Joecool wrote something on his
blog to the effect that if you aren’t earning money in your Amway business but
are spending lots of money on Amway purchases and tools then its almost like
you’ve joined an expensive social club.
I think that statement may apply to Ambot. The more money he spent on Amway
products and tools, the more his new friends liked him.
People are busy spending time with friends and family. They’ve busy at their
jobs or business owners may end up with some odd hours to accommodate clients.
People with school age children are involved in their kids recreational
activities or driving them to their activities. Add in grocery shopping,
spending time at the gym, walking the dog, and other recreational pursuits. How
about quiet time at home reading a book, on the computer, or watching TV. What
about the not so fun stuff around the house like cleaning, laundry, mowing the
lawn, and keeping the garden weeded. Most people have things to do that fill
their days. We lead busy lives just like countless others.
If we weren’t already busy enough after Ambot wanted to do the Amway thing
again we were constantly on the go, go, go. Often there would be 2 or 3 board
plans in a week that we had to attend even though the same old bullshit we’d
heard the night before we listened to again. This would tie us up from 7pm to
midnight. Nothing like boring us to death so we’re ready to sleep. Not to
mention any other seminars or rallies or other events the upline decided we
should attend.
I remember being at a function and listening to a Diamond speaker who was
showing the audience “lines” to use to pick up prospects. Say a prospect came
up with the objection that “the business” wouldn’t work for them because they
don’t have any friends. The Diamond says, then ask them: “How would you like to
have some friends?”
The expensive social club reference triggered that memory.
Someone who doesn’t have friends may be interested in joining some sort of
social group to meet people. But the purpose of being an Amway IBO is to find
other prospects to join up and become IBO's too or to find customers to buy
Amway products. So if the only friends you have are people already involved in
Amway, there is no chance of getting any of them to sign up to be an IBO or to
buy Amway products.
So even though we already lead busy lives Ambot decided we should be even
busier. He had a whole new group of friends who were slyly influencing him to
leave behind his old friends. He was full of self-importance whenever someone
asked him to come over and he’d answer he was busy that night (Amway meeting).
Not to mention the overload of text messages and phone calls that he
immediately had to deal with from the fucking assholes in his upline.
I’m not here to suggest social clubs or how to meet new friends. All I want to
say is if you are looking for a new group of people to hang out with there are
many avenues to try. If one of your reasons to join Amway is to have a ready
made group of friends that’s a bad decision. Amway is an expensive social club
that will cause you financial and emotional distress. When you quit Amway
that's the last you'll ever hear of these new friends fickle bastards that
they are. These aren’t the kind of friends you need. This isn't the
business venture you need.
And one more time from marriedtoanambot let’s just send another big old FUCK
YOU out to Amway Scamway and their scammer army of Ambots.
I remember that comment from Joe Cool about Amway being an expensive social club. He also compared it to being in a buyers' club like Costco, where you paid a fee to be able to purchase stuff from their store (supposedly "at a discount").
ReplyDeleteBut the "social club" analogy is really the stronger one. I came to realize (after spending years checking the anti-MLM websites) that the primary motivation driving persons to join Amway and all the other rackets is personal and psychological. They have a deep social need for connection with friendly companions, and they have an inferiority complex about "not being successful enough."
A business cult like Amway satisfies both of those needs. As long as you "stay and obey" (that's the basic Amway rule) you will be love-bombed and congratulated and edified and always be welcome. If you quit, you'll be cancelled or ostracized or excommunicated. Staying in the group means that you'll always have an identity and affiliation that guarantees your importance; and you will always have a bunch of fellow members who will support you and tell you that you're great.
That's why the "social club" comparison is right on the mark. The original social clubs in England served those two purposes. They were exclusively male, they were very picky about whom they would accept, they had a definite social prestige, and they required hefty membership dues. They even had behavior and dress codes for when you came to the club, and you paid for whatever food or drink you consumed there, just like in a restaurant.
Why did so many Englishmen want to be in these boring clubs? Simple -- the clubs conferred great social prestige, and they were exclusive enough so that you could be assured of having the company of persons with whom you shared the sense of "being in a special elite." The club membership cost quite a lot, but members were willing to pay the fees because they got a social and psychological satisfaction from belonging. Some affluent Englishmen were members of four or five different clubs.
Amway is really a provincial, small-town American manifestation of this mentality, except that it is also linked with product-purchase. Every Amway subsystem tells its members that they are special, and urges them to have contempt for non-members. Anna says that her husband was "full of self-importance" about being in Amway, and that he was deeply concerned with the good opinion of his up-line and other Amway associates. This is the perfect "social club" mentality. And many insecure IBOs are completely willing to shell out the membership dues and fees, and buy the monthly quota of crappy products.
Anonymous - the wording of social club also came from a judge in tax court while he was ruling against Amway tax cheats who deducted everything Amway on their taxes for a few years but had zero profit to show. Judge said all the functions were social gatherings with no real training or expectation of increasing sales by attending.
DeleteYou're right about Amway Ambots and their need for social connection with friendly people who love bomb them and stroke their egos.
Interesting about the social clubs being mostly male which is what Amway is mostly. Women are welcome to hand over their money but I've never heard of any woman reaching a level of significance in Amway. The male chauvinist club won't allow that to happen.
As for prestige - years ago I want to say mid or late 70s - although we're not in England my father got an invite to join an exclusive men's social club but refused due to their policy of not allowing colored members. As you said these social clubs are picky about who the let in.
But good comparison with Amway. It costs a lot of money for Ambots to be part of the Amway social club.