Amway's Non Existent Retirees?

 I was watching a show on Discovery channel the other night about Sasquatch. It was followed by a show about evidence of UFOs. It made me start to think about these phenomena. It seems like everyone has heard about or knows something about Sasquatch (Big foot) and/or UFOs. There are many documentaries showing pictures and evidence of both, but to date, there is no bonafide evidence that these things exist. You'd think that a body or bones of a Sasquatch would turn up somewhere, sooner or later, or we would find compelling evidence of a spaceship from another galaxy.

It sounds just like stories of people who built a diamondship, then "walked away" from their businesses, retired in the lap of luxury and did nothing while the money kept rolling in. I heard numerous scenarios about this happening, but looking back, all the diamonds kept working and since Joecool left the business, the diamond either kept working, or quit or got terminated. But I never heard anyone name some higher up Amway pin who built a business, and then walked away from it to travel the beaches of the world while hundreds of thousands of dollars kept rolling in. Many have heard about it but nobody seems to be able to name any of these folks. I mean after over 50 years in existence, you'd think some of these folks would exist, especially when it seems to be a selling point of the business for many AMOs.

It is my opinion that Sasquatch, UFOs and retired Amways diamonds (with significant Amway income) are non existent. If these folks existed, there should be at least some shred of evidence of it. The lack of evidence indicates to me that it is either non existent or so rare that nobody can display bonafide proof. I mean there aren't any T-Rexs roaming the earth anymore but fossil evidence proves that they existed at one time.

Keeping in mind that the Amway business has a high attrition rate, coupled with low sales to non IBOs and you can easily conclude that residual and significant income is nearly impossible. An Amway business that is left alone will deteriorate like a sandcastle does as the waves wash it away. You (in theory) could possible walk away from an Amway business for a while and collect some income, but you won't be collecting enough income to live the "diamond lifestyle" as portrayed by diamonds in their functions and open meetings. I'm not even sure that active diamonds can comfortably afford that lifestyle even when building their businesses. There is ample evidence to support my claim. Diamonds losing homes to foreclosure, former diamonds revealing secrets about their income. If you really believe you can walk away from your Amway business and collect untold wealth, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. :-)

Debating An Amway Drone?

 I apologize for the length of this post but it's actually quite humorous and I will also post the link in case you wish to follow along or perhaps leave your own comments. The classic Amway defense is used here, including unsubstantiated income and lifestyle claims. He also calls me a liar but never identifies what I'm supposedly lying about. Enjoy!

https://amthrax.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/penn-and-tellers-verdic-on-mlms-bs/#comment-48347

Malachy:

“, FAILED system”?? Yeah. Right. 8 billion annually no sticks no dent. 60 merchant partners and double digits growth in North America these past 2 years.
(Oh yeah. And #1 selling nutritional supplier world wide. Aha. )


Joecool

8 billion annually. Down more than 25% from 2013 when Amway did 11.8 billion. No debt? How do you know Amway has no debt? That’s an old talking point that was proven wrong in the past if you know how to use google. And #1 selling nutritional supplier worldwide is a HUGE lie.
The #1 selling nutritional supplier in the world is Nestle. In he Americas alone they exceed 40 billion. You are just repeating lies that uplines tells without verifying for yourself. More than likely you are repeating income claim lies from upline as well.
Nestle: https://www.nestle.com/investors/annual-report

Malachy:

Nobody went black or lost their homes BECAUSE OF AMWAY. (Gee by your logic maybe Greg (Duncan) couldn’t afford the tapes books & travel to all those functions?
Dude Matt (Tsuruda)was making $90,000 a month as an EDC.
He probably makes 4-5 times that now

Joecool

It’s not how much you make, but what you do with it. $40K per month and (Greg Duncan) winds up bankrupt?

Malachy:

FYI there are 3500 college players who graduate or declare for the draft before they graduate. Know how many are drafted in the entire NFL? 254. That means there’s only a 7% chance of getting drafted
Then there’s several walk ons who are undrafted who show up to training camp. Then you have OTA, mono camp, training camp, and preseason in which 90 or so men all hope to make the roster (of which there are really less than 50 possible openings in a maximum 53 man roster (a half a dozen maybe ten or so of which are already taken by the superstars like Tom Brady or Beckam or Gronk.

So it’s about a 3% chance of even MAKING a roster, and that doesn’t guarantee the big money but only minimum scale if you’re on the practice squad.

Then there’s the chance of getting injured ending a season (or a carreer)
Average length of an NFL carreer? Less than 7 years.

And how much money do you make after you leave, quit, get cut, or injured out of the NFL?
Zero (except maybe some pension depending on how long you played & what money you made. )
Tracey Eaton had to play a preseason game with a flu & high fever, just to prove himself make the team. At Arizona.
Know what happened after he left the NFL with $300,000 on the bank & had to try & make it as a stock broker?
He ended up $400,000 in debt & had to sell his house!
Thank God Wolgamott came along & he asked Wolgamott how he managed to sleep in every day & be rich.

Now they are free as diamonds & have a beautiful high rise condo in Seattle and paid Cash for a second home on the river.
Eaton makes more money than he ever made in the NFL & is not subject to injuries, age, or roster cuts
Yeah we know all about the odds.

(Then there’s also Superbowl champion Tim Foley in Miami, Hal Greer from the NBA and numerous other world class championship athletes who make their living from amway or endorse the nutrilite Brand. (see Kurt Warner- another walk on who had what it takes in character & went from walk on back up quarterback to Superbowl champion. Yeah. He believes in nutrilite & amway)
Not everybody who plays the game is a winner or a champion. Only those who got what it takes (which obviously you didn’t!)

Joecool
July 30, 2018 10:00 am
7% is a whole lot more success than Amway IBOs. A platinum is allegedly where you start to break even more make a small profit, depending on your commitment to the system. A platinum is already in the top fraction of 1% of IBOs. What serious business owner prospect would want to join and opportunity where the likelihood of success is so low?
Arena football players know the deal before they sign up. They are signing up because someone told them about residual income for life if they play arena football.

Again, how do you know what Tracy Eaton makes? Did you show you his financials? You have no idea but you keep making those kinds of claims. All you are saying is that he lacks integrity and is able to sell people on lies to make his living. 2-5 years, walking the beaches is a lie. One that has serious consequences for many who get involved.


Malachy:

woww. Once again you demonstrated a difficulty understanding (or paying attention to) what people actually say.
If 7 % get drafted that doesn’t necessarily mean they will make the roster by end of preseason and if they do make the roster half of them will NEVER make a million a year

Many have ENDED up broke after being retired (average carreer is less than 7 years and they don’t pay you or even guarantee your salary if you’re not playing. Many get injured and most contracts have team friendly incentives that only pay based on how many snaps you play in the year.)

Tracey Eaton lasted a handful of years after busting his @$$ to make the team during preseason only to end up broke & having to sell his house after retirement. None of hos NFL income was secure or willable to his children

Now he makes more than he did in the NFL and it’s all willable to his children and most of it is passive ongoing income streams.

He paid Cash for his second home. (did you?

Joecool

I understand completely. But anyone who gets drafted receives at least a signing bonus of about $100k or more, even if they fail to make the team.

Most Amway IBOs make nothing and if they attend functions, almost all of them LOSE MONEY.
Tracy Eaton can tell you he paid cash for his home. I paid cash for my home. See how that works? Talk is cheap. Greg Duncan also said she paid cash for his homes. Then we see foreclosures. Guess what? Homes that are paid for can’t get foreclosed.

“None of his NFL income was secure or will-able to his children” Total bullshit. All of his guaranteed income could have been secured and will-able to his children.

You know why Amway diamonds might quit or resign but they never “walk away? They have to keep working the business. Most Amway IBOs do little or nothing and quit. If you stop building your Amway business, people will continue to do little or nothing and quit. You cannot build a sustainable income where the attrition rate is so high unless you are constantly working it. The never quit that upline teaches applies to the upline as well. If they quit, their business will fall apart faster than a cheap Amway suit.

Malachy:

Name one example of an NFL contract which says they continue to get their bloated salary after they’re no longer able to play?
No such thing! It’s all based 100% on their own ability.
Amway isn’t based on ability. It’s based off an asset which continues to generate revenue and therefore earnings for you or your beneficiaries
Ever hear of an “integrated Diamond”?
(Oh. I’m sorry. So now Georgia Lee (Puryear) no longer gets any income since Ron died? )
Better tell Jim to go get a job ha.

Joecool

So why don”t diamonds walk away and retire? Because their business will crumble apart once they stop working. In Amway, you need the ability to recruit and lie to recruits so they will sign up and buy Amway stuff and tools and functions.
I don’t know. Georgia Lee didn’t show me (or you) her financials so I don’t (and you don’t) know what or if she’s still making money from Amway.
You do know that Amway diamonds invest in other things besides Amway right?

Malachy:

I’ve never been lied to by anyone in the Amway company or WWDb. You on the other hand lie all the time & make up stuff to support your excuses why you quit. LOSERS do that & we don’t do that in our family.

Joecool:

What have I lied about? I share my personal experience. Whether you like it or not is another story but these are not lies.

You make up all kinds of stuff. You quote income from people you don’t know. You pretend to know how much income and expenses the diamonds have. The truth is you don’t know.
You bought into the lie that buying from yourself can turn into profits.
You still haven’t answered why not a single diamond walked away to enjoy residual income. Instead, they are on the job until they pass away. That’s not freedom.

How To Get Wealthy In Amway?

 A recent comment left on my blog inspired this article. The comment was that basically, IBO's are "donating" to their upline on a monthly basis. You start by donating upline in the form of monthly purchases. Your 100 PV is roughly equal to $300 and most of the bonus generated by that volume goes somewhere upline. This will go on forever until you either quit and stop buying, or unless you somehow manage to sponsor enough downline who will then "donate" to you.

If you attend those open meetings, you are again donating to the upline's coffers. As an IBO, I was strongly encouraged to attend these meetings even if I had no new prospects to bring. And of course, there was an entrance fee at the door. I don't think this was a major profit center but still, a room with perhaps 1000 attendees = $6000 collected and a room with chairs and a speaker doesn't cost that much for an evening.

If you purchase standing orders, you are donating to your upline on a weekly basis. If the upline can reproduce audios for 50 cents or even a dollar a piece, this is a very healthy profit center. Also, most upline recommend that you listen to a cd/audio each day, thus you need to purchase some additional audios/cds in addition to the standing orders.

Voicemail and book of the month are also monthly donations. Who in the world needs voicemail these days? But uplines still recommend it as they make some serious coin from it. The book of the month might have some value but the uplines are still making profits from these. Think about it, these diamonds claim they want your success but they make you pay for just about any help you receive, regardless of whether that help is beneficial to your business or not. By Amway rules, your sponsor is supposed to train and motivate you free of charge.

The regional and major functions are like the monthly fund raisers for the diamonds. Major functions can have thousand or tens of thousands of people in attendance. If they pay $100 (or more) each, it is a serious money maker for upline. A convention center or arena has costs in running events but those costs (while they vary) might be $10 to $25 per person. The rest is pure profit for the diamonds.

All in all, the profit margin is much higher for these tools and functions than from Amway products. Thus it's perfectly reasonable to think that the diamonds can make much more money from selling tools than from Amway itself. For groups where current qualifications are not required for a cut of the tools, these diamonds might make nearly all of their money from tools and functions. It's more like a diamond fundraiser than a function to help IBO's. Afterall, who gets the biggest financial benefit from the tools and functions? The diamonds or the IBO's?

False Hopes?

 The really insidious part of Amway, in my opinion is that certain leaders of AMOs such as WWDB use the hopes and dreams of people to get them to join Amway and to sell them motivational tools that are supposed to help people to achieve these hopes and dreams. Many of these folks are nice, motivated and hard working people who have dreams and goals. What they don't often see right away is that those dreams and hopes are not going to be fulfilled by building and Amway business and using WWDB as a support system.

Since my time in the business, WWDB has fewer diamonds now than there were when I was an IBO. While there may be some new diamonds, I don't really know of any in the US. I believe there are some new diamonds in foreign countries where the Amway name and tool scam hasn't been fully exposed as it has in the US and Canada. This is a glaring issue. If diamond is the pinnacle of success, then where are they? The same old tired diamonds are on stage and apparently teaching the same BS today, that they taught many years ago, despite claims that things have changed.

They still teach about buying everything in cash, and that there is residual income and walking the beaches. I find it very odd that with the benefit of walking away from Amway while cash rolls in, why hasn't anyone exercised their right to do so. Is it that all of these tired old diamonds love Amway and they downline so much that they cannot bear to quit? Or is it more likely that the residual income for life is a complete myth and that these diamonds work because they have to?

I know of at least two (2) WWDB diamonds who had their homes foreclosed. There is also a triple diamond who was dabbling in chapter 7 bankruptcy, and ironically, this diamond is still on stage teaching audiences about his financial acumen. There are some diamonds who lived and loved Hawaii and the ocean, but saw it fit to move to the mainland US. Many WWDB diamonds put their homes for sale in a bad real estate market. Sure, they may just want to liquidate, but maybe they can't afford these mansions and toys anymore? Maybe.

WWDB still has a function called "Dream Night" where the diamonds parade around showing off sports cars, fancy homes, jet skis and other toys, implying that they all own these things and paid for in cash. They want the audience to dream of obtaining the same and that Amway is the only way to attain it. Sadly, for most, joining Amway and WWDB is far more likely to push you farther away from your hopes and dreams. Amway's own numbers tell the story. About $200 a month average IBO income (and that includes diamonds and higher ups), and about one fourth of one percent (.26%) achieve the gold/platinum level where you might earn about $1000 to $2000 a month gross income.

Buyer beware.

My Best Interest?

 One of the biggest loads of guano that upline diamonds often tell their groups is that they really want success for their downline IBOs. The obvious to me is that your upline diamond doesn't give a rat's furry ass about your success as long as you are buying tools and attending functions. Your dedication is money in the bank for the upline diamonds. They will tell you that you are a warrior or a fighter to make you feel good, but behind the scenes, they could care less.

Now I believe your sponsor probably does care a little about you succeeding, but technically, your sponsor is supposed to train and motivate you free of cost, which is why your sponsor can benefit if you purchase or move enough volume. The problem with this is that your sponsor is also very likely to be immersed in the tools system which takes away income from his/her business to feed the upline diamond.    They probably want you to "succeed" just enough so that you don't quit.  That's why you might be told that you're a success if you alone, attended a function.

If you take a good look, you will see that the advice given from stage at functions or big meetings are so generic that it usually does not apply to you as a person and if so generic, then you can get that same advice on an MP3 or a cd. Yet, the diamonds expect IBOs to attend major functions every three months. I suppose to supplement their Amway income. These diamonds are not mentors. They don't analyze individual businesses and your personal skills. How can they guide you in this type of business without knowing these details? They can't.

Think about it. Your upline wants your success or do they want your money? Practically anytime you receive "help", it costs you. Open meetings, attitude sessions, functions. Every one of these has a cost of time and money with no direct cause and effect of people succeeding and receiving the mythical residual income. If your upline says this, ask how they can assure that it happens, aside from a dedication to functions and cds?  

Food for thought. If you actually went diamond, your leaders would get less tool money. Do they really want your success or are they just saying it?

The Harsh Reality?

 One of the things that keeps some IBOs going is the "harsh reality". What I mean by that is for some IBOs, once you have been in Amway for a while, it can be hard to quit. You were possibly recruited with dreams of lifelong residual income and walking on all of the exotic beaches of the world. Retiring young and spending that time with your wife and family. To quit means an IBO would have to face the reallity that these dreams will not come true, at least not with the Amway busines. The fact is that the Amway opportunity probably would not have delivered those dreams anyway. Even a diamond more than likely cannot afford those dreams. In fact I would estimate that most diamonds, if they flaunt some excessive lifestyle, are near broke or in heavy debt as a diamond income cannot sustain a jetset lifestyle, save for a founders crown ambassador or something similar. I believe the prominent WWDB triple diamond bankruptcy shed a lot of light into the finances of an upper level pin and it wasn't as impressive as I would have thought.

But what really is the harsh reality? It's working hard only to drift between 100 and 500 PV. It's finally sponsoring a new IBO only to have a downline quit. It's talking to people about Amway and getting laughed at or getting rejected. It's your upline or sponsor pushing you to do more. Possibly your upline is one who questions your manhood if you aren't working hard enough. It's your upline or sponsor reminding you that a winner doesn't miss functions, especially the major ones. It's staying up late for team meetings or nite owls when you need a good nite's rest to do your job the next day. It's driving the miles to show a plan, only to have your prospect not show up. It's having to be deceptive about what you are doing. It's skipping functions with family and friends so you can be core to the business.

As IBOs, do you see any of this? I saw some of this during my involvement. While I have not been an IBO in some years now, I still see many testimonies and comments by more current and even some active IBOs to indicate that a lot of this still goes on. While Amway defenders will deny it, I see no reason why any of this would have changed over the years since Amway has made no significant changes to stop abusive uplines. If Amway did make any changes, they are not immediately apparent and the continuous string of comments and testimonies do not confirm that any clean up has been done.

For active IBOs or prospects, these are the harsh realities that may be attached with the Amway opportunity. Much of it is because of motivational groups such as WWDB, but if you are seeing these traits in your group, ask the tough questions. If you happen to decide that the Amway opportunity is not for you, take heart! There are other ways to achieve your financial goals and dreams and there are more efficient ways out there. Sometimes, quitting something that isn't working is a wise business decisions and sometimes you can lose more by not quitting. Good luck in whatever you decide.

Financial Freedom?

 Financial Freedom! That was one of the major battle cries when I was recruited for the Amway business. You gain control of time and money by creating residual or passive income. That is true financial freedom. You wake up at noon, no job, and just do whatever you please, whenever you please. I remember the speaker saying that broke/unemployed people also had freedom, but it was different because they were broke and could not afford to go golfing or do other activities that required money on a regular basis.

I am assuming that this is still the case for many IBOs. Of course, upline leaders may toss in a disclaimer that you don't get rich quick as an IBO, but the pitch apparently still contains the financial freedom and residual income theme, based on my experiences with IBOs. IBOs still think they will be rich. Also, 2-5 years sounds like "get rich quick" to me.

But hey, financial freedom would be a great thing, don't get me wrong. Who wouldn't want to be 35 years old with enough cash to never have to work again? I mean I could spend some time imagining how fun that would be. It would also be fun to imagine what you would do with all the cash if you hit the power ball lottery as well. But for the starry eyed IBOs, I simply have a few questions for you to ponder. A few realistic questions that you should be asking yourself. The answers to these questions will tell you a lot.

1. Who in your group or upline truly has achieved financial freedom? Have you seen their financials or simply a display of wealth such as mansions and fancy cars? Mansions and fancy cars could just be a massive pile of debt. Not too long ago, there apparently were diamonds who had their homes foreclosed, and a triple diamond who was in bankruptcy proceedings. Find out if anyone in your group/upline has actually achieved the success that they are using to recruit you. Also, if they are financially free, why do they work at function after function? Traveling and speaking might not be a traditional job, but it is still work, nonetheless.

2. Even if you find someone who is retired and golfing everyday because of Amway residual income, ask yourself what the likelihood is that you will be able to achieve the same results. If diamonds are still working, what chance do you have of success if you are new or experienced in Amway, and have few or no downline. More than likely, your chance of winning the lottery will be greater than your chance of achieving a significant residual income from your Amway business. Also, I don't know of any Amway retirees who built their business once and walked away with any significant residual income from Amway. Do you?

Nothing Changes?

 I was first recruited for Amway in 1985 or so. I was a senior in college and I was invited to a "beer bust". Imagine how weird it was to arrive at a beer bust to see my friend (who invited me and others) in a suit and pitching Amway to us. (Where was the damn beer?). So we got tricked into a meeting but we stayed to hear them out. We left and winded up going to buy beer. LOL.

My friends and I spoke about whether Amway could actually work an we concluded that selling stuff would be a difficult challenge that we may not be able to overcome.

We saw the 2-5 year plan and we saw the possibility of retiring young and "walking away" and living high on the hog for years to come. Back then, we saw picture of checks that Toshio Taba had received. (He has since passed away). We wondered if there was a niche market where some Amway products could be sold and profits could be made. We came to the conclusion that Amway products are too expensive to be competetive and we passed on the opportunity. The friend who invited us, of course told us he was going to be rich and would not be available to hang out with us. He quit 2 months later and rejoined our group of friends.

When I later saw the plan again, a friend of mine had joined Amway and had some level of success. He assured me that Amway was "easy" and that I could achieve the same success if I followed him. But it's not true. Even though I attained a level in Amway (4000 PV), I made no net profit. I suspect my sponsor, even at "direct" or platinum (now) made not net profit because of the expenses associated with being a platinum. (Extra travel, functions and costs to service downline). The concept that reaching a level will bring profits was a lie because "upline" advised that you should spend all profits and reinvest into the "system". Thus any profits were channeled upline in the form of tool purchases.

When I engage with current Amway IBOs and prospects, I honestly see no difference in the teaching that is espoused. The same old tired diamonds are stll around. Sure, there are a few new diamonds but the old ones who disappeared are greater in number than the new ones. If the system worked, wouldn't new diamonds be coming out of the system regularly? Apparently not. Hasn't anyone figured out that diamonds work until they pass? The Duncans and Wolgamott, Tsurudas and Harimoto have been diamonds for 20 - 30 years. If they were good teachers, where is the fruit on their tree? The tree is bare.

Your Dreams?

 One of the things used as a recruitment tool my upline is to get a prospect to think of dreams. Dreams could be extravagant like owning a yacht or it could be simple like taking a cruise ship to Alaska. The recruit is told to dream big and to envision things they would like to enjoy. Perhaps it is not having a job, or perhaps it is being a stay at home mom. These are all great dreams and goals. Dreams and goals are good things to have. The speaker will then tell the audience that these are all possible thru the Amway opportunity. They won't say it is highly unlikely. They only give you the pie in the sky best case scenario.

Now some people may have achieved great success thru Amway. But these people are so few and far between that you could argue that the lottery has the same kind of success or maybe the lottery has more winners than Amway diamonds. Granted the lottery is a game of chance, and Amway is not, but the "likely" results can be comparable. In Amway and the lottery, you have the vast majority accomplishing nothing and losing money. You have some "best case scenarios" where a few are successful. You then focus on and display the success testimonies as evidence that "anyone can succeed", just as anyone with a ticket can win the lottery. The fact that a game of random chance produces similar results as Amway should be a red flag.

Some uplines will often tell their faithful downline that someone who speaks negatively about Amway is a "dream stealer". Of course this is ludicrous. Your dream is in your heart and mind. Nobody can steal that. Secondly, whose dream is being compromised? It is the upline diamond who has all the goodies and the large checks right? The downline are basically ones paying for their upline's dreams. It is fairly well known that the majority of Amway products aren't sold to people who are not IBOs. It is also well known that 99% of tools and business support materials are sold to IBOs. So guess where your upline diamond's success comes from? That's right. An IBO's product volume and an IBO's tool purchases provide the upline diamond with a nice income. Stop and think about it for a moment.

So yes, there are some people who achieve their dreams in Amway. There are also people who achieve their dreams playing the lottery. There are millions of people who tried to build an Amway business and did not achieve. There are millions of people to play the lottery and do not win. Some dreams get built, but chances are they won't be yours. There is a good chance that your upline diamond's dreams will come true if you "never quit" and you stay on the system.

The question is whether you are seeking to build your dreams or someone else's?

Brainwashed?

 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 friends and loved ones at this point. I hope this helps you. But seriously, the Amway IBOs begin to believe anything upline tells them and they begin to act out what they are taught and are in danger of becoming Amway zombies. Here are some warning signs:

*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 end up spending time at malls and other public places such as Starbucks desperately stalking and scouting for recruits. Much of your time is spent doing this activity when you're not getting more brainwashed at rah rah meetings.

*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 phytonutrients, something you may not even know about. You even argue about concentration values in dish soap or laundry detergent.

*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. Or you let someone steal your dream. These ridiculous claims are how your upline keeps you hooked. There is constant pressure to never quit and to keep on pimping Amway to recruits.

*Because the system is touted as the way you're going to make yourself fantastically rich, you're under constant 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. No other activities matter to you unless it affects your dream filled Amway financial future.

*Your upline soon becomes your most trusted friend. Your thoughts and feelings are shaped in part by the cds, meetings and functions.

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

Seeing Amway Thru A Different Lens?

 One of the things Amway IBOs get attracted to is how uplines will promote traditional family values. They may talk about the "Leave it to Beaver" days where the man works a job, and the wife takes care of the home and drops the kids off at school and takes care of the home.  While some of these values are great, they are not reality in today's world. The speakers at some Amway meetings may recruit others by saying you can have this out of the box lifestyle if you will only build your Amway business. This gets the wives or girlfriends excited as they would love to not have to work a 9-5 job and spend their full-time activities on the kids and their home and marriage.

Ironically, an IBO's desire for more time and money, more often than not, will result in less time and money for an IBO and the IBO's family. They will be participating in the "systems", which consists of meetings, functions and other Amway related activities.  Sadly, the vast majority of people in Amway, will never receive any monetary gratification. More likely, losses will be the net result.  More likely meaning the vast majority of Amway participants.  

An IBO's belief is often compartmentalized into thinking that showing the plan, listening to standing orders, submitting to upline's advice and attending all functions will result in guaranteed success within 2-5 years. Anyone who speaks a differing opinion of this is "negative" and should be avoided. Sadly, those who put forth such dedication and invest in the system are rarely rewarded with success. Even those who achieve the platinum level may often find that the net profit they realize is less than a minimum wage job with the same number of hours put forth. And maintaining a platinum level is a daunting task. Is this the success you seek?

My former sponsor achieved the platinum level in less than two years, but he never achieved Q12 status, and he never went beyond the platinum level. He has been involved for nearly 20 years now, and last I heard, is below the platinum level. All of that work and effort and I wonder if he even has a net profit of $1.00 for all of his efforts? I suspect he's got net losses of money and time for all of his efforts. It's a waste of your life, a waste of your time.

Yet, many IBOs continue to see the world through rose colored glasses, thinking that they will succeed if only they will never quit. They disregard the fact that 2-5 years has come and gone. They do not see that their bottom line is nowhere near what they were led to believe. But they believe that Amway will be their financial savior, even though there are facts and red flags pointing to the obvious reality that they will never achieve what they initially set out to achieve.

I hope my blog will get a few IBOs to take off the rose-colored glasses for just a second.

Don't Quit, Success Is Right Around The Corner?

 When I was an Amway IBO, I heard the saying over and over. Never quit, success might be right around the corner. There were countless stories by diamonds and emeralds of how they were on the verge of quitting, but stuck it out and somehow "made it". I also heard stories about why people should not quit because even if you were told "no" a thousand times, the next prospect might say "yes" and turn your entire business around. This mindset is almost like a gambler who thinks the next hand or the next roll of the dice will suddenly start the beginning of a good run.

I believe these are all heartfelt stories. However, I believe that many stories are embellished and made to order. Or in other words, made to fit a standing order. If you listen carefully to many of the standing orders, you will notice that the higher pins were consistently sponsoring people and generally achieved the platinum level in 18 months or less. There are exceptions of course, but the majority of stories I heard seem to have had the same theme. Those who were destined for success achieved some significant level in less than 2 years.

But for IBOs and new recruits, if you aren't constantly bringing in new people to the open meetings, and sponsoring new people, then you are very unlikely to ever achieve much in Amway. Statistically, less than one half of one percent ever reach platinum. Thus if you are unable to grow your organization or group, then you are unlikely to be that one who "makes it". Success is not around the corner as some uplines will have you believe. If you take 100 "no's" and then someone finally says "yes" then chances are that person who said yes, will "do nothing", or do little and wind up quitting. Chances are that person won't sponsor anyone or show anyone the plan. Chances are that person won't even be in the business a year later.

It might be a good idea for IBOs to take a step back and take an unbiased look at their business and their business activities. Is your group growing consistently? Is your volume increasing each month? Are you able to get people interested in seeing the plan on a consistent basis? If you answered "no" to any of these points, then you are unlikely to progress and achieve in the Amway business.

One important thing for people to note is that there are many ways to achieve your financial goals and dreams. Amway is probably not the best vehicle for most. The numbers speak for themselves. If less than one half of one percent ever reach platinum, where allegedly, IBOs finally see a profit, then I would say your chances of success are better elsewhere, even if that is a second job. The average "active" IBO earns about $200 a month according to Amway. Considering all IBOs, then the average income is probably about $100 a month. You can earn much more than that working 4-5 hours a week at minimum wage.

Is success right around the corner? I doubt it.

Joecool On Vacation

Joecool will be on vacation for a week, traveling to several states for leisure and vacation.

In the meantime, I've posted this article entitled "exploting the downline"?

The really insidious part of Amway, in my opinion is that certain leaders of AMOs such as WWDB use the hopes and dreams of people to get them to join Amway and to sell them motivational tools that are supposed to help people to achieve these hopes and dreams. Many of these folks are nice, motivated and hard working people who have dreams and goals. What they don't often see right away is that those dreams and hopes are not going to be fulfilled by building and Amway business and using WWDB as a support system.

Since my time in the business, WWDB has fewer diamonds now than there were when I was an IBO. While there may be some new diamonds, I don't really know of any in the US. I believe there are some new diamonds in foreign countries where the Amway name and tool scam hasn't been fully exposed as it has in the US and Canada. This is a glaring issue. If diamond is the pinnacle of success, then where are they? The same old tired diamonds are on stage and apparently teaching the same BS today, that they taught many years ago, despite claims that things have changed.

They still teach about buying everything in cash, and that there is residual income and walking the beaches. I find it very odd that with the benefit of walking away from Amway while cash rolls in, why hasn't anyone exercised their right to do so. Is it that all of these tired old diamonds love Amway and they downline so much that they cannot bear to quit? Or is it more likely that the residual income for life is a complete myth and that these diamonds work because they have to?

I know of at least two (2) WWDB diamonds who had their homes foreclosed. There is also a triple diamond who was dabbling in chapter 7 bankruptcy, and ironically, this diamond is still on stage teaching audiences about his financial acumen. There are some diamonds who lived and loved Hawaii and the ocean, but saw it fit to move to the mainland US. Many WWDB diamonds put their homes for sale in a bad real estate market. Sure, they may just want to liquidate, but maybe they can't afford these mansions and toys anymore? Maybe.

WWDB still has a function called "Dream Night" where the diamonds parade around showing off sports cars, fancy homes, jet skis and other toys, implying that they all own these things and paid for in cash. They want the audience to dream of obtaining the same and that Amway is the only way to attain it. Sadly, for most, joining Amway and WWDB is far more likely to push you farther away from your hopes and dreams. Amway's own numbers tell the story. About $200 a month average IBO income (and that includes diamonds and higher ups), and about one fourth of one percent (.26%) achieve the gold/platinum level where you might earn about $1000 to $2000 a month gross income.

Buyer beware.

Do The Math?

 It is my observation that people who join Amway usually end up losing money in the end. They may get involved to make a few bucks or because they are mistakenly led to believe that they will become millionaires in Amway in 2-5 years. I know my sponsor convinced me that we would be millionaires in a few years. These folks who recruit new IBOs into Amway are often associated with a "system" such as Worldwide Dreambuilders (WWDB)or Network 21 (N21). These system promoters, often diamonds, may mislead the recruits by showing them pictures of mansions or other luxuries, implying that they attained these goods with their Amway business. In many cases, it is a deception, especially when we know for a fact that some diamond leaders who proclaimed that they only make cash purchases, had their homes foreclosed. Without the hype, I am sure there would be fewer sign ups. But what is the evidence?

It is simple. Amway reports that the average active IBO earns about $200 a month in gross income. This average includes diamonds and other higher end IBOs. I believe if you calculated the median, the average would be much lower.

But what makes IBOs operate at a loss is the system expenses. The system generally consists of voicemail, standing orders, cds, functions, books and other materials. An average business building IBO might spend an average of $250+ a month or so on these expenses. Amway defenders like to decry the amount, but there are couples who would likely spend more and IBOs who must travel by air to functions would spend more. Single IBOs who buy only the minimum might spend a bit less. Some IBOs with abusive uplines might spend much much more than $250 a month on tools. I believe my former sponsor spent easily an average of $1000 a month on average. (I am from Hawaii so the average cost of functions is greater due to long distance travel)

Thus, if the average IBO earns $200 a month but the same average IBO spends $250 a month on tools, the average active IBO is losing $50+ a month, with lower level IBOs (i.e. 100 PV) would lose more.

Look at a group of 100 IBOs at 100 PV. (This is just a model). If a 100 business building IBOs average $250 a month on tools, they as a group would expend $25,000 a month on tools and functions. Their volume would be 10,000 PV, or about 30,000 BV. This would generate about $7500 in bonuses per month. Thus this group spent $25,000 to learn and be motivated while the group splits up $7500 a month in bonuses. The platinum would get the lion's share of the bonus but most of the rest of the group will suffer net losses. As the group grows, the bonus may grow, but so will their expenditures on tools. Keep in mind that a group of 100 IBOs spitting up $7500 would be an average of $75 each. It is the diamonds that drive up that average. The math bears it out.

The only way the group can make money as a whole is to avoid participation in the tools altogether and to actually sell products to non IBO customers. The evidence is right here with simple math. The systems do not work because the cost of the system is likely to consume all of the Amway generated bonuses and more. I gladly challenge anyone to explain in detail how this post is not reflective of the reality of being in Amway and a system such as WWDB or Network21.

The facts speak for themselves.

Why Amway IBOs Fail?

 Over the years, there must have been tens of millions of IBOs who had some experience with Amway. Obviously, not all of these folks got involved in a system or had the intention of trying to make millions of dollars. But looking at the business as a whole, the number of people who make a significant income from Amway is a tiny fraction of 1%. If a typical platinum has about 100 IBOs in a group, then you can conclude that platinum is in the top 1% of all IBOs. And we know that many IBOs quit and go through the business each year. The attrition rate can be staggering for bigger pins who need to keep working to replace those who quit.

But the question that seems to be ignored is why so many IBOs end up failing? Now for the sake of this discussion, let's exclude IBOs who do nothing and quit. Let's talk about IBOs who make an earnest effort. Often, the serious IBOs will be on the system consisting of voicemail, standing order, functions, books and other meetings. These all come at a cost, therefore, IBOs need to make several hundred dollars a month or more just to break even. I might add that a rank-and-file IBO who earns about $200 a month from Amway is way above average and the vast majority make far less than $200. Amway reports that the average income of active IBOs is about $200 a month but that includes the diamonds and other big pins. Therefore, the average business building IBO is operating at a loss.

Let's look at some of the reasons why IBOs cannot succeed. In general, Amway product pricing is higher than local big box retailers. Amway pays bonuses; therefore, the bonus payout is included in the price of the products. I suppose a platinum gets a good deal, being at the 25% level, but a platinum is in the top 1% of IBOs. The majority of the rest receive a paltry 3% which leaves them at a loss when business expenses are factored in.

Past IBO abuse and past IBO behavior makes it nearly impossible, at least in North America, to find potential downline IBOs and customers. Seems everyone knows of someone who was tricked into an Amway meeting or was deceived about Amway in some manner. I believe Amway has seen a decline in sales in North America, with foreign countries being responsible for any current growth in business.

Another factor is that IBOs are taught by uplines to engage in too many activities that do not produce income. Attending meetings, listening to cds/audios, reading books and other functions cost the IBO money. They do not result in more sales to customers. These non-income producing activities seem to be the majority of an IBO's activities, thus it's easy to see why so many IBOs fail. While system leaders claim that their system works, there is no reasonable evidence to support this claim. Just the fact that new diamonds and emeralds are so rare these days suggest that the system, with their severely limited success is producing less success these days.

All told, an IBO's chance of succeeding in earning long term sustainable income is so tiny that IBOs seriously would be better off buying lottery tickets instead of buying tools such as standing orders and function tickets. At least buying lottery tickets would not use up 10-15 hours per week of your time, and your chance of winning is about the same. The system doesn't work, it is why most IBOs fail.

Trading Hours For Losses?

 One of the ways that upline diamonds would put down jobs was to toss in the phrase that a job was simply trading hours for dollars. As if it were demeaning to have a job where you got paid for your time. I believe it's all relative. Being that many IBOs are young and maybe working in more entry level types of jobs, then yeah, your hours wage might not be that great. If you earn say $10 an hour, then you might be struggling financially, and it may take time before your skills and knowledge increase to a point where your experience is worth more money. What if you had a job paying $1000 an hour and earned $160,000 a month? Is that a lousy deal trading hours for dollars? I think your perspective would change if that were the case.

Conversely, having a business can be good or bad also. If you have an Amway business earning less than $100 a month and you spend $200 on functions, standing orders and other training and motivational materials, then you are losing money. You would be better off working for free. That is still a better alternative than working a business where you are losing money. I think most people agree that a platinum group typically has a 100 or more IBOs. Thus, a platinum is in the top 1% of all IBOs. I have heard that the platinum level is where you start to break even or make a little profit, depending on your level of tool consumption. If platinums are barely making a profit, then the other 99+% of IBOs are likely losing money. How much is that worth per hour?

I think uplines cleverly trick IBOs into thinking that a job is bad. Trading hours for dollars, after all, sounds like some kind of indentured servant of sorts. But in the end, what matters is your bottom line. If you are an IBO with little or no downline, and/or not much in terms of sales to non-IBOs/customers, then you are losing money each and every month if you are attending functions and buying standing orders. Your 10-12 hours a week of Amway work is costing you money! But if you spend 10-12 hours a week, even at minimum wage, then you might be making about 300 to 350 a month gross income. After taxes, you make about 250 to 300. At least trading hours for dollars gets you a guaranteed net gain at the end of the month.

Uplines trick you into a "business mentality" where you think that working for a net loss is just a part of business. IBOs should realize that a business promoted as low risk and no overhead should be one where you can profit right away. Instead, IBOs are taught to delay gratification, or to reinvest any profit back into their business in the form of tools and functions, which results in a net loss. If that's the case I would choose trading hours for dollars.

Remember, trading hours for dollars is not a bad deal if you are making enough dollars per hour. And even those who make less, are better off that those who "run a business" but end up with a net loss. It's all relative and hopefully, this message will help new or prospective IBOs who are being enticed to join the Amway business opportunity. Good luck to those with jobs and those with businesses. You can be successful either way. Remember that!

The 2-5 Year Lie?

 One of the things I heard, and is still promoted is the concept of a 2-5 year plan to financial freedom. As a prospect, 2-5 years of hard work in your spare time sounds reasonable. After all, anyone can work an extra 12 hours a week for a couple of years with that kind of reward awaiting you at the end. The sad reality is that you are likely to suffer 2-5 years of financial losses without getting any closer to financial freedom.

When Amway morphed into Quixtar, a very relevant question was how many diamonds were "quixtar only", meaning they signed up in 1999 when quixtar was implemented and then became diamonds in the advertised 2-5 years. As far as I know, there were very few (if any) new diamonds. The new diamonds that were named all seemingly came from other countries, not the US or Canada. Even now, my former LOS (WWDB) is touting "double eagle rubies" which is not a recognized achievement by Amway (as far as I know), and there is no assurance that achieving such a level makes an IBO profitable. In fact, the eagle program run by WWDB is only measuring tool parameters which is great for upline but not necessarily for the IBOs.

Even today, I do not see a steady stream of new diamonds emerging from Amway. If the 2-5 year plan actually worked, there would be new diamonds constantly emerging. Instead, my former LOS (WWDB), actually has fewer diamonds now than back in my IBO days. And of those diamonds who remain, some of them had homes foreclosed and it also appears that at least a few of them ran into some financial difficulties. Makes me wonder what a diamond's finances actually look like. I suspect many of them live in debt, especially if they flaunt the "diamond lifestyle", which is probably not sustainable on diamond income as reported by Amway.

So while it might be possible to achieve diamond in 2-5 years (some have done it), but tens of millions (or more) have tried. It is much more likely that you will win the lottery (provided you have a ticket) than it is likely that you will join Amway and go diamond. It is also unlikely that people in the US and Canada who join will go diamond in the advertised 2-5 years. The 2-5 year plan is not promoted by Amway, but by the LOS leaders. I believe it is a hoax and the numbers back up my claim. You are much more likely to be better off working part time for 2-5 years and saving and investing for your future. If not, you will end up with 2-5 years of losing money on functions and standing orders.

As many Amway leaders will state: Look at the fruit on the tree. In the US and Canada, the trees are bare.

Amway IBOs?

 I send this message to inform Amway IBOs that they should be aware of their circumstances in business. What I mean is when you are a new IBO, it is common for you to buy/sell your 100 PV, and perhaps listen to some cds and attend meetings/functions. If you basically did what your sponsor or upline advised, you made your 100 PV bonus level and you will receive a bonus from Amway for about $10. If you did as advised by your upline/sponsor, then you likely made a name list and started contacting some potential business partners aka prospects. You're probably a bit excited because things are going as you expected. You did your part and a bonus is on it's way to your doorstep. Heck, you may have even sponsored a friend or relative because of your newly found excitement and enthusiasm. 

But what happens after a few months? If you are still doing 100 PV and have no downline, then what are the chances that you will ever achieve anything? Your excitement is wearing off and now the Amway opportunity is becoming "work". You are also starting to notice that it is starting to get expensive to continue to purchase products, many of which you never purchased before. For example, were you buying cases of energy drinks and "high end" vitamins before Amway? Did you buy $50 cases of bottled water before Amway? Supposedly their laundry soap and other cleaners are highly concentrated, therefore your consumables are the nutrition/vitamin products. 

Even if you managed to find some downline, are they duplicating what you do? Are they also moving volume and sponsoring downline? If not, what are your chances of fulfilling the 6-4-2 plan or some similar version of it. When I saw the plan, I thought it was reasonable and I was on my way to platinum. What I discovered though, is that as you progress, upline has greater expectations of you and that includes more tool purchases. (I was in WWDB). In the end, my recommended tool purchases ate up any profits I had and at the 4000 level, I was just about breaking even, which means I was at a loss when factoring in my time spent and other miscellaneous expenses such as gas money. 

Where are you at? If you've been in for more than a year, are you on schedule to become platinum or are you at 200 PV with one downline? Maybe you have a small group with 600 PV? You still aren't close to a net profit. For the vast majority of people, success is not right around the corner. What's around the corner for most is more time lost, more money expended, and no progress. If your group is now growing each and every month, you are sliding backwards. If you don't constantly have new IBOs coming into the group, you are probably stagnant. With about half of IBOs dropping out each year, keeping a group together is a tremendous task. 

IBOs, where are you at after a few months? Where are you at after a year? If you haven't gone platinum, it is nearly a certainty that it will never happen, despite what your upline might say. The facts are there, it's a matter of whether you want to believe it or not.

The House Of Cards?

 When I was an IBO, I was in WWDB. I was told that they were the best LOS, the fastest growing, with the best leaders. We were told to look at the fruit on the tree, that surely, that was proof that WWDB was the best. At the time I believed it all. Afterall, my upline diamond was one of the fastest to achieve that level and things were looking up. I had heard of recent functions where there were over 50,000 in attendance at the Kingdome in Seattle (at that time). We were told that nobody made a cent of profit from the functions and other tools. That upline used proceeds to make functions better and cheaper for IBOs. It all sounded like a great organization and I was certainly going to be rich if I only followed the system and their great leaders.

Well, after a year, I quit. Not because I could not build the business, but because my upline became overbearing, demanding that I submit to him, giving me bad advice and he was also unable to answer when I asked why I achieved the level of 4000 with the proper parameters but was not making any net profit. There was no incentive to spend all my time and money building a business for no profit and I quit. My upline's advice of dunping my finacee' to focus on Amway also contributed to my decision to quit. After I quit Amway, my life got back to normal until one day I happened to stumble across a website called Quixtar blog. It was then that I realized how many lies I was fed and how badly our uplines had taken advantage of downline IBOs.

It seems that the WWDB house of cards started tumbling with a couple of WWDB diamonds
having homes foreclosed. We later saw a blog post indicating that a WWDB triple diamond was in bankruptcy proceedings. That was followed by Ron Puryear's river house going up for sale, followed by the listings of other WWDB diamonds who were selling their homes. It is true that they may be selling the homes to liquidate some cash or to downsize, but in a bad housing market and if the homes were paid for in cash as many a diamond claims, then it seems like an odd time to sell. Of course it could also be that Amway in the US is shrinking and with less sales and fewer IBOs, there is less tools income and Amway bonuses, thus perhaps some of these diamonds simply cannot afford these homes any longer? Toss in a prominent WWDB diamond apparently divorcing and rumors of a couple of WWDB diamonds moving to form their own systems and you can see gaping holes in the WWDB system.

It has been my contention that many diamonds are possibly living in heavy debt because even with a decent income, their excessive lifestyles as portrayed in functions, simply cannot be sustained unless they have other major sources of income. In fact, since a large portion of a diamond's income is from annual bonuses, a diamond's monthly income may be relatively small. In any case, it appears to me, that WWDB is on shaky ground and some of their hypocrisy is being exposed. They apparently built a house of cards and now it may be falling apart.

Amway Friends?

 You often  hang out with friends, generally people you like and have similar interests. You have good and bad times, but your true friends are there for you when you need them. You move residences, your friends are there to help you move. They may play a round of golf with you, or watch some sporting events, dinners, backyard cook outs, etc. These are folks you will likely end up retiring with and enjoying your golden years. Sure, circumstance may break apart some friendships. or moves made out of necessity. But these folks will likely remains your friends for a long time to come.

But suddenly, you get enticed to join Amway. You see the "chance" to get rich, with a shortcut (not get rich quick, but a "shortcut"). You sign up and your sponsor is your new "best" friend. Most of the people you enjoyed being with think Amway is a questionable venture to get involved in. Suddenly, because of what you have been told or taught, you view these same nice people as "broke" or "losers", simply because they do not share the same ambition of untold wealth working 12-15 hours a week. Suddenly, you friends become prospects, or people you want to sponsor so you start recruiting them. Some may join, but most won't. Suddenly you are immersed in recruitment meetings, functions, and avoiding "negative", which is people and events that do not support your Amway business.

Now you are missing birthday parties, cook outs and other social events. Your social events are now recruitment meetings, seminars and Amway business related events. You are taught that these events can be put off and your gratification delayed. You can do whatever you want when you go diamond. (Even though there me be only one (1) diamond out of every ten or twenty thousand IBOs) Your dedication will pay off right? Sadly, for most people, even very dedicated people, all they will see is losses on their yearly tax returns, mainly due to the purchase of cds, books, voicemail and function tickets. But these are your "friends" right?

Here's my take on it. Try missing a few meetings or functions. Stop buying cds and see how many "friends" remain from the business. It is likely that your upline will claim that you walked away from the friendship by slowing down on the "system". If that happens, then you have conditional friends, or fair weather friends. They are your "friends" while you are pursuing the same cause. They are your friends when you are attending functions. Are they there for you in bad times?

A short while after I attended my last function (I was still an IBO, just not a business builder), my dad passed away. Not a single one of my IBO "friends" bothered to attend the memorial service. Not a single one of my IBO friends called or dropped by the home to pay their respects. All of my "real" friends, who saw through the AMO smoke and mirrors called to talk to me and/or attended the memorial service.

Are your IBO friends conditional friends? Mine were.

Millionaire Mentality?

 A comment left by an anonymous site visitor:

"I love Amway. I just don't understand why people have to be negative about it. I don't hurt or steal from anyone yet I make money. I'm not a millionaire as of yet but working towards that goal. It's called "millionaire mentality". Joecool you will never succeed with penny mentality."

Joecool's commentary:

Most diamonds do not have a millionaire mentality. If you see how they spend money and how they flaunt excessive wealth, I see people who could win the power ball lottery and wind up broke. They might earn a nice income (even if it may come by lying and deceiving), but they spend it all, and possibly more by portraying the diamond lifestyle. In my opinion, the diamond lifestyle as portrayed in functions such as "dream night" are not sustainable For this reason, we are now seeing evidence of this such as a triple diamond who participated in chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings, diamonds losing homes to foreclosures. We are seeing diamonds selling their mansions. Sure, they might be downsizing or liquidating their assets, but if these homes have been paid in cash as they claim, why sell them in a bad real estate market? Why not wait a few years?

In the past, I have posted some articles showing the traits and characteristics of millionaires. Many of these articles cite saving, investing, and living below your means. Many wealthy people drive regular everyday cars and live in the suburbs. They don't commonly have porsches, and jaguars. And for the record, the average diamond income, as reported by Amway, isn't all that much when you factor in business expenses and taxes. So why do diamonds try to show off wealth?

I believe diamonds show off wealth because it is a way to attract recruits. Because the Amway opportunity has a high turnover rate, nobody can reasonably "walk away" from their business and have cash rolling in for long. Attrition would eat away your business in a matter of days or weeks. It is why I believe diamonds do not walk away from their businesses, because they can't afford to. The business requires constant attention or it will crumble faster than stake cookies.

Most IBOs are simply fooled into thinking they are developing into having a millionaire mentality. An honest question for IBOs. How do you even know if your upline diamond is a millionaire? Anyone, even a broke guy can wear a nice suit and show off pictures of mansions and sports cars. For that matter, how do you know if your upline diamond is currently qualified as a diamond? Amway doesn't release that information except for new pins.

In my opinion, diamond's displays of excessive wealth and luxury portrays something, but it's not the millionaire mentality.

Amway Is Life Changing?

 One of the things that was heavily promoted when I was an Amway IBO, and I believe is still promoted, is the control of time and money. I recall hearing that "broke" people often have lots of time, but can't do much because of a lack of money, or how a very hard working man might have money but a lack of time as he is working 80 hours per week. So why not join Amway, work hard for 2-5 years and have all the time and money you need for life?

Well, it sounds good on the surface, but how many people actually do that? I don't know of any IBO who worked the business 2-5 years and walked away from their business to enjoy control of time and money forever. And there are reasons for that. Attrition. Most IBOs who join don't do much and more than half of all IBOs won't even be in business for more than a year. IBOs also need to be active and moving side volume in order to qualify for some of the bonuses. It is why I believe that there aren't any diamonds who left to enjoy their time and money because of passive ongoing Amway income. Diamonds and above must continually work the business or their businesses will fall apart like the waves would erode a sand castle at the beach.

For many IBOs ironically, what they desire most, time and money, is what they have less of because of their involvement in the Amway opportunity. It is because of the way many IBOs are taught by the systems such as WWDB, BWW or N21. Many of these groups will teach a defacto PV requirement of 100 PV which costs about $300 monthly. In some cases, you are getting a small box of goods for the same amount of cash that would have gotten you a cartload of goods at WalMart or Costco. For system IBOs, you are also paying for instruction that basically tells you that this is a great idea and that you should never quit.

So now when your family and friends have backyard barbecues or birthday parties, you are absent because you are securing your financial future. Your kids surely won't mind you missing their baseball games or sending them to the sitters while you attend a function. Your family and friends will be wowed when you retire next year and throw them a party to end all parties. It all seems surreal, and for most, it truly is. There may be $10 or even $50 monthly checks rolling in from Amway but is never covers the cost of your expenses. You can't quit because success might be right around the corner.

Suddenly your sponsor or upline might tell you that the Amway business is not about money. You might be told that you are a nicer person or a better parent (even if you neglect your kids to attend functions), or that the business opportunity has saved your marriage. Which leads to my question. What have you achieved in the Amway business that has given you more control of time and money? Do you have less time and money as a result of your involvement with Amway?

During my involvement with Amway, my life was changed, but not for the better. And it wasn't because of Amway. It was self serving teaching by WWDB leaders designed to suck the life out of IBOs. We were to attend all meetings. All means all. We were to submit to upline. Check your ego at the door. We were to buy extra tapes/cds because you can;'t listen to the same ones each day. Wives and husbands needed separate standing orders. If downline quit, you don't cancel standing order. It is why I saw crosslines go bankrupt, lose a home to foreclosure and many ended up quitting and with large financial loss.

I hope this message of personal experience helps information seekers.

Success?

 Success is subjective. Someone making ten dollars might be considered successful. For others, nothing less than a barrel of cash will suffice. One other important point is that there are undoubtably some very successful people in Amway. I am sure that some Amway diamonds are quite well off and enjoy some of the finer things in life. But the reality is that these successes are very very rare and many of these successes apparently are not sustainable as many people are led to believe. The more likely scenario is is an IBO making a few dollars a month while spending more than that on training. They are losing money but they think they are successful. The reality indicates otherwise. 

But the bigger issue in the Amway opportunity is where the success comes from. Sure, many people want to "go diamond" and live in luxury while barrels of cash roll in. But what is unknown to many, is that the few who enjoy the lifestyle and trappings do so at the expense of their downline. The downline move the volume and the downline purchases the system materials, both of which is profitable for the upline. Because Amway products, admittedly are not commonly sold to people who are not IBOs, then anyone can conclude that upline success comes from the pockets of the downline. Most downline would be better off writing a check for $100 each month to their upline and not participating in the business or buying products at all. 

This in itself would not be such an issue if the system actually churned out new successes frequently AND if the downline were not led to believe that the system is the key to their success. But less than one half of one percent of IBOs ever reach platinum and out of those who do, only a tiny fraction of one percent ever attain the diamond level. But the business has tens of millions of people who tried and could never achieve what was promoted. Lack of effort may be a factor, but when that many people try and fail, it's evident that the system is flawed as well. The rate of success is comparable to a lottery, which is sad when you consider that Amway is not a game of chance. 

To summarize, it is possible for someone to achieve a level of success in Amway, but it is so difficult and so rare that IBOs probably have a better chance of winning the lottery or being struck by lightning than they do of achieving a significant level in the Amway business. Some people are successful, but it is usually at the expense of their downline. The catch is that uplines will teach their faithful downline IBOs that attending a function or buying a standing order is success, regardless of whether an IBO is earning a profit. So many IBOs think they're successful but they are simply fooling themselves with the help of their upline. 

Success is undeniable, but sadly for the vast majority of IBOs, it is also unattainable, at least in the Amway opportunity.

Excuses, excuses?

 One thing I heard when seeing the plan was how people justify their place in life. Or as the diamond said, "making excuses". I would guess that this is still tossed in when people are showing the plan to potential recruits. What the speaker said was that people justify their place in life so that they feel better that they are doing okay or doing better than others. One such statement was how public school was okay for me so it's perfectly okay for my kids. Whereas diamonds can send their kids to exclusive private schools perhaps?

Or how a man would tell his wife to look in the freezer if she wanted to go on an Alaskan cruise. This is called justification. Another point made was that a man might say he's doing better than so and so, or that they are "doing okay". After all, why just settle for okay when you can work for 2-5 years and then retire? Why not put in that effort? Why continue to justify yourself (make excuses) when you can just get it done? On the surface, this may sound sensible, but keep in mind that most people, even those who put in an extensive effort, will never get the promised financial rewards shown in the 2-5 year plan. Most of these people, even those who work hard, will end up with losses, some will end up with life damaging financial losses.

The really sickening part of the whole thing is that the upline will credit the insignificant amount of success in the business while placing failure upon the IBOs, even if they put in an earnest effort. While this may go unnoticed to most, what uplines are doing is justifying their own shortcomings and the crystal clear failure of the system to deliver what they promote. My understanding is that maybe 1 in 20,000 ever get to the level of diamond in the US/Canada. With such an incredible reward (retirement, lifelong residual income), why do so many quit before attaining their goal? Most IBOs who put in effort are hard working and persistent. Certainly not all those folks were lazy. The only reasonable conclusion is that the diamonds deceive people about the system's success rate and that the system doesn't work. Even an occasional diamond is not evidence of system success. The overwhelming failure rate paints a more accurate picture. Add in the high prices in the Amway catalogs and you have an additional impediment to success.

It certainly seems to me that it is the upline and system promoters who must justify and make excuses for their systems that have no bonafide unbiased evidence of success. All they have to offer is justifications and excuses, something they accuse others of doing. If you are new or thinking of joining, are you making money or are you making excuses that your upline taught you?