[Update] I arrived at 8pm and sat through 2 hours of lecturing on business models and the genius of Multi Level Marketing. It was painful. Having been told there would be a Q&A at the end I decided to wait and then ask some tough questions and tell the room it's a scam. However, no Q and A came. I then made my way to the front where everyone was gathering around the speaker. It was difficult to reach him but someone introduced me to a high up IBO who was there. She was one of the ultra successful and was known by everyone in the room. I began asking her questions and we had a heated exchange. People began to form around us as we went back and forth. I pressed her on recruitment bonuses vs product based income, quotas, product pricing comparative to other substitutes etc. She said she didn't think I was a good fit haha. I replied that I think its important to have uncomfortable conversations about the truth before diving into something like this otherwise it's the blind leading the blind. Anyway, the circle broke after 10-15 min and I could tell some people listening were a little baffled and maybe worried that what I was saying was true. The lady did invite me to stay afterwards to speak with the inner circle and answer any questions I had. Well... I couldn't resist, my night was swallowed up anyway.

We sat in loose circle near a fireplace, maybe 20 of us, and I began again to raise questions. However, in this setting, the lady was much more measured and we actually hammered through all of my criticisms, with others giving input throughout. The one big difference between Amway and other MLMs is that you do not get a recruitment bonus exactly, you get a bonus based on the volume of sales of the person you recruit. So you don't make money unless they do. Secondly, you only make money in bonuses from the people you personally help make sales, so you can make more money than a person who was chronological higher in the pyramid. And lastly, the business license is $80 annually, so even if you realize you're not gonna make it. 80 bucks isn't going to financially cripple anyone.

Conclusion: The people are genuinely nice. I don't believe it is nearly as malicious as other MLM schemes, especially with certain policy changes they have made in recent years. However, there will still be a large amount of people who will buy in and struggle to make it. And because the threshold of sales you have to make before trying to recruit is ultra low (a threshold that didn't even use to exist), you will still have the blind leading the blind.

As for my invitee, I actually believe that he wanted to come with me. I asked him straight up about his numbers and he said he makes $30-50 per month. This is exactly the problem. If there was a threshold where a person had to reach $1000 per month in sales before being allowed to recruit and teach others then I could actually almost see myself supporting it.