Making A Decision To Go Diamond?

One of the things I see around some forums, and what I remember from my Amway days is hearing about how someone "made the decision" to go diamond. You cannot "decide" to go diamond anymore than you can decide to win the lottery. You can decide to work hard and you can decide to try and follow all of the recommended advice for achieving in Amway, but you cannot "decide" to go diamond. Going diamond requires you to have certain group structures, which requries sponsoring. Sponsoring others is something that is not directly within your control. Maintaining retention in your group is also something you may not have direct control over.

One familiar theme I recall hearing on WWDB rally tapes is that someone, usually the man of the house, finally made a decision to go diamond. I don't recall a detailed explanation of what that meant. When I was prospected into Amway, my sponsor never could tell me in a straight answer what you actually do as an IBO. All he kept assuring me of was that I could be taught everything I needed to know. Looking back, he was right. In a nutshell, the Amway business is simply this: Buy, sell, and sponsor. But of the three components, the only one an IBO can directly control is to "buy". To sell or to sponsor is something that you have no direct control over. Yes, some people can improve and get better at selling or prospecting, but I believe the vast majority of people, even those who work hard and give effort, simply do not have the skills to overcome the reputation and high prices that apparently stigmatize the Amway business. You can make a lot of decisions in Amway but it doesn't mean they will come to fruition. A lot of people in Amway don't realize that even people who achieve diamond, are often mot able to maintain the level and end up quitting like anyone else. How can you earn residual income when the business is so unstable? People quit Amway with regularity and many don't even order a product after joining. Can you build a residual income empire under those conditions?

As I have stated, you can decide to try Amway. You can decide to buy tools and products, you can decide to work hard and give your best effort. You can decide that this is a good opportunity for you. But you cannot decide that you will go diamond. Many have tried, very few have made it. Even those who attain the apparent pinnacle of success, often find that maintaining the level is a near impossible task. Good luck to you if you "decide" to go for it.

Amway Makes You "Positive"?

Recently, there's been debate between critics and Amway supporters over an issue regarding a WWDB function called 'Dream Night". A WWDB IBO reported that the function was sold out but did not disclose the amount of a Dream Night ticket. He later posted an article saying that he was sorry for being "negative". Now as a former IBO from WWDB, I was taught to be only positive, That we have too much negative in our lives and that we need the positive.

Now I agree that having only "negatives" in our lives would be detrimental. That eventually, we would be worn down by only negative. But conversely, the teaching of having only positive in your life can be equally damaging. I recall an old Twilight Zone episode where a guy allegedly dies and he thinks he went to heaven as a man in white came to him and offered to grant him what he wanted. He asked for girls and to be a winner in gambling. Well, the man could never lose a single bet. He won every single time and he had girls all over him. He found it to be no challenge and found life so mundane and predictable that he asked the man in white if he could lose once in a while or be challenged. The man in white basically said "no" and the man (I believe his name was Rocky) Rocky, said how come heaven was so lame (not verbatim). The man in white proceeded to tell him "what makes you think you're in heaven" and laughed incessantly while the Twilight Zone music ended the show.

Now being positive and having a good attitude is a good idea and probably good for your business, but having only positive and shutting out all negatives is a ridiculous thing and it seems as if WWDB leaders are still teaching it. What happens if your business gets audited? You tell the IRS man you can't speak to him if it's not "positive news"? What if you go to the doctor? You tell him don't let you know what's going on unless it's positive news? If there's a natural disaster in your town, you turn off the news because it's not "positive"? What if your body could not feel pain? Would that be positive for you? It might but the reality is that not feeling pain or having zero stress is likely to be detrimental to your health.

In my informed and experienced opinion, I believe that some Amway and WWDB leaders teach you to shut out negative in your life is because lots and lots and lots of people have negative experiences and things to say about Amway and WWDB. If you doubt me, ask about Greg Duncan, Dave Shores, Brad Wolgamott, Dean Kosage and some others. Ask your sponsor or your upline what happened to these folks. If they tell you nothing or that it's negative, I challenge you to google search and find out for yourself. If your upline still denies or says you should shut out negative, maybe you should find out what they are hiding by shutting out all negative in their lives.

Having only positive in your life is probably "weird". Is that what you want to be?

Amway Or Minimum Wage?

Some big companies and some private entrepreneurs have been accused of being "sweat shop owners". This is when they exploit their workers, often in foreign countries by having them work for a very small wage. For example, a foreign operation may have a warehouse full of women and children working all day under poor conditions for a few bucks a day. The owners of these operations can rake in the dough as they save a ton of money in labor costs. There are some big American corporations that have been accused of this.

Some uplines operate just like sweat shop owners, but in many cases, they are worse then sweat shop owners because even exploited workers earn something. At the end of the month, they have a net gain, even if it might be small. In the case of many Amway IBOs, they spend money on Amway products, and uplines take the lion's share of the rebate/bonus that is generated by those sales, and then in turn, these same uplines try to get many of their downline to also become customers of their system of cds, books, voicemail and seminars or functions. In many, probably most cases, uplines will make just as much if not more income from the system, than from Amway. Most downline IBOs would be far more profitable if they simply worked a part time minimum wage job instead of building an Amway Empire.

These same upline will also teach fierce loyalty to the system. Never miss a function. Make sacrifices to buy more books or cds, and make sure you are always looking for people to sponsor to add to the system. Joining the system almost guarantees that you will suffer a net loss in the Amway business. It is why I continue to write about what IBOs and prospects should look for when they are being recruited or indoctrinated into these systems. It is why there are so many defenders of Amway, most of whom are losing money, but think they are still successful because it is what upline teaches. If only the IBOs and prospects could just step back and look at things objectively instead of blindly believing what their upline teaches them.

I know most IBOs won't believe this, but I will say it anyway. IBOs on the system are probably worse off than sweat shop employees because they are paying their upline to do their work. At least sweat shop employees get a smalll salary. Upline will teach you that it is an honor to drive them around, or to do tasks for them. I saw this firsthand and have no doubt that some or all of it exists today. Many platinums works are free doormen and ushers at meetings and functions. Upline benefits by maximizing profits from functions. It is pure downline exploitation and I hope eventually that more and more IBOs will recognize this. It is clear for those who are willing to look at it objectively.

For most, a part time minimum wage is a better proposition than Amway.

Are You Playing The Amway Game?

One thing my sponsor often told the group was that many of us were "playing" Amway. What he meant was that many people can listen to a tape or CD every day, read a success book 15-30 minutes each day, attend all the functions, use and/or sell 100 PV or more each month, but never make progress in the business. Basically what he was saying was unless you are showing the plan and sponsoring downline, you are just playing Amway. And while I agree, I honestly believe that most IBOs simply "play" Amway.

They can do most of the CORE steps such as listening to standing orders or cds each day. They can read every day and attend all the functions. They can even use and sell Amway products. But because of previous IBO behavior, many people cannot get anyone to see the plan, let alone sponsor others. Seems like everyone (at least in the US and Canada) know of someone who was lied to, or tricked into attending an Amway meeting. This alone has given Amway a shady reputation and just the mention of the name Amway can send people running. I was tricked into a meeting once, and as an IBO, I saw people get up, cuss and leave the meeting because they were lied to or tricked into attending a meeting based on the curiosity approach.

I do not believe that IBOs in general are dishonest or deceitful. I believe that most of them are probably motivated, wanting more in life, and hard working. But they are taught to duplicate or copy their uplines. I believe it is some of the tenured leaders who teach bad business practices that are duplicated and spreads a bad reputation like an infectious disease. I believe that because of this, Amway's North American sales tanked and now they don't even report the North American sales seperately from Global sales.

When you stop and take a deep breath, you see the signs of weakness and the chinks in the armor of the once untouchable and "divine" diamonds. We see diamonds suing other diamonds and Amway. We see diamonds losing their homes to foreclosure (so much for paying cash). A triple diamond was in chapter 7 bankruptcy and hoards of diamonds leaving their LOS along with their "awesome" mentors and lifelong friends to form their own LOS. Why is this happening? I believe it is because of greed. Why else would you leave a "mentor" and "lifelong friend" to start your own LOS? It's all about the money.

Sadly, while all of this goes on, most IBOs come and go, lose money and "play Amway" along the way. It truly saddens me that this has gone on for so long, and it looks like (in my opinion), that my former LOS, WWDB, seems to have been the worst of the bunch with no apparent improvement in the last 15 years or so.

You can "play Amway" hard, but you most likely won't make enough net profit to buy a value meal a McDonald's. Of course you are welcome to prove me wrong.

Who's A Loser?

One of the things I recall as an IBO was thinking how sorry I felt for people who were not IBOs because we were all going to be rich and everyone else was destined to be a loser. Our upline used to tell us that we were winners - and if you weren't a winner, then obviously, you are a loser. Many times, the term "broke" was attached to the term loser. That was my mindset back then, but having been out of the system more than ten years, I can look back and laugh, realizing that the losers were the ones buying stuff they don't need, stalking people at malls and bookstores, and wasting their time and money on tapes (cds), books and functions and perhaps voicemail. (Who needs voicemail these days?)

What goes unnoticed in many cases, is how much time and money really goes down the drain for IBOs who work the system. Your life revolves around the business if you are dedicated and hard core. You are always looking for prospects and people to show the plan to, and you have to rearrange your schedules, or outright skip social or family gatherings because of the neverending number of meetings and functions, many of which teach you nothing about running a profitable business. When I first left the Amway business, I was sort of angry at the time and effort that was wasted, along with the cahs I threw down the crapper.

But after I did finally cut ties with the business and the people associated with it, I got back into a routine of sorts. I focused on my job and after some years of gaining experience and working my way up the corporate ladder, I received some promotions and I am scheduled to be retired before the age of 60 with a decent retirement income and will likely have my home paid off by then. So while I did have to work a dreaded job to be able to retire, pretty much all IBOs are also working a job or business PLUS having to expend their time and money to run their Amway business which has little to no chance of providing a long term stable and significant income. And if I may add, it is the systems such as WWDB or N21 that usually end up costing the IBOs the most money because of things like the functions.

So I will ask the question. Who's the real loser? The person diligently working and saving for their future or the person chasing a dream that is unlikely to materialize? Factoring in the expenditure of time also makes the systems even more costly than it appears on the surface.

Amway IBOs In Denial?

One thing that appears to be common among Amway IBOs is how IBOs are in denial. They truly believe that their uplines are working in their best interest and that upline wants their success. I don't believe that to be true. If uplines were truly making a fortune from Amway, why would an downline IBO have to pay for practically every bit of help they get from upline leaders? Why are there endless numbers of cds and meetings at cost, to learn to buy and sell, and to recruit others. Is Amway that complicated that IBOs mist be continually trained or is it because uplines make the most profits fromt tools?

To show the plan, you would need to pay to attend an open meeting, and pay for your guests, even if they do not register as a result of the presentation. You pay for voicemail to communikate with your upline and downlines. You pay for standing orders and you may end up paying twice if you were in attendance at the function when the standing order was recorded. You pay for books and other materials as well. And there is no end. If you are in Amway for ten years, you would get ten years worth of this material. If you are in for thirty years, you would get thirty years of this material.

What's more, many IBOs turn their heads when ugly facts rear their heads. For example, some IBOs deny that a prominent triple diamond was involved in bankruptcy proceedings. They continue to edify and pay for financial advice from someone who could not even manage his own finances. They believe that Amway saves marriages even when the leaders who speak this may be getting divorced. It's like upline simply revises history and downlines buy it without question. Many IBOs do not even see it as a problem that some upline boldy lied and said there were no profits from tools in the past. I find this odd because tool profits are still shrouded in secrecy and downline simply believe that they will eventually get a cut, even without a written compensation plan and agreement.

I believe too many IBOs are simply in denial. They give upline their trust and upline abuses it. IBOs are told they are successful for attending a function even when they might be losing money month after month. They may be told that the Amway business is not about money but about making friends. They may be told that they are nicer people because of their participation in Amway. What too many IBOs do not see is that they are in denial about their business. Most IBOs are losing money, a little at a time, perhaps $100 or $150 a month. For the hardcore, maybe more. But they are taught to ignore these simple facts and deny that there is a problem. They cling to hopes that success is right around the corner or that they will succeed if ony they will never quit. Most of this advice only serves the upline and not the IBOs. It is a sad thing.

It is my hope that exposure of some of these tactics will be beneficial to information seekers and perhaps new IBOs who have not yet been fully indoctrinated. I encourage people to ask tough questions, demand answers and use due diligence when checking out this opportunity. The fact is that very few people every make a profit and people should know this before getting involved. Don't deny the obvious. If the details don't add up, keep researching. The interenet is chock full of information about Amway. This website is just one source, but look high and low before committing your time and money. The fact is that less than 1% of IBOs make any money out of this opportunity. Don't deny the undeniable. Get the facts and act on them!

A Job Versus Amway?

One of the ways that upline diamonds would put down jobs was to toss in the phrase that a job was simply trading hours for dollars. As if it were demeaning to have a job where you got paid for your time. I believe it's all relative. Being that many IBos are young and maybe working in more entry level types of jobs, then yeah, your hours wage might not be that great. If you earn say $10 an hour, then you might be struggling financially and it may take time before your skills and knowledge increase to a point where your experience is worth more money. What if you had a job paying $1000 an hour and earned $160,000 a month? Is that a lousy deal trading hours for dollars? I think not!

Conversely, having a business can be good or bad also. If you have an Amway business earnning less than $100 a month and you spend $200 on functions, standing orders and other training and motivational materials, then you are losing money. You would be better off working for free. That is still a better alternative than working a business where you are losing money. I think most people agree that a platinum group typically has a 100 or more IBOs. Thus a platinum is in the top 1% of all IBOs. I have heard that the platinum level is where you start to break even or make a little profit, depending on your level of tool consumption. If platinums are barely making a profit, then the other 99+% of IBOs are likely losing money. How much is that worth per hour?

I think uplines cleverly trick IBOs into thinking that a job is bad. Trading hours for dollars, afterall, sounds like some kind of indentured servant of sorts. But in the ned, what matters is your bottom line. If you are an IBO with little or no downline, and/or not much in terms of sales to non IBOs/customers, then you are losing money each and every month if you are attending functions and buying standing orders. Your 10-12 hours a week of Amway work is costing you money! But if you spend 10-12 hours a week, even at minimum wage, then you might be making about 300 to 350 a month groww income. After taxes, you make about 250 to 300. At least trading hours for dollars gets you a guaranteed net gain at the end of the month.

Uplines trick you into a "business mentality" where you think that working for a net loss is just a part of business. IBOs should realize that a business promoted as low risk and no overhead should be one where you can profir right away. Instead, IBos are taught to delay gratification, or to reinvest any profit back into their business in the form of tools and functions, which results in a net loss. If that's the case I would choose trading hours for dollars.

Remember, trading hours for dollars is not a bad deal if you are making enough dollars per hour. And even those who make less, are better off that those who "run a business" but end up with a net loss. It's all relative and hopefully, this message will help new or prospective IBOs who are being enticed to join the Amway business opportunity. Good luck to those with jobs and those with businesses. You can be successful either way. Remember that!