One of the things that many Amway IBOs mistakenly believe is that they will build their Amway business and then they will have the ability to "walk away" from the business while the income continues to flow in. I believe if there was such an incredible benefit such as lifelong residual income that could be achieved from Amway, I'm fairly certain that Amway would advertise this as a benefit of being an IBO. But Amway does not. It is very likely that your LOS such as WWDB or one of the others will promote this benefit while telling you that your next chance to achieve it is by subscribing to their "system".
One thing that goes unnoticed all too often is that there seems to be nobody who is actually retired and living off the efforts of having built a big Amway business once upon a time. Seems that even the crown ambassadors still have busy lifestyles running from function to function and participating in other business-related activities. While many of these leaders may claim they love their downlines or some other bunk, it is my belief that these leaders keep working their Amway businesses for one reason only. That is they need to keep working in order to keep the income flowing in.The diamond lifestyle that is often portrayed may seem like a great goal or dream to achieve, but the fact of the matter is that a "diamond lifestyle" cannot be sustained on diamond income. The average diamond, according to Amway, earns about $150,000 a year. While that may seem like a great amount of income, it's not nearly enough to sustain the kind of lifestyle portrayed by diamonds. Even if that income is supplemented by income from the sale of tools, you can't fly your family around the country first class to do all kinds of functions and still end up with much leftover to own fancy homes and cars.
If I deposited $1000 in the bank and never touch the money, the bank would pay me a certain amount of interest each year, guaranteed. That is residual income. In Amway, you can basically earn income in two ways. You can sell products for a profit, but there are problems with this. First off, Amway products in general are more expensive than local retailers. It is why you hear so many justifications about quality and concentration, because you are hard pressed to argue cost. Secondly, you are severely restricted from advertising, thus selling can be difficult. The other way to generate more income is to build a downline in hopes that the downline will help you to leverage your volume. But then your downline will have the same problem that you had in moving products. That being said, even if you achieve some level such as emerald or diamond, your business will immediately begin to fall apart once you stop working because attrition will take its toll. It is why there are hoards of "former" platinums. If platinums are not sustainable, then neither is any other level.
There are many many instances of diamonds quitting, resigning, or falling out of qualification. People come and go in this business every day. Do you really think you can bank on retirement and residual income under these circumstances? If you believe that, I have some swamp land in Florida to sell you.
Amway was pitched to me as a way of making passive income, but after being in it for a couple of months I told my upline that once I hit Diamond level that I would not want to attend meetings anymore, and I'd like to take my own solo vacations. My upline told me that I was being irresponsible and selfish for thinking that way. I was disappointed because I honestly hated the meetings and I don't like traveling in large groups. I like going to places I want to go and leaving when I want to leave. I should have just left. I was still convinced that this wasn't a scam even though I had been tricked. I felt guilty for so long. After being in the business for 8 months I was sick and tired of being lied to. For so long I was convinced that I was the reason that I was failing in the business. I hate how stupid I was for believing them. They said that they cared about me and knew I would be successful someday, but since I left not a single person has called me or even sent me a text. They didn't give a shit about me. They only cared about the money.
ReplyDeleteThere is no passive income in Amway. The idea that you can retire from the business and keep on getting checks is a total lie. If you have a down-line, you must tend it endlessly, keeping up the enthusiasm of IBOs, and replacing those more intelligent IBOs who quit when they see that the whole thing is a scam.
ReplyDeleteThat's why your up-line got angry when you said that you'd stop going to meetings when you became a Diamond, and that you didn't want to travel in Amway groups. Endless meetings and forced group travel (the "functions") are essential to maintain the cult-like solidarity of Amway IBOs.
You were wise to get out when you did.