IBOs Should Get Real?

Amway IBOs are often young people, sort of motivated at least to retire young and have uber wealth forever and ever.  That's the hype that sucks them into Amway and motivates them to give the Amway business a try.  Many will put in minimal effort before quitting and it's very common in Amway to see IBOs come and go on a regular basis.  Some people give it an earnest effort and put in a tremendous amount of effort.  But alas, in Amway, whether you put in a lot of effort or not, the results are often similar, which is dismal.

I once bought into the lies and hype of the upline and became an IBO myself back in the mid 1990's.  I initially got in because I thought maybe I could earn a few hundred bucks a month extra and ditch the second job that I had at the time.  Thus, I had joined as a "small" business, but my sponsor kept telling me that I may as well get serious and try to make "retirement" kind of money.  So I got fully involved in the business and I actually had some success, sponsoring a bunch of people and moving up the ranks in terms of pin levels.  I peaked at the 4000 PV level.  It was around that time I started to smell a rat and started wondering about all of these big functions as they didn't seem to help my business grow, but served more as a "hype and motivation" type of purpose rather than practical business advice.

It was around then that I realized that I needed to "get real" and understand that running a tiny person to person soap and vitamin business wasn't going to make me wealthy.  In fact. even at the 4000 level, I was operating at a loss, albeit, close to break even until those big functions came around when I needed to fly to the mainland and rent a car and hotel to see a dog and pony show that didn't do much for my business except for eating up my resources and keeping me business all the time.  I also started to realize that rock bands made a lot of money charging $75 for a sold out concert and here we are paying $100 or more for a weekend function.

Despite this I was still trying to achieve higher levels until my sponsor and upline started to want control of my life.  Ask permission to buy stuff, ask permission to date someone and it just got weird how we had "counseling sessions" where my upline would assess hot many standing orders and function tickets flowed through my group but has little concern and sales and other important business details such as expenses. That's where I sort of had my "AHA" moment.   I eventually met with my group, explained the revelation I had and I left the business.  It was a damaging blow to my sponsor and my group all quit except for one person who had become too far indoctrinated.  

After leaving the business, I felt like a huge burden had been lifted from my shoulders and I felt like I had reclaimed my life and freedom again.  I didn't realize how much time the Amway business and my sponsor took from my life.  I finally figured this out when I had my "get real" moment in Amway.  I hope this post helps others in a similar position as mine.