One of the things that keeps some IBOs going is the "alternative reality". What I mean by that is for some IBOs, once you have been in Amway for a while, it can be hard to quit. You may have been recruited with dreams of lifelong residual income and walking on all of the exotic beaches of the world. Retiring young and spending that time with your wife and family. To quit means an IBO would have to face the reality that these dreams will not come true, at least not with the Amway business. The fact is that the Amway opportunity probably would not have delivered those dreams anyway. Even a diamond more than likely cannot afford those dreams. In fact I would estimate that most diamonds, if they flaunt some excessive lifestyle, are near broke or in heavy debt as a diamond income cannot sustain a jetset lifestyle, save for a founders crown ambassador or something similar. I believe the prominent WWDB triple diamond bankruptcy shed a lot of light into the finances of an upper level pin and it wasn't nearly as impressive as I would have thought.
But what is the reality? It's working hard only to drift between 100 and 500 PV. It's finally sponsoring a new IBO only to have a downline quit. It's talking to people about Amway and getting laughed at or getting rejected. It's your upline or sponsor pushing you to do more. Possibly your upline is one who questions your manhood if you aren't working hard enough. It's your upline or sponsor reminding you that a winner doesn't miss functions, especially the major ones. It's staying up late for team meetings or nite owls when you need a good nite's rest to do your job the next day. It's driving the miles to show a plan, only to have your prospect not show up. It's having to be deceptive about what you are doing. It's skipping functions with family and friends so you can be core to the business.
As IBOs, do you see any of this? I saw much of this during my involvement. While I have not been an IBO in some years now, I still see many testimonies and comments by more current and even some active IBOs to indicate that a lot of this still goes on. While Amway defenders will deny it, I see no reason why any of this would have changed over the years since Amway has made no significant changes to stop abusive uplines. If Amway did make any changes, they are not immediately apparent and the continuous string of comments and testimonies do not confirm that any clean up has been done. I recently sent some information to Amway about some unethical behavior by an IBO. Not only did they not publish my concern on their now defunct "Answers" blog, they also did not respond and apparently did nothing to the unethical IBO. So much for not turning a blind eye.
For active IBOs or prospects, these are the realities that may be attached with the Amway opportunity. Much of it is because of motivational groups such as WWDB or BWW, but if you are seeing these traits in your group, ask the tough questions. If you happen to decide that the Amway opportunity is not for you, take heart! There are other ways to achieve your financial goals and dreams and there are moe efficent ways out there. Sometimes, quitting something that isn't working is a wise business decisions and sometimes you can lose more by not quitting. Good luck in whatever you decide
3 comments:
Amway in Ada, Michigan really can't do anything to police or regulate the various LOS subsystems, which are independent businesses. You could never tell Bill Britt or Dexter Yager what to do; they would simply tell you to fuck off.
And of course Amway doesn't want to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. If money is flowing upwards to Amway from the various LOS subsystems, why do anything to stop it? This is why IBOs with a complaint are told by Amway to "speak with your up-line about it." In other words, we aren't interested.
As for quitting Amway, it has to be done cold turkey, the way a drug addict breaks his addiction to a drug. Anything less will keep an iBO trapped in the Amway racket, bleeding funds forever.
Amway and the systems have a symbiotic relationship. They both need each other. Amway pretends to care about IBO abuse in my opinion, and in turn, the systems teach 100 PV loyalty and recruiting. If Amway tried to reel in the abuse, the kingpins can just move their groups to another MLM and screw Amway. That's why nothing ever seems to happen.
In the past, some Amway big pins (after disputes with Ada, Michigan) did move to other MLMs like Herbalife and Monavie, and took a lot of their down-lines with them.
This is precisely what Ada, Michigan is afraid of.
The LOS subsystems have Amway by the balls.
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