vajerzy Posted October 24, 2003 Report Share Posted October 24, 2003 Someone wanted me to come to a "meeting" and learn to be my own boss.......I declined knowing what I know.......I'll be polite. Anyone try this? Anyone sell Amway? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted October 24, 2003 Report Share Posted October 24, 2003 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted October 24, 2003 Report Share Posted October 24, 2003 Amway is not a Pyramid Scheme! Just ask them! Uh..it's more of a triangle thingie with...well.... vazerzy, embarassingly enough, my father fell into that shit for a while. (Hey, no one's perfect, and Dad has a weakness for "schemes", unfortunately.) If you want to "learn to be your own boss", start a legitimate business. I won't deny that it is possible to make money in Amway, but it takes something I don't have. Lack of conscience perhaps. No matter what they claim, it most definitely is a pyramid scheme, and your success depends on how many chumps you can find, how many chumps your chumps can find, etc. Selling the product is a mere afterthought. This is just a guess, but I'd figure that 98% of the product they move is sold only to the chumps who are "becoming their own boss". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vajerzy Posted October 24, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2003 Those are my thoughts (actually worse) but I didn't want to offend anyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AfricaBrass Posted October 24, 2003 Report Share Posted October 24, 2003 My dad did it for awhile when I was a kid. I don't think he ever made any money doing it, but I do remember that it seemed like everything in our house was made by Amway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted October 24, 2003 Report Share Posted October 24, 2003 Yeah, I was once working on a novel that included a religious sect sortof used Amway as a model (from personal experience of working with someone deep into the scam). . . I called it "The Church of the American Dream" (CAD). Those CADs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vajerzy Posted October 24, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2003 I used to have a neighbor (we moved) who did this exclusively. He would go to places such as Lowes, Target, grocery stores and "troll" for potentials. He was an outgoing person and can overwhelm you if you let him. Some years ago he tried to get me to a meeting- I said I wasn't interested in Scamway, uh, I mean Amway....he got the hint and left me alone. He had meetings periodically at his house and it was interesting to see the type of people who arrived. About 6 years ago, there was an East Coast meeting for Amway associates here in Richmond- about 12,000 people....I never saw so many ugly suits in my life! Great time to people watch...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted October 24, 2003 Report Share Posted October 24, 2003 Those are my thoughts (actually worse) but I didn't want to offend anyone. Believe me, my thoughts are worse on this subject as well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonym Posted October 24, 2003 Report Share Posted October 24, 2003 About 10 years ago I had placed ads in local stores and Post Offices trying to get a bit of business in for something I was dabbling in at the time. A few weeks into this 'scheme' I had gotten a few jobs, but then this one guy rang and said how impressed he'd been with the adverts and he could really use someone 'like me'. He then went on to tell me about a seminar he was giving at a nearby hotel. It was to be held in the Scandinavian Suite. I almost went. I knew it was one of these scams but the thought of lounging 'round on chic white sofas being served vodka and rollmops by fair, blonde maidens sounded great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted October 25, 2003 Report Share Posted October 25, 2003 Oops! Tony, your post reminds me...I forgot that so many Brits were on board here. I assume (or hope) you all know that the word "scheme" is meant in a negative way over here! Hence my use of it in this thread... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted October 25, 2003 Report Share Posted October 25, 2003 I live about 45 miles from the home of Amway! Grand fucking Rapids, MI. Everything in the town is named after the 2 founders and the state republican party is/or has been run by one of the wives. These creeps are amazing, and the kids keep it going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
connoisseur series500 Posted October 25, 2003 Report Share Posted October 25, 2003 (edited) Don't laugh but Amway type sales will probably take off now that the new telemarketing laws will destroy a lot of legitimate businesses which had to employ some form of telemarketing. I am going to lose my job as well as a sales agent for a large insurance company, and will have to leave around 400 clients "stranded." One retired gentleman said to me this past week, "What will I do when you leave? You've always watched over my retirement account, and I don't understand that stuff?" I've been in it for almost 8 years; imagine those who just started! The only ones who will survive are those in the business for 25+ years. I predict that other businesses will get hurt as well. Unless you've got a storefront or some kind of business which favors some kind of passive advertising, then it's curtains baby! But getting back to my point...with telemarketing banned and spam to follow, and with door-to-door sales frowned upon, the only other way to market is through the kind of "networking" that Amway endorses. I've never been involved with Amway though I was invited to attend meetings. I suppose many legitimate businesses will now follow the Amway style of prospecting, i.e. networking through friends, neighbors, acquaintances, etc. Yuck! I never prospected amonst friends or family or neighbors. I was always under the impression that if you try to sell to friends then eventually you won't have any. For God's sake, I had to keep my professional life separate from my private life. My life was NOT my job; and I'll be damned if I ever make it so. Edited October 25, 2003 by connoisseur series500 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonym Posted October 25, 2003 Report Share Posted October 25, 2003 No worries Jazzmoose, I am pretty au fait with the term 'scheme' having grown up under Thatcher's government and 'New Labour'! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted October 25, 2003 Report Share Posted October 25, 2003 I've always seen it as sort of a cult or pyramid sceme too. Some of my wife's relatives are into it (or used to be), but naturally, when I met them I kept my opinions of Amway to myself. My sife shares these opinions, but tends to look on the relatives who do it as sort of a harmess eccentricity. BUT... Before we were married, a former roommate of my wife's started to get sucked into the Amway treadmill, and he invited us to a small meeting to be held in his living room. My wife thought we should go just to be nice, but I felt reeeally uncomfortable about it. Finally, I went against my better judgement. Things went OK for a while, then all of a sudden I felt like all the oxygen was being sucked out of the room and I had to get out of there. I made some lame excuse and beat it. I thought my (future) wife would be mad, but she told me later that she was surprised I lasted THAT long. Amway.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christiern Posted October 26, 2003 Report Share Posted October 26, 2003 There was an Amway couple in my building--they had that cult look in their eyes whenever they spoke of Amway, which they almost always did. And [everything was just wonderful! Terrible tragedies somehow became happy events--it was so sick. They also are extremely pushy and their merchandise is over-priced (they'll tell you it heavily concentrated). Pushy, because the carrot is a trip to Amway's dream island, or some such thing, and a promotion to grand exalted what-have-you (or something like that). I finally had to ask them to stop ringing my doorbell. I think Shaklee is a similar gimmick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
connoisseur series500 Posted October 26, 2003 Report Share Posted October 26, 2003 There was an Amway couple in my building--they had that cult look in their eyes whenever they spoke of Amway, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Skid Posted October 27, 2003 Report Share Posted October 27, 2003 I live about 45 miles from the home of Amway! Grand fucking Rapids, MI. "Grand Fucking Rapids, MI"!! Like Chuck, I live *way* too close to the area that started all of this nonsense. I've been invited to a couple of meetings as well, usually held at the local country club (I suppose to give it an air of "success"); the purpose of the meeting is usually very vague, something like "Join us, unless you DON'T want to be successful!!". I've noticed that the word AMWAY is seldom ever directly mentioned -- in fact, I was invited to a QUIXTAR meeting a few years back, and when I asked it this had anything to do with Amway, I was told "Oh, no -- this is not Amway at all! It's an exciting new way to earn money using the power of the internet!!". Well, Quixtar is owned/run by one of the Amway founder's kids, and I believe it is actually a division of Amway (Alticor). Needless to say, the people that invited me don't seem to have retired on their Quixtar earnings yet. This site makes for entertaining reading: MLM Survivor By the way, it's NOT a pyramid scheme, it's MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AfricaBrass Posted October 27, 2003 Report Share Posted October 27, 2003 I've noticed that the word AMWAY is seldom ever directly mentioned -- in fact, I was invited to a QUIXTAR meeting a few years back, and when I asked it this had anything to do with Amway, I was told "Oh, no -- this is not Amway at all! It's an exciting new way to earn money using the power of the internet!!". Well, Quixtar is owned/run by one of the Amway founder's kids, and I believe it is actually a division of Amway (Alticor). Needless to say, the people that invited me don't seem to have retired on their Quixtar earnings yet. I went to one of those meetings a few years ago too. Normally, I'd have avoided it with a 10 foot pole, but the friend who invited us was one that we really held in high esteem. I did the same thing that you did, Uncle Skid. Upon arriving, I started asking, "Is this Amway?" I kept getting told "No" - It was only later after having endured a couple hours of PowerPoint presentations that the dreaded "A" word was mentioned. Our friend seems more poor than ever, I guess QUIXTAR, the internet shopping mall didn't work out for him. I did notice that he sure has a lot of Amway product around the house (reminds me of my childhood). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Skid Posted October 27, 2003 Report Share Posted October 27, 2003 I went to one of those meetings a few years ago too. Normally, I'd have avoided it with a 10 foot pole, but the friend who invited us was one that we really held in high esteem. That's a great story, AB. I just think it's hilarious how "the A word" is avoided as much as possible. I was also avoiding it as best I could -- and it sounds like it was much easier for me to say no to the invite. The gentleman (?) that invited me was, well, let's just say he was not well known for his high ethical standards in business. Plus, he knew that I "did something with computers" for a living, so it *must* be obvious to me that Quixtar would be a great opportunity. I also recall that he dropped a few big names as well, something about how how "Bill Gates" and Microsoft/IBM were "major investors" -- all of which was not true. I hate power point presentations on just about any subject -- I'm sure hours of Amway slides was quite painful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted October 27, 2003 Report Share Posted October 27, 2003 I live about 45 miles from the home of Amway! Grand fucking Rapids, MI. I had no idea Grand Rapids was the birthplace of Amway. That explains and awful lot. Speaking of Quixtar, I got invited to be in on that by a guy who was the a capella group I was in at the time. This was back in 1999 or so and he, of course, wanted some money to get me in on the ground floor of this awesome opportunity. Needless to say, I didn't buy it. I asked the same thing. "Isn't this like Amway?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted October 27, 2003 Report Share Posted October 27, 2003 (edited) I had no idea Grand Rapids was the birthplace of Amway. That explains and awful lot. Surely you've encountered the Amway Grand Plaza, Van Andel Arena or DeVos Hall. DeVos and Van Andel are the people who own Amway, Quixtar, Alticor and Access Business Group. AND Betsy DeVos is chairman of the Michigan Republican party. Edited October 27, 2003 by Chuck Nessa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted October 27, 2003 Report Share Posted October 27, 2003 Wow. Scary. I didn't know about Van Andel. And I guess I just thought the Amway Grand Plaza was a coincidence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe G Posted October 27, 2003 Report Share Posted October 27, 2003 Dude, not to mention the Amway tractor trailers we often see on the highways around GR! :rsmile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue lake Posted October 28, 2003 Report Share Posted October 28, 2003 Just in case you didn't know, in the event of an ambush, for your own protection, as a prophylactic, Amway is now known at Alticor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_forumlogo.png.a607ef20a6e0c299ab2aa6443aa1f32e.png)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.