Part of the guide: Affiliate Marketing
An auditorium in Long Beach California…
15,000 people, screaming, and a bit mad
(There’s only one word that can really describe the Amway culture) –
Crazy
At first glance, I thought that they were a bunch of yahoo’s, broke college kids, and overall ‘losers’ with nothing better to do, but then Bill Britt stood up – voice thundering – the echo reverberating throughout the Long Beach Convention Center…
“Who in here is a Doctor?” he asked “Stand Up!”
I about crapped my pants when somewhere between 500-1000 people stood up (about 1/20th of the room) – he then went through every profession – lawyers, real estate agents, dentists – all the “big wigs” of society.
(note: society is mad)
When he was all done, about 1/3 of the room was standing – made up of all the ‘big wig’ professions of society. Then he said something that changed my thinking:
“Any of you standing who would NOT trade your lifestyle for mine RIGHT NOW – stay standing…”
Right in front of me – I saw 5,000 people who hated their job, who put ‘the hours in’ every week – who are heralded in society as ‘The Great’s‘ sit down, in full admission that they weren’t living the lifestyle of their dreams…
…and I realized:
“There’s something about this Scam deal I’m in that’s just… Wickedly cool“
And I was hooked.
Although I didn’t have money instantly flowing into my bank account – I learned a lot from Amway – I learned, for example – why people just ‘like’ these little delicious pyramid schemes we’re all in, that we so lovingly call ‘network marketing’.
The Four Cardinal Rules of Amway:
- Cardinal Rule #1: Never mess with anyone’s money
- Cardinal Rule #2: Never mess with anyone’s Spouse
- Cardinal Rule #3: Never mess with anyone’s Downline
- Cardinal Rule #4: Counsel upline before you try something stupid (talking about marketing)
Let’s talk about the ‘Cardinal Rules‘ here for a second, and why they can create a different kind of culture here – that really, we all want anyways – some of this seems obvious, but isn’t, really – when compared (fruitlessly) with the MADNESS of society…
Rule #1: Never mess with anyone’s money. The real reason for this rule – is that in Amway – back in the day before we all had the ‘magical creature’ from Jekyll Island called ‘autoship’ – didn’t.
Lol. Believe it or not – MLM was invented as a ‘revolution’ in the shipping process, where the company (Amway, Shaklee, or whatever) wouldn’t ship to individuals – they would ship to ‘Direct Distributors‘ (meaning direct to the company) – they would also pay ‘direct distributors’ who would then pay their team.
Obviously – if you’ve earned a check and you don’t get it – you’ll quit, right? Well, it’s more than that, there’s nothing that shatters relationships faster than money problems – $15 unpaid when due will turn friends into enemies, turn trust into distrust – and destroy years of hard work in this industry. This could translate to the affiliate world – to a company like MLSP deciding all of the sudden not paying their people – let me share a quick story on the ‘positive’ of this.
One time, MLSP had this issue with their check writing company, where over $70,000 of affiliate commission checks bounced – it wasn’t their fault, and wasn’t even a mistake – the government was investigating a DIFFERENT company that had their checks written from the same organization – and rather than doing something ethical (it’s the government here) they froze ALL of the business account funds being managed by this check writing company – because they happened to also write checks for the company being investigated.
Here’s what MLSP did – they reached into their own pockets and ate $70,000 to pay their affiliates – that’s what you call the right thing to do. Why? Because it wasn’t their money in the first place, and those guys are good business people – you can learn more about MLSP by filling in the form on the right or below this post. Something that could have turned into a disaster INCREASED TRUST because they did the right thing.
Rule #2: Never mess with anyone’s Spouse. Again, seems obvious – and now that the world has changed a bit – this could be re-written to say ‘Never mess with anyone’s partner.’
Why does it need to be said? Because in the corporate world, people purposefully seduce other people’s spouses all the time – and in the words of The Behemoth – “What do you call someone who comes into your house and tries to seduce your wife? A Scum-Bag.”
People need a place where they can feel safe with the people they love the most – because nothing – not business, not friends – nothing (period) is more important than family.
Rule #3: Never mess with anyone’s Downline. This is the one that I really wanted to rant on a bit – folks – your team isn’t just ‘your team’
– it’s the teams of EVERYONE downline from you. In Amway – they were so strict about this, that even if you attempted to recruit someone in someone else’s team into yours (in the same company), your Amway ‘distributorship’ would be permanently cancelled.
You have been paid late before
You have watched the number on the dashboard not match the number in your account. What is different now is simple: it settles on a public contract you can check yourself, not a dashboard I control.
Read the contract →Most participants earn little to nothing. No income is guaranteed. You can verify every payout on the public smart contract.
Now – here’s the problem – now we’ve got a bunch of Yahoo’s running around thinking that ‘The Team’ is there for them to steal – it’s a good thing we don’t do this in ‘network marketing 2.0’ – wait a second…
Now – this whole post isn’t to harp on the industry – and I’m not saying we need to ‘go back to the old ways of Amway’ – I’m just saying that if we’re going to develop massive organizations that are ‘solid as rock’, we can’t just let Yahoo’s come in and create chaos – we need to organize in such a way that we maintain order – and to have a culture that is inclusive and fair for everyone.
Rule #4: Counsel upline before you try something stupid – If you don’t like this rule – it just means you’re stupid HaHaHaHaHaHa… just kidding.
Seriously though, a lot of us try things, new things, before we ask someone who knows better. It’s important to keep the ‘network’ healthy, so we can all win – and even better – it can help you avoid a stupid mistake.
So – there’s 4 rules that I stole from Amway and ran with them – whether or not you want to follow them is up to you, but…
Maybe it’s a good idea. 🙂
P.S. Leave me your thoughts, comments and questions below.
In prosperity,
David Wood
Comments
Anna Blake:
I absolutely agree with you, David! These cardinal rules are fundamental to building a successful network marketing business. Your experiences with Amway really show how important it is to follow these rules to create a strong and trustworthy team. Keep up the great work!
Paulie R:
This post seems a bit hard to believe, honestly. Are you sure those events at the Long Beach convention really happened? I’d love to see some evidence or at least more specific examples to back up these claims.
Lina Mendez:
Great post! I’ve been hearing a lot about downline building recently, and I wonder if these rules can apply to newer MLM companies as well. Could you explain more on how these principles might be adapted to the current marketing landscape?
Felix Carter:
While the cardinal rules you mention are interesting, I find it hard to believe that strictly following them will always lead to success. There must be some flexibility in interpreting these guidelines depending on the circumstances. What’s your take on that?
Miriam Saxton:
This post really brought back memories! It’s been ages since we last talked, David. How have you been? Let’s catch up soon! Maybe we can grab a coffee and reminisce about the good ol’ days in MLM!
Richard Neville:
Reading this post reminded me of a similar experience I had with my team. We had someone trying to mess with our downline, and it almost tore our team apart. But by following a similar set of rules, we managed to pull through stronger than ever. Thanks for sharing!
Samura Zian:
If you’re into downline building, you should definitely check out some of the newer tools on the market. I recommend giving Builderall, ClickFunnels, and GetResponse a try. They all have features that can make managing your team much easier!
Emily O’Conner:
This was a great read! I learned so much about the ethics behind downline building that I hadn’t thought about before. It’s good to be reminded of how much trust plays into this business. Thank you for sharing your insights!
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Most affiliates earn little, and that is disclosed up front. The difference here is not a promise about what you will make. It is that you can verify every payout yourself, on a public contract, in about twelve seconds.
See how the payout works →Most participants earn little to nothing. No income is guaranteed. You can verify every payout on the public smart contract.
About a third of the room standing when asked who wouldn’t trade their lifestyle, that’s the number I’d want sourced. Estimated from the stage, I assume, since nobody’s counting heads in real time. Doesn’t mean the story’s wrong, just means “about a third” is doing a lot of persuasive work for a figure nobody actually measured.
The downline rule is the one I’d defend hardest here. I’ve watched exactly what happens when someone tries to poach across teams, it isn’t rivalry, it’s rot, and it spreads through a group faster than almost anything else. Whatever you think about where these four rules came from, that one holds up regardless of company or era.
Four rules, stolen from a company most readers here weren’t old enough to prospect for. Nothing wrong with that, we all stole these same four in the 2000s and called them something else too. The one that’s actually hard to keep is counsel upline before you try something stupid, because most people only remember that rule exists after the stupid part.
Gus is right that these get relabeled every decade, and from the company side I can say the reason rule three gets enforced so strictly isn’t sentimentality, a distributor network that lets people raid each other’s teams destroys trust faster than any external competitor could. Companies protect that rule because without it there’s no network left to manage.
Rules exist for the people who’d otherwise ignore them. That’s rule four in one sentence.
Renata’s basically saying: don’t let people steal each other’s customers, because once trust goes, everyone leaves. You don’t need “distributor network” to say that, my mother would’ve called it “don’t nick the milkman’s round.” Same idea, in every trade there’s ever been.
I found myself wondering, reading Gus’s comment, whether these rules were ever really about business at all, or whether they are simply what any group of people needs in order to hold together over time, merely stated here in the language of a convention hall rather than that of a village or a parish, which is where I first learned versions of every one of them. I am sixty-one, and starting again is not something I do lightly or without a certain private embarrassment, and yet I recognise each of these four as something my own grandfather would have called manners, dressed up now in the vocabulary of downlines and cardinal rules.
Sorry if this is obvious, but if you don’t have an upline you actually trust yet, who exactly are you supposed to counsel with on rule four?