The principal at Citizen Corps is Alan Nettles and he is a Pyxism Associate, also a Life Path Unlimited Associate, a TVI Associate and probably more, but since he does not disclose that information up front or at all, it’s hard to say if he is a current or former associate in these and other opportunities.

And for the record, I believe it critically important to know that information up front because it is a necessary filter through which to view and assimilate the article, review, blog, etc and to discern the difference between information/data and opinion/editorial license.

And I’ll go one further, I am just tired of the lack of integrity in the Network Marketing industry, the continual hype and focus on “the money” and in general, the say/do anything to sponsor someone, promote your opportunity, mentality that’s running amok these days.

This isn’t about denigrating Allen Nettles and/or Citizen Corps, it’s about identifying Citizen Corps for what it is and what it is not.  It is a marketing tool for Allen Nettles and his current opportunity, Pyxism.  Citizen Corps is not as it tries to suggest, “…dedicated in researching and providing the most truthful and factual reviews of the legitimate home businesses.”

And the relevance of knowing where someone (or in this case a site-Citizen Corps) sits before it tells you where it stands in its reviews is credibility.

An objective, 3rd party, unbiased source providing reviews would be a highly valuable due diligence tool and resource for prospective associates and a great 3rd party, independent affirmation and marketing tool for existing associates.  However, when that site (Citizen Corps) is so clearly linked to and promoting the interests of an associate and opportunity (Allen Nettles/Pyxism) the credibility of the site, the information therein is, in my opinion, severely, if not completely compromised.

This isn’t just a danger to prospective associates doing their due diligence that may or may not realize they are actually on the front end of a marketing funnel about to get sucked down.

It’s also potentially very injurious to current associates who are sending their potential business partners (prospects) to the review as a 3^rd party validation of the credibility of the opportunity.  I wonder how many of those prospects with their notoriously short attention spans and memories end up clicking the link in the review and end up  in the marketing funnel, never to return to who originally sent them there?

On the other hand, I wonder about the damage to the credibility of the associates that send prospects there who are astute enough to realize and see Citizen Corps for the marketing tool that it is.  Tell me, would you want to partner with someone who couldn’t discern this for themselves?  I’d wonder what else are they missing?

And to be fair, if there is full or even adequate disclosure up front then people have the choice and can take the information and opinions as they are offered, like here at Be Free Faster, you know who I am, what I am involved into and so can filter what ever information you find here to what ever degree you desire and are comfortable with, in short, I’ve been honest with you and have treated you professionally and like an adult—that’s how I’d like to be treated and that is how I try and help others.  I am here, the information is here to support your due diligence.  If we decide to partner together, that’s a decision we both knowledgeably and willingly make.

Citizen Corps first came to my attention when I was an active LifePath Unlimited associate because my upline and many business associates were pointing to Citizen Corps for it’s great “Review” of LPU as proof of what a fantastic opportunity LPU represented.  And then it came to my attention that Allen Nettles owns Citizen Corps and is (or was at the time) also an LPU associate.  At that time I also noticed that the banner ads for LPU directed the click straight to Allen Nettles’ LPU site.

To me it’s a significant credibility issue when a site that promotes itself as independent makes a favorable review of an opportunity and then conveniently points people to the replicated site for that particular, favorably reviewed opportunity OR makes an unfavorable review of an opportunity and in that negative review promotes another opportunity that they just happen to be involved into.

To be clear, in this specific instance Citizen Corps/Allen Nettles has posted a favorable review of Pyxism and then points people to his personal Pyxism site, but does not disclose anywhere on Citizen Corps his involvement/connection to Citizen Corps and Pyxism.

And then, Citizen Corps/Allen Nettles posts a negative review of Club Sea Breeze and in that review blatantly promotes Pyxism.

This is absolutely in direct conflict with copy on the Citizen Corps site which states on the “Home” page:

“There are many legitimate home business opportunities available today, but the majority of so-called home based business opportunities that are being advertised are simply schemes devised to take advantage of people’s naivete.

That’s where Citizen Corps comes in. We are dedicated in researching and providing the most truthful and factual reviews of the legitimate home businesses.”

And this isn’t a new tactic for Allen Nettles and Citizen Corps, it’s chronic, pathological misrepresentation and misleading practice.  When Allen Nettles was a TVI Associate there were banner ads for his TVI business embedded in the glowing TVI review by Citizen Corps.  There always have been links to his opportunity site within the favorable Citizen Corp Review of that particular opportunity.  Citizen Corps is and always has been a marketing tool to promote the opportunity de jour of Allen Nettles.  And so it seems in its own words, Citizen Corps is “…simply schemes devised to take advantage of people’s naïveté.”

As a friend of mine is fond of saying, “I’ve had you enough”, which just means when I ran across that review I just knew I’d be posting to my blog in the hopes that someone, somewhere might be spared the marketing funnel of Citizen Corps.  Actually, I believe that if she could, Lady Liberty would be running away from that home page or torching it, probably both.

If you’re interested in all the details and OMG, there’s a ton of them, you can read the full article here:

http://befreefaster.com/recession-proof-model/citizencorps-com-the-scam-behind-the-man-behind-the-scam/

To Your Success,

Kurt

Arghhhh, C’mon people.  I knew when it happened I was going to go on a rant, thus the title of this post, pre-meditated rant-oxymoron?  Of course initially, I didn’t really care, I just wanted to rant, now that I’ve calmed down I’m finding some humor in the whole situation.

So yesterday I was doing some research and while reading a forum post (removed, see comments) and some of what I was reading seemed vaguely familiar.  Well, I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed so it took me a while to realize that the reason it sounded familiar is because I WROTE IT!  Imagine my surprise.  And then I got angry.  The “stones” of someone to just lift my content and paste it into their post.

Well either “stones” or idiocy, I mean, it’s public.  Did they think no one would notice?  And did they consider that stealing someone’s intellectual property (yeah, I know but it’s only a little hyperbole in my case) and posting it publicly, that if they got caught it might not look so good for them?  Couple that with trying to promote a company that promulgates a very high level of integrity, did they think it might not reflect so well onto them?  It’s almost laughable if it weren’t so pathetic.

And then my morbid curiosity got the better of me and I Googled a long-tail keyword, “Club Sea Breeze Founding Associate” that is unique to the particular pilfered passage and I found another forum post (removed, see comments) and what do you know, she copied, pasted (stole) the same exact passage.  Actually that was kind of funny, two people have the same very unoriginal thought.  I wonder if they are single, I could introduce them to each other.

And then I set out to see how I could correct the  situation with the least amount of effort, after all, it should not be up to me to police the forums.   If someone brings something like this to their attention the forum should take it upon itself to police itself, right?  Yeah, ok, I know and you’re right, that was me being very naiive.

I did some additional research on the eZine Articles site about what other authors do when this happens to them and got some very good ideas.  And it was actually time well spent because I also learned a lot, seems this happens with annoying frequency.

With my new found knowledge I drafted a letter and sent it off to the admin of each forum indicating I was aware there is some stolen content posted on their site, here’s the link, here’s the passage, here’s the link for the original article and work and that all I want is for them to remove my content from their site or post it in its entirety consistent with the terms of service for eZine Articles.

Well, maybe naiive, but worth a try.  So while I’m still a little “hot” about this, it’s a small comfort to know that I can write something worth stealing.  As for what comes of my letter, time will tell.  If either Chris (removed/comments) or Deb (removed/comments) has Goggle Alerts set up with their names, Google will point them right here where they are welcome to offer their apologies (see photo).

But now, my RANT is over.  This is far too exciting a time and there is still way too much to accomplish with Club Sea Breeze pre-launch just around the corner to waste valuable time and energy on this nonsense.  And now there’s the “Revolution Panel” to get out there and explain to people.  “Revolution …what?”  Exactly, I’ll catch you up in the next post.

I’ve received some wonderful compliments for the site and blog and they are truly appreciated, thank you.

As internet and network marketers, one thing we recognize is the “drive-train” behind success in any opportunity is duplication.

On some level when people see an impressive site, they are also subconsciously comparing, saying, “yeah but”  that’s a lot of work, I can’t do that, or how could I expect my people to duplicate that?

All very valid and legitimate concerns.

In real estate the mantra is Location, Location, Location, in network marketing it’s Exposure, Exposure, Exposure.  So a well constructed website is about Exposure.

But that isn’t the only road to success, in fact it isn’t even needed.  For all our online and internet marketing tools, toys and gizmos, network marketing remains, for the most part, an off-line business.  A face to face business.  You still have to talk with people, communicate.

Can a website help you accomplish this, sure, absolutely, but it’s still just a tool.

So what is most important?  A simple, duplicatable system, period.  This allows everyone to build and allows the best builders the time freedom to enjoy the business they have built.

Club Sea Breeze goes live Friday, in just 5 more days!

Right now, you can still pre-enroll and take advantage of the big push during the sign ups in the coming week.  While it is totally true our compensation plan is not dramatically influenced by time, meaning when you get in, there will be a big push when we flip the switch and start bringing people on board.  If you’re pre-enrolled you will benefit from that push, which means cycling faster and more often.  When you bring two people, cycling is a virtual certainty.

If you’re not sure how or are skeptical, go ahead and opt in on the form to the right and you will be re-directed to a hidden page on this site which will share with you the information you need and there is a place there to pre-enroll as well.  And of course you can always contact me directly.

Let’s build your success, starting from today!

So you decided to read this because of the Sex?  Well, being a guy, I totally understand and would not want to disappoint so tell me, and be honest, how many times a week do you want sex?  You tell me that and in a bit here, I’ll be able to tell how old you are.  And somehow, somewhere I’ll reach for a connection to Club Sea Breeze, we’ll see.

So back to the sex.  How many times per week?  Yes you, how many?  And it has to be more than once and less than 10, so how many?  Ok, I hope I didn’t eliminate too many married folks and former presidents.

Ok, now that you have your number, today is your lucky day!  No, not your “get lucky” day, your lucky day, so multiply your number by 2.

Still with me?  Now add in my number, which is 5.  Yes, 5, what can I say?  I am neither married nor an ex-president.

Now multiply that number by 50.  Sure we’ll wait while you grab a calculator.

All righty then, if you have already had your birthday this year, add 1,760 and if you have not add 1,759.

Almost done.  Next, subtract the four digit year in which you were born and voila!  You should be left with a 3 digit number.

Wow!  Tramp.  The first number is your number or how many times per week you want sex and the second two are your age.

And just a note here before I continue, I wanted to base this upon how many times you actually get sex, however there’s just too wide a gap between men and women and what constitutes sex and the very real propensity for many of us to be less than forthcoming with the “actual” number.  Back to reality I guess.

So we are left with our wants and desires, as so often is the case in life.  Which brings me to Club Sea Breeze.

If you want and desire a change in your life, in your lifestyle, meaning money and the time to enjoy it–even the exotic places in which to enjoy both, CSB launches in 10 days.  What’s really exciting is that later this week beta testing of the matrices and compensation plan begins and with that, cycling, commissions, and momentum into pre-launch the following week!

But there’s still time to pre-enroll and secure your spot, which is a real advantage if you want to capitalize on the great momentum we’ll have rolling into our launch next week, cycle quickly and get started on the right foot.  Do that here:  http://BeFreeFaster.com/thankyou

Let’s build your success, starting from Today!

If you are a current network marketer or have ever been involved into network marketing have you had a few questions and frustrations?

Right now, today, if you were face to face with your downline what would you see in their eyes, gratitude, happiness and confidence or confusion, frustration, ambivalence?

If your sponsor were to look into your eyes what would they see?

Given that the average networker sponsors between 2.3 and 2.6 people in any given opportunity, I already know the answers to those questions for most of us.  And btw, how do you sponsor .3 or .6 people?  I’m not sure either, but we all have them or are them, the .3 or .6 of a person—whether that is from a lack of motivation, desire, understanding, whatever, it’s very common to only be partially invested into something.  Of course, that isn’t what that statistic is referring to, but it easily could.  I know I’ve been there.

An interesting dichotomy, in an industry that succeeds and thrives on optimism and positivity, that as a group we’re a bunch of skeptics.  Don’t think you are?  Think about it, when you answer the phone and hear a voice with just a hint of anxiousness do you “open” or “close” just a bit?  Do the questions start flooding into your mind, I wonder what this person wants, what are they selling, how do I get off…

We are skeptical, our guards are up or go up easily and for good reason, participate in this industry for any length of time and probably, you’ll get burned. (no I’m only a closet skeptic, not a cynic).

The reality is that good, well-intentioned people can get fooled, that’s exactly what happened to us in TVI-Express.  It’s almost worse when that happens because we’ve gotten our friends and family involved and our credibility is at risk or in that case damaged—No one wants that.  And afterwards, we’re even more skeptical about other opportunities.  To the point where some people choose to not participate into any opportunity.  You can’t get burned that way.

While that is one solution, sadly those people are then stuck inside the life and lifestyle they saw they could escape when they first or last considered network marketing.

Look, the reason network marketing is exploding is because it is the most efficient way to bring products to the market.  This is now the “Age of Recommendation” and we’re on the cusp of a giant wave of growth.

You capitalize on this wave by finding the right opportunity.  Just once, would you like to be involved into an opportunity that gave a real chance to the average networker and even the less than average networker?  I know I do.  And that is exactly what you’ll find with CSB, opt-in to learn more.

Let’s build your success and prosperity.

Kurt

Ok, bear with me, in a very roundabout way I’m trying to make a point.  I was reflecting upon the Olympics in Vancouver and of all the incredible accomplishments and while it’s difficult to just pick one, there were a few that really stood out for me.

One night I sat with my Dad and watched the mens relay in short track skating, which just looks like 5+ minutes of total mayhem and chaos.  Talk about exciting, WOW!  Most moments in sports last seconds, this is 5+ minutes of, edge of your seat, chew on your nails, clenched butt cheeks.  It was exhausting to watch and too much fun.  And imagine how many people around the world, rooting for their team were having a similar experience.  20 skaters, round and round that little track.  Looks chaotic, but there’s order there.  It’s a stretch, but to me it mirrors real life, everyone moving fast as they can in circles in some kind of choreographed chaos, but with effort, focus and teamwork,  something truly special can be achieved.

As they always do, there were human interest and background stories on the athletes and one of these in particular stood out.  Steven Holcomb, the driver of American Bobsled Team 1 and the story was about his deteriorating sight.  He was going blind, had an experimental surgery and recovered perfect eyesight.  So instead of a career ending event, he was able to continue his quest, and now with perfect eyesight, which for someone driving 90+ mph down a track of ice, pulling multiple G’s in turns would be critical–you would think.  In his interview he said it was actually a detriment, so he purposefully scratched up his visor so he could see less, but “feel” more.  This got me to thinking about how it is so often in life and business that which we think we see clearly can lead us off-course and the importance of our instincts in both seeing and feeling our way.

And lastly, my favorite, Petter Northug or Norway, the anchor in the mens 4 x 10km cross-country relay.  When he got the exchange to ski his leg, the final 10km of the relay, he and his team were 37 seconds behind the leaders, a pack of three skiers that had jumped out front and were so far out in front that they looked to be the medalists–just a question of which color.  Petter would literally have to ski 4 seconds faster per kilometer to catch them, against the best the world has to offer in his sport.  Oh the drama!  Right before the eventual gold medalist from Sweden decided to breakaway from the lead pack, there was a view of them and far in the background, but miraculously now in the picture, was Petter, amazing.

In the last kilometer Petter skied past the two to win silver, unbelievable.  There were three parts to this race, first when he was so far behind and the sight of the daunting task ahead.  Second, the focus and effort he made to bring the two skiers ahead into his own view and third, the continued focus and effort, but also how the inevitability of the outcome just seemed to welcome him.

Here, to me the analogies to life and business are many-fold.  But these three steps are a good illustration.  First, the dream you have and the task ahead.  Secondly, applying your focused and consistent effort within a plan or system.  And then how the outcome,  the fruition of your dream is attracted and welcomed and just seems to inevitably unfold before you.

Well,  I did say it would be roundabout.  But I hope you at least enjoyed hearing of these special moments and I would love to hear if you have some that stood out in your mind.  And if some of this “resonates” with you, please do check out the rest of Be Free Faster and Club Sea Breeze.