Amway Global - Denial Is Not A River In Egypt!

I've read countless accounts of IBOs in denial about their Amway business. For the record, denial is not a river in Egypt. IBOs are not totally at fault though. Upline leaders teach this sort of stuff. IBOs are taught to fake success, or translated, IBOs are taught to mislead prospects into thinking they are successful so they may be enticed to see the plan or register as an IBO.

I believe it is partly why IBOs wear business attire to all of their meetings. You want to portray something that is not. Just as an actor appears on a movie set, IBOs have a need to appear as important businessmen. IBOs make interesting claims as well. I recently engaged an IBO who insisted that his upline swore to him that the Amway business is hard hard work but in the same breath, he tells me that he will be retired by the age of 30 and laughing all the way to the bank while I continue to work when I retire. ?????

IBOs also are in denial about their upline's success. They think that when you go diamond, money falls out of the sky and you have so much that you will purchase mansions and jets in cash. They see a copy of a check and think that their upline diamonds receive these checks every other day. The reality is that a diamond may have a very modest monthly income and in fact, the one large check might be an annual bonus which must be budgeted throughout the entire year!

IBOs and prospects should seriously consider what I am writing here on this post. Look at your own business. Are you actually building volume and downline consistently? If you are not, why not? If you are not, when will it get better? Is your name list still strong after sponsoring new people? If not, your business will be even harder to build than it is now.

Are you actually making a profit or not? Are things likely to get better? Are you taught to ignore facts? Look at yourself objectively and remember that denial is not a river running through the desert!

Amway Global - True IBO Success!

Success. It's something that is talked about quite often in the IBO world. But what is success? Is it going diamond, or is it going platinum? Or is going broke a success? IBOs who drop in to read this article might wonder how going broke can be seen as success. The answer to that depends on what side of the table you are sitting on. If you are profitng from the sale of cds, books, voicemail and seminars, it is likely that you are successful!

But the majority of IBOs who register see the plan. Many drop out without doing anything, but the IBOs that put in an earnest effort are the ones who usually end up getting blindsided by the tools expenses. These are the IBOs who show the plan, get on standing order, get the voicemail, and attend functions. As long as a core group of these IBOs exist, the diamonds are able to fund their lifestyles. Now these core groups have interchangeable IBOs, meaning there will be IBOs who drop out frequently, thus they must be replaced. This is why there is so much emphasis on recruiting and showing the plan, to maintain the core group.

All you need to do is sit down with a pencil and a sheet of paper and you can figure out how much it costs a diamond to live his or her lifestyle. Then figure out how much a diamond actually earns versus the expneses associated with the business. You obviously won't get an exact number, but you can get a pretty good idea. It became obvious to me that most diamonds probably live off tool monies and Amway income is a side thought.

For this reason, a diamond will tell anyone that they are successful. You show up at a meeting or function, you will be called "winners" who are succeeding. IBOs who stay in for years but never sponsor anyone is "successful". IBOs who listen to cds and read books and "awesome". True IBO success may be "not quitting". But if you sit down and really think about what I have written here, one can conclude that participating in the "system" generates success, but unfortunately, that success is not the IBO's, but the upline diamond's.

Amway Global - Do IBO Leaders Run Their LOS Like The Mafia?

http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles/comment/amwayblakeyreport.htm

The Amway business has a "family" structure parallel to that found in organized crime. With respect to both organizations, the family orientation is twofold. First, every participant;in the business is considered a member of a "family," led by a particular individual at the top of a chain of command. Second, the business stresses involvement by participant's family members, such that wives and children are drawn into the business to perpetuate their family influence over time. Family dynasties result that may be passed from generation to generation.

The major Amway families do not, in most cases, have a formal legal relationship among each other. All distributors must enter into a distributorship agreement with Amway Corporation to recruit new distributors and sell Amway products and services, but Amway asserts that distributors are independent contractors, involved in their own businesses. Moreover, with regard to the tools business, there appears to be no legal relationship whatsoever between Amway Corporation and the major families - each family has its own tools program that it runs independently of Amway Corporation

The Mafia uses "omerta" and violence for control. Amway has other methods, with similar effect. Distributors must always honor their upline. No negative talk or action is permissible. A distributor who steps out of line is punished. Punishment may start off with being vilified by uplines as a "loser," as "negative," or as "brain-dead" which are typical Amway appelations for anyone who does not believe in the Amway system and the riches that allegedly flow from it. More serious offenders may be dealt with by having portions of their business taken away - e.g. they can no longer appear at rallies, or downline distributors are "re-routed." There are also reports of violence against those who attempt to take action against Amway.

Amway Global - The Facts Don't Matter!

I recently encountered on another blog, as IBO, supposedly at a significant level, who is criticizing the blog author. This IBO says the blog author's recollection of his experience in a function is not valid because the function was not run exactly as she remembers. This is despite the fact that functions are run all over the country and by different diamonds and different lines of sponsorship. These same IBOs get their underwear in a knot if someone says, in a broad generalization, that certain things happen in functions, implying that something might be taught in all groups, in all functions. Well, we know that is unlikely, but by the same token, to claim that certain things are never taught in all functions is not an accurate statement either.

So where am I going with this post? Ironically, I will use the same logic as some upline leaders. The facts don't matter. What's that you say? Yes, the facts don't matter - but not in the same context as some upline leaders.

My point is that whether an upline leader runs a functions a certain way, it matters not, most IBOs will not make money. If an upline leader teaches selling, most IBOs won't make money. If an upline leader teaches buy from yourself, most IBOs won't make money. If an upline leader doesn't push tools hard on their downline, most IBOs won't make money. Amway's numbers confirm this assertion. $115 a month average income (Which disregards IBOs who do nothing), less than 4% of sales are to non IBOs. No matter what your upline teaches you, you are likely to suffer financial losses if you are on the "syatem".

So there you have it folks, the facts don't matter. If you join the Amway Global opportunity and purchase system tools, the facts don't matter, you will likely lose money.

Amway Global - Upline Leaders Held To Higher Standards?

In a recent discussion on another blog, I mentioned that Amway upline leaders are held to a higher standard than the rest of the IBO population. It is fair and it is also because the upline leaders put themselves in that position. Let me explain.

What would you think if the head Pastor of your church stood on the pulpit preaching the good word and talking about morals and then you see him twice a week sitting in a bar getting drunk and speeing through town in his car? Yes, he is human, but he is a leader of the congregation and the people hold him to a higher standard. It's not to say that a Head Pastor is "sinless", never is tempted to sin, or never makes mistakes, but certainly, you would not expect someone in this position to get divorced, or be drunk in public, or speeding around town. Again, nobody is saying the Pastor is perfect, but you expect more from him than a casual attender. Agreed?

So a diamond or higher upline leader who says Amway saves marriages, we pay for homes in cash, financial integrity, personal responsibility, etc. These things are taught in seminars and on cds and tapes, and IBOs are advised to read personal growth types of books. Thus when a diamond leader divorces or has a home foreclosed, it probably raises eyebrows and questions from the downline faithful. These leaders are looked up to and edified, and rarely ever questioned. The diamond leaders teach these virtues and thus, they should be held accountable to their downline.

Are they perfect and expected to never make mistakes? No, but when they do make a mistake, do diamond leaders apologize and admit their errors or do they concoct stories, lies and other excuses to cover them up? Do they simply ignore it and act like nothing has happened? That is the issue and what appears to happen all to often. IBOs should look at these issues with a critical eye, especially if taking upline advice to heart.

Amway Global - Are System Tools Optional?

One of the biggest contributors to Amwau IBO failure, or a net loss, is the monies spent on the "systems". The system consists of voicemail, tapes, cds, books and seminars and open recruitment meetings. The system may cost as little as $50 or $60 a month for a casual business builder, or $150 to $600 a month for the dedictaed hard core IBOs. The materials sold are optional, and the packaging probably says they are optional. The problem is the way the materials are sold to IBOs. In many cases, they are not presented as optional, but a defacto requirement.

For example, an upline may say tools are optional but so is success. Or a recruit might be told that nobody has gone diamond without tools, but you can try to be the first. Another good one is (insert name) so and so diamond went diamond and is a multi millionaire and he thinks the tools are critical, but if you think you know better, you can try. These kinds of statments made to new IBOs exert a degree of pressure to buy into the system. If a doctor told you that you needed heart sugery or you will die, most people will have the surgery, even if it is optional. That's how many present the need for tools.

On the surface, $7 for a cd or tape, $20 monthly for voicemail, $125 for a major function, $7 - $10 fopr smaller meetings doesn't sound too bad. In fact these prices would normally be quite reasonable except for a couple of reasons.

The reason why I believe that the system os not worth the expense is because there is no evidence that the system works. Sure, hard core Amway apologists will say that all the diamonds are on the system. While that may or may not be true, there are tens of thousands, possibly millions of IBOs who worked the system and did not achieve anything. There are simply too many obstacle and handicaps to overcome in Amway. The second reason is that the tools expenses never ends. Many is not most IBOs only stop using the system when they quit the Amway business altogether.

So IBOs and prospects, all I ask is that you take a moment and think, are your tools truly optional and are your tools helping you to make a profit in the Amway business. Basically, if you cannot honestly answer yes to these questions, it might be wise to reconsider your position.

Amway Global - Can IBOs Compete? Really?

IBO, or "Independent Business Owner". It's a selling point, for people to say they own a business. They like the title of being CEO or owner of (insert name) Enterprises. But in the real world of business, it seems that most IBOs and their Amway powered businesses seem like a joke. The reason for this is because of some of the zany things that some IBOs say and do. Granted, these IBOs probably were taught (by upline leaders) and believe in what they are saying. But can an IBO actually compete with the open market? I say no and I will explain further below;

IBOs cannot compete because they sell a variety of products, most of which can be found in local stores and often times, found cheaper in those stores. Now even if the exact product cannot be found in a local store, such as LOC, a similar product can be found, such as simple green. Secondly, when a customer goes to a store, they can read the labels, touch the goods, and take a good look at a product. These factors put IBOs at a great disadvantage. Thirdly, a customer who may like certain Amway products, such as the bathsoap or whatever, will still need to go to the local store to purchase perishable goods so there is no savings inthat respect.

Online stores such as Amazon.com has a greater appeal, in my opinion, because purchasing a book is something that people are willing to do online, and many customers don't have a need to touch or feel a book, and would not have to go to the bookstore "anyway" to buy other good.

So can an Amway IBO compete with other online businesses and real businesses? In my opinion, the answer is clearly "no". The Amway produced numbers back my opinion. Very low sales volume to non IBOs, low monthly earnings for IBOs, difficulty in sponsoring others because of the reputation of Amway. If you are on standing order and attending seminars, you make your chance of succeeding practically impossible as the expense of running your business will likely exceed any earnings and/or rebates that you may earn. Some, but very very few people will succeed. Many will try, but the challenges and barriers to success are simply too great for the average person to succeed. A world class runner couldn't outrun me if I strapped a hundred pound weight on each of his legs. Same as how a business owner cannot succeed with high prices and other inconveniences, and not much else to offer the customer.