And the American Way!

My progress with The One Minute Millionaire is painfully slow. I’m not even talking about efforts towards being a millionaire, I just mean reading the book. While I do get the affirmations read every day, I often don’t get more than a page or two further with my reading. I’m hoping to meet with some of my friends to talk business this month, but I’ll admit, I’m a bit nervous about whether my presentation will be worth their time. Right now, I’m reading about how you need “Infinite Networks” on your side if you wanna make it. Basically, they mean “God.”

This post is going to be a bit more tangential. I may say a few things about the book, but my intent is to write about my past efforts at business. Specifically, I intend to write about Amway. Let’s dig in.

My first experiences with Amway were when my dad talked to me about it as a kid. Someone on the radio was advertising for them (I think it was Paul Harvey, but I don’t really remember), and dad told me how he had been in it some years before. He said he loved the idea of it, the whole idea that everyone involved was making money on it, but he told me it hadn’t worked for him because his downline (the folks who sign up under you and basically buy their products from your line of the organization) felt they had no need to work, they felt that just chilling like a villain would earn them millions.

Later on, when I was a young man in my 20s, I joined Amway, and while I did not become a great success, (I basically broke even) I would put it down as the second-best experience I have ever had attempting to get into or start a business, so my honest bias is pro-Amway.

Having said that…25 years later, I’ve been single for five years, and I’ve not even thought about maybe signing up for it again until now.

I want to keep this one short. My reason for this post is actually dual purposed, but I want to keep one of the blades close in. The art of war is the practice of deception. In no way do I mean to deceive my readers, but my purpose will be more powerful, and more entertaining, I think, if I don’t give it all away too soon. So I’m going to share two things instead of my usual three. One will be the positives about Amway. The other the negatives. And as always, I’m hoping my readers will be pleased with the journey.

Accentuate the Positive

https://www.amwayglobal.com/corporate-social-responsibility/

https://directsellingstar.com/mlm-millionaires/#:~:text=On%20the%20top%20of%20the%20list%20is%20the,started%20their%20career%20with%20Amway.%201.%20Kim%20Hui

https://optionstogrow.com/the-7-habits-of-highly-effective-people-how-it-has-transformed-my-life-and-why-it-can-change-yours/

While I never became a millionaire, Amway has helped quite a few people get there. They also give very generously to various charities, and the business had more of a positive impact on me than a negative one (though there was a negative impact as well…read on if interested).

The most positive influence it had on me was to introduce me to the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Of all the self-help books out there, this was the one that taught me the most. Unfortunately, a lot of corporations have stolen some buzz words from it, and there are too many (I was once one of these people) who see a mission statement as the bedrock of an organization, when most corporations see them as nothing, but empty PR intended to confuse the masses. But little of that is Covey’s fault. I still believe that after certain holy texts and the works of C S Lewis, this is likely the best thing you can read. IMHO his other books fall far short of the high standard of this one, but I think once he became a billionaire himself, something happened. He tried to get it back in his book about the eighth habit, but still there seemed to be something missing. But a great deal of what little success I’ve had come from my efforts to inculcate these habits.

Behold My Works and Despair!

No, it is not my intent to totally trash Amway, or to persuade you not to join it (or to join, for that matter). But ending with the negatives will serve my clandestine supervillain purposes. Here are the websites I will derive my sources from.

https://wealthybydefault.com/is-amway-a-scam

wealthybydefault.com has this to say: “An MLM business is similar to that of a pyramid structure.” MLM stands for “multi-level marketing.”

This is the thing that scares a lot of people about Amway. And more or less legitimately the pro Amway crowd will tell you the difference between Amway and something like Burney Madoff is this: “One thing that is a distinguisher between Amway and other MLM companies is the fact that their products are of the highest quality. When a product is good, more people will be willing to purchase them, even with a higher price tag.

“Another big difference is the sense of stability that comes with Amway. You see, a big percentage of MLM companies last for a short period of time, up to a few years. When they crumble and fail, a lot of people end up losing their money just because the company failed.

“No one has to worry about that happening any time soon with Amway. They have been around for more than 60 years now, and are making $8-$9 billion a year in sales. Some things need to be considered here for the sake of clarity.”

So then, what is the negative? “1. The Products Are Expensive. The products inside Amway are a bit more expensive compared to other similar products. This is something that most MLM’s have in common, however even if the quality is high, it can be difficult to convince people to pay more for something.

“2. It Can Be Hard To Succeed. Using this particular MLM business model, it can be really difficult to start earning money if you don’t know what you’re doing. Amway is definitely NOT recommended for beginners.

“The competition inside can be really tough, as there will people who have been doing this for years. I’m not saying that it’s impossible to achieve success, however, it will help by a lot if you are good at online marketing.

“3. Recruiters Can Exaggerate A Lot. It’s what they do, that’s how they make money. By recruiting others and getting them to join. This means that some people will try to do whatever it takes to get you to become a member under them.

“If the person doesn’t know better, they can be easily fooled by false promises of wealth and riches overnight. This can lead to bad user experience, which is a big part of why some people dislike Amway and other MLM’s.”

In the end, I think whether you join it or not, you can be a successful person. And I believe your success in the organization would essentially be for very similar reasons to why you might succeed outside of the organization. Like The One Minute Millionaire has been telling me in the last few pages, you have to leverage your mentor, your team, your network. And whatever beliefs you have about God, your efforts will have to line up with the natural laws our reality works under. I enjoy reading fantasy, but if I decide I’m going to jump off a cliff, it’s my own fool fault when I crash and break my skull on the bottom. The Law of Gravity didn’t kill me, my own stupidity did.

There is more to come, and no, likely the next post is not going to be my announcement that I joined Amway, and I’d love to invite you and two of your best friends to a party at my house…etc etc. If I do decide to join Amway, I will do that in different venue. Maybe keep your eyes out for something like: Amwayilluminatischeme.com. I don’t know…name needs work.

I wonder if I could end this with a Marvel movie after credits thing…?