So here's a rare blog where I don’t curse out my upline, a little off topic but seeing as how its the Christmas season sort of fits with this time of year.
I hate seeing stories about budgeting for Christmas especially when its 2 weeks away its pretty much a lost cause for most people. One financial expert that was interviewed said to budget 1.5% of your income for Christmas. That would include presents, baking extra meals, or any other spending that happens this time of year. He said if the annual income was $50,000 then that’s a budget of $750. He also said to save first, spend later and then totally glossed over that and moved on to saying spend only cash at Christmas. Like I said could be advice a little too late for some people who are whipping out the credit card and then regretting it when the January bill arrives in the mail.
Years ago I read something about figuring out how much money you spend for Christmas. Divide that amount by 12 and then put aside the cash every month. By the time Christmas shopping arrives you’ll have the cash on hand. Good advice. Every month Ambot and I put $80 into an envelope. By the time October or November rolls around we’ll top off the envelope for the rest of the year. So who’s good at math? By the time we start Christmas shopping we’ve got $960 sitting in an envelope. When we first started doing this we put in $60/month. Ambot suggested today that next year we should increase it to $100/month.
I’m a saver and Ambot is a spender which is what got him in trouble with the Amway cult and feeding into the scam. He pulled out his credit card for everything including buying his precious upline meals thinking that he’s tracking all his business expenses with a credit card not really comprehending that eventually he has to pay it back.
Using the same philosophy figure out how much you spend on Amway each month and set that cash aside, not use a credit card. Well actually most of the time you have to use a credit card cause its Internet purchases. So lets say cash that’s set aside to immediately pay back the credit card. Factor in at least $300/month on purchasing Amway products so you can earn a bonus check of just under $10. Ambot wanted to earn more money. The lowest amount he spent in a month was $468. Most months were between $950 and $1050 purchasing Amway products with the highest spending two months after joining - $1,358.
Here’s where I want to SCREAM! My food budget is $600 and that includes groceries and eating out, about half/half. What the fuck was he buying? OK, I’ve mentioned hyper consuming XS Energy Drinks before. How does this possibly come close to we buy from Amway products we normally buy when we’re grocery shopping? I’ve never come close when grocery shopping.
Saying you’re going el cheapo on buying CD’s so add another $20/month but the sky’s the limit. The most CD's Ambot purchased one month was $150 but most of the time it was closer to $40/month.
Gotta have your premier membership to WWDB $49.95. Don’t forget Communikate if you’re a “serious business builder” $36.95/month.
Various monthly seminars - tickets and parking - $70.
That’s $476.90 a month doing just the basics to earn a less than $10 bonus check from Amway and prove you’re a serious business owner. It goes up and up and up from there depending on how much room you have on your credit card and how much you want to impress your upline with your spending.
There are 4 major functions each year usually in another state. Transportation, meals, hotel, tickets - plan at least $500 and it could go higher depending on your circumstances (how far you’re travelling).
So lets do it like we’re putting cash aside for Christmas and dividing by 12. You need to set aside cash close to $700 (or more) each month!
Yikes!
Does anyone think that could be a mortgage payment? Does anyone think that could be invested in stocks or a 401k? How about a pretty big blow out for Christmas?
That’s a lot of cash to set aside each month for a business that has over a 99% failure rate.
I still like the advice from the financial expert today: “Save first, spend later.”
Apply that to your Amway business before you go nuts on your credit card to impress your upline.
If the Amway Tool Scam was done away with, you wouldn't have to save NEARLY that much. As I say on my site, at http://texsquixtarblog.blogspot.com:
ReplyDeleteThe SOLUTION:
Amway needs to bring the following changes to the U.S.:
1. Force the upline LCKs (Lying Cowardly "Kingpins") to reduce tool prices, as well as
2. Share major functions with all local IBOs.
A method to do this would be to sell a colored ticket to those in the LOS/LOA, and a different color to those outside the LOS/LOA. Allow the LOS/LOA IBOs to enter certain function sessions early to cover LOS/LOA specific information, then allow the others to enter 30-45 minutes later. Rich DeVos demanded the upline reduce their tool profit in 1983, but then did NOTHING to enforce the mandate.
i remember hearing on a tape from a wwdb kingpin that we should buy tapes as xmas presents lol. Not sure how your hubby spent so much on products. You can rent a decent size apartment or home where im from for 1 grand a month. You should have smacked him over the head when he showed you the bill.
ReplyDeleteColin I didn't see all the bills - only some of them and they were bad enough - until after we left Amway and I was trying to figure out how much money we lost. I recorded our profit and loss statement after the fact! Not happy. Smacking him over the head? Nah. Much more effective is getting to bed first and having the dog stake out his side of the bed before he gets there!
ReplyDeletecollin/Anna,
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think of the ideas I provided above?
Tex you must know by now that my agenda is different than yours. Plus you know I don't have years of Amway experience either in the business, blogging, or reading the way the rest of you experienced bloggers have. I think Amway and/or the LOS can make all the tools available for free through the internet or email or web broadcasting or for whatever monthly fee is paid to the LOS. Although you may have good ideas that have merit they will likely never happen. I mean you're out on your ass from Amway and I'm just out so really who at head office cares what former IBO's think about the way they are doing business?
ReplyDeleteAlso I think someone is messing with your account so I don't even know if this is you or not. And someone from Ada keeps going to one of your blogs you posted a few days ago linking a comment on one of my blogs and coming back here to keep reading it.
Anna,
ReplyDeleteI realize your agenda is different, but that doesn't keep you from commenting on my thoughts, since I comment on yours. You don't have to have as much experience to comment on someone else's ideas. I don't mind paying for the cost of tool production and a reasonable AND KNOWN tool profit. "My" ideas have already happened in the UK, India, and perhaps some other countries, why are you so pessimistic they can't happen here? They care enough to sue me! LOL
The previous message is me, I doubt anyone is messing with it. If you want to verify this, simply email me at hawaiianibo@yahoo.com. The reason Amway is coming here is because I wrote a thread about the widespread retail cheating on my blog: http://texsquixtarblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/amway-retail-cheating-on-large-scale.html You're not getting scared, are you?
Tex, my husband accuses me of not commenting on anything unless I have all the facts and know for certain I'm not saying anything that might be incorrect. He says thats because I have an analytical personality so now you know the reason I don't always respond is because I don't have enough information to make a comment. As I said I don't have years and years of Amway experience as others do. What I have experience in is what went on in the meetings I went to and how we were treated by the upline and what I actually observed. That's what I write about and how I think our upline are a bunch of assholes. That's my opinion. I also have opinions on Amway products I don't like. I've already posted about those. Its not against the law to have an opinion. I'm not scared of nothing Amway.
ReplyDeleteI've corrected you several times, I don't buy the "I won't comment unless I know all the facts" routine. My point is I am having a conversation with you, and it is often not returned.
ReplyDeleteI think I just had this conversation with my husband this morning. We were driving and Ambot was talking about a greenhouse that used to be next to this house. Then almost right away he said he was talking to himself again. I asked what he meant and he said I wasn't listening to him. I told him I was and repeated back what he just said and he said he thought I wasn't listening because I didn't respond. I said I didn't remember there ever being a greenhouse there. That's not to say there never was just that I didn't remember. Seeing as how I didn't know one way or the other about the greenhouse I didn't say anything. So just because I don't always respond doesn't mean I'm not listening.
ReplyDeleteNo comment.
ReplyDeleteWhether the tools are cheaper or not is not significant because the tools don't work.
ReplyDeleteThe tools "work." They create profit the upline can't make with Amway, even if they were 2-3 pins higher.
ReplyDeleteThe price/profit of the tools is THE significant factor. It's what keeps 99+% of IBOs operating at a net loss.
The tools only work for those selling the tools. These tools have no value other than making a profit for the folks who sell tools.
ReplyDeleteamen, brother
ReplyDeleteThe tool content is good enough to keep IBOs buying them.
ReplyDelete