I was an IBO back in the 1990s'. Back then I was younger and I got sucked into the hype that there might be a "shortcut" to riches and early retirement. When you're in your 20's or 30's, the idea of retiring in 5 years with enough money to enjoy life is very enticing. While I was a bit skeptical, I wanted to believe it and because my sponsor was a good friend, I ended up getting involved, believing that my friend would be able to guide me to the promised land. For a while, I appeared successful, sponsoring people and growing my volume (PV). I became what the diamonds called a "mover and shaker". I got to ride to some meetings with the diamond and whatnot. What I didn't realize at the time was that was how the upline nurtured a potential future "platinum" or direct distributor at the time.
While it looked like I was successful and climbing the ladder of success, what I saw behind the scenes was making some money but losing it right back because of functions that required air travel (I'm in Hawaii) or because following upline advice, I was investing in books, and tapes (now cds) and doing everything I could to "duplicate" my upline so I too, could be financially free.
At the time, our upline stood on stage and swore that nobody profied from tools. I thought that was odd because at big functions, we paid more than the cost of a rock concert for example, and I know that the rock stars were making good money, or they wouldn't hold concerts. And there's also the smaller functions and I also knew that rock stars made money selling (tapes at the time) cds. So I knew there was money involved but at the same time, our trusted diamonds said nobody profited and at the time I believed them. Eventually, I quit because at 4000 PV, I had no net profits as promised by upline. They kept telling me not to quit, the money will be there. But they also started trying to control my life. For example, they wanted mt to ask permission to get married, or to buy a new car. These were factors in why I eventually quit, plus the lack of a net profit.
Shortly after I quit, I came across a Newsweek article that completely exposed the fact that the diamonds had lied and thay they made HUGE profits on tools. Some making more from tools than Amway. And the tools were supposed to be the secret to Amway success, but they were the secret to the diamond's success. And why wouldnt it? The tools had a much larger profit margin than Amway products, and basically only the emeralds and higher were getting any real money from the tools. I eventually forgot about the article and life went on.
Then one day I was googling to see what had happened to my upline diamond and I came across a forum called "Quixtar Blog" (now defunct) and the entire tools scam and diamond lies were exposed. After learning much and finally understanding the scam that was pulled on me, I started a blog to share my experiences. My blog was very successful, with hundreds of thousands of hits. That blog crashed when it was hacked and sabotaged, probably by an IBO, or possibly David Steadson, AKA IBOFightback.
Then in 2009, I started this blog. I made some safeguards to prevent hacking and I've been fighting the good fight ever since. I update this blog so unsuspecting prospects or information seekers can google and find information quickly. At least if they decide to join anyway, it's with full disclosure. Many people find what they need and make informed decisions about Amway. I consider it a public service since there aren't many resources out there anymore.
In my opinion, Amway is a bad idea because the company name is soiled with a bad reputation. Their products are generic in quality but carry a premium price, making it hard to impossble to sell at full retail price to make money. And to succeed, you must recruit a lot of downline, something that most people are not suited for. Most people have a better chance at winning the lottery than succeeding in Amway, which is sad because Amway isn't a game of chance, yet success rates are similar to games of random chance. That's why I don't do Amway.
Joe, you are too kind and polite.
ReplyDeleteAmway is a goddamned CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE, designed to bleed people dry of their funds for the benefit of a few fat-assed diamonds and their Barbie-doll wives.
It's not just the wildcat LOS systems like BWW or WWDB or TEAM or URAssociation. Sure, they don't follow the rules. But Amway doesn't give a shit! Amway doesn't do a single damned thing to police these rotten little organizations! Amway turns a blind eye to their criminality, and therefore is just as guilty as these organzations are.
Amway has the money, power, and political influence to avoid prosecution. But so do the Colombian and Mexican drug cartels.
Great post! Valuable story.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jerry!
DeleteAmway made some changes and started what is called "accreditation". That process was supposed to weed out unethical behavior at functions such as deceptive income claims and/or to eliminate political influence.
ReplyDeleteBut the changes looks cosmetic as the groups such as WWDB or BWW or URA can simply edit their cds to meet accreditation standards. And in reality, the unethical teaching doesn't take place at functions, but at night owls and smaller meetings. The diamonds teach it to their platinums who pass it on at smaller more inteimate meetings.
It's brilliant because the platinum can say the diamond told us that and the diamond can deny it and say that wasn't exactly what was meant.
And if you stop and thing about it, Amway won't go out of their way to stop the bad behavior. They benefit from people signing up to be IBOs or they benefit from IBOs lying about the product to sell it. So why would Amway go out of their way to stop the abuses? And think about Amway's dropping revenues. They have less incentive to make any meaningful changes that hurt sales or recruitment.