Amway and the San Jose Earthquakes

IBOFB reported yesterday that Amway Global signed a three-year marketing deal to sponsor the San Jose Earthquakes Major League Soccer team. Look at those jerseys; the team looks more like the Amway Earthquakes than the San Jose Earthquakes! Since I’m not a soccer fan, I did not realize how large the sponsors logos have become. How long has this been the case? Most of my soccer experience comes from watching the World Cup, where sponsor logos (if any, aside from the clothing manufacturer’s logo) are small or non-existent.

A few years back, I recall Major League Baseball trying to put a Spider-Man logo on top of the bases. There was much outrage on the part of fans, and the experiment was quickly scrapped. I hope that the reach of sponsors’ names and logos in the sports that I follow extends only to the naming of stadiums. Perhaps it’s inevitable, but at least for now, I can enjoy waching my favorite teams without any logos getting in the way.

By the way, XS Energy is now the official energy drink of the Earthquakes. Did Greg Duncan and his business friends have to pay anything for these rights or did they come hand in hand with the Amway Global deal? To anyone who’s been watching TV, reading magazines (which IBOs in my time were encouraged by the System leaders to avoid like the plague), or attending Tina Turner concerts, it’s apparent that Amway is making a major traditional advertising push. All those millions that the company was saving because it didn’t need to advertise like other companies? That strategy is most certainly out of the window!

If the corporation wants to increase sales to non-IBOs, Amway should set up product booths at Buck Shaw Stadium during Earthquake home games. I wonder how many IBOs will be attending Earthquake games now that their favorite company is the main sponsor. I bet some Systems and IBOs will — whether they are allowed or not by the corporation — print up t-shirts and polos with the saying, “Ask Me About Amway” in large type to wear at the games. I hope for their sake that this leads to increased retail sales and not an increase in annoying fans of the team. There’s nothing worse than a bandwagon fan, let alone an dedicated CORE IBO posing as a bandwagon fan!

A Fictional Diamond?

Opponents of critics of the Amway/Quixtar/MonaVie business have been known to say, “Anyone can put up negative and false information on the web. Do you believe everything you read on the Internet?” These proponents would often attack the messenger in the misguided attempt to discredit the valid message.

What if we turned the tables around, however?

I’ve been following the adventures of new IBO Bill lately. He just hit 1000PV and recently attended his first Winter Conference. By all accounts, it would seem Bill is becoming successful in his new venture. For the record, I would like to believe that he’s a real person out there building this business.

That said, I’ve always wondered what would happen if a Diamond or even the Corporation were to create a blog detailing the fictional exploits of a brand-new IBO on his or her way to Diamond, a sort of lonelygirl15 for MLM companies. Would people believe the stories coming out of this blog? Would this help motivate others to build the business, however fictionalized the account might be?

Readers of this blog, do you think this would fly? Would critics and supporters be able to tell if such a blog was being faked? There have been so many stories — both pro and con — written about the Amway/Quixtar experience that creating a fictional account would not be difficult. They say that truth can be stranger than fiction. What about fiction based loosely on true events?

What’s New? Not Much Apparently.

What’s new in the world of Amway/Quixtar and MonaVie? Not much apparently. I haven’t seen many updates lately on distributor websites and forums. On the same token, there haven’t been too many updates on the critics side either.

One thing that I wonder about IBOs is if they truly are happy building their respective businesses. Is the business simply a means to an end? Is the goal to build a successful Amway or MonaVie business or is the goal to achieve the lifestyle that supposedly comes from building such a business? I’d like to think for most people, it’s the latter. This then begs the question of how many IBOs are really on track to realizing those goals and how many are simply spinning their wheels?

Though there hasn’t been much activity on both ends of the debate, here are some quick thoughts on things that have been happening:

Joecool has a good post on the cost of being CORE. By his calculations, being an IBO affiliated with a System could cost one $670/month. For me, my monthly expenses were a just tad bit lower. I can see how a couple building the business could spend even more each month.

Orrin Woodward is hiding in his hole now that Barack Obama is our new President. Somehow I think that if McCain had won the Presidency, we would not have seen the same amount of people showing up at our nation’s capitol to witness Obama’s inauguration.

IBO Bill on his website should have returned from his System’s Winter Conference. I’m curious to read what his thoughts are from the experience. He doesn’t seem to be taking his upline’s word as gospel and is asking the right questions as he builds his business.

Reissman has a good post on Webraw Quixtar forum about what it means to “make the decision” or “flip the switch” within the context of the System.

Orrin’s Latest Tools for only $108

Orrin has a new post hawking his latest tools:

• Commerce Through Community – Chris Brady & Orrin Woodward: $11.95
• SuperStar pack: $38.00
• PowerPlayer pack: $38.00

Newly revised (to reflect TEAM’s transition from Amway to MonaVie), these tools are designed to supercharge your team to levels unheard of in the MLM industry! All for only $108. Buy it now, because in a year’s time, these tools will be revised with even more cutting-edge information… for another $108!

I know Orrin’s gotta put food on the table, but what about distributing this information in PDF form or via MP3s on the TEAM web site? Seeing how often some of these tools get revised, isn’t it smart business to make them available electronically? By now, everyone has a computer or MP3 player (an excuse used by the leaders back in my day), right?

Orrin talks about the success that he has through his leadership program:

We studied networking, studied leadership, studied patterns and built and organization from 200 people attending meetings to over 20,000 in attendance in 7 years.

I thought he was aiming for a million-person IBO/TEAM army a few years back? Looks like he still has a ways to go.

IBO Expenses on Joecool’s site

There’s a great comment by someone called Dayton Platinum on Joecool’s recent post titled, IBO Expenses. Dayton lists the expenses he’s incurred in his business over the first few years. In his third year, he and his wife hit Q12 Platinum, earning an annual Amway income of $52K.

What I want to highlight are his annual expenses for running his business. He estimates that as a single, his expenses for the first two years totaled between $4000-4800. Now that he’s married, he says to double his expenses, so $8000-9600 a year. Since Dayton is at the Q-12 level, he clearly has more coming in than going out.

Here’s the problem. Everyone who’s in the System is paying about the same amount of money for tapes, CDs, meetings, Major Conferences, etc. If these people are not making money and progressing upwards within the Amway bonus structure, they may be losing at least $4000-4800 a year. This amount might not seem like a lot for one year, but multiply it by two, three, five, or ten years in the business, and you can see how some people complain about losing tons of money in Amway.

So, while it’s great to see Dayton’s success in the business, I only hope that his downline are achieving the same level of success that he and his wife are currently sharing.

Humor: MonaVie Jet Credits

Orrin has posted several times about the use of MonaVie’s jet credits programs for Royal Black Diamonds and above, including this week’s post. I’m taking a humorous stab at how his next post will be like.

I want to thank Dallin Larceny for his incredible programs to reward top performers in MonaVie. Laurie and I have never been treated with such dignity and respect in all of our years of building communities. Amway might have sent us for a week’s vacation to Peter Island, but Dallin gives us our own airplane to fly around the country whenever we want! I love MonaVie because (unlike Amway) they recognize that it is the distributors that build the organizations to move their world-class products. Anyone with a dream, work-ethic, persistence, and character can build it big on the MonaVie Team. There may be a recession in the economy, but there is no recession on the MonaVie Team. The Team is off to a record breaking January to start 2009! If the MonaVie Hawer 1000 and Piaggio Avanti P-180 are already booked, Dallin has an F-22 Raptor for our use. What a beautiful, powerful frightening aircraft!

Dan and Lisa Hawkins drove us to the Dane County Regional Airport on Sunday morning. They were recognized as new Triple 100’s on Saturday night! Sadly, like Mark Ludwig (Turbo 25 who missed Turbo 50 last month), the Hawkins just missed the coveted Turbo 200 goal through their binaries. Awww… too bad for Mark, Dan, and Lisa! That said, it didn’t matter if they made their goal or not, since the F-22 only seats one person! Sorry, Laurie, I’m flying solo this time! You’re taking the bus back to Florida!

Here is a photo of MonaVie’s F-22 Raptor fleet. What I love about this aircraft are the precision weaponry with which I can blow away any naysayers and critics of my business. When they see the MonaVie F-22 Raptor coming down on them, raining purple fire, they’ll beg to join my organization! “Too bad,” I’ll scream, “You had your chance!” as I press the fire button and send them sky high to join up with those Amway distributors and executives I threw under the bus last year!

Life is good on the MonaVie Team because we are building depth, building numbers and building volume through customers and distributors! I can’t wait to see what plane Dallin buys for us next! God Bless (Me), Orrin Woodward

What Have You Done Since Amway?

NOTE: Here’s a post from the beginning of this year that I’d like to feature again.

I’ve read a number of web comments from gung-ho IBOs who call people who leave the Amway business opportunity as losers and quitters. They’ll say things like, “Quitters never win,” or “Winners never quit.”

I laugh when I read these comments, because I know in a few years, many of those people will have quit. Yet, I’m here to tell the “quitters” that they don’t have to be down on themselves. There are many opportunities beyond the Amway/Quixtar/MonaVie business where you can be successful. Sometimes, the business doesn’t work out, but quitting doesn’t mean that you are a quitter nor loser.

My advice is to find something that you love, and you won’t worry so much about money, fancy cars and big mansions. These things may come as a result of following your passion, but they won’t be the goal. This could mean finding a job that aligns with your interests; contrary to what is said on stage, a job doesn’t have to be a bad thing!

If you’re entrepreneurially inclined, take advantages of the efficiencies brought by the 21st century economy. Use the Internet to really take out the middleman and connect with the customer directly. Amway and MonaVie say they do this, but the truth is, your entire upline is the middleman between you and maximum profits. Sell products or services that last beyond a month… consumables are the backbone of many MLM companies — use it over a month, buy it the next month. What about selling something that people can use over and over again?

One thing that I agree with what’s frequently said on stage is to be a lifelong learner. Learn a new skill or set of skills and see what opportunities they’ll lead you to. I’ve applied this to my own life… constantly learning new skills to apply to a changing market and economy.

Ex-IBOs, what have you done since Amway? What advice would you give to people who have left recently or are thinking of quitting?

Orrin Woodward: Economist, Historian, Politician, Theologian

I’m getting a kick out of reading the Supreme TEAM Leader’s latest posts on politics, history, and religion. I’m having difficulty identifying what exactly Woodward is these days. Is he an economist teaching people on the finer points of his world economic view or is he a historian and politician, enlightening all with his conservative and vote Republican values? Maybe he’s a theologian, teaching us all the evils of Darwinism and the true meaning of life through Intelligent Design? Or, is he just someone teaching people how to make money selling juice?

He could be all these things and more. This mixing of business, religion and politics has been going on for a long, long time in the Amway/Quixtar business. Even supporters like IBOFB have taken certain Systems and their leaders to task for continuing to raise these topics from stage, a clear violation of the Amway Global Accreditation Guidelines. On IBOFB’s AmwayTalk forum, there’s a spirited debate amongst supporters on whether or not these topics belong in the business. When you have IBOs viciously debating and attacking each other, that’s a sign that something might be wrong in the way the Systems operate.

Can’t we all just get along?

Back to Woodward. By proselytizing from stage and bringing in speakers who share publicly very specific viewpoints on politics, finance, and religion, Woodward is actually doing himself a disservice. He’s excluding people who share different beliefs from participating in his business venture. Sure, there will be some who say, “Well, I disagree with him on the politics and religion thing, but I’m in it to make money, and he’s teaching me the way to do it, MonaVie-style!” Give those people a few years and see what they think after attending dozens of seminars, reading books, and listening to CDs tainted by Woodward’s world view.

For those that agree with Woodward on these substantive issues, they see him as a godly man, the veritable Supreme TEAM Leader who can do no wrong! This devotion quickly leads to idolatry, which ultimately does not lead to a good place. Watch what happens, however, when the money runs out to pay for his TEAM membership, book of the month, seminars, tools and CDs. “Sorry, you’re on your own!” will be the refrain they’ll hear from Woodward, “I’ve taught you all that you should know. If you can’t do it by now, it’s your own d*mn fault!” My question is can someone be close friends with Woodward without being in the MonaVie business or TEAM organization?

The solution, in my opinion, is to separate politics and religion from the business and focus solely on teaching people how to be better salespeople. After all, isn’t that what most people who got into Amway/Quixtar/MonaVie wanted to do, to make money? They didn’t sign up to go to the Church of Woodward or the Church of Amway/Quixtar/MonaVie, right?

Frankly, I’m more interested in seeing him teach his downline and followers how to sell $40 bottles of juice. All his politicking, religious sermonizing and history lessons aren’t going to mean a thing if they can’t make a profit each month selling MonaVie.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all critics, supporters, and sideline reporters on the Amway Global business!