Many companies have critics. Amway defenders are quick to point this out. WalMart may have hurt small businesses, maybe they don't have the greatest compensation. Microsoft may have faulty software or whatever. It's funny but I don't see WalMart or Microsoft employees writing on blogs and calling their critics losers, or acting like cyber bullies. Seems these bigger companies just do their thing and ignore criticism, yet these companies are very successful.
Corporate Amway Global has some blogs and they are mainly about Amway and Amway related stories, employees and the like.
But various IBOs have taken it upon themselves to defend Amway. Sometimes it has been done in less than ethical manners. For example, Amway biggest champion, IBOFightback (David Steadson), has been refered to as a cyber bully by more than one website, and has more blogs about Amway than Amway. His reason for so fiercely defending Amway is still a mystery because he said he is not compensated by Amway or Alticor, or by any motivational groups. He has admitted that he is not even active in building a business, therefore he is not making any significant money from the Amway compensation plan.
What makes this interesting is the tactics that IBOfightback and many of his fellow IBOs employ. They will attack the credibility of the critic or try to discredit someone by saying their experience is not valid, or their experience is too old to be counted, even when IBOFightback himself (apparently) hasn't done much in Amway since 1998. In some instances, defenders resort to shameless lies to defend Amway or product schemes such as perfect water, and then get mad when critics point out the antics. It appears that IBOs are their own worst enemies because IBOs themselves are guilty of most of what critics point out.
It is my informed opinion that many IBOs defend Amway because they were enticed by Amway upline leaders into believing that facts don't matter, that the dream is alive, that success is around the corner. Many IBOs see their $10 bonus checks and they have to justify themselves in order to claim success, to keep hopes alive that they will cross stage as a new diamond. To not defend their IBO bretheren is to admit failure. It is why much debate here is about IBOs analyzing their business and tracking profits and expenses. If IBOs are losing money and pretending to be successful, they are simply justifying their mediocrity and failure.
Monday, October 31, 2016
Friday, October 28, 2016
Why Amway IBOs Fail?
One of the things touted by many upline leaders as the "key to success" is CORE. I have outlined the elements of CORE here. The reason why so many Amway IBOs fail is because these alleged foolproof steps taught by upline, contain practically nothing but non income producing activities.
1 - Show the Plan
2 - Retail the Products
3 - Tapes/cds
4 - Books
5 - Functions
6 - Accountability
7 - Counsel with Upline (Be teachable!)
8 - Buy 100% of your own products
9 – Communikate
In these nine steps, only #2 (selling products) may actually net the IBO a profit, but this step is not emphasized in the teaching of many groups. In all the other core steps, you either spend time and money doing things that do not produce income for your business. If you, as an IBO, spend most of your time in non income producing activities, guess what? You will suffer losses. It is no wonder nearly all IBOs lose money, they are taught to spend most of their time in activities that do not produce income! And to make t worse, these steps take money out of an IBO's pocket. It's no wonder Amway IBOs are doomed to failure once they register as IBOs.
Imagine owning a brick and mortar store where you open the store for one hour a day. The rest of the day you are reading books, listening to tapes/cds, and paying to attend seminars and listening to voicemail messages. Oh, and in addition to opening your store for an hour a day, you don't advertise except for word of mouth. Could you survive in business? I think you can't possibly survive. But this is basically what IBOs are doing. What makes it worse is they are doing this as advised by their upline.
So can an IBO make money by spending most of his/her time in non income producing activity? The answer is clear to me.
1 - Show the Plan
2 - Retail the Products
3 - Tapes/cds
4 - Books
5 - Functions
6 - Accountability
7 - Counsel with Upline (Be teachable!)
8 - Buy 100% of your own products
9 – Communikate
In these nine steps, only #2 (selling products) may actually net the IBO a profit, but this step is not emphasized in the teaching of many groups. In all the other core steps, you either spend time and money doing things that do not produce income for your business. If you, as an IBO, spend most of your time in non income producing activities, guess what? You will suffer losses. It is no wonder nearly all IBOs lose money, they are taught to spend most of their time in activities that do not produce income! And to make t worse, these steps take money out of an IBO's pocket. It's no wonder Amway IBOs are doomed to failure once they register as IBOs.
Imagine owning a brick and mortar store where you open the store for one hour a day. The rest of the day you are reading books, listening to tapes/cds, and paying to attend seminars and listening to voicemail messages. Oh, and in addition to opening your store for an hour a day, you don't advertise except for word of mouth. Could you survive in business? I think you can't possibly survive. But this is basically what IBOs are doing. What makes it worse is they are doing this as advised by their upline.
So can an IBO make money by spending most of his/her time in non income producing activity? The answer is clear to me.
Thursday, October 27, 2016
Amway Fruit On The Tree?
I had a good chuckle recently when some Amway apologists spoke about looking at the "fruit on the tree". One commentator said his parents were broke and he looked to his diamond since the diamond apparently had fruit on the tree. I thought about this concept and I agree, that perhaps we should look at fruit on the tree. The real question is whether or not the diamonds will let you see the fruit they claim to have.
IBOs and Amway prospects, please ask your upline platinum or diamond to show you the fruit on their tree. Ask them to see their (business) financial statements. This is actually a common practice in real business. When a friend of mine sold his business a few years back, he made three year's worth of income tax returns to show prospective buyers. My friend showed his business and personal taxes, because the prospective buyer wanted full disclosure, and he provided it.
As far as I know, not one single bigger pin has ever shown their business financials. In fact, if it made certain bigger pins look good, why wouldn't they want to "show their fruit". They certainly don't mind showing off diamond rings, fancy clothes, sports cars and the like. What many IBOs don't understand is that fancy cars and other toys is not evidence of fruit on the tree. We don't know who owns the things they show you on a slide show. I could go take pictures of mansions and sports cars and show them from a stage, but it doesn't mean I own them.
It has been discussed that some diamonds may rent cars or fancy homes and try to imply that they own these items. Some diamonds, possibly many diamonds in the past have lied or embellished the truth about paying for everything in cash, including their homes and cars. They also at times, have given the audience the impression that these luxuries are all purchased with Amway income, and we know that many diamonds have probably had supplemental income from the tool systems, or other business ventures outside of Amway.
We also know that some diamonds are in debt, but simply try to portray an excessive lifestyle. (See Ruth Carter's Book: Amway Motivational Organizations, Behind the Smoke and Mirrors). Some diamonds may have a substantial income, but it doesn't mean they are financially free and able to live a jetset lifestyle that many portray. It is an illusion, possibly to be able to attract new prospects into the business. The stark reality is diamonds living in debt, or diamonds living beyond their means (keeping up with the Joneses)
So yes, let us actually see the fruit on the tree. Is there any fruit?
IBOs and Amway prospects, please ask your upline platinum or diamond to show you the fruit on their tree. Ask them to see their (business) financial statements. This is actually a common practice in real business. When a friend of mine sold his business a few years back, he made three year's worth of income tax returns to show prospective buyers. My friend showed his business and personal taxes, because the prospective buyer wanted full disclosure, and he provided it.
As far as I know, not one single bigger pin has ever shown their business financials. In fact, if it made certain bigger pins look good, why wouldn't they want to "show their fruit". They certainly don't mind showing off diamond rings, fancy clothes, sports cars and the like. What many IBOs don't understand is that fancy cars and other toys is not evidence of fruit on the tree. We don't know who owns the things they show you on a slide show. I could go take pictures of mansions and sports cars and show them from a stage, but it doesn't mean I own them.
It has been discussed that some diamonds may rent cars or fancy homes and try to imply that they own these items. Some diamonds, possibly many diamonds in the past have lied or embellished the truth about paying for everything in cash, including their homes and cars. They also at times, have given the audience the impression that these luxuries are all purchased with Amway income, and we know that many diamonds have probably had supplemental income from the tool systems, or other business ventures outside of Amway.
We also know that some diamonds are in debt, but simply try to portray an excessive lifestyle. (See Ruth Carter's Book: Amway Motivational Organizations, Behind the Smoke and Mirrors). Some diamonds may have a substantial income, but it doesn't mean they are financially free and able to live a jetset lifestyle that many portray. It is an illusion, possibly to be able to attract new prospects into the business. The stark reality is diamonds living in debt, or diamonds living beyond their means (keeping up with the Joneses)
So yes, let us actually see the fruit on the tree. Is there any fruit?
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Fake Financial Gurus?
Based on my experience in Amway, my blogging experience, and observation of other people who give financial advice such as real estate gurus who teach you to buy property with no money down, or others such as Robert Kiyosaki for that matter, all show testimonials of sucessful people. Obviously they do not show you the vast majority of people who try their systems and fail. Many have the disclaimer that success is a "unique" experience. There's a good reason for that.
It is my informed opinion that whether it is Amway, WWDB, BWW, N21, real estate or the cashflow business, the vast majority of people who try these systems do not make any kind of significant income or any net income at all for that matter. Sure, some do, and those are shown as the possibilities. But if you watch infomercials, you will see many testimonials from smiling people who claim they made money using the alleged system. What you won't see if whether the income made is sustainable and the tens of thousands of people who may have tried the system but were unable to generate any income.
Some Amway diamonds have been heard saying that doers do, and those who can't do, teach. So what do you think Amway diamonds and alleged financial gurus like Kiyosaki are doing? They are teaching and not "doing", are they not? If Kiyosaki could make millions by doing his own methods, he wouldn't need to pimp his books and seminars. I'm pretty sure he's not writing books and pimping seminars out of the pure goodness in his heart to help people. Same goes for the Amway diamonds. But if you only take away one point from this message, it's that the diamonds themselves are teachers and not doers.
These systems in general do not work for various reasons. Many people simply do not have the acumen to work the system. Or the system has too many variables for the system to work, or the system calls for things beyond your control. For example, success in Amway generally requires you to sponsor others, something that is beyond the control of most people. Add in the lazy and people who are hoping for a quick score and it is understandable that most will fail. But these systems are often set up where the majority simply cannot all succeed. Nowhere is that more true than the Amway business where the pyramidal compensation plan nearly guarantees failure for the lower level IBOs. In the common 6-4-2 plan, there is 1 platinum and 78 downline who aren't. And that flawed plan assumes that all IBOs actually did enough to earn a bonus.
So what can someone do? Well, it may not be as sexy or attractive but a part time job and investing and saving might be something to think about. Even a part time business where you focus on selling products for a profit might work. It just seems prudent to avoid these "systems" as the primary beneficiary of these "systems" are the ones who sell them.
It is my informed opinion that whether it is Amway, WWDB, BWW, N21, real estate or the cashflow business, the vast majority of people who try these systems do not make any kind of significant income or any net income at all for that matter. Sure, some do, and those are shown as the possibilities. But if you watch infomercials, you will see many testimonials from smiling people who claim they made money using the alleged system. What you won't see if whether the income made is sustainable and the tens of thousands of people who may have tried the system but were unable to generate any income.
Some Amway diamonds have been heard saying that doers do, and those who can't do, teach. So what do you think Amway diamonds and alleged financial gurus like Kiyosaki are doing? They are teaching and not "doing", are they not? If Kiyosaki could make millions by doing his own methods, he wouldn't need to pimp his books and seminars. I'm pretty sure he's not writing books and pimping seminars out of the pure goodness in his heart to help people. Same goes for the Amway diamonds. But if you only take away one point from this message, it's that the diamonds themselves are teachers and not doers.
These systems in general do not work for various reasons. Many people simply do not have the acumen to work the system. Or the system has too many variables for the system to work, or the system calls for things beyond your control. For example, success in Amway generally requires you to sponsor others, something that is beyond the control of most people. Add in the lazy and people who are hoping for a quick score and it is understandable that most will fail. But these systems are often set up where the majority simply cannot all succeed. Nowhere is that more true than the Amway business where the pyramidal compensation plan nearly guarantees failure for the lower level IBOs. In the common 6-4-2 plan, there is 1 platinum and 78 downline who aren't. And that flawed plan assumes that all IBOs actually did enough to earn a bonus.
So what can someone do? Well, it may not be as sexy or attractive but a part time job and investing and saving might be something to think about. Even a part time business where you focus on selling products for a profit might work. It just seems prudent to avoid these "systems" as the primary beneficiary of these "systems" are the ones who sell them.
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Duplicate Your Way To Amway Success?
Duplication. It was sold as the key to success when I was an IBO and I believe it is still promoted as an important component to succeeding in Amway. But I believe IBOs are misguided in understanding what duplication really is. Sure, it's very easy to stand on stage as a tenured diamond and talk about duplication, but in practical application, can it be done? In my opinion, duplicating sounds great in theory but will not work in practice. In the US, I believe Amway is not experiencing growth. The name change from Quixtar back to Amway was made for a reason. I believe that reason is because Quixtar had a bad reputation. Now I also believe that Amway has a spotty reputation as well, but the company braintrust must have felt it was still better to be Amway than Quixtar.
So back to topic. What are you duplicating? Many IBOs do little or nothing. That is not a mystery. So duplicating nothing gets you nothing. But let's look at the 6-4-2 plan. The majority in the plan do 100 PV and get about $9 or $10 as a bonus. In order to succeed, upline will expect these IBOs to be on standing order and to attend functions. Thus these IBOs will earn $9 or $10 but spend about $150 to $200 a month on training materials. So duplicating yourself will compound the overall losses of the group or team as some like to call themselves. If you sponsor a few people and move up to 300 PV group volume, you will earn about $30 but still spend about $150 to $200 in training materials. So duplicating yourself still creates more losses. Even if you achieve platinum or higher, you may finally reach a point where you have a net gain, but your downline will continue to lose money, primarily due to the cost of the training materials.
So duplication is the key to Amway success. Amway and the people selling the education materials become very successful by your promotion of "duplication", but the IBOs themselves get no benefit from duplicating themselves unless they can get enough downline to absorb the losses for them. It is why some people consider the Amway opportunity a pyramid. While legal, the opportunity still resembles a pyramidal compensation plan as you will only make a significant net gain when you have enough downline "under" you to take the losses. While you can outearn your sponsor, you will never overtake one of the tenured "crown ambassadors".
So the question for IBOs is, what exactly are you duplicating?
So back to topic. What are you duplicating? Many IBOs do little or nothing. That is not a mystery. So duplicating nothing gets you nothing. But let's look at the 6-4-2 plan. The majority in the plan do 100 PV and get about $9 or $10 as a bonus. In order to succeed, upline will expect these IBOs to be on standing order and to attend functions. Thus these IBOs will earn $9 or $10 but spend about $150 to $200 a month on training materials. So duplicating yourself will compound the overall losses of the group or team as some like to call themselves. If you sponsor a few people and move up to 300 PV group volume, you will earn about $30 but still spend about $150 to $200 in training materials. So duplicating yourself still creates more losses. Even if you achieve platinum or higher, you may finally reach a point where you have a net gain, but your downline will continue to lose money, primarily due to the cost of the training materials.
So duplication is the key to Amway success. Amway and the people selling the education materials become very successful by your promotion of "duplication", but the IBOs themselves get no benefit from duplicating themselves unless they can get enough downline to absorb the losses for them. It is why some people consider the Amway opportunity a pyramid. While legal, the opportunity still resembles a pyramidal compensation plan as you will only make a significant net gain when you have enough downline "under" you to take the losses. While you can outearn your sponsor, you will never overtake one of the tenured "crown ambassadors".
So the question for IBOs is, what exactly are you duplicating?
Monday, October 24, 2016
Why Amway Doesn't Work?
After years of studying Amway and blogging, I've noticed some thing taught by IBO leaders that simply do not make any sense. It doesn't make sense business wise and it just doesn't add up. I know that sometimes, you need to think outside of the box and go against the grain to succeed, but some of the IBO practices are simply insane and it's no wonder that so many IBOs fail in their pursuit of their Amway "dream".
Most IBOs never sponsor a a single downline and relatively few products are sold to non IBOs. These are the reasons why most IBOs do not turn a profit but for some reason, many IBOs still seem to think that training materials are worth the money they pay for them. I wonder if IBOs actually assess and analyze whether the tools actually help their business or not? You attend functions and listen to advice on cds but is your sales volume going up or not?
Buy from yourself. A fairly common practice. It is okay to support your business, but if you are the primary or only customer, you won't make money. Any profit you might turn is coming out of your own pockets. I don't know of any successful stores where the primary customers are the owner and the store employees. Yet some IBOs think this is how they will succeed. Many mistakenly think they will just buy from themselves and sponsor an army of downline. Congratulations, if you succeed, you'll have built an illegal pyramid with no retail sales.
Sponsor others. So you are struggling as an IBO. But the key to success is to try to open other stores by sponsoring. As a famous Amway apologist likes to claim, you do nto get paid for sponsoring others. So why is this the emphasis for so many IBOs? Why would you think that opening more stores will make you successful? Yes, it is a way to possibly generate more volume, but your "success" will only come by having a bunch of struggling businesses under you. Is that how you wish to succeed? Also, the quest to sponsor others is probably how Amway got a bad reputation when IBOs tricked people into attending recruitment meetings and/or being deceptive when invitig someone to see the plan.
Folks, you need customers to succeed. I live in Hawaii and when tourism is slow, our local economy suffers. It's a very similar concept to your Amway business. Without customers circulating money through your business, you will eventually go out of business.
Most IBOs never sponsor a a single downline and relatively few products are sold to non IBOs. These are the reasons why most IBOs do not turn a profit but for some reason, many IBOs still seem to think that training materials are worth the money they pay for them. I wonder if IBOs actually assess and analyze whether the tools actually help their business or not? You attend functions and listen to advice on cds but is your sales volume going up or not?
Buy from yourself. A fairly common practice. It is okay to support your business, but if you are the primary or only customer, you won't make money. Any profit you might turn is coming out of your own pockets. I don't know of any successful stores where the primary customers are the owner and the store employees. Yet some IBOs think this is how they will succeed. Many mistakenly think they will just buy from themselves and sponsor an army of downline. Congratulations, if you succeed, you'll have built an illegal pyramid with no retail sales.
Sponsor others. So you are struggling as an IBO. But the key to success is to try to open other stores by sponsoring. As a famous Amway apologist likes to claim, you do nto get paid for sponsoring others. So why is this the emphasis for so many IBOs? Why would you think that opening more stores will make you successful? Yes, it is a way to possibly generate more volume, but your "success" will only come by having a bunch of struggling businesses under you. Is that how you wish to succeed? Also, the quest to sponsor others is probably how Amway got a bad reputation when IBOs tricked people into attending recruitment meetings and/or being deceptive when invitig someone to see the plan.
Folks, you need customers to succeed. I live in Hawaii and when tourism is slow, our local economy suffers. It's a very similar concept to your Amway business. Without customers circulating money through your business, you will eventually go out of business.
Friday, October 21, 2016
Personal Responsibility For Your Amway Business?
One of the disturbing things I have noticed over the years about Amway IBOs and IBO leaders is how they wlll tell downline to trust them. To trust them as they have already blazed a trail. No need to re-invent the wheel. Just ride the coattails of your upline to success. The system is proven. Many IBOs take this to heart and put forth tremendous effort. Then when they fail, upline will shun them and tell them that the failure is their own. That they are personally responsible for failure. Does that sound as if Amway leaders themselves take personal responsibility?
Now I am not talking about IBOs who sign up and do nothing, or never place an order. I do believe that the fact that many IBOs sign up and do nothing brings other concerns about how these IBOs were recruited, but I do not recall ever seeing an IBO do nothing and then complain that Amway was a scam or anything like that. I'm referring to IBOs who signed up and did what upline advised, including expending time and money to carry out that advice.
I have found, however, that many people who are critical of Amway and the systems, put forth much effort, did everything they were told, and did not find the success that upline promoted, or in some cases, guaranteed. My former sponsor was still active, last I heard and has been in Amway for over 20 years. I do not believe he has ever gone beyond platinum, and I know that he was never a Q12 platinum. Some Amway apologists might see being a platinum as a bonus, but when you are hard core sold out to the systems, platinum is a break even or make a small profit business. Factor in that time spent by husband and wife and these folks are breaking even or making a fraction of minumum wage. Is this the dream that will allow you to buy mansions with a cash payment? I'm honestly curious what return on investment a platinum couple would receive for all they work they do? I suspect it's minimal or even a loss unless they can push through to diamond. Then if you "make it", your income will be from the masses who try and fail using your advice. I couldn't live with that set up. Maybe the diamonds are too far invested to just quit?
What is also disturbing is how people will tout the system as responsible for any success, but hide the vast majority that the system doesn't help. Sure, some will succeed in Amway, but for every success, there are hundreds if not thousands or tens of thousands who fail. And if you consider diamond as the benchmark of success, the failures could be in the millions. As I said, some succeed, but very very few in relation to the number who try. Going diamond is probably less common in the US than winning the lottery. What's troubling is how leaders will make it seem like anyone and everyone can succeed, which is not being honest.
Succeed and the systems and upline take credit, but fail or quit and it is your own responsibility. Are these the kinds of leaders or mentors you want advice from?
Now I am not talking about IBOs who sign up and do nothing, or never place an order. I do believe that the fact that many IBOs sign up and do nothing brings other concerns about how these IBOs were recruited, but I do not recall ever seeing an IBO do nothing and then complain that Amway was a scam or anything like that. I'm referring to IBOs who signed up and did what upline advised, including expending time and money to carry out that advice.
I have found, however, that many people who are critical of Amway and the systems, put forth much effort, did everything they were told, and did not find the success that upline promoted, or in some cases, guaranteed. My former sponsor was still active, last I heard and has been in Amway for over 20 years. I do not believe he has ever gone beyond platinum, and I know that he was never a Q12 platinum. Some Amway apologists might see being a platinum as a bonus, but when you are hard core sold out to the systems, platinum is a break even or make a small profit business. Factor in that time spent by husband and wife and these folks are breaking even or making a fraction of minumum wage. Is this the dream that will allow you to buy mansions with a cash payment? I'm honestly curious what return on investment a platinum couple would receive for all they work they do? I suspect it's minimal or even a loss unless they can push through to diamond. Then if you "make it", your income will be from the masses who try and fail using your advice. I couldn't live with that set up. Maybe the diamonds are too far invested to just quit?
What is also disturbing is how people will tout the system as responsible for any success, but hide the vast majority that the system doesn't help. Sure, some will succeed in Amway, but for every success, there are hundreds if not thousands or tens of thousands who fail. And if you consider diamond as the benchmark of success, the failures could be in the millions. As I said, some succeed, but very very few in relation to the number who try. Going diamond is probably less common in the US than winning the lottery. What's troubling is how leaders will make it seem like anyone and everyone can succeed, which is not being honest.
Succeed and the systems and upline take credit, but fail or quit and it is your own responsibility. Are these the kinds of leaders or mentors you want advice from?
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