Sometimes it happens to the nicest of people and it oftens happens slowly and subtly. These are the signs that you are becoming indocrinated and you are likely annoying your friends and loved ones at this point. I hope this helps:
*You're driven to recruit everyone you know. You may even resort to deception or outright lies to get people to meetings. Before you know it, your family and friends avoid you like the plague. You end up spending time at malls and other public placse scouting for recruits.
*You're encouraged to develop an unreasonable, irrational zeal for the products. Even so far as to justify the quality of toilet paper or to call the products prestigious. You may even argue the quality of energy drinks or about phytonutrients, something you may not even know about.
*A whole bunch of demands, promises, subtle threats of failure if you don't try hard enough are made in the promotional material and motivational seminars. i.e. If you quit, you are a loser destined to die broke and unhappy. Or you let someone steal your dream. These ridiculous claims are how your upline keeps you hooked.
*Because the system is touted as the way you're going to make yourself fantastically rich, you're under pressure to drop any conflicting or competing interests such as your bowling league or golf club. Nothing else in life has importance except for the quest of financial freedom. All activities in your life must enhance your Amway business and have an affect on your financial future. No ther activities matter to you unless it affects your financial future.
*Your upline soon becomes your most trusted friend. Your thoughts and feelings are shaped in part by the cds, meetings and functions.
Do you recognize these behaviors? Hopefully you aren't displaying these behaviors.
2 comments:
Hi Joe,
I'm Jose from NY. I have to commend the way you handle some of the blogs here, like this one. I have to agree with you on a lot of the points here. Just wanted to share my thoughts
1 - I don't go to malls to recruit day in and day out. I could see how my business may not grow as fast as I would like but I'd rather take it slow and contact my friends and just extend an invite. Should they decide not to go that's fine. I just like sharing the info and hope for the best. I don't agree with the mall contacting either.
2 - I would suggest only developing a zeal for the product after you try it and do the research first. I personally didn't see the benefits of any of the products myself until I took the time to try them out a little at a time and do the research. I did this for 3 months before I even bothered trying to sell stuff. I wouldn't feel right selling things and doing the whole "fake enthusiasm" thing. It doesn't sit well with me.
3 - I haven't had any experiences with my uplines or EDC's making me feel bad b/c I don't go to every meeting, seminar, or function. They mention it from time to time but if I don't go or dont respond my upline still helps me when I ask him for it.
4 - I would love to be financially rich but I think it's up to each individual to adjust their priorities. Hell I would love to make tons of money so my fiance never has to work, especially considering she's struggling to find a job when she has a masters in elementary education. But I do have a life and I really don't want to make Amway the be all/end all of my life. My upline doesn't stress me about it either. He lets me be.
5 - My upline does help me alot and is a good friend, but he's helped me more than just Amway. He gives me advise from time to time about women and men in general and teachs me to apply certain people skills in life outside of Amway. He also tries to help me see the positive in things, which by all means is NOT easy. It's pretty much the same advise my dad gave me years ago when I was in my 20's so it's nothing new to me. But it is nice to see that the values my parents instilled in me align with the periodic people skills and communication advise my upline gives me. This is how I judge people's true intentions and so far I haven't had any of the issues I read about.
As far as recognizing and displaying these behaviors goes;
I do recognize this type of behavior, especially since I'm a skeptical, synical person to begin with. Living in NY, you kind of see this type of behavior WAY too much. As far as I go, I can't do the things you mention in the blog mainly b/c I don't think it's right. I'd rather quit my business than resort to some of these things. I also don't teach these "scheme tactics" to my downline because I'd rather them trust me with good advise. I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing I taught someone something I wouldn't do nor be a detriment to someone else. Ultimately, I do have a fiance, family, and religion to answer to and when my time is up I want to know I'll be okay and did things the right way.
I suppose that you'd simply want to quit the bowling league after all your friends derided you for being a sucker for a scheme. Most people know how Amway 'rolls' and want nothing to do with it once the subject is breached. Amway is about as welcome as a fart in a car.
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