People who have taken small company ownership/entrepreneur classes have learned that one of the most important things they can do is to develop a business strategy. Our business plan should be reviewed at least once every six months or once a year, and any modifications to our services, products, goals, or other objectives should be implemented as soon as they are discovered.
All the Amway business meetings we attended, all the real business advise that was never given (we were foolish to think that we would receive decent business counsel at a “business meeting”), it was all worth it. A business plan was never mentioned once by any of the speakers who were Platinum, Emerald, or Diamond level in my experience. It was never considered whether or if it was a good idea to "double your upline."
Yeah, it doesn't really cut it in the real world of business, does it? For a loan application, you will need to bring your business plan and financial statements with you, not your upline Eagle, who had to take time off from his ditch digging job and is still wearing his grubbies to accompany you to the bank and share this exciting opportunity in which money will be coming in faster than you can count it. It's not necessary to have a business strategy when you're accompanied by a knowledgeable Amway representative.
Due to the fact that Ambot never developed a business plan for Amway, there was no strategy for success.
Our actual business plan for our actual business was 50 pages in length, but other business plans could be significantly longer depending on the intricacy of the business and the products or services offered.
Business plans - your business blueprint - your strategy for success - often follow a similar structure to one another:
This section includes the name of your company, its address, and its owners, as well as an explanation of what the company performs, who its customers may be, and its expenses. All of them will be discussed in greater depth later in the business plan.
Firm philosophy consists of the following elements: a description of the industry, a description of the business, a vision statement, a mission statement, and business objectives.
Management of the operations plan includes the following elements: business structure; human resource structure; production methods; service delivery; strategic alliances; risk assessment; licencing; insurance; and regulatory compliance
Marketing plan consists of the following components: product or service description, industry analysis, competition analysis, target market description, market strategies, and selling methods
Financial Plan - cash flow projections, income statement projections, balance sheet projections, and personal financial information
Appendices include documents such as an action plan, a CV, a business description, and so on.
None of the information listed above was ever imparted during any Amway "business meeting."
I ran a Google search for a business plan for a multi-level marketing company that sold soap and came up with some results. I was even intrigued enough to take a closer look at one. Although the company had a distinct business name, it is possible that it was a fictitious name for Amway.
Business plans are created by serious business owners. Even though I heard a lot of hype about Amway IBOs being "serious business builders," I never heard of anyone in our LOS who had actually put together a business plan. Not that it is difficult for a genuine Amway business builder to develop a business plan, but I have my doubts about whether or not it will be successful, especially if it is filled with Amway jargon obtained via their upline, cassettes, and CD's rather than legitimate business facts. Consider the task of filling out the competition analysis section of your company plan. The IBO uses this section to compare the costs of similar products that have already been established in the marketplace. The best they can do is point out that similar products are available for less money at places like Costco and Wal-Mart. “Oh, but our items are of significantly superior quality, and this gives them a competitive advantage in the marketplace.” Speculative, disputed, and ambiguous in nature. And the bank loan officer couldn't give a rat's behind about it.
If you want to be taken seriously as a business owner, choose a respectable enterprise, develop a business plan, present it to others, and solicit feedback on the likelihood of success in this endeavour. The Amway business plan was never shown to anyone - friends, family, other business owners, and financiers - in order to obtain objective third-party opinions before laying down $150 for the Amway registration and startup kit, which was a mistake. His experience, in my opinion, is comparable to that of the majority of Amway Independent Business Owners.
I'm curious what they have to say about the importance of having a company strategy. If you don't plan ahead of time, you're planning to fail.
In the same manner, if you get engaged with Amway, no matter how well you prepare, you will ultimately fail.
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