I found the ad for thisposition on Monster.com. The posting stated that it was a Management trainingprogram and that the company utilized direct marketing methods. It also gave alittle bio on the president and the Human Resource manager. Overall the websitehowever was very vague on what the company actually did and had no informationon this "Management Training Program" or any of the company's affiliates. This alone should have been the first red flag however being an
overly eager 23year old fresh out of college I actually believed this to be a legitimate company.
I did a quick google search of "Smith's Business Consultants" and nothing negative came up so Iassumed everything was alright. The website looked like it had beenprofessionally done and Josh the owner and Jaime the Human Resource Managerwere obviously fairly young as I could see from the website pictures so I assumed that the company was still in its start up phase and that I would havea good chance of getting the position. I submitted my resume and cover letter and received a call later that week asking to do a preliminaryinterview I did my preliminary interview over the phone and spoke with Josh the owner. He seemed like a nice guy and the interview was very relaxed and conversational.
I asked what exactly I would be doing and he beat around the bush so to speak saying that it was a management program that trained people to opentheir own consulting office. I also asked what were some "Direct Marketingmethods" (as stated on the website) that his company used. He just repliedthat they were more effective than indirect marketing methods and blew off thequestion. His lack of details should have been red flag number two but I just assumed he misunderstood the question. I naively accepted the offer to come down for a second interview. He told me it would be an all-day interview and to bring a notebook and todress business professional.
I took $700 out of my savings to book a flight thinking that I was going in for a position in a management training program with a start-upfirm. It seemed like great experience an awesome resume builder. I arrived atthe office suite that morning and immediately recognized Jaime from her picture on thewebsite. There were about 9 interviewees that morning. Many of the candidateswere dressed poorly, had bad posture and just looked like bums. Theoffice was upbeat. There was techno playing in the conference room and Jaimewas playing music at her desk. The team members were all smiling and seemedlike they really enjoyed being there.
This should have been red flag 4 butagain I just thought that I was just had an edge over the other candidates (arrogance on my part) and that the office was just trying to stay upbeat. Iwas told I was going to be following one of the "top accountmanagers" that day. Here's where I finally recognized a red flag. We wentdoor to door occasionally throughout the day but we did a lot of follow upswith past customers and also spent a lot of time just getting to know some peopleso it didn't really seem like a straight door to door sales kind of job. Theaccount manager acted like he had years of experience in the company (he hadonly been in 8-9months). He too was poorly dressed and had a crappy car andchained smoked cigarettes.
He had maintained professionalism for about 2min until we left the office and got to the car. He took off his tie, rolled uphis sleeves and during my interview he frequently bragged about the girls hehad sex with when he was younger and told me all his drinking stories. He didtry to become professional every now and then and asked me legitimate interviewquestions so I assumed that he was just trying to relate to me being a youngguy straight out of college. He told me that 15/100 people were selected for the2nd interview and congratulated me (FALSE). I asked if it was door to doormostly and he said that it was only a small percentage of what they did (FALSE) He also said most companies wanted our services because we had the lowestprices (FALSE). I asked what the earning potential was and he said through theroof.
He said that he made $2500 a month on average and had a nice apartmentwith full cable/internet package with all thebells and whistles (False). (He actually lived in a shitty apartment inthe ghetto I found out later with no cable and internet). I asked what I wouldstart out at and he said $300-500/wk plus 28% commission (FALSE) He also fed meallusions of grandeur that I would be making 6 figures in 3-4 years and have myown company. He said the business was about creating managers and not so muchabout sales which was reiterated by Josh after my interview. The campaign thatthe company represented was Quill, which I researched and was a legitimate wholesale office supply company. Well I acceptedthe job (why I did still baffles me) and moved down there the next week.
I came in on thefirst day and was pretty excited but as soon as I came in I knew something wasfishy. There were only 15 people in the company. If they interviewed 100s off peopleevery month why is there only 15 people in the office. I also noticed anoverwhelming sense of forced enthusiasm. Everyone was constantly giving eachother hi fives and fist pumps and listening to upbeat music. They do this thing called atmosphere which is where thegroup plays games and chants and gets them hyped up before hitting the fieldevery morning (going door to door).
There was no negative energy allowed inatmosphere. I was very similar to thementality in North Korea I thought. I noticed how all the newer people wereconstantly force fed inspirational quotes and stories from business moguls like Trump and Charles Schwabb. They constantly down talked corporate America and people who wereactually behaved professionally. I was often told that in corporate America thatthe companys goals were to keep you in the lowest position possible and thatthat was what sets this firm apart.
They often would try to convince us thathardly anyone had a chance making it in the corporate world and that this businesswas the way to go because they aimed to promote people. The conference roomwalls were bright orange and plastered with pictures of the people whosupposedly "made it" in this field. After the morning atmospheresession Everyone would go door to door in business districts wearing full suitsin the middle of the Louisiana heat. Associates would have to drive all overLouisiana and not get reimbursed for gas or hotel accommodations. This adds upwhen you drive and SUV. After a full day of slaving away we would return for an afternoon atmosphere session.
Depending on how manysales you made that day you could ring all these bells or shakers to recognizeyourself within the group for having performed well that day. Everyone wouldthen stand in a circle and each person would run around the circle and giveeveryone a hi five. I felt like I was in a cult and if I didn't go with it Iwould be penalized. I knew I wanted to quit already but I had just driven 900miles and I was curious what other crap they had up their sleeve. All theoffice members constantly hung out after work as well.
If someone didn't gothey would be more or less ostracized. They constantly talked about all theother offices success and how everyone could achieve that success. At one pointI was even told by the account manager that I had followed that they hire abunch of deadbeats that can "hack it in the field so the office can makesales". Ideally the best team members would emerge and be able to build astrong team within the company and that's how they would get promoted. (This was probably thebiggest falsity in their belief system) This is also where I started sensingthe pyramid scheme part of it.
I was often told to concentrate on the longterm goals and not worry so much about the money. This made sense because Inoticed how everyone there was on a tight budget. Everyone was constantlybroke. Even the Josh the office owner had nothing to show for his so calledaccomplishments. Maybe he wasn't materialistic but he sure did like to talkabout all the things he would have one day. Additionally I foundout that you are only paid 28% of sales you make but you are encouraged to give coupons to these businesses as part of the pitch thus lessening the amount you sell them. There is no 300-500 a week as I was told. Working the field isstraight suffering. You would be luckyis your paycheck exceeded what you spend in gas.
Finally on the third day they sat down with the new guys and explained how the company worked. This is how I finally found out that the business was an ICL (IndependentCorporate Licensing) or subsidiary of Cydcor. Its funny yet strategic how they don't tellyou this before. Now I finally have some more information that I can actuallydo some simple research on. Now I actually asked some one earlier about it andwhen they told me it was Cydcor they told me not to google it. I found thisquite suspicious so naturally I googled it. If you google Cydcor you will find1000s of horror stories and scams just like this one with various ICL's underdifferent names around the United States.
It was terrible todiscover what this business was all about. I had taken a substantial amount outof my savings already. I had my gut feeling all along but I'm glad that I wentthrough this horror so I can reach out to any other potential victims of thiscorporate devil. Smith's Business Consultants had not been recognized yetpublicly as being associated with Cydcor. At least not as far as I've found. Iwant to simply bring this to light that this company is associated with Cydcor.
I dont even need to go into the evils of Cydcor, a simple google search of thiscompany will speak for itself. This business targets new graduates and innocent individuals who wantto get a head start in their careers. MLMs rope them in by promising economicopportunity, materialistic things and subsequently fills their heads withgrandeur of false hope and unattainable success. I have no intent to personallybash any of the team members, not even the owner Josh. I personally believedthat they were nice guys I just firmly believe that they are so brainwashed bythis bogus yet somehow legal scam that they will actually succeed in this business.
Yes it is possible to succeed but the method to get there is unsureand EXTREMELY unlikely. I've done alot of research on Multi -level Marketing schemes (pyramid schemes) and 99.99%of the time people end up losing money. I lost a little over a grand from mysavings from being a waiter during college by investing in moving down to BatonRouge to work for this company. My story is not the worst though. I've readabout families with kids who have had their houses foreclosed because of investing too much into thesetypes of businesses with no benefits.
The company has their teamdrive all over the state without reimbursing them for gas. These poor hardworking people have become slaves for this company by being lied to anddeceived. Not even the best salesman make less thank min wage. I cant even tally how many lies I was told over my few day period with this business. Mypurpose for writing this article is only to spread awareness about these typesof businesses. I can only hope that these people will somedayrealize it and get out while they can and that its just a sense of false hope thatdrives them. Its unreal the amount of psychology and delusion that Cydcor ICLsuses. Bottom line dont take a job with this company! You will be lied to decived and will make little to no money doing this!
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