Become Free In 8-12 Hours Per Week?

One of the myths that upline used to, and likely still perpetuate is the claim that you can build an Amway mega empire on 8-12 hours per week. I'm venturing an educated guess that this number is used because while it still represents time, it is probably less hours than working a part time job. But let's take a closer look at this 8-12 hours per week.

If you listen to one (1) cd per day as recommended by upline and read one of their "success" books 15 minutes each day, you already close to nine hours of time used and neither of these activities produces any income for your Amway business. In fact, both activities cost you money and produce no tangible result. If you spend another 15 minutes a day contacting people, you are close to 12 hours per week. Where will you find additional time to show the plan and to expand your name and contact list? What about servicing customers, at least for IBOs who actually may have some customers.

What about attending meetings and functions? These are also non income producing activities. It's no wonder the vast majority of IBOs don't make money. Their upline has them running around participating in activities that produce no income for their businesses. Ironically, there non income producing activities such as listening to a cd, produces a lot of income for certain iplines who produce and sell them. To me, it is just an elaborate game of bait and switch played by upline.

You sell the prospect the dream of financial freedom. You tell that that Amway is their best chance. You tell them that you can help them and that the tools of the business (standing order, voicemail, books, functions) are the ket to their success. Those who are serious enough to commit to the system likely won't quit without making some effort and will allow uplines to earn some nice profits before these downline eventually realize they aren't profitable and quit. Because many IBos are sponsored by family and friends, you don't see too many formal complaints about the business. Most people chalk it up as a life lesson and do not complain.

But IBOs and information seekers, do not be fooled into thinking that you will create a financial empire by working 8-12 hours a week. That would be far fetched.

WWDB 12 Years Later - Nothing Has Changed?

There's one Amway apologist named Bridgett Baron who continually likes to use "old" and "outdated" as her source of criticism against Amway critics. She uses this feeble excuse as a means to defend Amway and WWDB. She claims that things have changed and that critic's experiences are old and invalid. She says some of these things despite the fact that she participates on the blog of a WWDB IBO who is saying the same things I heard as an IBO over 12 years ago. Bridgett is either wrong or purposely distorting the truth, apparently. I recently had a WWDB IBO email me with current WWDB documents and I will be posting the details below. It is exactly the same stuff I was told as an IBO more than 12 years ago. Old habits die hard I guess. The only difference is that as an IBO, we did not use the internet. Basically the rest is the same VERBATIM. So much for Bridgett Baron's credibility. Not that she had credibility..... I don't think she's very smart. :-)

Here's the details from the WWDB IBO's documents:

4 STANDARDS
1. Membership with Amway Global
2. Meet the Bigger Team
3. Ditto on the First
4. Check your Team Website Daily and Listen to LIT Updates sent through e-mail

5 NIGHTS A WEEK
Build your business 5 nights a week!

9 CORE STEPS

1. STP 3-5x Each Week
2. Personal Circle (150PV Single/300PV Couples)
3. Customers (50PV Minimum)
4. Membership CD.s- Listen Daily
5. Read a Book from the Book List 15 min. Daily
6. Attend ALL Events / Game Day.s
7. Associate & Counsel regularly
8. Integrity & Accountability
9. Check your Team Website Daily and Listen to LIT Updates sent through e-mail

3 POWERS
1. Power of Agreement . this means be willing to listen & learn, submit your ego & be teachable.
2. Power of Unity . unity with your growing upline & the bigger Dream Team
3. Power of the Spoken Word . speak positively, expecting the best from yourself & your business

3 CARDINAL RULES
1. Never mess with anyone's money (Is bankruptcy messing with someone's money?)
2. Never mess with anyone's ego
3. Never mess with anyone's spouse

3 NEVERS
1. Never embarrass your upline, downline, or crossline
2. Never pass negative downline or crossline
3. Never do anything for the first time without checking upline

Dream Night?

Across many US cities, IBOs are buying tickets for a major function called "Dream Night". It used to cost about $65 but I believe it now costs anywhere from $75 to $100 per person. I read an IBO blog recently where the IBO says that 1200 to 1300 people signed up so fast that they scheduled a second Dream Night. FYI, these events where you have a ballroom and a nice dinner can be purchased for about $25 to $30 per person. The rest of that money goes directly into the Diamond's pockets, just like all of the other functions and meetings with a cost. So much for diamonds working for the "love" of their groups.

At dream night, the diamonds will show displays of wealth. Allegedly, these luxuries are attained by building an Amway business but many diamonds will not mention that the luxuries they show off might not have been attained by Amway income. For some diamonds and above, their luxuries and alleged wealth are often attained by income sources outside of Amway, such as other businesses and investments, or from income received by selling voicemail, standing orders, book of the month and functions such as Dream Night.

I remember the diamonds urging people on. That everyone needed to "hurry up" and join them living in the lap of luxury. If only you would do as they do, you would have what they have. I was shown slideshows of yachts, sports cars, mansions, jet skis and jewelry. It was implied that building the Amway business would lead you to these trappings of wealth. All we needed to do was commit ourselves to the system and never quit. What went unnoticed, was how the speakers were few and the audience was large. And that's how it will always be. A platinum will often have 100 IBOs or more in their groups and a diamonds has at least six of these legs in their group. It is not true that everyone can eventually go diamond and be on stage.

Dream Night is like an advertisement for the lottery. You show the excessive luxuries of life and imply that the Amway oportunity can provide all of this. While some people may obtain wealth from Amway, they are the very rare exception and not a common experience. Just as showing lottery winners sitting in mansions is common. What goes unseen is that many end up losing so a few can win. For many IBOs, it is the tools themselves that ultimately doom most IBOs to a net loss. Ironic because the tools are promoted as the key to IBO success. Sadly, hard work and perserverence more often leads to massive losses than success in Amway.

So IBOs and guests attending Dream Night, have a nice dinner but know that the dreams that are being fulfilled aren't likely to be your dreams. It is the speakers whose dreams you are fulfilling by paying and attending their Dream Night function.

Amway Settles Lawsuit?

http://michiganmessenger.com/43148/amway-settles-lawsuit-by-former-members

Amway settles lawsuit by former members

By Ed Brayton 11/4/10 7:54 AM Michigan-based Amway (aka Quixtar, aka Alticor) has settled a lawsuit brought against it by a large group of former distributors who accused the company of a range of illegal activities for $56 million. The Grand Rapids Press reports:

Amway this morning announced a deal to pay $34 million in cash and provide $22 million worth of products to settle a 2007 class-action suit alleging the company and some of its top-level distributors operate an illegal pyramid scheme.

The case was filed in California by former distributors for Quixtar, the name Amway used for its U.S.-based operation at the time…

The plaintiffs said the company used unfair and illegal business practices that mislead distributors about their ability to make money and how much it would cost to be part of the business.

The settlement with the former distributors, or Independent Business Owners as Amway calls them, does not constitute an admission of guilt. But the company “stipulates that certain reforms in its business instituted after the filing of this action have been motivated” by the case.

Translation: “We didn’t do anything wrong but we promise not to do it again.”

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Joe's Opinion (Commentary): It appears by its actions that Amway is footing the bill and paying to cover the problems caused by upline leaders. It also looks like an admission that Amway has been aware of, but ineffective in monitoring the activities of the "kingpin" leaders who promote Amway as a means to gain wealth and obtain luxurious lifestyles. I wonder what happens next?

IBOs MIss The Point?

There are still a handful of Amway defenders who continue to defend Amway as if it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. No doubt that Amway works wonders for their owners, who are billionaires, and a select few leaders who make handsome profits from selling tools (standing orders, functions, voicemail) as well as Amway bonuses. But the main point seems to get lost.

The main point is that, even if the Amway owners and some Amway leaders make a nice income from Amway, it doesn't change the fact that the masses lose a lot of money attempting to build an Amway empire. What's more, many of these leaders earn money directly from the pockets of their trusting and faithful downline. The downline are taught to trust the leaders and to do what is advised. Often, that advice is to buy more and more tools regardless of how an IBO's business is progressing.

Failures in Amway appear to be rampant, but leaders absolve themselves of blame by claimng that the failures are the result of laziness, not enough effort, not doing things right, or lack of follow through on the part of the IBO. Sadly, many IBOs believe this and blame themselves, even if they did work hard and follow upline's sage advice. I believe that over the years, billions of dollars have been lost by millions of IBOs who chase the dream sold by upline. Because many IBOs are sponsored by friends and family, those who quit tend to fade away without much fanfare, leaving Amway and the upline leaders clear of any responsibility.

Too many IBOs miss that point. Hard work and following upline advice doesn't necessarily lead to success, and in fact, more people end up at a loss than those who gain a positive experience in the Amway business. I challenge IBOs to analyze their efforts and their income versus expenses. You are more likely to be expending more on support materials than the amount of income that is received. That's the real point and too many IBOs miss it.

How To Stop Amway Criticism?

To this day, Amway has many critics and supporters. Many supporters become critics if they leave the Amway business. Some Amway apologists are claiming victory recently as they say there are few new internet critics. But yet, it doesn't appear that Amway is suddenly growing by leaps and bounds. The name Amway doesn't bring visions of sugarplums in most people's heads.

What does the Amway name bring? People often think of "pyramid" or "scam". Some people are negative about the Amway opportunity and they don't even know why. Many people however, were involved in Amway at one time, or knows someone who had a bad experience. While many people's experience may have little to do with the Amway corporation, surely the motivational groups such as N21, BWW, or WWDB has had an impact on people's experience with Amway. Getting tricked into attending meetings or being lied to will lead to a bad experience. So will ridiculous snake oil campaigns like perfect water.

But has Amway done anything significant about IBO abuses? Surely they must know something about this. Someone from Amway routinely visits my blog to see what I am writing. But as far as I know, even the most abusive uplines have gone unpunished.

I have some suggestions to curb Amway criticism. Transparency. Why not inform prospects of how many diamonds are currently qualified? Why not say how many IBOs are active or registered? Why not report North American sales? Why not say what the typical IBO earns? It would prevent critics and supporters from extrapolating information and making their own possibly inaccurate conclusions. Of course Amway is a private company and therefore will probably release only information that is required by law. And that is their right. But if that is the case, then criticism will continue.

Like the AMO saying goes, insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. With no apparent changes forthcoming from Amway, the valid criticism continues........

Amway Makes You Rich?

Amway can make you rich. Many IBOs say they were told that Amway was not "get rich quick". But obviously, someone must have given them the impression that Amway would eventually make them rich, otherwise, why would anyone join? Why would anyone want to work that hard and embarrass themselves in front to friends and family to promote a business that will more likely get you funny looks than money. But can Amway actually make you rich?

Well, yeah, Amway can make you rich if you are a diamond selling voicemail services, books, standing orders and function tickets. Amway can make you rich if you own Amway and sell to millions of IBOs who "buy from themselves". Amway can make you rich if you write a book that millions of IBOs purchase. Amway can make you rich if you can get enough loyal downline to keep purchasing products so that you can get the bonuses. But aside from these few people who I just described, the Amway opportunity is more likely to make you broke, or at least lighter in the pockets.

Most IBOs do not even earn enough to cover their monthly voicemail expenditures, much less the other support materials that are pushed on the downline in groups such as WWDB or BWW, or N21. These materials are touted as the "key to success" in Amway when in reality, it is the key to success for the uplines who share in the profits from these materials. The real kicker is despite claims that these materials are key to success, the uplines get their followers to blame themselves if the system doesn't work for them. Kind of like tossing a coin and saying "heads I win, tails you lose". Upline wins as long as you buy support materials from them, and your results are of no consequence to them. In fact they probably don't want new diamonds as they would then have to share the tool money.

So can Amway make you rich? I would guess it is possible, but it is also possible for you to win the powerball lottery. It takes normally, over 100 downline IBOs to create a platinumship. And a platinumship occurs less than once in 200 IBOs. And at that level, you likely make little profit or break even. That tells me a whole lot. What does it tell you?