TAGS: #legends
A brief history of Bill Britt, Amway legends of the rich and free:
Before becoming an Amway legend, Bill Britt lived in Raleigh, North Carolina, and was a broke, frustrated City Manager. Immediately after becoming involved, he began to break sales records – and his organization has not slowed down for more than 30 years. More than 2 million distributors are involved in Amway today as the direct result of Bill Britt building a strong foundation in his business more than 30 years ago.
One of the things that has grown faster than Bill’s business are income predictions concerning it. For three years starting in 2002, I was an active Amway distributor (then known as Quixtar) at which time I had the privilege of attending several events where Bill Britt was a keynote speaker. I remember hearing people speculate that he makes anywhere from $10 million per year all the way up to $300 million per year. (As a special note – this is not an income claim, as I have no affiliation whatsoever with Amway – I’m just saying that no one really knows how much he makes – except that it is probably A LOT.)
The loyalty of Bill Britt’s Amway team is unsurpassed in the MLM profession. He was the keynote speaker at a major conference I attended in 2005 in Long Beach, CA. As he spoke, the room was silenced with one of the most persuasive speeches I have ever heard. Bill Britt was revered as if he were part man, part God – similar to how I imagine the Pharoahs of ancient Egypt being reverenced by their devotees. As we stayed on the edge of our seats for hour after hour, late into the night, Bill Britt hounded on about politics, religion, how bad jobs stink, and I think he mentioned Amway once or twice.
The methods used by Bill in building his business are those of traditional Network Marketing – Home Meetings, Hotel Meetings, and Weekend Events. Primarily, the foundation for his business was laid in the late 60’s.
Bill Britt also runs one of the largest international personal development companies – Britt Worldwide, which distributes millions of audio cds monthly on a standing order program recommended for all Amway distributors. Estimates at his income from his personal development tool business range up to 90% of Bill’s total income.
Bill’s teachings seem to resonate with a World that has almost passed away – he speaks of limited government, family values, and the possibilities one can accomplish by having a dream.
Because of a failure to adapt to more modern strategies, the Bill Britt organization went through a period of extreme struggle throughout the late 1990’s, where check’s dwindled and distributors were frustrated.
I failed in Amway while working my behind off for more than 3 years from 2002 – 2005. During that time I did more than 1000 presentations and nothing seemed to work for me the way it did 30 years ago. Which if I was honest, it wasn’t working anymore that well for very many people at all.
As a result of this massive frustration, I eventually quit the Amway business in favor of a more streamlined business system that is more adapted to a 21st century marketplace – and the results have been nothing short of miraculous. However, there are some important insights we can learn from Bill Britt. The biggest insight however is this:
The financial possibilities of building a prosperous MLM organization are virtually unlimited if you do it right.
In short – Bill Britt is nothing short of an icon in American business. Think what you may of Amway – this man has done something quite remarkable and we can all learn a thing or two from his success.