Penney Ooi of WFG Reviewed

In this article, I'll be going over Penney Ooi of WFG/World Financial Group (aka the newer version of World Marketing Alliance / WMA).

I’ve worked with her back when she was in the Santa Clara office and from my personal experiences, you’ll learn whether or not Penney Ooi is a scam artist.

Table of Contents

1. Let Me Tell You Something From the Start
2. A Personal Experience
3. The Good Stuff
4. The Not-So Good Stuff
5. Life after WFG

Let Me Tell You Something From the Start

I’m no longer part of WFG. It was a great learning experience, and just like many experiences in life, we learn from them. While I don’t have anything against Penney, I did get a lot of questions about her…asking if she was for real.

Some people thought she was so adorable while others felt she was a fraud. In my opinion, she didn’t do anything fraudulent. In fact, it’s all a matter of the mind and how you perceive things.

For example, you can either see a glass half full or half empty. Which one is correct? Both…the truth lies within the person who has whichever perspective.

A Personal Experience

I remember a presentation when my prospect asked if the company was an MLM company. She new that the prospect had something against MLM’s and so she described what the company did without making it seem like an MLM company. Did she lie about it? No, she actually repositioned the idea in the prospects mind. Pretty cool if you ask me.

The Good Stuff

I ended up learning a lot from Penney. I remember here giving a presentation at the Daly City office back when it was off of Gellert and another Marketing Directory named Jackie Tam was running it. She talked about characteristics of running the business. She gave analogies to fisherman, tigers…etc. From that day forward, I’ve been running my business like a warrior and what she mentioned just stuck in my mind.

With all of that being said, I did learn a lot from Penney. She really does have incredible will power in moving here WFG business forward.

Okay, enough of the cheery stuff. Let’s get into the dirt.

The Not-So Good Stuff

I personally could not follow Penney. She is pretty successful in what she does and I don’t have any complaint about that. Her lifestyle choices are too different from my personal goals.

One of the reasons why I left the company is because I really didn’t want to follow the leaders. They really didn’t live the type lifestyles that I wanted. They had the money, but they were working too hard in my opinion. I’d rather make a lot of money, work less and have a balanced life.

That’s not really Penney’s fault. I think she really is a product of their system. I’ve seen a lot of similar issues with distributors from other “traditional” MLM companies. Other issues: Pushing people to meetings after meetings is a core part of traditional MLM.

Another issue I had was keeping the business too simple. I understand the whole KISS thing, but Xuan Nguyen and Penney had it appear so simple that even a dumb-dumb could do it.

I recall hearing, “meet more people” or “find their hot buttons”. There’s a lot more to building relationships with people than just saying “build a relationship” and “find their hot buttons”. While we can learn those things on our own, it’s easier to learn from other peoples experiences instead of hype.

I kind of think about this like raising my children. We can keep things away from your children to make things seem easier than what they are, or give them a does of reality so they’re more prepared for their future. There are pro’s and con’s to both…but the choice really depends on what you really want.

Life after WFG

While I did learn a lot while I was in WFG, I learned tons more after I left the company. Thinking back at my time in WFG, I felt like I was in bondage, learning within a little black box. Later, I attended industry meetings and learned a lot from other agents outside of the company. I learned about sales, recruiting, and multiple marketing systems (yeah, you can actually use multiple systems to build your business).

When I was in WFG, I didn’t know any better and meeting several new people a day was all I could handle with the time and system that I had. Years after I left, I started using the internet to build my business. That’s where things changed. I started using business automation and discovered ways to get hundreds and sometimes thousands of prospects to come to me in a single day.

Frequently Asked Questions

1) Does Penney Ooi just focus on selling Variable Universal Life (VUL) insurance?

No. After indexed universal life insurance (IUL) appeared on the market, then WFG started to provide it and it typically doesn't require a securities license to sell. That means that Penney's downline could start selling faster than before and still offer life insurance with a cash savings component.

2) What is Penney Ooi's position in World Financial Group?

Based on LinkedIn, she's now the Executive Chairperson of WFG.

3) How was Penney Ooi able to raise a family while growing her successful business?

Based on what I've seen, recruiting is in Penney's blood. She was able to recruit people and grow her business even when she was prego many years ago. My guess is that most people would just be too tired to have a newborn and run the business. Penney does have a lot of support from her husband, Ben Eeo, and other helpers.

4) How easy it to duplicate Penney Ooi's success?

Most people can't replicate here confidence, leadership style, and entrepreneurial growth. The only other person that I know that has come close was Yvonne Mei.

Yvonne is now a Vice Chairperson of WFG and she's a also a great example of how an MLM breakaway model can work against your growth. Imagine putting your heart and soul into a downline, only to have them detached from you. Unfortunately, that's what happens with an MLM system that uses breakaway.

5) How does Penney overcome "Is this an MLM" objection?

I remember Penney drawing the comparison between the single source sales channel and multiple source distribution. From the benefit perspective, if you're building a business on you're own, there's no way to compete against a business that has multiple distribution. Also, traditional companies use retailers and distributors to multiply their network. You can also compare a single restaurant to a network of franchises. Franchises have the system to duplicate their success across multiple locations. Why wouldn't you want to use it? Getting more "yesses" is part of the process for overcoming objections.

6) Who did Penney Ooi learn from?

Penney's mentor was Xuan Nguyen, Chairman's Council of WFG.

7) How long has Penney Ooi been in World Financial Group?

Penney joined in 1994, back when it used to be called World Marketing Alliance (WMA). She was one of the top reps under this company that was under Hubert Humphrey, one of the top agents from A.L. Williams (which is now Primerica).

8) Where is Penney Ooi located?

She's located in Pleasanton, California. She used to work out of the WMA office off of Freedom Circle in Santa Clara, Patrick Henry Drive office in Santa Clara, Gold Street office in Alviso, and the Gellert Blvd office in Daly City, California.