Many IBOs seem to think that success in business or in other aspects of life is simply a choice. They mistakenly believe that you can actually choose to succeed or not. They apparently believe that persistence and choosing to win will eventually land them a premiere spot at diamond club. If that were truly the case, wouldn't we see hoards of new diamonds each and every year? Instead, we see one here and one there, and while there are a few new diamonds in the US every so often, we see others quitting, dropping out or leaving Amway for greener pastures. Makes you wonder if the prize is worth pursuing in the first place. If diamond were the ultimate prize, why do some of them quit or resign without walking away to collect residual income?
But IBOs and information seekers should understand quite clearly. You cannot simply "choose" to win or succeed. In a football game, both sides can believe and choose to win, but still, only one can be the victor. In Amway, it is common for a platinum to have 100 to 200 downline. Thus to be a platinum, you need to be in the top one half of one percent of IBOs. To be a diamond, you will need to be in the top 600 to 1200 IBOs, not counting the masses of IBOs who register and do nothing or register and do a little and quit. Only one in about ten to twenty thousand will ever reach diamond in North America.
Sure, IBOs may cite some touching story like "Rudy". Basically a nobody who dreamed of playing football for Notre Dame. He busted his butt and did whatever it took to make the team and the movie ends with him getting in a game, making a sack and being carried off the field by his teammates in a blaze of glory. A great and inspiring movie. But what you don't see is the possible tens of thousands of young men who had the same dream, may have worked every bit as hard but circumstances and situations prevented them from achieving the same limited success. Uplines want you to think these kinds of stories can happen to everyone, but the fact is that there is only a little room at the top. If stories like Rudy were common, then there would have been nothing special about it. An elite athlete like a Michael Jordan or a Tiger Woods only comes along once or twice in a lifetime. It is like achieving diamond. It happens but it is a rare occasion, especially in North America where Amway appears to be shrinking instead of growing.
In the Amway business, many prospects and IBOs are motivated and driven to succeed. Many of them are fine young men and women who want more in life. But the vast majority of those who try will not achieve their dreams via the Amway opportunity no matter how hard they work and no matter how badly they want it. The reason is because there are too many variables that are not in direct control of the IBO. The Amway reputation in North America is spotty at best so sponsoring downline is nearly impossible. And when you can sponsor, chances are your downline will do little or nothing. Many new IBOs will work hard, but quit because they are faced with the challenges I just mentioned. And even if you can overcome the overwhelming odds, you still need to keeping working hard constantly to maintain the business, all for an unstable average diamond income, which doesn't consider taxes, medical insurance and other perks you may receive at a job. All told, I believe the diamond income is not all it's cracked up to be when you consider the charade you must play to display the diamond lifestyle. Do the math and you will be able to see for yourself.
In the end, it seems as though the prize isn't as great as it seems, and the trail to success is one that most cannot endure. And even if you achieve diamond, you can lose it quite easily as others have discovered. The bottom line is that you cannot simply choose to succeed in Amway or any other endeavor. Good luck if you decide to attempt it anyway.
4 comments:
Quite right, Joe. If we could all "choose" to be successful, the world would be filled exclusively with successful people. But it isn't.
Someone may want to be brain surgeon. He "chooses" to follow that path. But if he is dyslexic and can't read a medical text, or if he has bad memory and can't remember the anatomy of the human brain and nervous system, or if he is born with shaky and unsteady hands, HE'S NOT GOING TO BECOME A BRAIN SURGEON, no matter how much he "chooses" success in that field.
Should people be encouraged to hope? Sure. But they shouldn't be encouraged to hope for something that is objectively impossible! If you're a paraplegic, you can't "hope" to swim the English channel. No matter what your half-assed high school guidance counselor tells you, you can't do everything.
You mention the story of Rudy. An even better example is that stupid movie "Chariots of Fire." And the saccharine theme-music from that absurd film is a favorite of "impossible dreamers."
Of course everyone should have goals and dreams but there is also reality and certain limitations. The Amway tool systems would have you believe that anyone and everyone can become a millionaire thru the Amway opportunity but the reality is that very few, effectively 100% (rounded up) do not.
Or shall we say there are thousands of young people who wanted to be a singer or a pop artist but out of the thousands of people wanting to be a pop star, how many of them can reach to the likes of Taylor Swift or Justin Bieber?
Yes, but the difference would be that singers or pop artists typically know that their chance of stardom is a long shot. IBOs are taught that they can all go diamond, which is BS.
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