From time to time, I receive e-mails from site visitors who attack me -- sometimes very viciously -- for not presenting "positive" information about Amway, or Equinox, or their pet MLM. These letters usually contain several common threads.

1. How can you attack this wonderful business which has helped so many?
2. I've done very well (or, more often, I plan to do very well) in this business.
3. You're hurting people by publicizing such "negative" information. Why can't you put something "positive" up there to help people.
4. They never contain any factual information to back up their assertions. They claim the business has "helped" them, but they don't say they've actually made a profit which is, one would suppose, the reason for getting involved in a business. They claim the business has "helped" thousands (or millions!) of people, but they have no facts to back up their assertions.

Frankly, I'm getting a bit tired of this drivel, and will not, in future, respond personally to such e-mails.

Here is a recent, and fairly restrained, example of this type of letter:

It is disheartening to read your negative opinion of what you think Amway is or what Quixtar is and be influencing so many people who could be like us that will miss out on the opportunity to succeed with Amway. Why don't you print positive information or at least non-opinionated? If we had seen this sight 6 years ago, we wouln'd of gotten in and we would have missed out on lots of money, great products and life changing friends. Why would you want anyone to be prevented from doing that? How can you sleep at night knowing that you are intentionally depriving your fellow man the opportunity to enhance their life and pocketbooks by printing this negative site? If Amway only helps 1% like you say, which is way off, what's wrong with that, that's better than no percentage. What percentage of the population are you helping?

"It is disheartening to read your negative opinion. . .." Yes, I'm sure it is disheartening -- but why? What makes my opinion "negative"? Is it because it disagrees with what your upline and AMO leaders have been telling you? Is that the criterion for "negative"? Remember, you had to come to my site -- it didn't just jump off your computer screen and fall into your lap!

". . . of what you think Amway is or what Quixtar is. . ." I think I know Amway pretty well. I was a distributor for more than a decade -- that's ten years -- and I worked for a Diamond for five years. As far as knowing what Quixtar is, since I'm basing my information on the statements coming from corporate spokesmen like Ken McDonald and the DeVos and Van Andel families, yes, I probably do have a better understanding of what it will be than those of you who are listening to all the erroneous hype coming from your upline. For examples of this, see the Quixtar articles.

". . . and be influencing so many people who could be like us that will miss out on the opportunity to succeed with Amway." It strikes me that the words "opportunity" and "succeed with Amway" are somewhat oxymoronic. However, for the sake of argument, let's look at some facts -- something most Amway distributors are unwilling or unable to do.

1. Study your SA4400. You do know what that is, don't you? That’s that little document that you are supposed to give prospects when you show them the plan. It's the law. So. . . study your SA4400. When you wade through all the spin doctoring to make the numbers look better, here's what you arrive at. Only .82% of all distributors ever qualify as Direct Distributors. That's 1 out of 122. You know how they show in the plan that you can go direct with a group of 75? Not true. The real number is 122.
2. Do Directs make a profit? Nope. Not according to the only study done on the subject, by the Wisconsin Attorney General. He found that the average Direct loses $918 per year. Granted, the study is old – 1982. Based on my personal experience in the business, that figure is very low. After all, the expenses in maintaining the illusion that Directs have to maintain have gone way up sine ’82! More tapes to buy, more functions -- and more expensive functions -- to attend. Emerald Jeff Probandt claimed on his website average expenses of over $9000 annually at the distributor level. "But my direct gets checks for over $4000 every month! I've seen them!" Ok, that's nice. Meaningless, but nice. What does he get to keep from those checks? How much does he have to pay out to those he's sponsored? What are his phone bills? Car expenses? Travel expenses? Other costs of doing business? What is his profit?
3. How about the Emeralds and Diamonds? Do they make a profit? Well, yes and no. If you just look at their Amway income, and their business expenses, no, they suffer huge losses. It's only when you add in the obscene incomes from the motivational tool and function business that the accounts tally in the black.
4. How many people achieve Emerald and Diamond? That's harder to say, because of course Amway won't supply that information. But if you turn back to your SA4400, you can estimate how many should be Emerald or Diamond. In 1997, the most recent year for which Amway made public claims, there were 700,000 distributors in North America. Divide 700,000 by 122, and you get an estimated total of 5,738 qualified Direct Distributors. Now -- here's the best case scenario -- assume each Emeraldship is built exactly like the examples shown in the plan, and there are three separate qualified DD legs per Emerald. That would give a total of 1,434 Emeralds, or 0.2%. Do the same with Diamond, and there should be 819 qualified Diamonds, or 0.117%. But -- oh dear -- there have been fewer than 800 qualified Diamonds ever in the whole history of Amway Corp. over 40 years. Hmmm.
5. It's possible to do some estimating about the total number of distributors there have been over Amway's 40 years in North America. Knowing that about 50% quit every year, and extrapolating from publicized numbers over the years, you come up with about 5 million distributors over the corporation’s history. If you divide the 800 diamonds into 5 million, you discover that a whopping 1 distributor out of 6,250 has historically achieved the Diamond level. With a 50% churn rate, that means that each Diamond is supported by 9,375 unsuccessful distributors each year that he's a Diamond.

That doesn't look like too much potential for success to me!

Back to the letter. . . "Why don't you print positive information or at least non-opinionated?" Well, why should I? I'm simply exercising my Constitutional right to Freedom of Speech. That means, I'm allowed to express my opinion, just as you are. My website exists to allow me -- and those who choose to send me e-mail -- a chance to express their opinions, along with their experiences. Amway spends a ton of money each year to pay people to project the image they want projected to the public. Their 700,000 or so distributors also express Amway's and the AMO leader's opinions pretty freely, so why should I do that too? At least I publish all the e-mail that's sent to my site (unless it's foul or obscene). That gives you a chance to express your opinions on my site -- Amway doesn't offer that option!

". . . If we had seen this sight 6 years ago, we wouln'd of gotten in and we would have missed out on lots of money, great products and life changing friends" This is always the argument that unsuccessful distributors come back to. They talk about "lots of money" when at best they mean lots of cash flow. When they’re not making money, they justify their continued involvement by claiming wonderful friendships, relationships, personal growth, etc., etc. That doesn't change the fact that they're not profitable. And, if you think "life changing friends" sounds enticing, spend a few minutes reading through the stories of betrayal by the wonderful "friends" when somebody decides to leave the business. You'll find hundreds of them on the e-mail pages of this site.

"Why would you want anyone to be prevented from doing that?" Well, I certainly wouldn't want to prevent anyone from making lots of money and enjoying wonderful friendships. It's just that the AMO business doesn’t provide those things. The "friendships" are illusory, and the money is simply taken from the majority and redistributed to the tiny minority of big pins -- one of out 9,375, remember?

"How can you sleep at night knowing that you are intentionally depriving your fellow man the opportunity to enhance their life and pocketbooks. . ." I sleep just fine, thanks. How about you? Let's get something clear, here. I am not "depriving" anybody of anything. If you are reading this website, it's because you looked for it, you found it, and you made a decision to read what is here. I didn't jump out from behind the potted palms at the mall and prospect you, I didn't even send you junk e-mail that you hadn't asked for. You had to come here on your own. Second, you're not paying a penny for this information. No fees for books, tapes, or functions here, no travel expenses, nothing. Nada. Zip. Your visiting this site doesn't create some cybercop who's going to physically restrain you from enjoying opportunities. If I'm "depriving" you of anything, it is the chance to stay snug in your little cocoon of AMO-induced illusions about what you’re involved with. And isn't that good? "Facts are your friends," according to Dexter's tame author/speaker Ron Ball. So why shouldn't these facts be your friends, too?

"If Amway only helps 1% like you say, which is way off, what's wrong with that, that's better than no percentage." I didn’t say it helps 1%. I said it helps far fewer than 1%. Did I make up that number? No, it comes straight from Amway Corp. on the SA4400. That's Amway’s number, folks!

"What percentage of the population are you helping?" I don’t know. For sure it's better than the percentage that the Diamonds are "helping." The numbers show that Diamonds are creating tremendous cash flow on the backs of 9,375 people each year. Only a brainwashed idiot would think that constitutes "helping." So if my website helps just one person decide not to go into debt to support that Diamond, then I’ve helped more than he has.

Now, just to change the subject a little bit, I would like to explain something for those of you who've read this far: I feel truly sorry for you people who send me these kinds of e-mails. You've been exposed to a "business opportunity" by someone who convinced you that he is honest and trustworthy, and that he has your best interests at heart. You believed what he told you. You believed the claims he made. You trusted him when he said, "if someone isn't in this business they're not qualified to have an opinion." You turned off your TV, you canceled your newspaper, you stopped hanging around with "negative" friends and family. All your information is filtered through your AMO leaders. So you believe them.

How ridiculous! If you were considering investing in the stock market, and you were interested in XYZ Co.'s stock, would you only study the opinions and information of people who already owned the stock? That would be pretty dumb, wouldn't it. They are not objective, and you won't get the whole picture from them. It's the same with the Amway business. Sure, it makes sense to do the things that the "successful" people have done. But it doesn't make sense to evaluate the entire opportunity based on what those people who stand to make money off you have to say.

The sad thing is, most of the distributors who are out there "in the trenches" are convinced that what they are doing is right. They truly believe they are helping people. They aren't aware of the deceptions that go on behind the scenes, the hidden agendas, the downright lies. They don't see the real relationships behind the purported "friendships." They have no understanding of how the money really flows, how it's simply redistributed. (For an excellent explanation of this, read the Zero Sum Game article.)

I understand that when you send me e-mails like the one above, you're desperately trying to protect your "belief" in the business, belief which is not founded on factual information. If you get the facts, and decide to continue as a distributor -- more power to you! At least then you're making an informed decision. But if you insist on burying your head in the sand, don't lash out at me for making information available. Nobody forced you to read this.

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This page was last updated on Jun-05-99