MJ Promotion, Mike Joiner Kingdom Credit Fix Sell perfume and get your credit fixed too? Hmm... Shreveport, Louisiana

This will go on a bit long, and I do apologize. I just want to make sure I remember everything and that this record is as accurate as I can possibly make it. I have notes, and am including them where I can!

I moved far away from Shreveport this year for an excellent job, but I've lived there my whole life and was there long enough to be privy to this scam.

I saw their ad in the paper for a clerical or customer service position, which is what I was looking for. I called the number and set up an interview with them through their secretary. I showed up the next day, dressed very professionally with my notebook and resume.

CLUE #1 TO FISHINESS: There were at least 30 more people told to be there at the exact same time as I was for the interview, and I could tell they thought it was weird too. Not only that, but I was the only one dressed professionally in the whole room!

I had to wait to fill out an application because they did not have enough clipboards...I'll come back to this in a minute.

CLUE #2 TO FISHINESS: As another report said, the application/contract had an independent contractors clause in it. I do believe I am the only person who ever asked questions pertaining to the application, mostly because people wanted to believe anything as long as it meant money! Also, it asked what job I was interested in, so I wrote admin/clerical. As I told them, I never sign anything that I am not sure of. I signed it because I didn't plan on selling anything - and I didn't.

As each person finished their application, Mike's wife (can't find the business card; it had her name on it) would call us into a small office and go over it with us. She seemed nice enough, about as nondescript as the office we were in. She just repeated what I was looking for, my name and address, and then told me to go into another room for a meeting.

I went into the room they use for motivation and all that crap. He wrote down things on the dry-erase board, which are the notes I took. I don't remember much, except that he was trying to smooth-talk everyone and they had stars in their eyes, which clued me in to the fakeness of the whole situation.

He tried pulling that brother-from-another-mother stuff on us, too, and when he said that, I thought about how a real relative of mine would NEVER try to convince people so hard of how rich they are! Also, everyone there except one person was black, and he picked on the one white girl who was there, mostly about her being white. I thought this was very wrong, and told someone so later. Then I heard back that he was making fun of me and saying that I "talk[ed] white". Yeah, if having correct grammar is talking white, then I'm okay with that :( How trivial, and it's hearsay - therefore not admissible in court - but I thought I should mention it since he's a hardcore Christian and all.

Oh, that reminds me. CLUE #3 TO FISHINESS: There is only one nice car in the parking lot, and it belongs to the business owner; it was an...drumroll, please...Escalade!

He wore nice clothes, and drove a nice car, which was supposed to make us assume he had money. YET he did not have enough clipboards for three people to fill out applications on simultaneously, and he had crap office furniture. Interesting. Most legitimate businessmen that deal with people on a regular basis have nice furniture, to accomplish "the look". He claimed he was building a $425,000+ home in Bossier City I think; I didn't write down where. Should have brought my tape recorder. Darn :(

CLUE #4 TO FISHINESS: One of the things I remembered is that there was an elderly black man there...I think his name started with an E? Not sure, but he was allegedly the guy Mike made rich when he was down-and-out. You know, blah blah blah, he changed my life and and I'll never be broke again and whatnot.

While he was talking, I finally discovered what he wanted us ALL to do (even the people who wanted to clerical jobs): He wanted us to sell perfume!

The old bait and switch. Slick, huh?

The guy told us the pitch "that made him rich" and here it is!

BASIC PITCH

1. Intro - enthusiasm is emanated.

2. Hello. I have a question for you. You like cologne/perfume, right? Well, I wholesale it for 50%-80% off - originals, NO imitations (I wouldn't know if they were originals because I only wear Lucky You, and they did not sell that lol). (pause - eye contact) Come check it out, and if you see two or more that you like, I'll give you a better deal (3-10 seconds for decision, if no decision after that...)

3. Reiterate and offer to buy more of the scent they want for next time you are in their area.

4. Close - very important!


He wanted us to sell perfume, and when asked about the clerical job in the paper, we were told that we would have to be promoted to it by selling lots of perfume. We didn't have to stop at being a secretary; we could become a manager of our own store! I've never heard of being promoted to a secretary position through selling in my life!

After a bit more talking, etc., he passed out a sheet of paper with song lyrics on it...?
A few things that stuck out to me: they were rap-like (because I hate rap music), the lyrics were obviously made up by him, and once people started rapping along, they started dancing/seizing and "getting motivated" to go out and sell.

A few broken lyrics (mostly remembered because I didn't know the italicized words in the context of the song):
"...trunks keep poppin' / Bottles keep droppin' down in this town / The Hustler Region, baby, / The Hustler Region, baby..."

"...ain't I fresh / ain't I clean / ain't no wanksta in me..."

And this last one made me very sad, because it will not come true unless the people get out of this scam in one piece:

"Someday, in the future, I'm gonna look much better than I look right now..."

I was definitely ready to get away since this was bordering on the ridiculous, so we went out and sold perfume/cologne. I wasn't even making an effort, I just wanted to see what I could see of this scam so I could expose it fully. I think we sold 3 bottles, my car-partner and me.

My car partner was okay, but he had an attitude problem when I said I wasn't driving my car. I gave a valid reason for not driving it, but I really just didn't want to be pulled over and have it on my record that I was soliciting where we were NOT supposed to. Mike said that if there was a no soliciting sign, it was like they were telling us to come on in or something like that. I wasn't going to jail for him, so we mostly went to my car-partner's friends and sold them there.

After that, we went back to the office and tallied everything up. People who sold the most got their commission; at least, I think they did, but I never saw a single check come out of that place! If you did not sell the most, you got NOTHING AT ALL, even if it was one bottle less!!!

I went home, showed up the next day with the same excuse for my car as before (that it was not my car), and Mike tried to tear me down in front of everyone, saying that plenty of people drive around and sell from other people's cars. I didn't really care about that, since he's already knee-deep in his illegalities anyway. I got paired up with the same person again, who got snottier than the day before about having to use his car instead of mine. Whatever. I paid for the day's gas, as I did the day before.

Mike also told us we were going "on satellite". I was the ONLY person who asked him out loud what it meant, because I didn't think he would explain it, honestly. We were supposed to go on a short-term trip outside of our normal selling area for a week. You had to have four weeks of training before you got "on crew" to go "on satellite".

For satellite, we had to be there around 10AM, bring a $20 room deposit, 5 days of clothes, a great attitude (gag), and "leave the BS at home"! As soon as he said that $20 remark, I knew I wasn't going to go on satellite. I just had a feeling that he would take the $20 from each person and say he was going to get milk or something and never come back, you know? I don't know what happened, can someone fill me in if they went on one?

And none of those people had a job besides selling perfume. I know this because from sunup to sundown you were selling perfume, and if you were not back by a certain time, I think they would report the perfume as stolen.

After the daily talk and motivation, we got in the car, the guy I was with sold perfume while I pretended to, went back to the office, tallied it all up, some people got commissions, and went home. I made up an excuse to not come back the next day, and I didn't!

Once I got the full experience, I realized that the mechanics of the situation are completely wrong: I'm using MY car, MY gas, and MY as-yet-unearned money to make NOTHING AT ALL, unless I happened to sell more than someone else or meet a stupid quota by chance? I don't think so.


I hope people read this and get the heck outta dodge!!!

Jacqueline
 

Oh wait. He said he also runs a credit-fixing company (Kingdom Credit Fix), like those "quick fix" kinds? NO ONE CAN FIX YOUR CREDIT but you and time -- and/or declaring bankruptcy. Watch out!