Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Amway - Business Owner Mentality?

One of the catch phrases that IBOs spout quite often is that you need a "business mentality". Those of us who have an "employee mentality" simply cannot cut the mustard in Amway. I find this ironic since the vast majority of Amway IBOs have a job. A job that they NEED in order to pay for their Amway business. A job that pays for their voicemail, cds, functions and books, in addition to the cost of the Amway products. Basically, most IBOs would be out of business almost immediately without their job income to support their Amway business.

Apparently, a business mentality, as taught by AMO leaders, is one that doesn't expect quick profits, despite upline's claim that the Amway business has low risk and low overhead. A business mentality is also one where you reinvest any or all profits back into buying support materials. A business owner doesn't expect to make a profit for 5 years. Many of these claims are taught by unethical uplines and unfortunately, many IBOs accept the teaching and buy into it. They lure in prospects by talking about low risk and the ability to profit right away, but the teaching later changes to reinvesting money into their business and not expecting profit for several years. A bait and switch of sorts.

Now it is true that a business owner might have to think and view things differently than an employee. For example, an employee might do a great job from 9-5 but after 5:00 pm, that employee may be headed home to care for his or her family, or to participate in some exercise or recreation. The business owner might be inclined to stay after hours to finish a job because he or she may have invested much, and will want to make sure that the business succeeds. However, Amway is promoted as part time, do as much or as little as you want, on your own time, when you have time.

It is my suspicion that uplines want their downline IBOs to adopt a business owner mentality, not because they want downline to succeed, but because it instills a dedication to the tools purchases and it also takes an IBO's focus off profits for a few years. Thus IBOs think they are successful (without profit) if they are listening to standing order, attending all the functions and showing the plan. It is a gimmick used to retain IBOs who are not profitable. If IBOs were actually making money, there would be little need to continue to motivate them with an endless supply of cds and functions. But because most IBOs lose money or make little, the average IBO must be taught that a "business owner" commonly loses money for a number of years, or that they must continue to reinvest their profits in order to succeed.

In posting this, I say to IBOs, just make a profit by selling goods. That is all the motivation you need. Keep track of your bottom line and look at the return on your investment of time and money. That is the action of a real business owner and the real "business owner mentality". Which are you?

Monday, August 30, 2010

Amway - Upline Credentials?

I recently read a comment from an Amway zealot on another blog. She mentions that someone's credentials must be considered when looking at information that is presented. I will comment that showing me a sports car or a fancy suit is not proof of financial success, nor is it any evidence of credentials. But it seems that most IBOs consider this display of material goods as a sign of credibility or evidence of financial success. It is clearly not.

I find this subject ironic because not one single upline leader, as far as I know, has ever supplied bonafide credentials about themselves. The audience assumes that the person on stage has certain credentials, but do they really? I will say that certainly, if someone is wearing a diamond pin for example, that this person has at least achieved the diamond level as recognized by Amway, but the level may not be current, and the level doesn't indicate the kind of income this person earns from Amway. (Joecool is criticized for being outdated even though I was at 4000 PV at one point in my Amway career)

What many people assume is that the diamonds buy homes and cars in cash, possibly because the diamonds said so. Or that the diamonds wake up at noon every day and participate in leisure activities all day while the cash rolls in. I have heard from some new IBOs, that their upline makes more money taking a crap in the morning than a critic makes in a whole year at a job. That IBO became quiet when some critics offered to take that bet. And frankly I would still be willing to take that bet.

But the truth of the matter is that as far as I know, only former diamonds have come clean about their Amway income. They are the only ones who spoke of credentials and accomplishments. Even critics of Amway will often openly speak about their experiences and achieved levels in the business. In the REAL business world, showing business tax returns and credentials are a normal part of doing business. It appears that only in the world of Amway is the supply of credentials and financial statements a big secret. Now I am not suggesting that IBOs or upline leaders should disclose their financials to the entire world, but certainly prospects and some downline should be able to see what their upline is doing financially, especially if that is the basis for purchasing their standing orders and function tickets. And I refer to business (Amway and Tools) income and expenses only, not from other personal sources.

I believe that IBOs and upline leaders do not disclose that information because it would not be beneficial to them. If it were, they would likely publish it freely, just as they flash around copies of checks. IBOs and prospects should take this to heart and ask upline the tough questions. I would venture an educated guess, based on estimated income and expenses and I would say that most diamonds live very ordinary middle calls lives, except for the shows they put on called functions.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Amway - Are You A Business Owner Or A Glorified Customer?

One of the silly things IBOs say is how they need to be their own best customer. That a McDonald's owner would never eat at Burger King, etc. That is complete hogwash. While there is nothing wrong with supporting your own business, IBOs are blinded by the fact that their business produces nothing. They are simply middlemen distributors. Do you really think someone like Bill Britt consumes thousands of dollars of standing orders because he owns BWW, a for profit company that produces training materials? Of course not. When you purchase something from your Amway business, you make no profit. Any "false" profit you see is simply money out of your own pocket moving to the other pocket. Yes, you may receive a volume bonus, but that is still a lot of your own money being given back to you. Spend $300 and get back $10. If you can get enough people to follow you and move volume, your bonus will increase, but the increase then comes out of your follower's pockets instead of your own.

I know some business owners and they are never the best or sole customer of their own stores. Many Amway business owners are their only customers or their best customer. That simply is not how a business is run. Any REAL business cannot support itself by having the owners and perhaps the owner's employees as the primary customer base. For any business to thrive, you need customers and a demand for products. Without customers and a demand for products, you have no business. But some upline leaders still teach "buy from yourself" as the primary means of doing business. Other leaders may ask you to sell, but to focus on sponsoring others because they are hopeful that this will result in increased volume. Sadly, most IBOs will never sponsor a downline and many will never acquire a customer other than themselves.

It seems as though many IBOs think they are business owners but the reality is that they are simply glorified customers of their own business. Their only hope of making a profit is to sponsor others. In my opinion, this method of doing business is a pyramid because the only way to eventually make a profit is to sponsor enough downline until you can leverage enough volume to fimally break even or profit. An IBO with a real customer (and not buying tools) can make a profit by selling a single product. But many IBOs are not taught this because their upline makes a much bigger profit by selling their downline IBOs standing orders, voicemail, books and seminar tickets. Many IBOs do not realize that they are simply customers of Amway and of the upline tools system owners.

For people already involved or considering involvement in the Amway opportunity, you are highly encouraged to seek more information and to fully understand how a profit is made in this business. Simply seeing circles drawn oversimplifies the process as most IBOs never get close to finding six (6) like minded people. Even those who find six are unlikely to be able to retain them. Over time, the cost of the products and the cost of the training will start to add up and the losses will escalate. For real business owners, an assessment of profit/loss and return on investment should be done and if the return is not good, a real business owner would consider other options.

So are you a business owner or a glorified customer?

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Amway - Trusting Your Upline?

One of the things that was emphasized in my days as an IBO was to trust your upline. They said they had my best interests at heart and that they would never intentionally lead me astray as they wanted my success. At the time I believed them but looking back, I see that it was a charade and the upline really wanted their own success at my expense. For many groups, I believe this is still true although some upline leaders may have backed off just a bit since the heyday of the AMOs, which was the mid to late 90's.

Upline's profits from tools are spoken about today, alhough I believe most IBOs do not know exactly how they can qualify, nor do they know how much they would receive when they qualify. Back when I was an IBO, uplines stood on stage and proclaimed that NOBODY made a profit from the sale of tools. None of these leaders were ever made to account for their lies and with some revisionist history, the whole episode was covered up.

Some groups also teach submission and faith in the upline. Some will say there is no need to reinvent the wheel, simply copy or duplicate your upline and you will be successful That makes me wonder why so many tools and functions are needed. Also, I find it odd that someone who has my best interest at heart and truly cared about my success, get compensated for every action he/she takes to "help" my business. Voicemail, standing orders, books and functions are all profit centers for some upline leaders and therefore, just about any meeting or material designed to help an IBO puts money in the pokcets of upline. Some upline even went so far as to say you should check upline before purchasing a new car, or even before having children.

Despite the reuqest for trust and faith in upline, I fid it odd that uplines never take responsibility for the outcome of an IBO's fortunes. Many IBOs work hard and earnestly do all the recommended steps of CORE, only to fail. These IBOs are told they did not work hard enough or did not follow the steps properly. Uplines, as far as I know, have never taken responsibility for their downlines. They only take credit for downline success, but not failures.

I find a huge conflict of interest for an upline to profit from any help that he provides to downline, and then to tell downlines that training materials are vital to their business. I also see a problem when these same uplines take no responsibility when an IBO does the work but does not profit. Ironically, it is often the cost of the training materials that prevents the IBO from making a net profit. Now not all uplines are like this, but I am hopeful that some of the red flags mentioned here can be an alert for IBOs and information seekers.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Amway - Better Than a J-O-B?

One of the things upline leaders apparently do is to disparage people with jobs. Oh, they would say we needed people to wait on our tables and clean our toilets, but in general, jobs were put down and basically the group was told that Amway is their best chance at achieving financial freedom, giving them the ability to flush their jobs. Ironically, IBO's jobs are what funds their Amway businesses. Most IBOs would be out of business within weeks if not for their job income funding their Amway businesses.

The key selling point appears to be the 2-5 years of part time work rather than working a job for 30 - 40 years and then retiring on social security which may or may not be there when you retire. This plants a fear in people about the future and then the Amway opportunity is presented in a positive light because the Amway opportunity comes with a low start up cost. What uplines do not mention is how the opportunity can become a money pit as the monthly defacto 100 PV quota starts to add up. It is my guess that if people only bought items they truly needed, these IBOs would likely move 100 PV every three months, unless they are actively selling goods to non IBO customers.

When an IBO finally agrees to register, it is then that the hidden costs are revealed. Many uplines will introduce standing orders and functions and present these tools as vital to IBO success. Most new IBOs don't know better and feel subtle pressure to conform and give it a try. Some upline may loan some tools to downline in the beginning but evemtually, the IBO will be encouraged to be a "serious" business owner who should be purchasing their own tools to loan to their downline and the cycle goes on.

If you examine some version of the Amway recruitment plan, you will see that most IBOs are at the 100 PV level, which will reward you with a monthly bonus of about $10or so. If that same IBO subscribes to the tools system, than IBO will likely be losing over $100 a month not including the product purchases. And because many IBOs have been convinced that working a job is so horrible, that they can be convinced that this condition of losing money is temporary and that untold wealth is right around the corner. Sadly, for most, this condition is the norm and even the sponsorship of a few downline, the losses continue to mount. Yet many are convinced that this is better than a job.

Ironically, a job allows people to pay their monthly bills, feed their families and many people enjoy their work and co workers. While upline leaders may convince you otherwise, it is this very same excuse upline leaders use when asked why they are still working instead of walking the beaches of the world collecting massive amounts of residual income. I would encourage IBOs to truly analyze their efforts in Amway and determine if it is beneficial to your finances. In most cases, your Amway efforts ONLY benefits your upline's finances. For most who get involved, the Amway opportunity is not better than a job. Be careful!

Monday, August 23, 2010

Amway's Reputation?

One thing I am fairly certain of. That is Amway's reputation in North America is badly tarnished. It seems that everyone you can speak to will have had, or will know someone who had a bad experiece in Amway. My first contact with the Amway opportunity was being tricked into attending a meeting. I was in college and I was invited to a "beerbust" only to see men in suits and a white board. I did later join when a good friend of mine had joined and achieved platinum. But in that incident, I was then a participant in what some call the "tool scam".

I believe it is for this very reason that prospects are often discouraged from seeking information about Amway prior to joining. Some uplines still teach that the internet is the bathroom walls of society only filled with negatives. Of course uplines are simply afraid that their prospects and new IBOs will simply uncover the truth about some of the unethical practices of the upline. What many will often find is that there are lies told about the opportunity and some deception about the tools systems. There are common phrases such as "we don't make money until you do" that some uplines use which are blatantly false. But it does make some prospects feel at ease when they hear these terms, especially when prospects are often the friends and/or family of potential sponsoring IBOs.

The curiosity approach used by many IBOs also leaves a bad impression on people because many questions are not answered, or a question is answered with a question. This is a planned strategy used by many IBOs to confuse prospects. It is why many people felt deceived when they finally revealed the name Amway in a presentation. As if a prospect is supposed to ask all of the correct questions before full disclosure. It is quite sad because it is the behavior of IBOs who have crippled the Amway name, and not the Amway corporation itself. However, I believe the corporation could have done more about curbing bad or unethical behavior by IBOs.

But the thing that irks me and many others, is the attitude and revisionist history tactics used my many uplines. In the past, many uplines used bold lies about the tools. I was in WWDD and heard from stage that nobody made a cent of profit from the tools. These leaders have never been held accountable for these lies that have caused untold financial damages to their faithful downline. They also fabricated stories or simply made people disappear when various diamond leaders got divorced or involved themselves in embarrassing situations. Because of the IBO attrition, many newer IBOs never knew the truth about the upline lies and deception. I believe some of the diamond leaders are now suffering as it seems that there are no new Amway advocates, possibly because too much information is freely available with a simple google search.

I believe Amway has a soiled reputation in the US and Canada. I also believe it is well earned.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Amway - Why IBOs Should Not Use The Term "Broke" or "Loser"

One of the things I heard as an IBO and still hear today, is that people who do not view Amway as favorable, or decided to quit and walk away from the Amway opportunity are "broke" or "losers" or "broke losers". As an IBO I remember one of the upline saying that IBOs are winners, and therefore, if you are not an IBO, you must be a loser. I still see much of that today. I'm not sure why that kind of teaching still exists, especially when most people who work for minimum wage earn more than most IBOs.

I suppose it's a form of subtle pressure used by upline to prevent people from quitting, as nobody wants to be labeled a loser. It creates an "us" versus "them" attitude. One of Amway's co founders, Rich DeVos, stated quite clearly in a speech that IBOs should not use the term loser just because someone doesn't agree that Amway is the greatest. And I agree.

Many people who are not IBOs are very successful and many people are simply not suited for or want to run a "side" business. Some people are not in need of an extra income and some people do not want to sacrifice family time. IBOs should respect other people's wishes if they are turned down when offering the opportunity to others. Also, because of previous unethical behaviors of IBOs, many people simply do not wish to get involved in an opportunity where such behavior exists. Sure, not all IBOs act that way, but enough of them still exists. And what's more, it appears that not much, if anything has been done about it.

But here's the biggest reason, in my opinion, why IBOs should be calling anyone derogatory names just because the prospect does not wish to join Amway or purchase goods. There's no reason to burn bridges with a potential customer or future IBO. Let's say I entered a store but for whatever reason, decided not to make a purchase that day. As I exit the store, the store owner calls me a loser or broke, or not having guts. What is the chance that I would want to do business with that store or store owner ever again? Furthermore, many or most Amway business owners conduct business person to person and face to face. If I insult people who don't initially do business with me, then I am doing a lousy job of PR and chances are by business will fail. Yet that is exactly what many IBOs do.

IBOs and upline leaders should read this and think twice before using the term loser or broke loser. You could be burning bridges with potential future customers or IBOs.