One of the reasons I started blogging was to share my personal experiences in Amway and WWDB, and to allow information seekers and prospects to get an insight into what I see as potential problems with the Amway opportunity. In many of my blog articles, you will notice that many of the problems I have identified with the Amway opportunity are more closely ties to a motivational group such as WWDB, BWW, or Network 21. But Amway apparently has allowed many bad practices to go unchecked, thus they are not completely guiltless in the abuse of downline over the years.
Too often, the Amway opportunity is misrepresented by IBOs. For example, I have heard so many times, that Amway is a franchise opportunity, which is not true. I have also heard so many times that an average Joe can work for 2-5 years, and create a willable and residual income that will allow you to not have a job, and possibly to allow you to enjoy untold wealth and luxury. I don't believe this is true for the vast majority of people who were sold on the Amway opportunity. Very very few people make any money from Amway and out of those who do, the profits are also from tools and functions and not exclusively from Amway.
The bigger problem is the promotion of motivational tools as being the key to success in Amway. Although technically "optional", most uplines will promote the tools as necessary and that an IBO would be insane to build a business without tools. Thus many IBOs spend money on tools and sadly, most IBOs never make enough money in Amway to cover the cost of their tools. In fact, over a number of years, I have heard of people losing tens of thousands of dollars (or more) to the tools systems. And once you start participating in the system, the decision to quit can be difficult because of the time and money that an IBO may have already invested. Also, the thought that maybe upline is right and that persistence will pay off. Well, there is no unbiased documentation that persistence and hard work (and applying the system) actually works.
Amway defenders like to point out that all the new platinums and diamonds used the system, but FAIL to point out that the rest of the IBO force who may have worked just as hard simply ended up with business losses. Amway defenders also fail to point out that perhaps a larger number of platinums and diamonds may have failed to re-qualify at that level. So much for willable and residual income. By the way, of residual income is a benefit of the Amway business, why can't I find anything from the Amway corporation to confirm this?
I could go on and on, but lastly for now, I think it's a bit shady for diamonds to show off fancy cars or mansions as a way to flaunt their alleged success in Amway. I would prefer the traditional manner of reviewing business tax returns. Showing a copy of a check means nothing because business expenses may have exceeded the amount of the check, leaving an IBO with a net loss. But in the Amway opportunity, it is commong practice for IBOs to hide their income or to show a diamond's Mercedes as proof of income. It doesn't add up for me and I would urge information seekers and prospects to scrutinize someone who tries to impress you in this manner.
Those are some of the problems I see with Amway.
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
The Amway Tools?
One of the things that many Amway defenders will claim is that too many IBOs do not apply what they are taught, thus they do not succeed. While I agree with this in principle, I believe that there are many many more problems with the Amway systems that have nothing to do an IBO's willingness to apply what they are taught.
For the record, I will be refering to IBOs who actually make an effort to build the business. I know many IBOs do little or nothing, but that in itself is a whole different issue, probably stemming from deception in the recruitment process. But okay, let's look at the systems.
Voicemail. The voicemail systems used by many groups are not only expensive, but completely unnecessary. Most newer IBOs do not even earn enough money from Amway to pay for their voicemail, and frankly, in an internet based type of business, I don't see why email or skype is not utilized, except for the fact that eliminating voicemail would be eliminating a profit center for many uplines. In fact, if voicemail must be used, why aren't IBOs using the Amway version of voicemail so IBOs can gain PV/BV? The excuse that KATE may be better doesn't fly because I'm sure Amway could make improvements to the system they have. But overall, email would still be just as efficient at no cost.
Standing orders. If you attend functions, why would you need an endless supply of cds or tapes? Most of these are recorded at functions anyway, thus upline is hitting you twice as you pay for the function and then get hit up for the standing order again. And how many standing orders give you specific and practical advice on running a profitable Amway business? I am guessing that very little practical advice is given on these standing orders. Why do you need a new supply every week?
Functions. If standing orders are so valuable, why do you need to spend money on functions, especially functions where airfare and hotel expenses are needed? Why wouldn't there be less major functions and more regional functions? If the true intent of these meetings is to generate IBO success, then shouldn't the IBOs be able to attend functions closer to home to reduce cost and to make them more accessible to the rank and file IBO?
All in all, I believe that some tools may have value and can teach IBOs some sales and relationship techniques, but I also believe that tools are over promoted in many LOS groups, to the financial detriment of many IBOs. If IBOs were made profitable in their first month or months of business, there would be less need for so much motivation. When do you have enough tools?
For the record, I will be refering to IBOs who actually make an effort to build the business. I know many IBOs do little or nothing, but that in itself is a whole different issue, probably stemming from deception in the recruitment process. But okay, let's look at the systems.
Voicemail. The voicemail systems used by many groups are not only expensive, but completely unnecessary. Most newer IBOs do not even earn enough money from Amway to pay for their voicemail, and frankly, in an internet based type of business, I don't see why email or skype is not utilized, except for the fact that eliminating voicemail would be eliminating a profit center for many uplines. In fact, if voicemail must be used, why aren't IBOs using the Amway version of voicemail so IBOs can gain PV/BV? The excuse that KATE may be better doesn't fly because I'm sure Amway could make improvements to the system they have. But overall, email would still be just as efficient at no cost.
Standing orders. If you attend functions, why would you need an endless supply of cds or tapes? Most of these are recorded at functions anyway, thus upline is hitting you twice as you pay for the function and then get hit up for the standing order again. And how many standing orders give you specific and practical advice on running a profitable Amway business? I am guessing that very little practical advice is given on these standing orders. Why do you need a new supply every week?
Functions. If standing orders are so valuable, why do you need to spend money on functions, especially functions where airfare and hotel expenses are needed? Why wouldn't there be less major functions and more regional functions? If the true intent of these meetings is to generate IBO success, then shouldn't the IBOs be able to attend functions closer to home to reduce cost and to make them more accessible to the rank and file IBO?
All in all, I believe that some tools may have value and can teach IBOs some sales and relationship techniques, but I also believe that tools are over promoted in many LOS groups, to the financial detriment of many IBOs. If IBOs were made profitable in their first month or months of business, there would be less need for so much motivation. When do you have enough tools?
Monday, October 29, 2018
The Amway House Of Cards?
When I was an IBO, I was in WWDB. I was told that they were the best LOS, the fastest growing, with the best leaders. We were told to look at the fruit on the tree, that surely, that was proof that WWDB was the best. At the time I believed it all. Afterall, my upline diamond was one of the fastest to achieve that level and things were looking up. I had heard of recent functions where there were over 50,000 in attendance at the Kingdome in Seattle (at that time). We were told that nobody made a cent of profit from the functions and other tools. That upline used proceeds to make functions better and cheaper for IBOs. It all sounded like a great organization and I was certainly going to be rich if I only followed the system and their great leaders.
Well, after a year, I quit. Not because I could not build the business, but because my upline became overbearing, demanding that I submit to him, giving me bad advice and he was also unable to answer when I asked why I achieved the level of 4000 with the proper parameters but was not making any net profit. There was no incentive to spend all my time and money building a business for no profit and I quit. My upline's advice of dunping my finacee' to focus on Amway also contributed to my decision to quit. After I quit Amway, my life got back to normal until one day I happened to stumble across a website called Quixtar blog. It was then that I realized how many lies I was fed and how badly our uplines had taken advantage of downline IBOs.
It seems that the WWDB house of cards started tumbling with a couple of WWDB diamonds
having homes foreclosed. We later saw a blog post indicating that a WWDB triple diamond was in bankruptcy proceedings. That was followed by Ron Puryear's river house going up for sale, followed by the listings of other WWDB diamonds who were selling their homes. It is true that they may be selling the homes to liquidate some cash or to downsize, but in a bad housing market and if the homes were paid for in cash as many a diamond claims, then it seems like an odd time to sell. Of course it could also be that Amway in the US is shrinking and with less sales and fewer IBOs, there is less tools income and Amway bonuses, thus perhaps some of these diamonds simply cannot afford these homes any longer? Toss in a prominent WWDB diamond apparently divorcing and rumors of a couple of WWDB diamonds moving to form their own systems and you can see gaping holes in the WWDB system.
It has been my contention that many diamonds are possibly living in heavy debt because even with a decent income, their excessive lifestyles as portrayed in functions, simply cannot be sustained unless they have other major sources of income. In fact, since a large portion of a diamond's income is from annual bonuses, a diamond's monthly income may be relatively small. In any case, it appears to me, that WWDB is on shaky ground and some of their hypocrisy is being exposed. They apparently built a house of cards and now it may be falling apart.
Well, after a year, I quit. Not because I could not build the business, but because my upline became overbearing, demanding that I submit to him, giving me bad advice and he was also unable to answer when I asked why I achieved the level of 4000 with the proper parameters but was not making any net profit. There was no incentive to spend all my time and money building a business for no profit and I quit. My upline's advice of dunping my finacee' to focus on Amway also contributed to my decision to quit. After I quit Amway, my life got back to normal until one day I happened to stumble across a website called Quixtar blog. It was then that I realized how many lies I was fed and how badly our uplines had taken advantage of downline IBOs.
It seems that the WWDB house of cards started tumbling with a couple of WWDB diamonds
having homes foreclosed. We later saw a blog post indicating that a WWDB triple diamond was in bankruptcy proceedings. That was followed by Ron Puryear's river house going up for sale, followed by the listings of other WWDB diamonds who were selling their homes. It is true that they may be selling the homes to liquidate some cash or to downsize, but in a bad housing market and if the homes were paid for in cash as many a diamond claims, then it seems like an odd time to sell. Of course it could also be that Amway in the US is shrinking and with less sales and fewer IBOs, there is less tools income and Amway bonuses, thus perhaps some of these diamonds simply cannot afford these homes any longer? Toss in a prominent WWDB diamond apparently divorcing and rumors of a couple of WWDB diamonds moving to form their own systems and you can see gaping holes in the WWDB system.
It has been my contention that many diamonds are possibly living in heavy debt because even with a decent income, their excessive lifestyles as portrayed in functions, simply cannot be sustained unless they have other major sources of income. In fact, since a large portion of a diamond's income is from annual bonuses, a diamond's monthly income may be relatively small. In any case, it appears to me, that WWDB is on shaky ground and some of their hypocrisy is being exposed. They apparently built a house of cards and now it may be falling apart.
Saturday, October 27, 2018
Same Old Amway?
A friend of mine ad former downline (when I was an IBO) told me that his daughter recently joined Amway and WWDB. Despite his warnings and objections, she joined anyway, and insists that things are different in Amway today. That gave me some food for thought. What is different between Amway of today and the Amway I was in? The products are basically the same, perhaps with some new packaging. The concepts are the same. Buy your own stuff and try to get others to do the same. And recruit like crazy. That part of the business hasn't changed at all.
But what also hasn't changed is the same old Amway reputation that hinders the ability to sell products and/or to recruit others and to show the plan. Seems as if people joining and quitting without doing much is still the same. There is still an emphasis of the consumption of tools and functions by the rank and file IBOs, and why not? The diamonds make nice profits from the sale of business support materials and unlike the Amway compensation plan, the rank and file IBOs get no compensation for the tools.
It sure seems as if the same old - old diamonds are around. The Duncans, Puryear, Leslie Wolgamott (Divorced from Brad - WWDB saves marriages?). Harimoto, Tsuruda, Danzik. Where are the new diamonds? It might also be significant to note that Amway revenues have declined significantly from 11.8 billion in 2013 to 8.6 billion in 2017. And that is while the US economy has been doing very well. Perhaps perhaps people are seeing Amway for what it is? A poor business opportunity where your chance of failure is nearly 100%. And it's not because of a lack of effort or motivation. The Amway system is just set up for failure.
A quick look at the common 6-4-2 plan is 79 IBOs. One platinum and a whole bunch who aren't. And this plan doesn't factor in that many people join and quit without doing much of anything. Thus there can only mathematically be a small fraction of 1% who make anything with a whole bunch of wannabes who never make it. And that is what Amway is. The same old sorry ass Amway opportunity where the diamonds sell you false hopes and dreams while their dreams come true from your tools and function purchases.
But what also hasn't changed is the same old Amway reputation that hinders the ability to sell products and/or to recruit others and to show the plan. Seems as if people joining and quitting without doing much is still the same. There is still an emphasis of the consumption of tools and functions by the rank and file IBOs, and why not? The diamonds make nice profits from the sale of business support materials and unlike the Amway compensation plan, the rank and file IBOs get no compensation for the tools.
It sure seems as if the same old - old diamonds are around. The Duncans, Puryear, Leslie Wolgamott (Divorced from Brad - WWDB saves marriages?). Harimoto, Tsuruda, Danzik. Where are the new diamonds? It might also be significant to note that Amway revenues have declined significantly from 11.8 billion in 2013 to 8.6 billion in 2017. And that is while the US economy has been doing very well. Perhaps perhaps people are seeing Amway for what it is? A poor business opportunity where your chance of failure is nearly 100%. And it's not because of a lack of effort or motivation. The Amway system is just set up for failure.
A quick look at the common 6-4-2 plan is 79 IBOs. One platinum and a whole bunch who aren't. And this plan doesn't factor in that many people join and quit without doing much of anything. Thus there can only mathematically be a small fraction of 1% who make anything with a whole bunch of wannabes who never make it. And that is what Amway is. The same old sorry ass Amway opportunity where the diamonds sell you false hopes and dreams while their dreams come true from your tools and function purchases.
Friday, October 26, 2018
The Real Amway Business?
When I was first recruited into the Amway business, I was in college and I was invited to a "beer bust", only to find out it was an Amway meeting. I declined. Later, a few years later, I had an old friend show me the plan and I declined. I told him to look me up if he ever made money in Amway. He came back some time later and said he went "direct". I knew that was a somewhat significant level so I got interested. I eventually signed up and my sponsor told me about the standing orders, books, functions, voicemail.
I wondered why all this stuff was "defacto required" but was told that multi millionaires in Amway said it was the key to success but if I wanted to try and do it on my own, then go for it. I thought it was a no brainer to follow the advice on someone who was successful. Who wouldn't right? My sponsor also sold the tools hard, recommending that we buy more than we needed because it was the key to success. When you think about it, it sounds all good, But the upline doesn't disclose the deception.
The deception is about the tools program. Upline diamonds promote the tools program as the "key to success" but I will ask where is the success? Have someone name a few new WWDB diamonds in the US? (I was in WWDB). The fact is there are fewer duamonds now than when I was an IBO in 1997-1998. And in case anyon hasn't noticed, Amway revenues have declined about 25% from 2013 to now. They went from 11.8 billion to now, 8.6 billion.
With Amway sales and revenues declining significantly, how can there be hoards of new diamonds? It can't happen. It only makes sense that there are fewer diamonds and fewer emeralds, platinums, etc.
So how can Amway diamonds stay afloat? It's with the real Amway business. The tools and functions. Obviously, with Amway sales and revenues down, diamond income and bonuses are down (contrary to what Amway diamonds say about Amway being a recession proof business). Amway diamonds claim that soap and other consumables are necessary even when times are hard, but oh, wait, Amway sells "premium products" so they cost more than WalMart or Costco, or CVS. So much for that theory.
Don't be fooled, the real business of the diamonds is to sell support materials. There is a higher profit margin and rank and file IBOs don't share in the compensation plan like they di in the PV/BV plan. It's obvious that the "real" Amway business is the upline selling books, voicemail, cd/audios and functions/seminars.
I wondered why all this stuff was "defacto required" but was told that multi millionaires in Amway said it was the key to success but if I wanted to try and do it on my own, then go for it. I thought it was a no brainer to follow the advice on someone who was successful. Who wouldn't right? My sponsor also sold the tools hard, recommending that we buy more than we needed because it was the key to success. When you think about it, it sounds all good, But the upline doesn't disclose the deception.
The deception is about the tools program. Upline diamonds promote the tools program as the "key to success" but I will ask where is the success? Have someone name a few new WWDB diamonds in the US? (I was in WWDB). The fact is there are fewer duamonds now than when I was an IBO in 1997-1998. And in case anyon hasn't noticed, Amway revenues have declined about 25% from 2013 to now. They went from 11.8 billion to now, 8.6 billion.
With Amway sales and revenues declining significantly, how can there be hoards of new diamonds? It can't happen. It only makes sense that there are fewer diamonds and fewer emeralds, platinums, etc.
So how can Amway diamonds stay afloat? It's with the real Amway business. The tools and functions. Obviously, with Amway sales and revenues down, diamond income and bonuses are down (contrary to what Amway diamonds say about Amway being a recession proof business). Amway diamonds claim that soap and other consumables are necessary even when times are hard, but oh, wait, Amway sells "premium products" so they cost more than WalMart or Costco, or CVS. So much for that theory.
Don't be fooled, the real business of the diamonds is to sell support materials. There is a higher profit margin and rank and file IBOs don't share in the compensation plan like they di in the PV/BV plan. It's obvious that the "real" Amway business is the upline selling books, voicemail, cd/audios and functions/seminars.
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
The Forgotten Amway/WWDB Challenge?
Some people may not recall any of this, but sometime about 8-10 years ago, then Crown Ambassador Ron Puryear made a challenge to all the WWDB Diamonds. He said that in order to prove that going diamond is possible, he challenged the WWDB diamonds to build a diamond business on top of what they already have. That would prove to downline that going diamond is indeed possible and that "anyone" can do it. Of course the diamonds had the advantage of having already achieved some level of success. They could use their experience and credibility to build an even bigger business and to be an example of what downline should be targeting.
Not a single diamond, as far as I know, was able to achieve this feat. All the same diamonds and whatever, remained the same. The challenge fizzled out after a number of months and WWDB leaders just pretended that nothing ever happened. That seems to be a common tactic of WWDB leaders, to just pretend something never happened or to simply revise history to erase this memory. A good example was how Howie Dnazik built his diamondship as a single, when the truth is, he was married to Susan Danzik and went diamond with her, until their divorce. But ask any WWDB people and they'll deny it or make up some story that the marriage failure was all on Susan, when in fact, nobody has ever heard her side of the story.
There was a time when the Internet was fairly new, and WWDB leaders stood on stage and boldly proclaimed that nobody made a cent of profit on the tools and functions. Later, when the Internet exposed that as a lie, the narrative changed to how WWDB diamonds made a profit on tools and functions, but that their profits were minimal. If anyone can do the math on tools and functions, you can see how much profit is inevitable. The tools and functions have a much higher profit margin than Amway products but the rank and file IBOs don't get any portion of the tools and functions profits. For example, a cd or audio might cost pennies to make but if you pay $50 for WWDB premiere club play $2-3 for a cd or audio, upline makes hefty profits. The same goes for voicemail and books. But the major events such as Dream Night, or family reunion are significant profit makers. You might pay anywhere from $75 to $125 for a function ticket and maybe 10-20 thousand people are in attendance. The IBOs provide a lot of the labor for free (ushers, etc) and the set up is basically mics and some video screens, nothing elaborate.
What many people also don't see is that a city or county gives discounts on venues if you're bringing 10 to 20 thousand visitors to their city. I can only imagine how much actualy profit is made by the diamonds on these functions, not to mention they sell shirts, audios and other materials at these functions. Whatever happened to that WWDB challenge? MOst IBOs or leaders will pretend it never happened or make some excuse as to why they could not meet the challenge. To me, the answer is obvious.
Not a single diamond, as far as I know, was able to achieve this feat. All the same diamonds and whatever, remained the same. The challenge fizzled out after a number of months and WWDB leaders just pretended that nothing ever happened. That seems to be a common tactic of WWDB leaders, to just pretend something never happened or to simply revise history to erase this memory. A good example was how Howie Dnazik built his diamondship as a single, when the truth is, he was married to Susan Danzik and went diamond with her, until their divorce. But ask any WWDB people and they'll deny it or make up some story that the marriage failure was all on Susan, when in fact, nobody has ever heard her side of the story.
There was a time when the Internet was fairly new, and WWDB leaders stood on stage and boldly proclaimed that nobody made a cent of profit on the tools and functions. Later, when the Internet exposed that as a lie, the narrative changed to how WWDB diamonds made a profit on tools and functions, but that their profits were minimal. If anyone can do the math on tools and functions, you can see how much profit is inevitable. The tools and functions have a much higher profit margin than Amway products but the rank and file IBOs don't get any portion of the tools and functions profits. For example, a cd or audio might cost pennies to make but if you pay $50 for WWDB premiere club play $2-3 for a cd or audio, upline makes hefty profits. The same goes for voicemail and books. But the major events such as Dream Night, or family reunion are significant profit makers. You might pay anywhere from $75 to $125 for a function ticket and maybe 10-20 thousand people are in attendance. The IBOs provide a lot of the labor for free (ushers, etc) and the set up is basically mics and some video screens, nothing elaborate.
What many people also don't see is that a city or county gives discounts on venues if you're bringing 10 to 20 thousand visitors to their city. I can only imagine how much actualy profit is made by the diamonds on these functions, not to mention they sell shirts, audios and other materials at these functions. Whatever happened to that WWDB challenge? MOst IBOs or leaders will pretend it never happened or make some excuse as to why they could not meet the challenge. To me, the answer is obvious.
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
There's No PV For Watching TV?
Often times, upline would give you advice, such as "there's no PV for watching TV". It makes sense when you hear it but when you critically analyze the advice carefully, you can easily see that it's BS. The idea was that "broke people" with no direction in life waste their lives away watching TV and doing other activities that do not affect their financial futures while Amway IBOs are out trying to better themselves. On the surface, this sounds like completely sound advice and it makes perfect sense if you're an IBO. Why spend time on your couch when you could be out trying to build your Amway business? Right? Broke people watch TV after all.
But wait a secon, let's turn this around. There's no PV in attending a function. There's not PV in reading some self help book or a Kiyosaki book. There's no PV in subscribing to standing orders or to communiKATE. There's no PV for attending any meetings and there's no PV most of the CORE steps. Technically, IBOs would be better served by concentrating on personal use and by actually selling products tto customers. Only by increasing your PV does your volume get larger. Now sponsoring also has the possibility of increasing volume but most IBOs never sponsor a single downline, ever. So if you follow upline ad vice not to do things that don't get you PV, remind them that those activities include Amway related activities.
To compound the problem, the Amway activities such as standing orders and functions cost money and takes away resources from the IBO into products and activities that the upline profits from. Therefore, the upline is dishing out advice that is self serving: "attend all functions and listen to audios every day". When you really think about it, what direct benefit was there for your business by doing the Amway related activities? Unless you move more volume, your activities are for nothing. It doesn't increase your business and your PV/volume. All you are doing is making your upline wealthy with loyal purchases of tools and functions. That is the Amway business. IBOs think they will be getting rich from Amway while the upline diamonds get rich by selling tools to their downline. To coin a phrase, "you live with the classes when you sell to the masses". That's what the diamonds are doing. Capitalizing on a captive audience whose loyal purchases makes nice profits.
This week, Joecool will not be posting anymore blog posts. I'm flying to the mainland to see an NFL game. I'm accomplishing things that I wanted to do, but now I have the time and resources to do, from saving and investing. Without Amway, I might add. It's been a great life, sans Amway. :)
But wait a secon, let's turn this around. There's no PV in attending a function. There's not PV in reading some self help book or a Kiyosaki book. There's no PV in subscribing to standing orders or to communiKATE. There's no PV for attending any meetings and there's no PV most of the CORE steps. Technically, IBOs would be better served by concentrating on personal use and by actually selling products tto customers. Only by increasing your PV does your volume get larger. Now sponsoring also has the possibility of increasing volume but most IBOs never sponsor a single downline, ever. So if you follow upline ad vice not to do things that don't get you PV, remind them that those activities include Amway related activities.
To compound the problem, the Amway activities such as standing orders and functions cost money and takes away resources from the IBO into products and activities that the upline profits from. Therefore, the upline is dishing out advice that is self serving: "attend all functions and listen to audios every day". When you really think about it, what direct benefit was there for your business by doing the Amway related activities? Unless you move more volume, your activities are for nothing. It doesn't increase your business and your PV/volume. All you are doing is making your upline wealthy with loyal purchases of tools and functions. That is the Amway business. IBOs think they will be getting rich from Amway while the upline diamonds get rich by selling tools to their downline. To coin a phrase, "you live with the classes when you sell to the masses". That's what the diamonds are doing. Capitalizing on a captive audience whose loyal purchases makes nice profits.
This week, Joecool will not be posting anymore blog posts. I'm flying to the mainland to see an NFL game. I'm accomplishing things that I wanted to do, but now I have the time and resources to do, from saving and investing. Without Amway, I might add. It's been a great life, sans Amway. :)
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