Looking back at my Amway IBO days, I can now laugh at some of the weird stuff we did and believe it or not, I have reason to believe that my old LOS, WWDB still teaches some of this and some other major groups also teach it. I believe some of these practices were the reason why some people refer to the Amway business as a cult or having cult like qualities. If you recognize some of these practices, you might be in an unethical group and you should ask your upline the tough questions and possibly reconsider or reprioritize your involvement in the business.
Late meetings. Our upline was into late meetings, many occuring after midnight. I suppose it was a show of loyalty and dedication to the upline and the system. In reality, it made most people angry at their jobs because they had to wake up early to go to work. For me it made me mad at our upline because the meetings taught us nothing of substance and it just made us tired. Our upline used to talk about time being important but it was never important enough to make him show up on time for his own late night meetings. Another cult like factor - sleep deprivation. Our upline described this practice as Amway being a business of incovenience, designed to weed out the weak and undedicated.
Submission to upline was one of the things we were told. Our group was told that upline would never purposely lead us astray so we should trust them and never try anything without checking upline first. Afterall, upline had experience and probably had all the answers. Some of this checking upline included asking permission to get married, buy a car or a home, or even something as small as purchasing a camera. The upline said maybe someone upline might have advice on how to get a good deal on a camera so no harm in checking upline before making a purchase. It is my guess that upline didn't want your disposable income being spent on anything other than standing orders and functions.
Secrets. Anytime we asked about how much income uplines may have been earning, we were either told it's none of our business or shown a photocopy of a 5-10 year old bonus check that someone upline may have received. Our proof that the business worked was upline showing off pictures of sports cars and mansions. Of course we now find that some WWDB diamonds had homes foreclosed, and one prominent triple diamond had some dealings in bankruptcy court (chapter 7) . Looking back, I suspect that many diamonds have mortgages, which would be not problem except that these leaders scoffed at the stupidity of having a loan. That diamonds pay cash for everything, including homes. My former sponsor still lives in a run down rented home beause he won't purchase a home unless he's got the cash. My former sponsor is a physician so I find his position on buying a home preposterous. His oldest child, a son probably grew up deprived of his parents because of dedication to the system and the functions.
Losing money is success. Many times, our group was told that losing money was a sign of success. It was success because we were investing in our futures. That the business really is not about money but about friendships. I suppose upline taught this because everyone was losing money so it was nice to hear that success was around the corner, and that we were all nicer people and on our way to success if we just attended more functions and bought more standing orders. People who sold off some of their personal property were edified if they did so to attend a function. Obviously these folks were not advised to run their business within their means. Upline even said that going into debt was okay, but only if the debt was to invest in the business or to buy extra function tickets.
While some of these practices seem bizarre, I believe it is because the upline advice was self serving and meant to channel their downline's dollars into tool purchases. It is the only conclusion I can make.
Losing money is success? That's fucking insane.
ReplyDeleteIt's like saying that having a disease is health, or that being at war is peace.
Like the Communists and the Nazis, Amway freaks believe that if the lie is big enough and screamed loudly enough, people will start to accept it. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Amway IBOs seem to be stupid enough to fall for this kind of absurd propaganda.
Making things difficult and inconvenient for IBOs is a surreptitious way to reinforce a kind of blind, unthinking obedience in them to up-line orders. It's exactly what happens in boot-camp training for military recruits. The drill sergeant puts the recruits through all sorts of seemingly silly tasks and exhausting procedures. They are forced to do repetitive and tiresome tasks, to obey meaningless commands, to work themselves endlessly -- all of which is designed to make the young men obedient and unquestioning soldiers.
ReplyDeleteIn the military this has a simple purpose: to get the recruits into shape, to toughen them up, and to make them aware of the nature of discipline. It only lasts for a few months, and then the young soldiers are given their special training and incorporated into various units.
But in a cult like Amway or other MLM rackets, all this trouble and inconvenience is a life-long thing. You are CONSTANTLY compelled to do whatever stupid thing your up-line demands, and as in every cult, the purpose is to make you an intellectual slave. The big thing that Amway fears and hates is INDEPENDENT THOUGHT, and FREEDOM OF CHOICE. By making life in Amway difficult and inconvenient, Amway leaders slowly crush that independence and that freedom, and propagandize IBOs into thinking that being a total slave to the Amway ideology is a good thing.
Thank God more and more people today are becoming knowledgeable about cults and cult-like tactics of control. There are now countless articles and reports on the internet about how evil these cults are, and how they work. Amway is generally classified as a "business cult," although there are elements of Evangelistic religion in it that reinforce the financial goals.