So many IBO's and site visitors here drop by and ask why I am "bashing" Amway or MLM. The fact is that I do not alway talk about Amway or MLM in general. This blog is primarily about the training systems such as WWDB or Network 21 and at times, zany IBO behavior such as lying or tricking people into attending meetings. Occasionally, I get a classic forum troll such as Ohein56 AKA Kerry Hein who drops by from scam.com, another forum that I participate in.
Amway in itself is benign. It's a business opportunity (a poor one in my opinion), but what makes Amway into a financial trap is when these training systems come in and convince new IBO's that they cannot succeed without their training. In the end, the cost of these training systems are the cause of financial losses by IBO's. Amway products are generally priced higher than competitive products, thus they are difficult to sell, save for sympathetic family and friends. Without the movement of products, the IBO's play a money shuffling game where the money flows from the lower level IBO's to the higher level IBO's in the form of product bonuses and the purchase of tools and seminars.
The only way an IBO can eventually prosper is to sponsor enough downline so the downline can absorb the losses and pass bonuses up the chain. Being that many IBO's do nothing and many IBO's can't sponsor anyone, it's easy to see why so many IBO's lose money, get discouraged and quit. Many IBO's use the line that you can earn more than your sponsor, making the business legit. In MLM, many people earn more than their sponsors because many IBO's do nothing and quit. If IBO's would see where their dollars are going, they might get wise to the scheme.
Think about it. If you buy $300 worth of Amway products and get back $10 in the form of a 3% bonus (100 PV), the rest of the $$$ bonus you helped generate goes somewhere upline. In addition, if you are attending functions and buying cd's, etc, then you are also funneling money upline in that manner. In the meantime, your upline diamond is showing off a new sports car or telling you about some fabulous vacation which you helped to finance. If IBO's would truly be business owners with a business mentality, they would track and analyze where their dollars go and not blindly follow upline, they would recognize the scheme as well.
If you talk to your upline and they won't answer your questions honestly and candidly, you should wonder why they should be qualified to give you financial advice and advice about YOUR business if they cannot demonstrate they they have actually succeeded in accomplishing what they are selling you. If you attend functions and buy cd's where the diamond brags about buying a home in cash, has anyone ever verified these claims? Of if the diamond says they earn $50,000 a month, has anyone checked to see if it's true?
I doubt that diamonds live as well as they portray when a diamond lifestyle is full of expenses. Do the math. If a diamond grosses $250K and has kids and a stay at home mom, what kind of net income do they have. What about traveling to functions, medical insurance, and other business expenses. My guess is that diamonds live middle class lifestyles, save for some exceptional diamonds. I do not believe diamonds or Amway can save marriages or do any other extraordinary feats either. Diamonds are more likely like anyone else than not.
That's Joecool's take and I'm sticking with it.
Guess I was a minority when I was a wwdb distributor. I had a few catologues and handed them out. This was in the early 90s. I treated this as a retail business and baught zero tapes. Of course their products didn't sell and I said fuck this. Goal was to recover the money spent on the expensive Amway kit
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