Fake It Till You Make It?

One of the things I was taught as an IBO was "fake it till you make it". My understanding was that you were to act successful, even if you had not yet achieved your desired level. By faking success, I suppose you had a better opportunity to prospect other potential IBOs than by showing the reality. Broken down to its purest form, this is deception. To attract others to an opportunity where you are deceptive is less than honest, which I suppose describes my former WWDB upline leaders. What is also sad though, is that I believe this may still be taught.

I guess this should not surprise people who know about the Amway business because I believe that diamonds also embellish success as well. WWDB used to have, and still runs a major function called "Dream Nite". This is a function where the diamonds will parade on stage while showing a slide show of all the lifestyle you can achieve at the diamond level. Do what they do and you can have what they have, is what they teach. But can you really?

For one thing, new diamonds in the US or WWDB for that matter probably earn in the range of $200K to $250K a year when you factor in the Amway income and the income from tools. While that seems like a great income, factoring in taxes and medical and dental insurance and the kind of life style that diamonds portray with fleets of cars and mansions and gaudy jewelry and clothing, and you can easily see that diamonds are very likely playing a game of "fake it" as well. It is why I believe many diamonds are actually in debt and/or living month to month financially, just like the working stiffs they criticize in functions. I have heard testimonies and read comments about how IBOs saw their diamonds actually living in very average homes and at times, renting fancy cars and things to show off because their income likely cannot sustain the lifestyles they portray. A prominent WWDB triple diamond was fairly recently in apparent bankruptcy proceedings and another had their home foreclosed. It is all adding up to what I suspect. That diamonds at best live middle to upper middle class lifetyles. Not that this is bad, but it is a far cry from how the diamond lifestyle is dishonestly portrayed. Take away the tools income and the picture would not be pretty, in my opinion.

So IBOs and diamonds can fake it, but I suspect that many of them NEVER "make it".
And if I may add, teaching this and doing this "fake it" is less than honest.