One of the biggest points of contention between Amway critics and Amway supporters is the debate about tools, or business support materials (BSM). These materials commonly consist of voicemail, website fees, cds, standing order, books and seminars or functions. I agree that some training might be helpful to a new IBO, but how much training? A sponsor is obligated to train those whom they sponsor, so how much training do you actually need? Also, I used to wonder why you couldn't buy a certain book at Barnes and Noble if it was cheaper than buying it from Upline?
The Amway business, broken down to very simple terms, is buying and selling products, and recruiting others, if you desire to build volume and perhaps to achieve a "level" in the business. The tools, or BSM are often touted as the key to your success as an IBO, but it is often a conflict of interest for upline to promote this as some of them profit from the sales of BSM. Also, according to the Amway accreditation rules, a written and transparent compensation plan for their professional develop program (tools/BSM) is required, but I have yet to actually see IBOs who know about this. Seems this aspect of accreditation is either not policed, and/or it seems IBOs are certainly not aware of this. After all, if IBOs and prospects are told that there is income for IBOs via tools at a certain level, how do you know if you qualify, and for how much?
But aside from that conversation, what purpose do the tools actually serve? I have heard IBOs talk about how they benefit from tools, but when asked if the tools resulted in a net profit from Amway, the silence was deafening. When I was an IBO, and apparently even now, the tools rarely contain specific material about how to actually run a profitable Amway business. There were no standing orders that told me how to track profits and expenditures. There were no speeches about record keeping and how to file business taxes. There were no meetings where we discussed return on investment of both time and money.
There was talk about dreams, and ignoring facts if the dream was big enough. There was talk about it being okay to go into unscured credit card debt, as long as it was to buy tools or more function tickets. There was talk about sacrificing family needs if it meant buying more tools. Sure, upline didn't force you to do this, they simply convinced you that it was a good idea, much like how a conman makes you think you are making a good decision when they are playing you.
This blog doesn't serve to convince you one way or another about the many subjects, but to offer a differing opinion for IBOs and new prospects to base their decisions on. If you see things here that make sense, I urge you to read more, and to ask your upline or sponsor the tough questions about the tools, or your continued involvement, especially if you are at a net loss at the end of the month.
Amway does not police its various subsystems like WWDB and BWW and Network21 on accreditation policies, nor does it insist on "a written and transparent compensation plan." Why? very simple -- the subsystems and their maniacal leaders have essentially told Amway to fuck off. Subsystems make their money from the tools and functions racket. From their point of view, they are the lifelines that feed cash back up to Amway in Ada, Michigan.
ReplyDeleteTherefore they refuse to let Ada, Michigan tell them how to make money. Their attitude is "Leave us alone! We're making money for you! Don't try to hamstring our procedures!"
And Amway has folded like a cheap camera. They refuse to police the subsystems.
Your comment has substance. Back in 1983, Rich DeVos made a speech called "directly speaking" (I believe you can find transcripts on the internet) and he basically said the "systems" such as N21, WWDB or BWW were pyramid schemes. But the "systems" leaders held a boycott against Amway when they tried to clean up the system abuse. Amway caved in and the systems were free to do what they wanted.
ReplyDeleteSometme after the 2004 Dateline show on Amway, they created an "accreiditation" system, but I discovered that they (Amway) awarded a system accreditation at a function where the accreditation rules were broken. A speaker spoke about political issues, which was banned from by the rules.
I believe the rules are still broken freely, but in smaller groups where the information is not recorded.
Joe,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this blog. I read it regularly to remind myself why I will never again be involved with Amway or WWDB.
I got involved with the business back in 2013 because I wanted to replace our jobs. I thought that there couldn't be a better way to do that by helping others do the same. I've always been very passionate about helping people - and I still am - which is why I am writing this comment now.
I was "Core", worked very hard at it, and lasted a little over a year. In that time, I sponsored two people, had three regular customers, and paid full retail (as suggested by upline) for personal use. After the first six months, I consistently averaged 300PV/month. I felt like I was doing a lot of work for little-to-no return. I was getting frustrated, but even though upline always had encouraging words, somehow I felt like a massive failure and I stared hating my job. This is significant because my wife and I are very successful in our careers and, for the most part, have been happy with the jobs we have.
The turning point for me was (ironically enough) at a major function when I realized that *success itself* was being marketed to me. In the weeks following that function, I stopped all Core activities and ignored calls/texts from my sponsor. I got bitter and depressed and felt like I had been deceived by the very people who I had trusted. The months that followed were a very dark time for me, but I eventually came to terms (perhaps I'm still coming to terms) with it thanks to your blog and others like it.
I am writing this comment to try to help others (in some small way) who are currently involved to encourage them to take a step back to truly evaluate where they are, what they are doing, and how they really feel about it. I believe it would help a lot if they fully unplugged from the system while they did this.
Thanks again, Joe. You are doing very good work here. Keep it up!
Iboai.com ... provide information about Tax Guidelines for IBO's in North America.. as for "System-Save Your Self Time Energy & Money" ....optional as mentioned on Amway website also...upto each "I" individual to make that decision(like joining the business, buying from their suppliers to their own business).
ReplyDeleteNow, tell me any method(s) you are aware , to keep a community together?
Anonymous @8:19. You're welcome. I'm glad you get something out of the posts and eventually, you will heal like I did. For me, posting comments and sharing my story has been therapeutic and helped me to get over the scam and allowed me to heal and not feel anger over the deception of the Amway leaders. I wish you well.
ReplyDeleteTo Anonymous at 1:58 PM --
ReplyDeleteWe can only answer your questions when you learn to compose a coherent English sentence. That means a complete thought with a subject, a verb, and an object.
Perhaps being in Amway too long has degraded your linguistic skills.
The Amway "support materials" (tools, CDs, books, tapes, voice mail) don't offer a shred of help to you in building a business. They are nothing but hyped-up propaganda that encourages you to "dream" and "think big." But actual nuts-and-bolts business advice? Nothing at all.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing that IBOs spend money every month to get all of these asinine support materials. They might as well be flushing their cash down the toilet bowl.
Hope this Helps you and your readers-
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amwayinsider.com/2006/09/01/a-short-history-of-bsms-business-support-materials/