Edification. During my tenure in the Amway business, we witnessed a large number of independent business owners (IBOs) become edified, including myself. The feeling you got when your upline platinum or diamond said something that made you stand out in a crowd was unquestionably wonderful! One such instance is the promotion of an IBO who had resigned his job to attend a significant function, according to my memory. As a result of his boss' refusal to allow him to take vacation time, he was unable to attend the celebration. I recall Brad Wolgamott telling folks that it was just a job, that they should attend the function and then find another one (job). I recall a man who was edified by the diamonds at a family reunion celebration. He had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, but instead of staying at home and moaning and complaining, he was at an Amway function, making a difference in the world, as they would say. However, in retrospect, I honestly feel that the upline's goals were to uplift individuals who went to great lengths to spend money on tools or functions in order to advance their careers.
In other words, you are paying for your own enlightenment. Of course, when I say that you are purchasing your edification, I am not implying that you are doing it in dollars. It can be expressed either in terms of currency or in terms of time. Consider the following examples: you may have been edified by listening to 15 standing orders in one day, or you may have been edified by driving the kilometres to show plans, even though the guest failed to appear. I also recall some IBOs in the group getting edified for personal use of 1000 PV in a month, which I believe was the case. I honestly don't know how somebody could feasibly produce 1000 PV in personal use without spending a lot of money on some high-end equipment or software. I'm talking about how much SA8 or LOC anybody can consume in a month. While it's possible to make Nutrilite vitamins your primary source of nutrition or something along those lines and move a significant amount of PV, it's absurd to spend that much money for personal consumption.
So, how far are you prepared to go in order to be ediified, exactly? For my upline sponsor, it was the reason he got up in the morning. My sponsor was/is a physician, and as such, he could live comfortably without the help of Amway, but he was more interested in the recognition and edification that the company provided. When he was asked to speak at a gathering, he jumped at the opportunity. According to him, the dream of performing on stage as the diamond was more significant to him than the money he had earned over the night. Unfortunately, as far as I am aware, he never progressed past the platinum level, and at the time of writing, he had less than 4000 PV. Whatever your vision or motivation for establishing Amway, I honestly believe you should consider the financial implications of doing so. In order to go diamond, you wouldn't, for example, sell your soul to the devil in exchange for money. I'm actually curious as to how my former sponsor is doing these days, given that our upline diamond (his hero) has relocated to Washington and he is unable to spend as much time with him as he used to do.
The expense of edification at Amway is too expensive. Are you willing to shoulder the financial burden? I'm pleased I woke up and realised that there are far better ways to spend my time, money, and effort than I had previously considered. Joecool's blog is one of the more interesting things on the internet. :-)
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