Besides 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 regular 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 paycheck each month. If you are young, this especially applies to you because you have time to invest in a good vehicle and allow your reserves to grow. 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.

Tool Systems?

 It is my observation that people who join Amway usually end up losing money in the end. They may get involved to make a few bucks or because they are mistakenly led to believe that they will become millionaires in Amway in 2-5 years. I know my sponsor convinced me that we would be millionaires in a few years. These folks who recruit new IBOs into Amway are often associated with a "system" such as Worldwide Dream builders (WWDB)or Network 21 (N21). These system promoters, often diamonds, may mislead the recruits by showing them pictures of mansions or other luxuries, implying that they attained these goods with their Amway business. In many cases, it is a deception, especially when we know for a fact that some diamond leaders who proclaimed that they only make cash purchases, had their homes foreclosed. Without the hype, I am sure there would be fewer sign-ups. But what is the evidence?

It is simple. Amway reports that the average active IBO earns about $00 a month in gross income. This average includes diamonds and other higher end IBOs. I believe if you calculated the median, the average would be much lower. This figure does not include factoring in business expenses.

But what makes most IBOs operate at a loss is the system expenses. The system generally consists of voicemail, standing orders, cds, functions, books and other materials. An average business building IBO might spend an average of $250 a month or so on these expenses. Amway defenders like to decry the amount, but there are couples who would likely spend more and IBOs who must travel by air to functions would spend more. Single IBOs who buy only the minimum might spend a bit less. Some IBOs with abusive uplines might spend much more than $250 a month on tools and functions. I believe my former sponsor probably spent easily an average of $1000 a month on average. (I am from Hawaii, so the average cost of functions is greater due to long distance air travel)

Thus, if the average IBO earns $200 a month gross, but the same average IBO spends $250 a month on tools, the average active IBO is losing $50 a month, with lower level IBOs (i.e. 100 PV) would lose more as they wouldn't earn anything close to $200 from Amway.

Look at a group of 100 IBOs at 100 PV. (This is just a model). If a 100-business building IBOs average $250 a month on tools, they as a group would expend $25,000 a month on tools. Their volume would be 10,000 PV, or about 30,000 BV. This would generate about $7500 in bonuses per month. Thus, this group spent $25,000 to learn and be motivated while the group splits up $7500 a month in bonuses. The platinum would get the lion's share of the bonus but most of the rest of the group will suffer net losses. As the group grows, the bonus may grow, but so will their expenditures on tools. And I might add the collective losses would grow as well.

The only way the group can make money as a whole is to avoid participation in the tools altogether. The evidence is right here with simple math. The systems do not work because the cost of the system is likely to consume all of the Amway generated bonuses and more. I gladly challenge anyone to explain in detail how this post is not reflective of the reality of being in Amway and a system such as WWDB or Network21.

Can You Succeed Without Deception?

 I've seen the Amway commercials in the past about two friends starting a company 60+ years ago. 60+ years ago, the business opportunity was much simpler. People sold things for a side income, often door to door using the little red wagon as their means of transporting their goods. At least that's how it was portrayed in the past. LOL  Of course, Amway has undergone some modernizations so it's a bit different now.  

Later, as people started to build organizations, it was hard to continue to build and motivate groups, especially long-distance ones.  That's when the systems were born. The system was created (to the best of my knowledge) to help build and motivate groups, especially distance groups. That way an IBO leader would not have to be present to motivate his groups, at least not all the time. In the beginning, the system was not a big moneymaker for the IBO leaders. Apparently, with advanced technology, the system became more efficient, and the tools could be mass produced at a low cost. That's when greed started to set in and the abuses, now known as the "tools scam" began, as far as I understand it. 

Although some groups and/or IBO leaders may mention tools profits, and that rank-and-file IBOs may one day be able to share in tools profits at a certain level, the tools business still appears to be shrouded in secrecy. It is not common knowledge among IBOs to know exactly how to qualify and how much profit you may receive from tools. In fact, it was not that long ago when IBO leaders denied making any profit from tools. It seems now that most groups have "taught" their groups that they not only make a lot of income from tools, but that they deserve it!

It brings to be the subject of my title. Can an IBO be successful without some deception? Can an IBO be successful without a lot of deception? In my opinion, the answer is NO. The business opportunity has too many problems for most people to be able to overcome the problems and succeed. I will elaborate;

The name Amway has a stigma, and much of that stigma is justified. IBOs have done crazy things such as lying to tricking people into attending recruitment meetings. It is still happening today. IBOs even make up stories about their products. The biggest joke in years had to be the promotion of "perfect" water. The prices of Amway and Amway partner store products are higher on average than retailers such as Walmart and Costco. In fact, for many products, it's not even close with Walmart winning hands down. Yes, Amway offers aa bonus incentive program, but that bonus does not equal the cost savings alone that Walmart offers. Team are also taught to lie about their opportunity. They denied that Quixtar has any connection with Amway, or they call Amway a franchise, or they associate themselves with a motivational group such as WWDB or N21 and make up ridiculous stories such as "we work closely with Amway". The reality is when you sign on the line, you become and Amway IBO.

So, can you be successful without deception? Most IBOs are unable to succeed using deception. Therefore, being upfront and truthful probably makes it less likely that you can be successful promoting Amway. IBOs may find this hard to believe, but there are many ways to make a buck. Many of those ways are easier than Amway.

The Scam?

  A lot of people come and go in the Amway business, 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.

Ask Amway?

 There has been much debate by both critics and Amway IBOs and supporters in the past, over an issue regarding a WWDB Dream Night function. The issue was an honest question over the cost of a Dream Night Ticket. Anyway, to make a long story short, here is what the Amway IBO suggested we do:

"Here is a tip when doing research, if you have a question about a company why not give the actual company a call? Wow what a concept."

While on the surface, that may seem logical. If you have a question about how a company works, that might make perfect sense. But the Amway opportunity, along with the attached motivational tools companies, make that a nebulous situation. What are you supposed to do? Call WWDB and ask if they are a good company? Call WWDB and ask if they scam their downline? What if you call and ask WWDB if most IBOs on their system make money or lose money? If you look at the average income of the majority of IBOs and factor in expenses such as voicemail, standing orders and functions, I can only conclude that the vast majority of IBOs on the system have to be losing money. The longer you stay in the system, the more you lose. Furthermore, I believe there are more people winning the Powerball lottery in the US than the number of new WWDB diamonds emerging in the US in the last 25+ years ago or so.

Imagine if you had questions and simply asked the person? Hello? Mr. Al Capone, I heard you were a gangster in charge of organized crime. But I thought it would only be fair if I got the answer directly from you. What's that? You're not a gangster and you go to church? Okay, I see. Well, that clears that up. Mr. Capone is not a gangster; I confirmed that by asking him. Do you see the ridiculous justification of just asking the person in question? Isn't a better way to ask a neutral third party or some outside and independent sources?

Many IBOs will also suggest that you check the better business bureau. Well, Amway has a good mark from the better business bureau. But Amway isn't selling you voicemail and other support materials right? That would be WWDB or some other motivational group, or a particular double or triple diamond, whose business may not have been registered or known to the better business bureau. Also, a good rating from the BBB doesn't mean that IBOs are making profits. It just means that Amway deals with their complaints.

I believe IBOs, information seekers, and prospects can find a ton of information on the internet using google. Upline leaders discourage this because too much frank and disparaging information exists about the Amway opportunity. But much of that information is real life true experiences. I was an up and coming "mover and shaker" in WWDB. This blog reflects much of my real experiences and the realizations I came to after having left Amway and WWDB. Sadly, my experience was not a good one, but more and more I see evidence that what I was taught more than twenty five years ago is still taught today, and by some of the same leaders. I hope my experience can help others.

Broken Dreams?

 One of the things that Amway promoters commonly used to entice prospects into joining is to get them to think about financial dreams and goals that they would like to accomplish. After all, who wouldn't want to be retired at age 35 and walking on the exotic beaches of the world while sipping mai tais? Or who wouldn't want to live a life of leisure and excitement with unlimited barrels of cash rolling in to finance all of the fun and frivolity? Of course, most people get excited by this. 

Sadly, the things that people get excited by, or the things that people join for, often become less accessible because of people's involvement in Amway. Because of the leach organizations that attach themselves to the Amway business, many IBOs get their bank accounts drained and wind up quitting with broken dreams. These organizations such as WWBD or BWW will promote their materials as the key to success in Amway. But in reality, these organizations reap handsome profits while basically bankrupting the downline IBOs. What is also sad is that the system does not deliver the success that is promoted. Less than one half of one percent even reach the platinum level, which is allegedly the level where you break even or make a small profit. That's nothing to brag about is it? Where's the fruit on the tree that upline leaders speak of?

During my tenure in the business, uplines taught us to buy all the materials. Books, standing orders tapes/cds/audios, functions, and other materials. In fact, in addition to standing order, upline wanted IBOs to purchase an additional 5-7 tapes or cds each week. Afterall, you should be listening to new material daily, right? In fact, upline wanted people to "invest" or spend all of their income on these materials. In an open meeting setting, a diamond said that your family could skip a meal to get another tape/cd because the information was so valuable that you might hear the one thing that propels you to diamond. Almost as if buying a tape/cd was like some lottery ticket. 

And sadly, some IBOs did go "all in". They bought tools like there was no tomorrow. In my crossline, there was a couple who went bankrupt and a couple whose home was foreclosed. Now was this financial difficulty all due to their involvement in Amway? I don't know, but certainly, buying hundreds of dollars of materials on a monthly basis can certainly contribute to someone's financial problems. And these IBOs did this on upline's advice. Thus, upline advised this even when they likely knew that these IBOs were in financial difficulty. If they would tell you to starve your kids, then surely, they will not be concerned about your other issues. I also sat in a function where a diamond taught about how long you can put off paying a mortgage before foreclosure would occur. Probably so people could go in hock to attend a major function. 

It is a sad thing indeed when uplines will try to sell you dreams. What's worse is when they are actually selling you broken dreams.

Helping Others?

 One of the BS things our Amway upline constantly told our group was that we were out there helping people and fighting for what is right in the world. That evil will triumph when good men fail to take action. I agree with this. That the AMOs have thrived because too many good people have ignored the problem and it hasn't gone away, only unnoticed by most. The result is probably tens of millions of people over the years getting scammed out of their hard-earned dollars via the "tool scam".  

Let's dissect these issues and look at them one at a time. What exactly are you fighting as an IBO? Fighting against yourself? Your job? I know many uplines want you to think your job sucks, thus giving you motivation for joining and succeeding in Amway. Then the hook comes where they will tell you that tools are vital for your success. But you aren't fighting anything.  Your job pays your bills and allows you to make a living, whether you like it or not.  Most likely your Amway business isn't generating enough to cover your "functions and tools" expenses, so your Job income is vital even if your upline says otherwise. 

How about helping people? How do IBOs help people by enticing them to join Amway? While people are doing community service or other projects, IBOs are stalking people at malls or other venues looking for prospects or spending weekends at meeting and functions. How does this help anyone but the folks who profit from the functions? How are IBOs helping people? It's nice to believe that you are fighting or a cause or helping other people, but the fact is that most people make nothing or lose money by being involved in Amway, not even factoring in the time you may lose for spending time with family and friends.

I was once an IBO. I thought we were involved in a good cause. I did eventually realize that we weren't helping anyone. The only people we took interest in were potential Amway recruits. Everyone else was cannon fodder. Those who are familar have heard "some will, some won't so what? Next"!  I did not pursue to "help" anyone unless they were interested in Amway when I was an IBO.  How does that make the world a better place?

IBOs are mostly good and hard working people. They have just been sucked into believing a false cause perpetuated by their upline. Most wake up and get out quickly as I did, but I believe the damage over the years is immense. I hope this blog provides some valuable insight for new and tenured IBOs and prospects.

How Wealthy Is Your Diamond?

 One of the things so many Amway IBOs and others do is assume that their upline diamond is rich beyond belief. At meetings, the speaker would be introduced as being in the top one tenth of one percent income bracket. While it may or may not be true, nobody ever questioned it, they just assumed it was true because people saw pictures of mansions and copies of 5 year old bonus checks. Even I never went and studied how the diamond bonuses worked. Most people just assumed that the money would be huge at the diamond level. But looking back, I can recall some things that make me believe that the diamonds were cutting corners and needed their platinums working free at meetings and functions in order to maximize profits.

The diamonds in our group often did not stay in hotels when visiting for meetings, but in the home of another diamond or some lucky downline platinum. The diamonds rarely rented a car. Instead, a downline platinum or higher would be lucky enough to be the unpaid and uncompensated chauffeur for the weekend. The platinums basically were the doormen and ushers at the functions and in many cases, probably didn't even get to hear the speakers since they were busy working. Their reward for their troubles was "spending time" with their uplines.

The downline operate like unpaid volunteers. For example, ever see diamonds actually renting a moving van and hiring movers? I believe most of them had downline groupies who did the work for free, just for the honor of being near their upline. Just my opinion, but if these folks had mountains of cash, why wouldn't you hire movers so your downline didn't have to use up a valuable Saturday or Sunday to do that work? That's like owning a chain of stores but having all of their stores closed. No products sold, no new recruits prospected. If Ray Kroc moved his residence, would all the nearby McDonald's owners close their stores to help him move?

Another things IBOs and prospects should note is that pictures of mansions, sports cars and jet skis doesn't mean someone is wealthy. Someone could have all those things on credit or rented after all. And many people who truly are wealthy, do not show off their wealth. It is possible that many diamonds live mundane middle class lives on their income but need to portray wealth to lure in new IBOs. While your upline diamonds may act and look rich, how would you really know? I can take a homeless guy, clean him up and put him in a suit and a sports car and he would probably look like a diamond.

If your uplines are implying that they are so wealthy, ask them to verify some of the claims. I'm not talking about their personal income, but in business, verifying business income is very common. If you are being invited into the business and a business system such as WWDB, BWW or N21, you have every right to check your upline's credentials. Avoidance of the truth, or an answer such as "none of your business" should be a red flag. It is your business if you are being asked to join, invest your time and money, and follow upline advice.

In Writing?

 Here's something that Amway 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?

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 the uplines weren't making their fortunes out of the sale of tools and functions.  But doing the math and common sense will tell you that he tools and functions are a significant source of diamond income.

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.

Most Fail?

  Most Amway IBOs fail. That is not a wild guess. That is a fact. Failure would mean doing nothing or trying hard and not making a net profit equal to minimum wage for the hours expended. Amway supporters will argue that many IBOs do little or nothing, and while that might be true, even the remaining IBOs who work hard, still find little or no success. The system is set up that way. If you see a diamond "walking the beaches" as the cash rolls in, that means someone is putting forth the effort to make that happen. It is the downline IBOs who purchase Amway products and tools that allow these diamonds to enjoy what they portray as success. By the way, does anyone actually know one of these diamonds who are retired and doing nothing while cash rolls in? 

We also know that some diamonds overhype their success. There has been evidence that the diamond lifestyle is often not what people think it is. If you could truly earn residual income by the bucket load, why do diamonds quit, resign, lose homes in foreclosure proceedings, and even wind up in bankruptcy court? One could argue that some diamonds are failures. The diamond lifestyle is an illusion created by upline leaders as a means to entice recruits. I would venture a guess that many diamonds are living in debt or struggling to make ends meet. 

Many Amway zealots and apologists try to make ridiculous claims comparing a company owner to a diamond. The big difference is that a company owner has employees who get a regular paycheck. These employees generally wanted the job and probably applied for the work. And if and when an employee leaves, there are other applicants who are willing to step in and do the work. Thus, the business continues to meet their demands and continues to profit. 

In the Amway opportunity, the IBOs spend money purchasing products, and then upline leaders expect these same folks to spend even more money to learn how to be motivated to do the Amway business. But in reality, if IBOs made profits, that would likely be sufficient motivation to run their businesses. Because it is hard to find enough (suckers) prospects to join the business and fork out cash while they lose money, other IBOs have resorted to trickery, deception and outright lying at times, in order to attract potential downlines. This has damaged Amway's reputation. 

The 6-4-2 system ensures that the majority of business builders must "do the work" to uphold their platinum, who (probably) barely earns a net profit. And then you need 3 or 6 groups of IBOs losing money in order to maintain an emerald or diamond. Amway has revealed that less than 4% of product moves to non-IBOs. The absence of non-IBO customers nearly guarantees that most IBO groups will lose money or make very little. Most IBOs are destined to fail. And it is not necessarily the IBO's fault. The system itself comes with many flaws which most IBOs cannot overcome, even for those who put forth much effort. It is why most IBOs fail. It is why I hope prospects will find and read this information before making a final decision to sign up or not.

The Retirement Myth?

 Many Amway speakers might say "Do the work once and reap the rewards for life".  Lifelong willable passive/residual income. These are some of the things that attracted me to the Amway opportunity. That I could do the work, and have the option of sitting back, enjoying a fabulous lifestyle of riches and never have to work again. I could wake up at noon if I chose to, and/or I could stay out late hanging out with my "free" Amway buddies.  Nothing could be more inaccurate, in my opinion.

It sounds great on the surface, however, when you analyze an Amway diamond's income and look at things carefully, you can see where this lifestyle is just not possible. Even if a diamond earned $250,000 a year from Amway and the tools income, after considering taxes, business expenses and other necessities such as medical insurance and retirement savings, you don't have enough left to live what is often portrayed as a "diamond" lifestyle. Also, keep in mind that a lot of a diamond's income is received in the form of an annual bonus so a diamond's monthly income might be relatively small.

One could also wonder why there aren't any diamonds (that I know of) who have actually walked away from their businesses and continue to collect any significant income from Amway. With more than half of all IBOs not staying in business for a year and about 95% of the rest of the IBOs being gone several years later, it would be an insurmountable task to keep your income rolling in with that poor retention rate. As far as I know, an IBO also need to have a minimal amount of side volume in order to qualify for certain significant payments/bonuses. That is a lot of volume to move when IBOs are quitting the business daily, and these days, it seems as though there are fewer IBOs getting involved, at least in the US and Canada.

It is for that reason, I believe these crown ambassadors and higher level pins are still working. Once you stop, it is very likely that there is no tool income, and once your downline starts to suffer attrition, then you Amway income and bonuses will eventually dry up as well. I believe there is no true residual income in Amway. Sure, build a big business and walk away. You may continue to receive some income for a while, but eventually, it will disappear. It is like building a sandcastle on the beach. The bigger you build it, the longer it will last, but it is for certain that the tide will eventually wash the sand away, just as time and attrition will eat away your Amway business. If you are popular and charismatic enough to attract a large downline, once you leave, so will your downline.

As far as I am concerned, I believe the residual income claims from Amway is just a long running myth used to attract recruits. I don't know of anyone who built a large Amway business and then walked away, and is still collecting a significant income. Do you?

Life Changing?

 One of the things that was heavily promoted when I was an IBO, and I believe is still promoted, is the control of time and money. I recall hearing that "broke" people often have lots of time, but can't do much because of a lack of money, or how a very hard-working man might have money but a lack of time as he is working 80 hours per week. So why not join Amway, work hard for 2-5 years and have all the time and money you need for life?  Sounds great right?

Well, it sounds good on the surface, but how many people actually do that? I don't know of any IBO who worked the business 2-5 years and walked away from their business to enjoy control of time and money forever. And there are reasons for that. Attrition. Most IBOs who join don't do much and more than half of all IBOs won't even be in business for more than a year. IBOs also need to be active and moving side volume in order to qualify for some of the bonuses. It is why I believe that there aren't any diamonds who left to enjoy their time and money because of passive ongoing Amway income. Diamonds and above must continually work the business or their businesses will fall apart like the waves would erode a sandcastle at the beach.

For many IBOs ironically, what they desire most, time and money, is what they have less of because of their involvement in the Amway opportunity. It is because of the way many IBOs are taught by the systems such as WWDB, BWW or N21. Many of these groups will teach a defacto PV requirement of 100 PV which costs about $300 monthly. In some cases, you are getting a small box of goods for the same amount of cash that would have gotten you a cartload of goods at Walmart or Costco. For system IBOs, you are also paying for instruction that basically tells you that this is a great idea and that you should never quit.

So now when your family and friends have backyard barbeques or birthday parties, you are absent because you are securing your financial future. Your kids surely won't mind you missing their baseball games or sending them to the sitters while you attend a function. Your family and friends will be wowed when you retire next year and throw them a part to end all parties. It all seems surreal, and for most, it truly is. There may be $10 or even $50 monthly checks rolling in from Amway but is never covers the cost of your expenses. You can't quit because success might be right around the corner.

Suddenly your sponsor or upline might tell you that the Amway business is not about money. You might be told that you are a nicer person or a better parent (even if you neglect your kids to attend functions), or that the business opportunity has saved your marriage. Which leads to my question. What have you achieved in the Amway business that has given you more control of time and money? Do you have less time and money as a result of your involvement with Amway?

During my involvement with Amway, my life was changed, but not for the better. And it wasn't because of Amway. It was self serving teaching by WWDB leaders designed to suck the life out of IBOs. We were to attend all meetings. All means all. We were to submit to upline. Check your ego at the door. We were to buy extra tapes/cds because you can't listen to the same ones each day. Wives and husbands needed separate standing orders. If downline quit, you don't cancel standing order. It is why I saw crosslines go bankrupt, lose a home to foreclosure and many ended up quitting and with large financial loss.

I hope this message of personal experience helps information seekers.

Working Part Time?

 Many people pitch Amway as an easy, and somewhat of a 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.   And if I may add, Amway the corporation doesn't list residual income as a potential benefit of being an IBO.  So where do people get that idea?  Simple, it's because the AMO or organizations that sell tools and functions that pimp this benefit. 

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 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 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.

The Opportunity?

 Over the years I have been debating with Amway supporters, I cannot see what is so great about the Amway opportunity. Are some of these Amway defenders that stupid or dense that they truly believe that a business where one out of a few hundred people might make a profit and most of the remaining IBOs will lose money is a good opportunity? I'm not talking about people who sign up and "do nothing". Many IBOs sign up and put in a great deal of time, effort and money, only to find out that the system simply does not work (especially in the US) and they make a business decision to quit and/or to do something else.

Of course there are some people who make money in Amway. If nobody made money, then the opportunity would cease to exist. But it is basically exploitation of the downline that accounts for upline success. I strongly suspect that most sales are to IBO themselves, as evidenced by the teaching of "buy from yourself". Thus, certain upline make their income from their downline's PV volume, and on tool purchases. I mean even a lottery has winners. Even Ponzi schemes and other questionable opportunities have some winners. This is not to suggest that Amway in not legal. Amway might be perfectly legal, but the way the opportunity is set up, those who profit, primarily do so at the expense of their trusted downline.

There are no groups that I know of where all the IBOs can win and earn a profit. I would guess that there might be a few rogue groups who only focus on retail sales, and while these groups can be profitable as a group, they are few and far between. This is because most IBOs fall under an LOS such as WWDB, BWW, LTD or N21, and these groups all seemingly focus on recruiting of new IBOs. Yes, they may sprinkle in some suggestions about selling goods, but generally speaking, their "training" materials consist of motivation speeches, feel good stories (whether true or not), and the theme of never quitting while continuing to purchase more tools.

Some upline have the nerve to start teaching downline that their Amway business is not about making money, but to save your marriage, make you a nicer person, or some other diversion to make you forget that you are losing money month after month after month. Some groups even mix in religion and politics into their functions and meetings. As far as I can see, the typical business building IBO signs up, gets some of the tools and attends a few functions, and finds that the products are hard to sell because they are not priced competitively with other retailers, and that a damaged reputation is nearly impossible to overcome. These IBOs realize they are not going anywhere, and they walk away, chalking up the losses as a life lesson. But apparently, many uplines who lied and deceived in the past are continuing to do so today, often just revising history for their benefit (i.e. lying about making any profit on tools).

Many IBOs, prospects, information seekers and critics read this blog. My question is very simple. What is so great about the Amway opportunity? For most, it is just a bad use of time and money. While some may exist, I don't know of a single person who "did the work once" and sat back collecting barrels of Amway money while sipping Mai Tais on the beaches of Jamaica. I see crown ambassadors working as hard today as they did many years ago. Diamonds losing homes to foreclosures, a prominent diamond in bankruptcy proceedings, and a hoard of WWDB diamonds apparently selling off mansions that they allegedly paid for in cash. (It is quite possible that their lifestyles are simply not sustainable).

Where is the benefit in the business for the typical IBO? Just as there are some diamonds, there are lottery winners. Displaying a lottery winner doesn't make it prudent to spend your money on lottery tickets. Displaying a diamond's lifestyle doesn't make Amway a good opportunity. While Amway is a business and not a game of chance, the results of either, sadly are eerily similar - that is a few winners and millions of non winners.

What is so great about the Amway opportunity? I don't see it.

The Product Pyramid?

 Let me start out by saying that Amway is a very likely a perfectly legal company, and therefore I am not saying or implying that Amway is illegal. But I believe however, that the way Amway businesses are run, as guided by the AMOs, are like pyramids. In most groups, you will have the lowest level IBOs efforts and tool purchases being responsible for the upline bonuses and tools income. Many Amway IBOs are fooled into thinking that the ability to surpass your upline or that you don't get paid to recruit downline makes this a good deal. This doesn't change the fact that the vast majority of IBOs lose money. The lottery is legal in most states, but I'd say it's not a good investment for your money.

Unless you have a very rare group where actual product sales to non-IBOs are sufficient to cover the costs of running your business, functions and all, then it is true that the lower level IBO's jobs are likely the source of income for the uplines. How many groups are like that?  None that I have ever seen or know of. In fact, how often do IBOs even sell enough products to cover their expenses for even one month out of the year? The groups that teach "buy from yourself" end up doing the most financial damage to their groups because the downline's expenses are then covered exclusively from the downlines jobs, bank accounts, or drive the downline into debt.

I've seen and discussed group structures in forums many times and I can only conclude that tool sales wipe out what little profits/bonuses some of the downlines might receive. Only when an IBO is able to sponsor enough downline to absorb the losses for them will they finally break even or make a little profit.  I would guess that the 4000 PV level or platinum is where a dedicated CORE IBO would just about break even and possibly start to make a real profit. But if you are hard core dedicated to the tools system, you can still lose money at these levels. We also know that most platinum groups have 100 or more IBOs in order to generate 7500 PV. Thus we can also conclude that less than 1% of IBOs make a net profit. The only way IBOs can earn a net profit at a lower level is to avoid purchasing tools and to avoid paying for functions. Those who get involved in a system such as WWDB or N21 almost guarantee that they will have a net loss because of the expenses associated with these systems.

Sure, my job may have a pyramid structure with the CEO making the most money. But the difference is that in a company, even the lowest paid employee still receives a paycheck and has money at the end of the month. The same claim cannot be made by IBOs. For these reasons, I believe Amway to be a legal pyramid, where money flows from downline to the upline. IBOs and information seekers are free to participate, but I challenge them to sit down and really analyze their ability to make a net profit. In most cases, the analysis won't be favorable. If you are in the US in particular, you may have great difficulty in even being able to discuss "Amway" without getting strange looks your way from others. Do you have to shy away from using the name Amway? Do you have to use the curiosity approach? If you do, ask yourself why. The answer is obvious.

The Millionaire Mindset?

  A comment left by an anonymous site visitor:

"I love Amway. I just don't understand why people have to be negative about it. I don't hurt or steal from anyone yet I make money. I'm not a millionaire as of yet but working towards that goal. It's called "millionaire mentality". Joecool you will never succeed with penny mentality."

Joecool's commentary:

In my informed opinion, most diamonds do not have a millionaire mindset. If you see how they spend money and how they flaunt excessive wealth, I see people who could win the power ball lottery and wind up broke. They might earn a nice income (even if it may come by lying and deceiving), but they spend it all, and possibly more by portraying the diamond lifestyle. In my opinion, the diamond lifestyle as portrayed in functions such as "dream night" are not sustainable.  For this reason, we are now seeing evidence of this such as a triple diamond who participated in chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings, diamonds losing homes to foreclosures. We are seeing diamonds selling their mansions. Sure, they might be downsizing or liquidating their assets, but if these homes have been paid in cash as they claim, why did they sell them in a bad real estate market? Why not wait a few years?

In the past, I have posted some articles showing the traits and characteristics of millionaires. Many of these articles cite saving, investing, and living below your means. Many wealthy people drive regular everyday cars and live in the suburbs. They don't commonly have Porsches, and Jaguars. And for the record, the average diamond income, as reported by Amway, isn't all that much when you factor in business expenses and taxes. So why do diamonds try to show off wealth?

I believe diamonds show off excess wealth because it is the only way to attract recruits. Because the Amway opportunity has a high turnover rate, nobody can reasonably "walk away" from their business and have cash rolling in for long. Attrition would eat away your business in a matter of days or weeks. It is why I believe diamonds do not walk away from their businesses, because they can't afford to. The business requires constant attention, or it will crumble faster than stale cookies.

Most IBOs are simply fooled into thinking they are developing a millionaire mentality. An honest question for IBOs. How do you even know if your upline diamond is a millionaire? Anyone, even a broke guy can wear a nice suit and show off pictures of mansions and sports cars. For that matter, how do you know if your upline diamond is currently qualified as a diamond? Amway doesn't release that information except for new pins.

In my opinion, diamond's displays of excessive wealth and luxury portray something, but it's not the millionaire mentality.

Then again, how can you go on stage and say join Amway, work real hard, go diamond and live a middle to upper middle-class lifestyle?  That wouldn't sell very well now would it?

My Best Interest?

 The really insidious part about some of the LOS leaders, such as the ones I had in WWDB, is that they apparently are cutthroat businessmen with nice suits and nice smiles. They are 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. I know of an IBO who did just that. He quit his job to attend a major function and got into all kinds of financial problems when they got back to real life. 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". This is scary advice and why I maintain this blog.

Our group was also strongly encouraged to buy 5-7 extra cds every week (or more). 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 Duncen 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.

You Can't Make This Up?

  One of the most stupid teachings I heard as an Amway IBO was that IBOs should buy their own products from their Amway business and charge themselves full retail price.  Thus, the difference between IBO price and full retail would be your profit which you can then bank and use that money to buy tools and function tickets.  For me, that was a WTH moment.   So, I pay my own business full retail prices and the difference between retail and wholesale is my "profit", even if it came out pf my own pockets?  You can't make up this BS.  But uplines do. 

Some IBOs fall for this garbage and actually have repeated that teaching.  If you buy your own stuff, you’re using your own money, thus your money went from one account to another.  That’s not real profit.  That's simply a hocus pocus accounting trick so that you think you made some profits   Well, I guess an IBO can be fooled into thinking that moving money from your savings to checking is profit because I've seen some of them parrot that exact line on this blog and on other forums,   

Say you purchase double x for the IBO price of $50 but the full retail is $85 (for example).  In theory you have now made $35 profit.  You’re supposed to use that profit for tools and functions but if the profit just came out of your pocket, what difference does it make?   You could just as easily pay for double x then pay for your functions and tools. By claiming retail profit, now moving money from one account to another becomes taxable income (profits are taxable).   And what's ironic is that IBOs pay good money to be taught this kind of garbage.  It's so outrageous that it's almost comical, but also sad at the same time.  

This teaching is actually dangerous because it just adds to an IBOs already negative cash flow.  And to think I actually paid to attend a function where they taught this crap as an IBO myself at one time.  The good side is that this was where I started to smell a rat with regards to upline teaching.  This and the submit to upline garbage.  This is where I figured out that the Amway system was just a scam to extract cash from the faithful downlines.

Since I’m certain that diamonds are still pushing tools and functions, I’m sure they must be teaching down line to raise capital in some way.  It’s possible that this paying yourself lies are still ongoing.  It’s my hope that this blog post can help unsuspecting IBOs and prospects to see through the silly upline teaching.   This would have likely allow me to see the light sooner than later.   

It Sounds Good?

  Having blogged about Amway for 30 years now, I have observed that Amway IBOs talk a good game about retailing, sponsoring and doing Amway business activities. They will tell you to set yourself up with 20 customers, sponsor 6 frontline, show a number of plans and set up certain follow ups with contacts, and doing other activities supposedly to build an Amway business. I find if humorous when these same IBOs start throwing insults or diverting the discussion when someone asks if they are actually making money. Of course, it would be understandable if a new IBO would admit they had not made a fortune as of yet, but it seems that even that response is not forthcoming from IBOs.  

It seems that the Amway business is simple enough. Buy some products, sell products and try to sponsor some downline in order to leverage your volume with your downlines. IBOs mistakenly believe that you can build it once correctly and that the income will flow into future generations. What goes unnoticed is that IBOs come and go with such a high frequency, that a business generating residual income would be like a sandcastle on the beach. You might build it nice and big, but the waves of attrition would quickly turn that sandcastle into nothing. The same would be true of an Amway business. The IBOs dropping out would wipe out your business unless you are constantly replacing the people who quit. IBOs like to talk about Amway sales and how the company is growing in sales, but the Amway sales have no relationship with making IBOs more profitable. 

IBOs may also toss in comments about how they are nicer people or how they are improving their marriage because of the Amway business. I often wonder how that can be when functions and meetings take you away from your family and spouse. I suppose it could be because the uplines talk about people being nicer or tossing out lies about Amway and the AMOs saving marriages. I remember a WWDB diamond talking about how WWDB members had a 2% divorce rate while the rest of society has a 60% divorce rate. Ironically, that diamond's marriage ended in divorce. I believe this crap is still taught as a WWDB IBO who blogs, had mentioned this tidbit on his blog last year. I don't believe Amway IBOs or anyone else has a higher or lower rate of divorce than the rest of society, but it becomes an issue when uplines teach it and their downlines repeat it. 

So, it would seem that IBOs talk a good game. They know what to say and how to act, but they're like poker players who are bluffing. If you call them on it, they are likely to fold in their hands because they don't have the goods. It is why many Amway discussions often turn into an insult contest, when the IBO suddenly gets confronted with facts that are contrary to upline teaching. It's usually quite funny but I wonder if these folks question their upline or go on their merry way repeating uplines lies? It becomes apparent to everyone but the IBO when they are repeating crazy stuff taught by their upline. Good luck to anyone who tries to build this business against nearly insurmountable odds.

Ruthless?

 The really insidious part about some of the Amway 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.   (The blog was call "Expeditions of Truth" and the fired-up blog owner has now quit and is doing other things)

They may even claim moral superiority such as using religion as a basis for building the business. I heard some leaders say "Amway is a God pleasing business". Really? God likes lying and exploiting others? I would beg to differ. They might tell you lies such as Amway and/or WWDB IBOs have a lower divorce level than the world. They may tell you a bunch of unsubstantiated details. I urge IBOs to verify and confirm claims like these.  How do splines know who gets divorced?

As an IBO, the diamonds may 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 cutthroat wolves in sheep's clothing who will take your last dime if you allow them to.

Sharp Prospects?

 One of the things taught to our group by upline was to recruit "sharp" people. And in general, I agree that many/most IBOs were sharp people. Most of them young, nice, motivated and wanting more in life. Certain Amway defenders wrongly claim that I am against Amway and IBOs to a degree where I am maniacal against them. I am not. I recall that most of my group and my crossline were mostly educated and had decent jobs. We all hoped to achieve the dream of walking away from our jobs and living in luxury. We got the idea that it was very reasonable and achievable if only we did as upline advised and immersed ourselves in the "system", which in my case, was WWDB. We were told that WWDB had much fruit on its tree and at the time I was an IBO, that appeared to be true.  But the key was to subscribe to all of the functions, audios and books and teaching.

However, at the time, we did not know that some/most/all WWDB leaders made significant income from selling us tools and functions.  You see, we were lied to and speakers at major functions told the audience that nobody made a cent from tools and that upline makes pennies only after you earn dollars. We now know that this is not true and that these speakers were lying.  What's more, these leaders were never made accountable for their lies. They just revised history and acted like nothing happened. Sadly, many downline IBOs simply accepted the explanation and continued to buy tools and functions. Currently, the WWDB tree is getting barren, with little "fruit". There are very few new diamonds from WWDB in the US, and some of their more apparently dynamic leaders have left WWDB to start their own systems. Thus, it looks like WWDB is left with the same old tired speakers today, as the ones who were around prior to my involvement with Amway.

But what's puzzling, or maybe not, is why aren't there more successes if many, possibly most IBOs are "sharp" people? Surely large groups of smart and motivated people can accomplish much, but for whatever reason, they are unable to accomplish much in Amway and WWDB. In fact, many of these sharp people cannot sponsor a single downline and have difficulty in selling Amway products. After many years of blogging and analyzing the Amway opportunity, my conclusion is that Amway products are priced too highly and cannot compete with similar products on the open market. Sure, Amway defenders will cite quality or concentration as reasons why Amway is competitive, and in some cases, Amway is competitive, but the general public doesn't care, they just want cheap stuff, and Walmart fulfills that need better than Amway. It leaves the majority of Amway sales being made to active business building IBOs. Apparently, the artificial need to buy Amway goods disappears when the diamond dream disappears.   How many former IBOs move 100 PV because of the great value?

Also, the zany and sometimes deceptive behavior of past and some present IBOs gives the Amway name a bad reputation, making it difficult to get anyone to see the plan, and sponsoring becomes nearly impossible. It is for this reason, I believe Amway is growing in foreign countries and not in North America, where saturation has occurred. When you factor in all of these variables, it is easy to conclude that large groups of sharp people fail is not because they are not capable, it is because the Amway opportunity comes with so many handicaps that even sharp people cannot overcome them. It is why so many former IBOs, including myself, have done quite well for themselves after leaving Amway. Did I learn some things about business while in Amway?  Yes, I did learn some things of value, but I also learned that I was lied to and deceived by WWDB leaders and for that reason, my blog continues......

Everyone Starts At Zero?

 The Amway business is a level playing field. At least that's what my upline told us when I was an IBO. That everyone starts at zero. While that is somewhat true, there were other factors that existed, that most IBOs did not know about. That factor is the possibility of PV manipulation. I believe that groups that are not on direct fulfillment (Groups still calling in and picking up) are able to transfer PV around. Thus, certain groups or favored downline could be manufactured into higher pins. I believe most groups are currently on direct fulfillment, but I did confirm about less than a year ago that some groups still are on call in and pick up, but usually for tools and not Amway products.

But let's examine the concept that everyone starts at zero. While this aspect may be technically true, certain people are simply better at selling, or better and more adept at socializing and talking to others.  So, while your PV count may be zero, the skills needed to start and run a business is not a level playing field for most. I believe uplines state this to give prospects the idea that everyone has an equal chance at succeeding in Amway. I just cannot believe this to be true. Even current diamonds, while having achieved a certain level, probably could not "start at zero" and build a diamond ship again.   WWDB tried this some years back.  The diamonds were told to set the example and build another diamond business outside of their current diamond business.  Well, as far as I know, not a single existing diamond at the time was able to do it and the entire thing was forgotten and never mentioned again.
 
Thus, when you really think about it, the "old timers" of the diamonds should actually be given less credibility than the newer ones. Do you really believe that a diamond or higher pin who built his business in the 1970's or 1980's can really teach people in 2026 how to build the business in a way to address people in 2026, and the fact that the business is internet based as opposed to the old days.

It is easy to stand on stage, tell people how great you are, show off alleged material wealth and then tell prospects that everyone starts at zero and that anyone can build the business. I do not believe that it is true. I also strongly suspect that very few (if any) of the current diamonds would be able to "start at zero" and build a new diamond ship here in the US, where the reputation and shrinking sales would be handicaps too great to overcome for the vast majority of prospective IBOs.  How can you build a business and approach prospects when many or most people have a negative view of Amway due to previous IBO behavior or unethical behavior?  

Capital Flight?

Some months ago, I wrote an article about the newly elected (at the time) NY mayor Zohran Mamdani.  In a recent event, he filmed a video clip about his proposed tax on expensive second homes in NY as a means of generating revenue for the city.  He has already failed to deliver on some of his promises such as free bus services for New Yorkers.  Some people have pushed back on these taxes because people who own these expensive second homes because these residents will basically receive nothing in return and because they likely spend only part of the time in NY and therefore, they do not even use as many day to day services as regular citizens.   

In this most recent turn of events, the mayor filmed his video in front of a billionaire's second home.  That billionaire is the head of the Citadel.  A big company that provides thousands of jobs in NY and the head of the company already pays high taxes and donates a lot of money towards charitable causes in NY.  And rather than backing down about the video, the mayor doubles down.

It is a fact that the top 1% of New Yorkers pay nearly half of the taxes in NY.  And the bottom half of New Yorkers pay less than 5% of the taxes.  So, in a socialist regime, you just take more and more.  If anyone believes that this taxing of a second luxury home will be the "be all end all", they are sadly mistaken.   Cutting spending is not politically popular so politicians think rich people are an endless ATM machine for them.  And I might remind people that in 2022, the NY governor went on TV and told rich people, republicans in particular, to leave and go to Florida.   Now she's asking them to come back and pay taxes to NY.  Fat chance.

Then in California, the politicians have put a wealth confiscation tax on the ballot (this allows politicians to blame the voters).  This new tax would basically tax billionaire's "unrealized gains".  So if someone is wealthy because of stock holdings and real estate, they would have to sell these assets (and pay taxes on the gains) to have enough cash to pay the tax.  And effectively, this is a 7-8% tax because selling off 5% of your holdings won't be enough to get 5%.   Now if you have only 1 billion, that tax would be 50 million plus the taxes on the sale of your assets making the bill 70 to 80 million dollars.   California and NY are already leading the country in affluent people leaving to other states because of excessive taxation and regulations.   Billionaires are usually smart people and surrendering 70 to 80 million for nothing in return is a piss poor investment.  And 70 or 80 million is if you have 1 (one) billion dollars.  If you have 2 billion, then your bill is effectively 140 to 160 million.  

This is where capital flight takes place.   The ultra rich people move to Nevada, Arizona, Texas and Florida.   Do you think 70 or 80 million can pay for you to move and get a nice place to live elsewhere?  Not all billionaires will leave, but it doesn't take all of them to leave to create a budgetary disaster in California or New York.  For the record, this wealth confiscation was already tried in Europe and so many wealthy people moved that the countries who tried this repealed the law.   Now I see that even the Seattle mayor has flippantly told the wealthy "bye" in her city.  

Socialism works great until you run out of other people's money to distribute.  But these folks win elections by appealing to many young people who are possibly in entry level jobs or are lazy and are enamored by the idea of free stuff like universal income, health care, etc.  The bottom line is the politicians are so inept and greedy that they don't realize they are killing the golden goose.  California has one of the largest economies in the world, but with their taxes and regulations, if the Tech Giants in silicon valley were to leave, California would be burnt toast.  

The Root Of Many Evils?

 Over the many years of Amway's existence, their reputation in the US and Canada has tanked. And it's not all due to Amway the corporation itself, but rather Amway IBO leaders who teach and condone unethical behavior. Of course, I don't know of any significant measures that Amway has taken to discipline some of their wayward IBOs, but that's another story.

During my blogging career, I've seen young people who were discouraged from attending college so they could build an Amway business. I've personally seen people go bankrupt and lose their homes because they followed the advice of their all-knowing uplines. Sure, people have some responsibility for their actions, but I feel as if some of these kinds of actions by some IBOs and IBO leaders is predatory and focuses on people who can least afford to funnel money into the business and the leech teaching systems such as WWDB or Network 21.

I've seen ridiculous product claims such as people claiming that bottled water could cure ills and make you athletically superior. Of course, this water costs about $50 a case when you could buy 8-10 cases of water at Walmart for the same price. They claim superiority in their vitamins without unbiased scientific evidence to support their claims. Perhaps that is why the Amway vitamins seemingly are consumed nearly exclusively by IBOs themselves.

Despite claims by Amway supporters and IBOs that things are changing in Amway for the better, there is plenty of evidence that nothing has changed. Outrageous income claims. I thought the Dateline show in 2004 exposed some crazy stuff with an Amway IBO leader claiming that people could earn $250K per year with a part time effort, but then my friend Rocket (fellow blogger) finds this gem with an IBOAI member and crown ambassador in WWDB/Amway claiming you can make hundreds of thousands of dollars a month: http://rocketsrants.blogspot.com/2011/09/amway-guys-they-sure-say-stuff.html

I wonder if that diamond himself even makes that kind of money?   Ironically, his triple diamond brother wasn't even close to that when his chapter 7 bankruptcy papers were exposed a few years ago.

So to Amway prospects and apologists, the Amway corporation itself may be perfectly legal and clean, but the root of many evils comes from Amway uplines and AMO leaders. It is for this very reason that many get turned off just at the mention of the Amway name. Amway can stop them, but will they?

The Real Pitch?

 Many or possibly most people have experienced some kind of pitch by an Amway IBO sometime during their lives.  My first Amway pitch was an invitation to a beer bust while I was in college. I arrived at the meeting expecting beer and pizza only to see people in suits giving a presentation. They spoke about how you could generate income by eliminating the middleman from product distribution. Creating efficiencies was a way to generate money and Amway was it. On the surface, it can seem as if everything the speaker said made sense, although real life practice doesn't bear it out.

Sell and use consumables. Consumables need to be re-purchased so obviously it is a good way to run a small business. What wasn't discussed was the higher prices of the products/consumables. What many people do not see is that Amway's generous bonuses have to be built into the price of the products. For this reason, Amway cannot compete with big retailers who don't have to add salespeople bonuses into their prices.  And big retailers have the leverage to squeeze out the best prices because of the volume they move.

But if you look beyond all of this and still think Amway is a good opportunity, then the real Amway pitch comes in. People get excited about working part time, 2-5 years to earn willable and residual income which will allow someone to retire early and leave a legacy to future generations. This is the point where the Amway presenter makes the pitch about people needing training.   By the way, Amway does not allow the use of willable and residual income.  If it were trye, Amway the corporation would be using these terms in their business disclosures.

Then you'll be told need tools. After all, a carpenter can't build a house without tools, right? So many people who think Amway will make them rich, start to invest in their "tools". Sure, the Amway functions and some other materials can make you feel good or motivated, but in the end, the tools are supposed to help you generate sales and to increase your business revenue. What goes unnoticed in many cases is that the Amway tools are the reason for an IBO's net losses. The upline will justify this by telling stories about how success is right around the corner or that you should never quit and you will eventually make it.

All of this rhetoric from Upline is nice, but people who don't quit have no assurance of making it. Look at the fruit on the tree is what IBOs are often told at meetings and functions.  Sounds rosy, but in the end, my former LOS, WWDB, I believe has fewer diamonds now than when I was an IBO 30 years ago. My former sponsor was still active in Amway after 25 years (not sure about now) and he's not even a platinum. You don't see many new diamonds except for in foreign countries. To me, this is evidence that Amway is saturated and there is little chance of future success. This is why there are mostly tired old diamonds working until they pass away. If the diamonds were so "awesome", why aren't all of their kids and close friends also in diamond club?

The answer is that the Amway pitch can sound good, but it doesn't work. From 2013 to now, Amway revenues are down.  From a peak of 11.8 billion in 2013 to lower levels now, unless I'm mistaken.  I believe Amway is a sinking ship.

Ignoring Facts?

One of the bat sh*t crazy things that our Amway upline taught the group was that the facts don't matter when you have a dream. There is evidence that this is still taught today and in particular, I have heard that from IBOs who claim to associate with WWDB. IBOs are taught to ignore facts because the facts make their Amway businesses look like a joke. Spend $300 a month on products to gain a $10 rebate when you could have bought the same or similar products at Walmart for a fraction of the cost. Then many IBOs spend another $200 or more so they can be taught to ignore facts or that this is somehow a great deal.  Even in a Bizarro world, it's hard to make any sense of this kind of teaching.

Any real business owner would never ignore facts. A real business owner makes business decisions based on facts. IBOs are being duped into making business decisions based on emotions and hype.  The hype of fantasy.  The hype of becoming uber rich by purchasing Amway goods.   The Amway opportunity already is already saturated with handicaps and challenges, particularly in the US and Canada, where the reputations and previous antics of fellow IBOs has so stained Amway's name that it appears to be negatively affecting sales and preventing any meaningful growth. Despite what Amway apologists claim, Amway revenues have shrunk since they peaked more than 10 years ago and I do nto believe that have ever fully recovered.   Amway will likely continue to struggle unless improvements and corrections are made, in my opinion. It's also possible that it is too late to right the ship at this point.

It is also why many IBOs talk about how Amway saves marriages, or Amway made them nicer people. Uplines will teach this because it takes a business owner's focus away from their bottom line, the profit or loss. Or IBOs are taught that a loss just means they are investing in their business, despite being told upfront that there is little or no investment needed and that a profit can be turned quickly in Amway. These uplines have gone on for years with no accountability placed upon them by either Amway or their downlines. Any "incidents" are simply ignored or history revised by uplines.

There are blogs on the internet, where IBOs write about buying homes in cash, and Amway IBOs having a 2% divorce rate compared to more than 50% in the rest of the world, yet you have Amway defenders claiming this isn't being taught, when clearly it is. Cover it up all you want; the evidence is right there but these folks aren't interested in the facts. I urge great caution to people who are ignoring facts to pursue an Amway dream.

And really, if you're taught to ignore facts, maybe you need to rethink who you're in business with.

The Amway "Bizarro" World?

 When I was an Amway IBO, 30 years ago at this point, I was all "gung ho" because although new, I was excited because I was sponsoring people and my business was growing.  I moved up the rankings and crossed the Amway stage as a 1000 pin, 2500 pin and later a 4000 pin.  I was considered a "mover and shaker" so I had "earned" the opportunity to spend time with our upline diamond.  I got to attend some home board plans and got to "associate" with the diamond.  The experience was coveted by many and here I was "living the dream".

But along the way, I noticed some strange things about the Amway business that defied explanation.   Sort of a "Bizarro" world, coining a phrase from I believe the Batman comics.  So what are these bizarre things I noticed?   Well, we always talked about business and how much money diamonds made.  So I once casually asked my sponsor how much cash he was making (we were friends prior to Amway)  and he told me "none of my business".  I thought it was odd when they tell the audience that the upline diamond makes $40,000 a month or something of that nature.  Even at functions we were bombarded by talk about residual income, fabulous vacations, financial freedom, etc.  

I attended an audience where we were told that "losing money was success".   If you were not yet cash positive, but were learning the system and developing your IBO skills, then you are a success even if the cash wasn't there yet because we were in training and this was simply a prelude to untold wealth and financial freedom.  Some upline taught "fake it till you make it".  Meaning, pretend to be wealthy until you became wealthy.  The problem was that nobody I knew of was becoming wealthy, at least not because of Amway.   After a while, the Amway business just became sort of a mundane job where were paid to work rather than being financially rewarded for our efforts.   But don't forget, it's your own fault if you aren't succeeding, despite following the "foolproof" system that they constantly promoted.  Even though I was doing ok as an IBO, I started to see and notice these bizarre events and started to wonder what the end game really was.

Then we got taught about submission to upline.  This one was hard to take.  So for example, if I was already an established successful businessman but joined Amway and some 22 year old was my upline somewhere, I was supposed to listen to his advice simply because he joined Amway before me even if he maybe hadn't accomplished much in the business itself.   Does that make any sense to anyone?  And at functions, we were not supposed to "crossline" which is to talk business with other IBOs because we had no financial interest in their business, thus that advice only came from directly upline, which was also odd, because it was common at functions to have crossline diamond speakers, which they told us was ok because it was a diamond speaking.   Wouldn't a newbie IBO be able to benefit from speaking to me, a 4000 PV pin?

And there are others, but I recall my sponsor being under the weather and said he had a "warm".  I assume he said it because it was the opposite of saying he had a "cold".  As if saying something opposite was going to change the facts of what is happening.  I could write a dissertation about all of the odd things that go on in the Amway IBO world, but these are a few that stood out to me during my IBO days.  Thankfully, I snapped out of my Amway trance fairly quickly and recovered in time to build a nice career and life for myself and my wife.   Anway bizarro stories to share?  Please leave them in the comments.

Random Observations?

 Observation #1: In general, IBOs are less successful in life than others. That is why they are more open to the business and why they can be convinced that there is a shortcut to retirement and perpetual wealth. When I was still young and a newbie IBO, I was not where I wanted to be financially, as I was younger and at the earlier stages of my career. I would not be open to “options” right now, however, many people looking for more in life or a shortcut to retirement may be more susceptible to looking at options. It's just that the Amway opportunity, in my opinion, is a poor option.

Observation #2: The biggest zealots/supporters appear to have the smallest businesses. They talk the talk - but no evidence of walking the walk. Also, any discussion about their personal success with the business is limited and shrouded in secrecy or they will make vague references about their level of success. They will say that their incomes are not relevant to the discussion or will point out a copy of someone's check or show a picture of a diamond's mansion, but will never disclose real financials like a REAL business owner would.

Observation #3: The business has a bad reputation and cannot be marketed to the general public without some degree of deception. It’s why there are so many testimonials of people tricked into attending meetings (including myself). Being straight forward with information will likely get you a resounding “No thanks”.

Observation #4: It would appear that much upline teaching is not focused on actually running a profitable business, but dedication to the system. It’s why so many IBOs don’t seem to know what a profit loss statement is, and don’t bother keeping one themselves. It’s also why the content of many BSMs is to purchase more BSMs. At functions, they will tell you to attend more functions and buy more standing orders, and on standing orders, they will tell you to never quit and to attend more functions.

Observation #5: IBOs in general don’t seem to have planned out their retirement. They are convinced that the Amway opportunity will provide for them when they reach their retirement years. They put down people who are working jobs and investing for their futures. They feel that purchasing function tickets is their investment for retirement. While a fraction of 1% might make some significant money in Quixtar, the vast majority do not. The fact that the majority may not have put forth a Herculean effort is irrelevant in my opinion. The bottom line is that the vast majority will not make an income from this opportunity. To ignore this fact is burying your head in the sand.

Making Millions?

 I was sponsored into Amway by a good friend back in the 1990's. My friend had gone "direct" at the time so he recruited me by saying that going direct was "easy" and that he could easily show me how to do it. I had been recruited by an Amway IBO before and it was not a good experience where I was completely lied to in order to get me to "see the plan".  I was in college and a friend had invited me to a "beer bust". I attended the meeting wearing a T-shirt and jeans only to arrive to see people wearing suits and ties and I was thinking WTH? My friend who invited me assured me that we would down some beer after the meeting. I was mad even though I stayed for the meeting.

I didn't join and my friend eventually told me that he may not be able to hang out with me in the future because he would be rich and may not have time to hang out anymore. I went home a bit mad and spoke to my friend who I came with. We talked about whether money could be made in Amway and decided that the Amway opportunity was likely saturated, so we decided not to join.  And that's not to mention as college students, I had no way of being able to sell or consume 100 PV on a monthly basis.

Fast forward to the later1990's and a friend of mine has gone "direct". I didn't really know exactly what that was, but I knew that the term "direct" meant you accomplished a significant level in Amway. I decided to join and see if my friend could deliver on his promise that he could show me how to go direct. I should have taken it as a red flag when I asked him about his Amway income, and he told me it was none of my business. But he smoothed that over by assuring me that we would both be "Millionaires" traveling the world together in the future.

I worked really hard and managed to sponsor 12 frontline legs in about 7-8 months and I was climbing the Amway ladder. I was considered a "mover and shaker" so I got exclusive time with the upline Diamond. I even got to attend special meetings and house "plans" with the diamond.

The ironic part of this story is that I purchased a home in about the year 2000 and I made the purchase for about $300K. My real estate agent also knows my Amway sponsor and contacted him about purchasing a home on Oahu (Hawaii). My former sponsor told the agent that he would only buy a home in cash (Amway/WWDB teaching). Fast forward to 2017 and my $300K home is worth nearly one million dollars so my home equity alone nearly makes my net worth a million dollars. When you add in my cash savings and investments, I am worth a lot more than a million.  Sure, nothing to brag about and it's still not a life of luxury, but my former sponsor from Amway who is a physician is still renting a home and is nowhere close to retiring. I am currently retired, with enough cash to live comfortably which includes frequent travel other luxuries.

While I may not be a diamond living the "diamond" lifestyle you see at functions on a slide show, I suspect that I'll be better off than some of the diamonds who live "bonus check to bonus check" trying to portray a lifestyle of "keeping up with the Joneses". Diamonds portray an excessive lifestyle of wealth, but I suspect that many of them cannot afford the lifestyle they portray. There have been "factoids" that support my claims. The fact that a triple diamond in WWDB declared chapter 7 bankruptcy and another diamond had a home foreclosed (diamonds pay cash for everything?) shows that diamonds may not be as financially free as they claim.

So who's making millions in Amway? IMO, they're folks selling CDs, voicemail, functions and books. But..... If you're a diamond, you likely spend it faster than you make it because portraying a wealthy lifestyle is expensive.