One of the things I recall as an IBO was thinking how sorry I felt for people who were not Amway IBOs because we were all going to be rich and everyone else was a loser. Our upline used to tell us that we were winners - and if you weren't a winner, then obviously, you are a loser. Many times, the term "broke" was attached to the term loser. That was my mindset back then, but having been out of the system more than ten years, I can look back and laugh, realizing that the losers were the ones buying stuff they don't need, stalking people at malls and bookstores, and wasting their time and money on tapes (cds), books and functions. We were losing both time and money, which is ironically what we joined to attain more of.
What goes unnoticed in many cases, is how much time and money really goes down the drain for Amway IBOs who work the system. Your life revolves around the business if you are dedicated and hard core. You are always looking for prospects and people to show the plan to, and you have to rearrange your schedules, or outright skip social or family gatherings because of the neverending number of meetings and functions, many of which teach you nothing about running a profitable business. When I first left the Amway business, I was sort of angry at the time and effort that was wasted, along with the cash I threw down the crapper.
But after I did finally cut ties with the business and the people associated with it, I got back into a routine of sorts. I focused on my job and after some years of gaining experience and working my way up the corporate ladder, I received some promotions and I am scheduled to be retired before the age of 56 with a decent retirement income and will likely have my home paid off by then. So while I did have to work a dreaded job to be able to retire, pretty much all IBOs are also working a job or business PLUS having to expend their time and money to run their Amway business which has little to no chance of providing a long term stable and significant income. And if I may add, it is the systems such as WWDB or N21 that usually end up costing the IBOs the most money because of things like the functions, voicemail, cds and recruitment meetings.
So I will ask the question. Who's the real loser? The person diligently working and saving for their future or the person chasing a dream that is unlikely to materialize? Factoring in the expenditure of time also makes the systems even more costly than it appears on the surface.
I was part of the BWW system and in December 2016 my upline sat down with me and told me that I have to go Platinum this year (2017). He said it would take about 6 months of concentrated effort. He told me that I would have to miss all family events, social events and sacrifice to get rich. I could not believe what he was telling me...even things about missing my children's birthdays and if they were sick I should make other arrangements. Needless to say, I missed the very next BBS and that day was the last day I met with him. I will never ever compromise my family life for a venture that has been proven not to work for most people. And I will never submit to someone who claims to be Q12 Platinum for 11 years but still lives in his mother-in-law's house. Something has to be fundamentally wrong.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. What some Amway leader do to people they think can "make it" in Amway is exactly what you experienced and what I experienced. Your upline thought you could succeed so they told you to eat sleep and crap Amway, which is what I was told. My sponsor even told me to dump my girlfriend (now wife of 21 years) because a single can build the business faster and you can easily find a nice girlfriend as a single platinum or ruby.
ReplyDeleteIt's sick when you think about it.
It's sick when these people dictate your personal life.
ReplyDeleteDear Joe --
ReplyDeleteExplain to us what a "Q12 Platinum" is, and how much money such a person should be making from Amway after eleven years.
The idea that this guy was still living in his mother-in-law's house tells us a lot about the Amway fraud.
A Q12 platinum is someone who moved 7500 PV 12 consecutive months in Amway's fiscal year. It's hard to say how much that person would earn because it would depend on his business structure.
ReplyDeleteBut in general, I could offer an estimate that this person made about $2000 a month or a little more, and a bonus from Amway and possibly a trip paid for by Amway.
One of the issues I also had was my mentor trying to make me sacrifice important things for that BB class every week! One day I came home from work and my dog had been attacked and had to have emergency surgery to save his eye and my mentor tried to convince me to go to that stupid class instead!
ReplyDeleteFor fanatical Amway types, Amway is their one and only religion.
ReplyDeleteThey will sacrifice anything -- ANYTHING! -- to serve the great Amway god.