Boiling An Amway Frog?

One of the stories my upline used to tell, and I believe is still told today is how to boil a frog. Basically, the idea is that you can't just drop a frog in hot water, they will react and jump out of the pot. You need to place them in cool water, and the little by little, raise the temperature. When the water gets warmer and warmer, the frog will slowly relax and their muscles will get so relaxed that eventually when you start to boil the water, the frog will basically be paralyzed and will cook. Of course this story isn't really true since a frog would likely have to be gutted and cleaned before cooking, but hey, I get the point.

Now uplines used this story to relate to a man in the working world. Where you get into a routine and you go to work, pay your bills, take your annual vacation, raise your kids, etc. Next thing you know you are close to age 60, close to retirement and you realize you don't have enough money. The sad result they say, is senior citizens working at WalMart, working jobs because they have to. While I suppose some senior citizens might be financially strapped for money, there are many many people I know of who live quite comfortably. Their homes are paid off, they take trips every other month and do not have any apparent financial problems. I know a few senior citizens who do volunteer work to keep busy, and some who do part time work at something they enjoy. For example, I know of a guy who works 2 days a week at a local golf course and in addition to a pay check, he receives free golf on weekdays. That's a great benefit!

So while uplines relate having a job to boiling a frog, what goes unnoticed is that IBOs are the frogs being boiled. Many newbies might be told that meetings are optional, and tools are optional. Your sponsor or upline might even loan you cds. They may even give you some of theirs. If you show signs of interest, then the temperature of your water is being raised. You might be told that a serious business owner buys their own cds, or that a serious business owner attends "all" functions and meetings. At first, it will seem like you are simply doing what is necessary in order to succeed. It's all an investment into the 2-5 year plan and you're likely to be assured of success. Your upline might even edify you if you are sold out to the system, and/or if you bring in some downline. Then like the analogy of the frogs, your water is now boiling. You have reached the crossroads.

You have already put in some serious time and effort. You more than likely have not made any serious money, and certainly not even enough to cover your standing order, voicemail, functions and other expenses. If you quit, you will have wasted all that time and effort and expense, but at the same time, if you continue, you are likely to be throwing more money in the pit. It is at this point that most serious business people end up quitting, thus cutting their losses. For some of the hard core, they press on. A rare few may end up going platinum or higher, but the vast majority will end up losing possibly tens of thousands of dollars, not including the money spent on purchases. Your upline has successfully put you in a pot, got you to relax and then boiled you alive.

My former sponsor and some of his downline are still active. From 1994 or so until now, fully CORE, dedicated to the system. My former sponsor reached the platinum level back in 1997 or so. He has never been Q12. He is a physician and because of functions, he probably closes his practice an extra day each month. It is my guess that he has lost more than $500,000 in lost wages, and expenditures for cds, functions, and other training materials. Last I heard my former sponsor was at the 2500 level or so and he had sponsored over 100 downline during his time.

How do you boil a frog? You sponsor them and sell them tools.