I have been thinking what I would have done differently, had I known all the things I experienced with my upline, before I joined the business. Hindsight is always perfect and if you are an active, excited Amway IBO like how I was, then you can learn from my experience. You may not fall into the same traps and flawed thinking like I did, but overall, you may find some of these tips useful. You can think of me as your anonymous upline, if that may help :-).
See if your upline is really concerned about your overall success in life or only for success in your Amway business.
For example, is your upline giving you right advice about job? Does he/she feel good when you succeed in other arenas of life or do they feel threatened? If you get a job promotion and a salary hike, do they feel threatened that you may not be motivated to build your business anymore? If you change to a better job, do they feel threatened? If they do, then you need to be careful about taking their advice on such matters.
If you are in a software engineering profession like me, then are you keeping up with what the industry needs and increasing your skill set? Or are you super-confident that you will go diamond in the next 5 years and do not care about updating your skills? I had to put in almost a year after I quit Amway to upgrade my skill set and get new job offers. It was tough, because for 6 years I was under the false confidence that I would go diamond in 5 years and did not care to upgrade my skills! Yes, it was my mistake, not my upline’s. Don’t make that mistake - Do not be over confident until you are making more than $100,000/yr in profits through your Amway business and have very solid groups. Even then there is a chance that it may not last, but at least until then, don’t think you can goof up at your job.
I had an upline who told in his BBS (maybe it is on his rally CD too) that he worked only for 3 hours in a month (not in a week or a day; yes, a month) in his consulting job and make a six-figure income. This was good to hear. Who wouldn’t want that kind of a job? But can you do it and do you want to do it?
Does your upline care about how much savings and investments you have? Do they feel threatened if you buy a home or have outside interests in investment opportunities? Do they feel threatened if you are good at day trading?
If you are a student, is your upline encouraging you to finish your degree or asking you to quit it? This could be one big deciding factor about whether they really care about you and your future. Think about this - if you were their own son or daughter, would they ask you to quit college? Will they ask you to take up a mediocre job so that you can “focus” on your Amway business more? I remember one diamond, Vinnie Pappalardo (BWW), whose daughter wanted to quit college and he was OK with that. Maybe she is successful at Amway and is making enough money. Good for her! But is that right for you? Why can’t you succeed at both college and Amway? They are not mutually exclusive.
Is your upline using your job/educational qualifications as a promotional tool? It will feel so good to you when your upline talks about you, telling what a great person you are, especially in front of your downline and crosslines. The message for other people is that if such a great person needs this business, then the others (who are not as good as you) definitely need it. You get a false feeling of pride, but don’t let that flatter you too much. Your past success is just one more promotional tool for your upline!
What about your health? Does your upline encourage you to work out at least 30 minutes a day? Or are they telling nutrilite will take care of you?
If Amway really makes your overall life better, then they cannot just give lip service. Majority of the IBOs need to succeed in all areas of life. So far, I have only seen people goofing up with several areas of life, thinking they will succeed in Amway, only to realize several years down the road that the profits are not enough and they have also missed out on life... some like me have a very tough time to quit, because we are over confident. But the numbers don’t lie - I mean the numbers that show how much you got in your bank account. You need to be honest with yourself and bite your ego to quit, if you are not happy looking at how much you got.
Ultimately, you are responsible for your own life, so be wise and do not fool around in other areas of life until you are making substantial income through your Amway business.
Very thoughtful, and I 100% agree.
ReplyDeleteWho ever wrote this blog, to point out the Vinny Parpolardo part. I have to say in fact, he loves his daughter, God, his team and his family very much. IDK how you make a blog about your experience if you are not successful in Amway. If it is anything i learned, if in anything you do, it doesn't make sense to listen to people that is not successful in certain areas of their life. Im not saying you're not successful financially, but you do not make any sense. Always realize that every decision that you make in your life determines your future. Any time you work for someone else ALWAYS remember you are making someone else rich. Now you might say, well your making your upline rich, yea, but i have the same opportunity as my upline to pass my upline in income if thats what people is most concerned about. If you want to finish college finish college, if you want to get a great job in your field, go ahead and do that, do what whatever makes you happy. But what people fail to understand and comprehended is that YOU have to live your life no body else and for that reason, if you don't do something different financially you will always be making someone else rich while you struggle. You need to understand, you get what you get. Any successful business did not happen over night, so get real with yourself every time you go to work and you put money in your boss's pockets for generations to come while you sit and criticize everything that comes your way instead of working hard and understanding their is nothing free in life, you got to work for it. So to talk about vinny and his daughter if she wanted to leave college he supports her, because you could pay what ever you want to get educated on, but she choose to get educated with this. Why because in this life that we live, no matter what you learn in college you will never be satisfied with either the income or the time you may or may not have. Get serious about YOUR life instead of reading from non successful people. You want to be successful, start hanging around successful people. You want to lose weight, get a trainer, you want a degree learn from a professor. Don't do what society wants you do so, do what will benefit most in your life so you can live abundantly on this earth. Always remember why could that person have that and not you. Vinny worked hard for everything he got, lost it, and earned all again with grace of God, so once you understand that little piece; reading things off the internet is not helping you, but pushing you away from anything great things in your life, because nowadays people like to research and live of people's experiences, always want to look up something. People should try to go back to the 1900s when their was no computers. Stop thinking the internet is always real stuff, that why people get cat-fished. Go out there and experience things for yourself. God Bless Everyone!
DeleteWho ever wrote this blog, to point out the Vinny Parpolardo part. I have to say in fact, he loves his daughter, God, his team and his family very much. IDK how you make a blog about your experience if you are not successful in Amway. If it is anything i learned, if in anything you do, it doesn't make sense to listen to people that is not successful in certain areas of their life. Im not saying you're not successful financially, but you do not make any sense. Always realize that every decision that you make in your life determines your future. Any time you work for someone else ALWAYS remember you are making someone else rich. Now you might say, well your making your upline rich, yea, but i have the same opportunity as my upline to pass my upline in income if thats what people is most concerned about. If you want to finish college finish college, if you want to get a great job in your field, go ahead and do that, do what whatever makes you happy. But what people fail to understand and comprehended is that YOU have to live your life no body else and for that reason, if you don't do something different financially you will always be making someone else rich while you struggle. You need to understand, you get what you get. Any successful business did not happen over night, so get real with yourself every time you go to work and you put money in your boss's pockets for generations to come while you sit and criticize everything that comes your way instead of working hard and understanding their is nothing free in life, you got to work for it. So to talk about vinny and his daughter if she wanted to leave college he supports her, because you could pay what ever you want to get educated on, but she choose to get educated with this. Why because in this life that we live, no matter what you learn in college you will never be satisfied with either the income or the time you may or may not have. Get serious about YOUR life instead of reading from non successful people. You want to be successful, start hanging around successful people. You want to lose weight, get a trainer, you want a degree learn from a professor. Don't do what society wants you do so, do what will benefit most in your life so you can live abundantly on this earth. Always remember why could that person have that and not you. Vinny worked hard for everything he got, lost it, and earned all again with grace of God, so once you understand that little piece; reading things off the internet is not helping you, but pushing you away from anything great things in your life, because nowadays people like to research and live of people's experiences, always want to look up something. People should try to go back to the 1900s when their was no computers. Stop thinking the internet is always real stuff, that why people get cat-fished. Go out there and experience things for yourself. God Bless Everyone!
DeleteI really liked yor message and learned from it. I also want to dominate in Amway ihave been in it for a month and is going good so far
ReplyDeleteDude are u serious ?
DeleteI also have the same experience. when i joined college, my upline discourage me to do that and as the same time told me to focus into the business which will give me more benefit and there is no use of taking a degree. From right then, i stop contact with my upline.
ReplyDeleteDude,what are you living your life for? A degree or making your self successful? A degree might only give you a job(that is also doubtful these days). Your upline will guide you till the end of your life. And if your upline didnt do that you should have checked with the growing upline who has a bigger cause for you. atleast before quitting.
DeleteYou must have bad uplines. My uplines, all they way up to my upline emerald, are telling me to finish school and to get a job for this summer.
ReplyDeleteI would like to add one more thing...'Social Interactions'. My Upline, Infact many uplines telling to "Pause" Regualr Social events for the Sake of Amway meetings. Thier advice is that "True" relations can be restored even after long pause.
ReplyDeleteOne of my upline asked me to give some false reasons to my friends to avoid a weekend gathering.
Vinny's daughter that "quit" college is a diamond now making over $300,000 a year. I guess supporting your child's dreams I frowned about on this blog?
ReplyDeletecan i have Vinny's daughter's number???
DeleteMy niece just married Vinnie's son, Tony. Tony seems a pretty nice guy. From what little I know of him so far I do like him. However I do wonder why Tony did seem to make a big point (when introducing how to get started in Amway to my wife) of why spend your time going to college when you could be selling Amway. Making money isn't the only point of going to college. College also has to do with choosing career paths and what you want to do in life.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
DeleteI am 100% certain that you misunderstood his point and would be curious to hear further context. He's your new nephew... why don't you ask for some clarity and then let us know?
My experience with the program these guys have designed has been incredibly different than what's described above.
First, I was in college when I started into the mentorship program. They never once advised me to quit. In fact, I was in another state at school and they traveled there several times to support me... not once charging me for their investment.
I know the ONE point your nephew and many of the leaders have touched on is the amount of college debt students are graduating with. (This you can read about in Bloomsburg, Newsweek, Forbes, etc.... He is not the only thought leader that feels this way) It's near criminal what these universities are charging these days and it is a BIG problem. Here's MY opinion: Don't go to school if you can't afford it and certainly don't select a major that doesn't guarantee you a base salary higher than the debt you are certain to accrue.
In continuing with the program, the first thing they taught me was how to budget and install proper financial behavior. They helped me change my spending habits and climb out of debt. I paid off over 30k with their guidance and have generated a side income of 50k+ as well.
I have not quit my job and have not been advised to until I have fully replaced my income, banked extra, and have built a secure business.
These guys want the best for their people. Period.
Check back with your nephew and let us know!
I really enjoyed your comment and also agree. My upline is very caring and wants me to attend every seminar of which I can't afford right now. I just got back from a convention and with ticket, plus bus fare, and hotel. it was expensive for me. especially because I currently have a part time job. Its only been less three weeks and now she wants me to go to a seminar. Oh and I just bought a $300K kit of products also. I my upline is very persistent on me going to all these events oh plus I am paying for my cd's and books. I understand that she wants me to stay tuned. But I really feel with all the going out of my pocket money I fee that I can't sleep and it's really worrying me. I am beginning to stress out a lot. I really need to stay focused. But my upline is very pushy.
ReplyDeleteMy upline is the same way. I just repeat to myself ... You gotta spend money to make money but seriously Amway is like trying to win the lotto. You'll spend a billion before you win that million. Definitely not a business opportunity for those who aren't wealthy.
DeleteActually, I've heard otherwise. I haven't gotten into the plan yet (Just went to Dream Night in Portland, OR) as I've had only two meetings with my Upline-to-be so far (introducing me to the program right now).
DeleteI met a guy who had been doing it for about three years (if I remember right), and he told me he's making five figures a month. After he excused himself, my Upline-to-be informed me he started this homeless, and was homeless for nearly a year while starting this, without telling anyone. This guy is my age as well.
And that's all I'm hearing - these stories of everyone who started off worse off than I am now, striving for and achieving success.
Business opportunities for broke people really don't exist... even for Amway, which is much cheaper to run than a conventional business, you have to fork out some bucks to get it started.
DeleteI was abused and then threatened by previous upline when I quited Amway. WTF! They cheated me, and I spent a lot of money. I did not receive all of my money back, but that's ok, I paid for the lesson. DO NOT trust strangers. But why they called me and abused then threatened me for asking refund? I recorded the phone talk too late since I got so mad. Are there anywhere can protect my right and safety?
ReplyDeleteVinny went to college so he knows about the pro's and cons. He also know his daughter a whole lot better than any of you.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely Great Point
Deletewell, to be honest with you. You should not quit your job if you haven't succeed in Amway. You should treat it as part time/ side income only until the day u can earn more in Amway than your permanent job.
ReplyDeleteThats my 2 cents. :)
Correct.. treat your job as your job.. doing the best for the company you work for... and treat your business as your business..doing due diligence. Keeping Core.. and building on the side.. its a part time business that can earn you a full time income.. but it takes time..and work..no get rich quick scheme here!
DeleteI am new with Amway and a full time student. I've been highly encouraged to finish my schooling and I have been told numerous times to go at my own pace. My up line has been nothing but encouraging and have made it completely clear to me to keep this fun and learn all that I can.
ReplyDeleteYou need to find a honest and better upline. My uplines never push me rather they know everyone is motivated differently and income is different. They provide us with all the cd's and books. Find times that fits our schedule along with ask us qustions how they can help us. My upline strickly says this is only a plan b and never quit my full time until it can fully replace what we all call a job.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this!
DeleteDon't follow uplines who tell you to quit what you are doing to do the Amway business, do it if you wanted to start now, finish what you are doing now then only do the Amway business. The Amway business is truly a great opportunity to change your life & lifestyle
ReplyDeleteI feel that the process works. However, I believe that some people take it too serious. Having many meetings on Sundays at 5:45pm and ending at 9, is not being consider to other people. Too many meeting. I was told that it would be 5 to 10 hours a day. Nevertheless, I found myself spending more than 10 hours just in meetings and talking to people. Also, you could lose friendship if one is too serious about it.
ReplyDeleteI have read every single comment on this thread and I must give my input. I am an IBO for 1 year now and I am plugged into the Worldwide Group system which is phenomenal and it is my fuel to this IBO engine. Many of us yearn for success in this business but the question we need to ask is not "what do I need to do to succeed in this business" but it is moreso "Who do I need to become" Worldwide teaches this business as a way of impacting people's lives and this business does. I am from Jamaica which is a third world country and there are many successors here even from persons who cannot read and write. This business works if you want it to work. Are you consistent in building yourself by reading success books, listening to inspirational audios, Personal Use, retailing and sharing the opportunity? It is not automatic success and we need to be doing it on purpose. I have not hit the mark where I want to be in my business but i can tell you it is because I have not done enough. This model works and I personally know people from my past whom it has worked wonders for achieving Platinumship, Rubyship and Emeralds too. Don't sit around waiting for success you did not work hard for. No true success comes easy. You must understand that before you will ever move forward.
ReplyDeleteThe reality is that you either have what it takes to be an entrepreneur in any arena or you don't. That includes the willingness to find great mentors and being teachable if you don't have the information or mindset to succeed. I am from a family of three generations of business owners who have built and sold 5 fortune 500 companies. I was drawn to the WWDB mentorship organization in Amway because the mentorship and ethics are excellent. I am a business consultant who bills at $350 an hour and have had a very successful career. I LOVE the opportunity to teach people at various levels how to be be successful and to understand the benefits of business ownership. Not everyone has access to startup funds or the savvy to build something from a blank slate. This is a wonderful way to have the benefits of owning a business and create ongoing revenue streams. I have 25 years of success stories. The attitude and belief systems of the writer of this post most likely provides justification for many areas of accepting mediocrity in life.
ReplyDeleteI know that this is old... But everything rises and falls with the leadership. My upline is one of the best. Are they perfect? No, they aren't. But the do their best! I am truly sorry that you have had that type of experience in Amway. But don't let that stop you from achieving your dreams. If you still want to continue working with software, then do it. I am surprise that you didn't learn about balance. Continue to balance your life! Do what makes you happy.
ReplyDelete