Amway - Amway Makes You Rich!

Amway can make you rich. Many IBOs say they were told that Amway was not "get rich quick". But obviously, someone must have given them the impression that Amway would eventually make them rich, otherwise, why would anyone join? Why would anyone want to work that hard and embarrass themselves in front to friends and family to promote a business that will more likely get you funny looks than money. But can Amway actually make you rich?

Well, yeah, Amway can make you rich if you are a diamond selling voicemail services, books, standing orders and function tickets. Amway can make you rich if you own Amway and sell to millions of IBOs who "buy from themselves". Amway can make you rich if you write a book that millions of IBOs purchase. Amway can make you rich if you can get enough loyal downline to keep purchasing products so that you can get the bonuses. But aside from these few people who I just described, the Amway opportunity is more likely to make you broke, or at least lighter in the pockets.

Most IBOs do not even earn enough to cover their monthly voicemail expenditures, much less the other support materials that are pushed on the downline in groups such as WWDB or BWW, or N21. These materials are touted as the "key to success" in Amway when in reality, it is the key to success for the uplines who share in the profits from these materials. The real kicker is despite claims that these materials are key to success, the uplines get their followers to blame themselves if the system doesn't work for them. Kind of like tossing a coin and saying "heads I win, tails you lose". Upline wins as long as you buy support materials from them, and your results are of no consequence to them. In fact they probably don't want new diamonds as they would then have to share the tool money.

So can Amway make you rich? I would guess it is possible, but it is also possible for you to win the powerball lottery. It takes normally, over 100 downline IBOs to create a platinumship. And a platinumship occurs less than once in 200 IBOs. And at that level, you likely make little profit or break even. That tells me a whole lot. What does it tell you?

Amway - Can You Build A Business Based On Honesty?

I cannot even count the number of Amway pitches I have seen on the internet. Because many of them sound the same, or at least very similar, you can probably guess that many of these IBO recruiters were taught by the same LOS such as WWDB or BWW. That is one the major problems I see with the Amway opportunity, that large groups of people are being taught lies or unethical methods of running their business or recruiting. Amway defenders like to cite the fact that 10,000 or even 100,000 IBOs is small in the overall world of Amway and Amway has about 3 million IBOs worldwide. What many Amway defenders won't say is that apparently, most LOSs teach the same basic theories, thus IBO abuse is very significant.

I do not believe that a person can build a large Amway business based on honest recruitment and retention methods. In the past and even now, many IBOs do not know much about the tools business and how you actually get a cut. In the past, some groups lied and claimed they made no profits on tools. Some even went so far as to say their tools company was a non profit company. Eventually, downline IBOs discovered the real deal about the tools and then uplines started to admit that they profited from tools, and started to tell their downline a little about the system. However, these same uplines, many of whom are still active today, have never been held accountable for their past lies and deception. They simply wrote revisionist history where diamonds who got divorced or did something embarrassing were not mentioned or simply disappeared. And IBOs took the bait.

But can you build an Amway business based on pure honesty? I suppose it's possible, but in the US, it would be nearly impossible. Just the mention of the name Amway will turn the stomachs of many potential recruits. It is why some uplines invented the curiosity approach and why some IBOs resort to pure lies to get people to see the plan. Even when I was first prospected over 20 years ago, I was invited to a college "beer bust", only to arrive and see people in suits at a home with the white board. It is why I saw people walk about of board plans once the name "Amway" was mentioned.

So if you are an IBO or simply an information seeker, I think this is a very fair and appropriate question. Can you build a sustainable Amway business based on honesty? What have you seen or experienced thus far? If what I have said is reasonable and true, then is it going to be worth your time and money to build this business? That is something your conscience will have to determine.

Amway - Are You Running A Business or A Joke?

I hear Amway supporters often mention that you will have a real business if you treat it like one. It is my observation that most IBOs do not treat their businesses like a real one. It is also my opinion that the Amway business itself is flawed and many IBOs, in their zeal to sponsor downline, do stupid things at times, such as lying about whether or not it's Amway, or by tricking people into attending recruitment meetings.

Many IBOs do not bother to qualify their prospects. They will sponsor anyone who is breathing. It could be due to uplines making the business seem easy. For example, I have heard that going platinum is so easy that someone's dog can go platinum. Another mistake IBOs make is they do not look at the likelihood of an IBO succeeding. They will sponsor anyone, anywhere. Like real stores, opening a new one creates competition and I don't know of any IBOs who take this into consideration before recruiting a new prospect. They simply think sponsoring others, regardless of sustainability is the key to success. They are dead wrong.

New recruits are also encouraged to partake in the teaching system, regardless of their expectations and business goals. This participation in the system is what often leads to IBO failure. They spend more on tools than what they generate in income. This heavily contributes to the poor retention rate among IBOs. Even IBOs who can progress and make some money will be simply channeling their profits to upline by their tools consumption. It is my informed guess that an IBO must reach the 4000 to platinum level before they start to break even. And If I might add, probably far less than 1% of IBOs reach the platinum level so you are already facing overwhelming odds just to reach the break even point in Amway.

Here's the real test for an IBO. Walk into a bank. Speak to a loan officer and show the loan officer the 6-4-2 or 9-4-2 plan, whichever plan your group uses. And see if the loan officer will grant you a loan based on that plan. It is more likely that you be laughed out of the bank.

Is your Amway business a real business or a joke?

Amway - Why The Amway Stigma Won't Go Away?

When I was an IBO, I was the recipient of a lot of bad advice. I truly believe that WWDB, the LOS I was a part of, is still teaching the same garbage now as when I was an IBO, which in my opinion, completely discredits what an Amway defender, Bridgett Baron claims. To her credit, I have seen Bridgett tell an IBO that a 2% Amway IBO divorce rate it "pulled out of the air (Poota)", the fact that this WWDB IBO is saying it gives much much credibility to the fact that I heard it about 13 years ago. This same WWDB IBO is also claiming that he will be purchasing a home in cash, something which IBOFightback and Bridgett claims doesn't commonly happen, yet here it is.

IBOFightback isn't interested in the "truth about amway". He recently banned me from his blog without warning, because I made two truthful, but painful points about Amway. That their "average income" figure was derived by disregarding inactive IBOs, and that WWDB leaders were never hald accountable for the lies they told, which they are lying about now, such as paying for homes in cash, and how amway IBOs have a 2% divorce rate.

Because apparently, these LOS leaders have never been held accountable for their teaching and their deception/lies, they have been able to keep defrauding downline IBOs for years and they have been making their living doing so, apparently.

Unless IBO leaders and amway defenders start being honest, recruits and IBOs will see the information on the internet and amway sales in the US will (apparently) continue to shrink until the market collapses. I believe the Amway US sales shrank because Amway said sales were flat overall, but were up in India and China. One can deduce that US sales were down (again).

Bottom line, until Amway leaders and IBOs start to be upfront about what they do, and what they are, the stigma will never go away.

Amway - A Legal Pyramid Scheme?

In my opinion, Amway is a pyramid. They are not illegal, but still a pyramid. The reason why they remain legal, apprently is because they do not pay anyone for recruiting downline. But most everyone has been, or knows someone who was recruited by a zealous Amway IBO. The emphasis of most active IBOs is on recruiting and much of the teaching by upline is on techniques to recruit and/or how to talk to people without tipping their hat to reveal the Amway name. Most IBOs are not very good at this and they stick out like sore thumbs in many cases. It's also comical when uplines teachh crazy antics, like how some IBOs use to deny that Amway and Quixtar were even remotely connected.

One of the reasons IBOs use to justify their involvement in the pyramid is that they can earn more than their sponsor. While that is true, it is only because everyone below the emerald or diamond level is basically expendable, or a slave in the pyramid. There are many many IBOs who achieve fairly high levels who quit, or had upline wreck their businesses. Thus even platinums are expendable to upline. In fact an upline might make more money by removing the platinum. For new IBOs or recruits, do you really believe that you are going to ever surpass your current upline diamond or higher? If you believe that, you are sadly mistaken.

And for those who dream of achieving diamond and walking the beaches of the world. How do you think you can ever achieve that? You don't get something for nothing unless someone gets nothing for something. In order for you to receive income for little or no efforts, your downline IBOs must keep purchasing products and replacing IBOs who quit. If your downlines cannot keep up with the attrition rate, your business will collapse in a hurry. Come to think of it, if a diamond can walk away and collect a large income forever, why hasn't anyone done it? I mean we still see crown ambassadors still busy working functions and I don't know of any who walked away to spend their lives jet setting on the beaches of the world.

The sad reality is that you see new faces at meetings and functions, just as often as you see familiar faces disappear. With that kind of attrition rate, you may have to work even harder at the higher levels just to keep your business status quo. In Egypt, the slaves built the pyramids. Do you have enough slaves? What many Egypologists find amazing is how the Egyptians were able to motivate the slaves to keep on going, doing backbreaking work all of their lives. The same can be said of a diamon level business (or higher)

Amway - Why Amway Doesn't Work

1. The Amway products are too expensive to compete with other brands. While IBO's claim high quality, that is subjective and for most consumers, Amway products are not well known and seen as generic in nature with a premium price. Many people consider Amway products "satisfactory" or "average". Some people do enjoy Amway products, but overall in the US market, it clearly indicates that price is a factor and people apparently choose Costco or WalMart. Also, person to person advertising is not as effective as national advertising such as Proctor and Gamble. While Amway did some advertising recently, they are too far behind in the game and their spotty reputation precedes them.

2. The compensation plan is very unfair to new IBO's. The new guy does the work but gets only a tiny fraction of the generous bonus Amway pays out. A new IBO who moves 100 PV would get back $10 or so while layers of uplines split up the remaining $90 or so on bonuses generated by the 100 PV. The only way an IBO can increase volume is to sponsor downline and hope that they will also buy into the system and dedicate themselves to moving volume consistently. But this will also fail due to reasons #3 and #4.

3. Amway's reputation is so bad that sponsoring downlline to build a group is nearly impossible. Even getting people to see the plan is a tough sell. It is why building a business without some deception is nearly impossible. It is why many uplines begin to teach that Amway saves marriages, or that you become nicer by building an Amway business, or that the Amway business is about friends and not money. That is a bunch of BS, business is about making money. If not you have joined a social club.

4. The uplines push the tools scam on their downline while they make handsome profits from these books, voicemails, standing orders and functions. What's more, these tools do not help an IBO build a business because of the reaons listed above. In fact, I believe that any IBO who actually succeed, does so in spite of the system and not because of the system. There is zero unbiased evidence to indicate that the system tools have any relationship to IBO success. And most systems are more alike than not, despite what they may claim.

It is for these reasons that I believe Amway is not a good business opportunity for the vast majority of people. When you factor in the system expenses, you almost assure yourself of a losing proposition. Do the math and do the research. Your conclusion should be clear.

Amway - Why IBOs Have To Defend Amway?

Lately, I have been getting a bunch of silly comments from an anonymous commenter from Canada. He implies or makes subtle threats to stop me from blogging, as if that will happen. It sort of made me wonder why so many IBOs, most of whom are losing money, defend Amway so fiercely. It made me realize that for many of these IBOs, they have no choice but to defend Amway. Let me explain.

Many IBOs and prospects, are not where they want to be financially in life. It is why they get lured into Amway, as they truly believe that Amway will make them rich. Sure, upline will toss in the disclaimer that Amway won't make you rich "quick", but certainly they must give enough of an impression that you will get rich somehow. Then the bait and switch occurs.

Once an IBO signs up and decides that he or she wants to give an effort towards making the opportunity work, upline will then speak about the system. How the system is the key to success. That nobody "makes it" without the system. Or that the system is optional but so is success. The system becomes a defacto requirement for many IBOs. Some IBOs do not realize that some uplines make most of their income from the system tools such as websites, voicemail, standing order cds, and functions.

Uplines will also teach that you only fail if you quit. Or you are now a winner for joining Anway and all others are losers. You will eventually succeed if you never quit. Upline may recommend that you listen to or watch inspiring stories of people who never quit. It raises subtle pressure on IBOs to keep going. To walk away would practically doom you to failure in life. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.

At this point, an IBO has to defend Amway to justify his decision. To quit would place you in the category of "loser" or "failure". An IBO starts to wonder how he or she will accomplish the dreams and goals without the elusive Amway residual income. So now you have IBOs who will fiercely defend Amway because the alternative is to admit that it was a mistake to join Amway. It may mean quitting and cutting losses. The longer an IBO stays in, the harder it can be to quit. My former sponsor has been fully active for 18 years now and he has never gone beyond platinum. I believe his ego will never let him quit at this point.

For me, quitting was just a wise decision, business wise. I was at 4000 PV (with eagle parameters) and I did not earn what upline said I would earn. I also had my upline continuously adding pressure on me to give him control of my life, such as asking permission to buy things, get married, etc. It was becoming very cult - like and I thought it was getting bizarre. I quit and never regretted it.

But many IBOs and Amway zealots defend Amway. Why? Because they have to.