RE: The Truth About Mark Lyford and Banx
I met Mark Lyford in September 2015 at a the Netpreneur Summit in Tokyo in September 2015.
In the image of the panelists you will see him 4th from the left. You will also see on the whiteboard NetpreneurSummit.com and the words +100 Banx shares. That was his bonus for people who bought tickets for 2016 - coming up soon.
I invested in his business (in fact, I was probably the largest investor in his business).
Why did I do that? 1. His knowledge of Bitcoin and Bitcoin markets was excellent. He was able to explain it without getting all crypto-geek. 2. He was open about his prior story - most people who have spent two years in prison for growing cannabis or who ran a mammoth adult site would keep that sort of stuff quiet. 3. A few of the business ideas struck me as breakthrough ideas (especially for remittances using Bitcoin) - all he needed to do was pull them off. 4. I felt that Bitcoin was going to be a very important new investment arena and here was someone doing all the spadework. So there was enough excitement in Banx for me to make a risk investment (I allocate about 5% of my portfolio to high risk and leveraged opportunities). 5. I had already seen Mark's prior Internet marketing products and have actually bought some of them. 6. He comes from a place in England, where my family come from - I understand those folk
I was not happy when I got the phone call saying that Banx was being closed down. BUT I did get a phone call. What did I learn from the phone call and the subsequent conversations? Like many entrepreneurs, Mark had over-extended himself in enthusiasm. He was chasing too many things. Many of the things did not have the right sort of value. Some were not going to happen - for reasons of regulation and/or market access. And the most important business idea had some big technical costs to get going.
So what is the failure here?
- Naive - YES - me and him.
- Ambitious - too many irons in the fire
- Business savvy - maybe not up to my standards given my 30 year track record in business consulting
- Scammer - NO Mark called. I know where he lives. He has committed to me he will work every hour he has to repay me and other investors. I bought his next product.
Scammers don't publish their home addresses Scammers don't invite people to join them in their offices Scammers don't use their names when trying to continue to turn things around Scammers do take the money and run. I have not, I am still here turning things around.
So what am I doing about getting my investment back? What am I doing to help Mark Lyford live up to the promise he has made in the post?
I only wish to look forward and carry on working hard and focusing on turning things around for me, my family and all the investors that still believe in me and my abilities.
Mark Lyford has a rebuild plan in place. It is going to take time. We talk about the shape of that plan - it fits in a lot with the way I have been thinking about helping people build their own businesses (like I did mine all those years ago). We talk about depression and the impact it has on the way we see the world - my story has enough scary parts for me to know a lot about that subject. And I have been pushing him to find ways to bring forward business ideas that will deliver cash up front and reduce the burden of a big build - no more Banx Big Build.
Being specific, SteemCash was launched last week by Michael X and Mark Lyford. It is step one of a rebuild and has already given a solid foundation of customers. And I know for one it gave me a great start on Steemit
I used the learnings to do my first posts here.
Credit for the SCAM image. It is in this fun video about SCAMMERS and the reuse rights are listed in the Description there - thanks nandalal108