What the heck is a prosumer? Amway IBOs use the term as if they actually know what they are talking about but “prosumer” is a term used in a book by an author named Bill Quain. I didn’t read the book but I did read summaries and basically, the book is about how consumers spend money and the difference being that prosumers make money while spending it. The book was written and promoted to Amway IBO at a time when a common philosophy among IBOs was to “buy from yourself and get others to do the same”.
On the surface, it may sound like a good idea to an IBO because the fact is that most people do not like selling. So why not buy from myself and get others to follow? What IBOs seem unable to grasp is that buying from yourself makes you a consumer. Nobody is going to buy themselves into prosperity and you are fooling yourself if you think you’ll be the first one. Else. I can consider myself a “prosumer” by using a cash back credit card. But stop and think for a minute. Even getting cash back or being “paid” to shop, I still have less money in my pocket even if I get cash back. Yes, spending more gets me a bigger rebate (or check from Amway) but I will repeat, nobody spends their way to prosperity.
In Amway, you move 100 PV, which costs about $300 a month and you earn a 3% bonus, which is about $10. That wouldn’t be so bad if you truly bought products that you already use and if the products are priced about the same as retailers like WalMart or Costco. But Amway products are not priced to compete. Amway pays bonuses to IBOs in excess of 30% for each dollar they sell. Those bonuses are built into the price of the product, thus Amway cannot compete overall. Now that isn’t to say you cannot get any decent products at a decent price from Amway, but they are too few and far between to make it worth your while overall.
Thus the only way you can really make money in Amway is to recruit. While there is no direct payment for recruiting downline, it must be done to profit because you have little to no leverage on your product volume unless you start to accumulate a big downline. But even if you profit, your downline suffer the fate you once had. Little to no leverage on volume. Why would I take the time and effort and expense to buy $300 worth of good from Amway (plus shipping fees) when I can get the same amount of products at WalMart for $150? Even factoring in the bonus from Amway, I still win shopping elsewhere.
This is where the IBOs like to use the argument that Amway products are of high quality or concentrated. Quality is subjective and to be honest, when it comes to household products and other consumables that IBOs peddle, quality is not a significant factor as much as the bottom line price. WalMart sales of nearly half a trillion annually confirms that price is indeed important, more important than the argument IBOs use for being loyal to Amway products. And in reality, WalMart products are just as good in my opinion.
The prosumer argument is just another silly concept written to try and reinforce the notion that being an Amway IBO is a good idea. Bottom line is you will never ever, “buy your way to prosperity”. Do the math, nobody ever got rich by spending money. If you don’t believe my argument, name 2 people who got rich buy purchasing their own products.
29 comments:
Lol when Walmart starts paying you a bonus check for referrals and selling those same products you buy from them monthly then your argument may have some weight but until that happens you just sound like a lazy ibo who wasn't willing to grow and learn how to build a network like all 21st century big businesses are doing. Lol sorry man I laughed through this whole blog while looking at my volume grow as I read lol.
LOL, WalMart doesn't need tricks to get customers. They offer rock bottom prices. That's why WalMart did nearly half a trillion dollars in sales last year. Amway can't compete.
You are fooling yourself if you think your Amway business is a 21st century "big business". LOL
How did your volume grow while you were reading? Do you get PV for internet useage?
Really all 21st century businesses are MLM or networking? These are the common lies told by "IBO's" that it is the wave of the future and that all products will be sold this way eventually...this claim was made 20 years ago and still people head to Walmart and Costco because only a fool pays 50 bucks for a case of water when you can get the same product for 4 dollars at these stores....it common sense which is not all that common hear days....but hey maybe you can find some other half wits to buy 50 dollar water...best of luck
Alvin Toffler defines prosumer differently in one of his books (I think it was The Third Wave). According to Toffler, prosumers are people who save money by doing part of the work themselves. Buying a car in kit form, homebrewing beer and growing a garden would all be forms of prosumption.
This definition applies to Amway even less than Quains. It's why I asked an IBO prospecting me to define "prosumer". He used that word a lot. Also "synergy" and "digital". I think they were rolling out an internet thing at the time- around 2009? Or maybe it was all just so new to him.
In any case, he defined prosuming as "buying from your own store". I told him that is not what it means. He gave up after that, I suspect because I am "uncoachable".
Dillard? His name should be Dullard.
Anyone who thinks that a creaking and wheezing and profit-shrinking old warhorse like Amway is a "model for the 21st century" is really delusional, or else smoking some top-notch weed.
Yeah the perfect water fiasco is a perfect example of cognitive dissonance. Not sure how IBOs were suckered into paying $48 for a case of water, plus shipping fees. A case of water at WalMart costs like $5.
Even is prosuming was making your own beer, buying a kit car, etc, it's a way to save some money but that in itself will not make you wealthy. Just as spending money doesn't make anyone wealthy. It's a BS term used by IBOs to describe their spending habits.
Yep, Amway is outdated and I'm surprised people even consider getting in these days with information so easily available on google.
I heard from someone else that a "pro-sumer" was the opposite of a "con-sumer," based on the meanings of the two prefixes, pro and con.
If you were a "pro-sumer," you were doing things IN FAVOR OF (pro) yourself. If you were a "con-sumer," you were working AGAINST (con) yourself.
But the guy who said this was an Ambot, so I wouldn't trust it.
I can name 4 people that make money by spending money. I paid myself $50 to do the dishes the other day, and then I paid my other self $100 to take out the trash. The real reward was when I paid myself $5 dollars to wash my car...what an idiot he did it for $5.
LOL, I guess you are a prosumer.
Owner of a house is pro-Sumer.. Renter is con-Sumer..
Pro do business WITH, Con do business FOR..
Your expense is Income for other distributors.. If you have choice and opportunity you decide you want to biz WITH or FOR.
Household Gold Book by Dr.Steve Price will explain you concept better.
Owner of a house is an owner. A renter is a renter.
A homeowner may eventually build up equity if the property gains value but a renter doesn't build up equity unless they save money by renting over buying and invest the difference.
These IBOs hawking the prosumer concept truly have been fooled and do not understand the very concepts they are promoting.
Joecool HA! More like Joedrool! I am a renter and pay $1500 of my $1200 paycheck a month because I am a PROSUMER! I utilize my credit card to net a profit! You can see its a little red number with a minus sign! I'm going to take all the red numbers and invest in real estate one day and utilize even more PROSUMING BECAUSE IM A PRO HAHAHA! WIN!
I'm drooling as we speak. LOL
Seriously, how does someone actually fall for the prosumer schtick?
People like meaningless, made-up words. "Prosumer" is just perfect to them.
The prosumer concept was just tailor made for IBOs. The author probably made a nice profit selling his book to large groups of IBOs who bought into the BS concept.
Joe let me know when your net worth lines up with the platform you have towering over your head. Excited for the great things you have coming down the pipeline over the next 10 plus years. Btw check the pipe you might have some holes
My net worth? The pipeline? Well, I'll be retiring in about 2 years with a net worth of about 1.2 million. I'll have a decent pension and I own a home about one mile away from the world famous Lanikai beach. Try doing a search and see how much those properties are worth. Sure, I'm not "wealthy" and living a "diamond" lifestyle but my home is nearly paid off, I don't have any debts except my remaining mortgage and I own 2 cars, both paid for. I'm going to retire and enjoy the beach and traveling around the world. You can put that in your pipe and smoke it.
""Last year the median price of a single-family home on Oahu was $643,500, compared to $804,500 in Kailua""
http://www.honolulumagazine.com/Honolulu-Magazine/Kailua/Wanted-Kailua/
You’ve got to be kidding me joecool! You have a 1.2 million net worth and more than half of that is in your home? You must plan on dying in the next two years because you don’t have nearly enough to live on in retirement with your “decent” pension. Congrats on working your whole life! You stopped working just before your heart did! Sacrificing all of your life for elderly time. I’m 25 and retired before you did based on the time of this post. One of us is stupid? Which one do you think it is?
Obviously the stupid one is you because you believe in the Amway fairy tale.
I also have rental property and a pension to live on in addition to my assets.
Notice that Patrick doesn't mention if he's in Amway or not.
He retired at 25? Yeah, sure. Let him give us the details.
Like that asshole Devan Dillard who started this thread, Patrick McIlhennymiller is just another brainwashed Amway dreamer. A net worth of 1.2 million puts Joe Cool in the upper ten percent of the American population, or close to it. Does anyone actually think that the thousands of IBO losers in the Amway racket, who are munching daily on energy bars and swilling energy drinks, are anywhere near that ranking?
It's nearly three years since Dillard posted his absurd remarks. I wonder if he's broke now, or even if he's still in Amway?
As for Patrick McIlhennymiller, I think he's a goddamned liar. Let him prove to us, here on this thread, that he's "retired at 25", and that he did it through Amway.
Come on, Patrick! Let's see if you have a set of balls. Tell us how you retired as a millionaire from Amway. Let us hear the details. Joe Cool gave us his financials; let's hear yours.
If you don't answer, I'll just assume that I'm correct in thinking that you are a goddamned liar.
Sound of crickets chirping.
I guess that Patrick McIlhennymiller is a goddamned liar after all.
Was experience too. Only great recruiters do great in Amway...
Patrick McIIhennymiller is an Amway/MLM fraud just like his buddy Drew Nale out in Arizona. They are both delusional pyramid scheme hucksters.
Wait drew NALE for what company
amway
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