I read on another blog recently written by an IBO, that your real friends would not walk away or cease to be your friends because of involvement in Amway. I do not believe your good friends would abandon anyone because of their involvement in Amway. However, they might avoid you for a while if you are always talking about Amway, or bugging them to join Amway. They might also feel that it is the IBO who has deserted the friendship in order to attend the endless number of Amway meetings and conventions.
As a former IBO myself, I know that I sacrificed many birthday parties and backyard barbeques. Our upline told us that these minor sacrifices would pay us back a hundredfold in the future. Looking back, not a single IBO crossline or my sponsor, ever got any significant payout from Amway. I believe that some IBO's relationships with friends and family may suffer, but not because of their involvement in Amway per say, but because the IBO is putting the relatiionships on hold while they pursue their Amway dream. It's almost like a friend who leaves home to attend an out of town college. Eventually they come home and your friendship is still there.
As an IBO, I remember our upline telling us that we needed to separate ourselves at times, to avoid negative. I believe this is still true today, based on what I see coming from current IBOs. IBOs might call it "association", where they think they are "hanging out" with successful people, but the reality is that the masses of IBOs are broke dreamers hanging out with each other.
Ironically, our upline taught us that we as IBOs were all friends for life. I recall a high level WWDB leader commenting that an IBO who "quits" is leaving their friendship, therefore the remaining group is not responsible for the failed relationship between current and former IBOs. When an IBO says friends for life, what they really mean for most is that you are friends for life as long as you never quit Amway. This is one of the reasons why Amway has been compared to a cult.
Shortly after leaving the Amway business, my dad passed away. Not a single person upline or crossline called or visited to pay their respects or to express their sympathy. Friends for life indeed.
Joe, good point. This kind of "business" sounds more like a cult.
ReplyDeleteThese IBO's are only your friends when they can extract your time and money.
I am looking for help. I know there is no one answer fits all. We finally got our daughter to agree to come home for a visit with us paying the plane ticket and some other things we had to negotiate. (She lives in another state.) She has gotten sucked into this Amway junk. We now have 4 days to convince her about Amway. I read your page and see so much about things she has told us. Anyway specific way to confront her?
ReplyDeleteTrue friendship is always based on something more than just convenience or financial interest.
ReplyDeleteYou don't have real friends in Amway. You only have temporary acquaintances who are using you.
Anonymous @4:32:
ReplyDeleteIf you want, you can email me. My contact information is on my profile on this blog.
As to your question here, it is unlikely that can simply confront your daughter and get her to see the light. More than likely, your daughter told her Amway leaders she is visiting and they have already "warned" her that you are likely to be "negative" about the business.
In most cases, the majority of people "snap out of it" quickly (within a month or a few months) once they realize that the money isn't there are building a downline is much harder than they anticipated.
You could try to ask about profits and losses and what is her plan to build a net profit, especially if she has net losses now, which is likely.
The upline may also have "loaned" her tools so her expenses might now be that high now, but once you sponsor a downline, you'll be expected to be a "business owner" and be the one who buys the tools to loan out.
I can only give these responses as I don't have enough information, but I'm always willing to give my opinions and share my actual experiences,