Why People Quit Amway?

Someone posed this question on another blog so I thought I would address it here.
Why do so many IBOs quit? To me, the answer is very obvious. Because what Amway recruiters promote rarely comes true.

Many Amway recruiters discuss a "shortcut" to retirement, fabulous toys, mansions, cars and early retirement. They show an unrealistic model of how Amway works. Just sponsor 6 who sponsor 4 who sponsor 2 and everyone does 100 PV and in 2-5 years you will be a diamond making well over $100,000 a year which will roll in forever while you sit on a beach sipping exotic drinks. Okay, maybe I made it sound a little better than how some presenters show the plan, but still, many prospects really believe they will be financially free in a few years and living on easy street happily ever after.

But once the registration kit is busted, then the new IBO realizes that 100 PV may cost up to $300 a month. Attending meetings and finding people to show the plan is hard, especially when past IBOs may have tricked people into attending a meeting, or lied about the Amway opportunity. The cost of standing order and functions starts to mount. The IBO then starts to realize, that what he/she joined for was more time and money, ironically is what they have less of once they get involved in Amway, particularly if they are participating in a "system" such as BWW, WWDB, or N21.

This IBO then realizes that the good life they though was within their grasp really isn't. Then they quit. Now many IBOs sign up and do nothing. These folks don't usually have a complaint as they got what they put into the deal. But many worked the system hard only to not get any tangible rewards. Some disappear into the nite, and some come back to comment or blog about their experiences.

But the bottom line is that so many IBOs quit because, in my informed opinion, the Amway prices are generally too high, the reputation of Amway precedes itself and makes recruiting downline next to impossible, and the ongoing cost of the system starts to become a drain on the family finances, not to mention the time spent away from family and friends in order to attend meetings, plans, functions, etc.

The system doesn't work, so they quit. It's as clear as crystal to me.

The Average Income?

In 2001, Amway published that the average active IBO income was $115 a month and did not factor in taxes or business expenses. What I'm curious about is why Amway hasn't updated this information. It's humorous that Amway defenders like to condemn critics by calling them outdated but don't mention that Amway themselves should update important information. I also believe that the $115 a month figure is inflated because diamonds and above are factored into the figure.

Using the 6-4-2 plan that many IBOs use in recruiting downline and estimating the PV/BV and bonus money that can be extracted from a 6-4-2 group, the average income is about $75 to $85 a month. Thus, the average income as displayed by Amway is actually above average. In the 6-4-2 plan, the majority of these IBOs make closer to $10 a month, which doesn't even cover that IBO's voicemail expenses.

So for IBOs and information seekers, you should ask how likely you are to even make $115 a month. Then factor in the projected expenses of running an Amway business and see if your chances of making a profit are realistic. Far too many people get involved and then they are taught that they are successful even if they lose money. I believe it is a technique by some uplines who just want to retain these downline IBOs so they can keep selling them standing orders and function tickets.