I sometimes say that Amway/Quixtar arguably has the worst reputation in the Network Marketing industry. When I say that, I am generally speaking about companies that are still in business.
Bill Gouldd’s Equinox is a prime example of a company that might have a worse reputation than Amway/Quixtar partially because they were shut down by the FTC and partially because of the owner Bill Gouldd.
Now Bill Gouldd appears to be back and attacking his detractors. This is probably good news for Amway/Quixtar because there is now someone else out there for people to talk about.
Check out Gouldd’s new web site here (fur coat, f-bombs and all).
Update: I watched most of the Bill Gouldd video and really only heard one f-bomb, the rest of the video had to do with his current lifestyle, (apparently he has done well since the demise of Equinox) and some new thing that he is keeping secret but will make billions (not MLM).
I have also spoken with a handful of people that I greatly respect in the Network Marketing industry who are familiar with Gouldd. They all say his training is top notch.
Respect to Bill
Bill Gouldd is what they all a professional con artist
I think that most people that talk bad about Bill Gouldd don't realize that everybody is responsible for their own actions.
I'd been in several of his seminars, and I think his teaching were correct and helped me to grow in many ways. I'm not writing this to defend him ( he doesn't need it), I think there are thounsand of people that will agree with me.
MLM by nature DOES NOT WORK. A few people manage to fool enough people into buying mediocre products that are marginally better(and often worse) than what's available for less money at any local store and a few people hustle enough other people into the scam to make some short-term riches before the house of cards collapses. That's the bottom-line reality. Bill Gouldd and Equinox were just another manifestation of this story. Bill is now spouting victimhood rants- let him. He's just another skunk in a crooked industry. Lots of people got swept up in Equinox fever- it's their fault for not applying a modest amount of critical thinking and realizing that MLM will NOT make you rich, much less a living wage. Sorry, dreamers.
Well, I think we can all certainly agree that Horacio never made money in the network marketing industry. Amusing opinion though. As far as BG goes…yes, the guy is an expert trainer and a master at having people "under the ether". He also ran his last company with plenty of fear tactics. If you were in it, you know, if not, don't ask.
Now, however, while the guy is surely still a great trainer and motivator, he is seemingly WAY off base with some of the content on his site. Without listing anything specific I'll just leave it that you should in no way believe the garbage he is now spewing about the people who made him millions and millions of dollars years ago. To say that his comments are misleading in the least would be an understatement.
I have made a lot of money in my career thanks to what I larned from him and many others that were taught by him and still others since then, but knowing what I know about the guy now, I wouldn't in any way get involved with something in which he is taking a leading roll.
The Equinox products had a real quality problem and they were pricey. Bill Gouldd also had some serious ethical problem as well. I sat in a couple of meetings and was suckered in going to one of his Advanced Marketing Seminars (AMS). That where were I sensed a major brain washing, basically trying to make you think he is the second coming of Christ. For about 12 hours, I endured nothing but bullshit high pressure sales tactics. The things that disturbed me the most, other than paying $150 — not to mention cost of transport and lodging, for train load of toxic waste, they practically demanded that you put my family and friends second to Equinox. Where I was brought up family and friends came first, school and work came second.
You will all learn the truth sooner or later…you need to think outside the box…
I think the training was "top notch" as noted above. I don't agree that they taught high-pressure sales, they taught basic sales tactics, which is good in any job you might be in. As far as products, I believe those were high quality products also. I was a rep for 2 years and left before the crash. MLM is just a TOUGH business but did see many people make a decent living at it, one was a family member. It can be done but it is hard work, if you think anybody can just come in and do any business like this you are wrong. I realized that MLM is not for me but did learn a lot while in it. Just my 2 cents…
I was an Equinox rep from 1998-1999 and I had reasonable success, in that I made more money than I put in and I got out of it an equal or better return than the effort I put into it. I used the products myself and sold plenty of water filtration systems with relative ease. Simply letting someone taste the difference between their water and the filtered water make the sale for me. I would have gone further, but was in a very bad relationship at the time and had to quit in order to straighten out personal matters, during which time the company was shut down.
I don't know what some people want out of MLM, but they don't realize that what you put into a business is what you get out-attitude included. If you don't have a winning attitude with an expectation of success then no matter what your mode of business, MLM or otherwise, or the products involved, you will not be successful.
In response to Jay Wingood:
Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki seem to think MLM/Network Marketing are the absolute best business models in the world.
I'm going to take their word over yours.
Kind Regards,
Broker Jones
I jumped into MLM with Bill and company in 1995 and ran with it for 4 years until 1999. For the last 2 years it was harder than ever due to the large amount of bad press EQX got with the FTC and also 19 of the top 20 reps bailing out. Gouldd and company, as well as AMS, Stellar Com and all the folks that left are pretty much as talented as any one else that makes it in MLM. You have to believe your own BS, fill the room with emotion and sell sell sell. The problem with it is that model is not sustainable. The feel good factor goes away when the event is over, or the product is still sitting in volume in a new reps garage. There is not enough people in the world that become diamonds, or are self motivated. Thus, you have to WORK YOUR ASS off motivating people. Nobody at Stellar, AMS, or EQX said it any other way. One thing Bill would promote was how lazy he (retired in 1995 in his own words way too early), and the rest of the clowns that were top did the same thing mentally. Everyone pretty much stopped working, selling a lifestyle instead of hard work and sales. That was the down fall of the company. The downfall of the people were their weird and sometimes just way out there behaviors. I worked for AMS as a volunteer for 3 years, and went to training around the country for most of that time except on holidays. It was a huge gimmick.
Bill's back, and silly as ever. Hand it to him, he looks real pimpin in his fur. I too live in the Rocky Mountains, and find his approach to life out here pretty silly and lonesome looking. Sports cars in the dirt roads, snow, mud, now that is just as foobar as it gets.
In response to Broker Jones
If MLM is such a great business model, why do you suppose that Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki aren't in it?
MLM is a great business model for the founders of the company, like Bill Gould, who made millions from people by promising a dream.
If you are a distributor it is not a good business. Because as a distributor you are the company's customer, and at the sametime you are working for free as a sales person. In other words, the company is making money from you, while at the same time you are actively recruiting other suckers to drink the "kool aid".
As a distributor, you are forced to buy the MLM's over priced products for your own use and attend their expensive seminars. As a distributor you are the MLM's customer base!!! The probobility that the average distributor will make any money is very slim. Most end-up spending a lot of their own money, and a lot of wasted time.
So yes, Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki thinks MLM is a good business for the people who would start the scheme. Just look at Bill Gould now, he is a millionaire. However, he made thousands of people poor!!!
I was a naive 22 year old kid in the summer of 1999
when I walked into the San Antonio office.
Within a month I spent all of my $20 thousand dollars
my grandfather set aside for me in a USAA mutual investment fund. Exec. Eric Cohen who should have known better then did something illegal by allowing me to “buy up” from a rep to a Director of Sales, somehow… so I could get the larger commission quicker.
But this does not mean I don’t take responsibility for this.
All in all, it was my decision…. though done with great naivety.
I struggled for years mentally and emotionally trying to forgive myself and my recruiters.
What I am noticing in Bill Gouldd’s rants on his website
is he never takes responsibility for his actions,
or that he is even conscious of them—
instead Gouldd insists on projecting his
shadow self (Carl Jung psychology)
onto others. His ego is enormous.
It is actually really sad to see.
Gouldd has such potential,
as we all do,
to be the light we are….
and do good things.
Gouldd is suffering from a psychological disorder
that resembles to me the symptoms George W Bush
suffers: a great desire and need to have people follow him and take every word as THE WORD
while at the same time not ever taking
responsibility for the pain he causes others.
He is very focused on its “us versus them”,
leading many follow his “victim sainthood’ march
into a lonely cave in one’s own mind,
disconnected from the Heart that
unifies all of mankind that is unity consciousness.
In my understanding of Life,
there is no “bad other”,
there is only US
in the ONE that we are.
And you may say “uh?” to that last paragraph..
and that is okay! My point is, we are all brothers and sisters.
When our actions and our beliefs are not resonating with this universal truth, leading us to hurting each other..
we are collectively sinking in the abyss of the ego
that strives on opposition and seeing others as
the enemy.
Author Paul Levy did a marvelous account of this
in his book The Madness of George W. Bush
http://www.awakeninthedream.com/artis/mark.html
Of course, Bill Gouldd is no George W. Bush with his
speech. I’ve seen him on stage and he is captivating.
It is this captivating speaker that he is that his ego thrived on.
I forgive you Bill. I don’t forgive your actions then and now.
If you are reading this Bill, my sincere and heartfelt
advice to you my brother is to leave business
and work on yourself devoutly.
Go to Buddhist retreats, or whatever,
meditate, learn the lessons of Loving-Kindness,
be in silence.
Let go of the desires to be followed.
Let go.
Let go.
Let go.
Bill Gould is the devil. He ruins lives. His punishment will begin after his tragic death. His cronies will suffer as well. Way to go.
Bill Gouldddd is the devil
I remember years ago I went to a convention in Vegas with a guy I was dating at the time. It was one of the most weirdest and most disturbing experiences. Equinox was all my date could talk about. He ate breathe and drank it like it was his last meal. So there I was in a huge coliseum in Vegas with Bill Gould and his brain washed people. Every 30 minutes for about 3 days he would come out on stage dressed in a costume of some kind with the stage set up as the backdrop for whatever character he was portraying. And he basically spoke in a parable relating to that character telling the distributors how they were to sell the product. One day, I believe on the last day they made everyone stay outside the auditorium so he could concentrate on his next character. I thought to myself “geez what he is preparing for?” When we were finally allowed to go back in they told everyone to be quiet and come and sit down without talking. When the curtain on the stage went up the stage was the backdrop to a cemetery. The ground opened and this grim reaper character came up out the stage ground with red lit up eyes and flew out over the audience. It was Bill G. dressed up like a demon and he had a device on his voice that made him sound demonic. I looked at my date and he was engrossed like he was watching God himself. I looked at everyone else and they were too. I thought to myself, “Oh heck no It’s time for me to catch the next flight back home.” At the end of this demonic performance the whole audience stood and gave Bill a standing ovation. It was the biggest brainwashing I’ve ever seen. Long story short I kicked that guy to the curb as soon as I got off the plane when I arrive back to my state. Yes Bill Gould is demonic.