Amway: Failure By Design?

 It’s no secret that people fail in droves in the Amway businesses.  The diamonds will say they didn’t try hard enough or they didn’t follow instructions correctly or they make up other excuses that blame the victims.  It’s sad because many IBOs are hard working and motivated people but when this is designed for failure. Well, that’s what you get.  

The Amway business is designed to fail.  Let me explain. Amway products are generic in nature.  Some products are decent and some suck, but there’s nothing special about Amway products overall but they come at a premium price.  Who wants to buy generic nature products for premium prices? And worse, how do you sell the generically natured products for premium prices?  

If that’s not enough, the diamonds exploit the down line by selling them and endless supply of training.  Now training would be fine if the training was effective but instead Amway’s own disclosures show that only a small fraction of 1% ever reach the level of platinum.  And platinum is the level where you allegedly start to make actual profits.  

All of these handicaps added to a business opportunity that has a bad name reputation and you have an opportunity like swimming the English Channel with an anchor around your necks.  It amazes me that the scam has gone on fir so long.  I’m glad I’ve been able to keep running this blog to provide information and my personal experiences so information can be found and shared so prospects can make informed decisions about whether to join Amway or not.  

The Game Of Amway?

 The Amway business can be exciting for a new IBO.  Your head is filled with all kind of dreams of wealth and early retirement and you haven’t yet been exposed to the hard realities of building an Amway business.  The name reputation and other factors that make the business difficult have not yet been uncovered.  

But once an IBO has been around for a while, that IBO May have gone through most of their contacts and is settling into a routine.  I call it the game of Amway because these folks are still believing the dream, attending all the meetings and functions, buying and listening to the audios and reading the self help books.  

Doubt has crept into the mind of that IBO but upline has already taught them that quitting makes you a loser and that there will be little hope of you ever reaching your financial goals without Amway.  So you press on.  You put on your suit and a fake smile and you press on. You move your volume, even if it means self consumption.  You continue to do the CORE steps at your expense even when your business isn’t really growing because you’ve been taught that success might be right around the corner but you must not quit.  Even though you are bleeding a negative cash flow month after month but you hang in there anyway. 

It is at this point you have entered the game of Amway.  You keep going trying your best but it’s well known that even the hardest working and talented people can fail in Amway because it’s a flawed system.  The products are priced too high to be truly competitive and then the cost of tools and functions drains your resources  

Your upline will always encourage you because they profit from your tool and function purchase even if you never wind up making a cent of profit from Amway   You’d persistence just keeps the income flowing for upline.  When you stop and really think about it, it just a cruel game.  The Amway game.  Most people snap out of it by some like my former sponsor has been active in Amway since 1994 although not having achieved much for all his efforts.  

Because Amway is like a game, it becomes more of a hobby than a business.  Hobbies cost you money, a business is supposed to make you money.  

Is Amway Wilting?

 Most if not all of us have never had to deal with a pandemic and all of the restrictions and changes to our lives that comes with it. Sadly, covid has claimed many lives, although it appears that it’s mostly those with already existing health issues.  The hard part is that you don’t know who’s got it so there are times you must treat others as if they are infected just to be safe.  

But the Amway business is a lot of person to person and a lot of personal contact in order to recruit and to train other IBOs. But in the new covid society, there’s a lot of distancing and some cities have mandated mask wearing.  I haven’t hear much but I would think it’s safe to assume that recruiting downline must be very difficult if not non existent at this point.  

I have read and heard that functions are now conducted online but the diamonds are still mostly charging full price.  And that’s despite the fact that the diamond virtually has no expenses in running functions because there is no need for a venue.  So much for diamonds caring about your success.  If there’s no expense for a function, why do they need to charge full price when they are allegedly taking in the cash from Amway?  Think about that for a minute.  

Being that the covid has affected the world. I can only assume that Amway revenues are wilting because the ability to recruit has been greatly hampered.  I have gone looking but I assume that IBOs have been using social media as a way to attract and recruit new prospects. Just out of curiosity I may go and seek out someone who’s on the recruiting trail.  

Stay safe and socially distance!  

Never Ending Training?

 If you are an IBO or a prospect seeking information about the Amway opportunity, you came to the right place.  I will give you the secret of the Amway business in this article.  You’re probably curious and I’ll bet you’re upline won’t wAt you to read this.  

The Amway business is about selling products, buying products and recruiting some down line so you can leverage their volume with yours to earn higher commissions, or a higher PV bonus.  It’s really that simple.  Other than these activities, there really isn’t anything you can do to help you’d business to prosper. 

Attending seminars whether online or in person takes money away from your resources and doesn’t result in more PV moving through your business.  Listening to a cd or audio dies nothing either.  It doesn’t sell products or result in more business volume.  The same goes for reading a book or attending a team meeting or whatever else they call it now.  

The question is how much time and expense you will expend to learn these simple tasks of buying, selling and recruiting down line.  Yes your diamond might have sone advice but why would you need and endless supply of training to do this?  I might add that constantly paying for training is useless if the results are not commensurate to what you are investing your time and money in. 

Just look around you. Are other IBOs growing like crazy and earning real money or is that information top secret?  You’d think actual success is something that should be shared bud it’s kept a secret in Amway.  Rank and file are told not to talk about business unless it’s talking to upline because they don’t want you to see reality.  

The reality is that most are struggling, hanging on by a finger and hoping their fortunes will turn. But for the vast majority of IBOs, the end will come and there will just be more Amway casualties.  And the diamond knows this but want you to stay as long as possible to harvest tools and functions income from you. 

Think about it. Think about your business and analyze the facts.  I hope you reach the same conclusion that I did.  

Do As I Say?

 When I was an IBO, I recall so many issues that upline brought up that seemed utterly hypocritical but I guess most down line just miss it and give the diamonds a pass.  One glaring thing was the catalog sold suits and clothes while the diamonds were in designer suits to show off their wealth.  One important thing to note is that many possibly most wealthy people don’t feel a need to show off their wealth. 

The diamonds often didn’t seem to follow their own advice as they would say to avoid debt. If I clearly heard those same diamonds to say it was okay to pile up debt but only to invest in more tools and functions.  To me this is just shameless conflict of interest advice given by diamonds.  These are the folks who are supposed to be Uber wealthy and only helping down line out of love.  

But on closer inspection, any “work” performed by diamonds earn them some firm of income.  Open meetings, audios, functions, books and voice mail.  Each of these “training” materials is a form of income for the diamonds and the diamonds push the training as a key to success.  Sadly there is little success coming from tools and functions.  Just hopes and dreams that are not fulfilled.  

The diamonds count on undying loyalty to make a lot of their income and unfortunately too many down lines put their trust in the upline without question.  

My advice is for IBOs and prospects to look carefully at the Amway disclosures which shows the average incomes and the percentage of success.  I haven’t looked that recently but last time I checked, about one fourth of one percent of IBOS made it to platinum or about one in 400.  And only a tiny fraction of that ever went to reach diamond.  

Why would a serious prospect consider such a poor opportunity?  

What’s Better Than Amway?

 One of the silly things I get asked occasionally by IBOs is what’s better since I opine that Amway is a lousy way to make an extra buck.   Actually, if people actually made money with Amway I’d probably have nothing to say.  But it is a fact that the vast majority of people make nothing or lose money in Amway.  Typically losses are because of the tools and functions.  

So what’s better?  Well, staying home and doing nothing is better because you won’t be wasting your time and money chasing an opportunity where you are very likely to lose money. Staying at home to watch “The Simpsons” is better because you’ll be entertained.  But seriously if you want to make extra money? What can be done?  

Get part time work.  You can. Use sone of the extra money plus invest some.  This is the route I took when I was young and it’s paid off big now.  Start an actual business with a specialty such as installing flooring or security doors.  These can be very part time with good results although sone skill is required.  

You can also buy and sell things such as flipping used cars.  Buy one cheap, fix it up cosmetically and sell if did a profit.  Or find a niche market where you can sell insurance or burial plots part time.  These are real ways you can actually make some extra money.  In the end you need to decide for yourself on what to do but I can tell you that almost anything you choose will be more lucrative than pursuing Amway.  

Good luck in whatever you do, if you choose to pursue anything.  

Upline Love?

 I recall the love bombing in Amway.  It was quite weird to me.  I mean who says they love you just shortly after joining Amway?   The relationships were basically superficial as those who left Amway were shunned and often called losers.  Funny how you can go from loved to being a loser in a few short days.

Upline would justify it by saying the person leaving was breaking the relationship so it was on them.  Amway leaders are good at blaming the victim.   It was never about the lousy business of Amway that caused the IBO to quit.  Selling generic nature products for high end prices is a challenge that the vast majority of people cannot manage. 

The inability to move products and sponsor people seem to be the reason why people quit so often.  Then you add in the never ending costs of paying for personal use products, tools and functions.  It takes a huge toll on IBOa and the most likely reason why so many people quit so often.  

It is not because They IBOs are lazy or incompetent.  It’s because when they join Amway, they join a business opportunity that is designed for the majority to fail.  That is the nature of MLM and Amway.  You need to constantly recruit new members or the scheme will fall apart like a cheap suit.  

Being that Amway is now an online business, you’d think they would be flourishing but I suspect that Amway and their IBOs are suffering because they can’t recruit new members easily.  And recruitment is a red flag of a product pyramid scheme.  I’m not here to condemn Amway but 2020 sales figures are likely to support my suspicions.