I was in discussion on another forum and a comment was made about Amway being an iceberg, because you see the shiny clean ice on the top but you do not see the majority of the iceberg. Or in other words, the diamonds show you the fancy suits, jewelry, cars, mansions, jets and what you don't see is the financial carnage that takes place in their downlines at times. My former upline would tell audiences that they could skip meals to buy more standing orders because you might hear the one thing that could make your business explode.
Sure, on standing orders, you won't hear too much of the unethical and "wrong" teaching, because some of this is monitored by Amway, but it's the night owls and smaller group meetings where the real teaching is disseminated. This is where you are told to practically sell your soul to achieve in Amway. This is where the teaching comes in where you should be purchasing excessive amounts of tools in order to succeed. This is where you are told to never miss a function unless it's for your own funeral. A newbie or casual observer won't see these things but if you ever commit to becoming a business builder, this is likely to become your world.
You don't see the backstage at functions and meetings. Former rubies and platinums have made commentary about the diamonds literally laughing about how gullible the downline are. You don't see the where the cash collected at the meetings and functions go. There had been some past comments about literally, suitcases of cash leaving the premises. If your upline has a mansion and a fleet of nice cars, it's likely that your tools money played a significant part in your diamond obtaining it. A diamond in Amway receives most of their money from bonuses and not from monthly volume checks, thus it is the functions where a lot of their money comes from.
It's a simple conclusion. The tools have a higher markup than Amway products and have fewer beneficiaries to split up the bonus. A $7.00 Amway product might cost $3.00 or so to make and the rest will be bonus money split up by the layers of IBOs. Whereas a $7.00 cd might take 50 cents to produce and only platinums and higher receive any compensation from this srouce of income. But rank and file IBOs rarely ever see a true and transparent picture of this business. It is shrouded in secrecy, just like the underside of an iceberg. I challenge IBOs to be real businessmen and women and ask upline the tough questions about where the money is made. Do not accept rhetoric and anecdotal stories. In real business, schedule C business tax returns are the normal way for verification of business income. If you are going to "invest" your hard earned money into the system to the benfit of upline, you should demand this information.
Would any of you purchase a conventional business from someone without proof that it is profitable? Why would an Amway business be any different?
Absolutely correct, Joe.
ReplyDeleteThe exterior face of Amway is one of big smiles, pep-talks, off-the-rack business suits, love-bombing, God-talk, and a lot of chatter about "hopes" and "dreams." It's the smirking face of the traveling salesman and con-man.
But the hidden face of Amway is seen in the small meetings in someone's basement or living room, where some vicious Platinum tyrannizes over people, and forces them to pay tribute to what is basically a protection racket and a cult.
DON'T JOIN AMWAY. It will be the biggest mistake of your life.
Yep, the big recorded meeting are about hype and dreams. But the smaller living room meetings is where the diamonds spread their vicious message of buying tools at all costs, even starving your family to get more tools.
DeleteI am so glad to have stumbled across this blog.I had been meeting with my upline for about a month in a half until last Friday when I realized this is just like Wake Up Now and other related schemes. Initially, I thought Amway/WWG would be different. After further research (and finding this blog), I found that to not be true.
ReplyDeleteI will say that I was privilege enough to have an upline who actually had somewhat of a good heart. It wasnt until we sat down at Starbucks to discuss my budget, he said that financially at the moment, this isnt for me. (I was too broke to be exploited LOL). However, it made me re-evaluate some personal finances and I also enjoyed the different books provided. I am now more wiser, financially conscious college graduate who doesnt mind working for what he wants.
Anonymous,
DeleteThat was essentially where I fell through the cracks, and I made a post a little ways back about how not having a dollar now saved me thousands of future dollars and hours. It's weird how this sort of thing works out sometimes, but it is also a huge red flag that these guys are approaching recent college grads. That means the people with real wealth, and possible investors have all been diluted, saturated, w/e synonym you want to throw in there...and now they need fresh capital anyway they can get it. You got very lucky that your upline wasn't going to try and "squeeze every last drop" out of you when he could, but try and be proactive if you see other college grads that are not as lucky.
I read some stories where Amway prospects are told that college is not important when you can build Amway 2-5 years and be financially free. What prospects usually miss is to ask where are all these financially free people?
DeleteI'm glad you found this blog and was able to get something useful out of it. Good luck to you!
ReplyDeleteYour platinum is busy wrecking on anyone's financial record, relationships, and emotionally. Your platinum has the nerve to tell an IBO to starve his family to buy tools, then tells an IBO to write those expenses for tax refunds and even skipping bills and mortgages to buy more tools.
ReplyDeleteSome leaders become absolutely shameless when it comes to squeezing money from their downline.
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