Quote from Ali Scarlett on March 31, 2023, 2:12 pm

Some context from my journal:

Quote from Ali Scarlett on December 5, 2022, 4:35 am

Michael Franzese NFT Coming Soon

When I did a review of Franzese's negotiation course, he admitted me into his "Inner Circle" (a networking group he created).

I got an email a few days ago inviting me to a group call with him, Peter Voogd, and everyone else in the Inner Circle where he unveiled his new NFT and gave early access.

But, a few red flags popped up:

• Voogd kept certain information vague: dropping names like Jordan B. Peterson and Patrick Bet-David saying that they've said they're "all in". But, all in on what? On buying the NFT (which would actually drive up its value) or only helping to promote it (which, if not many take action on their promotions, does nothing for the NFT's value)? He wouldn't say.
• Said Andrew Tate sent him a text that he's excited to be a part of the project: and I don't have the greatest impression of Tate right now based on the little I've seen of him. So, I don't feel comfortable tying myself to anything he's (closely) involved in.
• Answered a couple of questions manipulatively: people posed questions in the Zoom chat for Voogd on what would happen if the value of the NFT goes down, how the recession affects the NFT, and so on. He responded with honest information coupled with reassuring them that this is a "legacy project" so they have no plans to abandon the project/manage the NFT in any way that would harm the community since that would reflect badly on their reputations. But, then he said that with the way he and Franzese are going about the project, the value of the NFT is going to keep going "up and up". And, that turned me off completely. He went from being a cool teacher to a salesman promising a "risk-free, you're guaranteed to make money off of this" dream. And, given how little the community seemed to know about NFTs, that felt manipulative.

I can't say too much more about it because it hasn't officially debuted/released yet. (They were collecting pre-orders on this call.)

But, I opted to stay out of it.

I say that to say, I hope I'm wrong.

I like Franzese and I respect Voogd's work ethic as well as much of what he's built. So, I'm happy to take the loss now (losing their special, discounted pre-order price) and buy the NFT when the value has gone up (which, I'm hoping it does for Franzese, Voogd, and everyone in their communities) if this project works out.

Until then, my focus is on my personal growth, TCC, and giving as much to TPM as I can.

Quote from Ali Scarlett on January 28, 2023, 5:17 pm

It Seems We May Have Called It On the Michael Franzese NFT

Which is actually called the "Mob Ties NFT":

Full disclosure, I don't know much about NFTs.

But, from the little I understand, that line is supposed to be going "up and up" according to Voogd. And, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Plus, anyone who bought the NFT can't see the (private) financial stats of how they're performing now because the mods have locked everyone out (see the channels on the left-hand side):

I have to say, that looks a bit sneaky to me.

A part of the promise from Franzese for this NFT was that people would get access to lessons on how to become great leaders. And that's what that announcement post above is about.

Glad to see he's kept his word on that, albeit I didn't feel that was valuable enough of an incentive for me to buy the NFT.

However, the lessons are only one of the incentives Franzese offered. Another one was that the more NFTs you buy, the more access you'd get to Franzese, Voogd, and the high-value people they know. Plus, anyone who could afford to purchase a large volume of the NFT is likely a high net-worth individual, so if you graduated to that high-ranking title with other people, it's likely those other people are (hopefully) millionaires.

Here's an example of an upcoming event only for people who bought a lot:

*The more NFTs you buy, the higher your title, starting from "Mob Ties Member" all the way up to "Mob Boss"

Still, the problem I saw with that was the power dynamic.

How does it look when you sit in a room with the heads of this NFT project (which are hopefully all high-value people) and you're the only one who bought their way to the top?

And, add to that the fact that everyone else in the room has the power to pull the rug from underneath you at any time because you've put your financial investment into their hands.

To be frank, it looks like you're the sucker (at least, to me).

In their defense though, they mentioned some things about vetting/screening people before approving the promotions and putting a limit on how many NFTs would be open for purchase on the market (which doesn't make sense, how can the value of the NFT keep going "up and up" if it's going to stop being available for purchase?), but the risks didn't seem worth the reward to me.

And, with my power awareness on that call, I saw this coming.

Now, things are looking bad from the outside for their sales, but they do seem to have a pretty low refund rate so far (only 7% of the total NFTs bought are back on the market trying to be resold).

Let's hope everyone involved in this project comes out of it with a win. I'm still keeping my distance for the time being.

*Remember to click on the blockquote above to expand it.

Well, here we are. And, I feel that this project was a loss for those underneath the founders.

Early on, Voogd was making big claims that high-status guys like Jordan B. Peterson and Patrick Bet-David were "all in".

But, I haven't seen any of these big names promote the NFT at all and its existence seems to have flown under the radar for most people, going totally unnoticed.

And, that's something that seems to be reflected in their sales. Sales have only gone down since heir launch with no real marketing being done to reach any new buyers (causing the NFT's value to go down too for any current holders).

But, they did say that it's a "legacy project" where their biggest priority was delivering as much value as possible to the holders, not necessarily reaching new potential buyers.

So, I logged in to the Discord, but only found myself confused:

Peter Voogd seems to have taken over the whole project under his "Game Changers" brand. And, the tabs for people to see the "Mob Ties Stats" (which gives updates on how the NFT is performing) are now completely removed.

To be honest, I'm not totally surprised. Even on the initial Zoom call, Voogd did most of the talking. It was clear to me that the world of NFTs was still foreign to Franzese and he admitted it himself that he partnered with Voogd because he was an older guy and since the crypto space is still newer to him, a younger guy like Voogd with more "internet marketing experience" has more expertise in it. (And, that was also an orange flag that led me to stay away, internet marketing skills and NFT project management skills are two different things that don't necessarily carry over to one another. So, as far as I saw, Voogd had never done an NFT project before.)

But, what's upsetting is that the whole marketing for this project was built around holders getting to work with a real mob boss/made man (and they didn't even bother to say "former" mob boss, that's how committed they were to this marketing approach).

Now, with Voogd at the head of the project, it feels as if Franzese is only in the background making his profits and holders have to accept the change or sell out.

Lastly, after reading a bit through their "Announcements" tab, it seems that most of the events they're hosting to give value to members are reserved only for the higher-ranking holders. (And, I can't even fully confirm that because the "Events" tab is also gone now, so maybe they're not even doing events anymore.) So, anyone who put money into this NFT but didn't spend enough to be a "high-ranking officer" probably drew the shortest end of the stick.

All in all, I'm glad I avoided this one. Something smelled fishy from the beginning and it seems they weren't able to deliver as much as what was needed for the majority of holders to make back their investment.