One of the reasons why I joined Amway at one time in my life was because a close friend of mine had joined, and had gone platinum and convinced me of how easy it was and that I could easily do what he had done. Additionally, I was sold by delusions of residual income flowing for the rest of my life. I honestly thought that the one day would come when there would be no job and life's toughest decision would be where to have lunch.
I got serious and started building the business and eventually reached various levels, eventually topping off at the 4000 PV level. At that point, my upline had assured me that my net income would be $1000 a month with the right parameters. I had those parameters but my net income was zero because upline expected IBOs to reinvest all of their earnings into tools (standing orders, functions, etc). At that point, I began to question why we would do all the work and get no financial reward. I was told that the money would be there if I just kept working the business.
Apparently, many IBOs get in for various reasons and I'm sure that teh displays of mansions, jets and cars made some people salivate. Some really enjoyed the thought of telling off their boss and quitting their jobs because Amway was so lucrative. Many people believe it because they want to believe it. Many people would love financial freedom, especially when you have a 2-5 year shortcut to achieve it.
I recall some nite meetings where upline asked the group "why" we are building Amway. It was to spend more time with family, or to possibly gain financial freedom. A popular one was to retire the wife so she can be the one to care for the kids and eventually the dad wouold soon follow. In a nutshell, many people joined Amway as a means to have more time and more money. Money from your residual income and time because you won't need a job. The truly sad thing is that for the vast majority of people who try, even those who work hard at it, end up with less time and money as a result of Amway and the systems.
Rather than why you should build an Amway business, people would think about better and more realistic ways of securing their future. That hard fact is that only a fraction of 1% of people will ever make any decent money from Amway, and even those who might make some coin from Amway, much of that profit is rechanneled back into tools. IBOs would seriously be better off doing nothing than doing Amway.
Funny, since leaving Amway I've been able to "retire" my wife. And I've realized I can be a "full time Dad", to boot, without Amway! ;-)
ReplyDelete---Daniel, former WWDBer
IBOs would seriously be better off doing nothing than doing Amway? So, how do you make money then?
ReplyDeleteSince I left Amway, my life has truly been blessed. I won my home, I have no debts except for a manageable mortgage and my cars are bpaid for. I am looking at retirement in about 10 years from now which should be comfortable and include regular traveling abroad and within the US. All with a JOB and nothing to do with Amway.
ReplyDeleteanon, it's called starting a business that isn't amway. you do live on planet earth like the rest of us, right?
ReplyDeleteMaybe that's your experience but it certainly isn't mine plus, I'm not interested in working a job. I'm interested in working on my own terms and do things my way. So if you think that a job gives you what makes you happy then so are your accomplishments. It's pretty pointless for you to brag about how bad Amway is when you've quit and are happy with a job. You just feel better to be fed an hourly wage and be told what to do every single day, even be told when your lunch and bathroom breaks are. Good for you! So enjoy and shut up! I've put up enough with that crap and am fed up with it. I've researched Amway and didn't find anything that makes it seem as awful as you make it to be on this blog.
ReplyDeleteThis is probably my most hated reason for joining amway, to avoid the dreaded J.O.B.(not sure how to punctuate that). This is the rally cry of the amway apologist, and I am personally offended whenever I hear it. Why? Because I love my job! I really mean it. It allows me to get paid to do things that I would not even be able to do if didn't have that opportunity.
DeleteI often hear and read the standard talking point that usually sounds something like "do you really want to work yourself ragged to make someone else rich?" well ... In my case yes! The owner of my company has always treated me and my fellow employees like family, and he's the one taking all the risk. The worst thing that could happen to me is I lose my job, and the cheques stop rolling in. If you own abuisness, a real business, you can lose everything, and wind up in debt if something goes wrong.
My father owned his own buisness for over 10 years, and he was always under stress, under paid, and over worked. He ended up having to declare bankruptcy and now he's back at a job.
He may be disappointed, but I've never seen him happier. He works, gets paid and gets to forgett when he goes home.
I also see the argument that your boss tells you when you can eat, sleep, go to the bathroom etc. While this may be true for some low end entry level jobs, many jobs are very flexible about all of these things. I know many people that work whenever they want as long as they achieve their goals, and get their required weekly hours in.
On top of all of that, the people that I know who are involved in amway often have more rigid schedules than any of my other friends. Going to meetings and seminars all the time, do they get to decide when to hold the meetings? I didn't think so.
Freedom is a great goal, but what's the best way to accomplish that, by working to pay for the things you want to do, or using up all your time chasing the dream of being able to have total freedom.
You keep chasing your dreams guys, I'm going to live reality to the fullest, enjoying my J.O.B. and the things it affords me to do.
---Rant over---
smart! =)
Deletefuck off, dipshit!
ReplyDelete**proud Amway hater**