By request, here is my first post regarding Herbalife.  Since it is kind of late, I will have to add to this post later on, but I'll try to get the general stuff down as best as I can.

The cast of characters that starred in this bizarre reality TV show of mine are:

The Good and the Innocent:
Myself and Elyse

The pure evil people:
Judy H., my recruiter, Rick and Tammy A., Bob and Joan L., Bev and Arnie C., Dante Andre.

Evil and Weird:

Steve and Barbara W.

Good, but just plain weird

Pam and Hudson (I can't remember their last name)

The cast of characters were assembled like this:  Rick and Tammy A. were the head of the team and they were located in California.  Judy's team consisted of myself, Elyse, Pam and Hudson.  Steve and Barbara, Bob and Joan and Bev and Arnie were sidelined in a different group, but we were all under Rick and Tammy A.

Why I got into Herbalife:  All of this started in June of 2002.  I had the double whammy of having my 20 year class reunion and being a bridesmaid in my brother's wedding that year. 

I had already been going to Curves for Women and working out.  I commented to the woman next to me (Judy H.) about how hard it is to lose weight.  She mentioned Herbalife.  I said, "Is that still around?  My mother took it and it made her sick!"  Well, she convinced me that it was different than back then and I should give it a try.

So try it I did and I did lose weight.  I was doing so well that naturally the next step was to make money while losing.  So I joined up for $54.95.  I used to attend weekly meetings locally and a monthly meeting that was 1 1/2 hours away at a casino.  Talk about gambling!

The format of these "training" sessions went something like this:

High powered and high energy music, then intro of the guest speaker, then product testimonials, then income testimonials.  The guest speaker also "flashed" copies of checks during their income testimonials.  Of course, none of the product testimonials or income testimonials is verified, a fact that I found out later.

In addition, I spent time at Judy's house being coached on what to say at these meetings and also to have a button response.  I was one of those people who wore a button that said "I lost 40 pounds.  Ask me how!"  Or "work from home, ask me how".

I was dragged up in front of people to do an income testimonial at the local meeting.  I didn't want to do it because I really didn't have any income so to speak, so I told people that I earned enough that month to pay off a small credit card debt (in actuality I did pay a credit card off, but I was also using another credit card to charge Herbalife stuff).

At these local meetings, Judy H, Bob and Joan L., Steve and Barbara and Bev and Arnie attended.  Bob and Joan L.'s was always that they earned about $4,000 a month and that he lost weight.  Steve and Barb's story was that they earned $3,000.00.

What I have learned that there is a great difference with these people between gross and net.  I seriously don't truly believe that they were making that kind of money.  At the time I was really impressed with those numbers, then I got out my calculator.  $48,000 a year isn't enough to live on a fancy golf course (where Bob and Joan lived), and $36,000.00 isn't enough to live in a nice townhouse (which is where Steve and Barb lived).  And I found out that Bev and Arnie lived in a trailer park (nothing against trailer parks, as my parents owned one.  But is is a far cry from the white sandy beaches and mansions of typical MLM advertising).

And, BTW, I went to a picnic at Bob and Joan's place.  Bob showed me what $4,000 a month in inventory looks like.  Somehow I was impressed with the boxes and boxes of stuff they had.  Boy, they must really be doing well, I thought.

Some time was also spent at Judy's because she was the one in our group that subscribed to HTN, which is Herbalife Television Network.  They would always feature the President's Club members (which is the same thing as Mary Kay NSDs.  Herbalifers worship the ground the President's Club members walk on).

At one monthly training seminar, Dante Andre (who I later found out was involved in a Herbalife lawsuit.  If I can find a link, I will post it) was the speaker.  He was such a good and persuasive speaker that I was convinced I wanted to go to the next level up from distributor, which is called supervisor.  Only I never supervised anybody. Elyse was with me at one of these training sessions when I felt the urge to go to the next level, which meant purchasing $3,600 of inventory.  Elyse partnered with me and I paid $1,800.00 to go "supervisor".  Dante and Doran (his brother) were widely known to frontload their team.

So I really kick my business into high gear.  I put fliers on cars and in bus shelters(you couldn't mention Herbalife), I moderated a work from home board at Ivillage because you could put a link in your signature, burned my warm market (I nearly lost two friends while in the Herbal Haze), warm chatted everyone wherever I went.  You should have seen it when I went shopping -- you could actually see people fleeing me when they saw the button a mile away!  It wasn't funny then, but it is really funny now!

I continued to spend more time at Judy's and less time with the "negative" people such as family and friends.  Also, because I was now a "supervisor", I had "earned" a Millionaire Training weekend.  I had actually caught Bob and Joan in a lie about their income at this meeting -- surprise, surprise (I never really did like Bob anyway).  Of course, I had to pay all expenses for this weekend, but I was told in Herbalife that everything is a tax write off. Which isn't true, ask any tax professional!

It is now late 2002.  Judy and I have a booth at a craft fair and were trolling for customers.  We only got a few customers, but ended up meeting a troll for Melapuka called Angela, who later plays a part in "My Not-So Excellent Adventure in Excel Telecommunications".

But wait -- it gets weirder:

Fast forward to early spring 2003.   I go to a party at Judy's house.  She, Pam and Hudson get rip roaring drunk.  I don't usually drink, and it was to my advantage this night, because Judy admitted that she was $50,000.00 in debt from Herbalife when she recruited us!  She called me the next day to apologize for the drunken behavior.

Some time goes by and Judy now confides in me that the products no longer work for her.  She is also looking into another MLM company because her Herbalife team is crumbling around her.  She tells me that she is now in Melapuka.  Guess who is her recruiter?  You guessed it -- the infamous Angela.  Judy also goes on to be in Seasilver, and Primerica and tries to recruit me into those.  I told her no to each opportunity. 

But I still wasn't convinced that MLM was the problem and not me.  I look into Arbonne, Quixand, Tahitian Noni, Melapuka, etc.  I came across an invitation to a Christian Womens club luncheon.  I meet Nancy, who is a rep for Excel, which leads into "My Not-So-Excellent Adventure"......

Michelle

Michelle, so you're saying that Herbalife is bad?
You really should write a book!!!!! "My Adventures in MLM land"! I am laughing with you my dear! I could picture everything you said!