Founder Of Empower Network Ex-CEO David Wood Speaks Out

Network Marketing Legend David Wood, co-founder and ex-CEO of now bankrupt Empower Network, once a thriving $60 Million business, who ended up in a rehab clinic, published a lengthy article on his personal facebook to come clean with the world: 

David Wood:

“I used to be so full of shit, and in love with myself and my own self-constructed nonsense. For example, I’d login to Facebook all through the day, desperately checking how many “likes” my last or next photo would get—as if someone liking my bullshit was that person actually giving me a hug after a cup of coffee together, saying: “David, I like you.”

Or I’d be at an event, and the truth is I always have believed in people, but really there was a 50/50 mix where I was so desperate to have someone believe in me that I’d look at them hypnotically in the eye and say: “I believe in you…” …desperately seeking for them to say: “I believe in you too, Dave.”

 Because I needed their pity and fake love desperately. I needed them puffing me up in my own self-constructed cloud to survive in my imaginary universe I created without any real touch or feeling in it, keeping myself alone and disconnected from everything to maintain my “Prophet” affect to keep my world construct growing and reinforcing itself.

 Or I’d be so desperate to turn around declining sales that happened from disrespecting natural business law, that I’d come up with a half assed product and spend more time selling it than making it, pretending it was ok because I was attempting to create enough “value” to justify the income I needed to create so I wouldn’t have to layoff employees again, the majority of whom should have been laid off and replaced or downsized.

 It’s hilarious to me looking back now at how fake and bullshit it all was, while I was inwardly crumbling to pieces with each passing day allowing the most important thing in the world, my family, to fall apart from lack of attention and care. The make money space on the internet is so full of shit, and full of false-prophets, just like I was. What’s a false prophet?

 “They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves…” (that’s even if they don’t know it, like me. I believed my own bullshit.)

 If you want to study good marketing, look at a good marketer that doesn’t sell bullshit like Ryan Deiss over at Digital Marketer, or my good friend Jamie Hudson. We sit around in this stupid space justifying the dumb shit we do and talk around in circles when someone comes up with an objection like “isn’t this like a pyramid scheme?” and rather than saying:

 “Yes, I suppose. We should change that and get some customers and make good products that people want to buy…”

 We justify the fact that there are no customers because the product and the marketing sucks, the culture sucks, and it’s kept alive by creating an army of broke people spending money.

 I’m not talking about good, legitimate Network Marketing here, I’m talking about internet “Make Money” bullshit that has no legitimate products and runs rampant from opportunity to opportunity, wiping out bank accounts with horse-shit empty promises of “Get Rich Quick With No Work Or Paying Attention To Your Customers.”

 I used to say bullshit like: “Put down the phone… and pickup the paycheck!”

 Sounds fucking cool until you realize you just created a lazy culture of reps that don’t take care of their customers and reps on accident, and the lack of communication starts a customer implosion that needs to be replaced with a constant “pyramid-like” flurry of new recruits to sustain our never-ending, ever-collapsing straw house.  You know when I actually learned how fake internet relationships are?

 When I went nuts from getting drugged with large amounts of amphetamines without my knowledge (I did not know I was taking them, they were slipped into something else I was taking on purpose, that did not make me turn nutso. I’m actually getting the hospital report of my bloodwork with proof, and I had absolutely no idea I had amphetamines in my system, as I had discontinued my prescribed Concerta [for ADHD] over a month before that. There was enough amphetamines in my system to where I should have died of a heart attack and a stroke and only didn’t because God was protecting me) – and when I went nuts and went into the crazy hospital and got out——I can count the number of internet friends I had that even asked me what happened on ONE hand.

 Like, they didn’t even ask: “Hey dude… What the hell happened? I’ve known you for like five years and given you multiple hugs and shit… You ok?”

 Now, before this looks like a pity-party, I’m not blaming any of them. I was an idiot with relationships and avoided personal contact and never really checked on how people were doing with any of my “internet friends” either. So them not asking me was my own Karma.

 I used to let idiots around myself that wanted nothing but to steal money, and would let them disrespect me on Facebook or in Public without kicking their ass right then or suing them.  Now I’ve learned:

 “Vultures Belong In The Desert.”

 When a vulture can’t feed, what does it do? It goes and feeds somewhere else, and leaves you alone. You don’t let a vulture come and hang around your kids. 

 My point with all of this is simple: ‘m happy I went through all of this. Building my last company (I’m not going to mention the name anymore) was a great learning experience and it showed me what is both possible, and the level of destruction possible when it’s not done right.

 All of that has gotten me ready for my next ventures (there will be many of them, not competing with each other, non-vulture product based companies that make everyone win, and NOT all Network Marketing, and NONE of it with “Get Rich Quick” messaging) and taught me how to build badass shit right.

 And in the process, I had an evolutionary leap in my thinking and spiritual evolution, and I actually love myself, for who I am. I don’t give a shit if one person likes this post, or if I lose 1,000 of my fake Facebook friends. Because they’re not friends mostly, and I don’t care. I’m not going to clean up my Facebook friends, or post dumbass threats on my wall to like a post or get slammed, because I don’t care if I’m the only one who likes this.

I’m not going to get on Facebook all day or come on late at night and make up bullshit to get attention, because the only attention that matters to me is from my real friends, and more importantly from my family in my house. I’m not going to build a fake ass business with no customer service or affiliates that disrespect me or others on Facebook and if someone disrespects me or my people I’ll disrespect them right back to their face and they’ll stop their bullshit.

 I’m not going to stay up all night on Facebook and ignore my kids, desperate to save a dying business while my family is dying, and of all of what I say, the most evident thing that what I’m telling you is the truth is this: I’m BACK with my family after destroying it two years ago. Because of the grace and love of my wife, Priscilla, I have what matters the most – and I will destroy Satan and the armies of Hell before I’ll EVER let my family fall apart again.

 I’m not going to build fake friends, or pretend people are my friends who aren’t, or never were. Because I’m actually happy now, for the first time in my life.

 So when I post my stuff about God, and you don’t like it, I’m fine. I actually want you to unfriend me and ignore if if it offends you. I’m not preaching to you, I’m saying what the fuck I want to say, with the heart and soul I want to say it in, telling you where it comes from, EXACTLY like I want to say because I don’t need the attention to feel alive. I’m going to build great businesses, and build them slowly enough to build systems, processes, and people who all win together.

 I’m going to build Network Marketing in a way that everyone who listens has a real business and makes real money from real customers, in a way that will make the FTC say: “Dave Wood, we fucking love your beautiful, testosterone-free ass! God you look hot!” And I don’t care if it takes me a while because I’m not desperate, and if it takes me a bit to build my first leaders, they’ll all make money and the people will come because we’ll be solving problems and building real skill and real businesses.

 And my businesses and financial kingdoms will multiply and grow like a stone rolling down off of a mountain top crushing everything in it’s path – because I’m going to do everything I do with attention, care, detail, good planning, focusing on the customers, and drama-free. Getting drugged and getting messed up was a blessing to me.  I messed up my skin (the amphetamines made me claw my skin off) and now I know how to make skin younger without expensive bullshit.

 I had intense testosterone problems when I stopped using doctor-prescribed (still bullshit) testosterone, and because of what I know and have learned about nutrition, I’m now producing more testosterone naturally 6 months later than I did when I was 25, still increasing my levels.

 I had attention problems from coming off of doctor prescribed Concerta (never, ever take ADHD medications. They are evil and come from Satan) and now I’ve learned to heal my attention and brain systems and eventually I’ll have better attention than anyone I know. Like, I actually read and pay attention well to business contracts now. Trying to fix my testosterone caused me to make some mistakes with nutrition that resulted in increasing my blood-pressure, so now I know how to get rid of high blood pressure naturally, without bullshit pharmaceutical drugs.

 The mistakes in nutrition caused damage in my kidneys and stomach, which I’ve also learned to repair and reverse, and while at it: I’ve learned how to repair cartilage damage naturally, without drugs.

I’ve learned how to get strong faster, with less workout time (my daily workout is now only 20 minutes and I’m getting exponentially more strong and fast, with no-workout notes needed) I’ve learned how to replace $150 an hour spinal decompression therapy with a bathroom towel for free in the house.

 I’ve gotten better with money. I’ve gotten better at listening and respecting people. (…and I’m still working on showing up on time and getting back to everyone – old habits are dying hard.)

 My point is, I’m learning how to be an ACTUAL badass, rather than a fake-ass internet “false-prophet” selling bullshit to prop up their never ending need for attention and eternal butt grabbing, backwards and forwards in time.