So many Amway IBOs quit and fail. I think the Amway corporation might need a calculator to keep track. And of the IBOs who work and try hard, most of those IBOs also end up in failure and losing money. After years of blogging about Amway, I believe it is because the uplines and the tools they sell to help IBOs are ineffective. When I was an IBO, I don't recall many tools that contained information teaching me how to run a business or how to run an Amway business. There was no talk about tracking income and expenses. In fact, our group was advised to ignore the facts. The scary thing about this is that it is evident that some groups are still teaching this.
Many IBOs and prospects are lured into the business by displays of wealth and not because of Bonafide and verified business credentials. A friend of mine sold his franchise business a few years ago and part of what he provided to the prospective buyer was the last three years of his tax returns, personal and business returns. But try asking an upline to even see a business profit loss statement or a schedule C business tax return and you are likely to be told it is none of your business. Instead, upline may show off a photocopy of a bonus check which may be an annual or a once in a lifetime bonus. Or upline may show off a sports car as evidence that they are successful. Sadly, some of these uplines might be broke, they may owe back taxes to the IRS and/or they may even be in debt but simply showing off wealth.
Some uplines have the nerve to discourage young people from furthering their education because they would rather they channel their money into Amway and tools. Some people are told to make family sacrifices to attend more functions or to buy more standing orders. I will grant that not all uplines do this but based on my experience, I would say more uplines do this than not. They will apply subtle pressure on new IBOs and the newbies probably don't know much about Amway or business so they basically have to choice but to trust a diamond who has allegedly achieved the pinnacle of success in Amway. Then uplines will often betray their disciples by saying that failure is the personal responsibility of teh IBO. That advice needs to be discerned by the new IBO and bad advice should be discarded, as if a new IBO would know what is good or bad advice.
I also see experienced IBOs who don't seem to know how taxes work. I see IBOs who were given the impression that Amway is easy and that they will work once and enjoy the fruits of their labor forever. Oddly, I don't know of a single IBO who did the work once and sat back collecting residual income forever. I find it odd that even tenured crown ambassadors continue to keep busy work schedules. I suppose they could just enjoy this lifestyle but still I find it odd that nobody I know of could specifically name an IBO who achieved diamond and higher and sat back collecting income while enjoying the beaches of the world.
Seems that IBO turnover and failure is more common than not in the AMO world. It also appears that incoming IBOs are like fuel to a fire. Without continuous recruitment and replacement of IBOs who quit, the organization would eventually fall apart along with the bonuses that the higher ups enjoy. It is my informed opinion that many IBOs fail because they aren't taught sound business principles. Despite the constant flow of cds/audios, voice messages and functions and meetings, it doesn't seem as if any practical information is passed from upline to downline. Only messages of never quitting and continuing to dedicate themselves to the system. The result is inevitable, and the expected result is failure.
There are a few reasons why your Amway up-line doesn't emphasize sales to ordinary retail customers.
ReplyDeleteThe first is that most people aren't good at it, and probably won't be able to make any sales except to a few friends and family members who will buy some of the Amway stuff out of pure pity. That sort of thing will last a little while, but not forever.
Second, when the new IBO realizes that he just can't sell Amway products to strangers (since the stuff is too expensive, too inconvenient, and not especially good), he'll quickly begin to question the entire Amway operation. Up-line is terrified of that, so they discourage it in favor of self-consumption and the recruitment of others to do the same.
Third, Amway IBOs are forbidden to use any normal advertising or other business procedures for selling Amway products to the public. They can't set up a store, or buy ad space in local papers, or have Tupperware-style house parties. IBOs are reduced to going door to door like an old-fashioned salesman, or directly soliciting people face-to-face, or hoping that someone will buy from their personal website on-line. This rarely happens, and certainly not enough to guarantee a profit.
So, if you can't advertise and you can't sell, what's left? Recruitment, that's all. You are urged by your up-line to rope in as many new members as possible, so that they can be the suckers who will work for you.
You might ask how such an absurdity could possibly continue at all. Well, that's where all the tools and the meetings and the hype and the functions come in. You need an endless tidal wave of wild enthusiasm and shouting and speeches and CDs to keep the low-level IBOs fired up and working hard! And with some really stupid people, this actually works. They will continue to lose money month after month, and still believe fiercely that Amway is the key to riches.
That's what your up-line wants: a lot of dedicated but stupid persons to sign up below him, and to take on whatever work or expenditure is necessary to give him a profit. That's why it's such a lie when someone trying to recruit you into Amway says "You look like a sharp guy..." What BULLSHIT! The reason he approached you is because you looked and sounded like a loser, and a nitwit. Those are the types who become Amway CORE lifers.
For this reason, the "tools" are actually quite effective. They keep the lower-level IBOs supercharged with energy, so that they will continue to maintain their monthly PV, use Amway products exclusively, attend meetings and functions, and buy whatever new CD or video is offered to keep them in a state of rah-rah-let's-go optimism, even when they are losing money steadily.
So yes, the tools are effective. It's just that they are effective not for the lowly IBO, but for everyone above him in the pyramid.