Friday, May 25, 2012

Amway Losers?

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 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. Doing all that only to lose money.

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 cash 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.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

reading your post made me realize how manipulated i was doing amway for just about a month. I must admit these manipulators are good at what they do. They know how to use key words and phrases and also the videos are all spot on to target women with family, men with cars. It's all so strategically crafted to get you hooked every time. I knew there was something fishy when i realized i had to pay for everything once i joined and stupid meetings as well as our upline making us go to summer conference with our diamond. I'm proud that i quit even though i wasted about 400$ on buying my first months 150 PV. Now my platinum upline is hunting me down trying to make me reconsider but i'm ignoring all his messages and calls. These people are all hypocrites. They preach time and money but they don't have any themselves. Funny thing is i work with my upline as a coworker before i started amway and he is literally has a presentation everyday or follow up with people. I can't live that life.

lendrp84 said...

I'm with you on that one, I don't believe the hard work is worth the compensation but some people do believe it and they dedicate their lives to it, not us pal, not us.

Anonymous said...

I hate how Amway mixes religion and patriotism in with their sales pitch. How low can you be to invoke Jesus Christ in order to sell your overpriced detergent or vitamins to unsuspecting folks who are sometimes down on their luck? Ironic, considering Amway promotes their business with images of Yachts and cars, and Jesus said you can't worship both God and Money. Amway sales methods are absolutely despicable. When will the FTC shut this scam down?

Anonymous said...

the ftc trusts that people like us use critical thinking. we live in a free country. if people want to make money off the naive and unsuspecting, they have that right.

Anonymous said...

True story all great points. I joined a few years ago and went on for about 4 months, made about 300 bucks if even that. Then they wanted me to go to this seminar that cost $250. That's what stopped me, they kept pressuring me to go to tall the conferences that cost hundreds of dollars and I was barely making anything. Why wait to buy stuff you want when you can get it from walmart or target at the same price or cheaper.