With advance apologies as needed, when I read your original post, I immediately thought "This is someone using the forum to get people in his downline by acting like a newbie and posting his ad as a question. " That was in particular because you wrote "Some of my friends, (who signed me up) are making up to 10,000 per month now and really not working hard at all."
You provided timely responses, which got me thinking that maybe your posting was a non-ad after all and you seriously believed this stuff...even though the statement that not 'one' of your friends, but 'some' of your friends were making huge amounts of money for little effort kept my 'skeptical genes' on full alert.
Then I read your response about how these friends are doing it:
"What my friends have been successful in doing is: Use it with non-profit, charitable organizations as a fund raiser. They have gone to the boards, and made one an IBO then that IBO makes other members of the board their downlines etc.
They are selling what people buy everyday, tp, food, snacks and coffee, laundry detergent etc. They all buy the products and make the non-profit organization make some fund raisers. In the process, they get their kick back."
Well, I took early retirement a couple of years ago to take a pay cut and work for a non-profit. I'm also on the boards of several other non-profits and actively involved in fundraising. And I haven't met a board yet that would participate actively enough in this kind of effort to generate $10,000 a month in commissions for even one your friends, much less several.
As I've done before in prior postings, I did the math, this time using data from Quixtar Amway Business Analysis <
http://amquix.50megs.com/amway.html >
Direct quotes:
1) "An IBO selling 7,500PV or about $17,000 a month of core products to loyal customers at retail prices could gross almost $100,000/year"
2) "Member purchases generate only half the bonus points and no retail markup. A customer paying retail prices can be over three times as profitable as a Member."
3) "In order to attract the most participants, many groups teach their prospects to just change their shopping habits and purchase $200-$250/month of products from their "own business". Since "selling" turns many people off, many groups teach their prospects to simply "redirect their buying power" and "buy from themselves". They should then teach others to do the same.
4) "Quixtar paid IBOs an average of 28% of sales in 2000 and 2001. Each IBO buying $200 per month would generate gross commissions of just $675 per year despite possible annual expenses of $2,000 or more."
5) "Average IBO income can only be increased by increasing personal sales, not by recruiting more IBOs."
**
Here's what these mean.
A) Your friends (and I'm going to assume a collective where they get the $10,00 a month combined) would need to be selling $17,000 a month retail to gross almost $100,000. (See 1) - or an average of $8,333 a month.
B) If all these board members are in the downline, then they are not buying retail...which is 3 times more profitable (See 2) - if this is the case, your friends would need to be selling $51,000 a month
C) Your description of what your friends are doing implies that the board members in the downline are buying the products. Assuming the $200-250 figure in 3), to get $17,000 a month in sales, they would need 68-85 people a month buying the product. To get to $51,000 a month, it would be 204 - 255 people.
The average non-profit board is between 9-15 people. At the very least, using these figures, your friends would need 5 boards where every single member purchases Amway. At most, they'd need 29. And this is assuming that every single board member purchases in these amounts...not a likely assumption. An alternative is that some board members are extremely successful in selling Amway month after month after month...and give the profits away?? (The agency has to make their money somehow.)
So I remain highly skeptical that your friends are making this kind of money using these kinds of tactics...*while doing very little work*. And that's the sticking point for me...just like it was when I read your first posting.
By the way, you wrote "I live in a small area too but there sure seems to be a lot of amway soap and cleaning supplies (empty's) at the curb on garbage day!." If that's the case, then you have to consider that your market area may be already saturated. So how are *you* going to make money when someone is already successfully selling in your area and has scooped up all those customers?
Take care,
Kendall