MLM - Network Marketing Blog

MLM Expert, Len Clements On The Amway Global Compensation Plan

By Ty Tribble, MLM Blog Founder

I was listening to a recent podcast from MLM Expert, Len Clements and he said something about the Amway compensation plan that I found very interesting.  Mr. Clements is a court certified expert in MLM/Network Marketing and founder of Market Wave Inc,  in case you were wondering about his credentials.

So here is a quote from Mr. Clements about the Amway Compensation Plan:

"The Amway Compensation Plan is one of the worst plans in the industry."

Hmmm.  That sounds really familiar.  Oh yeah, that's what I have been saying about the Amway/Quixtar plan for years.  Here is a link to the podcast where Len makes the statement.  The podcast is one hour and forty minutes long and the quote is near the end .

Back to Amway Global...

Amway is an $8 Billion company, but my guess is that only 10% (roughly $800 Million) of that volume comes from the U.S., down from an estimated $2 to $3 Billion in the 90's.

Is Amway Global a good business opportunity in the U.S.?

Let's answer that with a couple of questions...

1. Can you name a Network Marketing company that has a worse reputation than Amway/Quixtar?

2. Can you name a company that has a worse dollar to volume ratio than Amway/Quixtar? In other words, how much does it cost you to do your 100 points?

Amway Global has a Stairstep Breakaway Plan (not a Unilevel Plan like some folks at MonaVie claim).  The Stairstep Breakaway plan is typically considered as a plan that is disproportionately weighted towards the back end.  In general, top earners typically (not always) do fairly well and the mid to low ranks suffer.

XS Energy Drink Owner Files Bankruptcy

Amway Triple Diamond Greg Duncan, a leader in Worldwide Dreambuilders - WWDB and owner of XS Energy Drink has filed bankruptcy.

Get the details here: WWDB Greg Duncan Bankrupt

Amway WWDB Triple Diamond Greg Duncan Bankrupt!

My former upline in Amway/Quixtar is bankrupt....

Amquix.info:

World Wide Dreambuilder's Triple Diamond and former IBOAI board of director Greg and Laurie Duncan have been in bankruptcy court  since Sep. 11 2007!  A site visitor notified me of the bankruptcy after checking up on their numerous houses that were in foreclosure last year. 

The Duncan's listed assets of $63 million and debts of $8.4 million.  Despite having millions in net worth, the Duncan's cannot service all their debts.

The Duncan's owed $1.7 million to the  IRS for back taxes and penalties and $452,000 to the State of Montana for back taxes.

In April of 2008, the Duncan's filed a reorganization plan and  disclosure statement under court sealing that was later unsealed when it went into Chapter 7. 

Supposedly $9 million of Duncan's cash got drained away in a lawsuit over the rights to sell he XS energy drink.   I obtained documentation of a suit involving the XS energy drink brand with a company called Cetalon.   Cetalon claimed it was given marketing rights for the XS brand and was suing for its piece of the pie after Quixtar became a major buying.   Greg Duncan was named as a defendant, and  Cetalon went bankrupt when it lost the case.

All the bankruptcy documents are public record on Pacer.

A "Why I Quit Amway" Rant About WWDB

I was having a conversation with two friends (very successful people) who were both personally sponsored by me in Amway 15 years ago.  They know that I have left Amway and gone on to  create a multiple six figure income in Network Marketing and they asked what I think happened to Amway.

The problem with Amway is two-fold. First the compensation plan is horrible.  If it's not the worst compensation plan in the industry, I don't know what is.  Many will ask if the compensation plan is so bad, why would people (especially leaders) stay with the company long term and the answer is simple. These leaders make a significant amount of their income from training and tools that are sold independently of Amway.

Amway could never have grown to the levels they have while paying out such small bonuses without the help of the leaders who many times make more money from the training then they do from Amway and the leaders could never offer this type of training in the open marketplace without the Amway business.

I don't complain about my time in Amway, I did learn a lot and was taught to really focus on personal development and reading which has changed my life and allowed me to create great success in another company outside of Amway.  I look at my time in Amway as education.

Anyways, I ran across the following video on YouTube. Please keep in mind, (THIS IS NOT ME!)

This is a video by someone who used to be associated with World Wide Dreambuilders, an Amway support organization.:



Amway/Quixtar News Moving To AmwayBlog.com

A little housekeeping is in order...

When I launched the MLM Blog in 2003, the majority of my experience in Network Marketing was in Amway/Quixtar, so I wrote a lot about it.  To this day, I try to keep up with and report on the goings on with the company, but I now get the vast majority of my readers at MLM Blog from other subjects, not just the Amway/Quixtar rumor mill.

So, when I have big news about Quixtar such as the change back to the Amway brand, I will post it here. however for the most part, those who are looking for Amway news will find it at the Amway Blog.

Beginning with:

Where's WWDB Jim Harstad?

Quixtar - WWDB Greg Duncan: Home Foreclosure?

Amquix.info:

It seems WWDB triple diamond and former IBOAI board member (Greg Duncan) have decided to let their numerous properties in Whitefish, MT fall to the auction block through foreclosure.  I guess they are taking the same tactic as WWDB Diamond David Shores when he let his house fall into foreclosure a few years back.  A site visitor sent me the initial information and I confirmed three of the five foreclosures on the Internet.

Read more.

WWDB's Greg Duncan OWNS XS Energy Drink....

Update: Greg Duncan Bankrupt?

WWDB Triple Diamond, Greg Duncan actually owns one of the most popular product lines in the world of Quixtar, XS Energy Drink, according to an article in Beverage World.

The article lists the co-owners of XS Worldwide as  Josh Bradbury, Scott Coon, Greg Duncan, David Vanderveen. Scott Coon was once an Emerald, personally sponsored by Greg and I believe that David Vanderveen is a cousin to Amway/Quixtar owners, the Van Andels.

Here is the first thing that came to my mind: No matter how bad Quixtar's compensation plan is, I'm betting that Greg Duncan will be sticking around. He is probably making a lot of money when all of the other lines of sponsorship promote XS Energy Drink.

Now, speaking of XS Energy Drink and Greg Duncan, I found a bit more interesting news...

It seems that Greg Duncan is expanding his marketplace outside of Quixtar with a brand of energy drinks called, "All In". 

Here is a link to an article that calls Greg Duncan, CEO of All In Energy. So now, Greg Duncan, along with former World Wide Dream Builders diamond (current Emerald?), Rod Jao, who is Vice President of All In Energy are out selling a product that competes directly with XS Energy Drink.

"Competes directly with Quixtar" is probably the most important words to consider here if you follow the Quixtar non-compete rules that the company has been making waves over.

Quixtar Success?

Just read this on former Quixtar Executive Diamond and founder of the TEAM, Orrin Woodward's blog:

My letter to Doug Devos clearly explains that over 600,000 people who speak English as a first language signed up into Quixtar in 1999 and 2000.  Out of these 600,000 IBO’s (misnomer?) only six achieved Founders Emerald or above by the end of 2004.  This is 4 to 5 years and only 1 out of 100,000 achieved $87,000 annual income from the plan with both the husband and wife working exhaustively.  Out of those six who achieved Founders Emerald by 2005, five were on the Team – Tim Marks (Founders Diamond), Doug Stroh, Mike Foos, Matt Abraham, Kirk Birtles were all founders emerald or above by the end of 2004. (I believe this is the five.)

If this is not true, Amway's legal team would be all over Woodward, leading me to believe that the statistics are true.

Your thoughts?

Bill Britt Responds to Quixtar - Amway Name Change

I am going to give you a link to an audio "Kate" message from Bill Britt regarding the name change in a second but I have some comments first. 

Britt seems to be happy and positive about the name change, but I wonder, what choice does he have?  I don't see Bill Britt having many options outside of Amway/Quixtar at this point.  There are few companies that would put up with his (let's call it stuff).

The second thing that is interesting to me is that Britt suggested that Amway/Quixtar was about to double the bonuses paid to those below the diamond level.  I have been telling people for a long time that Quixtar has one of the worst compensation plans in the industry.  Of course, IBO's argue with me (and ignore the facts) until they are blue in the face.  Now Quixway is doubling the bonus money.  If they were paying out anything near the amount of money they should have been paying, there would be no way possible to double those bonuses. If they truly are doubling the bonus money, good for them and good for Quixway IBOs.

Stay tuned. We will of course report on all of the changes.

Here is the link to the Bill Britt Audio from The Truth About Amway site.

Quixtar Diamond Leaders Had No Idea Company Was Changing Name Back to Amway

According to the IBOAI web site, the high level IBO leaders (known as Diamonds) had no idea that the company was changing it's name back to Amway (from the IBOAI web site):

You should know this news came as a shock to us, too, in the form of a surprise announcement at a Founders Council meeting a few days ago. We were not consulted ahead of time and were not part of the decision. We are sorting through the details and trying to figure out how this affects all of our businesses.

It looks (to me) like more of these IBOAI leaders should spend a couple of minutes a day reading the MLM Blog.  I predicted that Amway was coming back over 6 months ago.