One of the things that our group was taught while in Amway was that we were supposed to be accountable. Upline stressed this and said we need to be good for our words. Looking back, this was one of the things that really ticks me off the most about my time in Amway. The upline stood on stage telling us to be accountable and to do what we say. These diamonds that stood on stage speaking about accountability were telling bold faced lies to the audience and have never been held accountable for their actions.
These diamonds stood on stage telling the audience that nobody make money from the tools. It was a bold face lie. Eventually the internet exposed this lie and the diamonds pretended it never happened. Now they admit they make "some" money about from tools but they never actually disclose exactly how you qualify and how much you receive once you qualify. In other words a written compensation plan is not readily available. It's more of a wink wink and a handshale. What was insidious about this was these leaders told the downline that the tools were vital to your chance of success and nobody ever succeeded without tools but you can try to be the first. (Does this sound as if tools are promoted as optional as per Amway rules?)
The other thing that most IBOs don't notice is how IBOs who make any progress, even if little, will be touted as products of their foolproof system. Yes, follow the tools and the system and you're assured of success right? But heaven forbid, if you fail (like the vast majority do), it's your own fault. You didn't work hard enough, you didn't try hard enough, you didn't undertsand what upline was saying. You didn't follow the system exactly right. You only have yourself to blame if you fail Amway. As an aside, I did what my upline asked and I was edified and had the parameters that my upline advised. (I was an eagle) But despite doing the work and driving the miles and achieveing what I was told, I made no net profit. I was told that the money would be there if I kept on going. I was already becoming suspicious about the tools scam so when I did the math, I realized that (I was at 4000 PV) going platinum wasn't going to make me much money either for my time and efforts.
You can't make profits if you follow the system (dedicated) because all your profits go right back into the syetem. You also have to help your downline. So in summing it up, success is credited to the system but failure is the fault of the IBO.s Flip an coin and it's heads I win and tails you lose.
And then if that isn't enough, people who quit are labeled as quitters or broke losers. It's a subtle way of keeping people in the system. Nobody wants to be labled as a loser right? So you try to press on. You have a fear of being a quitter and you've also been taught that people no in Amway are broke and have little hope for a good financial future. And all the while upline is laughing all the way to the bank. When I finally quit Amway, it felt werid, like I had so much free time on my hands and it seemed like I had extra money because I had no business expenses.
All the while, the same old upline are still teaching some of the same garbage even to today, and have never been held accounatble for their lies and bad business advice. I decided to start informatative blogging to provide information to information seekers so people can see what to expect from upline. Have I made any difference? I don't know but I'm sure that most people, armed with information, would not choose to get involved ina business where the vast majority fail, despite putting in the time, effort and money to succeed. The upline have never been accounatble for their actions. I blog as a way to allow prospects to know what to expect if they're being recruited. My efforts may make littelt difference in the big picture, but let me close with a story.
A little girl was walking along the beach tossing beached starfish back into the ocean. A man walking on the beach told the little girl that there were thousands of starfish and that she can't possibly save all of them so her efforts were in vain. As the little girl tossed a starfish back into the ocean, she said "it made a difference to that one". That's why Joecool is still blogging today.
You are truly doing gods work Joecool! I stumbled onto one of your blogs from 2011 and was thinking "no way is this guy still creating blogs of this 5 years later." You truly saved me from joining Amway a few weeks ago! I just started a new job and one of my coworkers was like "I moved from Montana to the southwest to get closer to a wealthy couple that's mentoring me to become fully retired and a millionaire in 2-5 years." Of course me having a family and wanting "freedom" I went through two meetings over coffee then to a seminar about jobs are modern day slavery and you can't trust your family's advice on becoming financially free since they are employees. The seminar was 2 hours and they didn't even mention Amway until the last 15 minutes and was very brief about it saying it was just a vehicle for IBO's and the true success was the tools like Worldwide Group,doing your 5 cores, etc. They kept touting that an 18 year old still in high school was going to be retired before his piers would graduate college. There was about 35 people in that hotel conference room with all young and easily impressionable like I was. I was constantly showed pictures of the house my coworkers mentors lived in and the luxury cars they drove. I was never into vanity but it showed me that the system "worked" and being a person in a low wage job I thought this was going to change mine and my families life. I left that seminar like I was on cloud 9 thinking this is too good to be true and how lucky I was to have a caring coworker guide and mentor me through this journey. After reflecting about it on my hour ride home I had doubts thinking "too good to be true, too good to be true..." I began to think about how I would generate money since I would be a prosumer and was actually discouraged to sell the product to people like say Avon. I would have to offer "mentor ship" (recruit) 12 strong legs to do the same. When I heard mentor ship I thought it was actually learning how to have a successful business not just learning tips on how to trick other people into Amway and listening to their bullshit for $100 per class at worldwide group. Then my coworker showed me a seminar/retreat for double eagles and up he was going to and the flight alone was $400 and 5 star hotel was $800 for two nights. How was I going to make money requiring me to do that even though he said it was voluntary but only people truly plugged-in would be there.
ReplyDeleteAlthough gullible I looked up Amway (against my coworkers advice stating it was just negative rhetoric) and found previous lawsuits and ultimately your website. I feel sorry for him because he truly thinks that hes helping other people become financially free and I believe he is brainwashed from all the programming that worldwide group promotes and always doing his 5 cores and not looking at "negative" sources. It's truly sad to see a victim further victimizing others for the upper echelon 1%. This is truly a cult that I never would have thought to exist outside extreme religious sects. The worlds a scary place but if you keep your mind open and use this vast information available to you through the internet you will still find good people out there like Joecool and many others who were in Amway and found the ugly truth out. I also strongly recommend reading Merchants of Deception to get an inside look of The Business.
Once again Joecool thanks for your dedicated work on this blog site! I was actually between two crossroads at the time either going back to college or starting an IBO with Amway. Your efforts are one of the reasons why I'm going back to school to finish my degree. One more star fish is back in the ocean, able to spend his time truly bettering his and his families life!
Thanka for your comments. I'm glad that you saw through the deception and decided to further your education. I would advise that you also consider starting to save for your retirement very soon too. It really ticks me off that these hucksters in WWDB persuade young folks to skip college to build the business.
DeleteAll the Amway opportunity will do is set you back from your education and swipe your resources.
Yes, I don't know how many starfish I've saved but it is rewarding at times to hear from those who benefited from the information from this blog. Good luck and I hope much success in your future!
Bottomline: everything in amway is a one-way agreement in which only the higher ups are benefited.
ReplyDeleteWhen you stop and think, just about any advice you receive from uplines is something you paid for.
DeleteJoe Cool, you have saved hundreds -- maybe thousands! -- of people from getting sucked into the financial nightmare known as Amway. That in itself is a major public service.
ReplyDeleteThe sheer level of hatred and venom that one hears expressed against you at various Amway gatherings is staggering. My little cadre of fifth-columnists (who have connections to the Amway fraud) tell me that when your name is mentioned privately, big pins and those higher up in the up-line go into a state of choleric rage.
It's easy to see why -- your blog, against all normal expectations, continues for year after year, regularly, on an almost daily basis, to send salvos of negative publicity into the Amway colossus. The Amway bighsots simply can't understand this, since for them everything is money and profits, and they can't conceive of why anyone would do what you do without the slightest remuneration. Because of you they are losing fistfuls of money from potential recruits who never signed up. You have hit them very hard in the pocketbook.
But like that little girl with the starfish, you are acting on a purely disinterested and charitable impulse -- the desire to save others from something evil.
God will reward you. And He will send all those fat-assed, lying, smirking, money-grubbing, big-pin, Diamond, and Crown Ambassador scum to the fiery pit of Hell.
Thanks for your kind comments. The ones I do receive are motivation to keep going. I really don't know how many people have been aided by this blog but I've had nearly 700,000 site visitors so Im sure some have been helped.
DeleteAt least recently I haven't received any threats from what looks like enraged IBOs. LOL
Joe, you are not alone, you have friends like Anna Banana as your support... Keep the blog running and save more souls from financial and emotional nightmare...
ReplyDeleteYes, Anna and I are friends. I know she's helping spread the word too!
DeleteI'm another starfish you saved, Joecool. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteYou're most welcome!
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