Over the years, I've met a lot of Amway Independent Business Owners (IBOs), and they all seem to have a same philosophy. They have faith in their upline and, in certain situations, regard them as mentors. Now, having a mentor or someone to lead you through a business venture may be beneficial, but with the Amway opportunity, the majority of upline mentors receive compensation from individuals who they mentor. That is a significant conflict of interest, but IBOs are incapable of recognising it. Perhaps a better description of the connection would be that of a hired consultant rather than mentors. What IBOs also fail to recognise is that there is a complete absence of success in the field of rank and file IBOs on a national level.
When an IBO attends a large conference where the plan is presented, the speaker is frequently positioned as a financial guru, as well as an expert on how to be successful in Amway. An IBO may have heard that a trail had already been blazed by upline, and that all you needed to do was follow the path that has been blazed. Don't reinvent the wheel; instead, duplicate what your upline has done. However, as I have stated numerous times before, duplication appears to be simple and straightforward on paper, but in practise, the vast majority of independent business owners (IBOs) encounter difficulties that they are unable to overcome, such as the poor reputation that the Amway name has in the United States. When you combine it with the less-than-competitive prices at which Amway products are sold, you have a problem.
But what is most concerning is that IBOs are taught to trust their upline and follow their instructions (which is a de facto obligation), but they are also taught that failure is due to their own faults, even when they do precisely what their upline instructed them to do. It is also concerning that many uplines would persuade their loyal followers that they need to purchase more and more tools as time progresses in their business (voicemail, cds, seminar tickets). In some circumstances, an upline may persuade their downline to forego fundamental family necessities in order to purchase these equipment. Some IBOs were instructed to forgo meals in order to purchase a CD, or to delay payments on their mortgage or rent in order to be able to attend the next large function. What part of that is sound advice?
I'd also like to point out that if you're a newer IBO or prospect, you may have heard that "everyone starts at zero" or that the playing field is level. It is not the case. As a fresh IBO, you will very certainly fall into the 100 PV range. Because Amway pays out approximately 30% in bonuses, your upline(s) will receive the lion's share of the bonuses on your efforts, while you will receive a 3 percent bonus on your efforts. That doesn't strike me as being particularly level. And your upline has a right to it because they were in Amway before you, right?
Consequently, each IBO should examine the situation objectively and determine whether your upline is assisting you or merely assisting himself by providing you with advice that results in profit for him but little or no reward for you.
0 comments: