Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Amway Financial Freedom?

Financial Freedom! That was one of the major battle cries when I was recruited for the Amway business. You gain control of time and money by creating residual or passive income. That is true financial freedom. You wake up at noon, no job, and just do whatever you please, whenever you please. I remember the speaker saying that broke/unemployed people also had freedom, but it was different because they were broke and could not afford to go golfing or do other activities that required money on a regular basis.

I am assuming that this is still the case for many IBOs. Of course, upline leaders may toss in a disclaimer that you don't get rich quick as an IBO, but the pitch apparently still contains the financial freedom and residual income theme, based on my experiences with IBOs. IBOs still think they will be rich. Also, 2-5 years sounds like "get rich quick" to me.

But hey, financial freedom would be a great thing, don't get me wrong. Who wouldn't want to be 35 years old with enough cash to never have to work again? I mean I could spend some time imagining how fun that would be. It would also be fun to imagine what you would do with all the cash if you hit the powerball lottery as well. But for the starry eyed IBOs, I simply have a few questions for you to ponder. A few realistic questions that you should be asking yourself. The answers to these questions will tell you a lot.

1. Who in your group or upline truly has achieved financial freedom? Have you seen their financials or simply a display of wealth such as mansions and fancy cars? Mansions and fancy cars could just be a massive pile of debt. Not too long ago, there apparently were diamonds who had their homes foreclosed, and a triple diamond who was in bankruptcy proceedings. Find out if anyone in your group/upline has actually achieved the success that they are using to recruit you. Also, if they are financially free, why do they work at function after function? Traveling and speaking might not be a traditional job, but it is still work, nonetheless.

2. Even if you find someone who is retired and golfing everyday because of Amway residual income, ask yourself what the likelihood is that you will be able to achieve the same results. If diamonds are still working, what chance do you have of success if you are new or experienced in Amway, and have few or no downline. More than likely, your chance of winning the lottery will be greater than your chance of achieving a significant residual income from your Amway business. Also, I don't know of any Amway retirees who built their business once and walked away with any significant residual income from Amway. Do you? Why are all the diamonds working?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

You sure had a bad experience with Amway, huh? I just had a meeting a few days ago with a couple trying to recruit my girlfriend and I. We had an idea of what it was going into it, but the couple was so nice we decided to go in anyway. During the meeting we were not interested right off the bat but we were intrigued with pitch and felt bad for the people it worked on. We both have solid careers and saw right through what they were trying to do. We know a few people that do Amway and they all say they are about to retire in a month, which I think is hilarious. Then why are you trying to recruit me? Show me your bank statements. It is crazy how brainwashed they become. The are nice people though - just lost I guess.

Joecool said...

What is insidious about Amway at times, is their leaders will lie or misrepresent the opportunity to entice recruits. These prospects are hopeful that Amway can deliver what was advertised and the fact is that any true success in Amway is statistically insignificant. Yes, some people make money but they are rare exceptions. And I don't personally know of anyone who built Amway, and "walked away" from the business to keep collecting large amounts of cash. It's a myth. Even the top tier crown ambassadors have worked until their death. It's just crazy.

Anonymous said...

Yes, it really is just crazy. I cant help myself to continue reading about it though. I cannot wrap my head around the fact that people buy into this and lie about money, retirement, etc. just to entice us to join. I also cant wrap my head around the forever ever land type world they live in. It reminds me a lot of door to door marketing company's. Someone I know through a mutual friend owns this company: http://www.theskyinc.com/ - he makes a good living but they hire these kids and convince them they can get where he is and make millions. At the conventions they have the 1% who made it give inspiration about how they started out doing door to door sales and now they are rich.

Joecool said...

I think some people fall for it because they want it to be true so badly. Who wouldn't want to work hard 2-5 years and be able to "walk away" from the business and retire on the beaches of the world. It's also sad that most people who join Amway will make nothing or lose money. Those who really dedicate themselves to the system of cds books and seminars can lose a lot of money.

Anonymous said...

I am an Amway IBO for a year. What I understood so far is it's a Faith based business. Logic may not help you that much. People who have faith are the ones go out and show plans and may taste success eventually. Rest of the IBO's checking internet blogs and thinking How it should not work. I am always looking for low cost business start ups, then one of the stranger I met showed me the Amway business plan. I am still looking at blogs and find if I stop doing this, what is next? Is some one going to show me and teach me How to think like an entrepreneur etc.... I am still looking. Amway is a business at the end of the day. If they are making 12 billion sales a year, there should be something I might be missing, I hope I will get it one day.....Until that time I keep checking all blogs about How people fail in Amway.

Joecool said...

If you think analytically, a platinum group typically has a hundred or more IBOs. Most of IBO's do nothing and quit. So be be a platinum, you are in the top 1% of IBO's to begin with. Now try to imagine maintaining a group that size with most people doing nothing and quitting. A great task for sure.

Amway did 12 billion but the majority of that volume is in China. Amway doesn't say exactly how much they made in the US but I doubt that Amway's sales growth was from the US.

Also, do a neutral price comparison and see if the products can actually be sold or not.

Good luck

Anonymous said...

Saw a article where Amway USA had 5% growth in 2012. But I only seen one new diamond in the past 7 yrs with wwdb. I highly doubt the other groups are doing much better. Maybe they raised prices 5% in the states

Joecool said...

Maybe Amway raised prices 8%? LOL