When my husband and I went to his 10th high school reunion we mentioned we owned our business. We had a window cleaning business. (We both went in different directions in 2003. Owning your business means you have lots of bosses. Lol.) The couple said they also had their own business. I asked what it was. In unison they said "Amway". My husband and I tried so hard not to roll out eyes and keep our mouths shut. We so wanted to say, "we have a business! We worked our asses off to start a legitimate business! You are just sellers!"
I was at work when a lady approached me on this. I still have a hard time saying no to people because I usually personally like the people who approach me and I like to hear them out. Unfortunately I have this habit of acting interested just to be polite, and in this case because I was at work I needed to be extra polite as a brand ambassador promoting a product while being pitched to. She didn't accept my pitch but pitched to me. I found myself giving my phone number to which I am now ignoring all texts and calls trying to figure out how to politely decline
@@finallyfree2BMe lol same exact thing happened to me, I am the same as you with the whole too-polite-to-say-no thing, i was studying at a fairly prestigious college so its just bizarre to me that they'd think of approaching somewhere from there. Long story short this girl (yeah she was barely 19 I believe) not only called multiple times but also showed up at my house unannounced, and when I refused to meet w her she started begging and demanding to meet me through the intercom. Boy oh boy that was a scary experience, these people are brainwashed to the point of no return its very sad
I know this will be just me screaming into the void, but here it goes. My two close friends (one roommate) are really, REALLY deep into this shitty MLM. It is like a cult, they hold it up like the holy word. It makes me so furious and sad at the same time, but it looks like I am totally powerless. Everything I tell them, they just brush off and I am too scared to push more in fear they will just cut me off. All I can do is evade their tries to recruit me, too, honestly. Thanks for reading. It will not change a thing, but I just needed to get this off my chest...
I’m so sorry about that 😕😔 maybe show them this video? At least when they lose a lot of money you will have the comfort of knowing you did what you could to try to help them. Or the John Oliver segment on mlms, that is a very good episode as well!
I agree with you! I was in this MLM a couple years ago and it IS like a cult and I always had a weird feeling about it! I did brush off what people thought too when they said it was a scam, but thankfully I eventually listened to my gut and got out
I was apart of amway, it is a cult. I’m ashamed of what I did when I was on it. I’d recommend looking up Steven Hassan and how he rescues people from cults. Don’t accuse them of being in a cult, ask them to genuinely tell them about it, ask questions, listen, ask what their opinion is on other cults and see if they can draw the correlations. Hope that helps!
Idk if this is still a problem for you but if they try to recruit you, you NEED to set your boundaries. Tell them you don’t want to join and never will and if they ask you again tell them to stick it where the sun don’t shine.
@@cruelworldhappymind Eric Prince from Blackwater is a living monster, btw. IDK if I missed you covering it, but I saw him in one of the charts you used🤷♂️ your channel is great 🙂
Bumping this thread - I’d like to see it too. I went to Lee University (previously Lee College) - it’s a religious affiliated college, and was founded by AmWay members / Devos family. Charles Paul Conn, the university president for a long time, wrote a book about AmWay / Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel’s life.
It’s also amazing how they say, “we own our business & we get to do whatever we want with our time” and I’m just like well why do you spend your time trying to recruit people?
This was on my recommended page, and I’m shocked at your sub count!! Your content is great quality and well researched, so I can’t wait to see your growth!
Saaame I feel like watching a huge youtuber and I usually never like a video before watching it all but when it comes to this channel I like halfway cause "yes yes yes yes" 😂
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, often called “Mormons” doesn’t condone the practices of MLMs. The church teaches its members not to participate in “get rich quick” schemes and instead to practice living within your means and frugal while helping others. It may be so prevalent in Utah due to so many members having a lot of connections within their church community. It also may be due to the fact that MLMs often prey on stay at home moms which a lot of church members are. Just wanted to clarify that that church is NOT affiliated with any MLMs and what its members may choose to do is out of control of the actual church.
Hailee R I believe you. I was born/raised in the church & rarely saw the members practice this. A lot of them also didn’t need to have a second income.
Thank you SO MUCH for sharing... I was literally going to meet with my “friend” tomorrow and buy into the company because she really convinced me that I could become successful at this.. and I was like... this sounds strangely like Herbalife... no thank you. You just confirmed all my suspicions. THANK YOU!!!
Your amway story is exactly like mine. A girl I work with who I’m acquaintances with invited me to a seminar for them and they kept pushing that “why pay someone else for goods you use already?” And my whole thing was I don’t have time to sell, I have a demanding job. I’m glad I ran
Amway "consultants " , by buying those motivational DVD'S and overpriced household products bought Betsy DeVos her job as secretary of Education, a job she is completely unqualified for.
It’s crazy, I grew up near Grand Rapids, MI. EVERYTHING in Grand Rapids is named after Amway/DeVoss/Van Andel and dozens of friends, neighbors, and family members worked for Amway. Being a distributor or anything like that was NEVER mentioned though. I had no idea until a couple years ago that it was an MLM at all. I was shocked. It’s amazing what an influence they had on that city/state.
excellent video. Amway is sooooo creepy!! I definitely think they're beyond being an MLM at this point and are more like an actual cult. I just subscribed to your channel -- I make lots of antiMLM videos too!! Welcome to the RUclips antiMLM community! Your research & editing in this video was excellent and I really look forward to seeing more from you!
Aw thank you so so much! I’m so glad you enjoyed the video! I totally agree the power they have and how they abuse it is creepy to me- wish more people knew about it!
I am from Grand Rapids, where the headquarters is. I was about to be recruited but thank GOODNESS I was only 17 and my mom talked me out of it before I was 18.
I was recruited into Amway by a family friend when I was in my early 20's and living in Malaysia!! The INTENSE PRESSURE put on me by my recruiter and her immediate boss, who, Ironically, went to the same church with me, to meet my monthly targets stressed me out so much that I had enough and quit!!!! Ironically, I had to get my dad involved to get my deposit back as the church going boss dragged his feet about it!! I FINALLY got my money back, and was put off Amway and other MLMS FOR LIFE!! Incidentally, the friend who recruited me later left Amway herself, on bad terms!!!!
What makes me more uncomfortable than their business concept is How they approach their recruiters (aka me recently) - The VAGUENESS and lack of info about what they do, while telling you to read a book and join a meeting to find out. Why cant they just tell me right then and there, so that i Dont waste time on something i wont want to invest in? That first impression is So off putting to me.. and they’re Trained to invite ppl that way. How can I trust someone who won’t be upfront about what they do and who they are? I cannot.
Exactly. People who are truly proud of what they're doing don't treat their organization like a secret society, then suck up so many hours of your time that you feel obligated to participate.
Oh my god my heart just skipped a beat! I’m at 6:30 where you are telling the story and I swear this happened to me. When you said “mentor” I KNEW it had to be the same situation!! A young woman approached me at the grocery store and was asking me all kinds of questions about what I did, what my boyfriend did, being so friendly and inquiring. She was talking about how she wanted to retire young, that she had met this couple who are her mentors that are teaching her soo much. I was so weirded out by that experience, and now I KNOW WHAT IT WAS!! Wow wow wow!
Madison Harnish it’s so annoying! Like being secretive DOES NOT make me more interested if anything it makes me LESS interested. Cuz you give me a creep vibe lol
My grandparents used to work with Amway in the late 80's until 2003 (when they retired or at least when the local hospital made the mistake of declaring my Grandfather dead after he survived a stroke one year) I remember when me and my brother were little, we would play in our grandparents' office on tape recorders and spinning in the office chair (just being kids) when we would see boxes of all this bookkeeping stuff we weren't allowed to play with. I can still remember one of the books in that box was black and had a big gold Amway globe logo (the logo at the time) slapped on the front of it. Anyway, my grandparents would keep their Amway stuff in their hallway. Of course, I can still remember the brands that came in these packages: Nutralite vitamins (as well as a kids chewable version which I can't think of off the top of my head at the moment but I remember my mom giving me and my brother these and they tasted like chalk!), Nine to Five coffee (I think this brand has been discontinued these days but back when my grandparents were involved, this was a big seller), Artistry cosmetics (My grandmother would use this all the time. Even if it was just a trip to the grocery store! I'm pretty sure that the rare times my mom wore makeup was Artistry and when I was old enough say 11. Even I had worn a lighter shade of Artistry lipstick at one point. Heck I even carried a tube in my purse before it eventually got smashed), Satinique hair care products (Product still exists although I can't remember if it has always gone under this name or if it was when Amway went through that Quickstar thing), there was also a brand of chips that Amway had in the 90s that I can't think of right now. anyway, my Grandfather passed away in 2013 and my Grandmother is 90 and no my mother nor I (or my brother) have not carried on the Amway "legacy" as we all have paying jobs (although I work at a Community College and with the current situation right now, I may have to start looking for other work...just not with Amway 😅)
well enjoy working for someone else's dream and keeping your kids in public school indoctrinated by secular humanism. Amway is a great opportunity but people would rather work hard for someone else's dream than there own
@@seanmills7586 sorry to hear that, actually I have gotten out of debt and have great mentorship but I understand some organizations are not good so it's actually the line of sponsorship you are in not so much Amway
Thank you so much for your informative and detailed video. It was a big factor in my wife and I walking away from very late stage recruiting. With COVID-19, recruiters are using zoom to recruit. There were 60 people in one call. It included lawyers, a pharmacist, a doctor, and many successful blue collar folks. I’m glad we did our own independent research. Thankfully the recruiters wanted a 4th meeting, which gave us a chance to take a step back and see through the elaborate sham with help from talking to former Amway victims, articles, and videos like yours.
My family got into Amway through our family friends about 7 years ago for 2 years. When we quit, we told them about it being bad and they quit as well.
I live just a few minutes away from Amway. I’ve driven past their huge warehouse countless times in my lifetime. The Van Andel and Devos families have an insanely large influence in how our city has grown over time. We have the Van Andel Arena, the Devos Place, the Helen Devos Children’s hospital. The families are incredibly wealthy. I didn’t know what Amway was growing up. I was surprised when I learned it was essentially a huge MLM corporation.
@@kanika9995 me too, when i kept asking what the business was, i would get dodgy answers. I straight up told the person this sounds like a cult and you sound brainwashed. He got mad lol
@@chantalcampbell7545 i just had the same experience. Every time I asked what the opportunity was they said their mentor is completely financially independent but never mentioned how smh really scummy practices
Someone below mentioned how they are targeting Hispanics. That is so true.They have definitely been reaching to the Hispanic community aggressively past years. My cousin who lives in Tennessee was part of it a few years ago and took over his family life. I live in Chicago. He and his family would drive all the way from Tennessee and stay with my family when ever there were conventions going on in Chicago. They would bring all away products to our house I think hoping we'd ask about them. They spent money getting a new car so they looked ” successful ”. He said his Amway mentor said he had to look successful to be successful. They got expensive looking suits and all. It was sad to watch them spend all this money they did NOT have. He worked two jobs and did Amway. Eventually my cousin and his wife argued so much over money and ended up losing their home and cars because they couldn't keep up with bills. Sad to see so many people really believe this is their ticket to financial freedom. For a while they tried to get my mom to join since other Mexican families in the area joined. Luckily was able to warn her.
Wow thank you SO much for sharing your story! It’s so predatory to go after communities who want the American dream to work for them and may not be as privy to scams in the us. The part of them having fancy things reminds me of other people saying “I knew this person and they were actually really successful with it and did well for themselves and drove a nice car and wore nice things” and it’s just like with statistics and all they probably are faking it!
Funny you mention that bc I used to work at a hotel where they would hold such seminars every week sometimes two or three times a week and most of the people who were at the seminars were young (early 20s) minorities
Prosperity Gospel is such a problematic idea for me. The book The Family goes into it really indepth, these people are in all levels of government and have so much power. And so much is based on the notion that God will bless you in this life for being a "good person" therefore it's fine to be rich. Forget all that Jesus said about giving all your money to the poor and public prayer is not cool. Show off your wealth aka show off that God thinks you're awesome. Gag.
Hey, I love your videos. I saw you had a thread of MLM videos and it took me back to a time when I was living in Las Vegas when I was 21 and scammed into Amway, but it was so crazy how it was done. I wasn’t even aware of MLM’s, I was actually in the service industry for many years even being a waiter in Las Vegas, so my people skills are pretty good and I enjoy talking to people and start conversations from thin air. You know how important someone like that is in an MLM down line. Anyways it’s so interesting to relate to because to this day I feel so embarrassed that this even happened to me. It was a group named World Wide Group and they went by WWG if you want to look them up. Amway didn’t come up until you saw the products but they swore it wouldn’t be Amway, they also do their own memberships to audios starting at $60 a month, and that’s just the start, you also pay for the conferences they hype up so much just to go and hear them basically boasting about the trips they take, and it wasn’t boasting to them it was to inspire us that we can do it too. They started with the normal “recruitment” process, I actually worked with a waiter friend that said he knew someone with his “own business” anyways, this can get very long but what I found so shady, is, I was a broke college kid, I was out there away from family on my own and they knew that, but that didn’t stop them from trying to take every cent from me and make them a lot of money. With crazy subscriptions, conferences, dittos, and up line always wanting to know what’s going on, they actually made me more broke and stress them I was as a waiter. Anyways, if it sounds to good to be true, it usually is. Huge fan I’ll keep supporting you.
at first i didn’t realize i was being recruited but i watched so many of these videos and i started counting all the red flags. by the time i was at one of the seminars they mentioned they’re owned by amway and i knew i was in trouble. those seminars are so manipulative and i’m greatful that i watch so many of your videos so i knew what tactics they were trying to use.
THIS MLM Someone tried to recruit me into this a while ago. Thing was, I was homeless and working my butt off trying to get enough food to survive and take care of my chronically sick partner. This family was a really sweet older couple with autistic children, and as a person who had just abandoned my family due to their abuse I really wanted to make a friend and have something outside of work and sitting outside Walmart. I was still in the phase where I wanted my parents to be proud of me, and what could be better than a small business? Besides, a lot of people I knew were into Young Living and Asea, so this seemed legit. That's how I found out I was surrounded by MLMs as a child.
My dad didn't only do Amway & Nutrilite once but TWICE causing us to lose our house and in a sea of debt. Now he's trying to get out of debt from moving from a 2 bedroom apartment to a trailer home (nothing wrong with trailer homes) also Mom did Avon and I didn't catch on this was happening until my boyfriend mentioned it was a MLM. Now my brother and his wife are apart of this MLM. Thankfully both of them have a well paying jobs. But even my father dragged me along to "parties/seminar" and forced me to read "rich man poor man" and all MLM books at 14 years old. Making me miss school and trying to influence me to become the first "young business owner" in my family. Currently my dad is selling Nature Sunshine and really pushes these products in our church and all our close friends who are involved in church and the military. I hope he finds your content or content like this to understand the high potential of failing after he's tried 3x in a row. Love your content and the algorithm really worked in both of our favors opening my eyes to literally all the financial downfalls in my family.
Watched this out of curiosity. A girl in college really tried to get me to join and I had no idea. At the time I was taking 6 classes and had no time to read the book. I’m glad I was legit too busy but I was VERY skeptical this girl would constantly refuse to tell me who she worked for or what she did so I didn’t take it serious.
Madison Harnish I KNOW! Like I would ask what she did, and she would just be like I can’t get into details unless I know you’re committed and read this whole book lol. If you’re so unwilling to even name your “employer” (more like scammer) it’s a scam. She also asked very personal questions about my life asked if I was in a committed relationship and when I said yes it was very frowned upon 🤨 Enormous red flag.
@@zulyterrazas6791 Omg, I was recruited recently too. I told her that I am a full time student and part time worker at my campus and she implied a lot of disappointment saying that I should "get another job to get more money" as if I was being lazy.
@@stuffno3058 Yes! It was weird the girl I spoke too was so disappointed when I told her I was in a long term relationship. Saying I should make more time for my “future business goals” with her 🤢. They’re nuts.
My dad has been doing amway for decades. It’s crazy to think that my clothes came from amway when I was a kid. He’d send me the big catalogs and had me tell him what I wanted when it came to clothes, birthday and Christmas gifts. I also remember when he signed me up to be a rep without my consent. I only found out when they sent me a big box of their stuff. I was PISSED. I didn’t even realize how bad the company was, but I knew that I had no desire to be in any kind of sales and I sure as shit wasn’t going to try to shill stuff to my friends or anyone else.
I’m old enough to remember when Amway was spreading like a bad rash in the late seventies and early eighties. I don’t want to generalize too much from my own experience, but it seems to me that Amway was the punch line of a lot of jokes during that era because so many people had pity bought some low quality products from a neighbor or been recruited by a co worker. It’s weird that it could have continued so long when it already had a widespread bad reputation 40 years ago.
I have a younger coworker who’s in Amway. The way she talks about it is that “imagine you’re in business with all your friends”, and that everyone above her is a mentor. She talks as if these people have been in her life for decades and it’s been less than three years for her. I worry about her.
I live in the Grand Rapids,MI area where the Devos and Van Andel family empires are stationed. It's pretty crazy how much of this is has infiltrated the churches here. Thanks for sharing this story!
I found your Channel looking for more information about Pearl party MLM. I like to learn about things like these so that one day I may pass the knowledge on to my kids of the future. Currently going through all of your content. I do a lot of driving so it is nice to have something to listen to that isn't boring radio. Keep up the great stuff!
I know this is old but I’m binging your videos lol My ex husband was really into MLMs in general. I wish I had divorced him sooner because my refusal to buy in was a major disconnect for us. He calls me “unsupportive” to this day.
oh god my parents fell for this one and they would go on trips to the meetings and would tell ANYONE that came into contact with them about it. Even my friends i wanted to bring over it was so embarrassing. They gave me vitamins and idk i just took them bc free vitamins and one day they made me throw up and i was dizzy in a really weird way enough to go see a doctor. I never touched any of that stuff ever again.
yet teaching 57 genders and LBGTQ is just fine oh okay, funny is people involved in the business have a 2% divorce rate and if you buy a gym membership doesn't make you fit so my question is are you going to pay my bills?
My dad and stepmother were in this, and use to scold us about positive thinking and how we weren't gonna succeed if we didn't ALL THINK HAPPY, stepmother even blamed us for not winning the hgtv dream house contest because we didn't think positively enough, but I remember them bringing products home all the time, going to events, basically I remember them spending money all the time but not us every actually getting any.
Congratulations on your excellent first video. Really helpful and informative, human and sincere at the same time. Hope you make many more and have great success. God knows how many hard up people you have already helped.
The fact that she only started a year ago and is already thriving is impressive. This is my new favourite channel. Can’t wait until she reaches one million subs❤️
I recently found your channel and I’ve seen all the different film spots and looks! I love it! Lol thank you so much for helping bring mlms into the light. Especially during a time when a whole lot more people are vulnerable ):
The only MLM that I have ever encountered myself. Back in something like 2005, when I was in my 20's, a distant relative called my mom out of the blue and started to talk about Amway. My mom wasn't interested but I allowed that relative to visit my apartment and tell me about Amway. And he was sure I was going to be rich and such. I wasn't interested neither, thank god I wasn't that dumb. My mom's friend was also an Amway representative and she had huge plans. Those plans turned into shit.
I was targeted at Ross by Amway people, and then I dated a guy who was super into & we broke up because I really could not handle him being in it. He just became such a different person.
It's so bad that I got two messages on facebook in two days from Amway recruiters. They really prey on emotion which scares me. How can this be legal? It's so bad that it's gotten into my community.
@@cruelworldhappymind not all lines of sponsorship are the same if you don't put any effort into making your dreams come true and you refuse to change why is that Amways fault?
@@markhall6306 you seriously defending Amway? They promise you riches but you sink so much money into it before anything happens. That kind of time and effort could be spent on something more productive.
@@whosaidthat84 95% of small businesses fail within 5 years so it takes effort the people who succeed have a laser focus most times you fail but the road to success is paid with failure if it was easy ever one would do it
Holy shit This explains so much of my childhood. My parents were very religious to the point where my parents didn’t let us go to school, but also my mom wanted us to not have connections to the “secular” world. She also never wanted us to leave and wanted us to all live on the same property in different houses WTF! They were also very involved in the church. Now I realize that’s where they probably got asked to go to an amway thing and got sucked in it. But we were already poor and amway and the church took more of what we didn’t have. We already struggled to have enough food and of course my parents didn’t believe in birth control so she had 6 children and 1 miscarriage and we really struggled with food and everything else but we didn’t go to school so nobody knew how bad our house was. Even though we were broke, amway came along and brainwashed my parents easily and made us even more poor. I don’t know how long they stayed in amway, but I remember our garage was full of amway stuff and we used it my entire childhood. I think they did get out when I was still a teen but they had so much “product” that they had enough were they were still using it years after I left home. My childhood was crazy but now I understand a little bit more about how they got dragged into amway. Wow
wow i had the same experience with amway recruiters, like 90% similar. the only difference, I went further with it out of the curiosity and then i ghosted themm lmaooo
I just realized that an old friend of mine tried recruiting me into Amway. I knew something fishy was going on but I didn't know the specifics. I was lent a copy of Rich Dad, Poor Dad (and like I was already pretty anti-capitalist at the time so it read as Bourgeoisie crap). They kept inviting me for coffee. Complained about how everyone thought they joined a cult. Just Ugh.
My mom was briefly an Amway "consultant" - fancy word for salesman - and luckily my Dad had a good job. As a stay at home mother, my mom was obviously looking to do something with her time and make a little money. I was too young to know what was going on but I know at some point she quit and we were left with tons of products she couldn't sell. Of course my Dad had to buy all that crap first in their "business" model. The crappy vitamins lasted years and the window cleaner that worked for shit, lasted decades. Some of the cans had rust on them by them time we used them up.
This was a GREAT video. I was in Amway and the thing you said about the ditto ordering is accurate. I was in World Wide, which is one of the many extensions of Amway and they always emphasized “first day DITTO”, which was basically your goal to get that processed on the first day of the month every month. They teach you how to budget properly and get rid of stuff you spent money on so you can use that money on their products instead.
I still have nightmares about how crappy I felt in World Wide- like I was worthless unless I had a huge downline. It's a very embarrassing thing to talk about.
My best friend has been in Amway for about 4 years. I feel like our relationship has been comprised a little bit because i cant communicate to her how I actually feel about amway with out offending her. I also hate how amway has discouraged my friend from pursuing a higher education. It seems like my bf resents me for going to college rather than joining her amway thing.
I’m so sorry to hear that! That’s such a stressful thing to go through. All you can do is tell her how you feel, then give her space t figure things out on her own as well 💜
having this issue right now with my friend. every time we talk it’s like we grow further apart and he’s so deep in this amway thing (they got him SUPER religious now not sure if that’s one of their recruiting tactics) but nonetheless he acts totally different now than we we first met and it’s all because of this amway group thing... super weird
Wow we had the same experience lol. Everything about this business seem real to me untill they had me go to the website and ordered products from anway that cost me about $540. Right from that moment I knew this wasn’t a real business as they mention, this is more about selling the company’s product and you get nothing in return. Luckily I was Able to run into your video and everything makes sense. I figured everyone that I’ve watch had the same experience. So I went and return all of their product and I call and told them that I don’t want any part of their fake business. What angers me the most is that they didn’t tell me all of this stuff the first day we met. They started telling me about amway 4 days after. cos they knew people would’nt even look at them, so they try to find a way to make you hype and Interested
Lol. So I had a zoom meeting last night with Amway and as they continued to talk, I realized how cultish it is. They kept stating how other things in your life isn't important as Breakthrough which is going on this weekend. They were shaming those who don't want to go in the nicest way. They had all these rules for what you can and can't do and what is appropriate at the convention. You can't just walk up and talk to a "leader" without being introduced first... Yea, I'm good. I'll work hard to start up my own business.
...and I have just begun to chronologically watch all her videos today! I have them all downloaded and ready to go as I clean and organize... I am already three videos in! 😊💐. Love your comment! ❤️
Off-topic but having come from your newest videos, I think your new haircut is STUNNING on you! Long also looks great on you too, of course. But I just love your new cut so much. I wish I could pull off shorter hair but mine is pitifully thin haha xD
I'm gathering information for a video I'm doing on Amway because i was a victim of Amway a year ago and want to be really informative. This was super helpful
I read somewhere about a woman who spoke in Congress against MLMs, and told her experience growing up with "Amway parents". The author said that he saw polititians laugh. Most of them are sponsored by MLMs, we see now.
Now I’m slightly insulted that I met and babysat for a couple with the mom who was an amway hun bot and she never tried to drag me into the scheme as a young college student. Prolly knew I didn’t have enough money 😅 then again, how do they think these desperate sahm’s are going to fund their “businesses”
A lot of Latinos are also dragged into this mlm and now that I’m seeing this I’m even more disgusted as my family was also part of this group. Being Latino and hearing who this company supports, is even more horrifying….
My parents were big into Amway back in the 80s. They had previous experience in home sales and my mom was also selling Princess House at the same time. They were actually very successful with it. They were the top sellers in their region quite a few times and ‘won’ several trips. I say ‘won’ because they had to attend some type of training or conference like you mentioned. But their international airfare, hotel costs and various other things were paid for by the company. So after 2-3 hours of .... whatever... they got to sightsee in a new place or enjoy a cruise for a week. We’re in the US to give perspective. They went to Washington DC a couple times (shocker!), London, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Ireland, Calgary, San Francisco and 3-4 cruises. They just had to bring spending money. On one DC trip they met G.Bush Sr. It might have been a political rally given the time period and what you just spoke about. They never said specifically and I was too young to care! My mom dealt mainly with the Artistry cosmetics. I guess you could call her a MUA, although all she had was natural talent and what little training the company did. i.e No certification! She had a HUGE kit that she’d take into women’s homes where gathered a bunch of poor suckers to sit through a speech, demo, tryouts then be peer-pressured into spending waaayyy more than they wanted. Hmmm. 🤔 What other MLM company does that sound like? Ding ding!! You guessed it; Mary Kay! Amway was copying the OG makeup MLM! Incidentally, my sleepovers were always a hit cuz my mom would give all the girls makeovers with her old or broken kits and let them take home samples. Clever Mother, very clever. 😏😉
Okay so I've been watching you since I think April, and omg. You have always been captivating! I have no doubt your channel is gonna grow faster than dandelions!!!! 💜💜💜💜
So I've been binge watching your videos for the last month or so (I subscribed at the first one I saw!!!) And I find it kinda ironic that before every single one of your video I get an ad for some kind of network marketing "freebot" scam... 🤣
My boyfriend got swept up in this shit. I kind just was the silent supportive girlfriend during this but i really shoulda said something. At least after they wriggled 100$ outta him did he realize something was off. Im pretty sure he had an idea something was off on the start of it but i think the pressure of his coworkers got to him. They targeted him at his own work when he was 17. Honestly its disgusting how they prey on naive young adults. I could tell though the older recruiter was trying to keep an image up being the “successful business eagle guy” but the younger one was overly friendly to the point that it gets uncomfortable. He tried many times to drag me in with my boyfriend but i shut him down every time. At least now we know better.. we had to make sure one of our friends didn’t get wrapped up in it as well since a recruiter targeted her at her own work. She didn’t trust her at all and said going to the “business class” made her feel like she was going to end up getting trafficked. Big yikes.
My gramps has been using Amway products since more than 10 years and still bought them, mainly for the vitamins. I got a nutrilife flask set as well(he bought it of course) but it was freaking overpriced as hell(it was like 70$ at that time and maybe is similar as 100$ today), and it was really, really bad. They said import goods etc but I could buy local-made flask sets 10x cheaper and better quality anyway.
I was a child of Amway parents and it sucked. We’d have to buy all of their crappy off-brand products and my house would always be full of strangers for these recruitment “seminars” that my parents would have. I think we were lucky in the sense that my parents were able to break even when they got out and didn’t make money but they didn’t lose money either. Even as a kid, I just felt like something was off about it.
thank you! I have used a lot of these points about Amway here at work with a guy who just has glowing things to say about them since his father made a living with them growing up. This was back in the 60's. I'm sure he did pretty well back then, but for some reason I feel the need to tell him how slimy they are lol
Yes and the fact that that’s not how it is now!! That was when Amway first started so he was probably at the very top! Plus, he probably contributed to the growth of Amway, and unethical mlm!
Very informative. On Kyosaki: "Rich Dad Poor Dad" does contain a lot of valuable content regarding money, taxation, accounting, etc. Don't dismiss it without reading it. One of the truths it contains is we should be receiving financial education throughout our early lives. There would be far less naive and gullible people open to these mlm and other like scams if they had a greater understanding of finance and business.
He used Amway networks to push his books in their book of the month program as did many other authors.Yeah real genuine guy linking with that organization.
Amway, which my husband and I were in for about 2 weeks in the mid-1980s, is not the original MLM company. It is the most “successful” and by far the most influential. Some people say that the JR Watkins Medical Company, started in 1890, was the first, but according to Quora, they started in the 1930s. The podcast The Dream is great education in MLMs and their manipulations of the US government to this day.
The very original was mainly believed to be Nutrilite (the main widespread use of mlm practices), as mentioned in this video and explained more in “rise of mlms”- Amway was started by people in Nutrilite then bought Nutrilite, as explained in this video
This sounds a lot like what happened when I was asked to join a Mormon church and they wanted me to start buying and selling things for the church. I am lucky I said no and quit going.
1:02 -- The only criticism I have of Amway is that, my parents were literally working a 9a to 5p job and then going to meetings at night. . We would travel to different states when they had conventions, and I was only 10yrs old so, I had to go with them. They couldn't leave me home alone. . My step dad made it all the way to Gold Direct or Direct Distributor, I can't remember now.
MLM: "You are the CEO" or "You are your own boss" Reality: You are an employee with a flexible schedule MLM: "Once you put in 5 years of hard work, you'll be able to relax because of your downline" Reality: You'll actually work harder training your downline and teaching them how to keep people from leaving the MLM. MLM: "You only lose when you quit" Reality: The only way you continue to lose is if you stay
Every corporation is Multi Leveled where the boss always makes more than their employee. 1 CEO, 2 to 5 Assistants, who has 1 to 5 directors, who has managers, who has employees. MLM's give people a chance to make more than their bosses. Some of them are pitched falsely. You need to work really hard to make any business work. Any business or idea that promises riches quickly is a farse.
Awesome history of the Amway corporation. Amway has done a lot of damage to both my Mother and Father. Could you please review the Movie that Amway had banned called Welcome to Life?
I don't know how this popped up in my recommended feed, but I love this video. Your facts are very well researched, and how you presented it with such a cool head is fantastic. Normally, I don't comment on videos, but I wanted to throw my own two cents in and my experience having been part of the Amway madness by proxy of my now ex-husband. When we met (while I was in college and VERY dumb), he was already a part of the whole scheme, believing one day he'd be rich and not have to work. He tried to convince me, but I told him I wasn't interested. I've seen what happens on the inside of their little weekly meetings and the large conventions thanks to going with him (relationship building, right???) It is extremely cultish, and they will do everything they can to convince you it isn't a pyramid scheme. Their way of explaining it? "It's a big circle. We help you, you help others, and it helps up. Can't fit a pyramid into a circle, right?" Not sure who taught them basic geometry, but whatever. On the note of it being a very religious "organization", the whole goal of every "man" in the group was for his wife to not have work so she could have kids and do their "basic duties" as a woman. This was also upheld at the conventions, where they would harp on how women's roles were as emotional and moral support for their husbands, and how they were there to care for the family while the husband went out and "built the business". It became very apparent to me and the husband/wife duo who were downline of my ex-husband that they were also very anti-lgbtq+ (mind you, they never mention their ties to the GOP and this was back in 2010-ish) when word got out that the wife was pansexual and they had an open relationship. They were shunned by the other "team" members and eventually quit, though we stayed in contact thanks to a mutual love of table top gaming and she and I being pagan (another thing that got us shunned, though they still had the ex wrapped around their little finger.) Eventually, I got him to quit, which was around the time of our marriage, and needless to say... There's plenty of reasons he's my ex now besides it, and yes he did blame me in the end for him not being rich or happy. Whatever gets him through the night. The one good thing that came from the whole fiasco (Amway and the failed marriage) was meeting the wife/husband duo, who I'm still great friends with to this day. We still laugh about Amway, and have been contacted while out together, despite our reputation for telling them that we don't want to join their little cult. So a little silver lining to a shit time in life. Also, those stupid motivational CDs made for GREAT target practice with throwing knives and axes.
LOL - yes - new sub. I was suckered in by NSA water Filters 25 years ago, cost me a fortune & lost me some friends. Amusingly I (still) have a friend way up Amway UK .Very, VERY, serious money. He will quite happily tell you most of his money comes from motivational sales down-line.
Wow, that’s so interesting! I always wonder if it’s legit tho- because like, so little percentage of people actually make money, I’m so curious his story and how he got to the position to do so!
It's legit. The seminars, books, DVD'S, tapes, rallies are an IBO's other business they can choose to develop. Amway is the product side. The training side mentioned above can be very lucrative too.
When my husband and I went to his 10th high school reunion we mentioned we owned our business. We had a window cleaning business. (We both went in different directions in 2003. Owning your business means you have lots of bosses. Lol.) The couple said they also had their own business. I asked what it was. In unison they said "Amway". My husband and I tried so hard not to roll out eyes and keep our mouths shut. We so wanted to say, "we have a business! We worked our asses off to start a legitimate business! You are just sellers!"
I could not agree with you more... Thank you for sharing your thoughts to us.
i know someone who earns 6M a year in Amway, he still goes to McDonalds and check if the manager is friendly, i never left Amway because of that guy
This video came just in time. Someone just tried to recruit me from school, just in the way you described. Thank you for saving me from this scheme.
No way! That’s absolutely crazy!
I was at work when a lady approached me on this. I still have a hard time saying no to people because I usually personally like the people who approach me and I like to hear them out. Unfortunately I have this habit of acting interested just to be polite, and in this case because I was at work I needed to be extra polite as a brand ambassador promoting a product while being pitched to. She didn't accept my pitch but pitched to me. I found myself giving my phone number to which I am now ignoring all texts and calls trying to figure out how to politely decline
same but I met him at superstore, telling me they were a group of "free thinkers" trying to make me feel special. MLM is predatory.
@@finallyfree2BMe lol same exact thing happened to me, I am the same as you with the whole too-polite-to-say-no thing, i was studying at a fairly prestigious college so its just bizarre to me that they'd think of approaching somewhere from there. Long story short this girl (yeah she was barely 19 I believe) not only called multiple times but also showed up at my house unannounced, and when I refused to meet w her she started begging and demanding to meet me through the intercom. Boy oh boy that was a scary experience, these people are brainwashed to the point of no return its very sad
I know this will be just me screaming into the void, but here it goes. My two close friends (one roommate) are really, REALLY deep into this shitty MLM. It is like a cult, they hold it up like the holy word. It makes me so furious and sad at the same time, but it looks like I am totally powerless. Everything I tell them, they just brush off and I am too scared to push more in fear they will just cut me off. All I can do is evade their tries to recruit me, too, honestly.
Thanks for reading. It will not change a thing, but I just needed to get this off my chest...
I’m so sorry about that 😕😔 maybe show them this video? At least when they lose a lot of money you will have the comfort of knowing you did what you could to try to help them. Or the John Oliver segment on mlms, that is a very good episode as well!
K O how are those people doing now?
I agree with you! I was in this MLM a couple years ago and it IS like a cult and I always had a weird feeling about it! I did brush off what people thought too when they said it was a scam, but thankfully I eventually listened to my gut and got out
I was apart of amway, it is a cult. I’m ashamed of what I did when I was on it. I’d recommend looking up Steven Hassan and how he rescues people from cults. Don’t accuse them of being in a cult, ask them to genuinely tell them about it, ask questions, listen, ask what their opinion is on other cults and see if they can draw the correlations. Hope that helps!
Idk if this is still a problem for you but if they try to recruit you, you NEED to set your boundaries. Tell them you don’t want to join and never will and if they ask you again tell them to stick it where the sun don’t shine.
A whole video on the scammery of the Devos family would be awesome
Yes I would love to do that!!!! Thanks! 😻🥰🙏
@@cruelworldhappymind please do and thanks for this video! ❤
Yes would love that !!!!
@@cruelworldhappymind Eric Prince from Blackwater is a living monster, btw. IDK if I missed you covering it, but I saw him in one of the charts you used🤷♂️ your channel is great 🙂
Bumping this thread - I’d like to see it too. I went to Lee University (previously Lee College) - it’s a religious affiliated college, and was founded by AmWay members / Devos family. Charles Paul Conn, the university president for a long time, wrote a book about AmWay / Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel’s life.
It’s also amazing how they say, “we own our business & we get to do whatever we want with our time” and I’m just like well why do you spend your time trying to recruit people?
YOU waste that time. They've already done that. They're doing nothing but enjoying the fruits of your labor.
This was on my recommended page, and I’m shocked at your sub count!! Your content is great quality and well researched, so I can’t wait to see your growth!
Aw OMG thank you! 🥰🥰 I just started, and am excited to make more in-depth commentary videos and get better and better! 💜
Saaame I feel like watching a huge youtuber and I usually never like a video before watching it all but when it comes to this channel I like halfway cause "yes yes yes yes" 😂
Huge link between Mormonism and MLM's. Many in Salt Lake City and Utah in general.
Interesting! I didn’t know that one!
@Karla Coppock Unfortunately I have no idea. Heard the name before, though. But I don't live in the USA.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, often called “Mormons” doesn’t condone the practices of MLMs. The church teaches its members not to participate in “get rich quick” schemes and instead to practice living within your means and frugal while helping others. It may be so prevalent in Utah due to so many members having a lot of connections within their church community. It also may be due to the fact that MLMs often prey on stay at home moms which a lot of church members are. Just wanted to clarify that that church is NOT affiliated with any MLMs and what its members may choose to do is out of control of the actual church.
Hailee R I believe you. I was born/raised in the church & rarely saw the members practice this. A lot of them also didn’t need to have a second income.
wakeupnow was in utah as well
Thank you SO MUCH for sharing... I was literally going to meet with my “friend” tomorrow and buy into the company because she really convinced me that I could become successful at this.. and I was like... this sounds strangely like Herbalife... no thank you. You just confirmed all my suspicions. THANK YOU!!!
Your amway story is exactly like mine. A girl I work with who I’m acquaintances with invited me to a seminar for them and they kept pushing that “why pay someone else for goods you use already?” And my whole thing was I don’t have time to sell, I have a demanding job. I’m glad I ran
Unfortunately one of my best friends just joined and that was her pitch exactly that she kept using on me.
Same here !
Amway "consultants " , by buying those motivational DVD'S and overpriced household products bought Betsy DeVos her job as secretary of Education, a job she is completely unqualified for.
I know right! It’s crazy. Sad too, since most of them are tricked into thinking it’s a legitimate money making opportunity 😕
s see
Truth, truth and more truth
When you say overprice it usually means you can’t afford it
@@RobQuincyAdams I looked into your claim, on their website it says SIX 65 g/2.3 oz. Tubes for $16.50, so you're paying a little over $2.50 per tube.
It’s crazy, I grew up near Grand Rapids, MI. EVERYTHING in Grand Rapids is named after Amway/DeVoss/Van Andel and dozens of friends, neighbors, and family members worked for Amway. Being a distributor or anything like that was NEVER mentioned though. I had no idea until a couple years ago that it was an MLM at all. I was shocked. It’s amazing what an influence they had on that city/state.
Yes, that’s crazy!! Wow! So much influence!
$$$$ buys power
excellent video. Amway is sooooo creepy!! I definitely think they're beyond being an MLM at this point and are more like an actual cult. I just subscribed to your channel -- I make lots of antiMLM videos too!! Welcome to the RUclips antiMLM community! Your research & editing in this video was excellent and I really look forward to seeing more from you!
Aw thank you so so much! I’m so glad you enjoyed the video! I totally agree the power they have and how they abuse it is creepy to me- wish more people knew about it!
I am from Grand Rapids, where the headquarters is. I was about to be recruited but thank GOODNESS I was only 17 and my mom talked me out of it before I was 18.
I was recruited into Amway by a family friend when I was in my early 20's and living in Malaysia!! The INTENSE PRESSURE put on me by my recruiter and her immediate boss, who, Ironically, went to the same church with me, to meet my monthly targets stressed me out so much that I had enough and quit!!!! Ironically, I had to get my dad involved to get my deposit back as the church going boss dragged his feet about it!! I FINALLY got my money back, and was put off Amway and other MLMS FOR LIFE!! Incidentally, the friend who recruited me later left Amway herself, on bad terms!!!!
What makes me more uncomfortable than their business concept is How they approach their recruiters (aka me recently) - The VAGUENESS and lack of info about what they do, while telling you to read a book and join a meeting to find out. Why cant they just tell me right then and there, so that i Dont waste time on something i wont want to invest in? That first impression is So off putting to me.. and they’re Trained to invite ppl that way.
How can I trust someone who won’t be upfront about what they do and who they are? I cannot.
Exactly. People who are truly proud of what they're doing don't treat their organization like a secret society, then suck up so many hours of your time that you feel obligated to participate.
Oh my god my heart just skipped a beat! I’m at 6:30 where you are telling the story and I swear this happened to me. When you said “mentor” I KNEW it had to be the same situation!! A young woman approached me at the grocery store and was asking me all kinds of questions about what I did, what my boyfriend did, being so friendly and inquiring. She was talking about how she wanted to retire young, that she had met this couple who are her mentors that are teaching her soo much. I was so weirded out by that experience, and now I KNOW WHAT IT WAS!! Wow wow wow!
I’ve noticed that all these MLMs won’t tell you their names until you’re in it. Like ok no thanks! Hahah
YES!! That’s a common scammy tactic!
Madison Harnish it’s so annoying! Like being secretive DOES NOT make me more interested if anything it makes me LESS interested. Cuz you give me a creep vibe lol
It's because they don't want you to look it up online and find all the facts about how scammy they are!
Addy Windsor such a good point!! That makes a ton of sense tbh.
Melaleuca is famous for that
My grandparents used to work with Amway in the late 80's until 2003 (when they retired or at least when the local hospital made the mistake of declaring my Grandfather dead after he survived a stroke one year) I remember when me and my brother were little, we would play in our grandparents' office on tape recorders and spinning in the office chair (just being kids) when we would see boxes of all this bookkeeping stuff we weren't allowed to play with. I can still remember one of the books in that box was black and had a big gold Amway globe logo (the logo at the time) slapped on the front of it.
Anyway, my grandparents would keep their Amway stuff in their hallway. Of course, I can still remember the brands that came in these packages: Nutralite vitamins (as well as a kids chewable version which I can't think of off the top of my head at the moment but I remember my mom giving me and my brother these and they tasted like chalk!), Nine to Five coffee (I think this brand has been discontinued these days but back when my grandparents were involved, this was a big seller), Artistry cosmetics (My grandmother would use this all the time. Even if it was just a trip to the grocery store! I'm pretty sure that the rare times my mom wore makeup was Artistry and when I was old enough say 11. Even I had worn a lighter shade of Artistry lipstick at one point. Heck I even carried a tube in my purse before it eventually got smashed), Satinique hair care products (Product still exists although I can't remember if it has always gone under this name or if it was when Amway went through that Quickstar thing), there was also a brand of chips that Amway had in the 90s that I can't think of right now.
anyway, my Grandfather passed away in 2013 and my Grandmother is 90 and no my mother nor I (or my brother) have not carried on the Amway "legacy" as we all have paying jobs (although I work at a Community College and with the current situation right now, I may have to start looking for other work...just not with Amway 😅)
well enjoy working for someone else's dream and keeping your kids in public school indoctrinated by secular humanism. Amway is a great opportunity but people would rather work hard for someone else's dream than there own
@@markhall6306 scamway ruined my uncles life amongst many others, spread your propaganda elsewhere.
@@seanmills7586 sorry to hear that, actually I have gotten out of debt and have great mentorship but I understand some organizations are not good so it's actually the line of sponsorship you are in not so much Amway
@@markhall6306 amway sucks stop lying
I love your story of the past. Great writing 👏
Thank you so much for your informative and detailed video. It was a big factor in my wife and I walking away from very late stage recruiting. With COVID-19, recruiters are using zoom to recruit. There were 60 people in one call. It included lawyers, a pharmacist, a doctor, and many successful blue collar folks. I’m glad we did our own independent research. Thankfully the recruiters wanted a 4th meeting, which gave us a chance to take a step back and see through the elaborate sham with help from talking to former Amway victims, articles, and videos like yours.
My family got into Amway through our family friends about 7 years ago for 2 years. When we quit, we told them about it being bad and they quit as well.
I live just a few minutes away from Amway. I’ve driven past their huge warehouse countless times in my lifetime. The Van Andel and Devos families have an insanely large influence in how our city has grown over time. We have the Van Andel Arena, the Devos Place, the Helen Devos Children’s hospital. The families are incredibly wealthy. I didn’t know what Amway was growing up. I was surprised when I learned it was essentially a huge MLM corporation.
Someone tried to recruit me into this. Never would give me any specifics about the “business opportunity “
Yes extremely vague and cult like brainwashing is what I sensed.
@@kanika9995 me too, when i kept asking what the business was, i would get dodgy answers. I straight up told the person this sounds like a cult and you sound brainwashed. He got mad lol
@@chantalcampbell7545 i just had the same experience. Every time I asked what the opportunity was they said their mentor is completely financially independent but never mentioned how smh really scummy practices
@@colors4vana293 always the mentor and how busy "the mentor" is.
@@chantalcampbell7545 Yep. Extremely sketchy
Someone below mentioned how they are targeting Hispanics. That is so true.They have definitely been reaching to the Hispanic community aggressively past years. My cousin who lives in Tennessee was part of it a few years ago and took over his family life. I live in Chicago. He and his family would drive all the way from Tennessee and stay with my family when ever there were conventions going on in Chicago. They would bring all away products to our house I think hoping we'd ask about them. They spent money getting a new car so they looked ” successful ”. He said his Amway mentor said he had to look successful to be successful. They got expensive looking suits and all. It was sad to watch them spend all this money they did NOT have. He worked two jobs and did Amway. Eventually my cousin and his wife argued so much over money and ended up losing their home and cars because they couldn't keep up with bills. Sad to see so many people really believe this is their ticket to financial freedom. For a while they tried to get my mom to join since other Mexican families in the area joined. Luckily was able to warn her.
Wow thank you SO much for sharing your story! It’s so predatory to go after communities who want the American dream to work for them and may not be as privy to scams in the us. The part of them having fancy things reminds me of other people saying “I knew this person and they were actually really successful with it and did well for themselves and drove a nice car and wore nice things” and it’s just like with statistics and all they probably are faking it!
They target anyone and everyone.
Funny you mention that bc I used to work at a hotel where they would hold such seminars every week sometimes two or three times a week and most of the people who were at the seminars were young (early 20s) minorities
Prosperity Gospel is such a problematic idea for me. The book The Family goes into it really indepth, these people are in all levels of government and have so much power. And so much is based on the notion that God will bless you in this life for being a "good person" therefore it's fine to be rich. Forget all that Jesus said about giving all your money to the poor and public prayer is not cool. Show off your wealth aka show off that God thinks you're awesome. Gag.
Yes that’s such a screwed up mentality! Especially since they get all their money from scamming other people out of theirs!
Wow, I have not heard of that, but it explains so much. I'll have to look into it!
Hey, I love your videos. I saw you had a thread of MLM videos and it took me back to a time when I was living in Las Vegas when I was 21 and scammed into Amway, but it was so crazy how it was done.
I wasn’t even aware of MLM’s, I was actually in the service industry for many years even being a waiter in Las Vegas, so my people skills are pretty good and I enjoy talking to people and start conversations from thin air. You know how important someone like that is in an MLM down line. Anyways it’s so interesting to relate to because to this day I feel so embarrassed that this even happened to me.
It was a group named World Wide Group and they went by WWG if you want to look them up. Amway didn’t come up until you saw the products but they swore it wouldn’t be Amway, they also do their own memberships to audios starting at $60 a month, and that’s just the start, you also pay for the conferences they hype up so much just to go and hear them basically boasting about the trips they take, and it wasn’t boasting to them it was to inspire us that we can do it too. They started with the normal “recruitment” process, I actually worked with a waiter friend that said he knew someone with his “own business” anyways, this can get very long but what I found so shady, is, I was a broke college kid, I was out there away from family on my own and they knew that, but that didn’t stop them from trying to take every cent from me and make them a lot of money. With crazy subscriptions, conferences, dittos, and up line always wanting to know what’s going on, they actually made me more broke and stress them I was as a waiter. Anyways, if it sounds to good to be true, it usually is. Huge fan I’ll keep supporting you.
Not me realizing he was basically apart of an mlm because I went to seminars with him and he made me read rich dad poor dad
I can't believe this was her first video, she's such a natural!
at first i didn’t realize i was being recruited but i watched so many of these videos and i started counting all the red flags. by the time i was at one of the seminars they mentioned they’re owned by amway and i knew i was in trouble. those seminars are so manipulative and i’m greatful that i watch so many of your videos so i knew what tactics they were trying to use.
THIS MLM Someone tried to recruit me into this a while ago. Thing was, I was homeless and working my butt off trying to get enough food to survive and take care of my chronically sick partner. This family was a really sweet older couple with autistic children, and as a person who had just abandoned my family due to their abuse I really wanted to make a friend and have something outside of work and sitting outside Walmart. I was still in the phase where I wanted my parents to be proud of me, and what could be better than a small business? Besides, a lot of people I knew were into Young Living and Asea, so this seemed legit. That's how I found out I was surrounded by MLMs as a child.
I hope one day you do a video on Mary Kay. An oldie but they are still pretty active. Theres a lot to unpack there.😳
Ugh I could do a video on Mary Kay! Soooo much to unpack there!
My dad didn't only do Amway & Nutrilite once but TWICE causing us to lose our house and in a sea of debt. Now he's trying to get out of debt from moving from a 2 bedroom apartment to a trailer home (nothing wrong with trailer homes) also Mom did Avon and I didn't catch on this was happening until my boyfriend mentioned it was a MLM. Now my brother and his wife are apart of this MLM. Thankfully both of them have a well paying jobs. But even my father dragged me along to "parties/seminar" and forced me to read "rich man poor man" and all MLM books at 14 years old. Making me miss school and trying to influence me to become the first "young business owner" in my family.
Currently my dad is selling Nature Sunshine and really pushes these products in our church and all our close friends who are involved in church and the military. I hope he finds your content or content like this to understand the high potential of failing after he's tried 3x in a row.
Love your content and the algorithm really worked in both of our favors opening my eyes to literally all the financial downfalls in my family.
So it looks like an offer of "mentorship from a successful business person" is pretty much the same as being groomed by a predator ….
yes!! i said this the other day!
Phil - good observation! 💯
Watched this out of curiosity. A girl in college really tried to get me to join and I had no idea. At the time I was taking 6 classes and had no time to read the book. I’m glad I was legit too busy but I was VERY skeptical this girl would constantly refuse to tell me who she worked for or what she did so I didn’t take it serious.
No way! I’m so glad you never joined!!! So sketchy that they don’t say the company and everything! 😬😅
Madison Harnish I KNOW! Like I would ask what she did, and she would just be like I can’t get into details unless I know you’re committed and read this whole book lol. If you’re so unwilling to even name your “employer” (more like scammer) it’s a scam.
She also asked very personal questions about my life asked if I was in a committed relationship and when I said yes it was very frowned upon 🤨 Enormous red flag.
@@zulyterrazas6791 Omg, I was recruited recently too. I told her that I am a full time student and part time worker at my campus and she implied a lot of disappointment saying that I should "get another job to get more money" as if I was being lazy.
@@stuffno3058 Yes! It was weird the girl I spoke too was so disappointed when I told her I was in a long term relationship. Saying I should make more time for my “future business goals” with her 🤢. They’re nuts.
@@zulyterrazas6791 they fear your man will set you straight
My dad has been doing amway for decades. It’s crazy to think that my clothes came from amway when I was a kid. He’d send me the big catalogs and had me tell him what I wanted when it came to clothes, birthday and Christmas gifts. I also remember when he signed me up to be a rep without my consent. I only found out when they sent me a big box of their stuff. I was PISSED. I didn’t even realize how bad the company was, but I knew that I had no desire to be in any kind of sales and I sure as shit wasn’t going to try to shill stuff to my friends or anyone else.
I’m old enough to remember when Amway was spreading like a bad rash in the late seventies and early eighties. I don’t want to generalize too much from my own experience, but it seems to me that Amway was the punch line of a lot of jokes during that era because so many people had pity bought some low quality products from a neighbor or been recruited by a co worker. It’s weird that it could have continued so long when it already had a widespread bad reputation 40 years ago.
I have a younger coworker who’s in Amway. The way she talks about it is that “imagine you’re in business with all your friends”, and that everyone above her is a mentor. She talks as if these people have been in her life for decades and it’s been less than three years for her. I worry about her.
I live in the Grand Rapids,MI area where the Devos and Van Andel family empires are stationed. It's pretty crazy how much of this is has infiltrated the churches here. Thanks for sharing this story!
I found your Channel looking for more information about Pearl party MLM. I like to learn about things like these so that one day I may pass the knowledge on to my kids of the future. Currently going through all of your content. I do a lot of driving so it is nice to have something to listen to that isn't boring radio. Keep up the great stuff!
Aw I’m so glad to hear! 😻💜
I know this is old but I’m binging your videos lol My ex husband was really into MLMs in general. I wish I had divorced him sooner because my refusal to buy in was a major disconnect for us. He calls me “unsupportive” to this day.
I hate scammers beyond al reason. You got me hooked on your channel. Thanks for calling out those liars.
I just started watching you a week ago and I’ve already watched all of your videos. 🙃🤣 You’re amazing!
oh god my parents fell for this one and they would go on trips to the meetings and would tell ANYONE that came into contact with them about it. Even my friends i wanted to bring over it was so embarrassing. They gave me vitamins and idk i just took them bc free vitamins and one day they made me throw up and i was dizzy in a really weird way enough to go see a doctor. I never touched any of that stuff ever again.
Wow. I am so sorry about that, yes I think supplements can be shady since there’s not much regulation for them!
And this is why Betsy DeFraud is the US Sec of Education.
yet teaching 57 genders and LBGTQ is just fine oh okay, funny is people involved in the business have a 2% divorce rate and if you buy a gym membership doesn't make you fit so my question is are you going to pay my bills?
My dad and stepmother were in this, and use to scold us about positive thinking and how we weren't gonna succeed if we didn't ALL THINK HAPPY, stepmother even blamed us for not winning the hgtv dream house contest because we didn't think positively enough, but I remember them bringing products home all the time, going to events, basically I remember them spending money all the time but not us every actually getting any.
Congratulations on your excellent first video. Really helpful and informative, human and sincere at the same time. Hope you make many more and have great success. God knows how many hard up people you have already helped.
i feel like everyone has the rich dad poor dad book lmao
The fact that she only started a year ago and is already thriving is impressive. This is my new favourite channel. Can’t wait until she reaches one million subs❤️
I recently found your channel and I’ve seen all the different film spots and looks! I love it! Lol thank you so much for helping bring mlms into the light. Especially during a time when a whole lot more people are vulnerable ):
The only MLM that I have ever encountered myself. Back in something like 2005, when I was in my 20's, a distant relative called my mom out of the blue and started to talk about Amway. My mom wasn't interested but I allowed that relative to visit my apartment and tell me about Amway. And he was sure I was going to be rich and such. I wasn't interested neither, thank god I wasn't that dumb. My mom's friend was also an Amway representative and she had huge plans. Those plans turned into shit.
I was targeted at Ross by Amway people, and then I dated a guy who was super into & we broke up because I really could not handle him being in it. He just became such a different person.
My mom and step-dad did nutrilite and amway.. actually I think he still does amway. So this was super fascinating to learn about
It's so bad that I got two messages on facebook in two days from Amway recruiters. They really prey on emotion which scares me. How can this be legal? It's so bad that it's gotten into my community.
I’m so sorry to hear that!
@@cruelworldhappymind not all lines of sponsorship are the same if you don't put any effort into making your dreams come true and you refuse to change why is that Amways fault?
@@markhall6306 you seriously defending Amway? They promise you riches but you sink so much money into it before anything happens. That kind of time and effort could be spent on something more productive.
@@whosaidthat84 I spent 100,000 in education still in debt it's all what you put into it
@@whosaidthat84 95% of small businesses fail within 5 years so it takes effort the people who succeed have a laser focus most times you fail but the road to success is paid with failure if it was easy ever one would do it
Holy shit
This explains so much of my childhood. My parents were very religious to the point where my parents didn’t let us go to school, but also my mom wanted us to not have connections to the “secular”
world. She also never wanted us to leave and wanted us to all live on the same property in different houses WTF! They were also very involved in the church. Now I realize that’s where they probably got asked to go to an amway thing and got sucked in it. But we were already poor and amway and the church took more of what we didn’t have. We already struggled to have enough food and of course my parents didn’t believe in birth control so she had 6 children and
1 miscarriage and we really struggled with food and everything else but we didn’t go to school so nobody knew how bad our house was. Even though we were broke, amway came along and brainwashed my parents easily and made us even more poor. I don’t know how long they stayed in amway, but I remember our garage was full of amway stuff and we used it my entire childhood. I think they did get out when I was still a teen but they had so much “product” that they had enough were they were still using it years after I left home. My childhood was crazy but now I understand a little bit more about how they got dragged into amway. Wow
long hair! watched your more recent videos when I first found you so seeing your development in production is so awesome
wow i had the same experience with amway recruiters, like 90% similar. the only difference, I went further with it out of the curiosity and then i ghosted themm lmaooo
I just realized that an old friend of mine tried recruiting me into Amway. I knew something fishy was going on but I didn't know the specifics.
I was lent a copy of Rich Dad, Poor Dad (and like I was already pretty anti-capitalist at the time so it read as Bourgeoisie crap). They kept inviting me for coffee. Complained about how everyone thought they joined a cult. Just Ugh.
My mom was briefly an Amway "consultant" - fancy word for salesman - and luckily my Dad had a good job. As a stay at home mother, my mom was obviously looking to do something with her time and make a little money. I was too young to know what was going on but I know at some point she quit and we were left with tons of products she couldn't sell. Of course my Dad had to buy all that crap first in their "business" model. The crappy vitamins lasted years and the window cleaner that worked for shit, lasted decades. Some of the cans had rust on them by them time we used them up.
This was a GREAT video. I was in Amway and the thing you said about the ditto ordering is accurate. I was in World Wide, which is one of the many extensions of Amway and they always emphasized “first day DITTO”, which was basically your goal to get that processed on the first day of the month every month. They teach you how to budget properly and get rid of stuff you spent money on so you can use that money on their products instead.
I still have nightmares about how crappy I felt in World Wide- like I was worthless unless I had a huge downline. It's a very embarrassing thing to talk about.
@@pamyuhnke8143 saaammeee. Sometimes Facebook shows me my cringey statuses from when I was in it.
My best friend has been in Amway for about 4 years. I feel like our relationship has been comprised a little bit because i cant communicate to her how I actually feel about amway with out offending her. I also hate how amway has discouraged my friend from pursuing a higher education. It seems like my bf resents me for going to college rather than joining her amway thing.
I’m so sorry to hear that! That’s such a stressful thing to go through. All you can do is tell her how you feel, then give her space t figure things out on her own as well 💜
@@cruelworldhappymind Thanks girl hopefully I can grow the balls to tell her how I don't like amway lol
having this issue right now with my friend. every time we talk it’s like we grow further apart and he’s so deep in this amway thing (they got him SUPER religious now not sure if that’s one of their recruiting tactics) but nonetheless he acts totally different now than we we first met and it’s all because of this amway group thing... super weird
@popp py rude..
Wow we had the same experience lol. Everything about this business seem real to me untill they had me go to the website and ordered products from anway that cost me about $540. Right from that moment I knew this wasn’t a real business as they mention, this is more about selling the company’s product and you get nothing in return. Luckily I was Able to run into your video and everything makes sense. I figured everyone that I’ve watch had the same experience. So I went and return all of their product and I call and told them that I don’t want any part of their fake business. What angers me the most is that they didn’t tell me all of this stuff the first day we met. They started telling me about amway 4 days after. cos they knew people would’nt even look at them, so they try to find a way to make you hype and Interested
Thank you so much for sharing your story! I’m so glad my video gave you some answers! 💜
Lol. So I had a zoom meeting last night with Amway and as they continued to talk, I realized how cultish it is. They kept stating how other things in your life isn't important as Breakthrough which is going on this weekend. They were shaming those who don't want to go in the nicest way. They had all these rules for what you can and can't do and what is appropriate at the convention. You can't just walk up and talk to a "leader" without being introduced first... Yea, I'm good. I'll work hard to start up my own business.
Now I get your rather high level interest in MLM's. It's good that someone like you is watching.
Thank you for this video ....it just confirmed that I was being pulled into something that just felt a little off😣
I followed you a month ago and I have just finished watching officially all of your video😂❤️❤️
...and I have just begun to chronologically watch all her videos today! I have them all downloaded and ready to go as I clean and organize... I am already three videos in! 😊💐. Love your comment! ❤️
@@GastroVulpes ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Off-topic but having come from your newest videos, I think your new haircut is STUNNING on you! Long also looks great on you too, of course. But I just love your new cut so much. I wish I could pull off shorter hair but mine is pitifully thin haha xD
Aw thank you so much! My hair was really dead and unhealthy so I knew I needed a fresh start! Lol!
I'm gathering information for a video I'm doing on Amway because i was a victim of Amway a year ago and want to be really informative. This was super helpful
I read somewhere about a woman who spoke in Congress against MLMs, and told her experience growing up with "Amway parents". The author said that he saw polititians laugh. Most of them are sponsored by MLMs, we see now.
Now I’m slightly insulted that I met and babysat for a couple with the mom who was an amway hun bot and she never tried to drag me into the scheme as a young college student. Prolly knew I didn’t have enough money 😅 then again, how do they think these desperate sahm’s are going to fund their “businesses”
A lot of Latinos are also dragged into this mlm and now that I’m seeing this I’m even more disgusted as my family was also part of this group. Being Latino and hearing who this company supports, is even more horrifying….
My parents were big into Amway back in the 80s. They had previous experience in home sales and my mom was also selling Princess House at the same time. They were actually very successful with it. They were the top sellers in their region quite a few times and ‘won’ several trips.
I say ‘won’ because they had to attend some type of training or conference like you mentioned. But their international airfare, hotel costs and various other things were paid for by the company. So after 2-3 hours of .... whatever... they got to sightsee in a new place or enjoy a cruise for a week. We’re in the US to give perspective. They went to Washington DC a couple times (shocker!), London, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Ireland, Calgary, San Francisco and 3-4 cruises. They just had to bring spending money. On one DC trip they met G.Bush Sr. It might have been a political rally given the time period and what you just spoke about. They never said specifically and I was too young to care!
My mom dealt mainly with the Artistry cosmetics. I guess you could call her a MUA, although all she had was natural talent and what little training the company did. i.e No certification! She had a HUGE kit that she’d take into women’s homes where gathered a bunch of poor suckers to sit through a speech, demo, tryouts then be peer-pressured into spending waaayyy more than they wanted. Hmmm. 🤔 What other MLM company does that sound like? Ding ding!! You guessed it; Mary Kay! Amway was copying the OG makeup MLM!
Incidentally, my sleepovers were always a hit cuz my mom would give all the girls makeovers with her old or broken kits and let them take home samples. Clever Mother, very clever. 😏😉
This was really good but it made me REALLY angry towards the end. Thank you for spreading awareness
Found you via Swoop's video and already impressed with this content. Looking forward to educating myself on MLMs with this playlist (:
every time I watch your videos I get a mlm ad
Okay so I've been watching you since I think April, and omg. You have always been captivating! I have no doubt your channel is gonna grow faster than dandelions!!!! 💜💜💜💜
Wow, this was a great video! I have seen a lot of anti MLM videos and this one definitely was informative and had a fresh angle.
Thank you so much!! ☺️🌟
So back I think the early 90s my husband I almost fell for it. The guy was such a good talker. We ended up not doing it but bought an awesome cleaner.
No way! Yes my experience was the same it was a guy who was such a smooth talker!
The cleaner was so awesome though. It got some kind of black grease or oil off of carpet but that’s beside the point
So I've been binge watching your videos for the last month or so (I subscribed at the first one I saw!!!) And I find it kinda ironic that before every single one of your video I get an ad for some kind of network marketing "freebot" scam... 🤣
lol before this video started it was a MLM advertising...Capitalization really is sicking
Plus side though, the YT algorithm just wasted that MLMs money on an audience against them. 😂
My boyfriend got swept up in this shit. I kind just was the silent supportive girlfriend during this but i really shoulda said something. At least after they wriggled 100$ outta him did he realize something was off. Im pretty sure he had an idea something was off on the start of it but i think the pressure of his coworkers got to him. They targeted him at his own work when he was 17. Honestly its disgusting how they prey on naive young adults. I could tell though the older recruiter was trying to keep an image up being the “successful business eagle guy” but the younger one was overly friendly to the point that it gets uncomfortable. He tried many times to drag me in with my boyfriend but i shut him down every time. At least now we know better.. we had to make sure one of our friends didn’t get wrapped up in it as well since a recruiter targeted her at her own work. She didn’t trust her at all and said going to the “business class” made her feel like she was going to end up getting trafficked. Big yikes.
Good for him for getting out before it was too late! I can relate to his story.
Amazing video, not to mention the horrible things Eric Price did whilst having control of Blackwater...its absolutely disgusting.
Yes! I have to do another vid going in depth into those aspect as well and all the Amway family connections it’s so fascinating and crazy to me!!
@@cruelworldhappymind Yeah I can't wait to see it. I am ashamed of saying this but I was in that cult for 3.5 years of my life.
My gramps has been using Amway products since more than 10 years and still bought them, mainly for the vitamins. I got a nutrilife flask set as well(he bought it of course) but it was freaking overpriced as hell(it was like 70$ at that time and maybe is similar as 100$ today), and it was really, really bad. They said import goods etc but I could buy local-made flask sets 10x cheaper and better quality anyway.
Wow, thank you for sharing! I feel like the elderly may be a demographic mlms will prey on soon 😕
A church friend tried to recruit me and I am so so saddened by it.
I was a child of Amway parents and it sucked. We’d have to buy all of their crappy off-brand products and my house would always be full of strangers for these recruitment “seminars” that my parents would have. I think we were lucky in the sense that my parents were able to break even when they got out and didn’t make money but they didn’t lose money either. Even as a kid, I just felt like something was off about it.
Thank you for this, currently in the process of getting enlisted and I am trying to figure out how to get out
thank you! I have used a lot of these points about Amway here at work with a guy who just has glowing things to say about them since his father made a living with them growing up. This was back in the 60's. I'm sure he did pretty well back then, but for some reason I feel the need to tell him how slimy they are lol
Yes and the fact that that’s not how it is now!! That was when Amway first started so he was probably at the very top! Plus, he probably contributed to the growth of Amway, and unethical mlm!
Very informative. On Kyosaki: "Rich Dad Poor Dad" does contain a lot of valuable content regarding money, taxation, accounting, etc. Don't dismiss it without reading it. One of the truths it contains is we should be receiving financial education throughout our early lives. There would be far less naive and gullible people open to these mlm and other like scams if they had a greater understanding of finance and business.
He used Amway networks to push his books in their book of the month program as did many other authors.Yeah real genuine guy linking with that organization.
Amway, which my husband and I were in for about 2 weeks in the mid-1980s, is not the original MLM company. It is the most “successful” and by far the most influential. Some people say that the JR Watkins Medical Company, started in 1890, was the first, but according to Quora, they started in the 1930s. The podcast The Dream is great education in MLMs and their manipulations of the US government to this day.
The very original was mainly believed to be Nutrilite (the main widespread use of mlm practices), as mentioned in this video and explained more in “rise of mlms”- Amway was started by people in Nutrilite then bought Nutrilite, as explained in this video
This sounds a lot like what happened when I was asked to join a Mormon church and they wanted me to start buying and selling things for the church. I am lucky I said no and quit going.
1:02 -- The only criticism I have of Amway is that,
my parents were literally working a 9a to 5p job
and then going to meetings at night.
.
We would travel to different states when they
had conventions, and I was only 10yrs old so,
I had to go with them. They couldn't leave me
home alone.
.
My step dad made it all the way to Gold Direct
or Direct Distributor, I can't remember now.
MLM: "You are the CEO" or "You are your own boss"
Reality: You are an employee with a flexible schedule
MLM: "Once you put in 5 years of hard work, you'll be able to relax because of your downline"
Reality: You'll actually work harder training your downline and teaching them how to keep people from leaving the MLM.
MLM: "You only lose when you quit"
Reality: The only way you continue to lose is if you stay
That is the best research I seen for awhile
Every corporation is Multi Leveled where the boss always makes more than their employee. 1 CEO, 2 to 5 Assistants, who has 1 to 5 directors, who has managers, who has employees. MLM's give people a chance to make more than their bosses. Some of them are pitched falsely. You need to work really hard to make any business work. Any business or idea that promises riches quickly is a farse.
mannn they harass me all of the time on my Linkedin its sickening.
cant believe this was your first vid! I've been binging since I found you haha
My cousin tried to get me into Amway. I told him that I wasn't going to be joining and that he should get out of the scam.
I'll probably do a video response to your video, because
watching your video is bringing back memories
from my child hood LOL
I must say your delivery has improved a lot since a year ago - a lot more natural ... not to mention the audio quality!
Awesome history of the Amway corporation. Amway has done a lot of damage to both my Mother and Father. Could you please review the Movie that Amway had banned called Welcome to Life?
I don't know how this popped up in my recommended feed, but I love this video. Your facts are very well researched, and how you presented it with such a cool head is fantastic. Normally, I don't comment on videos, but I wanted to throw my own two cents in and my experience having been part of the Amway madness by proxy of my now ex-husband. When we met (while I was in college and VERY dumb), he was already a part of the whole scheme, believing one day he'd be rich and not have to work. He tried to convince me, but I told him I wasn't interested. I've seen what happens on the inside of their little weekly meetings and the large conventions thanks to going with him (relationship building, right???) It is extremely cultish, and they will do everything they can to convince you it isn't a pyramid scheme. Their way of explaining it? "It's a big circle. We help you, you help others, and it helps up. Can't fit a pyramid into a circle, right?" Not sure who taught them basic geometry, but whatever.
On the note of it being a very religious "organization", the whole goal of every "man" in the group was for his wife to not have work so she could have kids and do their "basic duties" as a woman. This was also upheld at the conventions, where they would harp on how women's roles were as emotional and moral support for their husbands, and how they were there to care for the family while the husband went out and "built the business". It became very apparent to me and the husband/wife duo who were downline of my ex-husband that they were also very anti-lgbtq+ (mind you, they never mention their ties to the GOP and this was back in 2010-ish) when word got out that the wife was pansexual and they had an open relationship. They were shunned by the other "team" members and eventually quit, though we stayed in contact thanks to a mutual love of table top gaming and she and I being pagan (another thing that got us shunned, though they still had the ex wrapped around their little finger.)
Eventually, I got him to quit, which was around the time of our marriage, and needless to say... There's plenty of reasons he's my ex now besides it, and yes he did blame me in the end for him not being rich or happy. Whatever gets him through the night. The one good thing that came from the whole fiasco (Amway and the failed marriage) was meeting the wife/husband duo, who I'm still great friends with to this day. We still laugh about Amway, and have been contacted while out together, despite our reputation for telling them that we don't want to join their little cult. So a little silver lining to a shit time in life.
Also, those stupid motivational CDs made for GREAT target practice with throwing knives and axes.
WOW, WOW thank you SO much for sharing your story! That is more interesting than I ever imagined, so fascinating!
You got yourself a new sub! Love your channel and I’m excited to see your channel grow!
Thank you so much!! 💜🌟
LOL - yes - new sub. I was suckered in by NSA water Filters 25 years ago, cost me a fortune & lost me some friends. Amusingly I (still) have a friend way up Amway UK .Very, VERY, serious money. He will quite happily tell you most of his money comes from motivational sales down-line.
Wow, that’s so interesting! I always wonder if it’s legit tho- because like, so little percentage of people actually make money, I’m so curious his story and how he got to the position to do so!
Also, thanks for the sub! 💖💖
It's legit. The seminars, books, DVD'S, tapes, rallies are an IBO's other business they can choose to develop. Amway is the product side. The training side mentioned above can be very lucrative too.