Mark Yarnell's article in The Central New York Business Journal

Acturial professionals, take note! That means insurance agents, financial planners, wealth managers, ...
Don't be like your compatriot. Be informed & educated about things -- especially good things.

Another MLM Fairy Tale from an Industry Outsider
By: Mark B. Yarnell

18th September 2009

I've had about enough self-righteous opinions from financial-sector capitalists who, perhaps embarrassed about their own performance, insist on criticizing legitimate professions.

One such asset manager, David John Marotta, took a shot at multi-level marketing (MLM) or network marketing recently in this journal (Aug. 28 issue, column entitled, "The False Lure of Multi-Level Marketing"). And his analysis was so flawed, unsubstantiated, and preposterous that I simply couldn't let it slide. Like so many other self-appointed pseudo-experts, Mr. Marotta evidently decided to hold court outside his own domain and, in so doing, embarrassed himself and his profession.

David is probably a wonderful asset manager, but I humbly suggest that he leave multi-level marketing to the experts.

In case you missed his column, here are a few of his bits of wisdom.

"MLM is a non-sustainable business model because it simply provides a product that has been marked up in price."

Sorry David, but last year alone, as a matter of public record, Amway did $8.2 billion in sales and Mary Kay, Herbalife, and Primerica (which operates in financial planning itself!), each generated in excess of $2 billion. Those are just a few examples of companies that have been extremely profitable for dozens of decades. So much for non-sustainability.

Oh, and by the way, on planet earth every product that is for sale has been "marked up in price." You see, David, that's how capitalism works. According to your bio, you do fee-only financial planning. Your fee, David, is a mark-up. Instead of anything tangible, you mark up a service that may help people or wipe them out financially. Either way you make money.

Among other things, David goes on to assert that MLM is "not really a business," "we offend our friends and families," create "no real value," and "endlessly recruit hopefuls who churn at the bottom of a pyramid," while "only those positioned at the top" collect big checks. He closes by calling our profession a "distraction from a genuine vocational calling."

Mr. Marotta offered not one shred of support for his Wikipedia-style distortions. Why? Because his ramblings lack credible research and support.

As a best selling author, I've met thousands of wonderful men and women since 1986 who, like me, joined established MLM companies at the very bottom and became wealthy through hard work and perseverance. We started with no money, special skills, or credentials and delivered superior products and services to people all over the world by word-of-mouth advertising. Many of us have earned millions over the years and given huge amounts to charities and multiple worthy causes.

My international MLM business has taken me to every continent. Unlike financial planners, we don't just sit at home and collect fees by moving money around, we build international distribution organizations that allow common people with very little capital to prosper based on their own hard work and character. Many of our products and services are far superior to the crap from overseas that people purchase from big-box superstores.

David closed with the following delusional comment, "There are hundreds of legitimate business opportunities available for entrepreneurs who want to build companies that provide real value." Sorry David, but you need to read a few books by legitimate writers. There are no options for millions of boomers who have been hammered relentlessly into horrible debt loads by unconscionable casino capitalism just in time for retirement. Others have worked diligently for decades only to have their assets "managed" into oblivion by people in your world.

Many have seen their assets converted from 401(k)s to 201(k)s by people in your profession. The only time I turned over $300,000 to an asset manager it was down the toilet in three years thanks to stupid, high-risk investments. Fortunately, I've managed the bulk of my MLM income over the years and have been comfortably semi-retired since the late 1980s.

There are good people and bad people in every profession. I'm going to assume that David is more like Warren Buffet than Bernie Madoff because ignorance is not always an indication of malice. So, David, why don't you pick up the phone and ask Mr. Buffet why he calls MLM a great field. Better yet, ask him why he owns The Pampered Chef. He might be able to teach you why so many experienced asset managers regard MLM with respect.

I'd like to end by thanking Adam Rombel, editor-in-chief of The Central New York Business Journal for his professional integrity. In an age when many periodicals pander only to special interests, his journal is obviously engaged in presenting both sides of issues. It's refreshing to have access to a legitimate journal with no hidden agenda or stereotypical biases.

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Mark B. Yarnell is author of the Random House bestseller, "Your First Year in Network Marketing," and former contributing editor to Success magazine.

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Urgent News: MLMLeadSystemPRO is misleading your generic leads!!

It is official!

The founders of LeadSystemPro have finally come out of the mlm closet.

It was great news to the MLM world when they helped the whole networking community build a training platform via MLSP, and where everyone could attract "generic" prospects on the frontend with the GENERAL benefits of this biz... and then on the backend users could lead into promoting their own primary business to their newly-informed prospects.
All of that capitalising on Internet Marketing.

The founders have been rather successful online with the Lead System Pro thing, and now also openly admit that offline relationships are the foundations to long-term business success.
(Any experienced marketer knows this key requirement!)

Online leads may make an enquiry on your website, but 9 in 10 will never put money where their mouth is, because they are usually afraid of getting into a scam.
Thus making OFFLINE relationship building always necessary.

In light of this, the MLMSP founders have merged their generic online lead generation system, with a specific offline company / product.

i.e. MLMLSP is NO MORE generic.

The original direction in the Mlm Lead System concept would work, IF the founders remain 110% generic and do not actively represent any company or business.

Just as how Randy Gage is now very much less invited "in" to any Company to conduct internal trainings (compared to his prime as a pure industry trainer).
Similarly, it will be a reverse result obtained in YOUR efforts using the mlmleadsystempro system to gather qualified leads.

All your leads need to do, is a simple search (or ask around the industry in real life), and they will learn that "mlm lead system pro" now supports MonaVie.

Norbert Orlewicz, Todd Schlomer, Brian Fanale, Buck Reed, Sherri Sharman are all great marketers. But with one business direction in mind -- build the (pricey) MonaVie juice plan.

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Oprah does NOT endorse MonaVie & other Açaí brands

Time to wake up web surfers / marketers / consumers...

Oprah Winfrey does not endorse the MonaVie juice or any other acai brand.

Oprah & her guest on the show speaks of the potential of the fruit only very simply like Time Magazine per our earlier post does -- its just a general "review"!!
BUT look at how much unnecessary hype the spindoctors (aka spammers, & unfortunately MonaVie corporate executives who caught the bug) have generated from the short segment. LOL.

This tactic is not new. It follows earlier hypes generated by Freelife Goji / Gochi.

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As officially posted on Oprah.com here in January 2009:

The Truth About Oprah and Açaí and MonaVie
Consumers should be aware that Oprah Winfrey is not associated with nor does she endorse any açaí berry product, company or online solicitation of such products, including MonaVie juice products. Attorneys for Harpo are pursuing companies that claim such an affiliation.

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ABC News in Boston posted this on 27th April 2009:

Beware Acai Berry Offers
Health Claims Questioned, Consumers Report Troubles

BOSTON -- Some call it a super fruit, claiming that acai berry can make those who eat it healthier and thinner. But the manner in which many acai berry products are marketed is leaving many consumers with a sour taste.

NewsCenter 5's Susan Wornick reported Monday that better business bureaus in Massachusetts and across the country have been flooded with consumer complaints about free trial offers of acai berry products that aren't as they appear.

Watch the news video here.

"These are companies that take advantage of those people that are desperate," said Warren King of the Better Business Bureau.

Acai juice is riding high on claims it fights cholesterol, is an anti-aging elixir and even acts as a natural Viagra.

Viewers who have emailed Team 5 Investigates complain that they ordered a 30-day free trial of acai berry and agreed to pay about $5 shipping, but instead ended up with credit card charges up to $80 or $90.

Another wrote, "What's hidden in the fine print, is that they are going to continually send you bottles of these supplements and charge your credit card $75-$80 a bottle until you call & cancel the subscription."

King said many consumer complain they have a hard time clearing up any misunderstanding with the companies.

"They can't get through, or that their lines or down or that the mailboxes are full or that the e-mails don't work."

After Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Oz spoke about the health benefits of acai berry, some companies began claiming she had endorsed their products.

Winfrey said otherwise, releasing a statement, "Consumers should be aware that Oprah Winfrey is not associated with nor does she endorse any açaí berry product, company or online solicitation of such products, including MonaVie juice products. Attorneys for Harpo are pursuing companies that claim such an affiliation."

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is investigating claims, and the Center for Science in the Public Interest is also warning consumers to avoid free acai berry trial offers.

Further, dietician Leslie Bonci, of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, said there is no evidence to back up health claims that some acai berry companies make.

"I don't think we should be excited," she said. "As a matter of fact, I think we should be a little remorseful to pay five bucks for a bottle of something that is not going to make me thinner, or healthier and we can get those antioxidant benefits in other ways."

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Finally, The Courier-Journal, a Top Newspaper from the Kentucky & Southern Indiana region published this piece on 2nd May 2009:

Tips from the Better Business Bureau consumer watch

The Better Business Bureau is advising social networkers to read the fine print when responding to advertising on Facebook or other social-networking sites because the large print doesn't always tell the whole story.

Ubiquitous ads for weight-loss products, work-at-home opportunities and offers for "free" computers can cost shoppers more in the long run.

Just because an ad appears on a Web site they trust doesn't mean they can always trust the advertisers. The following is an example of an ad on a social networking site and what the fine print reveals:

The pitch: Lose weight

In January, the BBB issued a warning to consumers about online ads and Web sites that use Oprah Winfrey's name to sell acai berry supplements as weight-loss miracles. These ads link to fake blogs that are designed to look like testimonials of women who lost weight on the acai supplements. Recent research by the Center for Science in the Public Interest identified more than 75 phony blogs that led to Web sites touting acai-berry supplements.

The fine print

The phony blogs link to Web sites that offer a free trial of an acai supplement. While the customers may think they only have to pay shipping, they could get billed as much as $87.13 every month if they don't cancel before the trial period ends. The fine print also explains that the trial period begins from the moment customers order the supplements and not after they receive the shipments.

BBB warns

Not only do health experts question the legitimacy of the weight-loss claims linked to acai berry, the BBB has received thousands of complaints from consumers who were billed despite never receiving their free trial or were billed every month despite numerous attempts to cancel.

Not all ads on social-networking sites are misleading and misleading ads aren't confined to Facebook or MySpace. It's important for people to always read the fine print carefully before giving their credit-card information online.

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Reminder: Freelife GoChi's unnecessary sensationalism

As a refresher of an earlier post. Freelife is still at it with their unjustified "Time Magazine" hype... & this time its with their re-branded Himalayan Goji... the GoChi. How "original".

Spread the news folks: there is NO SUCH THING as a Time Magazine "superfruit of the year"!!

Click on the direct Time Magazine weblink below & you will see that the "superfruit" mention was merely 4 lines among a much bigger article which had nothing to do with the famous title "Time Magazine's XXX of the Year".

For a review of the earlier post, here it is.

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Your reputation is your calling card

In this day of the 21st century...
as professionals (& not old-school money-gamers), network marketers should always strive to promote a legitimate (money-making) program with legitimate products.

Where the program marketed has the true potential to go the long-haul, aside from normal business cycles/challenges.
i.e. A program that does not contain aspects of biz where governments/authorities are liable to question & put a stop on.

On the corporate end, "normal" business challenges encompass mergers & acquisitions, cashflow mismanagement, internal politics, market fluctuations, etc. Challenges that will occur in any traditional business.

There are always new MLMs on the horizon, and it is better for legitimate network marketers' reputation to stay away from programs that have been proven to fail, while exploring viability of those that are clean-cut.

e.g. Vortexity which is managed by some Americans out of Hong Kong, promoting Travel packages - cum - Music downloads - cum - Social networking ad revenue.
Have you researched the track records of:
multiple Travel-Trade-Associations complaints/lawsuits against Travel-MLMs; Burnlounge music networking FTC closure; Agloco biz model collapse; Yuwie spam; etcetc.
Look them all up online!
These are "membership" plans pretending to be the "product" itself, or generally impractical ideas in the case of Agloco.

These are nothing but obstacles in the marketing pitches to the everyday-people-turned-networkers... a proven track record of failures.

Last we checked, in countries that allow the conduct of direct selling / network marketing, structures that reward marketers from gathering new "memberships" are still deemed illegal.

Yes, you will be able to carry out business while a market is new, & the government(s) have yet to get whiff of what's going on. BUT the law will catch up sooner or later.

Why put one's own reputation at stake; ala recent Asia-wide occurrence of a pseudo-product MLM called Sunshine Empire. It has now evolved to emMax or GE / Grand Elite / Grand Elitia / grandelitia. What's next!
For those who've invested their efforts marketing a program which did not bring returns (except to early entrants), the question to ask oneself -- why bother doing the same (again)??
Perhaps old dogs just can't learn new tricks.
But are we dogs or humans??
hmm...

For those who've made it in a legitimate program, stick with it to build it better... OR if you're looking around, consider something just as (or MORE) viable than your existing opportunity!

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Freelife unnecessarily employing sensationalism

It appears that FreeLife, supposedly a reputable network marketing company, is over-hyping its product even at the corporate level -- deliberately toying around with the impression given by Time Magazine's famous phrase "XXXXX of the year", and going to the extent of unnecessarily adding in words like "Number 1".

In Time Magazine's article "A Taste of the Future", July 16th 2006, the goji berry was simply mentioned as a feature of New York City's 52nd Summer Fancy Food Show -- talking about foods that one might see retailing during the year.
As shown below, the Time article merely said "...this year's breakout was..." without any celebratory fanfare as they would state for, e.g., Time Photo of the Year.

It is just normal text in a small box!

" When 2,200 food purveyors gathered at the 52nd Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City last week, the 160,000 food products on offer ranged from the ridiculous... to the sublime... Here's a peek at what could be showing up on your grocery shelves.

SUPERFRUITS
In the produce world, some fruits have better health credentials than others. So-called superfruits flavored everything from pomegranate-blueberry lemonade to açaí energy bars. This year's breakout was the Himalayan goji berry, said to be a source of energy and longevity. The berry made several appearances, most successfully in Himalania's trail mixes and snacks. "

!?!?!
"Time Magazine" ... "Number 1" ... that's some big ego talk! The product is great. Great. So, ride on the good human testimonials, but cut out the unjustified hype!
Freelife is conveniently leaving out the last sentence (shown above) in all their marketing -- which actually talks about a different brand of Goji products. LOL.

FreeLife even took it "one notch up" on their website:
"Last July, the Los Angeles Times wrote a tremendous article on the goji berry. This July, TIME magazine, the world's largest news magazine with over 28 million monthly readers, has just named the Himalayan Goji Berry as the breakout superfruit of the year! Referring to the Himalayan goji berry as a source of energy and longevity, the July 24 article was focused on those superfruits that have better health credentials than others. And the Himalayan goji berry was the Number 1 breakout of the year!

As we have said from day 1, Himalayan Goji Juice will become a billion-dollar brand and the most successful functional beverage of its kind because it has great history, great science, gives more great results, and tastes great. No other product in the marketplace can make that claim and now no other product in the world can state that TIME magazine called their unique ingredient the BREAKOUT SUPERFRUIT OF THE YEAR!"

Being mentioned in Time is great! But why hype it up unless the intention is to...

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updated link (January 27th 2007): FreeLife Corporate using the Time article again
" 7. The media attention that FreeLife, Himalayan Goji Juice, and the goji berry have received over the past year has been incredible. This year, TIME magazine called the Himalayan Goji Berry the "Super Fruit of the Year" "

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This Blog a Case of Journalistic Fraud??

Views on MLM from a reader

It looks like an individual who claims to be gainfully employed as a professional journalist isn't really carrying out fair reporting practices in his/her widely read weblog.

We'd dare say it borders on journalistic fraud -- where facts are blatantly omitted for the purposes of sensationalism.

You be the judge!
Here was our second letter to this "journalist"... perhaps missing out on other facts already presented in our first letter:

"hi xlx,

hope you didn't miss out on our earlier comment on this post.

do post it, as well as this one... it is merely for readers to make a proper evaluation of opinions expressed.

readers should really see this webpage, www.networkmarketing.uic.edu , and judge for themselves if there are legit classes out there.
(the course is conducted by Harvard ed Professor King.)

only ruthless MLM leaders sell the "easy money" angle.
these are likely the very same people who fail(ed) in their MLM ventures...
simply because most / all who join them marketing the "easy-ness" instead of marketing the products, do not see beyond their perceived short-term gains, which are virtually unattainable to most ordinary folks.

let's talk about traditional work:
all organisational structures are pyramid-like.
and, all successful sales & related work are paid in commissions to the sales team.
so, are these 2 traditional work processes "illegal"? ... we think not!

at the end of the day, legit Network Marketing is a sound concept of business marketing of proven (& competitively priced) products to consumers and/or business-owners.
one has to do his/her own due diligence to eliminate companies/individuals who are out to deceive.

regards."

It is only because of stubborn old-fashioned mindsets like these individuals' that common folk who don't know better get presented tainted "news" via "creditable" mediums like newspapers.
Sigh!

Beware, people!
Find out your own truths.

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NO MORE juice/vitamin/cosmetic/household "stuff"!
There's just one too many!!

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