- Thomas J. Donohue, President & CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce ·

 The Amway bonus schedule was beginning to make more sense, now that we had seen the plan several times. All the products you purchased were tracked back to you by your distributor number and assigned a point value. You were compensated at the end of the month for all the business volume that went through your organization. This is where the power of leveraging or duplication was evident.

We would be paid on a sliding scale from 100 PV (point value) through 7500 PV. The bonuses started at 3% and ranged up the scale to 25% when you hit 7500 PV. The plan was still a little confusing, in that Kerry and Zack drew out "100 dollar" circles when showing the plan. Each distributorship in the plan was depicted doing a hundred dollars in volume. The speakers referred to "doing your hundred" often. In reality, it took closer to $220 in purchases to equal 100 PV on the bonus schedule. When I questioned Kerry about this, he said something like, "This is how we always have done it" and "most people do not find it confusing."

I remember thinking that I must not have communicated very well the fact that some of our people, including us, were finding it misleading. He had answered the question but, at the same time, seemed to be ignoring the issue. It seemed like he didn't understand what I had told him. I did not realize it at that time, but I had just stepped over one of the boundaries you were never supposed to cross. You were not to question upline, for any reason. The meeting remained friendly, because as a new person, I was unaware of the many unspoken rules governing behavior in The Business. It would be quite a while before Kathy and I were fully indoctrinated.

We had begun sponsoring our friends almost immediately. We sponsored my best friend, Paul, first. We then sponsored some young professionals that I worked with. Kerry and Chris helped us break open the new members’ kits and go through the paperwork until we became more familiar with the process. They explained that they intentionally took away each kit box after emptying its contents on the table of new distributors. This would encourage them to begin using "their own" products. Most, like us, were surprised that the products were almost exclusively Amway products. We were puzzled to see Kerry and Chris remove a small white form that we had never seen in our literature. It was Amway literature that advised all distributors to sell products to ten customers per month. We were told to take these forms out and throw them away. They were part of the old door-to-door Amway. This was the new wholesale, networking phase of Amway. We were just supposed to use our own new household products and teach others to do the same. This made us comfortable, as no one we knew wanted to sell Amway to family and friends.

The handful of distributors we had sponsored were very motivated to get people out to see Zack. We all were impressed by the fact that he and Molly had traveled around the world, and yet he was taking a night out of his life to come and help us. Zack himself remarked that he could be home with his family or in countless other places in his business, so we should take full advantage of having his time. We were not completely naïve. We understood that he would derive some benefit from helping us. This concept would be constantly reinforced over the next nine and half years: 'No one makes more money off your business for your efforts than you.'

The specific example normally used to illustrate this was that of the four percent bonus. Specifically, when you help someone in your organization do 7500 PV, they "go direct" and are getting paid 25% on the bonus scale. You then receive a leadership bonus of four percent of that distributor’s personal group volume for having helped build it. Since you, yourself, are probably also doing 7500 PV, you are also receiving your own 25% bonus on all goods and services that go through your business. Your sponsor is also being paid the additional four percent leadership bonus as well. Again, it was clear that no one made more money off your efforts than you. You would receive a 25% bonus from the goods and services that went through your business, and your sponsor would receive 4% for assisting.

The 4% leadership bonus was referenced countless times to illustrate one of the greatest fundamental principles that drove The Business. Your upline would never give you bad advice, because it would adversely affect their income to do so. Your upline had, what was continually referred to as, a "vested interest" in the success of your business. It directly benefited them to give you good advice. They became like a new family that you could trust without reserve. Several standard analogies were commonly used to delineate how very different the advice was that you were likely to receive in the "real world." One of the most commonly used analogies was that of the insurance/investment broker. Distributors were instructed to be wary of advice they might receive from a broker, because "you may end up ‘broker’ if you listen." The reason was simple. They were compensated on a transaction basis, simply for making the sale, and not upon the quality of advice given.

The wealthy distributors in Amway that would act as your advisers were more interested in your long-term success, because it was of mutual benefit. My skeptical, auditor’s nature was overruled by the pure simplicity of the compensation plan. I have always been good with numbers. Math feels safe to me. It cannot lie and has no emotion. Clearly, my support team would not benefit unless they helped Kathy and me succeed financially in Amway. This understanding was also the source of tremendous personal inspiration for us as well. We would only stand to gain after helping our friends prosper in their own businesses. It truly was a win/win situation—or so it seemed.

We became very busy helping our other distributors as the day of Zack's meeting drew closer. The instruction regarding the necessity for exact duplication had been quite clear. This business was very much like a franchise and to try something "new" would not be a good idea. Why reinvent the wheel? People who had successfully built this business for over two decades had already established a system or pattern for success. Using the same pack of follow-up information, we helped our people invite their friends to the meeting that Zack was doing. Some did much better than others on the phone, but overall, the results seemed very good. The momentum was already beginning to build, as the people we had sponsored now had others interested in looking at The Business. You could see the excitement in their eyes, as they began to believe that this could also work for them.

Our sponsors, Kerry and Chris, came to our home about an hour before the 8:00 p.m. meeting. With Zack coming, they both seemed incredibly nervous about everything being just right, making coffee and preparing Amway-brand snacks to be served after the meeting. The "plan" would be shown on a white board and easel that had to be placed away from the door, so that latecomers would not interrupt the speaker. Children and pets were not to be in or near the meeting area, in order to preserve a professional atmosphere.

As I was the host for the evening, I was given very specific coaching as to how to introduce the speaker. We were advised that since I had a great deal of credibility among my distributors and their friends, I should introduce Zack by speaking of his success. This would transfer my credibility to him. This made sense to me, as Zack was a stranger to almost everyone that would be present that evening. Kathy and I were the only ones who had gone to a big seminar and seen him onstage. We were the ones who could realize just how many people he was helping.

Once again, the GETTING STARTED literature from the follow-up pack was used. These were the guidelines that distributors were to follow, whether or not they even knew the speaker. (It also pre-supposed the often-false notion that the speaker had made any money at all in the Amway business.) The literature gave the following instructions:

1. Be alert and show enthusiasm. Take notes during the meeting. Have a cassette recorder ready to record the presentation."¹

Much later in The Business, we learned that people would do business with others that they knew, liked, and trusted. That technique or approach certainly helped create the desired atmosphere.

People began to show up about a half-hour early. Unbeknownst to us, some other distributors had been invited to our home and buzzed with excitement about getting that close to Zack. Once again, it seemed as if others' enthusiasm for Zack nearly bordered on worship. In my mind, this attitude was somewhat naïve. I was enthusiastic from a business perspective. To me, having Zack there to teach our fledgling group was a tremendous business coup. It was like starting a new fast-food franchise and having Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald's, there to train you and your partners.

The house filled to capacity with people. It truly was an exciting time. To my surprise, Zack arrived almost 15 minutes late. I expressed concern over this to Kerry, and he advised me that most of the people in the room should be willing to wait for hours, if necessary, to get the information that they were going to receive from Zack tonight. Once again, I got the message that it was not okay to question upline.

Zack arrived in his new Mercedes and parked in the space that had been reserved for him directly in front of our house. Men who had been waiting outside in the cold winter air opened his car door, took his briefcase, and escorted him into the house. Immediately upon Zack’s entering our home, someone took his overcoat, while another person handed him a cup of coffee prepared exactly to his liking. All the active distributors thanked him for taking the time to come share with them. It looked as if we were entertaining a visiting dignitary or head of state. We were beginning to feel more and more blessed that someone of this stature would come and help us.

Despite all the fanfare, Zack Walters was again very warm and engaging. He met quite a few of the new people, greeted them with a warm handshake, and learned their names. When he came over to Kathy and I, he greeted us by name and complimented us on our nice home. Zack had a warm and winning smile and completely focused eye contact when he listened to others speak. He had the uncanny ability to make each person feel comfortable, almost immediately. Meeting with him in person made you almost feel as if you were being reunited with a long lost friend.

After some friendly conversation, he let me know it was time to start our meeting. I was not a public speaker by any stretch of the imagination. As a matter of fact, it was something I truly dreaded. To make matters worse, the crowd had grown to the point where we had to carry furniture out of the room, so we would have enough space for people to stand and listen to the presentation. I got up, nervously, and gave my well-rehearsed introduction.

I sat down and immediately started my tape recorder. After all, I had been told that it was the best students who became wealthy in this business. As a standard practice, Amway distributors were encouraged to take notes and tape these opportunity meetings, counseling sessions, training sessions and seminars. We were hungry for every word of guidance and advice we could get. This was just like a franchise. We could not afford to miss anything, and so, I taped the best of the best and studied every tape. I memorized the jokes they used to set audiences at ease. I learned a large number of analogies that could be used to effectively communicate several vital points in the Amway sales plan. Figuring this was a shortcut to success, I taped nearly 200 hours of income representations, training, and counseling with my upline. I would not know for nearly a decade how desperately vital these tapes were to become.

The presentation of the plan went well. Zack's down-home humor and stories set everyone at ease. The pattern of how to show the plan was becoming more and more clear. The speaker would usually share anecdotes of struggles that they had endured prior to Amway. Then it was explained that they had been unknowingly taught to fail. Specifically, strategies that had once worked for our grandparents no longer applied in the economy of our day. The old school of thought was that a good education would get you a good job. Nowadays, there are many people with college degrees who cannot even find a job in their field. Many who do secure good jobs later find themselves either laid off or stuck in a dead-end position. Most are not adequately prepared for retirement, as evidenced by the Social Security Administration figures, revealing that 95 percent of Americans are either dead, dead broke, or still working at retirement age. (We did not see documentation of this from the Social Security Administration, but this was routinely referenced as fact.)

It was explained that the irony we faced in the economy was a typical statement that went something like this: "Today, we may find that the A student (an educator) teaches the B student to work for the C student (who now owns a business, because he was not "smart enough" to get a job). Because he was not smart enough to get a job, he is now a wealthy business owner, employing quite a few well-educated, smart but broke people." Usually, the speakers threw in a few horror stories of people who had been laid off in their late 40s or 50s. This steered us to the inevitable conclusion that entrepreneurship, or personal business ownership, was clearly the key to both personal and financial success. Just as we had grasped this, we were informed that not all businesses were good businesses. Some business owners were actually owned by their business, instead of vice versa. With traditional businesses normally came enormous overhead and the stresses that came along with employees. The bigger a traditional business grew, the more headaches it normally created for the owner.

Over and over again, we heard the story of a business owner who lost his business and his home, all at the same time. It was a business tragedy, followed by a personal tragedy. Normal or traditional businesses required a large investment and also a commensurate level of risk.

By contrast, Amway had all the benefits of business ownership with almost none of the detractions. There was no overhead. Speakers often held up their brief cases and said, "This is my overhead, and there is nothing to lose… if you left your briefcase here, that is more than you can lose in this business."^* As there were no employees, there was no employee theft. There could be no theft in a closed system.

The speakers often referred to making two thousand dollars a month or more within three to nine months. "This could be done on a very limited, part-time basis." The most common representation of the time required to create this size income was 12 to 15 hours a week. It only meant giving up "TV time" a few nights a week, while your children were sleeping. The most common financial reference used repeatedly in The Business presentation was that of a two- to five-year plan. The financial reward that could be gained in this period of time was usually described as "a strong six-figure income" or simply "financial freedom." In describing the specific time frame for success within this opportunity, Amway Diamond Barry Joye said, "This business will work. It is not a 2- to 5-week plan. It is not a 2- to 5-day plan. It's a 2- to 5-year plan to total financial freedom."² (In the background on this tape, Amway Double Diamond Brig Hart says "Amen" in agreement.)⁺ I knew that it would take a tremendous amount of hard work. However, I would be willing to be a humble student and work incredibly hard for 2 to 5 years to provide my family with economic freedom. After experiencing the heartbreak of my parents’ divorce, it was my family, not the money that motivated me. 

Perhaps the greatest selling factor for both Kathy and I, and also the thousands of people that we ended up bringing into Amway, was the "fact" that we could create ongoing, residual, "will-able" income. This concept differentiated Amway from any other business opportunity. Our business would grow as we helped other independent business owners succeed in owning their own business. We would all be very motivated to work hard and would never "fire ourselves" or "lay ourselves off", since we owned The Business. It was a wonderful paradox. The larger our income became, the more free time we would have to spend with our families.

From a logical standpoint, this appeared to be a business whose time had come. Despite all the labor- and time-saving devices we have, we seem to be getting busier and busier as a society. Success is no longer solely defined by financial affluence. This was also addressed in the plan. Many speakers would ask if the audience knew anyone who worked 60 hours or more a week at a job or business and succeeded, only to lose his family in the process. That price was far too high to pay. This rare and unique business opportunity could provide financial security for the family, but most importantly, it would give us time to be with the people that we loved the most. For the first time in my life, I felt as if I were at the right place at the right time.

The distributors and guests at our house, that first night Zack was our guest speaker, seemed very interested in owning their own business. Kerry and Chris had been right. We had been tremendously fortunate to have Zack come, "at his own expense," and assist us in getting our business off the ground.

We utilized the guidelines that were provided and ended with some personal reflections, regarding our sincere interest in building our own business as well as helping them succeed in theirs. There was tremendous energy in the room as the meeting broke up, and people began to get snacks and ask questions. Kerry made sure everyone knew that Zack had been kind enough to stay later to go over some important details with those who were already involved or seriously interested in The Business

Zack informed us that "Direct distributors" made around $25,000 a year, and he and Molly had helped thousands of people earn over $2,000 a month. What a thrill it was to get advice from someone who clearly had the answers! Part of success, he explained, was the need for humility. Years ago, despite his having a college education, he realized that he needed to go to Dexter Yager for advice. Dexter only had a high school degree, but he had wisdom. Dexter had business experience. One slogan heard often was, "A man with experience is never at the mercy of a man with an opinion." As The Business progressed, I would often hear Zack say, "I'd rather be humble and wealthy than brilliant and broke." The secret to success was incredibly simple. "If you want to succeed, find someone who has become successful and do what they do." It is the basic concept of modeling. If you do what I do, you will have what I have. If we would humble ourselves enough to follow the advice of the wealthy distributors who were willing to advise us, success was assured.

As the teaching session progressed, Zack made it clear to all of us how fortunate we were to be working with Kerry and Chris. They had already reached the Silver Direct level (7500 PV) that put them in a position to help us move ahead. He built them up as our local leaders. They had become far more successful than we had known. He explained how important the books, tapes, and seminars had been as he developed a large international business. (There was no need to sell me on the tapes, because I was already hooked. They were motivational as well as instrumental in teaching me the fundamentals of this business. I got a tape deck and turned my old, silver, beat-up pick-up truck into a university on wheels.) Zack stated to the group that if we did the following five things, he would guarantee us any level of income we desired from The Business.

At the end of the meeting, Zack invited Kathy and I back up front to share about the future that we saw in The Business. Once again, we knew what to say from the 'Getting Started’ literature. Nothing was left to chance. The guidelines for speaking after the meeting were as follows:

That seemed simple enough. All we needed to do to succeed in our Amway businesses was learn the pattern and teach it. During the announcements that followed, Kathy and I were glad to hear that there was a seminar coming up soon. We had gone to see the Dexter Yager seminar alone. The enthusiasm, excitement, and hope that we had experienced there was contagious. This time we would be going with a small group of people. Little did we know that the organization that would develop from this handful of friends would one day literally span the globe. 

We were building The Business at an unusually fast pace but did not know it, as we had no point of reference. We went "1000" in our first full month in The Business. This means that the organization we were developing had done 1000 PV or roughly $2200 in business.

We drove to the next seminar early with Kerry and Chris. One or two carloads of our people were to come down at the regular seminar time. Seminars were traditionally held on Saturdays. Meetings ran from 2:00 p.m. until 5 p.m., with a break for dinner, and then from 8 p.m. until 11 p.m. Our early arrival was due to the fact that Kerry and Chris achieved the magical 7500 PV level (referred to by distributors as "Direct"), and they had to attend the "Directs' meeting" that took place prior to each seminar.

This was a source of tremendous motivation for Kathy and I, because the speakers would give the "Directs" very specific coaching on how to build an even larger, more prosperous business. We hated waiting outside those closed-door meetings. Some of the speakers had actually retired in their late 20s or early 30s. It was clear to us that the keys to our family's financial future were in that room.

Everything that happened at the seminar did so according to a very specific pattern, which soon became quite familiar to us. Once again, we were surrounded by a highly enthusiastic, well-dressed group of men and women. Almost every one of them was upbeat, happy, and smiling. There were quite a few people greeting one another with hugs and warm handshakes. The atmosphere was almost electric. One of the Direct couples got up on stage to open the seminar. They were greeted with applause and a few sporadic hoots and cheers. The mood turned suddenly somber, as they led in a prayer for the speakers, for each of us, and for the country. (Even though Kathy and I were both Christians, praying seemed oddly out of place in a business meeting.)

The microphone was then turned over to another popular Direct husband-and-wife team. They, too, were greeted with warm applause and cheers. They said something, (which I cannot remember or did not understand) which caused the audience to explode into applause and then a standing ovation. Most everyone started a slow rhythmic clapping while they chanted, "Fired up! Fired up! Fired up!" This group behavior was bizarre and made both of us very uneasy. It seemed very much out of place for a business-training seminar. When the crowd settled down, the couple on stage led in the pledge to the American flag. This, too, seemed somewhat out of place, even though we considered ourselves patriotic. I was beginning to feel embarrassed that we had brought people to this. I remember thinking, "Perhaps this is an aberration." We could only hope. We had gone there to learn the logistics of how to build a successful Amway wholesaling business, as had our friends. Since our sponsors were our ride home, we could not leave. We truly were a captive audience.

The next couple was brought up and identified as our hosts for the day. They were well spoken and professional, thank goodness. They spoke of our speakers, Bob and Wendy,^* with the highest regard. Wendy had already retired, and Bob was going to shortly. They both were in their late 20s or early 30s. Now they had my attention. Bob and Wendy came on stage to a thunderous ovation. There was still an excited atmosphere, but Bob quickly set the tone for the afternoon. He spoke briefly of their introduction to The Business, their early struggles, and their current success. He spoke of Wendy with a great deal of compassion and respect. He introduced her as his partner and the love of his life. Bob gave her a quick peck on the cheek as he handed her the microphone. It was obvious that they had a great marriage. Wendy spoke of Bob with admiration and described him as their children's hero. This all seemed a little surrealistic, but at the same time, it seemed like they had succeeded in areas of life that were important to us.

Wendy spoke almost solely on the woman's role in The Business. The women took the orders by telephone on a certain night and organized the products for pickup a few days later. We would receive orders from the people that we had sponsored. These orders would be compiled on one order sheet and then called in to our sponsor. The ladies were encouraged to go to meetings, training sessions, and seminars with their husbands. After all, it would be far better to be out for a few hours a couple of nights a week than have a full-time job and someone else raising your children, wouldn’t it?

She reinforced some of the language/terms specific to this business. Your upline was your sponsor and everyone above them in your line of sponsorship. Your downline was everyone that you sponsored and the people below them. People that were not in your upline or downline were considered "cross line" to you. She also stressed the importance of the books and tapes for the women. The system allowed for growth in many areas. It helped build your confidence, interpersonal skills, and beliefs. After using about one-third of the allotted time, Wendy brought Bob back on with an enthusiastic introduction.

Bob literally took control of the room. He opened with some down-home style jokes. His warm, confident smile and slightly self-deprecating humor made him a very easy person to like. He was one of us who had made it. He wasn't slick, nor was he a backslapping salesman. Kathy and I were in awe of this young couple on stage. They were not much older than we were, and yet they had a confidence rarely found in people twice their age. Men and women, representing many successful vocations, were around me taking notes and listening intently to this young, successful speaker. He spoke of the many things that were now becoming familiar to us. The books, the tapes, and the seminars (which were referred to as "functions") were collectively known as the system. The system obviously was the key to succeeding, as every speaker made specific mention of it.

Over time, we discovered that the success of the system is probably one of the most frequently promoted topics. The representations made regarding the system are typified by the following comments made by an Amway Emerald at a teaching session after a large meeting in a hotel:

The Amway Emerald hosting the meeting affirmed the statement by saying:

The last topic Bob discussed was "showing the plan." This was Amway lingo for making the presentation. It was also referred to as "drawing the circles," due to the many circles you would draw out to represent each distributor in the organization when you showed the plan. It did not matter what products you had or how good the system was if you were not out showing the plan to people. This was the work, if you can call it that. It was so incredibly simple. We could hardly wait for the dinner break to be able to talk with our friends about the seminar. Each one of our friends seemed as excited as we were.

As we left the seminar, we noticed most of the Directs were getting into nice-looking luxury cars. Many were climbing into well-polished Cadillacs, and one young single Direct got into a BMW. It was obvious that there were young people making some very good money in this business. We could not wait to get back home to get to work. I thought of a few more people to contact and wrote their names down in the margin of my seminar notes. I wished I had called them earlier so that they could have been here with us.

The night session had a whole different format. It opened up with all of the Direct couples on stage with Bob and Wendy. We were told that this was the awards ceremony to honor the achievers. Our sponsors made certain we were ready to go up. The first award was for the "Eagle Club" qualifiers. The crowd in attendance was told that over 90 percent of the people that qualified as "Eagle," would end up going Direct. Now these were the specific logistics that I had come for. Kerry and Chris would soon give us an Eagle Club sheet that we could fill out as we went along. Eagle Club qualification would take some work, but it was relatively simple. To go Eagle, you had to do several things in a 90-day time frame. We needed to personally sponsor five distributorships and ten more in depth (beneath them). The rest was basically following the system. We needed to read daily from a book on the tool list and purchase the weekly standing-order tape series. Additionally, we were to attend all functions (seminars) for which we qualified and must have 100 percent self-use of products in our home. We had come ready to run fast. We just wanted to know what direction to go in. The Business system was giving us a track to run on.

A couple that had just gone Eagle were brought up on stage and recognized with an enthusiastic applause. They were going to be the next Directs. Our sponsors, Kerry and Chris, were given the microphone and welcomed the new 1000 pins. Once again, we were unfamiliar with the semantics of The Business. We later learned that each new level of achievement in The Business was referred to as a "pin" or "pin level," due to the fact that you are given a small pin, for recognition, to wear on your lapel. We were brought up on stage and greeted warmly by each Direct couple. Our sponsors held the microphone in front of us (non-Directs are not allowed to hold the microphone) and asked our names, where we lived, and how long we had been in The Business. The crowd broke into an excited roar when we told them that we had been in The Business for just over a month. We had no way of knowing that this was unusually rapid growth. We would later work with couples for almost a year to help them accomplish the same goal. Being on the stage made us nervous, but at the same time, it made us feel good about ourselves. The goal now was to return to a seminar and have ALL of our people being recognized onstage.

The excitement grew as each new pin level was announced and recognized. Couples paraded proudly onto the stage to be recognized at the levels of 2500, 4000 and 7500 (PV). Some of the comments were as follows: "Now they're making enough to really make their neighbors mad!" There were a lot of people making money in this business. The proof was on the stage. Some of the Direct men spoke of buying their first Cadillac and of their wife's retirement. The Directs on stage were impeccably dressed and all looked like very successful professionals.

Owning a Cadillac was nothing that interested us, but being in a position to keep Kathy home with our baby, Josh, was of tremendous importance. The awards ceremony was completed, and the hosts for the day invited Bob and Wendy back up to the podium to accept a gift. Bob and Wendy were sincerely thanked for taking a day out of their lives and away from their children to come and teach us about The Business. Their wisdom had been greatly appreciated. Then they proceeded to unwrap the gift, and it was a beautiful plaque from Walters International with their names engraved on it.

The Directs moved off stage to their reserved seats on the front row. This was another perk of being Direct. The rest of us had had to wait outside in a crowded room like cattle until the doors opened. A mad rush to the front seats followed. As we were often reminded, the best students got there early, took notes, tape recorded everything, and stayed late.

The night session was much more casual in nature. This was not a teaching time per se, but a time for the speakers to share their stories. This session, in Amway lingo, was referred to as "the rally." It took a while to learn this new language! The speakers each made brief references to their lives prior to becoming involved in this business. Most of the evening centered around how the speakers were sponsored into Amway as well as their initial thoughts and apprehensions.

Most of the speakers at these seminars would focus on the many intangible benefits that The Business had provided. Almost all had improved in areas such as goal setting, time management, and communication. Nearly all gave credit to The Business and the system for the wonderful marriages that they now enjoyed. Most of the men spoke of their wives with tremendous pride, gratitude, and respect. Being in The Business was not just a great financial opportunity but also a means by which you could improve every aspect of your life. The women would speak of their husbands with a reflective level of admiration and often comment on how thankful they were to be married to a real man. These men were heroes in their own homes. They were men of integrity and good providers.  

Something stirred deep within me. I would have given anything to have Kathy feel that way about me. Quite a few of the speakers would give praise, thanks, and glory to their Lord Jesus Christ. Even though we are Christians, these professions of faith in a business setting made us somewhat uneasy. The children of distributors appeared to be the greatest benefactors. We learned that almost all of the women at the Direct distributor level (referred to as "Directs") were stay-at-home moms. This was an option that we had wanted to exercise until our children were of school age. Kathy had a degree in preschool education and was looking into courses at a local college. These courses would enable her to get her BA in elementary education with her teaching certificate and allow her to fulfill her dreams of being a grade-school teacher, once our children were all in school.

We learned that all the Diamonds and the distributors at the "Emerald" level were retired, making at least $100,000 and had become full-time parents. Having grown up in a family that had not survived the many stresses of life, this would be a dream come true for me. At the core of my being, I felt that I had to be able to provide financial security for my family. To be able to accomplish this and have unlimited time with Kathy and Josh would be a blessing that I could barely comprehend.

There still were small fears and apprehensions, but the more I was in the system, the more comfortable I became. It was a relief to hear that, early on, many of the Amway leaders had felt exactly as we did now as new distributors. Many of the speakers that we would come to hear also had the preconception that Amway was a soap-selling business. We were all relieved to be in what was described as Phase 3 of Amway. This phase was described as network marketing. The evolution of Amway was well described in The Business Handbook, which was written by Dexter Yager and his son, Doyle. The description they gave was as follows:

This development explained why preconceptions had caused some people to have a negative, if not hostile, reaction to even the mention of the word "Amway." This was no longer a soap-selling business at all! What a relief it was to learn that even some Diamond-level distributors had that preconception upon seeing The Business. Amway Executive Diamond distributor Ed Knickman came into The Business as a successful sales professional with one of the world's leading computer companies. His initial apprehensions were described as follows in Profiles of Success:

He initially thought he should purchase a lot of Amway literature to figure out how to go sell "all this stuff". More specifically, in speaking about his initial confusion, he said the following:

We felt incredibly blessed to have a system where millionaires and multimillionaires would teach us either in person or on tape. The difference between Amway and our upline was not entirely clear yet. The more we studied materials we have been given, the clearer it became. Mr. Knickman defined the supply/support roles of Amway and our upline on a cassette tape as follows:

We came back from the seminar and began to build The Business in a flurry of activity. I still felt that I had far too little knowledge of The Business to make the presentation myself. Fortunately, Kerry was very confident in "showing the plan" (presenting the Amway sales and marketing plan).

This mentorship program was essential for our success as well as those we were to assist. My sponsor would show the plan for us until I was proficient. Kathy and I were very thankful that he was willing to do this for us until I could come up to speed. We were very hungry students. It was clear to us that the best students, in turn, became the best teachers. Whoever helped or taught many people to succeed in this business would then prosper as a byproduct of this servant hood. In a Forbes article, Amway co-founder Rich DeVos is quoted as defining his company by stating, "Amway is more than just a company; it's a movement to help people help themselves."¹¹

The ‘people helping people’ aspect was the main philosophy that attracted us to this business. This inspired Kathy and I as much as the fact that The Business was founded and built upon principles, values, faith, and integrity. This was far different from anything we had ever experienced in the corporate world. Amway's business network Website, referred to as ABN, described some of the fundamental principles that made The Business work:

It made us proud to be associated in business with people of obvious integrity. Most of the many Diamonds' speeches we heard were reflective of these principles. Not only was The Business based upon a seemingly solid foundation, it worked! This was evidenced clearly by the lavish lifestyles displayed in the book Profiles of Success and videos of the same title.

Author Shad Helmstetter published another open letter in USA Today regarding his independent findings on the burgeoning success of the Amway business. It read as follows:

" An American Victory Letter #2

(Tuesday, July 15, 1997)

The credibility seemed to grow in tandem with Amway’s now escalating multi-billion dollar global annual sales. We occasionally received photocopies of Amway bonus checks that members of our upline had deposited. One set of these checks came from Zack and Molly Walters. There were six checks that came in over a two-month period. The grand total of these checks came in at just over $166,000. Another set that we received came from Dexter Yager and his wife, Birdie. Once again, it was pointed out that these came in during about a two-month time frame and had a cumulative total of over $2,132,000. This income was for only two months! Zack and other Diamonds later emphatically stated, "Many of you will earn a strong seven-figure income." Several of the Diamonds had their own private jets. Certainly, no one was going to tell us that Amway didn't work. It was working for somebody!

I was doing four out of five activities in the system. The books and the tapes were inspirational. The large group seminars helped us visualize success and picture one day having a large organization. We understood the talks on product loyalty. Over and over again, the distributors heard, "99% loyalty is 100% disloyalty." We had to use all of our own products. Products purchased outside of Amway were referred to as "negative" products. We were told that distributors would even look in the closets in our bathroom when they were over for meetings. We certainly could not afford to have them find a negative product and think that we did not believe in The Business. There were even little, orange, "hazardous material," negative, product stickers that you could order that had a skull and cross bones across them and said something like, "this product may be hazardous to your PV." One prominent Florida Diamond talked about having negative PV raids on the homes of his downline distributors. It sounded like it was done in fun, but they would actually run through the distributors' houses, either labeling or collecting all non-Amway products. This was serious. We purchased the products from "OUR" business, and consequently, they were going to lead to our financial freedom. Products like Tide were not going to pay for our kids’ college education. Brand loyalty was essential for success.

Products like the vitamins and dog food seemed outrageously expensive. However, we could not afford 99% loyalty. We were taught that the key to this entire business was duplication. Our group of distributors would duplicate what we did or did not do. We were also advised that our downline distributors would duplicate what we did wrong more often than all the things that we did right. There certainly would be no negative products found in our home. It would be financial suicide to do anything other than use all our own products. It would also show tremendous disrespect to your upline (who was working for you) if they saw negative products in your home. They would think that you were not serious about The Business or your future, and they could choose to help someone more committed. Our children would eventually learn to not even ask for any non-Amway purchased products. They would soon realize that products from OUR business were going to bring Mommy and Daddy home and take them to Disney World. This was so simple.

The critical element to success, however, was still missing in our case. Yes, we were listening to the tapes, reading the books, going to the seminars and using ALL our own products, but I was not yet showing the plan. It didn't matter if we did everything correctly—if we had no organization in which to duplicate the proper business building techniques. Kerry would get up and show the plan and let me say a few words at the end. It took a little while, but eventually, I studied it long enough to be able to show the plan on my own. When the people that we had sponsored finally saw me showing the plan, it gave them the confidence to go out and do it themselves. Soon, we were moving many Amway kits on a regular basis. Kerry let me know that I could not continue borrowing all his tapes indefinitely. I had become a tape junkie from the ones that he had loaned to me early on. Five dollars a week for a cassette seemed like a lot, but I signed up for the standing-order tape program. The tapes would just come automatically with our Amway product order every week. We duplicated this immediately, so that all our distributors would get their tapes automatically and all the information that they needed. After all, it only made sense that they had a millionaire on tape teaching them as opposed to me.

Something happened one day at product pick-up that at first made me very uncomfortable. I was carrying boxes of tapes and Amway products from my sponsor’s basement to my car. As I loaded the last box, she smiled and said sweetly, "We love you guys." I smiled and left quickly. They began to tell us this more and more, as did other members of our upline, as we got to know them. They told us we were special people and had unlimited potential with the way we were able to relate to people. It seemed strange at first, but it was refreshing to be around a group of people that were so uplifting. Over a period of years, we would eventually become closer to this group than any of our former friends or family.

In mid December, Kerry and Chris came over and described to us what was essentially the opportunity of a lifetime. It was a weekend-long seminar almost five hours away. It was early in January and was called Dream Weekend. There were several reasons we could not go. First, we were feeling overwhelmed! Although we were enthusiastic, our total involvement was all moving far too quickly. Second, we had an infant son, Josh, and we were unwilling to leave him for an entire weekend. Third, we did not have the several hundred dollars that it was going to cost for the seminar and lodging in the high-end hotel, in which it was scheduled. There was just no way it was going to happen. We would catch the next one when our situation was better. Kerry and Chris were very persistent. This was something that I would thank them for later

They explained that Josh was the biggest reason that we needed to go. His future could hinge on this important seminar. There were many millionaires and multimillionaires that were flying in from all over the country to teach those who 'really wanted to learn.' Money was tight for us now, but after a function like this, it probably would never be a problem again. Being strapped financially was actually another major reason to go and learn from people who were financially free. We could even bring Josh with us to the seminar and were encouraged to bring food in a big cooler to save money. After hearing all this, we felt like we had no more excuses. All the issues that caused us to not want to go were presented as the biggest reasons we needed to get there. We reluctantly agreed to put the trip on a credit card. This Dream Weekend could actually be what allowed us to become debt free. I internalized their nudging as meaning ‘invest in yourself now for a brighter financial future.’ If I didn't invest in myself, who else was going to? This concept of investing made sense to me. There was no way for me to foresee that by utilizing these principles, I would later be used as an unknowing dupe to extract millions of dollars from many, many good people.

By this time, we had quickly qualified as Eagle. We were well on our way to Direct. We could convince no one else in our group to attend Dream Weekend with us. That was okay. From the books and tapes, I was beginning to understand how leaders think and act. Leaders lead. With much anticipation, we made the long journey with Josh to the seminar. We arrived at the hotel, checked in, and changed into our meeting clothes… a conservative dress for Kathy and the standard suit and tie for me.

The meeting area was an enormous ballroom. I had been to many corporate functions but had never seen anything of this magnitude. There must have been at least 2000 people there. They all seemed very enthusiastic and friendly. It was the most positive, energetic group of people I had ever seen in my life. It was also a group in which you felt very safe. It was almost like a family. Speakers at these seminars often commented on the fact that this was probably the only group where a woman could leave her purse on a chair or table and not worry about it for hours. Things could not have gone better.

We learned that there was special reserve seating right up front for the Directs and new Eagles. We walked from the nosebleed section right up to a table near the stage. We were fortunate enough to be seated with two young Direct couples that gave us tremendous encouragement. They were where we wanted to be someday. They were making at least $25,000 working only part-time. We thought what a wonderful business this was where people who didn't even know us would give us encouragement! The weekend opened with the traditional prayer and pledge. We were becoming more conditioned to this sort of thing, so that it no longer made us uneasy. As a matter of fact, we were now becoming proud to be part of it. Zack and Molly were the hosts and were greeted with a thunderous ovation immediately upon their walking onstage. We were now participants and were standing and clapping with contagious enthusiasm for them. We had crossed the line. We were no longer spectators or observers. We were "in."

The people at our table could not believe how fortunate we were to have had Zack do a meeting for us in our home. They told us of the enormous global empire he had developed. We, too, were slowly beginning to understand how very fortunate we were to be personally working with Zack. There was one perception that was firmly cemented in our minds as we attended the seminar. What was very clear was the euphoric understanding and belief that this business worked and did so in a big way. All of the speakers had come into the Amway business with some misgivings and apprehensions. Many had overcome incredible struggles and were now completely financially free. More importantly, they had no jobs and unlimited family time.

Without our knowledge, an educational indoctrination process had begun that would ultimately alter and control nearly all of our fundamental beliefs. Up to that point, politics had never been a real issue of interest to me. At this seminar and most that followed, we began to learn about the evils of liberalism and of the Democratic Party. It seemed that the liberals wanted to take from the hardworking, honest producers (us) and give to the lazy, nonproductive members of society (them). Even our taxation system was deemed to be incredibly unfair. It seemed that the rich (the producers) paid the great majority of the taxes, which ultimately benefited the lazy members of society who chose not to work. They tried to explain that logically there ought to be a tax on the poor. After all, it was the lazy poor who were the ones that were constantly draining the system that was supported by the hardworking families in America.

It certainly did not seem fair that hardworking families, like ours, supported the third and fourth generations of families that were non-productive by choice. This made me quite angry, once I began to understand. I went from having compassion for the poor to contempt for them. This did not happen overnight or over the course of one weekend. This type of information was continually reinforced through tapes, videos, seminars and training sessions over a period of years.

Unknowingly, distributors tended to develop and embrace a totalitarian we/they or us/them paradigm. This was most clearly evidenced a few years later at another Dream Weekend held in Washington, DC. As chance would have it, another group, called the Rainbow Coalition, was having a seminar at the same location. Jesse Jackson was there to either speak or lead the conference. They, too, were a very well-dressed, sharp-looking group of people. Their group also had tables where people could buy books and support materials. In fact, our groups appeared nearly identical with the exception of one clear distinction. They were Black Americans, and our group was almost entirely Caucasian. The Diamond leadership had a field day when one of our distributors spotted a book on "their" table for sale. The topic was something to the effect of how to get social security at any age.

This became a topic that several speakers addressed with lots of emotion. Here we were teaching people free enterprise, capitalism, self-sufficiency and the work ethic. It was hard to believe that they were in the same building, promoting how to leech off the government and the producers. It was portrayed in a manner that almost made it seem like a battle of good vs. evil, strong vs. weak or the diligent working vs. the lazy.

At this seminar in Washington, DC, we learned of another great evil that had the potential to inflict great harm upon our families and the American family unit, in general. It was the National Organization for Women (NOW). We learned that they were trying to redefine the role of women in America. It seemed as if they almost wanted to make women into men. They were described as "Femi-nazis." The exodus of women from the home and into the workplace was actually tearing at the very moral fiber of what made this country strong. Amway Diamonds would often make statements, "There is no amount of money that my wife could earn outside of the home that could replace the good she could do for the children within it." In a sense, I agree and still agree with the basic premise of this statement. Initially, this was an opinion that Kathy and I shared, but it is not a moral yardstick by which we cast judgment on others.

In our Amway experience, women who choose a career "over" their children were deemed to have a lack of values or were just plain stupid. Distributors would often hear other comments. "Why do you think she's working, because she hates her kids?" To not openly offend the un-indoctrinated, these types of remarks were often cushioned with a disclaimer such as, "I certainly understand the bad position that these women are in. Some are forced into the workplace, because they are married to a man that just isn't a man. I don't know about you guys, but I did not marry my wife so that she could pay her half of the mortgage." This would put tremendous pressure upon the men to be "real men," as defined by the system. The well-meaning husbands now had enormous psychological and emotional pressure to build this business aggressively to "bring their wife home" and prove their love, while retaining their manhood. If you could not accomplish this, it would cause a long term, psychological self-emasculation. Rescuing your wife from the workplace was something that every man needed to do and do quickly.

The Diamond leadership became aware of the fact that the National Organization for Women had rented the very same facility for a national conference the next weekend. Once again, we were faced with the conflict of good vs. evil. Who would protect our families? God certainly would if enough of us would rise up. One of the leaders led somewhere near 2,000 of us in prayer against the National Organization for Women and its leadership.

The only specific of the prayer that I remember clearly was that God was asked to create confusion and dissention at the meeting and among NOW's leadership. A couple of weeks later, we were joyfully informed that the meeting held by NOW had been a disaster. We were told that the president had announced that she was a lesbian, and there was a massive power outage in the middle of their conference. Certainly, God had answered all of our prayers and had provided protection for all of us who loved our families.

Another great evil that we had been unaware of was that of organized labor. Distributors were advised that unions generally used their clout to actually protect nonproductive people and reward them with a high pay scale. This was one of the great problems with America, and one of the reasons we, as a nation, may have had challenges in competing in a global marketplace. The "union mentality" was a subject of constant derision at seminars and training sessions. This was one of the reasons for the extremely high costs of putting on a major seminar in any of the cities that we attended. The American people "needed to be educated" on some of the fundamental principles of capitalism for the country to remain strong and survive.

The "entitlement attitude" that unions allegedly maintained was very harmful to our country. There were countless references to lazy people who made statements like "that's not my job." Complaints were voiced that, "a lot of people seem to stop looking for work right after they get a job." We needed to develop the strong work ethic, teach it to our children, and duplicate it throughout the country to make our nation strong once again. Distributors were advised that unions wanted to extract unlimited income from companies without any corresponding effort or benefit. This type of attitude could bankrupt companies and be the downfall of free enterprise.

It was presented that perhaps the worst of these unions was the National Education Association (NEA). This allegedly was a group determined to subvert our family values and Christian beliefs, in general. It was another liberal group that reportedly used its clout to do many bad things. First, it wanted to protect its poor teachers and non-producers by allowing them to hide behind tenure. If they were not good teachers, they should be fired! Forget tenure! This was not socialism or communism, which were topics that they were freely teaching our children. Distributors were also advised that teachers in this liberal system had free rein to teach our children homosexuality, sex education, and even Satanism, despite our wishes.

Once again, this set of beliefs was not created in one day or over one weekend. This paradigm was developed and nurtured in many tapes, seminars, and training sessions. Occasionally, a public school teacher in the organization would talk about some of these topics from firsthand experience. This caused us not only to fear public education, but also, eventually, to view it almost as a form of child abuse. As our family grew, we finally enrolled our children in a small Christian school to insulate them from this evil. Other distributors did the same or chose to homeschool.

Early on, the prayer and the pledge and all of this education about politics and unions seemed out of place in a business meeting. It was explained that we needed to be very knowledgeable in these areas to be able to vote correctly. A well-placed vote would protect the future that we were working so hard to build. Distributors were encouraged to do more than just vote; they were also to contribute financially to the campaigns of those conservative Republicans who were brought in to speak to us. It did not matter if they were not from our home state, as we were urged to get them in office in order to get the whole country right. We were thankful that our leadership had more concern for us than simply our financial success. It was refreshing to be around people that truly wanted to have their lives make a difference in the world. Once again, Forbes seemed to have a firm grasp on this movement when it reported:

We left our first Dream Weekend with total confidence in the knowledge that this was a good and honorable business and that we could succeed. More importantly, we could help our family and friends succeed in the process. Again and again, these words were used reinforce the all-for-one and one-for-all propaganda: "A rising tide raises all ships."