One thing that appears to be quite common among Amway IBOs is how IBOs are in denial. They truly believe that their uplines are working in their best interest and that upline wants their success. I don't believe that to be true. If uplines were truly making a fortune from Amway, why would an downline IBO have to pay for practically every bit of help they get from upline leaders? Most IBOs are not aware that their sponsor should be training them free of charge.
To show the plan, you would need to pay to attend an open meeting, and pay for your guests, even if they do not register as a result of the presentation. You pay for voicemail to communikate with your upline and downlines. You pay for standing orders and you may end up paying twice if you were in attendance at the function when the standing order was recorded. You pay for books and other materials as well.
What's more, many IBOs turn their heads when ugly facts rear their heads. For example, some IBOs deny that a prominent triple diamond was involved in bankruptcy proceedings. They continue to edify and pay for financial advice from someone who could not even manage his own finances. They believe that Amway saves marriages even when the leaders who speak this may be getting divorced. It's like upline simply revises history and downlines buy it without question. Many IBOs do not even see it as a problem that some upline boldy lied and said there were no profits from tools in the past. I find this odd because tool profits are still shrouded in secrecy and downline simply believe that they will eventually get a cut, even without a written compensation plan and agreement.
I believe too many IBOs are simply in denial. They give upline their trust and upline abuses it. IBOs are told they are successful for attending a function even when they might be losing money month after month. They may be told that the Amway business is not about money but about making friends. They may be told that they are nicer people because of their participation in Amway. What too many IBOs do not see is that they are in denial about their business. Most IBOs are losing money, a little at a time, perhaps $100 or $150 a month. For the hardcore, maybe more. But they are taught to ignore these simple facts and deny that there is a problem.
It is my hope that exposure of some of these tactics will be beneficial to information seekers and perhaps new IBOs who have not yet been fully indoctrinated. I encourage people to ask tough questions, demand answers and use due diligence when checking out this oppportunity. The fact is that very few people every make a profit and people should know this before getting involved. Don't deny the obvious.
My conclusion is the majority of amway ibos earn less than the average earnings in developing nations - a few dollars a day. As you say they are in denial thinking big pay day is coming. But it never comes.
ReplyDeleteWhen you factor in cds, books, voicemail and functions, these IBOs are operating at a net loss.
ReplyDeleteinteresting articles. I met a couple who were very honest and nice. They invited me to an opening, and it was really weird, but at the same time very convincing.
ReplyDeleteMy questions to the readers here is this:
Apparently, you can buy consumables at cost, cheaper than retailers like wal-mart and costco. You can write off most of your expenses like your cell phone, car, fuel, etc. because you are using them for business purposes. You can help your friends and family members by providing with near cost consumables.
So even if you are not on the route to making over $100,000 per year. You can still break even and take advantage of the benefits just by doing this Amway thing part time, while working your fulltime.
No, you cannot buy items for less than at local or online retailers. Even at their wholesale prices, they are far more expensive. You will be strongly encouraged to buy repetitive, boring and sometimes downright harmful motivational materials, eating up any potential profits from retailing. Which is hard to do since prices aren't competitive. Mostly they'll be sympathy sales to relatives. You should talk to a tax attorney or accountant about the deductibility of any personal items - the IBOs often are misinformed, and are not authorized to tell you what is and isn't deductible. The IRS may require that you have a business plan that clearly shows intent to profit - and the standard "plan" has been proven not to satisfy them.
DeleteQuestion - why won't they show you their schedule C? If it's a profitable business, they should be parading that around on page one.
Amway, and network marketing in general, is a strange beast. It does exactly the opposite of what is promised. Lies become truth, hours spent become time saved, losses are called profits.
Take it from someone who was in the business many years ago - it hasn't changed, doesn't change, and never will be a good business idea. I earn about the $150k per year at a job and will show my tax forms and paychecks to prove it. I have evenings and weekends free, no debt except my mortgage, and a healthy retirement account for when I leave my J. O. B. and the working world. That's true economic freedom.
It will be a great day if they earned a dollar a day, that's a whooping $30 a month. Instead they bleed more'an that, way more in the form of tithes & offerings to their scamway gods and AMO charlatans. It's always a net loss. But when the dream is big enough the facts don't count. How profound indeed!
ReplyDeleteThere are some values needed to build this business of which greed and disrespect are important. Greed gives the energy to keep promoting the concept. To reach a high pin you probably need a group a several thousand people 99 percent of whom you know will lose money. Doing this this needs total lack of care or respect for these people. But thats their problem. Any normal business requires suppliers, customers and employees to win or it wont last. This business requires practically everyone to lose so that top of the pyramid wins.
ReplyDelete"If uplines were truly making a fortune from Amway, why would an downline IBO have to pay for practically every bit of help they get from upline leaders? Most IBOs are not aware that their sponsor should be training them free of charge. "
ReplyDeleteProbably you had bad upline in your business? If you get training from your immediate upline, they will never charge you for that. Choosing right upline is as important as choosing right school for your education. Why are graduates from Harvard schools are more successful in business than others. There will always be positive and negative attitude towards anything that we see and do everyday. My question is, when you start any business(not Amway), do you pay for everything or the vendor where you get all your supply, pays for your establishment?
I like your last paragraph. The reason is that, if someone joins any business without rigorous and tough questions asked and answered, he/she is bound to fail and fall back because the journey to a successful business is very tough.
The proper approach to get started with Amway is, use the product and figure out if the products are useful to you or not. If you find it useful, then do the business. Why would you do a business with something which is not benefiting yourself. Everything is not meant for everybody in this world.
Thanks
Arnab
https://planningpersonalfinance.wordpress.com/
So using the products constitutes your incontrovertibly unequivocal standard of joining any business with rigorous and tough questions asked and answered? Boy I feel vindicated now (or confused, don't know if to wind my butt or scratch my watch).
ReplyDelete