Don't Quit Your Jobs?

 So many Amway IBOs have grandiose dreams of untold wealth, financial freedom. They think they will "build it once' and sit back on the beaches of the world sipping exotic drinks while the 6 figure checks keep coming in the mail. Sure, it's a nice thought, but not a single IBO I have encountered can name a single IBO who achieved diamond and walked away from the business to enjoy freedom while the money pours into their bank accounts. It is very likely that nobody like this exists. I suppose someone could go diamond and walk away from the business and still earn some bonuses, but very quickly, that business would likely fall out of qualification and the bonuses would shrink to nothing very quickly. Also, to earn bonuses, I believe an IBO needs to have side volume exceeding 2500 PV, which is roughly $7500 monthly in personal group volume. With normal attrition, it's easy to see how a diamond business can fall apart faster than a cheap suit without maintenance.

I also see and hear many IBOs popping off about how someone in their upline earning $60,000 a year. While it may seem like a nice income to someone who has a low paying or entry level job, that income is gross and may not leave much left after taxes and associated business expenses. Even a diamond with an average income of $150,000 in a year likely has a very low monthly income from Amway as much of that income comes in the form of an annual bonus. As a former emerald once told me, you needed to budget out that annual bonus or you could be in financial trouble later in the year, if Amway is your sole source of income.

Also, you may have seen diamond showing off sports cars and other displays of wealth. My former LOS, WWDB has a function called "Dream nite" where they show off lavish displays of wealth. Well, it is my informed guess that most diamonds cannot afford the lifestyles and toys that they show off in these functions. If you do the math, you can see that after taxes and other expenses, a diamond lifestyle is likely to be quite ordinary. Normally, nobody would care about this but since diamonds use this display of wealth to recruit IBOs and to sell tools, it is significant for IBOs to know.

While it is great for someone to have dreams and goals, it is also important to have achievable goals. It is simply impossible for a room of IBOs to go diamond and to earn the kind of income that is shown in "the plan". Amway recruiters will show you "what's possible", but not "what's likely". To put perspective on that, it's "possible" that you can start a software company that puts microsoft out of business, but it's not likely. It's possible for you to win the lottery, but not likely. My advice to IBOs is not to quit your day jobs - ever. Your dreams and goals can be accomplished in many ways, but it is unlikely to be achieved with an Amway business.

Amway And Holidays?

  I recall being an Amway IBO many years ago.  IBOs wind up being social pariahs at times because they have ulterior motives at social events.  Or at least the ones that their Amway schedule allows them to attend.  I found it humorous that Amway diamonds would teach about vertical alignment which means God, Family and your job came first and Amway fell in line after that. But at the same time, you were expected to never miss a meeting or function, no matter what at the risk of not being CORE.  

It must be awkward at times to be at social gatherings knowing that some IBO might be eyeing you up as a potential Amway prospect.  Amway IBOs are shameless at times when it comes to looking for potential recruits.  After all, you can’t go diamond without a group of IBOs down line.  I recall doing sone of these zany things myself as an IBO, but luckily, I saw the light and snapped out of my Amway trance pretty quickly.  I managed to avoid losing my friends be being an "Ambot".

So to that I say to Amway IBOs.  Have a Merry Christmas and give up prospecting for two to three weeks.  Enjoy the holidays without having a motive.  Enjoy your friends and family and don’t worry about Amway for a few weeks.  The world won’t come to an end and more than likely. Your business won’t have been affected by stopping recruiting for a few weeks to enjoy the holidays.   Your upline will say your business will bet setback for 6 months, but if you have little to no downline, what difference does it really make?

I don’t know what the new year will bring but you’ll survive, and life will go on.  By now your upline diamonds are likely promoting a major function called Dream Night or something like it.  While it might be a virtual event, you will be shown sports cars and jet skis, and other luxurious goods.  All to get you “dreaming” so you’ll be motivated to keep building Amway. Of course, to attend dream night you’ll have to fork out $75 or more and it might include a dinner.  In the end, you and thousands of other IBOs paying for these functions and other tools is how the diamonds pay for the stuff you might see at dream night.  

Don’t believe me?  Do the math.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families out there!   Please take the time to spend with families and loved ones.  

If you're in Amway, take a break.  Missing a day of "prospecting" or missing a day of listening to Amway related propaganda isn't going to set you back 6 months like some upline like to imply.  Maybe it's time to reflect on your efforts versus rewards, or your return on investment as they say in the business world.  Are you actually progressing towards financial freedom or not?  It's not a complicated question afterall.

If you're not in Amway,  Enjoy your family.  Leave political discussion for another time.  I almost can't believe that some of my friends whose adult kids don't want to speak to them because they voted for different people in this last election.  Relax, it's not the end of the world no matter who wins.

When I look back, I'm thankful to be a US citizen.  And I'm thankful that our founding fathers were so brilliant (more than 200 years ago) to set up the best country in the world.   If the constitution remains intact along with the checks and balances provided, the US will eventually self correct itself like it's done in the past.

Just enjoy the Thanksgiving Holiday and the upcoming Holiday season.   

  

An Observation?

 

An Observation About Amway?



http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=192279&page=8

It's refreshing to see so many good people on this forum telling the truth about Amway. It looks like the pro-Amway shills here and on other sites are becoming increasingly outnumbered and desperate. I've read through this entire thread and think it is hilarious how many times the shill has to move the goalposts or play word games to make Amway look like an amazing business opportunity.

I was originally introduced to Amway many years ago in my late teens by an uncle of mine. I attended a few of their seminars and was impressed at first. But the whole thing started to seem ridiculous and unrealistic and so I didn't get involved any further. Also, I'm not that materialistic, so Amway's message doesn't appeal to me. I wish my uncle had been more skeptical.

My uncle was very devoted to Amway for a few years. He bought all their products (especially the tapes and books), tried to get others to buy them, and also tried to recruit all his family and friends into his new religion. He eventually lost money and friends and alienated himself from much of his family.

Already heavily in debt, he eventually fell for another, even bigger get-rich-quick scam shortly after quitting Amway (to Amway's credit, they don't threaten to kill anyone for leaving Amway). This one robbed him of his entire life savings. The scammers got away with it because they knew how to play him right (he met one of them through Amway). His wife divorced him soon after.

As if this wasn't enough, after making a modest financial recovery with his business over the course of several years, he loses it all to yet another scam. He had to borrow heavily from the few friends he had left since no bank would ever give him a loan, and almost no one in the family has anything to do with him anymore. I haven't seen him for 15 years.

One thing I wonder about my uncle is if all those seminars and inspirational tapes and books softened him up to fall for all those other scams he fell for after quitting Amway (he didn't have a reputation for being gullible before joining Amway, though he was never that bright to begin with). If I remember correctly, he tended to blame himself for failing at Amway and may have never understood that it was a big scam or at least not a good business opportunity.

I still remember those crazy seminars and how they told everyone that joining the Amway cult will likely lead to yachts, exotic vacations surrounded by hot bikini babes, and shiny expensive cars, among other symbols of wealth. Everyone is told at the seminars and in the "tools" that they have all this unfulfilled potential, but to realize this potential we must avoid those small-minded "dream killers"(skeptical family members and friends).

The story about my stupid uncle is true. There are many other people out there just like him who have fallen for Amway and others MLMs. The few people I've met who claimed they were very successful at Amway usually seemed sleazy or I would find out years later they were up to their eyeballs in debt.

The person who said before that the people who regularly attend these seminars are mostly fools and misfits was spot on.

Dreams Don't Pay The Bills?

 One of the things used as a recruitment tool my upline is to get a prospect to think of dreams. Dreams could be extravagant like owning a yacht or it could be simple like taking a cruise ship to Alaska. The recruit is told to dream big and to envision things they would like to enjoy. Perhaps it is not having a job, or perhaps it is being a stay-at-home mom. These are all great dreams and goals. Dreams and goals are good things to have. The speaker will then tell the audience that these are all possible thru the Amway opportunity. They won't say it is highly unlikely. They only give you the pie in the sky best case scenario.

Now some people may have achieved great success thru Amway. But these people are so few and far between that you could argue that the lottery has the same kind of success or maybe the lottery has more winners than Amway diamonds. Granted the lottery is a game of chance, and Amway is not, but the "likely" results can be comparable. In Amway and the lottery, you have the vast majority accomplishing nothing and losing money. You have some "best case scenarios" where a few are successful. You then focus on and display the success testimonies as evidence that "anyone can succeed", just as anyone with a ticket can win the lottery. The fact that a game of random chance produces similar results as Amway should be a red flag.

Some uplines will often tell their faithful downline that someone who speaks negatively about Amway is a "dream stealer". Of course this is ludicrous. Your dream is in your heart and mind. Nobody can steal that. Secondly, whose dream is being compromised.  It is the upline diamond who has all the goodies and the large checks right? The downline are basically ones paying for their upline's dreams. It is fairly well known that the majority of Amway products aren't sold to people who are not IBOs. It is also well known that 99% of tools and business support materials are sold to IBOs. So guess where your upline diamond's success comes from? That's right. An IBO's product volume and an IBO's tool purchases provide the upline diamond with a nice income. Stop and think about it for a moment.

So yes, there are some people who achieve their dreams in Amway. There are also people who achieve their dreams playing the lottery. There are millions of people who tried to build an Amway business and did not achieve. There are millions of people to play the lottery and do not win. Some dreams get built, but chances are they won't be yours. There is a good chance that your upline diamond's dreams will come true if you "never quit" and you stay on the system.

The question is whether you are seeking to build your dreams or someone else's?

Reality?

 One of the things that keeps some Amway IBOs going is the "harsh reality". What I mean by that is for some IBOs, once you have been in Amway for a while, it can be hard to quit. You were possibly recruited with dreams of lifelong residual income and walking on all of the exotic beaches of the world. Retiring young and spending that time with your wife and family, and Amway friends. To quit means an IBO would have to face the reality that these dreams will not come true, at least not with the Amway business. The fact is that the Amway opportunity probably would not have delivered those dreams anyway. Even a diamond more than likely cannot afford those dreams. In fact I would estimate that most diamonds, if they flaunt some excessive lifestyle, are near broke or in heavy debt as a diamond income cannot sustain a jet set lifestyle, save for a founders double diamond or something similar. I believe the prominent WWDB triple diamond bankruptcy shed a lot of light into the finances of an upper level pin and it wasn't as impressive as I would have thought.

The triple diamond who filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy made about half a million dollars annually from Amway. That's a great income and more than most people earn, but seriously, a half million dollars income is not going to allow you ti buy mansions paid for in cash, or a fleet of sports cars. After paying taxes and business expenses, I'm not even sure someone with that kind of income even lives a worry free life of leisure. And we're talking about a triple diamond, not your average run of the mill regular diamonds who I would safely assume, earns much less than a triple diamond.

But what really is the harsh reality? It's working hard only to drift between 100 and 500 PV. It's finally sponsoring a new IBO only to have a downline quit. It's talking to people about Amway and getting laughed at or getting rejected. It's your upline or sponsor pushing you to do more. Possibly your upline is one who questions your manhood if you aren't working hard enough. It's your upline or sponsor reminding you that a winner doesn't miss functions, especially the major ones. It's staying up late for team meetings or night owls when you need a good night's rest to do your job the next day. It's driving the miles to show a plan, only to have your prospect not show up. It's having to be deceptive about what you are doing. It's skipping functions with family and friends so you can be core to the business.

As IBOs, do you see any of this? I saw some of this during my involvement. While I have not been an IBO in some years now, I still see many testimonies and comments by more current and even some active IBOs to indicate that a lot of this still goes on. While Amway defenders will deny it, I see no reason why any of this would have changed over the years since Amway has made no significant changes to stop abusive uplines. If Amway did make any changes, they are not immediately apparent and the continuous string of comments and testimonies do not confirm that any clean up has been done.

For active IBOs or prospects, these are the harsh realities that may be attached with the Amway opportunity. Much of it is because of motivational groups such as WWDB, but if you are seeing these traits in your group, ask the tough questions. If you happen to decide that the Amway opportunity is not for you, take heart! There are other ways to achieve your financial goals and dreams and there are more efficient ways out there. Sometimes, quitting something that isn't working is a wise business decisions and sometimes you can lose more by not quitting. Good luck in whatever you decide.

Get Out Of Debt?

 Getting out of debt sounds like good advice. On the surface it is because people should not be racking up consumer debt or committing large sums of their income for cars they cannot afford. But what does it mean for an IBO? I know my former upline taught our group to get out of debt. However, I believe my former uplines had self-serving intentions when they taught this. Let me translate what I believe they meant:

"You should not have any debt because it would affect your ability to buy more PV and tools. If you have debt, it affects my cash flow"

Ironically, for many, maybe most IBOs, although taught to get "get out of debt", the bottom line result is more debt. There is more debt because the cost of products and tools begin to mount. How many families actually spend $300 a month (approximate cost of 100 PV) on household products? And then to add onto that expense, IBOs who are trying to be "successful" need tools which cost anywhere from $150 a month up to more than $500 a month depending on whether the IBO is married, single and the level of commitment. Thus IBOs are now spending at least several hundreds of dollars that they never spent before.

Most IBOs, especially new IBOs, generally earn less than $50 a month. In fact, $50 a month income in this business would make you quite exceptional. Most IBOs earn less than $20 a month. With that kind of income and with the expenses I listed above (tools = voicemail, books, standing orders, and functions), nearly all "serious" IBOs operate in the red and never turn a profit. The only way an IBO can turn a profit is to sell Amway products like crazy (which I have never witnessed) or to sponsor enough downline to absorb the losses for them. The only true success stories are the ones who sell the tools.

The reason why I believe that my former uplines (who are still in WWDB and apparently teach the same things now as they did back when I was an IBO) are teaching self-serving advice because although they said to "get out of debt", they made an exception to this and said it was perfectly okay to go in debt to attend functions or to buy more standing orders. IBOs were also told to do "whatever it takes" to get to the next function or to buy more tools. It is why I witnessed some cross lines go bankrupt, more than one couple lost their homes following upline advice. And these couples were told they shouldn't worry because they can pay cash for their homes when they go diamond. Another apparent lie told by WWDB leaders, especially those who had their own homes foreclosed.

Let's be perfectly real here. If you join Amway and participate in the system consisting of voicemail, books, standing orders and functions, you are far more likely to get into debt or increase your debt rather than making money and getting out of debt. The math bears it out if you are willing to look at it objectively.