Do You Have The Skills?

 Many IBOs and Amway supporters adhere to the idea that their system works. As far as I know, there is zero unbiased evidence that the system works. The system generally consists of a website, voicemail, standing orders and seminars or functions, as well as meetings to show the plan, etc. While Amway supporters will claim that nearly everyone who succeeds is on the system, they won't mention how everyone who succeeds also has hundreds if not thousands of downlines who do not succeed, even with earnest effort in building the business using the system.

Edward O. Thorpe was a math professor at M.I.T. who studied and wrote a theory on Blackjack, and found that it was mathematically possible for a blackjack player to have an edge over the house in a game of blackjack. Casinos scoffed at the theory and said it was just that. A theory with no real life application. Well, Mr. Thorpe started playing small and found that his theory was correct. He was counting cards in blackjack and making consistent money. His book eventually became a best seller. The casinos were ticked off and started kicking out people who were obviously winning and counting cards. Counting cards is not illegal but casinos can refuse to allow a player on their premises. But what casinos did not notice right away, was that their profits were skyrocketing because so many people knew the theory but could not or were not capable of executing the card counting system.

But hey, the system works so everyone should count cards for a living right? Afterall, it is proven by math that the cards will eventually favor a player and in the long run, you can make huge profits from playing blackjack. Of course not, it is ridiculous for people to think that card counting is a good way to make a buck. Not everyone has the bankroll, the skill, and the patience to succeed in card counting. Most people are better off not even trying this.

In my informed opinion, this card counting system is just like WWDB, BWW, LTD, N21 or other Amway systems. For one thing, card counting is a proven system. The Amway systems are not. But it can be viewed as similar in that very few people can use the system and make it work. Even when hundreds of thousands may try it, very few will succeed in both Amway and card counting. In both "systems", those who do not succeed can lose thousands of dollars. In both systems, doing things right can still result in losses.

In both systems, it is "possible" to succeed, but it is highly unlikely. The vast majority of people simply do not possess the knowledge, skills and abilities to make the systems work for them. You also need some money, some patience, and some luck in order to be a long term success. This article is not about comparing the Amway systems to gambling, it is about a person's ability to make the system work. The difference is that nobody promotes card counting as a good way to make a buck. The same holds true about Amway and their systems. It is not a good system to make money.

Important To Know?

 When I was an IBO, my upline used to advise us to recruit people who had a financial need or young people who were open minded as they may not have preconceived ideas about Amway. When I was recruited, I was not where I wanted to be financially as I was in my 20's when I first got recruited by my sponsor. I believe that this is still common practice today, to look for people who are in need and then offer Amway as a solution. Sadly, Amway and the tools systems will more likely become a problem than a solution for the vast majority who try.  Nearly everyone who even signs up to try the system will wind up with a net loss of income.

In my opinion, this is why some people defend Amway so fiercely. They accept Amway as their solution for long term financial stability and to admit that they were in error is difficult as it would not only expose the error, but it would leave the IBO as not having that "hope" of long term financial freedom. It's hard to admit you got fooled or scammed and some people will dig in and press on, hoping that success will eventually come. Hope is a powerful thing after all. However, for most, it is false hope that is pitched in recruitment meetings and functions.

Many prospects see big dreams when the diamonds parade on stage with designer suits and talk about waking up at noon and enjoying a lifestyle chock full of luxuries. It's almost like dreaming about hitting it big in Las Vegas or winning the lottery. I can't fault prospects for wanting some of these things. I know I certainly had some of these same dreams when I was an IBO. The problem is that Amway is highly unlikely to be the vehicle that delivers these dreams. For most, a second job along with saving and investing will bring more long term success. The problem is that people don't like to wait for the long term and Amway is presented as a short cut to success.

The sad reality is that some (maybe most) diamonds are simply putting on a show, like an illusionist or a magician. Diamonds may indeed earn a six figure income, but after taxes and other expenses such as medical insurance, a diamond is very likely to live a very middle class lifestyle. Now I'm fairly sure that a crown ambassador type may have a million dollar income, but these Amway crowns are very rare, and the ones who exist have been in the business for a long time. There is not much chance of any new IBO coming in and achieving that level. In fact as time rolls on, it seems that more diamonds drop out due to divorce, better MLM opportunities or simply quit. It is apparent that long term residual income is a myth. Why do crowns seemingly keep working (or die on the job) if they could "walk away" and live a life of luxury with no worries?

Amway reports that the average IBO earns $202 a month. I believe that number is also questionable as "most" IBOs (as shown in 6-4-2) actually earn more like $9 or $10 a month. Is this what you are signing up for? Don't forget about the ongoing expenses for tools and functions which results in net losses for most who get involved.

Amway prospects can benefit by knowing this before signing up.

The Bait And Switch?

 I believe Amway is used as a bait and switch scam by the diamonds and other higher up pins. They show off luxurious lifestyles, mansions, sports cars, jet skis and other displays of wealth. Most of us familiar with the pitch have heard the lines before. 2-5 years, part time effort, built it right, build it once. Do what we did, and you can have what we have (quotes from a diamond). Early retirement, making major purchases in cash, financial freedom. I mean, who wouldn't want that? Apparently, many do and are willing to give Amway a shot, even if they think their chances might not be good. I believe the same reasoning goes into increased purchases right before the Powerball lottery numbers are released.

But the insidious part of the Amway business is that the diamonds lure people into the business under the pretenses that "anyone can succeed" or that everyone can succeed, but only if you follow their foolproof "system" consisting of cds, voicemail, books, seminars and what some call "the core steps". What is really disgusting about this entire process is that so many good and talented people have come and gone through the system, only to fail, despite doing what they were advised or told to do by upline. My former sponsor for example, sponsored over 100 people and was uber hard core for many years. He peaked at platinum (non Q12) and fell back and has never reached that level again. It definitely was not due to a lack of effort or not doing things right.

My sponsor was not alone. I did what was advised and went up to 4000 PV, only to find that there was no net profit. I wised up and got out of the business shortly after that. The truly sad thing is that many people hang onto Amway because they feel like failures if they leave or that they have no other hope of financial success without Amway. This is also a byproduct of upline teaching that most of us have no chance to be financially successful without Amway. Ironically, the vast majority of people would be no worse for wear or better off without any brush with Amway. Most people snap out of it quickly, but some people bite hard like my former sponsor, who is still toiling away after more than 20 years. What's worse is my sponsor was/is a physician and he is probably farther away from financial freedom than most people is a similar occupation.

So, in summarizing the scam, the diamonds lure people into Amway with great displays of luxury and wealth. They say that anyone and everyone can possibly achieve the same by following their system and by participating in their tools system (cds, books, seminars). What ticks me off is that these hucksters claim all the credit for any tiny amounts of success but blame anything less than success on the individual. They'll call it personal responsibility. These diamonds are liars and cheats. They have never been held accountable for the failures of even the most earnest of IBOs who followed their system. The excuse being that the IBO did not work hard enough, or they didn't do thing exactly right. That is total BS.

The vast majority of people fail in Amway because Amway is designed that way. Their common 6-4-2 plan consists of 79 IBOs. One is a platinum and the rest are not. When you consider that these 79 IBOs are all active and receiving bonuses, this is not a realistic group. A more realistic group will be 200 or more downline IBOs. Many doing little or nothing and the rest scraping up enough PV to make someone a platinum. Thus, one two hundred is one half of one percent. And that's below the going average of success for someone reaching platinum, and this was confirmed on Amway.com.  According to Amway, about 1/4 of 1% reach platinum.  Imagine the rate of success for diamond? It's a tiny fraction of one percent. And that's just to reach diamond, not to maintain it.

Come join Amway and get rich. That's the pitch. The reality is the diamonds and above are getting rich selling their downline training on how to success in Amway. A classic bait and switch scam. The tools business is the "real" business with higher profit margins than Amway products and less people sharing in the profits. Amway is just the front for the tools business to exist. I believe this post clearly explains how Amway is used as a bait and switch scam. Beware!

The Legality Issues?

 Amway is a legal company. They were investigated by the FTC back in 1979 and the FTC ruled that Amway was not an illegal pyramid because they did not pay for recruiting (headhunting fees) and they required product purchases. Also, there are no required purchases and Amway has a fairly generous refund policy. So yes, by the letter of the law Amway appears to be a perfectly legal MLM company. What is not true is that the better business bureau (BBB) endorses Amway or that the FTC "praised" Amway after the 1979 ruling. In fact, Amway was fined in 1986 for deceptive income claims.

However, that being said, doesn't mean that Amway IBOs and IBO leaders can't run their independent businesses in an illegal and unethical manner. For example, if your upline tells you not to sell anything and to simply buy your volume to qualify for bonuses, that is a very questionable practice. If your upline tells you to deceive people about the Amway opportunity or teaches "fake it till you make it", that is also a questionable practice. In what business can you rely on deception and hope to make it a long term and sustainable success?   Think about that seriously for a minute.  In some ways, it's laughable and yet it's a WTH moment as well.

Amway the company has some standards that they uphold but at times, Amway IBOs or IBO leaders will disregard those standards. New IBOs and prospects at times may not know when their upline or sponsor is leading them astray, which is what prompted me to write this post. If you are taught to "submit to upline", keep in mind that you are an independent business owner and will be responsible for what happens with your business. Too many times I've seen or heard of IBOs failing and accepting the responsibility all the while following the "experienced" advice given by upline. What is troubling is that many serious IBOs will be paying for advice from upline in the form of functions, seminars, cds/audios of the week, open meetings. Yet when followed advice fails, upline will tell the IBO they are responsible for their own failure. Seriously?

Some IBOs I've known stayed in Amway for many years, spent tens of thousands of dollars or more and have not made a cent in net profit. They have been programmed to think that they will succeed if they never quit or that success is right around the corner, and they can't quit because they don't want to quit just before the business pays off. In the end, a business is a business and IBOs need to look at their bottom line. If you aren't making a net profit after following the plan and advice mapped out by upline, there comes a point where tough business decisions must be made. Maybe Amway is not the way. Maybe it's time to do something else? Nobody can make that decision except the business owner. Look at the facts. If you aren't making a net profit, perhaps your business isn't as viable as you think?

To summarize, the Amway corporation appears to be perfectly legal but your sponsor or your upline can be running things illegally without Amway's knowledge, which can cause you financial damages. New IBOs and people who are looking into the business need to be aware of these facts.  If you question upline and don't receive a straight answer, that should send up all kinds of red flags immediately.

Does Anything Ever Change?

 If I'm not mistaken, Amway was booming in the mid 90's. Their sales had hit a new high of around 7 billion at that time. Recruitment was up and there seemed to be new diamonds and emeralds popping up all over the US. I joined the Amway business around 1997-1998 and the wave was still going. I later quit, discovered the lies and fraud that was used to entice me to join and eventually became an advocate for the truth about the AMOs (AMO = Amway Motivational Organization such as WWDB, BWW, etc) and some of the AMO leaders.

One of the things used by Amway defenders is that the experience of people who are critical of Amway are invalid because the experience may be dated, or because some people who are critical of Amway have never actually been IBOs. I don't buy that argument because you can be quite knowledgeable about certain things without having done them. I know that I would not put my hand on a hot stove because my hand would get burned. Even if I have never burned my hand on a stove before, I know this. Or if I burned my hand on a stove 15 years ago, would my experience be different if I put my hand on a hot stove now? Unlikely. I also know that jumping off a 10-story building would not be good for my health, although I haven't done it myself.

Yes, the Amway business has undergone some changes over the years. Most groups do not use the call in and pickup method of product movement anymore, although my understanding is that some groups still do this for standing orders and other tools. There is accreditation process for the tools which may have helped, but even with this, there is evidence of unethical practices going on, just that these issues are going on small meetings rather than recorded functions.  This is because uplines can say things in small meetings that they cannot say on a big stage where the speech might be recorded.  Many groups still focus on recruiting new IBOs and not on selling products for a profit. Many groups still focus on selling their downline tools and not ensuring profitability for new IBOs.

My former group, WWDB, apparently still has many of the leaders who were present when I was an IBO. There have been very few new diamonds in the last 25 years or so, relative to the number of IBOs that have come and gone. The lies and deception by the upline leaders were never accounted for. They have been exposed as basically frauds. Leaders who taught "pay by cash only" are found to have debts they cannot pay. leaders who swore that Amway saved marriages are getting divorced. Those who swore that tools were the key to success have little or no success to show for all the tools they sold. There is little "fruit on the tree", which was a common phrase back in my IBO days. The tree is close to barren.

What has changed in the Amway business in the last 15 to 20 years other than a name change to Quixtar and then back to Amway? Not much when you look at the big picture. The masses are still losing money today.   Success rates are tiny fractions of 1% and nothing of note that I'm aware of has changed to make Amway and it's business opportunity any better, as far as I know. 

Joecool Or Your Upline?

 Who does more good as a whole for society? Joecool, who posts personal experiences, facts, and informed opinions about Amway, which allows IBOs to make informed decisions about whether or not to get involved in the Amway opportunity, or an upline who fills a prospect's head full of dreams and fantasies that will never come true? I certainly do not encourage anyone to quit or not to join, my goal is to provide information which will allow an IBO or information seeker to have full disclosure before committing time and/or money into this business venture. I feel I am qualified to speak on the matter, having been an IBO and having built my business to the 4000 PV level. Most people agree that due diligence is a must for anyone wanting to start a business venture.

When you think about it, Amway IBOs can actually unintentionally contribute to a downturn in their local economy. You see, an IBO now spends about $300 a month or more on products that they get from Amway, a Michigan based company. Those purchases would otherwise have been able to go to local grocery stores or local retailers. Those purchases would help pay the local workers. Secondarily, IBOs who spend several hundreds of dollars on conventions and meetings and standing orders, voicemail, etc, end up channeling more money to their uplines somewhere. Thus, instead of movies or a sit down dinner at a local restaurant, IBOs send that money elsewhere and that also affects the local economy. It's great for Amway but I'm fairly certain that the impact on the local economy can add up after some time passes.

This would be different if many IBOs actually made tons of money to be able to enjoy luxuries at home and to be able to bless local charities. I have heard many times about IBOs being told to defer donating time and money to charity because when they eventually go diamond, they can then donate ten thousand dollar checks to their church. Sadly, so few people ever make a significant income from Amway, and out of those who do, I wonder how many ever make good on that promise to donate ten thousand dollar checks? I suspect the answer is very few. Instead, it appears that many diamonds would rather provide for their own pleasure based on the kinds of toys and luxuries they show off at functions.  Around 2009, a triple diamond declared chapter 7 bankruptcy and his income taxes and things were made public.  I saw no $10,000 donations to charity.  In fact, despite a near million dollar annual income, I don't believe the diamond had even donated anywhere near $10,000 to charity, total.  That means for all the big talk, this diamond gave less than 1% of his gross income to charity.  (all talk but no walk?)

So who does more good? A Joecool who provides free information that can help people? Or uplines who may lie or deceive people into joining so they can make hefty profits from selling them tools?

The Truth?

 One of the things that irks me about some Amway leaders is their blatant revisionist history. They never take responsibility for anything except for the tiny amounts of success that seeps through their system. Real problems and issues are ignored, or leaders pretend they never happened, or they simply rewrite history to fit their goals and agendas. And to make matters worse, these same leaders teach their downline to accept personal responsibility for their failures, even when downline faithfully purchase and apply teaching from tools such as voicemail, standing orders and functions.  And despite this, the faithful downline revere these leaders, treating them like rock stars.

One good example was the complete lie that nobody made profits from tools. Then when caught red handed, leaders now admit that they make profits from tools, but nobody seems to know exactly how much, or how you actually qualify to receive compensation. And there was no backlash for having told such blatant lies.  When I was an IBO, these leaders stood on stage and said that nobody made profits from tool, and in fact, any profit was incidental and that profit was reinvested into WWDB to make future functions more affordable.   (Where's my rolling eyes emoji?)

Leaders in my former LOS, WWDB used to teach how so few IBO couples ever gets divorced. I heard that Amway couples had a 2% divorce rate as compared to the rest of the world where over 50% of couples get divorced. Yet, WWDB uses their own revisionist history. One really good example is diamond Howie Danzik, who WWDB says built his business as a single and later married Theresa Tsuruda. I guess I must have imagined the emerald function I attended where Howie and his wife at the time, Susan, said they built the business together. There are other examples of this, but what amazes me is how the downlines seem to ignore these facts.

Another recent example was how an IBO insisted that a prominent triple diamond in WWBD did not have homes foreclosed or was not involved in bankruptcy proceedings, even when there are numerous public documents providing ample evidence that it is true. It's mind boggling. If Tiger Woods were a diamond and denied that he had any affairs, I bet his downline would believe him as well. Scary.

I just have to wonder when IBOs, who dedicate themselves to various systems, will ever hold these leaders accountable for their actions. If you buy a television and it didn't work, you would ask for a refund. Well, if those standing orders and functions contain vital information and you apply them and they don't work, you should ask for a refund as well. People should also ask upline the tough questions. If someone gives you bad advice, they should be held accountable. If someone tells you buying a home with a mortgage is stupid because of the interest you will pay, then you find out they have "interest only loans", that makes them a hypocrite and their advice should be questioned.

Don't allow these well compensated leaders to simply rewrite history to ignore their mistakes and transgressions.  While nobody is perfect, these leaders need to be held to account.

Amway Changed My Life?

 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?  Residual, willable, walk away income right?  Who wouldn't want that?

Well, it all 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 sandcastle 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 Wal Mart 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 barbeques 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 part 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?  And the most important question is why did you join if not for more money?  To have upline toss out a distraction that Amway isn't about money is total BS.   You would not have joined if not for a pitch about money so don't let upline distract and try to appease your goals and desires with lies about Amway is not about money.

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.

Business Equity?

 Many people see the Amway plan.  Some prospects sign up in the hopes that additional Amway income will help them fulfill their dreams and that they will walk away from their jobs and collect lifelong residual income while walking the beaches of the world. Sadly, most IBOs will never even sponsor a single downline and many will not sell a single product to a non IBO customer. These IBOs may continue in the business for a while but will eventually quit when they see the writing on the wall. The fact that many people sign up and do little or nothing is a problem that seems to go ignored by many.  Why would you be hyped up about working 2-5 years then being set for life, only to end up doing little to nothing then quitting? 

But wait, you're an "independent business owner". So instead of quitting, why not sell your Amway business? I wonder if any IBOs actually think about what their business is worth. I mean a diamond could sell their business and live large happily ever after right? Here's some food for thought. Why are there instance of diamonds quitting or resigning from Amway? Why would they just quit when they could either walk away and collect an income "forever" or sell the business? What would an Amway business be worth? You don't really own equipment or a building. You probably don't have employees. Your Amway business likely has little or no equity. You don't own your downline, although their volume passes through your business. But if they do nothing, you get nothing, which is why people cannot just "walk away" and collect income forever. 

I believe diamonds quit and resign because their business is worth very little or nothing. And most Amway businesses do not even generate a net profit. For IBOs who are seriously pondering on this very important message, try looking up this topic in Amway's rules. There are very complicated steps to be taken when selling your Amway business as each person upline must be offered ownership (To the best of my understanding). This process can go on for a long time and the attrition of your business could render it worthless before you can find a buyer, if you have a buyer at all. Also, if you quit, the downline in your group would be surrendered to the immediate upline anyway. So why would your upline want to buy your business? Why not just do nothing and let the downline be defaulted to you?  

Given these rules, it seems silly and a bad business decision for any of your upline to buy your Amway business if they inherit all of your downline if you quit.  Besides, your business is what exactly?   Your Amway business is just a spot on the proverbial pyramid, in my opinion.  

So IBOs, I ask you. What is your business worth? Food for thought....

Walking The Beaches?

 One of the battle cries I heard as an Amway IBO was how one day, we would all be financially free and walking the beaches of the world. Being free and not having to own an alarm clock and not reporting to a boss. I mean it sounded like a cool deal. All you had to do was work the system 2-5 years and follow the proven system of success. At the time, I thought honestly that I was going to do just that. But as time passed, I started to notice things said and taught by the upline leaders that just did not make sense.

For example, why would we constantly be told to get out of debt and live below our means, but it was okay to go deeper in debt to attend a function or to buy more standing orders? If debt is bad, then debt is bad. There wasn't much talk about using your business to generate profits to reduce debt. Just more recruiting and sponsoring. I suspect it's because it's just not feasible to generate enough sales to make any serious income from selling generic brand products for top premium prices.  Thus, spend more on tools and get it done right?   All hype with no substance,  If you see beyond the thin veneer of half truths, it becomes clear what upline is doing.

Of course, now I know about how upline's apparent greed was what led to this type of advice. Or we were taught that God was our top priority, followed by our spouse, family, job and then the Amway business. But when anything conflicted with am Amway function or a meeting, the Amway function was ALWAYS to be the priority. "Never miss a meeting, period" was the advice we got from upline. Attend "all" functions. All means all. So much for prioritizing God, family and our jobs before Amway. It was just talk without any action.  Even church was secondary to the Amway God.  More teaching without substance.

Which leads me to ask prospects and IBOs. What progress are you making? When will you be walking the beaches of the world? Why aren't any of your upline leaders retired from Amway, collecting mountains of cash and walking the beaches of the world? Why doesn't Amway advertise residual income as a benefit of the business if it were true? Can you even name one or two people who built an Amway business and actually walked away from their business and collects income? Surely a 50+ year old business with this benefit must have hoards of people realizing this wonderful benefit? Why can't people name a single diamond who built the business, walked away and enjoyed this benefit that's used as a selling point for Amway?   

What many people, including IBOs don't know is that you can never go inactive in Amway. Amway, as far as I know, will only pay bonuses on an active business, thus if you ever walk away, someone will have to run your business. You will also need to move a certain amount of volume in order to qualify for some of these bonuses, and you will have to hope that none of your downline ever quits or stop ordering products, or else your bonuses will dwindle down to little or nothing very quickly. For the higher up diamonds, if you stop, not only will your Amway business fall apart, but you will not receive tool money because you aren't participating. Thus diamonds work until they are physically incapable or until they pass away. That is not freedom.

What Is Possible?

 One of the things that uplines talk about is fulfilling your wildest dreams. They want to show IBOs and prospects "what is possible". But what is possible is like showing off the winners of lotteries because the reality of the Amway business is many will lose so a few can win. A simple analysis of the 6-4-2 plan or whatever version your group uses will reveal that the lower layers of IBOs are losing money, and they lose more if they are subscribing to various tools such as voicemail, standing order, and attending functions and meetings. This is inevitable and a reality of the Amway business.  But uplines cleverly get people to think big and create dreams so they have a "reason" to commit, work hard and try to achieve their Amway dreams.  Then they hook you with "but you need tools to succeed".  They'll tell you that a carpenter needs a hammer and nails and other tools.  But a carpenter buys tools once unless there's a need to replace broken to damaged tools.  They don't have Amazon delivering new hammers and saw on a weekly basis, do they?

So, whose dream are fulfilled? Based on projected income from Amway bonuses and income from selling the tools, I would have to say that only the dreams of your upline get fulfilled by your hardcore dedication to the tools system. Even someone at 1000 to 2500 PV will be losing money if they are hardcore sold out to the system. Of course, some of this might depend on where you live and how far you must travel to attend functions. But in general, many IBOs are being advised to "reinvest" any of their bonuses into tools and functions. Ironically, reinvesting into the tools is why these IBOs end up with a net loss. And of course, reinvesting your profits only benefits your upline and not yourself.

Another sad chain of events is that upline will ask for your trust. That they have your best interest at heart and want your trust. Do as they advise, and you are virtually assured of success right?  Then if you do everything you are told, your upline will blame you for failure or teach you to blame yourself for a lack of effort or not doing everything just right.  Uplines as far as I know have never been accountable for advice that they pass downline. But they are quick to take credit for the limited success that is grinded out of the system.  It is puzzling to see shameless apologists continue to defend and promote an opportunity where the vast majority end up with a net loss. In some cases where downline have sold out to the system, the losses can mount into tens of thousands of dollars or more over a short period of time.

Starting last month and into next month, there will be a WWDB function called Dream Night. A function where you might see slide shows of mansions, yachts, sports cars, exclusive vacations and other trappings of wealth. The diamonds may say do as we say, and you can have what we have. What goes unnoticed in all this is that the diamonds may not in fact own or have some or all of the goodies shown in the slide shows. They might not have the kind of income you think. Some may have financial difficulties but one thing seems clear to me. That downline's dedication and tool purchases help the upline diamonds to fulfill their own dreams, but not yours.  

Residual Income?

 Do the work once and reap the rewards for life. Lifelong willable passive/residual income. These are some of the things that attracted me to the Amway opportunity. That I could do the work, and have the option of sitting back, enjoying a fabulous lifestyle of riches and never have to work again. I could wake up at noon if I chose to, and/or I could stay out late hanging out with my "free" Amway buddies.  Except that it's a lie.  Even the Amway corporation never mentions anything about residual income on any of their printed material or disclosures.  This is hyped by upline as a recruiting trick, IMO.

Residual income sounds great on the surface, however, when you analyze an Amway diamond's income and look at things carefully, you can see where this lifestyle is just not possible. Even if a diamond earned $500,000 a year from Amway and the tools income, after considering taxes, business expenses and other necessities such as medical insurance and retirement savings, you don't have enough left to live what is often portrayed as a "diamond" lifestyle. Also, keep in mind that a lot of a diamond's income is received in the form of an annual bonus so a diamond's monthly income might be relatively small.  You could argue that not having to work a job is a great benefit, but it likely does not produce anything near what is hyped as the "diamond" lifestyle.

One could (and should) also wonder why there aren't any diamonds (that I know of) who have actually walked away from their businesses and continue to collect any significant income from Amway. With more than half of all IBOs not staying in business for a year and about 95% of the rest of the IBOs being gone several years later, it would be an insurmountable task to keep your income rolling in with that poor retention rate. As far as I know, an Amway IBO also needs to have a minimal amount of side volume in order to qualify for certain significant payments/bonuses. That is a lot of volume to move when IBOs are quitting the business daily, and these days, it seems as though there are fewer IBOs getting involved, at least in the US, which is Amway's flagship market as far as I know.

It is for that reason, I believe these crown ambassadors and higher-level pins are still working. Once you stop, it is very likely that there is no tool income, and once your downline starts to suffer attrition, then your Amway income and bonuses will eventually dry up as well. I believe there is no true residual income in Amway. Sure, build a big business and walk away. You may continue to receive some income for a while, but eventually, it will disappear. It is like building a sandcastle on the beach. The bigger you build it, the longer it will last, but it is for certain that the tide will eventually wash the sand away, just as time and attrition will eat away your Amway business. If you are popular and charismatic enough to attract a large downline, once you leave, so will your downline.

As far as I am concerned, I believe the residual income claims from Amway is just a long running myth used to attract recruits. I don't know of anyone who built a large Amway business and then walked away, and is still collecting a significant income. Do you?  Where are they if they exist?

The Fallacy?

There has been much debate by both critics and Amway IBOs and supporters over an issue regarding a WWDB Dream Night function. The issue was an honest question over the cost of a Dream Night Ticket. Well, needless to say, the IBO in question ended up deciding that his blog will no longer accept comments. And while that is certainly his right, he made a statement that IBOs may be told, but makes no sense. Here is the statement:

"Here is a tip when doing research, if you have a question about a company why not give the actual company a call? Wow what a concept."   (This is the fallacy spread by upline in my informed opinion)

While on the surface, that me seem logical and might even seem to make sense. If you have a question about how a company works, that might make perfect sense. But the Amway opportunity, along with the attached motivational tools companies, make that a touchy situation. What are you supposed to do? Call WWDB and ask if they are a good company? Call WWDB and ask if they scam downline? What if you call and ask WWDB if most IBOs on their system make money or lose money? If you look at the average income of the majority of IBOs and factor in expenses such as voicemail, standing orders and functions, I can only conclude that the vast majority of IBOs on the system have to be losing money. The longer you stay in the system, the more you lose. Furthermore, I believe there are more people winning the power ball lottery in the US than the number of new WWDB diamonds emerging in the US in the last twenty five years ago or so.

Imagine if you had questions and simply asked the person? Hello? Mr. Al Capone, I heard you were a gangster in charge of organized crime. But I thought it would only be fair if I got the answer directly from you. What's that? You're not a gangster and you go to church? Okay, I see. Well, that clears that up. Mr. Capone is not a gangster, I confirmed that by asking him. Do you see the ridiculous justification of just asking the person in question? Isn't a better way to ask a neutral third party?

Many IBOs will also suggest that you check the better business bureau. Well, Amway seems to have a good mark from the better business bureau. But Amway isn't selling you voicemail and other support materials right? That would be WWDB or some other motivational group, or a particular double or triple diamond, whose business may not have been registered or known to the better business bureau.

I believe IBOs, information seekers, and prospects can find a ton of information on the internet using google. Upline leaders discourage this because too much frank and disparaging information exists about the Amway opportunity. But much of that information is real life true experiences. I was an up and coming "mover and shaker" in WWDB. This blog reflects much of my real experiences and the realizations I came to after having left Amway and WWDB. Sadly, my experience was not a good one, but more and more I see evidence that what I was taught many years ago is still taught today, and by some of the same leaders. I hope my experience can help others.

Something For Nothing?

 In my opinion, Amway is a pyramid. They have not been found illegal, but still operate a product pyramid, in my opinion. The reason why they remain legal, apparently is because they do not pay anyone for directly recruiting downline and they claim to sell products to actual customers. But most everyone has been, or knows someone who was recruited by a zealous Amway IBO. The emphasis of most active IBOs is on recruiting and much of the teaching by upline is on techniques to recruit and/or how to talk to people without tipping their hat to reveal the Amway name. Most IBOs are not very good at this, and they stick out like sore thumbs in many cases. It's also comical when uplines teach crazy antics, like how some IBOs use to deny that Amway and Quixtar were even remotely connected, or if anyone remembers the "perfect water" fiasco a number of years back.

One of the reasons IBOs use to justify their involvement in the pyramid is that they can earn more than their sponsor. While that is true, it is only because everyone below the emerald or diamond level is basically expendable, or a slave in the pyramid. There are many IBOs who achieve fairly high levels who quit, or had upline wreck their businesses. Thus, even platinums are expendable to upline. In fact, an upline might make more money by removing the platinum. For new IBOs or recruits, do you really believe that you are going to ever surpass your current upline diamond or higher? If you believe that, you are sadly mistaken.

And for those who dream of achieving diamond and walking the beaches of the world. How do you think you can ever achieve that? You don't get something for nothing unless someone gets nothing for something. In order for you to receive income for little or no efforts, your downline IBOs must keep purchasing products and replacing IBOs who quit. If your downlines cannot keep up with the attrition rate, your business will collapse in a hurry. Come to think of it, if a diamond can walk away and collect a large income forever, why hasn't anyone done it? I mean we still see crown ambassadors still busy working functions or dying on the job and I don't know of any who walked away to spend their lives jet setting on the beaches of the world.

The sad reality is that you see new faces at meetings and functions, just as often as you see familiar faces disappear. With that kind of attrition rate, you may have to work even harder at the higher levels just to keep your business status quo. In Egypt, the slaves built the pyramids. Do you have enough slaves? What many Egyptologists find amazing is how the Egyptians were able to motivate the slaves to keep on going, doing backbreaking work all of their lives. The same can be said of a diamond level business (or higher)

Just Make More?

 One of the things my (WWDB) upline frequently told us, was to "just make more money". This was about how our lives are impacted by rising prices of things. For example, a friend of mine who works for a gas company has said the price of gas in the US is likely to keep rising until it exceeds $10.00 a gallon. Your Amway upline will probably just say you need to make more money by working your business harder. My upline certainly did.  But what does it mean to work harder?  Reading more books, attending more functions or many of the upline recommended activities are non-income producing activities.  The only things that make you money are selling goods and services for a profit, and to sponsor downline who actually move some volume. 

Now for most IBOs, you are likely losing money due to the "system" consisting of books, meetings, standing orders, and functions. You cannot simply "make more money" just because you want you. There was a time when I had that mindset, because it was taught by WWDB leaders. Amway was supposed to be the answer to that problem, but for most, the Amway opportunity ends up being the reason for more debt rather than a way for people to make more money. You are programmed to think you just earn more money to solve financial issues, if only you will "be core" and work your business hard. Sadly, most hard working IBOs will end up with "less money" because of the advice of their trusted "mentors and business coaches".

Ironically, in WWDB (my former LOS), some of the leaders and mentors may have been exposed as frauds as some of them experienced financial problems, including home foreclosures, thus exposing them as liars and frauds as many of these very leaders stood on a large stage claiming that WWDB diamonds pay cash for everything and that people who make loans are "stupid". Makes you wonder about the integrity if such leaders. These leaders are for the most part, still teaching this garbage today.

You may think earning more money is the simple answer to many of your problems, but you are unlikely to solve these problems by attending functions and listening to standing orders. Seriously.  Instead of blindly following upline advice, do the activities that generate income, not ones that cost you money such as standing orders and functions.

Why Amway IBOs Defend Amway?

I often get a bunch of silly comments from anonymous commenters. Sometimes the imply or make veiled threats to stop me from blogging, as if that will happen. It sort of made me wonder why so many IBOs, most of whom are losing money, defend Amway so fiercely. It made me realize that for many of these IBOs, they have no choice but to defend Amway. Let me explain.

Many IBOs and prospects, are not where they want to be financially in life. It is why they get lured into Amway, as they truly believe that Amway will make them rich. Sure, upline will toss in the disclaimer that Amway won't make you rich "quick", but certainly they must give enough of an impression that you will get rich somehow. Then the bait and switch occurs.

Once an IBO signs up and decides that he or she wants to give an effort towards making the opportunity work, upline will then speak about the system. How the system is the key to success. That nobody "makes it" without the system. Or that the system is optional but so is success. The system becomes a defacto requirement for many IBOs. Some IBOs do not realize that some uplines make most of their income from the system tools such as websites, voicemail, standing order cds, and functions.

Uplines will also teach that you only fail if you quit. Or you are now a winner for joining Anway and all others are losers. You will eventually succeed if you never quit. Upline may recommend that you listen to or watch inspiring stories of people who never quit. It raises subtle pressure on IBOs to keep going. To walk away would practically doom you to failure in life. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.

At this point, an IBO has to defend Amway to justify his decision. To quit would place you in the category of "loser" or "failure". An IBO starts to wonder how he or she will accomplish the dreams and goals without the elusive Amway residual income. So now you have IBOs who will fiercely defend Amway because the alternative is to admit that it was a mistake to join Amway. It may mean quitting and cutting losses. The longer an IBO stays in, the harder it can be to quit. My former sponsor has been fully active for 18 years now and he has never gone beyond platinum. I believe his ego will never let him quit at this point.

For me, quitting was just a wise decision, business wise. I was at 4000 PV (with eagle parameters) and I did not earn what upline said I would earn. I also had my upline continuously adding pressure on me to give him control of my life, such as asking permission to buy things, get married, etc. It was becoming very cult - like and I thought it was getting bizarre. I quit and never regretted it.

But many IBOs and Amway zealots defend Amway. Why? Because they have to.

Amway Makes People Nicer?

This post is a re-post of one from some years ago.  I am re-posting it because I recently had someone leave a comment under the title of "anonymous" criticizing Joecool for operating under a pen name in order to protect my real identity.   As you can see, Amway doesn't appear to make zealous IBOs "nicer".

 Over the last year or so, there's someone, possibly an IBO (but I'm not sure) who has been occasionally leaving idle threats on Joecool's blog. He claims to know my true identity outside of my Joecool Persona and also mistakenly thinks I am also the person who goes by the handle of "Tex" and he is again sorely mistaken. Tex is a known liar whose real life identity is Scott J------- and has made numerous racist statements on other blogs. Also, Joecool is from Hawaii and not from Plano Texas.

This anonymous claims to have additional information about me that he is sending to Amway and some other authorities. Here's what the anonymous coward from Canada posted a few months back. I have been documenting these "idle threats" in case the anonymous coward tries to make good on any of these idle threats. Here's the post:

Anonymous said...
"Just go and hang yourself or shoot a bullet through your empty skull. You speak like someone who quit and is bitter in life. Your posts are misleading and you want to do nothing less than kill people's dreams and hopes for a better life. You're an irresponsible man in all of your life dealings and quick at throwing the dead cat from your garden to your neighboor's. Oh, it's not me, it's you, it's him, it's them whatever. Lack of discipline and not accepting responsibility. That's why you didn't make it in Amway and for that matter in any other past or future businesses."

Anonymous said...
"How about I punch you in the face to make you stop"

There are more statements like this one but I will not publish all of them. I have reason to believe that this may be the same anonymous person who left me a threat just about two years ago. IBOFightback aka David Steadson (Former Amway shill and sycophant) lied when he claimed that I said Amway IBOs threatened me. I clearly said a "zealot". I never once said an IBO or anyone affiliated with Amway sent me anything threatening. IBOFightback also thinks I lied about the threats previously because he wasn't forwarded copies of what was said. IBOFightback also lied about completing an investigation that revealed all of the truth because he never contacted me about all of this. His investigation apparently consisted of reading comments on his own forum/blog. I wasn't previously able to verify the person's ID as I had just installed a site tracker and was not adept at identifying an IP address to the post. Well, this is it:

Rogers Cable (99.245.94.215) IP address
Scarborough, Ontario, Canada

Success Is Relative?

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

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

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

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

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

Amway And The BBB?

 An anonymous poster who resides in Scarbourough Ontario Canada, recently posted a link from the better business bureau which I have attached:

www.bbb.org/western-michigan/business-reviews/multi-level-selling-co/amway-global-in-ada-mi-15000624

The link says Amway Global had an A+ rating. Congratulation to Amway Global. Certainly, even as a critic of the Amway opportunity, I can acknowledge that an A+ rating from the BBB is something to be proud of. However, even as a critic, I have said that my personal dealing with Amway customer service was always satisfactory or better. Here's what the BBB link says about their ratings: "BBB assigns grades from A to F with pluses and minuses. A+ is the highest grade and F is the lowest. The grade represents BBB’s degree of confidence that the business is operating in a trustworthy manner and will make a good faith effort to resolve any customer concerns" Thus Amway makes a good effort to manage and resolve customer complaints.

Many Amway IBOs do not understand or are fed deception. The rating does not apply to your line of sponsorship. The rating does not say WWDB, Network 21 or BWW has an A+ rating from the BBB. Also, IBOs are not Amway! In IBO is an "independent business". Therefore, the BBB rating does not apply to Amway IBOs.

It is this misuse of Amway's credibility that deceptive upline leaders use to sell their system. It is why so many misinformed IBOs think that the BBB and the FTC endorse Amway. They do not endorse any business. They are regulatory agencies.

IBOs and Amway prospects, I challenge you to point out where the Better Business Bureau or the FTC says that the Amway opportunity is a good and profitable one.
Go and search high and low, you won't find that information. You must remember that nobody here has claimed that Amway is illegal or provides poor customer service.

Joecool's contention is that the Amway Opportunity, in its present form and as promoted by many LOS's, is a poor business opportunity for nearly all who register. Amway's average income, when disregarding "inactive IBOs", is $202 a month. If you can retire early on that income, then go for it.

Working Hard?

 One of the things that many Amway defenders will cite is that the people who don't succeed didn't work hard enough or didn't put in enough effort. While I agree that one must work hard to succeed in many endeavors, I will also state my informed opinion that working hard and success in Amway may not be related. I say this because I have seen so many testimonies of people who worked the Amway business hard and achieved little or no results.

Part of the problem is that many uplines emphasize recruiting as their focus, even though there is no direct compensation for doing so. In fact, recruiting downline often comes with a bunch of business expenses such as gas, babysitters, and the false belief that an IBO needs standing orders and seminars to learn this. Also, Amway has a spotty reputation in the US, thus making recruiting potential downline a very difficult task.

An important part of any business is to find customers to buy your goods. Because IBOs already spend much of their time recruiting and not selling, they are already at a disadvantage over many other businesses. Add in the seemingly uncompetitive prices of Amway and Amway partner store products and you give IBOs yet another disadvantage over most other businesses. If there were better value in these goods and services, then IBOs who sell instead of recruit would be much more common. Also, the Amway compensation plan often rewards uplines rather than the IBOs who actually do the work of moving the volume.

I also believe that the Amway business is so outdated and inefficient. While you may have a website to sell your goods, you have restrictions that severely limit the ability of an IBO to drive traffic to their website. The person to person touch may sound nice and flowery, but it is the most inefficient way to make sales. It is why people pay millions to advertise during the Superbowl, because you may have a hundred million people watching the advertisement and can drive up your name recognition and sales.

While working hard is definitely important to succeeding in any venture, I don't believe there is any bonafide correlation that working hard equates success in the Amway business for the reasons I have outlined in this post.

Was And Still Is?

 When I was a younger man, I was pitched Amway as a shortcut to untold wealth. That in 2-5 years, everyone could be millionaires walking the beaches of the world and living the high life. All we needed was 2-5 years of work and to dedicate yourself to the "system". If you do all of the "core" steps for 6 straight months, 100% of the time you would succeed. That was the teaching then and based on my observations and discussions with current IBOs, that's basically what is taught now. Therefore, I still believe that Amway was and still is a scam.

Amway products are not priced competitively. The "generous" 30+% bonus that Amway pays out is included in the cost of Amway products. And that's before an IBO adds markup for their own profit. I know that many IBOs are willing to sell at their cost to reduce the amount of PV they need to self consume. This is based on various discussions I've had with IBOs and some of them are desperate to move volume, even at cost. Therefore, Amway products cannot be competitively sold because of these reasons. NOw that's not to say there are no good deals from Amway. A few products here and there may very well be decent value, but overall and in general, Amway products cannot compare to similar products that you can get at a retailer.

The other scam is the Amway "tools" system. Upline promotes the system as your key to success. The system consists of a voicemail system, CDs, books, functions, sample kits and some other materials. These costs can vary and some upline will foot the cost for new IBOs in the beginning. But the system itself has no verified record of success. Some uplines or IBOs will claim that everyone who went diamond was on the system, but to that I say every lottery winner had a ticket. Just because there are some winners doesn't mean that the system was responsible for their success or that the system works for most people who use it. Success in Amway is often short lived and unsustainable. (See how many former platinums and diamonds there are).

Amway is still promoted as easy, simple or "anyone can do it". The fact of the matter is anyone can win the lottery also. Amway defenders like to harp that Amway isn't a game of chance. To that I say isn't it sad that something that isn't a game of chance has the same dismal results as a game of chance? My old LOS, WWDB (Worldwide Group) used to claim they were the best and most profitable. Yet there are fewer diamonds (In the US) now than when I was involved many years ago. Shouldn't there be new and many success stories? There aren't. And it's why I believe that Amway was and still is a scam.

An Amway Comment?

 

An Observation About Amway?



http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=192279&page=8

It's refreshing to see so many good people on this forum telling the truth about Amway. It looks like the pro-Amway shills here and on other sites are becoming increasingly outnumbered and desperate. I've read through this entire thread and think it is hilarious how many times the shill has to move the goal-posts or play word games to make Amway look like an amazing business opportunity.

I was originally introduced to Amway many years ago in my late teens by an uncle of mine. I attended a few of their seminars, and was impressed at first. But the whole thing started to seem ridiculous and unrealistic and so I didn't get involved any further. Also, I'm not that materialistic, so Amway's message doesn't appeal to me. I wish my uncle had been more skeptical.

My uncle was very devoted to Amway for a few years. He bought all their products(especially the tapes and books), tried to get others to buy them, and also tried to recruit all his family and friends into his new religion. He eventually lost money and friends and alienated himself from much of his family.

Already heavily in debt, he eventually fell for another, even bigger get-rich-quick scam shortly after quitting Amway(to Amway's credit, they don't threaten to kill anyone for leaving Amway). This one robbed him of his entire life savings. The scammers got away with it because they knew how to play him right(he met one of them through Amway). His wife divorced him soon after.

As if this wasn't enough, after making a modest financial recovery with his business over the course of several years, he loses it all to yet another scam. He had to borrow heavily from the few friends he had left since no bank would ever give him a loan, and almost no one in the family has anything to do with him anymore. I haven't seen him for 15 years.

One thing I wonder about my uncle is if all those seminars and inspirational tapes and books softened him up to fall for all those other scams he fell for after quitting Amway(he didn't have a reputation for being gullible before joining Amway, though he was never that bright to begin with). If I remember correctly, he tended to blame himself for failing at Amway, and may have never understood that it was a big scam or at least not a good business opportunity.

I still remember those crazy seminars and how they told everyone that joining the Amway cult will likely lead to yachts, exotic vacations surrounded by hot bikini babes, and shiny expensive cars, among other symbols of wealth. Everyone is told at the seminars and in the "tools" that they have all this unfulfilled potential, but to realize this potential we must avoid those small-minded "dream killers"(skeptical family members and friends).

The story about my stupid uncle is true. There are many other people out there just like him who have fallen for Amway and others MLMs. The few people I've met who claimed they were very successful at Amway usually seemed sleazy or I would find out years later they were up to their eyeballs in debt.

The person who said before that the people who regularly attend these seminars are mostly fools and misfits was spot on.

Building A Business?

 Building an Amway business. That's what many IBOs set out to do, except they don't know how to build a business, and based on IBO behavior and the things they say and do, it makes me wonder what their upline actually knows about building a business. A typical business owner will get started, and needs people to know that their business is there.

When you open a store or a restaurant, you may not make a lot of money inittially because not enough customers know about your store and you have not yet built a reputation. New customers who have a good experience are likely to return for more, and they are also likely to tell others about your store. Over time, you create a customer base and your weekly sales become consistent and somewhat predictable. Conversely, if customers have a bad experience, they are likely to tell others as well.

In the Amway business, many IBOs have no idea about building a business. They are shown great (apparent) wealth by upline, and then told that their business activity consists of showing the plan, listening to standing order and attending functions. Most of an IBO's activity, as prescribed by upline, costs money instead of generating sales. Some uplines do teach IBOs to sell items, but more often than not, it is not taught as a priority.

What's more, as I said, a new business will get repeat customers when a customer has a good experience. What do you suppose happens when IBOs lie or trick people into attending Amway meetings, or deceive people about their business, or make up wild stories about perfect water? What happens when you embellish the truth about success and then cannot provide an answer when a recruit asks and IBO how they are doing in the Amway business? What happens when an IBO tells a potential recruit that he or she is a loser or stupid for not joining Amway? Would you return to a store if they called you stupid as you were leaving? What if you were called a loser?

These are the reasons why IBOs in general cannot get enough customers to sustain a consistent and predictable amount of sales, and why over the years, Amway has at best a spotty reputation. Just the mention of the name Amway and you may get funny looks from people. It is why certain internet zealots promoting Amway do more harm than good.

Amway And Las Vegas?

 I had an interesting inspiration recently. I thought of Amway like Las Vegas. Amway defenders will swoop in and claim that Amway is not gambling, therefore, not a valid comparison. But even with that, I still say Amway is like Las Vegas. The diamonds parade around on stage, trying to display the appearance of success and that "anyone" can do the same. To that, I say "anyone" can put a few dollars in the mega bucks slot machine and hit the big jackpot.  As if "anyone" means everyone, which is what is often implied by Amway leaders.  I heard comments like "everyone one of you" in this room can go diamond.  That's the same as saying everyone one of you that has a lottery ticket can win the mega millions or whatever lottery is being drawn.

While the diamonds portray some dream lifestyle, so does Las Vegas. The strip hotels are fabulous and opulent in luxuries. Just walking through some of the newer hotels can leave you in awe. And all of this can be yours for the right price. You can get almost anything you want in Vegas if you have enough money. In Amway, you can get almost anything you want if you can fool enough people into believing in you, allowing them to follow your coat tails and sign up somewhere in your downline

While Vegas might be legendary while the glitz and glamour, the casinos are full of people willing to lose their hard earned money in the hopes of shrinking it rich. The same thing applies in Amway, except that most Vegas visitors understand that the deck is stacked against them and that winning would be great but not expected. In Amway, the downline are led to believe they will all make it big and be on stage as emeralds and diamonds. The stark reality and the insidious part of Amway is that the hotels and can luxurious and opulent while the streets of Vegas are littered with homeless people and the casinos are full on people losing money each and every day.

Las Vegas was not built on winners and the Amway diamonds are not built on winners. Amway is built on millions of people churning and quitting. While in Amway, they hope or believe they will eventually "make it". In the meantime, they spend money on products and training that they would have not otherwise, and that doesn't factor in the loss of time. At least in Las Vegas, even if you lose money, you probably had a good time and a few complimentary meals or perks. The same cannot be said of Amway.

The Results Speak For Themselves?

 When I was an Amway prospect many years ago, I was told about early retirement, dreams, fancy living and other lifestyles beyond my imagination. Sure, nothing wrong with having dreams and goals to work towards. Everyone needs hope and it keeps you motivated and moving forward even when things get tough. People need hope and people need to be motivated. What is sad is that many Amway AMO leaders are selling false hope and dreams. You are chasing the end of the rainbow. no matter how hard you run, you are not going to find the end of that rainbow. While one in tens of thousands or more people might reach diamond, can you really bank on those kinds of chances with your future?

I think it's somewhat cruel for uplines to be selling hopes and dreams and then turning around and selling useless tools to the hopefuls. The tools do not work and only lines the pockets of those selling the tools. It's basically a bait and switch scam. Sell hopes and dreams, and then say that your tools are the only way to accomplish those dreams. New prospects and IBOs don't know better so they often trust upline to guide them. Meantime, upline has their hands in their pockets taking their money. It's a pretty insidious game. What sad is that despite all the information around, people are still falling for it. A niece of mine got invited to an Amway meeting some years back.  She happened to ask me what I thought. I told her the decision is ultimately hers, but I allowed her to read my blog. She decided not to join.

What many prospects ignore or miss is Amway's published stats. Less than one in 200 reaches platinum, or a small fraction of 1% reach diamond. The average income is only $202 a month after disregarding the inactive IBOs. The likely results for most participants is to lose money if they are on the system. If you do nothing, you may not lose money but you could lose the expense of the sign up fee and/or starter kit. Those who do nothing ironically end up the best off in the long run. Those who dedicate to the tools system usually get soaked if they stay in long enough. People who stay for a few years may suffer losses exceeding 10K or more. If you search Amway and taxes you'll probably find some interesting stories.

Bottom line, look at the bottom line and see what you are likely to achieve. Amwaye IBOs like to show only the pie in the sky best case scenario. A real business owner would want to know all the details including what is likely and what is typical. Afterall, what would make you different than any other businsess owners? Food for thought.

Tools Are Vital?

 As an IBO, I was told that I "needed" to attend all functions. Attending all functions meant "all" is what I was told. Brad Duncan once had a tape in the true north series where he said that downline should not cancel standing orders even when IBOs quit, because there would then be an urgency to replace that person. I was in WWDB and while not everyone in WWDB may have taught this, our group was told that we should purchase 5-7additional tapes/cds in addition to standing order because we needed to listen to new material daily and because we should be passing out these materials as they will sponsor new people. To date, I do not know of anyone who passed out a tape or cd and had someone decide to join the Amway business as a result of listening to that tape or cd.

When I was in the business (In WWDB), our group was told that WWDB was a non profit organization. That was quickly retracted, but still, the WWDB leaders stood on stage in front of tens of thousands of IBOs and said nobody made a profit from tools. We now know that it was a lie. We also know that many of these leaders are still teaching, and as far as I know, not a single WWDB leader has ever been accountable for these lies. Some of these lies may have caused untold financial damage to downline. I'm certain I would have been less dedicated to tools if I had known that some uplines made most of their income from tools and that their advice was a conflict of interest. Some Amway defenders are currently talking about how some negative misinformation about Amway is hurting their business, but ironically, it would appear that most damage to Amway has been done by IBOs themselves, such as tricking people to meetings. As far as I know, not a single person has ever been held liable for the financial damages to downlines and former IBOs who lost money by being told lies about Amway.

Now I also would like to emphasize that I do not believe the tools work and do not produce any results. While Amway defenders will claim that most if not all new emeralds and diamonds are on the system, they fail to mention that there are also tens or hundreds of thousands of people who work the system without results. As far as I know, there is no bonafide unbiased evidence that suggests that the system produces any results. It is why IBOs end up later talking about being a nicer person of how their marriage was strengthened by joining the system. While these are nice side benefits (if true), these reasons are not why you started a business. A business exists to make a profit, yet uplines make all kinds of excuses as to why IBOs did not profit, even placing the blame on the IBOs who trusted them.

It brings me to the real purpose of having tools. The REAL purpose of tools is to make profits for your upline. I believe the tools were invented as a way to motivate and train new and distance IBOs, but apparently, GREED eventually set in and many uplines started emphasizing tools, not because they wanted downline success, but because their tool businesses were wildly successful with thousands of captive downline dedicated to the system. I believe it is why I saw many IBOs who worked hard, never missed a meeting or function, did not sponsor any downline, but were still told they needed more and more tools.

I believe the real purpose of having tools is so your upline's tools business can be profitable.

Upline Mentors?

 The really insidious part about some of the Amway LOS leaders, such as the ones I had in WWDB, is that they apparently are cutthroat ruthless businessmen with nice suits, and disguised as your mentors and friends. They get you to trust them, and they will tell you that they have your best interest at heart, or that they would never purposely lead you astray. On the surface, you may think this is true, but look at their actions and you can easily discern that some of these uplines are absolutely ruthless businessmen who would take every cent from you if they could. I was in WWDB and I have good reasons to believe that they are still doing this, based on a WWDB IBO blog. On this blog, I see much of the same teachings today, that I heard as an IBO and some of the same claims such as buying homes in cash, Amway saves marriages, etc. It's scary.

As an IBO, the diamonds would tell you to never miss a function, ever. The only good reason for missing a function was for your own funeral. I recall some crossline IBOs rearranging pre-planned anniversary parties, weddings, and other special family events in the name of being core and attending all functions. Some IBOs actually did quit their jobs to attend functions and they very well may have done so because some uplines taught this. IBOs were also encouraged and told to go into debt to attend a function. This was okay because it was an investment into your business.

Our group was also strongly encouraged to buy extra cds every week. To be core, you needed to listen to a cd each day and you cannot listen to the same one each day right? Couples were told to buy their own separate standing orders. Brad Duncan even had a true north tape (cd) that said sponsors were to eat the standing orders for downlines who quit because it was too much trouble to call upline who calls upline who calls upline to cancel a standing order. Oddly enough, they didn't mind upline calling upline calling upline to add a standing order.

In the end, I was lucky enough to have been progressing up the pin ranks so my losses were not that devastating. I ended up losing in my early months of the business but mostly broke even when I was at 4000 PV. Sadly though, my crossline did not fare so well. I know of one couple who declared bankruptcy. I don't know how much their WWDB involvement contributed to bankruptcy, but I am certain it was a major factor and I know of two couples who had homes foreclosed, and I believe that their allegiance to WWDB was a factor in those foreclosures. But I guess hey, two WWDB diamonds had homes foreclosed so maybe they were duplicating?

Do not be fooled. The diamonds may have a nice smile and a nice suit, but they are ruthless businessmen who will take your last dime if you allow them to.

Only Upline Dreams?

 One of the issues I have with the Amway plan is that the newest IBO, possibly the one who does the most "Work", receives the smallest compensation. Amway pays about 30+% of their income back in the form of bonuses. An IBO who does 100 PV receives a 3% bonus and somewhere, uplines and sponsors receive the rest. Some of the upline may not have even met the IBO who actually did the work. Is that really fair and is that a level playing field? What do some of these uplines do to deserve the lion's share of the bonus you worked to get? Yes, the upline diamond may show the plan in an open meeting, which may help you, but then again, you pay for entrance into that meeting.

Many uplines will talk about dreams and fulfilling your dreams. But if an IBO would stop and think for a moment, you can easily see that you are building the dreams of your upline, and not your own. You receive a tiny portion of the bonus for the volume that you move, and then in addition, if you are on the system, then you are also paying upline in the form of tool purchases for the privilege of giving them bonuses with your product purchases.

It is why your upline diamonds can parade around on stage with designer suits and show you their fancy cars and mansions and other toys. It is because they are cashing in on your efforts. You are making their dreams come true. Your dedication to moving volume and purchasing standing orders are fulfilling dreams. The upline dreams. Yes, someday you can hope to have your own group of downline to exploit for your own benefit, but unless you are adding members to your group regularly, you will never achieve the kinds of dreams that uplines talk about. In the meantime though, you are definitely helping someone upline achieve their dreams with every function you attend. Ironically, the upline leaders will tell you to never quit, even if they don't know your personal circumstances and/or how your business is progressing.

Here's a challenge for IBOs and/or prospects who are being recruited into the Amway business. 100 PV will cost around $300 a month and dedication to the tools system will cost you around $150 to $250 a month on average. Would you not be better off simply writing a check to your upline for $100 and not even joining? Would you not be better off staying home and watching television instead of joining? If you read all of the information available on this blog and still decide to join, good luck to you, but remember this: Whose dreams are being fulfilled by your participation?
Yours or your upline?

Unattainable Dreams?

 One of the things that get people excite about joining Amway is the big talk about dreams. My former LOS, WWDB, still has a big annual function called "dream night". At dream night, the diamonds will display a slide show with pictures of mansions, sports cars, jets, jet skis, breath taking vacations, golf outings and other fabulous goodies that will get people excited. For many, the prospect of not having to work 9-5 while still having cash roll in is enough to convince them that Amway is the greatest thing since sliced bread was invented. But who is attaining these dreams? Certainly not the rank-and-file IBOs.

The problem is that the diamonds are simply filling prospects and starry eyed IBOs with false hopes and dreams.  But the IBOs fall for it.  I've seen IBOs so caught up in the hype that they literally have tears streaming down their faces because they want the financial freedom that the diamond pitch as attainable.  Then after these fired up IBOs get home from the function, they are told that they simply need to invest in these tools and functions and their business will flourish.  Of course after a short while, the vast majority will read between the lines and quit, typically with net business losses.

While some people may attain some of these goals and trappings of wealth, the vast majority, probably more than 99% of people who come and go through the business, end up in failure and most with a loss of money. Even those who put forth heroic efforts often find themselves at a loss after several months or several years of effort. I suspect that many diamonds themselves, cannot afford the luxuries they show off. There is evidence of this happening. Several diamonds have had homes foreclosed, a prominent triple diamond was in chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings. Former diamonds have come forth and explained that their income came mainly from tools (audios and functions) and that Amway income wasn't that much. Some diamonds have resigned or quit, which debunks the myth of lifelong residual income. Some diamonds even took their entire groups and left Amway for other MLMs. So much for Amway being the best and providing lifelong residual income.

It is a sad thing indeed, that so many innocent prospects and IBOs have been deceived by shady upline leaders into thinking that in a short time frame, they will be purchasing homes in cash, retiring before the age of 40, and "walking the beaches" for the rest of their lives. In fact, I don't know of any diamonds who have done just that. It appears that crown ambassadors and others are all still working and some of them have passed away while still actively working the business.  Why aren't there people going diamond and then "walking away" to live a quiet life of luxury unmatched by any other opportunity?

Maybe it is a big lie or a myth? IBOs are basically dedicating their time and money to chasing an unattainable dream?