You Must Believe?

 One of the things my Amway upline taught us ad nauseum was that we needed to have faith in our business and in our upline. That we needed to believe that we were going to be successful. IBOs are told that they should act successful even if they are still working their way up the ranks in the business. It is why they ask (require) IBOs to wear suits and business attire to all meetings and functions. This is one of the weird quirks about the business in my opinion. I live in Hawaii and I remember a function they held in the middle of July in a high school auditorium and there was no air conditioning. I think my suit needed special cleaning because it was completely saturated with perspiration.

Anyway, with this part of the year, soon there will be thousands of IBOs shuffling off to a function called dream night, or in some cases, winter conference. The tickets are about $75 to $80 and includes a dinner. What IBOs are often unaware of is that many venues will allow you to run these conferences for $25 to $35 per person. The rest of that ticket prices goes directly into your upline's pockets. Anyway, the dream night function will feature slide shows of mansions, yachts, jet skis, sports cars, fabulous vacations and other trappings of wealth.

What many IBOs don't realize is that this display of wealth is just that. There is no bonafide evidence to indicate that these diamonds actually own all of those toys and goodies. The diamonds probably won't verbally confirm it either, because these toys and goodies may not really be owned by them. It could be rented, or maybe some upline crown ambassador may own the mansion, but IBOs will assume that these trappings of wealth are common once you reach diamond. As an IBO, I never actually knew how much a diamond really earned. I just assumed it was a lot because we were shown all of these goodies and just assumed all diamonds had these kinds of lifestyles.

If I posted a picture of a mansion and a jet and said I owe it all to my earnings as a blogger, people would cry foul, that I am lying or making things up. And they would be right. Well, I would guess that many diamonds are doing the very same thing if they appear on stage and implying that they have jets and mansions. As I said, someone may own a mansion and a jet, but to imply that this is a part of the typical diamond lifestyle is a stretch. The evidence is there. Some diamonds have lost their homes to foreclosure. My old LOS diamonds (WWDB) taught us that diamonds pay cash for everything, including homes. Now confirmed as a blatant lie. Who knows what else they may have misrepresented?

I ask IBOs and prospects who may be attending dream night, to watch with a critical eye. What is being implied with the display of wealth? Analyze if those goodies can be purchased with a diamond income ($150,000 plus some tool income). Ask yourself if this lifestyle is truly sustainable? Ask yourself if you can live with yourself if deception is a part of earning your diamond lifestyle?

No PV For TV?

 Often times, upline would give you advice, such as "there's no PV for watching TV". It makes sense when you hear it but when you critically analyze the advice carefully, you can easily see that it's BS. The idea was that "broke people" with no direction in life waste their lives away watching TV and doing other activities that do not affect their financial futures while Amway IBOs are out trying to better themselves. On the surface, this sounds like completely sound advice and it makes perfect sense if you're an IBO. Why spend time on your couch when you could be out trying to build your Amway business? Right? Broke people watch TV after all.

But wait a second, let's turn this around. There's no PV in attending a function. There's no PV in reading some self help book or a Kiyosaki book. There's no PV in subscribing to standing orders or to communiKATE. There's no PV for attending any meetings and there's no PV for most of the CORE steps. Technically, IBOs would be better served by concentrating on personal use and by actually selling products to customers. Only by increasing your PV does your volume get larger. Now sponsoring also has the possibility of increasing volume but most IBOs never sponsor a single downline, ever. So if you follow upline advice not to do things that don't get you PV, remind them that those activities include most if not all Amway related activities.

To compound the problem, the Amway activities such as standing orders and functions cost money and takes away resources from the IBO, who channels resources into products and activities that the upline profits from. Therefore, the upline is dishing out advice that is self serving: "attend all functions and listen to audios every day". When you really think about it, what direct benefit was there for your business by doing the Amway related activities? Unless you move more volume, your activities are for nothing. It doesn't increase your business and your PV/volume. All you are doing is making your upline wealthy with loyal purchases of tools and functions. That is the Amway business. IBOs think they will be getting rich from Amway while the upline diamonds get rich by selling tools to their downline. To coin a phrase, "you live with the classes when you sell to the masses". That's what the diamonds are doing. Capitalizing on a captive audience whose loyal purchases makes nice profits.

There may be no PV in watching TV, but at the same time, your upline wants you doing all kinds of things that get you no PV.  Seems like IBOs spend too much time (on upline advice) doing non income producing activities.  It's no wonder that the vast majority of IBOs make nothing or lose money.  Participating in the tools and functions virtually assures that you will wind up with a net loss of income.

You can take that to the bank!

Blame Upline?

 One of the things Amway IBOs are taught by their "great" diamond leaders is to blame themselves for not working the business hard enough or not doing things exactly right, even if they do exactly as upline advised. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. Many people put forth tremendous effort but still do not succeed.  But uplines want to be absolved from any responsibility so they teach downline that failure in Amway is their own (The downline's) fault. Upline however, is quick to take credit for any success, even if minimal.  

But the reason is why hard work doesn't equal success is because an Amway IBO is basically a commissioned sales person. In commissioned sales, one can work hard for no reward and at times, little effort may reap large rewards. But in Amway, with a crappy reputation, Amway IBOs are given a handicap that most simply cannot overcome. Getting new people to recruitment meetings is hard enough, not even factoring in the ability to sponsor others. When factoring in these tidbits, it's easy to see why uplines teach buy from yourself and selling is not important. It deflects the fact that selling is nearly impossible with less than competitive prices (in general)

Additionally, IBOs are encouraged to join the "system" such as WWDB, LTD, N21, etc.  The system costs money and teaches IBOs to engage is many non income producing activities such as attending countless meetings and functions that do not result in increased sales volume.  Imagine a store owner whose store was constantly closed so the owner could meet with other owners and/or someone who encourages them to do things that don't produce sales volume.  That store owner would fail, which is what at least 99+% of Amway IBOs do. 

The work involved is very simple. Sell products and get other IBOs in your downline to be able to leverage your volume. Many Amway IBOs work hard and attend all of the functions and do all of the steps as outlined by upline, but very few reap rewards and most quit when they realize that the system doesn't work. It is sad that on top of losing money, that IBOs are also taught to blame themselves for their demise. Where is the upline when IBOs bust their butts working hard and get no rewards? On top of that, to make it worse, uplines profit from selling training and motivation to their downlines. Why aren't they held acountable?   

I've read comments by some Amway defenders wanting to sue Amway critics for a potential loss of business. But most critics, like myself are simply stating our experiences and opinions. Many of which are true and still happening today. So I will ask, what about the millions of former IBOs who may have lost billions of dollars because of false claims which led them to believe that they would get rich following upline advice? Maybe former IBOs should unite and file claims against unethical upline leaders who led them astray?   How can IBOs lose business from a critic when the vast majority do nothing and/or ultimately fail anyway?

In any case, hard work doesn't equate success in Amway and I dare anyone to try to prove me wrong.  Maybe IBOs should blame upline?

Honest Question?

 I have a question for Amway IBOs and it’s a sincere one.  Do you really believe that you will get rich and be able to walk the beaches of the world in 2-5 years?    Do you believe you can build it right, build it once and walk away from Amway (if you wish) and live in luxury the rest of your life?  I know the diamonds make it sound easy but you know the old saying about how if something sounds too good to be true?  I know the diamonds try to skirt the issue by saying that Amway is hard work and that Amway is not get rich quick.  Some even say Amway is get rich slow.

But in the end it’s all BS.  If 2-5 years and being able to retire and walk the beaches of the world while wheel barrels of money rolling in forever is not a get rich quick scam, what is?  First off, name a few diamonds who walked away to enjoy that benefit of waking the beaches retired while income rolls in?  In all my years of research into Amway and personal experience, I have known of zero diamonds who achieved the level and walked away to collect their rewards forever.   I have seen a triple diamond file chapter 7 bankruptcy, diamond home foreclosures, and diamonds and higher levels dying while still working Amway.

So IBOS, do you really believe in pink unicorns and Amway forever residual income?  If that existed, you’d think there would have at least one diamond who would exercise that option.  Instead the diamonds feed you BS that they love you and work only for your success.  Do the math and figure out how much they make from selling books, standing orders , audios and functions and you’ll understand what I’m saying.

Lastly a diamond pin lasts forever so someone could go diamond one time and never qualify again but still possess the diamond pin and appear on stage earning income from books, audios, standing orders and functions.  When you understand this, you will know why diamonds are not retired and walking the beaches of the world.  More likely, diamonds are in debt living bonus check to bonus check like the people that attend their functions.   😃

The Pyramid?

 Let me start out by saying that Amway is a very likely a perfectly legal company, and therefore I am not saying or implying that Amway is illegal. But I believe however, that the way Amway businesses are run by upline and individual IBOs are like pyramids. In many, possibly most groups, you will have the lowest level IBOs efforts and tool purchases being responsible for the upline bonuses and tools income. Many many IBOs are fooled into thinking that the ability to surpass your upline or that you don't get paid to recruit downline makes this a good deal. This doesn't change the fact that the vast majority of IBOs lose money. The lottery is legal in most states but I'd say it's not a good investment for your money.

Unless you have a very very rare group where actual product sales to non IBOs are sufficient to cover the costs of running your business, functions and all, then it is true that the lower level IBO's jobs are likely the source of income for the uplines. How many groups sell enough product to cover expenses? None that I have ever seen or know of. In fact, how often do IBOs even sell enough products to cover their expenses for even one month out of the year? The groups that teach "buy from yourself" end up doing the most financial damage to their groups because the downline's expenses are then covered exclusively from the downlines jobs, bank accounts, or drive the downline into debt.

I've seen and discussed group structures in forums many times and I can only conclude that tool sales wipe out what little profits/bonuses some of the downlines might receive. Only when an IBO is able to sponsor enough downline to absorb the losses for them will they finally break even or make a little profit. I would guess that the 4000 PV level or platinum is where a dedicated CORE IBO would just about break even and possibly start to make a real profit. But if you are hard core dedicated, you can still lose money at these levels. We also know that most platinum groups have 100 or more IBOs in order to generate 7500 PV. Thus we can also conclude that less than 1% of IBOs make a net profit. The only way IBOs can earn a net profit at a lower level is to avoid purchasing tools and to avoid paying for functions. Those who get involved in a system such as WWDB or N21 almost guarantee that they will have a net loss because of the expenses associated with these systems.

Sure, my job may have a pyramid structure with the CEO making the most money. But the difference is that in a company, even the lowest paid employee still receives a paycheck and has money at the end of the month. The same claim cannot be made by IBOs. For these reasons, I believe Amway to be a legal pyramid, where money flows from downline to the upline. IBOs and information seekers are free to participate, but I challenge them to sit down and really analyze their ability to make a net profit. In most cases, the analysis won't be favorable. If you are in the US in particular, you may have great difficulty in even being able to discuss "Amway" without getting strange looks your way from others. Do you have to shy away from using the name Amway? Do you have to use the curiosity approach? If you do, ask yourself why. The answer is obvious.

Amway Warning Signs

These are what Joecool believes are the warning signs that the Amway upline is getting you indoctrinated to their way of thinking and getting you to abandon your critical thinking skills in favor of blindly following your upline advice in a way similar to the mice following the pied piper. 

Sometimes it happens to the nicest of people and it often happens slowly and subtly.   These are the signs that you are becoming indoctrinated and you are likely annoying your loved ones at this point. I hope this helps:

*You're driven to recruit everyone you know. You may even resort to deception or outright lies to get people to meetings. Before you know it, your family and friends avoid you like the plague.  You slowly see less of your friends as you miss social gatherings, parties, backyard BBQs and such.  You are so dedicated to Amway that sacrifice things you enjoy even though you aren't making any net profit from Amway.  

*You're encouraged to develop an unreasonable, irrational zeal for the products. Even so far as to justify the quality of toilet paper or to call the products prestigious. You may even argue the quality of energy drinks or about phyto-nutrients, something you may not even know about.  You even become obsessed with vitamin supplements even if you never took any prior to joining Amway.  

*A whole bunch of demands, promises, subtle threats of failure if you don't try hard enough are made in the promotional material and motivational seminars. i.e. If you quit, you are a loser destined to die broke and unhappy.  Oddly enough, many people find themselves happier and with more disposable income and time once they leave Amway.  

*Because the system is touted as the way you're going to make yourself fantastically rich, you're under pressure to drop any conflicting or competing interests such as your bowling league or golf club. Nothing else in life has importance except for the quest of financial freedom. All activities in your life must enhance your Amway business and have an affect on your financial future.

*Your upline soon becomes your most trusted friend. Your thoughts and feelings are shaped in part by the cds, meetings and functions.  Even though diamonds might teach that you prioritize your job and family, they always tell you to never miss a meeting or function if something conflicts with your family or work obligations.

Do you recognize these behaviors? Hopefully you aren't displaying these behaviors.

Are Amway Diamonds Actually Wealthy?

 I recently read an article on what constitutes wealth. Some say an annual income of $100,000 would make them wealthy, some say assets exceeding $4 million would do it, and some estimated that $2 million would make them "rich". Of course, everything is relative and someone earning $25,000 a year would think that $100,000 a year is wealth, etc. College students might think $40,000 a year is awesome because many have little money to begin with. I'm sure someone like Bill Gates would not consider $4 million to be astonishing. It's all relative. If you are content with what you have, you are likely relatively well off already.

But let's talk about Amway diamonds. I say diamond because it is basically the pinnacle of success. It is the crowning achievement of the 6-4-2 plan (or other variations) that many groups show. The average diamond (non Q12 - the norm) earns about $150,000, according to Amway. Now $150,000 sounds like a lot of money to young people or to those with lower wage types of jobs, or those who are just starting out in their careers. But we also know that diamonds earn income from the sale of tools. Some groups advertise (verbally) that someone might earn $100,000 a year from the tools/speaking income.

Let's be generous and say the diamond earns $300,000 a year from Amway and tools income. Income tax and medical insurance for the family will eat up about 40% or more of that right off the top, leaving about $180,000. Fantastic you might say? Well, a diamond certainly would live in a million dollar mansion, which would give you about a $6000 a month mortgage or $72,000 a year, leaving $108,000. (Although many - a - diamond pays for their homes in cash) Fantastic right? Well, diamonds are constantly traveling to various functions, flying first class and staying only at 5 star hotels right? So an average of 1 trip per month with a family, first class and a 5 star hotel would probably cost about $10,000 or more per trip, or about $120,000 a year, now leaving $8,000 for this diamond's yearly budget. A good diamond with a family surely consumes 300 PV per month for household goods, or about $900 a month or about $11,000 a year, leaving debt for the rest of the year. A good diamond is often a Christian who would faithfully tithe 10% of his income, or about $30,000 a year, leaving the diamond with more debt (or they don't give to charity). Then there's monthly costs to pay for their electric and utility bills, gas, car payments, meals and entertainment.

Yes, some expenses may be slightly higher or lower, but what I am trying to illustrate is that even an above average diamond with tools income is more likely to be broke than wealthy if they live the lifestyles portrayed at functions such as dream night or other major functions. Do the math. It is unlikely that diamonds pay cash for everything and it is unlikely that fabulous lifestyles can be sustained on a diamond income. There is plenty of evidence out there. Diamond's homes foreclosed, diamonds behind on income taxes, a prominent triple diamond in bankruptcy proceeding, many diamonds selling off their homes in a bad real estate market.

I truly believe that it is quite possible for many diamonds to broke or in debt trying to portray a lifestyle of wealth and fortune.

What Is Business Mentality?

 One of the things Amway IBOs "think" they possess, but in reality they are far from it, is "Business Mentality". It is not necessarily the fault of the IBOs. Many are sponsored into Amway by trusted friends or family members and lacking business experience, they will "submit" to upline as they are advised and will try to learn about the Amway business. The problem is that many upline leaders teach self serving business practices such as hard core dedication to their tools system, from which they often handsomely profit.   The dedication to the system wouldn't be so bad if people actually progressed in the business and actually made a net profit, but they don't.  Let's examine some of the questionable practices.

"Buy from yourself". If you have a business owner mentality, you only buy from yourself if it's beneficial to your business. Many IBOs talk about ridiculous things like a McDonald's owner would never eat at Burger King. That's bull crap. Just because I own a McDonald's doesn't mean I am eating Big Macs daily or even weekly for the rest of my life. You cannot spend yourself to prosperity. If I sold pens for $1.00 and my cost was .50, and my competitor had a special on the same pens at 3 for $1.00, I'm buying them from my competition. Also, buying from yourself makes you a customer, not a business owner.

"Ignore facts if you have a dream". This is probably the biggest heap of bull crap taught by some upline. I have seen this spouted in particular by IBOs downline from WWDB and BWW leaders. A business owner studies the facts, not ignores them. Any REAL business owner wants to know how much he is bringing in and how much is going out. That's how you detect the heartbeat of your business. A site visitor named Gina on this site, recently posted a profit/loss statement from her real business. Naturally, IBOs were at a loss to discuss it because it was foreign material to them.

"Submit to upline" Another load of hogwash. Why should someone submit to upline simply because they "sponsored me" or whatever? A real business owner would think independently and make business decisions based on facts and numbers, not on the advice of someone upline who hasn't taken the time to assess each IBO on a personal level to be able to give advice on an IBO's "Independent Business", or worse, advice on their personal lives".

"Dedication to the system". Silly advice as well. What dedication does the system have for an IBO? If an IBO succeeds (which is very rare), the system takes credit, but for the more than 99% of people who never make a significant income, it is their own fault if they don't make it. Amway apologists will defend this by saying that many may not have signed up wanting a significant income. While that may be partially true, tell me where people show "plans" designed for the guy who wants an extra $100 a month? The plans shown are always (AFAIK) to go platinum or diamond.

IBOs and information seekers, does any of this sound familiar? Is this a part of your experience? If so, I encourage you to ask questions here and get more information before proceeding with any more "business" activity.

Blame Yourself?

 One of the things Amway IBOs are taught by their "great" diamond leaders is to blame themselves for not working the business hard enough or not doing things exactly right, even if they do exactly as upline advised. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. Many people put forth tremendous effort but still do not succeed.  But uplines want to be absolved from any responsibility so they teach downline that failure in Amway is their own (The downline's) fault. Upline however, is quick to take credit for any success, even if minimal.  

But the reason is why hard work doesn't equal success is because an Amway IBO is basically a commissioned sales person. In commissioned sales, one can work hard for no reward and at times, little effort may reap large rewards. But in Amway, with a crappy reputation, Amway IBOs are given a handicap that most simply cannot overcome. Getting new people to recruitment meetings is hard enough, not even factoring in the abililty to sponsor others. When factoring in these tidbits, it's easy to see why uplines teach buy from yourself and selling is not important. It deflects the fact that selling is nearly impossible with less than competitive prices (in general)

Additionally, IBOs are encouraged to join the "system" such as WWDB, LTD, N21, etc.  The system costs money and teaches IBOs to engage is many non income producing activities such as attending countless meetings and functions that do not result in increased sales volume.  Imagine a store owner whose store was constantly closed so the owner could meet with other owners and/or someone who encourages them to do things that don't produce sales volume.  That store owner would fail, which is what at least 99+% of Amway IBOs do. 

The work involved is very simple. Sell products and get other IBOs in your downline to be able to leverage your volume. Many Amway IBOs work hard and attend all of the functions and do all of the steps as outlined by upline, but very few reap rewards and most quit when they realize that the system doesn't work. It is sad that on top of losing money, that IBOs are also taught to blame themselves for their demise. Where is the upline when IBOs bust their butts working hard and get no rewards? On top of that, to make it worse, uplines profit from selling training and motivation to their downlines. Why aren't they held acountable?   

I've read comments by some Amway defenders wanting to sue Amway critics for a potential loss of business. But most critics, like myself are simply stating our experiences and opinions. Many of which are true and still happening today. So I will ask, what about the millions of former IBOs who may have lost billions of dollars because of false claims which led them to believe that they would get rich following upline advice? Maybe former IBOs should unite and file claims against unethical upline leaders who led them astray?   How can IBOs lose business from a critic when the vast majority do nothing and/or ultimately fail anyway?

In any case, hard work doesn't equate success in Amway and I dare anyone to try to prove me wrong.

Buy Your Way To Riches?

  One thing I can credit Amway diamonds with is coming up with the most bat sh@t crazy ideas that sound sensible to Amway IBOs but utter madness to anyone else.  One that I heard about was how you can buy your way to prosperity.  Buy your own Amway products and get others to follow and you’ll soon be on the road to early retirement and residual income.  In a pure business sense, that's insanity.  In what business to you buy your way to financial success.  That's just the selling point used to attract recruits, that you can buy your way to riches.  

Have you ever seen a store or business prosper when the major of sales are simply to the business owner and employees?   The answer is no because such a business does not exist.  It’s amazing that people actually believe that you can get rich buying from yourself.  But it works on the downline so the diamonds perpetuate the storyline.   And IBOs soak it in because it sounds so simple and easy to do right?

One thing I saw at a live function was the diamond telling IBOs to ask prospects if they like selling stuff and whether the answer was yes or no, your response would be “great, then this business is perfect for you”.  Of course, actual stories of significant retail sales were rare and my own experience suggested that sympathetic family and friends comprised most of whatever sales took place and I found myself at times selling items at my cost just so the expenses of moving 100 PV wasn’t all on me.  

The strategy of buying your own stuff seems to work because most people do not like selling stuff and especially not to friends.  But many will give it a run because they are hopeful that Amway will deliver the wealth that upline seemingly promises.  The sad thing about the whole this is that dreams of wealth is all you get and there’s very little success to speak of.  From function to function it’s the same old diamonds time and again.  

The diamonds might say they want downline success but they don’t.  They just want to keep replacing quitters with new members as long as they can churn in new tools and functions subscribers.  That’s the real game of diamonds and that’s why the emphasis of the tools and functions is recruiting new people into the game. It’s an elaborate scheme that prospects and new IBOs don’t see because they have Amway dreams clouding their thoughts.   Think about it, new diamonds means another person getting a cut of the tools and functions profits.  It's more profitable to just keep brining in new recruits who are the customers of the tools and functions scam.

You'll be told you can buy your way to wealth but it's just a big lie.

Diamond Adulation?

 One of the weird things I observed about Amway IBOS is how they worship the diamond as if he is some kind of divine being.  When you look at it logically, what has the diamond done to deserve such adulation?   The diamond qualified for the pin one time and possibly one time only.  Heck, Joecool was a 4000 pin.   Does that mean new IBOS should take counsel from me since I achieved a fairly high level?  Even if I’m not currently qualified?   At least that's the logic that most IBOs are presented with although the newbies likely don't know about this.

Amway doesn’t say which diamonds are still qualified so nobody really knows.  And that is why you see former copies of bonus checks as evidence of success.  A current copy of a check would be better but still would not indicate what kinds of expenses that diamond had.  A copied check doesn't paint an accurate picture of what their business was like.

A good example would be my WWDB upline diamond who probably qualified diamond in the 1980’s.  Back then there was no internet and the business was very different than it is today.  That diamond also filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2009 or so but is still revered as having superior financial acumen.  But based on what track record?

For some reason the audiences just assume that the diamond is successful and wealthy without really knowing the financial status of these leaders.   For all we know these diamonds are paying mortgages and in debt like the rest of the US population.  Why would it be any different when these diamonds show off a lifestyle of excess and even encourage IBOS to get into debt to purchase tools and function tickets.  If you ask upline to verify their financial claims you’ll be told it’s none of your business.

If your diamond’s financials are none of your business then you should not consider displays of wealth as any kind of evidence of success.  More likely that diamond lives check to check like much of the rest of the population.  What other conclusion is logical?

Uber Diamond 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 narrative they want you and other prospects to believe.

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.  So you get the inspiration but the reality is that the diamond dream will not materialize.  

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.   Look at the Amway income disclosures.  A Q12 diamond, which is quite rare (the exception, not the rule) makes around $600k annually gross income.  After taxes and expenses, you aren't buying mansions and sports cars in cash while flying the around the world first class. 

Amway used to report that an average diamond earns about $150k annually but now Amway doesn't disclose the income of an average diamond.    Although Amway no longer reports this, their compensation plan hasn't changed to a point where the average non Q12 diamond would earn significantly more than in the past.  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's 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 $4000 a month for a mortgage, they have $6000 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. 

Helping People By Prospecting Them Into Amway?

 When I was an Amway IBO, I remember at many recruitment or teaching types of meetings, the speaker would talk about how Amway IBOs are helping people by getting them in the business or at least by showing them the plan. Looking back, I fail to see how inviting someone into a business where they are virtually assured of losing money (in the systems) is helping them. This is also how some IBOs think that they are suddenly "better" people because they think they are helping people by being an IBO.  When you think about it carefully, what help is actually being provided?

On average, Amway products cost more than retailer so a prospect is not helped by purchasing Amway products because they are paying a premium price. For IBOs purchasing Amway products, they are taking away from their local economy by purchasing Amway goods, although I guess you could argue that the IBO is helping Amway to succeed.   Also, you pay a premium price for Amway products but to me, Amway products seem generic in nature and I don't really see anything special about them at all.

IBOs who are actively building a business usually have many meetings to attend, and hard core IBOs are taught not to miss any meetings. Therefore an IBO has less time to spend with his or her family and friends. The IBO has less time to spend at church, and less time to help with any community projects. The IBO will probably miss someone's wedding or birthday celebration because of the hectic schedule of an IBO. It's a part of being dedicated to the Amway business and the system of teaching.  There might be some trade off if IBOs were actually making additional income that made their lives better but the vast majority of dedicated IBOs lose money.  How does that help anyone?

While all of this activity is happening, IBOs also have less money because the voicemail, standing order, functions and books and other expenses eat away at an IBO's resources. Thus IBOs have less to contribute to charity or even for their entertainment and enjoyment.  How is less disposable income helpful to anyone?

So an honest question. How do IBOs help people by building an Amway business? How are they better people by showing someone the plan or sponsoring them into a business that nearly assures they will lose money?

Im my informed opinion, the nicer and better person is what upline teaches as a side note to distract an IBO from the FACT that they are losing money because of the defacto 100 PV and tools requirements. They also make it seem as if IBOs are "helping" people by showing them the business plan. When you think about it, perhaps just the opposite is happening. This is another tactic, IMO, that uplines use to justify an IBO's lack of progress, much like how they tell downline that they are successful just by getting themselves to a function. If you are an IBO or a prospect, please read this article carefully.

Motivation?

 It seems to me that the Amway business became a never ending series of meetings and rah rah speeches designed to motivate the rank and file IBOS.  I suppose that so much motivation is needed because the vast majority of IBOS are losing money chasing the Amway dream.  But a nice story told by the diamond can get a low ranked IBO to hang in there and attend a few more functions and listen to more audios.  Of course those actions benefit upline more than the IBO.   If IBOS were to just walk away, diamond income would be affected,

But what motivates business people?  How about net profits and having more money at the end of the month than when you started.  I know that would have excited my to be cash positive in Amway.  But because nearly all IBOS are losing money, upline must devise ways to trick people in signing up and then staying on board.  Let me illustrate this:

When being recruited, I was told about how Amway was low overhead and that profits could be made quickly in addition to saving money by using Amway products.  Then after you get in, you’re told that business owners commonly lose money fir a number of years until the business it built.  It becomes an eloquent game of bait and switch for the upline and downline.   Sell them on quick profits and savings and then tell them about being a real business owner with real expenses.  It works because the upline are taught to trust and believe in upline.

The claim is that upline has your best interest at heart.  But I guess one more lie told by upline escapes many rank and file IBOS once they put their hope and trust in the upline.  And it works because people want to believe that 2-5 years of hard work will lead to retirement and financial freedom.  Sadly it usually ends in business losses and additional debt.  All the motivation anyone really needs is more money at the end of the month.  

A Typical Experience?

 One thing that I tried to uncover as a new IBO in Amway was what a typical day in the life of an IBO entails.  Nobody could really answer me with a straight answer.  I got all kinds of roundabout answers and I was told that I needed to listen to standing orders and attend all meetings are functions.  That was how I was going to learn how to grow my business an become successful.  I used to think what the heck, why can't someone answer such a simple question?

Maybe nobody could answer it because the typical answer is that most IBOs do nothing and quit?   Or maybe most IBOs never attend a meeting, never sell a single product and never sponsor a single down line?

I recall being taught to prospect for downline.  How to use the curiosity approach and how to go about getting people interested in seeing the plan.   It sure seemed as if the emphasis of the Amway teaching was recruiting downline.   Isn't Amway a retail based business where selling products should be the key?   We weren't told not to sell products but it certainly wasn't a focus of the teaching.   Interesting that selling products were an afterthought.  Instead we were taught to self consume products, to a point where we qualified for a PV bonus based only on self consumption.  

For many people, the typical experience is to attend an endless string of meetings, staying up late to attend teaching sessions and "night owls" and learning which products we can use that were considered "high PV" such as nutrilite vitamins like double x and other products that were considered "core products".  The odd thing was that Amway almost seemed like a way of life rather than a actual business.  I used to wonder why there were no standing orders of people who made their success by selling a mountain of Amway products.  

In a way, the typical Amway experience, in my opinion, is that Amway is very much like a part time job where you pay Amway for the right to sell their products at your time and expense.  There's very few actual business principles that are taught and again, the main focus is to get more people into the Amway business, regardless of their (or yours) prospects of actually making a profit.

Success Is Right Around The Corner?

 One thing taught my upline that actually hooked me for a while and what I suspect hooks many current IBOs is the notion that you should not quit because success is "right around the corner".  It makes it sound as if you could quit just before you could become successful.  But when you think about it logically, the Amway business is not like a slot machine where the next pull of the handle could literally make you rich.   Amway is a business and unless your business is constantly growing and sponsoring new people, then more than likely, success is not right around the corner and might never be around the corner.  

I believe this is just an upline ploy to keep IBOs and prospects who are on the fence about continued participation from quitting.   Right?  You make them feel as if there's a chance that you could quit shortly before you hear that one thing or experience that one function that will propel you to a diamond level business.   Doesn't it make you wonder what in the world is one thing that could so inspire you to suddenly sponsor people if you haven't been able to for a long time?

In my informed opinion, Amway takes a certain skill set which includes lying or telling half truths (lying) and misrepresenting how lucrative Amway is and how easy it is to run an Amway business and succeed.  The upline is typically sharp enough to say it is simple but not easy.  Simple meaning it's like spelling "cat" with a kid's building blocks as opposed to easy like stealing candy from a baby.   And apparently, this type of teaching is quite effective as I recall so many of my crossline IBOs who were dedicated to Amway and the systems for years despite attending all meetings and functions without any real success or actually sponsoring a downline.   Instead, upline creates superficial degrees of success such as saying that the most important person to get to the function is yourself.  

Upline is also clever enough to lift up and edify people who may have skipped their brother's wedding to attend an Amway function, or someone who rescheduled their kid's birthday party in order to attend a meeting.  I recall having missed out on many social events and activities in the name of building Amway but it really didn't help.  And ironically, Amway was promoted as a part time business but somehow, upline twisted that into Amway is #1 no matter what's going on in your life.   One saying was that you never miss a meeting or function unless it's to attend a funeral (your own funeral).

It's amazing how upline utilizes clever psychology to keep IBOs and prospects emotionally attached to Amway.  But if you view it objectively, you can actually see the forest from the trees.  

Who's The Man?

 If you're objective, you're likely to understand this post and if you've had too much Amway "kool aid", you might not get it.  If you're a prospect or on the fence about Amway, think long and hard about this post.   Your upline diamonds and other higher ups like to brag about their income and their allegedly lavish lifestyles but if ever asked to verify their claims you'll hear about how it's none of your business or you'll be shown a photo copy of a check or some other anecdotal. but not verifiable evidence of wealth.  Why do you suppose that it?  

Have you ever heard of the term owning a nice hat but no cattle?   It sort of means that you can look flashy but you don't have the goods.  The diamonds will show you flashy slideshows of vacations. most likely the ones that Amway pays for but not necessarily a bunch of other non Amway sponsored trips.  Or you might see pictures of jet skis, fancy cars, mansions and other kinds of bling.  If I posted picture of a mansion and a Porsche and other trappings like that and said I paid for them in cash, the Amway defenders would be calling me a liar (or worse).   But at the same time the diamonds do exactly that and not a single downline questions them or asks for verification of claims.  

But here's food for thought and it makes a ton of sense to me and probably to other reasonable people.  Joecool is comfortably retired, and I retired at the age of 55.  Prior to covid, I was traveling around the world having a great time.   But I don't brag about this to others and I don't try to profit from my claims of being young and retired and basically financially free.   I mention this here because I honestly believe that many diamonds cannot actually afford the "diamond lifestyle".   Let me explain;

Some years ago, Amway published the average income of a (non Q12) diamond) and it was about $150,000.   Since then, there have been no significant differences to the Amway compensation plan, yet I was hearing that diamonds make an average of 600k these days.  So I looked it up and that figure is for Q12 diamonds.  A Q12 diamond is one who qualifies as a diamond for all 12 months in the Amway fiscal year (unless it was changed recently), and a Q12 diamond is a rare exception and not the norm.  Therefore, I can only conclude that the rest of the diamonds likely earn around $150,000 a year, which I believe is still shown in "the plan".   Sure, there's some tool and function money which augments the income but can you live a life of absolute first class and luxury on $200k to $300k gross income?     I highly doubt it unless you you have other sources of income or resources to tap into.

Why do diamonds want you to think they are "the man"?  Because telling you that diamond allows you to live a middle class lifestyle (with a few luxuries) without a job isn't really sexy or likely to attract recruits.   Like it or not, that's what I believe is the truth.