A Brief History of Bill Britt, Amway Legends of the Rich and Free:
Before he became an Amway legend, Bill Britt lived in Raleigh, North Carolina, and was a frustrated and broke city manager. Immediately after getting involved, he began breaking sales records, and his organization hasn’t stopped in over 30 years. More than 2 million distributors are involved in Amway today as a 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 is the revenue predictions about it. For three years beginning in 2002, I was an active Amway (then known as Quixtar) distributor, at which time I had the privilege of attending several events where Bill Britt was the keynote speaker. I remember hearing people speculate that he makes anywhere from $10 million per year up to $300 million per year. (As a special note, this is not an income claim, as I am not affiliated with Amway in any way – I’m just saying that no one really knows how much he makes, except that it’s probably A LOT.)
The loyalty of Bill Britt’s Amway team is unmatched in the MLM profession. He was the keynote speaker at a major conference he attended in 2005 in Long Beach, CA. As he spoke, the room fell silent with one of the most persuasive speeches he had ever heard. Bill Britt was revered as if he were part man, part God, similar to how I imagine the pharaohs of ancient Egypt are revered by his devotees. As we sat on the edge of our seats hour after hour, late into the night, Bill Britt talked about politics, religion, how bad jobs suck, and I think he mentioned Amway once or twice.
The methods used by Bill to develop his business are those of traditional Network Marketing: home meetings, hotel meetings and weekend events. Mainly, the foundations of his business were established in the late 1960s.
Bill Britt also runs one of the largest international personal development companies: Britt Worldwide, which distributes millions of audio CDs monthly in a standing order program recommended to all Amway distributors. Estimates of his income from his personal development tools business vary up to 90% of Bill’s total income.
Bill’s teachings seem to resonate with a world that has all but disappeared: he talks about limited government, family values, and the possibilities one can achieve by having a dream.
Due to an inability to adapt to more modern strategies, Bill Britt’s organization went through a period of extreme struggle in the late 1990s, where checks dwindled and distributors became frustrated.
I failed at Amway while working my butt off for over 3 years between 2002 and 2005. During that time I did over 1000 presentations and nothing seemed to work for me like it did 30 years ago. Which, if I’m honest, wasn’t working so well for a lot of people anymore.
As a result of this enormous frustration, I eventually resigned from the Amway business in favor of a more simplified business system that is more tailored to the 21st century market, and the results have been nothing short of miraculous. However, there are some important ideas that we can learn from Bill Britt. However, the most important idea is this:
The financial possibilities of building a thriving MLM organization are virtually limitless if you do it right.
In short, Bill Britt is nothing short of an icon in American business. Think what you can of Amway: This man has done something pretty remarkable, and we can all learn a thing or two from his success.