Should I start my own tutoring business or join Amway?

Tutoring (especially on line) over Amway. 

I had a co-irker who got into Scamway. Every day was an eight-hour Amway commercial. 

To be an 'active' member you have to either sell a certain dollar amount every month or recruit people who do. What he ended up doing was buying products himself (a lot of people do this, to keep their points up) and storing the stuff in his home, *hoping* to re-sell it to someone else. The problem was, he wasn't re-selling it, and he was going broke buying crap he didn't need in quantities greater than he'd ever use.

He stole money from our employer. You know how your credit card company or bank might call you if there's an unusual charge on your card?  They called our boss to say, "There was a credit issued by your business to someone who hadn't purchased anything." Yup, "Bill" had access to the point of sale, and issued himself a credit - a 'loan' he promised to pay back.

He didn't. In fact, he just got broker and broker and stole MORE money. Then the boss finally fired him. Years later, when his father died, he did pay the boss back out of his inheritance.

Tutoring! You have more control over your success.

You know Amway is like a Ponzi scheme, eh! 

You want to attempt multi-level marketing and sales instead of using your skills and assets?  I am having a really hard time seeing any logic to that. You don't make money enough to live on in MLM--not unless you have dozens of people working FOR you--and that level is very difficult to achieve, especially at the beginning. You will be asked to 'recruit'. You will have to sell SCADS of products, mostly overpriced and available in other places much less expensively. You will have to take your products to your customers, or charge high shipping rates, put up with shipping delays and non-payers. Does any of this make any sense at all?

I'm not downgrading any Amway products here--there may be some that are better than those you can buy in stores--but I honestly can't see making a go of a sales position you'll have to expand into recruiting others to do the same work--when sales like Amway are dropping daily. You already have the tutoring skills for a math tutor, and there are plenty of home-schooled kids who need serious help with it. Stick to the tutoring and forget about the Amway position--only those at the top of the pyramid make any money. Like whomever it was who was trying to recruit YOU. 

Stick to tutoring. Like most Multi Level Marketing (MLM) companies, Amway is not a scam. A scam involves an illegal fraud of some sort.  As in any MLM, however, making money is almost mathematically impossible unless one gets in at or near the bottom level.  .  

Amway is one of the worst MLM scams out there.  You'll spend a lot of time and money and not make much money.  The market is over-saturated with reps.  Any company that pays more for recruiting new people than it does for selling product is to be avoided.

True story......

I was about to do the tax return of a couple in 2008.  I never did do the return as they did not like what I told them about their "business".

Upon reviewing their previous year's return, I noticed a $8-9,000 loss on a Schedule C.

Me:  "Are you Amway distributors?"

Her:  "Yes.  How did you know?"

Me:  "All of the money that you are losing."

Her:  "Well....like with most businesses, you don't make money at first.  It is a long term goal."

Me:  "How long have you been in Amway?"

Her:  "10 years."

Me:  "Have you ever made money"

Her:  "No."Then, we got into a rather heated discussion on hobbies vs businesses.Bottom line:  They had lost close to $100,000 in their Amway business but they were still convinced that it was going to make them rich, someday.  They were in their 50's and had no savings and no retirement outside of their 401ks.  All of their spare money went towards this "business".

Avoid any MLM.  Like others have said, you will lose money.  With tutoring, you have a shot at actually making money.

99.9% chance you lose money and friends with amway or any mlm. Can you get enough work tutoring?  Maybe deliver pizza?

Amway would be a big mistake.  If you want to try it, do it on the side of everything else in your life.  I tried it in my 20s, in about 1980, for about two years.  How many people do you know or hear of who made it in Amway?  I think they shoot a lot of bull.  It's all marketing & glamour.  They pitch travel, great riches and get into your head.  It's just wrong.  I put my life and my health aside for well over a year for them and it cost me dearly.  Never made much.  Sold a bit of soap.  Not a whole lot.  It cost me more to go to the meetings, trips, etc. than what I made.  I had no interest in most of their products.  It's an MLM.  The few people in early are probably doing well but unless you manage to convince dozens of people to join you in your hopes and dreams, and unless they sell big time to dozens of people under them, you will be wasting your time.