One of the ways people get enticed into joining Amway is they get fed lines by upline and fall for it without actually validating the claims or without thinking it through. Sort of like an impulse buy for example. On the surface, many lines can make sense until you do the math. One very common pitch is join Amway to save and/or make money. Save 30% is what I heard. Afterall, who wouldn't want to save 30% on everyday products and maybe even make a few dollar in the process? You'd have to be crazy to refuse an offer like that right? Well yeah, until you look at it more critically and deeper.
As an IBO, you might save 30% off the full suggested retail price. The problem is that the IBO price is already highly inflated. And truthfully, Amway products have to carry inflated prices because Amway pays 30% of their intake in bonuses. SO basically, you are paying for Amway's profit, plus at least another 30+% when you purchase an Amway product. So for example, a one month supply of double x, Amway's flagship product, carries an IBO price of around $50. The suggested retail price is around $80. It's a very diffcult sale because you can buy multi viamins much cheaper and in much greater quantities at WalMart or any other retailer. That's when IBOs use the defense of high quality or that Amway vitamins have special qualites. The reality is you can get similar results for a fraction of the price.
Another piece of hype that IBOs get sucked into is residual or ongoing income. You might hear build it once and build it right and get paid forever. Well, if that were true, and you're getting money for nthing, then someone or alot of people are getting nothing for their money. But here's a great question for upline. Name 2 people who built it right, and built it once, who walked away and sit on the beaches sipping mojitos while Amway checks roll in. THey don't exist. In all my years of blogging, not a single person could name a single diamond who achieved the mahical lifelong residual income. It's why diamonds and crowns never retire and work until they die. You can debate as to how hard a diamond works, but there's no denying that they never seem to retire.
Another fancy trick is upline will tell you to join Amway, make extra money and get out of debt. Except that nobody seems to achieve this. How do you get out of debt while buying around $300 worth of overpriced products, a well as training materials such as book of the month, standing orders, and function tickets? Upline will teach get out of debt which seems good on the surface, but at the same time, will say it's ok to incur debt if it's for your Amway business. That's BS. If you're in debt and your Amway business is not generating a profit, you have no business getting deeper in debt to purchase business support materials.
These items I have discussed are the common thing that people are fooled by and they iften get caught up in hype and get sucked into the Amway vortex, thinking they are going to make money and possily get rich. Mean while you are being drained of your resources one cd or one function at a time.
Saturday, May 7, 2016
Friday, May 6, 2016
Joecool Is On Vacation!
To my blogging audience, I just wanted to let you all know that Joecool will be on vacation at a popular tourist spot in the south pacific. I will still have wifi access but there might not be many new articles and comment moderation might slow down as I'll be busy enjoying the crystal clear ocean waters!
ANd guess what? I didn't need Amway money to take a dream vacation or to have enough time to enjoy myself. In a few years, I will be fully retired and traveling a lot more often. Keep up the good fight until I return!
I will try to post a new article just before I leave tomorrow.
Happy blogging!
ANd guess what? I didn't need Amway money to take a dream vacation or to have enough time to enjoy myself. In a few years, I will be fully retired and traveling a lot more often. Keep up the good fight until I return!
I will try to post a new article just before I leave tomorrow.
Happy blogging!
Your Amway Business Dashboard?
When you drive a car, you have instruments and gauges on your dashboard that let you know how your car is running and possibly whether you need repairs. For example, you have a gas gauge so you know when to refill the gas tank. You may have a oil pressure gauge, tire pressure, and an indicator to show how warm or cool your engine is running. My car has a light that comes on when I need to change the oil or service the engine. I also have gauges that measure tire pressure.
Your Amway business also has some gauges. Unfortunately, many IBOs are taught by upline to ignore these indicators or made to think that warning signs are not to be heeded. (When the dream is big enough, the facts don't matter) I will explain further, but I believe too many IBOs see the signs, but simply have been trained to ignore these vital warning signs.
Selling products. Are you buying more PV than you are selling? I believe most IBOs do, and Amway numbers confirm this as there is on average, about 1 customer for every 4 IBOs. I believe any products that get sold are likely to sympathetic family and friends who are helping you out. No business can sustain itself without selling to customers. Why IBOs think they can succeed without customers is because of bad upline advice or teaching. Some IBOs "buy from themselves". But you make no money buying from yourself. Only Amway makes money that way.
Non income producing activity. If you spend a lot of time listening to standing order, reading books, attending meetings and prospecting people, these activities do not produce any income. In fact these activities cost you money. Sure, eventually prospecting may pay off, but are you getting a fair return on your time and money spent doing these activities. If you pay for standing order but are unable to do more than 100 or 200 PV, then your business is not even covering the cost of standing order, not to mention the other costs that your upline may have told you was "needed".
Tools. If your expenditure on tools (cds/meetings/voicemail/website fees) continually exceeds your monthly income, you need to take a look at what it will take in order for your business income to grow. If not, you will simply take a loss month after month. If you are not sponsoring or finding more customers every single month, you are simply running in place and you will expend energy (money) and not get anywhere.
Are you showing the plan? If you are having trouble finding people to see the plan, then you will be unable to sponsor enough people to expand your volume. Also, an inability to show the plan also restricts your ability to recruit potential customers. Do people flinch when you mention Amway? These are signs that should warn you that the opportunity is not palatable to most people, despite what you hear from upline.
The warning signs and gauges are there. IBOs simply need to believe their own eyes
Your Amway business also has some gauges. Unfortunately, many IBOs are taught by upline to ignore these indicators or made to think that warning signs are not to be heeded. (When the dream is big enough, the facts don't matter) I will explain further, but I believe too many IBOs see the signs, but simply have been trained to ignore these vital warning signs.
Selling products. Are you buying more PV than you are selling? I believe most IBOs do, and Amway numbers confirm this as there is on average, about 1 customer for every 4 IBOs. I believe any products that get sold are likely to sympathetic family and friends who are helping you out. No business can sustain itself without selling to customers. Why IBOs think they can succeed without customers is because of bad upline advice or teaching. Some IBOs "buy from themselves". But you make no money buying from yourself. Only Amway makes money that way.
Non income producing activity. If you spend a lot of time listening to standing order, reading books, attending meetings and prospecting people, these activities do not produce any income. In fact these activities cost you money. Sure, eventually prospecting may pay off, but are you getting a fair return on your time and money spent doing these activities. If you pay for standing order but are unable to do more than 100 or 200 PV, then your business is not even covering the cost of standing order, not to mention the other costs that your upline may have told you was "needed".
Tools. If your expenditure on tools (cds/meetings/voicemail/website fees) continually exceeds your monthly income, you need to take a look at what it will take in order for your business income to grow. If not, you will simply take a loss month after month. If you are not sponsoring or finding more customers every single month, you are simply running in place and you will expend energy (money) and not get anywhere.
Are you showing the plan? If you are having trouble finding people to see the plan, then you will be unable to sponsor enough people to expand your volume. Also, an inability to show the plan also restricts your ability to recruit potential customers. Do people flinch when you mention Amway? These are signs that should warn you that the opportunity is not palatable to most people, despite what you hear from upline.
The warning signs and gauges are there. IBOs simply need to believe their own eyes
Thursday, May 5, 2016
Amway IBOs Make More Excuses Than Money?
Not counting IBOs who sign up and never do a thing with the Amway business, I would guess that a typical business building IBO spends several months at 100 PV, earning $10 a month, and spending some money on functions and other support materials, thus ending up with a net loss in running their business. What I have also observed is that these new IBOs are often the most fierce defenders of the Amway opportunity. What is amusing is their defense of Amway, because they aren't knowledgeable enough about the business and cannot back up claims of being profitable.
A common defense is to attack someone's job. Oftentimes, I will hear that my job is a pyramid, or that the social security system is a ponzi scheme. What they fail to understand is that people with jobs have a net gain of income at the end of the month, unlike a typical IBO. Also, even if my job was a pyramid, that doesn't have any relevence as to whether the Amway opportunity is also a pyramid. And the same goes for social security. But although I find some faults with the social secuiry system, they have not yet failed to pay benefits to anyone who has paid in, as far as I know.
One of my favorite conversations is when an IBO, probably in frustration with facing the facts, will state that they have been in Amway for a month and they are already earning in excess of $5000 a month. Sure it's possible I suppose, just as it's possible for lightning to strike the same spot three times in a row. These IBOs are often the "drive by" commentors who never show up again. I recently had a conversation with an IBO who swore that he was earning $1000 a month in Amway, but refused to discuss what level he was at, or whether he made any actual sales, or had downline. He later asked for my email address and when finally supplied with it, he ended up blocking me from further contacting him.
I just wonder why upline leaders would teach such nonsense to downline, or whether downline simply want tp deceive others about their status in Amway? I mean it's really no big deal is a newbie IBO isn't making a lot of money. In fact that is expected when you are new. But I believe IBOs to some degree, might still be taught the old "fake it till you make it" theory that existed back when I was still an IBO 12 years ago. The concept was to fake success as a means to entice prospects until you actually made some progress in the business. Sadly, most IBOs never ever sponsor a downline, get discouraged and quit. I can't blame them when most IBOs who build the business suffer a financial loss, ironically it is usually from purchasing training materials that may have been promoted as the key to your success.
The sad result of all this is that "most" IBOs make more excuses than dollars.
A common defense is to attack someone's job. Oftentimes, I will hear that my job is a pyramid, or that the social security system is a ponzi scheme. What they fail to understand is that people with jobs have a net gain of income at the end of the month, unlike a typical IBO. Also, even if my job was a pyramid, that doesn't have any relevence as to whether the Amway opportunity is also a pyramid. And the same goes for social security. But although I find some faults with the social secuiry system, they have not yet failed to pay benefits to anyone who has paid in, as far as I know.
One of my favorite conversations is when an IBO, probably in frustration with facing the facts, will state that they have been in Amway for a month and they are already earning in excess of $5000 a month. Sure it's possible I suppose, just as it's possible for lightning to strike the same spot three times in a row. These IBOs are often the "drive by" commentors who never show up again. I recently had a conversation with an IBO who swore that he was earning $1000 a month in Amway, but refused to discuss what level he was at, or whether he made any actual sales, or had downline. He later asked for my email address and when finally supplied with it, he ended up blocking me from further contacting him.
I just wonder why upline leaders would teach such nonsense to downline, or whether downline simply want tp deceive others about their status in Amway? I mean it's really no big deal is a newbie IBO isn't making a lot of money. In fact that is expected when you are new. But I believe IBOs to some degree, might still be taught the old "fake it till you make it" theory that existed back when I was still an IBO 12 years ago. The concept was to fake success as a means to entice prospects until you actually made some progress in the business. Sadly, most IBOs never ever sponsor a downline, get discouraged and quit. I can't blame them when most IBOs who build the business suffer a financial loss, ironically it is usually from purchasing training materials that may have been promoted as the key to your success.
The sad result of all this is that "most" IBOs make more excuses than dollars.
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Amway Changes Your Life?
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?
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 sand castle at the beach.
For many Amway IBOs ironically, what they desire most, time and money, is what they have less of because of their involvement in the Amway oppoprtunity. 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 party 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, or you might hear something at a function that turns your fortunes around!
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 the corporation. 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 seperate 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 losses. Yes, Amway will change your life, but probably not for the better.
I hope this message of personal experience helps information seekers.
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 sand castle at the beach.
For many Amway IBOs ironically, what they desire most, time and money, is what they have less of because of their involvement in the Amway oppoprtunity. 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 party 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, or you might hear something at a function that turns your fortunes around!
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 the corporation. 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 seperate 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 losses. Yes, Amway will change your life, but probably not for the better.
I hope this message of personal experience helps information seekers.
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
Amway Uplines Should Be Held Accountable?
Part of what Joecool perceives as the problem with the Amway opportunity is the utter lack of accountability of upline leaders. They may tell you to trust them, to submit to them and simply copy or duplicate what they have done, and they imply that you will get the same results. Many downlines over the years have put in blood sweat and tears into the business only to suffer massive losses following the system. Upline will then place the blame on the downline. Citing that they either did not try hard enough or they didn't put in enough time and effort, or they didn't do things just right. Despite a shockingly low success rate of system IBOs, nobody seems to fault the system and upline as being flawed. And nobody seems to question whether upline is at fault. It's a game of blaming the victim.
In my observations, I would say that many financial systems are similar. Whether it be BWW, N21, WWDB, real estate gurus or other systems, the success rate is low. Many systems that advertise on television will have a disclaimer that a success testimony is a rare or unique experience. I believe it is similar to the systems in Amway. Dedication or continued spending on the system is not the problem. The problem is often the system itself. It can work for some exceptional people. These people were likely to succeed in other venues anyway. The problem is that is does not work for the majority of people.
The bigger problem, is that for many many years, some uplines have lived high on the hog off of the dedicated tool purchases of their downline. All the while, quesitonable or bad advice was given to the faithful downline. Advice such as quitting a job to attend a function, skipping financial obligations such as the rent or electric bills to buy more tools. One upline even said your family can skip a meal because the standing order may contain the one thing you needed to hear to make your business grow. I have personally seen couples lose their homes and go bankrupt because they followed upline advice. Upline to "has their best interest at heart". Granted, the couple has some culpability in these decisions, but uplines who give this advice seem to get a pass.
Where is the accountability? Some of these uplines who give and gave bad advice, are still active today, and some are still giving bad advice to their downlines. Advice that profits upline and drains downline. Even with valid complaints, it appears that many uplines avoid any accountability. For some, perhaps there is poetic justice, such as diamonds having their homes foreclosed. But as many uplines have nobody to hold them accountable, do you really want to do business with these folks? Would you invest your retirement money with a broker who could not be held accountable? Would you have your car repaired by a shop whose mechanics could not be held accountable? I believe the answer is not to these questions, yet many people are asked to trust and follow the advice of an upline who is not held accountable for their advice.
The system is credited for the few successes that are visible, but the individual is held accountable for any shortcomings or failures. IBOs, I encourage you to hold your upline leaders accountable for the advice they give you. If they won't answer tough questions or take responsibility, then one should wonder why the upline should be given your trust.
In my observations, I would say that many financial systems are similar. Whether it be BWW, N21, WWDB, real estate gurus or other systems, the success rate is low. Many systems that advertise on television will have a disclaimer that a success testimony is a rare or unique experience. I believe it is similar to the systems in Amway. Dedication or continued spending on the system is not the problem. The problem is often the system itself. It can work for some exceptional people. These people were likely to succeed in other venues anyway. The problem is that is does not work for the majority of people.
The bigger problem, is that for many many years, some uplines have lived high on the hog off of the dedicated tool purchases of their downline. All the while, quesitonable or bad advice was given to the faithful downline. Advice such as quitting a job to attend a function, skipping financial obligations such as the rent or electric bills to buy more tools. One upline even said your family can skip a meal because the standing order may contain the one thing you needed to hear to make your business grow. I have personally seen couples lose their homes and go bankrupt because they followed upline advice. Upline to "has their best interest at heart". Granted, the couple has some culpability in these decisions, but uplines who give this advice seem to get a pass.
Where is the accountability? Some of these uplines who give and gave bad advice, are still active today, and some are still giving bad advice to their downlines. Advice that profits upline and drains downline. Even with valid complaints, it appears that many uplines avoid any accountability. For some, perhaps there is poetic justice, such as diamonds having their homes foreclosed. But as many uplines have nobody to hold them accountable, do you really want to do business with these folks? Would you invest your retirement money with a broker who could not be held accountable? Would you have your car repaired by a shop whose mechanics could not be held accountable? I believe the answer is not to these questions, yet many people are asked to trust and follow the advice of an upline who is not held accountable for their advice.
The system is credited for the few successes that are visible, but the individual is held accountable for any shortcomings or failures. IBOs, I encourage you to hold your upline leaders accountable for the advice they give you. If they won't answer tough questions or take responsibility, then one should wonder why the upline should be given your trust.
Monday, May 2, 2016
Amway Makes You A Nicer Person?
Many IBOs "think" they have become nicer people as a result of their association with other IBOs and because a part of the system they are with advises them to read self help books and other positive material. The upline may also advise you to skip watching the news because of the "negatives" you see. They are also taught that as a side benefit of the Amway business, that they are nicer people. Of course, many IBOs mistakenly think that they started a business not to make money, but to become "nicer". If dealing with people made you a nice person, that's a nice side benefit bu a business exists to make money, not to soften your demeanor.
I certainly agree that some people can benefit from positive books and association with others, but for many, it is not a genuine "nicer" person, but simply a phony personna that is put on in order to recruit potential Amway downlines. That is how my former sponsor appeared to me. Because I had known him for a long time, the "nicer" looked as phony as phony can be. There are many examples of phony niceness that some IBOs profess. Even Amway's biggest defender was apparently called a "cyber bully" by an Amway corporate blogger and some others for making disparaging comments about those with opposing views. Others have resorted to calling people broke or losers simply because they did not agree that Amway was their savior. Seems IBOs are nicer when they are recruiting you but that goes out the window if you don't sign up. Then you become a broke loser.
On this very blog, there are comments, I assume by IBOs, that make implied or subtle threats. Some of these comments are not subtle at all. In fact, in my blogging experience, it is usually the IBOs and Amway defenders that resort to name calling. I suspect that is because the facts are on the side of the Amway critics. For example, it is a fact that most IBOs never make a dime, even if you don't count the ones who "do nothing". If you look at system IBOs, then the vast majority never make enough to pay their voicemail expenses.
Even the coveted diamond level appears to be a facade, especially seeing diamonds quit, resign and simply walk away from the business without the lifelong passive income. A triple diamond's bankruptcy revealed some financials and it wasn't all that impressive considering the size of his business plus longevity in the business. The "success" appears to be a façade in Amway, just like IBOs who think Amway has made them nicer people.
So IBOs, are you a nicer person? Is it evident by your words and actions? It doesn't appear to be very clear to me.
I certainly agree that some people can benefit from positive books and association with others, but for many, it is not a genuine "nicer" person, but simply a phony personna that is put on in order to recruit potential Amway downlines. That is how my former sponsor appeared to me. Because I had known him for a long time, the "nicer" looked as phony as phony can be. There are many examples of phony niceness that some IBOs profess. Even Amway's biggest defender was apparently called a "cyber bully" by an Amway corporate blogger and some others for making disparaging comments about those with opposing views. Others have resorted to calling people broke or losers simply because they did not agree that Amway was their savior. Seems IBOs are nicer when they are recruiting you but that goes out the window if you don't sign up. Then you become a broke loser.
On this very blog, there are comments, I assume by IBOs, that make implied or subtle threats. Some of these comments are not subtle at all. In fact, in my blogging experience, it is usually the IBOs and Amway defenders that resort to name calling. I suspect that is because the facts are on the side of the Amway critics. For example, it is a fact that most IBOs never make a dime, even if you don't count the ones who "do nothing". If you look at system IBOs, then the vast majority never make enough to pay their voicemail expenses.
Even the coveted diamond level appears to be a facade, especially seeing diamonds quit, resign and simply walk away from the business without the lifelong passive income. A triple diamond's bankruptcy revealed some financials and it wasn't all that impressive considering the size of his business plus longevity in the business. The "success" appears to be a façade in Amway, just like IBOs who think Amway has made them nicer people.
So IBOs, are you a nicer person? Is it evident by your words and actions? It doesn't appear to be very clear to me.
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