My Experience in Amway

Today marks the one year anniversary of the day I finally quit the Amway business, so I thought it was the perfect time to write about my experience in Amway! This is actually a funny story which I don’t really talk too much about anymore, but at one point, it was all I thought and cared about. Building the Amway business was my life purpose. Or that’s what I thought anyway.

Looking back, I feel like a fool for being swept up into this illusion, but they got me! I dunno what to say, but at the time of this experience, I really, truly believed that I was right and everyone else who didn’t ‘get it’ was wrong. I was as stubborn as a mule.

It was the strangest thing though, because of how drastically I went from being super keen to build this business one day, to deciding to quit the very next… But, okay, I am getting way ahead of myself here. Let’s go back to the start…

It was during the fall of 2015, I had just come back from living in Vancouver for the summer, and I had just started back at my old cafe job, doing the exact same thing. Back to my old dumbass, boring routine of work, workout, watch Netflix, sleep, repeat. Let’s just say I was very unsure about my future and pretty desperate for something to come along that would give me hope. I was actually pretty depressed when I came back from Vancouver, thinking that the world was ending.

But anyways, I decided to get a second job to try to fill some of this excruciating free time because at that time in my life, too much alone time was too much for me to handle, so I needed to keep myself busy. So off I went and got a new serving job, where I met my future Amway sponsor.

I didn’t think anything of it when we first met, she was my manager and she and I got along well and were quickly becoming friends. Working at this new job was only enjoyable when she was on shift, otherwise, I hated it. I made next to no money, and they were unnecessarily strict about greeting tables. I don’t like serving tables and feeling like I am a robot. I am sorry. I can’t say, “Hey I’m Lindzay, I’ll be your server tonight, these are our specials… blah blah blah… ”

I just can’t do that. It’s not the way I roll. I like to be myself when I serve; I like to be able to say what I want to my guests. I don’t like following a script.

So anyway, I really didn’t like working there, unless she was in. She was just a very fun, happy and outgoing person to be around, and I wanted her energy. She knew how to love life, and nothing seemed to upset her. She was just always happy. I was not, but I wanted what she had!

On one shift, she came up to me and started rambling on about this retired young couple that she personally knew who was helping her create passive income so that she wouldn’t have to work a JOB anymore!

I asked her, “okay what are you selling?” Knowing there had to be something.

And she said that this isn’t really a selling opportunity; it’s more mentorship and leadership based.

So I became intrigued to learn more at this point. I had heard about these types of things before, and I always knew somewhere inside that I would one day do something like that. Also, I always thought having a mentor would be very valuable in life, and I was desperately looking for more. So we arranged to meet with her “mentors” in a coffee shop environment about five days later.

During those five days, a few things happened; I got drunk Saturday night and told the guy I liked I wanted something more, only to get told back that he doesn’t. Sunday morning was a shitty hangover where I cried half the day away, and then later the same day got fired from this new job of mine. I have never been fired before in my life!

So I went home that night and cried. I was heartbroken, defeated and just utterly confused. The one thing I thought I was good at, which was serving, I just got fired from. I can’t do anything right! I hit rock bottom, but instead of staying down there, the next day, I started to climb out of the pit I had fallen into.

I did, however, find it pretty suspicious that I got fired, to be honest, thinking she planned it all along and I would be more inclined to join her little “thing” if I didn’t have a job anymore.

When the night of the meeting with her mentors rolled around, I remember sitting in my car outside the Tim Horton’s we were scheduled to meet at, and it was about -30 degrees outside. I did not want to be there at all. Who in their right minds would actually show up to a meeting in this weather? I arrived early just so I could hide in my car and watch them drive in and go inside. From there I would decide if I was going to go in also. What did they drive? Did they even look like professionals? How successful were they going to be?

Part of me just wanted to take off. I had this sudden urge to leave. Just go home and carry on with my life as usual. Who knows where I would be today if I had chosen to leave that meeting that night.

Read: All it takes is one moment to change your life.

But my curiosity got the best of me that night, so I chose to stick it out. ‘The mentors' arrived and went inside. They drove a piece of shit car. Why the fuck are these people “retired” and still driving a piece of shit car, I questioned. I was quick to make judgments back then, and I was highly critical of myself and others.

“Okay,” I thought. “Just look past it. Maybe it's just not a huge priority for them.”

“I should leave.” I thought over, and over. I was still sitting in my car waiting for 7PM. Then my friend from the restaurant pulled in and went inside. I liked her a lot, and it was pretty much because I didn’t want to let her down, which caused me to leave the safety of my car and go inside.

I followed her in, thinking we could chat in line, but when she entered she went straight over to this couple and started giving them both big hugs. ‘That is strange” I thought. “But that’s kinda nice, she must know them well. I don’t see that kind of admiration much in my life.”

I was having anxiety though, so my very first impression was very cynical, skeptical and unfriendly (which is why I work a lot on my anxiety problem).

So we do introductions and sit down and I half expected them to start talking all business-like talk, persuading me to buy some product, but instead, they were asking me what my goals in life were, and what I wanted to experience in the future. It was just what I needed to hear. Some people that were wanting to be successful in life!

Finally, I wasn’t the only one!! My current association had all started to settle for the mediocrity life, and I wanted no part of that whatsoever. I wanted to live a life of wealth and abundance! I wasn’t settling for less than what I knew I was capable of.

SO when this nicely dressed couple sat across the table and talked about business and success principles with me, and they actually listened to me and showed they cared about what I had to say, of course, I soaked it all in.

I immediately liked them A LOT. I left that first meeting overflowing with excitement for whatever this opportunity was, not being told of the name of the company at this point. Nor would it have mattered because I didn’t know what Amway was anyways. It didn’t matter what it was; I knew I wanted to be a part of this. A whole new world had opened up to me that I had no idea existed.

I drove home that night and told all my friends and family about this incredible opportunity I was just told about. I was now in some sort of “qualification process” that required me to read the books they wanted me to and attend the selected meetings.

Wow, this was amazing!!! I couldn’t wait to see what this was all about and start recruiting everyone I know because this is just so amazing everyone I know will want to get into it!

Basically, the business model I was presented with was: build this business over the next two to five years, do what they tell you, start building a team, duplicate yourself, and soon enough you will be making a passive income from $75,000 up to infinite amounts a year—that will allow you to travel the world.

This is what they told me because they knew all I wanted to do was travel.

It Seemed too good to be true, so most logical people won’t sign up, but me on the other hand:

“Here take my money!! SIGN ME UP NOWWWWWWWWW!!!”

I wanted this so bad, I was probably the best “process candidate” anyone had ever seen. I saw this business as a way for me to travel freely around the world with this passive income coming in every month that they talked about. It made a whole lot of sense to me, and so I went head first into it. I imagined myself building this for like a year or two, and then earning around $5,000 a month that I could just travel the world with. It didn’t once occur to me that once I have a team of people, I would have to take care of them and help them build their own teams, meaning no, I wouldn’t be free to travel. But it took me a while to realize this!

My friends all thought that I was insane. Absolutely batshit crazy. They couldn’t believe what I had gotten myself into. Some didn’t even want to talk to me anymore.

Plus, I am pretty damn stubborn, so I completely thought that I was right and they were all wrong and that one day when I was a millionaire, they would regret laughing at me.

I started attending meetings a few times a month where they talked about creating an asset and building a team that would create a passive income monthly that would grow bigger and bigger with each new business owner (a.k.a. sucker) you recruited.

I was excited. I attended every single meeting eagerly writing notes and learning the business inside and out. I was always observing my surroundings, and it wasn’t long before I realized that a lot of people that had been recruited into the business were never going to be successful in it and were basically just wasting their time and money. They weren’t motivated at all, and I questioned how they even passed the process.

I, on the other hand, knew that I had what it took to build the business. I was ambitious and eager to build a team and find a running mate that was just as excited about the business as I was, and together we would build a very solid business.

I would daydream at work all the time, thinking about financial freedom and retiring from my job that they brainwashed me to HATE from day one. I would stand at work thinking, “one day I will be free from this, and be living the most beautiful life traveling all over the world with unlimited money coming in.”

They get you excited about retirement by inviting you to other business owners' retirement parties. A few people I knew spent hundreds of dollars to travel to Vancouver from Calgary for one of the Amway big shot's retirement party. I didn’t go because I was pretty new in the business still and it didn’t make much sense for me to go. However, that doesn’t mean I didn’t want to go; I wanted to experience as much of the business as I could. I was “all in” from the very first day.

The major functions…

Once every four months, they had what were called major functions, which were intended to inspire and motivate you to go out and build your business. People tend to get pretty complacent and lazy at times, so the major functions were put on to get people out of their complacency and actually build their businesses.

I was in Amway just a little bit over a year, so I got to attend all four major functions…

The first one was called “Dream night,” which the very first function and big meeting I got to attend. It was all very exciting and new, and I remember being extremely eager and excited. I got to dress up very nicely for it, do my hair and makeup, and I felt pretty good about myself now being a new business owner. Dream night was all about the materialistic side of things, showing us fancy homes, cars, and boats. But what really got me excited was seeing all the travel the diamonds got to do. It all looked like so much fun, and I couldn’t wait to be in their shoes one day. The function did its job and got me dreaming again, and I went home from that function and made myself a gigantic vision board.

The next major function was called “Spring leadership” and this was my first weekend-long major function. It was nothing short of exhausting. 3 days, Friday- Sunday and you are basically sitting in an uncomfortable arena seat for several hours each day. Saturday was definitely the longest starting at 10 am and going until 2 am that night. By Sunday I was spent. Just so exhausted… the weekend itself was fun at the time, and I remember being so excited about what I was involved in. I felt motivated by the event, but I shortly lost it once the weekend was over. I was starting to feel anxious at this point about building a team. I couldn’t seem to go out and tell people about this “incredible opportunity” I had. But I didn’t think much of it. At this point, I was reading a lot of books, and I was beginning to open myself up to God again, and so I kind of put my business on the side burner and wanted more than ever to dive fully into spirituality.

Read about: my spiritual journey next!

The next major function was called "Family Reunion," which was held in July in Spokane, Washington. This was the first time I got to travel for the business and I was so excited to do so! I took the bus down to Spokane with my sponsor. It was a nice trip, but it wasn't the kind of travel I was really looking for. I was stuck following the schedule they had, which involved sitting again in an arena for three solid days similar to the spring leadership. We did get to enjoy a banquet dinner, which was around 2000 people all rushing into a hall for a plated chicken dinner. It was sheer madness, but a unique experience to have. After that weekend was over, I once again felt motivated to build my team, which lasted once again only for a few short days before I sunk back into my usual routine. I was constantly trying to convince myself to go out and meet people, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

Two months later, in the month of September 2016, I went to the last major function of the year held in Reddeer, Alberta, which is only an hour and a half away. This weekend, I had fully convinced myself I would meet someone to build the business with, and finally I would get the push I needed to be fully committed. But I didn't meet anyone, and I went home feeling pretty sad. I kept expecting that I would meet some wonderful guy and together we would build the business together and be financially free. There were after all many single guys that were also in the Amway business just like I was, and it was really only a matter of time before I met someone. Oh and around this time I went to see a psychic who confirmed that I would meet someone soon and that she also saw me doing very well in a leadership or managerial position, which was perfect for what I was involved in at the time.

It wasn't until December came that I had my very first thought of quitting the business. I had never even considered it as a possibility and told myself that this was what I was doing with my life. I was fully invested this business, body, mind and spirit. OR so I thought.

The thought to quit came quite randomly. I was sitting in my bed one night after a meeting thinking to myself, “what would I do if I met someone great who had no desire whatsoever to build the business?” And the very first thought I had was, “oh well you will just quit then."

What?

It was a confusing time because I really had no intention to quit, but apparently, God had other plans for me because over the span of the next month, I started getting bombarded by signs and warnings showing me that I needed to quit.

The first one was when I asked one night before bed if I was on the right path (I often ask for dreams to guide me). Surely enough, that night I was shown a dream where I was in a really terrible cult that tortured people, but the message I got from the dream was that I had the free-will to leave at any point. I didn't need to stay anywhere I did not want to be, no matter who it might have upset.

I knew quitting this would be a really hard thing to do as it was going to let a lot of people down. But I realized from that dream that I wasn't trapped in doing this or anything in life. I had the free will to do anything I wanted.

I didn't quit immediately following that dream. Actually, at first, I took it as meaning, well it's not that bad of a thing, at least you aren’t getting tortured. It could be a lot worse I guess.

The last major function I went to was dream night. I sat there now one year into the business, without a single team member, and without the burning desire I had a year prior to do this. I still wanted to build it on a conscious level at this point, but after looking around and thinking: “is this really how I want to live my life, attending these stupid boring functions for the next however many years?” I looked at the hundreds of people around me. All were just links in the chain fence that were trying to do the exact same thing I was trying to do. I didn’t want to be just a duplicate in life. I wanted to be my own self; free to do whatever it was that I wanted!

I made the final decision to quit after flipping a coin. The question at hand was, “should I quit the Amway business and travel the world on my own terms?”

I flipped the coin, and its results told me that I should not quit, but I had already made up my mind at that point. When the coin was in the air, I knew what I wanted deep down, and that was to quit.

It's been now one year since I officially quit the Amway business. I learned so much through that experience even though it didn’t turn out the way I had expected it to. The amount of knowledge I gained through reading, listening to audios, learning about success principle, and the countless of meetings I attended made it all worth it in the end.

All in all, looking back I can say it was a phenomenal experience, even though it left me $10,000 in debt. But money is not everything, and I really believe the experience I had was worth that sum of money. I would do it all over again if I had the chance.

With Love and Light

Osana