Lies Are Needed To Succeed?

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

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

Even the Amway presentation if often filled with deception and lies. I remember seeing the presentation and they said shopping through Amway, an IBO would save 30%over local retailers. When I actually saw the catalogs, I wondered where the savings was. The 6-4-2 plan or similar variations are made to sound easy, and the presenter talked about lifelong residual willable income, which I also find to be deceptive if not an outright lie.

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

It is why lies and/or deception are needed for an IBO to have a chance at promoting and building an Amway business.

Your Upline Car Salesman?

 When I saw the Amway plan, it made perfect sense at the time, because the diamond who made the presentation made everything seem sensible. Make money and/or save money. On the surface, you would have to be nuts to not want to make or save some money. But it is the reality that is the problem. The reality is for business building IBOs is financial damage or financial disaster from the ongoing costs of the system expenses. I saw crosslines go bankrupt and more than one couple lost their homes to foreclosure by "doing whatever it takes" to get to the next function.

Our group (WWDB) edified people who bought extraordinary amounts of extra tapes/cds, extra function tickets and made superhuman efforts to get to functions. Looking back, I remember an IBO who was edified for coming all the way to a family reunion function in Portland Oregon when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The speaker said he could have been miserable spending time at home but here he was making a difference in people's lives. WTF? I wrote a post earlier this month about how IBOs think they are saving the world and helping people when in reality, the masses of IBOs are only "helping" their diamonds to attain material wealth by purchasing function tickets, voicemail, standing orders and other materials.

I would agree that some training and information can be helpful for new IBOs, but I do not see any value in a neverending supply of cds and endless number of meetings and functions. The very thing (support materials) that uplines claim is your key to success is the very thing that nearly guarantees business building IBOs to financial struggles. Our upline wanted IBOs to be out of debt, which is good, but they would also say in the same breath that it was okay to go into hock if it was to attend functions or to purchase additional support materials. WTH? Sadly, many IBOs do not see through this self-serving advice.

Most people, including myself are very wary when we deal with car salesmen. We are wary because we know that the salesman is out to make money off of us and will try to sell us every option in the book. Thus, we negotiate and reject the car options that we don't really need to or. Guess what? Your uplines are like car salesmen except that they sell you different options such as premier club, standing order, book of the month, function tickets, voicemail, open meeting tickets. Just like a car buying customer, taking all the options maximizes the car salesman's commission and the car dealer's profit. Buying all the support materials increases your upline's profits. Imagine the car salesman telling you that the extended warranty was vital to owning the car. You'd think twice about it, yet uplines will tell you that functions are vital to your Amway business and many IBOs buy it hook line and sinker. I hope this analogy will encourage IBOs to think of support materials as options on the car. You don't need any options to make the car work. Just as you don't really need support materials to buy and sell Amway products, and to get some downline to do the same.

We are wary of car salesmen. In my opinion, downline and prospects should be just as wary of uplines who promote tools as "vital" to your success in Amway. Keep in mind that a sponsor is obligated to help train any downline, regardless of whether they are on the system or not.

Successful IBOs?

 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 very rare and many of these success apparently are not sustainable as many people are led to believe. The more likely scenario is 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 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 undeniable, but sadly for the vast majority of IBOs, it is also unattainable, at least in the Amway opportunity.

Working For Free?

 What happens to many unsuspecting people is they join Amway thinking they will attain wealth and riches by "owning their own business", but in reality, they have basically become unpaid commissioned employees of Amway. You don't get health insurance, vacation, or any fringe benefits. You get to work unlimited hours and you get commission by moving products. You can leverage your commissions by increasing this unpaid sales force by sponsoring others into your downline.

Some people do succeed employing this method, but you will need to be an elite recruiter in order to get people to sell Amway products for no salary. You are also handicapped right from the start because past IBO behavior has soiled Amway's reputation in the US and Canada and other areas of the world. This point is supported by the fact that Amway's sales appear to be better in most in foreign countries and not in North America. Seems that everyone I know has been at one time, involved with Amway (and had a bad experience) or knows of someone who had a bad experience (i.e. tricked into attending a meeting, or deceived in some way about the opportunity or the products).

Even if you are a great recruiter, your likelihood of attaining Amway success (emerald or higher) is a tiny fraction of 1%. And for those who attain Amway success, they have great difficulty in sustaining that level. It is why there are hordes of "former" emeralds, diamonds and platinums.

You may hear about how Amway was found "legal" by the FTC or that Amway is #1 in online health and beauty sales. All of this may or may not be true, but it doesn't change the fact that an IBO is basically an unpaid commissioned Amway salesperson. You absorb all the business expenses, pay for your own training, and you get to share your commission with layers of upline (more middlemen), some of whom do not help your business, and some who don't even know you exist. It's a great deal for Amway but not for IBOs. You move their products and absorb the expenses and in doing so and they pay out a commission. As for any awards or credits Amway receives, it's great for Amway, but you are an IBO - an independent business owner. You are not Amway.

Bottom line - if you can get people to work for free, you can find numerous opportunities to get rich that are much better and more lucrative than Amway. :-)

Team Meetings?

  One of the lame things during my time in Amway was what upline called “team” meetings.  I mean we are all individual businesses, so it seems weird to be referred to as a team, based on my own experience, many IBOs seemed to be their only customer, simply buying 100 PV and having no down line but hanging in there hoping to finally strike it big down the road.  While these IBOs have no chance of going diamond or even platinum, they are valuable to the diamond because of the income from tools and functions and the volume of PV/BV that these downline provide via self-consumption.

Our team meetings often took place at midnight on evenings when we had to work the next day.  Our upline told us that our willingness to do what most won’t do will result in rewards that most won’t see.  In the end, nothing useful was ever learned in these meetings and it just made it difficult to work the next day.  Imagine that, our jobs that supported ourselves and the Amway business were supposed to be of secondary importance and while the upline would say that your family and jobs were important, their teaching indicated that Amway was to be the #1 priority in your lives, no matter what.

Most of the discussion at team meetings were just platitudes about success that our upline wanted to drill into our brains.  It was primarily to never quit and to invest more of our money into tools because we were told that standing orders, functions and books were vital to our success.  After a while I thought it was odd because so many people were absolutely dedicated to the system but had not made a dime in profit or sponsored a single down line.  

There’s a saying that a good tree gives good fruit and a bad tree gives bad fruit.  The diamonds used to say this but most people simply had no fruit from their efforts.  This is because most people just don’t realize that the Amway system is severely flawed and only exists to provide income to the diamonds and higher ups.  There is no documented and unbiased evidence to suggest that the system works and there certainly is no consistent progression of new diamonds emerging.

Sure, occasionally someone can overcome power ball lottery types of odds to go diamond, but they are often unable to remain qualified and often disappear from relevance.  But these Amway rising stars are the poster children for why the system works. That’s despite the fact that tens of millions or more have failed over the years despite assurances from upline that everyone can be successful. 

For information seekers and any IBOs who see this, look at facts and analyze your income and expenditures.  Look at your actual prospects of improvement.  If your upline tells you that more tools and functions are the answer, get in wringing that these expenditures are refundable in cash if business doesn’t improve, of course you’ll never get it.  

But good luck if you read this and still decided to try.  😃

No Negative Allowed?

 One of the silly things taught by Amway uplines is for IBOs to avoid anything negative including news and current events. This was common practice when I was an IBO, and apparently, still taught by some leaders and groups. Don't read the newspaper, don't watch TV, and avoid people in general, who are negative about the Amway business. My upline would say that the world is too negative so our minds needed to be filtered with positive thoughts so that we can flourish in the Amway business. I believe this is one of the reasons why some people associate Amway and the AMOs (Amway Motivational Organizations) as cults. Tell people how they should think and then bombard them with only happy thoughts about Amway. Everything else is "negative" and should be filtered out.

Sadly, many Amway IBOs buy into this and start avoiding family and friends simply because they may not view Amway in a positive light. Certainly, some IBOs don't shut out family and friends, but it seems that enough of them do, at least while they are involved in building a big business. It was my experience, and I still see evidence that this is not uncommon practice even today. If these AMOs were churning out new and sustainable success stories, we would probably not be talking about this but instead, IBOs and prospects get used and abused and spit out by the system, all under the guise of being mentored by uplines. Most IBOs, even those who put in an earnest effort end up with a net loss, despite their dedication to the system and adherence to upline advice. I don't know of anyone who has been able to name more than a dozen new diamonds from the US in the last 10 years or so. It sure looks like Amway in the US and Canada is shrinking, save for some pockets and areas where there is the appearance of "growth".

I would point out the functions as evidence of shrinkage. My former sponsor told me of a Free Enterprise Day function (FED) where IBOs filled the (at the time) Seattle King Dome. 50,000+ IBOs in attendance. I also attended a family reunion function at the Rose Garden in Portland where there were 15 - 20,000 IBOs in attendance. Dream Night was held in venues that sat about 2500 people and more and more, we are seeing smaller venues for these types of functions. Maybe people are simply more aware of what being an IBO entails and simply avoid it? Maybe it's just a coincidence?

But hopefully, someone out there who reads this will understand that avoiding all negative is a silly thing to teach. Unless you live in some Utopian society, there will always be some negative. That's just life. Avoiding the news or only taking in positive can make you apathetic. How would you be able to vote or know what the current events are? Do you rely on your upline for this? Are you living in an Amway/AMO world where you only associate with IBOs and "happy" people? Do you argue and attack opposing views? If you're about avoiding negative, you should take this message to heart and seriously think about what you are being taught by your (well compensated) mentors.

When Will It Happen?

 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 (in nature) brand products for top premium prices.  As if Amway's name isn't enough of a handicap, selling average products for top dollar makes it all the worse.

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.  A lot of upline advice is like this if you really analyze it with a critical eye.

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 hordes 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.  You think you'll be a diamond walking the beaches of the world?  When will it happen?

Outearn My Sponsor?

 One of the silly defenses that Amway supporters use to defend their business is that it must not be a pyramid or it must be legitimate because you have the opportunity to earn more than your sponsor. While many downlines in fact do earn more than their sponsors, it's likely because about half of all IBOs quit in a year or less those who stay for even a year, when you factor in the business expenses for those who are on tools, the reality of suffering business losses also causes people to exit the business. It's not that hard to earn more than people who quit. But even at that, someone who quits is often better off than IBOs who continue because those on the system are losing money.

An IBO at the 100 PV level will earn about $10 in bonus income from Amway. If they are attending functions, buying standing orders and voicemail, they will operate at a loss. Thus, unless their business grows each month (highly unlikely, even if they do as upline advises) then they will suffer losses each month and those who quit will be better off. It is why I have stated that doing nothing or staying home and watching television can honestly be better options than joining Amway and the systems such as WWDB, N21 or BWW. It is why reasonable people can conclude that working for minimum wage, even a few hours a week makes you better off than joining Amway and the systems.

The defense that someone can out earn their upline is silly. The true benchmark of this statement would be for a new guy to start a business, and in 2-5 years, out earn someone like a diamond. It will never happen because upline has direct influence over the fortunes of their downline, even at the diamond level. It is why you have seen diamonds quit or split from their upline to start their own training systems. They cannot affect change from downline, without upline consent, thus the breaking away from their "mentors" or leaders. At times there have even been lawsuits over the tools income. Do people really sue their mentors? Don't diamonds teach you that suing people is wrong? That you don't get something for nothing?

You can surely out earn your sponsor. All it takes is for your sponsor to quit. However, your sponsor quitting might mean you don't out earn your sponsor. See my example above. Taking losses is not out earning someone. Keep in mind that everyone in Amway is equal. You are all unpaid commissioned Amway salespeople, bound to Amway's terms and agreements. You don't own your downline. You don't really own much as an independent business owner. You can out earn your sponsor, but that means squidly diddly when your sponsor makes nothing or takes a loss. Come back and chirp when you out earn your upline diamond. Do I hear crickets chirping now? :-)

Conventional Business?

 One of the things I heard as an Amway IBO and I believe is still said in some Amway meetings is that conventional businesses do not profit for up to five years. That's bogus. Conventional businesses make a profit as soon as they sell their first product. They may not have a net profit right away because of the initial investment into equipment and rental property, but they do profit by selling goods. The same principle would apply to an Amway business except that Amway IBOs have difficulty selling products. If you opened an Amway catalog and compared their prices to local retailers, you would know what I'm talking about.

Despite the small startup costs and the little to no overhead costs, most IBOs never turn a profit. I will acknowledge that many IBOs probably never do a single thing once they sign up. I believe there is an underlying story behind this as well, but I will move on. Out of the more serious IBOs, even in this group, most of them will never make a net profit if they are using tools. Factoring the cost of the website, the voicemail, standing orders, books and functions and cds, IBOs simply get drained of their money a couple hundred of bucks a month at a time. Amway uplines meanwhile, are earning nice profits on product purchases and someone upline are also earning profits on the tools. The tools carry a higher profit margin so it would make sense that some uplines earn more from tools than from Amway.

Toss in other challenges such as high prices for many products (higher than local retailers) and a crappy reputation from IBO behavior such as tricking people into meetings and you have an opportunity with nearly insurmountable handicaps. Yes, a rare few and usually charismatic people can overcome these odds, but only one or two out of tens of thousands are able to do so. And even those who reach the pinnacle of diamond, may not be able to maintain qualification. It's very common for someone to reach the level of emerald or diamond only to backslide and not qualify the following year. So much for residual income and walking the beaches of the world.

So, I don't know all of the detailed statistics about how long it takes for a conventional business to turn a net profit. It may take up to five years. But based on my experiences and some number crunching, I'd have to say that the vast majority of Amway Business Owners NEVER TURN A PROFIT - EVER, and most of them ending up with net losses when business expenses are factored in. And toss in the fact that Amway allegedly has little or no overhead costs and I can only conclude that the Amway opportunity sucks.

IBO Business Knowledge?

 One of the reasons why I believe that people get duped into joining Amway and then quitting or maybe doing nothing is because of the way the business is presented and the way it is actually done. There are many redundant issues that occur and uplines who show the plan will downplay the problems. These problems then surface when an IBO actually tries to build the business and uplines smooth it over by saying things like someone should never quit or get detail-itis or some other bogus thing to get the focus off the problem.

A big problem is that many prospects join Amway because it is promoted as a way to make quick money. I know many people think they can sell some stuff and make a few quick bucks. That's what I thought at one time also. Many prospects are also told that an Amway business has zero or little overhead, unlike a conventional business. However, many IBOs find that starting an Amway business carries a defacto 100 PV minimum requirement. They might be told that you just change yout shopping habits, but many individuals and families cannot possibly consume 100 PV unless they are duped into consuming Amway vitamins which they may never have taken before. An artificial demand is what is created when this happens.

IBOs who may be somewhat serious about business will also be encouraged to get on standing order and to attend functions. While upline will claim these are optional, they are defacto requirements for those who are interested in building a business with downline. The standing orders and functions can cost a significant about of money depending on an IBO's level of commitment. I would estimate that a somewhat "serious" IBO would probably expend between $150 to $300 a month on these "tools". Amounts vary and can be more or less depending on factors such as whether you are single or a couple, and your level of commitment.

So now a new IBO, who is wanting to make a few extra dollars, might be spending between $450 to $600 a month for products and tools, if they are building a business and trying to sponsor downline. Their reward for this will be about $10 a month in the form of a rebate (bonus) from Amway. That is the typical and likely result for the vast majority of new IBOs. Sure, new IBOs have the zeal and excitement to recruit new downline, but that is an overwhelming challenge in North America when Amway's prices are generally not competitive with big retailers and the Amway name carries a stigma in North America. It is not uncommon for someone to be ridiculed just for mentioning Amway in a conversation, at least in my experience and observations.

The bigger problem is that many IBOs know little or nothing about business, thus they trust their upline, whose advice is often to buy more tools, make family sacrifices to attend more functions and to do whatever it takes to obtain more tools. All the while, some uplines are laughing all the way to the bank with tool profits. Whether an IBO succeeds or not is irrelevant to many uplines, as long as tool purchasing IBOs are replaced.

As the US currently has a depressed economy, some tools kingpins are feeling the effects. We have seen home foreclosures, bankruptcy and some bigshot diamonds selling off their homes. Maybe just maybe they weren't as wealthy as they portrayed? Maybe they are reaping what they were sowing? Maybe this is the fruit on their tree? Maybe these uplines didn't know much about business afterall? :-)

Fruit On The Tree?

 One of the things I heard and is still promoted is the concept of a 2-5 year plan to financial freedom. As a prospect, 2-5 years of hard work in your spare time sounds reasonable. After all, anyone can work an extra 12 hours a week for a couple of years with that kind of reward awaiting you at the end. The sad reality is that you are likely to suffer 2-5 years of financial losses without getting any closer to financial freedom.

When Amway morphed into Quixtar, a very relevant question was how many diamonds were "quixtar only", meaning they signed up in 1999 when quixtar was implemented and then became diamonds in the advertised 2-5 years. As far as I know, there were very few (if any) new diamonds. The new diamonds that were named all seemingly came from other countries, not the US or Canada. Even now, my former LOS (WWDB) is touting "double eagle rubies" which is not a recognized achievement by Amway (as far as I know), and there is no assurance that achieving such a level makes an IBO profitable. In fact, the eagle program run by WWDB is only measuring tool parameters which is great for upline but not necessarily for the IBOs.

Even today, I do not see a steady stream of new diamonds emerging from Amway. If the 2-5 year plan actually worked, there would be new diamonds constantly emerging. Instead, my former LOS (WWDB), actually has fewer diamonds now than back in my IBO days. And of those diamonds who remain, some of them had homes foreclosed and it also appears that at least a few of them ran into some financial difficulties. Makes me wonder what a diamond's finances actually look like. I suspect many of them live in debt, especially if they flaunt the "diamond lifestyle", which is probably not sustainable on diamond income as reported by Amway.

So while it might be possible to achieve diamond in 2-5 years (some have done it), but tens of millions (or more) have tried. It is much more likely that you will win the lottery (provided you have a ticket) than it is likely that you will join Amway and go diamond. It is also unlikely that people in the US and Canada who join will go diamond in the advertised 2-5 years. The 2-5 year plan is not promoted by Amway, but by the LOS leaders. I believe it is a hoax and the numbers back up my claim. You are much more likely to be better off working part time for 2-5 years and saving and investing for your future. If not, you will end up with 2-5 years of losing money on functions and standing orders.

As many Amway leaders will state: Look at the fruit on the tree. In the US and Canada, the trees are bare.

I'm Nicer?

Many Amway IBOs "think" they have become nicer people as a result of their association with other IBOs and because a part of the system they are with advises them to read self-help books. They are also taught that as a side benefit of the Amway business, that they are nicer people. Of course, many IBOs mistakenly think that they started a business not to make money, but to become "nicer".  Of course, this is simply a distraction away from the fact that most IBOs are losing money, especially if they are consuming tools and functions.

I certainly agree that some people can benefit from positive books and association with others, but for many, it is not a genuine "nicer" person, but simply a phony personna that is put on in order to recruit potential Amway downlines. That is how my former sponsor appeared to me. Because I had known him for a long time, the "nicer" looked as phony as phony can be. There are many examples of phony niceness that some IBOs profess. Even Amway's biggest defender was apparently called a "cyber bully" by an Amway corporate blogger and some others for making disparaging comments about those with opposing views. Others have resorted to calling people broke or losers simply because they did not agree that Amway was their savior.  Can you imagine store employees calling people losers if they decide to walk out of a store without making a purchase?

On this very blog, there are comments, I assume by IBOs, that make implied or subtle threats. Some of these comments are not subtle at all. In fact, in my blogging experience, it is usually the IBOs and Amway defenders that resort to name calling. I suspect that is because the facts are on the side of the Amway critics. For example, it is a fact that most IBOs never make a dime, even if you don't count the ones who "do nothing". If you look at system IBOs, then the vast majority never make enough to pay their voicemail expenses.

Even the coveted diamond level appears to be a facade, especially seeing diamonds quit, resign and simply walk away from the business without the lifelong passive income. A recent triple diamond's bankruptcy revealed some financials and it wasn't all that impressive considering the size of his business plus longevity in the business.

So IBOs, are you a nicer person? Is it evident by your words and actions? It doesn't appear to be very clear to me.

Ripped Off?

 Over my Amway and blogging experience, I have come to a conclusion which I will stand by. And this, in my informed opinion, is a significant problem with the Amway opportunity. The Amway owner, Rich Devos acknowledged this issue back in 1983 in his "directly speaking" tape and unfortunately, nothing apparently substantial was ever done and therefore, the problem exists today.

The Amway opportunity is one part of the issue, with the tools systems being the other prong. Over the years, the Amway opportunity and the tools systems have formed a symbiotic relationship. It is as if Amway needs the system and the system needs Amway. What I mean is that Amway provides the opportunity, and then the system uses the opportunity to sell the system. In the meantime, the system leaders teach 100 PV, product loyalty, and do most if not all of the new IBO recruiting. Amway benefits as the system teaches movement of PV whether by sales or self consumption, and new IBO recruitment, and the system leaders benefit by having a captive audience to sell their cds, books, seminars, voicemail, and website fees.

The conflict of interest occurs when uplines tell their new IBOs that they "need" to attend a certain function, or that they "need" standing order to succeed. The upline is smart enough not to say the system is "required", but certainly, they will put a defacto requirement by saying things such as nobody has ever succeeded without the system, but you can try to be the first, or they may say the system is optional, but so is success. Of someone may say so and so diamond (insert) name is a multi-millionaire and he advocates the system, but you can go against his advice if you think you know better.

The bigger problem is that these upline leaders will tell you that you basically cannot succeed without these tools, but at the same time, the more tools you buy, the more profit these uplines make. Some Amway apologists will justify this by saying a college professor may sell his own books to his students. But this is not the same thing. A college professor may spend years researching to write that one book. He will be teaching his expertise that is written in the book. When you attend seminars or listen to cds, you do not have one expert guiding you with clear documentation on how they succeeded. You have very general generic experiences coming from various speakers who may or may not have any common background with IBOs. Thus these upline leaders will profit from their downline IBO volume and also from tools that they advise downline to purchase regardless of downline success or progress in the business.

As evidence of these bad practices by upline, consider this. If upline truly has "valuable" information that would help you succeed, they would get that information to you in whatever means they could. Either by voicemail, MP3, Youtube or whatever. Why would they withhold trade secrets if they really wanted your success? Has it ever occurred to IBOs that maybe uplines doesn't want your success? Maybe it is why you must pay for any piece of advice or support you receive. Maybe upline is perfectly happy with people coming and going as long as there are tool purchases because then there are no new IBOs (platinums and up) to share the tool profits with.

There is a definite conflict of interest with profiting uplines advising you to buy tools. The question if whether you see it or not?

The Systems?

 Amway has been around for a long time. When the company first began, it wasn't uncommon for people to go door to door, perhaps with products in a radio flyer to sell them as a way to make some extra money. There was no extensive training program that I know of and certainly, there wasn't the stigma that the company has now. But in today's world, when people refer to Amway as being a scam, what they usually referring to the motivational leaders and the associated systems. I believe that the systems were first invented as a genuine way to train distance groups, but the income and power of systems seduced some upline leaders into becoming conmen. Thus, I believe that many if not most systems are corrupted. I witnessed personally and still hear of stories where IBOs are encouraged to go into debt or sacrifice basic family needs in order to purchase more system materials. Amway's involvement in this is knowing that these abuses occurred and not taking any substantial action.

But what are the merits of the program when broken down? Many Amway defenders are quick to point out that many IBOs "do nothing", which may be true, but for the sake of argument, let's not even consider the ones who do nothing. Take the 6-4-2 plan that many use in recruiting. It involves 1 IBO with 78 downline, all of whom do 100 PV. This plan also generally assumes that IBOs will be a part of the system apparently, because non system IBOs generally do not have the dedication to keep moving and selling products. This is because many systems teach IBOs that they are successful when they lose money! In 6-4-2. you have one platinum, allegedly the points point for system IBOs, and 78 non platinums, spending money on products, and winding up with a net loss, if they are dedicated to the system.

Of course, system expenses vary, depending on which system you are a part of. I have heard IBOs mention that their system expenses may be as low as $75 a month, to over $1000 month for hard core fully dedicated IBOs. I have issued a challenge, which no one has ever undertaken, to shows an actually platinum group where the collective group made a net profit after system expenses were accounted for. Noone has ever come forward to disprove this point. I believe a retailing group could show a net profit, but I do not believe that a group of prosumers or buy from yourselfers could ever collectively net a profit.

So for Amway IBOs and prospects, please keep in mind that it is the system that is often the downfall of many IBOs. A dedication to any system is very likely to nearly guarantee that you will end up with a net loss as an IBO. Can someone still succeed? Sure, but your chances are similar to that of someone hitting a big jackpot in the lottery.

Get It In Writing?

 Here's something that IBOs can use when they see upline leaders making claims and guarantees of sorts about the system. Ask them to put it in writing and to ask what they are guaranteeing? It's easy to stand on stage and say the business is simple or a piece of cake. That buying tools and attending functions nearly assures success. Ask your sponsor or upline what exactly you will receive if you do what they advise, and the results are not there?  Of course they will never give you anything in writing but watching them squirm or make excuses might be entertaining.

Uplines will always use an out - that you did not do everything exactly and precisely as they advised, therefore any failure is your own fault. I find it humorous because these leaders are quick to take credit if they see any downline success. It's like playing a game of heads I win, tails you lose. The upline always has a built-in excuse. This wouldn't be so evil if they uplines weren't making their fortunes out of the sale of tools and functions.

In fact, speaking of writing, have you ever seen a formal tools contract indicating how you qualify for and the compensation that will be received when you qualify? Why do platinums, as far as I know, get only a cut of the standing orders and not anything else? Why are some of these issues such dark secrets? It's like the legend of Sasquatch. Many have heard about it, some have claimed to have seen it, but there's no bonafide evidence of its existence.

Amway supporters and defenders often decry my blog because it may deter people from joining Amway when prospects know the truth about Amway. But at the same time, who's held accountable to people who were deceived or lied to about Amway and joined only to lose money, regardless of the amount of effort they expended? As an example, my former sponsor spent over 25+ years in the business hard core. I wonder what kinds of losses he suffered as a result of his hard work and sacrifices?  He was involved before I was an IBO and back then, WWDB leaders completely lied and denied that there were any tool profits at all.

Upline making incredible claims? Ask for their guarantees and assurances in writing, but you won't get any.  They are always careful to have plausible deniability as an out,

Failure Guaranteed?

 What many Amway and MLM IBOs do not realize is that the Amway/MLM compensation plan nearly guarantees failure for most IBOs. There, there will always be some people who make money in Amway. Some might even make a nice income, but they are few and far between. But for Amway. all you need to do is look at the 6-4-2 plan and you can easily see how few people can actually succeed.

We know that in the 6-4-2 plan there are 79 IBOs doing 100 PV. We know that many IBOs do little or do nothing, thus a group where 7500 PV is moved, then one can conclude that you would need more than 100 IBOs. I believe many platinum groups consist of 150 to 200 IBOs. Many of these folks quit and need to be replaced, so the platinum is often very busy showing the plan and recruiting downline. In the end, out of these 150 to 200 IBOs, there is one who is making a decent income (the platinum). Well, that platinum represents less than 1% of IBOs. Even if the entire population of the world signed up for Amway, that rate of success would not change because it simply takes that many downline to make a platinum.

Based on the evidence supplied here, you can make a claim that joining Amway or an MLM nearly guarantees your failure. The only exception would be an IBO who signs up and only sells products to actual non-IBO customers. These folks can make a profit but are highly unlikely to make any significant income. However, most IBOs end up joining Amway with an AMO attached (AMO = Amway Motivational Organization) such as WWDB or Network 21. These folks are for profit companies that sell training and motivational materials. But if the system only allows for a fraction of 1% to be "successful" at any given time, no amount of training or motivation will make it better.

The upline leaders who sell these tools often deceive their groups that anyone and possible everyone in the room can succeed. It's simply not true. The system is set up for a limited number of successes. You cannot become a platinum or higher simply by choosing to do so or by wanting it bad enough. Hard work may help but still doesn't guarantee you anything. The system is multi-level, and it can only yield a small number of "successes", just as there can only be so many officers in the Army. Working harder can help someone advance, but the number of leaders (platinums) will only increase relative to the numbers of lower level IBOs. Do the math and the sad picture becomes more and more clear.

The Average Income?

 I was debating with (apparently) an Amway IBO some time 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 bet worth with a multi billionaire. 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.

IBOs Make More Excuses Than Profits?

 I've been a blogger now for a number of years. I've debated with Amway apologists for decades now and they ultimately resort to excuses and/or personal attacks when they run out of defenses. Food for thought, when you have to make excuses about why your opportunity isn't a scam or a pyramid scheme, that should already make you stop and think for a minute. The easy excuse is to say that "my group isn't like that". Or "We don' do that anymore" Or "Amway is new and different". Yet I see testimonies and statements that indicate to me that things have not changed, even in all the years since I left the Amway business myself.

Even the product's prices need to be justified. That there is concentration or other factors that really make Amway stuff a better value. Strange how that better value doesn't seem to translate further once an IBO realizes that there is no residual income at the end of the rainbow. Many IBOs don't seem to mind paying for Amway stuff when they believe that they will one day walk the beaches of the world while more money than they can count will keep rolling in. When the dream fades, so does the desire to purchase these awesome products. If not, with tens of millions of former IBOs, Amway sales should be through the roof after all these years. But it hasn't. Although Amway recently reported an increase in north American sales, that wasn't the case in the last 10 years. Amway apologists even have excuses about why that is the case.

Amway also reported recently that they have updated their average IBO income. While it is still miserable, it has gone up, although a clear explanation as to how and why they calculated the "average income" was not apparently given. At a glance, it looks like Amway simply declared more IBO's as inactive, thus bringing the average up. So, the debate continues. Critics analyzing and predicting how and why, and Amway apologists making excuses and justifying their position. Why not just be transparent and end the debate once and for all? I think most people know the answer. The bottom line for most is whether or not they make a net profit. For the vast majority of IBOs, especially the ones on the system, the answer is a net loss. It is predictable and easy to conclude. The 6-4-2 or any other version of the compensation plan clearly shows that very few people can make any decent money. If a platinum IBO typically has 100 or more IBOs, that is your answer there. It should be noted that a platinum might not even be very profitable if they are sold out on buying system tools.

So IBOs and Amway defenders, are you making money (net profit)? Or are you just making excuses?

Giving Back?

 I get a kick out of Amway uplines who talk about donating $5000 or $10,000 checks to 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".  Sometimes, giving of your time can also be of great importance, but IBOs are too busy due to Amway non-income producing activities such as listening to audios or attending functions.  Toss in the fact that IBOs are often financially stretched because their discretionary income winds up being spent on tools and functions.

I'm sure some 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.  One particular tenured diamond filed for bankruptcy some years ago and his financial records became public record.  At the time, I reviewed some of those documents and this particular diamond earned about $500K from Amway and another $500K from tools and functions.  But his deductions didn't show charitable contributions at that time.  Interesting, isn't it?

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 product purchases and tools and functions.  I am certain that I'm not alone in this.

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?

Working Part Time?

 Many people pitch Amway as an easy, and somewhat shortcut to riches. It's all over the internet, it's what I saw as an IBO, and I have good reason to believe that many still pitch Amway in this manner. I believe that people want to believe that you can create wealth part time in 2-5 years. IBOs and prospects may be told "it's not get rich quick", but 2-5 years to quit your job and live off ongoing lifelong residual income sure sounds like the pitch of a get rich quick scam. It is what has contributed to Amway's current bad reputation.  Uplines may at times say it's "get rich slow", to make the opportunity sound more grounded to avoid the appearance of a get rich quick scheme.

A typical IBO (not counting those who do nothing), according to the "plan" will consume and possibly sell some goods on their way to 100 PV, which will earn them about a $10 bonus from Amway. There might be some profit from sales to customers, but there are also expenses involved in running a business. If an IBO is on the system, then their expenses might run from $100 or so to $500 a month, depending on level of commitment (brainwashing). In the end, a flawed system and generally noncompetitive pricing and products leads to most IBOs to business losses and eventually quitting. The vast majority of IBOs on the system will wind up with a net loss, even with a tremendous amount of effort. Seems that effort has no relationship with success in Amway. Based on my experience, deception and lies seem to be a better way to succeed in Amway than by hard work.

But what if someone basically worked a part time job instead of Amway? If someone simply got a 20 hour a week job at $10 an hour (not that difficult), someone could earn about $800 a month gross income, or about $9600 a year. In ten years, even with no raises in salary, that person would have earned close to $100,000 more income. That money, if invested into a diverse portfolio can be the nest egg that would allow someone to retire early, or to retire more comfortably than most. And that salary is guaranteed if you work the hours.  

In Amway, there are no assurances of anything, even if you work 40 hours a week. The only assurance if that you will help your upline earn more than yourself by moving products. If you are on the system, you are basically paying your upline (via tool purchases) for the privilege of boosting your upline's volume. It is why uplines teach you to "never quit" and to be "core". These virtues help assure your upline of profits but does little for the rank-and-file IBOs. I write this blog post just to stimulate thought amongst IBOs and prospects. There are very likely better and easier options than the Amway opportunity. If you are reading this, you are looking at one potential alternative. It's your job to decide.

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.  You need to try to have a shot right?

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 of two hundred is one half of one percent. That's about the going average of success for someone reaching platinum, and this was confirmed on Amway.com. 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 Con Artist?

 A recent visitor comment mentioned that a diamond us basically a con artist.  "Con" is shirt for confidence.  They get you to trust them with small talk, building you up and eliciting your goals and dreams.  Once they get you there, suddenly they try to close the deal by saying you can’t afford to open a real business so Amway makes sense and with their nearly foolproof system you can’t go wrong.  All you need to do is get in their system, follow their advice and you're sure to succeed if you just don't quit.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

They may start you out with a few free audios or meetings, but the bar gets raised soon enough.  You’ll be told that a real business owner needs to invest in their business.  An investment into learning about the business and how to build it.  You just need to be "teachable" and open minded and follow the footsteps of your upline leaders.  Ironically many IBOS call their upline mentors when in reality, they are con artists working a scam.  At best, upline could be called paid consultants who deliver absolutely miserable overall results.

In a way, they’re not much different than any run of the mill scammer.  You get the prospect hooked and get them to hand over money.  One difference is that the upline just takes smaller amounts but on a regular basis via their system of books, audios, functions, meetings and other educational materials. If IBOS actually progressed and many were profitable, my opinion would be different.  Instead, the masses contribute to the diamonds lifestyle with the irony being that the IBOS treat the diamonds like rock stars and worship them while they are being taken to the cleaners one audio or one function at a time.

The vast majority of IBOs make nothing or lose money.   Some people lose a lot of money.  What’s worse is the diamonds apparently don’t care that many are hurting and losing money regularly, and they continue to exploit their down line by continuing to push their system on them.  But in the end, the Amway business is person to person and typically face to face.  I can’t imagine any ground breaking useful teaching coming from upline. I certainly didn't see any as a former IBO myself.  

In the end. it is my informed opinion that Amway diamonds operate just like con artists.

Join Amway And Annoy Your Friends?

 Many people see the Amway plan and get unrealistic dreams of attaining incredible material wealth and retiring in a few years. I find it strange that nobody has been able to point out anyone who actually got in, worked a few years, achieved diamond and then walked away from the business and is now enjoying buckets of cash rolling in while they spend their days on exotic beaches sipping mai tais. The more likely scenario will be debt, higher credit card bills, and boxes of unused cds/audios and other various "business training" products.

So why would someone joining the business become annoying?  It's because to the average person, it becomes clear that to achieve this, you need to find "six" people.  If you find and sponsor 6 downline who go onto platinum, you become a diamond!  Thus, to find six people, you need to make contacts to show the plan. Cold contacts of people on the street would be unlikely, even for the boldest of people, so new IBOs start looking at people they know. They start with people they are familiar with, primarily family and friends. They may also think their family and friends will want to get rich with them.

Sadly, for most new and enthusiastic Amway IBOs, they will find that they are shunned by family and friends. Over the years, IBOs have done too much damage to Amway's reputation and overcoming this challenge is too much for the rank-and-file IBOs.  They will hear stories of failures and opinions that Amway is a pyramid and/or a scam. Of course, IBOs will have "canned" answers to respond to from their upline. One of the humorous ones is that Amway is praised by the BBB or the FTC and is the shining example of an MLM. To those familiar with this line of reasoning, it can become side splitting humorous.

At first, the family and friends may humor the new IBO, but relentless persistence can eventually turn ugly. This is where uplines will teach the new IBOs to avoid "negative" and to shun these family and friends. This is why some people charge the Amway leaders with being cult - like. It's at about this point where IBOs might realize that Amway products are costly and try to sell off some of them to reduce their own costs. Often times, sympathetic family and friends might make a token purchase to show support. but that can get old in a hurry also. Most Amway IBOs will eventually quit and make amends with family and friends, but some lose friendships for good.

To information seekers and new IBOs, hopefully this message is food for thought.

Great For Amway, Not For You?

 I hear ridiculous claims from Amway IBOs and apologists at times. They make all kinds of claims that have nothing to do with their business. For example, Amway recently once reported their sales at 1 billion dollars in a month. It's good - for Amway! It has no bearing on John Smith Enterprises, or whatever you call your business. In fact, because most Amway IBOs lose money, you could conclude that more Amway sales could result in more IBOs losing money.  If the vast majority of active IBOs lose money because of business expenses, then more IBOs likely means more IBOs losing money.  

Amway Arena had a rock concert! Great for Amway - it has no bearing on John Smith Enterprises. The DeVos and Van Andel families are billionaires! Great - it has no bearing on an IBO's business. Amway winning awards has no correlation with an Amway IBO making a net profit. Amway once reported a partnership with the Detroit Red Wings. Great, but that helps IBOs in what way other than having a topic of conversation?  All this hype means nothing to your bottom line as an IBO.

So many IBOs mistakenly or ignorantly confuse Amway's success for their own. Of course, it helps when the corporation gets good press because it can help them recruit downline by having something nice to point out. But then again, many IBOs don't sell goods, they "buy from themselves". If you buy from yourself, then all of this good press does nothing to increase your sales. Without sales, you can't make money unless you recruit tons of downline, and even at that, without sales, you may be running an illegal pyramid, based on my understanding of what constitutes a pyramid.

All of the good things happening for Amway or because of Amway - is it increasing your bottom line? Is it helping your "Independent Business"? If not, then why brag about it? Aren't you an IBO - Independent Business Owner? Can you make the same or similar claims about your own business?

P.S. Amway is NOT endorsed by the BBB or FTC. IBOs who make these claims are possibly in violation of the Amway IBO rules of conduct. IBOs should go look it up if they don't know what I am referring to.

Bad Advice?

 Based on my personal experience and based on having read numerous accounts from other former IBOs, it's pretty clear that the higher uplines, absolve themselves of issues and problems by having others do their dirty work. While some leaders are bold enough to make dumb statements on stage, many uplines will have their "eagles" or platinums do their dirty work, which is to pass bad and often self-serving advice to their downline. Advice that will help them (upline) to profit directly from the losses suffered by downline.

For example, a diamond may stand on stage and talk about the merits of getting out of debt. Now getting out of debt is a good thing and nobody should get caught up in credit card debt and other piles of debt. But so many times, I sat in meetings where the group was told they needed to be at the next function - no matter what. Do whatever it takes to get there, even if it meant selling personal belongings. Ironically, the solution to getting to the next major function did not involve selling Amway products. So many IBOs made sacrifices of time and money to get to the next function, but their business did not experience any growth in volume or downline. I saw many crossline IBOs attend meeting after meeting and function after function without any downline. They faithfully spent their time and money chasing a dream based on lies by the upline leaders. Our group was told that upline made zero profit on tools. While some groups now admit that profit is made on tools, there is still a lack of transparency about the tools profits and as far as I know, there are no formal written agreements with regards to the tool profits.

I also recall our platinums having platinum and above meetings while we were at major functions, and it seemed that the platinums always had something to teach the group that was contrary to what we had just heard on stage and the platinum would tell us that he had the freshest information from the meeting. It's like the platinum was just a henchman for the diamonds and carried out their dirty deeds. Another example is how the diamonds taught vertical alignment where God is first, then your spouse, your kids, your job and in 5th place was your Amway business. But anytime an event such as a friend's wedding or an anniversary dinner or your kid's soccer game conflicted with an Amway event, the group was told "attend all meetings". All means all, is what our group was told. That is directly contrary to the concept of vertical alignment. In fact, the Amway IBOs became less useful to their communities and churches as they are constantly attending meetings and functions and unable to serve in other capacities. I also wondered whether the Amway business and tools consumption took away their ability to tithe and give to the local charities. Our upline would tell us to go diamond and then send in $10,000 checks as if that made it okay not to serve others and help the needy.

It is my informed opinion that this still goes on today, despite the claims of Amway apologists that my experience is dated. There is ample evidence suggesting that very little has changed from 25+ years ago. In fact, many of the leaders from my IBO days are still teaching unethical things to this day. Many Upline passes bad advice downline, but they do it in sneaky ways such as having their downline leaders pass the information on. This is also how Amway itself can skirt some of their issues, as IBOs are not Amway employees, they are "independent". But most people in North America now know the truth and hopefully this article shines some light on that truth.

Big Dreams?

 One of the many things that Amway IBOs are badly misguided on is the concept of dreams and fighting for dreams. A dream is basically a long-term goal. Someone might dream about playing in the National Football League. To accomplish that dream, one might play high school and/or college level football. For the vast majority, the dream will end. No matter how much someone wants to play in the NFL, only so many people are proficient enough to be able to earn a spot on an NFL roster.  Sometimes you might even need a bit a luck to find the right situation to be able to make the team.  Even fewer are elite players that become stars. So, while you might fight for your dreams, there is also an alternate reality. 

In the Amway business, via the "systems" such as WWDB or Network 21, the leaders will often sell hopes and dreams to the downline. That the downline can be retired at the age of 29, walking the beaches of the world while the income just rolls in forever and ever. These kinds of "dreams" would be the same as hoping to win the Powerball lottery. You may have seen a few who did it but the chance of you duplicating it is very unlikely. Slim to none is your chance in reality. Even those who might achieve diamond will find it difficult to maintain.  The truth is that there are many people who went diamond and are no longer diamonds and no longer receiving "residual income".

Another thing uplines will often do is tell anecdotal stories about crabs keeping each other in a bucket when one tries to escape, or about monkeys preventing each other from grabbing bananas at the top of the pole. While the stories may be interesting and even true, it doesn't necessarily apply to the Amway business. While it is true that an IBO may have friends and family who are skeptical about Amway, it is with good reason. Many people have gone through the Amway business with no success. Many people have lost money doing everything they were advised to do by upline. There is a track record of financial disasters associated with Amway and the attached "systems". It's not like there's a long list of people who have walked away from Amway with the cash rolling in and not a care in the world. Ever wonder why none of the crown ambassadors, as far as I know, have exercised the option to "walk away"?   Instead, crown ambassadors die on the job.

I think people should have dreams. I think people should pursue their dreams. I also think people need to know that certain dreams can come true. There also needs to be a degree of reality in their dreams. There will always be some inspirational person such as a "Rudy" who overcame great odds to accomplish a dream, but the untold reality is that there were probably many many young men who dreamed of playing for Notre Dame that year. Likely, no one else accomplished the unlikely dream like a Rudy. What I am saying is that earning a nice income and having the option of early retirement can be accomplished in many ways. You might be choosing to use Amway to accomplish your financial dreams and that is your right. But the reality is that very few people have made all their financial dreams come true due to the Amway opportunity, as compared to the tens of millions who have tried. 

Keep fighting for your dreams, but keep in mind that you might need a plan B and a dose of reality.

Another Story Of Deception?

 Author: Wally

Comment:

I live in the DC metro area and was approached by a guy in Best Buy about a "business opportunity". The word Amway was never mentioned once in the entire conversation. Instead, the focus was on his business and how there was a solid opportunity that shouldn't be missed. I figured it can't hurt, so I was open to listening. Even on his business card, it said nothing of Amway. The guy forwarded me a link to my email of his business which explored social networking. Again, kind of vague. It all came together when I went to my first Amway meeting.

Going in, I had no idea this was Amway. They all took pride in calling themselves entrepreneurs and were all extremely upbeat, positive, and social. The whole session was interesting, but when the speaker started talking about using your existing social networks on Facebook to potentially mine for sales clients...I was a little put off.

At this point, I basically said to my "sponsor", thanks but no thanks. However, he was strategic about his approach. He stayed away for a while, but came back later with a new opportunity to explore the world of the business. Honestly, even though I wasn't all that attracted to the business itself, I figured I may give it a go simply because it is taking me out of my comfort zone, is something brand new, involves numerous highly optimistic, social people, and seems harmless.

We reconnected, my sponsor and I, and I laid out the cash to get up and rolling. Every word out of my sponsor's mouth was a battle cry for victory. He did not know the meaning of defeat, or even the prospect of failing. He was relentless in his perspective that he is "winning". He is victorious in life and life is his to be conquered. It's here that I began to think that he is brainwashed. He seemed almost in denial to some things. Intentionally avoiding reality and choosing to be absorbed in a false notion. Weird.

After I was up and rolling, I attended the meetings, attended the social events, and mingled. I bought a bunch of stuff to meet the monthly PV goals, and also sold what I could. The selling was a lot more difficult than just buying the items myself. Even though the quality of the products are quite good, the prices are not exactly bargains.

After a few months of doing this, I realized that pitching products to family and friends, and in turn, alienating some of them, was not something I wanted to pursue any longer. It quickly became unappealing. And all the friendships made through Amway were friendships crafted through the desire for money. They were all financial transactions in form and substance. I was encouraged strongly to constantly bring new people in, and get them involved. Essentially, I would instruct them in the very same way that I was instructed by my sponsor. Inevitably, I would do my best to mentor them so that they have success, and their success became my success. Once one starts picturing how big the web can be, it can be hard to disengage.

My sponsor embodied very strong conservative Christian beliefs. He seemed to be infatuated with the Bible, and quoted freely from it. I think he thought of himself as a spiritual warrior as well as an entrepreneur. But it's not his products that he's selling. It's Amway's products. And he wasn't a savior; he is just a guy doing the best he can to motivate others to...sell products that are overpriced.

When I finally disentangled myself, he expectedly did not take it well. In so many words, he told me that your life won't be very meaningful once you leave Amway. He also said that he'll make a ton of money and is a part of a multi-million dollar business. That's all well and fine, but does he actually expect to be making millions? He is definitely brain washed by his upline guys. There's pictures of them rolling around in Ferraris and beautiful women...I guess he thinks this is his future.

In any case, I think the Amway business succeeds....at being a total failure. Why encourage marketing to family and friends? What does this say about the seller? That they value what the people closest to them can do for them on a monetary basis? What happens when the answer is no? Does this mean that this friend or family member is reprehensible or a traitor? Also, the products Amway makes can be bought at more or less the same quality at Target or Walmart, but cheaper. What's so special about Amway? Nothing. Starting a "business" is very different than "selling Amway stuff"".

And why the false sense of optimism, even when the reality is staring you right in the face? I suppose that a lot of these hardcore Amway folks are brainwashed into thinking that displaying vulnerability, or anything that might make you appear...human, is weakness. Too bad.

I think the correct term is used by the poster above, Terrance, "suckered". Please don't get suckered in. It all will look appealing. The Amway rep will likely be extraordinarily charismatic, friendly, social, and overall look like a very successful person. The people he's associated with will also be a positive, engaging bunch. However, beneath the surface lies a business, if it can be called that, which is a sham and a waste of time.

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100 PV?

 Most LOS groups that I know of, use 100 PV as the benchmark when promoting the Amway business. Many groups also teach that you simply "change" your shopping habits and you can easily reach 100 PV. This teaching creates an artificial demand for Amway products and I believe that Amway sales would take a huge dip if not for this teaching. I also am of the opinion that for this reason, Amway had/has done little to reign in LOS abuses of downline.

100 PV is roughly equal to about $270 to $300 worth of products. Of course, your cost may vary, depending on whether you purchase a lot of CORE Amway products such as laundry detergent, and nutrilte vitamins. For many people, the 100 PV benchmark is seen as the minimum for a business building IBO. The problem for many is that Amway products are not competitively priced, thus it is a hard sell. If I can buy the same or a similar product elsewhere for a fraction of the price, I will. And most consumers feel the same way.  And 100 PV is not the ultimate goal if you are "serious" about your business.  Some groups will encourage 150 - 300 PV if you are to be a leader and a serious IBO.

It is why some LOS groups such as WWDB or BWW adopted the "buy from yourself and get others to do the same" philosophy. Since most people do not like selling, and because of the high prices of Amway products, simply telling prospects to buy from yourself made the concept palatable. The problem with buy from yourself is that it reaches the borders of being illegal, in my opinion. That is because in a buy from yourself environment, the only way for an IBO to make a profit, is to recruit downline to benefit from the volume rebates. That is because there are no outside customers to bring in cash from outside the circle of IBOs.  How could a real business possibly survive if they relied on sales only to staff and not primarily customer?

What makes this issue even worse is when you have LOS groups such as WWDB creating an even greater problem with programs such as eagle. If 100 PV is an inflated demand for Amway products, incentive programs such as eagle make it worse. How can a single person reasonably be expected to move 200 to 300 PV when most of it is personal consumption?  What the upline tries to push is to hyper-consume a lot of high PV, but expensive products.   The upline leaders use these programs as an incentive for downline IBOs, but in turn, they benefit financially by having more downline volume, as well as potentially enhanced tools sales by dedicated downline IBOs.

I challenge any IBO or prospect to take a close look at your Amway purchases. Are you truly just changing your shopping habits and achieving 100 PV or are you buying things to give away, or buying things that accumulate somewhere? Unless IBOs are selling half of their purchases, they are probably overbuying Amway products. I believe it is simply because of upline teaching which creates a defacto 100 PV quota and an artificial demand for Amway products. I challenge you to examine this closely and make your own conclusions.

IBOs "Choose" Success?

 Many IBOs seem to think that success in the Amway business or in other aspects of life is simply a choice. They mistakenly believe that you can actually choose to succeed or not. They apparently believe that persistence and choosing to win will eventually land them a premiere spot at diamond club. If that were truly the case, wouldn't we see hordes of new diamonds each and every year? Instead, we see one here and one there, and while there are a few new diamonds in the US every so often, we see others quitting, dropping out or leaving Amway for greener pastures. Make you wonder if the prize is worth pursuing in the first place.

But IBOs and information seekers should understand quite clearly. You cannot simply "choose" to win or succeed. In a football game, both sides can believe and choose to win, but still, only one can be the victor. In Amway, it is common for a platinum to have 100 to 200 downlines. Thus, to be a platinum, you need to be in the top one half to the top one fourth of one percent of IBOs. To be a diamond, you will need to have about 600 to 1200 downline IBOs, not counting the masses of IBOs who register and do nothing or register and do a little and quit. Only one in about ten to twenty thousand will ever reach diamond in North America.

Sure, IBOs may cite some touching story like "Rudy". Basically, a nobody who dreamed of playing for Notre Dame. He busted his butt and did whatever it took to make the team, and the movie ends with him getting in a game, making a sack and being carried off the field by his teammates in a blaze of glory. A great and inspiring movie. But what you don't see is the possible tens of thousands of young men who had the same dream, may have worked every bit as hard but circumstances and situations prevented them from achieving the same limited success. Uplines want you to think these kinds of stories can happen to everyone, but the fact is that there is only a little room at the top. If stories like Rudy were common, then there would have been nothing special about it. An elite athlete like a Michael Jordan or a Tiger Woods only comes along once or twice in a lifetime. It is like achieving diamond. It happens but it is a rare occasion, especially in North America where Amway appears to be shrinking instead of growing.

In the Amway business, many prospects and IBOs are motivated and driven to succeed. Many of them are fine young men and women who want more in life. But the vast majority of those who try will not achieve their dreams via the Amway opportunity no matter how hard they work and no matter how badly they want it. The reason is because there are too many variables that are not in direct control of the IBO. The Amway reputation in North America is spotty at best so sponsoring downline is nearly impossible. And when you can sponsor, chances are your downline will do little or nothing. Many new IBOs will work hard but quit because they are faced with the challenges I just mentioned. And even if you can overcome the overwhelming odds, you still need to keeping working hard constantly to maintain the business, all for an unstable average diamond income of $146,995, which doesn't consider taxes, medical insurance and other perks you may receive at a job. All told, I believe the diamond income is not all it's cracked up to be when you consider the charade you must play to display the diamond lifestyle. Do the math and you will be able to see for yourself.

In the end, it seems as though the prize isn't as great as it seems, and the trail to success is one that most cannot endure. And even if you achieve diamond, you can lose it quite easily as others have discovered. The bottom line is that you cannot simply choose to succeed in Amway or any other endeavor. Good luck if you decide to attempt it anyway.

Customers?

 One of the apparently common practices among major IBO groups is still the concept of "buy from yourself". I believe IBO leaders teach this because most people are not good at or not comfortable selling goods and services. And this is not uncommon. In general, people do not enjoy selling and the Amway presentation is usually careful to avoid making the impression that you need sales. Instead, you might hear terms like self-consumption or being a prosumer.

Therefore, to teach buy from yourself makes the business an easier sell. In reality, an Amway IBO is simply a commissioned salesperson with no benefits. But presenting the opportunity that way is unlikely to yield results either, thus the buy from yourself has become a common practice. It makes it sound easy to just buy your own goods (or change your shopping habits) to reach 100 PV and qualify yourself for a bonus. Then you just get others to copy what you are doing. Easy right?  And everyone knows a handful of people to be able to sponsor downline and ultimately succeed right?

However, buying from yourself makes you a customer and not a business owner. Buying from yourself doesn't generate your business a profit. Would you open a car dealership to buy a car? Now I am not suggesting that supporting your own business is a bad idea. What I am suggesting is if you are the primary or exclusive customer of your Amway business, then you aren't really running a business. You are simply a glorified customer. And technically, without sales, you don't actually qualify for a bonus.

What an IBO is really doing is paying his upline's bonuses. Amway overcharges more than 30% of the cost of their product. They have to do this in order to be able to pay IBO bonuses. Since most IBOs are at 100 PV or less, the lion's share of the bonuses earned are channeled upline when a purchase is made. It is not a level playing field as some IBO leaders might suggest. Yes, you might be able to surpass your sponsor (not hard when most IBOs do nothing), but you will never surpass a tenured diamond no matter how hard you work because that diamond has a lot of influence over your business. 

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

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

Dead Or Broke By Age 65?

 One of the myths that Amway IBOs and IBO leaders perpetuate is that 98% of people will be dead or broke by the age of 65. I have debunked this myth more than once, but I had an interesting thought about this subject. If people are destined to be dead or broke by age 65 as IBOs claim, then for sure the Amway business is not going to change that end result. It is likely to ensure that you end up broke, provided you live to be 65 years or older. Imagine people who go all in for Amway, and wind up with $202 a month? You would be a surefire qualifier for food stamps or some other government assistance with that kind of income. Ironically, Amway IBOs use the fear of being broke as a means to recruit people to do Amway.

Amway's own disclosure numbers show that the average IBO earns about $202 a month. And that $202 a month is not counting IBOs who did nothing, and it is gross income, meaning that business expenses and taxes have not yet been factored in. Unless you have a large nest egg, pension, and/or some kinds of investments to live on, the amount of income that the average IBO earns from Amway won't make any difference in their lifestyles. In fact, if an IBO is putting 10-12 hours a week into their business, then that IBO is earning less than $3.00 an hour for their efforts. You would be better off doing much more lucrative work such as flipping burgers or greeting customers at WalMart.  And if those same IBOs are participating in the system of tools and functions, then IBOs are likely suffering a net loss of income after expenses are factored in.  How do losses help someone's finances?

Seriously, if you are looking at Amway as a business opportunity, then the average earnings should be alarming. The person prospecting new people will say that the average is low because many people quit or don't work hard enough. The question to come back with would be why this is so if the business was so efficient and the products were so good?  If you note that the average income is $202 a month for IBOs and .26, yes, that's roughly one fourth of one percent reach the level of Gold/Platinum where you might earn $1000 a month (before taxes and expenses), then most people would conclude that it is not a good business proposition. I wonder if many Amway prospects are young and inexperienced in life, thus unable to properly evaluate a business opportunity? Or do Amway recruiters make the business sound simple and easy, which would be deceptive?

If you want to earn less than minimum wage on average, then Amway might be the perfect opportunity for you!

The 2-5 Year Myth?

  One of the things I heard and is still promoted is the concept of a 2–5-year plan to (to go diamond) financial freedom. As a prospect, 2-5 years of hard work in your spare time sounds reasonable. After all, anyone can work an extra 8-12 hours a week for a couple of years with that kind of reward awaiting you at the end. The sad reality is that you are likely to suffer 2-5 years of financial losses without getting any closer to financial freedom.  And that it not to mention the amount of time spent chasing an unattainable goal.  

When Amway morphed into Quixtar, a very relevant question was how many diamonds were "quixtar only", meaning they signed up in 1999 when quixtar was implemented and then became diamonds in the advertised 2-5 years. As far as I know, there were very few (if any) new diamonds. The new diamonds that were named all seemingly came from other countries, not the US or Canada. Even now, my former LOS (WWDB) was touting "double eagle rubies" which is not a recognized achievement by Amway (as far as I know), and there is no assurance that achieving such a level makes an IBO profitable. In fact, the eagle program run by WWDB is only measuring tool parameters which is great for upline but not necessarily for the IBOs.  The "eagle" program was focused on the movement of standing orders and functions, which are non-income producing activities, but creates a lot of income for upline diamonds. 

Even today, I do not see a steady stream of new diamonds emerging from Amway. If the 2-5 year plan actually worked, there would be new diamonds constantly emerging. Instead, my former LOS (WWDB), actually has fewer diamonds (from what I can see) now than back in my IBO days. And of those diamonds who remain, some of them had homes foreclosed and it also appears that at least a few of them ran into some financial difficulties. Makes me wonder what a diamond's finances actually look like. I suspect many of them live in debt, especially if they flaunt the "diamond lifestyle", which is probably not sustainable on diamond income as reported by Amway.

So while it might be possible to achieve diamond in 2-5 years (some have done it), but tens of millions (or more) have tried. It is much more likely that you will win the lottery (provided you have a ticket) than it is likely that you will join Amway and go diamond. It is also unlikely that people in the US and Canada who join will go diamond in the advertised 2-5 years. The 2-5 year plan is not promoted by Amway, but by the LOS leaders. I believe it is a hoax and the numbers back up my claim. You are much more likely to be better off working part time for 2-5 years and saving and investing for your future. If not, you will end up with 2-5 years of losing money on functions and standing orders.

As many Amway leaders will state: Look at the fruit on the tree. In the US and Canada, the trees are bare.