Over the years I have been debating with Amway supporters, I cannot see what is so great about the Amway opportunity. Are some of these Amway defenders that stupid or dense that they truly believe that a business where one out of a few hundred people might make a profit and most of the remaining IBOs will lose money is a good opportunity? If you do the math, the results are not favorable to Amway/ I'm not talking about people who sign up and "do nothing". Many IBOs sign up and put in a great deal of time, effort and money, only to find out that the system simply does not work (especially in the US) and they make a business decision to quit and/or to do something else.
Of course there are some people who make money in Amway. If nobody made money, then the opportunity would cease to exist. But it is basically exploitation of the downline that accounts for upline success. Thus certain upline make their income from their downline's PV volume, and on tool purchases. I mean even a lottery has winners. Even ponzi schemes and other questionable opportunities have some winners. This is not to suggest that Amway in not legal. Amway is perfectly legal on paper, but the way the opportunity is set up, those who profit, primarily do so at the expense of their trusted downline.
There are no groups that I know of where all the IBOs can win and earn a profit. I would guess that there might be a few rogue groups who only focus on retail sales, and while these groups can be profitable as a group, they are few and far between if they exist at all. This is because most IBOs fall under an LOS such as WWDB, BWW, LTD or N21, and these groups all seemingly focus on recruiting of new IBOs and promoting tools to their downline IBOs. Yes, they may sprinkle in some suggeestions about selling goods, but generally speaking, their "training" materials consist of motivation speeches, feel good stories (whether true or not), and the theme of never quitting while continuing to purchase more tools.
Some upline have the nerve to start teaching downline that their Amway business is not about making money, but to save your marriage, make you a nicer person, or some other diversion to make you forget that you are losing money month after month after month. Some groups even mix in religion and politics into their functions and meetings. As far as I can see, the typical business buildiing IBO signs up, gets some of the tools and attends a few functions, and finds that the products are hard to sell because they are not priced competetively with other retailers, and that a damaged reputation is nearly impossible to overcome. These IBOs realize they are not going anywhere, and they walk away, chalking up the losses as a life lesson. But apparently, many uplines who lied and deceived in the past are continuing to do so today, often just revising history for their benefit (i.e. lying about making any profit on tools).
Many IBOs, prospects, information seekers and critics read this blog. My question is very simple. What is so great about the Amway opportunity? For most, it is just a bad use of time and money. While some may exist, I don't know of a single person who "did the work once" and sat back collecting barrels of Amway money while sipping Mai Tais on the beaches of Jamaica. I see crown ambassadors working as hard today as they did many years ago. Diamonds losing homes to forclosures, a prominent diamond was in bankruptcy proceedings some years back, and a hoard of WWDB diamonds apparently selling off mansions that they allegedly paid for in cash. Is it possible that their lifestyles are simply not sustainable and they are being forced to downsize?
Where is the benefit in the business for the typical IBO? Just as there are some diamonds, there are lottery winners. Displaying a lottery winner doesn't make it prudent to spend your money on lottery tickets. Displaying a diamond's lifestyle doesn't make Amway a good opportunity. While Amway is a business and not a game of chance, the results of either, sadly are eerily similar - that is a few winners and millions of non winners.
What is so great about the Amway opportunity? I don't see it.
10 comments:
Well every year 15.000 people achieve economical Independence, this means they are not even counting people who only make less than 2000 euros. I know people all my life that started from 0 and have 120.000.000 annual income now. About the emotional part, the system that helps you gaining your confidence in yourself is good for your business and everything else. My parents were recognized as Diamond last month and my mom stated on stage: "if it weren't for this business we'd be divorced". So think about it, it's not because this business is so so great, it's because makes people work in the same direction instead of different jobs. In our family my parents are diamonds and have 6 children, 3 of them building their own business. Trust me, the opportinity is really easy but not everybody can do it. And that's good because if we were all IBO's who's going to fix my computer? This is for people who aim for a thriving life but don't have the idea or the investment to do it.
It's funny that you brought up the comparison with the lottery. I was debating with a person on a youtube channel and said I would rather take my chances with black jack and a 42.2% chance of winning vs. the 99% failure rate in Amway. His response was nothing short of amazing because he said this is a business and that is a game of chance. Not only did that not make sense, but it didn't refute the fact that a "game of chance" has far better odds. Needless to say his comment didn't sway me from my direction on this topic.
Isn't it ironic, that a game of chance which obviously favors the house (casinos) still has a significantly higher statistical chance of success than Amway, which is a business.
If every year there are 15,000 people achieving financial independence, it's not from Amway. So many people claim they know people who allegedly make money in Amway but what do you really know? Did these folks open up their financial record and allow you to verify these claims?
Everyone knows someone who allegedly made it big in Amway but it's hearsay, not documented proof.
Same with talk about Amway saving marriages. You know who used to teach and stress Amway savings marriages? I was none other than EDC Bradley Wolgamott. What happened to Brad? Oh, he got divorced.
If residual income was a benefit from Amway, then Amway would advertise it, but Amway does not. That should tell you something.
Sara,
There are so many things wrong with your post, and I could write a bunch of paragraphs about it but instead I will just highlight one point that sums up the horrible logic IBO's have.
You said, "Trust me, the opportinity is really easy but not everybody can do it. And that's good because if we were all IBO's who's going to fix my computer? This is for people who aim for a thriving life but don't have the idea or the investment to do it."
First off if it is really easy, then everyone can do it and in essence SHOULD do it. To say it is really easy, but that not everyone should do it is...excuse my bluntness but absolutely idiotic.
The second part you said is that not everyone should be IBO's because who will fix my computer? This is just ridiculous as they preach this is a form of income that will not force you to quit your day job therefore people can be BOTH computer repair technicians and IBO's. Also, the whole mantra of Amway is duplication and making this become a business that EVERYONE uses. The whole goal is to shop smarter not cheaper...and that eventually everyone will be using Amway and not Walmart or local grocery chains. To sit there and say not everyone should do it, but its really easy, but I need someone to repair my computer is simply bizarre, uneducated babble.
When you said this is for people who thrive for a better life, but don't have the capital or idea to invest, this should really make you think. If people want to make a better life for themselves they can invest in their education, their efforts at their work, read and learn about investing, all of which is cheaper in the long run hours and money wise compared to Amway. You are basically saying, hey you're lazy, and you don't want to be informed about how to make money in a capitalist market...I'VE GOT YOUR ANSWER! We've done all the work, you just have to pay monthly like the other millions of shmucks and advertise for us to everyone in your area...eventually a windfall of cash will come your way and you won't have to worry about those pesky numbers and investing. UGH, the insanity is real with this one.
The way the Amway system is built, the pyramid and the convoluted commissions system guarantees failure for the vast majority of those who try to sell it. You can't begin to make enough money to cover even basic expenses until you sell a large volume of product or PV or whatever they call it.
And since the vast majority of sales is to other distributors (nobody in their right mind buys overpriced Amway retail other than pity purchases by family and friends) it takes at least several hundred Amway losers for every "winner" because the general public is not feeding their money into it for obvious reasons. Work it out on paper. If only 5% of Amway "distributors" made money at it Amway would soon need to expand their operations to canvass every being in the entire Milky Way galaxy to generate enough money to keep the pyramid growing. And if just 5% of them are successful they would need to expand into the next galaxy to keep it going. I hear Amway is now making much of their sales outside the U.S. as their bad reputation has caught up with them here. Unless Amway finds a way to pioneer space travel soon they are probably in their last days.
Ray, good point. The only reason in my opinion, that Amway hasn't collapse yet is because they have expanded into foreign territory and because new suckers turn 18 each month.
Sara Duarte expresses money sums in Euros, so she is not in the North American area.
Amway, out of desperation, has to turn to foreign sources for new IBO revenue.
How interesting and revealing that the defenders of Amway who show up here are always from Asia, South America, Africa, or Europe.
Most North Americans have wised up to the scam. They know that Amway is essentially a rip-off.
The statement:
"The opportunity is really easy but not everybody can do it."
Is a highly flawed statement. If the opportunity is really easy then everyone can do it without hesistation and don't have to spend lots of time making excuses left and right.
Funny how the opportunity is easy yet Amway's own numbers indicate that less than 1% can even reach the break even point (platinum). Doesn't sound that easy to me.
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