Customer Reviews

Amway Motivational Organizations: Behind the Smoke and Mirrors

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Ruth Carter's book can be divided into three parts: a short lesson in basic finance; a lesson in what makes a group a cult; and her personal story.

Ms. Carter shows quite convincingly, first, that Amway is in reality nothing more than a pyramid scheme, and second, that it has all the tell-tale signs of a cult: not a religious cult dedicated to an absurd theological proposition ("Jesus will appear on september 2nd 2005 in Troy, New York") but an economical cult to an absurd economical proposition ("if I just keep spending all my money on Amway, I will be RICH one day!"). She also has a useful chapter at the end about how to leave Amway--which is harder than it looks, as leaving any cult is.

All this is intereting and important; however, it is available on the internet--just search google for "Amway AND bad", for example, and take it from there; be sure to visit Ms. Carter's own extensive web site, by the way. (If there is one thing cults HATE, it is the internet, for just this reason, but I digress.) If this was all Ms. Carter's book was doing, one could just browse the web instead.

The really fascinating thing about Ms. Carter's book is her personal story. She tells, in fascinating, sad, and sometimes sordid details, what it REALLY means to be brainwahsed by Amway. It means losing your money, frieds, family, marriage, children, and almost your identity while becoming an "Ambot". Above all, it has a "behind-the-scenes" look at how sleazy, unethical, and manipulative the gurus (or "upline diamonds", as they are called in Amway) are, and how they manipulate their flock for their own personal benefit, while pretending to "love" them so much. The book is worth buying for that last part alone, and, indeed, it justifies the book's title.

In sum, highly recommended.

I found this book to be very informative. My husband decided that he was going to go into Quixtar and I was going to be his partner. Needless to say, he's on his own. I read this book when he first told me and I found it to be true. The amount of money that a person spents on a MLM is ridiculous. The Quixtar e-mail, voice mail, and the tapes you have to subscibe to. And that's not counting all the meetings that they want you to attend, at a cost of course. I attended one meeting (against my will) and could not believe how gullible these people were. They believe everything out of the upline's mouth and never question any of it. Just nodded their heads and smiled. If you are serious about going into Quixtar/Amway, read this book first. It will defintely open your eyes.

Ruth Carter has done a great public service by exposing the deceptions, manipulations, and outright dishonesty of Amway Motivational Businesses. The corporation has a maligned reputation principally due to the operations of these "associated" businesses and their cultish-style tactics. From her position as assistant to a Diamond-level distributor, Mrs Carter's assertions are far more credible than lower-level distributors protestations of their "Upline's" integrity and character. The vast majority of distributors have no idea what "goes on behind the scenes" of the high level distributors they worship, and Ruth Carter exposes the wolves in sheep's clothing with pinpoint accuracy, based on over 10 years of personal experiences. Her examinations of the mind control techniques these organizations use is invaluable to former distributors like myself who spent 6 years in Amway and it's Motivational Money Drains. I hope that all current and future distributors will take an opportunity to "look at all the angles" of any business opportunity. That is, of course, what they advise you to do, isn't it?

I have family involved in the "business" The have been doing it for almost 20 years now. They have alienated most of the family and they have wasted THOUSANDS of dollars. The scariest part is the lies the husband tells and seems to believe. "oh, I'm retired now, the business supports me" TRUTH...he was fired from his job for poor performance and his wifes high income supports him. They are even forcing their kids to be involved in the "business" and you can just see the pain in the kids faces when their father brings it up AGAIN and AGAIN in order to recruit family members to "help the kids build their business". Cringe. This book reveals the destruction, the pain, the self-hypnosis that greed creates. Yet these people claim to be Christian. What would Jesus do????Well, he WOULDN'T LIE to people about income potential and cause stress and dissent in families for a BUCK! The lady who wrote this book was brave. I think a great many women in the "business" can hear their inner voices telling them to run....but they don't. Amway is a nightmare and if they weren't the GOPs number one financial contributer the govt. would shut them down.

This is a great book. It's fascinating how the MLM's motivate people to operate. Perhaps the most amazing part is that Amway (et al) have an unbelievable amount of people running around thinking they are making money, when a they are not. I'm not sure what keeps them in - greed, or the embarrassment of admitting that the investment never worked. Perhaps a bit of both??!!

If you want to make money, start your own company and sell something (real!) that you find value in.

After having read this book I came to this conclusion: Amway has absolutely no reason to exist. It has absolutely no retail value to the consuming public and that is confirmed by the fact that their product sales to the general public are only 3 percent and the rest is self consumed by the distributors themselves. Yep that's right, Amway is an internal consumption company. Along with the fact that most distributors, after expenses make little or no money or in a lot of cases, lose money. This book makes this all too painfully clear. After reading this little masterpiece I believe you will come to that very same conclusion as well. Enjoy!

I found Ruth Carter's book to be very useful. It explained in great detail the problems that have been plaguing the Amway Corporation since the early 1970's. In this narrative, Ruth answers all the questions: How does a new recruit know where the big money is from? Is it from retailing products or selling the System of books, audio tapes and seminars? Are the motivational items useful, or do they keep a distributor in the business despite having dismal or marginal results; and in doing so, just lining the pockets of the big pins? Is it possible to separate the Motivational Organizations from the Amway Corporation, or do we accept the two as one? Is the organization practicing Direct Selling as outlined by the Federal Trade Commission, or have the Motivational Organizations pushed Amway into illegal territory? Overall, a well researched work.

I bought this book to write a research paper on multi-level marketing. It was a great source of information! I have family involved in Amway and know all about their shady actions! Great book I would recommend to anyone considering signing on with any MLM.

Ms. Carter truly has hit the nail on the head with this book. I have also read "The Quixtar Revolution". Most things she talks about in the book I have personally encountered. Meetings, tapes, pep talks, rallys etc.

We had some friends that we lost touch with a couple of years ago. And suddenly we get a call telling us that they have found this great business opportunity. "Can we get together and show you the "PLAN". Needless to say, we joined. I have decided that some of the products aren't too bad, but I can't NOT tell people that the company is affiliated with Amway. Which is what our 'up-line' told me to do. And I really don't want to have people avoid me because of "The Business". I recommend that anyone thinking of joining ANY MLM scheme should read Ms. Carter's book.

Carter has done a find job exposing the darker aspects of Amway/Quixtar that prospective distributors/IBOs know nothing about until they sign up, having been blinded by the promises of large windfalls, such as how IBOs are:

- Prospected w/out being told exactly what this "business venture" is
- Duped into buying overpriced motivational books/tapes (presented as necessary to succeed in the business)
- Strongly discouraged from any leisure time activities (which could supposedly "distract" from building the business and put "negative thoughts" in an IBO's head)
- Told to forgo credit card payments, etc. to attend the next rally
- Encouraged to maintain conservative Christian beliefs and vote Republican no matter what
- Told to cut off ties w/friends and family who don't support their venture

A definite must-read for anyone who knows someone in the business or is unhappily struggling in it themselves.