Let me make a disclaimer right off the top so Amway defenders don't try to discredit the post without reading it. The Amway opportunity is not a game of chance. But I will go on to explain how and why the opportunity can be compared to gambling and why the diamonds can be seen as a casino or the "house"
In the Amway opportunity, the odds against someone going diamond are astronomical. Literally millions of people have attempted to build an Amway business in North America over the years and diamond club for North American diamonds some years back had 160 diamond-ships represented. Certainly, some north American diamonds may have turned down a free trip to Hawaii but I'm guessing that's not a big number.The odds are also stacked in favor of the diamonds. Casinos are not built by winners, but by the hoards of losers. Just as a diamond business is not built by having a foundation of winners, but layers and layers of IBOs who are losing. The Amway opportunity is simply set up that way. Look at your common 6-4-2 plan or whatever version your group uses. The newest or biggest layer of IBOs make very little and when you factor in expenses such as functions or standing orders, the losses can be inevitable and in some cases, staggering
A diamond, like a casino will attract many young dreamers who think they can conquer the world and will get rich. They use bright lights and profile former winners just as Diamonds show off fancy cars and testimonies to lure in recruits. The newness of the opportunity gets you excited, just as someone walking into a casino might feel the excitement with the sounds of the casino. All you need is some effort and little luck right? Sadly, that excitement is all too often replaced with the harsh reality that most must lose in order for there to be a few winners, both in casinos and the Amway business.
Like casinos and diamond uplines, there is much caring for active IBOs and for players who are spending their money in casinos. But once you walk out of the casino, there is no special treatment, just as an IBO who stops building a business or stops being core quickly becomes forgotten and shunned. In Amway, people who said they were lifelong friends were never heard from again once an IBO missed a few meetings. If you re-emerge, you will find the love again, just as you will get free drinks when you start gambling again.
And yes, there are some exceptional people who can scratch out a nice living by gambling but they are few and far between, just as there are diamonds, but diamonds also have thousands of people who wanted diamond but could not achieve it. Those who can finally make it usually have an exceptional blend of skill and a bit of luck. Some even cheat/lie in order to gain a bigger edge, both in gambling and in Amway.
Like a gambling "system", the Amway opportunity has "systems". In either opportunity, the system doesn't work for the masses. There are an exceptional few who can make it work. Except in gambling, most people understand that the odds are stacked against them. In Amway, many new IBOs are told that anyone and everyone can succeed when it simply is not true.
Can you fulfill your dreams by gambling or with the Amway opportunity? The answer is yes, but the reality is that few will ever do so. Like casinos and Amway diamond-ships, both are built on the backs of those who lose, not on those who win.
Yes, Amway provides very little chance (statistically) for anyone to get rich in it. At least in a roulette game you have one chance in 35 to hit the right number. In Amway, the chances are astronomical.
ReplyDeleteBut there's something else. At a casino all you have to do to have a chance is to put your chips down on the table and make your bet. There's no more effort involved than that. But in Amway you have to work your ass off month after month, sweating and slaving, attending stupid meetings, showing the Plan, going to functions, and listening to your asshole up-line giving meaningless talks at night owls.
In addition, you have to keep on putting your money down month after month, in an endless series of losses. (At least at the casino you pour your money down for one bet, and you either win of lose quickly.)
A friend of mine once won $54,000 one night at a casino in Atlantic City. He bet wisely, and spent only a few hours there. How long would it take anyone to make such a sum in the Amway racket?
Most people lose money at casinos. But almost EVERYBODY loses who is an IBO in Amway.