Amway IBOs?

 I send this message to inform Amway IBOs that they should be aware of their circumstances in business. What I mean is when you are a new IBO, it is common for you to buy/sell your 100 PV, and perhaps listen to some cds and attend meetings/functions. If you basically did what your sponsor or upline advised, you made your 100 PV bonus level and you will receive a bonus from Amway for about $10. If you did as advised by your upline/sponsor, then you likely made a name list and started contacting some potential business partners aka prospects. You're probably a bit excited because things are going as you expected. You did your part and a bonus is on it's way to your doorstep. Heck, you may have even sponsored a friend or relative because of your newly found excitement and enthusiasm. 

But what happens after a few months? If you are still doing 100 PV and have no downline, then what are the chances that you will ever achieve anything? Your excitement is wearing off and now the Amway opportunity is becoming "work". You are also starting to notice that it is starting to get expensive to continue to purchase products, many of which you never purchased before. For example, were you buying cases of energy drinks and "high end" vitamins before Amway? Did you buy $50 cases of bottled water before Amway? Supposedly their laundry soap and other cleaners are highly concentrated, therefore your consumables are the nutrition/vitamin products. 

Even if you managed to find some downline, are they duplicating what you do? Are they also moving volume and sponsoring downline? If not, what are your chances of fulfilling the 6-4-2 plan or some similar version of it. When I saw the plan, I thought it was reasonable and I was on my way to platinum. What I discovered though, is that as you progress, upline has greater expectations of you and that includes more tool purchases. (I was in WWDB). In the end, my recommended tool purchases ate up any profits I had and at the 4000 level, I was just about breaking even, which means I was at a loss when factoring in my time spent and other miscellaneous expenses such as gas money. 

Where are you at? If you've been in for more than a year, are you on schedule to become platinum or are you at 200 PV with one downline? Maybe you have a small group with 600 PV? You still aren't close to a net profit. For the vast majority of people, success is not right around the corner. What's around the corner for most is more time lost, more money expended, and no progress. If your group is now growing each and every month, you are sliding backwards. If you don't constantly have new IBOs coming into the group, you are probably stagnant. With about half of IBOs dropping out each year, keeping a group together is a tremendous task. 

IBOs, where are you at after a few months? Where are you at after a year? If you haven't gone platinum, it is nearly a certainty that it will never happen, despite what your upline might say. The facts are there, it's a matter of whether you want to believe it or not.

The 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.

Amway Friends?

 You often  hang out with friends, generally people you like and have similar interests. You have good and bad times, but your true friends are there for you when you need them. You move residences, your friends are there to help you move. They may play a round of golf with you, or watch some sporting events, dinners, backyard cook outs, etc. These are folks you will likely end up retiring with and enjoying your golden years. Sure, circumstance may break apart some friendships. or moves made out of necessity. But these folks will likely remains your friends for a long time to come.

But suddenly, you get enticed to join Amway. You see the "chance" to get rich, with a shortcut (not get rich quick, but a "shortcut"). You sign up and your sponsor is your new "best" friend. Most of the people you enjoyed being with think Amway is a questionable venture to get involved in. Suddenly, because of what you have been told or taught, you view these same nice people as "broke" or "losers", simply because they do not share the same ambition of untold wealth working 12-15 hours a week. Suddenly, you friends become prospects, or people you want to sponsor so you start recruiting them. Some may join, but most won't. Suddenly you are immersed in recruitment meetings, functions, and avoiding "negative", which is people and events that do not support your Amway business.

Now you are missing birthday parties, cook outs and other social events. Your social events are now recruitment meetings, seminars and Amway business related events. You are taught that these events can be put off and your gratification delayed. You can do whatever you want when you go diamond. (Even though there me be only one (1) diamond out of every ten or twenty thousand IBOs) Your dedication will pay off right? Sadly, for most people, even very dedicated people, all they will see is losses on their yearly tax returns, mainly due to the purchase of cds, books, voicemail and function tickets. But these are your "friends" right?

Here's my take on it. Try missing a few meetings or functions. Stop buying cds and see how many "friends" remain from the business. It is likely that your upline will claim that you walked away from the friendship by slowing down on the "system". If that happens, then you have conditional friends, or fair weather friends. They are your "friends" while you are pursuing the same cause. They are your friends when you are attending functions. Are they there for you in bad times?

A short while after I attended my last function (I was still an IBO, just not a business builder), my dad passed away. Not a single one of my IBO "friends" bothered to attend the memorial service. Not a single one of my IBO friends called or dropped by the home to pay their respects. All of my "real" friends, who saw through the AMO smoke and mirrors called to talk to me and/or attended the memorial service.

Are your IBO friends conditional friends? Mine were.

Millionaire Mentality?

 A comment left by an anonymous site visitor:

"I love Amway. I just don't understand why people have to be negative about it. I don't hurt or steal from anyone yet I make money. I'm not a millionaire as of yet but working towards that goal. It's called "millionaire mentality". Joecool you will never succeed with penny mentality."

Joecool's commentary:

Most diamonds do not have a millionaire mentality. If you see how they spend money and how they flaunt excessive wealth, I see people who could win the power ball lottery and wind up broke. They might earn a nice income (even if it may come by lying and deceiving), but they spend it all, and possibly more by portraying the diamond lifestyle. In my opinion, the diamond lifestyle as portrayed in functions such as "dream night" are not sustainable For this reason, we are now seeing evidence of this such as a triple diamond who participated in chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings, diamonds losing homes to foreclosures. We are seeing diamonds selling their mansions. Sure, they might be downsizing or liquidating their assets, but if these homes have been paid in cash as they claim, why sell them in a bad real estate market? Why not wait a few years?

In the past, I have posted some articles showing the traits and characteristics of millionaires. Many of these articles cite saving, investing, and living below your means. Many wealthy people drive regular everyday cars and live in the suburbs. They don't commonly have porsches, and jaguars. And for the record, the average diamond income, as reported by Amway, isn't all that much when you factor in business expenses and taxes. So why do diamonds try to show off wealth?

I believe diamonds show off wealth because it is a way to attract recruits. Because the Amway opportunity has a high turnover rate, nobody can reasonably "walk away" from their business and have cash rolling in for long. Attrition would eat away your business in a matter of days or weeks. It is why I believe diamonds do not walk away from their businesses, because they can't afford to. The business requires constant attention or it will crumble faster than stake cookies.

Most IBOs are simply fooled into thinking they are developing into having a millionaire mentality. An honest question for IBOs. How do you even know if your upline diamond is a millionaire? Anyone, even a broke guy can wear a nice suit and show off pictures of mansions and sports cars. For that matter, how do you know if your upline diamond is currently qualified as a diamond? Amway doesn't release that information except for new pins.

In my opinion, diamond's displays of excessive wealth and luxury portrays something, but it's not the millionaire mentality.

Amway Is Life Changing?

 One of the things that was heavily promoted when I was an Amway IBO, and I believe is still promoted, is the control of time and money. I recall hearing that "broke" people often have lots of time, but can't do much because of a lack of money, or how a very hard working man might have money but a lack of time as he is working 80 hours per week. So why not join Amway, work hard for 2-5 years and have all the time and money you need for life?

Well, it sounds good on the surface, but how many people actually do that? I don't know of any IBO who worked the business 2-5 years and walked away from their business to enjoy control of time and money forever. And there are reasons for that. Attrition. Most IBOs who join don't do much and more than half of all IBOs won't even be in business for more than a year. IBOs also need to be active and moving side volume in order to qualify for some of the bonuses. It is why I believe that there aren't any diamonds who left to enjoy their time and money because of passive ongoing Amway income. Diamonds and above must continually work the business or their businesses will fall apart like the waves would erode a sand castle at the beach.

For many IBOs ironically, what they desire most, time and money, is what they have less of because of their involvement in the Amway opportunity. It is because of the way many IBOs are taught by the systems such as WWDB, BWW or N21. Many of these groups will teach a defacto PV requirement of 100 PV which costs about $300 monthly. In some cases, you are getting a small box of goods for the same amount of cash that would have gotten you a cartload of goods at WalMart or Costco. For system IBOs, you are also paying for instruction that basically tells you that this is a great idea and that you should never quit.

So now when your family and friends have backyard barbecues or birthday parties, you are absent because you are securing your financial future. Your kids surely won't mind you missing their baseball games or sending them to the sitters while you attend a function. Your family and friends will be wowed when you retire next year and throw them a party to end all parties. It all seems surreal, and for most, it truly is. There may be $10 or even $50 monthly checks rolling in from Amway but is never covers the cost of your expenses. You can't quit because success might be right around the corner.

Suddenly your sponsor or upline might tell you that the Amway business is not about money. You might be told that you are a nicer person or a better parent (even if you neglect your kids to attend functions), or that the business opportunity has saved your marriage. Which leads to my question. What have you achieved in the Amway business that has given you more control of time and money? Do you have less time and money as a result of your involvement with Amway?

During my involvement with Amway, my life was changed, but not for the better. And it wasn't because of Amway. It was self serving teaching by WWDB leaders designed to suck the life out of IBOs. We were to attend all meetings. All means all. We were to submit to upline. Check your ego at the door. We were to buy extra tapes/cds because you can;'t listen to the same ones each day. Wives and husbands needed separate standing orders. If downline quit, you don't cancel standing order. It is why I saw crosslines go bankrupt, lose a home to foreclosure and many ended up quitting and with large financial loss.

I hope this message of personal experience helps information seekers.

Success?

 Success is subjective. Someone making ten dollars might be considered successful. For others, nothing less than a barrel of cash will suffice. One other important point is that there are undoubtably some very successful people in Amway. I am sure that some Amway diamonds are quite well off and enjoy some of the finer things in life. But the reality is that these successes are very very rare and many of these successes apparently are not sustainable as many people are led to believe. The more likely scenario is is an IBO making a few dollars a month while spending more than that on training. They are losing money but they think they are successful. The reality indicates otherwise. 

But the bigger issue in the Amway opportunity is where the success comes from. Sure, many people want to "go diamond" and live in luxury while barrels of cash roll in. But what is unknown to many, is that the few who enjoy the lifestyle and trappings do so at the expense of their downline. The downline move the volume and the downline purchases the system materials, both of which is profitable for the upline. Because Amway products, admittedly are not commonly sold to people who are not IBOs, then anyone can conclude that upline success comes from the pockets of the downline. Most downline would be better off writing a check for $100 each month to their upline and not participating in the business or buying products at all. 

This in itself would not be such an issue if the system actually churned out new successes frequently AND if the downline were not led to believe that the system is the key to their success. But less than one half of one percent of IBOs ever reach platinum and out of those who do, only a tiny fraction of one percent ever attain the diamond level. But the business has tens of millions of people who tried and could never achieve what was promoted. Lack of effort may be a factor, but when that many people try and fail, it's evident that the system is flawed as well. The rate of success is comparable to a lottery, which is sad when you consider that Amway is not a game of chance. 

To summarize, it is possible for someone to achieve a level of success in Amway, but it is so difficult and so rare that IBOs probably have a better chance of winning the lottery or being struck by lightning than they do of achieving a significant level in the Amway business. Some people are successful, but it is usually at the expense of their downline. The catch is that uplines will teach their faithful downline IBOs that attending a function or buying a standing order is success, regardless of whether an IBO is earning a profit. So many IBOs think they're successful but they are simply fooling themselves with the help of their upline. 

Success is undeniable, but sadly for the vast majority of IBOs, it is also unattainable, at least in the Amway opportunity.

Excuses, excuses?

 One thing I heard when seeing the plan was how people justify their place in life. Or as the diamond said, "making excuses". I would guess that this is still tossed in when people are showing the plan to potential recruits. What the speaker said was that people justify their place in life so that they feel better that they are doing okay or doing better than others. One such statement was how public school was okay for me so it's perfectly okay for my kids. Whereas diamonds can send their kids to exclusive private schools perhaps?

Or how a man would tell his wife to look in the freezer if she wanted to go on an Alaskan cruise. This is called justification. Another point made was that a man might say he's doing better than so and so, or that they are "doing okay". After all, why just settle for okay when you can work for 2-5 years and then retire? Why not put in that effort? Why continue to justify yourself (make excuses) when you can just get it done? On the surface, this may sound sensible, but keep in mind that most people, even those who put in an extensive effort, will never get the promised financial rewards shown in the 2-5 year plan. Most of these people, even those who work hard, will end up with losses, some will end up with life damaging financial losses.

The really sickening part of the whole thing is that the upline will credit the insignificant amount of success in the business while placing failure upon the IBOs, even if they put in an earnest effort. While this may go unnoticed to most, what uplines are doing is justifying their own shortcomings and the crystal clear failure of the system to deliver what they promote. My understanding is that maybe 1 in 20,000 ever get to the level of diamond in the US/Canada. With such an incredible reward (retirement, lifelong residual income), why do so many quit before attaining their goal? Most IBOs who put in effort are hard working and persistent. Certainly not all those folks were lazy. The only reasonable conclusion is that the diamonds deceive people about the system's success rate and that the system doesn't work. Even an occasional diamond is not evidence of system success. The overwhelming failure rate paints a more accurate picture. Add in the high prices in the Amway catalogs and you have an additional impediment to success.

It certainly seems to me that it is the upline and system promoters who must justify and make excuses for their systems that have no bonafide unbiased evidence of success. All they have to offer is justifications and excuses, something they accuse others of doing. If you are new or thinking of joining, are you making money or are you making excuses that your upline taught you?