A Failing Business?

 After years of studying Amway and blogging, I've noticed something taught by IBO leaders that simply do not make any sense. It doesn't make sense business wise, and it just doesn't add up. I know that sometimes, you need to think outside of the box and go against the grain to succeed, but some of the IBO practices are simply insane and it's no wonder that so many IBOs fail in their pursuit of their Amway "dream".  They think upline is guiding them to success but in reality, upline is guiding them to buy more tools and functions and to never quit.  In other words, the diamonds teach IBOs to transfer resources to them giving the diamonds financial security.

Most IBOs never sponsor a single downline and relatively few products, as far as I know, are sold to non-IBOs. These are the reasons why most IBOs do not turn a profit but for some reason, many IBOs still seem to think that training materials are worth the money they pay for them.  Training materials are mostly redundant and motivational in nature, rather than offering serious and successful techniques to help someone succeed in Amway.

Buy from yourself. A fairly common practice. It is okay to support your business, but if you are the primary or only customer, you won't make money. Any profit you might turn is coming out of your own pockets. I don't know of any successful stores where the primary customers are the owner and the store employees. Yet some IBOs think this is how they will succeed.  It's silly but it is what some upline teach.

Sponsor others. So, you are struggling as an IBO. But the key to success is to try to open other stores by sponsoring. As a famous Amway apologist likes to claim, you do not get paid for sponsoring others. So why is this the emphasis for so many IBOs? Why would you think that opening more stores will make you successful? Yes, it is a way to possibly generate more volume, but your "success" will only come by having a bunch of struggling businesses under you. Is that how you wish to succeed? Also, the quest to sponsor others is probably how Amway got a bad reputation when IBOs tricked people into attending recruitment meetings and/or being deceptive when inviting someone to see the plan.

Folks, you need customers to succeed. I live in Hawaii and when tourism is slow, our local economy suffers. It's a very similar concept to your Amway business. Without customers circulating money through your business, you will eventually go out of business.