What If Everyone Was An IBO?

The point of this blog post is to illustrate that the Amway opportunity is simply not sustainable and that the market is basically saturated in North America. I know Amway recently released some propaganda on the average IBO income being up, but once again, a clear explanation of how they derived the numbers was not given. For all we know, they have hve simply excluded more IBOs by declaring them as "inactive". Anytime I heard the word Amway, it frequently draws funny looks from people. I know that Amway proponents will claim that Amway is not saturated, but in real life, you aren't going to have people lining up to join. It is why there are countless stories of people being lied to or tricked into attending recruitment meetings.

So in reviewing the common 6-4-2 plan, there are 79 IBOs and one becomes a platinum. And that is with the generous assumption that all of these IBOs are moving 100 PV consistently each month. Factor in some folks who do little or nothing and some who order infrequently and anyone can reasonably conclude that a platinum business will commonly have well over 100 downline IBOs. Now with that being said, what if everyone in the entire world suddenly had an epiphany and decided to join Amway?

Well, the structure of most platinum businesses won't change. You will still likely have more than 100 downline in each platinum group. The platinum will make some money and most downline, especially those on the system of cds and functions will lose money. Thus less than 1% of the IBO population can realistically be a platinum at any given time. Whether is now or whether the entire planet signs up for Amway, it will always be less than 1% of the IBO population at the platinum level. That is how the system is set up. The only exceptions to this rule would be for IBOs to sell enough PV to make up for a lack of downline. But there is ample testimony and evidence to indicate that many IBOs simply self consume their PV because they cannot or do not like selling. Some AMo groups teach IBOs to almost exclusively consume their own volume. My former LOS, WWDB did not emphasize selling, but focused on recruiting. And why not? The reality is you cannot go emerald or diamond without many downlines.

So even if every person on earth joined Amway, there would still be less than 1% of IBOs at the platinum level and very likely that less than 1% of IBOs would be at a net profit. Some proponents argue that many IBOs sign up and do nothing or sign up and don't order products. So what? They are still IBOs and even if you didn't count them in averages, what I have posted above explains why the success rate (platinum) still cannot amount to much more than 1% even at the best case scenario.

Still thinking about registering for Amway? Do your research and you may want to think about this article.

Financial Freedom Via Amway?

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?

Winners Join Amway?

One of the things that my upline taught, and I believe is still taught today in various groups is that winners join Amway and losers do not. Kind of makes me wonder about the "most" who "do nothing" after joining. I also heard that you're a winner because you were doing something to better your financial future and those who didn't were losers or broke minded. Of course the upline who said this had no knowledge about those who were not in Amway. Some of them may already have been financially sound or may have been doing something to better their financial future. I'm not sure why these uplines, who promote "positive" thoughts, had to resort to calling people losers simpy because they did not agree that Amway was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

In many games or sporting events, there will be someone or a team that wins the game and someone or a team that loses the game. Losing a game doesn't make you a loser and certainly, a team that wins the game would not say the losing team were losers. Can you imagine a pro football team's coach taking the podium after a game and saying his team won because the other team was a bunch or broke minded gutless losers? That would never happen, yet we see that frequently in the Amway world. The owner of Amway, Rich DeVos had once said in a recorded message that just because people do not agree with you (paraphrased) about Amway, does not make them losers and that IBOs should not call people losers.

In all of this, people's jobs are also criticized. That a job stands for "just over broke" or "jackass of the boss" and other blurbs. Many IBO's goals and dreams consist of ditching their job so they can sleep all day and live a life of luxury. Ironically, it is most IBO's jobs that continue to produce income so they can pay their bills and feed their family. It is also an IBO's job that funds their Amway and AMO expenses such as product purchases and functions and voicemail, etc. Without having a job, most people could not even join Amway or pay for any tools. Sadly, most IBOs won't make any money in Amway either, and will have to continue to work at their jobs. I do not believe that someone earning an honest living working a job is a loser. Ironically, the folks calling people losers are often not even netting a profit from their Amway business!

Yes, in this business or the sports world, there will be winners and there will be losers. The question is whether you are the one who is allowed to be the judge of who is and who isn't. I would also suggest that IBOs are completely shutting down potential future business by their behavior. What if I went to a store to purchase something but the item was not available on that particular day, so I don't purchase anything and leave. As I leave, the store owner says I am a loser for not buying something there. Will I go back? Very unlikely. If an IBO truly sees themselves as a store owner, all prospects should be seen as potential business, whether future or present. If your upline tells you that people not interested are losers, you should kick him where the sun doesn't shine.

Only winners join Amway? Think again!

The Amway Bait And Switch Scam?

One of the crafty things that some uplines do is basically a bait and switch scam on potential recruits and prospects. During a meeting or a presentation, it's common for the upline to talk about the untold wealth they have as Amway diamonds and how they wake up when they are done sleeping and they do what they want when they want to. That they used to be in the 40-40 plan which is working a job 40 hours a week for 40 years. They they'll mention that they suddenly has a revelation about the business and how they made it happen. But they'll often mention how it started with a dream. They might then ask the prospect what kind of car would they buy if money was not object? Or what kind of home would they own if they could buy one in cash?

So the prospect begins to rekindle some hopes and dreams about some things that may have been suppressed by the realities of life. Most people aren't going to purchase sports cars and mansion in cash afterall right? But hey, maybe, just maybe I can be like that diamond and retire at the age of 28 and have cash rolling in abundantly so I might have all those trappings too. That little spark is what the uplines use to capitalize on the recruits.

So if the recruit gets excited enough to sign up as an IBO, the upline will likely loan the recruit some cds or have them attend a function. But at some point, the new recruit will be asked if they are a serious business owner. If the response is yes, then the bar will be raised and there will be expectations of them. They will be taught that Amway is their only hope and that the only way to succeed in Amway is listen to cds, read books, and attend all meetings and functions. In reality, all that has happened is the new IBO has become a dedicated customer of the upline who sells cds, books, voicemail and seminar/function tickets. And dedicated customers of the "system" are nearly assured to lose money because of those expenditures.

It's a big bait and switch scam. Get someone to think about hopes and dreams, which by itself is not a bad thing. But the sad reality is those kinds of dreams are not realistically achievable. Then the recruit is taught that Amway is their best or only way of achieving those hopes and dreams. And to succeed in Amway, you "need" to purchase the tools and functions. After all, a carpenter can't build anything without a saw and hammer right? But conversely, a carpenter doesn't need a new saw and hammer every week and the ones he does have actually helps him build things. The cds and functions are ineffective as new diamonds and big pins are practically non existent in the United States and Canada. Yeah, there's a few here and there but I believe there are fewer diamonds in my old LOS (WWDB) now than when I was an IBO 17 - 18 years ago. There is no evidence that the tools or the "system" works for IBOs. The system only works for those who profit from it.

I started and maintain this blog for the sole purpose of providing my experiences and knowledge to information seekers. Many many people have found the information on this blog helpful or useful and occasionally, I've had Amway supporters and IBOs come to debate with me. But not a single one has ever come back to tell me they made it to platinum or a higher level. And keep in mind that since 2009, more than 625,000 visitors have seen this blog. If you're a prospect, read all you can if you are considering a run at the Amway business. Ask me questions in the comments or look up my contact information which is on this blog and please make an informed decision if you are thinking about joining Amway. It might be in your best interest to look at facts instead of hype. Good luck.

Is Amway "Easy"?

One of the reasons why upline and Amway presentations still manage to get people into the business is because the Amway opportunity is made to sound easy. Sure, the presenter of the plan might mention that it takes work, but prospects walking out of the meetings will get the impression that all they need is six, or that the task of going diamond is very manageable. It isn't until a prospect signs up and gets to work that he or she will find out how difficult it is to build an Amway business. In fact, the business in itself is not mind boggling, but overcoming the reputation issues that Amway has will doom most of the eager new IBOs.

Even seasoned IBOs who have been trained to counter attack people's objections about Amway will struggle when presented with the simple facts that Amway products are not necessarily the greatest and are not necessarily the best value. If this were true, Amway could move much more product simply by marketing these great products and selling them in stores. But since IBOs move and market Amway products for no salary and at their own expense, it's a great deal for Amway. I wonder what Amway sales would be if they did not count sales to IBOs for self consumption? Seems many of these IBOs will loyally buy Amway products while they are building the Amway business but that loyalty seems to fade once the dreams of early retirement and going diamond fades away.

One glaring problem that IBOs seems to ignore is how often platinums and high level IBOs like diamonds fall out of qualification. Yes, Amway has many new platinums, etc, but what about the people who worked their tails off just to end up falling out of qualification a year later? The income stops when your volume stops. There are countless stories of diamonds quitting or leaving Amway. IBOs should do some research and look for answers as to why this is. I think they would not like the answers. They will find that some diamonds are broke, in debt and struggling. In other words, diamonds are like the rest of the world, but have been elevated as special in the Amway world. Do you really think you can live a jetset lifestyle on 100K per year? Many people think $100K is great because they might earn far less, but $100K or $200K is really just a middle class lifestyle, and maybe less if the diamond is in debt because they show off a diamond lifestyle. Behind the smoke and mirrors of the diamond illusion, I think prospects would be shocked at how diamonds really live.

Amway may sound easy but the reality paints a very different picture. Go find out for yourself.

Amway IBOs Keep On Paying?

One thing that appears to be common amongst 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? Why aren't any functions pro bono? What difference would it make to someone making millions heaped upon millions?

In order to show the plan in a formal setting, 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 where 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 about 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. In the end, IBOs pay up and they keep on paying upline for their sage advice, even when their bank accounts keep getting lighter. Where will it end?

A Few Months After Joining Amway?

I send this message to inform IBOs tha they should be aware of their circumstances in business. What I mean is when you are a new IBO, it is common for you to buy/sell your 100 PV, and perhaps listen to some cds. If you basically did what your sponsor or upline advised, you made your 100 PV bonus level and you will receive a bonus from Amway for about $10. If you did as advised by your upline/sponsor, then you likely made a namelist and started contacting some potential business partners aka prospects. You're probably excited because things are going as you hoped or expected. You did your part and a bonus is on it's way to your doorstep. Heck, you may have even sponsored a friend or relative because of your newly found excitement and enthusiasm. Business is booming right?

But what happens after a few months? If you are still doing 100 PV and have no downline, then what are the chances that you will ever achieve anything? What if you sponsor someone who does nothing? Your excitement is wearing off and now the Amway opportunity is becoming "work". You are also starting to notice that it is starting to get expensive to continue to purchase products, many of which you never purchased before. For example, were you buying cases of energy drinks and "high end" vitamins before Amway? Did you buy $50 cases of bottled water before Amway? Supposedly their laundry soap and other cleaners are highly concentrated, therefore your consumables are the nutrition/vitamin products. Were you taking supplements and spending a couple hundred a month doing so?

Even if you managed to find some downline, are they duplicating what you do? Are they also moving volume and sponsoring downline? If not, what are your chances of fulfilling the 6-4-2 plan or some similar version of it. When I saw the plan, I thought it was reasonable and I was on my way to platinum. What I discovered though, is that as you progress, upline has greater expectations of you and that includes more tool purchases. (I was in WWDB). In the end, my recommended tool purchases ate up any profits I had and at the 4000 level, I was just about breaking even, which means I was at a loss when factoring in my time spent and other miscellaneous expenses such as gas money.

Where are you at? If you're been in for more than a year, are you on schedule to become platinum or are you at 200 PV with one downline? One thing I noticed while I was an IBO is that people who went platinum did it in about 15 months or less. If you aren't making progress, chances are you will never make it. Maybe you have a small group with 600 PV? You still aren't close to a net profit. For the vast majority of people, success is not right around the corner. What's around the corner for most is more time lost, more money expended, and no progress. If your group is not growing each and every month, you are sliding backwards. If you don't constantly have new IBOs coming into the group, you are probably stagnant. With about half of IBOs dropping out each year, keeping a group together is a tremendous task. More likely an impossible task. My former sponsor ended up sponsoring more than 100 people but he never made Q12 platinum and is nowhere near that level now, 22 years later. I shudder to think how much time and money he's lost.

IBOs, where are you at after a few months? Where are you at after a year? If you haven't gone platinum, it is nearly a certainty that it will never happen, despite what your upline might say. The facts are there, it's a matter of whether you want to believe it or not.

An Amway Comment

An Observation About Amway?



http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=192279&page=8

It's refreshing to see so many good people on this forum telling the truth about Amway. It looks like the pro-Amway shills here and on other sites are becoming increasingly outnumbered and desperate. I've read through this entire thread and think it is hilarious how many times the shill has to move the goal-posts or play word games to make Amway look like an amazing business opportunity.

I was originally introduced to Amway many years ago in my late teens by an uncle of mine. I attended a few of their seminars, and was impressed at first. But the whole thing started to seem ridiculous and unrealistic and so I didn't get involved any further. Also, I'm not that materialistic, so Amway's message doesn't appeal to me. I wish my uncle had been more skeptical.

My uncle was very devoted to Amway for a few years. He bought all their products(especially the tapes and books), tried to get others to buy them, and also tried to recruit all his family and friends into his new religion. He eventually lost money and friends and alienated himself from much of his family.

Already heavily in debt, he eventually fell for another, even bigger get-rich-quick scam shortly after quitting Amway(to Amway's credit, they don't threaten to kill anyone for leaving Amway). This one robbed him of his entire life savings. The scammers got away with it because they knew how to play him right(he met one of them through Amway). His wife divorced him soon after.

As if this wasn't enough, after making a modest financial recovery with his business over the course of several years, he loses it all to yet another scam. He had to borrow heavily from the few friends he had left since no bank would ever give him a loan, and almost no one in the family has anything to do with him anymore. I haven't seen him for 15 years.

One thing I wonder about my uncle is if all those seminars and inspirational tapes and books softened him up to fall for all those other scams he fell for after quitting Amway(he didn't have a reputation for being gullible before joining Amway, though he was never that bright to begin with). If I remember correctly, he tended to blame himself for failing at Amway, and may have never understood that it was a big scam or at least not a good business opportunity.

I still remember those crazy seminars and how they told everyone that joining the Amway cult will likely lead to yachts, exotic vacations surrounded by hot bikini babes, and shiny expensive cars, among other symbols of wealth. Everyone is told at the seminars and in the "tools" that they have all this unfulfilled potential, but to realize this potential we must avoid those small-minded "dream killers"(skeptical family members and friends).

The story about my stupid uncle is true. There are many other people out there just like him who have fallen for Amway and others MLMs. The few people I've met who claimed they were very successful at Amway usually seemed sleazy or I would find out years later they were up to their eyeballs in debt.

The person who said before that the people who regularly attend these seminars are mostly fools and misfits was spot on.

Who's The Real Loser?

One of the things I recall as an IBO was thinking how sorry I felt for people who were not IBOs because we were all going to be rich and everyone else was a loser. Our upline used to tell us that we were winners - and if you weren't a winner, then obviously, you are a loser. Many times, the term "broke" was attached to the term loser. That was my mindset back then, but having been out of the system more than ten years, I can look back and laugh, realizing that the losers were the ones buying stuff they don't need, stalking people at malls and bookstores, and wasting their time and money on tapes (cds), books and functions.

What goes unnoticed in many cases, is how much time and money really goes down the drain for IBOs who work the system. Your life revolves around the business if you are dedicated and hard core. You are always looking for prospects and people to show the plan to, and you have to rearrange your schedules, or outright skip social or family gatherings because of the neverending number of meetings and functions, many of which teach you nothing about running a profitable business. When I first left the Amway business, I was sort of angry at the time and effort that was wasted, along with the cahs I threw down the crapper.

But after I did finally cut ties with the business and the people associated with it, I got back into a routine of sorts. I focused on my job and after some years of gaining experience and working my way up the corporate ladder, I received some promotions and I am scheduled to be retired before the age of 60 with a decent retirement income and will likely have my home paid off by then. So while I did have to work a dreaded job to be able to retire, pretty much all IBOs are also working a job or business PLUS having to expend their time and money to run their Amway business which has little to no chance of providing a long term stable and significant income. And if I may add, it is the systems such as WWDB or N21 that usually end up costing the IBOs the most money because of things like the functions.

So I will ask the question. Who's the real loser? The person diligently working and saving for their future or the person chasing a dream that is unlikely to materialize? Factoring in the expenditure of time also makes the systems even more costly than it appears on the surface.

The Amway Pyramid?

So many eager young people join Amway with the hopes that they will retire early, live a life of luxury and basically enjoy life with no worries. Most of the people who join Amway are very likely to be motivated, hard working and wanting more out of life. Their intentions are great but it leads to the question of why do so few people actually get anywhere in Amway and why are there so few new diamonds, at least in the US and Canada?

I think part of the problem is that the folks who recruit new prospects into Amway often imply that everyone has a chance to be a diamond and they also imply that it's not that difficult. I heard comments once that going platinum was so easy that someone's dog could do it. It's obviously not true when less than one percent of IBOs ever reach the platinum level and even those who do often are unable to maintain that level of volume.

Now let's break it down to numbers. A platinum group is often typically 100 to 150 IBOs. Of course not all of them are busy moving products or recruiting downline. A diamond group is six platinum groups plus some side volume, thus a diamond group is likely to have 750 to 1000 IBOs. Being a platinum can be compared to being the manager of a company and a diamond is like being a CEO of a big organization. In a job, you can work your way up and eventually become a manager or CEO. Some IBOs think they can never achieve those goals at work, but they mistakenly think they can surpass their sponsors in Amway so it's a better deal. But even if you earn more than your sponsor, does that mean you will eventually reach platinum or diamond? I think a better gauge of success would be those who go diamond. Diamond is often portrayed as the pinnacle of success and is the target shown in "the plan".

However, as I stated, going diamond would also be like achieving the level of CEO in a company. There is only so much room at the top. That is true. While there can be many diamonds, you would still need to have about 100 to 150 downline to achieve platinum and you would still need six platinum downline groups equating about 750 to 1000 downline IBOs to be diamond, plus your personal group. Thus a diamond is like a CEO who creates his own company. Factor in that half your group is likely to quit each year, thus you must replace hundreds of IBOs every year to maintain the minimum qualification of platinum or diamond. Add the in name "Amway" that makes some people cringe and maintaining a group is a daunting task. Imagine being a CEO of a company that loses half of their employees every year. That's what a diamond "lifestyle" includes.

It is my informed opinion that a diamond lifestyle is one of hectic schedules, constantly working to help your groups maintain volume and bringing in new IBOs, plus sponsoring and maintaining your own personal group of 2500 PV volume. If you cannot maintain 2500 PV personal volume, I believe you would not qualify for some of the bonuses paid by Amway. Also, because the rest of the workers normally works 8-5 or so, a diamond is out working the night shift and odd hours trying to keep the group intact. Also, factor in the travel to functions for speaking engagements and a constant churning of meetings and you have little time to actually work your business and spend time with family. Sadly, many people join to gain more time and money and they often end up with less time and less money because of their involvement with the constant meetings and functions.

So can someone succeed in Amway? Certainly it has been done, but I believe that many diamonds are possibly busier working odd hours than someone with a job with regular hours. The diamond lifestyle may be shown as fabulous, but I believe the reality is not as nice a picture. See my previous post about visiting with a diamond.

Amway - A Game That IBOs Can't Win?

When people see the Amway plan, it sort of makes sense. You need to find six people to go direct, in 2-5 years and you have residual and willable income for life. You are then financially free and can spend your days walking on exotic beaches while checks keep coming in. This is what lures many prospects to take a better look and maybe even test the waters and give Amway a shot. After all, who wouldn't be interested in financial freedom and the ability to fulfill some of your ultimate dreams? Only a fool would turn down such an opportunity right?

While Amway looks good on paper, too many things derail this plan for financial freedom and untold wealth. Over the years I've been blogging, I've challenged Amway supporters to name a couple of people who are financially free and walking the beaches while income rolls in. Very predictably, nobody has identified a single person who achieved some high level in Amway and is sitting back relaxing while money keeps coming. We even see crown ambassadors passing away while still working the business.

So why can't IBOs achieve what they aspire to? Because in my opinion, the odds are sacked against them. Sure, a rare individual might go diamond but the occurrence is very rare and almost as rare as winning the lottery, even though Amway is not a game of chance. I will go and list the reasons why IBOs are playing a game they can't win, even though they think they can. That is the sad part, that the upline is motivating downline to "never quit" even though they will "never succeed".

The system is set up for very few to succeed. Even in the common 6-4-2 plan where everyone did enough to earn a bonus, there is one person at the highest level with 78 downline who earn less. In real life, most IBOs do little or nothing. At Amway.com, you can see income disclosures that show how few people reach the higher levels. It's a tiny fraction of 1% that reach the higher levels. Even reaching platinum is a lofty achievement and platinums might not even see a net profit due to business expenses.

Business expenses such as product packs, catalogs, cds, books, voicemail and functions add up to significant expenses in the course of a month. If you're hoping to achieve financial freedom, you'll be expected to participate in the teaching system and more than likely, these expenses will be the reason for your business losses. Beware of upline who encourage you to go in debt to purchase training.

The products in general are not competitive. Sure, the Amway IBOs may give you some pitch about products being concentrated or of high quality but let's face it, consumers don't care about high quality soaps and household cleaners. There is nothing wrong with the similar products that you can purchase at Target or WalMart at a fraction of the cost. When your products can't compete on a level playing field, on what basis do you expect to sell these products? For that reason, many IBOs become "self consumers" and wind up with no actual customers.

Amway's reputation is soured. Most people know or know someone who had a bad experience with Amway. Due to past IBO behavior, people have developed a negative view of Amway. People being tricked or lied to in the past may have contributed to this issue. Add that to the fact that so few people actually make money turns this business into an almost insurmountable challenge. Even those who achieve often find themselves out of qualification shortly after.

For these reasons, my conclusion is that the Amway opportunity is a game that IBOs simply cannot win, even for those who learn from upline and put forth tremendous effort. And the longer you play. the bigger your losses become. Do your due diligence before undertaking any business opportunity.

What's Realistic For An Amway IBO?

One thing that many Amway promoters don't like to talk about is what your realistic chances of success are. I will define success as Diamond because that is what the outcome of the 6-4-2 and 2-5 year plan. Of course you may be able to earn some income at lower levels, but my understanding is that diamond is where the real money from Amway and the tools start rolling in. And I can also understand why people promoting Amway do not discuss your realistic chances of winning. Afterall, lottery promoters do not show you the millions of losers, they only parade the winners in front of you.

Many people, including Amway enthusiasts will agree that many IBO do little or nothing. Some people never even place an order or make any attempt to do any business. For the purpose of this article, I am not speaking about these folks. I am talking about people who actually put in some effort to the business. This is about people who actually invest time and money into this business.

For many people who want to make an earnest effort, they will purchase and hopefully sell a few items with the goal of reaching 100 PV. For that effort, you will receive approximately $10 from Amway and whatever profit you might have earned by selling products. Here's the catch. You will likely need to pay website fees in excess of the $10 you earn from Amway. For the more dedicated IBOs, you may be payin for voicemail, standing orders, book of the month, and possibly attending functions. These expenses will exceed your income month after month unless you are able to increase your volume by selling enough products and/or sponsoring downline who buy and sell products.

Because Amway has to include the IBO bonuses in their prices, the products come at a premium price. Thus sales to non IBOs are relatively low. Without sales to non IBOs, the only other way to generate more volume is to sponsor people who will buy and sell products. But due to past unethical IBO behavior, getting people to see the Amway sales and marketing plan may be a challenge. Also, most IBOs are unable to sponsor a single downline.

Some Amway enthusiasts will claim that if you do their CORE steps for 2-5 years consistently, that you are likely to succeed. Sound easy, but becaue of the factors I have identified, some of these steps are impossible to do consistently. It's not like walking a mile each day where you have control of the step. People will likely fail in showing the plan and sponsoring others because they cannot find enough people who are willing to see an Amway plan. Many, possibly most other IBOs can and will do certain steps consistently such as listening to a CD daily and reading a success book. But because of a spotty reputation in the US, IBOs will very likely fail to be able to show enough plans to succeed.

Your realistic chance of success? My informed guess is less than 1 tenth of 1 percent. That's the likelihood of going diamond. Your chance of going platinum? My informed guess will be about 1/4 of 1 percent (1 in 400: Source Amway.com). If you think you can beat those odds, go for it. For most people, it might be wise to look into other opportunities.

IBO Responsibility?

One of the disturbing things I have noticed about Amway IBOs and IBO leaders is how they wlll tell downline to trust them. To trust them as they have already blazed a trail. No need to re-invent the wheel. Just ride the coattails of your upline to success. The system is proven. Many IBOs take this to heart and put forth tremendous effort. Then when they fail, upline will shun them and tell them that the failure is their own. That they are personally responsible for failure.

Now I am not talking about IBOs who sign up and do nothing, or never place an order. I do believe that the fact that many IBOs sign up and do nothing brings concerns about how these IBOs were recruited, but I di not recall ever seeing an IBO do nothing and then complain that Amway was a scam or anything like that.

I have found, however, that many people who are critical of Amway and the systems, put forth much effort, did everything they were told, and did not find the success that upline promoted, or in some cases, guaranteed. My former sponsor was still active, last I heard and has been in Amway for over 15 years. I do not believe he has ever gone beyond platinum, and I know that he was never a Q12 platinum. Some Amway apologists might see being a platinum as a bonus, but when you are hard core sold out to the systems, platinum is a break even or make a small profit business. Factor in that time spent by husband and wife and these folks are breaking even or making a fraction of minumum wage. Is this the dream that will allow you to buy mansions with a cash payment?

What is also disturbing is how people will tout the system as responsible for any success, but hide the vast majority that the system doesn't help. Sure, some will succeed in Amway, but for every success, there are hundreds if not thousands who fail. And if you consider diamond as the benchmark of success, the failures could be in the millions. As I said, some succeed, but very very few in relation to the number who try. Going diamond is probably less common in the US than winning the lottery.

Succeed and the systems and upline take credit, but fail or quit and it is your own responsibility. Are these the kinds of leaders or mentors you want advice from? Where's the personal responsibility of the leaders and mentors? There are many stories of IBOs doing exactly what they were advised, only to lose money and/or fail. Where's the responsibility of the leaders? The tools system is win win for the upline leaders with the downlines getting a lose lose situation.

A Review Of Amway's Double X?

A review of Amway's flagship vitamin - double x:

http://energyfanatics.com/2007/09/17/nutrilite-double-x-multivitamin-review/

Nutrilite Double X is a multivitamin that contains a wide variety of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients per serving. If you have not heard of Nutrilite, according to its researchers, it is one of the world’s leading brand of dietary supplements. My review on Double X is based on taste, price, energy level, vitamins and minerals, and health benefits.

Nutrilite Double X – Retail Price: $29.95 (10-day supply) $74.75 (31-day supply)
Size: 60 tablets (10-day supply), 186 tablets (31-day supply)
Taste: 6/10
Price: 7/10
Energy Level: 7/10
Vitamins & Minerals: 9/10
Health Benefits: 7/10

According to Amway/Quixtar IBOs, Double X is one of the best multivitamins on the market because it contains more plant concentrates than the leading brands of multivitamin. Is this why Double X is more expensive than the leading brands of multivitamin? Or is this just a marketing trick to encourage you to buy it? At the price of about $75.00 it is expensive, but when you break it down the cost is about $2.50 per day. From this point of view, it is a decent bargain but it would of been an even better bargain if all of its vitamins were high quality, and extracted from better or natural sources. How do I know some of its vitamins are low quality? Please read the whole review and you will find out. Like most multivitamins, it does not taste sweet like candy cane. Instead, it has a light-bitter herbal-like flavor, just swallow it whole and you should be fine.

Double X is a supplement that I can usually take without any problem because I do not experience major bad side effects. I took Double X regularly for a week, than stopped taking it for a few days and felt a noticeable change in energy. I usually take this supplement on a semi or full stomach to avoid the minor side effects. Taking this supplement on an empty stomach gives me a minor upset stomach and makes me feel lightheaded. The feeling usually lasts for about 30 minutes.

I do not recommend taking more than two servings of Double X per day, because you may end up consuming too much vitamins and minerals which can be toxic in the long-run, especially if they are not created properly.

Is Double X all natural?

The video at the bottom of this page claimed that Double X has more plant concentrates than three of the top multivitamins combined: Advance Formula Centrum, One-A-Day, and Pharmanex Life Essentials. Double X may have more plant concentrates but many of its vitamins and minerals are synthetic. This was a little shocking because according to the video Nutrilite grows, harvests and processes plants for its vitamins on its own certified organic farms. Some of the synthetic vitamins in Double X are vitamin A, C, E, vitamin B1 (thaimin), B6, B12 and niacin. According to the supplement facts, 75 percent of vitamin A is from natural beta carotene. Independent researchers suggested that synthetic vitamins do not work as well as natural vitamins and can also be toxic. Vitamin toxicity can occur if the vitamin is not created properly or contaminated with harmful substances such as metallic aluminum. These types of problem happen more than people may realize. These are some of the reasons why I stopped taking Double X.

How do I know Double X contains low quality synthetic vitamins and minerals?

To find out if Double X’s vitamins and minerals are synthetic or cheaply made you need to look at the supplement facts on the back of the box. Below is a list of some of the vitamins and minerals listed on the box of Double X.

Vitamin B6 (from pyridoxine hydrochloride): “From pyridoxine hydrochloride” means that the source of vitamin B6 is from pyridoxine hydrochloride which is the synthetic version of B6.

Vitamin C (from ascorbic acid): Ascorbic acid is the synthetic version of vitamin C. The natural vitamin C complex is made of many different components. Ascorbic acid is only a small part of the whole chemical structure of vitamin C.

Vitamin B12 (from cyanocobalamin): Cyanocobalamin is only one part of the vitamin B12 complex. Cyanocobalamin is easy to create in lab and is cheap, which is why supplement manufacturers love using it. The natural version of B12 is created by bacteria and is more expensive to make.

Magnesium (from magnesium oxide): Two of the best sources of magnesium are magnesium taurate and magnesium citrate. The reasons are because they are easy to absorb and utilize by the body. Magnesium oxide is hard for the body to utilize and is very hard to absorb.

These are just a few example of the cheap vitamins found in Double X. Once you learn how to tell if a vitamin is synthetic or not, and high quality or not, you will know if the supplement you are buying is high quality. The supplement facts will usually help you with this. By reading Double X supplement facts, it becomes clear that it is just an average dietary supplement that is overpriced. It is important to know that not all synthetic vitamins are bad. Some do work but you need to find the ones that are easy to absorb and are created with care. The problem with vitamins is that they are usually dried with high heat before being packaged. This will destroy some of the vitamins that are sensitive to heat. As a result, the amount of vitamins you get per serving is misleading.