Thursday, June 28, 2012

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 they 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. Next month, all over the country, there will be functions called Summer Conference or Family Reunion (WWDB) . A function with a host (family) of diamonds and other Amway heroes who might 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 diamond income, even with tool income might be $250 or $300K. While that mey seem huge compared to a working stiff who earns $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 job 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 never ending 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? A site visitor recently forwarded an email string he had with a current WWDB IBO: http://expeditionoftruths.com/2012/06/26/fake-it-until-you-make-it/ This IBO claims that he doesn’t waste any money, and doesn’t just sign anyone up (As if IBOs can afford to turn business away). This IBO also believes that his WWDB leaders are loaded with integrity. It might be easier for me to believe that except that I was in the same line of sponsorship (WWDB) and what “Shaun” doesn’t know is that he is being taught almost the same material I was taught as an IBO in the 1990’s, and by many of the same leaders. These are the same leaders who told bold lies and were deceptive about the secret tools business until the internet exposed them. What Shaun also doesn’t know is that things have not changed. I wish him well, I think he’s a good guy who been duped and misled.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This "business" is all about faking it. From top to bottom. The diamonds fake the extent of their wealth (and hide how much in debt they often are to maintain the kind of lifestyle to show on the video screen at conventions). There have been diamonds who have filed for bankruptcy and had homes foreclosed on. Sort of goes against the lifetime residual income upon reaching that level IBOs are taught to believe.

The IBO's are taught to fake it for 3 reasons. First, to fake out prospects. Obviously if prospects had any idea how in debt and struggling the IBO really was with the "fail-proof" amazing opportunity they were peddling, they sure as hell wouldn't want anything to do with it. Second, to fake out each other. Upline likes to make a struggling IBO think they are amongst the only ones not making the amazing business opportunity work. So they teach them to talk "positive", even if it's not the truth so they can't see how widespread within the majority of those involved in Amway who aren't doing shit with it. And, third, to fake out themselves. In the make believe business world of Amway, just like little kids playing dress up to pretend they are grown-ups, IBO's play dress up to pretend they are actually successes at their money-losing business. And as the brainwashing sinks in, they actually start to believe their own lies about being a success, regardless of reality.

Everything in Amway is about faking it, pretending and ignoring reality. Like a cardboard cutout that looks good from the front, but is phony when you look behind it.

~Dave

Abhi said...

Dave, I like your points.

"First, to fake out prospects. Obviously if prospects had any idea how in debt and struggling the IBO really was with the "fail-proof" amazing opportunity they were peddling, they sure as hell wouldn't want anything to do with it."

That's why IBOs have the answer "You wouldn't believe it" if asked how much they make by a 'prospect'. If they kept the balance sheet and saw the real numbers, they wouldn't believe it themselves.

Anonymous said...

Actually speaking there are some bullshit analogies taught. First thing is, you need to believe what you do not have or what you do not foresee. But how do you do it? Behave like you already have! SO you are not a diamond as yet so, behave like diamond for that matter, if you start behaving like a platinum itself will start costing so much on a monthly basis. Problem is, you are not supposed to count the amount spent on all those function tickets and tools! They call it as a business but never count the profits and losses...