Randy Gage wrote a tremendous article last week titled "Junkie See, Junkie Do."  It was regarding a recent acquisition in the industry.  With his permission, I've posted it in full below.  I've been a fan of Randy's for a long time.  He's an outstanding networker with years of legitimate results.  After following him for years, he strikes me as a guy that's willing to grind it out and put in the hard hours to dig out results.  He sticks, thus he succeeds LONG TERM.  It's a very courageous article.  I have a lot of the same feelings and thoughts, and I could not have expressed these thoughts any better.  There's something about this recent development that troubles me.  Bottom line: Companies that rely on confidential deals to attract distributors are in for a rude awakening.  The good news: the market is no longer blind to it.      ---------------Start of Randy's article---------------Alas, the ongoing chronicles of the “MLM Junkies” continues repeating the pattern, year after year, company after company.On Monday I got a message from Art Jonak that there was a live-stream of ABC company, announcing their sale to XYZ company. Company ABC had targeted my own company a few years back, buying off a top leader and attempting to get many others. In fact they laid a trail of destruction across the entire network marketing landscape, making sweetheart deals with every leader they could buy.I’ve been witnessing this sad saga replayed over and over for more than 25 years. Five or six years ago, ABC company was the “hot” deal on the scene. One of their principals was sending his private jet around the globe, wining and dining leaders he wanted to poach away from other companies. And he got a lot. Sales were skyrocketing, shareholders were happy, most of the other companies were jealous. But a strange thing happened…Those hired mercenaries turned out to be, well, mercenaries. And when DEF company came along and wanted to make a big splash, most of these “mercs” went with DEF for under the table deals and payoffs.There is a morphing blob of a couple hundred thousand “MLM junkies,” who drift from deal to deal, every couple of years. They’re always jockeying for a better position, trying to flip their upline into their downline. Unfortunately for them, they have no idea that the game is rigged, so they can never win. Because if you’re not recognized as one of those “heavy hitters,” you don’t get the cooked line, master distributor position, or phantom positions in the tree for your spouse, mom, dog, cat, and parakeet that these manipulative deal-making insiders negotiate for themselves.Eventually the junkies leave DEF company for GHI company, and two years later, they’re at JKL company. Until we get to where we are today….Poor ABC company geared up staff and production to handle all that amazing growth they had for two years, but then the bottom fell out. Most of the mercenaries had moved on, and the company couldn’t slash overhead fast or deep enough. Finally the dealmaker was forced out in a desperate refinancing. Now company XYZ is buying the burnt out shell.So I couldn’t help myself, and tuned in to see the carnage. But the presentation was amateur and cheesy and I had work to do, so I tuned out after two minutes. To paraphrase Dwight Yoakum, it was just another lesson about a naive fool that came to Babylon, and found out that the pie don’t taste so sweet.Every couple years these junkies blow up whatever work they’ve done, destroy yet more of whatever waning credibility they have remaining, and jump to the next hot deal, thinking this time it will be different. But of course it never is.Because you don’t reach success in MLM but getting in the hot deal at the right time, but by getting in the right deal and making it hot. By going to work.Of course I’d love to tell you that my company is different and we would never do a deal. But that would be a lie. One of the co-founders was a dealmaker. And when I joined, most of the top income earners, including my sponsor, were on some kind of deal. I didn’t have a problem with it, because at least they were disclosed. And of course they were ready to offer me the farm. I think they were shocked that I didn’t want a deal of any kind.  I bought a distributor kit and purchased the “everything but the kitchen sink” activation order for about $1,000. It was important to me that everyone I brought into the business could duplicate everything I was going to do. And they did…I sponsored 11 people the first month. Each of them with no network marketing experience. Two more the second month. I went to work, driving depth, teaching them the basic skills of meeting people, working a candidate list, making invitations, and follow up. It was steady work, building block stuff, staying with each line until someone in that line took it away from me. Creating the team support structure required: a team website, training manuals, plug-and-play presentation tools, and live events where real people actually went in person and shook hands with other real people, instead of hiding behind their computer, “liking” cat videos on Facebook.By year two, I was now the top income earner in the world. The next year, the former top income earner left – for a deal with ABC company. Meanwhile my company had made another deal and brought in another “heavy hitter.’ Because they had a cooked leg, within a couple years, they replaced me as the top income earner. For a few months at least, until they found a better deal and left. (Since then, they’ve been in at least eight other deals I know of.)A couple years later, my sponsor negotiated a buyout to his deal and now makes his living as a generic trainer.  In fact, within five years, every single person who had a deal with my company was gone. And the guy making the deals, was terminated by the board of directors. (And since then, he’s bounced around through about ten different deals.)I don’t wish any ill for any of those people. I hope things work out the best for all of them. As for me, I’m just minding my own business; doing what I always do. I drive around town to new peoples’ homes, to be there for their first meeting, driving depth in the organization. I get on planes and speak at major events for my long distance lines. And last night, I had my latest prospect in front of a TV, watching a presentation.Because this is how the business is built…It is mindboggling to see how many people simply refuse to see this reality. And every couple of years, there is another inexperienced and gullible company owner who thinks they can jumpstart their growth and circumvent the time it takes to build a structure. So they pull out their checkbooks, and start buying mercs. They have a two-year run, become the next hot deal, and then cry foul when the next, next hot deal poaches away the very people they poached from someone else. Junkie see, junkie do…Unfortunately here’s what other collateral damage happens along the way…On every cycle of the process, there are thousands of junkies that burn out. They have been in so many deals, burned through so many contacts, and maxed-out so many credit cards that they simply give up the ghost. And that’s a heart-breaking tragedy.Because these are not bad people, and they’re not lazy. They really wanted to succeed. They joined network marketing because they had a dream: They wanted to be their own boss, spend time with their family, drive one of those exotic bonus cars, take that trip to that glamorous locale, sponsor that orphanage, or simply break the bonds of debt. And when they throw away that last flipchart or distributor kit – their dream goes in the recycling bin with it.Also on every cycle, there are some junkies that stay, because they have the security of the top-up or other fixed deal they were able to get as a mid-level merc. But alas, it turns out they can’t actually build a network marketing organization.Because first of all, that takes honest work. Building a business in network marketing is simple, but it’s not easy. You do have to actually work.Second it requires integrity and being able to look people in the eye and promise them that they have the same exact opportunity and pay structure that you began with.And it means actually knowing the fundamentals of the business: how to meet people, make compelling invitations, use duplicable tools, and become great at teaching and mentoring.If you want to truly develop – and lead – a large team, you have to create a support structure of marketing tools, training materials, and live and online events that nurture the team. This is sacrificial effort that doesn’t translate immediately into higher bonus checks early on, but creates true residual income and duplication for a lifetime.I’d like to say my company has the best products in the entire world. But that’s not true. My company has some amazing products. Just like about three hundred other MLM and direct selling companies. I’d like to say my company has the best compensation plan in the world. But there are at least 100 companies with great pay plans. You probably want to be in the best company in the world. And for you, that’s probably the one you’re in right now.Want to become an MLM Rock Star?  Stop looking for the next hot deal.  Stop looking for the next heavy hitter and become one yourself.  Stay with your company, develop your skills and be willing to do the work it requires.Otherwise you become the “mud against the wall,” in the saga with no end…Now company XYZ is just the latest entity to be running around the globe offering these backroom deals to anyone that will take them. So it was only fitting that they pick up the crumbs of company ABC for fractions of pennies on the dollar. The smoke and mirrors have all played out. Now all they’re buying is the wisps of leftover smoke and the shards of broken mirrors.Meanwhile, all the parties involved are making proclamations of grandeur and world domination about their new, stronger entity changing the game forever. Please forgive us if we’ve seen this movie before.How the story ends….So about an hour later, Art messaged me to ask what I thought of the live stream. I told him I was preparing my leadership call for that night and had prospects to follow up with, so I had dropped off after two minutes. He insisted that I go back and watch it some more.  So I was intrigued enough to comply, and was glad I did, because I got the biggest laugh of my week.The main speaker still wasn’t giving up the ghost, beseeching some of the mercenaries that had left that, “You have my number!”  But my favorite part was when he was thanking the “millions of viewers” around the world who were watching.  The live feed had 278 people.-RGP.S.  If you really believe in our profession – and doing it the right way – I hope you’ll share this post all over social media.  The profession gets stronger every time you do.  There are share buttons above.---------------End of Randy's article---------------  Follow Randy on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/randygage.