Avoid Negative?

 One of the reasons why Amway IBOs begin to shun their friends and family if they’re actively in the business is because they are told to avoid negative.  They’ll say that your family and friends just don’t understand Amway so eventually they’ll wear you down with negative comments or attitudes.  

I recall my sponsor once telling me he had a “ warm”, meaning he actually caught a cold but saying it was negative so he called it the opposite. Now of course you don’t want to be inundated by negative attitudes but to avoid your family and friends is why some people compare Amway to a cult.  

You might even be told to avoid watching the news or reading a newspaper because the news can be seen as negative and you need to fill your brain with only positive news.  That’s why you’re to forgo the news and only listen to Amway audios and associate with Amway people. Who are supposed to help uplift you rather than drag you down with negatives.  

In other words, the upline wants to do all of the thinking for you.  As if you’re not capable of discerning what you need to know.  Also, it’s not good for anyone to only be fed positive and nothing else.  For example, never feeling pain might seem like a good thing but it can wind up killing you since you may get injuries or illnesses that would go undetected since you couldn’t feel pain or discomfort. 

In the end and ironically. IBOs will all feel a lot of financial pain if and when they ever track their business expenses and analyze a profit loss statement. It is primarily the diamonds who sell tools and functions that actually make money with the Amway opportunity and not many others. This is just another silly and useless bit of teaching by upline diamonds.  It is my hope that pointing these out will help someone recognize the scam.  

Never Quit!

 One of the realist stupid things taught by upline is to never quit.  They’ll tell you inspiring stories of exceptional people who may have persevered and had a favorable outcome eventually.  They may tell you that former basketball star Michael Jordan would never ever quit.  

But at a second glance, a basketball game and a business are two completely different things.  In basketball, Michael Jordan might never have quit but eventually the game ends and you regroup and go onto a new game.  The teams will make adjustments to their strategy so they can perform better in the next game.  

But in Amway, upline will blindly tell you to never quit without analyzing your individual business. If you are losing money month after month, what is going to change that is going to make you profitable?  Are you cutting expenses or finding ways to generate more revenue?  If not, you will run negative cashflow forever.  

Upline doesn’t want you to quit, not because they want you to succeed, but because a dedicated IBO moves PV volume and is a regular customer of the tools and functions that upline sells and profits from.  It is to uplines advantage to keep you in the system. It is why they’ll often advise you to ignore facts or to overlook problems because your absence affects their cash flow. 

At the end of the day, ask yourself honestly.  If you aren’t making a net profit, what changes will you make to change that?  Upline typically will tell you to buy more tools but that just makes your losses worse.  

Think of it this way, quitting Amway doesn’t mean you have quit on trying to improve your financial situation, you would just be seeking a more efficient way of making more money. If Amway isn’t betting you a profit, try something else. Your future depends on it. 

Amway And Your Cashflow?

 If you’ve ever heard the Amway pitch, they use buzzwords like simple.  Simple doesn’t necessarily mean you can do it or that it’s easy.  Lifting 500 pounds is simple but most people are not capable of doing it.  The same goes for being able to show the plan, sponsor down line and sell Amway products.  So to say Amway is simple might be true but that’s not to say that success is likely, or anymore likely than being able to lift 500 pounds.  

The pitch from the diamond sound good.  They’ll say save money and make money.  Taken at face value, who doesn’t want to make more money or save money?  It sounds good except that it’s not true.  For example I can buy a 8 ounce bottle of Amway shampoo for around $8.00 but I can buy a quart of shampoo at Walmart for a similar price. That’s not to say there are no Amway products if value but overall you will not save by shopping with Amway.  

What you are most likely not told is that joining Amway will probably cause you serious cash flow issues if you join Amway.  In order to move 100 PV or more will cost you about $300 or more and if you are participating in tools and functions, you will likely spend $200 or more to do what upline advises.   That’s $500 a month or more.  

So you need to spend $500 a month or more to participate in Amway in business building mode.  Tell me again how you’re saving or making money?  Moving 100 pv will generally earn you a 3% bonus or about $10.  How are you saving or making money?

Upline will say that’s $10 more than you would have doing nothing.   But that’s not true.  You don’t need tools and functions to buy stuff at retailers.  Since Amway products are not cheap, are you really saving money?   The reality is you are our $500 a month less the products if you join Amway?  We’re you told upfront that yours likely to have serious negative cash flow unless you sponsor an army of down line or unless you’re able to sell a ton of overpriced products?  

I fail to see how upline can stand behind the myth or making or saving money.   Food for thought:  I can earn 1 or 2 percent as a rebate shopping elsewhere with a cash back credit card without a minimum purchase and without needing tools and functions.  I hope this post helps someone.  

Where’s The Wealth?

 One thing that Amway diamonds like to do is to show off the diamond lifestyle.  But what is the diamond lifestyle?  Basically, it’s a show of excessive wealth.  Allegedly they fly first class everywhere and stay in five star hotels.  They wear designer clothes and supposedly buy expensive cars and homes all in cash. They come and go as they please and they only work out of love for their down line.  

At least that’s the story they want you to buy when you are at meetings or at functions.  There are poor saps in the audience who want that so badly that they have tears in their eyes because they want it so badly.  It certainly inspires you to try harder and to get your business booming with growth and excitement. 

I hate to break this news to IBOs and prospects but I highly doubt that any diamond lives like that unless they are up to their ears in debt.  But then again showing you a middle class lifestyle wouldn’t quite be as exciting.  How do I know this? Simple, just do the math. 

Amway used to report that an average diamond earns about $150k annually but now Amway days a Q12 diamond earns $600k annually.  However, a Q12 diamond is rare, just a small fraction of the diamonds.  Thus the average diamond likely earns around $150k annually along with income from tools and functions.  Even if they earn another $100k from tools and functions, that an income of about $250k.  

Now that’s a nice income for sure, provided the diamond is currently qualified although Amway doesn’t say who is and who is no longer qualified. Assuming they are qualified, their taxes, medical insurance and other expenses and business expenses likely claims more than half of that income. 

Let’s say a diamond clears $10k per month after all if the expenses I mentioned and believe me I’m being very generous here.  Well, you can’t buy a home in cash on that income so you likely have a mortgage.  If a diamond pays $3000 a month for a mortgage, they have $7000 remaining.  You aren’t buying a sports car in cash.  

If the kids go to a private school, more income is gone.  How much if left for first class travel and five star hotels did fabulous vacations.  I’d say a diamond lives a middle class lifestyle.  I believe some of the higher up pins such as crowns might live better but the rest of the diamonds lifestyle probably would impress you if you saw the truth. 

So where is the Uber diamond wealth?  I don’t know, you tell me. 

What Is An Ambot?

 I’ve heard of a humorous term “ambot” which refers to an Amway IBO, often new but has learned enough to parrot the lines that the upline diamonds feed them. If you’ve ever been prospected for Amway, you probably know what I mean.  The teaching evolves a bit but for the most part, the message remains the same.  Got a while they tried to compare the Amway opportunity to a buyers club but later it evolved into e-commerce.  

The diamonds will teach you to consume tools and functions like your life depended on it.  What happens is the teaching and “fake” relationships you form almost become like a drug that you feel the need to maintain.  Nothing is better than a pat on the back from the upline diamond right?  IBOs develop a desire to get recognition from the diamond.  

In the meantime, the group of IBOs are taught to show adulation towards the higher ups, almost as if the diamond is a cult leader to be worshipped. The IBOs all dress alike, often buying things from the Amway catalog.  It really is as if the diamonds are just making clones out of the faithful down line.  If you step back and view it from a neutral perspective, it’s actually quite funny.   Another aspect can be an irrational zeal for products such as toilet paper or cleaning products  

But the reality is the Amway sales force is often an army of mind numbed robots all acting, dressing and parroting lines taught at functions, meetings and on recorded audios.  They are often sleep deprived because uplines love to hold late night meetings as a way to test your loyalty.  They say you can sleep when you go diamond.  

So there you have it.  A brief but fairly concise definition of an Ambot.   The sad thing is once someone gets indoctrinated, you really can’t help them and they’ll have to see the light and snap out of it on their own.  Debating with them only makes them dig in harder because by now they will also have developed an irrational loyalty to the upline over long time friends and family 

This would be funnier if it weren’t so sad and so true. 

Get Rich Slow?

 One of the lies told by upline diamonds is how Amway is not a get rich quick scheme. That more likely you’ll get rich slow in Amway.  They likely say that because to come out and say Amway is get rich quick would raise skepticism from many people.  Amway already raises skepticism from some of the teaching of upline diamonds but they are careful about this issue.  

But what do you call it when the opportunity is sold as 2-5 years, build it right and you can be financially free for life living on residual income and being able to retire at a very young age.  2-5 years sounds like a get rich quick pitch to me.  No other business opportunities other than other MLMs make this kinds of projections.  

But the fact of the matter is that it is highly unlikely that you will even make a net profit in Amway, let alone build a business that generates wealth.  Most IBOs do little or nothing and wind up quitting. How do you build a business that generates residual income under these conditions?  The answer is you don’t.  

Think of Amway IBOs as customers at an amusement park.  They buy a ticket and get on a ride.  Some are satisfied and get off the ride and go elsewhere.  Some get hooked and continue to buy more tickets to ride again.  In the end the riders may have had some fun, some may get motion sickness but in the end, the diamonds are like the ride operators who make money off the rides but Amway is like the owner of the amusement park who owns the rides.  

In the end the upline diamonds don’t really care who comes and goes as long as there are new people flowing into the business.  The diamonds know that most won’t do much but they hope they will buy sone products and audios and attend a few functions.  The upline will also praise their core die hard IBOs who supply them with a regular income.  

But in my opinion, other than the folks who own Amway, few are truly rich and that includes the diamonds.  They might earn some nice incomes but showing off a diamond lifestyle can be very expensive and spending what you make doesn’t make anyone rich.  Do the math and it will be crystal clear.  

Amway Recruiting?

 If you’ve ever been in Amway or have been associated with Amway folks, you probably know that it’s primarily about recruiting down line. I believe a lot of people get prospected and think you can make money by selling products which is true, but because your upline makes more money by recruiting down line, that becomes the emphasis.  

Amway products are for the most part generic in nature but premium in in price, making it difficult to sell anything other than to sympathetic friends and families.  This is why it is common for IBOs to be taught the common “buy from yourself” concept where you primarily consume products from your own business and get others to do the same. Some upline cleverly called this a buyers club like Costco but that’s a faulty comparison.  

As a Costco member I am not out recruiting other members for Costco.  Neither Costco or Amway compensates you to recruit members so why does it happen in Amway?  It’s because IBOs understand that to attain levels such as platinum or diamond, you need to have downline and plenty of them because you are credited for their volume as well as yours so it’s possible to parlay that into larger bonuses.  

Where this plan fails us that Amway has a spotty reputation which makes recruiting and retaining downline a big challenge in itself. Another failure is Amway’s own disclosures admit that about half of registered IBOs do absolutely nothing.  And then out of those who have some activity, they are likely to quit in less than a year anyway.  

Even if you could manage to sponsor a new downline each month the likelihood of you making a net profit is highly unlikely if you participate in the tools and functions.  The diamonds who claim they are free and live in leisure with loads of money are actually quite busy running around replacing IBOs who quit so they can maintain their levels. If not they might miss out on bonuses and for sure the income from tools and functions would disappear without new people coming into the system. 

Behind the Amway curtain, it’s all about recruiting and little else.  Once you understand the concept it’s all very clear.   

Diamonds Rolling In Dough?

 Most rank and file IBOs and prospects assume that the diamonds are Uber wealthy and they roll in dough and the cash is endless.  I believe they are badly mistaken. Amway reports that a Q 12 diamond earns around $600k from Amway.  But a Q12 diamond means they qualified at the level for all 12 months in Amway’s fiscal year.  Q12 diamonds make up only a small fraction of Amway diamonds 

Most Amway diamonds do not qualify Q 12.  Amway used to report that an average diamond earns about $150k annually in earnings and bonus say that diamond also earns a respectable $100k from tools and functions.  Now $250k is a great income but after taxes, medical insurance and other normal monthly expenses, let’s say a diamond clears $10,000 a month.  Now that’s still a nice income.  

But $10,000 a month does not allow someone with a family to purchase a house in cash, or even a top of the line Mercedes Benz for that matter.  Even traveling first class every time you travel might put a strain on the budget.  It would not allow you to enjoy a jet set lifestyle that diamonds commonly portray at meetings and functions.  

The picture is see more realistically is diamonds living a middle to upper middle class lifestyle with running functions and building the Amway business as their main occupation. Now that may not sound as glamorous as the diamond lifestyle that is displayed at functions s but it looks more realistic than what you see at functions.  In fact, diamonds who try to constantly show off wealth and luxury could easily wind up in debt despite having what looks like a nice income 

Many Americans live in debt.  Having a large income doesn’t prevent that.  Sone diamonds who had their incomes revealed in the past have shown to be living in debt including a triple diamond who filed chapter 7 bankruptcy about 10 years ago.  But on the other hand, promoting Amway as a way to earn a middle class lifestyle probably won’t be as effective as the illusion of a diamond lifestyle.  

Fake It Till You Make It?

 One of the really funny things I heard as an IBO was to fake it till you make it.  The upline meant we were to appear successful because eventually we would someday be successful as long as we don’t quit.  What it really meant was to lie and misrepresent the Amway business in order to give the appearance of being successful even if you’re not.  

Thus you might see an Amway meeting or function where everyone is dressed up in business attire which gives the appearance of success but if you attend the event early, you’ll see IBOs driving up in old clunkers, sone look like their cars are on their last legs.  But it’s amazing that the dreams that they were sold is enough to fuel their desire to build Amway. 

Rank and file IBOs really have little to no credibility thus the upline will commonly issue a photo copy of some large bonus check that someone may have received.  The check is no indication of success and the person receiving the check may not have even made a net profit but it all fits into the fake it till you make it narrative.  

The sad part fir nearly all IBOs is they will fake it but never make it.  The math behind Amway success is dismal at best.  The common 6-4-2 plan shows a group of 79 IBOs, all of who moved 100 PV (which is impossible) and one guy is at 7500 PV and the rest are at various other lower levels. Amway’s own disclosures, last I saw indicates that .26% of IBOs go platinum or about 1 in 400.  

At the end of the day. You can fake it but you won’t make it.  A few people do break through nearly impossible odds to achieve diamond here and there but the numbers of diamond achievers are statistically insignificant.  Good luck to you if you’ve read this and still sign up for Amway. 

Building Your Business?

 I had a recent comment that Amway IBOs might not even know what building a business is all about.  I would say based on personal experience and observations, I would have to agree.  IBOs mistakenly believe that building a business is simply recruiting down line because the emphasis on teaching from upline is recruiting. You can’t achieve higher levels in Amway without downline.  

What many IBOs are unaware of is that upline diamonds want and need you to recruit an army for them because it means more potential customers to purchase voicemail, standing orders, books and function tickets.  The more the merrier as far as your diamond is concerned   They get to parade around at functions, get treated like rock stars all while making piles of cash for selling false hopes and dreams to all the Amway hopefuls.  I was in WWDB and an important part of the business teaching was about how many tools and function tickets were flowing through your business and not at all about product sales.  

In a real business, building a bigger customer or client base is important because that’s how profits are generated, by sales of products or services.  If Amway IBOs were honest with themselves, they would realize that they typically sell very few products and instead are just self consuming products in order to comply with upline teaching to be “duplicatable”, or in other words, a good example to others including any downline.  

But self consumption is not a business model or plan.  It’s a cleverly veiled product pyramid, in my opinion.  Can you imagine any successful store where the majority of goods and services are purchased by the store owner and/or the employees?   The fact is that there is no such thing as a successful self consumption business but somehow, IBOs and prospects are tricked by upline into believing that self consumption can be successful in the Amway model.  Sorry, it doesn’t work there either.  

In the end, a dedicated IBO who is following upline teaching in general will spend about $300 a month on Amway products and then additionally another $200 to $400 a month on average for tools and functions.  It could be a little more or less depending on your level of dedication and whether you are a single person or a couple. 

How many IBOs would actually sign up with full disclosure that Amway would cost you an additional $500 or more each month instead of the pitch that you will make money or at worst save money by participating in Amway?   I bet there would be very few takers, which is why I am still blogging after all these years.  To provide information and insight to this mess of a business opportunity. 

Watching The Simpsons?

 One of the funny things taught by our upline was that broke losers would be at home watching episodes of the Simpsons while the rest of us were building our business and securing our futures.  He would laugh that people’s homes would have a blue glow coming from their homes, meaning they watching television.  

Now that would be fine and dandy if Amway IBOs were actually making money but the fact of the matter is that nearly all rank and file IBOs were losing money because of the Amway business expenses such as standing orders, books and functions.  Here the IBOs were losing money plus spending their spare time to boot.  But they thought they were doing something good and worthwhile. 

The true irony in all this is that people sitting at home watching “The Simpsons” were better off because they were being entertained and they were not losing money in a fake business designed to extract money from rank and file distributors for the benefit of the diamonds.  It sounds nice that you’re working to secure your financial future bit losing money doesn’t secure much does it?  

That’s the really insidious part of Amway. The diamonds feed you lies that anyone and everyone can get in and go diamond when it’s just not true. The common 6-4/2 plan or similar versions show a large group of IBOs with a platinum or direct distributor.  And that’s how it will always be.  1 guy on top and a lot of rank and file downline.  

The reality sucks which is why the diamonds sell you on hopes, wishes and dreams.  The bad part is an IBOs participation only delivers dreams to the diamonds who profit handsomely from your participation in the tools and functions.  

My Upline Is A Mentor?

 One of the humorous things that Amway IBOs talk about us how their upline is some kind of mentor.  I find it humorous because someone standing on a stage makes a no mentor. A mentor has a personal relationship how the person they are helping and they likely spend a great deal of time with the person the are mentoring.  

Another aspect that IBOs overlook is that mentors don’t charge their pupils money for their help.  This is just another BS line that the upline diamonds have dropped one the die line that makes them feel good.  My time spent at functions or large meetings are hardly anything close to resembling mentor ship.  Even if you got to spend some time with your upline diamond, you are still spending money on tools and functions.  A diamond would never give time to an IBO who was not serious enough to invest in tools and functions.  

I’m curious as to what specifics a diamond would teach a die line because the things that IBOs parrot seem to be ridiculous and out in left field, so to speak.  I engaged in a conversation where an IBO told me the facts don’t matter because he has a big dream.  Another IBO told me that even if he’s buying from himself he still made profits because he charged himself full retail price for products, therefore he was profiting.  I mentioned that moving cash from your savings account to your business account is not true profit.  Not to mention that the amount of cash you moved from one account to another is now subject to taxation.  

The diamond’s main theme will always be to get you to participate in the tools and functions because they can profit from you and then because of the sunken cost fallacy, sone IBOs don’t want to quit despite losing money month after month because you’re already invested in the business.  

The fact remains that the relationship between a diamond and IBO is not  mentor ship and student.  The upline is more like a paid consultant that unfortunately has miserable results.  That’s a fact.  

Amway Team Meetings?

 One of the lame things during my time in Amway was what upline called “team” meetings.  I mean we are all individual businesses so it seems weird to be referred to as a team,  based on my own experience, many IBOs seemed to be their only customer, simply buying 100 PV and having no due line but hanging in there hoping to finally strike it big down the road.  While these IBOs have no chance of going diamond or even platinum, they are valuable to the diamond because of the income from tools and functions.  

Our team meetings often took place at midnight on evenings when we had to work the next day.  Our upline told us that our willingness to do what most won’t do will result in rewards that most won’t see.  In the end, nothing useful was ever learned in these meetings and it just made it difficult to work the next day.  Imagine that, our jobs that supported ourselves and the Amway business were supposed to be of secondary importance.  

Most of the discussion at team meetings were just platitudes about success that our upline wanted to drill into our brains.  It was primarily to never quit and to invest more of our money into tools because we were told that standing orders, functions and books were vital to our success.  After a while I thought it was odd because so many people were absolutely dedicated to the system but had not made a dime in profit or sponsored a single down line.  

There’s a saying that a good tree gives good fruit and a bad tree gives bad fruit.  The diamonds used to say this but most people simply had no fruit from their efforts.  This  is because most people just don’t realize that the Amway system is severely flawed and only exists to provide income to the diamonds and higher ups.  There is no documented and unbiased evidence to suggest that the system works. 

Sure, occasionally someone can overcome power ball lottery types of odds to go diamond but they are often unable to remain qualified and often disappear from relevance.  But these Amway rising stars are the poster children for why the system works. That’s despite the fact that tens of millions or more have failed over the years despite assurances from upline that everyone can be successful. 

For information seekers and any IBOs who see this, look at facts and analyze your income and expenditures.  Look at your actual prospects of improvement.  If your upline tells you that more tools and functions are the answer, get in wringing that these expenditures are refundable in cash if business doesn’t improve, of course you’ll never get it.  

But good luck if you read this and still decided to try.  😃

Amway Numbers?

 The Amway opportunity is often sold to prospects with false hopes and dreams. The diamonds, some who may actually be in debt, are telling you that you can achieve financial freedom via Amway, along with untold wealth if you will do as they advise.  Of course they never prove that they are wealthy. You might see photo copies of checks or slide shows of wealth. 

But what is the reality?  What are the numbers?  It seems that Amway obfuscates their numbers do you don’t really get a straight answer. You have to extrapolate in order to make some conclusions.  

First off, Amway sales have been fairly stagnant and that’s prior to covid. Covid will likely make it worse. But here are some numbers.  The average IBO earns around $200 a month, but that’s if you don’t count the IBOs who don’t do anything, thus the real average is about $100 a month and that includes diamonds and other big shots, although it does not factor in annual bonuses.  But then again rank and file IBOs do not get large annual bonuses.  

Some figures may have changed but approximately 1 in 400 IBOs attain the level of gold which is where you allegedly break even if you are also involved in tools and functions. About 1 in 20,000 or so go diamond and maintaining the level is another story, 

But the important numbers are this; if you are a CORE IBO and buy your 100 PV and attend all functions, you likely spend $500 or more (and even more for couples) each month fir your products and your “training”.  In return you earn an Amway check of about $10 which is a huge net loss each month unless you have down line to absorb the losses for you.  

Amway might seem like you financial solution until to really look at the numbers.  

Success Is Around The Corner?

 I recall being taught to never give up and never quit in Amway.  They would tell stories of perseverance and feel good stories about people who would hang in there and eventually succeed like the story of Rudy, which was portrayed in a movie.   Or they would talk about a fierce competitor like a Michael Jordan who would never quit. They would keep fighting,   You are to never quit because success might be right around the corner and you might quit just a little bit too soon, so keep going!  

But Sports is not the same as a business.  Rudy was on the Notre Dane football yeah but he never got much playing time even if the ending of the movie might have been inspiring.  Michael Jordan would never quit but he was still in teams that lost games.  But the Amway business isn’t a sport and having the never quit attitude is nice but if you aren’t making a profit and the prospects of improving is not good, the. It’s just a bad business decision to never quit.  

Like Michael Jordan might have been on teams that lost games, his team could regroup and win the next game. The same can be said if a business.  If you’re not profiting and cash flow negative, sometimes the best thing to do is to close up and do something else.  After all, the objective is to make money.  It doesn’t have to be exclusively from Amway.  There are many other opportunities that you can explore and experiment with, even if that might be a job.  

The diamonds try to imbed in your mind that only they Amway can you build wealth and riches.  That’s incredibly false.  You don’t even know if your upline diamond is wealthy.  You assume they are wealthy because you’ve been told they are but they don’t disclose any information that would demonstrate that they are wealthy.  They could be up to their ears in debt.  Many Americans are in debt.  Why would diamonds who flaunt a lavish lifestyle be any different?  It’s not secret that many wealthy people don’t act it and the opposite is also true, that broke people can try to act wealthy. 

And why not?  You could be a broke rank and file IBO but you are to wear a suit to meetings to portray an image of success.  Who’s to say the diamonds don’t do the same thing but with a few more expensive props?   Showing photo copies of big checks are not a reliable indicator of success but your upline wants you to believe it is. 

Amway: Failure By Design?

 It’s no secret that people fail in droves in the Amway businesses.  The diamonds will say they didn’t try hard enough or they didn’t follow instructions correctly or they make up other excuses that blame the victims.  It’s sad because many IBOs are hard working and motivated people but when this is designed for failure. Well, that’s what you get.  

The Amway business is designed to fail.  Let me explain. Amway products are generic in nature.  Some products are decent and some suck, but there’s nothing special about Amway products overall but they come at a premium price.  Who wants to buy generic nature products for premium prices? And worse, how do you sell the generically natured products for premium prices?  

If that’s not enough, the diamonds exploit the down line by selling them and endless supply of training.  Now training would be fine if the training was effective but instead Amway’s own disclosures show that only a small fraction of 1% ever reach the level of platinum.  And platinum is the level where you allegedly start to make actual profits.  

All of these handicaps added to a business opportunity that has a bad name reputation and you have an opportunity like swimming the English Channel with an anchor around your necks.  It amazes me that the scam has gone on fir so long.  I’m glad I’ve been able to keep running this blog to provide information and my personal experiences so information can be found and shared so prospects can make informed decisions about whether to join Amway or not.