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.
2 comments:
One of the biggest propaganda triumphs of Amway is the notion that you are "building your business" when you buy and listen to a lot of repetitive motivational tapes week after week. How the bloody hell is that "building your business"?
And how does it "build your business" to attend a stupid (but expensive) function in a far-off city, where all you do is listen to silly speeches by assholes?
Endless talk and chatter do not build a business.
That's sort of the point. Building a business should be gaining customers and selling products, and perhaps trying to get some downline. Building business is not about attending seminars and listening to cds.
IBOs get fooled into participating in non income producing activities like attending seminars and listening to cds.
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