“Here’s what we’ll do for you. We’ll help you get started in your own business. And we’ll offer you coaching and mentoring.”
I heard that at just about every Amway meeting.
I probably heard that long before we even got involved in Amway when I went to an information meeting about an entrepreneurship training program which I ultimately spent several months attending.
Amway IBO’s sponsor people by telling them this is their opportunity to be a business owner but don’t give any further advice on what else is involved when starting up a business. You’d think this would come up in one of the late night “teachings”. Instead those “teachings” consist mainly of rants about which IBO’s should change their clothes, hairstyle, car they drive, etc. It would make better sense if those “teachings” actually provided useful information such as advice on how real business owners set up shop.
While I’m not going over the curriculum or advice I received during my entrepreneurship training, here are a few things I learned there about starting my own business.
1. Search for a business name. This doesn’t mean thinking up a name, decide to start using that name, go for it, and that’s the end of the story. It means you pay a government agency to do a name search to see if anyone else has already registered that business name.
2. Register your business name, probably at the same government agency.
3. Purchase a business license for the city where you live/do business in.
4. Purchase business insurance including errors and omissions insurance. (This is to cover your ass in case you lie or make misrepresentations to others while tricking them to come to Amway meetings, sponsoring IBO’s, or buying products. Piss off the wrong person and that insurance might come in handy.)
Real coaches and mentors would have these on their checklist for starting up a business. Phony coaches and mentors running a scam wouldn't.
There are many steps to take when starting up a company such as buying equipment, payroll, tax numbers, hiring professionals (accountant, lawyer), registering the vehicle under company name, etc. The above lists just gets most self employed entrepreneurs started. Important starting steps to take to be considered a serious business owner.
The Amway IBO’s I knew didn’t take any of these basic steps and yet they still considered themselves “business owners”. Ha! Nothing but jokesters pretending to be business owners. Not in the same league.
I’d say Ambot and I were the only IBO’s in our leg who were real business owners, and I’m talking a business that has nothing to do with Amway. The steps we took when setting up our real business, we didn’t take with the “Amway business” because we were never instructed to do so by our upline. Amway “business owners” or commissioned salespeople?
To sum up our Amway penance: pretend business owners losing real money.
