It appears that one founder had a conversation with someone about BE and somehow it was interpreted that this member was on a board of a company.

I want to be clear that I invited you all to be a part of a BETA test to see if this idea of mine could have legs. I did not invite you to be on a board or business partners. The entity that “holds” my business is a California limited liability company of which I am the sole “member” (owner) and “manager” (officer). Limited liability companies do not have boards.

Katie, I partially agree, because “this grand experiment turned out to be magical” for all of us, but powerful for only one of us, you. Powerful here being your euphemism for a great money making opportunity. With that in mind, Katie, let me just make that sentence more accurate. “This grand experiment turned out to be magical for all of us, and a great money making opportunity for me.”

That’s about right for you, Katie, but not for me. Although, I can’t speak for the other 4 Founders, I think it was magical because the 6 of us succeeded in creating something, I believe, is better than the BNI format, because we distanced ourselves from the patriarchal model BNI and other networking companies evolve from. And it was done in an atmosphere of total sharing, minus ego, and with the desire to simply help others grow their businesses. I’m going to leave the “powerful” to you, as they say, “knowledge is power.” And only you were imbued with the knowledge that this grand experiment was a scheme to get 5 people to help you create a business that you could make a profit from, and kick the 5 Founders who helped you create that business, to the curb.

Katie, the “many brilliant pieces” were the foundation.

The foundation of BE was an idea to create a structure similar to BNI. All of the “brilliant pieces” she refers to in her paragraph above, make up the entire format that we created. Without those “brilliant pieces,” the only thing that Katie would have would be her idea to improve the BNI format with a few “brilliant pieces” she couldn’t come up with on her own. Those ‘brilliant pieces” were the following: 1) The10-minute presentation was borrowed from BNI. Katie renamed it the Red Dot Talk (RDT) inspired by the TEDx Red Dot. 2) Katie shared her Community Charter as a template for us to create BE’s Community Charter. 3) As I mentioned in my email, to Katie and the Founders, dated January 27th 2021, Maggie Schreiber contributed one of the most important pieces, the Seat of The Soul (SOS) and supplied BE the use of all of the questions that we ask the member on the seat during the SOS process today.

During those 2-hour weekly meetings, we, the 6 Founders, came up with the entire format known today as BE. We continued to tweak it as best as we could until we presented to the public. However when BE launched in March 2019, the various roles, Meeting Facilitator, SOS Facilitator, SOS, RDT, Scribe, Time Keeper, SOS report, that Katie referred to, we had already put in place. The only new roles and responsibilities we needed to come up with were in regards to the meeting logistics and new membership that Katie referred to. Yes, these fell by the wayside as most of these were roles and tasks that took place outside of the normal meeting time (Wednesdays 8:00-10:00AM), and the normal meeting agenda. At that point, Katie had declared that BE was now her business, and she was the sole owner. Therefore, those roles and tasks were left up to her discretion.

And, Katie, as for the rest of the gobblydegook BS, in that paragraph, I’m going to give it the consideration it’s worth – nothing. As far as, you picking up the business, as any business owner would, the only pieces you picked up were the checks that you got from the people you charged to join BE. I agree, you have learned a lot from this experiment, but not enough to keep you from putting your foot in your mouth by lying about who the creators of BE were. If we can agree that the definition of paradigm is a system of beliefs, ideas, values, and habits, that is a way of thinking about the real world, then in my opinion, it appears to me, that your system, is a narcissistic one based on self-aggrandizement. And of course, as always, I welcome your reply.

Katie, I know you know you’re lying when you say the “structure and format of what we did each week in our badass engagement meeting is what” you proposed to us when you invited us to be part of a Beta test. First of all, you never invited us to be a part of any Beta test. That “Beta” is something that either you came up with, or your lawyer did, to legally imply that you had created BE on your own. If you had had the smarts to do that, you wouldn’t have needed to con me into believing that I was your BFF. I think you felt you had to do that in order to get me to help you find people with the talent, to create Something you couldn’t create on your own.

And just to keep everybody on the same page, that “Something” was the idea that you had wanted to create something that could compete with BNI. The “Something” that would make BNI better, would be the things we created to make it better. I believe it was our discovery that leaning on a matriarchal influence rather than the traditional patriarchal influence is what gives BE its significant difference. And let me just say that you didn’t have any idea about the matriarchal influence. That was a byproduct of the symbiotic relationship that the 6 of us had when we worked as a team to create the concept known today as BE. It makes me want to call you a lying sack of ________, but I won’t.

Maybe I’m overreacting but frankly I’m just pissed at your attempts to make what we created, the 6 of us, you just being 1 of the 6, into a Beta test. You came up with that big lie so that you can take credit for creating something you didn’t have the brains or the will to do alone. The only thing you know about BE is what we told you. I defy you to name one thing you created on your own besides the idea that you wanted to create something better than BNI. Yes, it was your idea to put Post-its on the wall. But putting blank post-its on a wall does not a BE create. Let me repeat, those “many brilliant pieces” were the ideas that we put on those Post-its. Katie, Go ahead make me a liar, ‘cause in the end one of us is going to be.

Katie, you didn’t offer to waive the $3000 fee to thank and acknowledge us “for being a part of this grand experiment” because there was no grand experiment. What there was, was a creation of a job opportunity for you to make $3000 from membership fees. You indeed may be the business owner of BE, but we, (Michelle Moquin, Chimene Pollard, Maggie Schreiber, Steve Swearengen and Nan Foster, along with you) were the creators of BE. Yeah, it was worth it to you, since you were calling yourself the sole owner of BE, if it would prevent us from contesting your sole right to that ownership. And even in that, your greed prevented you from making good on that promise. The lifetime membership that you promised me was taken away from me, just as it was from the other members you promised. As far as I know only Steve is there to benefit from your “lifetime membership.”

It is really audacious of you to suggest the other 5 Founders would be working for you and that we would be contributing money to a concept that all 6 of us put together, equally. If you had been honest about what you were planning, then who knows who would be working for whom and what, if any, moneys would come from whom? Just because you got a lawyer behind our backs doesn’t legally mean that you own BE. I don’t want any part of BE, monetarily, but I do expect to receive the credit due me for creating BE. I am one of the creators of the concept that you are claiming as something that you created alone. That makes you a liar and me one of the 6 Founders of BE. Oh and Katie, I refuse to a part of that “pioneering” BS you are spewing. We are Founders, the creators of BE, not “pioneers.”

Oh and to that BS “There would be a president, a secretary and a treasurer, with speci?c legal obligations relating to those. Of course, none of these things exist nor were they discussed or intended.” The only true parts about that BS is your statement, “nor were they discussed.” Of course they were not discussed because for that to have happened, you would have had to reveal to us in the beginning that this was a business you wanted us to create for you, for your own personal aggrandizement. That business complete with the officers didn’t get set up by us because you did not tell us it was a business idea that you wanted us to create for your sole financial benefit and ownership. So of course you carried out all those roles on your own. That was because you were the ONLY one aware of the fact that you were making BE a money-making business SOLELY for yourself.

Katie did not declare that BE was going to be her business until we were done creating it. Up until that time, any email that I received from Katie was about members meeting weekly to create a badass networking community. The statement “creating a business” was nowhere to be found. To my knowledge, I and the other Founders, were not aware that her intention was to turn BE into a business. We were first made aware of that after we had created BE, tested its operational ability, and tweaked it into the format of what you recognize today as BE.  

When I spoke to Katie about not telling us that she intended for our creation to be her business alone, she matter-of-factly told me that it was always her intention to turn BE into a business. I understand now why she didn’t say that to me at the pool during our spa day, nor to any of the other Founders when we were inviting them to help create the business she has today, BE. 

If Katie had said: 

“Hey everyone, I need people here to help me build this new idea I have into a business for myself. I want to put together a new type of networking group that has never been done before. I want you to commit to coming here every week for months and months. We’re going to brainstorm my idea and create a business I can make money with, and afterwards we’re going to test it, while I’m selling it.”

“But Founders, I am putting you on notice that once we get all of the kinks out, I’m going to turn it into a business solely for myself. I’m going to make all of the money, and I’m not going to be giving you anything. I will not only not acknowledge the fact that you helped me create something different and better than BNI, I will tell everyone that I created it all by myself and I just brought you in to Beta test it. I will refuse to recognize anything you do to help me create this business.”

“Initially, I’m going to call you Founding members to motivate you and make you believe that you are part of something special. But when I’m ready to turn what you have helped me create into a business solely for myself, I’m going to change that Founders title to ‘Pioneers.’”

“I will define ‘Pioneer’ as someone who just Beta tested my creation of BE. That way none of you will be entitled to a dime from the business that you helped me create. If you need some legalese to justify this then hear this; ‘Founding members actually invest and you’re not investing anything, monetarily.’” 

Katie, as Founding members we did invest something of value, unless you are saying that our time, ideas, input, blood sweat and tears didn’t count.

If you had told us all of that, Katie, and then asked us, “ Now, who’s going to help me create a business?” you would still be doing what you were doing before BE because there wouldn’t be a BE. Katie, honestly, why would we have agreed to put all of our time and energy into creating and building someone else’s business without any compensation, when we had our own businesses to build? I don’t know about the other 4 Founders, but I would have told you to go to_____, well, let’s just say it’s hot there a lot.)

In my opinion, I didn’t feel Katie was open to discussing how BE could be a sustainable and effective business model. When I went to visit Katie at her home one weekend and we were talking about BE, Katie spoke about profit sharing for members who wanted to start their own BE chapter. I told her members are joining BE for their personal growth, and that she was asking Founders/Members to grow her business without offering them any benefits, financial or otherwise. I suggested to her that Founders/Members would need to have an incentive besides personal growth, for them to get motivated to invite others to join them. I suggested that she should offer them some sort of financial reward to recruit other members. I tried to impress upon her that I didn’t think BE would grow and especially as quickly as she’d like, if those involved in its growth weren’t financially compensated for their efforts. 

Since Katie seemed willing to talk about profit sharing, I remember feeling exited about sharing my ideas with her. I said to Katie, “I think we, the other 4 Founders and I would like to be more participatory in BE, you know, have a vested interest. After all we, the 6 of us, started this all together.” I also said to her, “I’m only bringing this up because you spoke about profit sharing.” Then I told Katie that I was hoping that she would be amendable to giving 10% vested interest for each one of the remaining 5 Founders. I reminded her that collectively we’ve already put in and are still putting in at least 50%. I also suggested that BE members should be given 10% of the yearly fee for people they recruit who are accepted as new members. 

Simply put: I offered Katie an alternative business proposal that would give the Founders a vested interest, and members an incentive, for recruiting members and helping her build her business. That interest and incentive, wouldn’t kick in until Katie had reached 100 members. That would put $300,000.00 into Katie’s pocket before anyone else received a dime. 

Katie was not interested in that proposal, so I offered her a second proposal that any member, not just the Founders, would get 10% of the yearly fee as an incentive to recruit new members.

She went for neither. Katie said she definitely didn’t see any reason to pay anyone an incentive to recruit new members for her because she felt that she could talk the members into doing that for her for free. Then she repeated that if a member started their own chapter and took it on growing it and running it, only then would she be open to profit sharing. 

When I expressed again the fact that we all had put in so much of our time, I could tell by the look on Katie’s face that she was upset. Katie accused me of not valuing what she brought to BE. I expressed that I felt the same way for all of the hard work that I and the other 4 Founders had put into BE as well. I felt that my proposals would make us feel like a team again and bring back that synergy that we all had felt and experienced when we were creating BE. Somehow, ever since she decided that it was her business, the energy between all of us had shifted. How could it not? It went from “We are creating…” to Katie literally saying, “I want to be known as the sole creator of BE.”

I knew the conversation was over. So I let it go. I recited to her a quote that any sane business person should understand, “100% of nothing, is nothing.” 

Katie’s “growth path” was to ask the Founders to recruit new members to grow her business. But she offered no incentive of a vested interest or benefit, other than a free yearly membership. I never heard her bring up profit sharing again.

Katie didn’t make any mistake in her communications to us. She told us exactly what she wanted us to know exactly when she wanted us to know it. When Katie and I brought the other 4 Founders together to create what you know of today as BE, she didn’t want us to know that we were working to create a money-making opportunity for her sole benefit. Therefore, she didn’t communicate that information to us while we were working to create BE. However, once she saw the finish line, she went legal to remove any chance that anyone but her would be able to financially benefit from our collective efforts.

Katie, if you are going to use a feline analogy to describe how our creative process went, I would like to suggest this one; “You were a kitten among cats” when it came to creating the concept of BE. And like a kitten, you followed the cats until you could make it on your own. Then you ran away with the catnip.

“Again, not right wrong good or bad. It is just is what it is…” Actually, Katie, it was neither right nor good. It was simply wrong and bad at that moment or at any other time, to dishonor the people who came together to do what we did for you. It is simply wrong and bad for you to lie, claiming to be the sole creator of BE. BE was not your sole creation, it was a group creation by Nan Foster, Katie Macks, Michelle Moquin, Chimene Pollard, Maggie Schreiber, and Steve Swearengen. Katie, I defy you to tell us what you contributed to the creation of BE that stood out as a defining element of BE.

Hello, Katie: Wanting to create something that would function better than BNI isn’t a defining element, if you don’t know how to do it.

At this point I am open to dissolving BE, though that is not my preference.

Katie

“…open to dissolving BE,” Sure you are Katie. Hell would freeze over before you would dissolve that little money maker we created for you. No need to dissolve it. I, for one, am not interested in any of the income you derive from BE, but I refuse to give up my right to recognition for something that I helped create and that I am very proud of having created. That’s why this chronicle will remain on my website. So Katie, go ahead and erase all of the other Founders’ names, but they will remain here forever. You did not create BE, you were but 1 member of the 6 Founders who created BE. Live with it.

~Michelle

PS: I see that you are now following me on my SilverBeauty.Michelle Instagram. Interestingly when I was supposed to be your BFF for all those years, you never followed me or made a comment on my SilverBeauty.Michelle Instagram, but after you kicked me to the curb, there you were. I’m delighted. I just don’t have the time to hold a grudge. I still like you and wish you the very best in BE.