If you have ever sat through an Amway presentation and the follow up teachings as I did, you can get a clear picture of how the uplines slowly suck people into the system. The speaker will be introduced as a picture of success. Possibly introduced as being in the top 1/10 of 1% in income (But with no proof). They will talk about how taxes, insurance, and inflation eat away at your paycheck. More than likely they will say they suffered the same way until they figured out how to defeat these issues by making more money. Of course they will eventually drop the "A" bomb on you and say it's Amway. Very likely they will say that you should not care what it is if it gets results.
You are then shown the plan and many people think that 2-5 years and "finding six" is something very manageable for the results they promote (walking the beaches while residual income flows in). At the very least they say, you will make some money and save some money. Who can argue with that kind of logic? They will also likely mention that Amway is low risk or no risk with little or no start up costs. Again, how can you argue with that logic?
You finally convince yourself that you can do this. You sign up and you are likely told that it is important to get some tools because after all, a carpenter can't build homes without a hammer and saw and that any business owner would have to make some investment into their own business. So now because of the tools, you are operating at a loss. You may then be told that business owners normally operate at a loss for years and that it might also be wise to channel your bonuses back into your business by purchasing more tools.
Before you know it, months or years may pass before you start to realize that you are on a treadmill. You keep walking but end up going nowhere. Then your upline may tell you that the business is not about money but more about making lifelong friendships.
In my opinion, this whole system is a cleverly designed systematic way for uplines to slowly drain your resources and making you think that you are successful despite showing no profits. Your upline may edify small things like showing the plan or making a sacrifice to attend a function. Sadly, you will rarely see someone edified for actually making a net profit.
It's a slow process, but most people slowly get sucked into the system, just like quicksand. I hope IBOs and information seekers are able to recognize the scheme if and when it happens to them.
There's a very good reason why persons in Amway are never "edified" by their up-line for making a net profit. Your up-line is afraid to mention ANYTHING AT ALL about net profit, since doing so would direct an IBO's attention to himself and to his basic lack of any net profit.
ReplyDeleteIf your Platinum said "IBO A over here should be commended for making $500 in net profit last month!", then IBO B and C and D would begin to wonder: "Why am I not making a similar profit?" And by asking themselves that question, the entire Amway racket would begin to unravel as they do some simple arithmetic. They'd notice what Joe Cool and other bloggers have been screaming for years: all your potential profit in Amway is eaten up by Tools and Training and Functions!
For this reason, all up-lines and higher pins are careful NOT to mention any details about profit, and this is reinforced by the strict Amway policy that IBOs are NOT ALLOWED to keep any profit-and-loss accounting of their business. They may not keep account books at all, except to document "losses" for deductions on future tax returns. The IRS is on to this scam now, and it is becoming harder and harder for Amway freaks to claim that their "independent business" is anything but a manufactured tax shelter.
The bullshit about "friendship" and "becoming a better person" is just a cover-up. You have to tell your down-line something, and if you can't talk about their non-existent profit, then all you can do is come up with pseudo-religious crap like that. This is also a reason why many persons from Evangelical backgrounds are sucked into Amway.