Amway Early Retirement?

 One of the humorous things I read is when a Amway IBO says he or she is 19 years old and will be "retired" at the age of 24 because of the Amway business. I personally don't know of anyone who has retired primarily on residual Amway income, as many seem to claim. I am not suggesting that nobody has ever done this, but I suspect that there are so few people who may have done it that it is not noteworthy. Even the Crown Ambassadors appear to not only be working but have very busy schedules where they are constantly on the run. In recent years, some crown ambassadors have passed away while still on the job. Why don't we see any Amway retirees? I know retired teachers, police, fire fighters and such. I don't know of any Amway retirees.

The poor retention rate of IBOs would suggest that even a sizable Amway business could fall apart rather quickly without a constant replacement of IBOs. It is for this reason that I suspect that Amway folks never retire. They need to keep working or their businesses will fall apart. If you are a diamond, one downline platinum falling out of qualification could drop you to emerald status. Diamonds are not forever, especially in Amway. They may carry the diamond pin, and could be speaking at functions, but they might be a former diamond with a small downline group.

I ask this of IBOs. Is your upline diamond, or someone in between you and the diamond retired because of (primarily) Amway income? Do you as an IBO have a projected date when you will "walk away" from the business and retire? When I was an IBO, I always wondered why nobody "walked away" from their business after they went diamond. I believe the answer is crystal clear. Because IBO turnover is so high, if a diamond were to walk away from the business, he would probably fall out of qualification in less than a year. The bonuses would disappear, and the diamond would probably have to look for a job. There are many examples of diamonds who have quit, and in some cases, went back to work.

Many unsuspecting prospects may be lured into the Amway business with the hope of an early retirement. Amway recruiters may mention that control of time and money is the key to success, but ironically, for most who sign up, will end up with less time and money than if they did not join at all. For many people. especially young people, it might be a good idea to seek financial advice from a professional and to make long term investment goals. An investment of about $200 a month can net you close to a million bucks after 30 to 40 years.

Yes, there may be "some" people who retired early due to (primarily) Amway income. But I don't know any. And not a single Amway defender has ever been able to name one. It reminds me of bigfoot/sasquatch. Many reports and allegations are there that these creatures exist but there is no real evidence to support that such a creature actually exists.

Brainwashed Amway IBOs?

 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.

Fly Like An (Amway) Eagle?

 Eagle Parameters:

Signed Counsel Sheet to Upline Diamond
300 PV personal use/retail for couples, 200 PV personal use/retail for singles
6-5-3 (PB/SO/MF) - Explained below
6 legs at 100 PV or higher
5 legs on standing order
3 legs attending major functions

What is Eagle? Basically, Eagle is a made up goal. I believe it was originally made up by WWDB. In fact, I think Eagle was around when I was an IBO back about 12-13 years ago. The reason why I say it is a “made up goal” is because it is. It was not a part of the Amway sales and marketing plan. You receive ZERO additional compensation from Amway for achieving the designated level of Eagle, aside from your volume rebate. In a previous post (recently), I broke down the numbers, giving the IBOs the benefit of the doubt in sales, and the only conclusion I could arrive it was that most Eagles must be losing money.

The Amway sales and marketing plan, as shown in many groups, assume that an IBO will move 100 PV in volume, though a combination of personal use and selling of products to family, friends and customers. To be an Eagle, you are expected to move 300/200 PV (Couples/singles) in personal volume. In many, and probably most cases, an IBO typically will consume most of that 100 PV by him or herself. That means the Eagle program artificially inflates the need for Amway products. If you disagree, name one former Eagle (and I am one) who consumes Amway products to the tune of 300/200 PV per month. *crickets chirping*

I believe the Eagle program was simply the brainchild of some LOS leader who wanted to create some kind of incentive to prove an IBO’s loyalty to upline and to secure a certain level of tool purchases from downline. If you do the math, and consider that fact that IBOs on standing order and attending functions are somewhat serious business builders, then every individual in the Eagle program is likely to be losing money. The person designated as “Eagle” may be duped into thinking they have a net business profit, but when you factor in the extra 200/100 PV that you are expected to move, you are losing money, possibly lots of money, unless you are selling that extra 200 PV. If not, you are simply absorbing an extra $300 to $600 worth of products that you probably do not need, If Eagle was truly something worth attaining, wouldn’t it be promoted by Amway and given some kind of financial incentive?

As an IBO, you are MUCH better off simply by moving your 100 PV with a combination of personal use, and selling to friends, family, and most importantly, retail customers. In fact, someone simply selling 200/100 PV in products at full suggested retail price is likely to be better off than someone who is at 1000 PV with an Eagle structure, but self consuming the majority of the 300/200 PV personal circle that is in the Eagle parameters. I challenge anyone to show how a group can be better off financially by maintaining an Eagle structure. *crickets chirping*.

Amway Teaching Is Like College?

 Many IBOs justify their involvement in the system of cds, tapes, books and seminars by comparing it to college. They claim they need this education and that it is much cheaper when compared to a college or university. Of course, this is the upline propaganda that IBOs are fed, much like the concept that a job is a bad idea. If recruiters are encouraging you to build Amway and to drop college, I would run away as fast as possible. It is well documented that college graduates in general, earn much more than non college graduates. I'd also mention that college was a fun experience for me.

In college, it is true that not everyone graduates, but approximately half of those who start college end up graduating. Those who do not graduate still benefit from their education on a year to year or course by course basis. When you are job seeking, a college degree will give you more options than those who don't educate. This claim cannot be made by Amway IBOs. The education an IBO receives by seminars and cds do not even equate to success in Amway, much less in other venues in life. Only a small fraction of IBOs ever reach platinum, which supposedly is the break-even point. So as an IBO, you have less than one half of a one percent chance to break even as compared to approximately a 50% chance of graduating college.

Also, once you graduate and receive your degree/diploma, it is complete. You have your degree and no more education is required. In Amway, your education will never end. You'll be expected to invest in the tools and functions forever. Also, in Amway, there are many many many examples of people who reached levels as high as diamond or above who could not maintain the level. There are also many examples of diamonds who quit Amway. If there were such a thing as "residual" income, why would anyone quit when they could sit back and watch the cash roll in. I think the answer is quite obvious. Residual income is a myth. I believe that diamonds might be working full time to maintain their groups. With people quitting daily, it takes a lot of effort to replace the quitters with new recruits.

There is also no evidence (as far as I know) that your Amway related education of cds and seminars actually work. The tiny fraction of 1% of successful IBOs is not a good case for arguing the success of the system. Colleges on the other hand, have accreditation standards, which is nothing like the ineffective Amway accreditation of groups such as BWW, WWDB or Network 21. The results are quite telling if you look at them analytically.

The fact that IBOs even dare to compare a college education to their teaching in Amway is a joke. Try telling a prospective employer about your Amway education and see what that gets you. LOL

Are Amway Diamonds Really Broke?

 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 Elon Musk 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 the Amway diamonds. I say diamond because it is basically the pinnacle of success, based on the plan someone might be shown in an Amway recruitment meeting. 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's The Deal With Amway?

 Over the years I have been debating with Amway supporters, I cannot see what is so great about the Amway opportunity. Are some of these Amway defenders that stupid or dense that they truly believe that a business where one out of a few hundred people might make a profit and most of the remaining IBOs will lose money is a good opportunity? I'm not talking about people who sign up and "do nothing". Many IBOs sign up and put in a great deal of time, effort and money, only to find out that the system simply does not work (especially in the US) and they make a business decision to quit and/or to do something else.

Of course there are some people who make money in Amway. If nobody made money, then the opportunity would cease to exist. But it is basically exploitation of the downline that accounts for most of upline success. Thus, upline make their income from their downline's PV volume, and on tool purchases. I mean even a lottery has winners. Even ponzi schemes and other questionable opportunities have some winners. This is not to suggest that Amway in not legal, but the way the opportunity is set up, those who profit, primarily do so at the expense of their trusted downline.

There are no groups that I know of where all the IBOs can win and earn a profit. I would guess that there might be a few rogue groups who only focus on retail sales, and while these groups can be profitable as a group, they are either non-existent, or few and far between. This is because most IBOs fall under an LOS such as WWDB, BWW, LTD or N21, and these groups all seemingly focus on recruiting of new IBOs. Yes, they may sprinkle in some suggestions about selling goods, but generally speaking, their "training" materials consist of motivation speeches, feel good stories (whether true or not), and the theme of never quitting while continuing to purchase more tools. The primary purpose of the tools is to motivate you and teach you to recruit more IBOs, which is vital to Amway's existence.

Some upline have the nerve to start teaching downline that their Amway business is not about making money, but to save your marriage, make you a nicer person, or some other diversion to make you forget that you are losing money month after month after month. Some groups even mix in religion and politics into their functions and meetings. As far as I can see, the typical business building IBO signs up, gets some of the tools and attends a few functions, and finds that the products are hard to sell because they are not priced competitively with other retailers, and that a damaged reputation is nearly impossible to overcome. These IBOs realize they are not going anywhere, and they walk away, chalking up the losses as a life lesson. But apparently, many uplines who lied and deceived in the past are continuing to do so today, often just revising history for their benefit (i.e. lying about making any profit on tools).

Many IBOs, prospects, information seekers and critics read this blog. My question is very simple. What is so great about the Amway opportunity? For most, it is just a bad use of time and money. While some may exist, I don't know of a single person who "did the work once" and sat back collecting barrels of Amway money while sipping Mai Tais on the beaches of Jamaica. I see crown ambassadors working as hard today as they did many years ago, and some dying while still working. Diamonds losing homes to foreclosures, a prominent diamond in bankruptcy proceedings, and a hoard of WWDB diamonds apparently selling off mansions that they allegedly paid for in cash. (It is quite apparent to me that their lifestyles are simply not sustainable).

Where is the benefit in the business for the typical IBO? Just as there are some diamonds, there are lottery winners. Displaying a lottery winner doesn't make it prudent to spend your money on lottery tickets. Displaying a diamond's lifestyle doesn't make Amway a good opportunity. While Amway is a business and not a game of chance, the results of either, sadly are eerily similar - that is a few winners and millions (or more) of non-winners.

What is so great about the Amway opportunity? I don't see it.

Where's The Money???

 When I was a young Amway IBO back in the 1990's, I saw the plan at a hotel, presented by diamond Scott Harimoto and thought it was possible and realistic to go direct and to find six (6) downlines who could do the same thing. I didn't know the realistic chances of doing this, but the presentation made sense, at least on paper so I went with it. I basically built my group on excitement, and it seemed like the system could work. Sadly, as I climbed the ranks, my bottom line did not change. I did not "net" $200 at the 1000 PV level, and I did not "net" $1000 a month at 4000 PV as my upline taught. I had the parameters they taught, but the reality was my leaders taught everyone to pump what little profits we earned into buying more tools.  Thus, I couldn't realistically see any true profits until the direct distributor (platinum level).  But of course, there may have also been more expenses associated at that level that was not disclosed to prospects and aspiring IBOs.

My leaders also taught people to get out of debt, which was good advice on the surface, but at the same time, any disposable income left over was to be channeled into tools, and for those who did not escape debt, they were told it was okay to go deeper in debt, but only if it was to "invest" in their businesses by purchasing more tools. Thus, it certainly appears that upline's advice was purely self-serving and had nothing to do with an IBO's individual success.

I was in WWDB and they (upline) said that WWDB was breaking the most new diamonds and that WWDB diamonds were the most profitable. So here it is more than 20 years later, where are all these new diamonds? Aside from foreign diamonds, there are (I believe) less than a handful of new diamonds from WWDB in the US from the time I left the business. Now I may be wrong, but even it was a few more than 4 new diamonds, that is a miserable success rate given the amount of cash spent by downline on tools and the claims made my upline about the tools. Where is the fruit on the tree that WWDB leaders used to speak of? Conversely, I've seen WWDB divorces, home foreclosures and a chapter 7 bankruptcy from a fairly prominent diamond.

Where is the integrity and financial acumen these leaders boasted about? Where is the success and long term financial security available to everyone that was touted? I believe more diamonds and emeralds fell out of qualification than new pins emerged. The business was promoted as one that would stand the test of time. Sadly, I believe WWDB and the Amway opportunity as promoted by WWDB has been a miserable failure. There is little success to speak of, just he same old tired diamonds showing off a lifestyle that some of them apparently can no longer afford. Where is the success?

It is years later and we are still waiting.......

The Upline Hypocrisy?

 Now that the internet is so accessible, information flows freely and some of the dark secrets of the Lines Of Sponsorship (LOS) have been exposed. Also, as times passes, it is becoming clear that a bunch of upline leaders are major hypocrites, apparently motivated by greed and personal gain. I believe this trend will continue as well. It appears that these same leaders have managed to get around Amway's accreditation guidelines, which appears to be toothless.

Many upline leaders appeal to their audience by talking about how the Amway business can save marriages. I remember sitting in an audience when some diamonds spoke about how couples who build the business have a less than 2% divorce rate as compared to the national figure of 50% or so. One major reason cited was the financial stress that J-O-B people had (not enough cash). But now we see some upline diamond leaders getting divorced and, in some cases, no explanation is offered, as if the missing spouse was beamed up by aliens. Many leaders simply revise history or deny that certain events happened. Some leaders just pretend nothing happened and it seems like IBOs are very forgiving, thus no real accountability has ever been applied to upline leaders.

People also found that some diamonds make a lot of money from tools. When I was an IBO, we were told very clearly, that nobody made profits from tools. That profits went back into the functions to make them better and cheaper. (Has any function gotten cheaper in the last 12 years?) In fact, when I was an IBO, I was told that WWDB was a non-profit entity, which was a bold lie. I will admit that upline later changed their story to WWDB was a for profit company, but nobody kept profits, thus the channeling money to make events better and cheaper. Again, when have events ever been cheaper?  Now I don't think that events should be run pro bono, but the leaders should be transparent about it rather than the lies and shroud of secrecy that often accompanies talk about tools and tool income.

Some upline leaders also spoke of how utterly stupid it was to take out a loan as the banks make so much money off the interest. We now see some of these very leaders having their homes foreclosed! Some of these diamonds were the very ones who said they pay cash for everything, including their homes and cars. It is not in the hopes for these folks to suffer, but it is exposing the lies and deception that leaders used to entice IBOs to join and to purchase tools that were supposed to help IBOs to attain the same lifestyle as the diamonds. However, rather that more diamonds, I believe WWDB and some other LOSs, at least in the US, have fewer diamonds now than 15 years ago. Where's the evidence of success? 

What's even more amazing is how the hypocrisy of some of these leaders are exposed to downline and the downline simply ignores it and continues to follow blindly without an explantion or questioning the leaders after the incidents are exposed. 

IBOs should ask their leaders questions when these kinds of issues arise. And you should think twice if the answer you receive is silence or deflections.

Is Amway Saturated?

 Imagine an island with 100 adult residents. One guy gets sponsored into Amway from a cousin in another area off the island. Well, the island residents are a pretty tight knit group so the one IBO immediately sponsors his six best friends and eventually, all 100 island residents. They are all dead serious about the Amway business so they all work hard, but because everyone is an IBO, they can only self consume 100 PV each. Thus the 100 IBOs (collectively) move 10,000 PV each month. The group as a whole generates about 30,000 BV and the group receives $7500 in bonus money from Amway. Of course, the first IBO sponsored is now a platinum receiving most of that money with the rest of the group receiving smaller bonuses.

Being serious Amway IBOs, they all get standing order, books of the month, and travel by air to functions. They pay on average about $250 a month for their Amway training/tools. Thus the group pays about $25,000 a month for the training that will one day allow them to retire and quit their jobs. The island community is losing a net of $17,500 from their local economy each month. However, there is one resident IBO who is making a nice income urging everyone on. Let's evaluate the group.

The platinum IBO is making a nice income and will receive a $20,000 bonus at the end of the year. His 6 downline friends make just about enough to break even (approximately 1000 PV) or lose a little, although they are still spending about $300 a month on products. The rest of the residents have lost over $200,000 collectively ($17,500 a month). The guy who owned the local grocery store went out of business and all the entertainment related business went down because the residents had no disposable income to spend money on anything except for Amway related activities. Eventually they all quit, including the platinum because once his group quit, he too, began to lose money.

Now Amway defenders will cry that this could never happen, but it shows that even if you could get everyone in the US to join, this scenario is what would happen. I believe the Amway name and reputation is for the most part, saturated in the US. Nearly everyone will have heard the Amway name and/or will know someone who had a brush with Amway. Because of the tool peddlers such as WWDB, BWW, or Network 21, there are likely millions of people in the US who ended up with a bad experience, perhaps tricked into attending a meeting, or lied to about something related to Amway.

While this story is fictional, it is what would happen if there was a city where everyone joined the business. It is what happens today. Few people benefit at the expense of their downline. And as usual, it is the tools that drive people to lose money - on Amway island, or anywhere else.

Only Winners Join Amway?

 One of the things that my Amway upline taught, and I believe is still taught today in various groups is that winners join Amway and losers do not.  Kind of makes me wonder about the "most" who "do nothing" after joining Amway.   Is it true that most IBOs do nothing?  I'm not sure but it seems strange that someone would sign up and do nothing after being inspired by the Amway presentation. 

I also heard that you're a winner because you were doing something to better your financial future and those who didn't were losers, or broke minded. Of course the upline who said this had no knowledge about those who were not in Amway. Some of them may already have been financially successful or may have been doing something to better their financial future. I'm not sure why these uplines, who promote "positive" attitudes,  had to resort to calling people losers simply because they did not agree that Amway was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

In many games or sporting events, there will be someone or a team that wins the game and someone or a team that loses the game.  Losing a game doesn't make you a loser and certainly, a team that wins the game would not say the losing team were losers. Can you imagine a pro football team's coach taking the podium after a game and saying his team won because the other team was a bunch or broke minded gutless losers?  That would never happen, yet we see that frequently in the Amway world.  The owner of Amway, Rich DeVos had once said in a recorded message that just because people do not agree with you (paraphrased) about Amway, does not make them losers and that IBOs should not call people losers.

In all of this, people's jobs are also criticized. That a job stands for "just over broke" or "jackass of the boss" and other blurbs. Many IBO's goals and dreams consist of ditching their job so they can sleep all day and live a life of luxury. Ironically, it is most IBO's jobs that continue to produce income so they can pay their bills and feed their family. It is also an IBO's job that funds their Amway and AMO expenses such as product purchases and functions and voicemail, etc. Without having a job, most people could not even join Amway or pay for any tools. Sadly, most IBOs won't make any money in Amway either, and will have to continue to work at their jobs. I do not believe that someone earning an honest living working a job is a loser. Ironically, the folks calling people losers are often not even netting a profit from their Amway business!

Yes, in this business or the sports world, there will be winners and there will be losers. The question is whether you are the one who is allowed to be the judge of who is and who isn't. I would also suggest that IBOs are completely shutting down potential future business by their behavior. What if I went to a store to purchase something but the item was not available on that particular day, so I don't purchase anything and leave. As I leave, the store owner says I am a loser for not buying something there. Will I go back? Very unlikely. If an IBO truly sees themselves as a store owner, all prospects should be seen as potential business, whether future or present. If your upline tells you that people not interested are losers, you should kick him where the sun doesn't shine.

Only winners join Amway? Think again!

Retiring From Amway?

 One of the things that many Amway IBOs mistakenly believe is that they will build their Amway business and then they will have the ability to "walk away" from the business while the income continues to flow in. I believe if there was such an incredible benefit such as lifelong residual income that could be achieved from Amway, I'm fairly certain that Amway would advertise this as a benefit of being an IBO. But Amway does not. It is very likely that your LOS such as WWDB or BWW or one of the others will promote this benefit while telling you that your best chance to achieve it is by subscribing to their "system".

One thing that goes unnoticed all too often is that there seems to be nobody who is actually retired and living off the efforts of having built a big Amway business once upon a time. Seems that even the crown ambassadors still have busy lifestyles running from function to function and participating in other business related activities. While many of these leaders may claim they love their downlines or some other bunk, it is my belief that these leaders keep working their Amway businesses for one reason only. That is they need to keep working in order to keep the income flowing in.

The diamond lifestyle that is often portrayed may seem like a great goal or dream to achieve, but the fact of the matter is that a "diamond lifestyle" cannot be sustained on diamond income. The average diamond, according to Amway, earns about $150,000 a year (Amway now says 600k but that is for Q12 diamonds which is quite rare. Most diamonds are not Q12). While that may seem like a great amount of income, it's not nearly enough to sustain the kind of lifestyle portrayed by diamonds. Even if that income is supplemented by income from the sale of tools, you can't fly your family around the country first class to do all kinds of functions and still end up with much leftover to own fancy homes and cars.

If I deposited $1000 in the bank and never touch the money, the bank would pay me a certain amount of interest each year, guaranteed. That is residual income. In Amway, you can basically earn income in two ways. You can sell products for a profit, but there are problems with this. First off, Amway products in general are more expensive than local retailers. It is why you hear so many justifications about quality and concentration, because you are hard pressed to argue cost. Secondly, you are severely restricted from advertising, thus selling can be difficult. The other way to generate more income is to build a downline in hopes that the downline will help you to leverage your volume. But then your downline will have the same problem that you had in moving products. That being said, even if you achieve some level such as emerald or diamond, your business will immediately begin to fall apart once you stop working because attrition will take its toll. It is why there are hoards of "former" platinums. If platinums are not sustainable, then neither is any other level.

There are many many instances of diamonds quitting, resigning, or falling out of qualification. People come and go in this business every day. Do you really think you can bank on retirement and residual income under these circumstances? If you believe that, I have some swamp land in Florida to sell you.

Seeing Amway And The Diamonds Through Rose Colored Glasses?

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. While some of these values are fine, they are not the 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.  Ou course it would be great for women to raise their own children instead of babysitters.  But sadly that doesn't happen because of Amway.

Ironically, an Amway 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 take time off to show the plan, attending countless numbers of meetings and to attend functions. They also have other meetings and night owls, and open meetings where they recruit prospects. They are taught to "delay" gratification, but many do not realize that they are permanently delaying gratification by participating in the "systems". Sadly, the vast majority of people in Amway, will never receive any monetary gratification. More likely, losses will be the net result.

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.

Lying - Possibly The Key To Success?

 The first time I was prospected for Amway, I was in college. I actually didn't know much about Amway but I had somehow formed a negative opinion of it. Needless to say, when I was invited to a beer bust and it turned instead to be an Amway meeting, my impression of Amway wasn't that good. Some years later, I eventually did join because a close friend of mine had achieved direct distributor (now called platinum) and he had assured me that it could be done and that he would make sure that I would also achieve it. I did achieve a level just below platinum (4000 PV), but I quit for several reasons. First of all, I didn't make a net profit as the expenses for tools ate up my profits. Secondly, the more I progressed in the business, the more and more my upline wanted control of my life. For example, we were told that we should check upline before getting married, buying a car, or even having children, etc. I thought that was very strange and I eventually left the business for good.

But in the US at least, I believe Amway's name to be so battered that an IBO cannot sponsor downline and build a business without lies and deception. There are hoards of stories confirming testimony that lies and deceit are common in prospecting potential IBOs. This was extremely rampant when Amway changed their name to Quixtar. IBOs would deny the connection or IBOs would say they are with network 21 or WWDB and claim something ridiculous such as Amway simply being their supplier. The promotion of perfect water also brought on silly antics about a $50 case of water being capable of performing miracles. If the opportunity could stand on its own merits, then IBOs would not have to resort to such desperate measures which include lies and deception.

Even the Amway presentation if often filled with deception and lies. I remember seeing the presentation and they said shopping through Amway, an IBO would save 30% over local retailers. When I actually saw the catalogs, I wondered where are the savings?? An open minded price comparison will easily show that Amway products are not cheaper than a retailer like WalMart. It's not possible when you consider that Amway's bonuses must be a part of their product price.

The 6-4-2 plan or similar variations are made to sound easy and the presenter talked about lifelong residual willable income, which I also find to be deceptive if not an outright lie. The presenter never mentions that only about 1 in 400 ever reach the platinum level, where allegedly you begin to break even as an IBO if you are consuming training and tools.

But can Amway be successfully promoted without lies and deception? It is my opinion that an IBO has no chance of building a business by being completely upfront and honest about Amway and about being an IBO. Even with lies and deceit, many IBOs still cannot get people to see the plan or to buy products. It is my opinion that overall, very little Amway products are sold to non IBOs. So if you cannot sell products and you cannot get people to see the plan, you cannot build a business and if you are purchasing tools, you are simply digging yourself a financial hole that will only grow larger as time passes. The cost of 100 PV (about $300) is already more than what most families and/or singles spend in a month on household products. This means that most people simply cannot sustain themselves in the business and it explains why most IBOs drop out in the first year.

It is why lies and/or deception are needed for an IBO to have a chance at promoting and building an Amway business. Because the truth is not pretty and more than likely, will not work for building an Amway business.

Is Amway Just A Money Pit?

 I've been blogging about Amway for a number of years now and I've learned quite a bit about Amway and how the system works. It is my absolute conclusion that the vast majority of IBOs lose money because the system consisting of standing order, book of the month, voicemail and functions are a money pit. The system can never be satisfied. It must constantly drain money out of IBO's pockets in order to sustain itself along with the lavish lifestyles that some diamonds and upline leaders like to portray. Sadly, the system is promoted as the key to IBO success but the reality is that the system is the very reason why so many IBOs suffer net losses. IBOs often do not realize that they are systematically being drained of their money because it is done one standing order or one function at a time. What some uplines do to disguise this is to start teaching that the Amway business is about investing in your business, lifelong friendships, or making an IBO a nicer person, etc.

Let's look at some system components. Voicemail is absolutely unnecessary. With email, text messages, twitter, or even facebook to transmit messages for free, it is ridiculous for IBOs to pay for a technologically outdated means of communication. The functions are also a waste of money. With telecommunications, there is no need for so many meetings and functions. These functions, especially the ones where air travel and accommodations are needed set back many IBOs financially and they never recover. While I agree in general that open meetings are more effective in person, these are generally regional and not cost prohibitive as out of town functions. Standing orders are generally recorded at functions so when that happens, IBOs are paying twice to hear the same information. Book of the month I don’t have too much objection except that some of the books may be basically propaganda promoting the AMOs and the systems. The ones that talk about success principles are generally okay. But overall, I believe the return on investment is poor and in many cases, a group of IBOs will actually spend more on tools than the amount of bonuses generated from Amway.

Uplines avoid the discussion of scam by talking about the opportunity being hard work. Thus IBOs don’t get the idea that it is too good to be true. Meanwhile they are often strongly encouraged to be on the system. Some IBOs are shunned if they don’t purchase tools, which might be against Amway rules. However, the shunned IBO might be better off because the ones who do invest in tools often find that the system is simply a money pit where money goes in and nothing comes out. As far as I know, there is zero unbiased evidence that the system produces any tangible results. If you in the US, you might be hard pressed to find newly emerging diamonds. Sure there are some new platinums, but there is evidence that system platinums make very little or lose money, and many of them are not able to maintain that level of volume. The system is basically sucking money from the IBOs and channeling them to certain uplines, probably the ones who show off their new sports cars and fancy suits. Does this appeal to you?

Diamonds Are "Rich"?

 One of the things so many Amway IBOs and others do is assume that their upline diamond is rich beyond belief. At meetings, the speaker would be introduced as being in the top one tenth of one percent income bracket. While it may or may not be true, nobody ever questioned it, they just assumed it was true because people saw pictures of mansions and copies of 5 year old bonus checks. Even I never went and studied how the diamond bonuses worked. Most people just assumed that the money would be huge at the diamond level. But looking back, I can recall some things that make me believe that the diamonds were cutting corners and needed their platinums working free at meetings and functions in order to maximize profits.  If not, why wouldn't the diamonds compensate those who work their functions, especially if they are uber wealthy?

The diamonds in our group often did not stay in hotels when visiting for meetings, but in the home of another diamond or some "lucky" downline platinum. The diamonds rarely rented a car. Instead, a downline platinum or higher would be "lucky" enough to be the unpaid and uncompensated chauffeur for the weekend. The platinums basically were the doormen and ushers at the functions and in many cases, probably didn't even get to hear the speakers since they were busy working. Their reward for their troubles was "spending time" with their uplines.

The downline are like unpaid volunteers. For example, have you ever seen diamonds actually renting a moving van and hiring movers? I believe most of them had downline groupies who did the work for free, just for the honor of being near their upline. Just my opinion, but if these folks had mountains of cash, why wouldn't you hire movers so your downline didn't have to use up a valuable Saturday or Sunday to do that work? That's like owning a chain of stores but having all of their stores closed. No products sold, no new recruits prospected. If Ray Kroc moved his residence, would all the nearby McDonald's owners close their stores to help him move?   Does that make sense?  If diamonds were so rich, why would they hinder the businesses of their downline to save them the expenses of moving?  It makes me wonder.

Another thing IBOs and prospects should note is that pictures of mansions, sports cars and jet skis doesn't mean someone is wealthy. Someone could have all those things on credit or rented after all. And many people who truly are wealthy, do not show off their wealth. It is possible that many diamonds live mundane middle class lives on their income but need to portray wealth to lure in new IBOs. While your upline diamonds may act and look rich, how would you really know? I can take a homeless guy, clean him up an put him in a suit and a sports car and he would probably look like a diamond.   I could also show you pictures of me in a Ferrari but it doesn't mean I'm rich or financially free.

If your uplines are implying that they are so wealthy ask them to verify some of the claims. I'm not talking about their personal income, but in business, verifying business income is very common. If you are being invited into the business and a business system such as WWDB, BWW or N21, you have every right to check your upline's credentials. Avoidance of the truth, or an answer such as "none of your business" should be a red flag. It is your business if you are being asked to join, invest your time and money, and follow upline advice, you have every right to vet them to make sure that they aren't swindling you.

The Truth Is Negative?

 One of the silly things many Amway IBOs are taught is to avoid negative. I believe this is taught today by uplines and it was certainly a point of emphasis even in my days as an IBO. The upline diamond would say that the world of full of negatives and that we as people take in too much of these negatives. Therefore, the IBOs were told to avoid television, newspapers and other forms of communication with the outside world. The group was also told to avoid people who speak negatively about Amway. For this reason, many people have considered Amway groups such as WWDB or N21 as cultish or cult-like. (information deprivation or information control).

I can agree that you surely don't want to only take in negatives as it can wear you down, but not seeing the news or reading about current events in the paper simply makes you apathetic and uninformed. For example, wouldn't you want and need to know if there was a storm heading your way? I live in Hawaii and we occasionally have hurricanes. Avoiding news could be very detrimental to your family and home. If you lived in the mid west of the US, wouldn't you want and need to know if a tornado was headed your way? Do you avoid the doctor because his assessment of your health might not be "positive"? For these reasons, I believe that many Amwayers walk around wearing a mask with a false smile, trying to appear overly positive.

Another important thing that many IBOs cannot distinguish is the difference between negative and the truth. If your wife asks you if her new dress makes her look fat, the truth might be that the new dress indeed makes her appear fat. That answer may be uncomfortable for you to deliver, but the truth is the truth. The truth at times can be positive or negative but it is still the truth.

Most IBOs earn less than $100 a month. That is the truth. Most IBOs lose money if they participate in functions and standing orders and such. That is the truth. Most IBOs will never even sponsor a downline. That is the truth. Most IBOs, filled with motivation and dreams, will never see those dreams fulfilled. That is the truth. Many upline diamonds, who advise IBOs to purchase tools and attend functions, and fill the IBO's heads full of dreams, make significant incomes from the sale of tools and functions. That is also the truth. In a 1 year time span, approximately 50% of IBOs will quit in the first year. That is the truth.

Is it negative to tell the truth? Or can IBOs not handle the truth?

Diamonds Drowning In Debt?

 One of the pitches used to attract people to the Amway business was to earn enough just to get out of debt. After all, many Americans these days have credit cards maxed out and racking up more and more consumer debt. But the tough question is whether joining Amway will help the situation or only make it worse? In general, Amway products have higher prices than retailers such as WalMart or Costco. Anyone who denies this is either being deceptive or is truly misguided. You can try to argue about Amway's quality of products. Some products are good, but overall, consumers simply don't find enough value in them. Seems that IBOs don't even buy Amway products unless they are pursuing their dreams of going diamond. Once that dream ends, so ends their loyalty to Amway products.

Sadly, for most business building IBOs, the business opportunity and its connected teaching system such as WWDB, BWW, or N21 simply creates more debt for IBOs. Think about it, an IBO will already be spending about $300 a month to earn their defacto 100 PV requirement. If that IBO subscribes to voicemail and no other tools, that IBO will already have a net loss for the month. Factor in ongoing expenditures such as standing orders, functions, open meetings, regional functions, books and other miscellaneous expenses and you have an IBO heading towards tens of thousands of dollars deeper into the debt hole. Most IBOs don't see what's happening because the debt is incurred a few hundred dollars a month, but most IBOs think it's okay because they are convinced that they will recoup the losses and earn a huge surplus in the long run. Unfortunately, only a tiny fraction of 1% of IBOs will ever earn a decent profit from the Amway opportunity. Most will realize they are making their finances worse and end up quitting.

In the few cases where a diamond's financial were exposed, these diamonds were in hock. Even a prominent triple diamond was not earning enough to sustain the lifestyle he and others promoted on stage. It is my guess that these diamonds in financial difficulty is more likely the norm than the exception. Do the math. If a triple diamond earns about a million dollars from Amway and the tools profits, can that income sustain a jet set lifestyle portrayed in functions like dream night? I mean it is a great income, but everything is relative. Someone earning say $70,000 a year can live a comfortable lifestyle without debt. But diamonds portray a lifestyle of excess and almost arrogance. It's no wonder some of them have financial problems.

In the end, IBOs are drowning in debt as a whole. The system nearly ensures that the group of IBOs collectively will end up with a net loss with one or two at the top earning a profit. One's dedication to tools determines how much an IBO will lose. The more dedication, the bigger the losses. If your upline teaches you to get out of debt, that's good. but if they teach you to get out of debt, except for functions and standing orders, take that as a huge red flag.

Amway IBOs Are Humorous?

 I get a kick out of IBOs who make outlandish claims and then mumble and stumble to back up their claims, or to offer at least a verbal explanation of their claims. I believe many IBOs, newbies in particular, are loaded with enthusiasm, but lacking in actual Amway business knowledge. Certain groups have a certain philosophy, which sometimes comes out in a conversation. But I believe in most cases, the philosophy is one of talk and not action. Amway's own numbers seem to back up many of the claims made by critics, such as the low number of sales to people who are not Amway IBOs.

I recently saw a blog post by a WWDB IBO who says he got a nice tax refund from the government, mainly because of his business deductions. He also claims that his Amway business is booming and that he is making money. Now I'm not a tax genius, but if you are writing off losses on your business, you would get a refund, and if you were actually making money, then you would actually be paying more taxes because your taxable income would then be higher. It's amazing how some IBOs will try to fake success in ways that clearly show they are putting up a facade.   I find this so humorous.

Other obvious ways are IBOs who say they are brand new in Amway but are making over $5000 a month. Now I do believe that it can be "possible" to make some money in Amway, and obviously some people do make a nice income from Amway, but generally, these will be tenured higher pins. The vast majority of IBOs do not make any significant money from Amway and most IBOs suffer a net loss after expenses.  If these same IBOs were participating in the teaching systems such as Network 21, WWDB, or BWW, then they are likely ending up with a net loss because the monthly expenditures for voicemail, functions, books and standing orders exceed (by far) the monthly income for most IBOs.

Even diamonds who want to flash pictures of fancy cars and gadgets. I believe many of these diamonds are not making as much as they want you to believe and in fact, if you just get a calculator and figure out what a flashy lifestyle costs, you will see that it will simply not be sustainable on Amway income, even when you factor in the tools and functions income. Some diamonds whose incomes were exposed when they quit or had legal proceedings indicate that while a diamond (or higher) income may be nice, it will not sustain the kinds of lifestyles they speak about at Dream Night functions, or other functions where great wealth is displayed.

They may be fooling (some) new prospects, but they do not fool me, and I hope they do not fool you. But it is funny when you see it happening.

Why So Many 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.

Endless Motivation?

 I believe that Amway IBOs have approximately a 50% attrition rate for the first year alone. If you look at a 5 year window, I believe the attrition rate is something like 95%. So what we're saying is that out of 100 IBOs, only 5 will be around in 5 years, or out of 1000 IBOs, 50 will remain after 5 years. This is extremely significant because if you are a business builder, you will need to replace half of your IBOs every single year. For this reason, I am very doubtful that there are IBOs who "built the business right and built it once", who no longer do Amway related work, but still collect significant residual income. I would guess that significant income could be defined as being enough to live a lifestyle in the top tax bracket (for the US) without having to report to a J-O-B. 

Now I understand that some IBOs take it personally when I bring up subjects like this. It is because they have been deceived by some upline diamond or big pin who has sold them on a dream of financial prosperity for life if they will only work hard for 2-5 years. I once thought so too, but realized that there isn't a single diamond that I know of who built the business right and walked away to enjoy the beaches of the world while truckloads of money rolls in. Kinda makes you wonder why you see Crowns still working, and diamonds actually quitting or resigning. I have asked the question many times and it has never been answered. Can anyone name a few people who built their business right and built it once who is currently enjoying these lifelong residuals? Also, if that were a benefit, why doesn't Amway say so?

Instead, you have a constant and endless flow of motivation being sold to IBOs. This motivation comes in the form of cds, books, meetings, functions and other things like voicemail messages. It's sad that IBOs have to continue to pay through the nose for motivation and "teaching" about the Amway business when there are cheaper and more efficient means of communication. For example, why would you need an expensive voicemail when a facebook group account can disseminate messages to your group in seconds at no cost? It is because the uplines want to extract every possible sent from their downline. Because of the internet, I believe people are starting to figure things out and avoid the systems altogether. I hope Joecool's blog contributes to this.

All the motivation IBOs truly need is to see a net profit at the end of the month. If IBOs actually earned an extra $200 a month, or $50 a month, or $600 a month as advertised, there would be no need for motivational speeches. The IBOs would simply look at the growth in their finances and they would keep going. The poor retention rate is easy to explain. IBOs are losing money because of the system expenses and they lose their motivation to continue. If you are an IBO or a prospect, stop and think for a minute. If you are making an extra $200 a month with minimal effort, would you need functions and other materials to motivate you? Or would you have intrinsic motivation from the profit? All the motivation you will ever need is a net profit. Take that to the bank

Your Return On Investment (ROI)?

 So many IBOs are taught that they need to invest in their Amway businesses. The investments, however, aren't on equipment, employees, rent, or on advertising. In a typical Amway business, the investments that uplines often refer to are voicemail subscription, standing orders, website fees, seminars and books.   Many of these so called investments are on non-income producing activities.  In many cases, an IBO keeps on investing in these materials without making an assessment on whether or not the investment was worth the money or if they are actually generating more profit or more business volume as a result of the investment.

I find it ironic that many Amway recruiters will hype the Amway business as one of low risk and little or no overhead. But when an IBO starts to get truly interested, suddenly an investment of money is vital to the success of their business. IBOs get caught up in the excitement of starting a business and they pour money into their shiny new Amway businesses, often without understanding the purpose of the investment, because they are following the advice of their experienced uplines. Eventually, most IBOs will realize that they aren't making money so they stop building the business and eventually quit. This is confirmed by the fact that over 90% of IBOs do not last 5 years and less than half of registered IBOs last even a full year.

For most, they will never recoup even their first month's worth of investments, even with a honest and earnest effort of building the business. Most IBOs never even make enough income to cover their voicemail bills. It is sad that uplines dupe their faithful followers into believing that their tools will help them succeed as IBOs. There is ZERO unbiased evidence that voicemail, functions and other materials do anything to help an IBO to make a substantial profit from the Amway business. It is my educated opinion that training materials sold by uplines have the exact opposite effect. The training materials and functions suck money out of an IBO's business and goes to the upline in the form of support materials profits.

For most IBOs, there is little to no return on their investment. What has voicemail or a standing order done for your business? Ask yourself an honest question. What tangible result have you seen in your business as a result of attending a function or listening to a standing order? If there was any result, is it a one time phenomena or are the functions resulting in continued growth of downline and business volume? Even if you did see a small increase in volume for example, was it enough to justify taking a perhaps out of town trip by air and hotel expenses just for a small volume increase? Do the never ending standing orders result in your downline and volume growing or simply your bank account shrinking?

Any real business owner will look at expenses and make sure that any investments into their business results in more customers or more revenue. If not, then that expense is shut down and other options looked at. Since many IBOs don't have any customers or very few customers, is it worth your time and money to attend functions? Is standing order increasing your monthly volume or bonuses? This is not to persuade IBOs to quit, but simply food for thought so that IBOs will truly use their "business mentality" and decide for themselves if support materials vis a vis an "investment" in their Amway business is paying off or not. If not, you are enjoying a hobby called Amway. Hobbies cost you money, but they rarely make you money. Is Amway a business or a hobby?

Are You An Ambot?

 Sometimes it happens to the nicest of people and it often happens slowly and subtly.  Most IBOs join Amway because they believe it will be a "shortcut" to retirement and an easy life.  Sadly, very few, if any IBOs at all ever retire.  Even the diamonds are still working, or needing to be somewhere at a particular time, because of money.  You can argue that a diamond's work isn't that difficult, but still, I'm sure some of them wouldn't perform at functions if they didn't need the money.  I believe it's for that reason, that the diamonds never ever walk away from Amway to enjoy residual income that they claim exists.

These are the signs that you are becoming indoctrinated by Amway and your upline and you are likely annoying your friends and 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'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 in Amway vitamins, something you may not even know about.

*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.

*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 golfing 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.

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

The "CORE" Steps To Success?

 Breakdown of CORE and why it doesn’t work. Here are the CORE steps. Some groups may have variations of CORE, but this is generally what many groups use:

1 - Show the Plan (10-15 per month)
2 - Retail the Products (10 customers @10 PV each)
3 – Tapes/cds
4 - Books
5 - Functions (attend all)
6 - Accountability
7 - Counsel with Upline (Be teachable!)
8 - Buy 100% of your own products
9 – Communikate

Many upline will tell you that your success is nearly 100% guaranteed if you follow these steps for 2-5 years. Some Amway enthusiasts will tell you that 6 months of this activity will nearly assure you of a platinum level business. Certain steps are within the IBO’s control, such as reading every day and listening to cds, and attending functions. It is also easy enough to be accountable, counsel with upline, buy your own products, and use KATE (voicemail).

Here’s where an IBO’s efforts will break down. Showing the plan and retailing products. And remember, if you cannot do these steps then you are not considered “CORE” and your upline will likely tell you that it is your own fault and that you simply haven’t been CORE, therefore you did not achieve success. There is some truth in this but let me expose the system in a different angle.

Amway has a spotty reputation in the US. I don’t think anyone can dispute this fact. Therefore, for the vast majority of people, being able to show the plan 10-15 times per month is a nearly impossible task. If you are able to do this, you are a really good salesman or a good liar. In this scenario, the IBO is already successful, but not because of CORE, but simply because the IBO has the gift of being able to convince people into seeing the plan. But for many IBOs, they may contact hundreds of people and not be able to get anyone to see the plan. Even IBOs who follow upline advice on how to contact will probably not be able to show 10-15 plans per month. Thus this IBO, who is doing the work, will not be able to succeed. The system will blame the IBO, but the reality is that the IBO has too big of a disadvantage to overcome.

Secondly, with high prices (on average) and with a spotty reputation, most IBOs are unable to retail products. Amway itself has admitted that less than 4% of Amway products are sold to customers (non IBOs). Thus most IBOs are unable to sell products, therefore they are not CORE, therefore upline will blame the IBO for failure..

What if an IBO contacts 1000 people and cannot get 10 people to see the plan? Upline will claim that IBO is not CORE and therefore it is personal failure of the IBO. IMO, the only reason why upline can claim that CORE works is because in order to do the CORE steps consistently, you have to already be at a certain level of success. The vast majority of IBOs cannot and will never be able to reach that level.

That is the myth and the deception that many uplines will use to attract recruits. That each IBO can do the CORE steps. When only a fraction of 1% ever reach the level of platinum or higher, the numbers strongly support what is written here. Apologists are welcome to try and prove me wrong, but they can't.

Upline Teaching Changes To Keep You Sucked in?

 One of the things that is very clear to me;  Many Amway recruits are shown fancy cars and toys, along with luxurious vacations, toys, and trappings. This is a way to get prospects excited and interested in signing up for the Amway opportunity. Many sign up, and soon enough, the excitement soon fades and they quit. Either that or the IBO sees monthly losses and no prospects of improvement and eventually quits. Many do little or nothing. But what many people do no understand or realize is that there is a reason for this. Many do little or nothing, I suspect because the business is much harder to build than advertised.  

Because Amway name has a stigma in the US (and growing in other locations), finding prospects is a daunting task. Add in the high and often uncompetitive prices of Amway products and you have major challenges that IBOs simply cannot overcome. Most simply quit and fade away into society.  Most just blend back into the world they knew before Amway.  Some, like myself were lied to and abused, with upline leaders (WWDB)who were never held accountable for their actions. Thus I blog so others may share my experiences and can decide if they wish to climb insurmountable challenges for a less than 1% chance of financial success.  My experiences are my own, along with my opinions, but I have seen many many similar stories to corroborate what I have seen and heard.  
 
What many leaders do is evolve their teachings as they go along. They start to teach their IBOs that the Amway opportunity may have made them nicer people, better fathers or husbands and other nice to hear stories because it covers up the fact that these IBOs are not making money, and in most cases, losing money. Sometimes I wonder how someone can be a better person by deceiving others about the business opportunity, or how you can be a better father or husband when Amway meetings become a priority over your family and friends. Or how you can be a nicer person and leave threatening messages on forums with those who disagree about Amway being a great business opportunity?

Rather than justifying your involvement in Amway, or looking at side benefits, IBOs should be looking at their bottom line. If your Amway "Business" is not generating enough money to pay for your voicemail and other expenses and leaving you with a net profit, then what exactly is your upline teaching you that is worth the ongoing expense? If you are like most, you are told that Amway has little or no overhead, and has little risk. Well, that becomes untrue after months pass by and you have spent hundreds if not thousands on support materials that do not deliver you a net profit. Additionally, your upline is making a nice income by selling you those support materials and advising you to buy more.

Are you new or a tenured IBO? Has your teaching from upline evolved away from making money as the bottom line? If so, what do you do next? I would run in the opposite direction.  After all, the vast majority of  people get enticed into joining Amway to make money, not to be nicer people.  And the part about being nicer is subject.  Many might not agree with you.  

Chasing 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?

"Fake" Diamonds?

 One of the things I distinctly remember being taught at a function was to "fake it till you make it". This was to give the impression of being successful. It was said that you are going to be successful because of Amway so you may as well act the part. I believe this is taught today as well. Amway IBOs like to make an impression on prospects so the want to appear successful. It is also a part of why IBOs wear suits. They want everyone to be under the impression that they are in a multi million dollar business. Guess what? WalMart is a multi billion dollar business but their employees don't wear suits!" memberships, fabulous vacations, and shopping sprees. I honestly believe that many of the diamonds are the biggest fakers out there. A diamond income, which seems big, and supplemented with tools income, most likely cannot sustain the lifestyles portrayed in these functions. Simple math bears it out.

A diamond income (non Q12), even with tool income might be $250 or $300K. While that may seem huge compared to a working stiff who earns %40K or $50K per year, keep in mind that a diamond business has many expenses. How much do you think it would cost a (diamond) family of four (4) to travel to say 5 or 6 functions, first class? Four people flying first class say from Hawaii to California would cost over $1000 per person, round trip. A diamond who speaks at functions would make several of these flights each year. Thus this particular business expense (if the diamond flies first class) would eat up a significant portion of a diamond's income. Keep in mind that the $250 or $300K I spoke about is before taxes and business expenses.

Then, much of that diamond income goes to taxes and business expenses? I challenge IBOs to sit down and figure this out. After taxes, medical insurance and business expenses are taken into consideration, I would guess that a diamond lives a very ordinary and middle class lifestyle. Amway advocates will argue that this is without a 9-5 job, but an Amway business needs constant attention as IBOs up and quit every day. Some who do sign up never do a thing. Replacing IBOs is a never ending task. It is why you do not see or hear of any diamonds who "walked away" to collect residual income forever and ever.

Here's another take on fake it till you make it. Isn't this simply lying and hoping you will one day succeed?

CORE, The Reason IBOs Fail?

 Analysis Of CORE?

Breakdown of CORE and why it doesn’t work. Here are the CORE steps. Some groups may have variations of CORE, but this is generally what many groups use:

1 - Show the Plan (10-15 per month)
2 - Retail the Products (10 customers @10 PV each)
3 – Tapes/cds/audios
4 - Books
5- Functions (attend all)
6 - Accountability
7 - Counsel with Upline (Be teachable!)
8 - Buy 100% of your own products
9 – Communikate

Many upline will tell you that your success is nearly 100% guaranteed if you follow these steps for 2-5 years. Some Amway enthusiasts will tell you that 6 months of this activity will nearly assure you of a platinum level business. Certain steps are within the IBO’s control, such as reading every day and listening to cds, and attending functions. It is also easy enough to be accountable, counsel with upline, buy your own products, and use KATE (voicemail).

Here’s where an IBO’s efforts will break down. Showing the plan and retailing products. And remember, if you cannot do these steps then you are not considered “CORE” and your upline will likely tell you that it is your own fault and that you simply haven’t been CORE, therefore you did not achieve success. There is some truth in this but let me expose the system in a different angle.

Amway has a spotty reputation in the US. I don’t think anyone can dispute this fact. Therefore, for the vast majority of people, being able to show the plan 10-15 times per month is a nearly impossible task. If you are able to do this, you are a really good salesman or a good liar. In this scenario, the IBO is already successful, but not because of CORE, but simply because the IBO has the gift of being able to convince people into seeing the plan. But for many IBOs, they may contact hundreds of people and not be able to get anyone to see the plan. Even IBOs who follow upline advice on how to contact will probably not be able to show 10-15 plans per month. Thus this IBO, who is doing the work, will not be able to succeed. The system will blame the IBO, but the reality is that the IBO has too big of a disadvantage to overcome.

Secondly, with high prices (on average) and with a spotty reputation, most IBOs are unable to retail products. Amway itself has admitted that less than 4% of Amway products are sold to customers (non IBOs). Thus most IBOs are unable to sell products, therefore they are not CORE, therefore upline will blame the IBO for failure..

What if an IBO contacts 1000 people and cannot get 10 people to see the plan? Upline will claim that IBO is not CORE and therefore it is personal failure of the IBO. IMO, the only reason why upline can claim that CORE works is because in order to do the CORE steps consistently, you have to already be at a certain level of success. The vast majority of IBOs cannot and will never be able to reach that level.

That is the myth and the deception that many uplines will use to attract recruits. That each IBO can do the CORE steps. When only a fraction of 1% ever reach the level of platinum or higher, the numbers strongly support what is written here. Apologists are welcome to try and prove me wrong, but they can't.

The Amway/WWDB 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 dumping my fiancée' 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's falling apart.

The "Buy From Yourself" Stupidity"?

One of the apparently common practices among major Amway IBO groups is still the concept of "buy from yourself". I believe IBO leaders teach this because most people are not familiar or not comfortable selling goods and services. Therefore, to teach buy from yourself makes the business an easier sell. In reality, an Amway IBO is simply a commissioned salesperson with no benefits. But presenting the opportunity that way is unlikely to yield results either, thus the buy from yourself has become a common practice. It sounds like something that most people can do, rather than emphasizing the need to sell to people you don't know.   

The pitch from upline might be like this; Do your like selling?  No?  Then Amway is perfect for you!  Or, do you like selling?  Yes?  Then Amway is perfect for you!   They cover all bases but in the end, it doesn't change the fact that Amway goods are hard to peddle because overall, they are not priced competitively with products sold at big retailers.  

The buying from yourself concept makes you a customer and not a business owner. Buying from yourself doesn't generate your business a profit. Would you open a car dealership to buy a car? Now I am not suggesting that supporting your own business is a bad idea. What I am suggesting is if you are the primary or exclusive customer of your Amway business, then you aren't really running a business. You are simply a glorified customer. I believe some or many IBOs fall into this category because they are simply unable to move products to non IBOs.   They might be taught by upline to pay themselves full retail and call the difference a "profit".  But in the end, Amway makes a sale and your bank account has less money at the end of the month no matter how you back peddle to try and justify this nonsense.

What an Amway IBO is really doing is paying his upline's bonuses. Amway overcharges more than 30% of the cost of their product. They have to do this in order to be able to pay IBO bonuses. Since most IBOs are at 100 PV or less, the lion's share of the bonuses earned are channeled upline when a purchase is made. It is not a level playing field as some IBO leaders might suggest. Also, some of your uplines who don't even know you might benefit from your efforts. Now that's residual income right? 

What compounds the situation and makes it worse is when an IBO pays for standing order or attends functions where some of these IBO leaders may teach this bad business practice. You as an IBO already overpay for products for which upline gets most of the bonus, but then the problem is made worse by IBOs paying to receive this bad advice via voicemail, audios, books and functions. When I was an IBO, I heard speakers talk about skipping rent or mortgage payments to attend more functions, or having your family skip a meal so you can buy standing orders. Buying from yourself is just another example of bad advice given from upline to downline. What makes it worse is that uplines profit by giving bad advice. 

Are you buying from yourself almost exclusively? Can you think of any truly successful business where the owner is the main or possibly the only customer? I can't think of a single example.

How Diamonds "Really" Get Their Wealth?

 One of the things that many Amway IBOs do not understand is where the upline diamond profits actually come from. They think they will obtain passive residual income, but most do not understand how it works or where the money comes from. What most people see instead, is a photocopy of an upline's check, or they may see upline driving a nice car or something like that. They do not understand how the business works and the fact that there are two businesses at work. The Amway opportunity and the tools (business support materials) business. Frankly, most IBOs would be much better off giving their upline a check for $50 each month and never getting involved in the Amway opportunity to begin with.  That sounds sad, but it's absolutely true.

Upline diamonds (or higher ups) earn some income from the movement of products. Amway returns about 33+% of their gross in the form of bonuses. Most (active business building) IBOs earn 3% while uplines split up the remaining 30% of the bonus. Not such a great deal when you think about it. Also, most IBOs overspend on Amway products. They are not simply replacing what they normally buy. If they did, then there would be tons of former IBOs continuing to move 100 PV or more. Instead, when an IBO quits, they either buy nothing from Amway anymore, or they may use a few products here and there. The opportunity and the way it is promoted simply creates an artificial demand for Amway products. If the products were so great, why then after 50 years of business, why the Amway sales aren't going through the roof if former Amway IBOs get hooked on the products and keep buying them? The answer is that they typically stop buying once the "dream" of residual income ends.

Then you have the tools business where IBOs don't even get a measly 3% of the profits. Uplines keep all of the tool profits. Also, the tools have a higher profit margin than Amway products. While this may seem acceptable on the surface, keep in mind that the tools are inefficient. There is no unbiased evidence that I know of that suggests that the tools create a natural progression of IBOs from 0 PV to diamond. I cannot name more than a few new diamonds in the US since I left the business in 1997 or 1998. And even if there were some new diamonds, I believe there were even more who quit or left Amway for other reasons. One might wonder why a diamond would quit in the first place if there really was residual passive income involved.

So where does upline profits come from? Simple, it comes directly out of the pockets of downline. If IBOs actually sold products, then some profits would come from sales and customers. Instead, most Amway sales are simply made from upline to downline. And virtually ALL sales in the tools business comes from upline to downline. Thus many IBOs spend $250 to $300 a month on products and get back $10 if they reach 100 PV. Then you factor in the $100 to $250 monthly that IBOs typically spend on tools. Suddenly that cheap or no risk opportunity doesn't sound so cheap. And try working it for several years and IBOs can easily rack up tens of thousands of dollars of expenses or more.  I might also add that super hard core IBOs can easily spend more than $250 a month on tools and functions.  It wouldn't be odd for a diamond to make it a badge of honor for downline IBOs to hyper consume tools and functions.  Holding these IBOs as a shining example of a core downline.

That's where upline profits come from folks. Do the math, most IBOs truly would be better off giving upline a check for $50 a month and doing nothing else.

Is Amway 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?   Some may have heard the term "build it once and build it right".  Nothing could be further from the truth.

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.