Amway Prospects?

When I was an IBO, my upline used to advise us to recruit people who had a financial need or young people who were open minded as they may not have preconceived ideas about Amway. When I was recruited, I was not where I wanted to be financially as I was about 29 years old when I first got recruited by my sponsor. I believe that this is still common practice today, to look for people who are in need and then offer Amway as a solution. Young people will often be open minded about it because they are often just starting their careers and have many years to work before retirement can be thought of.

In my opinion, this is why some people defend Amway so fiercely. They accept Amway as their solution for long term financial stability and to admit that they were in error is difficult as it would not only expose the error, but would leave the IBO as not having that "hope" of long term financial freedom. After all, the pitch "2-5 years, part time" sounds pretty good for financial freedom.

Many prospects see big dreams when the diamonds parade on stage with designer suits and talk about waking up at noon and enjoying a lifestyle chock full of luxuries. It's almost like dreaming about hitting it big in Las Vegas or winning the lottery. I can't fault prospects for wanting some of these thing. I know I certainly had some of these same dreams when I was an IBO. But isn't it shady to sell prospects on those dreams, know they are very unlikely to get anywhere close to those dreams?

But the sad reality is that some diamonds are simply putting on a show, like a illusionist or a magician. Diamonds may indeed earn a six figure income, but after taxes and other expenses such as medical insurance, a diamond is very likely to live a very middle class lifestyle. Now I'm fairly sure that a crown ambassador type may have a million dollar income, but these Amway corwns are very rare, and the ones who exist have been in the business for a long time. There is not much chance of any new IBO coming in and achieving that level. In fact as time rolls on, it seems that more diamonds drop out due to divorce, better MLM opportunities or simply quit, or even pass away while still working the Amway business. It is apparent that long term residual income is a myth.

Amway currently reports that the average IBO earns $202 a month. That number is deceiving because Amway mentions in fine print that the "average" income is based on "active" IBOs. Only 47% of IBOs are considered as active, thus the real average income is about $100 a month. That $100 a month includes the diamonds and big shots who drive up the average. But that income also is gross and doesn't factor in time and business expenses used up building the Amway business. For this reason, you can easily see how IBOs can end up losing money. If Amway prospects knew about this, how many would actually think twice before joining?