One of the reasons I started blogging was to share my personal experiences in Amway and WWDB, and to allow information seekers and prospects to get an insight into what I see as potential problems with the Amway opportunity. In many of my blog articles, you will notice that many of the problems I have identified with the Amway opportunity are more closely ties to a motivational group such as WWDB, BWW, or Network 21. But Amway apparently has allowed many bad practices to go unchecked, thus they are not completely guiltless in the abuse of downline over the years.
Too often, the Amway opportunity is misrepresented by IBOs. For example, I have heard so many times, that Amway is a franchise opportunity, which is not true. I have also heard so many times that an average Joe can work for 2-5 years, and create a willable and residual income that will allow you to not have a job, and possibly to allow you to enjoy untold wealth and luxury. If people could actually build the business and "walk away" to enjoy exotic beaches while cash rolls in, why can't anyone name 2-3 people who have done so? Instead we see diamonds an other actually quitting or working Amway until their death. Where is this freedom that the diamonds talk about?
The bigger problem is the promotion of motivational tools as being the key to success in Amway. Although technically "optional", most uplines will promote the tools as necessary and vital and that an IBO would be insane to build a business without tools. Thus many IBOs spend money on tools and sadly, most IBOs never make enough money in Amway to cover the cost of their tools. In fact, over a number of years, I have heard of people losing tens of thousands of dollars (or more) to the tools systems. And once you start participating in the system, the decision to quit can be difficult because of the time and money that an IBO may have already invested. Also, the thought that maybe upline is right and that persistence will pay off. Well, there is no unbiased documentation that persistence and hard work (and applying the system) actually works.
Amway defenders like to point out that all the new platinums and diamonds used the system, but FAIL to point out that the rest of the IBO force who may have worked just as hard simply ended up with business losses. Amway defenders also fail to point out that perhaps a larger number of platinums and diamonds may have failed to requalify at that level. So much for willable and residual income. By the way, if residual income is a benefit of the Amway business, why can't I find anything from the Amway corporation to confirm this?
I could go on and on, but lastly for now, I think it's a bit shady for diamonds to show off fancy cars or mansions as a way to flaunt their alleged success in Amway. I would prefer the traditional manner of reviewing business tax returns. Showing a copy of a check means nothing because business expenses may have exceeded the amount of the check, leaving an IBO with a net loss. But in the Amway opportunity, it is common practice for IBOs to hide their income or to show a diamond's Mercedes as proof of income. It doesn't add up for me and I would urge information seekers and prospects to scrutinize someone who tries to impress you in this manner. For all you know, your diamond rented the sports car you are seeing.
Those are some of the issues I see with this opportunity. I challenge IBOs and LOS leaders to clean it up.
As I understand it, the official Amway literature now says that prospective recruits cannot be told that there is "residual" or "unearned" income in Amway, or that high-level pins are no longer actively involved in the business (i.e retired).
ReplyDeleteBut I defer to other here who may be more familiar with the official Amway pronouncements.
I cannot confirm or deny that Amway has made that a rule but I can guarantee you that the IBOs have not stopped making those kinds of statements.
DeleteMy sponsor got my attention by utilizing this analogy...if you shoveled horse manure for 2-5 years and didn't get paid, would you do it if you could make $250,000 after that for the rest of your life every year. I of course said yes, because I thought it was the same principle as going to college. When I went to college I assumed that I would be learning a skill that would eventually generate me a job/career which would create a consistent revenue stream to enjoy living life to the fullest. This was apparently a common test that people failed...because they did not have the determination to see things through. It wasn't until later after doing a lot of research that I learned there was no guaranteed plan to work your butt off for that time and generate an endless income. In fact, it became quite apparent that it was the opposite of that. I can guarantee there are still plenty of IBOs using this deception (knowingly or not) to generate leads, prospects, and new eventually new IBOs. I don't see this trend changing anytime soon, because it does have success in generating interest.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Ben, more like PAYING tens of thousands of $$$$ a year for the privilege of shoveling manure for 2-5 years for free for less than a 0.03% chance of making $150K/yr BEFORE expenses, and working your ass off to maintain that, if it happens. No college, career, or business, has those low odds of return on your investment of time, effort, and money.
ReplyDeleteEven those who "make it" might earn some decent money but they are doing it at the expense of those who are in the downline. If you don't mind lying and taking their money then I guess you have what it takes to be a diamond.
DeleteThat's the heart of the matter, Joe. Being successful in Amway means taking financial advantage of persons who are less shrewd and less grasping and less selfish than you are. You exploit their time and energy (and money!) for your own ends.
DeleteAnd you spout the horrendous lie that you are "helping them."
Yeah, that's one of the aspects of Amway that's sort of evil. You pretend that you're helping pwople and in reality it's like you're reaching into their wallets and extracting money.
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