Upline Conmen?

 When you really look at the Amway opportunity and the systems such as WWDB, or BWW or Network 21, they are more alike than not.  They sell business support materials such as books, audios and function tickets to seminars.  They systems are highly profitable even when the vast majority of IBOs are not.  And the upline like to call themselves mentors or friends who only want your success.  They say they would never purposely lead you astray and have your best interest at heart.  In my opinion, it's a load of hogwash.

Why do I say that?  Because IBOs sign up to make money.  Some have big dreams and desires while some join because they want to make an extra $300 a month.  But the reality of the entire game is the vast majority of IBOs lose money regardless of their dreams, aspirations or desire to make a little extra money.  How is the upline helping these IBOs if they are losing money?  They certainly didn't join to lose money.  Ironically, uplines make money, sometimes lots of money off the support materials they sell to downline, regardless of the results.   Then they use silly analogies such as people signing up for the gym and not going.  I can make this argument; People who sign up for the gym to get stronger, or more fit, get stronger and/or more fit if they attend and work out regularly.   The same cannot be said of IBOs who listen to upline, show the plan, buy all the support materials and follow upline advice.  These folks still lose money even if they do everything upline advises.

This is why I compare upline diamonds to conmen.  They convince downline to trust them and assure them that success will be there, or success is right around the corner if you will never quit and keep doing as they advise.  Then when there are no tangible rewards for your efforts, they claim you didn't do things exactly right or that you didn't actually follow their advice correctly.  The ironic part is that upline like to teach accountability.  They hold everyone accountable, except themselves.  Upline's solution to a failing business is not to cut expenses or come up with a new business strategy, but to invest more money into the same tools and techniques that aren't working.  Doesn't upline also teach that insanity is doing the same old, but expecting different and better results? 

The fact that upline will continue to push more tools AKA business expenses/expenditures on a business that generates little to no revenue just makes them conmen, in my opinion.  They knowingly issue self -serving advice such as buying more tools which they profit from, and at the same time, is adding to an IBO's business losses, regardless of that IBO's ability to afford it.  How is that serving the IBO's best interest?   At the same. the upline enjoys the trappings from their ill-gotten gains.   Then if and when an IBO quits, they are often shunned as a loser, or lost their dream, or some other negative afterthought, even if they gave an earnest effort for months or maybe even years,   

What amazes me is how these diamonds are put on a pedestal as if they are rock stars when in reality, the vast majority just appear to be common thieves.  Just like the original movie version of "Die Hard" when Bruce Willis realizes that the terrorists are really just common thieves, which is what he calls them in the movie.  I would recommend that information seekers look for a book called "Amway  Motivational Organizations; Behind the Smoke and Mirrors", written by Ruth Carter.  It's a chilling look at how a diamond couple looked and appeared wealthy, while actually living a debt and portraying the Diamond Lifestyle.   It's a look at reality of a diamond couple and I suspect its more common than not.  

 

Something For Nothing?

 In my opinion, Amway is a pyramid. They are not illegal, but still a pyramid. The reason why they remain legal, apparently is because they do not pay anyone for recruiting downline and allegedly require sales to non-Amway people, although I'm not sure how hard this is enforced. 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 (Amway was called Quixtar back in 1999) were even remotely connected.

One of the reasons IBOs use to justify their involvement in the pyramid is that they can work and 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. And frankly, many IBOs do little or nothing so surpassing someone who does nothing isn't that hard. There are many IBOs who achieve fairly high levels who quit, or had upline wreck their businesses. Thus, even platinum's 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. If a diamond "de-edifies" you, you're toast. And guess what happens to your downline? They get passed on to your next upline.

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 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)

Why People Believe?

 Many Amay IBOs cannot be convinced that Amway is not the best opportunity in the world, because they want to believe the lies/deception that is often used when they are recruited. They want to believe that 2-5 years of part time effort will result in lifelong residual income and that they will be traveling to the beaches of the world while cash keeps rolling in. They want to believe that they can ditch their (often) less than adequate jobs. They want to believe that a part time soap business will make all of this possible. The people (upline) who claim to have everyone's best interest at heart will sell them a proven system of success and all they need to do is follow the steps to success.

Many people sign up for Amway and do absolutely nothing. They may not ever order or try products. But these folks do not complain about Amway and the expenses they may incur are minimal. Most do not even bother to seek a refund on their starter kit. It makes me wonder why these folks even bother to sign up. Although, there are stories of people being pestered into registering. Anyway, the part where this business gets dicey is when people register and do put in an earnest effort, only to end up with financial losses. Sometimes the losses are in the tens of thousands of dollars. You get squeezed for a couple of hundreds of dollars a month and after a few years of effort, you can find yourself drowning in debt, even after doing everything your upline advised. The fact that uplines don't disclose their business financials speaks volumes. Former uplines who have come forward have shown that most of their income was from hawking standing orders and seminars, and not from Amway sales as they would imply.

I bought into the hype at one time. I believed the lies. I believed my upline that no profit was made from tools. At the time I was an IBO, I too, wanted to believe that I could work part time for 2-5 years and ditch my job. That I would retire at the age of 35 and live in luxury forever. I wanted to believe that. But having reached the 4000 PV level, the precipice of platinum, I also realized that I had no profit. I sat down and did the math and realized that they would be little profit at platinum. I came to the realization that a second job would have suited me better. I finally quit when I realized this, along with my upline wanting total control of my life. But I hung in as long as I did because I wanted to believe that Amway would be the vehicle that delivered my financial freedom.

Having dropped out of Amway, my life quickly got back to normal. Friends that I had avoided returned to my life. My disposable income increased, and my cash flow was positive once again, now that I was no longer obligated to purchase tools. I also noticed years later that the same old leaders on stage were still working as hard as ever, and none of them had taken the option to retire and walk the beaches of the world. Perhaps these leaders also want to - or have to believe in Amway because they have already invested too much time and effort to call it quits and start something else. I wanted to believe, but the fact is that people were not succeeding. People were not getting free. What I saw was home foreclosures, bankruptcies and financial struggles made worse for people because of Amway and the tool systems. And apparently, these same issues apply to the diamonds. Do your research and you will likely find the same conclusion that I did. That Amway is an impossible dream.

IBOs "Giving" Back?

 I get a kick out of uplines who talk about donating $5000 or $10,000 checks to church/charity one day when you go diamond. They talk about giving back to the community. It's all fine and dandy, but overall, what do IBOs give back? Most dedicated IBOs end up with a net loss of time and money because of their dedication to the system and therefore, have less to "give back".

I'm sure some Amway IBOs and leaders make the time to give back, but I would bet that many refer to delayed gratification when this issue is raised. In the past, some diamond's financials became public record due to unforeseen circumstances and not once did I see the large monetary contributions they speak of. You'd think double diamonds would be giving hundreds of thousands of dollars since they imply that they live million-dollar lifestyles in functions.  I saw little to no charitable contributions in tax returns that were public information due to a diamond filing for chapter 7 bankruptcy.  Imagine that?

Think of this food for thought. Your local church is better off with you giving a couple hundred a month and helping to feed the homeless than to get nothing until you go platinum or diamond. As an IBO, I was guilty of this also. I thought I could provide a lot when I achieved emerald or diamond. I didn't think anything about not helping during my IBO days though. I was too busy working the business and my funds primarily went to fund product purchases and tools and functions.   My discretionary spending was very limited because of my dedication to the tools and function, and overpriced household products.  
 
I believe that most IBOs have good intentions and want to give back and help. But I also believe that upline advice in many cases will sap their ability to do so because of tool and function purchases. That's what is so insidious about certain upline leaders. They only care about their bottom line but give their downline the impression that they care about them and want them to succeed. For example, if it's true that some downlines were advised to attend multiple Dream Night functions, what are the uplines doing other than draining their downline's bank accounts, something they are supposed to help enhance.

Some IBOs might give back, but what are they giving back?