When my husband and I went to his 10th high school reunion we mentioned we owned our business. We had a window cleaning business. (We both went in different directions in 2003. Owning your business means you have lots of bosses. Lol.) The couple said they also had their own business. I asked what it was. In unison they said "Amway". My husband and I tried so hard not to roll out eyes and keep our mouths shut. We so wanted to say, "we have a business! We worked our asses off to start a legitimate business! You are just sellers!"

I know this will be just me screaming into the void, but here it goes. My two close friends (one roommate) are really, REALLY deep into this shitty MLM. It is like a cult, they hold it up like the holy word. It makes me so furious and sad at the same time, but it looks like I am totally powerless. Everything I tell them, they just brush off and I am too scared to push more in fear they will just cut me off. All I can do is evade their tries to recruit me, too, honestly. Thanks for reading. It will not change a thing, but I just needed to get this off my chest...

A whole video on the scammery of the Devos family would be awesome

This video came just in time. Someone just tried to recruit me from school, just in the way you described. Thank you for saving me from this scheme.

It’s also amazing how they say, “we own our business & we get to do whatever we want with our time” and I’m just like well why do you spend your time trying to recruit people?

This was on my recommended page, and I’m shocked at your sub count!! Your content is great quality and well researched, so I can’t wait to see your growth!

Huge link between Mormonism and MLM's. Many in Salt Lake City and Utah in general.

It’s crazy, I grew up near Grand Rapids, MI. EVERYTHING in Grand Rapids is named after Amway/DeVoss/Van Andel and dozens of friends, neighbors, and family members worked for Amway. Being a distributor or anything like that was NEVER mentioned though. I had no idea until a couple years ago that it was an MLM at all. I was shocked. It’s amazing what an influence they had on that city/state.

Thank you SO MUCH for sharing... I was literally going to meet with my “friend” tomorrow and buy into the company because she really convinced me that I could become successful at this.. and I was like... this sounds strangely like Herbalife... no thank you. You just confirmed all my suspicions. THANK YOU!!!

Your amway story is exactly like mine. A girl I work with who I’m acquaintances with invited me to a seminar for them and they kept pushing that “why pay someone else for goods you use already?” And my whole thing was I don’t have time to sell, I have a demanding job. I’m glad I ran

I am from Grand Rapids, where the headquarters is. I was about to be recruited but thank GOODNESS I was only 17 and my mom talked me out of it before I was 18.

I was recruited into Amway by a family friend when I was in my early 20's and living in Malaysia!! The INTENSE PRESSURE put on me by my recruiter and her immediate boss, who, Ironically, went to the same church with me, to meet my monthly targets stressed me out so much that I had enough and quit!!!! Ironically, I had to get my dad involved to get my deposit back as the church going boss dragged his feet about it!! I FINALLY got my money back, and was put off Amway and other MLMS FOR LIFE!! Incidentally, the friend who recruited me later left Amway herself, on bad terms!!!!

My grandparents used to work with Amway in the late 80's until 2003 (when they retired or at least when the local hospital made the mistake of declaring my Grandfather dead after he survived a stroke one year) I remember when me and my brother were little, we would play in our grandparents' office on tape recorders and spinning in the office chair (just being kids) when we would see boxes of all this bookkeeping stuff we weren't allowed to play with. I can still remember one of the books in that box was black and had a big gold Amway globe logo (the logo at the time) slapped on the front of it. Anyway, my grandparents would keep their Amway stuff in their hallway. Of course, I can still remember the brands that came in these packages: Nutralite vitamins (as well as a kids chewable version which I can't think of off the top of my head at the moment but I remember my mom giving me and my brother these and they tasted like chalk!), Nine to Five coffee (I think this brand has been discontinued these days but back when my grandparents were involved, this was a big seller), Artistry cosmetics (My grandmother would use this all the time. Even if it was just a trip to the grocery store! I'm pretty sure that the rare times my mom wore makeup was Artistry and when I was old enough say 11. Even I had worn a lighter shade of Artistry lipstick at one point. Heck I even carried a tube in my purse before it eventually got smashed), Satinique hair care products (Product still exists although I can't remember if it has always gone under this name or if it was when Amway went through that Quickstar thing), there was also a brand of chips that Amway had in the 90s that I can't think of right now. anyway, my Grandfather passed away in 2013 and my Grandmother is 90 and no my mother nor I (or my brother) have not carried on the Amway "legacy" as we all have paying jobs (although I work at a Community College and with the current situation right now, I may have to start looking for other work...just not with Amway 😅)

excellent video. Amway is sooooo creepy!! I definitely think they're beyond being an MLM at this point and are more like an actual cult. I just subscribed to your channel -- I make lots of antiMLM videos too!! Welcome to the KZfaq antiMLM community! Your research & editing in this video was excellent and I really look forward to seeing more from you!

What makes me more uncomfortable than their business concept is How they approach their recruiters (aka me recently) - The VAGUENESS and lack of info about what they do, while telling you to read a book and join a meeting to find out. Why cant they just tell me right then and there, so that i Dont waste time on something i wont want to invest in? That first impression is So off putting to me.. and they’re Trained to invite ppl that way. How can I trust someone who won’t be upfront about what they do and who they are? I cannot.

Oh my god my heart just skipped a beat! I’m at 6:30 where you are telling the story and I swear this happened to me. When you said “mentor” I KNEW it had to be the same situation!! A young woman approached me at the grocery store and was asking me all kinds of questions about what I did, what my boyfriend did, being so friendly and inquiring. She was talking about how she wanted to retire young, that she had met this couple who are her mentors that are teaching her soo much. I was so weirded out by that experience, and now I KNOW WHAT IT WAS!! Wow wow wow!

My family got into Amway through our family friends about 7 years ago for 2 years. When we quit, we told them about it being bad and they quit as well.

Someone tried to recruit me into this. Never would give me any specifics about the “business opportunity “

Thank you so much for your informative and detailed video. It was a big factor in my wife and I walking away from very late stage recruiting. With COVID-19, recruiters are using zoom to recruit. There were 60 people in one call. It included lawyers, a pharmacist, a doctor, and many successful blue collar folks. I’m glad we did our own independent research. Thankfully the recruiters wanted a 4th meeting, which gave us a chance to take a step back and see through the elaborate sham with help from talking to former Amway victims, articles, and videos like yours.

Amway "consultants " , by buying those motivational DVD'S and overpriced household products bought Betsy DeVos her job as secretary of Education, a job she is completely unqualified for.

I’ve noticed that all these MLMs won’t tell you their names until you’re in it. Like ok no thanks! Hahah

So it looks like an offer of "mentorship from a successful business person" is pretty much the same as being groomed by a predator ….

I hope one day you do a video on Mary Kay. An oldie but they are still pretty active. Theres a lot to unpack there.😳

Watched this out of curiosity. A girl in college really tried to get me to join and I had no idea. At the time I was taking 6 classes and had no time to read the book. I’m glad I was legit too busy but I was VERY skeptical this girl would constantly refuse to tell me who she worked for or what she did so I didn’t take it serious.

Prosperity Gospel is such a problematic idea for me. The book The Family goes into it really indepth, these people are in all levels of government and have so much power. And so much is based on the notion that God will bless you in this life for being a "good person" therefore it's fine to be rich. Forget all that Jesus said about giving all your money to the poor and public prayer is not cool. Show off your wealth aka show off that God thinks you're awesome. Gag.

Not me realizing he was basically apart of an mlm because I went to seminars with him and he made me read rich dad poor dad

My dad didn't only do Amway & Nutrilite once but TWICE causing us to lose our house and in a sea of debt. Now he's trying to get out of debt from moving from a 2 bedroom apartment to a trailer home (nothing wrong with trailer homes) also Mom did Avon and I didn't catch on this was happening until my boyfriend mentioned it was a MLM. Now my brother and his wife are apart of this MLM. Thankfully both of them have a well paying jobs. But even my father dragged me along to "parties/seminar" and forced me to read "rich man poor man" and all MLM books at 14 years old. Making me miss school and trying to influence me to become the first "young business owner" in my family. Currently my dad is selling Nature Sunshine and really pushes these products in our church and all our close friends who are involved in church and the military. I hope he finds your content or content like this to understand the high potential of failing after he's tried 3x in a row. Love your content and the algorithm really worked in both of our favors opening my eyes to literally all the financial downfalls in my family.

Hey, I love your videos. I saw you had a thread of MLM videos and it took me back to a time when I was living in Las Vegas when I was 21 and scammed into Amway, but it was so crazy how it was done. I wasn’t even aware of MLM’s, I was actually in the service industry for many years even being a waiter in Las Vegas, so my people skills are pretty good and I enjoy talking to people and start conversations from thin air. You know how important someone like that is in an MLM down line. Anyways it’s so interesting to relate to because to this day I feel so embarrassed that this even happened to me. It was a group named World Wide Group and they went by WWG if you want to look them up. Amway didn’t come up until you saw the products but they swore it wouldn’t be Amway, they also do their own memberships to audios starting at $60 a month, and that’s just the start, you also pay for the conferences they hype up so much just to go and hear them basically boasting about the trips they take, and it wasn’t boasting to them it was to inspire us that we can do it too. They started with the normal “recruitment” process, I actually worked with a waiter friend that said he knew someone with his “own business” anyways, this can get very long but what I found so shady, is, I was a broke college kid, I was out there away from family on my own and they knew that, but that didn’t stop them from trying to take every cent from me and make them a lot of money. With crazy subscriptions, conferences, dittos, and up line always wanting to know what’s going on, they actually made me more broke and stress them I was as a waiter. Anyways, if it sounds to good to be true, it usually is. Huge fan I’ll keep supporting you.

Someone below mentioned how they are targeting Hispanics. That is so true.They have definitely been reaching to the Hispanic community aggressively past years. My cousin who lives in Tennessee was part of it a few years ago and took over his family life. I live in Chicago. He and his family would drive all the way from Tennessee and stay with my family when ever there were conventions going on in Chicago. They would bring all away products to our house I think hoping we'd ask about them. They spent money getting a new car so they looked ” successful ”. He said his Amway mentor said he had to look successful to be successful. They got expensive looking suits and all. It was sad to watch them spend all this money they did NOT have. He worked two jobs and did Amway. Eventually my cousin and his wife argued so much over money and ended up losing their home and cars because they couldn't keep up with bills. Sad to see so many people really believe this is their ticket to financial freedom. For a while they tried to get my mom to join since other Mexican families in the area joined. Luckily was able to warn her.

I can't believe this was her first video, she's such a natural!

i feel like everyone has the rich dad poor dad book lmao

I’m old enough to remember when Amway was spreading like a bad rash in the late seventies and early eighties. I don’t want to generalize too much from my own experience, but it seems to me that Amway was the punch line of a lot of jokes during that era because so many people had pity bought some low quality products from a neighbor or been recruited by a co worker. It’s weird that it could have continued so long when it already had a widespread bad reputation 40 years ago.

My dad has been doing amway for decades. It’s crazy to think that my clothes came from amway when I was a kid. He’d send me the big catalogs and had me tell him what I wanted when it came to clothes, birthday and Christmas gifts. I also remember when he signed me up to be a rep without my consent. I only found out when they sent me a big box of their stuff. I was PISSED. I didn’t even realize how bad the company was, but I knew that I had no desire to be in any kind of sales and I sure as shit wasn’t going to try to shill stuff to my friends or anyone else.

I know this is old but I’m binging your videos lol My ex husband was really into MLMs in general. I wish I had divorced him sooner because my refusal to buy in was a major disconnect for us. He calls me “unsupportive” to this day.

at first i didn’t realize i was being recruited but i watched so many of these videos and i started counting all the red flags. by the time i was at one of the seminars they mentioned they’re owned by amway and i knew i was in trouble. those seminars are so manipulative and i’m greatful that i watch so many of your videos so i knew what tactics they were trying to use.

I just started watching you a week ago and I’ve already watched all of your videos. 🙃🤣 You’re amazing!

I found your Channel looking for more information about Pearl party MLM. I like to learn about things like these so that one day I may pass the knowledge on to my kids of the future. Currently going through all of your content. I do a lot of driving so it is nice to have something to listen to that isn't boring radio. Keep up the great stuff!

I live in the Grand Rapids,MI area where the Devos and Van Andel family empires are stationed. It's pretty crazy how much of this is has infiltrated the churches here. Thanks for sharing this story!

THIS MLM Someone tried to recruit me into this a while ago. Thing was, I was homeless and working my butt off trying to get enough food to survive and take care of my chronically sick partner. This family was a really sweet older couple with autistic children, and as a person who had just abandoned my family due to their abuse I really wanted to make a friend and have something outside of work and sitting outside Walmart. I was still in the phase where I wanted my parents to be proud of me, and what could be better than a small business? Besides, a lot of people I knew were into Young Living and Asea, so this seemed legit. That's how I found out I was surrounded by MLMs as a child.

The fact that she only started a year ago and is already thriving is impressive. This is my new favourite channel. Can’t wait until she reaches one million subs❤️

I recently found your channel and I’ve seen all the different film spots and looks! I love it! Lol thank you so much for helping bring mlms into the light. Especially during a time when a whole lot more people are vulnerable ):

Congratulations on your excellent first video. Really helpful and informative, human and sincere at the same time. Hope you make many more and have great success. God knows how many hard up people you have already helped.

Now I get your rather high level interest in MLM's. It's good that someone like you is watching.

And this is why Betsy DeFraud is the US Sec of Education.

Okay so I've been watching you since I think April, and omg. You have always been captivating! I have no doubt your channel is gonna grow faster than dandelions!!!! 💜💜💜💜

long hair! watched your more recent videos when I first found you so seeing your development in production is so awesome

It's so bad that I got two messages on facebook in two days from Amway recruiters. They really prey on emotion which scares me. How can this be legal? It's so bad that it's gotten into my community.

I have a younger coworker who’s in Amway. The way she talks about it is that “imagine you’re in business with all your friends”, and that everyone above her is a mentor. She talks as if these people have been in her life for decades and it’s been less than three years for her. I worry about her.

Thank you for this video ....it just confirmed that I was being pulled into something that just felt a little off😣

My mom and step-dad did nutrilite and amway.. actually I think he still does amway. So this was super fascinating to learn about

I hate scammers beyond al reason. You got me hooked on your channel. Thanks for calling out those liars.

I live just a few minutes away from Amway. I’ve driven past their huge warehouse countless times in my lifetime. The Van Andel and Devos families have an insanely large influence in how our city has grown over time. We have the Van Andel Arena, the Devos Place, the Helen Devos Children’s hospital. The families are incredibly wealthy. I didn’t know what Amway was growing up. I was surprised when I learned it was essentially a huge MLM corporation.

oh god my parents fell for this one and they would go on trips to the meetings and would tell ANYONE that came into contact with them about it. Even my friends i wanted to bring over it was so embarrassing. They gave me vitamins and idk i just took them bc free vitamins and one day they made me throw up and i was dizzy in a really weird way enough to go see a doctor. I never touched any of that stuff ever again.

The only MLM that I have ever encountered myself. Back in something like 2005, when I was in my 20's, a distant relative called my mom out of the blue and started to talk about Amway. My mom wasn't interested but I allowed that relative to visit my apartment and tell me about Amway. And he was sure I was going to be rich and such. I wasn't interested neither, thank god I wasn't that dumb. My mom's friend was also an Amway representative and she had huge plans. Those plans turned into shit.

Girl! I love your channel! This is amazing content!

Great video and research on AMWAY. Thank you for the awesome detailed overview.

I followed you a month ago and I have just finished watching officially all of your video😂❤️❤️

wow i had the same experience with amway recruiters, like 90% similar. the only difference, I went further with it out of the curiosity and then i ghosted themm lmaooo

You really laid the information out well. Thank you.

My best friend has been in Amway for about 4 years. I feel like our relationship has been comprised a little bit because i cant communicate to her how I actually feel about amway with out offending her. I also hate how amway has discouraged my friend from pursuing a higher education. It seems like my bf resents me for going to college rather than joining her amway thing.

Wow we had the same experience lol. Everything about this business seem real to me untill they had me go to the website and ordered products from anway that cost me about $540. Right from that moment I knew this wasn’t a real business as they mention, this is more about selling the company’s product and you get nothing in return. Luckily I was Able to run into your video and everything makes sense. I figured everyone that I’ve watch had the same experience. So I went and return all of their product and I call and told them that I don’t want any part of their fake business. What angers me the most is that they didn’t tell me all of this stuff the first day we met. They started telling me about amway 4 days after. cos they knew people would’nt even look at them, so they try to find a way to make you hype and Interested

cant believe this was your first vid! I've been binging since I found you haha

My dad and stepmother were in this, and use to scold us about positive thinking and how we weren't gonna succeed if we didn't ALL THINK HAPPY, stepmother even blamed us for not winning the hgtv dream house contest because we didn't think positively enough, but I remember them bringing products home all the time, going to events, basically I remember them spending money all the time but not us every actually getting any.

That is the best research I seen for awhile

A church friend tried to recruit me and I am so so saddened by it.

Now I’m slightly insulted that I met and babysat for a couple with the mom who was an amway hun bot and she never tried to drag me into the scheme as a young college student. Prolly knew I didn’t have enough money 😅 then again, how do they think these desperate sahm’s are going to fund their “businesses”

This was a GREAT video. I was in Amway and the thing you said about the ditto ordering is accurate. I was in World Wide, which is one of the many extensions of Amway and they always emphasized “first day DITTO”, which was basically your goal to get that processed on the first day of the month every month. They teach you how to budget properly and get rid of stuff you spent money on so you can use that money on their products instead.

I must say your delivery has improved a lot since a year ago - a lot more natural ... not to mention the audio quality!

I'm gathering information for a video I'm doing on Amway because i was a victim of Amway a year ago and want to be really informative. This was super helpful

WOW! Such an informational and eye opening video!

I just realized that an old friend of mine tried recruiting me into Amway. I knew something fishy was going on but I didn't know the specifics. I was lent a copy of Rich Dad, Poor Dad (and like I was already pretty anti-capitalist at the time so it read as Bourgeoisie crap). They kept inviting me for coffee. Complained about how everyone thought they joined a cult. Just Ugh.

Found you via Swoop's video and already impressed with this content. Looking forward to educating myself on MLMs with this playlist (:

you are super smart and sharp, thank you for your service

Thank you for this, currently in the process of getting enlisted and I am trying to figure out how to get out

So I've been binge watching your videos for the last month or so (I subscribed at the first one I saw!!!) And I find it kinda ironic that before every single one of your video I get an ad for some kind of network marketing "freebot" scam... 🤣

every time I watch your videos I get a mlm ad

Well done. Thanks for sharing.

lol before this video started it was a MLM advertising...Capitalization really is sicking

Off-topic but having come from your newest videos, I think your new haircut is STUNNING on you! Long also looks great on you too, of course. But I just love your new cut so much. I wish I could pull off shorter hair but mine is pitifully thin haha xD

Thanks for your sharing, your sharing will help a lot of people

Now I know why you channel got bigger. You where great even in your first video 👍 Natural talent:)

A lot of Latinos are also dragged into this mlm and now that I’m seeing this I’m even more disgusted as my family was also part of this group. Being Latino and hearing who this company supports, is even more horrifying….

I was targeted at Ross by Amway people, and then I dated a guy who was super into & we broke up because I really could not handle him being in it. He just became such a different person.

I'll probably do a video response to your video, because watching your video is bringing back memories from my child hood LOL

You are doing an excellent job. Subscribed.

So back I think the early 90s my husband I almost fell for it. The guy was such a good talker. We ended up not doing it but bought an awesome cleaner.

Lol. So I had a zoom meeting last night with Amway and as they continued to talk, I realized how cultish it is. They kept stating how other things in your life isn't important as Breakthrough which is going on this weekend. They were shaming those who don't want to go in the nicest way. They had all these rules for what you can and can't do and what is appropriate at the convention. You can't just walk up and talk to a "leader" without being introduced first... Yea, I'm good. I'll work hard to start up my own business.

Holy shit This explains so much of my childhood. My parents were very religious to the point where my parents didn’t let us go to school, but also my mom wanted us to not have connections to the “secular” world. She also never wanted us to leave and wanted us to all live on the same property in different houses WTF! They were also very involved in the church. Now I realize that’s where they probably got asked to go to an amway thing and got sucked in it. But we were already poor and amway and the church took more of what we didn’t have. We already struggled to have enough food and of course my parents didn’t believe in birth control so she had 6 children and 1 miscarriage and we really struggled with food and everything else but we didn’t go to school so nobody knew how bad our house was. Even though we were broke, amway came along and brainwashed my parents easily and made us even more poor. I don’t know how long they stayed in amway, but I remember our garage was full of amway stuff and we used it my entire childhood. I think they did get out when I was still a teen but they had so much “product” that they had enough were they were still using it years after I left home. My childhood was crazy but now I understand a little bit more about how they got dragged into amway. Wow

My mom was briefly an Amway "consultant" - fancy word for salesman - and luckily my Dad had a good job. As a stay at home mother, my mom was obviously looking to do something with her time and make a little money. I was too young to know what was going on but I know at some point she quit and we were left with tons of products she couldn't sell. Of course my Dad had to buy all that crap first in their "business" model. The crappy vitamins lasted years and the window cleaner that worked for shit, lasted decades. Some of the cans had rust on them by them time we used them up.

My parents were big into Amway back in the 80s. They had previous experience in home sales and my mom was also selling Princess House at the same time. They were actually very successful with it. They were the top sellers in their region quite a few times and ‘won’ several trips. I say ‘won’ because they had to attend some type of training or conference like you mentioned. But their international airfare, hotel costs and various other things were paid for by the company. So after 2-3 hours of .... whatever... they got to sightsee in a new place or enjoy a cruise for a week. We’re in the US to give perspective. They went to Washington DC a couple times (shocker!), London, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Ireland, Calgary, San Francisco and 3-4 cruises. They just had to bring spending money. On one DC trip they met G.Bush Sr. It might have been a political rally given the time period and what you just spoke about. They never said specifically and I was too young to care! My mom dealt mainly with the Artistry cosmetics. I guess you could call her a MUA, although all she had was natural talent and what little training the company did. i.e No certification! She had a HUGE kit that she’d take into women’s homes where gathered a bunch of poor suckers to sit through a speech, demo, tryouts then be peer-pressured into spending waaayyy more than they wanted. Hmmm. 🤔 What other MLM company does that sound like? Ding ding!! You guessed it; Mary Kay! Amway was copying the OG makeup MLM! Incidentally, my sleepovers were always a hit cuz my mom would give all the girls makeovers with her old or broken kits and let them take home samples. Clever Mother, very clever. 😏😉

Wow, this was a great video! I have seen a lot of anti MLM videos and this one definitely was informative and had a fresh angle.

damn your channel's grown massively in a year and a half

I would be interested in seeing a video on the rise and fall of many MLM from Amway copy cats to Recent vitamin companies who went under. I think you did an excellent job congratulations on your interest and your research

mannn they harass me all of the time on my Linkedin its sickening.

my dad got swept up in the amway bullshit. good thing my mom was in charge of the funds (my dad was unemployed) otherwise he would have joined for sure.

Great video 📹 👍 Thanks for the info, saved me time and money!

My gramps has been using Amway products since more than 10 years and still bought them, mainly for the vitamins. I got a nutrilife flask set as well(he bought it of course) but it was freaking overpriced as hell(it was like 70$ at that time and maybe is similar as 100$ today), and it was really, really bad. They said import goods etc but I could buy local-made flask sets 10x cheaper and better quality anyway.

My boyfriend got swept up in this shit. I kind just was the silent supportive girlfriend during this but i really shoulda said something. At least after they wriggled 100$ outta him did he realize something was off. Im pretty sure he had an idea something was off on the start of it but i think the pressure of his coworkers got to him. They targeted him at his own work when he was 17. Honestly its disgusting how they prey on naive young adults. I could tell though the older recruiter was trying to keep an image up being the “successful business eagle guy” but the younger one was overly friendly to the point that it gets uncomfortable. He tried many times to drag me in with my boyfriend but i shut him down every time. At least now we know better.. we had to make sure one of our friends didn’t get wrapped up in it as well since a recruiter targeted her at her own work. She didn’t trust her at all and said going to the “business class” made her feel like she was going to end up getting trafficked. Big yikes.

Great vid, lady!

This was really good but it made me REALLY angry towards the end. Thank you for spreading awareness