One of my best friends from college just got into amway and is using facebook to promote her new business. Shes so proud to have her own business at such a young age and random people keep calling me saying they have worked with her as an entrepreneur in the rdu area and are looking for someone else who is motivated. I know she just put my name on a list but its funny how they are saying i can make upwards 10,000 dollars a month working 8-10 hour weeks.

I want to troll her facebook posts so bad but feel sorry for her and don't want to be mean. She acts liek she is doing really well in it so it seems too late for me to tell her its bullshit. I don't want to sound like a hater but I feel like I'm just letting her go.

7/19/2011 4:44:15 PM

um, ok?

[Edited on July 19, 2011 at 4:48 PM. Reason : .]

7/19/2011 4:47:37 PM

I saw a commercial for Amway the other day. I can't believe people still fall for this

7/19/2011 4:51:34 PM

Ok.

7/19/2011 4:52:06 PM

The company does really really well. The problem is, the business owners are really the biggest customers.

7/19/2011 4:53:05 PM

One of my friends' dad made 90 grand a year doing amway.

I'm AstralAdvent and i approved this message.

7/19/2011 4:54:20 PM

We get a few people here on TWW trying to recruit people for Amway/Quixtar every now and then. They don't stick around.

7/19/2011 5:00:49 PM

good, i hope she annoys you like you annoy us

7/19/2011 5:02:24 PM

LOL

7/19/2011 5:03:19 PM

I'm not sure I know what Amway is. Anyone want to give a brief overview?

7/19/2011 5:03:40 PM

Its MLM...

I'm AstralAdvent and i approved this message.

7/19/2011 5:05:50 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amway

HURR DURR

7/19/2011 5:06:13 PM

The girl I went to church with growing up got into some MLM deal and sent a mass email to everyone she knew. I ended up messaging everyone else that was copied except her with the FTC complaints against the company. I guess I should have been a more upstanding person in high school, because all these people (almost all from the church I grew up in) told me I was being mean and I should encourage her and I was just mad that I was a failure (I was a A/V tech at the time...but come on, I did what I loved).

Then she sent me an angry email saying "well I went to a meeting for this group and someone else showed me a $200,000 check they made so YOULL BE SORRY"

The next year my parents said her and her husband were in some debt counseling class at their church.

7/19/2011 5:08:19 PM

you sure showed her

I'm AstralAdvent and i approved this message.

7/19/2011 5:10:43 PM

Um...ok?

7/19/2011 5:11:26 PM

Yeah I love how there's always some guy in the info meetings for these things that has made SO MUCH MONEY. I'm sure you can make a lot of money doing this crap, if you're willing to put in an inordinate amount of time and piss off everyone you know with you constant spamming.

I'm looking at you, **** ****!

7/19/2011 5:12:54 PM

Quote :

"good, i hope she annoys you like you annoy us"

7/19/2011 5:13:34 PM

I came in late, where did the **** **** affair start?

7/19/2011 5:14:33 PM

Quote :

"In 2004, Dateline NBC featured a critical report based on a yearlong undercover investgation of business practices within the Amway organization.[121] The report noted that the average distributor makes only about $1,400 per year and that many of the “high level distributors singing the praises of Quixtar [Amway]” are actually “making most of their money by selling motivational books tapes and seminars; not Quixtar’s cosmetics, soaps, and electronics.”"

Still entails a better living than being a social media guru

7/19/2011 5:20:03 PM

Fun Fact: you can make plenty of money if you're on the top of the pyramid recruiting other fools. Ask former Charlotte Mayor Sue Myrick, who was apparently an Amway salesperson.

7/19/2011 5:22:01 PM

I realize this thread is about your friend....which I am not. Hear me out, maybe I can offer some insight.

I am in outside sales, which is currently salary+commission, but will move into straight commission starting at the beginning of July 2010. I have been in this position since July 2009. I have competition from several direct manufacturing sales reps, large distributors, and local distributors. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of each:

Direct Advantages: Immediate knowledge of new technology, no middle man mark up, one shipping bill (paid by manufacturer or buyer of goods), access to larger range of non-commodity items, control inventory, have access to many distributors that can effectively sell their goods which increases market share, and set prices of commodity they manufacture.

Direct disadvantages: Typically have 1-3 sales reps per region (i.e. southeast, mid-atlantic, northeast, etc.) limiting the number of accounts they can successfully manage/cold-call, lack physical customer service or physical technical service available to or affordable for smaller users or altogether, are sometimes not trustworthy because they will go in behind their distributors that sell their commodity to one account in large quantities (i.e. they missed a big account, and have found out about it through a distributor selling their particular product) which leads to the distributor not selling their product anymore, have too many distributors selling the product ultimately driving the set price down through deviations, possibly rely on distributors to actually sell the product, and competition from other direct sources.

Large distributor advantages: have access to other commodities that go hand in hand with other manufacturers (poor example- grocery stores sell milk as well as cereal), get direct pricing, many locations regionally or nationally easing the shipping burden of buyers with multiple locations, personal service either customer or technical, many sales reps that are able to cover a broader territory, access to multiple manufacturers of the same commodity allowing to keep prices in check, service programs that smaller companies can't offer and direct providers can't match in price or value, and experts of many many commodities as opposed to one or a few.

Large distributor disadvantages: smaller local distributors creating price wars (think Michael Scott Paper Co vs Dunder-Mifflin), direct mfg's going in behind and stealing business, limited access to all of the mfg's (you won't find Harris Teeter name brands in Food Lion and visa versa), can't truly set prices because it's based on both supply and demand, territory management, and tough growth prospects in slower economies (this is true for direct as well really)

Local distributor advantages: Typically a good ol' boy setting where the seller and the buyer know each other for years (this does happen at all levels, but mostly at the local level), local folks are right down the street and can be used in emergencies, if the local guy buys at high enough volumes then there is no shipping charge to the end user, and access to both direct mfg's and large distributors.

Local distributor disadvantages: easily beaten in price, array of commodities, array of technology, lack of trained staff, low cash flow, etc etc etc.

This is what I have noticed in my six months, I am sure there are plenty more that need mentioning. The way I am setting myself apart as a sales person is this: I go after the big accounts right now while I am new. The big accounts, if I land them, will take care of me while I am new and building a customer base. The money made off of those allows me to focus free time on smaller accounts that get me higher margins. I build up big accounts, I would like to have 5-10 of these, then get 20-30 medium accounts. If I lose 1 or 2 big accounts, the 20-30 medium accounts keep me afloat while I go after new big accounts. I don't really waste time on small accounts simply because they basically pay for breakfast or something really small.

I will say this, if you can't get a big account in the first 6-8 months (assuming you have cash flow that you can ride this long) you could be in a world of trouble. If you can get one, it will really make going after the others a lot more enjoyable and less stressful. It's simply just very exhausting wasting any time on anything other than big accounts in the very beginning. You work just as hard on the medium sized accounts and see 1/3 to 1/36 of the money in my situation.

If you have any other questions, you can PM me. I hope this helps in the slightest!

7/19/2011 5:23:22 PM

Quote :

"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amway HURR DURR "

not what i asked for. you lose at following directions.

7/19/2011 5:24:07 PM

How is the first paragraph of any wikipedia article not a brief overview

7/19/2011 5:25:09 PM

i asked for an overview here. i didn't ask to click a link to go else where. i'm trying to win at being lazy today.

7/19/2011 5:27:11 PM

Amway is a direct selling company and manufacturer that uses network marketing to sell a variety of products, primarily in the health, beauty, and home care markets.[3][4][5] Amway was founded in 1959 by Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos. Based in Ada, Michigan, the company and family of companies under Alticor reported sales growth of 9.5%, reaching US$9.2 billion for the year ending December 31, 2010.[1] Its product lines include home care products, personal care products, jewelry, electronics, Nutrilite dietary supplements, water purifiers, air purifiers, insurance and cosmetics. In 2004, Health & Beauty products accounted for nearly 60% of worldwide sales.[6][dead link] Amway conducts business through a number of affiliated companies in more than a hundred countries and territories around the world.[7][dead link] Amway was ranked No.114 among the largest global retailers by Deloitte in 2006, and No.32 among the largest private companies in the U.S. by Forbes in 2010.[8] Amway's business practices have been the subject of controversy and the company has been involved in several court cases in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere.

7/19/2011 5:28:20 PM

nice

7/19/2011 5:29:51 PM

http://www.primerica.com

7/19/2011 5:31:02 PM