Ha! I love it. Perfect name. Someone should start up a forum called that and we could all head over to chat!
Whenever I heard the word defector growing up it was usually in reference to someone from the USSR
I think defector is most commonly referred to similar stories when people leave one country for another country. Defector can be used to describe people who switch companies, switch baseball teams, etc.
I know there are people who left Amway to join other MLM’s. Monavie comes to mind though I’m not good on the details. I see some of those discussions on Amthrax’s blog. See a link to his blog on the upper right area of my blog. I guess those distributors who switched to Monavie can be labelled Amway defectors. I bet the higher ups in Amway probably do refer to them that way!
But what about the rest of us who just quit. Closed up shop. Walked away.
Got the hell away from Amway!
I guess we could be called defectors though a lot of us didn’t leave Amway to join another MLM. We just washed our hands of the whole network marketing nightmare.
We are the people who saw the light.
Curiosity got to me and I did a Google search for Amway defectors. Not a whole lot of information but I found a link from a newspaper article in 2008 for the top 5 scam artists and Amway is number 3. Its no big surprise to me that Amway is on the top scammers list! To quote:
Dick DeVos and Steve Van Andel are the inheritors of Quixtar, the company left to them by their billionaire fathers. Call it a pyramid scheme, call it multi-level marketing, or, better yet, call it by its original brand name: Amway. Quixtar created a pseudo-religion where God is money and its prophets are the success stories recorded in expensive tapes and books. Quixtar has convinced millions around the world that they too can make six figures simply by selling “the best” soap, vitamins and other amazing products, when the actual average annual income of a recruiter is $1400. Some even lose money at the cost of the recommended seminars and audio tapes.
To see the rest of the list:
Im surprised Benny is number one since i cant remember him being around very long. With Amway it's over 50 yrs of bullshit
ReplyDeleteWhy would you be surprised? At least with Amway, you get SOMETHING.. Like the product or not.. With Benny Hinn, you get ZERO..
DeleteI never even heard of Benny!
ReplyDeleteYou know - Benny and the Jets. Paul McCartney.
ReplyDeleteC'mon, get into 2011.
CT
CT - Benny and the Jets is Elton John. I know, I have the same problem connecting song names with the artist, perhaps I heard the Goads sing one too many times. ... Pick yourself up dust your self off... start all over again. Blech
ReplyDelete*** Former WWDB Lemming***
Oopa! So sorry to Benny.
ReplyDeleteThe Goads. Wow. They were very nice people, but they couldn't have been any more like the Brady Bunch concerts on steroids if they had tried.
I just couldn't believe people would buy their CD's and tee-shirts. I was as 'in' as possible, but I ain't wearin' no Goad tee. And that shit ain't coming from my car's stereo system. Not no way. Not no how.
It's Leonard Skynard or nothing.
I was told they were Emeralds in the business. Is that true? If so, why, after 6 years were they not Diamonds? Just asking. They were mobbed by ambot groupies - you'd think they would go diamond in 15 minutes.
I would guess even they are embarrassed by their years with amway.
Can you imagine what they have witnessed backstage?
CASSETTE TAPE
Every now and then someone ends up at this blog after doing a search about the Goads leaving Amway. I don't know one way or the other. Whether that means they are no longer Emeralds or no longer singing at their events or its just a rumor - who knows.
ReplyDeleteBack in the 90's we were told that they were Ruby's, who really knows, perhaps they qualified once. They really were corny but it was all part of the hype/brainwashing at the big events.
ReplyDeleteThere is a good article on their Amway demise at Amquix, it appears as though they had some tax issues.
http://www.amquix.info/goads_non_profit_status.html
***Former WWDB Lemming***
There's a lot of people who've run into tax issues due to Amway and what their upline misrepresented to them was tax deductible.
ReplyDeleteIn reality the Goads set up various not for profit companies, accepted donations towards various causes. Unfortunately most of the donations paid their big salaries. Like anything else in Amway and WWDB, nothing is exactly as it appears.
ReplyDelete***Former WWDB Lemming***
I got 'involved' with this bunch of degenerate liars in the late '70's, making/editing the cassette tapes designed for the insipid by greed-heads. I informed my employer I was in no way interested in showing "THE PLAN", and any attempt at harrassment would undoubtedly result in an unscheduled protology examination,initiated by me. It was my job to tape the entire weekend, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday...and condense this morass into ninety minutes of self-serving praise. I knew early-on where the real money is made..the "TOOLS". The biggest 'tool' I ever met was Dexter Yager. Congrats go to you, and others, for getting away from these clowns.
ReplyDeleteHi Wayne! Thanks for stopping by. At least you were smart enough to realize you were working with the biggest liars you'll probably ever meet and showing the Scamway plan is a really bad idea. I'm glad you said cassette tapes. There's this Amway lover who shits his pants whenever we call them tapes and demands to know where we got them because Scamway has been selling CDs for years. Ugh that must have been horrible to listening to their brainwashing bullshit and trying to figure out what the highlights are. Especially when they all say the same thing. Amway let the tool scam get out of control and now that word is out on the Internet that's the only way to make money in "the business" they are trying to do some major damage control. Too late! What most of us are dying to find out is how the Amway cult leaders split up the profits from the tools. You must have seen a lot of fighting going on backstage!
DeleteAnna,
DeleteTrying to condense over twenty hours of mindless drivel into a ninety minute segment was almost impossible; where to start? Every time I got NEAR any of 'the-annointed-ones' backstage ...it got very silent. I now have an idea of how the Biblical Daniel felt in the lions den. Being the only non-believer in a room of twelve thousand bloodthirsty(or WEALTH thirsty)drones is not an experience I intend to repeat. Had they known, I would probably been put to the sword, or worse: listen to Birdie Yager prattle mindlessly onward. This bunch makes Tom Cruise appear self-aware. Regard, and congrats again...w.
Wayne - I could see how that was mindless drivel! I often wonder about those poor suckers who work for the arena as ushers and have to sit/stand in the room and listen to all the bullshit coming from the stage. Those are the only people in the room besides the Diamonds who are actually making money!
DeleteYou probably weren't the only non-believer. You can bet a few pissed off wives were dragged in there by their husbands.
Ha ha. Very funny about Birdie Yager prattle. I've never heard her speak but I have heard about her.
You can go to youtube and type "Birdie Yager speaks to amway". Warning: Don't eat before you do. I only watched a few minutes of it. And only then because I was reading some of the hilarious comments posted (between the usual brainwashed defenders).
Delete~Dave
I don't know. Might be good for a laugh. Those ambots piss me off too much to listen to their bullshit.
DeleteI went to a large 'rally' in New York, Dex and Birdbrain were the top bill, with The Goads as 'music'. I can see how it's so easy to be caught up...they beat you to death with the'fake-it-till-you-make-it' manure, and wear you down. My wife and I felt unclean after we left..as if we'd been submerged in a vat of goat sweat. Perhaps we were. Someday the rickety house of cards will fall, and I feel sorry for those that have given over their lives and souls to some False God. By all means, watch Birdie and Dexter on YouTube; knowing what you know will help you stop cackling. Okay, I lied. It won't help, not a bit...but it's worth the effort, if only to reassure youself you made the correct, sane choice.
ReplyDeleteWayne - On no! You dragged your poor wife along with you to videotape the Amway bullshit convention? I used to sit in the arena and look around at the employees who were working that day as ushers/security or whatever that meant they had to be inside the arena listening to the Amway cult leaders. I wondered what was going on inside their heads as they listened to the brainwashing techniques and watched the people in the audience show an unnatural devotion and worship the people on the stage. I guess it probably makes them feel unclean too.
DeleteIt's a shame you have this perspective. The people I've met in the business are of very high integrity. In fact, they have helped get rid of people who have violated rules of conduct and don't put up with anything unethical. So sad there's nothing here but criticism because there are a lot of really good people in the business as well.
DeleteAnonymous - you're full of shit! Nobody in Amway has any integrity! Or if they do they'll never get ahead in Amway and quit after a few months. The only way to get ahead in Amway is if you're a good liar and have no morals.
DeleteI know that I'm speaking to a bunch of people who don't understand how network marketing works. It works the opposite of the way traditional business works. unfortunately all of our lives we are taught that the best way to make it is to go to school, get a good education and a good job. So far that formula doesn't produce much success because of the politics at most jobs. That's the pyramid. Nothing wrong with going to school and getting an education and a good job but network marketing rewards you for helping others succeed. Most jobs are designed to where if you don't look out for #1 you will not make it.
ReplyDeleteThe majority of people who get exposed to network marketing think that it's a get rich quick scheme and that's the way they approach it. When it doesn't happen quick, they quit.
The fact is you have to work hard !!!!!But if you do it right you won't have to work as hard for very long compared to the traditional way of doing things. You have to work in a way that is different from the traditional mindset. Most people won't do it. That's why the average network marketer makes very little money. As a matter of fact the average person won't even join this type of business because they can't see it. That's why you can make big bucks in this type of business. If everybody was doing it, there would be no money in it.
Think about it. The top legal money earners in the world are doing things that most people won't do. The harder it is, the less people will do it and that's why the money is so big for the ones that will do it. Network marketing is simple but it's hard!!!! and yes, there are some bad people that get into network marketing. But isn't that the case with every profession?
AMEN !!!
DeleteI've been involved, at a hobby level for 20 years !
At my last JOB I found myself working the business model for them. My wife and I decided, if I could make a 100k working my job, I could double or even triple my income by doing the same thing in my own business.
I personally know 4 Diamonds, 3 of which started their business within months of my start date.
They are honest hard working people with the same type of issues everyone has, but the choose to work hard and stayed the course ! Now the reap the rewards !
People who say bad things about the business either don't understand it or to be blunt, just want something for nothing and are not willing to work hard !
I can find more fun hobbies than sitting in a room of fucking assholes pretending to be business owners and spending huge amounts of money on shitty overpriced products. At least you admit it's a hobby for you and the IRS has already declared Amway a hobby and social gathering and is coming down hard on IBO's who submit Amway "business expenses". But you've given me an idea for a new list so thanks for dropping by!
Deletelol. I could tell countless stories about "scamway" and how I got suckered in. I remember when I did get suckered in (all in the name if saving money on products) I got guilted into going to the area "conn"vention. I reluctantly agreed to go. The person who was my upline insisted that she drive me there (we were roommates). When I got there, I wanted to leave, and she refused to take me home (as did any of my friends that I called to come and get me) saying, "you never know when something they say might hit you." The weekend was a disaster. So glad to be free from Scamway.
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous. Thanks for stopping by. You got it. Amway put the con in convention! You're not the first person who's been held hostage at an Scamway meeting. And no those brainwashed ambots don't want to leave and miss a piece of wisdom from their beloved cult leaders. I had no problem leaving and even played chauffeur to an unfortunate few who wanted to leave when their upline didn't.
DeleteEvery now and then I get an urge to look up the latest info on the Scamway world. So this time I landed on your blog and I'm glad I did. My wife of twenty five years and I were coaxed onto the soap slickened slopes of Mt Scamway back in the early 90's after we were first married. We were a couple of wide eyed 23 yr olds who wanted simply to help ourselves financially by making that extra few hundred bucks a month and buy products we were already using from ourselves. Sound familiar? Our sponsor was a guy I went to school with. It all seemed pretty good until we attended our first function, a Dream Night if I recall. Start of a fucking nightmare is what it was. We were newly married and as such didnt have a lot of money. We did have good credit however. So we paid for this with mostly credit, partly cash, all with the blessing of our upline direct. It was quite expensive even with like forty of us crammed in a room in Richmond. And we didnt sleep all damned weekend. And above all I was really uncomfortable with a lot of what was being said but tried to keep an "open mind". But I digress. After this I began dissecting facts and crunching numbers and realized in the back of my mind that this was a losing proposition. But I wanted to give it a fair shake and I'm not a quitter, and my bride whom I did and do love dearly, was all in. So we continued. For two long years and the birth of our first child. His birth caused us both to take a long look at how we were spending our resources and we finally had the clarity of mind to say fuck it. The addiction for her was the people. You know the ones who hug you incessantly and tell you they love you? The ones who tell you how great you are, you're a winner, and all that shit? I'm not really a touchy feely guy and wasn't really into that but she was raised in a home where praise and encouragement came at a premium. Just another angle for the programmers to use. For me it was the desire to achieve success for me and my wife and honestly, I wanted her to be proud of me like those gals up on stage were proud of their hardworking hubbies. (Even tho I hear a whole bunch of them were having fun on the side and are now no longer wed). I have to this day no real idea how much we lost on that whole damned mess. I know it took a huge toll on our married life because of the bills we racked up in pursuit of "The Dream". By the time we escaped and deprogrammed we were flat broke, the cards were maxxed, the savings were gone, and we were constantly at each others throats over everything, but the fights always started about money, or rather the lack of it. And there was enough fucking LOC in our closet to float a battleship. Rather than helping us, the Ama-Scam set us back a good five years financially. Today I would never fall for it, but as a young and gullible man I was sucked right in. And I actually tried. I went out and met people. You know, "cold contacting" and setting up "QI's" and the whole damn tamale. Went to the meetings, CONventions, and slept 3-4 hours a nite. And never made enough to cover the gas and the fucking food, let alone hotel rooms. Looking back it was like escaping from a booby hatch. After probly a year of no Scamway influence, no tapes in our car tape deck,(no they weren't friggin CD's they werent invented yet) and telling every upline Ambot who called to apply pressure to have an arsenic and LOC cocktail, we were free. We are now approaching our Silver-no longer in Scamway-Thank You Lord Anniversary. Carry on your good work, Anna Banana.
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous! Thanks for stopping by. Actually I'm going to feature your comments on an upcoming post because this ones kind of old and a lot of my readers will miss what you have to say.
DeleteLooks like things haven't changed a lot in the last 20 years!
You're like most people who get caught up in this scam. Normal people who want to make extra money based on the lies told to you by the Amway liars how much thousands of dollars you can make each money working part time out of your home 10 to 15 hours a week. People not like you are the crazed liars and scammers who love Amway and their cult leaders more than everyone else in their lives and are featured in this blog.
Glad you got out and got your lives back on track before too much more damage was done.
I stumbled upon your site after searching for "The Goads", since I was curious if they existed, let me explain. I was a "lifer" in Amway back in the 80's-90's. I was quite fluent in "the plan" and could "persuade" (I have to be careful how I say that, since if you "chose" the right people, they didn't need persuading), and "candidate" that this was the best way to financial freedom. It certainly makes sense that the most common persons to approach are young unassuming "go getters" (I never used so many quotation marks) or someone who is a solid business man. One has no idea what is ahead of them and the other has the money to "invest". Anyway all that has been said is true in that there is a clear deception in what is going on there. Yes, I know a person who still has their "dream" does not see it that way, but lets look at a few thing they don't tell you. 1. "If you work hard at it, you will succeed". Now they carefully don't tell you how long that will be, since they have no idea. That works in their favor both ways. One, as long as your in you purchase the products and "essentials", which leads to at the next question, but I'll get to that. On the other hand if you decide to leave for ANY reason, you've lost your "dream". 2. It will cost you now, but when you make it, it will be a business that allows you the free time to do what you want. Cost? That's an understatement. If you've got kids, sorry, if you're struggling to pay off debt, don't worry about it, once your business kicks in, you can pay for all that and more. (Heard this all before?) So after putting in countless hours showing the plan, driving to meetings and getting out to "contact" people, that doesn't leave much time for the family. Again, this is why to seek out the young and "unattached" (no kids). Now how long was that again until I can be successful? You just have to work at it hard, uh huh. 3. You MUST attend the "functions" (another word for con-vention, good choice by the way). Now let me get this right. I can't take my kids anywhere and have no money to take my wife out to dinner, but I NEED to spend money I don't have so that I can keep my "dream" alive? Don't worry, we can get a room that you and 12 others can split to make it less expensive... I guess that brigns me back to why i was searching "The Goads". (Sorry it took me so long) Our pastor today brought up the story of Paul and how Christ said to him that it was hard to work against the goads. He explained what a "goad" was and it was like a light went on. A goad, he said is a sharpened stick that allows the user to guide the sheep in the direction he wants them to go. (ding, ding ding.) Got it yet, The Goads, perfectly and carefully named so, are the sharpened stick that guided the blind sheep ( Amway followers) in the direction of the dream. Well, I have been saving individuals, for sometime, from the misnomers of Amway. I even got "contacted" to a plan showing (that was interesting). It was nice to see good people leaving with me saying thanks. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteThanks PapaD for dropping by. Looks like nothings changed in the decades since you were in Amway. Good comparison with the Goads. I always thought to goad someone was to do something to piss someone else off or annoy them so much they'd do something they don't want to do so the same is appropriate. I like what you have to say so I'm going to bring it onto an upcoming post so the readers don't miss your comment on this older post.
DeleteCool blog. Crown ambassador: Kenny Stewart, who went diamond in 18 months. Remember him? He was blackballed by yager/gooch/dunn/childers inc. He and Brig Hart tried to fight them over the pyramiding of the tools, forcing directs to buy a minimum number "or else". Brig got into monavie, and kenny gave what was left of his business to his mother. And Jack Carduff? My diamond? I heard he was told by a judge to walk away. He bought baysinger police supply in wichita kansas last I heard. All yager and co. had to do was be honest. "We cant tell you". Bullshit.
ReplyDeleteHi keith. Glad you're enjoying the blog. Theres a lot of Diamond infighting on dividing the profits from the tool
DeleteScam and sometimes they get fired. And defect to Monavie. Most of my former upline are now with monavie.
Keith f
DeleteInteresting to read your post. I was a part of Jack Cardiff downline in the early to mid 90s. I lived in Kansas City and my mom was recruited by a lady at work. We both got involved though me more so than my mother. Our first big event happened right away. We went to Indianapolis, to the big dome full of people. I was amazed! I figured something this big had to be good.
Jack Carduff ( who retired from Boeing-Wichita if my memory serves ) would come up to Kansas City and we would try to get people to have one on one meetings with him. It never worked for me.
This has all come back to mind for me these last few weeks because as it turns out, I am moving to Wichita which was the hot bed of our diamonds world I guess. I remember at one time Jack got a Lexus and I was impressed. I always wanted to see his house and see how big it was. But something way back in the back of my mind told me that these people aren't making he money they act like they are making. I of course at that time knew nothing of the profits from tapes and books.
Those tapes were so stupid. They basically told you nothing. I remember at the end of each tape thinking,,, they still told me nothing.
Anna, thanks for blog.
Hi Anonymous. Well thanks for reading the blog and sharing your story. All Ambots are liars including the whoppers they tell about their income. They all have bazillions of dollars rolling in every month from Amway in residual income. Yeah tell us some more fairy tales.
DeleteAgree those tapes are stupid. How does someone at the top of the pyramid screeching "don't dress like a slut" tell you anything about running a business, marketing, and record keeping. They tell you nothing.
Good luck on your move and watch out for Ambots!
I was never so glad to get away from Amway! I was so sick of hearing your child is just a guest in your life for 18 years. You need to support your husband. You need to meet him at the door with a sandwich and glass of milk before you send him off to a Amway meeting. I was pregnant with my son when I became very sick. I was given the ok to fly home to my parents house( we spent more time on the rrunway then the air, so it was a short flight) But our upline was pissed that I was not going to.the big event. I told them I was to sick and was faced with bed rest. If I wished for a smooth pregnancy. They then told me they could make a pad of blankets and pillows on the staircase at the pavilion for me to rest on. They did not give one crap about me or my unborn son. That was the best thing they could have done, that really opened my eyes. That and the belittling they gave me for using negative products and stealing their children's education.
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous. Amway is the good old boys club of male chauvinist pigs. If your husband wasn't a male chauvinist pig before he will be after signing up with the Amway cult. Women are treated from centuries gone by to be obedient gag gag gag and be a Stepford wife. The assholes in the Amway upline didn't give a shit about you or your health as you figured out. They only care about how much money they can steal off your husband before he quits the cult. What you said is a good reason why people in Amway should not be allowed to have children. I've had children of ambots post here and they've led horrible childhoods thanks to the Amway cult.
DeleteI used to be a Ameroid and so glad to have escaped. I escaped after my downline asked to meet with my husband, ALONE so that they could talk about me. They said all kinds of evil things about me and said that they had asked our upline if they could be serviced by someone else since I was not "duplicatable". I asked my husband what he said in my defense and he said "nothing, they're right. Iasked him if he was going to drink the grape koolaid when they pass it out. Needless to say, I escaped him and Amway.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - my husband frequently met with the fucking assholes in the Amway upline for the sole purpose of talking about me and trashing me for being an unsupportive unchristian dreamstealing wife.
DeleteGood on you for escaping a brainwashed Ambot and Amway. No need to stick around and put up with that bullshit if it appears the husband is going to be a lifer in Scamway. A better life for you now that all your money isn't going to tithe the Great Amway God.
There's nothing that brings those evil Amway bastards more happiness than destroying other people's lives.
No kidding. Not just destroying marriages but financially too. We went direct...we had one good leg so the upline put us on warehouse and told us to stock our garage to the tune of $10,000. As soon as we did that, they put our one good leg on warehouse too so have I have a garage full of product and no one is ordering from me. So after a few months I started trying to return stuff to Amway and they in turn charged me a 10% restocking fee...i was in trouble with my husband, my upline and our diamond Dave Severn. WWDB what a joke...they weren't building dreams, they were building nightmares. And don't even get me started on Bill Britt....
DeleteHi Anonymous - Amway is all about destroying your life. Marriages, finances, anything those evil bastards can get their clutches on. And look how far you went. Most Ambots don't even get one person to sign up for Scamway. Yup we constantly heard about stockpiling Amway products - a sure sign of a pyramid scheme. Our sack of shit Platinum had so much Amway shit in his 2 car garage he couldn't even get one car in there. At least you got money back from Amway. Usually their I-don't-give-a-shit department isn't too friendly about anyone wanting to return their "fine" products. Taking a 10% hit is better than losing all your money.
DeleteYes, all Amway cares about is getting that big chunk of money from an Ambot supposedly to stock for their "store". They couldn't care less if the Ambot actually has anyone to sell all that crap to. They got their money, and that's all that matters to them.
DeleteIt's funny that their "threat" to an Ambot who doesn't submit fully to upline is that they will not "help" them anymore. Which is funny because their help consists only of draining them of their finances through useless seminars, CD's, books and buying products they have no customers to sell them to.
Anonymous - at every Scamway meeting we heard the threat that if we don't do what the fucking assholes in our Amway upline tell us to do - namely invest in the Amway tool scam - then they wouldn't work with us. I was OK with that. That would mean not having to buy shitty overpriced Amway products and not putting up with the fucking Amway losers in our upline.
Delete