Unless you have access to some sort of stealth or cloaking technology (in which case I want blueprints), you’ve undoubtedly been accosted by an Amway distributor at some point in your life. It doesn’t have to be Amway; it could be any one of those other multi-level marketing (MLM) schemes too, such as Primerica, or perhaps it was Quixtar (Amway’s online variant). Or perhaps you received some scam via E-mail, promising untold wealth without any work.
If you’re like most people, you simply shook your head, dismissed it as a scam, and moved on. But a surprisingly large number of people get taken in by it, and the last time someone tried to sell me on the idea, I told him I would take a good look at the business model to see if it made any sense. I did, and it doesn’t.
How does Amway work?
The Amway “hook” is simple enough. You become a “distributor” for a low, low entry fee. This makes you a retail franchise. You sell Amway products for a profit, or you buy them for yourself. But if you want to make real money, you sign up other “distributors”. They’ll be your “downline”, and when they sell anything, you get paid a commission (they call it a “bonus”). Note that you can get commission on sales of both products and so-called “sales tools”, ie- the motivational books, videos, and audio tapes that constantly stream out of Amway and many of its top distributors.
Small problem: you don’t want to poison your relationships with friends and family members by trying to sell them products at a profit. “But that’s no problem at all”, say the distributors (aka IBOs, or “Independent Business Operators”), because you don’t have to sell them anything. Just buy $200 worth of household supplies for yourself every month, and you’ll have enough sales volumes to qualify for bonuses. Then, get everybody you know to do the same thing, and everybody wins! You’ll get huge bonuses from your growing downline, and they all win too, because they get to buy things at wholesale prices! In reality, you’re doing them a favour by signing them up. Right?
Wrong. For one thing, anything which sounds too good to be true usually is. For another, Amway products are not sold at true wholesale prices. In fact, when I got the chance to inspect an Amway catalogue, I made note of several key prices and later compared them to those found at discount retailers. What did I find? You don’t save money by buying Amway. In fact, once you add shipping and service charges to your order, you’ll find that you usually lose money by buying Amway (gee- Amway is out to make a profit at your expense? What a shock!). In fact, for big-ticket items, the prices can be grossly out of line: I saw electronic items such as stereo systems in the Amway catalogue for hundreds of dollars more than they were at local discount stores. Worse yet, I would have had to place an order and wait for it to arrive with Amway, whereas I could have simply gone to a local electronics store, seen the product up close, listened to it, and then bought it on the spot, all for less money.
But Amway cuts out the middleman, right?
Amway defenders would claim that they cut out the middleman, because Amway is “direct sales”. But this is simply not true. In reality, Amway adds middlemen. Let us compare Amway to Wal-Mart:
| Amway | Wal-Mart |
| Buys direct from manufacturer | Buys direct from manufacturer |
| Adds markup for operating overhead such as exployee salaries, building maintenance costs, etc. | Adds markup for operating overhead such as employee salaries, building maintenance costs, etc. |
| Adds distributor’s commission | Sells to you |
| Adds distributor’s “upline” commission | |
| Sells to you |
Do you still think that Amway cuts out the middleman? When you consider that Wal-Mart has many times Amway’s annual sales, you will see that the situation is even worse than it looks, because Wal-Mart has enough muscle to squeeze its suppliers for much lower prices than Amway could ever hope to negotiate. Amway makes some grossly exaggerated claims about the markups in traditional retail, but if you honestly believe that Wal-Mart has to go through a manufacturer’s representative, a jobber, and a wholesaler in order to get to their suppliers, you need to give your head a shake.
Of course, Amway also makes some of its own products (mostly things like household cleaners and bathroom products), which it can sell “directly” (if you disregard the multiple layers of commissions paid into the multi-level marketing system). But the only way to go through $200 a month of those kinds of products is to pay enormously inflated prices for them … the way you would through Amway. When people try to sell you on the plan, they don’t show those crappy little bathroom products. They show you brand-name electronics, and cars, and all the glamorous items in the catalogue … all of which would cost less if you bought them elsewhere.
Want Proof?
In the end, the proof is in the pudding. Quixtar reported year 2000 sales of $518 million, out of which they paid $143 million in commissions. You don’t have to be a mathematics genius to see what this means: when you buy from Amway, 28% of the price is pure commission! Worse yet, this is strictly the distributor’s markup, and it doesn’t yet include Amway’s own markup! “No middleman” indeed …
Compare Amway catalogue prices (including shipping and service fees) to the price tags down at Wal-Mart or Costco, and you’ll see that all the marketing in the world can’t change reality. Amway is not cheaper than a “traditional retailer” such as Wal-Mart (or even Sears, in most cases). You will not save money by buying home items from Amway, and neither will any of your friends and family. You will also not make money by selling these products, since people can be stupid, but not that stupid. Even if you can sucker somebody into buying your overpriced products, all it takes is for that person to wander through Wal-Mart or Costco once, and you’ll never see him again.
So why do people join Amway?
Why do people buy lottery tickets? When dreams crash head-on into reality, a lot of people let the dreams win. You know the sales pitch: “it costs you nothing, and the potential is limitless!” However, both claims are fraudulent:
- “It costs you nothing”– Wrong. In fact, an Amway “business” has just as much overhead as, say, an insurance agent. You need to have sales materials. You need to burn gasoline to go prospecting. You need to pay extra car maintenance for all that added travel. You may need to pay long-distance phone bills. You’ll start burning a lot of cell-phone hours, just like any insurance agent. And you’ll need to consume vast amounts of time, arguably the most precious resource of all.
- “The potential is limitless”– Wrong, unless you’re willing to screw a lot of people for a lot of money. You see, despite Amway’s protestations that it’s not a pyramid scheme, it is only through the pyramid commissions structure that anyone can ever hope to reach their “limitless” earning potential. On a typical sale, there is a pyramid of distributors (diamond, emerald, platinum) who will take commissions, and your objective is to be at the top of that pyramid. Why? Because everybody at the bottom of the pyramid is losing money, and that lost money is being funneled to the top.
Amway distributors will sell you on the idea of compounding. You buy $200 a month of Amway products for yourself, upon which you get a few dollars back. But if you can sign up 10 people, and they sign up 10 people apiece (and so on, and so on), eventually you’ll have 7,000 people, which will qualify you for the “diamond” distributor category. And if each of those people buys $200 a month of Amway products, you will generate nearly $17 million in yearly sales! Now you can sit back, relax, and just rake in the profits! Easy, right?
Wrong. The model usually collapses long before that, because quite frankly, most people aren’t gullible enough to go for it. They can talk about compounding all they like, but according to the FTC, some 75% of Amway distributors drop out, and according to Amway’s own figures, nearly 60% of those left are “inactive”. Is it truly realistic to imagine that you can build up a stable network of 7,000 active distributors?
But you can do it in your spare time, right? So what’s the harm?
Hmmm, let’s think about that, shall we? Let’s say that 1 in 4 prospecting attempts is successful (a very optimistic figure). Now let’s factor in the FTC’s estimate that 75% of Amway/Quixtar distributors drop out within a year, as well as Amway’s own figure that nearly 60% of distributors are “inactive”. And finally, let’s remember that it takes at least 2-3 hours to sit down and try to sell a prospect on the idea (based on the time someone tried to prospect me).
Let’s do the math. Most of an evening (say, 2-3 hours) is required for a single prospecting session. 4 sessions to get 1 recruit. 1 of 4 recruits stays in for the long haul. 2 of 5 survivors is active. So what does it all mean? Crunch the numbers: 4 x 4 x 2.5 = 40 evenings per active, long-term distributor. But you want 10 of them, so now you’re talking about four hundred evenings. Are you starting to get the picture? That’s four evenings a week, every single week for two years! And that’s not even including all of the silly pep talk rallies and inspirational meetings that you’re supposed to attend!
So after you’ve done all this, what do you have? A measly 10 people under you, each of whom has to do the same thing, and so on down three levels if you plan on making serious money. And since you’ve been doing all of this in addition to your day job (one of the great “benefits” of the Amway business model) you haven’t seen your family in two years. Feeling good yet?
But if you can do it, the payoff is huge, right?
Let’s suppose you’re a stubborn sunuvabitch, and you’re confident that you can do it. You’re willing to sacrifice most of your family life for two years or more, in order to collect 10 distributors who will be active, and who will stay on for the long haul. So are you sitting pretty?
In a word, no. The truly amazing thing about the Amway business model is the enormous sales volume required in order to make any money. A 1985 issue of Forbes magazine gave the example of Robert Crisp of Tulsa, Oklahoma. This man’s network of distributors generated $120 million (yes, one hundred and twenty million dollars) in sales for Amway, from which he earned $200,000. Just think about those numbers, people! His profit is less than 0.2% of the sales volume going through his “business!” If you had an independent business and you were making less than 0.2% profit on sales volume, would you be happy?
Let’s put it this way: Hollywood grosses roughly $5 billion annually. If Hollywood executives earned profits the way Amway’s “Independent Business Operators” did, the entire industry would have profits of less than $10 million per year! This wouldn’t be enough to produce the opening credits on a James Cameron movie, so if Hollywood’s business model were as good as the business plan of a typical Amway distributor, it would have gone out of business long ago.
Worse yet, these feeble figures are from a top producer, whose bonuses are nearly ten times as high as the bonuses a new distributor would get. Small wonder then, that the vast majority of Amway/Quixtar distributors lose money.
But what about those testimonials from happy distributors?
What about them? Oh, I’m sure they’re very compelling. After all, every get-rich-quick scheme in the world has pretty much the same stories: “I used to work nine hours a day, just barely getting ahead. But now, with
Testimonials are an incredibly stupid form of “proof”, for the obvious reason that they only pick the good ones (“diamond distributors” or higher). If they were forced to give a random sample of their distributors’ experiences, you would discover that out of more than 2 million active distributors, there are less than a thousand people who are so successful (that’s roughly 0.05%). If you had to hear more than a thousand testimonials in order to get one that was really inspirational, would you be inspired? Suppose someone came to you and tried to sell you an investment scheme in which you have a lower than 10% chance of breaking even, never mind making big money. Would you buy in? I doubt it!
So why do so many Amway distributors fail? Is it that they aren’t trying hard enough? Is it that they don’t have enough friends? Is it that they haven’t been coached well enough? No. There’s a very good reason why most Amways distributors must lose money, and it stems from the design of the Amway business model itself.
So why doesn’t it work?
Amway’s defenders will try to confuse you with superfluous details and perhaps even business jargon, but let’s look at this scientifically, shall we? Suppose you have a completely sealed black box except for an inlet and outlet. You put 10 units of mass/energy in, and you get only 5 units of mass/energy out. Logically, there must be 5 units of mass/energy still sitting in there, right?
Well, we can do the same thing with the MLM distributor group (not Amway itself, since we’re only concerned with the profitability of the distributors). We have a black box (the MLM group, including all of its members), we have an influx of mass (new members joining) and energy (sales income), and an outflow of mass (disillusioned members quitting) and energy (expenses, payments to Amway for products). If income exceeds expenses, then you have a profit. If expenses exceed income, then you have a loss. So far, so good.
So how much mass/energy is entering, and how much is leaving? Is the box getting more full, or more empty? Doth thy cup runneth over, or doth it run dry? Let us examine the example of Quixtar in 2000. Remember that their reported revenue was $518 million and their reported commissions were $143 million. Also remember that it has been estimated that roughly 80% of Amway/Quixtar sales are “self sales”, where the distributor buys his own merchandise, so only 20% of total sales come from an outside source and can be considered true income for the group.
| Money In | Money Out | |
|---|---|---|
| Sales Income from Customers (~20% of total sales) | $104 million | |
| Payments to Quixtar (100% of total sales) | $518 million | |
| Commissions from Quixtar | $143 million | |
| Net loss: roughly $271 million | ||
See the problem? They sell you a business model in which you can sell your products to yourself and still make money. They assure you that it works because you pocket your own commissions. Millions of people who apparently flunked high school math seem to believe them. Is this not insane?
Perhaps the best analogy for the Amway distributor group is not a black box after all. Perhaps the best analogy is a black hole.
OK, so how did the top distributors make it?
In most cases, they were the first ones in. Pyramid schemes work if you can recruit a vast army of suckers to line your pocketbook. When the idea is new, it’s much easier to recruit suckers because they’ve never heard of it before, and their ignorance makes them easy marks. But in any market where Amway has been operating for a while, you won’t find such easy pickings. That’s why Amway success stories are so rare; you need to “open up a new market” in order to be successful.
The remainder fall into the category of the “super-salesman” personality type (you know, the guys who could sell refridgerators to Eskimos). People like that might be able to make the Amway model work, but consider the aforementioned example of Robert Crisp and his $120 million sales volume from which he made only $200k. With the kind of salesmanship and hard work you’d need in order to build up that kind of business with Amway, you could probably make far more money selling cars or even insurance (don’t laugh; there are life insurance agents out there making over $1 million per year; a truly great salesman can make a lot of money in our society, without having to line the pockets of Amway).
Pushing the Product
Their sales pitch is a textbook model for scam artists everywhere. Do they hard-sell you on their products? Do they spend two hours trying to convince you to buy some new power tools, or facial cleansers? No! Amway is not out to sell goods; they’re out to bring more members into their sucking black hole of distributorships, because the more suckers they have selling product to themselves in the hope of somehow making money on their own commissions, the more money the people at the top make. And even within the distributorship black hole, there is a pyramidal hierarchy, where some distributors make money at the expense of others (in other words, the people at the bottom of the distributorship group are really losing money). That’s why they hard-sell the business, not the products. That is a classic hallmark of an illegal pyramid scheme, and Amway escapes prosecution only because they don’t officially sanction this behaviour (even though most of their distributors do it).
In short, you have a distributorship which sends 4 times more money to its parent corporation than it receives in “outside sales”, and then heartily congratulates itself on getting a third of that back in commissions. Does this sound like a healthy business? Where’s the difference coming from? You guessed it: the distributors’ day jobs. This system doesn’t augment your regular income; it drains it.
The Amway distributor system does not generate wealth for its members; it is a net-loss proposition in which the entire group is hemorrhaging red ink like there’s no tomorrow. There’s only two winners in the system: the people who run the parent corporation, and the people who sit at the top of the pyramid (even though the whole pyramid is losing money overall, they are taking such a large share of the commissions that they make money at the expense of the rest). In effect, 90% of the people in the pyramid must lose money so that the remaining 10% can divide the profits amongst themselves (with the lion’s share going to the people at the very top).
Amway’s defenders argue that the trump card is the recruitment process; you make money not by selling product, but by pimping your friends and family. When they join, new money enters the system, and you can take a piece of it. But that is only true if the new people lose money! Imagine a poker game in which a new guy joins. In theory, there’s more money for you to win now, but only if he loses. Do you still want to go after your friends and family? How ruthless are you?
Now do you see why 90% of people in Amway lose money? Since the entire distributorship is losing money, most of them must lose a lot of money if the top earners are going to make any! And even after all of that, the top earners derive the lion’s share of their profits from the sales of seminars, books, and other “sales training aids”, because the really big winners are the people who run the parent corporation and laugh at the worker ants running around on their behalf. Small wonder that the handful of successful distributors are so enthusiastic for you to join; they need new donors. As P.T. Barnum once said, “there’s a sucker born every minute”.
More Info Elsewhere
For more on MLM, see the MLM FAQ. For an extremely thorough, in-depth discussion of Amway, see Amway: The Continuing Story. Also note that like Scientology, Amway has a history of legally harassing those who would speak out against it, which is another sure sign of a scam.
And finally, you may want to visit Amway’s home page. Update: They’ve improved it over the years, and added an on-line store to make it look more like a normal retailer and less like a MLM scam headquarters. But look at the prices: as of Oct 7, 2010, a case of 24 (16 fl oz) bottles of their “Nutrilite” Lemon-Lime sports drink costs $38.88. Meanwhile, the New York area online grocer FreshDirect sells a case of 24 (20 fl oz) bottles of Lemon-Lime Gatorade for $21.79. That’s 25% more sports drink, for 44% less money!
Amway’s website is chock full of ridiculously priced items, like a $384.50 wok or a $1,072.95 set of pots and pans (both from their in-house “iCook” brand, which is supposed to save you money). Some of their small-ticket products are closer to normal retail prices, like their $8.99 pack of 8 Fuji AA alkaline batteries (as opposed to FreshDirect’s $3.99 pack of 4 Duracell AA batteries, which is still slightly cheaper per battery), but what kind of accomplishment is that? Should we be pleased that they’re only slightly more than normal retail prices on some products? Where are those huge savings Amway talks about? Oh wait, that’s right: their real business is not that on-line store: it’s the MLM operation, and don’t let them fool you into thinking otherwise.
I read the business plan and how I understood it was , you buy wholesale for yourself and save . If someone buys product through you they pay retail ,the commission is your extra income . If you helped them start their business you get a commission from their purchases , it is a good idea . But when you buy for your self at retail ,get your commission from your own money and add it to your taxable income ,do you really want to pay more income taxes. Other buy RRSP at the end of the year to reduce their taxable income .Did anyone else notice , that makes no sense , WOW.
Thank you for writing this. Although this was written some time ago, unfortunately, all of your criticisms of Amway are still true today. I recently lost a friend to this pyramid scheme, or I guess I should say that they lost a friend, as it was through their own actions. My “Friend” has been unemployed for close to a year now…not because they don’t have any skills or any opportunities, but because they want a high-paying job without having to put in any real work. This friend has not submitted one application to a legitimate job since they’ve been unemployed. Instead, they have fallen hook, line, and sinker for the allure of the “Get Rich Quick” Amway Pyramid scheme. When they started down this path over three months ago…I tried to caution them that this was too good to be true. Now, three months later, this person is being evicted from their home, having to borrow money from their parents, and has lost at least three good friends. The last time I saw my “friend”, they came over to my house to “hang out”, or so I thought! Instead of us watching a movie or playing games, I got to sit on my couch and listen to my friend go on for nearly 2 hours on how great being a distributor was and all the great things sold through their online catalog. At the end of this diatribe, when I dared ask “If you are making so much money through this system, then why did you need to borrow $100 from me?”, my friend became really aggressive (verbally). They suggested that I am not smart enough to under the process (oh…the irony is strong with that claim) and that I don’t want them to be successful. Our evening ended with no new recruits, no sales of their shitty, over-priced products, and minus a friend.
To all those defending Amway or any schemes like it, I would just like to say that what you do to your friends and family in your quest to “get rick quick” is truly despicable.
Hi Mike,
Thanks for writing this article. It is one of the best article I have read.
Even before reading this article, I had assumed most of the things written here, but this article validates most of my thoughts. This helps me decide whether I should proceed with this opportunity or not.
Thanks again!
I am not associated with Amway and never have been. I have some friends who were very dedicated to it. They had dreams of living in a mansion and helicoptering in to work. (He is a doctor and she is a nurse, though she stayed home to raise the kids.) Of course, they tried to recruit me to sell. No, I was not interested period. That didn’t stop the recruitment. I am a lawyer; I did not want to sell cleaning products and stuff. When they finally accepted my no, one of them said, “Oh, so you will be a customer.” Well, I was not particularly interested in Amway products. No, I do not think of them as any better quality than other products…and I think of some as not better than what I could get otherwise. A big thing for them was buying whatever products they needed from Amway if Amway sold it. Thus they got discounts and points. They spent a lot of time and money going to Amway weekends that I think were sponsored not by the company but by people up the pyramid. These people sold tapes and CDs which my friends bought. She talked about seeing the “Diamonds” and their fur coats and jewels and fancy cars. I could go to the fur salon or jewelry store or car dealership anytime I wanted to see such—for free. Now, more than 30 years later, my friends are living in the same house. They are not millionaires. They drive cars, do not fly around in helicopters. They rarely talk about Amway but I think they are still connected. I haven’t bought anything from them in over 15 years. (Amway did have one laundry product that was quite good at maintaining whites but they had to stop selling it after the government outlawed phosphorous.) I did not like being hounded over joining Amway. I sold Girl Scout cookies as a child and have no desire to sell anything else.
Further, my consumer choices in life are not limited to Amway and Walmart. I shop for both quality and price. There are many times when a Walmart lipgloss might be just the thing you need. But lots of time I go elsewhere. Indeed, limiting myself to Amway’s Artistry cosmetics would be very limiting indeed.
For Amway lovers: Go and make yourself success no matter how hard it is
For Amway haters: Let’s get back to the first quadrant or second like Kiyosaki’s said, and work our ass off…Yeah!
Haters are clever than ass… Lovers are stupid yet genius..
I am in my first month with amway and so far it is working well. From my point of view, yes, amway can absolutely be a scam if someone builds it that way, and that is more than likely what happened with most of the people here who are talking down on that, I would say either that or you haven’t looked deep enough into the company! It is a great business when built by the right people, the only issue is when the wrong people build it. But has anyone ever reported the sketchy am way guys to amway? Because amway would look into that and shut them down! Amway can’t be a pyramid, number one because pyramid schemes are illegal, do you really think amway would have been around this long if it was an illegal pyramid scheme? There is an amway arena guys! The government knows they exist! If it was an illegal business model they would be shut down! Also network marketing is about duplication more than anything, doing things right and duplicating that in others. I don’t look down on people who aren’t interested in the opportunity or people who enjoy their 9-5 or anyone who just in general isn’t interested in what am way can offer, I just wanted better for myself and my life and to help others do the same, now I have a vehicle to accomplish this! My organization is full of great coaches, you have to have an invested financial interest in your downline because the only real and legitimate way for you to be successful and feel good about yourself at the end of e day in this business is if they’re successful. If you’re looking at network marketing as some sort of scheme of some sort I would challenge you to read “the business of the 21st century” by Robert T Kiyosaki and maybe look a little deeper into it! At the end of the day people will be people, there are good and bad ways to build it and you just have to sign on with the right up line and not just te first one you find!
Anyway that’s my 2 cents!
It’s humorous that all you guys are taking the time to diss and defend on this. The guy who made this blog… You obviously have to time on your hands to write all this.
you have to remember guys, amway is just a store like walmart etc, buy products, simple, from what i understand amway products are a little more expensive but they last a lot longer than others when used correctly, so you’re actually saving money in the long run, and from what i understand, if you don’t like the products you’ve used, even if you’ve finished it, send the box or bottle back and get your money fully refunded, a pretty awesome deal which other stores won’t do. all products are biodegradable, and with multi level marketing, huge companies are looking at this type of model. they spend millions of dollars marketing their products through tv, radio, billboards, internet etc, by doing it through multilevel marketing it’s pretty much word by mouth, consumers buy and try the products and letting others know what they think, it saves big corporations millions of $$ and they would rather pay us to market it through word of mouth. and i’ve heard a lot of people say amway is an illegal pyramid scheme, if that is the case, the police dept, government, military, corporations, hospitals are in the same boat. when you see how they’re structured, there are your new recruits, a lot of them, and as you climb the ladder, positions become less, e.g, workers, team leaders, supervisors, manager, the boss, looks like a pyramid to me, so unless you work for yourself, we’re in that pyramid anyway. i also understand that amway has cd’s, books functions to brainwash you. i’m not sure they’re books from amway, i think they’re books written by professors, professional doctors, self esteem books, business owners and so on, so i see it as educational, investing in yourself more to the point, cd’s of people and their experience to share with others of what they were going through in life to financial freedom, and these big events, i guess it’s like going to a football match in real life, real people real experience. in the end i might see what they’re all about, going in with an open mind, if it’s anything to go by from what these economists are saying about our future looking bleak, i’m going to check it out, won’t hurt…too much. i owned a business before, spent tens of thousands of dollars, gave it up in the end, it’s tough, from my understanding it’s a couple of hundred dollars to join and try products etc, within 90 days of trying it and i don’t like it, get my money back fully refunded, no loss there.
Wow the website name really says a whole lot about how much research was put in trying to prove amway is a scam. Amway is the number one network marketing business globally. Good luck trying to prove it’s a scam.
The way AMWAY works is quite controversial.
I own a business I started from ground up. Self employed. I was approached by an AMWAY personel, asked me if i was interested. I met up with him on another day, and also went to a seminar.
It shares a similar platform as CUTCO, Kirby the Vacuum, Herbalife..
Like all businesses, the top dog will always make the most. In order for the top dog to enjoy his/her life (which is what we all want for ourselves), he must get the people under him to do the job. Makes complete sense.. this is how it is for anything.
You even have to raise kids to continue your legacy / genes (it’s a life thing). Even kids are an investment to some people!
A lot of people may fail from jobs like this because, well, majority of hired people are the ones that can’t create an affluent lifestyle with their own planning – which is why they heard about the opportunity and TOOK A CHANCE. So in the end, some either learn to cope and survive (make it big), or drop out, or linger in between. Like School (College, High School, etc). It’s a level of determination and the ability to learn and model / apply the concept.
The interesting thing is, this is how life just works.
You join the army and become a higher member (salary raise)
You enter a sales job and become a higher member (salary raise)
But it all depends on your performance.
You either fight up the ladder, or stay mediocre & comfortable.
The top dogs of AMWAY (or recruiters or personals) are obviously making some money. It doesn’t matter how much money, because that’s relative. To some people 200,000$ is a fortune. To some 200,000$ is pocket change.
I make a average $80 – $100 an hour with my own business at age 28. I have a lot of free time so I checked out AMWAY. Everything makes sense. The structure is a pyramid structure, however it isn’t necessarily a scam. I worked for CUTCO when I was 19, didn’t survive at all, and still don’t think it’s a scam. It’s smart. It’s super smart.
Don’t we all think something is a scam when only 1 person out of a hundred succeeds?
Look at all the life coaches in this world that make billions.. a lot of people say it’s a ponzi scheme / scam / pyramid scheme / selling products.
Look at all the people that work in BANKING, INSURANCE, RETIREMENT, AND STOCK INVESTMENT FIRMS… MUTUAL FUNDS (well mutual funds really is a SCAM, look into it, never invest in mutual funds), but yes people think those are all “SCAMS” simply people they don’t see themselves as part of the business’s success factor.
Look at the GOVERNMENT.. people think it’s a scam.
MUSIC LABELS AND ARTISTS ..people think it’s a scam.
Hey this business worked for me, I’m making 2 million per year
I am from small East Europe country. People talking crap about amway can’t sell a banana to monkey. In 10 years we did our family business which is worth now around 10million $. Stop believing in people’s talk. You can do anything and it does not have to be amway. Anything, everything is in your atitude and way of thinking. They just talk and judge, being unsatisfied about every single thing in the world will drag you down and make one of them. Noone ever made anything easy, you have to try and work hard in different perspectives to achieve something. I use amway since I remember , ~20 years and had minor running nose or cold less times than fingers on my hands. Really, this advert is not an opinion, it’s just a butthurt.
Good afternoon,
Your information is outdated and completely founded upon projects of your own doubts and those of others. Amway is not a pyramid scheme. In fact, it’s the complete opposite of the typical business, such as Walmart. I find it hilarious that you compared Walmart to Amway. Who makes the most out of all of the people associated with Walmart? The greeters? The cashiers? The workers who stock shelves at night? No, it’s the Walton family; the CEOs. Who makes the most money becoming an IBO with Amway? Who ever puts the most time and effort into their own business. If Joe Schmo is an Emerald decides he’s going to sponsor Jane Doe and Jane becomes a Diamond business owner, Jane is going to make more then Joe, whereas in the typical business world, Jane’s efforts brining in more customers and recruiting more employees will drastically upgrade Joe’s paycheck.
For roughly $160, you can own your own business. How many businesses can you start up for $160? Can’t think of any others? Me neither. Let’s say you wanted to open your own McDonalds. That would cost you about $2,000,000. How many people have that kind of money? Then on top of that, how long would it take you to break even before you started bringing in any positive income? With owning your own business you need to put time and effort into it. You sound like the typical people I. My generation- wanting everything to happen over night, expecting it to, and getting butt hurt when it doesn’t happen. Failed attempts are learning experiences, and you my friend, need to realize that for your own sake, regardless of what your using that lesson for in life.
You no longer need to spend two or three hours showing The Plan. The new SwitchApp allows you to show it in six and a half minutes. If it means you could better your life, your family’s life, and help others succeed in reaching their goals and dreams, helping them become the BEST version of themselves, why wouldn’t you? Surely even someone, like myself, who works full time, can spare six minutes to reach your goals, such as financial freedom. Up-Lines aren’t there to take your earnings, not do they. They are there to help you build your business and rejoice with you when you get to the point you want to be at in life.
So when you say that Amway is a scam or a scheme, you should think of the business’ who underpay their employees and those employees who work their butts off but never get significant pay raises like you would if you started up your own business, became something other than an egotistical homebody, who sits behind their computer screen spouting their negativity and trying to crush other’s dreams.
So, Good Sir, if you are so absolutely sure that you are grounded in your ways and beliefs about Amway, I DARE you to attend and local Amway meeting. Do NOT under any circumstances, be disrespectfully those men and women who have worked hard for what they have. Be a spectator. Sit and listen and tell me afterward that you still hate it and think it’s the dumbest thing you’ve vet heard. I DARE YOU.
-K from Ohio
Retail this retail that, products are expensive, all I have read, those prices being compared to other stores, whether computers to energy drinks, you can’t get the retail profit. So myway energy drink may be $26 and yours retail store (Walmart) $20. I get retail profit of $6 plus points connected. Then can write that case of drinks off during tax season. Better yet what opportunity is the author offering. On the other hand entrepreneurty is not for everyone. Just like college is not for everyone. Matter of fact majority of Walmarts sales are from food stamps, you choose to give you money to them and not yourself. As for electronics and other untangeble products, myway is partnered with a number of stores you closed minded people already shop at. Therefore these billion dollor companies partnered with the organization to allow IBOs to make commission for place there going to go to anyway, and pyramids are illegal. I don’t think Microsoft, Nike, Home Depot, Dell, and many other 600 partner stores would be involved in illegal activity. The author replyed he did it two years on a 2-5 year plan, buddy you was still a baby in the business. But now a scam because it did not work. Let’s be real, how many years or months on did we last on Job before we quit because it didn’t work. When you guys come up with a billion dollar opportunity. Email me. And please no pyramids.
Well I’ve been involved for 3 years and work at it about 10 hours a week. I’m making six figures and quit my regular job an I’m 22. People who fail always make excuses as to why they failed, and that’s in every aspect of life. But that’s just my theory ?_(???)_?
I am very much interested to join amway please reach me on my email, I am a champion in network marketing but my company is gone I can do anything right to succed
amway is just pure scam.do not fall for it guys.its just a waste of money and time..one guy tried to lure me in this ridiculous business in delhi,india.
the guy was very well educated and called me several times to be a distributor of amway.they are not interested in selling products but wants to make you a distributor and then asking you to attend seminar and all bullshit….
their standard line is =”i am doing a part-time business”. and then will explain you with a notebook and pen telling about benefits
I been with the company for 3 months and I’m making a lot of money. I have a team of people that are always with me helping me to close business deals. a perfect example, instead of just going to people and asking them to buy or come on board, I just go to other businesses (like luxury developments, offices, small businesses) and set up an appointment, come with the experts in my upline to speak about the products we are targeting to their needs (cleaning supplies for the building or energy drinks or whatever it is that goes with the business). If they see the benefits and we show them benefits right there with our products vs what is out there at “Waltmart” and they do a giant monthly order every month directly from my website, where I have created a customer’s number (ID) and they can order the same as they had order before or see other products that might benefit them.
I now have 7 businesses that I carter to and I make a bit more than 1300 per month plus over 500.00 in my bonus and I have two people who are in my downline and when they are active with the business I also get a bonus for what they do.
So in other words, I’m making 800.00 more than what I was making before in a matter of 3 months and I really haven’t done any plans per say, I imagine that if I did, my income would be bigger, but for now I’m learning as I go. I have a long way to go, but I’m loving it…I’m not force to go to any events, but I been to a few, I had a blast and made friends. business is not for everybody.
I have never been apart of Amway but have been approached by several IBO’s who I thought were friends of mine (real friends don’t try to sign up their friends to Amway).
All of the IBO’s that jump on here defending Amway are classic, most likely running “businesses” at a net loss and are still brainwashed into believing they are going to succeed.
When any hardcore IBO is asked why they aren’t earning enough passive income to stop working for Amway, they always spout some generic garbage that they haven’t been working hard enough or haven’t been taking their business seriously enough.
To all of you IBO’s out there that are stuck in the Amway cult, there is still time to save yourself before you ruin you destroy your friendships, burn bridges with your family and ultimately destroy your life.
Great article Mike.
For anybody who sees this:
check credibility.
be as loyal to walmart, target, etc etc. as you want.
Sure you can work for them, but they will never pay you what you’re worth, just what your position is worth.
And even though if you want to work for them, will they ever give you an opportunity to make exponential amounts of money?
I enjoy how many of the Amway supporters have piss-poor grammar skills and resort to tactics employed by middle school students(I.E. name calling). I remember an episode of a popular young-adult cartoon from my youth where a young man made a hefty chunk of change selling a brand of watches(which were actually pretty decent). Not long into the endeavor the character hit a wall and had used up his customer base leaving him with excessive inventory he could not liquidate. Fortunately the young man was smart enough to scam the parent company, make a final profit, and get out. At the end though he still ended up at square one again because of expenses associated with the endeavor making the whole event a waste of time. This was a wonderful way of teaching my generation about the sinister nature of MLM firms. Recently a new general manager was hired at an auto repair shop I do occasional jobs at. He is the son of the owner and this week I walked up front to find him telling her about a website with so many wonderful products that she could use in her shop such as cleaning products and drinks she could sell to the employees for extra money. When I inquired about the site he promptly closed the screen and played it off like they were not discussing shop matters, I later was able to glean the fact that it was Amway from the owner. His apprehension in disclosing the identity of the distributor made me skeptical and after some research into a fistful of Internet sources I am going to play a game of run around with him only to expose his attempt to scam his mother and her business. Needless to say after comparing the price of Amways XS energy drinks to other major chain retailers prices on similar energy drinks I will not be buying their products.
Hey guys, can you guys please stop to talk like that ar?
There are many teams doing Amway business, YES, there are teams people who do it in bad ways like you guys mention. But there ARE ALSO the teams that doing in well-mannered ways!
Walau weh, don’t simply complaints lah or simply hate lah! The Amway people/teams that you hate, doesn’t means that Amway is that worst way!
Really wa piang weh, now I know why haters are so being hateful. Go look for more understanding first lah only go comment! Kanasai betul!
I entered the team that i felt so good and everything is nice even the skills they taught me, I don’t feel the way you guys said. MAY BE there’s different way between the Amway team you guys met and the team I met BUT I just wanna clarify something : Amway products, company history and everything, there’re no lies.
Take your head down into Amway place and have a look first lah. Don’t cincai cincai say something blindly.
Must kena shoot only you guys feel ‘Song” hor you guys? =.=”
This is the most comprehensive and factual analysis of MLM I have read. A dose of enlightenment is what this article is. Take a bow !!
I had been recruited unknowingly by a dear friend of mine into MLM(he has complete faith that it is a legit model). When I learned about the company and it’s model it didn’t take me a lot of time to realize that without a very strong product line or high profit margin, this model is just a closed system where money is being redistributed to the top of the pyramid. The MLM company that I joined “QNET”, does this even more shamelessly. They have a joining fees and minimum amount of products that you should buy before becoming a member. And the amount is very high compared to other MLMs. And your recruiter gets a commission for getting you into the biz, which is around 10%. But even then, there are scores of people who call it’s model completely legit and even forbes has an article endorsing it. I hope this farce ends soon, or at least there are annual audits of these companies, to check income redistribution. This companies are not doing wealth or prosperity creation. They are a blot on an economy and way for some people to get rich at the cost of others.
How many people on here have actually been Amway distributors and made it past platinum?
title=”PLEASE READ!!!”>
well im new at this and i just read this article(most of it at least), and i couldnt shake the feeling that there was something off about this whole amway thing, but, even after all that you just said there is something that you forgot. everyone has a dream and everyone deserves a chance to chase their dream, also, nothing in life comes easy. i knew from the beginning that this was no “get rich scheme” nothing in life is easy especially this. for a few years youre gonna have to put in work but if youre lacadasical(like most quitters/haters), youre gonna find a fault in the business rather than yourself cause were all humans and we dont like to be wrong. just be persistent and the business will pay for itself
P.S dont let anyone deter you from your dreams and aspirations especially this guy.
Mike, awesome article, very good analysis. I was just ‘surprised’ into an AMWAY seminar by a colleague at one of my clients “I have a few people I want you to meet at the Hotel Pennsylvania.” He says. LOL! I laughed and laughed. I’ve been on this planet for half a century and have seen quite a few AMWAY / or the like seminars in my day. I’m a successful entrepreneur, I have a great family life, I live/love and play. But I’ve never sold or joined a club like Amway.
I can see the appeal…just on the pure logic. I can see how the successful folks became successful.
You can buy products with a 29% discount off Retail (BTW, not real retail…AMWAY Retail; there’s controversy about how retail, Amway retail is), and make another 3% off the BV (Book Value?) of the product in Commission…that’s your GROSS INCOME.
Uhm…no. Your Gross income is whatever you earn from Selling something. What this is is a total of a 32% discount. Remember you are the consumer. Now that’s not that bad. Macy’s has great 50% off sales, etc. Even better, BUT WAIT… you can’t earn off of other’s peoples’ purchases at Macys… you can at AMWAY. I suppose that’s a cool thing. So, as you said, GO TO TOWN! If you’ve got the type of sales capacity that you can sell AMWAY to 100’s of people, and energize them, like I saw the fellow in the room energize the gathered millenials, then WOW! You can sell loads of stuff on commission, and make a pretty penny.
BTW, I know far more Multimillionaire salesmen who live a posh country club life from selling Insurance, Real Estate, Businesses, etc., than I do AMWAY salesmen.
What troubled me was the age-bracket of the audience. I was clearly old enough to be EVERYONE’S DAD!
They were eager… but again, I don’t blame them…the Sales guy was GOOD. He had the standard promotional entry music after a Crowd warmer (“Host”) called him up.
Here’s a list of the nifty sales techniques he used…
– He made TIME a constant. By doing so, the audience can start to believe the math. ie: Time = Money. Uhm. No it doesn’t and it isn’t. In fact, if you believe that you are stuck. Then he went so far as to say “Most of you believe that…” The arrogance was laughable!
– He kept saying “I’m not saying this is a bad thing.” when referring to people who work at jobs, and for others. But say it enough, and pepper in good jokes, and belittle the hard workers, and guess what YOU JUST MADE IT A BAD THING! Nice… So folks in the audience are hating their jobs even more. Again, Brilliant.
– He assured us he wasn’t there to sell us anything or convince us of anything. Then what the hell was he there for? Out of the goodness of his heart? Hmmm. interesting. Maybe? He sounded convincing. Maybe he was a Great Guy! But Don’t think he was charitable. 2nd comers paid $7 each, (about what the room cost.) So he wasn’t doing it for free….hmm. Altruistic? Uhm…no, the true samaritan doesn’t need the love/reward/appreciation. I’ll go with he wanted to be there to get something from the crowd. LOL! like them joining…oh…and he said “Amway pays me to help you.” LOL! YEah…that gave it away.
– He defined success for us. Brilliant! Don’t ask…just tell us what success is, after asking us what we thought it was and telling us its BETTER THAN THAT! LOL! Brilliant.
– He spent an hour telling us he was going to show us something. He wanted a few choice candidates, because he was ‘checking us out’ for “The Team” He wanted only people who qualify. Those that are willing to “Listen and Learn.” But what I think is in fact, he wanted those who are easy to persuade…hence the growth, and SURE, another replica of him. WHY NOT!? Even better. Not everyone in the room. I have an Interpersonal Communications Style questionnaire that would help define his candidates MUCH Better and he could have a greater hit rate if he studied this a bit.
– When he asked “What do you want out of life.” He literally listed every major Motivational Outcome there is. Well, Duh… “Don’t you want X!” OF COURSE WE DO! again, brilliant.
He finally got to the business plan, but said “Its not about the business, its about the destination.” It was sad, how many people applauded him there. Its about the Journey folks…the means, don’t get stuck on the Destination…the end, cause if you do, you miss out on life and cause harm along the way.
So, business plan fine print, which I had to squint to see…but it was there, and BTW, printed on every piece of material they gave out. At least they are truthful (cough.)
.01% make it to the Diamond club of $567,000 per year. That’s 1 in 10,000 sales guys. Impressive, and terrific numbers. Assuming they have 3.5 million distributors/IBO’s/Members selling AMWAY products, for $10.6 billion in sales. About 350 are Diamond. The rest average about $3,000 in sales per IBO for the company. (!?) That sucks. But they take their 29% discount + the other 3% commission and make about $1,100 per year.
Just to put it in perspective, Metlife has about $70 billion in income, with a network of about 350,000 brokers. They each gross about $200,000 for the company. and earn an average of about $14,000 per year in premium commissions, PLUS salaries of upwards of $80,000 to $100,000 in addition (average.) BTW, they work their own hours if they are good.
0.1% make it to emerald, that’s about 1 in 1,000, or 3,500 and they earn about 129,000 in gross income. COOL! That’s about average for anyone with an MBA.
.2% make about $55,000… so, 7,500, make about starting salary for most MBA’s and or A GOOD salary for a BBA.
Well… that leaves about 3.4 million people or more. Who are making the average $2,000 per year.
I’ve been around, and have seen LOADS Of opportunities. I’ve learned to be choosy and I am happy with where I am. Many have more money, but I’m not wanting, nor needing. I’m well off, have property and am self-sufficient.
I could probably do good with AMWAY. Right now I’m looking for a list of their companies and comparing prices. I’ll make enough to recover my $250 in fees. But if the prices are skyhigh…well, hell no. I’ll even help my friend convince a few others to join, because I like my colleague and he deserves a break.
In summary, though if you are crazily inspired by the Sales/enrollment Tactics for AMWAY you would probably be a GREAT Salesman. Try an insurance company, go for a series 7 license, or sell Real Estate! These are LOADS BETTER Options, that have MUCH GREATER REWARD, and MUCH GREATER SUCCESS RATES. (BTW, that’s what I really am trying to get my friend to do. He’d be good at it, and he would be much happier than AMWAYing it through life.)
I don’t understand what so many ppl are upset about. The only thing I regret about Amway is not starting it SOONER! If you have “friends” you’ve lost, trust me, they did you a favor, and will sign up once they hear how well you are living. Not doing Amway is the sign that you are plain stupid. Period. I have friends whose high cholesterol count has gone down drastically without drugs that will screw your liver up. And that’s just one of many, many examples. I’m taking life easy after working for 6 years night and day at this wonderful project and I’m enjoying a high 6-figure “salary”, as you’d call it. If you I don’t understand how this opportunity works or are too lazy to do it, kindly refrain from stating sheer stupidity. Luckily, those whose lives will be improved won’t give two hoots about your nonsense and childish negativity. AmwayDOES WORK, and I’m living proof.
I would like to understand how its works for me to get my cash back after how long and how do i benefit form it by buying Amway products or by invite other people to join it .Someone said for every purchase 28% is my cash back how far true is it
all you people have to say in more negative than positive, it seems like you people never has the right trustworthy connector. thus, some connectors to amway business are theft they don’t help you to build your self instead they give you a job to sell for them while collecting the points and uplift their own self.
I was fooled in 2008 by one connector who told me I have to buy at less 25000 $ worth of goods to continue build my point… then in 2010 another lady told me to get some of my families over sea to but directly from her and she will send me money monthly, then in 2016 I was introduce to a new connector who interview me , explain to me and carry me in every step not the way, so today I decide to sign up but not so fast she said get your costumers to build your point so you can gain. now that sound like business. am not brainwash .. goodby haters!
I have recently started amway. I have steered clear of the cds and rallys and books and tried to focus on the sale of the products. One thing I have found to be odd is that as an independent business owner I am not allowed to market and promote through electronic channels (internet, tv, etc.) Even with social media it states in the rules that the use of social media is for providing information for existing friends and customers. Not to generate new customers. If this is not a pyramid scheme. Why am I being stopped at every turn to try to build brand awareness and generate sales. Everything is pushing me to spending more money than I will make if I don’t generate traffic. Its a online business medium and I can’t advertise online. I can even do mass mailing. Everything I do has to be on a one-on-one basis even if it was handing out post cards which is counter productive. The way a business makes money is by generating awareness and interest in the product or services. Down the line someone is going to get interested in the business if only by proxy.
Why wouldn’t Amway want me to generate mass amounts of sales if that is the route I so choose to go.
hey guys any current ibo’s dont listen to these people the only reason why these guys dont believe in it is because they dont want to accomplish their dreams they going to work for a boss for 40+ year less if fortunate look at the most of people that have a good car and big house it usually the elderly people why because they saved money for the longest time if you work in a regular job your boss will always limit how much money you get how much time you spend with your family and if you are going to accomplish your dreams not everybody gets a real chance to actually pursue their dreams so just get stuck in work and just forget about there chances amway doesnt just focus on money it also focuses on bettering yourself and show you how to better finance your money as well as many other things you just dont do it by yourself either you have upline that help you when you most need and motivate you as well you are all so programmed to work for someone else and make there dreams come to that when an opportunity arrives we simply reject it because we think its a scam because if it was dont you think it would of shut down alongtime ago it and almost all the countries in the world the only reason people drop out is because they want quick money or become rich fast if you do everything right and actually prepare yourself listen to up line advise go to events read and get motivated and as well as get to people doing the opportunity then you are able to get to at least platinum in 2 years it possible theirs alot of people who are this level if you want something out of it you first have to put in. hardwork never got anybody anywhere just look at somebody that works hard for a job that works for someone else are they rich and if they say they have money do they still go to work if they do have money why do they still go why because they depend on a job to give them money for a job food as well as clothes when ever a boss fires you or a company lay you out they dont care if youre going to have money for rent or mortage or if your kids are going to have food the next day or if your child or someone in your family has cancer and need your money for support they just fire and find someone else to replace you. im not saying work in general is bad its just a setup to make you poor like people that you see have money that work they not rich they just have more than enough money get big house nice car have kids then later on get a raise get more money and then get a bigger car better house years pass get money for there kid to go to college lets say that he has money saved up and gets fired of course e going to want to get another job because he no rich he just had more than enough money to come by and amway is a way for you to travel around the world and enjoy life as well as your kids it make take time to get there buts it really worth if you have any questions please email me at mystuff746@gmail.com iil be happy to give you advice or if you just straight up have a question il be happy to help you lets get to diamond any current people in amway
Have any of you ever heard of Tim Foley? Former NFL CB for the Dolphins. Currently an Amway IBO making loads of cash. Have you ever heard of Rich DeVos? He owns the Orlando Magic (NBA team). Where do they play? Amway Arena. Oh yeah, Rich DeVos is a cofounder of Amway. Amway has continued to grow year after year. In the past two years they have sold about $10 Billion each year. I don’t hate on anybody who doesn’t want anything to do with Amway. I get it, IBOs being weird and annoying with trying to make a contact. But you know what, I applaud them for giving it a try. True, most new IBOs probably won’t stick around in the business. A lot of them will probably have a bad taste in their mouths about Amway, but I could almost guarantee that those didn’t really give it a real try. The plan is 2-5 years. Not 3 months. So if you haven’t given it a real try for at least 2 years, you can’t say that you tried it. It’s like someone saying that if you attempt something 4 times, you will succeed at least once, but then you try once and fail and then decide to give up and say that it can’t be done. How does one see a company that has grown so much successfully and say that it doesn’t work and is a scam?
The author has given a bit of false information as well and I just want to clarify for those who might be doing some investigating before potentially sign up.
1. Amway is NOT a “pyramid”. In order to make a statement like this you have to understand what a pyramid is in the business sense. A pyramid is not legal nor ethical first off. A pyramid doesn’t allow “downline” to make more than “upline”. With Amway you CAN make MORE than he/she who sponsored you.
2. Amway does not pay 2 separate commissions. There is only 1 commission and the upline can only make some money on that when there is a differential in place. Let’s say that you are at 25% and your downline is at 18%. In this case, your downline will make 18% of his monthly BV and you will make 7% of his monthly BV.
3. Amway does not pay for advertising. Walmart and other stores DO. That was left out in the break down.
4. Amway only sells it’s own products now and you can’t find them at any retailer.
5. Amway has partner stores such as Best Buy, T-Mobile, Bank of America, Disney, Home Depot and others where you can get discounts, deals and extra BV/PV (to add to commissions) when you buy as an Amway IBO.
I personally know several people who are making over $8,000/month, one of whom makes about $13,000/month. I’ve seen statements and checks. It’s real. Not everybody will have those results and it’s important to know that, because in order to get to those results, you have to commit and work towards it. Nothing comes without a little work except for the lottery winners (and even some of them are at it day after day… committed). Amway is not a Get-Rich-Quick Scheme. It’s a be-different-from-the-rest way of life. I’ve learned to love the personal growth that I have achieved through books that are recommended through Amway. And I bought them on Amazon and listen to some through Audible!
Let’s just think about a few things real quick:
1. In the next 5 years, what are the chances of your salary or wages being increased by at least $2,000 a month at your current job? So what’s the harm in trying it out. I’m glad I did. I would rather try and fail then to never had attempted it at all.
2. If you were to take advice from people on business and/or financial decisions, would you rather listen to the people on this blog, or listen to financial experts like Robert Kiyosaki and Charles W. King?
3. Take a look at some of your co-workers that have been at that job for at least 5 years and then decide if their lifestyles are what you have planned for yourself. In order to see different results, we have to do something different. Otherwise you will always get the same result. If you continue doing exactly as you are, guess where you will be… right where you are right now.
I hope this has helped. I may have been more one-sided, but I believe in the business whether you do or not. Keep in mind, this is not going to be the best business choice for everybody and the world does need doctors, lawyers and even the everyday employees. All are equally important. May you make the best decision for YOUR life and may you have the best of luck in whatever you choose.
amway is magic to fullfill ur dreams just work hard it is the best mlm in world because its give 100% customer satisfaction than any other company.
Mike, you are courageous. Thanks to your post, my thinking about multi-level sales has become clear.
Everyone here is right. It is you yourself you have to look at. If you think this is a scam, it will be a scam and it will not work for you because you already think negative about it. That is it, you are done, good bye, you will always see things negative your entire life. If you think positive, This is an opportunity to change your life, make extra money, chase after your dreams, etc. then it will definitely work for you. This is the only opportunity they are willing to help you achieve anything in life. Will someone achieve your dreams for you? NO, if your son/daughter is willing to do it for you or you are doing for your son/daughter. Will your job give you want you want? NO! IF THEY ARE THEN WHY COMPLAIN ABOUT YOUR JOB/MONEY/BLAMING GAME. Will listening to people get you what you what? NO! NO ONE WILL DO IT FOR YOU, YOU HAVE TO DO IT FOR YOURSELF. YOU TAKE THE ADVICE OF PEOPLE WHO IS GOING TO HELP YOU SUCCEED OR THOSE WHO WILL PULL YOU BACK AT THEIR LEVEL. JUST LIKE HOW THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO WRITE THINGS LIKE THIS. DO YOU KNOW THIS PERSON? IS HE/SHE AM EXPERT IN THIS BUSINESS? EVERYTHING IS A PYRAMID, PEOPLE. YOU HAVE A JOB, DO YOU HAVE A BOSS? YES. A PYRAMID. HE/SHE MAKES MORE THAN YOU, THAT IS A PYRAMID. WILL YOU BE PROMOTED TO HIS SEAT IF HE/SHE IS THERE, NEVER, UNLESS HE/SHE IS NICE ENOUGH TO TRAIN YOU. YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO BE THE TOP. THIS BUSINESS GIVE YOU THAT OPPORTUNITY TO BE THE BOTH TOP AND BOTTOM. THERE ARE UPLINE AND DOWNLINE SO TOP AND BOTTOM. JOBS, STAY THE SAME, WILL NOT BE ABLE TO BE A CEO OWNERSHIP OF A BIG FRANCHISE ONLY IF YOU HAVE A LOT OF MONEY TO BEGIN WITH. THIS BUSINESS, YOU CAN START ANY WHERE, POOR, RICH, UGLY, PRETTY, HANDSOME, DUMB, SMART, NICE, MEAN, ANYBODY CAN DO IT. THIS BUSINESS LET YOU OWN YOURSELF WHILE JOBS OWN YOU FOR THIS AMOUNT OF MONEY PER HOUR. GUYS…DON’T THINK SMART AND DUMB. TOO SMART MAKES YOU TOO STUPID, TOO DUMB WILL GET YOU NO WHERE. IS THIS TRUE? IS THIS FALSE? YOU DECIDE?
Please tell me that you all dream because if you don’t then all your doing is working and going back home with no purpose in life. That is the only cycle that you are doing right now am I right? You all just give up and be quitters instead of trying something new to be better because you are afraid of failure. The fear is what is controlling you and you don’t even know that. If you don’t try how are you going to be out of dept or help you love ones. Is that life that for? Because I’m not going to sit around here a wait for a miracle to happen to me. If I want to do something I will find a way instead wasting my time sitting at the couch watching TV and be lazy. For those who think Amway is a fraud then does that mean you have been there for at least a year and have done something instead of thinking that signing the application is all you have to do because your wrong. You opened your own business and you need to put work in it just like your job. Because all that you are doing right now is working for money instead of money working for you. And for those who think money is bad then don’t work and see how bad is it. We all need it and that is final. So for those who are doing research well who will you believe someone who has experience in Amway or someone that has a month of experience. Choose wisely because every decision you make counts!!!
Lmfao this stupid ambit people they must be stupid republicans kissing trump ass
People who are negative live a negative life. People with opinions don’t live by facts. Amway is perfect. It’s people who quit on themselves that don’t know how to be an entrepreneur. People who want to get rich fast. The truth is your JOB is a scam. You scam yourself …
So if you have some intelligence don’t pay attention to negative things and lies about IBO’s.
Amway is for suckers.
ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS .. IF YOU DIDN’T MAKE IT IN AMWAY ITS YOUR FAULT NO ONE ELSE’S QUIT BLAMING SOMEONE ELSE FOR YOUR LACK OF SUCCESS .. SOMEONE SAID ..”You should be enjoying life, not trying to separate your friends and families into “dreamers” and “loserrs .. WRONG DUMMY EVERYONE IS BORN AND BROUGHT HERE FOR A BIGGER PURPOSE YOU CHOOSE HOW YOU WANT TO LIVE AND YES YOU HAVE TO LOOSE SOME TIME AWAY WHILE BUILDING THIS BUT LATER YOU WILL RECEIVE IT ALL BACK .. DON’T EXPECT OVER NIGHT SUCCESS .. OH ITS HARD ? .. SHOULDN’T IT BE
Lmao so many failures and losers ! If you only have 10 people in your downline you are a failure and I’m glad you quit the business. We dont need people who do the bare minimum to be the example of what excellence is because it simply isn’t
I see a lot of angry people that got in from probably people who just wanted to use you, and i am so sorry that you experienced that !
I am lucky enough to not be a loser, to not waste my time doing meetings here and there. I’m looking at being retired in a few years at 28 years old and I really do feel bad for those who say young people should be having fun. Sorry but fun isn’t being successful. I can have tons of fun once I finally have my retirement party and can spend my 30s and 40s doing that.
Sorry that someone told you you needed a team of 7500. Only an idiot would try to go platinum having 7500 people spend $3 a month. Makes absolutely no logical sense !
When I go diamond, how about I give each of you $10 for the trouble you think amway has caused you? I really do feel bad if you treated this business like avon or felt like you were forced. All of you I can guess are older than me and I don’t get how so many adults can’t take responsibility for their own choices of choosing to do this and trust whoever invited you. Can’t trust everyone !
Some people in every business will try to use you.
And also calling people idiots for going for cheap lower quality things is probably why you fail. I don’t think people who shop at saks 5th also shop at costco. Some people actually care about what they put in their bodies and what they put on their backs! Any amway ibo knows that all the products are significantly higher quality and made better. Maybe stop marketing to people who don’t use those products to begin with or can’t afford to start. Im not going to ask someone to buy a vitamin every month that they say they can’t afford !! That’s not helping the customer if you only think about you !
Anyways. Sorry that your sponsor was not a good mentor ! A few of mines are diamond, one of my crossline just went platinum, one of my crossline does 30,000 PV every month. This is years of building the business, this is not a get rich quick. Its not a pyramid or you would be in prison. Its not a pyramid if your team is bigger than your uplines. You make more than your upline . Bingo. Not that hard if that’s what you want to do and have the support to do so .
Also if you have spent 5 years in the business and have not gone platinum, you are the problem not amway. The plan is made for you to achieve that in 5 years so if you dont do that then you are doing something wrong , or you’re not doing anything at all. I feel great knowing I’m pretty close to quitting my job and having my PV start at least at 10,000 a month every 1st of thr month. Thats $30,000 consistently going through my business every single month. Not because i have a team of 7500 or because i sell products because i only have 5 customers. All family who only spend less than $100 a month. There is no secret. You either follow the business plan, be educated, and succeed or you choose not to
Mike, you are woefully uninformed about Amway and network marketing in general. Amway spent millions to lobby Congress to pass legislation outlawing pyramids. Amway is NOT a pyramid. Network marketing offers financial freedom through time leveraging. MLM is now being taught at some well known business schools. I have been associated with Amway and other MLMs and am now happily prospering as a Zilis Ambassador sharing the power of full-spectrum hemp CBD oil to impact health challenges. Zilis is now the largest hemp CBD oil in the US…organic with 94 % bioavailability. MLM