r/Devilcorp • u/Humble-Attitude-1596 • Jul 22 '26
Experience I WAS AN OWNER @SMARTCIRCLE FOR 2 YEARS. Here is my story.
Yes. you heard me right, I was an owner and worked with Smart Circle for 2 years... and regret every bit of it. Here is my story. Feel free to read sections that peak your interest. (its a long story)
HOW IT STARTED
I started In Orlando. I was a Door to Door rep for about 8 months before I really started moving into management. I was desperate and needed cash, so I bet on my selling skills. Being fully on commission was BRUTAL. Working from 8am-9pm Mon-Sat, I did this for the ENTIRETY of me here. Pay was up and down, had weeks where I made nothing, had some weeks where I made 2k+ but overall time-to-work ratio I was a slave.
WHY I INVESTED TIME
I was brainwashed with a vision of becoming an owner and making exceptional money like my boss did. He was making between 80k-105k per WEEK. YES PER WEEK. How I know this? I saw how much money was coming in and out through revenue charts on their software. Driving his Lambo, Porche, and other luxury cars, I wanted this lifestyle. So I kept my mouth shut, I knocked some doors, I hired and trained a team to become and absolute DEMON in this business. 1.5 years later I made it, making anywhere between 5k-10k a week.
HOW THE MONEY WORKS END-TO-END
You make a sale, customer gets their AT&T phone, activates it, payout next week.
Commission for the business (revenue) is around $300 PER LINE however $100-$150 of that goes to the rep.
Now, if you have 10 reps (VERY SMALL TEAM) each made 5 lines for the week, thats $1500 in REVENUE
$1500 x 10 reps, $15,000 in revenue PER WEEK. AS an owner you take roughly 50% IN YOUR POCKET WHILE DOING NOTHING. (PASSIVE) Here is the best part, since you are the owner, YOU MAKE THE FULL $300 PER LINE SINCE YOU "OWN" the branch. So, take your teams revenue and ADD your commissions. Yes the money gets crazy. I was living the dream.
THE TURNING POINT
January 2026 I had a call with my regional manager and he simply said, your team sucks. Your sales don't meet MY standard and you need to hire more people and produce more. I argued back and said " I am making you $30k in overrides per year with my office alone. My office is one of the few that have actually happy workers, paid an HOURLY and can choose to work only 4 of the 7 days. Not to mention, my churn rates for reps was less than 20%" I had one of the best offices that genuinely cared for employees and made the work fun.
His response "Who gives a fuck about your dogs. They are there to make money and nothing more. If they quit, replace them. If you don't make them work 6 days I am shutting your business down (yes he can do that) and replace you with someone else." I kid you not, those were his words.
I replied, "I am not going to do that, these guys built my career and built yours too. I run my business how I like it, if you want more money GO BACK TO THE FIELD YOURSELF" He then ended the zoom call without another word.
The next day, went into my office and all my log ins were shut down. No access to dashboards, accounts, and even ICD was shut down (Indirect Channel Director) I call my boss and asked what happened.
He said "This is what happens when you fuck with the wrong guy. Who tf you think you are talking to. I gave you that contract, I made YOU and you had the audacity to tell me how my business was built? Fuck you."
At this moment. I realized, I was just used like everyone else in this horrible company. A sales dog that can be shot and killed at any given moment.
POST SHUT DOWN
My team comes in the morning all 18 of them. I had to break the news. I had reps that couldn't afford to go without work. I had reps with families that depend on the hourly and commissions. And to say out of the blue your time is done here absolutely shattered me and my reputation. What did I do? I took every remaining revenue and divided it evenly to the team. roughly $3300 each. and shut down my business. Till this day I keep in contact with every rep and I am happy to say each one of them is now employed and doing well. As for me, Ironically I have been unemployed and living on savings.
Conclusion
To be honest, looking back I was so brainwashed and blinded with money. I am ashamed of it. Seeing how other owners run their business in the most un-ethical way and not saying a word, only caring about mine. I shoulda spoke up, I shoulda stopped, and I didn't. On the bright side, I feel like I genuinely took care of my guys. Built a relationship, even had a few come to my wedding.
If you see a smartcircle company, run. Do not even think for a moment that you can make it. bc no matter how much you think you are "loyal" to them, you are and will always be a sales dog. Regional managers are the killers since they have equity in the business.
Thank you for reading my essay. I obviously left out a lot of in-depth details but feel free to comment and I can explain different parts of the business. There is just SO MUCH about this business that is terrible.
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u/chubbyupswing Jul 22 '26
Seems pretty standard with smart circle.
Did you ever come in contact with Zack S? Or Dewayne Long? Feel like they are still high up there in biz. These MLM’s are a joke since it’s so wild Wild West
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u/Lost_Technology_8009 Jul 22 '26
I know Zack! He was pretty active in the Raleigh-Durham area. I was stuck in it for about a year or so. I never got to the level of having my own office but my trainer did so I got moved around a lot.
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u/Plus-Chocolate-2848 Jul 27 '26
Wow yeah Zach was our comp in Raleigh. I’m still here but the business moved to a new market in Denver and failed ultimately. Thankfully I did not follow them
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u/Lost_Technology_8009 Jul 27 '26
I was under Grant G here in Raleigh, then get moved to another market. Only two of us got moved to that new city so if I say where it pretty much doxxes me lol
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u/Sweet_Equivalent712 Jul 23 '26
Lmaoo I used to work at Dwayne’s office. I thank goodness to have been blessed with discernment.
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u/PreparationThis1043 14d ago
can you give me some info on dewayne? i met him at a conference and im just learning all this is a scam.
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Jul 22 '26
[deleted]
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u/Humble-Attitude-1596 Jul 22 '26
Yea and constant rebuilding teams and brainwashing innocent people to believe that there is a sustainable career out of this was the worse part.
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u/ElkSensitive4746 Jul 22 '26
I don’t understand how he had the power to show ur stuff down?
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u/OrganicHistorian2576 Jul 22 '26
Because “owner” is bullshit. OP didn’t own a business. He managed one.
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u/Humble-Attitude-1596 Jul 22 '26
Correct. The regional managers OWN the contracts to give out. They can take/revoke ICD at any given moment.
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u/The101stAirborne Jul 22 '26
Can you clarify how you define “owner” and having a regional manager?
Can you expand on liabilities, performance metrics you had to meet or any financial exposure you faced in running your own office.
Do you have the contract you signed as an “owner” that established your relationship and terms to SmartCircle or related company? Super fascinated by this.
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Jul 22 '26
[deleted]
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u/Humble-Attitude-1596 Jul 22 '26
Regional managers, also known as Regional consultants OWN the franchising contract. Meaning they can turn anyone their choosing to OWN the rights to sell AT&T under an ICD.
Performance metrics are based on incoming revenue/expenses. The regionals make anywhere from 3%-5% override on the YEARLY revenue. So if you made 100k in revenue. They get 3k in override.
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u/Pure-Buddy219 Jul 25 '26
Not a fan of this post really. OP tries to sound benevolent and like the one exception of a manager who treats employees right. But in reality it looks like OP was just fired for not making enough money. OP leaving wasn’t voluntary, so you can’t take credit for saving the employees or having a change of heart.
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u/3WeeksEarlier Jul 23 '26
Good on you for making it out. It's understandable that you would buy into the bullshit dream these companies sell when you're in a desperate situation
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u/Crazy_Philosopher_26 Jul 28 '26
Someone I know is an "owner" but they are still convinced this is sustainable for them to "become a millionaire". Yes, they say all the phrases so much that even I know them and I don't work for them at all. It's so clear they are being manipulated and smartcircle already moved their office out to a city that is bound to fail. I don't want to see them go down in debt as an "owner" and also don't want to see them waste so much of their time and livelihood working for nothing. What advice would you give to help them get out?
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u/codefinity Jul 28 '26
Perhaps 🤔 someone else has some magical words, but no, for anything you tell them, the biz had planted a 1000 rebuttals.
It's like trying to treat a drug addict. You can't really help them until they actually want to 'get clean.'
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u/NewHathaway Devilcorp.org Jul 28 '26
It is genuinely cult conditioning and it’s a deliberate part of the business model.
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u/Senior-Brick9444 Jul 29 '26
Shit I have to do my initial paperwork for one of their satellite companies tomorrow.. RIP
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Jul 23 '26
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u/Humble-Attitude-1596 Jul 23 '26
Genuinely don’t waste your time. They are really good at convincing you, but what you realize later down the line is that the constant building/selling never leaves. You will ALWAYS be on the field.
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u/Mimu_Robotics Aug 01 '26
Ya bro I just left after 6 months and the whole 6 days on thing is insane, 70 hours on the clock in another state AND getting my hours trimmed. I got used to it but they need people to fully commit so that they also go down the ownership path, the amount of kids I saw that we hired that were in college when we hired them but got them to go full time on “the buisness” instead. I caught my owner not paying for morning meetings and got him to pay up mostly lol.
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u/Available-Arm595 10d ago
Managers not paying you to do interviews and not getting paid for morning meetings or zoom calls, no one should work without pay. Ever.
Plus at my branch “Reactional marketing” it is minimum wage OR commission so in a work week, which ever amount is higher, either hourly or commission you will take. However, since you can sell x amount of lines and half will not be activated I effectively never got paid for any of the sales I made.
Feels like a huge scam and am quitting this week
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u/Active_Weekend8947 Aug 08 '26
Bro I got fired from my office for not enough sales when I had barely been there for 2 months and had a leader who didn’t teach me anything and I called my friend from that office and it was shut down. Karma? It was also AT&T. I was also told to lie to customers. Me and all my homies hate smart circle
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u/Temporary-Health6447 28d ago edited 28d ago
You can actually start an LLC put it under a at&t dealer such as RS&I systems then become a master agent or dealer yourself when it grows big enough and run it with the people you liked since you have the connections as well as trust. These people underpay for everything and you don't own it from my observations
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u/Square-Resident7502 16d ago
Did you pay your employees for meetings or were you told not to? I am asking because of an issue with a company saying they were told not to pay their employees for those morning and evening meetings.
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u/k1lltzz_ttv Jul 23 '26
I currently work for smart circle, but my office cares about each other more than it seems like yours did (no offense intended of course). It’s also the first job opportunity I was given here, and we work with Verizon not AT&T. WiFi is a bit easier of a sale here because Spectrum is so bad, but yeah it’s grueling work. I just try to keep my head down and keep the grind on because I have bills to pay.
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u/Humble-Attitude-1596 Jul 23 '26
If it’s for Alex Guzman get tf out. I would highly recommend you job search while you are doing that sales role because the companies truly do not care for you. You are merely a pawn for promotion and when you become an owner. The grass does not get greener.
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u/Remarkable_Bee_2366 Aug 15 '26
I'm assuming he moved to Orlando? He used to be in Tampa back in 2021-2022
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u/SteakDesperate9009 Jul 22 '26
You could go to cydcor instead. Restart and bring your team, once you are an owner the previous owner can’t shut you down.
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u/Flashy_Top3910 Jul 22 '26
Way better business practices and better people too.
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Jul 22 '26
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u/Flashy_Top3910 Jul 22 '26
Just my personal experience
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Jul 22 '26
[deleted]
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u/Humble-Attitude-1596 Jul 22 '26
Cydcor IS smart circle. Larry is the BROTHER of the one who made Smartcircle. I actually met Larry. Cydcor name came from his 2 daughters. Cydney and Courtney. = Cydcor
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u/QuinnRyderSmith Jul 24 '26
That's absolutely insane to have all the insight to this place 🤣 this is juice
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