I was hired by Amway for the first time about 1985 or so. As a senior in college, I was invited to a "beer bust." I accepted the invitation. Imagine my surprise when I arrived at a beer bust to find my friend (who had invited me and others) dressed in a suit and attempting to sell us Amway products. (Where had the beer gone, by the way?) So we were duped into attending a meeting, but we stayed to hear what they had to say. We departed and ended up going to buy some beer on the way home. LOL.
My friends and I discussed if Amway would be a viable business model, and we came to the conclusion that selling products would be a challenging hurdle that we would not be able to conquer.
As we looked at the 2-5 year strategy, we could see the possibility of retiring young, "walking away," and living high on the hog for many years to come. We were shown photographs of the checks that Toshio Taba had received at the time. (He went away a short time thereafter.) When we looked into it, we discovered that some Amway items could be sold in a niche market, and profits could be made. Because we determined that Amway products were too expensive to be competitive, we decided to pass on the opportunity. The friend who invited us, of course, informed us that he was going to be wealthy and would therefore not be available to hang out with us. He resigned from his position two months later and rejoined our group of pals.
A friend of mine had joined Amway and had achieved some level of success, which I discovered when I later viewed the plan again. He promised me that Amway was "simple" and that I would be able to achieve the same level of success if I followed his instructions. However, this is not the case. Despite the fact that I reached a certain level in Amway (4000 PV), I did not make any money. It is possible that my sponsor, even at "direct" or platinum (today), did not make a net profit as a result of the expenses connected with being a platinum sponsor. (Additional travel, functions, and costs to provide service to the downline.) The notion that achieving a certain level would result in financial gain was a fabrication because your "upline" suggested that you should spend all gains and return them back into the "system." Consequently, any profits were passed up the chain in the form of tool purchases.
My interactions with current Amway IBOs and prospects have revealed that there is little distinction between the teachings that are proclaimed. The same old, worn-out diamonds are still on the market. Certainly, there are some new diamonds, but the number of old diamonds that have vanished is far more than the number of new ones. If the system was functioning well, wouldn't fresh diamonds be emerging from the system on a regular basis? It appears that this is not the case. Someone still hasn't figured out that diamonds only work until they pass. Twenty to thirty years have passed since the Duncans and Wolgamott, Tsurudas and Harimoto became diamonds. Where has the fruit on their tree been if they were such outstanding teachers? The tree has been stripped of its leaves.
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