One of the things that was heavily promoted when I was an Amway IBO, and I believe is still promoted, is the control of time and money. I recall hearing that "broke" people often have lots of time, but can't do much because of a lack of money, or how a very hard-working man might have money but a lack of time as he is working 80 hours per week. So why not join Amway, work hard for 2-5 years and have all the time and money you need for life?
Well, it sounds good on the surface, but how many people actually do that? I don't know of any IBO who worked the business 2-5 years and walked away from their business to enjoy control of time and money forever. And there are reasons for that. Attrition. Most IBOs who join don't do much and more than half of all IBOs won't even be in business for more than a year. IBOs also need to be active and moving side volume in order to qualify for some of the bonuses. It is why I believe that there aren't any diamonds who left to enjoy their time and money because of passive ongoing Amway income. Diamonds and above must continually work the business or their businesses will fall apart like the waves would erode a sand castle at the beach.For many IBOs ironically, what they desire most, time and money, is what they have less of because of their involvement in the Amway opportunity. It is because of the way many IBOs are taught by the systems such as WWDB, BWW or N21. Many of these groups will teach a defacto PV requirement of 100 PV which costs about $300 monthly. In some cases, you are getting a small box of goods for the same amount of cash that would have gotten you a cartload of goods at WalMart or Costco. For system IBOs, you are also paying for instruction that basically tells you that this is a great idea and that you should never quit.
So now when your family and friends have backyard barbecues or birthday parties, you are absent because you are securing your financial future. Your kids surely won't mind you missing their baseball games or sending them to the sitters while you attend a function. Your family and friends will be wowed when you retire next year and throw them a party to end all parties. It all seems surreal, and for most, it truly is. There may be $10 or even $50 monthly checks rolling in from Amway but is never covers the cost of your expenses. You can't quit because success might be right around the corner.
Suddenly your sponsor or upline might tell you that the Amway business is not about money. You might be told that you are a nicer person or a better parent (even if you neglect your kids to attend functions), or that the business opportunity has saved your marriage. Which leads to my question. What have you achieved in the Amway business that has given you more control of time and money? Do you have less time and money as a result of your involvement with Amway?
During my involvement with Amway, my life was changed, but not for the better. And it wasn't because of Amway. It was self serving teaching by WWDB leaders designed to suck the life out of IBOs. We were to attend all meetings. All means all. We were to submit to upline. Check your ego at the door. We were to buy extra tapes/cds because you can;'t listen to the same ones each day. Wives and husbands needed separate standing orders. If downline quit, you don't cancel standing order. It is why I saw crosslines go bankrupt, lose a home to foreclosure and many ended up quitting and with large financial loss.
I hope this message of personal experience helps information seekers.
Amway will certainly change your life in some ways.
ReplyDeleteIt will make you nasty, unpleasant, vicious, selfish, and utterly wrapped up in telling lies to make money.
It will alienate you from your wife and children, and utterly turn off all your old friends and relatives.
It will cut you off from all the normal pleasant things in life -- your hobbies, your interests, your socializing, your entertainments.
It will drain your bank account, max out your credit cards, force you to sell your possessions, and maybe even drive you into mortgage foreclosure and bankruptcy.
It will make you a craven and cowardly slave, terrified of your up-line and your fat-assed Platinum, and willing to debase and humiliate yourself in a hundred ways just to keep on their good side.
Yeah, Amway will change you. You'll be transformed from a human being into a degraded android.
Oh it does change people, just not in a good way.
ReplyDeleteI met a guy in the consulting industry I work in, who worked for one of my clients. We got along fine, he seemed to know his stuff, had a good degree, and I considered offering him a deal to help out in my consulting company. I was pretty sure it would have been a step up from where he was.
When getting some references, many people told me he used to be competent and hard working, but he has gone crazy, obsessed with Amway and trying to promote to everyone he knew. I did not know Amway that well at the time, only vaguely that they sold detergents and stuff, but obviously the idea of someone not focused, and making people he worked with uncomfortable, was quite off putting, so I did not go ahead to offer him anything. The theme was so consistent from everyone who knew him, that if any other opportunities arose, other potential employers would have gotten the same message. (Yes I understand from what I read later many stop caring about employment, which is possible if you don't depend on it, which he still was).
A year later the guy called me out of the blue to meet up to catch up and "discuss business". I thought well, maybe he got his focus back, so I went. But at the coffee, after brief exchange how things were, he seemed strangely uninterested about developments in our industry, he told me he had started a business though he hasn't resigned yet but about to, and it was going very well, something about helping and coaching, but did not to get to the point, and gave me a CD to listen to (he'd call me then introduce to his "partners" in his "network of business owners"). He also give me a fancy business card, inspiring and heavy in slogans but not saying what the business did, and no website, only his phone number which I already had.
I was naïve to Amway speak at the time, so did not recognise any of this as red flags, though the vagueness put me off a lot.
Listening to the CD in the car on my way home, it was also low on specifics, but it was promoting the need to work for yourself, things sounded a bit off. There was no website or anything, just a label "for more, contact the person who gave this CD to you".
This is when remembered about Amway, googled a bit (stumbled on this website) and then put two and two together, his LinkedIn profile said something about N21, which turned out to be the equivalent of WWDB where I live. So I just told him what I heard on the CD was not my thing. He then said he could give me another CD, and I should come to a meeting, but now knowing what was going on, I declined.
From what I heard the guy and his wife postponed having children for years, to get the business right, and the guy still fell between jobs with a car falling to pieces, wasting a good degree and good experience.
So does Amway change people? Unfortunately, in many cases, it does. But enviable change, no, not so much. I will always think about this sad case when hearing about Amway. The guy was well spoken, and with the right focus would have had a good future. I remember afterwards how other things also fell into place. The vague but fancy looking business card, the formal suit, they way he spoke about his job he was just riding out, and all the rich guy talk so at odds with his old car.
kwaaikat,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your story. It helps when people can see relatable stories and your experience might help many others who see it.
Happy Thanksgiving!