I was debating with (apparently) an Amway IBO some months ago. I had quoted the average income of an Amway IBO as $202 a month. I decided to verify this and when I visited Amway.com, I saw that the most recent update stated that the average income of "active" Amway IBOs is $183 a month. However, only 53% of IBOs are active. So, if we were to count the true average income of all IBOs, that income would be under $100 a month. I might add that the average income also includes diamonds, emeralds and crown ambassadors. Imagine that, with all those Amway "gazillionaires", the average income is $183 a month.
But I will concede that averages can be misleading. My net worth would be multiple billions if you averaged my net worth with Bill Gates. I believe that the median income, or the average minus the top and bottom 10%. If we were to do that, it is my belief that the average income would be under $20 a month. When you see the common 6-4-2 plan, or some other similar version, that lowest level is the majority and if these IBOs moved 100 PV, they would earn about $10 a month on average. The top IBOs would be disregarded along with the ones who did nothing.Many Amway defenders will claim that they are different or that they will stick it out and succeed. And that's fine and dandy. I know that some people succeed in Amway and make decent money. But what is the likelihood of that happening for some prospect who joins today? Someone joining today has effective zero percent chance to succeed when rounding to the nearest whole number. The products are not priced competitively, and the Amway name has a damaged reputation in countries where Amway operates. If you can't recruit downline, you can never achieve the highest levels in Amway. People do try to succeed, that's why newbies are calling everyone they know to try and find people to see the plan.
But even if you can manage to show some plans and sponsor some downline, your chances us success are still close to zero because nearly half of all IBOs do nothing and quit. And the majority of IBOs never sponsor any downline. If you can't recruit downline and the products are overpriced, you have such a huge handicap that it's like trying to swim with lead weights tied to your body. You might swim for a while, but the weight will eventually win and you'll sink. Same with a new IBO trying to build a business.
The magical goal is to achieve residual passive income. And that brings me to the main point. Residual passive income is like chasing the end of a rainbow. You can see it but never touch it. Or it's like Sasquatch (Bigfoot). Nearly everyone has heard about it. Allegedly some people have seen and claimed to have encountered the creature, but there is zero bonafide evidence that they really exist, just like an Amway diamond who built the business, walked away and is living off residual passive income from Amway. Over the years, not one single IBO or Amway defender has been able to name and substantiate a single IBO who's achieved this. I'm still waiting, but not holding my breath.
In 2023 Amway had a turnover of 7.7Bn USD, with, according to their website, "more than 3 million independent Amway Business Owners worldwide". Well that is the problem isn't it? 7.7Bn divided by 3 million is $2567 per year, is $214 per month.
ReplyDeleteThat is sales value, not commission. Wallmart for example has a turnover of $648 Bn, with 2.1 million employees, which means the average sales value of $25,714 worth of monthly turnover or sales value per empoyee.
Anyway, using the sales value, Amway says it pays out 30% back in commissions or bonusses. The % is higher for those higher up, but working on the 30% average, it means a pitiful $64.17 per month. That is gross, before expenses. Not very different from the above values. And as you (Joecool) said, it is heavily skewed if there really are many millionaires, so a median value would be even lower. It is consistent with the piece above where Joecool says "If we were to do that, it is my belief that the average income would be under $20 a month".
The number is so low, that even if Amway were still at 12Bn where they were a few years ago, it is still pitiful. Real businesses even with risks have better prospects, as does employment. The chance of making any money worth the effort (let alone a lot) is not 0%, but it is so close to 0%, that saying it is 0% wouldn't even be a lie. Even with trying.
There is so much that could be done with the time. Learn a foreign language, get fit, get more involved in your local community organisation, friends or church. Or if we specifically think about money, putting in 5%-10% more energy into your regular job will almost certainly yield more dividends in terms of promotion prospected. My regaular job is what has lead to my (real) business. Now I'm not stinking reach, but I would probably have needed to be in the top 0.01% of Amway distributors to come close to matching that. Plus I can sleep soundly knowing what I earn is not on the back of futile investments from hundreds of hopefuls, and I can tell people what I do without fear that they'd run away.
Spot on comments!
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