The Amway Caped Crusaders?

 I have been blogging for a number of years now and over the years, I have encountered a number of Amway defenders. One of them resorted to sending me a threatening email, and some of them have been trying to find my identity, I suppose as a way of harassing me. What I have found in nearly every case is that the "fired up" IBO will criticize for a while,, and then completely disappear. I presume that the luster of the Amway business fades and more than likely these folks end up quitting and thus quit blogging.

But as I stated elsewhere, other big companies such as Walmart has critics. But Amway is the only business I know of where their salesforce independently defends the company by attacking and criticizing their critics. What's even more astounding to me is that many if not most of these "caped crusaders" don't even earn a net profit from Amway, yet they fiercely defend their beloved opportunity.

I have yet to see an IBO Amway defender be able to describe or reasonably explain, how they have earned a net profit from the business. I know that some people make a nice living from the Amway opportunity, but that is the exception, not the rule. I would guess that most IBOs, even dedicated ones end up with a net loss if they are fully subscribed to the teaching system of cds, books, voicemail and functions.

Lastly, many of these IBOs have misguided criticism. If you carefully read through Joecool's blog, you will notice that most of my articles do not focus on Amway the corporation, but the AMOs, or the companies that promote and sell the tools to the IBOs. I believe the upline diamond leaders are in a position of conflict of interest in selling these tools, and basically screw over their downline in some cases, especially when the advocate for IBOs to have their families skip meals so buy more cds, or to delay paying bills or the mortgage to attend a function, or to qui a job to attend a seminar.

It is these abuses, which apparently still go on today, which is what I am against. And while these abuses continue, so does Joecool.

Letter To Amway?

 This is an open letter basically explaining Joecool's position and why in my opinion, criticism of Amway doesn't stop. (Reprinted)

Dear Amway,

Why does criticism of Amway continue Ad Nauseum? Because you have not taken any apparent visible action(s) against higher level IBOs who make their living by ripping off unsuspecting prospects and faithful downline by feeding them lines about how easy it is to build an Amway business and how they can ditch their jobs and live on easy street. I saw it and there are countless testimonies and experiences posted on the internet.

When I was an IBO in WWDB, we were fed outright lies by upline. Nobody made any money from tools being the biggest. Downline were taught how long they could string out their mortgages or electric bills so they can attend functions and buy more tools. Yes, IBOs have culpability as well, but the culture of these groups is one of trust and loyalty to the diamonds. Amway's owner, Mr. DeVos acknowledged this in his 1983 speech "directly speaking". But despite the speech, no apparent visible action was taken, thus status quo continued. Even the accreditation system which seemed nice on the surface appears to be a farce. I believe that possibly millions of people over the years have been adversely affected financially because of some of these Amway IBO leaders.

Many of the same leaders who lied to benefit themselves are still at it. A fellow blogger named "Rocket" at one time, reported a possible violation where crown ambassador and IBOAI member, Brad Duncan is caught on tape claiming that IBOs can make "hundreds of thousands of dollars" a month in Amway. Your response was to make non sensical remarks and then eventually no response when pressed for one. I also reported a WWDB IBO who was making disparaging and false statements about some competitor's products while making misleading positive statements about Amway products. Your response was no response, and my comment wasn't even published on your "Amway Answers" blog. Ironically, one of the topics on that blog was about how Amway doesn't turn a blind eye to problems. Yeah, you can say it but your actions show something else.

Maybe someone can explain why actions in other countries indicate that the folks who sell Amway tools are scammers. For some reason, the regulatory agencies in the US have not taken notice of the tools business. The Dateline segment in 2004 exposed the tools and systems. It became a big debate on the internet with critics and proponents. While Amway can claim innocence because the unethical actions were taken by IBOs, or "independent" business owners, I still believe that Amway has a responsibility to reign is some of the sales force that represents them.

Food for thought: Joe Paterno was an assistant and head coach, an icon at Penn State University for more than 60 years. He was fired some time ago because he had knowledge of child abuse occuring at the program under his watch. While he was not personally guilty of this, and did many good things for Penn State and the community, still his inactions may have caused harm to befall innocent children. Ultimately, he had the ability and power to stop the wrongdoing but did not. It is a sad ending for a man who many consider a legend. I wish his family well.

Amway can reign in the tool abuse and take control of some of the bad leaders, but apparently has not and will not. The fight goes on.....

Tapespeak?

 WWDB Tapespeak?

A comment left on my blog. Joecool's commentary below:

Anonymous wrote: "I am an IBO with Amway and WWDB. Until you are an IBO yourself then I would stop judging those of us working with this amazing company. Our company is about yes us succeeding, but also helping others succeed as well. I am not going to lie of course the money plays a big role, however the teachings and information that is given to us is helping all of us to become better buisness people but also helping us become better people all around. Many of the people and couples who are involved with WWDB and Amway have had their lives completely changed for the better by building their buisness and being around the wonderful people involved. I was just like you before I became and IBO and when I first heard the plan thought there was a very slim chance that I would make any real money from this. I learned through my amazing upline team that through hard work and dedication you can become as successful as you want! The CORE is a great set of guidelines that keeps you focused on the goals and helps all of us build the best and most successful organization we can. Please stop judging because clearly you have a glass half empty mentality, and with the attitude you have yes you wouldn't make a dime."

**************************

Joe's commentary: I find it humorous how people claim that WWDB has changed and that they are not anything like the experience I had as an IBO back in the late 1990s. Yet I continue to see and hear current IBOs claiming to be from WWDB who say the same stuff I was taught. That diamonds pay cash for everything, even homes and other big-ticket items. That WWDB IBOs have a 2% divorce rate. That WWDB makes you a better businessperson and a better person overall. I wonder how they determine that WWDB makes you a better businessperson when it is likely that over 99% of their business building IBOs suffer losses due to system expenses.

Hard work is not related to financial success in WWDB and Amway, despite what the "amazing upline" says. There is NO documented evidence that WWDB does anything except drain IBO's bank accounts. If you truly examine CORE, you will see that it is designed to keep money flowing upline via tool purchases. Any help you receive from your upline diamonds is always paid for by the downline in some manner or another.

While it's good to be positive, that also doesn't equate to long term sustainable success. I can be upbeat and positive and still be a miserable failure in Amway, which is the experience most "serious" IBOs live through. You cannot "choose" to succeed in Amway any more than you can choose to win the lottery.

Who Is At Fault?

 Part of what Joecool perceives as the problem with the Amway opportunity is the utter lack of accountability of some 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. Possibly millions of downlines over the years have put in blood sweat and tears into the business only to suffer massive losses following the system. Upline will take credit for meager success but place the blame on the downline when success is not there. Upline will claim that they either did not try hard enough, were not teachable enough, or they didn't put in enough time and effort. Despite a shockingly low success rate of system IBOs, nobody seems to fault the system as being flawed. And nobody seems to question whether upline is at fault. I believe it's obvious that the system and the upline advice is severely flawed.

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 extremely 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. People who succeed in Amway likely succeed in spite of the system and not because of it.
The bigger problem, is that for many years, some uplines have lived high on the hog off of the dedicated tool purchases of their downline. All the while, questionable 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.

Is Amway Needed?

 Many prospects join Amway after seeing a hyped up presentation. These presentations are crafted to make people uncomfortable with their current situations and/or jobs. Some dream building is done where prospects are given thought provoking messages such as what would you do with an extra $40,000 a year for example. On the surface, it seems to make sense, and it seems plausible. The problem usually occurs when IBOs get out in the world and try to build the business.   The thing with Amway is that is always sounds good on the surface and on paper, it seems to make perfect sense, until you sort through the half truths and misinformation that the speakers/presenters often dish out.  For example, in Amway, the worse you can do it make money or save money.   They forget to mention the "overhead" that upline creates via the tools and functions.

But in the big picture, is Amway itself needed? I mean you buy products and if you move a certain amount of volume, you get a performance bonus. The goal of many is to sponsor six (6) platinum legs and become a diamond. Some diamonds in the past spoke about how you could technically bury Amway products in your backyard, as long as you did your 100 PV. I guess in a strange way that is true.

But the PV is just the defacto compulsory part of the Amway plan to keep upline in the money.  Afterall, the 30%+ bonus that Amway issues for volume mostly goes to upline while rank and file IBOs get 3%.
 
In my opinion, the Amway business itself is irrelevant. The Amway business exists to legitimize the motivational businesses of many LOS's such as WWDB, BWW, N21, for example. The motivational business in itself is a huge business. However, the content of much of the material cannot be sold to the general public as evidenced by caseloads of these tools being sold for pennies on the dollar on Ebay. The tools only serve to enrich the upline leaders who own the tools business off the backs of the Amway IBOs. Do the math. It costs very little to produce tapes and/or cds, seminars are big money makers. Check and see how much it costs to rent a convention center or arena. You could probably find one where $20 to $25 per person would more than cover the cost. Also, there is little evidence that the tools are effective, despite what upline leaders or Amway apologists may claim.

There are also groups who have left Amway for other MLM businesses, which also suggests that Amway is a sidebar in the real business for these upline leaders. But still, Amway or another MLM is needed because LOS's cannot simply sell CDs and functions without some kind of product to pimp. Thus, together with Amway, upline leaders and Amway handsomely profit together. Upline teaches 100 PV, and that tools are vital to your Amway success. But in the big picture, Amway is not relevant. Think about this seriously for a minute. Next time a function or standing order if promoted, I urge prospects and current IBOs to digest this post and to think about this.

The Problem With Amway/MLM?

 Interesting article I came across:

http://www.thechangeblog.com/my-beef-with-multi-level-marketing/

1. The Products and Services Do Not Add Value

The meeting I went to for the first opportunity was held in a large movie cinema. There was a flashy movie presentation, and then a procession of people gave us their MLM success stories. After this meeting for newcomers, there was a training session for existing marketers. Since my friend was staying for this meeting and I wanted to better understand this opportunity, I stuck around. It was an eye-opener.

In this training meeting, I came to understand that the opportunity basically involved reselling the services of a telecommunications company. It became obvious that it offered little to no value to the potential customer, as the service was in no way cheaper that simply having a contract with the telecommunications company. The trainers encouraged marketers to divert queries regarding the benefits of the service with phrases such as “you will be doing me a favor by doing this” or “you will be helping my dream of working for myself come true”.

In regards to Amway, I’m sure there is nothing wrong with their products. But is anyone actually buying Amway products because they are the best quality and/ or value? It seems to me that most people purchasing the products are doing so because they are wrapped up in Amway or feel pressured to by someone (yes, I’m sure there are some exceptions). This leads me onto my second problem with MLM.

2. MLM Strains Relationships

Now from what I observed, MLM in many ways has a cult-like following as people get heavily wrapped up in the idea of making “passive residual income”. The income model closely resembles a pyramid, and for this reason success with MLM is heavily dependent on recruiting further people to join. In this sense, everyone you know – friends, family and work colleagues – become potential recruits and sources of income.

As I’m sure you can imagine, someone who becomes too wrapped up in MLM is going to be extremely annoying. In this way, MLM can strain, and can even permanently damage, relationships with the people closest to you. And remember, in many cases it is going to be questionable whether MLM products and services do actually add any value.

Final Thoughts

As should be obvious from this article, these are my opinions only. I am only familiar with the MLM opportunities mentioned, and I happily admit that I did not get involved with them past the first presentation. I am very open-minded, and I’m sure many people have good experiences with MLM. MLM is often linked to personal growth, and I’m sure many people gain confidence and learn valuable networking lessons getting involved. That said, if you are involved in MLM or are presented with an opportunity please consider my points above, try to cut past all the hype that is likely to be associated with the presented opportunity, and use your own mind to decide the value of the opportunity.

No Negatives?

 One of the silly things taught by Amway uplines is for IBOs to avoid anything negative including news and current events. This was common practice when I was an IBO, and apparently, still taught by some leaders and groups. Don't read the newspaper, don't watch TV, and avoid people in general, who are negative about the Amway business. My upline would say that the world is too negative so our minds needed to be filtered with positive thoughts so that we can flourish in the Amway business. I believe this is one of the reasons why some people associate Amway and the AMOs (Amway Motivational Organizations) as cults. Tell people how they should think and then bombard them with only happy thoughts about Amway. Everything else is "negative" and should be filtered out.

Sadly, many Amway IBOs buy into this and start avoiding family and friends simply because they may not view Amway in a positive light. Certainly, some IBOs don't shut out family and friends, but it seems that enough of them do, at least while they are involved in building a big business. It was my experience and I still see evidence that this is not uncommon practice even today. If these AMOs were churning out new and sustainable success stories, we would probably not be talking about this but instead, IBOs and prospects get used and abused and spit out by the system, all under the guise of being mentored by uplines. Most IBOs, even those who put in an earnest effort end up with a net loss, despite their dedication to the system and adherence to upline advice. I don't know of anyone who has been able to name more than a dozen new diamonds from the US in the last 10 years or so. It sure looks like Amway in the US and Canada is shrinking, save for some pockets and areas where there is the appearance of "growth".

I would point out the functions as evidence of shrinkage. My former sponsor told me of a Free Enterprise Day function (FED) where IBOs filled the (at the time) Seattle King Dome. 50,000+ IBOs in attendance. I also attended a family reunion function at the Rose Garden in Portland where there were 15 - 20,000 IBOs in attendance. Dream Night was held in venues that sat about 2500 people and more and more, we are seeing smaller venues for these types of functions. Maybe people are simply more aware of what being an IBO entails and simply avoid it? Maybe it's just a coincidence?

But hopefully, someone out there who reads this will understand that avoiding all negative is a silly thing to teach. Unless you live in some Utopian society, there will always be some negative. That's just life. Avoiding the news or only taking in positive can make you apathetic. How would you be able to vote or know what the current events are? Do you rely on your upline for this? Are you living in an Amway/AMO world where you only associate with IBOs and "happy" people? Do you argue and attack opposing views? If you're about avoiding negative, you should take this message to heart and seriously think about what you are being taught by your (well compensated) mentors.