The Problem With Amway/MLM?

 Interesting article I came across:

http://www.thechangeblog.com/my-beef-with-multi-level-marketing/

1. The Products and Services Do Not Add Value

The meeting I went to for the first opportunity was held in a large movie cinema. There was a flashy movie presentation, and then a procession of people gave us their MLM success stories. After this meeting for newcomers, there was a training session for existing marketers. Since my friend was staying for this meeting and I wanted to better understand this opportunity, I stuck around. It was an eye-opener.

In this training meeting, I came to understand that the opportunity basically involved reselling the services of a telecommunications company. It became obvious that it offered little to no value to the potential customer, as the service was in no way cheaper that simply having a contract with the telecommunications company. The trainers encouraged marketers to divert queries regarding the benefits of the service with phrases such as “you will be doing me a favor by doing this” or “you will be helping my dream of working for myself come true”.

In regards to Amway, I’m sure there is nothing wrong with their products. But is anyone actually buying Amway products because they are the best quality and/ or value? It seems to me that most people purchasing the products are doing so because they are wrapped up in Amway or feel pressured to by someone (yes, I’m sure there are some exceptions). This leads me onto my second problem with MLM.

2. MLM Strains Relationships

Now from what I observed, MLM in many ways has a cult-like following as people get heavily wrapped up in the idea of making “passive residual income”. The income model closely resembles a pyramid, and for this reason success with MLM is heavily dependent on recruiting further people to join. In this sense, everyone you know – friends, family and work colleagues – become potential recruits and sources of income.

As I’m sure you can imagine, someone who becomes too wrapped up in MLM is going to be extremely annoying. In this way, MLM can strain, and can even permanently damage, relationships with the people closest to you. And remember, in many cases it is going to be questionable whether MLM products and services do actually add any value.

Final Thoughts

As should be obvious from this article, these are my opinions only. I am only familiar with the MLM opportunities mentioned, and I happily admit that I did not get involved with them past the first presentation. I am very open-minded, and I’m sure many people have good experiences with MLM. MLM is often linked to personal growth, and I’m sure many people gain confidence and learn valuable networking lessons getting involved. That said, if you are involved in MLM or are presented with an opportunity please consider my points above, try to cut past all the hype that is likely to be associated with the presented opportunity, and use your own mind to decide the value of the opportunity.

No Negatives?

 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.

Why Endless Motivation Is Needed?

 I believe that Amway IBOs have approximately a 50% attrition rate for the first year alone. If you look at a 5 year window, I believe the attrition rate is something like 95%. So, what we're saying is that out of 100 IBOs, only 5 will be around in 5 years, or out of 1000 IBOs, 50 will remain after 5 years. This is extremely significant because if you are a business builder, you will need to replace half of your IBOs every single year. For this reason, I am very doubtful that there are IBOs who "built the business right and built it once", who no longer do Amway related work, but still collect significant residual income. I would guess that significant income could be defined as being enough to live a lifestyle in the top tax bracket (for the US) without having to report to a J-O-B. 

Now I understand that some IBOs take it personally when I bring up subjects like this. It is because they have been deceived by some upline diamond or big pin who has sold them on a dream of financial prosperity for life if they will only work hard for 2-5 years. I once thought so too, but realized that there isn't a single diamond that I know of who built the business right and walked away to enjoy the beaches of the world while truckloads of money rolls in. Kinda makes you wonder why you see Crowns still working, and diamonds actually quitting or resigning. I have asked the question many times and it has never been answered. Can anyone name a few people who built their business right and built it once who is currently enjoying these lifelong residuals? Also, if that were a benefit, why doesn't Amway say so?

Instead, you have a constant and endless flow of motivation being sold to IBOs. This motivation comes in the form of cds, books, meetings, functions and other things like voicemail messages. It's sad that IBOs have to continue to pay through the nose for motivation and "teaching" about the Amway business when there are cheaper and more efficient means of communication. For example, why would you need an expensive voicemail when a facebook group account can disseminate messages to your group in seconds at no cost? It is because the uplines want to extract every possible sent from their downline. Because of the internet, I believe people are starting to figure things out and avoid the systems altogether. I hope Joecool's blog contributes to this.

All the motivation IBOs truly need is to see a net profit at the end of the month. If IBOs actually earned an extra $200 a month, or $50 a month, or $600 a month as advertised, there would be no need for motivational speeches. The IBOs would simply look at the growth in their finances and they would keep going. The poor retention rate is easy to explain. IBOs are losing money because of the system expenses, and they lose their motivation to continue. If you are an IBO or a prospect, stop and think for a minute. If you are making an extra $200 a month with minimal effort, would you need functions and other materials to motivate you? Or would you have intrinsic motivation from the profit? All the motivation you will ever need is a net profit. Take that to the bank

Debating An Amway Drone?

 I apologize for the length of this post but it's actually quite humorous and I will also post the link in case you wish to follow along or perhaps leave your own comments. The classic Amway defense is used here, including unsubstantiated income and lifestyle claims. He also calls me a liar but never identifies what I'm supposedly lying about.  It's a bit date but still a fun read.  Enjoy!

https://amthrax.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/penn-and-tellers-verdic-on-mlms-bs/#comment-48347

Malachy:

“, FAILED system”?? Yeah. Right. 8 billion annually no sticks no dent. 60 merchant partners and double digits growth in North America these past 2 years.
(Oh yeah. And #1 selling nutritional supplier world wide. Aha. )


Joecool

8 billion annually. Down more than 25% from 2013 when Amway did 11.8 billion. No debt? How do you know Amway has no debt? That’s an old talking point that was proven wrong in the past if you know how to use google. And #1 selling nutritional supplier worldwide is a HUGE lie.
The #1 selling nutritional supplier in the world is Nestle. In he Americas alone they exceed 40 billion. You are just repeating lies that uplines tells without verifying for yourself. More than likely you are repeating income claim lies from upline as well.
Nestle: https://www.nestle.com/investors/annual-report

Malachy:

Nobody went black or lost their homes BECAUSE OF AMWAY. (Gee by your logic maybe Greg (Duncan) couldn’t afford the tapes books & travel to all those functions?
Dude Matt (Tsuruda)was making $90,000 a month as an EDC.
He probably makes 4-5 times that now

Joecool

It’s not how much you make, but what you do with it. $40K per month and (Greg Duncan) winds up bankrupt?

Malachy:

FYI there are 3500 college players who graduate or declare for the draft before they graduate. Know how many are drafted in the entire NFL? 254. That means there’s only a 7% chance of getting drafted
Then there’s several walk ons who are undrafted who show up to training camp. Then you have OTA, mono camp, training camp, and preseason in which 90 or so men all hope to make the roster (of which there are really less than 50 possible openings in a maximum 53 man roster (a half a dozen maybe ten or so of which are already taken by the superstars like Tom Brady or Beckam or Gronk.

So it’s about a 3% chance of even MAKING a roster, and that doesn’t guarantee the big money but only minimum scale if you’re on the practice squad.

Then there’s the chance of getting injured ending a season (or a carreer)
Average length of an NFL carreer? Less than 7 years.

And how much money do you make after you leave, quit, get cut, or injured out of the NFL?
Zero (except maybe some pension depending on how long you played & what money you made. )
Tracey Eaton had to play a preseason game with a flu & high fever, just to prove himself make the team. At Arizona.
Know what happened after he left the NFL with $300,000 on the bank & had to try & make it as a stock broker?
He ended up $400,000 in debt & had to sell his house!
Thank God Wolgamott came along & he asked Wolgamott how he managed to sleep in every day & be rich.

Now they are free as diamonds & have a beautiful high rise condo in Seattle and paid Cash for a second home on the river.
Eaton makes more money than he ever made in the NFL & is not subject to injuries, age, or roster cuts
Yeah we know all about the odds.

(Then there’s also Superbowl champion Tim Foley in Miami, Hal Greer from the NBA and numerous other world class championship athletes who make their living from amway or endorse the nutrilite Brand. (see Kurt Warner- another walk on who had what it takes in character & went from walk on back up quarterback to Superbowl champion. Yeah. He believes in nutrilite & amway)
Not everybody who plays the game is a winner or a champion. Only those who got what it takes (which obviously you didn’t!)

Joecool
July 30, 2018 10:00 am
7% is a whole lot more success than Amway IBOs. A platinum is allegedly where you start to break even more make a small profit, depending on your commitment to the system. A platinum is already in the top fraction of 1% of IBOs. What serious business owner prospect would want to join and opportunity where the likelihood of success is so low?
Arena football players know the deal before they sign up. They are signing up because someone told them about residual income for life if they play arena football.

Again, how do you know what Tracy Eaton makes? Did you show you his financials? You have no idea but you keep making those kinds of claims. All you are saying is that he lacks integrity and is able to sell people on lies to make his living. 2-5 years, walking the beaches is a lie. One that has serious consequences for many who get involved.


Malachy:

woww. Once again you demonstrated a difficulty understanding (or paying attention to) what people actually say.
If 7 % get drafted that doesn’t necessarily mean they will make the roster by end of preseason and if they do make the roster half of them will NEVER make a million a year

Many have ENDED up broke after being retired (average carreer is less than 7 years and they don’t pay you or even guarantee your salary if you’re not playing. Many get injured and most contracts have team friendly incentives that only pay based on how many snaps you play in the year.)

Tracey Eaton lasted a handful of years after busting his @$$ to make the team during preseason only to end up broke & having to sell his house after retirement. None of hos NFL income was secure or willable to his children

Now he makes more than he did in the NFL and it’s all willable to his children and most of it is passive ongoing income streams.

He paid Cash for his second home. (did you?

Joecool

I understand completely. But anyone who gets drafted receives at least a signing bonus of about $100k or more, even if they fail to make the team.

Most Amway IBOs make nothing and if they attend functions, almost all of them LOSE MONEY.
Tracy Eaton can tell you he paid cash for his home. I paid cash for my home. See how that works? Talk is cheap. Greg Duncan also said she paid cash for his homes. Then we see foreclosures. Guess what? Homes that are paid for can’t get foreclosed.

“None of his NFL income was secure or will-able to his children” Total bullshit. All of his guaranteed income could have been secured and will-able to his children.

You know why Amway diamonds might quit or resign but they never “walk away? They have to keep working the business. Most Amway IBOs do little or nothing and quit. If you stop building your Amway business, people will continue to do little or nothing and quit. You cannot build a sustainable income where the attrition rate is so high unless you are constantly working it. The never quit that upline teaches applies to the upline as well. If they quit, their business will fall apart faster than a cheap Amway suit.

Malachy:

Name one example of an NFL contract which says they continue to get their bloated salary after they’re no longer able to play?
No such thing! It’s all based 100% on their own ability.
Amway isn’t based on ability. It’s based off an asset which continues to generate revenue and therefore earnings for you or your beneficiaries
Ever hear of an “integrated Diamond”?
(Oh. I’m sorry. So now Georgia Lee (Puryear) no longer gets any income since Ron died? )
Better tell Jim to go get a job ha.

Joecool

So why don”t diamonds walk away and retire? Because their business will crumble apart once they stop working. In Amway, you need the ability to recruit and lie to recruits so they will sign up and buy Amway stuff and tools and functions.
I don’t know. Georgia Lee didn’t show me (or you) her financials so I don’t (and you don’t) know what or if she’s still making money from Amway.
You do know that Amway diamonds invest in other things besides Amway right?

Malachy:

I’ve never been lied to by anyone in the Amway company or WWDb. You on the other hand lie all the time & make up stuff to support your excuses why you quit. LOSERS do that & we don’t do that in our family.

Joecool:

What have I lied about? I share my personal experience. Whether you like it or not is another story but these are not lies.

You make up all kinds of stuff. You quote income from people you don’t know. You pretend to know how much income and expenses the diamonds have. The truth is you don’t know.
You bought into the lie that buying from yourself can turn into profits.
You still haven’t answered why not a single diamond walked away to enjoy residual income. Instead, they are on the job until they pass away. That’s not freedom.

Chasing Dreams?

 One of the cruel things done by some uplines is to fill starry eyed Amway prospects with dreams that they know will go unfulfilled. I have heard statements from some former platinums and higher who mentioned that some upline actually think of their audience as a bunch of suckers chasing a dream and making them rich by purchasing standing orders and function tickets. A common dream is for folks to retire before the age of 30 and to walk the beaches of the world. Others dream of mansions, sports cars and other trappings of wealth.

Sadly, the cast majority of prospects and IBOs will never get close to achieving anything they dreamed of when they first saw the Amway plan. Most IBOs would have a better chance of attaining wealth by purchasing lottery tickets instead of trying to build an Amway diamond ship. Amway defenders like to jump in and squawk that the Amway business is not a game of chance like the lottery. While that is true, that makes things much worse. Let me explain. In a lottery, you simply purchase the tickets, and you wait to see the results. The results are completely out of your control. The vast majority of lottery participants will end up losing money while a few lucky ones will win. The reason I feel that the Amway business is worse is because it is not a game of chance. Many of the steps of CORE, are within the control of an IBO and even with much time and effort spent by many business building IBOs, the end result of all that time and effort is basically the same miserable result as a lottery. Many people participating but very few end up profitable and happy. The difference is that lottery players generally don't expect to win. Conversely, many Amway IBOs, expecting to win, are motivated and hardworking, and will put in a fair effort, only to fail and worse, to be blamed for their failure despite doing everything their upline advised.

There is nothing wrong with having goals and dreams. Everyone should have something they are aiming for. But it seems cruel to promote dreams and goals at other's expenses when you really have no means to help more than a select few out of thousands or possibly millions of people to succeed. Yes, Amway is not a game of chance but the reality that long term and significant Amway success is about as common as someone hitting the power ball lottery. The rest of the IBOs who attempted to build a business end up quitting and fading into the sunset. Most will not complain as it is common to be sponsored by friends and family.

In the end, most people are simply chasing a dream that will never come to be. It's a sad situation because as I said, many prospects and IBOs are nice, motivated and hardworking people. But in all walks of society, people can be fooled. I believe the upline leaders are simply getting their downline to chase dreams that will never come to pass. I challenge IBOs to look at their business financials. Do you have a net gain at the end of the month? If not, what dreams can you achieve with a loss of income?

Mentors Or Crooks?

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

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

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

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

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

Just A Common Thief?

 I was up watching a rerun of the original version of the movie "Die Hard" starring Bruce Willis.   The story is about some foreign terrorists who take over a building on Christmas eve.  They hold hostages and make demands as if they were involved in some political scheme or perhaps playing martyrs.  They had made various demands such as the release of certain terrorists as a condition for releasing the hostages.  During the process, John McClain (Bruce Willis) discovers that these alleged terrorists were simply thieves trying to steal hundreds of millions of dollars.   It sort of inspired me to come up with this new blog post.

The diamonds, in my opinion, put on these elaborate functions and flashy displays of wealth as a way to recruit and retain IBOs.  They love the adulation and the love coming from the downline.  They faithful downline treat the diamonds as deities, and they believe everything the diamond says because they truly want to believe it.  That you can build a financial empire working in your spare time at your own pace.  People at functions tear up because they want the alleged financial freedom.  They want to quit their jobs while barrels of money flows in.  This is the flashy side of the business that they use to pitch their wares upon unsuspecting prospects and downline.

But in the end, it seems as though as the movie, the diamonds are just common thieves.  Like conmen, their faithful downline believes what they upline says.  They refer to them commonly as mentors, and leaders who only want their success.  But what is the reality?  The reality is that the advice given is typically self-serving.   Are you struggling to build your Amway business?  Buy more cds/audios and attend more functions.    So, the solution for a failing business is to spend even more resources on non-income producing materials?   How does that solve the problem for the IBO?  How does that make things better?   It is a fact that uplines profit handsomely from the sale of tools and functions because these materials have a higher profit margin that Amway products, and they keep all the profits.  There is no kickback to the rank-and-file IBOs.

I have read accounts and had personal discussion with former higher up pins where the diamonds do not care about the downline.  The IBOs are expendable as far as they are concerned.  They are simply the source of their revenue.  Of course, they are happy to toss up and coming IBOs crumbs in order to keep them motivated.  They only care about selling more and more tools, because there is a great likelihood that the "diamond" lifestyle is primarily from the sale of tools and functions and not necessarily income from Amway.   Part of the reason for this is because there might be diamonds who once achieve diamond but are no longer qualified as a diamond.  However, once someone achieves the diamond level, they continue to hold the pin and may continue to make an income from tools and functions even if they might actually be a low-level IBO carrying high ranking pin.  Once a diamond, always a diamond, I guess.   Thus, all the glitz and glamor is just a show that rank and file IBOs pay for, even though it does little to nothing for their Amway businesses.   Just another non income producing activity, which is what upline sells a lot of.  

In the end, the diamonds, if you see through the facade, are basically just conmen.  Or if you will, are just common thieves, in my opinion.  If you look at the results from the masses or downline, the results are so poor that any success can be compared to that of winning a lottery.  A few winners, who win on the backs of masses of losers.   Happy New Year! 

How To Silence A Critic?

 There's been a lot of debate and activity on Joecool's blog over the years.  Amway IBOs come and go. They make interesting and sometimes dubious claims, but they never silence any of the criticism because they never prove their case. Or they make ridiculous claims or analogies such as comparing the Amway opportunity to a McDonald's franchise, or silly comparisons to colleges. The owner of Amway, Rich DeVos said in 1983, something to the effect that the tools business was basically an illegal pyramid. If the abuse of downline IBOs had been addressed back then, there might be little criticism of the opportunity today.  

Instead, it appears that Amway and the AMOs (such as WWDB or Network 21) created a symbiotic relationship.  The AMOs do the recruiting, teach product loyalty and a defacto 100 PV or more quota.  In return, Amway allows the AMOs to operate unfettered and the IBOs are the one who wind up paying.

I once had a discussion with an (apparent) IBO who claimed that Amway has created the most millionaires in the world. When asked for the source of this claim, that same IBO disappeared. Now I am certain that Amway has created some millionaires, but the most in the world? Also, based on evidence and simple math, it appears that most IBOs who participate with the tools systems lose money, so even if Amway did produce many millionaires (which is not verified), then we could also claim that Amway produced many bankruptcies and failures as well.   I might also add that diamonds and other higher up Amway leaders do not show any evidence that they are indeed millionaires so it's just an unverified claim.

Various IBOs have also claimed that because they are successful, that it serves as proof that the system works. But when asked for evidence of that success, or to show that their downline share some of that success, they disappear into the night.

You know what? Sweat shop owners are usually successful. They succeed by taking advantage of their underpaid workers. Basically, greedy tools kingpin diamonds are the same thing, maybe worse because at least sweat shop workers have a net gain, although it may be small. The only difference is that occasionally, an IBO might be able to break through and join the diamond ranks.

Some of the zealous IBOs dared a critic to post a real business profit/loss statement, and it was produced. After that, not a single IBO came forward to post the same, or to even discuss their business income and expenses. Why do IBOs avoid discussion about their business? Is it because it makes you look bad? I'm sure if it helped to prove their points, they would discuss it. Maybe the IBOs who post on blogs have nothing? It appears that the biggest defenders of Amway, do so without any ammunition?

How to silence an Amway critic? Simple, back up your claims and show mathematically how the business can work for the group. It's easier to silence an Amway defender, simply ask for proof that it works.

Examining Amway With A Critical Eye?

 The battle continues between Amway critics and Amway apologists. The apologists like to cite new platinums, but do not mention that just as many, and possibly more platinums dropped out of qualification. They like to cite Amway's growth, but fail to mention how the growth is apparently in foreign countries and not in the US and Canada. Even if there are more platinums or growth, it doesn't mean anything and I will go onto explain.

In a platinum group, there are in many cases, 100 downline IBOs or more. Most if not all of these downline are losing money or making nothing, and it is worse, especially if they are buying voicemail, standing order and other tools and function tickets.  An IBO who does nothing may still lose money on website fees, or at the minimum, registration fees. Yes, they might be refundable, but many IBOs are not aware of this, or are not interested in asking their sponsors, or simply write up the loss as a life lesson. Thus, the more growth, or the more platinums, the more downline there are losing money.  It's all a part of the business model if you view the business with a critical eye instead of rose colored glasses.

I also understand that Amway is not a game of chance, but your odds of achieving a significant income can be compared to winning a lottery. Even those who put forth an earnest effort are rarely rewarded with upper echelon pin levels and "passive income" rolling in while you walk the nicest beaches of the world. Amway supporters are wanting to show what is "possible", but showing the best-case scenario is deceiving and IBOs do not realize "what is likely" until they have already participated and wasted their hard-earned cash on tools that do not work.

There doesn't appear to be any connection with the amount of effort an IBO puts in with progressive amounts of income. While you can argue that succeeding takes hard work, there are probably more cases of hard work resulting in financial losses or possibly financial devastation. I personally witnessed a crossline losing their home to foreclosure and a crossline winding up in bankruptcy, all while following upline advice to keep pouring money into tools even while these IBOs made no progress in terms of sponsoring downline.

The Amway Apologists can continue to deny the shortcomings of the Amway opportunity, but for me, the results speak loud and clear.