Over the years I have been debating with Amway supporters, I cannot see what is so great about the Amway opportunity. Are some of these Amway defenders that stupid or dense that they truly believe that a business where one out of a few hundred people might make a profit and most of the remaining IBOs will lose money is a good opportunity? I'm not talking about people who sign up and "do nothing". Many IBOs sign up and put in a great deal of time, effort and money, only to find out that the system simply does not work (especially in the US) and they make a business decision to quit and/or to do something else.
Of course there are some people who make money in Amway. If nobody made money, then the opportunity would cease to exist. But it is basically exploitation of the downline that accounts for upline success. Amway's admission that sales to non IBOs are low, confirms this. Thus certain upline make their income from their downline's PV volume, and on tool purchases. I mean even a lottery has winners. Even ponzi schemes and other questionable opportunties have some winners. This is not to suggest that Amway in not legal. Amway is perfectly legal, but the way the opportunity is set up, those who profit, primarily do so at the expense of their trusted downline.
There are no groups that I know of where all the IBOs can win and earn a profit. I would guess that there might be a few rogue groups who only focus on retail sales, and while these groups can be profitable as a group, they are few and far between. This is because most IBOs fall under an LOS such as WWDB, BWW, LTD or N21, and these groups all seemingly focus on recruiting of new IBOs. Yes, they may sprinkle in some suggeestions about selling goods, but generally speaking, their "training" materials consist of motivation speeches, feel good stories (whether true or not), and the theme of never quitting while continuing to purchase more tools.
Some upline have the nerve to start teaching downline that their Amway business is not about making money, but to save your marriage, make you a nicer person, or some other diversion to make you forget that you are losing money month after month after month. Some groups even mix in religion and politics into their functions and meetings. As far as I can see, the typical business buildiing IBO signs up, gets some of the tools and attends a few functions, and finds that the products are hard to sell because they are not priced competetively with other retailers, and that a damaged reputation is nearly impossible to overcome. These IBOs realize they are not going anywhere, and they walk away, chalking up the losses as a life lesson. But apparently, many uplines who lied and deceived in the past are continuing to do so today, often just revising history for their benefit (i.e. lying about making any profit on tools).
Many IBOs, prospects, information seekers and critics read this blog. My question is very simple. What is so great about the Amway opportunity? For most, it is just a bad use of time and money. While some may exist, I don't know of a single person who "did the work once" and sat back collecting barrels of Amway money while sipping Mai Tais on the beaches of Jamaica. I see crown ambassadors working as hard today as they did many years ago. Diamonds losing homes to forclosures, a prominent diamond in bankruptcy proceedings, and a hoard of WWDB diamonds apparently selling off mansions that they allegedly paid for in cash. (It os quite possible that their lifestyles are simply not sustainable).
Where is the benefit in the business for the typical IBO? Just as there are some diamonds, there are lottery winners. Displaying a lottery winner doesn't make it prudent to spend your money on lottery tickets. Displaying a diamond's lifestyle doesn't make Amway a good opportunity. While Amway is a business and not a game of chance, the results of either, sadly are eerily similar - that is a few winners and millions of non winners.
What is so great about the Amway opportunity? I don't see it.
I dont think amway is a great business. Its just there is no set up costs and nu running costs if you avoid this tools system. You jusst retail a few products and show the plan. Help six people do the same and you are diamond with a fair bit of income. Do it for ten years and you hould be confortable. Dont think many will make 1 million a year unless they have the yaeger and those mind sets. The secret i think is to know what business you are in. This is selling a hope/fantasy. Its not about products and all that. There are thousands of people willing to be sponsored and have a go. Anyone can do that if they want to. Few will do. But it will be done. So why not you. In apple there are a few people multi millionaires but the majority are working at minimum wage in china factories etc. Same in all companies. A few at the top and the majority making low income. So amway a bit the same but maybe more people not making anything. This tools stuff causes losses. But people should have some ability to think logically before spending their money. But i guess they think its easy money so drop their guard.
ReplyDeleteNothing great about Amway surely, but unless you are sucked into it you will not know how bad it is, sad but true!
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DeleteI think there is a difference between the opportunity and probability of success. The opportunity i guess is as small or big as you want it to be. For somebody like Britt or Yeager and these guys it was a business of several hundred diamonds , i suppose a few million dollars of net income pour month including tools. The probability of that is of course very low. Most people i suspect make no money and those foolish enough to sign up for tools probably lose money. I suspect also in europe tools are little used given the language challenges. Hence i expect europe sees more retailing and sponsoring with probably fewer people losing money and maybe a few more earning a bit of extra income
ReplyDeleteget rid of the tools and then MAYBE more people would consider this a good opportunity.
DeleteI really enjoy your blog. I find it very neutral and informative and a great alternative and middle ground between hysteria Amway lovers and tortured angry Amway non lovers. Please use spell check. :) People who are looking for a healthy opinion about the horrible reputation of Amway already feel very skeptical of everything that doesn't resonate with what their upline is throwing down at them. Using spell check helps people who are reading your blog feel like you are a credible source. Thank you for writing your posts. I hope these posts can help my loved one see that this might not be the "great opportunity" that his upline keeps telling him it is.
ReplyDeletePlease use spell check. And thank you for your blog. I hope that it will really help someone see the Truth about Amway and form their own logical opinions.
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