As 2011 comes to a close, I thought I would share some statistics with you about this blog, Burned by ISN, and its impact. My report comes on the heels of receiving yet another report of someone who was almost taken by ISN. It's always so good to hear from others who have been saved from their bad, and often illegal, business practices!
It's been almost 5 years ago that I started blogging about the International Speakers Network and how they burned me by taking almost $1000 of my money, then never producing what they promised. I signed on to get their support in building my speaking practice, I was supposed to be a part of a "Five Featured Speakers" program - which never materialized.
Not only didn't it materialize, but they sent me falsified materials trying to prove that it did! You can learn more about just how they duped me on this blog's first post.
But I'm a true believer in karma, and sometimes it's important to put karma into motion. Thus this blog, and dozens of posts over the years that have inspired even more comments from either people who have found us in time to save their grief, or others who have found us too late, and realized when they found us that they, too, had been duped by the International Speaker's Network.
What has transpired during these years? A few statistics for you:
Number of posts: 49
Number of visitors: you can see on the right hand side of this page. As of today: 10,824
Number of comments: 66 published, plus one that is unpublished. The one that is not published was sent to me a few years ago by a young woman who had just been fired because she had uncovered the ISN's wrongdoing. We have been in touch and I continue to hold her information in case it's ever needed.
Number of names that ISN has used over the years: 6 - or there may be more I haven't found. So far I know about ISN, International Speakers Network, ISNWorks, Innovators Group, Insight Publishing, Book A Speaker. If you know of others, will you let me know?
About Willow Mist Professional Services: Around June 2008, Brenda Keefer left ISN and started Willow Mist Professional Services. Evidently that's when David Wright, the owner and her boss at ISN, discovered Brenda was still on probation for stealing about $250,000 from a previous employer. So now Brenda is "helping" (or more like helping herself to the money of) people through her own company, Willow Mist. David Wright was smart to fire her. But now Brenda is making his life miserable. Perhaps more karma?
(Just FYI - I hear from as many who have been duped by Brenda Keefer as I do from people who have been duped by ISN - the emails run about 50-50).
Number of Lawsuits against ISN: I have no idea. I have heard reports, but haven't been able to take the time to research them. This comment from a reader explains the one about those famous authors they promise to pair you with.
By the way - don't let that BBB Accredited Business logo on their homepage fool you. In late 2010, The International Speaker's Network changed their name to The Innovators Group - and that meant their old track record at the BBB, an F rating, went away. Now they have an A+ rating through the Knoxville Better Business Bureau - but if you look at the record you'll see that many complaints have been "resolved."
I have to wonder whether those complaints were resolved as mine was - meaning - they were ignored, then lies were told, and in the end who knows? I call this my "naked picture theory" - meaning - someone is holding something over someone else's head. Once the BBB told me my complaints were 'resolved", and what I knew was that nothing had been resolved, and somehow my complaints had been swept under the rug, I lost all respect for the Better Business Bureau because of the way that was handled.
As long as I continue to hear from readers who have either had their money stolen like mine was, or realized ahead of time that they should not do business with ISN or Willow Mist because they found this information, I will continue to post from time to time.
What information would you like to share about ISN Works (or whatever they are calling themselves these days?) Shoot me a quick email: BurnedbyISN - at - hotmail.
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