Customer Rating:      Summary: Yep, it's accurate. Comment: I noticed that a bunch of Amway-ers and MLMers jumped on board real quick-like to rate this book with one star. A friend of ours gave up everything he had, including his college education, family, and friends, to do Amway. Now this young man is disillusioned and penniless, and NOT because he didn't put in tremendous effort. Amway will say it is your own fault if you don't make it.
Their products aren't that whoopy either; just average. Give this book a read and make up your own mind... and by the way, not all of us "right wing Fundamental Christians" buy into this MLM garbage. Most of us most certainly do not.
Customer Rating:      Summary: excellent book Comment: Classic expose of an mlm business. Amway undoubted has some good things, and many "nice folks" do Amway. However, the business model is impossible. I read once that only one-third of one percent of all amway distributors make any real money.
The vast majority lose money. The same could be said for any other mlm. I realize that Amway defenders come out in droves to attack a book like this: so, to critics of this book, have YOU made more money than you've spent in Amway? Has anyone in your meeting, other than the bigshot who runs the meeting? Be honest...
Customer Rating:      Summary: It the truth Comment: I have not had a chance yet to read this book--I just came across it--but I can tell you, from what I have read so far, it is true. I joined Amway in college. I'm a natural salesperson, and it was easy for me to make money selling the products to a captive audience of desperate dormmates. I sold the products out of the the trunk of my car. It was easy and fun, and I was making about $100 a week on it. My upline was flipping out. I was an unrepenting atheist, a very liberal Democrat, a flagrant feminist, and I refused to recruit new sales people. I just wanted to make extra money while I was in school. The more money I made, the more upset they became. When I refused to buy their right-wing political and religious nonsense, they became incensed. Finally, I was told to either shape up or they would refuse to fill my orders. I quit. They flipped out again. I finally got away from them by going home between semesters. The wing-nuts finally gave up. Stay away from them. They are controlling cultists who can't take NO for answer.
Customer Rating:      Summary: To be honest, I haven't read this book, but... Comment: I signed up with (was exposed to) amway/quixtar around '94. I've never really pursued it, but have seen other people who have, including my current sponsor who is getting ready to retire and work full time in the business.
First off, on most every tape and seminar I've ever gone to/listened to, I was told time and time again to never lie about whether the business I was talking about was Amway/Quixtar. If someone asked what business you were promoting, you were to tell them. I still have a baseball cap that says Quixtar on it. Kinda goes against the don't tell people about Quixtar.
Second, the "don't say anything negative, hang around anyone negative" statement. Uh, duh. If you read almost ANY self help/self improvement book, they say you are who you hang around. If you want to be successful, then you need to hang around with successful people and avoid negative people. So in this respect, this is just good advice no matter what field you're in. I know if I hang around a friend who's depressed a lot, chances are, I'm going to start feeling depressed too. That's just common sense.
Third, statistics show that a vast majority of people are going to retire poor (this is a low ball figure, but it's over 65%). There's a rule called the 80/20 rule, where 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work, while the remaining 80 percent of the people do the remaining 20 percent of the work. Just from this, is it any wonder why there's a large percentage of people who never accomplish anything in Amway/Quixtar? Until you get past a certain level (I.E. around $5,000 worth of merchandise being moved a month), you are most certainly going to lose money. How is this any different than any other business? If you don't front quite a bit of money for any business venture, you're going to lose money hand over fist.
Forth, the seminars, tapes, books, meetings, etc. are NOT required!!! You might be pressured into going to them/purchasing them, but you don't have to buy them. They are a TOOL. Nothing more. They're designed to do one or more of the following: teach, motivate, or to allow you to see the mindset of the people who are successful in the business. It's called education. You want the info off the teaching tapes to help you build your business, just like McDonalds has Hamburger University. You need the motivational books/tapes to help you through your low spots. You want the books/tapes/seminars for the chance to be around successful people. It's called modeling in NLP.
The whole time I've been exposed to this business (over 10 years), I've met some dishonest people, some liars, etc. That's life and you'll find them in ANY endevor. The majority of people who I've dealt with, however, are moral, honest, and very ethical people. I've tried to develop other business ventures on my own, and I've seen how fast I can lose money if it didn't pan out. By and large, the books that are recommended thru Quixtar/Amway should (and probably are) on any successful person's bookshelf, and after 10+ years of exposure to this company and seeing how the company conducts itself, the way the people conduct themselves overall, the companies that want to associate with them, and a whole list of other things that I don't have room to list, I've decided to actually pursue developing a Quixtar based business. All Quixtar is is a supply company that has a graduated commission schedule that allows you to recruit people under you to help develop your sales force, and BWW is a training company. I've been exposed to quite a few other companies, and I see a lot of similarities with them. I could go on and on, but people with open minds will listen and ask questions of people who are successful in Quixtar, and people with closed minds already have their mind made up because they listened to people who probably didn't apply themselves to the business and want to whine that it doesn't work.
As a final note, keep in mind that Microsoft created something like 1,000 millionaires. Quixtar has created a little over 500 millionaires, and McDonalds has created quite a few also ( I can't find a statistic for it). How many other opportunities offer that? Heck, the one site I found talking about McDonalds states that 240 people sell back their rights to McDonalds because of financial hardship, and these are people that had at least 1 million dollars to start with in order to buy a McDonalds franchise,(you HAVE TO GO to Hamburger U. in order to buy a franchise). With Quixtar, you don't HAVE to buy books,tapes, etc., but they're there if you want them. Just from that, it's cheaper to get into Quixtar, and even tho it's probably harder to succeed in Quixtar, if you can make it past the 1 year mark and you continue to do what the books, tapes, seminars, and your upline teach, you're much more likely to succeed and retire.
Customer Rating:      Summary: EXCELLENT BOOK- A Little Long... Comment: After being involved in the company in various aspects(growing up around it,IBOs and employment), Steve, writes a fantastic book about the whole "business". Like an archer with amazing skill, he hits the bullseye. He does a through investigation of the "business", from the IBOs extra income (Tapes and tools) to the authoritarian control of the management of the company. All the things he states are true, backed up by facts and hard data. It is hardly a "negative" book for a real rational mind, if an IBO has resisted the brainwashing by their "upline". On first hand experience, after living under the banner or Alticor/Amway/Quixtar for over 30 years, I can agree with Steven and his book. My wish is that every new IBO should read this book first before attempting the "business". It is quite detailed which can be a drawback, but of the essence for skeptics of all types. When are you going to do a follow up book, Steven? Keep up the good work!(PS-The cover art is really dull.)
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