Thanks, Deb, that was AWESOME!! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. I
think that my little Ambot brother should read it...I just need to
find a way to bring it up with him :) Thank you for taking the time to
sit down and share your story with us <3 <3 LOVE
--- In mlmsurvivorsclub@
wrote:
>
> 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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