Gosh - I'm blushing ;-) And I'm sorry - I really don't have a single
"spot" where I tell the saga (because that's what it would be) - it's
all here on the MLM Survivor Forum, in bits and pieces.
But I'll try to give you a peek:
My Grandfather Walter Bass was teaching a Dale Carnegie Class at our
local college (pretty good for a Farm Boy!) and had young Rich and Jay
as students. They recruited Grampa as a Nutrilite Distributor in '49
or so (this was before Amway bought the Nutrilite Company); then in
the late '50s, as R&J decided to break away with their own company, my
Grampa served as their mentor. I have seen the actual correspondence
between them as they founded the "American Way". Grampa served for 12
years as the President of the Board of Directors for the ADA (now, the
IBOA); and my Mom was the Executive Administrator to the ADA for many
years.
Grampa was ALSO a Realtor - and handled most of the property sales for
the DeVos and VanAndel families, as well as Amway's.
So I grew up "Amway" - knew all the products. Spent almost every
weekend with my Grandparents at their cottage, so I "heard" stuff.
Played "submarine" with my cousins in Grampa's Bomb Shelter (yeah -
Amway sold Bomb Shelters in the early 60's). I was an occasional
Distributor, although I never took it too seriously.
I have to add that my Grandfather was one of the people who testified
before the Senate Subcommittee Hearing, on whether Amway was an
illegal pyramid or not. He was sort of a "key" person, because he was
only an Emerald; and those below him were higher pins who made more
money.
In the late '80s/early '90s, my Grandfather would visit me often in MY
business (a retail hot tub store) - and at one point, he asked me to
help my Mom run his Amway business after he died. I agreed - who
would have ever thought this "Energizer Bunny" of a man would actually
die?? But he did, in July of '93 at age 87; and true to my word, I
went to work with my Mom.
We were "different" than most Amway businesses: we weren't affiliated
with an AMO. We gave training/samples/
warehouse with $25,000 worth of product that we shipped for free to
our downline; if you called me before noon, your order was shipped the
same day. We ran it like a REAL business, offering 30 days Accounts
receivables, so our downline could receive payments from their retail
customers before they had to pay us. We accepted VISA and Mastercard.
We did everything in our power to help our IBOs make some extra money
- including offering "sales" on popular products.
But immediately "below" us, was an AMO called Network 21; and further
down were Yager and Britt with THEIR AMOs. I listened to N-21 Amvoxes
and tapes; and my Mom and I attended a few meetings and a big
function, just to see what it was all about. I KNOW new recruits are
being brainwashed - I've seen how it happens. I was also aware of the
activities of people like Yager and Britt, mostly from conversations
with my Grandfather, who wasn't too happy with some of their
shenanigans. And in the late '90's, I discovered the MLM Survivor
website, where my eyes were opened to the abuses that other IBOs were
suffering...
I KNOW what the Founding Fathers intended Amway to be - and it
certainly wasn't the way the AMOs were portraying the business!! I
KNOW the Corporation; and have met some of the DV and VA family
members (plus corporate "biggies") personally. It makes me angry that
something so "good" got dragged through the mud (and yes, I'm angry at
the Corporation for letting it happen)
And I have an interesting perspective, since I ran the largest active
LOS in all of Amway. I KNOW when the Kingpins are lying about things
like "residual income" and "retiring"..
And I also know that IF many of our immediate Group IBOs had been
saddled with Tool-and-Function expenses, they would NOT have made any
money. Because we were "Platinum-and-
Amway/Quixtar'
own data, that the average person starting out in the business had a
LOT of hurdles to overcome, like the 2/3 dropout rate and the "average
IBO doing 38 PV per month" (Our downline averaged 200 PV per month in
comparison, because they were RETAILING; and weren't weighed down by
AMO expense, so they actually made a profit)
I still found the business frustrating - even though I LOVED the
people in our downline. Having come from a retailing background, I
found the Corporation'
saw the Corp catering to the whims of the Kingpins who ruled the IBOA.
Products were undergoing too many changes. I saw Rules broken; or
enforced in a biased manner. Even though we had a high IBO Retention
Rate, we were constantly patching the legs together to keep qualified
at Emerald. (It's like treading water - the minute you stop, you
start to sink) I was ready to get out, and so was my Mom, who had
lost her eyesight by this time.
The Bass Company was put up for sale - and this is what most people
never get to find out: if you try to sell your Amway Business, you are
shackled by rules that will see to it you DON'T get Fair Market Value
for decades of hard work. You are NOT allowed to put your business up
for sale to the highest bidder (can you imagine what a Kingpin would
be willing to pay to be able to say they were the LARGEST!!!!?
one point, the Rules required that the business be offered to ME,
since I was "directly sponsored" by Walter Bass. Believe me, I could
have afforded it - ANY of you could have afforded it, since it
generated at least a half-million dollars of income per year. But I
didn't want it - 11 years of running it was more than enough. So it
was eventually sold, and I had a HUGE weight lifted off my shoulders.
So I'm here on this forum, not as a "survivor" (since the only
"injury" I sustained was a hip replacement - those cases of SA-8 are
HEAVY!!!) - but as someone who wants to see the AMO abuse stopped.
I'm praying the recent firing of a bunch of Kingpins is a sign that
the Amway Corporation intends to take back their good name??
Sorry for the long read - but you *asked*....LOL!
Best wishes!
Deb
--- In mlmsurvivorsclub@
<chandranova@
>
> Deb, do you have your MLM story posted somewhere? I am fascinated by
> the fact that you come from an Amway family, with your grandfather as
> a Founder, and you were in it for a while as an upline to many. I
> ask this publicly because it might be beneficial to us newbies to the
> forum :)
>
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