To Quit or Not to Quit!
To reply to a comment made on my last post, Yes i do want out of this MLM but the things holding me back is all the good friends i have made from it. Ive noticed those that quit the buisness tend to be shuned when they do. Also I cant help but wonder whether or not im wrong about all the things ive learned about the company. That maybe im just looking for an easy way out of having to actually do something thats different to me. I guess i just dont want to make the wrong choice. But I cant turn my head away from all the facts and information that i have learned about the company and all the deception i see on a daily basis. Truthfully i just dont want to pass up an opportunity like this. But I also dont like being lied to either.
posted by Brian @ 1:32 PM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
This may be painfully obvious and trite, but if they really are your friends, your quiting won't change that or will it? But I also understand you wanting to stick it out. I played football and high school and I wanted to quit everyday. I stuck with it and it became a positive influence in my life. However, I knew that it would eventually end. How long do you plan on doing the MLM thing? Will you be doing 5 years from now? How about 10 or 30? If you plan on doing it for only 5 years, then I say try to stick with it, as long as your making decent money with it. However, I honestly believe that the MLM you are involved in won't last much longer than 5 years. It is so layered that it is becoming increasingly impossible for people at the bottom to make any money. That and the fact that the feds are always keeping a close eye on MLM's.
I found this first-hand account on the perils of MLM's schemes.
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Hi everyone
My name is Jennifer. For 3 years I was involved with Amway (Network 21) in Australia. Although it has been 4 years since I left Amway, I really need to tell my story, and talk with other Amway survivors about their experiences.
Well I have so much to say about Amway, that I don't know where to start. My ex-husband and I were "shown the plan" by someone who went to our church. We were both enthusiastic at first. We signed up straight away and paid the money. The woman who showed us to plan
was a member of a little elite group in our church, who dressed the same and hung around together. Suddenly we were part of that group. As you would know, when you are first shown the plan, it just seems so possible and almost easy to be free in a few years. Our upline
belonged to an AMO (Amway Motivational Organisation ca lled Network 21). Well, my husband jumped in boots and all. He started showing the plan with help from our upline straight away. I did all the Artistry courses. Over the first year every bit of our spare time
was taken up with meetings, ranging from informal sessions where we got together to make phone calls to diamond group meetings. We were buying tapes and spending a fortune attending these meetings. Our
family and friends were very concerned about us, but whenever they voiced their concern, my husband would dismiss them as "negative", "dream tealers", "Harrys". We lost all our friends and alienated the family.
Within 9 months or so, I started to get severe doubts about this business. We were spending thousands of dollars doing it, not counting the petrol we were using going to meetings, and driving to "show to plan" only to arrive to a "no show" (the people would do a runner before we arrived). Our once good marriage was getting very rocky. My husband was completely brain-washed by the tapes and seminars, and was completely convinced that it was God's will that he go diamond and become a missionary and save the world. Of course, I was the evil person who was trying to steal his dream, and prevent him from helping his family and many others (the speakers teach these kinds of tactics from the stage-saying that spouses that object are selfish and don't care about the family). They also teach spouses
what to say when their partners object eg. "if you can think of any other way to be a millionaire, tell me about it". Once when I voiced my concerns, he called me a f***** selfish b**** because I didn't care about helping our families, our daughter and the world, and only cared about myself because I wanted him to spend time with me and our daughter. I couldn't have a conversation with my husband without him bringing "the business" into it. He became an Amway clone. He lost
his sense of humour and would only laugh at things that distributors found funny.
After a year, I stopped getting involved, just going to the quarterly seminars. I was so sick of listening to tape after tape! We never did anything as a family. He was just so busy with "the business". Every Saturday we would go to the mall, I would shop for a couple of
hours with our daughter, and he would just walk around the mall and try and prospect people. He said he lost count of the bad language he received. Our upline knew we were having marital problems, with the business being the culpret, but they still encouraged him to keep
doing it. The only friends we had were Amway distributors. It was awful! There was absolutely no harmony in our marriage. We had nothing in common anymore. He was a brainwashed Amway zombie. Once
he even brought a schizophrenic downline to a seminar, who kept touching me. I made my objections clear. He apologised to the downline, then rebuked me saying I was unhospitable to our downline, and that other people "touched" me before we got married anyway! I
felt like a prostitute!
We had not gone on any family holidays for years. After 3 years, my parents were going up the coast and invited us. I insisted that we go for a few days, as I needed us to have a holiday away from the business as a family. He went, but made the whole time a nightmare
for me. I remember sitting on the balcony, overlooking the sea, crying, and he just sayin g he needed to build the business. He went home 2 days early, as he had appointments. We were in it for 3 years then, and only hit 9% once! Anyway, all this hell wore out my heart,
and I remember waking up one morning and feeling no love for this man. He was not the man I married. He had completely changed and I didn't like what he had become. I knew in my heart that I did everything to make this marriage work, but he had worn me out.
Six months later we split up. Although my love dried up for him, I said I would give our marriage another chance if he quit Amway. He totally refused. We later divorced. He tried the business for another 2 years, but it later occurred to him that he was NOT going to get rich doing this, and that he had lost everything that mattered to him. By then it was too late. Of
course, when he left, his upline had nothing to do with him.
I believe that the AMO's are a dangerous cult. They make an absolute fortune in selling tapes and "tools". Most of the diamond's salary is from the sale of these tools. For example, a tape would cost 50c to reproduce, but they sell it for (I think) between $7.00 to $12.00. They double the price of the books they sell. They completely brainwash distributors in the organisation. The most dangerous thing about it is that they teach that if you "quit" (even for the sake of your family) then you are a loser! This is the same
mentality that many cults use to keep their members. They teach going diamond is like getting "salvation", and that the diamonds and emeralds are like saints or prophets ( my ex-husband was very quick to defend them, even though alot of them were complete jerks!) They have no respect for family needs. (My grandmother was dying, and my ex-husband refused to take me to see her, saying he was too busy building the business and we will have more time when he goes diamond-of course this never came, and she is now deceased). One diamond
even said from the stage that in order to build this business, you need to be obsessed! They use manipulation and mind control to keep people in the business and encourage distributors to do the same.
Anyway, my ex-husband is now broke and up to his ears in debt. He now relies on people in his church to give him money to survive.
Has anyone had a similar experience to me? I would appreciate any feedback.
By the way, my story has a happy ending. I have now remarried and we have a 1 year old son. My daughter sees my new husband as her dad.
Regards ,
Jennifer
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