First, I had slightly misquoted him about direct distributors making half of their income from the system on a previous version of this page. His exact quote is:

Every negative website professes that directs and above make up to half their income off the system

The main point of my previous comments was that this comment on his site is a LIE. I reckon that got lost in the hoopala over my misquote. We don't say this...HE says we say it. A big difference. All of the Amway-info websites that I am familiar with say that when a distributor hits the direct level, they start participating in the system income. At the emerald and above level is when the system income equals and starts to exceed their Amway income.

This is an analysis of a CV chart on the web-site Welcome to Amway: The Continuing Story. In this indepth, detailed analysis of the chart, he uses a statement on this site that was used to show that all it took to reach the minimum level on the chart was to have 13 distributors buy 2 tapes a week, which would be about 100 tapes a month. Here is the exact quote from the website:

For you to receive the 6% discount, you would only need 13 people buying tapes. (Chances are good that a Direct distributor has more than 13 people in his downline who are purchasing tools.) The 6% "discount" is then applied towards the CV total (of $500 CV), so you make $30.00 profit.

He then uses this number to prove that a diamond would only be making $14,000 a year from system income and then concludes "...a diamond makes a heck of a lot more than $14,000 per year no matter how small. That immediately dispels the HALF their income thing."

This example is so ludicrous that it's beyond belief. The Britt system teaches, and so does Yager's system, that a qualified direct distributor will have about 100 people in his organization with about 50-60 standing order tapes (SOT's) or tape of the weeks (TOW's). Actually, if you continue reading that page on the Welcome to Amway: The Continuing Story, you will see that author makes the same statement. He was in Yager's organization and I was in Britt's.

A diamond will have 700-1000 people in their organization (maybe more if they have a lot of pins downline) with a similar percentage of people on SOT/TOW.

In addition, a large percentage of these distributors will be go-getters and order more than one tape a week.

There's no doubt in my mind that he knows all of the above. He's bragged to everybody and his cousin that he made silver in 2 1/2 months (he may have done this but it has not been independently confirmed). So why did he use such a ridicuously small number of tapes to prove that a diamond couldn't be making half of their income from the system? I don't know.

Added 6/10/98 I just noticed he's increased the number of tapes used in his analysis, but those numbers are still low and he still seems to think the only thing we're talking about when it comes to system income is tapes. We don't. We add in all sources of income, which for whatever reason, he doesn't want to add into his analysis. I wonder why?

Another point he proves on this page is that the tape profit is a mere five cents per tape. How does he do it? By dividing the $30 profit by the total cost of the 100 tapes. Now, I'm not a math honors student which the fact/fiction author claims to be, but to get a per unit cost, don't you need to divide by the number of units? That's what I was taught in the four room grade school I attended. If you divide $30 by 100 tapes you get....30 cents per tape. WOW what a coincidence.. that's what Probst says also. DARN!

I should also point out that on this page he only uses tapes (and a small number at that) to prove his point that a diamond can't be making half of their income from the system. There is absolutely no reference to books, videos, brochures, CD's or any of the other BSM's sold thru the system. There is also no reference to income from ticket sales to seminar/rallies or weekend functions. This is one reason why I feel that he is fixated on tapes.

Now let's move on to the second page. I think it is just amazing that hundreds of pages and mega-bytes of scanned documents and recordings of telephone conversations and Amvox messages at Probst's site can be condensed into such a few statements. Probst's site provides an insight into Yager's AMO system that has never been revealed before now. The information on Probst's site is from someone who has been an emerald for six years and in the Amway business for 10 years. The information on this website should be required reading for any new prospect. After all, if you want to find out what it was like to be on the moon, would you rather talk to an Apollo astronaut who was actually there, or someone who is looking at the moon with a pair of binoculars?

There are so many facts and figures on Probst's site, that you owe it to yourself to read the entire site and do something really radical...form your own opinion and not let someone else do it for you.

Although he professes to believe that Probst can make $3-4,000 a month from system income, I reckon he can't quite believe the entire quote from this site:

This makes my grand total income from the system at least $3,500+ a month. To put it in perspective, that's about the same amount I make from Amway

So he has to go about and prove that Probst must be lying.

So...how does he go about it...by claiming that an emerald would be getting a $35,000 performance bonus that he would share with his downline directs. Excuse me, but HUH????

By definition a qualified emerald has three personally sponsored qualified direct distributors. And who pays qualified directs and above their performance bonus? Amway. So.... is he deliberately lying here, or is this a display of ignorance? I just don't know! There has been one other time when he tried to convince me his upline diamond, while still an emerald, got a $20,000 4% check (leadership bonus). He used this number to prove that his upline was earning over $100,000 a year just on leadership bonuses. When I pointed out that the largest leadership bonus ever paid, according to the SA4400, was $15,810, then it was "oops...he was referring to a performance bonus." These kind of comments make me wonder whether he really knows what he's talking about or whether he's attempting to get added to that Internet test he talks about.

Now if all three directs fell out of qualification then the emerald would certainly start getting their performance bonuses again, but then he would no longer technically qualify as an emerald. He still would have the emerald pin, but "Money is not in the pin...money is in the organization." And if all three directs fell out of qualification, that emerald would need 70,000 points or $140,000 business volume a month of products going through his organization to earn that $35,000 performance bonus (for you math honors students -- 140,000bv * .25 = 35,000).

To put that $35,000 performance bonus in perspective, take a look at the current SA4400. It shows that the largest performance bonus ever paid was $47,720. This hasn't changed since the 1992 SA4400. So ask yourself, how typical is a $35,000 performance bonus? I am not saying that a DD can't earn that kind of performance bonus. I am just questioning how many distributors have quadruple ruby volume (for you math honors students -- 70,000pv / 15,000pv = 4.67), especially when you look at the averages posted in the SA4400.

If you ask any distributor how much a direct makes, the answer will usually be "about $2,000." This is a standard answer that everyone is taught to use. The real answer will depend on several things. This information is posted in another area on my site, but I'll repeat it here.

If the DD has 7500 - 8000 points going through his business, they will receive around $4,000 as a performance bonus (16,000bv * .25 = $4,000). How much they keep of that is entirely dependent on the structure of their organization. If they are lucky enough to have an organzation like the theoretical, perfectly symmetrical example published in the SA4400, then the answer is yes...they'll keep about $2,000 of that check. However, if the distributor has fewer active legs, they will keep less..if they have more active legs, they'll keep more.

Bill Britt is a Crown Ambassador and has been in the Amway business for almost 30 years (I hope this establishes him as a credible resource). He has published the following information on tapes and I have also heard him teach this information at major functions.

Statistics in his business, after almost 30 years, have shown that if a distributor sponsors 12 people 3-4 people will actively work the business and drive the distributor to the direct level. There will be 3-4 incubators and 3-4 who quit. Most distributors in Britt's organization will recognize this as coming from his 6-6-8-6-6 tape. Will you have exceptions? Of course! Some will sponsor 12 and get none. Some will sponsor 12 and have most of them actively work the business. But on average, this is what Britt says will happen in most peoples organization.

Now if you only have 3-4 personals actively working the business, you will keep anywhere from $1,100-$1,600 of that $4,000. It doesn't matter which way you slice the numbers.

So...can a direct and above make $2,000 a month from a performance bonus...yes...the reality is that most don't. All it takes is a look at the average performance bonuses in the SA4400 to prove that. I really hate using Amway documentation to prove a point, but it is the only reliable information a prospect should count on. This just might be the reason why Amway publishes this information -- to offset distributor claims about earnings.

One more point about the emerald bonuses...an apparently reputable source (the email posted on the "What about other systems" page) told the fact/fiction author that not all emeralds receive the ruby bonus, but he has yet to change his analysis to reflect that info.

So, when you subtract out the ruby bonus and the inflated performance bonus then you can readlily see that maybe, just maybe, Probst does know a little bit more about the bonuses he receives than someone who hasn't the foggiest idea how his business is structured.

Now let's move on to the 3rd page...this one is my favorite.

Although he seems to have changed his mind later, the first paragraph clearly states that since the two best resources on the net couldn't agree, based on his accurate(?) analysis of the information, they just don't compute and couldn't be replied upon. All he really proved is that the tools bonus structure varies with the organization, a fact that is confirmed from his apparently reputable source on the "What about other systems" page. Therefore it's not an either/or situation, they can both be true. There are differences in the way bonuses are paid in different organizations. That has been obvious to me since I started getting email from DD's and above who have shared their knowledge as to what is going on. So what's the big deal about flip flopping as to which one he believes?

Now what about other sources re system income? It's interesting that an emerald told him that he's making about 20% of his income from the system...his diamond still claims that they only make a dime from tapes and speaker fees (nothing from other BSM's and functions). He states 25% tops.

Let's now look at a few other sources -- Forbes magazine quotes Yager in 1985 as saying 2/3 of his income came from the system. Brig Hart stated in a lawsuit filed in a court of law in Florida in 1997 that "the sale of business support materials produces revenues far exceeding the revenues generated from the sale of Amway's consumer goods." Greg Garland (the Advocate reporter) interviewed two diamonds and a Crown Ambassador in Britt's organization. One diamond said he wasn't making enough to pay a secretary from system income...his upline mentor, also a diamond said 60% Amway and 40% system...the crown ambassador said 50/50. Several upper level distributors who have filed lawsuits say more than half. This makes several examples of upper level distributors revealing different numbers. Can they all be telling the truth?

But my all time favorite quote from this page, actually -- from the whole site, has to be the following:

If the Emerald is telling the truth, then he is a hypocrite. He claims that he took his site down long ago because Amway told him to. Now he says that he has developed several other businesses and is not worried about what Amway will do to him. Basically, he was worried before but now that he has made enough money off Amway and the SYSTEM to start other businesses, it's okay to go public. So what he says is now that he has made enough unethical money off his group, he can go public now. Tell me that's not self-centered.

This paragraph has given me more amusement than anything else on his site.

In late 96/early 97, Amway was telling every distributor who had a positive site or who was advertising on the net to remove their web-sites until they could formulate the Distributor Home Page regulations. Probst complied with Amway's request and took his positive site down.

Now, why did Probst put up this new site -- An In-Depth Look At The Amway® Business? I don't know. If you read the information on this site you will see that there were several instances of his upline trying to control his actions (who they could talk to or sit with -- real freedom huh?). Maybe his faith in the system was shaken by Amway's 22 page letter detailing all of the rules violations the system taught him. Maybe it was due to his upline reshuffling the line of sponsorship in the Phillipines. And maybe it was for reasons he has chosen not to reveal.

ADDED 6/3/98 -- Recently the Probst's published a new page called The Saga Continues that explains in a little bit more detail the reasons why they published their site. It is available off their "What's New" page. If you have not read it, I would encourage you to do so.

Whatever the reason, it was a courageous act putting this info on the net. It was also a cautious move, not a self-centered one, to develop another source of income to replace the system income he knew he would lose as a result of his taking a stand and telling the truth. Can you imagine him being asked to give a seminar now? How about an open?

So -- who is the self-centered hypocrite? This kind of character attack is just another example of a tactic I've seen other distributors use over and over again. If you can't attack the message -- attack the messenger. Throw all the mud on the wall that you can and see what sticks. It happens to just about anybody who dares say anything negative about the business, even though it's true. It's happened to every website author, including myself. Heck, I've even had distributors accuse me of being a Clinton supporter!

The defense rests, and you the juror may now deliberate. But at least you now know why I say .....

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