Indeed, few understand how money is created even though it is hidden from them. Rather, most people do not like to think upon issues that threaten them and choose the ostrich approach of working 8-10 hours per day for 40 plus years wondering why it seems they have to work harder every year for less gain.

Productivity increases around the world and yet the masses get broker and no one seems to know why. Then, paradoxically, we demand our government (BTW, this is beyond a party issue as Republicans and Democrats both love borrowing fiat money from the bank cartel) to help us even though they are the ones supporting the cartel in the first place. This would be like crying out for the bully’s right arm to defend us from his left arm currently pummeling us.

Do you really think that is going to work? To be sure, the national government will raise your taxes and launch numerous initiatives, but the money cartel isn’t afraid because no one gets elected without their approval (after all they can print money out of thin air, who is in a position to out fund them?) and financial support. Allowing bank cartel to print money out of thin air is nothing less than a total surrender of sovereignty and our nation has become a government of the banks, by the banks, and for the banks. 

There is one thing, however, that the people could do. And, if they did so, it could change everything. Not just for themselves but for our nation. Get out of DEBT and stay out of DEBT! When the masses awake and learn Financial Literacy, I can promise you the banker cartel will tremble in its fiat paper boots. For only then will the people stop enslaving themselves for things they do not truly need and the game of musical chair will end. Further, when the people set themselves free, then we are in the moral position necessary to demand the government set itself free from the Financial Matrix also. Isn’t it hypocritical, in other words, to demand our government to be debt free when we are not debt free ourselves? 

The great economist of the Austrian School, Murray Rothbard studied how the Banking Cartel creates money:

Here’s how the counterfeiting process works in today’s world. Let’s say that the Federal Reserve, as usual, decides that it wants to expand (i.e., inflate) the money supply. The Federal Reserve decides to go into the market (called the “open market”) and purchase an asset. It doesn’t really matter what asset it buys; the important point is that it writes out a check. The Fed could, if it wanted to, buy any asset it wished, including corporate stocks, buildings, or foreign currency. In practice, it almost always buys US government securities.

Let’s assume that the Fed buys $10,000,000 of US Treasury bills from some “approved” government bond dealer (a small group), say Shearson Lehman on Wall Street. The Fed writes out a check for $10,000,000, which it gives to Shearson Lehman in exchange for $10,000,000 in US securities. Where does the Fed get the $10,000,000 to pay Shearson Lehman? It creates the money out of thin air. Shearson Lehman can do only one thing with the check: deposit it in its checking account at a commercial bank, say Chase Manhattan. The “money supply” of the country has already increased by $10,000,000; no one else’s checking account has decreased at all. There has been a net increase of $10,000,000.

But this is only the beginning of the inflationary counterfeiting process. For Chase Manhattan is delighted to get a check on the Fed, and rushes down to deposit it in its own checking account at the Fed, which now increases by $10,000,000. But this checking account constitutes the “reserves” of the banks, which have now increased across the nation by $10,000,000. But this means that Chase Manhattan can create deposits based on these reserves, and that, as checks and reserves seep out to other banks (much as the Rothbard Bank deposits did), each one can add its inflationary mite, until the banking system as a whole has increased its demand deposits by $100,000,000, ten times the original purchase of assets by the Fed. The banking system is allowed to keep reserves amounting to 10 percent of its deposits, which means that the “money multiplier” — the amount of deposits the banks can expand on top of reserves — is 10. A purchase of assets of $10 million by the Fed has generated very quickly a tenfold ($100,000,000) increase in the money supply of the banking system as a whole.

Did you get that? The Federal Reserve (Central Bank) writes a check backed by no real bank assets (instead its merely a debt imposed upon American productivity without collateral)  to purchase Treasury Bills from one of the Big Banks. The Big Banks then start the music again and seduce the next round of musical chair victims (usually mortgage loans since approximately 70% of USA money supply is created from house mortgages). The banks make interest on money created out of thin air, the government funds it debts, and the consumer play another round of musical chairs as the prices of everything rise during the boom and fall during the predictable bust. The people are sheared yet again because they do not understand the Misean/Hayekian Austrian Business Cycle theory. 

Jorg Guido Hulsmann

Jorg Guido Hulsmann

Jörg Guido Hülsmann, in his fascinating treatise, The Ethics of Money Production, described the fiat money and fractional reserve banking cartel. He explained the whole system relies on legal privileges and special deals for the few against the many. Hülsmann has nailed the reason why the Financial Matrix is thriving and why each reader ought to protect his family by eliminating ALL DEBT through applying the principles taught in our #1 bestselling product the Financial Fitness Program:

There is no tenable economic, legal, moral, or spiritual rationale that could be adduced in justification of paper money and fractional-reserve banking. The prevailing ways of money production, relying as they do on a panoply of legal privileges, are alien elements in the capitalist [i.e., true free market] economy. They provide illicit incomes, encourage irresponsibility and dependence, stimulate the artificial centralization of political and economic decision-making, and constantly create fundamental disequilibria that threaten the life and welfare of millions of people. In short, paper money and fractional-reserve banking go a long way toward accounting for the excesses for which the capitalist economy is widely chided.

We have argued that these monetary institutions have not come into existence out of any economic necessity. They have been created because they allow an alliance of politicians and bankers to enrich themselves at the expense of all other strata of society. This alliance emerged rather spontaneously in the seventeenth century; it developed in multifarious ways up to the present day, and in the course of its development it created the current monetary institutions.

…The driving force that propelled the development of central banks and paper money was the reckless determination of governments, both aristocratic and democratic, to increase their revenue, if necessary in violation of good faith and of all established rules of commerce.

In sum, government power, banker profits and the people’s pain all increase while the people’s freedoms and pocketbook decrease. This is the “joy” of living in the Financial Matrix.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

Posted in Finances, Freedom/Liberty, LIFE Leadership, Orrin Woodward | 60 Comments »

RESOLVED to become a School Curriculum

Posted by Orrin Woodward on April 13, 2015

ResolvedI am excited to announce that the 13 resolutions from my book RESOLVED: 13 Resolutions for LIFE is being developed into teaching curriculums for the different age K-12. Director and Principal of the American Leadership Academy, Rob Brown, proposed a partnership between LIFE Leadership and himself to develop the curriculums for both charter-schools and the home-schooling markets.

After studying through the proposal LIFE Leadership agreed to support the project and help make the dream of reaching the next generation a reality. The results of this partnership promise to make a huge impact in the educational community. Here is a portion of the letter I received from Principal Rob Brown:

 I read Resolved  over Christmas holiday and the vision began to form in my mind of a rich leadership program unlike anything offered in an elementary or secondary educational format (homeschool included). We could adapt all the curriculum we already have and apply the Mental Fitness Challenges to our high school aged students. We could build daily leadership lessons based on the 13 Resolutions and teach them to students from kindergarten through twelfth grade!

I asked myself some questions: Why don’t we teach this? What might happen if we did? What if I had learned these principles as a kid? What difference would it make if tens of thousands of K-12 students were taught about their Purpose, Character, Friendship, Finances, and Leadership on a daily basis for their entire growing-up years?

Our Nation is in crisis, and it is our responsibility to fundamentally re-establish America’s greatness. The most effective way for us to achieve greatness is through living these principles with fidelity and teaching them to the rising generation. As we teach these principles to our children they will grow up living these truths, and our homes, churches, businesses, and legislatures will be filled with those that have the right tools and the courage to do the right things in order to preserve freedom for us, our families, and our friends.

Education is like weddings and funerals. Everyone does it and the market is wide open. Covey has over two thousand Leader in Me  schools and little home school reach. Resolved  has provided a superior vehicle. I have a framework for a step by step guide to make ResolvedSchools  a reality and teach leadership to achieve greatness in our homes and country. I will be creating this for my schools regardless, however, I know that by partnering together we can create a real Win-Win that could affect countless lives.

Sincerely,

Rob Brown

Director- American Leadership Academy Gilbert Campus

It has been a joy to work with Principal Brown. He lives the resolutions on a daily basis and with his help, he took the principles of RESOLVED and explained them in way that resonates with students. If you have children (or know someone with children) in charter schools or home-schooling, then this book is the first part of a full curriculum to follow. The goal is to inspire the children to become resolution-centered leaders that make an impact in the world. Here is the introduction I wrote for the RESOLVED: Student Edition to be released later this year:

Introduction

In 2011, when I wrote RESOLVED: 13 Resolutions for LIFE, I did so to share the resolutions that had so radically changed my own life. The results of this labor of love have been nothing short of mind blowing. For within the first year, the book made the Top 100 All-Time Leadership book list and became the framework for the bestselling Mental Fitness Challenge Program.

Still, when Principal Rob Brown, of American Leadership Academy in Gilbert, Arizona, contacted me to discuss using the resolutions in RESOLVED to create an entire K-12 school curriculum, I was a little taken aback. Principal Brown had written to me:

I am the principal at American Leadership Academy in Gilbert, Arizona, a K-6 elementary charter school. As the name implies we are patriotic, leadership driven, and focused on academics. It’s the leadership part that drew me to this school. I love that we teach children the principles of leadership. When I was introduced to Resolved I was amazed at how simple and powerful each chapter was. I said, “What would happen if we taught this to kids!?!”

What would happen, in our opinion, is the students would accomplish private victories which would lead to public victories and then onward to leadership victories which, finally results in a legacy to pass on to the world. After Principal Brown, Chris Brady – CEO of LIFE Leadership, and I discussed the idea further, we realized that beyond just a school curriculum, RESOLVED – Student Edition is just the first, of many, books in a series that will eventually become The Children’s Leadership Library.

Rob Brown is not your average principal. The hunger to learn and the passion to teach is evident in everything he does. Indeed, the book you hold in your hands would not have been completed were it not for his drive to finish what he starts. Furthermore, I cannot think of a better person to partner with in spreading the power of resolutions to transform lives than a principal on the educational front lines. It has been a pleasure working with Principal Brown.

Finally, the principles taught in RESOLVED: Student’s Edition can help anyone at any age. Each section concludes with a workshop. That’s where the real power lies. Complete each workshop as you read. As you apply these principles you will gain confidence in making choices. You will really begin to understand the importance of the choices you make and how they will influence your life. I have taught for years that vision is tomorrow’s reality expressed as an idea today. It’s time to stop talking about education transformation and it’s time to start living it. This book has turned the dream into reality.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

Posted in Family, Leadership/Personal Development, LIFE Leadership, Orrin Woodward | 69 Comments »

The Matrices of Control: Physical, Feudal, & Financial

Posted by Orrin Woodward on April 8, 2015

Over the years, with consistent study and reflection, I have discovered three matrices of control over people’s production – the physical, feudal, and financial matrices. The Physical Matrix, of course, was slavery and has been practiced since practically the origins of humanity. The feudal system was serfdom and was practiced for over 1,000 years during the middle-ages and beginning of the modern age.

Today’s system of control, however, is known as the Financial Matrix. This matrices utilizes the bank cartel to control the world’s money supply to benefit the elites at the masses expense. What makes this system so nefarious is that few even understand its existence let alone how it works. This short twenty minute video describes mankind’s historical challenge with the elites and the three matrices of control.

My new book The Financial Matrix will describe how to respond to this system by utilizing the Financial Fitness Program and the LIFE Leadership business to protect your family and friends.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

Posted in Finances, Freedom/Liberty, LIFE Leadership, Orrin Woodward | 15 Comments »

Entrepreneurial Prime Movers: Part 3

Posted by Orrin Woodward on March 31, 2015

Great entrepreneurs create the future. They do so by sorting through the noise to see where the trends and technologies are taking the marketplace. LIFE Leadership has studied the trends and technologies and sees a tremendous opportunity in home-based businesses centered around internet efficiencies, improved distribution systems, and franchising principles.

For the fastest escape from the Financial Matrix is learning to play defense, offense, and understanding the playing field of finances. The Financial Fitness Program (FFP) is the only program that teaches all three and why it’s the best-selling product in LIFE. Have you protected your family from the Financial Matrix? If not, perhaps it’s time you joined the modern day underground railroad and plan your escape. 🙂

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

Posted in Finances | 5 Comments »

LIFE Leadership: What Do You Do?

Posted by Orrin Woodward on March 17, 2015

Many times, I get asked what I do and my answer has been honed down to a few simple statements. It’s amazing to me how many people recognize something is wrong financially in the world, but how few have a plan to fix their personal finances. Enter LIFE Leadership and the Financial Fitness Program (FFP). It’s a systematic plan to eliminate debt, start investing in themselves, and begin building a business asset (bridge building versus barge working) by teaching others how to escape the Financial Matrix.

Of course, not everyone is looking for answers, but I have never seen a time where more people are in tune with the challenges and seeking help. To me, I am not building a business on purpose anymore, but rather building my purpose on business. For I have always helped people financially as I realized the negative effects of debt stress early in life. Now, I get rewarded for doing what the Bible tells me to do anyway – “Love people as I love myself.” I don’t tolerate debt personally and if I love others I will help them not tolerate it in their life either.

The Bible states, “The borrower is a slave to the lender.” If one of your friends was in trouble, wouldn’t you want to help? Friends, in a  word, don’t let friends stay enslaved. Here is the gist of discussions I have been having with people since I discovered the Financial Matrix. Indeed, many people, who have known for years, are now wanting to get together and talk because the messaging is so clear, simple, and logical. What is your plan out of the Financial Matrix?

Question: What do you do?

I am a Director on the Underground Railroad, helping people escape the Financial Matrix.

Question: What’s the Financial Matrix?

It’s the aristocracy’s most effective system of control ever. It ensures debt and stress for the people and profit and control for them. The problem is the increased debt levels for people and governments are unsustainable. Have you noticed the rapid increase in debt levels around the world?

Yes or No or Maybe So

The good news is that there is a step-by-step plan out of the Financial Matrix. I cannot promise anything, but I think it’s worth grabbing a coffee and going over some of the details to ensure your family is protected. Which night works best for you Wed or Thursday?

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

Posted in Finances, Freedom/Liberty, LIFE Leadership | 39 Comments »

Entrepreneurial Prime Movers: Part 2

Posted by Orrin Woodward on March 4, 2015

Most of the world is good at seeing what is, but leaders are good at seeing what could be. More pointedly, leaders must have the character and courage to make what could be a reality. How do they do this? By helping others see what they see and then building trust until the people buy into what they see. Leadership is founded upon character and courage, built upon trust and respect, and completed upon actions and rewards.  2015 is the year to lead and become the prime mover for your community.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward – Chairman of the Board LIFE Leadership

Posted in Leadership/Personal Development, LIFE Leadership | 7 Comments »

Entrepreneurial Prime Movers

Posted by Orrin Woodward on March 1, 2015

Entrepreneurs must move ahead by recognizing opportunities where others only see problems. Interestingly, if the entrepreneur desires a bigger reward, he/she must solve a bigger problem. And this is why entrepreneurs must overcome in the face of great challenges to succeed at the highest levels. Perhaps the best advice I received as an adolescent was from my 3rd grade teacher Mr. Luoma, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Combine this with the Great Commandment to love God with all your heart and soul and love others as yourself and the new entrepreneur is off to a great start!

Here is a segment of a talk on entrepreneurial prime movers.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward – LIFE Leadership Chairman of the Board

Posted in LIFE Leadership | 11 Comments »

LIFE Leadership Reviews – MonaVie & Amway

Posted by Orrin Woodward on February 27, 2015

I am writing, updating and reviewing the FAQ section for LIFE Leadership. Perhaps the most interesting and inspiring answer for me was the one on Amway, Quixtar, MonaVie and LIFE Leadership. For in it, I was able to share how proud I am of the pioneers of LIFE Leadership. I have attached the answer below. Compensated Community is the future of business and LIFE Leadership is in the sweet spot of the growing trend.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward – Chairman of the Board: LIFE Leadership

The years 2007 through 2010 were some of the most challenging and yet some of the most rewarding of my life. Indeed, nothing shook my core leadership principles more than events during this timeframe. For one thing, I learned that most of American businesses are not practicing the principles of free markets, and bold entrepreneurship. Instead large corporations used their power with government and the press to block new entrepreneurs from climbing the mountain they had staked out. For another thing, knowing that leaders right injustices, I attempted to right something I believed were wrong by addressing the cartel system head on. Not surprisingly, this has led to increasing attacks on my character since, invariably, when the elites (or their anonymous hit men) cannot defend the message, they attack the messenger. Since I have nothing to hide, I will share my story so people can make an educated decision on who I am, what I stand for, and what the purpose of LIFE Leadership is.

First, I want everyone to know that I love free enterprise and reward for services rendered to customer concept. Unfortunately, however, much of Big Business today is not structured this way. Instead, Big Business has created a culture that rewards cartel credentialists who create value for the powers-brokers by obeying orders rather than corporate creators who create value for consumers by innovating. True innovation, in effect, is not rewarded in the cartels because credentialists promote other credentialist and drive out creators.  Anyone remember how Sam Walton was driven out of Franklin Five and Dime because he had too many ideas and didn’t follow the company line? How about Steve Jobs when he was kicked out of his own company the first time? Dismally, Big Businesses has partnered with Big Governments and Big Banks to create Crony Capitalism – a system of cartels designed to profit the elites at the masses expense.

Ironically, I would have never discovered the Elites Matrices of Control playbook (Financial Matrix, Feudal Matrix, and Physical Matrix) had I not experienced the matrix of control for myself. Evidently, God reveals His deepest truths when people are in the deepest of waters. With that introduction, here is the FAQ summary of the events that led to developing the Financial Matrix book and the notoriety I have received because of it. 🙂

What was the 2007-2010 legal dispute between some of the LIFE leaders, Quixtar and MonaVie about?

I get asked this question periodically even though the dispute ended in 2010. Still, I believe the highlights from the issue can help a person understand the principles LIFE Leadership is founded upon. Before discussing the details, however, I think it’s important to share that I have no hard feelings for anyone who worked with Quixtar or currently works with Amway. As a matter of fact, I still have friends that work within the company. I believe life is too short to carry grudges and what is past is past. Further, I have heard from several sources that Amway has softened its litigation policy against leaders who want to leave the company. For this, I am thankful. Finally, I learned a ton during my time with Quixtar and have many memorable experiences. In consequence, I have taken the good, flushed the bad, and move ahead with no animosity.

Before LIFE Leadership was launched, Laurie and I, along with some of the other top leaders, worked with a company called Quixtar to build our community (business asset). Quixtar was a North American internet based multi-level business started by the owners of Amway, but set up as a separate company from it’s parent. This was an important feature to me because I had joined Amway in 1993 when I learned they were developing an Interactive Distribution model to combine high-tech and high-touch. Regretfully, however, by 1998, I realized this was more hype than substance and had not come to fruition. Since I had no interest in building a traditional Amway business, we planned on starting a new venture.

LIFE Leadership Winter Convention

LIFE Leadership 2015 Winter Convention

Nevertheless, after hearing Ken McDonald (Quixtar’s first managing-director) share his vision for a new online model, we changed our minds. Since it was a separate from Amway (but backed by the founders funds) and would leverage the fast-growing internet, we were intrigued. As a result, in 1999, we chose not renew our Amway distributorship and joined Quixtar instead as an IBO (Independent Business Owner).

The online model fit our young and hungry team perfectly. In fact, from 1999 through 2007, Laurie and I led the fastest growing organization within the whole company. We grew from several hundred to over ten thousand people attending events and our sales increased from a couple hundred thousand dollars to over one hundred million dollars! In addition, many other teams sought our training and started growing resulting in nearly another hundred million dollars in volume. Our training organization, in other words, was responsible for nearly $200 million of Quixtar’s total sales.

Unfortunately, the rest of Quixtar was not doing well, mainly because the older, more mature organizations seemed unable to adjust to building an online business. I saw the loss of confidence and numbers firsthand because I was asked to speak (hundreds of times) to Quixtar groups across North America. Dismally, instead of growing into the 100 billion dollar company predicted by Ken McDonald and other top leaders, Quixtar leveled off around a billion dollars even with our team’s meteoric growth. In fact, many of the top leaders lost half their numbers or more as they struggled to marry high-touch communities with the high-tech online environment. Nonetheless, I didn’t realize the precarious nature of the Quixtar business until Ken McDonald abruptly announced his retirement in 2005 despite flying to see me just weeks earlier to discuss future strategies. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement (Ken and I worked well together), but I also respected Quixtar’s right to choose its leadership team.

Curiously, however, Quixtar’s new managing-director was also an Amway vice-president. Although I thought this was strange, I was assured on numerous occasions that the two were still separate corporations and the change in management was merely to help Quixtar increase its sales. As a result, the 2007 announcement that Quixtar was closing its doors and that all its Independent Business Owners (IBOs) would be transitioned into Amway shocked me. This was unacceptable for several reasons. For one thing, I was not in Amway (having purposefully not renewed when Quixtar launched), nor did I want to be in Amway. For another, I had told tens of thousands of people that they were independent business owners affiliated with Quixtar just as the IBO moniker implied. True, Quixtar was owned by the founders of Amway, but they were allegedly separate companies with separate field organizations. Indeed, I must have repeated this message of separate companies a thousand times because that is what Ken McDonald and the rest of the Quixtar’s management team had told all of us. In sum, I had been misled, and thus had inadvertently misled others.

For me, the whole conflict was a moral issue. On one hand, I knew Quixtar (like any company) had the power to break its commitments to its customers, but it didn’t have the power to avoid the subsequent fallout. On the other hand, how could I represent a company to others that I believed had misrepresented itself to me? Indeed, leadership is character in motion and without trust, it’s impossible for any leader to get in motion. Nevertheless, quitting my independent business was not as simple as it sounded since Amway had stated its intention to litigate against any leader attempting to leave the Amway/Quixtar (indeed, hundreds were sued before and after me). Not surprisingly, the legal risk intimidated many other leaders into submission, but it only emboldened our leadership team. For if we stayed with Amway because we feared litigation, then we would be imprisoned into Amway’s Legal Matrix and not truly independent anyway. How, in a word, could we ever recommend others to join us as independent business owners when we knew in our hearts that this was no longer true?

Although the easiest thing to do would have been to rejoin Amway, announce my retirement, and slowly watch my groups dissolve, this was morally unconscionable. I also doubted Amway’s antiquated business model could work in the internet savvy North American market regardless of how many millions Amway spent on television advertisements (Amway no longer discloses North American sales volume but it is rumored to have dropped precipitously). How could Laurie and I in good conscience give up our purpose and principles for profit while our community suffered? And yet, I also knew that I would be sued by Amway (a multi-billion dollar international company) if I didn’t agree to their plan. Financially, this was a lose-lose scenario. Neither option, in other words, was without massive risk and challenges, but leaders are paid to make decisions and it was time to make a decision.

Thankfully, I had great leaders like Chris Brady, Tim Marks, Claude Hamilton, George Guzzardo and Bill Lewis (interestingly, I barely knew my good friend and LIFE co-Founder Dan Hawkins at the time), who all believed we should choose character over convenience. Accordingly, I called a meeting to announce my immediate resignation and intention to sit out Quixtar’s six month non-compete period. My plan was to form a new company and build our businesses entirely separate from either Quixtar or Amway. Disastrously, however, instead of accepting my resignation, Amway announced it was “firing” me (how a company can fire an independent business owner is still inexplicable to me). They proceeded to call each of the leaders in our community to demand they choose either Quixtar (soon to be Amway) or staying with me. Of course, the field leaders had no idea what Quixtar was talking about since I had not announced to anyone (except a handful of my top leaders) any plans to start another business.

Amway’s management team had no idea the hornet nests they had knocked over. People in our organization were already upset at the name change and now Amway/Quixtar compounded its errors by  “firing” myself and Chris. Indeed, through writing over-the-top blog posts (since removed) on their official sites, manufacturing negative news through their billion dollar contacts (Forbes and various newspapers), and issuing business ultimatum emails to our leaders, Amway/Quixtar evidently sought to besmirching our character. However, as legendary coach John Wooden once said, “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”

Not surprisingly, Quixtar paid for its hubris. Truth, without a doubt, is a pesky thing. Because our organization knew the truth, over 50,000 people resigned rather than switch to Amway. Of course, Amway (true to their promise) initiated multi-million dollar court and arbitration proceedings against me and others. The financial stakes were high since we had already lost our business incomes and now we risked bankruptcy. Apparently, the plan seemed to be to sue people into submission.

Consequently, starting our own company at that time was ruled out. For it would be foolhardy to outlay the money to create a new company when a multi-billion dollar company was doing everything in its power to drain us financially. I didn’t feel that falling on my own sword and hurting the many people who followed me out of Quixtar was the proper strategy. Rather, I needed a plan for survival until Amway realized we would not surrender our principles no matter what the consequences. Accordingly, I sought a join another company so I could earn money to help support our growing legal mess (tens of millions of dollars). Of course, I ensured, upfront, that once the legal battles were over, we would be free to start our own business if we still desired to.

Fortunately, in 2008, I met the founder of MonaVie, Dallin Larsen (several years after we started LIFE, Dallin retired from MonaVie in 2014 and his company combined with Jeunesse Global), who was leading one of the fastest growing companies in Network Marketing at the time. In fact, his success at MonaVie led to him receiving the prestigious 2009 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. While he, of course, benefited from partnering with our large organization (millions of dollars per month in volume), he also had taken a huge risk. I am thankful he took that risk. For I do not know whether we would have survived without partnering with MonaVie to defend ourselves against Amway. As expected, Amway subsequently sued MonaVie (I commend their persistence) and countless more millions were spent battling the behemoth. Not surprisingly, MonaVie received the same negative treatment online and in the press that Chris and I received. Talk about strange coincidences. 🙂 Fortunately, Dallin Larsen, despite several years of legal harassment, didn’t flinch and he followed through on everything he had committed to. 

Finally, in 2010, a global settlement was reached. After much pain and pressure (the battle had left no one unscathed) the war was over. I believe Amway finally realized the IBOs who resigned were not coming back and we had enough funding to continue the legal battles indefinitely. As a result, the biggest leadership challenge we had ever faced was finally over. Our community was FREE! This was our team’s finest moment. I have never been prouder of any group of leaders for they had survived nearly three years (2007 through 2010) without surrendering. Some even choosing to declare bankruptcy rather than give in to Amway’s legal demands.

Woodwards Introducing New ELC Hamiltons

Introducing New Executive LC Claude & Lana Hamilton

In closing, many times during the war I had told the leaders that those who stayed would be champions. It is inspiring to see how many achievers stayed with us to finish the million person mission. These men and women are the one’s who dreamed, the one’s who dared, and the one’s who sacrificed to make LIFE Leadership a reality. Although I have read thousands of books on businesses, I have never found a more inspiring example of a group of common people willing to face uncommon giants. Perhaps the best description of the LIFE Leadership pioneers is the plaque at the Overpass Museum in Carney, Nebraska, “The cowards never started. The weak died on the way. Only the strong survived.” If a person is ready to face his personal Goliath, I know of no stronger community to help him do so than LIFE Leadership.

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