Merry Christmas From Joecool!

 Merry Christmas everyone!   I'll be taking off until Christmas to visit friends overseas so I don't think I'll be focused on Amway related stuff.  I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  I'll be back to posting after Christmas.  Until then, here's a holiday blog post:

 I recall being an Amway IBO many years ago.  Amway IBOs wind up being social pariahs at times because during the holiday season because they sometimes have ulterior motives at social events.  Or at least the ones that their Amway schedule allows them to attend.  I found it humorous that Amway diamonds would teach about vertical alignment which means God, Family and your job came first and Amway fell in line after that. But at the same time, you were expected to never miss a meeting or function.   So they teach what makes sense, but in practice they ultimately mean that Amway is always your top priority.  That much clear to me looking in hindsight. 

It must be awkward at times to be at social gatherings with family and friends knowing that some IBO might be eyeing you up as a potential Amway prospect.   Amway IBOs are shameless at times when it comes to looking for potential recruits.  After all, you can’t go diamond without a group of IBOs down line.  I recall doing sone of these zany things myself as an IBO, but luckily, I saw the light and snapped out of my Amway trance pretty quickly.  Some people get hooked for years.  My former sponsor was involved for at least 25 years, although I lost contact with him and common contacts so I don't know what they are up to currently.  I wish them well, but I believe they wasted many of the best years of their lives chasing the Amway dream. 

So, to that I say to Amway IBOs.  Have a merry Christmas and give up prospecting for two weeks.  Enjoy the holidays without having an ulterior motive.  Enjoy your friends and family and don’t worry about Amway for a few weeks.  The world won’t come to an end and more than likely. Your business won’t have been affected by stopping recruiting for a few weeks to enjoy the holidays.   Your upline will say your business gets set back if you're not "core", but really, what would you accomplish by being hard core at family gatherings or social events with friends?  They likely know you're in Amway already so unless you skip social gatherings to stalk people at the malls or coffee shops, what will you really accomplish during Christmas and New Year?

I don’t know what the new year will bring but you’ll survive and life will go on.  By now your upline diamonds are likely promoting a major function called Dream Night or something like it.  While it might be a highly promoted event because you will see sports cars and jet skis, and other luxurious goods.  All to get you “dreaming” so you’ll be motivated to keep building Amway. Of course, to attend dream night you’ll have to fork out $75 or more but at least it should include a dinner.  In the end, you and thousands of other IBOs paying for these functions and other tools is how the diamonds pay for the stuff you might see at dream night.  

Don’t believe me?  Do the math.  

I Own A Business?

 Many people get prospected/sponsored into Amway and think it's a cool idea to be a business owner. "I own a business". And technically, it would be cool for someone to own a business they can call their own. But what Amway distributors fail to see is that they aren't business owners. If they sign up, they are commission only salespeople for Amway. These salespeople take all the risk and expense of moving Amway products, and if you meet a minimum quota, then you get a small commission.

These commissioned salespeople however, are allowed to sponsor down line (additional salespeople) which allows them to increase volume, possibly resulting in higher commissions. To illustrate, someone who moves 100 PV receives a 3% bonus. On 100 PV, a 3% bonus is about equal to $10. But if that same salesperson sponsors 2 people and they all move 100 PV, that would be 300 PV which is now a 6% commission. A 6% commission on 300 PV is about $36 overall. The 2 down line each receive $10 and the person who sponsored them keeps the rest, which is about $16. This is the reason why Amway salespeople are so desperate to sponsor down line, because it gives you an opportunity to increase your overall volume, assuming these down line are active in the business. This in itself wouldn't be a problem if Amway products were easy to sell, but most people find that they don't really like selling products and wind up being their own best customer. That results in most people making nothing or losing money.

So why are the diamonds called business owners? Because the diamonds are business owners, even if the rank-and-file distributors are not. This is because the emeralds and diamonds and some other higher ups are in the business of selling tools and functions. They might sell voicemail and cd subscriptions, books and seminars and other materials designed to allegedly help you succeed in Amway. Given the dismal rate of new diamonds around, I'd say the training is ineffective. I believe there are fewer new diamonds in Amway North America now than when I was in Amway 20 years ago. I've also seen diamonds walk away and quit (as opposed to walking away and collecting residual income). I've also seen diamonds get divorced (Amway saves marriages?) and I've seen diamonds have homes foreclosed (diamonds pay cash for everything?).

The problem for the rank-and-file Amway salesperson is that they believe the diamond holds the key to success so they hang on their every word and will buy all the training thinking they will also go diamond and receive untold wealth and early retirement. But in reality, the diamond is selling snake oil that puts money in their pockets while draining the pockets of their down line. And the diamond needs this money because it is highly unlikely that the "diamond" lifestyle would be affordable on a diamond's income. The average diamond as reported some years back by Amway was about $150,000 a year gross income, not including business expenses. If you do the math, you will easily see that after taxes and expenses, a diamond is not living the high life. It's the tool income that helps to augment the Amway income. Some diamonds make as much money on tools as they do from Amway and some make more from tools than from Amway. This is the secret to success. Sell materials to large groups of people on an ongoing basis.

But don't be fooled into thinking you own a business as a rank-and-file Amway distributor. You are just a commission only salesperson for Amway. If you stop and really think about it, how can you see it any other way? You move products and if you meet a quota, Amway pays you. You must follow Amway's rules and if you violate it or if Amway feels you were in violation, they can discharge your membership, and your income will stop. You cannot innovate or advertise without Amway's permission. Don't fool yourself. Take this information to heart if you are being prospected into Amway.

Money For Nothing?

 In my opinion, Amway is a pyramid. They are not illegal, but still a pyramid. The reason why they remain legal, apparently is because they do not pay anyone for recruiting downline. But most everyone has been or knows someone who was recruited by a zealous Amway IBO. The emphasis of most active IBOs is on recruiting and much of the teaching by upline is on techniques to recruit and/or how to talk to people without tipping their hat to reveal the Amway name. Most IBOs are not very good at this and they stick out like sore thumbs in many cases. It's also comical when uplines teach crazy antics, like how some IBOs use to deny that Amway and Quixtar were even remotely connected.

One of the reasons IBOs use to justify their involvement in the pyramid is that they can earn more than their sponsor. While that is true, it is only because everyone below the emerald or diamond level is basically expendable, or a slave in the pyramid. There are many IBOs who achieve fairly high levels who quit or had upline wreck their businesses. Thus, even platinums are expendable to upline. In fact, an upline might make more money by removing the platinum. For new IBOs or recruits, do you really believe that you are going to ever surpass your current upline diamond or higher? If you believe that, you are sadly mistaken.

And for those who dream of achieving diamond and walking the beaches of the world. How do you think you can ever achieve that? You don't get something for nothing unless someone gets nothing for something. In order for you to receive income for little or no efforts, your downline IBOs must keep purchasing products (which include tools and functions) and replacing IBOs who quit. If your downlines cannot keep up with the attrition rate, your business will collapse in a hurry. Come to think of it, if a diamond can walk away and collect a large income forever, why hasn't anyone done it? I mean we still see crown ambassadors still busy working functions, and I don't know of any who walked away to spend their lives jet setting on the beaches of the world.

The sad reality is that you see new faces at meetings and functions, just as often as you see familiar faces disappear. With that kind of attrition rate, you may have to work even harder at the higher levels just to keep your business status quo. In Egypt, the slaves built the pyramids. Do you have enough slaves? What many Egyptologists find amazing is how the Egyptians were able to motivate the slaves to keep on going, doing backbreaking work all of their lives. The same can be said of a diamond level business (or higher)

Lying To Succeed?

 One of the things my upline leaders used to always talk about was how they wanted everyone to succeed. Looking back, I believe they were lying and simply wanted the faithful downline to keep spending money on tools whether they succeeded or not. Now I am not claiming that every single upline leader does this, but primarily the ones who run "systems", such as WWDB, N21, BWW, LTD and some others.  Why do I say this?  Because it's simply not possible for everyone to succeed,  Diamonds push tools and functions on everyone, without making individual assessments on each business.  The diamonds profit regardless of the results of their downline.

When I stopped and really thought about it, pretty much every piece of advice I received, I had to pay for. Voicemails, standing orders, functions, open meetings. I know these are supposedly optional, but in reality, they are a defacto requirement. Anyone with a "dream" is going to buy the tools because the leaders will tell you that you cannot succeed without tools. Ironically, the same leaders will blame individuals and cite personal responsibility for the failure of downline IBOs, even the ones who did everything they were told.  Where's the personal responsibility of the upline leaders?

The leaders are edified and touted as having great business and financial acumen, thus not following their advice would seem foolish. Yet Amway defenders will try to claim that IBOs should discern the good and the bad and operate independently. It's a redundancy that many people do not see. Sure, a downline should not jump off a cliff because upline said they would pad their fall with a pile of cash, but many IBOs put in an earnest effort in Amway, only to fail because of the handicaps and reputation issues that Amway has. These IBOs are told they were lazy or quit too soon, or did not try hard enough. Yet the very few who manage to break thru are edified along with the system while ignoring the multitudes who do not make it.

The bottom line for IBOs and prospects to know, is that I believe most IBO leaders do not know you or care about you and your success. They are more interested in selling you websites, voicemail, standing orders and functions. They know that people will come and go and they are perfectly happy replacing quitters with new people, as long as the system tools keep flowing. I believe some of the US diamonds are now hurting as Amway is apparently shrinking in the US. I read recently of Amway downsizing some of their operations, seemingly confirming that US sales are down. Also to note, Upline leaders would have to share tool profits with new emeralds and diamonds, which is why I believe they do not want new success.

I believe that Amway, other MLM businesses, Kiyosaki, or real estate gurus all have very limited or rare success with their financial systems. Informercials usually have a disclaimer that success is a "UNIQUE" experience. Amway is no different. But I believe in all of these cases, more money is generated in selling the system than by actually running the system. If not, success stories would be rampant and people would line up to sign up instead of having to be deceived into even hearing the pitch.

Success Speaks For Itself?

 I heard a great comment from a commentator on a related Amway blog. Basically, he said if Diamonds and Amway IBOs were so successful, people would just naturally be attracted. And that's true! Where I live, the local electric company is an attractive place to work with a good salary and benefits package. When there's a handful of openings, you might get as many as 10,000 people applying for these positions. When the federal government hires for the local post office, you get thousands of applicants for a handful of jobs as well.  It's because the salary and working conditions are good, and the benefits are as well.

But Diamonds and Amway IBOs have to justify their positions. The common ones are how Amway products are concentrated, or they have magical ingredients in their vitamins. It is my position that if these products were so good and the opportunity actually produced successful IBOs, there would be no need to be deceptive about the products or opportunity. The products could easily me marketed. In fact, customers would be seeking IBOs to find the products, and there would be lines of people waiting to see the opportunity. But that isn't the case. Clearly, many Amway IBOs use some degree of deception usually called the curiosity approach or outright lies.

Instead, IBOs themselves are the primary consumers of Amway products. Many IBOs are deceptive when inviting people to see the Amway plan. Some prospects are outright lied to when recruited for the Amway opportunity. The curiosity approach is still used by many, because mentioning "Amway" is more likely to get you funny looks than interest. If what I am writing is not true, why do IBOs need to deceive people? Why don't some IBOs open their books and display the financial success they claim to have? Why so secretive? Why aren't there hordes of new diamonds and emeralds each month? Instead, you mainly hear of the Amway growth in foreign countries. Most likely because the Amway name and reputation has not yet been soiled as it has in the US and Canada.

In the US, I see primarily the same old diamonds who were in control of the functions and systems from more than 30+ years ago, minus the diamonds who died while still working the business. In fact, factoring in diamonds who quit or dropped out, I believe there are fewer diamonds now than when I was an IBO in the 1990s. Some of these diamonds also had some apparent financial difficulties. The opportunity is far from how it's promoted. Success speaks louder than words, and where North American Amway success is concerned, the silence is deafening!  Where is the success, or the "fruit on the tree" that WWDB leaders used to like to tout?  The tree is barren.

The Impossible Dream?

 Every year, tens of millions of kids across the US have dreams of playing sports. Some dream of playing professionally, some dream of playing at the collegiate level, some may have dreams of dazzling their high school peers. And this can apply to just about any sport, be it baseball, football, hockey, basketball, golf or whatever endeavor you can think of. As you progress to each of the next higher levels, the number of participants decrease. There are only so many professional teams, and so many college teams, while there are scores of high school teams all across the country. As each level gets higher, it is likely that better physical attributes and greater skills are needed in order to move on. 

I've heard some Amway supporters make comparisons between the Amway opportunity and how the higher levels are like the professionals and the rank and file are like the high schoolers. While I agree that there's only limited space at the higher levels, i think it's extremely important to note why the masses do not achieve the highest levels. In sports, you would need to have the motivation, the physical gifts, as well as the skills to achieve and excel at the highest level. Thus, people who are small in stature likely won't be candidates for the NFL or NBA even with a lot of motivation. Someone under 6' tall might have great difficulty in getting a job in the NBA. Of course there are always exceptions, but those exceptions are made up by perhaps, incredible "other" skills or leadership. Some athletes have a knack for being in the right place at the right time, or an intangible.  

So what does this have to do with Amway? The connection is the massive amounts of Amway IBOs who never achieve even the break even point. They may come into the program with dreams of financial freedom, or making enough to have a stay home wife, etc. Why do so few achieve even the lowest levels? In my opinion, the Amway business has too many barriers that prevent IBOs from succeeding. These barriers make it nearly impossible for anyone to reach the higher levels. These barriers include but are not limited to high prices that make many products a tough sell. Then you have the optional but vital training and functions that normally drain whatever profit the lower level IBOs make. Even someone at 2500 or 4000 PV will net a loss if they need to travel by air to functions. You can also factor in some of the zany things previous IBOs have done such as tricking people into attending meetings, or not being accountable to downline, or by messing with your downline's money (bouncing checks).  

In the end, the masses of IBOs just do not possess the ability to overcome these barriers that can stop the charge of a bull elephant. It is why so many IBOs try hard and achieve nothing. While much effort may be expended, it looks as if these folks did nothing and quit. The reality is that most people who sign up were highly motivated but more likely found an impossible barrier and decided to do something else. I know of many former IBOs who went onto succeed in life after Amway. Many do not complain or voice complaints because they were involved in Amway with family and friends.  

So in Amway and in pro sports, there are masses who want to achieve their dreams. In both cases, a tiny percentage might achieve the top levels. The difference is that athletes know that their chances are small. IBOs are often misled into thinking that everyone can achieve diamond and residual income, which is a myth. Also in pro sports, there is no scam where people have a proven training system that will ensure success if you work hard. In pro sports, it is proven that the elite make millions. Whereas Amway diamonds seem to shroud their success in secrecy, showing pictures of mansions to show off success. Also, athletes may not make the professional ranks but may have benefited by getting a free college education. There aren't any stories of success in Amway for those who don't "make it", as far as I know. Are you chasing an impossible dream?

Random Observation Of Amway?

 http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=192279&page=8

It's refreshing to see so many good people on this forum telling the truth about Amway. It looks like the pro-Amway shills here and on other sites are becoming increasingly outnumbered and desperate. I've read through this entire thread and think it is hilarious how many times the shill has to move the goal-posts or play word games to make Amway look like an amazing business opportunity.

I was originally introduced to Amway many years ago in my late teens by an uncle of mine. I attended a few of their seminars, and was impressed at first. But the whole thing started to seem ridiculous and unrealistic and so I didn't get involved any further. Also, I'm not that materialistic, so Amway's message doesn't appeal to me. I wish my uncle had been more skeptical.

My uncle was very devoted to Amway for a few years. He bought all their products(especially the tapes and books), tried to get others to buy them, and also tried to recruit all his family and friends into his new religion. He eventually lost money and friends and alienated himself from much of his family.

Already heavily in debt, he eventually fell for another, even bigger get-rich-quick scam shortly after quitting Amway(to Amway's credit, they don't threaten to kill anyone for leaving Amway). This one robbed him of his entire life savings. The scammers got away with it because they knew how to play him right(he met one of them through Amway). His wife divorced him soon after.

As if this wasn't enough, after making a modest financial recovery with his business over the course of several years, he loses it all to yet another scam. He had to borrow heavily from the few friends he had left since no bank would ever give him a loan, and almost no one in the family has anything to do with him anymore. I haven't seen him for 15 years.

One thing I wonder about my uncle is if all those seminars and inspirational tapes and books softened him up to fall for all those other scams he fell for after quitting Amway(he didn't have a reputation for being gullible before joining Amway, though he was never that bright to begin with). If I remember correctly, he tended to blame himself for failing at Amway, and may have never understood that it was a big scam or at least not a good business opportunity.

I still remember those crazy seminars and how they told everyone that joining the Amway cult will likely lead to yachts, exotic vacations surrounded by hot bikini babes, and shiny expensive cars, among other symbols of wealth. Everyone is told at the seminars and in the "tools" that they have all this unfulfilled potential, but to realize this potential we must avoid those small-minded "dream killers"(skeptical family members and friends).

The story about my stupid uncle is true. There are many other people out there just like him who have fallen for Amway and others MLMs. The few people I've met who claimed they were very successful at Amway usually seemed sleazy or I would find out years later they were up to their eyeballs in debt.

The person who said before that the people who regularly attend these seminars are mostly fools and misfits was spot on.

Socialism And Wealth Redistribution?

 I wrote a blog post on November 5, 2025 (last month) about Zohran Mamdani winning the mayor's race in New York City.  He made a lot of promises and I believe many of his promises will not come to fruition because it requires the assistance of the State, and governor Hochul, who is up for re-election in 2026, may not want to cooperate with all of his desires and promises, because she might be in a battle for her own seat and raising taxes and fees in an election year is usually not a good idea, even in deep blue New York.  

This article stirred some responses, which I welcome.  But I wanted to focus on one aspect of Mr. Mamdani's platform.  That he doesn't believe that billionaires should exist.  I would assume that to mean that he wants to do something (as a democrat socialist) that Bernie Sanders advocated for, which is a 100% tax on income/assets over a certain amount.  I would guess that means anyone approaching a billion dollars in net worth would not get to keep anything over $999,999,999.00.  While in the world of socialism, this sounds ideal and nobody needs that much money is the argument.   By the way, does anyone notice that in socialism, the politicians are still wealthy?  I thought many New Yorkers advocated for "no kings"?

The problem is that billionaire types of rich people are rich because they generate wealth and most often know how to protect it.  Nobody with knowledge and resources will allow government to take away any assets beyond a billion dollars.  They would take "capital flight", which would be to leave NY, or the US and go to tax havens such as Switzerland or the Cayman islands.   The irony with Mr. Sander's argument also, is that he's worth a lot of money.  Maybe not a billion, but tens of millions.  I don't see him surrendering any of his assets that he "doesn't need" voluntarily.  So maybe, just maybe his idea is a NIMBY one?  

I did a check just before writing this article.  The top 1% of earners in the US pays 40% of all federal taxes in the US.  So much for the myth that the rich don't pay their fair share.  To expand this, the top 25% or so of earners in the US pay 80% of the taxes.  So, the rich not paying their fair share is a myth.  Certain politicians keep saying this, but they are speaking without a factual basis.   The bottom 75% of earners pay about 10% of federal taxes.  

But socialism may seem like a good idea to young people who entertain the idea of being able to receive universal basic income, along with free bus service, etc.  Rent controlled apartments, etc.  But when you have too many people receiving and not contributing, the system starts to fail.   Also, rent controlled apartments falls apart when landlords get increased property taxes and expenses and deem the venture unable to render a profit.  Then you run out of rentals.  

Let me paint another picture:  Elon Musk is currently the richest man in the world with a net worth just below 500 billion.  If the government were to take away all of Elon's assets and distributed all of that in cash to everyone on the planet, each person alive would get about $40 each.  In poor countries, the money would go further of course, and, in the US, you might get a meal or few days' worth of groceries.  Then Elon would be broke, unable to fund Space X, research on things to make our lives better and about 160,000 high paying jobs in highly skilled areas would be out of work, and unable to contribute to the tax base.  The one-time $40 payment would be gone in no time, but the aftereffects would be devastating.  I know that nobody has proposed doing this, but squeezing the rich as a whole could still see this kind of effect spread out.  Capital flight is real.   California and New York already had a large exodus of residents to tax friendly states like Texas and Florida.  Gavin Newsom can deny it and claim how big and great California's economy is.  And while he might be right, Silicon Valley existed well before Newsom was governor and if taxes and regulations squeeze out companies like Nvidia and other big tech companies, then what?  What if New York's Wall Street moved to Florida?  The tax consequences to these states would be devastating.  

These are just some reasons why I do not believe socialism can succeed.   I hope Mr. Mamdani moves towards the center on some of his policy ideas, but if not, I believe New York will struggle greatly.  Maybe not immediately, but socialism fails when the government runs out of other people's money to fund "free stuff".  And this article doesn't even address Mr. Mamdani's idea to replace armed police with social workers and having a smaller police force.  There's a reason why people generally speaking, do not rob banks if a police car is in the parking lot, and people generally do not speed and drive recklessly if an officer is on to road with them.  It's called deterrence.  It's almost the same reason why many night clubs have bouncers that look like the incredible Hulk at the doors.

Good luck New York City.  I hope I'm wrong, but I highly doubt it.

  

The Big Scam?

 A lot of people come and go in Amway, but many of those who come and go don't even notice the scam. They get sold on what they believe is a business opportunity that they can make some money at, or at the very least save some money on products that they would normally buy anyway. If they do it right, they can possibly make some "real" money and with some had work, you can build it right and have the option one day of walking away from Amway and living off ongoing residual income from Amway. It sounds reasonable and therein lies the scam.

For years, I have challenged people to name 2-3 people, aside from the Amway owners, who joined, built the business "right" and was able to walk away and retire with ongoing residual income, enough to be financially free forever. Not a single person has been able to name and confirm that even a single person has done this. I believe it's all a lie and part of the scam. Amway's distributor force turns over about 50% each year. How can you build a residual income empire when half of your downline quits each year? I believe Amway diamonds trade their 9-5 jobs for the night shift. They work at night and into the morning hours because they are working to replace people who quit and to support downline platinums who might struggle or fail to re-qualify for that level. If upline says they are working for the love of their downline, I call BS on that. If walking away and enjoying life was an option, why hasn't anyone chosen it?

Now you could argue that a diamond's "work" isn't that bad and they aren't reporting to a boss. And that would be true, but I imagine the pressure of churning people in and out to keep qualifying can be stressful in itself. If you live on an island like me, you can eventually have trouble finding new people to work with. In 1997 or so, there were a bunch of diamonds in Hawaii, and they all moved to the mainland. Now I'm not sure why but my upline diamond was Harimoto, who loved the ocean and the beaches. Yet he moved to Washington state. I believe they needed new grounds to mine, just like gold miners.

The next part of the scam is how IBOs will tell you about Amway's generous money back guarantee. 100% they'll tell you. What they don't tell you is that the guarantee is only on some of the products and the signup fee. The cds, books, voicemail and functions are not sold or run by Amway. And these expenses can be very significant over a period of time. IBOs and prospects need to know this. You can lose thousands and get back pennies on the dollar asking for a refund on the signup fee and perhaps a few products. Another piece of the scam.

Also, IBOs and prospects are often shown only the very best-case scenario (such as going diamond) but not told that your chance of being struck by lightning is much higher than your chance of going diamond, even though going diamond is not a random event. A real life and likely scenario is getting in and trying hard for a while and then quitting with some business losses. At least if you know this and still try anyway, you will have done so with full disclosure.

Lastly, it's insidious in my opinion, for upline to tell you to trust them and to do as they say and then turn around and tell IBOs that failure is their responsibility. That they didn't work hard enough or do thing just right. That sure isn't what they are preaching when recruiting you into the business. They are saying how sharp you are and how you're likely to tear up the business. But it's just another facet of the scam. I've outlined the parts of the opportunity that I believe are scams, but I'm sure it's not limited to my point of view.

Good luck if you read this and join anyway.

Around The Corner?

  When I was an Amway IBO, I heard the saying over and over. Never quit, success might be right around the corner. There were countless stories by diamonds and emeralds of how they were on the verge of quitting but stuck it out and somehow "made it".  I also heard stories about why people should not quit because even if you were told "no" a thousand times, the next prospect might say "yes" and turn your entire business around. This mindset is almost like a gambler who thinks the next hand or the next roll of the dice will suddenly start the beginning of a good run.   While Amway is not a game of chance, I find it telling that the success rates of IBOs is lower than the chances of winning a game of chance.

I believe these are all heartfelt stories. However, I believe that many stories are embellished and made to order. Or in other words, made to fit a standing order. If you listen carefully to many of the standing orders, you will notice that the higher pins were consistently sponsoring people and generally achieved the platinum level in 18 months or less. There are exceptions of course, but the majority of stories I heard seem to have had the same theme. Those who were destined for success achieved some significant level in less than 2 years.  And that's life.  Some people will have a greater propensity for success than others.

But for IBOs and new recruits, if you aren't constantly bringing in new people to the open meetings, and sponsoring new people, then you are very unlikely to ever achieve much in Amway. Statistically, less than one half of one percent ever reach platinum. Thus, if you are unable to grow your organization or group, then you are unlikely to be that one who "makes it". Success is not around the corner as some uplines will have you believe. If you take 100 "no's" and then someone finally says "yes" then chances are that person who said yes, will "do nothing", or do little and wind up quitting. Chances are that person won't sponsor anyone or show anyone the plan. Chances are that person won't even be in the business a few months later.

It might be a good idea for IBOs to take a step back and take an unbiased look at their business and their business activities. Is your group growing consistently? Is your volume increasing each month? Are you able to get people interested in seeing the plan on a consistent basis? If you answered "no" to any of these points, then you are unlikely to progress and achieve anything of significance in the Amway business.   Not quitting only keeps you invested in tools and functions, which the diamonds handsomely profit from.  Why do you think they always teach never to quit?   Sometimes quitting a business and doing something else is the best business decision you can make.  It doesn't mean you quit trying to better yourself.  It just means you might need a better vehicle to achieve success.  

One important thing for people to note is that there are many ways to achieve your financial goals and dreams. Amway is probably not the best vehicle for most. The numbers speak for themselves. If less than one half of one percent ever reach platinum, where allegedly, IBOs finally break even or a see a small profit, then I would say your chances of success are better elsewhere, even if that is a second job. The average "active" IBO earns about $200 a month according to Amway. Considering all IBOs, then the average income is probably about $100 a month. You can earn much more than that working 4-5 hours a week at minimum wage.

Is success right around the corner? I doubt it.

If Not Amway?

  One of the humorous things that Amway IBOs often bring up is that someone who sees Amway in a critical eye should bring up viable alternatives. I mean if someone prevents you from falling over a cliff, they should have warned you and given you alternatives right? If I recognized you getting were conned by a conman, I should find viable financial investments for you before warning you of the potential scam you are about to walk into right? It sounds completely ridiculous but Amway IBOs have actually made those comments on this blog and some other Amway related websites.

Well, let's explore a few of these alternatives anyway just for fun. How about you stay home and do nothing? For most IBOs, you would be better off financially than committing your time and resources into Amway's products and their ineffective training materials and functions. If you are really dedicated to tools, sending your upline a check for $50 monthly and not buying Amway goods or related training materials would make you better off. Isn't it ironic that
doing nothing makes you better off than Amway?

A second job where you actually receive a paycheck is a better alternative. While there's no hype and hopes of getting rich in 2-5 years, you can do much for your future by saving a portion of that pay check each month. If you are young, this especially applies to you. But anyone can help their future by saving and investing. Even someone who panhandles is more likely to have more net cash than most Amway IBOs since most Amway IBOs make nothing or lose money.

Sure, some people do make money in Amway and some make a lot of money. The problem is they make money by exploiting their downlines and those hopeful downlines basically have no hope. In other words, you profit by selling false hope and false dreams. Basically, you can gain wealth in Amway by being a conman. Can you live with yourself in order to profit at any cost? What the upline does is extract $100 or a few hundred dollars a month from a lot of people.

I haven't even gone into the amount of time lost chasing prospects and attending functions. Your time might be the most valuable commodity that is lost chasing the 2-5 year dream. Ask yourself this question. Where are these diamonds who did the 2-5 year plan living in luxury and doing nothing? I have asked this over the years numerous times and not a single Amway defender can name someone and provide a shred of evidence that it's true.

The Myths?

  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.  And I might add, many groups teach 150 to 300 PV, even for single IBOs, who are "hard core", dedicated to moving up in the business.  

100 PV is roughly equal to about $250 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.  The dedication to Amway goods goes away when a IBO's dreams no longer include Amway.  

It is why some LOS groups 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.  No business that I know of, including Amway, can prosper by making your own purchases with no non-Amway customers.  

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? 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.

The Quota?

  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 $250 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 nutrilite 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.

It is why some LOS groups 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 is no outside customers to bring in cash from outside the circle of IBOs.

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? 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.

Amway And The BBB?

 Over the years, I have seen literally hundreds (if not more) blogs and testimonials about Amway. Most of them decry the pitfalls of being an Amway IBO. Most of the complaints cite the fact that Amway in general has higher prices than comparable retailers and the fact that the system consisting of voicemail, books, cds and seminars ate up any profits the IBO may have made and resulted in net losses for most. One particular Amway apologist bemoans the fact that the internet is full of bad testimonials about Amway. The reason why there are so many negative testimonials about Amway is because over the years, thousands, possibly millions either had a bad experience for the reasons I cited above or personally know of someone who had a bad experience.   Diamonds who lie during their presentations don't help the cause either.

Amway defenders will often cite the fact that many IBOs sign up and "do nothing" as their defense to this. But I will easily point out that I haven't seen anyone say they signed up, failed to do anything or order products, quit and started blogging about a bad experience in Amway. These defenders will also compare Amway to the gym where people sign up and "do nothing". Whether true or not, I also do not see people who sign up for the gym and "do nothing" complain about not receiving health benefits by simply signing up. It is a very weak defense. Conversely, I have seen numerous accounts of folks like me who did put in effort, some for many years, who did what upline advised and did not see the financial rewards that is promoted in "the plan".

Amway defenders will then try to justify themselves, saying that the better business bureau (BBB) receives few formal complaints about Amway. I will possibly agree with this. Many IBOs never bother to file formal complaints to the BBB or to Amway because in many, probably most cases, the person who quits and may have had a bad experience, was sponsored into the business.  The sponsor was often a friend or family member of the IBO who left the business. Many will simply leave and forget the episode and chalk it up to a learning experience in life. Some will complain but really have to no venue to voice their remorse about joining. Some of us have found the internet to be quite effective in sharing our experiences and our opinions on why the business did not work. This is what one Amway defender calls the "internet war". What I have pointed out is that critics most often simply point out what the IBOs themselves have done. In many cases, the IBO is his own worst enemy. Afterall, critics didn't deny Amway and Quixtar had a connection, nor did critics make up claims about perfect water, etc.

It would appear that most of the problems has a root in the AMO systems, such as WWDB, BWW, LTD, or N21. Now, not all upline leaders are unethical, but it appears that many are, and new IBOs have no way to identify the good from the bad. It also appears that some of these upline leaders will issue bad advice. Advice that is detrimental to the IBOs, but financially beneficial to themselves, such as telling IBOs to never miss a function, or to buy more cds. In many cases, these unethical uplines do not care about IBO success, their goal is just to move as many support materials as possible, so they can fund their "diamond" lifestyle. Sadly, it is also apparent that the diamond lifestyle may be a facade in some cases. An illusion of wealth portrayed as a recruiting tool.

If you recognize some of these warning signs, ask tough questions of your potential sponsor and visit this or some of the blogs linked to this one for more information.

Mentor Or Crook?

 One of the things our upline told us when I was an Amway IBO was how much they cared about their groups. My sponsor told us that these wonderful diamonds could be anywhere, doing anything, but they chose to be at these functions out of love and loyalty to the group.  At the time, upline insisted that nobody earned any money from the sale of support materials. I wonder how many of these wonderful upline mentors would have been at the function if they lost money or made no profit from the functions?   And food for thought, how many "mentors" get paid for mentoring someone?  Isn't paid consultant a better description?

Shortly after I left the business, the lies about the tool income became exposed and the internet also made it easy for prospects to find out this information. Of course, many upline started to talk about tool income, although there is still a great deal of secrecy about the tools and the income generated by tools.

What I find humorous is how some IBOs actually think their upline is some kind of mentor to be followed. As time passes, we are finding that many diamonds are fakes and frauds. There are many "former" diamonds, clearly debunking the myth of lifelong residual income. We are finding diamonds who divorce, contrary to the teaching that Amway saves marriages. Diamonds who are in financial difficulty and some in apparent bankruptcy.

Now these diamonds are no different than the rest of society, but they made much profit in selling themselves as being "above" the crowds. Thay they were financially well versed, that their marriages were built on a foundation of rock. That their lives are in order and that these diamonds are to be honored and copied by their downline faithful. But slowly and surely, they are being exposed and hypocrites and we are finding that they are not living large and debt free as they claimed. They are being exposed as a bunch of crooks with nice suits and nice smiles. It is unfortunate that some of these diamond leaders are suffering misfortunes, but I have trouble drumming up sympathy for them at this point.

So is your upline a mentor to be followed or just a cheap crook?

Behind The Scenes?

 One of the things that the Amway Diamonds and some other leaders do to attract new IBOs is to put on a dog and pony show. They want prospects to think that you can consume Amway products and get others to follow your lead and in a few years, you will be set for life financially, speaking on stages and securing the future for generations to come. They might use props such as pictures of mansion. slideshows of cars, jets, yachts. It looks impressive but based on what I know now, who knows whether the diamonds actually own this stuff or if they are simply showing you a slideshow of "lifestyles of the rich and famous". The reality is very likely that many diamonds are actually living in debt or bonus check to bonus check. It is a fact that more than half of NBA basketball pros end up broke less than 5 years after they retire, and they earn tons more cash than diamonds. Why would a diamond be different than the average Joe, especially when they appear to live beyond their means?

In the few cases where diamond income was exposed, we can see that they were not making the kind of money they would have you believe.  A Triple diamond (documented) was making about half a million a year from Amway. A nice income for sure, but not what people would think, and not enough to save that diamond from chapter 7 bankruptcy. Another WWDB diamond apparently lost a home to foreclosure. Another diamond, unnamed but documented in the book "Amway Motivational Organizations, Behind the Smoke and Mirrors", talks about a diamond who had a gross income of over 3 million dollars, and a net of about $320,000. This diamond was in debt, had back taxes owed to the government, and was working hard to portray the diamond lifestyle while living in serious debt.

Some of these leaders also use religion or Christianity as a means to justify their involvement in the business. For those who know, the Bible is clear that the love of money can lead to destruction. When you have functions such as Dream Night, what does that say? I would also like to note that in cases where these diamond's financials were exposed, there were no significant contributions to charity. I wonder if these charlatans talk a good game but do not contribute time or money to worthy causes? Where are the ten thousand dollar checks they talk about donating to charity? These leaders often refer to themselves as mentors, but any help they provide to downline results in some kind of compensation for them. This is not a mentor, but more like a paid consultant who is not getting effective results.  

Behind the nice suits and the glitz of the functions, I believe that IBOs and prospects would see a world they truly would not want to be a part of. A world where deceit is practically needed to succeed. Where you take advantage of people who trust in you. Where you pretend to be wealthy and free, but in reality, a slave to the mighty dollar. Where you traded a 9-5 job for a job that works the graveyard shift. If you look objectively behind the scenes, you might see what I see.

The Solution?

 I just shake my head when I read about the kinds of advice that Amway IBOS receive from their trusted mentors and upline.   Now let me say that I would have nothing to criticize if downlines were regularly progressing and moving up the ranks and actually making money.  But it’s obvious that most IBOS are spinning their wheels getting nowhere and the only advice that upline seemingly gives is to spend more money on functions and tools that are already proven to be ineffective.  Business not growing?  Buy more tools.  Having trouble sponsoring downline?  Buy more tools, attend more functions.  In real business, people would analyze why the business isn't growing and make adjustments and/or cut expenses.  

When most real business owners are cutting expenses or looking at strategies to bring in more revenue, Amway IBOS and uplines are advising people to spend more money on activities that don’t make them money.  Why not just get a pile of cash and burn it?  The result would be the same.  Keep in mind that the upline profits from the sale of tools and functions so it seems pretty dubious that upline would advise IBOs struggling for their lives to spend more time and money in things that haven’t worked in the first place.  

What is the real solution to a failing Amway business?  I can’t tell you that without a lot more information, but I can tell you that spending more money on things that do not result in more sales and profits is not likely to be the solution.  Most dedicated IBOs lose money because of the tools and functions which are not effective in helping IBOS become profitable.  What makes it more insidious is that uplines profit nicely for giving downline bad advice even if their bad advice results in bigger losses.   It's ironic because one of the things upline teaches is to be accountable.   Yet, uplines are never held to account.  They claim that they have the IBO's best interest at heart, but advising them to spend more money on tools and functions when the IBO's business is not profitable, while profiting off tools, is extremely disingenuous.

When it comes to Amway, it seems apparent to me that the only logical solution is to walk away, seek refunds on whatever you can and find another activity to make some income. Sitting at home watching TV is more profitable to most IBOS that actively trying to run an Amway business.