Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Amway Prospects?

When I was an IBO, my upline used to advise us to recruit people who had a financial need or young people who were open minded as they may not have preconceived ideas about Amway. When I was recruited, I was not where I wanted to be financially as I was about 29 years old when I first got recruited by my sponsor. I believe that this is still common practice today, to look for people who are in need and then offer Amway as a solution. Young people will often be open minded about it because they are often just starting their careers and have many years to work before retirement can be thought of.

In my opinion, this is why some people defend Amway so fiercely. They accept Amway as their solution for long term financial stability and to admit that they were in error is difficult as it would not only expose the error, but would leave the IBO as not having that "hope" of long term financial freedom. After all, the pitch "2-5 years, part time" sounds pretty good for financial freedom.

Many prospects see big dreams when the diamonds parade on stage with designer suits and talk about waking up at noon and enjoying a lifestyle chock full of luxuries. It's almost like dreaming about hitting it big in Las Vegas or winning the lottery. I can't fault prospects for wanting some of these thing. I know I certainly had some of these same dreams when I was an IBO. But isn't it shady to sell prospects on those dreams, know they are very unlikely to get anywhere close to those dreams?

But the sad reality is that some diamonds are simply putting on a show, like a illusionist or a magician. Diamonds may indeed earn a six figure income, but after taxes and other expenses such as medical insurance, a diamond is very likely to live a very middle class lifestyle. Now I'm fairly sure that a crown ambassador type may have a million dollar income, but these Amway corwns are very rare, and the ones who exist have been in the business for a long time. There is not much chance of any new IBO coming in and achieving that level. In fact as time rolls on, it seems that more diamonds drop out due to divorce, better MLM opportunities or simply quit, or even pass away while still working the Amway business. It is apparent that long term residual income is a myth.

Amway currently reports that the average IBO earns $202 a month. That number is deceiving because Amway mentions in fine print that the "average" income is based on "active" IBOs. Only 47% of IBOs are considered as active, thus the real average income is about $100 a month. That $100 a month includes the diamonds and big shots who drive up the average. But that income also is gross and doesn't factor in time and business expenses used up building the Amway business. For this reason, you can easily see how IBOs can end up losing money. If Amway prospects knew about this, how many would actually think twice before joining?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You certainly would make more money in a Third-World sweatshop than you would in Amway. Those slaving seamstresses make a lot more than $202 a month!

There are plenty of simple ways to make money that outperform Amway by a big margin. If you were to collect empty aluminum soda cans and bottles to redeem their deposits (as many homeless people do), you'd make far more than $202 a month. If you ran a small lemonade stand on your front lawn for passersby, you'd make more than $202 a month. If you collected odds and ends at flea markets and resold them on e-bay, you'd make more than $202 a month. If you begged for loose change at a busy corner, you'd make much more than $202 a month.

It just shows that Amway is not about the money. Amway is about the hype and the mindless enthusiasm.

Anonymous said...

I was in the Crowe/Dussalt organization from 2005-09 and never made a dime. Money was always short because of the overpriced products, the weekly meetings, the standing orders, and the quarterly functions. Since getting out of Amway I've been promoted twice and have earned enough money to purchase a house with my wife and 3 kids. After watching John Oliver's show last week about MLM's I was curious to see if anyone under Dussalt had qualified diamond and...nope. So some people have been in that organization for 13 years and still no Diamond pin. So much for the 2-5 year "plan"

Anonymous said...

hi, i liked the first two paragraphs as im 26 and i joined amway 4 years ago.
it's true that if you lose hope in something you dont beleave in it anymore and mark it as not timewise or something else but it's the same in everything in life, with businnes works more than anything else i suppose.
About diamonds, they are people, they can bankrupt easier than who isnt "rich".
Here in italy they do not show off, they tempt and stir people to create a mind for businnes work, with bigger words than "ordinary" almost everytime.
And about income/IBO, an average with all IBOs (counting many and many people who join just to see or to try or to just buy, young and old) it's not that significant in a so wide businnes where all can join and just do nothin (just like who have inactive status, im not right?).

I end by saying we can learn by EvErYthing, sometime less, sometimes more just likes MLMs. Money is just working in a way or another.
Hope it helps, good Luck to you all

Anonymous said...

Anon at 7:17pm

You made a good choice to snap out from all these mindless hype. Some people don't even realize that they have fallen into a deep hole.