One of the things that many Amway IBOs mistakenly believe is that they will build their Amway business and then they will have the ability to "walk away" from the business while the income continues to flow in. I believe if there was such an incredible benefit such as lifelong residual income that could be achieved from Amway, I'm fairly certain that Amway would advertise this as a benefit of being an IBO. But Amway does not. It is very likely that your LOS such as WWDB or one of the others will promote this benefit while telling you that your best chance to achieve it is by subscribing to their "system".
One thing that goes unnnoticed all too often is that there seems to be nobody who is actually retired and living off the efforts of having built a big Amway business once upon a time. Seems that even the crown ambassadors still have busy lifestyles running from function to function and participating in other business related activities. While many of these leaders may claim they love their downlines or some other lie, it is my belief that these leaders keep working their Amway businesses for one reason only. That is they need to keep working in order to keep the income flowing in.
The diamond lifestyle that is often portrayed may seem like a great goal or dream to achieve, but the fact of the matter is that a "diamond lifestyle" cannot be sustained on diamond income. The average diamond, according to Amway (non Q12), earns about $150,000 a year. While that may seem like a great amount of income, it's not nearly enough to sustain the kind of lifestyle portrayed by diamonds. Even if that income is supplemented by income from the sale of tools, you can't fly your family around the country first class to do all kinds of functions and still end up with much leftover to own fancy homes and cars.
If I deposited $1000 in the bank and never touch the money, the bank would pay me a certain amount of interest each year, guaranteed. That is residual income. Bank interest isn't much residual income, but it fits the definition. That $1000, if left in the bank long enough, will generate some form of income, albeit very small.
One thing that goes unnnoticed all too often is that there seems to be nobody who is actually retired and living off the efforts of having built a big Amway business once upon a time. Seems that even the crown ambassadors still have busy lifestyles running from function to function and participating in other business related activities. While many of these leaders may claim they love their downlines or some other lie, it is my belief that these leaders keep working their Amway businesses for one reason only. That is they need to keep working in order to keep the income flowing in.
The diamond lifestyle that is often portrayed may seem like a great goal or dream to achieve, but the fact of the matter is that a "diamond lifestyle" cannot be sustained on diamond income. The average diamond, according to Amway (non Q12), earns about $150,000 a year. While that may seem like a great amount of income, it's not nearly enough to sustain the kind of lifestyle portrayed by diamonds. Even if that income is supplemented by income from the sale of tools, you can't fly your family around the country first class to do all kinds of functions and still end up with much leftover to own fancy homes and cars.
If I deposited $1000 in the bank and never touch the money, the bank would pay me a certain amount of interest each year, guaranteed. That is residual income. Bank interest isn't much residual income, but it fits the definition. That $1000, if left in the bank long enough, will generate some form of income, albeit very small.
In Amway, you can basically earn income in two ways. You can sell products for a profit, but there are problems with this. First off, Amway products in general are more expensive than local retailers, plus the products are generic in nature and thus, barely qualify to be sold at a premium price. It is why you hear so many justifications about quality and concentration, because you are hard pressed to argue cost. Secondly, you are severely restricted from advertising, thus selling can be difficult. The other way to generate more income is to build a downline in hopes that the downline will help you to leverage your volume. But then your downline will have the same problem that you had in moving products. That being said, even if you achieve some level such as emerald or diamond, your business will immediately begin to fall apart once you stop working because attrition will take its toll. It is why there are hoards of "former" platinums. If platinums are not sustainable, then neither is any other level.
Diamonds are not forever in Amway. There are many many instances of diamonds quitting, resigning, or falling out of qualification. People come and go in this business every day. Do you really think you can bank on retirement and residual income under these circumstances? If you believe that, I have some swamp land in Florida to sell you.
Diamonds are not forever in Amway. There are many many instances of diamonds quitting, resigning, or falling out of qualification. People come and go in this business every day. Do you really think you can bank on retirement and residual income under these circumstances? If you believe that, I have some swamp land in Florida to sell you.
5 comments:
Amway has specifically laid down the rule that the phrase "residual income" is not to be used in any recruiting activity for membership in Amway. But that doesn't prevent the lying scum in WWDB or the other LOS subsystems from saying it anyway.
In simple practical terms, you CAN'T get "residual income" in Amway if you stop working and let your down-line wither from attrition. You can labor mightily to build a 6-4-2 structure, but you will need to spend endless hours keeping people in it working and happy, and energized and motivated. You will need to replace drop-outs, and give pep-talks to those who are discouraged. You will have to eat, sleep, and breathe "Amway" for every second of your life! And even then, there's a good chance that your down-line will disappear. If you "retire," your down-line will collapse like a sand castle at high tide.
And where will your precious "residual income" be then?
This is why so many AMOs have gone the route of referring to "residual income" as "passive income." Some even call it "mailbox money" (whatever that is).
If AMOs are given the directive from Grand Rapids not to use verbiage (i.e. "Dream Night" or "URA Standard"), they sure as hell will find a way to get around it.
Real residual income is what an actor receives when shows or movies in which he has played are shown again in syndication on TV. These are even called "residuals" in the entertainment industry. The actress Joyce Meadows got thousands in "residuals" because the sit-com "The Honeymooners" had a very long life in syndication. Meadows was collecting for half a century after the sit-com ended.
Calling income from past activity in Amway "Passive Income" is nothing but a legal device. If something is "passive," you have no control over it when it ends. This is a simple way to stop lawsuits from angry ex-IBOs.
I left amway/wwdb when I was Eagle and 2500-3000pv. I planned to just keep cashing the checks since I would no longer need to pay for anything besides minimum product and would be semi profitable for the first time. My upline Diamond about lost his mind and told me that is not how it works and what I was doing was selfish. I was so confused considering they preached for years that you can work as hard as you want for as long as you want, even if it’s making an extra $200/mo. I said no, I am keeping my business and kept cashing checks. Within a few months they had some of my downline “quit” and re-register 6 months later as new width for my upline platinum. The true colors of the diamonds really came out when I was leaving and no longer drinking the kool aid. Best decision of my adult life was leaving amway/wwdb. I actually have a life now, run my own business where I am making a lot more money than I ever did in amway, and am working a lot less hours. It’s insane to me that people don’t wake up to how brainwashed they are
Luckily, I left Amway when I was just a canary.
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