A fascinating look at five decades of Amway's innovation Amway started in 1959 as a way for people to earn extra money selling soap and cosmetics. Today, it has recaptured the public's attention largely because of an extensive print and broadcast campaign featuring the Quixtar name-with ads saying "you know us as Amway." Amway Forever chronicles the amazing inside story of this global business phenomenon. Page by page, it explores the history of Amway and its remarkable resurgence around the world. From how the company began and its growing pains in the 70's and 80's to its recent online revival, this book explores how Amway has survived and thrived over the past fifty years. Delves into how innovation has led to Amway's growth into an international powerhouse Reveals Amway's pioneering marketing tactics and sales strategies Offers an historic perspective, as well as a contemporary look, at how the company has evolved Engaging and informative, Amway Forever is a must-read for anyone interested in this company's unique business model and buzzworthy emergence into a global success.

A fascinating look at five decades of Amway's innovation Amway started in 1959 as a way for people to earn extra money selling soap and cosmetics. Today, it has recaptured the public's attention largely because of an extensive print and broadcast campaign featuring the Quixtar name-with ads saying "you know us as Amway." Amway Forever chronicles the amazing inside story of this global business phenomenon. Page by page, it explores the history of Amway and its remarkable resurgence around the world. From how the company began and its growing pains in the 70's and 80's to its recent online revival, this book explores how Amway has survived and thrived over the past fifty years. Delves into how innovation has led to Amway's growth into an international powerhouse Reveals Amway's pioneering marketing tactics and sales strategies Offers an historic perspective, as well as a contemporary look, at how the company has evolved Engaging and informative, Amway Forever is a must-read for anyone interested in this company's unique business model and buzzworthy emergence into a global success.

A Next Big Idea Club Must-Read for March 2024 * A Bustle Best New Book of Spring 2024 Peabody and Emmy Award–winning journalist Jane Marie expands on her popular podcast The Dream to expose the scourge of multilevel marketing schemes and how they have profited off the evisceration of the American working class. We’ve all heard of Amway, Mary Kay, Tupperware, and LuLaRoe, but few know the nefarious way they and countless other multilevel marketing (MLM) companies prey on desperate Americans struggling to make ends meet. When factories close, stalwart industries shutter, and blue-collar opportunities evaporate, MLMs are there, ready to pounce on the crumbling American Dream. MLMs thrive in rural areas and on military bases, targeting women with promises of being their own boss and millions of dollars in easy income—even at the risk of their entire life savings. But the vast majority—99.7%—of those who join an MLM make no money or lose money, and wind up stuck with inventory they can’t sell to recoup their losses. Featuring in-depth reporting and intimate research, Selling the Dream reveals how these companies—often owned by political and corporate elites, such as the Devos and the Van Andels families—have made a windfall in profit off of the desperation of the American working class.

Marked by a period of massive structural change, the 1970s in Europe saw the collapse of traditional manufacturing. The essays in this collection question aspects of the narrative of decline and radical transformation.

In this candid autobiography, Amway cofounder Rich DeVos reflects on work, faith, family, and the core values he’s held on to, from his humble Christian upbringing through his enormous success running one of the world’s largest businesses. Few people embody the American entrepreneurial spirit as plainly as Rich DeVos. A prominent businessman, self-made billionaire, philanthropist, worldwide speaker, bestselling author, family man, and devout Christian, DeVos not only helped create Amway, one of the world’s biggest companies, but he did it from the ground up with his deep faith in God guiding the way and keeping his hopes alive. Now after the success of his bestselling books in business, DeVos reveals his personal story. Born to poor Dutch immigrants in rural Michigan during the Depression, DeVos learned about the importance of leadership and partnership. His grandfather, father, and teachers taught him valuable lessons and key principles about faith, optimism, and perseverance that would guide his entire life. In high school, he befriended Jay Van Andel, who later became his business partner. Together, they created a whole new way to sell products and established one of the largest, most successful companies in the world. DeVos also talks about his marriage and family, his experiences as a motivational speaker, his ownership of the NBA basketball team Orlando Magic, and his philanthropic, religious, and political endeavors. Inspiring, fascinating, and full of heart, Simply Rich: Life and Lessons from the Cofounder of Amway is the astonishing rags-to-riches story that few can tell. Through his amazing accomplishments as both a businessman and generous soul, DeVos reveals the true meaning of success and how his deep faith helped him become a true American icon.

The people of Mexquitic, a town in the state of San Luis Potosí in rural northeastern Mexico, have redefined their sense of identity from "Indian" to "Mexican" over the last two centuries. In this ethnographic and historical study of Mexquitic, David Frye explores why and how this transformation occurred, thereby increasing our understanding of the cultural creation of "Indianness" throughout the Americas. Frye focuses on the local embodiments of national and regional processes that have transformed rural "Indians" into modern "Mexicans": parish priests, who always arrive with personal agendas in addition to their common ideological baggage; local haciendas; and local and regional representatives of royal and later of national power and control. He looks especially at the people of Mexquitic themselves, letting their own words describe the struggles they have endured while constructing their particular corner of Mexican national identity. This ethnography, the first for any town in northeastern Mexico, adds substantially to our knowledge of the forces that have rendered "Indians" almost invisible to European-origin peoples from the fifteenth century up to today. It will be important reading for a wide audience not only in anthropology and Latin American studies but also among the growing body of general readers interested in the multicultural heritage of the Americas.

Multilevel marketing and pyramid schemes promote the idea that participants can easily become rich. These popular economies turn ordinary people into advocates of their interests and missionaries of the American Dream. Marketing Hope looks at how different types of get-rich-quick schemes manifest themselves in a Siberian town. By focusing on their social dynamics, Leonie Schiffauer provides insights into how capitalist logic is learned and negotiated, and how it affects local realities in a post-Soviet environment.