Sharp Prospects?

 One of the things taught to our group by upline was to recruit "sharp" people. And in general, I agree that many/most IBOs were sharp people. Most of them young, nice, motivated and wanting more in life. Certain Amway defenders wrongly claim that I am against Amway and IBOs to a degree where I am maniacal against them. I am not. I recall that most of my group and my crossline were mostly educated and had decent jobs. We all hoped to achieve the dream of walking away from our jobs and living in luxury. We got the idea that it was very reasonable and achievable if only we did as upline advised and immersed ourselves in the "system", which in my case, was WWDB. We were told that WWDB had much fruit on its tree and at the time I was an IBO, that appeared to be true.  But the key was to subscribe to all of the functions, audios and books and teaching.

However, at the time, we did not know that some/most/all WWDB leaders made significant income from selling us tools and functions.  You see, we were lied to and speakers at major functions told the audience that nobody made a cent from tools and that upline makes pennies only after you earn dollars. We now know that this is not true and that these speakers were lying.  What's more, these leaders were never made accountable for their lies. They just revised history and acted like nothing happened. Sadly, many downline IBOs simply accepted the explanation and continued to buy tools and functions. Currently, the WWDB tree is getting barren, with little "fruit". There are very few new diamonds from WWDB in the US, and some of their more apparently dynamic leaders have left WWDB to start their own systems. Thus, it looks like WWDB is left with the same old tired speakers today, as the ones who were around prior to my involvement with Amway.

But what's puzzling, or maybe not, is why aren't there more successes if many, possibly most IBOs are "sharp" people? Surely large groups of smart and motivated people can accomplish much, but for whatever reason, they are unable to accomplish much in Amway and WWDB. In fact, many of these sharp people cannot sponsor a single downline and have difficulty in selling Amway products. After many years of blogging and analyzing the Amway opportunity, my conclusion is that Amway products are priced too highly and cannot compete with similar products on the open market. Sure, Amway defenders will cite quality or concentration as reasons why Amway is competitive, and in some cases, Amway is competitive, but the general public doesn't care, they just want cheap stuff, and Walmart fulfills that need better than Amway. It leaves the majority of Amway sales being made to active business building IBOs. Apparently, the artificial need to buy Amway goods disappears when the diamond dream disappears.   How many former IBOs move 100 PV because of the great value?

Also, the zany and sometimes deceptive behavior of past and some present IBOs gives the Amway name a bad reputation, making it difficult to get anyone to see the plan, and sponsoring becomes nearly impossible. It is for this reason, I believe Amway is growing in foreign countries and not in North America, where saturation has occurred. When you factor in all of these variables, it is easy to conclude that large groups of sharp people fail is not because they are not capable, it is because the Amway opportunity comes with so many handicaps that even sharp people cannot overcome them. It is why so many former IBOs, including myself, have done quite well for themselves after leaving Amway. Did I learn some things about business while in Amway?  Yes, I did learn some things of value, but I also learned that I was lied to and deceived by WWDB leaders and for that reason, my blog continues......

Everyone Starts At Zero?

 The Amway business is a level playing field. At least that's what my upline told us when I was an IBO. That everyone starts at zero. While that is somewhat true, there were other factors that existed, that most IBOs did not know about. That factor is the possibility of PV manipulation. I believe that groups that are not on direct fulfillment (Groups still calling in and picking up) are able to transfer PV around. Thus, certain groups or favored downline could be manufactured into higher pins. I believe most groups are currently on direct fulfillment, but I did confirm about less than a year ago that some groups still are on call in and pick up, but usually for tools and not Amway products.

But let's examine the concept that everyone starts at zero. While this aspect may be technically true, certain people are simply better at selling, or better and more adept at socializing and talking to others.  So, while your PV count may be zero, the skills needed to start and run a business is not a level playing field for most. I believe uplines state this to give prospects the idea that everyone has an equal chance at succeeding in Amway. I just cannot believe this to be true. Even current diamonds, while having achieved a certain level, probably could not "start at zero" and build a diamond ship again.   WWDB tried this some years back.  The diamonds were told to set the example and build another diamond business outside of their current diamond business.  Well, as far as I know, not a single existing diamond at the time was able to do it and the entire thing was forgotten and never mentioned again.
 
Thus, when you really think about it, the "old timers" of the diamonds should actually be given less credibility than the newer ones. Do you really believe that a diamond or higher pin who built his business in the 1970's or 1980's can really teach people in 2026 how to build the business in a way to address people in 2026, and the fact that the business is internet based as opposed to the old days.

It is easy to stand on stage, tell people how great you are, show off alleged material wealth and then tell prospects that everyone starts at zero and that anyone can build the business. I do not believe that it is true. I also strongly suspect that very few (if any) of the current diamonds would be able to "start at zero" and build a new diamond ship here in the US, where the reputation and shrinking sales would be handicaps too great to overcome for the vast majority of prospective IBOs.  How can you build a business and approach prospects when many or most people have a negative view of Amway due to previous IBO behavior or unethical behavior?  

Capital Flight?

Some months ago, I wrote an article about the newly elected (at the time) NY mayor Zohran Mamdani.  In a recent event, he filmed a video clip about his proposed tax on expensive second homes in NY as a means of generating revenue for the city.  He has already failed to deliver on some of his promises such as free bus services for New Yorkers.  Some people have pushed back on these taxes because people who own these expensive second homes because these residents will basically receive nothing in return and because they likely spend only part of the time in NY and therefore, they do not even use as many day to day services as regular citizens.   

In this most recent turn of events, the mayor filmed his video in front of a billionaire's second home.  That billionaire is the head of the Citadel.  A big company that provides thousands of jobs in NY and the head of the company already pays high taxes and donates a lot of money towards charitable causes in NY.  And rather than backing down about the video, the mayor doubles down.

It is a fact that the top 1% of New Yorkers pay nearly half of the taxes in NY.  And the bottom half of New Yorkers pay less than 5% of the taxes.  So, in a socialist regime, you just take more and more.  If anyone believes that this taxing of a second luxury home will be the "be all end all", they are sadly mistaken.   Cutting spending is not politically popular so politicians think rich people are an endless ATM machine for them.  And I might remind people that in 2022, the NY governor went on TV and told rich people, republicans in particular, to leave and go to Florida.   Now she's asking them to come back and pay taxes to NY.  Fat chance.

Then in California, the politicians have put a wealth confiscation tax on the ballot (this allows politicians to blame the voters).  This new tax would basically tax billionaire's "unrealized gains".  So if someone is wealthy because of stock holdings and real estate, they would have to sell these assets (and pay taxes on the gains) to have enough cash to pay the tax.  And effectively, this is a 7-8% tax because selling off 5% of your holdings won't be enough to get 5%.   Now if you have only 1 billion, that tax would be 50 million plus the taxes on the sale of your assets making the bill 70 to 80 million dollars.   California and NY are already leading the country in affluent people leaving to other states because of excessive taxation and regulations.   Billionaires are usually smart people and surrendering 70 to 80 million for nothing in return is a piss poor investment.  And 70 or 80 million is if you have 1 (one) billion dollars.  If you have 2 billion, then your bill is effectively 140 to 160 million.  

This is where capital flight takes place.   The ultra rich people move to Nevada, Arizona, Texas and Florida.   Do you think 70 or 80 million can pay for you to move and get a nice place to live elsewhere?  Not all billionaires will leave, but it doesn't take all of them to leave to create a budgetary disaster in California or New York.  For the record, this wealth confiscation was already tried in Europe and so many wealthy people moved that the countries who tried this repealed the law.   Now I see that even the Seattle mayor has flippantly told the wealthy "bye" in her city.  

Socialism works great until you run out of other people's money to distribute.  But these folks win elections by appealing to many young people who are possibly in entry level jobs or are lazy and are enamored by the idea of free stuff like universal income, health care, etc.  The bottom line is the politicians are so inept and greedy that they don't realize they are killing the golden goose.  California has one of the largest economies in the world, but with their taxes and regulations, if the Tech Giants in silicon valley were to leave, California would be burnt toast.