One of the things upline leaders apparently do is to disparage people with jobs. Oh, they would say we needed people to wait on our tables and clean our toilets, but in general, jobs were put down and basically the group was told that Amway is their best chance at achieving financial freedom, giving them the ability to flush their jobs. Ironically, IBO's jobs are what funds their Amway businesses. Most IBOs would be out of business within weeks if not for their job income funding their Amway businesses.
The key selling point appears to be the 2-5 years of part time work rather than working a job for 30 - 40 years and then retiring on social security which may or may not be there when you retire. This plants a fear in people about the future and then the Amway opportunity is presented in a positive light because the Amway opportunity comes with a low start up cost. What uplines do not mention is how the opportunity can become a money pit as the monthly defacto 100 PV quota starts to add up. It is my guess that if people only bought items they truly needed, these IBOs would likely move 100 PV every three months, unless they are actively selling goods to non IBO customers.
When an IBO finally agrees to register, it is then that the hidden costs are revealed. Many uplines will introduce standing orders and functions and present these tools as vital to IBO success. Most new IBOs don't know better and feel subtle pressure to conform and give it a try. Some upline may loan some tools to downline in the beginning but evemtually, the IBO will be encouraged to be a "serious" business owner who should be purchasing their own tools to loan to their downline and the cycle goes on.
If you examine some version of the Amway recruitment plan, you will see that most IBOs are at the 100 PV level, which will reward you with a monthly bonus of about $10or so. If that same IBO subscribes to the tools system, than IBO will likely be losing over $100 a month not including the product purchases. And because many IBOs have been convinced that working a job is so horrible, that they can be convinced that this condition of losing money is temporary and that untold wealth is right around the corner. Sadly, for most, this condition is the norm and even the sponsorship of a few downline, the losses continue to mount. Yet many are convinced that this is better than a job.
Ironically, a job allows people to pay their monthly bills, feed their families and many people enjoy their work and co workers. While upline leaders may convince you otherwise, it is this very same excuse upline leaders use when asked why they are still working instead of walking the beaches of the world collecting massive amounts of residual income. I would encourage IBOs to truly analyze their efforts in Amway and determine if it is beneficial to your finances. In most cases, your Amway efforts ONLY benefits your upline's finances. For most who get involved, the Amway opportunity is not better than a job.
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Making Progress In Amway?
I send this message to inform IBOs tha they should be aware of their circumstances in this business. What I mean is when you are a new IBO, it is common for you to buy/sell your 100 PV, and perhaps listen to some cds. If you basically did what your sponsor or upline advised, you made your 100 PV bonus level and you will receive a bonus from Amway for about $10. If you did as advised by your upline/sponsor, then you likely made a namelist and started contacting some potential business partners aka prospects. You're probably a bit excited because things are going as you expected. You did your part and a bonus is on it's way to your doorstep. Heck, you may have even sponsored a friend or relative because of your newly found excitement and enthusiasm.
But what happens after a few months? If you are still doing 100 PV and have no downline, then what are the chances that you will ever achieve anything? Your excitement is wearing off and now the Amway opportunity is becoming "work". You are also starting to notice that it is starting to get expensive to continue to purchase products, many of which you never purchased before. For example, were you buying cases of energy drinks and "high end" vitamins before Amway? Did you buy $50 cases of bottled water before Amway? Supposedly their laundry soap and other cleaners are highly concentrated, therefore your consumables are the nutrition/vitamin products.
Even if you managed to find some downline, are they duplicating what you do? Are they also moving volume and sponsoring downline? If not, what are your chances of fulfilling the 6-4-2 plan or some similar version of it. When I saw the plan, I thought it was reasonable and I was on my way to platinum. What I discovered though, is that as you progress, upline has greater expectations of you and that includes more tool purchases. (I was in WWDB). In the end, my recommended tool purchases ate up any profits I had and at the 4000 level, I was just about breaking even, which means I was at a loss when factoring in my time spent and other miscellaneous expenses such as gas money.
Where are you at? If you're been in for more than a year, are you on schedule to become platinum or are you at 200 PV with one downline? Maybe you have a small group with 600 PV? You still aren't close to a net profit. For the vast majority of people, success is not right around the corner. What's around the corner for most is more time lost, more money expended, and no progress. If your group is not growing each and every month, you are sliding backwards. If you don't constantly have new IBOs coming into the group, you are probably stagnant. With about half of IBOs dropping out each year, keeping a group together is a tremendous task.
IBOs, where are you at after a few months? Where are you at after a year? If you haven't gone platinum, it is nearly a certainty that it will never happen, despite what your upline might say. The facts are there, it's a matter of whether you want to believe it or not.
But what happens after a few months? If you are still doing 100 PV and have no downline, then what are the chances that you will ever achieve anything? Your excitement is wearing off and now the Amway opportunity is becoming "work". You are also starting to notice that it is starting to get expensive to continue to purchase products, many of which you never purchased before. For example, were you buying cases of energy drinks and "high end" vitamins before Amway? Did you buy $50 cases of bottled water before Amway? Supposedly their laundry soap and other cleaners are highly concentrated, therefore your consumables are the nutrition/vitamin products.
Even if you managed to find some downline, are they duplicating what you do? Are they also moving volume and sponsoring downline? If not, what are your chances of fulfilling the 6-4-2 plan or some similar version of it. When I saw the plan, I thought it was reasonable and I was on my way to platinum. What I discovered though, is that as you progress, upline has greater expectations of you and that includes more tool purchases. (I was in WWDB). In the end, my recommended tool purchases ate up any profits I had and at the 4000 level, I was just about breaking even, which means I was at a loss when factoring in my time spent and other miscellaneous expenses such as gas money.
Where are you at? If you're been in for more than a year, are you on schedule to become platinum or are you at 200 PV with one downline? Maybe you have a small group with 600 PV? You still aren't close to a net profit. For the vast majority of people, success is not right around the corner. What's around the corner for most is more time lost, more money expended, and no progress. If your group is not growing each and every month, you are sliding backwards. If you don't constantly have new IBOs coming into the group, you are probably stagnant. With about half of IBOs dropping out each year, keeping a group together is a tremendous task.
IBOs, where are you at after a few months? Where are you at after a year? If you haven't gone platinum, it is nearly a certainty that it will never happen, despite what your upline might say. The facts are there, it's a matter of whether you want to believe it or not.
Monday, January 12, 2015
Join Amway And "Win"?
One of the things that my upline taught, and I believe is still taught today in various groups is that winners join Amway and losers do not. Kind of makes me wonder about the "most" who "do nothing" after joining. What is also odd is that many IBOs seem to think that making $5000 a month or so is a big deal but many people earn that and more in a job. Even a 100K income isn't that much when you get no medical benefits or other fringes from Amway. After taxes and business expenses, even 100K isn't that much if you are thinking of "walking away" to collect residual income in the future.
I also heard that you're a winner because you were doing something to better your financial future and those who didn't were losers. or broke minded. Of course the upline who said this had no knowledge about those who were not in Amway. Some of them may already have been financially sound or may have been doing something to better their financial future. I'm not sure why these uplines, who promote "positive", had to resort to calling people losers simpy because they did not agree that Amway was the greatest thing since sliced bread.
In many games or sporting events, there will be someone or a team that wins the game and someone or a team that loses the game. Losing a game doesn't make you a loser and certainly, a team that wins the game would not say the losing team were losers. Can you imagine a pro football team's coach taking the podium after a game and saying his team won because the other team was a bunch or broke minded gutless losers? That would never happen, yet we see that frequently in the Amway world. The owner of Amway, Rich DeVos had once said in a recorded message that just because people do not agree with you (paraphrased) about Amway, does not make them losers and that IBOs should not call people losers.
In all of this, people's jobs are also criticized. That a job stands for "just over broke" or "jackass of the boss" and other blurbs. Many IBO's goals and dreams consist of ditching their job so they can sleep all day and live a life of luxury. Ironically, it is most IBO's jobs that continue to produce income so they can pay their bills and feed their family. It is also an IBO's job that funds their Amway and AMO expenses such as product purchases and functions and voicemail, etc. Without having a job, most people could not even join Amway or pay for any tools. Sadly, most IBOs won't make any money in Amway either, and will have to continue to work at their jobs. I do not believe that someone earning an honest living working a job is a loser. Ironically, the folks calling people losers are often not even netting a profit from their Amway business!
Yes, in this business or the sports world, there will be winners and there will be losers. The question is whether you are the one who is allowed to be the judge of who is and who isn't. I would also suggest that IBOs are completely shutting down potential future business by their behavior. What if I went to a store to purchase something but the item was not available on that particular day, so I don't purchase anything and leave. As I leave, the store owner says I am a loser for not buying something there. Will I go back? Very unlikely. If an IBO truly sees themselves as a store owner, all prospects should be seen as potential business, whether future or present. If your upline tells you that people not interested are losers, you should kick him where the sun doesn't shine.
Only winners join Amway? Think again!
I also heard that you're a winner because you were doing something to better your financial future and those who didn't were losers. or broke minded. Of course the upline who said this had no knowledge about those who were not in Amway. Some of them may already have been financially sound or may have been doing something to better their financial future. I'm not sure why these uplines, who promote "positive", had to resort to calling people losers simpy because they did not agree that Amway was the greatest thing since sliced bread.
In many games or sporting events, there will be someone or a team that wins the game and someone or a team that loses the game. Losing a game doesn't make you a loser and certainly, a team that wins the game would not say the losing team were losers. Can you imagine a pro football team's coach taking the podium after a game and saying his team won because the other team was a bunch or broke minded gutless losers? That would never happen, yet we see that frequently in the Amway world. The owner of Amway, Rich DeVos had once said in a recorded message that just because people do not agree with you (paraphrased) about Amway, does not make them losers and that IBOs should not call people losers.
In all of this, people's jobs are also criticized. That a job stands for "just over broke" or "jackass of the boss" and other blurbs. Many IBO's goals and dreams consist of ditching their job so they can sleep all day and live a life of luxury. Ironically, it is most IBO's jobs that continue to produce income so they can pay their bills and feed their family. It is also an IBO's job that funds their Amway and AMO expenses such as product purchases and functions and voicemail, etc. Without having a job, most people could not even join Amway or pay for any tools. Sadly, most IBOs won't make any money in Amway either, and will have to continue to work at their jobs. I do not believe that someone earning an honest living working a job is a loser. Ironically, the folks calling people losers are often not even netting a profit from their Amway business!
Yes, in this business or the sports world, there will be winners and there will be losers. The question is whether you are the one who is allowed to be the judge of who is and who isn't. I would also suggest that IBOs are completely shutting down potential future business by their behavior. What if I went to a store to purchase something but the item was not available on that particular day, so I don't purchase anything and leave. As I leave, the store owner says I am a loser for not buying something there. Will I go back? Very unlikely. If an IBO truly sees themselves as a store owner, all prospects should be seen as potential business, whether future or present. If your upline tells you that people not interested are losers, you should kick him where the sun doesn't shine.
Only winners join Amway? Think again!
Friday, January 9, 2015
Your Belief In Amway?
I often hear stories and testimonies about how some people (usually newbies) have this incredible belief in Amway, their sponsors and their LOS, such as WWDB or Network 21. Being that many, possibly most IBOs are sponsored by a friend or family member, means that there is an inherent trust in the sponsor or upline. If that were not true, then we would likely see many more complaints about Amway and/or the uplines and lines of sponsorship.
But an important facet of being an IBO is to have a dream. Don't let "naysayers" steal your dream, is what many IBOs are told. But what is that dream? Is is a dream (a long term attainable goal) or a wish such as winning the powerball lottery? Many prospects and IBOs want to succeed. They are willing to work hard, and are very dedicated, I would say that these folks usually will end up failing, not for lack of effort, but for a flawed MLM/Amway system that cannot possibly reward more than a few. The famed 6-4-2, 6-4-3 or some other variation of the plan will illustrate that only 1 in 100 or so can be "platinum". And that's with nobody quitting. Factor in attrition and "do nothings" and it might be 1 in 200 who can reach platinum. Even if the whole world signed up for Amway, that fact doesn't change.
Do you really believe in Amway and your line of sponsorship such as WWDB or Network 21? If you truly believe in Amway and your metors, I challenge you to do one of these things. If you can't or won't, then I question your level of commitment. I question your belief. I'm not here to steal your dream. I am just challenging you.
Take your 6-4-2 or 9-4-2 or 6-4-3 plan to a loan officer at a bank and show them the plan. (Hey, it will help you be CORE) Ask the loan officer for their opinion of the plan and see if you can get a business loan based on the Amway plan. If not that, try seeking the advice of a real millionaire (Someone who has a net worth of a million bucks) and see if they think the 6-4-2 or other Amway (version) plans can work and whether they think Amway is a good idea. Heck, try asking your church Pastor. My church Pastor said Amway had too many false hopes and promises to be considered a viable business option.
How strong is your belief in Amway? Strong enough to take my challenge? Or will you ignore this and go on fooling yourself?
But an important facet of being an IBO is to have a dream. Don't let "naysayers" steal your dream, is what many IBOs are told. But what is that dream? Is is a dream (a long term attainable goal) or a wish such as winning the powerball lottery? Many prospects and IBOs want to succeed. They are willing to work hard, and are very dedicated, I would say that these folks usually will end up failing, not for lack of effort, but for a flawed MLM/Amway system that cannot possibly reward more than a few. The famed 6-4-2, 6-4-3 or some other variation of the plan will illustrate that only 1 in 100 or so can be "platinum". And that's with nobody quitting. Factor in attrition and "do nothings" and it might be 1 in 200 who can reach platinum. Even if the whole world signed up for Amway, that fact doesn't change.
Do you really believe in Amway and your line of sponsorship such as WWDB or Network 21? If you truly believe in Amway and your metors, I challenge you to do one of these things. If you can't or won't, then I question your level of commitment. I question your belief. I'm not here to steal your dream. I am just challenging you.
Take your 6-4-2 or 9-4-2 or 6-4-3 plan to a loan officer at a bank and show them the plan. (Hey, it will help you be CORE) Ask the loan officer for their opinion of the plan and see if you can get a business loan based on the Amway plan. If not that, try seeking the advice of a real millionaire (Someone who has a net worth of a million bucks) and see if they think the 6-4-2 or other Amway (version) plans can work and whether they think Amway is a good idea. Heck, try asking your church Pastor. My church Pastor said Amway had too many false hopes and promises to be considered a viable business option.
How strong is your belief in Amway? Strong enough to take my challenge? Or will you ignore this and go on fooling yourself?
Thursday, January 8, 2015
The Danger Of An "Amway" Dream?
A recent site visitor left this comment on my blog. It shows how chasing an Amway dream can have less than desirable results:
Stumbled across this website while researching Amway. My story starts around 14 years ago. My parents got involved in Amway I was 22 at the time and they recruited me and my girlfriend (now wife) into the 'business' my older bother and his wife joined as well. We went to a lot of seminars and home meetings, met with their Directs constantly was told it was the only way to brake free from working for someone else and to make real money. At the time we were broke I couldn't afford the tapes or seminar entry fees so my parents would pay.
I would make calls to friends and work colleagues and organised meetings, recruited people and thought it was great. My parents became directs and my brother and I were slowly progressing too. As I was only young my influence and life experience I felt held me back and that's when I started asking questions. I could see my parents buying tools all the time and having to buy a lot of product to re qualify as directs every month. There was always a new fad product line as well, makeup, jewelery, water purifiers, air purifiers healing magnets. It looked like one gimmick after another.
I saw the travel costs of going all over the state for meetings, the phone calls etc the straw broke when their laundry door was looked and I couldnt go in there any more and found out they bought 6 air purifiers just to stay directs and didn't want anyone in their downline to know hence locking the room off. I quit and kept on working my job which freed up my time to look at other things. My brother kept working his day job and doing Amway on the side still to this day.
I would not have a clue how much money time and effort him and his wife have spent doing it for 14 years and still are not even close to making a living out of it. My parents quit after about 5 year's they wasted precious time and money on it, they are almost broke at 60 years of age.
The amazing upline we all admired quit as well at the sane time my parents did. They apparently had a strong group below them but I was told it all fell apart. My brother deals with no one that was around when I was involved as they have all left. He is constantly trying to find new people as the turnover is massive.
The ironic part about the whole thing is that I was told it was the only way to get ahead in life to be an independent business owner in Amway. I started a small business of my own in the back bedroom of my house 10 years ago and over time it grew with offices in several states of Australia and this year I made over a million dollars in profit. I think at how ironic it was that I quit Amway and made something so successful, my parents have basically nothing and my brother is still working the same job chasing the same dream he was 16 years earlier.
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Amway Products Are "Premium"?
I recently had a site visitor contact me by email to toss insults and exchange views on Amway. He tells me that he is a regular user of Amway's "Perfect Water". Perfect water was presented some years back and IBOs were making all kinds of hoaxes and fake demonstrations. There were all kinds of zany claims and eventually, Amway had to issue a clarification that IBOs should not be making false claims that did not come from the corporation. There were these balance and flexibility tests that people allegedly benefited because of perfect water. It was a sham. Here's a good link to an article about it:
http://www.amquix.info/amway_perfect_water.html
Ironically, this IBO who claims to be concerned about his health, thus he drinks perfect water. The funny part is how he says he also drinks energy drinks as well. WTF? Energy drinks are not good for you as far as I know.
I presume that IBOs refer to Amway products as premium because it gives them a feeling of justification for paying Amway's ridiculous prices. A case of perfect water costs about $48 and that doesn't include shipping fees and applicable taxes. IBOs might pay less than $48 for a case of perfect water, but still, who in their right mind other than dream induced IBOs would be willing to pay that much for bottled water? I can go WalMart or a local retailer and pay approximately $5 for a case of water. Someone can feel free to show what additional benefit someone would receive for paying nearly ten times more for a case of water other than a lighter wallet.
IBOs often claim that buying Amway products are like buying a Cadillac or a Lexus rather than a regular car. The problem with this is twofold. First of all, who other than Amway IBOs think of Amway products as the Cadillac of soaps and household cleaners? Obviously if Amway's products were so great, the market share would confirm that. How many people use Amway laundry soap compared to people using Tide for example? No contest! Secondly, even if Amway's products were the Cadillac of soaps (but it's not), the vast majority of people do not care! They are perfectly happy using Tide for their laundry and Dawn to wash their dishes. And they get it cheaper at local stores than IBOs can provide. It seems that only IBOs who have dreams of early retirement and residual income are buying these "Cadillac" products. I don't really know of former IBOs who are hard core loyal to Amway products. Some may exist but I highly doubt that these people are common.
In neutral comparisons such as consumer reports, Amway's cleaners and detergents were rated as basically average with "premium" prices. Maybe that's why Amway IBOs call Amway products "premium"? Because they charge premium prices As an IBO, I bought Amway products while I thought I might earn residual income. Once I realized the tool scam and quit, I never bought anymore Amway products. It is my conclusion that if Amway products are called premium, it is because thy carry premium prices, but not necessarily because of premium quality. Of course you are welcome to try and prove me wrong.
http://www.amquix.info/amway_perfect_water.html
Ironically, this IBO who claims to be concerned about his health, thus he drinks perfect water. The funny part is how he says he also drinks energy drinks as well. WTF? Energy drinks are not good for you as far as I know.
I presume that IBOs refer to Amway products as premium because it gives them a feeling of justification for paying Amway's ridiculous prices. A case of perfect water costs about $48 and that doesn't include shipping fees and applicable taxes. IBOs might pay less than $48 for a case of perfect water, but still, who in their right mind other than dream induced IBOs would be willing to pay that much for bottled water? I can go WalMart or a local retailer and pay approximately $5 for a case of water. Someone can feel free to show what additional benefit someone would receive for paying nearly ten times more for a case of water other than a lighter wallet.
IBOs often claim that buying Amway products are like buying a Cadillac or a Lexus rather than a regular car. The problem with this is twofold. First of all, who other than Amway IBOs think of Amway products as the Cadillac of soaps and household cleaners? Obviously if Amway's products were so great, the market share would confirm that. How many people use Amway laundry soap compared to people using Tide for example? No contest! Secondly, even if Amway's products were the Cadillac of soaps (but it's not), the vast majority of people do not care! They are perfectly happy using Tide for their laundry and Dawn to wash their dishes. And they get it cheaper at local stores than IBOs can provide. It seems that only IBOs who have dreams of early retirement and residual income are buying these "Cadillac" products. I don't really know of former IBOs who are hard core loyal to Amway products. Some may exist but I highly doubt that these people are common.
In neutral comparisons such as consumer reports, Amway's cleaners and detergents were rated as basically average with "premium" prices. Maybe that's why Amway IBOs call Amway products "premium"? Because they charge premium prices As an IBO, I bought Amway products while I thought I might earn residual income. Once I realized the tool scam and quit, I never bought anymore Amway products. It is my conclusion that if Amway products are called premium, it is because thy carry premium prices, but not necessarily because of premium quality. Of course you are welcome to try and prove me wrong.
Monday, January 5, 2015
Why Build Amway?
One of the reasons why I joined Amway at one time in my life was because a close friend of mine had joined, and had gone platinum and convinced me of how easy it was and that I could easily do what he had done. Additionally, I was sold by delusions of residual income flowing for the rest of my life. I honestly thought that the one day would come when there would be no job and life's toughest decision would be where to have lunch.
I got serious and started building the business and eventually reached various levels, eventually topping off at the 4000 PV level. At that point, my upline had assured me that my net income would be $1000 a month with the right parameters. I had those parameters but my net income was zero because upline expected IBOs to reinvest all of their earnings into tools (standing orders, functions, etc). At that point, I began to question why we would do all the work and get no financial reward. I was told that the money would be there if I just kept working the business.
Apparently, many IBOs get in for various reasons and I'm sure that the displays of mansions, jets and cars made some people salivate. Some really enjoyed the thought of telling off their boss and quitting their jobs because Amway was so lucrative. Many people believe it because they want to believe it. Many people would love financial freedom, especially when you have a 2-5 year shortcut to achieve it.
I recall some nite meetings where upline asked the group "why" we are building Amway. It was to spend more time with family, or to possibly gain financial freedom. A popular one was to retire the wife so she can be the one to care for the kids and eventually the dad wouold soon follow. In a nutshell, many people joined Amway as a means to have more time and more money. Money from your residual income and time because you won't need a job. The truly sad thing is that for the vast majority of people who try, even those who work hard at it, end up with less time and money as a result of Amway and the systems.
Rather than why you should build an Amway business, people would think about better and more realistic ways of securing their future. That hard fact is that only a fraction of 1% of people will ever make any decent money from Amway, and even those who might make some coin from Amway, much of that profit is rechanneled back into tools. IBOs would seriously be better off doing nothing than doing Amway.
I got serious and started building the business and eventually reached various levels, eventually topping off at the 4000 PV level. At that point, my upline had assured me that my net income would be $1000 a month with the right parameters. I had those parameters but my net income was zero because upline expected IBOs to reinvest all of their earnings into tools (standing orders, functions, etc). At that point, I began to question why we would do all the work and get no financial reward. I was told that the money would be there if I just kept working the business.
Apparently, many IBOs get in for various reasons and I'm sure that the displays of mansions, jets and cars made some people salivate. Some really enjoyed the thought of telling off their boss and quitting their jobs because Amway was so lucrative. Many people believe it because they want to believe it. Many people would love financial freedom, especially when you have a 2-5 year shortcut to achieve it.
I recall some nite meetings where upline asked the group "why" we are building Amway. It was to spend more time with family, or to possibly gain financial freedom. A popular one was to retire the wife so she can be the one to care for the kids and eventually the dad wouold soon follow. In a nutshell, many people joined Amway as a means to have more time and more money. Money from your residual income and time because you won't need a job. The truly sad thing is that for the vast majority of people who try, even those who work hard at it, end up with less time and money as a result of Amway and the systems.
Rather than why you should build an Amway business, people would think about better and more realistic ways of securing their future. That hard fact is that only a fraction of 1% of people will ever make any decent money from Amway, and even those who might make some coin from Amway, much of that profit is rechanneled back into tools. IBOs would seriously be better off doing nothing than doing Amway.
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