Another aspect of the Amway offer that attracts many independent business owners (IBOs) is the notion that they can work part time for 2-5 years and earn a "shortcut" to ongoing and substantial wealth. Given the fact that many of the prospects do not have the kind of income or resources that they would want, the potential of taking a shortcut to these trappings appears to be a reasonable investment. As soon as they sign up and get started, they are confronted with the realities of the industry. It is possible that Upline will be able to justify or divert the worries for a period of time, but the sad reality will eventually set in.
100 PV is the de facto minimum allotment for IBOs engaged in company development. The cost of purchasing 100 PV worth of products is approximately $300. How many young and single persons, or even couples for that matter, use and/or require $300 worth of household supplies each month, and how many of them are single? The question is, how many of these same folks can truly afford to spend so much money on household supplies. Amway's pitch is to alter your shopping habits, but how many individuals were purchasing these kind of items prior to the company's arrival? My guess is that there aren't any. I am aware that I purchased a number of things, including vitamins, that I did not require or use prior to joining Amway. However, my desire to be teachable and to set a good example for my downline deterred me from purchasing the products and from attempting to pass some of them off on friends and relatives in order to reduce my PV burden. On the surface, the 100 PV was nothing more than an ordinary business expense for me.
I also discovered that convincing individuals to accept the proposal was a difficult undertaking. It took more and more work to recruit downline as my business grew, and I can see how many IBOs will hit a saturation point at which they will be unable to find any more viable recruits, and they will be forced to use cold calling tactics in order to generate new prospects. This is most likely the reason why there have been reports of IBOs stalking people at bookstores, malls, and grocery stores. Even when people were made aware of the proposal, there was a low percentage of new members who signed up. It is for this reason that I feel it is practically hard to create and maintain a business, and it is for this reason that I believe there aren't many individuals who retire, walk away from their Amway businesses, and enjoy six-figure residual earnings for the rest of their lives. As a result, running an Amway firm is a massive effort to accomplish.
The more likely scenario is that an IBO joins, purchases and uses the items and tools, and gradually but steadily accrues debt in the process. There are innumerable stories of former IBOs who got fired up and started establishing their business, only to discover that they had placed themselves into thousands or tens of thousands of dollars in debt in a relatively short amount of time, despite their best efforts. While this was going on, upline was pressuring them to purchase more tools and attend more functions, even when they were not making money. This, in my opinion, is further indication that uplines are more concerned with their personal profits than they are with the success of their downlines. At functions, I heard upline preach about debt reduction while at the same time stating that it was acceptable to go deeper into debt if it was necessary to purchase additional tools. Advice that is only beneficial to the giver.
It is for this reason that I feel this opportunity, in conjunction with the tools system, will almost certainly result in IBO failure. It is a sad reality, but it is also a fact of life.
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