Can You Succeed Without Deception?

 I've seen the Amway commercials in the past about two friends starting a company 60+ years ago. 60+ years ago, the business opportunity was much simpler. People sold things for a side income, often door to door using the little red wagon as their means of transporting their goods. At least that's how it was portrayed in the past. LOL  Of course, Amway has undergone some modernizations so it's a bit different now.  

Later, as people started to build organizations, it was hard to continue to build and motivate groups, especially long-distance ones.  That's when the systems were born. The system was created (to the best of my knowledge) to help build and motivate groups, especially distance groups. That way an IBO leader would not have to be present to motivate his groups, at least not all the time. In the beginning, the system was not a big moneymaker for the IBO leaders. Apparently, with advanced technology, the system became more efficient, and the tools could be mass produced at a low cost. That's when greed started to set in and the abuses, now known as the "tools scam" began, as far as I understand it. 

Although some groups and/or IBO leaders may mention tools profits, and that rank-and-file IBOs may one day be able to share in tools profits at a certain level, the tools business still appears to be shrouded in secrecy. It is not common knowledge among IBOs to know exactly how to qualify and how much profit you may receive from tools. In fact, it was not that long ago when IBO leaders denied making any profit from tools. It seems now that most groups have "taught" their groups that they not only make a lot of income from tools, but that they deserve it!

It brings to be the subject of my title. Can an IBO be successful without some deception? Can an IBO be successful without a lot of deception? In my opinion, the answer is NO. The business opportunity has too many problems for most people to be able to overcome the problems and succeed. I will elaborate;

The name Amway has a stigma, and much of that stigma is justified. IBOs have done crazy things such as lying to tricking people into attending recruitment meetings. It is still happening today. IBOs even make up stories about their products. The biggest joke in years had to be the promotion of "perfect" water. The prices of Amway and Amway partner store products are higher on average than retailers such as Walmart and Costco. In fact, for many products, it's not even close with Walmart winning hands down. Yes, Amway offers aa bonus incentive program, but that bonus does not equal the cost savings alone that Walmart offers. Team are also taught to lie about their opportunity. They denied that Quixtar has any connection with Amway, or they call Amway a franchise, or they associate themselves with a motivational group such as WWDB or N21 and make up ridiculous stories such as "we work closely with Amway". The reality is when you sign on the line, you become and Amway IBO.

So, can you be successful without deception? Most IBOs are unable to succeed using deception. Therefore, being upfront and truthful probably makes it less likely that you can be successful promoting Amway. IBOs may find this hard to believe, but there are many ways to make a buck. Many of those ways are easier than Amway.

The Scam?

  A lot of people come and go in the Amway business, but many of those who come and go don't even notice the scam. They get sold on what they believe is a business opportunity that they can make some money at, or at the very least save some money on products that they would normally buy anyway. If they do it right, they can possibly make some "real" money and with some had work, you can build it right and have the option one day of walking away from Amway and living off ongoing residual income from Amway. It sounds reasonable and therein lies the scam.

For years, I have challenged people to name 2-3 people, aside from the Amway owners, who joined, built the business "right" and was able to walk away and retire with ongoing residual income, enough to be financially free forever. Not a single person has been able to name and confirm that even a single person has done this. I believe it's all a lie and part of the scam. Amway's distributor force turns over about 50% each year. How can you build a residual income empire when half of your downline quits each year? I believe Amway diamonds trade their 9-5 jobs for the night shift. They work at night and into the morning hours because they are working to replace people who quit and to support downline platinums who might struggle or fail to re-qualify for that level. If upline says they are working for the love of their downline, I call BS on that. If walking away and enjoying life was an option, why hasn't anyone chosen it?

Now you could argue that a diamond's "work" isn't that bad, and they aren't reporting to a boss. And that would be true, but I imagine the pressure of churning people in and out to keep qualifying can be stressful in itself. If you live on an island like me, you can eventually have trouble finding new people to work with. In 1997 or so, there were a bunch of diamonds in Hawaii, and they all moved to the mainland. Now I'm not sure why but my upline diamond was Harimoto, who loved the ocean and the beaches. Yet he moved to Washington state. I believe they needed new grounds to mine, just like gold miners.

The next part of the scam is how IBOs will tell you about Amway's generous money back guarantee. 100% they'll tell you. What they don't tell you is that the guarantee is only on some of the products and the signup fee. The cds, books, voicemail and functions are not sold or run by Amway. And these expenses can be very significant over a period of time. IBOs and prospects need to know this. You can lose thousands and get back pennies on the dollar asking for a refund on the signup fee and perhaps a few products. Another piece of the scam.

Also, IBOs and prospects are often shown only the very best-case scenario (such as going diamond) but not told that your chance of being struck by lightning is much higher than your chance of going diamond, even though going diamond is not a random event. A real life and likely scenario is getting in and trying hard for a while and then quitting with some business losses. At least if you know this and still try anyway, you will have done so with full disclosure.

Lastly, it's insidious in my opinion, for upline to tell you to trust them and to do as they say and then turn around and tell IBOs that failure is their responsibility. That they didn't work hard enough or do thing just right. That sure isn't what they are preaching when recruiting you into the business. They are saying how sharp you are and how you're likely to tear up the business. But it's just another facet of the scam. I've outlined the parts of the opportunity that I believe are scams, but I'm sure it's not limited to my point of view.

Good luck if you read this and join anyway.

Ask Amway?

 There has been much debate by both critics and Amway IBOs and supporters in the past, over an issue regarding a WWDB Dream Night function. The issue was an honest question over the cost of a Dream Night Ticket. Anyway, to make a long story short, here is what the Amway IBO suggested we do:

"Here is a tip when doing research, if you have a question about a company why not give the actual company a call? Wow what a concept."

While on the surface, that may seem logical. If you have a question about how a company works, that might make perfect sense. But the Amway opportunity, along with the attached motivational tools companies, make that a nebulous situation. What are you supposed to do? Call WWDB and ask if they are a good company? Call WWDB and ask if they scam their downline? What if you call and ask WWDB if most IBOs on their system make money or lose money? If you look at the average income of the majority of IBOs and factor in expenses such as voicemail, standing orders and functions, I can only conclude that the vast majority of IBOs on the system have to be losing money. The longer you stay in the system, the more you lose. Furthermore, I believe there are more people winning the Powerball lottery in the US than the number of new WWDB diamonds emerging in the US in the last 25+ years ago or so.

Imagine if you had questions and simply asked the person? Hello? Mr. Al Capone, I heard you were a gangster in charge of organized crime. But I thought it would only be fair if I got the answer directly from you. What's that? You're not a gangster and you go to church? Okay, I see. Well, that clears that up. Mr. Capone is not a gangster; I confirmed that by asking him. Do you see the ridiculous justification of just asking the person in question? Isn't a better way to ask a neutral third party or some outside and independent sources?

Many IBOs will also suggest that you check the better business bureau. Well, Amway has a good mark from the better business bureau. But Amway isn't selling you voicemail and other support materials right? That would be WWDB or some other motivational group, or a particular double or triple diamond, whose business may not have been registered or known to the better business bureau. Also, a good rating from the BBB doesn't mean that IBOs are making profits. It just means that Amway deals with their complaints.

I believe IBOs, information seekers, and prospects can find a ton of information on the internet using google. Upline leaders discourage this because too much frank and disparaging information exists about the Amway opportunity. But much of that information is real life true experiences. I was an up and coming "mover and shaker" in WWDB. This blog reflects much of my real experiences and the realizations I came to after having left Amway and WWDB. Sadly, my experience was not a good one, but more and more I see evidence that what I was taught more than twenty five years ago is still taught today, and by some of the same leaders. I hope my experience can help others.

Broken Dreams?

 One of the things that Amway promoters commonly used to entice prospects into joining is to get them to think about financial dreams and goals that they would like to accomplish. After all, who wouldn't want to be retired at age 35 and walking on the exotic beaches of the world while sipping mai tais? Or who wouldn't want to live a life of leisure and excitement with unlimited barrels of cash rolling in to finance all of the fun and frivolity? Of course, most people get excited by this. 

Sadly, the things that people get excited by, or the things that people join for, often become less accessible because of people's involvement in Amway. Because of the leach organizations that attach themselves to the Amway business, many IBOs get their bank accounts drained and wind up quitting with broken dreams. These organizations such as WWBD or BWW will promote their materials as the key to success in Amway. But in reality, these organizations reap handsome profits while basically bankrupting the downline IBOs. What is also sad is that the system does not deliver the success that is promoted. Less than one half of one percent even reach the platinum level, which is allegedly the level where you break even or make a small profit. That's nothing to brag about is it? Where's the fruit on the tree that upline leaders speak of?

During my tenure in the business, uplines taught us to buy all the materials. Books, standing orders tapes/cds/audios, functions, and other materials. In fact, in addition to standing order, upline wanted IBOs to purchase an additional 5-7 tapes or cds each week. Afterall, you should be listening to new material daily, right? In fact, upline wanted people to "invest" or spend all of their income on these materials. In an open meeting setting, a diamond said that your family could skip a meal to get another tape/cd because the information was so valuable that you might hear the one thing that propels you to diamond. Almost as if buying a tape/cd was like some lottery ticket. 

And sadly, some IBOs did go "all in". They bought tools like there was no tomorrow. In my crossline, there was a couple who went bankrupt and a couple whose home was foreclosed. Now was this financial difficulty all due to their involvement in Amway? I don't know, but certainly, buying hundreds of dollars of materials on a monthly basis can certainly contribute to someone's financial problems. And these IBOs did this on upline's advice. Thus, upline advised this even when they likely knew that these IBOs were in financial difficulty. If they would tell you to starve your kids, then surely, they will not be concerned about your other issues. I also sat in a function where a diamond taught about how long you can put off paying a mortgage before foreclosure would occur. Probably so people could go in hock to attend a major function. 

It is a sad thing indeed when uplines will try to sell you dreams. What's worse is when they are actually selling you broken dreams.

Helping Others?

 One of the BS things our Amway upline constantly told our group was that we were out there helping people and fighting for what is right in the world. That evil will triumph when good men fail to take action. I agree with this. That the AMOs have thrived because too many good people have ignored the problem and it hasn't gone away, only unnoticed by most. The result is probably tens of millions of people over the years getting scammed out of their hard-earned dollars via the "tool scam".  

Let's dissect these issues and look at them one at a time. What exactly are you fighting as an IBO? Fighting against yourself? Your job? I know many uplines want you to think your job sucks, thus giving you motivation for joining and succeeding in Amway. Then the hook comes where they will tell you that tools are vital for your success. But you aren't fighting anything.  Your job pays your bills and allows you to make a living, whether you like it or not.  Most likely your Amway business isn't generating enough to cover your "functions and tools" expenses, so your Job income is vital even if your upline says otherwise. 

How about helping people? How do IBOs help people by enticing them to join Amway? While people are doing community service or other projects, IBOs are stalking people at malls or other venues looking for prospects or spending weekends at meeting and functions. How does this help anyone but the folks who profit from the functions? How are IBOs helping people? It's nice to believe that you are fighting or a cause or helping other people, but the fact is that most people make nothing or lose money by being involved in Amway, not even factoring in the time you may lose for spending time with family and friends.

I was once an IBO. I thought we were involved in a good cause. I did eventually realize that we weren't helping anyone. The only people we took interest in were potential Amway recruits. Everyone else was cannon fodder. Those who are familar have heard "some will, some won't so what? Next"!  I did not pursue to "help" anyone unless they were interested in Amway when I was an IBO.  How does that make the world a better place?

IBOs are mostly good and hard working people. They have just been sucked into believing a false cause perpetuated by their upline. Most wake up and get out quickly as I did, but I believe the damage over the years is immense. I hope this blog provides some valuable insight for new and tenured IBOs and prospects.

How Wealthy Is Your Diamond?

 One of the things so many Amway IBOs and others do is assume that their upline diamond is rich beyond belief. At meetings, the speaker would be introduced as being in the top one tenth of one percent income bracket. While it may or may not be true, nobody ever questioned it, they just assumed it was true because people saw pictures of mansions and copies of 5 year old bonus checks. Even I never went and studied how the diamond bonuses worked. Most people just assumed that the money would be huge at the diamond level. But looking back, I can recall some things that make me believe that the diamonds were cutting corners and needed their platinums working free at meetings and functions in order to maximize profits.

The diamonds in our group often did not stay in hotels when visiting for meetings, but in the home of another diamond or some lucky downline platinum. The diamonds rarely rented a car. Instead, a downline platinum or higher would be lucky enough to be the unpaid and uncompensated chauffeur for the weekend. The platinums basically were the doormen and ushers at the functions and in many cases, probably didn't even get to hear the speakers since they were busy working. Their reward for their troubles was "spending time" with their uplines.

The downline operate like unpaid volunteers. For example, ever see diamonds actually renting a moving van and hiring movers? I believe most of them had downline groupies who did the work for free, just for the honor of being near their upline. Just my opinion, but if these folks had mountains of cash, why wouldn't you hire movers so your downline didn't have to use up a valuable Saturday or Sunday to do that work? That's like owning a chain of stores but having all of their stores closed. No products sold, no new recruits prospected. If Ray Kroc moved his residence, would all the nearby McDonald's owners close their stores to help him move?

Another things IBOs and prospects should note is that pictures of mansions, sports cars and jet skis doesn't mean someone is wealthy. Someone could have all those things on credit or rented after all. And many people who truly are wealthy, do not show off their wealth. It is possible that many diamonds live mundane middle class lives on their income but need to portray wealth to lure in new IBOs. While your upline diamonds may act and look rich, how would you really know? I can take a homeless guy, clean him up and put him in a suit and a sports car and he would probably look like a diamond.

If your uplines are implying that they are so wealthy, ask them to verify some of the claims. I'm not talking about their personal income, but in business, verifying business income is very common. If you are being invited into the business and a business system such as WWDB, BWW or N21, you have every right to check your upline's credentials. Avoidance of the truth, or an answer such as "none of your business" should be a red flag. It is your business if you are being asked to join, invest your time and money, and follow upline advice.

In Writing?

 Here's something that Amway IBOs can use when they see upline leaders making claims and guarantees of sorts about the system. Ask them to put it in writing and to ask what they are guaranteeing?  It's easy to stand on stage and say the business is simple or a piece of cake. That buying tools and attending functions nearly assures success. Ask your sponsor or upline what exactly you will receive if you do what they advise and the results are not there?

Uplines will always use an out - that you did not do everything exactly and precisely as they advised, therefore any failure is your own fault. I find it humorous because these leaders are quick to take credit if they see any downline success. It's like playing a game of heads I win, tails you lose. The upline always has a built-in excuse. This wouldn't be so evil if the uplines weren't making their fortunes out of the sale of tools and functions.  But doing the math and common sense will tell you that he tools and functions are a significant source of diamond income.

In fact, speaking of writing, have you ever seen a formal tools contract indicating how you qualify for and the compensation that will be received when you qualify? Why do platinums, as far as I know, get only a cut of the standing orders and not anything else? Why are some of these issues such dark secrets? It's like the legend of Sasquatch. Many have heard about it, some have claimed to have seen it, but there's no bonafide evidence of its existence.

Amway supporters and defenders often decry my blog because it may deter people from joining Amway when prospects know the truth about Amway. But at the same time, who's held accountable to people who were deceived or lied to about Amway and joined only to lose money, regardless of the amount of effort they expended? As an example, my former sponsor spent over 25 years in the business hard core. I wonder what kinds of losses he suffered as a result of his hard work and sacrifices? He was involved before I was an IBO and back then, WWDB leaders completely lied and denied that there were any tool profits at all.

Upline making incredible claims? Ask for their guarantees and assurances in writing, but you won't get any.