"Trek Alliance"

Another MLM enterprise started by former Equinox heavyweights

May 2000
By a former Equinox participant

Both my wife and I quit our jobs (almost $200,000.00 in yearly income) to join Equinox full time. We were the ultimate poster kids for their recruiting purposes--because who would dare walk away from that kind of money if there wasn't the strong possibility to make more.

Without going into the sordid details of our over three years of "faking until we made it," we actually escaped with our heads barely above water. Our savings were depleted, including the 401ks. We incurred about $40,000.00 in credit card debt. I only say "escaped with our heads above water" because we didn't lose our home or marriage. Once we got back to work we were able to retire all of our debt and maintain a AAA credit rating.

The experience has made us much stronger & more appreciative of what we have. The only folks vulnerable to a monster like Gouldd are those who buy into the greener pastures theory that he trains his people to paint so well. We never worked harder in our entire lives than in Equinox and the only thing that kept us going was the fear of failing the 1st time in our business careers.

I personally know all of the inner circle heavyweights in that now defunct organization.

What no one has addressed on your site is the fact that some of the most successful Equinox leaders spun off into another company called "Trek Alliance" during September of 1997. Although the founders of this company promised to do their business 180 degrees differently than the former Equinox--their only business experience had largely been learned from Gouldd himself.

The modifications embraced by "Trek Alliance" actually seem to be slight. For example, you can't buy into management positions as aggressively as at Equinox, but you can apparently "invest" an unlimited amount of funds in future profit sharing and not ever "do the biz." We received a request to "invest," but asked what we would do with all the product inventory that came with such an investment. Their reply was that they would make great gifts. This sounds like front loading to me, because the rep that convinces you to do this stands to profit substantially.

More similarities between Equinox and "Trek Alliance" are you pay to be on a desk and are encouraged to run misleading ads to recruit your downline. And you are aggressively encouraged to attend & pay for trainings that perpetuate the same hype from the same group that was once doing Gouldd's dirty work.

I find it hard to believe Mr. Gouldd's former cronies have all become saints overnight.

Copyright © Rick Ross