Bait And Switch?

 Many prospects an even Amway IBOs are apparently unaware that the Amway business along with the insidious "tools" business is a bait and switch scam. Prospects are told that with some part time effort, they can achieve untold wealth and retire early. Many people get "fired up" at the thought of a shortcut to early retirement and wealth beyond their dreams. If the prospect gets excited enough to actually sign up, that's when the bait and switch scam occurs.

You see, if you register to be an Amway IBO and get involved with purchasing support materials such as books, CDs, voice mail and seminar tickets, you think you are on the road to riches as an IBO. Don't feel bad, many people have made this mistake, including myself. But when you register as an Amway IBO, you think you will be an "independent business owner". But nothing can be further from the truth. This is just an illusion that the upline will use on prospects.

When you register for Amway, you actually become a customer of Amway and a customer of the tools business run by upline. YOu purchase products from Amway, and if you purchase enough product, you might receive a rebate of sorts. 100 PV, roughly $300 in cost, will get you a rebate of 3%, or roughly $10. Your 100 PV actually generates about $100 in Amway bonuses, but the remaining $90 goes to your uplines. If you can sponsor downline who also use and/or move products, you can earn a greater percentage of a rebate, but in the end, you are still basically an Amway customer. As an Amway business owner, you can't easily advertise or do things to generate more sales without Amway's permission. You are also at the mercy of Amway in the event of a dispute.

As an Amway IBO, you are also a customer of the tools. Your upline will sell you an endless supply of materials which I listed above. What IBOs also don't know is that these products/tools also carry and larger profit margin than Amway products and, the rank and file IBOs don't get to earn any bonus of the volume of tools. And I might add that the tools may cost more than the cost of your 100 PV worth of products. So you buy in and you get nothing. I might add that the tools are ineffective, otherwise there would be a constant movement of people achieving higher levels.

Sure, Amway apologists will point out all of the new platinums, but they fail to mention that there are also thousands of people who were, but no longer qualify as platinum or higher. Amway sales were at 11.8 billion in 2013 but sales have dropped more than 25% since then, with Amway doing in the neighborhood of 8.5 billion last year.

So for prospects and current IBOs, I hope you realize that you're not really an IBO, but a customer of Amway and a customer of the tools. How many customers do you know of that became wealthy by purchasing things? I can't think of any.

Where's The Fruit?

 When I was an IBO, I often heard that phrase "look at the fruit on the tree". I came from the LOS WWDB, or Worldwide Dream Builders, or Worldwide Group. Back in the 1990's, Amway and WWDB were doing quite well. Amway was expanding into foreign countries, and it seemed as if Amway and WWDB had gained a great deal of momentum. I recall hearing the term "look at the fruit on the tree" and it was somewhat true. There were new diamonds emerging in Amway WWDB and Amway had experienced worldwide growth.

Then Amway turned into Quixtar and it was comical to see Amway IBOs denying that Quixtar = Amway. The terms "Ecommerce" and "private franchising" became common, but it didn't fool many people. This was a time when Amway folks were very active in defending Amway and Amway related blogs and forums were all over the Internet.

But let's look at the "fruit on the tree". Where are all the new diamonds? Sure, there were a few new diamond couples in the US since the 1990s', but what other fruit is on that tree? Brad Wolgamott, who said "WWDB saves marriages", got divorced, and Triple diamond Greg Duncan declared chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2009. David Shores apparently had a home foreclosed around 2009 or 2010. Jim and Betty Jean Brooks got divorced, Ron Puryear passed way (condolences to his family) but Ron, a crown ambassador worked until he passed as far as I know.  Where's the freedom?

Sure, a diamond may not have a tough life working but you still need to be somewhere at a particular time to earn money. That's not much different from a job. Where is even a single person or couple who built it once and built it right, and walked away to enjoy "financial freedom" and lifelong "residual income" from Amway? Why can't anyone for all my blogging years, show clear evidence of a diamond or emerald who built it once and built it right, who walked away from Amway and is living in luxury while collecting just collecting bonus checks in the mail?

Maybe there is no fruit on the Amway/WWDB tree and there is no residual income? If that were a true possibility, why has nobody opted for that? The answer is clear. There is no true residual income from Amway due to the high attrition rate and there is little to no fruit on the WWDB tree. The tree is bare and barely surviving from my POV.

Life Changing?

 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 sandcastle at the beach.

For many IBOs ironically, what they desire most, time and money, is what they have less of because of their involvement in the Amway opportunity. 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 part 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.

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. 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 separate 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 loss.

I hope this message of personal experience helps information seekers.

Broke Losers?

 One thing I will give Amway some credit for is their customer service. Whenever I called the corp as an IBO to order or for other things, their staff was always courteous and friendly. But IBOs, on the other hand, do not seem to value potential customers that way. What I mean is when prospects are called stupid, or broke losers just because they do not wish to become an IBO. What you have done basically, is ensure that the prospect will never be a customer of yours, and possibly Amway. Some uplines teach that people not in Amway are broke or losers and/or if you quit the ranks of being an IBO, you become a broke loser. 

Imagine walking into a retail store and realizing that maybe you didn't have enough cash in your pocket, or that the store did not have the item you were looking for, so you leave. As you leave, the stores employees said "what a fool". What a broke loser he is not buying anything from us or wanting to open a similar store. While this may be an extreme example, I believe it is a perfectly valid one. If you value your customers and treat them with courtesy and respect, you have a good chance of retaining them. Calling someone a loser is almost a sure way to fail in Amway or any other business. Why some leaders choose to label people as such is a mystery to me. 

I believe that this comes from two things. Number one is that IBOs are not very interested in selling products. They are mostly interested in sponsoring. And that is the number two reason. IBOs are mainly focused on building their group, because that is the key to moving up the ranks, in terms of a pin. Some groups simply teach IBOs to self consume and then focus on sponsoring. It leads to the opportunity being borderline in terms of whether the opportunity is a pyramid where there are no sales to non participants (pay to play).  

This division between potential customers and potential IBOs is what causes Amway to have a bad reputation with the general public. It is evident here on my blog, where IBOs criticize me, without even supporting their arguments. This is not the only reason, but a contributing factor to Amway's bad reputation in the US. 

IBOs, if you take a hard look at what I have written, it is not negative, it is a perfectly valid reason why so many do not succeed. You need to treat your potential customers and downline with respect, regardless of whether they choose to join or buy products from you right away.

Early Retirement?

 Many uplines will use slightly deceptive recruitment tactics when getting new people to see or register into the Amway business. One of the common things was how joining Amway has very little risk, no or very little overhead. This is true, if an IBO is not involved in any of th system related training. However, it is the goal of many if not most uplines to get as many IBOs involved in the system as possible. This is probably because selling standing orders, voicemails and seminars has a higher profit margin for some uplines than the actual movement of Amway volume. So some newbies might join thinking Amway won't cost them much, only to find out that 100 PV might run them more than $300. They may not be aware that standing orders and functions never end and can add an additional cost of up to several hundreds of dollars more. Uplines will then justify the expense by saying the IBO is investing in his/her business.

New IBOs, and especially IBOs who are single should seriously think about the cost of being a business building IBO before joining. Many or most prospects don't know that building an Amway business using system tools and "coaching" can cost them up to $500 or more each month. A single person more than likely cannot possibly consume 100 PV worth or products on a monthly basis unless they almost exclusively consume XS drinks and Nutrilite vitamins. And secondly, how many singles or prospects were consuming cases of energy drinks and vitamins ($300 monthly) before being presented with the Amway business? How many people were willing to fork out hundreds of dollars for a weekend function that may require airfare and hotel stay? I don't think too many people like this exist. But I believe they do so because they have been sold a dream of financial freedom, of early retirement and not having to work a job anymore. But the evidence would suggest that once the dream disappears or reality sets in, how many (former) IBOs continue to purchase Amway products and attend seminars?

I know of many former IBOs and I don't know of any who purchase Amway products on a regular basis and I don't know of ANYONE who has ever forked out money to attend an Amway/AMO function after they stopped being an IBO. Amway's numbers bear out this claim as there is very little sales to people who are not IBOs. The IBO salesforce is responsible for consuming the lion's share of Amway's products and services. I myself have purchased an Amway product or two since I left the business. But I did so only to humor friends who were still in the business. They have all since quit. It is very reasonable to conclude that once the desire to build the business stops, the desire to purchase Amway products also stops.

Most eager young and motivated people who sign up often do not realize that these IBO expenses exist. While Amway acknowledges that these tools and systems expenses are optional, the uplines who promote the tools may suggest that it is insanity to attempt to build an Amway business without the tools or strongly encourage new IBOs to partake. A common statement was that we "needed" to be at the next function no matter what. Missing it would set your business back six months. New IBOs and prospects don't know better so they will often conform. Sadly, there is ZERO unbiased evidence that the tools and seminars do anything to increase IBO volume and/or the sponsorship rate. In my informed and experienced opinion, the tools are ineffective and the vast majority if IBOs would be better off handing their upline a monthly check for $100 and not building the business or buying any products.

IBOs and information seekers should be awar of these potential IBO expenses and determine if the expenses would be worth your while. Keep in mind that someone upline profits handsomely from the tools, even if you do not make a cent from your Amway business. You should have your best interest at heart, no matter what your upline tells you.

Build It Right?

 When I was am\n Amway IBO many years ago, I heard the term “build it right”.  I suppose that means you build your business based on parameters that your upline advised.  My business at the time had the correct parameters and I was edified as a qualified “eagle” which meant I had a certain number of downline attending functions and participating in the tools system.  Basically, it seemed that building your business right meant your upline diamond was making tool income off your group.  I say that because the parameters were IMO, mainly about tool and function sales than business profitability, looking back.

Thus, building your business right is more beneficial to your upline than yourself.  Rank and file IBOS do not get to participate in the payout of tools, only for product volume.  And even product volume rebates are heavily slanted to upline and not to the IBOS who moved the volume.  It is for these reasons that the vast majority of IBOS wind up with financial losses for their efforts.   And I might also add that tools and functions have a bigger profit margin for upline than Amway goods and services,

Another piece of food for thought is how diamonds quit, fall out of qualification or resign.  Does that mean these diamonds who teach “build it right” were unable to do it themselves?  Why don’t diamonds walk away from Amway to enjoy residual income fir life?  Is it because they too are unable to build it right?  Why do diamonds seemingly die on the job rather than in quiet retirement surrounded by luxuries?  Nobody has ever been able to name even one verified diamond who built it right and eventually walked away to live a quiet life of abundant income from Amway residuals.  

In my opinion it is because the entire business and teaching systems are just a scam and there is no serious way to just build it right.  It’s why the IBO failure rate is high and why diamonds don’t appear to enjoy luxurious retirements.  The diamond lifestyle that’s portrayed at functions is mostly a dog and pony show.  The diamonds are very likely working as hard as rank and file IBOs because of the attrition rate and the real need to keep all of their downline groups in qualification, otherwise their ranking and bonuses disappear, even if they might continue to wear a diamond pin and speak at functions.

Myths?

 I was watching a show on Discovery channel the other night about Sasquatch. It was immediately followed by a show about evidence of UFOs. It made me start to think about these phenomena. It seems like everyone has heard about or knows something about Sasquatch (Big foot) and/or UFOs. There are many documentaries showing pictures and evidence of both, but to date, there is no bonafide evidence that these things exist. You'd think that a body or bones of a Sasquatch would turn up somewhere, sooner or later, or we would find compelling evidence of a spaceship from another galaxy.

It sounds just like stories of people who built a diamondship, then "walked away" from their businesses, retired in the lap of luxury and did nothing while the money kept rolling in. I heard numerous scenarios about this happening, but looking back, all the diamonds kept working and since Joecool left the business, the diamond either kept working, or quit or got terminated. But I never heard anyone name some higher up Amway pin who built a business, and then walked away from it to travel the beaches of the world while hundreds of thousands of dollars kept rolling in. Many have heard about it but nobody seems to be able to name any of these folks. I mean after over 50 years in existence, you'd think some of these folks would exist, especially when it seems to be a selling point of the business for many AMOs.

It is my opinion that Sasquatch, UFOs and retired Amways diamonds (with significant Amway income) are non existent. If these folks existed, there should be at least some shred of evidence of it. The lack of evidence indicates to me that it is either non existent or so rare that nobody can display bonafide proof. I mean there aren't any T-Rexs roaming the earth anymore but fossil evidence proves that they existed at one time.

Keeping in mind that the Amway business has a high attrition rate, coupled with low sales to non IBOs and you can easily conclude that residual and significant income is nearly impossible. An Amway business that is left alone will deteriorate like a sandcastle does as the waves wash it away. You (in theory) could possible walk away from an Amway business for a while and collect some income, but you won't be collecting enough income to live the "diamond lifestyle" as portrayed by diamonds in their functions and open meetings. I'm not even sure that active diamonds can comfortably afford that lifestyle even when building their businesses. There is ample evidence to support my claim. Diamonds losing homes to foreclosure, former diamonds revealing secrets about their income. If you really believe you can walk away from your Amway business and collect untold wealth, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. :-)