In this letter, a reader tells the storey of a buddy who was duped into joining ScAmway and closes with some excellent advice:
A year after we both graduated from college, my friend (let's call him "Jack") became involved with the Amway organisation. When I went to see him, he informed me that he had begun his own business. I was ecstatic about this since, when in college (we were both studying food science), we had discussed the possibility of starting a cheese shop in the future, and he had also developed a soft drink that I assumed he had sold to someone. However, this is not the case! This is not a business that is related to food science. So, what exactly is it that Jack's company is going to be selling, exactly? Considering that businesses can make money in one of two ways: either by selling a product or by offering a service to customers, what would the company be doing exactly?
Initially, I thought it was odd that he seemed to be dancing around the subject, but after learning more about Ambots, I now realise that this was something he was taught to do. He basically stated that he will be instructing others on how to create their own enterprises, which I found amusing.
Be mindful of the fact that he wasn't pursuing a business degree, and that this was his first year out of college. He'd never had a business of his own before this point in his life. Despite the fact that Jack is incredibly personable, he lacks the technical skills and experience necessary to be a mentor for anyone interested in starting their own business.
And he still hadn't explained how he planned to earn money off of this; I inquired as to whether people would be paying for his mentorship, to which he said that they would not. After perhaps 15 minutes of interrogation, he eventually admitted that this was... *trumpet sound* Amway, of course! As well as the fact that he was "owning his own firm," which was in reality a commission-based salesperson position.
The question is: "But Jack, are you really interested in running a business where you're selling people granola bars and laundry soap?" I'm familiar with Jack since we used to have a brother-sister relationship when we were in college. As a salesman, I couldn't imagine Jack being content with his job at all. Jack laughed it off, saying he didn't care about making money off the products. And then he explained what it was that first lured him to this "enterprise" in the first place: financial freedom.
It was at this point that his odd diatribe began (again, the culty terminology intruding and hijacking any true thought) about how when you go to work, your boss is exploiting you to get rich, and he's so sick of being in debt that it's stupid to work a 9-5 grind, and so on.
At first glance, this looked a little odd to me; I am paid to go to work, and my efforts aren't going into my boss's coffers; rather, they are supporting the firm in its efforts to expand (which would also allow for people like me to get raises). If I had any reason to believe that my boss was not paying me fairly and was instead padding his own pockets rather than doing the right thing, I would quit and look for a better job. This isn't Victorian-era London; I have options if my workplace isn't up to snuff, and I don't think the expectation of working 40 hours a week is completely illogical; people have always needed to work in order to subsist on their earnings. If you're worried about your student loan debt, remember that Jack was earning more than $60K right out of college and wasn't in any financial hardship based on the appearance of his apartment.
But, oh, the phrase "financial independence." "Being wealthy" is a lovely euphemism for "having money." From what I could tell, that was Jack's whole and exclusive motivation. "But do you think this work will make you happy?" I inquired. "Being financially independent will bring me great joy." "Is this a firm that you can actually get behind? Do you believe in the quality of their products? Do you consider them to be ethical?" "I see them as a means of achieving financial independence." After a while, he became irritated with me and began asking questions about if this is a truly meaningful way to earn a livelihood — because supposedly the only thing that matters in your job is the money.
After he adamantly emphasised how Amway is absolutely not a pyramid scam after I remarked that it looked and sounded like one, I went back to my hotel for the night but met up with Jack for breakfast the next morning to continue the conversation. We were listening to an Amway tape (or MP3? ), which we were having breakfast to. My "this is a cult!" alarm went off as soon as the audio started playing; the audio first asked you to visualise your success ("success" in the sense of having a fancy car and travelling the world, not "success" in the sense of having created a business that improves society, gives you personal fulfilment, or creates real employment opportunities for others), and then told the listener that the only way to achieve their "success" was to become a " Oh my goodness, an authority figure is insinuating that you must maintain your reliance on an authority figure in order to obtain what you desire. That does not sound like a cult to me at all.
I couldn't stand it any longer at that time. It was at this point that I expressed my concerns to Jack, namely that the tape provided no business advice at all, that he was only interested in the money and that a statistic I'd read the night before stated that 99 percent or more of all MLM distributors actually LOSE money. Jack was unconvinced, but I persisted. He was irritated by this, but to his credit, he did not accuse me of being a dream-stealer or a negative person (though I'm pretty sure he believes I am; I'm cynical and sceptical, and I'm wary of people who encourage me to be cheerful all of the time (which, given my melancholy, is not even feasible)). His response was that that 99 percent of individuals were simply not trying hard enough, and that HE would succeed where they had failed because he would not give up like THEY had.
Once again, cult alarm goes off. If someone tells you, "If you do X, you will receive outcomes Y," and you do X and do not get results Y, ordinarily that would indicate that there is a problem with the premise. However, in this case, the premise is correct. In cults, and particularly in cults of positivism, the reaction is always, "Well, you just weren't trying hard enough," or anything along those lines. When you are in a cult, it is always, always, ALWAYS "your fault" if you are dissatisfied with the results. This is because a cult exists to perpetuate itself, not to actually give you with assistance or answers.
He allowed me to convey my fears and then rejected them, albeit, oddly, he stated that his parents had expressed similar issues to mine. I returned home feeling a bit let down; honestly, I think it would be wonderful to create a cheese shop with Jack, but I am quite disgusted with his business ethics if he believes that Amway is a good thing. I went back to my apartment feeling a little let down. Jack, to his credit, did not attempt to bombard me with Ambot products or anything of the sort, but his Facebook stream became quite unpleasant for the next two months after that. The meme "Positivity!" was something he shared on a regular basis, and many of them were extremely judgmental (because being critical and actually bringing up problems in order to address them is something only "negative" and "unsuccessful people" do, and people who watch TV are "unsuccessful" while people who read are "successful". . .even if the TV watcher is enjoying documentaries and the reader is enjoying a shitty romance novel, we can TOTALLY make broad generalisations about "successful" and "unsuccessful" behaviors). And he'd tell stories about folks who'd been "on vacation" for three years or something equally ridiculous like that. There were a number of other posts as well, many of which expressed a great deal of contempt for those who have "regular jobs." Is it ever brought to the attention of Ambots that the workers who create their costly items have regular jobs? Understand that their "path to financial freedom" is only achievable because there are a large number of individuals prepared to labour in manufacturing occupations for 8 to 12 hours a day? That's all I'm saying about biting the hand that feeds you.
It's particularly hilarious because those factory workers—all of them—will be bringing home net profits from their employment, even if they're just earning the minimum wage in the first place. Amway representatives, perhaps? Less than one percent of them are truly engaged in productive activity.
In recent years, Jack and I haven't talked much since he's too busy living his life and I'm too busy living mine. However, I recently got married and my sister-in-law is also an Ambot— and my husband is beginning to feel the pull as well. Sigh. Again, the driving force behind their actions is much the same as it was for Jack: pure, unadulterated avarice. Money can make a lot of things easier, but it doesn't necessarily make people happy, and it's frustrating to see my sister waste so much money on something like this— especially since it's 2017 (**yes, this was written 4 years ago!!***) and it's really, really easy to start up a legitimate small business, often with very little to no startup costs. I launched a colouring book business as an extension of my sketching pastime, and aside from the hundred dollars it cost me to form an LLC, it has cost me nothing to run or maintain, and it has even brought in a few dollars on some of the months it has been open. Small businesses are not difficult to start these days, and with my sister-in-abilities, law's she could be doing a lot more than pretending to be a business owner while working as a sales representative for Amway.
To all of you who are considering joining Amway, please know that there are BETTER AND EASIER WAYS TO MAKE MONEY! You should choose a job that will make you happy at your job, rather than just satisfied with your money, whether you are beginning your own business or not. Take up a project that helps to make your piece of the globe a better place, something that you can stand behind and be proud of—even if others mock at you for having a "Job." You've only got one life and you should live it in a way that you're happy with; don't let Amway use greed to corrupt your dreams of being happy with dreams of being rich.
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