Friday, March 15, 2013

Amway Or A Part Time Job?

Many people pitch Amway as simple, and a somewhat shortcut to riches. It's all over the internet, it's what I saw as an IBO, and I have good reason to believe that many still pitch Amway in this manner. I believe that people want to believe that you can create wealth part time in 2-5 years. IBOs and prospects may be told "it's not get rich quick", but 2-5 years to quit your job and live off residual income sure sounds like the pitch of a get rich quick scam. It is what has contributed to Amway's current reputation. IBOs who trick people into meetings or lie about Amway don't help the cause either.

A typical IBO (not counting those who do nothing), according to the "plan" will consume and possibly sell some goods on their way to 100 PV, which will earn them about a $10 bonus from Amway. There might be some profit from sales to customers, but there are also expenses involved in running a business. If an IBO is on the system, then their expenses might run from $100 or so to $500 a month, depending on level of commitment (brainwashing). In the end, a flawed system and generally non competitive pricing and products leads to most IBOs eventually quitting. The vast majority of IBOs on the system will wind up with a net loss, even with a tremendous amount of effort. Seems that effort has no relationship with success in Amway. Based on my experience, deception and lies seem to be a better way to succeed in Amway than by hard work.

But what if someone basically worked a part time job instead of Amway? If someone simply got a 20 hour a week job at $10 an hour (not that difficult), someone could earn about $800 a month gross income, or about $9600 a year. In ten years, even with no raises in salary, that person would have earned close to $100,000 more income. That money, if invested into a diverse portfolio can be the nestegg that allow someone to retire early, or to retire more comfortably than most. And that salary is guaranteed if you work the hours. In Amway, you can work very hard and not earn a dime.

With the Amway business, there are no assurances of anything, even if you work 40 hours a week. The only assurance if that you will help your upline earn more than yourself by moving products. If you are on the system, you are basically paying your upline (via tool puchases) for the priviledge of boosting your upline's volume. It is why uplines teach you to "never quit" and to be "core". These virtures help assure your upline of profits, but does little for the rank and file IBOs. I write this blog post just to stimulate thought among IBOs and prospects. There are better and easier options than the Amway opportunity. If you are reading this, you are looking at one potential alternative. It's your job to decide.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I suggest any opportunity is better than the amway opportunity. Amway guarantees losses with little possibility of profits. Even if you were to make diamond (which nobody is able to do nowadays) it would take ten years. Then you need to requalify. Again nobody is able to so. In any case what is guaranteed in amway is that you need to work at it for the rest of your life. This is the never quit motto. With no return also guaranteed, it seems a poor offer.

Anonymous said...

Well no fucking duuh if if u want success you have to pay the price were talking here about investing money there also investing time saving money to retire really what happens when the 100 grand are gone there no income coming what about taxes u have to pay cuz surely that money is gonna be in a bank the reason also what about unpredictable life events? U see u can't save money to retire there always has to be money coming in and to do that u either invest to keep that money growing or work and once u can't work anymore? Amway is not for everyone if u had a good life so far maybe u have a professional career you dont need Amway for people that never had a chance that can't afford to go to college etc Amway is an opportunity maybe u should see how many lifes Amway has changed because of it people have managed to make ends meet.

Anonymous said...

Thats exactly the question. Nobody has ever made money from it. All the diamonds etc are broke or back at work. As for the rest they never saw a dime. Just gave to the few uplines who control this circus. And even thoe guys are still working day and night. None of them can ever afford to retire.

Anonymous said...

Cant see how its simple or a short cut. Its 7 days a week for the rest of your life. Even then there is little chance of success. The few who made money showed outstading leadership and motivation skills to build and manage large groups of people. In particular they were able to find other skilled leaders. These type of people are rare and can be successful in many walks of life. You have to be like them to win at amway and be prepared to give your life to it. The normal person cant do this. They have no chance in amway. They just serve as temporary passers by who can be motivated by the leaders to hang in and buy products and tools for a few months. Then they are of no use as soon as they begin to find it tough. The leaders just keep replacing them.

Anonymous said...

anon @11:11, you're a first-class idiot.

Anonymous said...

I've known about the amway scam for years. Spotted the fallacies when I was first shown the plan, I even encouraged others to pay attention to what they were seeing (I was in college in a dorm at the time). They were very shown nice presentations and promise, I wasn't buying it. I grew up watching timeshare salesman do the same thing, so I knew they were selling something but I wasn't buying. I had friends who were interested and I tried to warn them but they didn't see what I saw. My best friend who just so happen to be from an affluent family was teaching me how to stock pick at the time, laughed at the plan and said "nobody who does that ever makes any money, but they won't learn until they see it for themselves". I've grown to avoid all network and MLM marketing in general. In my eyes it's nothing more than a legal pyramid. Besides if something provides the kind of riches people expect, there are always barriers to entry. If they say everyone works hard and does XYZ will be rich, I'd be watching closely. Old adages like "believe none of what you hear and half of what you see" speaks volumes about Amway. Anyhow, I started re-researching amway due to world ventures seeming a lot like amway. They sell vacations. A friend wanted to show me the plan because I travel often. I watched his presentation as a friend, pointed out the vague parts, the bs parts, and the costs associated, I warned him about them too. A fool and their money are always easily parted. Educate yourselves people because ignorance is expensive.