One of the things that is very clear. Many Amway recruits are shown fancy cars and toys, along with luxurious vacations and trappings and other extravagant luxuries, allegedly only available if you're an Amway diamond. 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 fades and they quit. Either that or the IBO sees monthly losses and no prospects of improvement and quits. Many do little or nothing. But what many people do not 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. And those who put forth effort ultimately fail because the system as taught, is designed that way. For there to be a few high pins and the rest of the rank and file struggling and losing money.
Because Amway has a stigma in the US (and growing in other locations), finding prospects is a daunting task. Add in the high prices of Amway products and you have major challenges that IBOs simply cannot overcome. Most simply quit and fade away into society. Some, like me 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 anyone can decide if they wish to climb insurmountable challenges for a less than 1% chance of financial success.What many leaders do is evolve their teachings. 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. 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 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 to 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.
There are actually two Amway businesses.
ReplyDeleteThe first is the little dipshit sales business of trying to sell Amway products at retail to others. Those others could be friends or family who might buy a few just to please you, or neighbors who might show a small interest in what you've got. This business is trivial and basically useless. It brings very little financial return.
The second Amway business is the tools-materials-function racket, whereby various Amway subsystems produce motivational books, tapes, voicemail services, and conferences. These motivational materials are a multimillion-dollar business that has very little connection at all with retail selling, but a lot to do with hype, enthusiasm, rah-rah arm-pumping, and crazed speeches and slide shows.
What are the Amway subsystems? There are many: WWG, Network 21, BWW, Leadership Team, and probably a score of others. These subsystems are independent legal entities (they are not under Amway's control) and they are in business for ONE THING ONLY -- to sell motivational tools to IBOs, and to maintain a level of hysteria and frenzy among IBOs that will keep them buying the motivational tools forever.
The two Amway businesses are only marginally related. The Amway Corporation in Ada, Michigan is concerned with one thing only -- making and selling its products. The Amway subsystems are concerned only with the pretense of "teaching" IBOs how to succeed in selling Amway products, and hopefully recruiting other persons to join in. Amway in Ada, Michigan, is deeply dependent on the subsystems, because that is where all the real money is coming from.
Amway in Ada, Michigan is embarrassed by and a bit frightened of the subsystems. In 1983 Amway tried to rein in the tool system abuses, which are really nothing more than an illegal racket for ripping off IBOs with charges for fake "teaching" and "leadership." But the subsystems told Amway to fuck off, and Amway surrendered totally. Amway is still terrified that the FTC will eventually investigate the illegal tool scam, and call for its abolition. If that happens, the entire Amway Corporation might collapse.
If you are an Amway IBO, there are two different Amway businesses for you to choose from. If you choose the retail sales business of trying to push Amway products on the public, you are just a helpless loser who will never make a dime. But if you can work your way into the motivational tools racket, you can begin to rake in money from whatever down-line you have.
Most IBOs simply don't understand the distinction between the two Amway busineses. As a result, those who attempt to make money selling products will become the victims of the subsystems that bleed them dry of cash to pay for training materials, motivational tools, and conferences.