What "The System" taught me (or as I look back now, what they did to brainwash me)

"The System" is :"IED" which renamed itself to INA (International Networking Association)ä which later split and named itself something else which I don't know and don't really care. All under the Jim Elliott organization, which has part of WWDB and INA, which was an offshoot of WWDB. There was dissention in the ranks, I guess… Divorces happened, etc, etc.Greed too?

I was taught what most people were taught with the AMOs. (check out this Expense Report from one of my more active years in duh business.)

1-First and foremost, buy from yourself… If you're buying from the store, you're doing yourself a disservice and costing yourself precious little PV. Remember to do your 100PV/200BV a month in order to get the bonus for the month


2-Get on the Recommended Tape program (RT). You get one tape one week (usually some sort of "rally" tape where some couple is telling their story about their successes in the A-way business and how, "if you just keep plugging away at it and dedicate your time and effort to it, it WILL work for you too") and then the Double tape where it was a "How To" of the business.. On how to..

I- Overcome excuses
II- What to come back with if the answer is "No"
III- Correct ways to "prospect" people
IV- Following up (using your upline)
V- Buy from yourself the right way.
VI- Getting reluctant people to attend functions
VII- Stressing the importance of the RT program
VIII- Contacting total strangers at any location
IX- Which leads to Handing Out The Tape.
X- Showing the Plan (STP) properly. You know, those circles. Those one you got excited about when you thought that you would be at in 90 to 120 days if you worked really hard at it. They did, so why not me?
XI- The "10 customer" rule was not a high priority… Recruiting and getting people to participate in the AMO, was
XII- (my opinion) How to Stay Brainwashed
XIII- Always, always check upline before doing anything. It didn't matter what you wanted to do (like buy a reliable car), you had to check upline to make sure it was okay. Biggest crock of S#!T I'd ever hear.
XIV- Your upline was your mentor, no matter how much of an asshole they were.



3- Attend EVERY function, no matter the cost and the distance. Missing a function will cost you 90 days (arbitrary number) from going Direct (more about this later—an Expense report for one of the years I was in where I was most active) (1992)
Constant Brainwashing, is what it looks like to me.






There always seemed to be some sort of religious inference at all 4 of these major functions… A turn off to atheists and non-religious people. Those people in INA seemed never to have a clue about how they could be offending people. I had a pretty diverse group, not many that showed up to these things.

Function Definitions


Feb: Leadership- Seemed to be the most personal of the 4 "biggies" Hosted by Your Diamond—the one who knows all (NOT). Emeralds did "seminars" on the How To's of the business. New Directs were paraded in front of the flock, pretty much inferring, you can do it too, if you work at it like we did. Then, one evening of the 3 day weekend, there would be a featured Diamond—someone higher up that the Biegerts speaking. Their speech was a mix of "how to" and other stuff (like what travels they've done and such). I found that, about this point, I was ready to leave. Too much information.. Too much of hearing the same stuff over and over and over again. It was good brainwashing, that's for sure. Sunday- Non-Denominational church service--The previous night speakers talk it up a bit but always stressed it was an option, but inferred that it would be good if you attended it. I never did. Too early in the morning… I only went to one and I saw some Emerald (NH) cry while speaking… I swear, it was the only emotion I ever saw from him in the 6 years I unfortunately had to work with him. The cost was anywhere from $90 to $140, depending on hotel location. Nightly room costs: $30-$70 depending on where I stayed and how many people I shared a room with. This "function" was 2 nights and 3 days. I went as far as Corte Madera (south of Los Angeles) and north to San Ramon (north of Dublin).
May: Symposium- I never enjoyed these. Everyone on stage seemed so distant, so far removed from you. It was a constant stream of Diamonds spewing "How Tos" of the business. Same dribble you heard on tape. Made me wonder why I was subscribing to the tape program or why I was in attendance at this thing. I skipped this one once or twice near the end. I wised up slowly.
Face it, I was brainwashed. Didn't want to rock the boat. Afriad I wouldn't make it unless spent all the required money. Your upline knows everything right??

Cost: $40 to $50. 2 days and 1 night over a weekend. Room costs: $30 to $70 (see above) Function location: Anywhere from Sacramento to San Jose.. More likely at Arco Arena in Sac. Last one was at the Arena in San Jose

July: Family Reunion or "Summer Conference"- Similar to Leadership. I really couldn't tell the difference. I think new Emeralds or Rubies were introduced here. Was either a short list or no list at all. And then the same tired Emeralds would speak about the same tired things. B-O-R-I-N-G!

Cost: $100 to $140- 3 days and 2 nights. Rooms: $30 to $70 (see Leadership) Function location: Anywhere from Santa Clara (no hotel fees) to Los Angeles, home of the Biegerts.

Oct: FED (Free Enterprise Days) You got a chance to celebrate Free Enterprise and watch new Diamonds be introduced on stage (whoopdie doo)-- It's the same dribble that you hear on any of the single Rally Tapes you were buying for $6 a pop, something your Upline direct was getting for $3 and what Jim Elliott or INA was mass producing for seventy five cents. Neat Little Markup, huh? So, one of the nights, they have some guest speaker… A Vietnam Vet who got the Purple Heart (Cleave McCreary), or some successful motivational speaker like Shad Helmstetter or Zig Ziglar. Then, near the end there was a "how to" session (seen this before? They "How To"'d you to death. They had to keep the brainwashing going to the masses. They had motivational videos, tapes and books to sell at these functions. And the Diamonds DID pedal them during the time of the "function"

Cost: $45 to $55--- Two full days. Rooms: $30 to $70 per night Location: Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Jose (I didn't go)


There were also Seminars/Rallies one Saturday a month: This would be from some Emerald (local) who would do the How To's and then talk about their "success story" in the evening. Each time you paid $5 to hear the same thing you could hear on tapes anytime. Boy, what a racket for INA & nice kickbacks for the local Emeralds or the Biegert organization. There were a number of these on assorted weekends. But you only went to the one that was sponsored by YOUR group, no matter the distance traveled. Gotta stay with people who care, right?

There was a night or two nights where some Diamond came and spoke at an auditorium. At this one, you were invited to bring new people to this one. Kind of a grandiose followup to a plan you had shown to a possible "recruit" These were called, "Opens" You usually paid your way in and your guest. Usually, $5 for that too.

Friday: (or some other weeknight) The get together of the local Emerald group to share our progress for the week. At one point they were called "Sizzlers" cause we were all hot to trot about the business. Boy, those were exciting meetings being run by Norm Hall, I tell you. Couldn't miss a minute of it!
I think the purpose of these things were just to monitor who was doing the business and who wasn't. People who were doing it spoke. The ones who weren't, listened. Those that were recognized might motivate the ones who weren't

Somehow, when I first started this, I was led to believe it didn't cost a lot of money to do this. At least what NH, DR was saying that it didn't take that much time out of your schedule. You could do it in your spare time. What a crock. Just another ploy to hook line and sinker you into spending the $120 to buy the kit. Yeah, if you were not going to be "sold" into the AMO portion, you might spend little but not go very far in the business the AMO liked to tell you.