MLM Survivors Homepage. Penny's Story

	Penny's Story (continued)
	I had not seen the plan yet but I was still curious. Our soon to be sponsor came to our house to follow up…. all he did was show us the plan and find out what some of our dreams were. I thought he was truly interested in us, but I came to learn that his interest in us was not genuine. It was conditional friendship as long as we were interested in Amway. This became quite apparent over the years and is now glaringly apparent since he has called us ONCE since we went inactive. In the Britt system you learn to find out what your prospect's/downline's dreams are…not because you care about them, but only so you can capitalize on their dreams for your own gain. When I finally got out to a hotel meeting it was an hour-plus from my home, went from 8pm - 10:00pm and the meeting room was virtually empty. I didn't get home till 12:00 by the time all was said and done and I got up at 5:00 the next day. (Already the sleep deprivation was beginning). The speaker was excited and appeared to be very successful. I later found out he was a Silver Producer but has never gone PSDD and only achieved the Silver level 1-2 times since then. (But don't worry, you'll make it soon). He spent 80% of his time talking about luxurious lifestyles and material things.... which interested me enough. But what really got my attention was the potential to earn $100,000.00 per year in just a 2-5 year time frame. I saw a way out of a job that was burning me out. We left the meeting with a date booked to open our business kit. I was now fired-up. Our sponsor left us with several audiotapes, a book and copies of the latest catalogs. I liked the items in the catalogs.... it's general merchandise that you can find in any catalog. The Amway manufactured items held no interest for me because I didn't know what they were...and there were no prices in this catalog. Once I found out the prices, I didn't cost compare because I was never that kind of shopper. (Had I been, I would've seen that the majority of the items were no great savings once you figured in shipping costs.) However, when I tried to sell the Amway products at retail prices, I met a lot of opposition and had many more "no's" than "yes's" due to the cost of the products, especially the vitamins. Even explaining the "value of concentration" and "high quality" didn't help me that often. Ironically, I did a price comparison about 2 years ago and found Amway's prices to be the same or a little higher as the stores in my area. This was done figuring cost per use, but before adding shipping. So if you think SA8 (laundry detergent) is a better value that Tide.... think again. SA8 actually costs more per use in the Philadelphia area. (I was doing price comparisons so I could produce a form to give to my customers....so much for that idea). We listened to the tapes and I found all of the women to be sickeningly sweet and extremely dependent on their husbands (read submissive). I really didn't care for a lot of the things I heard. The tapes implied that you had to be a Christian to be successful at this business. I was very uncomfortable with this…what if you were of another faith….or wanted to sponsor someone who is? The men all talked about how they decided to be "real men" and take care of their family's future by "building the business". So if you don't build the business, you're not a real man. And if you're not a submissive wife, you're not a real woman…at least in the Britt system's eyes. I still wasn't sold 100% on the Britt system and had many reservations, but we got started anyway. My husband was excited and wanted to be successful, so I decided to help him. I learned the paperwork and took care of ordering products. We were told time and again to follow the Britt system if we wanted to be successful...and successful / core distributors create 300pv in their circle alone. ("Eat 100, Use 100 and Sell 100"). So within 1 month I had my house converted into an Am-house...all Amway products. I was told to get rid of my old make-up and switch to Artistry...this was a hard thing to give up. Make-up is a very personal thing to a woman. I was also told to get rid of my old perfumes and go to Amway's perfumes...."because your downline could tell by smelling you if your weren't core." So, I got rid of them. I had very little help initially with retailing. In fact, it wasn't stressed at all....except you were supposed to sell 100pv per month. (9 times out of 10 I bought my way to 300pv....I still have Amway products that I bought 6-9 months ago that haven't been opened. I've slowly been returning them to Amway for a refund without a problem...and I'm sure my upline must be pretty ticked because their volume takes a significant dip when I do this). When we got started, I found a few slips in my initial kit on which to report your 10 customer sales per month to your upline. When I asked my sponsor and her sponsor about this, they looked at each other nervously and then told me I didn't need to worry about it until I went direct. The 10 customer rule has since been changed and you are now required to have a total of 50pv in retail sales to any number of customers if you are to receive a bonus check (PV check). I have never been asked to produce this info to anyone upline. We were always told in our weekly open meetings (more about meetings later) to change our buying habits by buying exclusively from our own store and then teach others to do the same...."and oh, by the way, hand out a catalog here and there to generate some retail income." I have rarely had anyone buy from me that way....it has always taken the personal touch to make a sale. Interestingly, the Amway Business Compendium (ABC) states, "Amway distributors who...do not properly emphasize retail sales of Amway products may invite scrutiny under various state pyramid laws. In summary, Amway distributors must present the Amway Sales and Marketing plan...properly emphasizing retail selling...." [Emphasis mine]. So we got started fairly slowly. Our upline kept promoting something called a "function" named Spring Leadership that was being held in Tennessee in 3 weeks. They asked us to go so many times that they were pushy. I didn't want to go...I wasn't that interested in spending 3 days with people I had just met. We were told that if we didn't go we'd be hurting the growth of our business by 6 months. We were told that this is where we'd "see the big picture and hear the real information to move on." We were told that we could ride in a conversion van with 6 or 7 other people overnight ("don't worry, you'll be able to sleep"....are they nuts???) share a hotel room with 8-9 other people - whom we didn't know (what is this...college spring break??) and eat at fast food restaurants so it won't cost too much (fast food?? yuck! Not for a whole weekend!). (And if this thing is such a moneymaker, why are they cramming all these people into a room so they could save money?) I was so turned off by the travel arrangements that it reinforced my decision not to go. My husband wasn't too keen on it either. We were told that the hotel was booked so we couldn't get another room and we were encouraged not to fly because it cost too much. Had we gone that first weekend, I would have quit right then and there! Please note...these functions are put on by the Britt AMO (Amway Motivational Organization) and supposedly are not sanctioned by Amway thus they are not subject to the 100% buy-back rule. (Money back guarantee). We went to our first major weekend function in July...Family Reunion. (Whose family?) We left on a Thursday night at 1am and drove all night and into the next day to get there (South Carolina). I was majorly sleep deprived by the time we got there. And I was mad...they told me I could sleep in the van, but they played tapes all night on the way down. (Let the mind control begin). The function started at 7pm Friday night and went till 1am....then we had to get something to eat....out till 3:30am ("gotta get around the bigger pins at all times"). Up the next day at 6 and off to the coliseum by 8:00....sit there all day, listen to speaker after speaker say the same things and talk about how great life is because they are retired from their jobs. (They may not have a traditional job....they just traded one job for another. Now they work from 6pm-2am). I thought we were going there to learn how to build Amway...not to hear rah rah all weekend. The Saturday day session ended at 3pm....break for dinner and maybe squeeze in a nap. I was so exhausted and miserable that I wasn't going to go back for the night session...until my "upline lady" came into my hotel room to talk to me. She convinced me to go....and my indoctrination into this insidious cult continued! Saturday night...7pm-1am....more of the same talks from stage and more greasy food afterwards. (Let the thigh widening begin!!). Sunday AM...a non-denominational Christian Church Service was held in the coliseum. There was also an alternate non-Christian service put together by other distributors. We decided to attend this thinking we'd meet some other non-Christian folks to get their take on everything. This held me in the Britt AMO for a long time because we kept getting together at every function for support. We were told that when we "earned the right to speak" we could tell our stories from our religious perspective. But in the same breath these speakers repeated over and over again that they couldn't have become successful if they weren't Christian...so what's a person to think. Sunday afternoon - 2-5pm…finally some real teaching....then a drive home into the wee hours of the morning. I was exhausted physically but also strangely excited. The excitement only lasted a short while and the weekly grind of building the business would take its toll again. The other distributors at the function seemed so normal...the girl and guy next door...but there was something not quite right. They had weird smiles on their faces and looked really spaced out...kind of like when you catch a deer in your headlights. They were all sickeningly nice and sweet and VERY fired-up. There was screaming and yelling, tears and laughter, chanting and singing and holding hands. They had a band playing. They had videos and exciting talks. They had expensive men's and women's clothes for sale by Diamond Clothiers...another Britt company. They had books and tapes for sale. They had tee shirts. On Saturday night they had a "parade of silvers and above"...all of the silver producers and bigger pins dressed up in formal attire (full-length gowns and tuxes) and paraded across the stage. It was great to see all of the beautiful clothes, but I have yet to understand the purpose of this. I mean I know it was for motivation....build Amway to this level and you too will be able to wear these fine clothes. But I ask you- what other business out there has this kind of circus going on? 95% of the weekend was motivation...5% real teaching. I wanted to know how to sell some products and how to get new people started. My husband wanted to learn how to do an overview, stp and follow-up. I felt like I had been away for an eternity in a really bizarre situation. If I had ever done acid I'd compare it to a bad trip. They also started the weekend with the Pledge of Allegiance and a Christian prayer……very odd. My husband and I started bickering and eventually it led to fighting throughout the 4 years. Our upline told us we were having "am-fights" because "it's the first time we were ever really talking." (How did they know? They never knew us before the Britt system). The requirements of the Britt AMO were slowly grinding us down....and it became all consuming. Every conversation revolved around "the business". Every person we met became a prospect. Wherever we would go, we would "contact" people so we could eventually show them the plan. We were core. We were looked to as leaders. We sponsored up. We went to everything...and I mean everything....no matter how far....and many, many times we got no success from these meetings. We read the books and listened to the tapes on a daily basis. We counseled with our upline about everything...job changes, family planning, buying a car, moving - and of course about Amway. I would talk about quitting and my upline would come in and smooth out the waves. The standard response was to read more books, listen to more tapes and ,of course, go to another meeting. (More money in your upline's pockets and no real solution for you). So when we really decided to walk away and regain our lives, we didn't counsel upline about it. I just vanished and after 2 weeks I started to get calls from my upline. I told them I needed to walk away and didn't tell them why. My decision was just that....MINE. And I didn't feel the need to share it with them. I turned over all my product orders to my sponsor and walked away. Hallelujah!! I'll have more about our personal story a little later. Read on... If you haven't been in an AMO you don't know how much mind and life control is involved. And if you are firmly entrenched in an AMO, take a few weeks off to really assess things. Or if you can't bring yourself to do that at this point, go to the next major function but leave behind all of your "hot buttons"….you know, the ones that say push here for motivation. This time go as an observer and watch what's really going on behind the scenes. Don't worry about doing this…..if this is the right thing for you to be doing, you'll have no misgivings. And if it's not the right thing for you to be doing, you'll know that too. The Britt Training System

Penny's Story (continued)

I had not seen the plan yet but I was still curious. Our soon to be sponsor came to our house to follow up…. all he did was show us the plan and find out what some of our dreams were. I thought he was truly interested in us, but I came to learn that his interest in us was not genuine. It was conditional friendship as long as we were interested in Amway. This became quite apparent over the years and is now glaringly apparent since he has called us ONCE since we went inactive. In the Britt system you learn to find out what your prospect's/downline's dreams are…not because you care about them, but only so you can capitalize on their dreams for your own gain.

When I finally got out to a hotel meeting it was an hour-plus from my home, went from 8pm - 10:00pm and the meeting room was virtually empty. I didn't get home till 12:00 by the time all was said and done and I got up at 5:00 the next day. (Already the sleep deprivation was beginning). The speaker was excited and appeared to be very successful. I later found out he was a Silver Producer but has never gone PSDD and only achieved the Silver level 1-2 times since then. (But don't worry, you'll make it soon). He spent 80% of his time talking about luxurious lifestyles and material things.... which interested me enough. But what really got my attention was the potential to earn $100,000.00 per year in just a 2-5 year time frame. I saw a way out of a job that was burning me out. We left the meeting with a date booked to open our business kit. I was now fired-up.

Our sponsor left us with several audiotapes, a book and copies of the latest catalogs. I liked the items in the catalogs.... it's general merchandise that you can find in any catalog. The Amway manufactured items held no interest for me because I didn't know what they were...and there were no prices in this catalog. Once I found out the prices, I didn't cost compare because I was never that kind of shopper. (Had I been, I would've seen that the majority of the items were no great savings once you figured in shipping costs.) However, when I tried to sell the Amway products at retail prices, I met a lot of opposition and had many more "no's" than "yes's" due to the cost of the products, especially the vitamins. Even explaining the "value of concentration" and "high quality" didn't help me that often. Ironically, I did a price comparison about 2 years ago and found Amway's prices to be the same or a little higher as the stores in my area. This was done figuring cost per use, but before adding shipping. So if you think SA8 (laundry detergent) is a better value that Tide.... think again. SA8 actually costs more per use in the Philadelphia area. (I was doing price comparisons so I could produce a form to give to my customers....so much for that idea).

We listened to the tapes and I found all of the women to be sickeningly sweet and extremely dependent on their husbands (read submissive). I really didn't care for a lot of the things I heard. The tapes implied that you had to be a Christian to be successful at this business. I was very uncomfortable with this…what if you were of another faith….or wanted to sponsor someone who is? The men all talked about how they decided to be "real men" and take care of their family's future by "building the business". So if you don't build the business, you're not a real man. And if you're not a submissive wife, you're not a real woman…at least in the Britt system's eyes.

I still wasn't sold 100% on the Britt system and had many reservations, but we got started anyway. My husband was excited and wanted to be successful, so I decided to help him. I learned the paperwork and took care of ordering products. We were told time and again to follow the Britt system if we wanted to be successful...and successful / core distributors create 300pv in their circle alone. ("Eat 100, Use 100 and Sell 100"). So within 1 month I had my house converted into an Am-house...all Amway products. I was told to get rid of my old make-up and switch to Artistry...this was a hard thing to give up. Make-up is a very personal thing to a woman. I was also told to get rid of my old perfumes and go to Amway's perfumes...."because your downline could tell by smelling you if your weren't core." So, I got rid of them.

I had very little help initially with retailing. In fact, it wasn't stressed at all....except you were supposed to sell 100pv per month. (9 times out of 10 I bought my way to 300pv....I still have Amway products that I bought 6-9 months ago that haven't been opened. I've slowly been returning them to Amway for a refund without a problem...and I'm sure my upline must be pretty ticked because their volume takes a significant dip when I do this). When we got started, I found a few slips in my initial kit on which to report your 10 customer sales per month to your upline. When I asked my sponsor and her sponsor about this, they looked at each other nervously and then told me I didn't need to worry about it until I went direct. The 10 customer rule has since been changed and you are now required to have a total of 50pv in retail sales to any number of customers if you are to receive a bonus check (PV check). I have never been asked to produce this info to anyone upline. We were always told in our weekly open meetings (more about meetings later) to change our buying habits by buying exclusively from our own store and then teach others to do the same...."and oh, by the way, hand out a catalog here and there to generate some retail income." I have rarely had anyone buy from me that way....it has always taken the personal touch to make a sale.

Interestingly, the Amway Business Compendium (ABC) states, "Amway distributors who...do not properly emphasize retail sales of Amway products may invite scrutiny under various state pyramid laws. In summary, Amway distributors must present the Amway Sales and Marketing plan...properly emphasizing retail selling...." [Emphasis mine].

So we got started fairly slowly. Our upline kept promoting something called a "function" named Spring Leadership that was being held in Tennessee in 3 weeks. They asked us to go so many times that they were pushy. I didn't want to go...I wasn't that interested in spending 3 days with people I had just met. We were told that if we didn't go we'd be hurting the growth of our business by 6 months. We were told that this is where we'd "see the big picture and hear the real information to move on." We were told that we could ride in a conversion van with 6 or 7 other people overnight ("don't worry, you'll be able to sleep"....are they nuts???) share a hotel room with 8-9 other people - whom we didn't know (what is this...college spring break??) and eat at fast food restaurants so it won't cost too much (fast food?? yuck! Not for a whole weekend!). (And if this thing is such a moneymaker, why are they cramming all these people into a room so they could save money?) I was so turned off by the travel arrangements that it reinforced my decision not to go. My husband wasn't too keen on it either. We were told that the hotel was booked so we couldn't get another room and we were encouraged not to fly because it cost too much. Had we gone that first weekend, I would have quit right then and there!

Please note...these functions are put on by the Britt AMO (Amway Motivational Organization) and supposedly are not sanctioned by Amway thus they are not subject to the 100% buy-back rule. (Money back guarantee).

We went to our first major weekend function in July...Family Reunion. (Whose family?) We left on a Thursday night at 1am and drove all night and into the next day to get there (South Carolina). I was majorly sleep deprived by the time we got there. And I was mad...they told me I could sleep in the van, but they played tapes all night on the way down. (Let the mind control begin). The function started at 7pm Friday night and went till 1am....then we had to get something to eat....out till 3:30am ("gotta get around the bigger pins at all times"). Up the next day at 6 and off to the coliseum by 8:00....sit there all day, listen to speaker after speaker say the same things and talk about how great life is because they are retired from their jobs. (They may not have a traditional job....they just traded one job for another. Now they work from 6pm-2am). I thought we were going there to learn how to build Amway...not to hear rah rah all weekend. The Saturday day session ended at 3pm....break for dinner and maybe squeeze in a nap. I was so exhausted and miserable that I wasn't going to go back for the night session...until my "upline lady" came into my hotel room to talk to me. She convinced me to go....and my indoctrination into this insidious cult continued! Saturday night...7pm-1am....more of the same talks from stage and more greasy food afterwards. (Let the thigh widening begin!!). Sunday AM...a non-denominational Christian Church Service was held in the coliseum. There was also an alternate non-Christian service put together by other distributors. We decided to attend this thinking we'd meet some other non-Christian folks to get their take on everything. This held me in the Britt AMO for a long time because we kept getting together at every function for support. We were told that when we "earned the right to speak" we could tell our stories from our religious perspective. But in the same breath these speakers repeated over and over again that they couldn't have become successful if they weren't Christian...so what's a person to think. Sunday afternoon - 2-5pm…finally some real teaching....then a drive home into the wee hours of the morning. I was exhausted physically but also strangely excited. The excitement only lasted a short while and the weekly grind of building the business would take its toll again. The other distributors at the function seemed so normal...the girl and guy next door...but there was something not quite right. They had weird smiles on their faces and looked really spaced out...kind of like when you catch a deer in your headlights. They were all sickeningly nice and sweet and VERY fired-up. There was screaming and yelling, tears and laughter, chanting and singing and holding hands. They had a band playing. They had videos and exciting talks. They had expensive men's and women's clothes for sale by Diamond Clothiers...another Britt company. They had books and tapes for sale. They had tee shirts. On Saturday night they had a "parade of silvers and above"...all of the silver producers and bigger pins dressed up in formal attire (full-length gowns and tuxes) and paraded across the stage. It was great to see all of the beautiful clothes, but I have yet to understand the purpose of this. I mean I know it was for motivation....build Amway to this level and you too will be able to wear these fine clothes. But I ask you- what other business out there has this kind of circus going on? 95% of the weekend was motivation...5% real teaching. I wanted to know how to sell some products and how to get new people started. My husband wanted to learn how to do an overview, stp and follow-up. I felt like I had been away for an eternity in a really bizarre situation. If I had ever done acid I'd compare it to a bad trip. They also started the weekend with the Pledge of Allegiance and a Christian prayer……very odd.

My husband and I started bickering and eventually it led to fighting throughout the 4 years. Our upline told us we were having "am-fights" because "it's the first time we were ever really talking." (How did they know? They never knew us before the Britt system). The requirements of the Britt AMO were slowly grinding us down....and it became all consuming. Every conversation revolved around "the business". Every person we met became a prospect. Wherever we would go, we would "contact" people so we could eventually show them the plan. We were core. We were looked to as leaders. We sponsored up. We went to everything...and I mean everything....no matter how far....and many, many times we got no success from these meetings. We read the books and listened to the tapes on a daily basis. We counseled with our upline about everything...job changes, family planning, buying a car, moving - and of course about Amway. I would talk about quitting and my upline would come in and smooth out the waves. The standard response was to read more books, listen to more tapes and ,of course, go to another meeting. (More money in your upline's pockets and no real solution for you). So when we really decided to walk away and regain our lives, we didn't counsel upline about it. I just vanished and after 2 weeks I started to get calls from my upline. I told them I needed to walk away and didn't tell them why. My decision was just that....MINE. And I didn't feel the need to share it with them. I turned over all my product orders to my sponsor and walked away. Hallelujah!! I'll have more about our personal story a little later. Read on...

If you haven't been in an AMO you don't know how much mind and life control is involved. And if you are firmly entrenched in an AMO, take a few weeks off to really assess things. Or if you can't bring yourself to do that at this point, go to the next major function but leave behind all of your "hot buttons"….you know, the ones that say push here for motivation. This time go as an observer and watch what's really going on behind the scenes. Don't worry about doing this…..if this is the right thing for you to be doing, you'll have no misgivings. And if it's not the right thing for you to be doing, you'll know that too.

The Britt Training System

Home Send E-Mail Read E-Mail Links Read Articles Visit Book Corner

This page updated Jun-06-98