Based on my experience in Amway, my blogging experience, and observation of other people who give financial advice such as real estate gurus who teach you to buy property with no money down, or others such as Robert Kiyosaki for that matter, all show testimonials of sucessful people. Obviously they do not show you the vast majority of people who try their systems and fail. Of course it sounds nice to hear some story of a guy who was broke who somehow worked the system and made it big. What you don't see is whether that success story was actually true and the success is sustained, and you don't see thousands of other testimonials from people who used the same system with no results.
It is my informed opinion that whether it is Amway, WWDB, BWW, N21, real estate or the cashflow business, the vast majority of people who try these systems do not make any kind of significant income. Sure, some do, and those are shown as the possibilities. But if you watch infomercials, you will see in small print on the bottom of the screen, "unique experience", your results may vary. I believe that a similar message used to be at the end of Amway diamond recordings as well. It is a simple case of IBOs showing the best case scenario and not what is likely. It's not that much different than lottery in that you see the winners but you have to know that there are thousands and thousands of people who played but did not win.
These systems in general do not work for various reasons. Many people simply do not have the acumen to work the system. Or the system has too many variables for the system to work, or the system calls for things beyond your control. For example, success in Amway generally requires you to sponsor others, something that is beyond the control of most people. Add in the lazy and people who are hoping for a quick score and it is understandable that most will fail. But these systems are often set up where the majority simply cannot all succeed. Nowhere is that more true than the Amway business where the pyramidal compensation plan nearly guarantees failure for the lower level IBOs. Even in the common 6-4-2 plan, there is one platinum and 78 downline IBOs. By the way, what the odds of you and your downline sponsoring 78 people, all of who will move 100 PV?
So what can someone do? Well, it may no be as sexy or attractive but a part time job and investing and saving might be something to think about. Even a part time business where you focus on selling products for a profit might work. It just seems prudent to avoid these "systems" as the primary beneficiary of these "systems" are the ones who directly profit from them.
You can look at the islands in the Pacific Ocean or even the continent of Australia and wonder how they ever became populated with humans during prehistoric times. One can only imagine somebody got on a raft with crude sail and set off to sea into the unknown. How many of them must have perished at sea for every one who found land?
ReplyDeleteBut at least that wasn't a zero sum game like Amway. There was enough land for everybody back then, it was just a matter of sailing in the right direction to find it. Given that their overpriced product doesn't sell to anybody but the Amway cult members themselves, the failure of the vast majority of Amway IBOs is a necessity for the continuation of the Amway business itself. If even one tenth of Amway IBOs were successful at building a downline you would have to go to the south pole to find any new recruits who have not already been prospected and shown the Amway "plan". Thanks, but I don't want to join a business that would collapse if it ever started to become successful.
Actually, when you factor in the tools and business expenses, Amway is a negative sum game and not a zero sum game. In a zero sum game, more than likely some people have to win, but in a negative sum game, it's possible for everyone to lose money. When I say that, I mean the group collectively can end up with a net loss, even though the diamond might make money.
DeleteThe founders are worth about 5 billion each. A few crowns probably made a few million. The other 10 milion or so people who joined at some stage paid for this. Thats how the lodel works
DeleteThe only way to do Amway that makes any hypothetical sense at all would be to buy into it for the bare minimum, not use any overpriced Amway product yourself or pay for any tools, functions or anything else connected with Amway. Stick to recruiting others and let THEM waste THEIR money at it. And recruit only strangers so as to not damage your own friendships or family.
ReplyDeleteI used to work for a guy who joined this straight up pyramid game some years back and went to their meeting about every night. He told me about this one guy he noticed in the mix there who did just that. He whooped and hollered the loudest, had made up and passed out these cheap "go for it!" buttons to the others and otherwise fanned the flames but always came alone, never putting his own personal credibility on the line by bringing in people that he knew. But that approach would hardly be feasible in the world of Amway. Like the Tar Baby in the famous Disney story about Brer Rabbit, it's best to not even touch that sticky Amway mess.
That method could work if you can actually sponsor people. If you sponsor someone who does 100 PV, then you have no 100 OV quota to get 3% back on your purchases. If you sponsor enough people, you get to leverage the volume to get bigger bonuses.
DeleteReminds me of the quote from the computer at the end of the movie War Games: "The only winning move is not to play"
DeleteAbsolutely. Most IBOs would be better off just giving their upline $50 a month and not playing.
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ReplyDeleteJC,
If an Amway Guru told the truth about how to build and maintain his empire, he would prospect for "the opportunity" like this:
AG: Do you like people?
Prospect: No
AG: Excellent (tapping hands together like Mr. Burns on the Simpsons)
AG: Are you willing to sell your soul?
Prospect: How much?
AG: Where have you been all my life..... Jackpot!
Basically this is the ideal prospect for the Amway/Tool peddling business that's willing to deceive. He will "invest" in the deception knowing he can manipulate and twist his downline under the disguise of being a decent human being. They will succeed in Amway because they can fill that vacant spot where the soul used to be with cash. He or she would be incredibly "successful" in Amway.