Friday, June 12, 2009

Amway Global - A Wife's Testimonial - Amway Does Not Save Marriages!

Note: This is my own perception of my personal experience with the Amway business. If I've had a bad personal experience than that's what I had, I'm not attacking Amway or those in Amway, I'm telling my personal story.

I was in Amway 12 years ago. It was more like a nightmare than a business for me. I got the inside look at the weekly meetings and the grandiose Amway functions. I used all of their overpriced products while my then husband was encouraged to show the Amway plan. (Draw circles on boards trying to convince others to join Amway so they can become super rich).

From the moment I saw the first Amway convention I felt like something was wrong. There was a whole lot of hype, lots of people crying, and crowds of people admiring the millionaires on stage, hanging on their every word, taking notes, following whatever they said. It actually scared me, but not my husband, he loved it.

My husband spent thousands upon thousands of dollars on Amway tools, cassette tapes, videos, books, and meetings. I "the dutiful wife" was told to listen to the Amway tapes over and over again and to follow the advice of the "Amway Diamonds." (Who are he people who got rich through Amway). Only problem is the tapes kept telling me to leave my kids to go show the plan and to keep my eye on the prize. Since my kids are my biggest prize I wasn't willing to leave them to go convert people to Amway.

So my then husband (who is not a salesman) spent many nights out hunting for people to show the Amway plan to. He annoyed many people, but didn't sell the business idea to anyone.

Amway has an interesting and unique system where they basically encourage you to brainwash yourself with the Amway tools. Granted, they are not brainwashing you, you are choosing to do it to yourself. Those who miss meetings, don't listen to the tapes, or don't use only Amway products are looked at as losers and told to try harder. Those who sponsor (get people to sign up), buy all of the tapes, books, etc, are the heroes.

The good side of Amway would be that the people are encouraged to have big dreams, set goals, and to stay positive. They teach great sales techniques, leadership skills, and the power of positive thinking, hard work and determination.

Learning to be a positive go getter doesn't hurt anyone, but spending all your money might. My husband I divorced, being very young and dealing with the added strain was too much.

I have since remarried. The people who are in Amway say it strengthens families, and that you cannot possibly lose money, and when people come out and say that yes, I lost my marriage or yes, I lost money, they tend to attack. I have heard that they do not like it when anyone says anything bad about Amway, but people have a right to their opinions.

I believe that anything in the extreme has the potential to be destructive, but Amway encourages you to go to the extreme, and for some families destruction is exactly what it causes.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am so glad you quitted!!! Honestly!!!
AMWAY does not need people like you. Like you said, AMWAY encourages IBO's to be leaders, go-getters, good sales people. You did not have a dream, therefore, were not interested in developing none of these bussiness techniques.
Your ex-husband, indeed, did not pocess good selling skills, but he was willing to make changes and believed in Amway.

Anonymous said...

take a hike.