The following is a comment on the Quixtar – Dateline NBC Post (It is lengthy but offers some interesting perspective):
This was a very interesting story! I started my network marketing career with Amway in 1972 when I was 21 years old. I loved the business and everything that went with it: books, tapes, rallies, seminars and other major functions. I even wrote a song called, "Fly with the eagles or scratch with the chickens" and we use to sing it at rallies and seminars.
Amway was a personal growth program for me, as I believe it is and was for most people who are or were involved with it. However, I realized at one point that Dexter Yeager and Bill Britt had a huge business in support materials and function promotion. Cassette tapes were just coming out back then. We use to have reel to reel tape recorders that we would take to functions to tape them. They sold cassette tapes for $3 apiece back then when they finally came out. Years later they sold videos for $20 each and tapes for about double what they did in the beginning. I know people here in Nashville who pay $6 for one CD.
Any leader or company which makes a living off the backs of their organizations through over priced tools and functions is not worthy of those organizations! People need to be trained and mentored for sure but not by being raped financially with over priced tools!
Most people are unaware that Amway distributors are brain washed with traditional brain washing techniques. That’s how these big hitters keep the same broke people in the loop year after year even though they haven’t made a dime, but rather have lost money! Because of the programming they receive, any distributor who has been in "The Business" for any length of time will not even make a decision about buying a car without first checking with "The Upline" first. It seems as though people relinquish or even lose their ability to reason for themselves.
I have fond memories of my time in Amway. Every network marketer in the world owes a debt of gratitude to Rich DeVos and Jay VanAndel, the founders of Amway. If they hadn’t won the case against the FTC back in 1975 we would even be taking about this today! Unfortunately, in my opinion, Rich and Jay lost control of the company when Dexter Yeager changed the way Amway did business and showed the marketing plan with $100 circles. He changed Amway from a retailing company to a wholesale distributing company that started to look like a pyramid operation and that’s what got them into trouble with the FTC to start with.
I have gained much from my training years ago, but I cringe at the thought of so many people being fed a bunch of hype and lies. These people bring their hopes and dreams to the table and pour out their lives in the pursuit of them based upon the untruths they have been fed. I know for a fact that the only people in Amway (I refuse to call it Quixtar-absolutely nothing is different about that business except the name) who are making any money are the people who get to sell the tools that distributors MUST buy if they don’t want to be totally shunned by their uplines. The Dateline piece quoted Amway and people like Bill Britt as saying that the tool purchasing was not a requirement. Ask anyone in that business if they will get any support at all if they refuse to "get with the program" and get the tools. The answer will be that they will be totally shunned and will be out in the cold as far as getting any help is concerned.
Network marketing is a power business model that can change a person’s life. However, many years of failure and frustration is what many people experience before they ever get properly trained and find the right company to work with. The world is full of warriors who refuse to give-up! They continue to dream and believe and get kicked in the head time and time again but they refuse to give up! If you are one of the warriors that I just described and you have yet to find a home or if you take issue with what I’ve said here or would like to discuss "old times" feel free to give me a call. I live in the central time zone. Thanks for taking the time to read this!
To Your Unlimited Success!
Dave Thompson
(phone number removed – ed.)
Russ,
I can tell you for a fact that the Duncans make "a lot" of money from the system. That is straight from Brad Duncan's mouth.
Hi,
Like Dave, I had been involved with Amway/Quixtar for several years until I recently gave up my independent business owner (IBO) status and downgraded to a member.
I guess Dave's right about the process of brainwashing – at least to an extent. What do I mean?
Well, true brainwashing is more like the attempt by authorities to "de-criminalize" Malcolm McDowell's character in the famous movie, "A Clockwork Orange".
But that sort of thing doesn't happen in Amway/Quixtar or MLM in general (obviously).
What does happen, in my experience, is the continuous exposure to information and instruction with the intention of changing the way we think. Repetition increases retention.
And that sort of approach is ubiquitous in our society – beginning at home (parents AND television) and continuing for at least 12 years in school.
Though I don't feel Amway/Quixtar was a good fit for me – prospecting, doing meetings, etc. – I do feel that being exposed to their "brainwashing" over the last six years has been of enormous benefit to me.
There's a saying I learned some years ago -"The solution to pollution is dilution". We are constantly exposed to information pollution – everything from billboards to emails – every single day of our lives (unless we live in a cave).
So, I appreciate the entrepreneurial mindset I developed over time by being exposed to the "big pins" in Amway/Quixtar.
And I appreciate the tax deductions I was able to take each year to almost completely reimburse me for all the tapes, books and functions I invested in.
I can honestly say I am better positioned for future success because of the diluting effect the teachings I received had on my previously hard-wired scarcity mentality.
And as for the Diamonds and above making a killing on the tapes and functions, I honestly don't know. I do know that I've heard Bill Britt, Ron Puryear and the Duncan boys emphasize on numerous occasions from stage, that they don't make any (significant) money from those things.
My two cents,
Russ Guthrie