Thursday, January 20, 2011

Fake It Till You Make It?

One of the things I distinctly remember being taught at a function was to fake it till you make it. This was to give the impression of being successful. It was said that you are going to be successful so you may as well act the part. I believe this is taught today as well. IBOs like to make an impression on prospects so the want to appear successful. It is also a part of why IBOs wear suits. They want everyone to be under the impression that they are in a multi million dollar business. Guess what? WalMart is a multi billion dollar business but their employees don't wear suits!

What I find really interesting about this is that I honestly believe the biggest fakers are probably the diamonds. This past month, all over the country, there were functions called "Dream Night". A function with a sit down dinner where the diamonds and other Amway heroes show off slide shows of mansions, jets sports cars, golf club memberships, fabulous vacations, and shopping sprees. I honestly believe that many of the diamonds are the biggest fakers out there. A diamond income, which seems big, and supplemented with tools income, most likely cannot sustain the lifestyles portrayed in these functions. Simple math bears it out.

A dismond income, even with tool income might be $250 or $300K. While that mey seem huge comapred to a working stiff who eanrs %40K or $50K per year, keep in mind that a diamond business has many expenses. How much do you think it would cost a (diamond) family of four (4) to travel to say 5 or 6 functions, first class? How much of that income goes to taxes? I challenge IBOs to sit down and figure this out. After taxes, medical insurance and business expenses are taken into consideration, I would guess that a diamond lives a middle class lifestyle. Amway advocates will argue that this is sans a 9-5 jobm but an Amway business needs constant attention as IBOs up and quit every day. Some who do sign up never do a thing. Replacing IBOs is a neverending task. It is why you do not see or hear of any diamonds who "walked away" to collect residual income forever and ever.

Here's another take on fake it till you make it. Isn't this simply lying and hoping you will one day succeed?

6 comments:

Anna Banana said...

Fake it because you'll never make it is the more likely scenario!

Anonymous said...

fake

Anonymous said...

you lier! all the stuff is real my parents are part of the amway business. AMWAY IS NOT A SCHEME

Anonymous said...

liar? look in the mirror you pathetic scumbag!

**proud Amway hater**

Anonymous said...

"Fake it Until you Make it" is no different than a recent college graduate dressing well, investing in decent vehicle, and joining organizations providing networking opportunities while all cutting back in other areas on starting career pay. It's called posturing, and there isn't anything inherently deceptive about it.

The fact is most people have no shot at being successful in the Amway business because it is extremely hard to build. The concept makes sense and the products are good (even if they seem expensive), but you have to be an extremely diligent and active people person to get a large number of good prospects in the hopper, and only a small percentage of the population is born that way or willing to do the personal development required to get there. Handing out prospecting tapes/cd's to five people a week and getting them all to listen and having a few of them actually see the "plan" is a lot harder than it seems.

There are a lot of names up their who I am very surprised about divorcing and others I am not. INA was huge to push the family values thing but could not keep it together even with a lot of $250K+ Emerald and above lifestyles.

Anonymous said...

Actually, that's dress to impress. That's not the same thing as fake it till you make it.