The Amway Odds?

One thing that many Amway promoters don't like to talk about is what your realistic chances of success are. I will define success as Diamond because that is what the outcome of the 6-4-2 and 2-5 year plan. Of course you may be able to earn some income at lower levels, but my understanding is that diamond is where the real money from Amway and the tools start rolling in. And I can also understand why people promoting Amway do not discuss your realistic chances of winning. After all, lottery promoters do not show you the millions of losers, they only parade the winners in front of you. You never see the tens of millions who lost money.

Many people, including Amway enthusiasts will agree that many IBOs do little or nothing and wind up quitting. Some people never even place an order or make any attempt to do any business. For the purpose of this article, I am not speaking about these folks. I am talking about people who actually put in some effort to the business.

For many people who want to make an earnest effort, they will purchase and hopefully sell a few items with the goal of reaching 100 PV. For that effort, you will receive approximately $10 from Amway and whatever profit you might have earned by selling products. Here's the catch. You will likely need to pay website fees in excess of the $10 you earn from Amway. For the more dedicated IBOs, you may be paying for voicemail, standing orders, book of the month, and possibly attending functions. These expenses will exceed your income month after month unless you are able to increase your volume by selling enough products and/or sponsoring down line who buy and sell products.

Because Amway has to include the IBO bonuses in their prices, the products come at a premium price. Thus sales to non IBOs are relatively low. Without sales to non IBOs, the only other way to generate more volume is to sponsor people who will buy and sell products. But due to past unethical IBO behavior, getting people to see the Amway sales and marketing plan may be a challenge. Also, most IBOs are unable to sponsor a single downline.

Some Amway enthusiasts will claim that if you do their CORE steps for 2-5 years consistently, that you are likely to succeed. Sounds easy, but because of the factors I have identified, some of these steps are impossible to do consistently. It's not like walking a mile each day where you have control of the step. People will likely fail in showing the plan and sponsoring others because they cannot find enough people who are willing to see an Amway plan. Many, possibly most other IBOs can and will do certain steps consistently such as listening to a CD daily and reading a success book. But because of a spotty reputation in the US, IBOs will very likely fail to be able to show enough plans to succeed.

Your realistic chance of success? My informed guess is much less than 1 tenth of 1 percent. That's the likelihood of going diamond. Your chance of going platinum? My informed guess will be less than 1/4 of 1 percent. If you think you can beat those odds, go for it. For most people, it might be wise to look into other opportunities.

Reap What You Sow?

One of the things that many prospects and IBOs believe is that they will make an investment of time and money into their Amway business and that they will eventually get their time and money back in such abundance that they can walk off their jobs, and walk the beaches of the world while living in luxury because of lifelong residual income, all because of the Amway opportunity. For IBOs and prospects of Amway, I wonder if any of you can actually name even five people who have actually accomplished this? How about two? Keep in mind that there have probably been tens of millions of people who also wanted this and tried Amway and the systems, only to find that reality paints a different picture.

Many people they will reap what they sow. While that many sound true, I guess the next logical question is what are you sowing? Are you deceptive when prospecting people to see the plan? Are you having to justify and high priced Amway product comparisons that are not favorable? Are you actually selling goods to customers and actually qualifying for your Amway bonus or are you self consuming and getting others to do the same? Do you have a negative opinion (broke losers) about people who don't join Amway or are not interested in seeing the plan? Do you now think your boss and your job are evil? Do you leave your kids at home to attend endless numbers of functions and meetings? You reap what you sow correct? The questions is what kinds of seeds are you actually planting?

I wonder what some WWDB diamonds were sowing? At least the ones who had their homes foreclosed, and one in particular was involved in chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings? Are they reaping what they sowed? What about the WWDB diamonds who got divorced? What were they sowing? Are IBO sure about wanting to make the claim of reaping and sowing? And yes, Joecool the person also has his own flaws, but the difference is that I am not on stage proclaiming to be flawless and many diamonds would imply when they speak (and profit from) their tens of thousands of downlines. I am not earning a living by deceiving people and profiting from people I am supposed to be helping. But your upline diamonds are. Take a close look at the fruit on the WWDB tree.

Amway Freedom?

When I was an IBO, I often saw my upline diamond driving around town dressed in a business suit. I used to wonder why he keeps working if he can "walk away" and collect residual income? My sponsor told me that the diamond only works because he cares about his downline and wants to help them. So there are two possible scenarios, the diamond is working to help his downline out of a genuine concern for them, or possibly he is working because he has to! The only difference now is that the diamond works the nite and/or graveyard shift, because many IBOs are building the business after the complete their day jobs. This is probably why diamonds sleep until the "crack of noon", because they are working all night!

Now Amway has stated that the average diamond earns about $147,000 a year. That is a decent income, but after taxes and paying for basic expenses such as medical and dental insurance, the average diamond probably lives a very middle class lifestyle. Keep in mind that a large portion of a diamond's income comes in the form of an annual bonus, thus a diamond's monthly income may be quite small. Yes, diamonds may have other sources of income such as speaking engagements and income from standing orders and functions. But this income depends on the diamond's continued appearances and efforts.

So is it likely that a diamond is "free"? I would have to conclude that a diamond is not free, and may actually have to spend more time maintaining his group than if the diamond simply had a 9-5 job. For one thing, a diamond needs to maintain a personal group to keep qualifying for bonuses. With a poor retention rate in Amway, I am fairly sure that a diamond spends much time recruiting personally sponsored IBOs to maintain this group. Additionally, a diamond must help his six or more groups of downline platinums to maintain their businesses or face the possibility of falling out of qualification. My former diamond dropped down to the emerald level but has since re-qualified at diamond. A diamond must also dedicate time to reward up and coming movers and shakers, to keep them motivated. I got to spend time with my upline diamond when I was considered a promising up and coming pin.

In order to continue to receive tools income, a diamond must also travel to numerous functions and speaking engagements. Although the tools income allegedly doubles a diamond's income, it also adds a lot of expenses, especially if the diamond and his family travel first class to show off the diamond lifestyle, and stays in 5 star hotels. It is probably why diamonds need free transportation to and from the airport and why they stay with friends when traveling as much as possible.

After breaking down projected income and considering projected expenses, I can only conclude that a diamond probably lives a middle to upper middle class lifestyle, and probably works as much as a man with a 9-5 job, except that a diamond works nights and weekends. A good portrait of this is shown in Ruth Carter's book (Amway Motivational Organizations: Behind The Smoke and Mirrors). In the book, the diamond had a net income of over $300,000, but lived in debt, could barely pay his mortgage, and was always on the run from one function to the next. It is very expensive and time consuming to travel from city to city showing off your freedom and diamond lifestyle.

Is this the freedom you are seeking?

Why I Think Amway Sucks?

In my informed opinion, Amway sucks donkey nuts. The products are average in quality but premium in price. That means IBOs are overpaying for personal use items. A good example is Satinique shampoo that costs nearly $10 for a small bottle. You can get a pint of shampoo for abour $3 at WalMart or Target. And you can argue quality but seriously, the products that are from WalMart or Target are just as good as Amway's stud in my opinion. And it has to be that way because Amway's generous 30 plus percent bonuses are included in products that Amway sells.

And to make things worse besides the poor value in products, Amway leaders teach a lot of self consumption so the IBOs get poor value and to top it off, so do any family, friend or customers who make any sympathy or genuine purchases. Not to mention that self consumption in this opportunity basically makes the Amway opportunity a product pyramid. The money flows upwards to the diamonds while the rank and file suffer financial losses.

To make it worse, the diamonds exploit the hopes and dreams of the faithful downline by selling them ineffective training disguised as the key to Amway succesS. But the fact is that there are few new diamonds. My old LOS WWDB has fewer diamonds now in the US than they did back whenI was an IBO. if Amway was so good, where is the fruit on the tree that Amway/WWDB leaders used to crow about? The WWDB fruit is diamonds losing homes to forclosure (Shores/Duncan), a triple diamond in chapter 7 (Duncan), and divorces (Kosage, Wolgamott, Danzik, Brooks). There might be more that I'm not aware of.

If you have obstacles to making money and also having to pay for ineffective training, it's easy to see why Amway sucks.

Your Amway Goals?

One of the things that you may be taught as an Amway IBO is to have a goal. While having a goal in a good thing, I believe the context in which it is taught by Amway leaders is misleading. They want to motivate you to "go diamond" or perhaps some other achievement in the Amway business, but there is no specific means to achieve these goals and frankly, I do not believe that many IBOs or prospects understand what they are pursuing.

For example, one way that diamond leaders try to motive their downline is to show displays of wealth. They may show fancy cars, or talk about the mansion they own and paid for in cash, or they may show you a fancy vacation or jewelry. All the while, these diamonds may be up to their ears in debt. Has a diamond ever showed anyone a copy of their bank account balances or a business tax return? While IBOs may claim that this is nobody's business, I beg to differ. In the REAL world of business, these are not uncommon practices. A close friend of mine who recently sold a franchise business not only gave copies on his bank statements, but three years worth of personal tax returns to the eventual buyer of his business. It was to verify his claim that his business was worth buying.

So for IBOs and prospects, what is your business goal? If it's to make $500 a month, has your "mentor" actually sat down to discuss this and to map out how this can be accomplished? What about setbacks? In the Amway business, the Amway reputation is damaged, thus achieving certain tasks may be much more difficult to conquer than you are led to believe? Is your upline actually helping your individual cause or are they simply leading you to purchase more tools? If your goal is not diamond, are you receiving the same help as others in the group? Did you know that your sponsor is supposed to help train you free of cost?

The big question though, is are you progressing towards your stated goal and are you on schedule to accomplish the goal and reap the rewards, or have you fallen into a trap of attending meetings and listening to standing orders and accomplishing nothing other than shrinking your bank account? If you have stated goals, there should be tangible and measurable ways to assess your progress (i.e. profits). If your upline starts to feed you rubbish about being a nicer person or that Amway saves marriages, then your upline is leading you astray.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities?

Many IBOs and Amway supporters adhere to the idea that their system works. As far as I know, there is zero unbiased evidence that the system works. The system generally consists of a website, voicemail, standing orders and seminars or functions, as well as meetings to show the plan, etc. While Amway supporters will claim that nearly everyone who succeeds is on the system, they won't mention how everyone who succeeds also has hundreds if not thousands of downlines who do not succeed, even with earnest effort in building the business using the system.

Edward O. Thorpe was a math professor at M.I.T. who studied and wrote a theory on Blackjack, and found that it was mathematically possible for a blackjack player to have an edge over the house in a game of blackjack. Casinos scoffed at the theory and said it was just that. A theory with no real life application. Well, Mr. Thorpe started playing small and found that his theory was correct. He was counting cards in blackjack and making consistent money. His book eventually became a best seller. The casinos were ticked off and started kicking out people who were obviously winning and counting cards. Counting cards is not illegal but casinos can refuse to allow a player on their premises. But what casinos did not notice right away, was that their profits were skyrocketing because so many people knew the theory but could not or were not capable of executing the card counting system.

But hey, the system works so everyone should count cards for a living right? After all, it is proven by math that the cards will eventually favor a player and in the long run, you can make huge profits from playing blackjack. Of course not, it is ridiculous for people to think that card counting is a good way to make a buck. Not everyone has the bankroll, the skill, and the patience to succeed in card counting. Most people are better off not even trying this.

In my informed opinion, this card counting system is just like WWDB, BWW, LTD, N21 or other Amway systems. For one thing, card counting is a proven system. The Amway systems are not. But it can be viewed as similar in that very few people can use the system and make it work. Even when hundreds of thousands may try it, very few will succeed in both Amway and card counting. In both "systems", those who do not succeed can lose thousands of dollars. In both systems, doing things right can still result in losses.

In both systems, it is "possible" to succeed, but it is highly unlikely. The vast majority of people simply do not possess the knowledge, skills and abilities to make the systems work for them. You also need some money, some patience, and some luck in order to be a long term success. This article is not about comparing the Amway systems to gambling, it is about a person's ability to make the system work. The difference is that nobody promotes card counting as a good way to make a buck. The same holds true about Amway and their systems. It is not a good system to make money.

No PV In TV?

One of the things our upline constantly taught us was there is no PV (point volume)in TV. They advised the group to avoid Television, the newspapers, and other forms of media. This cult-like tactic was apparently their way of having us avoid any negatives that could affect our thinking. But it renders obedient IBOs as apathetic. As if IBOs didn't need to learn of any news. IBOs don't need to learn about any issues, after all, your upline will tell you what to do and how to vote, and how to think. Looking back, you gotta wonder how in the world your upline would know what was going on in the world if they were following their own advice?

It is true that there's no gain in PV for watching the television, but then again, IBOs engage in many activities that doesn't result in gaining PV. Attending a function, or listening to a standing order doesn't get you any PV either. Hanging out with your upline or attending a night owl doesn't get you PV. If PV was the priority of IBOs, they should be pounding pavement selling products or making contacts with potential buyers. Instead some groups teach that selling is not required or the famous "buy from yourself" technique of running a business. When you sit down and think about it, at least television isn't as costly as attending a function or listening to a standing order, even if you don't get PV for it.

In fact, IBOs spend so much time in non income producing activities, it's no wonder that the vast majority IBOs end up with a net loss after business expenses are considered. What's worse, IBOs run their businesses on the internet but in most cases, it's against Amway rules to advertise their products on websites such as ebay or craigslist. Instead, IBOs employ the least efficient means of working their business. Person to person, one person at a time. For many, the only way to increase PV volume is to sponsor downline. Even many IBOs who emphasize selling, seem to rarely have more than a handful of regular customers. But what can you expect when your means of increasing business is person to person, one at a time? There's a reason why advertising during the super bowl has a heavy price, because tens or hundreds of millions of people see your message all at the same time. IBOs go person to person, one at a time.