Orrin Woodward and TEAM: The Facts About Your Investment

As an active member of Team, a company founded by Orrin Woodward, for six months, I can give firsthand knowledge of the harm it deals to those involved. This is my personal story, stripped of any emotion and consisting of simply the facts.

In December, 2006, a fellow classmate of mine at Kettering University, who, for privacy reasons, I'll refer to as Dave, presented this business plan to me created by a Kettering Alumni, Orrin Woodward. Excited by the luxurious dream lifestyle he promised I could have with only a small risk ($264, he said), I signed up, and a day later, I was an Independent Business Owner under Orrin Woodward and all the others. The next day, he introduced me to all of his friends involved in Team. They all embraced me as one of their own; they made me feel welcome and a part of a team, like Orrin Woodward recommends in his books and CDs. When I told my mom, she immediately labeled it as a pyramid scheme. However, my newfound friends discouraged me from listening to her because "she didn't understand the business." Instead, they suggested I listen to a CD.

When Dave approached me a week later, he recommended I get involved in the system, which included three CDs a week and a book a month that Orrin Woodward felt would teach me the skills I needed to build the business. I did not like the idea of investing any more money until I received some return. So instead, he handed me a ticket to the seminar that month to see Orrin Woodward speak, but he waited until the next week before informing me I owed him $25 for the ticket.

The seminar blew me away. I never felt such a rush of excitement in my life since the first time the ice cream truck trundled down my street. Blinded with the exciting lifestyle Orrin Woodward described, I asked Dave what I needed to do next. "Get on system," was his reply. The tools were expensive, so I asked him where the profits went, and he said they all went into their production-Orrin Woodward and the others at the top made nothing off them. When I raised my concern of the expense, he advised me to look at it as an investment in my future, just like college, only far less expensive. I could not argue with his logic, so the next week, I signed up for my weekly motivational CDs and books recommended by Orrin Woodward, as well as seminar tickets.

As weeks progressed, I became more and more active as Dave complimented my efforts and all my mentors told me I would soon be making enough to retire, just like Orrin Woodward did. Fueled by enthusiasm, I went to all my friends, families, co-workers, random people I had just met, everyone, and told them about Orrin Woodward and his business idea. Most people snickered at me, which made me feel guilty for presenting the idea to them, but Dave and the others kept encouraging me and told me all I needed to do was buy more CDs by Orrin Woodward to improve myself. So, like a lemming, I did as they recommended.

At one seminar held in St. Louis, Dave strongly recommended I purchase a top 50 CD pack, a $318 investment that, according to Orrin Woodward, contained the best of the best CDs. I did not see a point to it-I already had enough motivation by Orrin Woodward. However, Dave and the others refused to let me sit with them unless I purchased the CD pack. I actually felt bad for questioning Dave and the others; I was overcome with feelings of alienation and stupidity for doubting their judgment. Determined not to screw up the business opportunity Dave offered me, I forked up the $318 and bought my motivational CDs by Orrin Woodward and the other leaders. That secured my seat next to Dave and all the other big kids on the bus.

After that, whenever I raised concerns such as market saturation, the high cost of tools, and the huge expenses the business was running me, Dave and the others told me my focus was on the wrong place-it needed to be on my dreams like Orrin Woodward said. I began to feel sorry for those I had recruited for this business. I was swimming through a debt of thousands of dollars and still promising people a dream lifestyle for a risk of only $264. Blatantly lying to people like that tore me inside, but Dave kept reminding me I was doing a good thing, just like Orrin Woodward, and I was the only one questioning Team's practices.

My debt piling higher and higher and the business increasing the strain on my relationship with my family and friends, I started delving more into Team's infrastructure to get my concerns for Orrin Woodward's company properly addressed. When I learned that the great majority of the money was made on the flow of tools rather than the Quixtar business as Orrin Woodward claimed, I grew suspicious since Dave had told me previously no profits were made on tools. When I asked Dave to see how the money was made, he told me it was confidential and I needed have faith in Orrin Woodward, believing it would all work out in the end. During the final phone conversation I had with him about the subject, I told him I could not ask my friends and family to invest thousands of dollars and hours into a business where Orrin Woodward and the other leaders lied to me and withheld information regarding how I was going to get paid. His defense was that everyone needs to have faith. "It's just like going to a restaurant," he said. "You must have faith that the chef won't poison your food." A day later, I quit Team.

In the aftermath, I lost more than $6,000 in Team, all of it going to the tools produced by Orrin Woodward and the other leaders. However, I consider my financial loss minimal compared to my other losses. My neighbors, friends, and co-workers whom I got involved still keep me at a distance. Several relationship ties were severed, many more wounded.

If you have made it this far without closing the article, I am guessing you have some concerns with Team and Orrin Woodward or are doing some research before signing up, ,like you should. I am not saying whether or not Orrin Woodward and the other leaders present a viable business plan or not: I am sure you can make money off it, however difficult it may be. However, for the sake of your friends and everyone else you present Orrin Woodward and his business idea to, before you start building the business, ask whoever signed you up to show you a written contract stating how you will make all this money. Any legitimate business that asks you to invest money will fully disclose any financial information to its investors-no business will ask one to have some faith they will pay out. If those you are working with tell you to simply rely on Orrin Woodward and his integrity without showing you how you will get paid, be weary, because they are hiding the payout plan for a reason: if it was as good as they claimed, they would fully disclose it to all those who joined.