Everyone Starts At Zero?

 The Amway business is a level playing field. At least that's what my upline told us when I was an IBO. That everyone starts at zero. While that is somewhat true, there were other factors that existed, that most IBOs did not know about. That factor is the possibility of PV manipulation. I believe that groups that are not on direct fulfillment (Groups still calling in and picking up) are able to transfer PV around. Thus, certain groups or favored downline could be manufactured into higher pins. I believe most groups are currently on direct fulfillment, but I did confirm about less than a year ago that some groups still are on call in and pick up, but usually for tools and not Amway products.

But let's examine the concept that everyone starts at zero. While this aspect may be technically true, certain people are simply better at selling, or better and more adept at socializing and talking to others.  So, while your PV count may be zero, the skills needed to start and run a business is not a level playing field for most. I believe uplines state this to give prospects the idea that everyone has an equal chance at succeeding in Amway. I just cannot believe this to be true. Even current diamonds, while having achieved a certain level, probably could not "start at zero" and build a diamond ship again.   WWDB tried this some years back.  The diamonds were told to set the example and build another diamond business outside of their current diamond business.  Well, as far as I know, not a single existing diamond at the time was able to do it and the entire thing was forgotten and never mentioned again.
 
Thus, when you really think about it, the "old timers" of the diamonds should actually be given less credibility than the newer ones. Do you really believe that a diamond or higher pin who built his business in the 1970's or 1980's can really teach people in 2026 how to build the business in a way to address people in 2026, and the fact that the business is internet based as opposed to the old days.

It is easy to stand on stage, tell people how great you are, show off alleged material wealth and then tell prospects that everyone starts at zero and that anyone can build the business. I do not believe that it is true. I also strongly suspect that very few (if any) of the current diamonds would be able to "start at zero" and build a new diamond ship here in the US, where the reputation and shrinking sales would be handicaps too great to overcome for the vast majority of prospective IBOs.  How can you build a business and approach prospects when many or most people have a negative view of Amway due to previous IBO behavior or unethical behavior?  

Capital Flight?

Some months ago, I wrote an article about the newly elected (at the time) NY mayor Zohran Mamdani.  In a recent event, he filmed a video clip about his proposed tax on expensive second homes in NY as a means of generating revenue for the city.  He has already failed to deliver on some of his promises such as free bus services for New Yorkers.  Some people have pushed back on these taxes because people who own these expensive second homes because these residents will basically receive nothing in return and because they likely spend only part of the time in NY and therefore, they do not even use as many day to day services as regular citizens.   

In this most recent turn of events, the mayor filmed his video in front of a billionaire's second home.  That billionaire is the head of the Citadel.  A big company that provides thousands of jobs in NY and the head of the company already pays high taxes and donates a lot of money towards charitable causes in NY.  And rather than backing down about the video, the mayor doubles down.

It is a fact that the top 1% of New Yorkers pay nearly half of the taxes in NY.  And the bottom half of New Yorkers pay less than 5% of the taxes.  So, in a socialist regime, you just take more and more.  If anyone believes that this taxing of a second luxury home will be the "be all end all", they are sadly mistaken.   Cutting spending is not politically popular so politicians think rich people are an endless ATM machine for them.  And I might remind people that in 2022, the NY governor went on TV and told rich people, republicans in particular, to leave and go to Florida.   Now she's asking them to come back and pay taxes to NY.  Fat chance.

Then in California, the politicians have put a wealth confiscation tax on the ballot (this allows politicians to blame the voters).  This new tax would basically tax billionaire's "unrealized gains".  So if someone is wealthy because of stock holdings and real estate, they would have to sell these assets (and pay taxes on the gains) to have enough cash to pay the tax.  And effectively, this is a 7-8% tax because selling off 5% of your holdings won't be enough to get 5%.   Now if you have only 1 billion, that tax would be 50 million plus the taxes on the sale of your assets making the bill 70 to 80 million dollars.   California and NY are already leading the country in affluent people leaving to other states because of excessive taxation and regulations.   Billionaires are usually smart people and surrendering 70 to 80 million for nothing in return is a piss poor investment.  And 70 or 80 million is if you have 1 (one) billion dollars.  If you have 2 billion, then your bill is effectively 140 to 160 million.  

This is where capital flight takes place.   The ultra rich people move to Nevada, Arizona, Texas and Florida.   Do you think 70 or 80 million can pay for you to move and get a nice place to live elsewhere?  Not all billionaires will leave, but it doesn't take all of them to leave to create a budgetary disaster in California or New York.  For the record, this wealth confiscation was already tried in Europe and so many wealthy people moved that the countries who tried this repealed the law.   Now I see that even the Seattle mayor has flippantly told the wealthy "bye" in her city.  

Socialism works great until you run out of other people's money to distribute.  But these folks win elections by appealing to many young people who are possibly in entry level jobs or are lazy and are enamored by the idea of free stuff like universal income, health care, etc.  The bottom line is the politicians are so inept and greedy that they don't realize they are killing the golden goose.  California has one of the largest economies in the world, but with their taxes and regulations, if the Tech Giants in silicon valley were to leave, California would be burnt toast.  

The Root Of Many Evils?

 Over the many years of Amway's existence, their reputation in the US and Canada has tanked. And it's not all due to Amway the corporation itself, but rather Amway IBO leaders who teach and condone unethical behavior. Of course, I don't know of any significant measures that Amway has taken to discipline some of their wayward IBOs, but that's another story.

During my blogging career, I've seen young people who were discouraged from attending college so they could build an Amway business. I've personally seen people go bankrupt and lose their homes because they followed the advice of their all-knowing uplines. Sure, people have some responsibility for their actions, but I feel as if some of these kinds of actions by some IBOs and IBO leaders is predatory and focuses on people who can least afford to funnel money into the business and the leech teaching systems such as WWDB or Network 21.

I've seen ridiculous product claims such as people claiming that bottled water could cure ills and make you athletically superior. Of course, this water costs about $50 a case when you could buy 8-10 cases of water at Walmart for the same price. They claim superiority in their vitamins without unbiased scientific evidence to support their claims. Perhaps that is why the Amway vitamins seemingly are consumed nearly exclusively by IBOs themselves.

Despite claims by Amway supporters and IBOs that things are changing in Amway for the better, there is plenty of evidence that nothing has changed. Outrageous income claims. I thought the Dateline show in 2004 exposed some crazy stuff with an Amway IBO leader claiming that people could earn $250K per year with a part time effort, but then my friend Rocket (fellow blogger) finds this gem with an IBOAI member and crown ambassador in WWDB/Amway claiming you can make hundreds of thousands of dollars a month: http://rocketsrants.blogspot.com/2011/09/amway-guys-they-sure-say-stuff.html

I wonder if that diamond himself even makes that kind of money?   Ironically, his triple diamond brother wasn't even close to that when his chapter 7 bankruptcy papers were exposed a few years ago.

So to Amway prospects and apologists, the Amway corporation itself may be perfectly legal and clean, but the root of many evils comes from Amway uplines and AMO leaders. It is for this very reason that many get turned off just at the mention of the Amway name. Amway can stop them, but will they?

The Real Pitch?

 Many or possibly most people have experienced some kind of pitch by an Amway IBO sometime during their lives.  My first Amway pitch was an invitation to a beer bust while I was in college. I arrived at the meeting expecting beer and pizza only to see people in suits giving a presentation. They spoke about how you could generate income by eliminating the middleman from product distribution. Creating efficiencies was a way to generate money and Amway was it. On the surface, it can seem as if everything the speaker said made sense, although real life practice doesn't bear it out.

Sell and use consumables. Consumables need to be re-purchased so obviously it is a good way to run a small business. What wasn't discussed was the higher prices of the products/consumables. What many people do not see is that Amway's generous bonuses have to be built into the price of the products. For this reason, Amway cannot compete with big retailers who don't have to add salespeople bonuses into their prices.  And big retailers have the leverage to squeeze out the best prices because of the volume they move.

But if you look beyond all of this and still think Amway is a good opportunity, then the real Amway pitch comes in. People get excited about working part time, 2-5 years to earn willable and residual income which will allow someone to retire early and leave a legacy to future generations. This is the point where the Amway presenter makes the pitch about people needing training.   By the way, Amway does not allow the use of willable and residual income.  If it were trye, Amway the corporation would be using these terms in their business disclosures.

Then you'll be told need tools. After all, a carpenter can't build a house without tools, right? So many people who think Amway will make them rich, start to invest in their "tools". Sure, the Amway functions and some other materials can make you feel good or motivated, but in the end, the tools are supposed to help you generate sales and to increase your business revenue. What goes unnoticed in many cases is that the Amway tools are the reason for an IBO's net losses. The upline will justify this by telling stories about how success is right around the corner or that you should never quit and you will eventually make it.

All of this rhetoric from Upline is nice, but people who don't quit have no assurance of making it. Look at the fruit on the tree is what IBOs are often told at meetings and functions.  Sounds rosy, but in the end, my former LOS, WWDB, I believe has fewer diamonds now than when I was an IBO 30 years ago. My former sponsor was still active in Amway after 25 years (not sure about now) and he's not even a platinum. You don't see many new diamonds except for in foreign countries. To me, this is evidence that Amway is saturated and there is little chance of future success. This is why there are mostly tired old diamonds working until they pass away. If the diamonds were so "awesome", why aren't all of their kids and close friends also in diamond club?

The answer is that the Amway pitch can sound good, but it doesn't work. From 2013 to now, Amway revenues are down.  From a peak of 11.8 billion in 2013 to lower levels now, unless I'm mistaken.  I believe Amway is a sinking ship.

Ignoring Facts?

One of the bat sh*t crazy things that our Amway upline taught the group was that the facts don't matter when you have a dream. There is evidence that this is still taught today and in particular, I have heard that from IBOs who claim to associate with WWDB. IBOs are taught to ignore facts because the facts make their Amway businesses look like a joke. Spend $300 a month on products to gain a $10 rebate when you could have bought the same or similar products at Walmart for a fraction of the cost. Then many IBOs spend another $200 or more so they can be taught to ignore facts or that this is somehow a great deal.  Even in a Bizarro world, it's hard to make any sense of this kind of teaching.

Any real business owner would never ignore facts. A real business owner makes business decisions based on facts. IBOs are being duped into making business decisions based on emotions and hype.  The hype of fantasy.  The hype of becoming uber rich by purchasing Amway goods.   The Amway opportunity already is already saturated with handicaps and challenges, particularly in the US and Canada, where the reputations and previous antics of fellow IBOs has so stained Amway's name that it appears to be negatively affecting sales and preventing any meaningful growth. Despite what Amway apologists claim, Amway revenues have shrunk since they peaked more than 10 years ago and I do nto believe that have ever fully recovered.   Amway will likely continue to struggle unless improvements and corrections are made, in my opinion. It's also possible that it is too late to right the ship at this point.

It is also why many IBOs talk about how Amway saves marriages, or Amway made them nicer people. Uplines will teach this because it takes a business owner's focus away from their bottom line, the profit or loss. Or IBOs are taught that a loss just means they are investing in their business, despite being told upfront that there is little or no investment needed and that a profit can be turned quickly in Amway. These uplines have gone on for years with no accountability placed upon them by either Amway or their downlines. Any "incidents" are simply ignored or history revised by uplines.

There are blogs on the internet, where IBOs write about buying homes in cash, and Amway IBOs having a 2% divorce rate compared to more than 50% in the rest of the world, yet you have Amway defenders claiming this isn't being taught, when clearly it is. Cover it up all you want; the evidence is right there but these folks aren't interested in the facts. I urge great caution to people who are ignoring facts to pursue an Amway dream.

And really, if you're taught to ignore facts, maybe you need to rethink who you're in business with.

The Amway "Bizarro" World?

 When I was an Amway IBO, 30 years ago at this point, I was all "gung ho" because although new, I was excited because I was sponsoring people and my business was growing.  I moved up the rankings and crossed the Amway stage as a 1000 pin, 2500 pin and later a 4000 pin.  I was considered a "mover and shaker" so I had "earned" the opportunity to spend time with our upline diamond.  I got to attend some home board plans and got to "associate" with the diamond.  The experience was coveted by many and here I was "living the dream".

But along the way, I noticed some strange things about the Amway business that defied explanation.   Sort of a "Bizarro" world, coining a phrase from I believe the Batman comics.  So what are these bizarre things I noticed?   Well, we always talked about business and how much money diamonds made.  So I once casually asked my sponsor how much cash he was making (we were friends prior to Amway)  and he told me "none of my business".  I thought it was odd when they tell the audience that the upline diamond makes $40,000 a month or something of that nature.  Even at functions we were bombarded by talk about residual income, fabulous vacations, financial freedom, etc.  

I attended an audience where we were told that "losing money was success".   If you were not yet cash positive, but were learning the system and developing your IBO skills, then you are a success even if the cash wasn't there yet because we were in training and this was simply a prelude to untold wealth and financial freedom.  Some upline taught "fake it till you make it".  Meaning, pretend to be wealthy until you became wealthy.  The problem was that nobody I knew of was becoming wealthy, at least not because of Amway.   After a while, the Amway business just became sort of a mundane job where were paid to work rather than being financially rewarded for our efforts.   But don't forget, it's your own fault if you aren't succeeding, despite following the "foolproof" system that they constantly promoted.  Even though I was doing ok as an IBO, I started to see and notice these bizarre events and started to wonder what the end game really was.

Then we got taught about submission to upline.  This one was hard to take.  So for example, if I was already an established successful businessman but joined Amway and some 22 year old was my upline somewhere, I was supposed to listen to his advice simply because he joined Amway before me even if he maybe hadn't accomplished much in the business itself.   Does that make any sense to anyone?  And at functions, we were not supposed to "crossline" which is to talk business with other IBOs because we had no financial interest in their business, thus that advice only came from directly upline, which was also odd, because it was common at functions to have crossline diamond speakers, which they told us was ok because it was a diamond speaking.   Wouldn't a newbie IBO be able to benefit from speaking to me, a 4000 PV pin?

And there are others, but I recall my sponsor being under the weather and said he had a "warm".  I assume he said it because it was the opposite of saying he had a "cold".  As if saying something opposite was going to change the facts of what is happening.  I could write a dissertation about all of the odd things that go on in the Amway IBO world, but these are a few that stood out to me during my IBO days.  Thankfully, I snapped out of my Amway trance fairly quickly and recovered in time to build a nice career and life for myself and my wife.   Anway bizarro stories to share?  Please leave them in the comments.

Random Observations?

 Observation #1: In general, IBOs are less successful in life than others. That is why they are more open to the business and why they can be convinced that there is a shortcut to retirement and perpetual wealth. When I was still young and a newbie IBO, I was not where I wanted to be financially, as I was younger and at the earlier stages of my career. I would not be open to “options” right now, however, many people looking for more in life or a shortcut to retirement may be more susceptible to looking at options. It's just that the Amway opportunity, in my opinion, is a poor option.

Observation #2: The biggest zealots/supporters appear to have the smallest businesses. They talk the talk - but no evidence of walking the walk. Also, any discussion about their personal success with the business is limited and shrouded in secrecy or they will make vague references about their level of success. They will say that their incomes are not relevant to the discussion or will point out a copy of someone's check or show a picture of a diamond's mansion, but will never disclose real financials like a REAL business owner would.

Observation #3: The business has a bad reputation and cannot be marketed to the general public without some degree of deception. It’s why there are so many testimonials of people tricked into attending meetings (including myself). Being straight forward with information will likely get you a resounding “No thanks”.

Observation #4: It would appear that much upline teaching is not focused on actually running a profitable business, but dedication to the system. It’s why so many IBOs don’t seem to know what a profit loss statement is, and don’t bother keeping one themselves. It’s also why the content of many BSMs is to purchase more BSMs. At functions, they will tell you to attend more functions and buy more standing orders, and on standing orders, they will tell you to never quit and to attend more functions.

Observation #5: IBOs in general don’t seem to have planned out their retirement. They are convinced that the Amway opportunity will provide for them when they reach their retirement years. They put down people who are working jobs and investing for their futures. They feel that purchasing function tickets is their investment for retirement. While a fraction of 1% might make some significant money in Quixtar, the vast majority do not. The fact that the majority may not have put forth a Herculean effort is irrelevant in my opinion. The bottom line is that the vast majority will not make an income from this opportunity. To ignore this fact is burying your head in the sand.