Time and money. When you control both, you are financially free. At least that's how the Amway business was pitched to me as a prospect. It made sense at the time. If you have enough money, then you don't have to have a job and go to work every day. Having enough money allowed you to control your time. It sounded like a great deal to sleep late every day and not have any financial difficulties. It sounds so simple. Join Amway, 2-5 years and there you are. But can anyone name a diamond who did the 2-5 years and walked away to enjoy financial freedom? I can't think of a single one. I did see diamonds and crowns quitting or dying on the job.
But for most people, joining Amway (and the systems)ironically robs you of what you desire most. Time and money. For those wanting to build a business, you may be told you need to invest in your business, and while that may be true, I do not believe there is any bonafide evidence that can support the relationship between the investment of time and money into the Amway business and earning a significant income. Many people have invested years and thousands of dollars (or much more) into the business only to end up with nothing or massive losses. My sponsor was a physician who spent many days away from his practice (lost income) and his oldest child (son) probably didn't see him very much since he was out showing the plan every nite. You can make more money but you can't ever get back lost time.
Diamonds give the appearance of being filthy rich with nothing to do but golf and go shopping but we are now seeing evidence that diamonds may not be all that. Home foreclosures, bankruptcy, former diamonds speaking out, diamonds moving their groups out of Amway, diamonds possibly selling their homes and downsizing. I believe that there are possibly many - a - diamond who is in financial difficulty and they have not escaped the tough economy as they may have implied in a meeting. Many Americans are living in debt. Why would diamonds who show off a lavish lifestyle be any different? Seriously, think about this very carefully.
Also, if diamonds were so free and filthy rich as they like to portray, why don't any of the bigger pins ever walk away from the business and live on the beaches of the world that they like to talk about? Why are they always attending and running functions? I am guessing that most of them are working these functions - because they have to. I suspect that some of these diamonds are in debt trying to portray a lifestyle that they truly cannot afford. A diamond lifestyle seems to be one of luxury and excess But can a few hundred thousand dollars a year provide that? It's clear that even many professional athletes who make bank, wind up broke or in debt within 5 years of retirement. Maybe that's why diamonds can never retire. But they pretend to "love" their downline and keep working?
If you are joining Amway to gain more time and money, I urge you to make sure you are keeping track to see if you are gaining time and money, but if you look carefully, you will probably find that what you desire more of, is what you actually have less of. That is, time and money.
I've been thinking about this scamway deal, and wondering if the real message a lot of IBO's hear is that they'll be able to spend money irresponsibly and always have more coming in. I think Amway appeals to a lot of people simply because they don't have good money management skills and because they are materialistically driven. The plan sounds amazing, let's not argue that. 2-5 years to retirement with gobs of cash rolling in that you can spend as frivolously as desired? Of course! Sign me up! But the reality is of course more harsh than that, because these rackets cause more people to lose money than not. I do wonder if money management skills are taught by upline? I hear that some do that, but encourage your saved money to be thrown away on Amway and the tools, defeating the purpose. But if you're money lazy and want to spend money in an unlimited fashion, you'll buy the Amway hype . . . But never sell enough soap.
ReplyDeleteThe nature of the Amway pyramid scheme is that people are constantly dropping out or losing interest. These people have to be replaced by new IBOs all the time. In Amway, this never-ending process is called "The Churn."
ReplyDeleteIf a Diamond (no matter how high up the chain) didn't constantly cultivate and encourage his personal down-line and linkages, his income would shrink. Anyone in Amway HAS TO RECRUIT, the same way that a shark has to keep swimming forward in order not to drown.
That's why these elderly Diamonds are always showing up at functions -- to collect their cut of the function money, and to drum up enthusiasm and to "fire up" IBOs who might become discouraged. The notion that they are doing it solely to "help others" and "to provide leadership" is pure unadulterated BULLSHIT.