Residual Income - Something For Nothing?

In my opinion, Amway is a pyramid. They are not illegal, but still a pyramid. The reason why they remain legal, apparently is because they do not pay anyone for recruiting downline and allegedly require sales to non Amway people, although I'm not sure how hard this is enforced. But most everyone has been, or knows someone who was recruited by a zealous Amway IBO. The emphasis of most active IBOs is on recruiting and much of the teaching by upline is on techniques to recruit and/or how to talk to people without tipping their hat to reveal the Amway name. Most IBOs are not very good at this and they stick out like sore thumbs in many cases. It's also comical when uplines teach crazy antics, like how some IBOs use to deny that Amway and Quixtar (Amway was called Quixtar back in 1999) were even remotely connected.

One of the reasons IBOs use to justify their involvement in the pyramid is that they can work and earn more than their sponsor. While that is true, it is only because everyone below the emerald or diamond level is basically expendable, or a slave in the pyramid. And frankly, many IBOs do little or nothing so surpassing someone who does nothing isn't that hard. There are many IBOs who achieve fairly high levels who quit, or had upline wreck their businesses. Thus even platinums are expendable to upline. In fact an upline might make more money by removing the platinum. For new IBOs or recruits, do you really believe that you are going to ever surpass your current upline diamond or higher? If you believe that, you are sadly mistaken. If a diamond "de-edifies" you, you're toast. And guess what happens to your downline? They get passed on to your next upline.

And for those who dream of achieving diamond and walking the beaches of the world. How do you think you can ever achieve that? You don't get something for nothing unless someone gets nothing for something. In order for you to receive income for little or no efforts, your downline IBOs must keep purchasing products and replacing IBOs who quit. If your downlines cannot keep up with the attrition rate, your business will collapse in a hurry. Come to think of it, if a diamond can walk away and collect a large income forever, why hasn't anyone done it? I mean we still see crown ambassadors still busy working functions and I don't know of any who walked away to spend their lives jet setting on the beaches of the world.

The sad reality is that you see new faces at meetings and functions, just as often as you see familiar faces disappear. With that kind of attrition rate, you may have to work even harder at the higher levels just to keep your business status quo. In Egypt, the slaves built the pyramids. Do you have enough slaves? What many Egypologists find amazing is how the Egyptians were able to motivate the slaves to keep on going, doing backbreaking work all of their lives. The same can be said of a diamond level business (or higher)

Why I Don't Do Amway?

I was an IBO back in the 1990s'. Back then I was younger and I got sucked into the hype that there might be a "shortcut" to riches and early retirement. When you're in your 20's or 30's, the idea of retiring in 5 years with enough money to enjoy life is very enticing. While I was a bit skeptical, I wanted to believe it and because my sponsor was a good friend, I ended up getting involved, believing that my friend would be able to guide me to the promised land. For a while, I appeared successful, sponsoring people and growing my volume (PV). I became what the diamonds called a "mover and shaker". I got to ride to some meetings with the diamond and whatnot. What I didn't realize at the time was that was how the upline nurtured a potential future "platinum" or direct distributor at the time.

While it looked like I was successful and climbing the ladder of success, what I saw behind the scenes was making some money but losing it right back because of functions that required air travel (I'm in Hawaii) or because following upline advice, I was investing in books, and tapes (now cds) and doing everything I could to "duplicate" my upline so I too, could be financially free.

At the time, our upline stood on stage and swore that nobody profied from tools. I thought that was odd because at big functions, we paid more than the cost of a rock concert for example, and I know that the rock stars were making good money, or they wouldn't hold concerts. And there's also the smaller functions and I also knew that rock stars made money selling (tapes at the time) cds. So I knew there was money involved but at the same time, our trusted diamonds said nobody profited and at the time I believed them. Eventually, I quit because at 4000 PV, I had no net profits as promised by upline. They kept telling me not to quit, the money will be there. But they also started trying to control my life. For example, they wanted mt to ask permission to get married, or to buy a new car. These were factors in why I eventually quit, plus the lack of a net profit.

Shortly after I quit, I came across a Newsweek article that completely exposed the fact that the diamonds had lied and thay they made HUGE profits on tools. Some making more from tools than Amway. And the tools were supposed to be the secret to Amway success, but they were the secret to the diamond's success. And why wouldnt it? The tools had a much larger profit margin than Amway products, and basically only the emeralds and higher were getting any real money from the tools. I eventually forgot about the article and life went on.

Then one day I was googling to see what had happened to my upline diamond and I came across a forum called "Quixtar Blog" (now defunct) and the entire tools scam and diamond lies were exposed. After learning much and finally understanding the scam that was pulled on me, I started a blog to share my experiences. My blog was very successful, with hundreds of thousands of hits. That blog crashed when it was hacked and sabotaged, probably by an IBO, or possibly David Steadson, AKA IBOFightback.

Then in 2009, I started this blog. I made some safeguards to prevent hacking and I've been fighting the good fight ever since. I update this blog so unsuspecting prospects or information seekers can google and find information quickly. At least if they decide to join anyway, it's with full disclosure. Many people find what they need and make informed decisions about Amway. I consider it a public service since there aren't many resources out there anymore.

In my opinion, Amway is a bad idea because the company name is soiled with a bad reputation. Their products are generic in quality but carry a premium price, making it hard to impossble to sell at full retail price to make money. And to succeed, you must recruit a lot of downline, something that most people are not suited for. Most people have a better chance at winning the lottery than succeeding in Amway, which is sad because Amway isn't a game of chance, yet success rates are similar to games of random chance. That's why I don't do Amway.

The Amway WWDB Family Reunion Function?

Very soon, many IBOs, particularly in WWDB, will be gearing up for a major function called "family reunion". In some cases, it's called "Summer Conference". I still recall attending this function as an IBO. It was held in the Rose Garden in Portland Oregon. The Rose garden seats between 15 to 20 thousand people. Although the area behind the stage is closed off, the court area is full of seats so it could possibly hold up to 20,000 IBOs or more. Amway apologists like to denounce the experience of critics but they conveniently overlook the fact that many critics sat in crowds in tens of thousands of IBOs. My sponsor, in the years before I joined, spoke of an FED function at the (then) Seattle Kingdome where there were about 50,000 IBOs in attendance.

For me, family reunion was the most expensive function I had attended. The ticket itself was $250 and being in Hawaii, a round trip airfare ticket was quite expensive as July is peak travel. We also had to dish out for hotels, rental cars and meals. I believe my total expenditure for this function was more than $1200 when it was said and done. Now I know that not all IBOs live in Hawaii but even if you live in California, you likely had to fly or drive some serious miles to get to this function. I'm not sure where the function is held now as my understanding is that there aren't nearly as many IBOs attending anymore.

The function was about hype and excitement. The speakers told tales of struggles that was overcome by perserverence and the never quit attitude. That you will make it one day if only you will sitck it out and never quit. Of course what goes on unnoticed by many is that in a crowd of 15 to 20 thousand IBOs, only a handful of diamonds can be supported by a group of that size. At the time, I didn't stop to do the math myself or I would have seen through the line that anyone can go diamond.

The Saturday evening portion of the function was about some diamonds flaunting their alleged wealth. We saw displays of jewelry, fabulous vacaations, mansions and sports cars. Of course, the diamonds never said they actually owned these goodies. Makes me wonder if some of them rented fancy cars to bring to the function as some of the diamonds probably could not afford it. After the function ended for the night, our upline expected the group to go without sleep trying to "associate" with the diamonds and other pins. We were told that their success would somehow transfer to us if we spent enough time with them.

Of course everyone went home all fired up but within a week or two, it was business as usual with no noticeable growth in anyone's group.

My question to IBOs or information seekers. Did you get what was sold with these functions? Did your PV go up in a sustainable manner? Did you start getting a flow of new downline? Was the money spent on this function ever made up by increased business? If you cannot answer yes to these questions, then what was the purpose of attending? Looking back, I'd have to say that in a business sense, the function was a waste of time and money, which is ironically what most people join the business for, but end up with less of when they get involved.

The Amway "Millionaire" Mentality?

A recent comment left by an anonymous site visitor:

"I love Amway. I just don't understand why people have to be negative about it. I don't hurt or steal from anyone yet I make money. I'm not a millionaire as of yet but working towards that goal. It's called "millionaire mentality". Joecool you will never succeed with penny mentality."

Joecool's commenttary:

Most diamonds do not have a millionaire mentality. If you see how they spend money and how they flaunt excessive wealth, I see people who could win the powerball lottery and wind up broke. They might earn a nice income (even if it may come by lying and deceiving), but they spend it all, and possibly more by portraying the diamond lifestyle. In my opinion, the diamond lifestyle as portrayed in functions such as "dream night" are not sustainable. For this reason, we are now seeing evidence of this such as we saw a triple diamond in bankruptcy proceedings, diamonds losing homes to foreclosures. We are seeing diamonds selling their mansions. Sure, they might be downsizing or liquidating their assests, but if these homes have been paid in cash as they claim, why sell them in a bad real estate market? Why not wait a few years?

In the past, I have posted some articles showing the traits and characteristics of millionaires. Many of these articles cite saving, investing, and living below your means. Many wealthy people drive regular everyday cars and live in the suburbs. They don't commonly have porsches, and jaguars. And for the record, the average diamond income, as reported by Amway, isn't all that much when you factor in business expenses and taxes. So why do diamonds try to show off excessive wealth?

I believe diamonds show off excessive wealth because it is a way to attract recruits. Because the Amway opportunity has a high turnover rate, nobody can reasonably "walk away" from their business and have cash rolling in for long. Attrition would eat away your business in a matter of days or weeks. It is why I believe diamonds do not walk away from their businesses, because they can't afford to. The business requires constant attention or it will crumble faster than stale cookies.

Most IBOs are simply fooled into thinking they are developing into having a millionaire mentality. An honest question for IBOs. How do you even know if your upline diamond is a millionaire? Anyone, even a broke guy can wear a nice suit and show off pictures of mansions and sports cars. For that matter, how do you know if your upline diamond is currently qualified as a diamond? Amway doesn't release that information except for new pins. And as far as I know, diamonds don't disclose their business financials. I strongly suspect that the diamond lifestyle is commonly riddled with debt. How else can someone live the way they portray themselves in functions? Do the math and go backwards and you'll see a different picture than what the diamonds are painting.

In my opinion, diamond's displays of excessive wealth and luxury portrays something, but it's not the millionaire mentality.

The Amway Plan - The 2-5 Year Hoax?

One of the things I heard, and is still promoted is the concept of a 2-5 year plan to go diamond, or to financial freedom. As a prospect, 2-5 years of hard work in your spare time sounds reasonable. Afterall, anyone can work an extra 12 hours a week for a couple of years with that kind of reward awaiting you at the end. The sad reality is that you are likely to suffer 2-5 years of financial losses without getting any closer to financial freedom. The vast majority of people won't even make a net profit at all.

When Amway morphed into Quixtar back in 1999, a very relevent question was how many diamonds were "quixtar only", meaning they signed up in 1999 when quixtar was implemented and then became diamonds in the advertised 2-5 years. As far as I know, there were very few (if any) new diamonds. The new diamonds that were named all seemingly came from other countries, not the US or Canada. Even now, my former LOS (WWDB) is touting "double eagle rubies" which is not a recognized achievement by Amway (as far as I know), and there is no assurance that achieving such a level makes an IBO profitable. In fact, I did an analysis of the eagle program and it basically ensures success for the people selling the tools as it's a program for measuring tools sales.

Even today, I do not see a steady stream of new diamonds emerging from Amway. If the 2-5 year plan actually worked, there would be new diamonds constantly emerging. Instead, my former LOS (WWDB), actually has fewer diamonds now than back in my IBO days. And of those diamonds who remain, some of them had homes foreclosed and it also appears that at least a few of them ran into some financial difficulties. Make me wonder what a diamond's finances actually look like. I suspect many of them live in debt, especially if they flaunt the "diamond lifestyle", which is probably not sustainable on diamond income as reported by Amway. Even a 6 figure income is not a first class and pay cash for everything lifestyle. That is a hoax. People who doubt me should ask to see their diamond's business financials and let me know what answer you receive.

So while it might be possible to achieve diamond in 2-5 years (some have done it), but tens of millions have tried. It is much more likely that you will win the lottery (provided you have a ticket) than it is likely that you will join Amway and go diamond. It is also unlikely that people in the US and Canada who join will go diamond in the advertised 2-5 years. The 2-5 year plan is not promoted by Amway, but by the LOS leaders. I believe it is a hoax and the numbers back up my claim. You are much more likely to be better off working part time for 2-5 years and saving and investing for your future. If not, you will end up with 2-5 years of losing money on functions and standing orders.

As many Amway leaders will state: Look at the fruit on the tree. In the US and Canada, the trees are bare.

Get Out Of Debt (GOOD)?

One of the things that many uplines will talk about with their downline is debt. Many IBOs and prospects join Amway, hoping that Amway will help them eliminate debt, by providing some extra income. What many IBOs find out though, is that they end up more deeply in debt, not because of Amway necessarily, but often because of the pressure to purchase tools and function tickets. So, people are attracted into Amway with the idea of wiping out debt, but more often, rack up even more debt because of unnecessary Amway business expenses.

Eliminating debt on the surface, is a good thing. However, I believe that many uplines only want IBOs to eliminate debt so they can free up discretionary monies that can be channeled into tool purchases, which uplines profit from. So while the advice seems sound, it still ends up as a self serving piece of advice. If you are an IBO or a prospect, is your upline advising you to eliminate debt and then turning around and telling you to attend "all" functions? Or that you should get out of debt, but it's okay to incur debt but only to "invest" in your Amway business?

As a WWDB IBO, I heard the mantra about getting rid of debt. It sounded good to me, but I was floored when the same upline told us it was okay to go deeper in hock, but only if it was to further our business, or in other words, to buy more standing orders or to attend functions. I could not understand why it was okay to create more debt, but only to "invest" in your business. If debt is bad, then functions and other tools should be cut as well, until the IBO can reasonably afford to participate in the system. In my opinion, IBOs should only be using profits from their business (if any) in order to purchase tools. If there is no net profit, then that IBO needs to decide whether or not the tools are worthy of an investment. Even if an IBO has some profits, the IBOs should determine whether to bank the profit or to channel them towards tool purchases. However, this is really a non issue in reality because hardly any IBOs are net profitable to begin with.

Too many IBOs blindly trust their upline and make initial and ongoing purchases of tools, and then continue to do so without seeing tangible results. I believe this is why IBOs are taught to trust and have faith. Or that success is right around the corner. It keeps an IBO going, even in the absence of results. Hopefully a post like this can bring awareness to IBOs and potential IBOs. You really need to watch your profits and losses. If you have a net loss, you need to determine if you even need tools and if you purchase any tools, you should analyze whether those tools results in increased sales or business. If not, then why would you make any more purchases? In fact, perhaps you should seek a refund for tools that do not result in more business profits.

Control Of Time And Money?

One of the big things that the speaker hit on when I heard the plan was time and money. He said because of the job, you may have money, but not enough time to do what you enjoy. He went onto say that if you have no job, you may have a lot of time, but you'll be broke and won't be able to do what you enjoy. He also said that controlling time and money is essentially financial freedom. This concept appeals to many and makes sense in the big picture of life. Afterall, who wouldn't want to retire early and have enough cash to travel the world and only do fun things? I certainly agreed with that concept. The only problem was that I initially thought I could achieve this through Amway.

The sad reality is that nearly ever single IBO who registers for the Amway opportunity and the tools system, will never realize this dream. An Amway recruiter may paint a nice picture of how simple the business is, and that you can simply buy products and get others to copy or duplicate you and before you know it, you will be in control of time and money, and live "happily ever after". At one time, I believed it myself. Many others also bought the lie. What's worse, the secret to achieving this was contained in standing orders and functions. Another lie.

The more likely case however, will be that the business, including the system of cd's and functions, will cause you to have less time and money. In general, the Amway (and partner store) products costs more than your local big box retailers, and the cost of the systems add up to at least several hundreds of dollars per month if you are "CORE". Thus ironically, what many seek more of, they end up with less of, because of the business and the related activities. The functions and other educational materials take up valuable time and resources from the IBO and rarely ever results in any kind of significant return on the investment. Most IBOs would be better off never getting involved. In fact, many IBOs would be better off writing a check to their upline for $100 a month and not participating at all.

Time and money, think about it. Are you getting more or less of it because of your involvement in Amway and the systems? Most IBOs ironically, end up with less time and money because of their involvement with Amway. What's worse is when IBOs get sucked into staying with the system for more than a year, possibly racking up thousands in losses not to mention the countless number of hours spent pursuing the business. And to top it off, I'm not even sure the diamonds have total control of time and money. And we'll never know because the diamonds will never reveal their financials, which is another reason to beware of Amway.

Loch Ness Monster, Sasquatch And Amway Retirees

"Build it right and build it once" and collect residual income. Work the business 2-5 years and go diamond and be able to walk away from Amway while collecting residual income. Now what does that have to do with the Loch Ness Monster or Sasquatch? Well, Amway retireees who walked away from Amway while rolling in the big bucks are legendary and many people have heard about them but like the other legendary monsters, nobody has ever provided bonafide evidence of their existance. Sure, lost of people have heard about these things but in all my years, not a single shred of solid evidence.

I once had a debate with IBOFightback AKA Davi Steadson about these Amway retirees and he claimed there was a long tenured emerald who had a trust fund set up through Amway. So I called it an unsubstantiated claim unless he could provide details about this trust fund. Of course, he couldn't provide any evidence other than his word, which is not worth a cent in my book. Also, we don't know what kind of income is derived from this alleged trust fund. Afterall, it takes big bucks to fly first class to exotic beaches around the world to sip mai tais while walking them. And isn't that what the diamonds and other big pins advertise in functions? It's all about lifestyle and financial freedom right?

Well, in my opinion, these legendary Amway retirees do not exist. Why not? Because for one thing, an exotic lifestyle with mega luxuries cannot be had on 100K or 200K per year, which is what you would be lucky to have when you stop building Amway. Think about this, if about 50% of your downline quits each year, how can the residual income keep coing unless these IBOs are replaced? Also, a large portion of a diamond's income comes from tools and functions, but I would presume that you would no longer receive speaking fees if you're not speaking. Ad there are other examples of diamonds quitting and resigning from Amway. Now why would anyone quit or resign and leave residual income on the table? It's because there is no residual income. It's an urban myth.

So next time you see an IBO spouting off about Amway retirees and lifelong residual income, ask them to name 1 or 2 people who achieved it with some supoorting evidence. That's when the insults, excuses or dead silence will begin. Is it possible there's someone out there collecting some residual income? Well, mathematically it's possible but When you factor in attrition and keeping in mind that recently, 2 crown ambassadors died while still working Amway, you'd have to wonder where the truth lies. In my opinion, there is no true residual income. Because in Amway terms, that would be getting something for nothing, with IBOs claim doesn't exist. And these Amway retirees are as easy to find as a Sasquatch or the Loch Ness monster. Lots of people know about it, some claim to have seen them, but not a single shred of credible evidence.

Joecool out!

Amway IBOs In Denial?

One thing that appears to be common amongst Amway IBOs is how the 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 are there endless numbers of cds and meetings at cost, to learn to buy and sell, and to recruit others. Is Amway that complicated that IBOs must be continually trained or is it because uplines make the most profits from tools?

To show the plan, 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 when the standing order was recorded. You pay for books and other materials as well. And there is no end. If you are in Amway for ten years, you would get ten years worth of this material. If you are in for thirty years, you would get thirty years of this material.

What's more, many IBOs turn their heads when ugly facts rear their heads. For example, some IBOs deny that a prominent WWDB 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 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. They cling to hopes that success is right around the corner or that they will succeed if only they will never quit. Most of this advice only serves the upline and not the IBOs. It is a sad thing.

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 opportunity. The fact is that very few people every make a profit and people should know this before getting involved. Don't deny the obvious. If the details don't add up, keep researching. The interenet is chock full of information about Amway. This website is just one source, but look high and low before committing your time and money. The fact is that less than 1% of IBOs make any money out of this opportunity. Don't deny the undeniable. Get the facts and act on them!

Amway Diamonds Are Ruthless?

The really insidious part about some of the LOS leaders, such as the ones I had in WWDB, is that they apparently are cutthroat ruthless businessmen with nice suits, and disguised as your mentors and friends. They get you to trust them, and they will tell you that they have your best interest at heart, or that they would never purposely lead you astray. On the surface, you may think this is true, but look at their actions and you can easily discern that some of these uplines are absolutely ruthless businessmen who would take every cent from you if they could. I was in WWDB and I have good reasons to believe that they are still doing this, based on a WWDB IBO blog. On this blog, I see all the same teachings today, that I heard as an IBO and some of the same claims such as buying homes in cash. It's scary. (Unfortunately, the "Expeditions of Truth" blog is now defunct as the IBO apparently quit Amway - surprise?)

As an IBO, the diamonds would tell you to never miss a function, ever. The only good reason for missing a function was for a funeral - your own funeral. I recall some crossline IBOs rearranging pre-planned anniverssary parties, weddings, and other special family events in the name of being core and attending all functions. Some IBOs actually did quit their jobs to attend functions and they very well may have done so because some uplines taught this. IBOs were also encouraged and told to go into debt to attend a function. This was okay because it was an investment into your business. The diamonds will say and do anything to extract money from their less fortunate downlines. That's something I could never imagine doing.

Our group was also strongly encouraged to buy extra cds every week. To be core, you needed to listen to a cd each day and you cannot listen to the same one each day right? Couples were told to buy their own seperate standing orders. Brad Duncen even had a true north tape (cd) that said sponsors were to eat the standing orders for downlines who quit because it was too much trouble to call upline who calls upline who calls upline to cancel a standing order. Oddly enough, they didn't mind upline calling upline calling upline to add a standing order.

In the end, I was lucky enough to have been progressing up the pin ranks so my losses were not that devastating. I ended up losing in my early months of the business but mostly broke even when I was at 4000 PV. Sadly though, my crossline did not fare so well. I know of one couple who declared bankruptcy. I don't know how much their WWDB involvement contributed to bankruptcy, but I am certain it was a major factor and I know of two couples who had homes foreclosed, and I believe that their allegiance to WWDB was a factor in those foreclosures. But I guess hey, two WWDB diamonds had homes foreclosed so maybe they were duplicating?

Do not be fooled. The diamonds may have a nice smile and a nice suit, but they are ruthless businessmen who will take your last dime if you allow them to.

Joecool's Amway Business?

I wanted to give people a glimpse into what it was like for me at the 4000 PV level and what my experience was. Although Amway and WWDB apologists will claim this doesn't happen, or that it doesn't happen anymore, I have reasons to believe that very little has changed in WWDB since I was an IBO. The only major difference was that we did weekly call in and product pick up back then as there was no direct shipping to individual IBOs. Imagine having to drive and pick up stuff from your sponsor each week instead of going to a nearby store? My sponsor lived about 20 miles from my house and our pick up time required us driving in rush hour traffic.

How many hours per week did I work? I would say up to 30 hours a week was spent on business related issues. Granted, product pick up consumed an entire afternoon and evening, generally on Wednesdays. I would have to call in my order to the platinum and then pick up the stuff on Thursday afternoon. Then I had to rush home and distribute the stuff to my downline. My upline platinum was not good at filling orders so it was a real pain. I'd say pick up and associated paperwork costed me maybe 8 hours a week. One good benefit today is that Amway ships direct issues the bonuses. In the old days, you as an upline had to do so. (This is an area where I agree that Amway made good progress) I did hear though, that WWDB still has call in and pick up for standing orders and such. If this is true, then they undid the progress that Amway had made. Also, as a up and coming leader, my platinum expected me to absorb some of the cost of returned tools, such as absorbing losses if someone on standing order quit. (Brad Duncan cut a true north tape at the time that basically said IBOs absorb the cost of standing orders for downlines who quit because it was too much trouble to contact upline to cancel any standing orders.)

As a 4000 pin, I had to show the plan or attend plans for my frontline. If the platinum was showing the plan. I'd say 4 nights per week we showed the plan for a downline or a downline in depth. Of course after the plan, we might "hang out" with downline and have some night owl teaching. Some people call this association or whatever. Depending on the length of the drive, this might take 3-4 hours 4 nights per week. Sometimes it was shorter when you had no shows.

We counseled with downline and upline. I spent some individual time with my upline and also with downline who wanted one on one time to get ideas on how to improve their Amway business. We looked over their group parameters and of course, tools flow. There was a WWDB counseling sheet for this purpose. Looking back, I"m not sure what this really accomplished except for the big pins to know which leaders are selling the most tools.

Then we had open meetings and functions. One local function each month and generally one or two open meetings where a diamond or emerald would show the plan. Of course, my sponsor (platinum) did not feel right unless he augmented our function with his own night owl meetings. We also had three long distance functions on the mainland (March, July and October). These functions were (at the time) called Leadership, Family Reunion and Free Enterprise Day. Being from Hawaii, these functions costed me, as a single, at least $1,000 or more for each trip because it was airfare during peak travel times, hotel, rental cars and the function ticket. I hate to think what couples paid.

Because of my status as up and coming leader, I had the privilege of attending special meetings where our diamond would teach or show house plans. I even had the honor or driving the diamond to a house plan. Damn, how can anyone live without such an honor?

For my troubles, I had a business at 4000 PV, with eagle parameters. I was considered a "mover and shaker". Lots of people knew me and my sponsor wanted so badly to break a downline platinum. He sat down with me one afternoon and told me I could really push to platinum and ruby easily if I would only ditch my girlfriend (fiancee' at the time). He told me that he would ditch his wife if the upline diamond told him to do so. He said a single (ruby or higher) could easily attract a lot of eligible women. It was after that meeting when I decided to quit.

I had reached 4000 PV. I was making very little or losing some money because of the tools and functions. I did not see prospects of making money even at platinum and now my upline wanted control of my life. I told my group the truth and all of them quit except 1 or 2 of them who were brainwashed enough to stay involved. That was my story and I have no regrets about my decision to quit. I truly hope this story helps a prospect or a current IBO.

Not Much Changes In Amway?

If I'm not mistaken, Amway was booming in the mid 90's. Their sales had hit a new high of around 7 billion at that time. Recruitment was up and there seemed to be new diamonds and emeralds popping up all over the US. I joined the Amway business around 1997-1998 and the wave was still going. I later quit, discovered the lies and fraud that was used to entice me to join and eventually became an advocate for the truth about the AMOs and some of the AMO leaders. The lies told to recruit prospects were rampant and the upline just revised history, never being held accountable for the lies.

One of the things used by Amway defenders is that the experience of people who are critical of Amway are invalid because the experience may be dated, or because some people who are critical of Amway have never actually been IBOs. I don't buy that argument because you can be quite knowledgeable about certain things without having done them. I know that I would not put my hand on a hot stove because my hand would get burned. Even if I have never burned my hand on a stove before, I know this. Or if I burned my hand on a stove 15 years ago, would my experience be different if I put my hand on a hot stove now? Unlikely. That argument is just a straw man used by Amway apologists, as if you can't understand something without direct personal experience. However, in my case, I do have direct personal experience.

Yes, the Amway business has undergone some changes over the years. Groups do not use the call in an pickup method of product movement, although my understanding is that some groups still do this for standing orders and other tools. There is accreditation which may have helped, but even with this, there is evidence of unethical practices going on, just that these issues are going on in small meetings rather than taped functions. Many groups stil focus on recruiting new IBOs and not on selling products for a profit. Many groups still focus on selling their downline tools and not ensuring profitability for new IBOs. Nothing substantial about Amway has changed in many years as far as I can see.

My former group, WWDB, apparently still has many of the leaders who were present when I was an IBO. There have been very few new diamonds in the last 15 years or so in WWDB, relative to the number of IBOs that have come and gone. The lies and deception by the upline leaders were never acoounted for. They have been exposed as basically frauds. Leaders who taught "pay by cash only" are found to have debts they cannot pay, such as triple diamond Greg Duncan, who was in chapter 7 bankruptcy some years back. leaders who swore that Amway saved marriages are getting divorced, such as Brad Wolgamott. Those who swore that tools were the key to success have little or no downline success to show for all the tools they sold.

What has changed in the Amway business in the last 15 - 20 years other than a name change to Quixtar and then back to Amway? Not much when you look at the big picture. The masses are still losing their asses today.

The Amway Numbers?

One of the things Amway IBOs are taught is to ignore facts, or to ignore numbers. I believe this is because the numbers are not pretty when you take a business like approach to the math behind the Amway business, for most IBOs. It is why upline teaching often "evolves" into things such as Amway saves marriages, or Amway makes you a nicer person, or that Amway is not about money, it is about friendships. That is a load of garbage. Business is about making a profit. If you hear some of these lines from your upline, it should be a red flag. Upline may also feed you other deceptive lines such as an IBO being successful because they showed up at a function, or because they just signed up for standing order. These are all just false lines to encourage an IBO who is not making money.

When you take a good look at the Amway presentation, the majority of IBOs are at the 100 PV level. At that level, they are spending about $300 monthly to reach 100 PV and for their efforts, they receive approximately a $10 check from Amway. Most IBOs will be encouraged to participate in some kind of system, often consisting of voicemail, websites, cds, books, seminars and other meetings. MOST IBOs will not recoup enough cash to cover any of these expenses, let alone all of them. At a glance, the system expenses may appear nominal such as $6 for a cd, $6 for an open meeting, $100 to $125 for a major function, $12 for a book. It is how upline gets you involved, and then after a while, an IBO starts to notice the negative cashflow and then a tough decision needs to be made. Either quit and cut the losses, or press on hoping that the system will eventually deliver on its promises.

What most IBOs don't notice, is that less than one half of one percent ever reach platinum. A fraction of one percent! And in many cases, platinums might break even or even suffer losses! So why would IBOs want to work so hard to reach platinum? They have less than a 1% chance of reaching that level. They have a tiny chance of maintaining that level, and they are still unlikely to earn any significant income at that level. A stody done by an attorney general in Wisconsin (Bruce Craig) revealed that platinum level IBOs averaged a net loss of about $900 annually. While Amway defenders will decry that the study is a bit dated, I will say this: The basics of the Amway business has not changed since that study was done, AND there are actually more system expenses today than there were back then, thus platinums may actually be losing more money annually than before. While not all platinums will lose money, I believe hard core dedicated platinums would stand to lose money.

As an IBO, I hope you are tracking your expenses versus your income. Most IBOs will see a negative cashflow month after month. Even though the Amway business is often promoted as low or no overhead, the system expenses (overhead) eventually begin to add up. Beware and please follow the numbers.

New Amway Related Blog!

I was contacted recently by someone who wanted to start blogging so I wanted to give him a plug and hopefully get his blog off to a fast start. Check it out!

http://financialjonestown.blogspot.com/2016/05/come-to-my-seminar.html

"""Disclaimer: The thoughts in this blog are my own opinions. Names (if any) have been changed in order to protect everyone's privacy. The thoughts in this blog do not address Amway directly, but rather the motivational organization known as URAssociation (URA).







Money. We need it, we want it, we want more. There's no argument to that. Even the most content of content always like to have a little extra. Well a few years ago, I was in need of not only the little extra...but a base income PERIOD! I received a call from a friend I hadn't heard from in two years. To be honest, I was surprised he still had my number. He was calling me from Washington DC. He, along with a few other people I knew were at a "business conference" and were dying to get me to join their "team."




I had come across something similar a few years ago. In retrospect, I actually believe it was Amway as well. Problem was it wasn't presented right and I passed on the "opportunity." But this guy brought a lot of enthusiasm. I'm an enthusiastic person myself, so I took an appreciation to it. I met him (we'll call him Mike) a few weeks later with a couple of the other guys I knew. One of them was the "upline leader" (we'll call him Matthew).




It was Amway alright. I had heard OF Amway, but never knew much about it. As a matter of fact, I confused it with Amtrak if that shows you my level of ignorance. The plan sounded great. A phenomenal way to make some extra money and if I did well enough, I could earn five to six figures. I had come very close to getting a couple jobs in sales and was constantly told by people that my personality was perfect for sales, so this seemed like a good way to use that strength.




I thought I had found something tangible.




A year later, I went to the Summer Conference. I was told these weekend seminars were the key to being a successful IBO. We drove from our area to Baltimore (about 10-11 hours) in vans we had rented. When we got to the hotel, I found out I was staying with 4 other people. It was a little irritating, but the way Matthew and Mike made said it was WORTH IT to help motivate individuals to succeed. He DID have a point. The atmosphere was like a concert/sporting event. A band played upbeat, well-known music to get the crowd going. There was even a conga line at one point! I was taking it all in and was so amazed that people could be so hyped up about a "business." My thought at the time: They MUST be making some serious coin to get this excited!




The conference had three sessions in two days. A Friday night session that lasted from 8 till midnight, a morning session from 8 am to Noon, then an evening session that ran the same as Friday's session. The speakers were well-dressed, charismatic and just radiated with a successful, confident heir. I thought to myself "WOW! These people are the real deal making six figures or more! They're sales/marketing/networking geniuses!"




At the finale Friday night, I heard the URA leader speak. He had a phenomenal story of perseverance, wisdom, etc. His son in law, who was also a diamond, spoke before him and was explosive with energy and had the same kind of intensity/passion that I tend to have. I was sold, although I didn't officially register until a year later. I had a "grand opening" where Matthew helped run it. It went pretty solid (though only family and one friend came). And before you know it, it was Summer Conference time again! I even had a friend who was about to join my team, and he was going with us. 1 month in and I ALREADY HAVE A DOWNLINE GOING! I was psyched. He was psyched. We were gonna set the Amway world on fire.





Then...we left for DC.







A year ago at Summer Conference, we had a dozen people in our group. THIS SUMMER, it was a huge turnover. More than half the group had dropped out. In the year before I joined, our upline platinum RAVED about how "our team was growing" and we were "on fire." Yet here we were, 50% turnover.

Huh???

In addition, the year before, we rented two vans. This year, we piled into two cars belonging to team members because it would "save money." We were encouraged to pack lunch meat, peanut butter and jelly, etc. and NOT go out to eat. Our upline platinum even sent a rather unpleasant voice message to us the night before about being frugal with our money, going in on our hotel rooms, etc. This sent a bad vibe to my friend and I, and would be the first of many that weekend.




After the 10 hour car ride, we arrived in DC. I was absolutely exhausted because I didn't get much sleep. I then found out that SIX of us full grown men are going to be sharing a room (kind of illegal, but whatever, OUR BUSINESSES ARE GOING TO GROW RIGHT?) My friend and I along with another team member (who was kind of a stooge) get in the room. I laid on the comfortable bed to catch my breath. Stooge immediately says "Don't get comfortable, we gotta get changed and get down early to get good seats."




You gotta be shittin' me.




We had an hour or so before everyone arrived so we unpacked and showered up. Eventually all the guys arrived and we go down to the hotel conference center and wait in line for an hour or two to get "good seats." By this point, I'm irked to say the least. My friend (who was my #1 priority considering I brought him in) was a little put off by everything as well. Nevertheless, we got our "good seats." And proceeded with the festivities. It was lively at first, the band played some good songs and positive vibes were flowing, but after a while, my vibe died because the event was so dragged out.

I'm sleepy, a little hungry, and when I'm either, or worse yet both...I'm not friendly. One of the speakers had went diamond just a year ago. He was well-spoken and held my attention but then his wife took the stage. She gets up there and tries to tell a story about being the "sharpest knife in the drawer." Out of NOWHERE, she digressed into a long story about a raccoon that was living in her attic that only liked glazed donuts.


I sat there trying to determine if she was legitimately lit.




When she (finally) got back on track, it finally hit me...SHE IS WINGIN' THIS!




This speech COULD NOT have been prepared. No way does someone practice a speech that went from A to M, over to Z and THEN back to B. There was no revolutionary advice, there was no "secret" that would help us build our business. There was a lot of great MOTIVATIONAL speaking, I'll give them that, but that only goes so far. This broad was just incessantly blabbing about stuff that no one cared about. Even the crowd wasn't responding to her idiotic drivel and a majority of them were apart of their team.

Before midnight, the URA leader and his wife took the stage to a roar from the crowd. As much as I thought he was going to bring some serious knowledge, I was severely let down. He spoke about jalapenos and something rather, while the wife tried to tell a story about Navy Seals that fell about 100 feet shy of being relevant or interesting. We're paying out the tailpipe to come to these seminars to LEARN the best ways to make money in this business, NOT THIS. I even asked one of our team members what the hell she was droning on about. He said "well...this stuff is more focused on wisdom."




If I want wisdom, I'll talk to my grandfather. Wisest man I've ever known. Just teach me how to make money like you did with Amway! K? K!




They finally wrapped up. It was midnight, I was dead tired, over it, unenthusiastic and ready to hit the hay. But not so fast...




It's time for the NIGHT OWL!!!!!!!!!




What's a "Night Owl" you ask? Some concerts have encores, Amway Motivational Organizations have Night Owl's. But unlike an encore...these suck. After three straight hours of speakers gloating about their riches, raccoons, donuts, and jalapenos, we get A BONUS seminar! And of course, you HAVE to stay because you'll deprive yourself of even more wisdom...even if you're brain has shut down for the night. But like a good loyal solider, following orders in hopes it would generate income for my business, I toughened it out and made it to bed around 2 am...only to realize that I had to get up at 7 am the next morning. That's like being served the best steak ever made and finding out that you only get one bite.




Surprisingly, I was able to get up and drag myself into the morning conference with the rest of my exhausted group. This time, they did a little bit of teaching but mostly just focused on goals rather than how to achieve them. You'd think there would be training and methods of how to sell the product. Eh not really. To add insult to injury, my fatigue was catching up to me so I went upstairs to the hotel lobby to their coffee shop. I've heard stories about how uplines will run you down if you try to leave. Luckily, Matthew was a little smarter than that...either that or he was too tired to notice considering he slept for only an hour before jetting down to the conference center doors at 4 am to make sure we got "good seats" for Saturday.

He was starting to scare me.




When I got back, one of our team members was struggling to stay awake (plot twist). He asked if he could have a sip of my coffee. I gave him a sip and told him where he could get some. He said he didn't have enough to buy his own cup. Without thought, I handed him some cash to go get some. I felt horrible for him. Coffee Shop's in hotel lobby's are a bit pricy, but still...five bucks??? He felt bad for taking my money but I wouldn't allow him to feel any such way. I told him we're a team, and we help each other. He thanked me a ton and headed upstairs. I sat there baffled. This is a business where you can make good money, yet a guy who had been in the business a few months didn't even have enough cash to buy a cup of coffee??? My brain was starting to put things together in spite of the fact that sleep was at a premium that weekend.




After the morning session, the teams within the URA split up for a mini-team session. We got to say hi to our upline emerald who in all fairness is a really great guy. Then...lunch! Now, a year ago we went to a nice restaurant right on the Baltimore harbor. This time? We chipped in a few bucks and got pizza while sitting in the 90 degree heat. Once again, a team is growing with the best business opportunity in the world, yet....

Then we had some downtime so what should we do? Sleep? Go check out the many things DC has to offer? Check out the Smithsonian? PLEEEEEASE! We've got our team in DC! The fever is in the air! Lets make phone calls to people and try to set up appointments to show the plan! Make the same call that I got two years ago from Mike (who ironically had also quit the business by this time). Besides, historical American monuments are overrated. Succeed in this business and you can BUY ONE OF THEM! (Lame joke I know)




Well, the night session rolled around, and it felt to me like more of the same repetitive lameness. The first summer conference it was impactful, but this time, not so much. It's like a movie you see once and it's cool, but the second time around, it just doesn't resonate. At midnight, the seminar ended, but there was going to be....you guessed it...a night owl!!!

My friend and I didn't care. We had our fill. Much to the dismay of our team, We headed back to the room, ordered some food, and watched Kevin Hart on Comedy Central's Secret Stash. To be honest, that was the most fun he and I had all weekend. We were in Washington DC. The Lincoln Memorial, Arlington Cemetery and the White House were all a stone's throw away but no time for fun stuff or enjoyment. Let's stay cooped up in the hotel and focus on the business!




The day after we got back, my friend, who was DEAD-SET committed to joining the team decided not to. He was completely turned off by everything. He said the speakers were materialistic and felt the message was dishonest. To sum it up: He saw the seminar, the business and the URA for what it TRULY was. I was hurt, but honestly I wasn't mad. If anything, I was just confused. These conferences were supposed to be what MADE PEOPLE want to join the business. Not deter them! Eventually his decision to quit prompted me to do some soul searching (as well as other incidents I'll talk about in this blog). I quit the team two months later, and Amway a year later.



Over time I did some research and eventually I've come to this conclusion: URA, WWDB, BWW and any other Amway Motivational Organization are one thing:

A CULT.

You may not move away to some remote location away from your family, or participate in mass suicide, but organizations like the URA perform those deeds in a more subtle way. Groups like these kill your SOUL. AMO's have broken up marriages, put people in insurmountable debt, and left a huge void in people's dreams and self-worth. People distance themselves from family and friends and you dump dollar after dollar into an account that never grows, but instead transfer to the accounts of your upline emeralds and diamonds.




In the movie "Casino," Robert DeNiro's character said that running a casino was like "selling people dreams for cash." There isn't a more perfect description of what an AMO is. Everybody wants to be rich and these despicable people will nurture that dream for $100 a ticket, four times a year. Not to mention the revenue from books, tapes, CD's and other functions these people do...and sadly, most of their income COMES FROM THIS, NOT the selling of Amway products. Oh URA wants you to keep your dream alive alright! Because people will do anything to be rich...including paying ridiculous sums of money to hear people drone on about the same old thing and believe it can help them as well, because THEY said it would.




I was blessed to have to foresight to see the business for what it was without going too far, but there are still thousands of people who have become brainwashed that this is the way to financial freedom. DON'T BE FOOLED!




Many of my blogs to come will focus on incidents at the conferences, as well as other incidents that occurred once I had joined. If I can stop just one person from going down this destructive path, then I've served my fellow man more than any of those cultists could do in a lifetime. """

Joecool Is Back!

Sorry if the blog has been slow I've been on vacation with my wife for the last week. We had a great vacation in the south pacific and will be planning our next vacation very soon. It looks like Japan ot Korea is our next destination later this year. And guess what? We didn't need Amway to be able to afford or have time off for these exotic trips. I'll be bacl blogging regularly again soon but I wanted to update my readers so they don't think I quit and "walked away" like Amway diamonds (LOL).

I may be doing some articles on Herbalife soon, who modeled their business, but Herbalife is currently under investigation from the FTC for being an illegal pyramid scheme. The problem as I see it, is that the FTC has no clearcut definition of a pyramid scheme, thus leaving the courts with past cases as precedence to make rulings.

I hope that the FTC will require major reforms to MLM, including an easy way to determine a pyramid scheme and a legal and legit business. It seems that MLM is litterered with scams like Vemma and nothing happens to stop them ubtil it's too late and the damage is done. That's MLM's advantage. They can violate and be cauht years and years later when it's too late for significant reforms can be made and compensation to the victims. Maybe the FTC vs. Herbalife will effect change. It not, I vow to keep up the fight.

Avoid The Amway Vortex?

One of the ways people get enticed into joining Amway is they get fed lines by upline and fall for it without actually validating the claims or without thinking it through. Sort of like an impulse buy for example. On the surface, many lines can make sense until you do the math. One very common pitch is join Amway to save and/or make money. Save 30% is what I heard. Afterall, who wouldn't want to save 30% on everyday products and maybe even make a few dollar in the process? You'd have to be crazy to refuse an offer like that right? Well yeah, until you look at it more critically and deeper.

As an IBO, you might save 30% off the full suggested retail price. The problem is that the IBO price is already highly inflated. And truthfully, Amway products have to carry inflated prices because Amway pays 30% of their intake in bonuses. SO basically, you are paying for Amway's profit, plus at least another 30+% when you purchase an Amway product. So for example, a one month supply of double x, Amway's flagship product, carries an IBO price of around $50. The suggested retail price is around $80. It's a very diffcult sale because you can buy multi viamins much cheaper and in much greater quantities at WalMart or any other retailer. That's when IBOs use the defense of high quality or that Amway vitamins have special qualites. The reality is you can get similar results for a fraction of the price.

Another piece of hype that IBOs get sucked into is residual or ongoing income. You might hear build it once and build it right and get paid forever. Well, if that were true, and you're getting money for nthing, then someone or alot of people are getting nothing for their money. But here's a great question for upline. Name 2 people who built it right, and built it once, who walked away and sit on the beaches sipping mojitos while Amway checks roll in. THey don't exist. In all my years of blogging, not a single person could name a single diamond who achieved the mahical lifelong residual income. It's why diamonds and crowns never retire and work until they die. You can debate as to how hard a diamond works, but there's no denying that they never seem to retire.

Another fancy trick is upline will tell you to join Amway, make extra money and get out of debt. Except that nobody seems to achieve this. How do you get out of debt while buying around $300 worth of overpriced products, a well as training materials such as book of the month, standing orders, and function tickets? Upline will teach get out of debt which seems good on the surface, but at the same time, will say it's ok to incur debt if it's for your Amway business. That's BS. If you're in debt and your Amway business is not generating a profit, you have no business getting deeper in debt to purchase business support materials.

These items I have discussed are the common thing that people are fooled by and they iften get caught up in hype and get sucked into the Amway vortex, thinking they are going to make money and possily get rich. Mean while you are being drained of your resources one cd or one function at a time.

Joecool Is On Vacation!

To my blogging audience, I just wanted to let you all know that Joecool will be on vacation at a popular tourist spot in the south pacific. I will still have wifi access but there might not be many new articles and comment moderation might slow down as I'll be busy enjoying the crystal clear ocean waters!

ANd guess what? I didn't need Amway money to take a dream vacation or to have enough time to enjoy myself. In a few years, I will be fully retired and traveling a lot more often. Keep up the good fight until I return!

I will try to post a new article just before I leave tomorrow.

Happy blogging!

Your Amway Business Dashboard?

When you drive a car, you have instruments and gauges on your dashboard that let you know how your car is running and possibly whether you need repairs. For example, you have a gas gauge so you know when to refill the gas tank. You may have a oil pressure gauge, tire pressure, and an indicator to show how warm or cool your engine is running. My car has a light that comes on when I need to change the oil or service the engine. I also have gauges that measure tire pressure.

Your Amway business also has some gauges. Unfortunately, many IBOs are taught by upline to ignore these indicators or made to think that warning signs are not to be heeded. (When the dream is big enough, the facts don't matter) I will explain further, but I believe too many IBOs see the signs, but simply have been trained to ignore these vital warning signs.

Selling products. Are you buying more PV than you are selling? I believe most IBOs do, and Amway numbers confirm this as there is on average, about 1 customer for every 4 IBOs. I believe any products that get sold are likely to sympathetic family and friends who are helping you out. No business can sustain itself without selling to customers. Why IBOs think they can succeed without customers is because of bad upline advice or teaching. Some IBOs "buy from themselves". But you make no money buying from yourself. Only Amway makes money that way.

Non income producing activity. If you spend a lot of time listening to standing order, reading books, attending meetings and prospecting people, these activities do not produce any income. In fact these activities cost you money. Sure, eventually prospecting may pay off, but are you getting a fair return on your time and money spent doing these activities. If you pay for standing order but are unable to do more than 100 or 200 PV, then your business is not even covering the cost of standing order, not to mention the other costs that your upline may have told you was "needed".

Tools. If your expenditure on tools (cds/meetings/voicemail/website fees) continually exceeds your monthly income, you need to take a look at what it will take in order for your business income to grow. If not, you will simply take a loss month after month. If you are not sponsoring or finding more customers every single month, you are simply running in place and you will expend energy (money) and not get anywhere.

Are you showing the plan? If you are having trouble finding people to see the plan, then you will be unable to sponsor enough people to expand your volume. Also, an inability to show the plan also restricts your ability to recruit potential customers. Do people flinch when you mention Amway? These are signs that should warn you that the opportunity is not palatable to most people, despite what you hear from upline.

The warning signs and gauges are there. IBOs simply need to believe their own eyes

Amway IBOs Make More Excuses Than Money?

Not counting IBOs who sign up and never do a thing with the Amway business, I would guess that a typical business building IBO spends several months at 100 PV, earning $10 a month, and spending some money on functions and other support materials, thus ending up with a net loss in running their business. What I have also observed is that these new IBOs are often the most fierce defenders of the Amway opportunity. What is amusing is their defense of Amway, because they aren't knowledgeable enough about the business and cannot back up claims of being profitable.

A common defense is to attack someone's job. Oftentimes, I will hear that my job is a pyramid, or that the social security system is a ponzi scheme. What they fail to understand is that people with jobs have a net gain of income at the end of the month, unlike a typical IBO. Also, even if my job was a pyramid, that doesn't have any relevence as to whether the Amway opportunity is also a pyramid. And the same goes for social security. But although I find some faults with the social secuiry system, they have not yet failed to pay benefits to anyone who has paid in, as far as I know.

One of my favorite conversations is when an IBO, probably in frustration with facing the facts, will state that they have been in Amway for a month and they are already earning in excess of $5000 a month. Sure it's possible I suppose, just as it's possible for lightning to strike the same spot three times in a row. These IBOs are often the "drive by" commentors who never show up again. I recently had a conversation with an IBO who swore that he was earning $1000 a month in Amway, but refused to discuss what level he was at, or whether he made any actual sales, or had downline. He later asked for my email address and when finally supplied with it, he ended up blocking me from further contacting him.

I just wonder why upline leaders would teach such nonsense to downline, or whether downline simply want tp deceive others about their status in Amway? I mean it's really no big deal is a newbie IBO isn't making a lot of money. In fact that is expected when you are new. But I believe IBOs to some degree, might still be taught the old "fake it till you make it" theory that existed back when I was still an IBO 12 years ago. The concept was to fake success as a means to entice prospects until you actually made some progress in the business. Sadly, most IBOs never ever sponsor a downline, get discouraged and quit. I can't blame them when most IBOs who build the business suffer a financial loss, ironically it is usually from purchasing training materials that may have been promoted as the key to your success.

The sad result of all this is that "most" IBOs make more excuses than dollars.

Amway Changes Your Life?

One of the things that was heavily promoted when I was an IBO, and I believe is still promoted, is the control of time and money. I recall hearing that "broke" people often have lots of time, but can't do much because of a lack of money, or how a very hard working man might have money but a lack of time as he is working 80 hours per week. So why not join Amway, work hard for 2-5 years and have all the time and money you need for life?

Well, it sounds good on the surface, but how many people actually do that? I don't know of any IBO who worked the business 2-5 years and walked away from their business to enjoy control of time and money forever. And there are reasons for that. Attrition. Most IBOs who join don't do much and more than half of all IBOs won't even be in business for more than a year. IBOs also need to be active and moving side volume in order to qualify for some of the bonuses. It is why I believe that there aren't any diamonds who left to enjoy their time and money because of passive ongoing Amway income. Diamonds and above must continually work the business or their businesses will fall apart like the waves would erode a sand castle at the beach.

For many Amway IBOs ironically, what they desire most, time and money, is what they have less of because of their involvement in the Amway oppoprtunity. It is because of the way many IBOs are taught by the systems such as WWDB, BWW or N21. Many of these groups will teach a defacto PV requirement of 100 PV which costs about $300 monthly. In some cases, you are getting a small box of goods for the same amount of cash that would have gotten you a cartload of goods at WalMart or Costco. For system IBOs, you are also paying for instruction that basically tells you that this is a great idea and that you should never quit.

So now when your family and friends have backyard barbeques or birthday parties, you are absent because you are securing your financial future. Your kids surely won't mind you missing their baseball games or sending them to the sitters while you attend a function. Your family and friends will be wowed when you retire next year and throw them a party to end all parties. It all seems surreal, and for most, it truly is. There may be $10 or even $50 monthly checks rolling in from Amway but is never covers the cost of your expenses. You can't quit because success might be right around the corner, or you might hear something at a function that turns your fortunes around!

Suddenly your sponsor or upline might tell you that the Amway business is not about money. You might be told that you are a nicer person or a better parent (even if you neglect your kids to attend functions), or that the business opportunity has saved your marriage. Which leads to my question. What have you achieved in the Amway business that has given you more control of time and money? Do you have less time and money as a result of your involvement with Amway?

During my involvement with Amway, my life was changed, but not for the better. And it wasn't because of Amway the corporation. It was self serving teaching by WWDB leaders designed to suck the life out of IBOs. We were to attend all meetings. All means all. We were to submit to upline. Check your ego at the door. We were to buy extra tapes/cds because you can;'t listen to the same ones each day. Wives and husbands needed seperate standing orders. If downline quit, you don't cancel standing order. It is why I saw crosslines go bankrupt, lose a home to foreclosure and many ended up quitting and with large financial losses. Yes, Amway will change your life, but probably not for the better.

I hope this message of personal experience helps information seekers.

Amway Uplines Should Be Held Accountable?

Part of what Joecool perceives as the problem with the Amway opportunity is the utter lack of accountability of upline leaders. They may tell you to trust them, to submit to them and simply copy or duplicate what they have done, and they imply that you will get the same results. Many downlines over the years have put in blood sweat and tears into the business only to suffer massive losses following the system. Upline will then place the blame on the downline. Citing that they either did not try hard enough or they didn't put in enough time and effort, or they didn't do things just right. Despite a shockingly low success rate of system IBOs, nobody seems to fault the system and upline as being flawed. And nobody seems to question whether upline is at fault. It's a game of blaming the victim.

In my observations, I would say that many financial systems are similar. Whether it be BWW, N21, WWDB, real estate gurus or other systems, the success rate is low. Many systems that advertise on television will have a disclaimer that a success testimony is a rare or unique experience. I believe it is similar to the systems in Amway. Dedication or continued spending on the system is not the problem. The problem is often the system itself. It can work for some exceptional people. These people were likely to succeed in other venues anyway. The problem is that is does not work for the majority of people.

The bigger problem, is that for many many years, some uplines have lived high on the hog off of the dedicated tool purchases of their downline. All the while, quesitonable or bad advice was given to the faithful downline. Advice such as quitting a job to attend a function, skipping financial obligations such as the rent or electric bills to buy more tools. One upline even said your family can skip a meal because the standing order may contain the one thing you needed to hear to make your business grow. I have personally seen couples lose their homes and go bankrupt because they followed upline advice. Upline to "has their best interest at heart". Granted, the couple has some culpability in these decisions, but uplines who give this advice seem to get a pass.

Where is the accountability? Some of these uplines who give and gave bad advice, are still active today, and some are still giving bad advice to their downlines. Advice that profits upline and drains downline. Even with valid complaints, it appears that many uplines avoid any accountability. For some, perhaps there is poetic justice, such as diamonds having their homes foreclosed. But as many uplines have nobody to hold them accountable, do you really want to do business with these folks? Would you invest your retirement money with a broker who could not be held accountable? Would you have your car repaired by a shop whose mechanics could not be held accountable? I believe the answer is not to these questions, yet many people are asked to trust and follow the advice of an upline who is not held accountable for their advice.

The system is credited for the few successes that are visible, but the individual is held accountable for any shortcomings or failures. IBOs, I encourage you to hold your upline leaders accountable for the advice they give you. If they won't answer tough questions or take responsibility, then one should wonder why the upline should be given your trust.

Amway Makes You A Nicer Person?

Many IBOs "think" they have become nicer people as a result of their association with other IBOs and because a part of the system they are with advises them to read self help books and other positive material. The upline may also advise you to skip watching the news because of the "negatives" you see. They are also taught that as a side benefit of the Amway business, that they are nicer people. Of course, many IBOs mistakenly think that they started a business not to make money, but to become "nicer". If dealing with people made you a nice person, that's a nice side benefit bu a business exists to make money, not to soften your demeanor.

I certainly agree that some people can benefit from positive books and association with others, but for many, it is not a genuine "nicer" person, but simply a phony personna that is put on in order to recruit potential Amway downlines. That is how my former sponsor appeared to me. Because I had known him for a long time, the "nicer" looked as phony as phony can be. There are many examples of phony niceness that some IBOs profess. Even Amway's biggest defender was apparently called a "cyber bully" by an Amway corporate blogger and some others for making disparaging comments about those with opposing views. Others have resorted to calling people broke or losers simply because they did not agree that Amway was their savior. Seems IBOs are nicer when they are recruiting you but that goes out the window if you don't sign up. Then you become a broke loser.

On this very blog, there are comments, I assume by IBOs, that make implied or subtle threats. Some of these comments are not subtle at all. In fact, in my blogging experience, it is usually the IBOs and Amway defenders that resort to name calling. I suspect that is because the facts are on the side of the Amway critics. For example, it is a fact that most IBOs never make a dime, even if you don't count the ones who "do nothing". If you look at system IBOs, then the vast majority never make enough to pay their voicemail expenses.

Even the coveted diamond level appears to be a facade, especially seeing diamonds quit, resign and simply walk away from the business without the lifelong passive income. A triple diamond's bankruptcy revealed some financials and it wasn't all that impressive considering the size of his business plus longevity in the business. The "success" appears to be a façade in Amway, just like IBOs who think Amway has made them nicer people.

So IBOs, are you a nicer person? Is it evident by your words and actions? It doesn't appear to be very clear to me.