A friend on one of the MLM forums posted this powerful little tid-bit today, and I thought that I would share it with all of my blog readers:

I was reading an entrepreneurial forum earlier today and someone had written that, although they’ve spent time and money chasing the work-from-home dream, they were being forced to start a new job this week.

Perhaps because it’s the goal of many to become successful enough to kiss their boss goodbye and turn part time hours into a full time income, they belive that rejoining the work force is an admission of failure. But getting a job is not the end of the world. In fact, it could be the beginning of giving your home business the shot in the arm it needs.

Consider the following:

1. J-O-B is not a bad thing. If a J-O-B keeps you Just Over Broke (ie. in the black financially), you can quit worrying about paying your bills. Turn your attention to the best ways to build long term business growth, rather than short term “the mortgage is due in 3 days” business planning. I think you will find that the steps you take are radically different.

2. Learn new skills that will help you in your business. This can include volunteering for new job responsibilities, attending in-house training, or taking advantage of tuition reimbursement through your company. Look for skills that will not only help your employer, but are transferable to your business skill set.

3. Study the sales and marketing departments. How is your company dealing with economic realities? How are they motivating and incentivizing sales staff? Is this something you can tweak for your team? Is the advertising department moving more funds away from publications, radio, and tv, and more money into internet- and socially interactive methods? How are they adapting the sales message for this new media?

4. Market Reserch. Depending on your business model, talk to your fellow employees. What are the buzz words? What are their concerns? How important are price points in their buying decisons? How can you translate this one-to-one knowledge to your business?

5. Find a Mentor. Developing a relationship with a mentor not only helps your work company, but can grow into mentorship for your business as well. Many highly skilled employees have always wanted to start their own businesses but have never followed through with it and may be delighted to help you.

6. “Donate” a few hours’ pay toward your home business marketing efforts. For instance, the last four hours of the week goes toward pay-per-click advertising or purchasing leads. This plays up one of the positives of a job because you can now infuse your business with “guilt free” promotional funds!

7. Build your customer base. As you hear of others who may benefit from your products or services, pass along a business card so they can learn more.

8. Always be asking how you can apply what you are doing/learning to your home business. This is a good exercise for any type of business you study. Learning to extrapolate your observations for use in your business provides “outside the box” ideas you may be able to incorporate to grow it even faster and stronger.

9. Be thankful and appreciative. Going back to a part or full time job does NOT brand you a failure. To even land a job in this economy is great…and says a lot about your ability and strengths. Think of it as a part time sabbitical from your business and make the most of it!

(C) 2010 Debbi Bressler

When I first saw Velocity International, I thought that it was just another one of those “Me, Too!” juice companies. Upon further examination, I was proven wrong.

I’ve been in Network Marketing for around 20 years, so I’ve seen many companies come and go. Velocity International was started in April 2007 as a subsidiary of Healing America, a 13-year old company headed by Rick Maike and Angela Leonard. Healing America has the third longest-running binary compensation plan in the industry. That stability is able to provide you with the tools to build a successful, growing business. This company is here for a long time to come!

Velocity International’s new flagship product, Patagonian Maqui juice, is the unquestionable “king of all superfruits”. It was discovered in the Amazon rainforest region of Patagonia, bordering Chile and Argentina. Cultivated by the Mapuche Indians, the Maqui berry was discovered to contain mystical healing properties and long-believed as a symbol of strength, health and vitality. It has an ORAC (oxygen radical absorbance capacity) score of 94,500, one that knocks out all the other competition. The next closest competition is the Acai berry, that weighs in at a paltry 30,000 on the ORAC score.

As previously stated, Healing America, Velocity International‘s parent company, has the third oldest-running binary compensation plan in the industry. They have created a truly revolutionary marketing plan that is turning the heads of many industry leaders. Not only does it have great up-front pay for the beginning Network Marketer, but it also offers the largest bonuses ever paid out to the industry for the seasoned professional. Where most companies pay out only 10% of the weaker sales leg volume, that is where Velocity International outshines the rest. It pays out a cutting-edge 16.67 percent of the weaker sales leg volume. In combination with matching bonuses of 50 percent over multiple generations, you have a compensation plan that surpasses the rest of the industry.

Velocity International’s management team has the savvy to operate a huge multi-million dollar company, but also knows how to provide first-class customer service to its distributors. The company also provides group and one-on-one trainings to its distributors. The company believes that this is the standard that most companies are envious of.

Most of the company’s business has been done in Asia with its energy and stress relief product, called Maximum Velocity, the first product of its kind ever released to the market. With the Patagonian Maqui juice, it endeavors to vigorously fortify the North American market. This is a company that is poised to be a worldwide phenomena, as they have plans to take their company to India, Malaysia and Singapore in early 2010.

With these five elements in place, Velocity International is a company that should be seen, put to the test and given a chance to shine. I did this in July 2009, and have never regretted it since. I have found my home for life!

===

Greg Granger has been a home business entrepreneur for the last 20 years. After looking at many different opportunities he finally chose Velocity International because of their phenomenal products and distributor training. Find out you can start building your home business today.

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Well, after being prospected by several people to go into TVI Express, I had to got off my chest how I feel about it.  I’m sure that a lot of people won’t appreciate my opinion, but everybody is entitled to their own opinion.  I can’t find a whole lot to say that this is a “sound” program, but please read on in my review:

Again, we’ll use my 12 criteria of evaluation.  Here goes nothing:

1.  Company track record – Hmm … they’ve been in the UK since January 2009 & since mid July 2009 in the USA.  This qualifies for a “too new to pick ‘em” award.  They don’t have any track record to mention.  The fact that they are managed out of the UK tells me that they do this so certain “regulatory” agencies can’t touch them.

2. Financial strength – To be honest, I can’t see either way on this issue.  I’ll give this one a “neutral” vote.

3.  Strong management – Here’s where the bells start ringing loud and clear.  There’s no mention on the website that I was directed to about the management.  That’s “red flag # 1″:  When you can’t check on the people running the program, I have to really question the “legitimacy” of the program.  It seems to me that they may have something to hide.

4.  Unique consumable products – They don’t deal in “consumable” or “physical” products.  They pay back to their reps with cash and “eVouchers”.  That’s “red flag # 2″:  When a company pays back to their customers in “eVoucher”, something just doesn’t sound right here.

5.  Competitive pricing – How can their be any competitive pricing on “eVouchers”?  It’s a “virtual” product.  ‘Nuff said?

6.  High re-order rate – There is no re-order rate in this program.  How can you produce a long-term residual income with this program?  It’s not possible.  No autoship = no residual income.

7.  Low attrition – There is no attrition in this program.  It’s nothing short of a 2×3 matrix program.  Bad news for the “Average Joe”.  No repeat orders = no residual income.  Hmmm … didn’t I just say that in the last paragraph?

8.  Low personal production requirement – In a 2×3 matrix, it’s all based on recruitment into the matrix.  If you don’t recruit anybody, then you don’t move onto the next “board”.  You’re just getting paid based on recruiting somebody into the matrix.  IMHO, this is highly illegal.

9.  Low entry costs – You are required to put in $250US to get started into the first TVI Express “board”.  Once you fill your first 2×3 matrix, you get paid $250 cash, plus a $250 “travel eVoucher”.  You move up the “board” vertically until you get to the far end, then you are taken up to the next level … this is done in a 2×3 matrix structure until you get to the top (similar to a “serpentine” structure).  Where do they get the $10K (plus $5K in eVouchers) to pay out when people get to the top of the 2nd matrix?  It all sounds very “illegitimate” to me, as the numbers just don’t add up to me.

10.  Timing vs trends – Nothing to be said here.  The whole thing gives me a bad vibe.

11.  Legal, fair, balanced compensation – If I haven’t made it clear enough already, I will say that there is nothing “legal” about this program.  If it walks & talks like something “shady”, then it must be something “shady”.  It doesn’t offer any sort of “legitimate” product for your investment.

12.  No risk – There is lots of risk in this program.  The biggest risk is to guess how long before it will be shut down by the government.  It will … I promise you!  It’s only a matter of time before the government swoops down on it.  That also brings up another issue that I have an issue with them:  Why are payments only accepted through Liberty Reserve (an e-gold payment service), Western Union, or bank wire only?  Why do they not accept credit cards directly?  This means that there is no consumer protection.  There’s “red flag #3″.  (Update:  A rep for TVI Express recently told me the reason why they don’t accept credit cards is because they recently received lots of credit card “chargebacks” (i.e. invalid credit card transactions) from India when they opened there.  Just a “likely” story, methinkst.)

Have I said enough here?  If you want to risk being the next occupant in the Leavenworth Penitentiary, then join in TVI Express now.  If not, I would be running as far and fast away aw possible from this thing.  It’s nothing but an elaborate money game.  There are too many red flags that are brought up when analyzing it.  Avoid it like the “Swine Flu”!

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As I promote my own business on safelists & traffic exchanges, I saw an ad for a new “Healthy Coffee” MLM.  The new company is called “Healthy Coffee USA”, and I began to wonder if this company is going to be any different than any of the other coffee MLM companies.

To be honest, the first thing I thought when I heard of this new company offering a single product category was:  “Oh, no … not another MLM coffee deal!”.

Here’s my review of the company, its product & compensation plan:

1.    Company track record – With every new company to hit the scene, it will take some time for it to build some credibility in the industry.  This company is too new to give it any kind of track record as it stands.  So far, it doesn’t have any complaints against it in the BBB.
2.    Financial strength – It is extremely hard to determine the strength of a new company’s finances.  You do have to remember that 95% or more of MLM companies don’t make it past the first 5 years.
3.    Strong management – It’s really hard to measure up the strength of the management team of this “up-and-comer”, as I’ve never seen them around the network marketing arena before.  I have to question the longevity of this company that has management without network marketing expertise.
4.    Unique consumable products – Unfortunately, there are at least 3 other network marketing (i.e. Gano Excel, OrGano Gold & Boresha) companies that market a “ganoderma” coffee product.  It’s not exactly a product that is “breaking down the doors” to say that it’s the first product of its kind on the market.
5.    Competitive pricing – At $25 for a packet of 20 individual serving “sticks”,  it seems like a high price to pay for healthier coffee alternative.  That works out to about $1.25 per serving, and I think that’s a bit hard to swallow (if you’ll pardon the pun).
6.    High reorder rate – I haven’t tasted this coffee yet, so I can’t really comment on how well the reorder rate will be with this coffee.  If somebody is willing to send me some samples for me to test, you can e-mail me here (just click on the link to e-mail me), and I can supply you with my mailing address.
7.    Low attrition – It’s hard to say what the attrition rate is, as this company is still too new to measure it up.
8.    Low personal production requirement – This company does have one thing going for it.  It has a very low personal production requirement.  The downside is that the company requires that you buy more product every month to qualify for your commission check as you move up the ranks in the pay plan.
9.    Low entry costs – This is one of the areas that may not be good for them.  There are 3 product packages:  Gold ($99), Platinum ($299) & Diamond ($499).
10.    Timing vs. trends – It’s not the first “healthy coffee” MLM to hit the market, so it’s got a lot of competition.
11.    Legal, fair, balanced competition – Here’s where the company fails miserably.  Your bonuses (fast start & power bonuses) are paid to you based on the product package that you purchased.  You are also paid 10% on the volume of your “Less-Volume Sales-Team” (i.e. if you have 2,000 GBV on your left sales team & 3,000 BV on your right sales team, you will be paid $200).  The matching bonus range from 4-10%.  The car bonuses only start to kick in when you attain and maintain a rank of “4-Star  Diamond” (40,000 GBV on the Less-Volume Sales-Team) or above for 12 consecutive weeks (very hard for the “Average Joe” to get that kind of volume in one leg … let alone both legs!).  The Global Bonus Pools are also impossible to meet for the “Average Joe”.  You have to attain the rank of at least “4-Star Diamond” and have at least one “3-Star Diamond” personally-enrolled to qualify for this bonus.  Ouch!
12.    No risks – There are many risks associated with every “start-up” company.  This is one company that I would have to say that “does not favor the little guy”.

There are too many negative factors to consider this a good company.  I cannot recommend this as a company that can give the “Average Joe” a decent residual income, and it’s also too new!  To sum it up, I’d let this company “steep for a while” before it can prove itself.  This company definitely gives a bad taste in my mouth.

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Mike Lewitz is a certified International Marketer who teaches marketing to an international organization of over 6000 entrepreneurs in 33 countries who come from all walks of life and market hundreds of different products and services, including people in MLM and Network Marketing businesses. Mike is working with some people who have put more than 100 people per week into their business.  He also offers a free report that shows you how to be successful in MLM at http://www.mlmultrasecrets.com.

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Recently a friend of mine that lives in Arizona told me that Dr. Bill Miller (yes, the same guy from Dr. Miller’s Holy Tea) had merged with Total Life Changes to form Iaso.  She wanted me to take a look at the company and analyze it for her daughter.  Here’s what I have come up with:

Company track record – The company is the product of merging 2 new companies.  I see no BBB complaints on either companies, so that’s a positive thing.

Strong management – It is evident that both companies needed to merge together, as their products are in very competitive markets (green tea & juice products).  This leads into my next point:

Unique consumable products – I hate to rain on their parade, but there are many “green tea” products in the marketplace today.  The same can also be said for “Nutra Burst”.  What makes it stand out from any of the other juice products (i.e. Vemma, Xango, MonaVie, Limu, etc.)?  Please don’t tell me about the ORAC score, or any “techno-babble” that the “Average Joe” couldn’t care less about.  I don’t need to hear this again.

Competitive pricing – As far as Network Marketing products are concerned, they are very competitively priced.  But I’m sure that you can get a similarly formulated green tea for cheaper at Walmart.  The juice?  Same thing here.

High reorder rate – One advantage to low-priced, affordable products is that everybody can afford them.  Hats off to Iaso here!

Low personal production requirement – The company understands that it should be affordable for the distributor to qualify for commissions.  This should get them into profit quickly.

Low entry costs – I also would like to commend Iaso for making it affordable for people to join the company.  They’ve kept their “Join now” price attainable for everybody, at a very inexpensive $7.95.  Other companies have charged $50 or more to start marketing their opportunity.  Kudos!

Timing vs. trends – I think that it was probably a smart move for Dr. Miller to merge with Total Life Changes.  It was a smart move for both companies concerned, as this makes both companies stronger as one entity.

Legal, fair, balanced compensation – I found this very confusing to understand.  Their concept of “generational” pay is a little hard to absorb … no pun intended.  This, to my understanding, can lead to varying degrees of “breakage” in their compensation plan.  With the way I understand the compensation plan, you will not get paid out on your group volume if that “generation” has less than 1,500GV.  That seems like it is punishing them for not pushing that “generation” to at least that level.  This may lead the distributors to “front-end load” to get it to that required level.  There is also no explanation of the GV-to-dollar ratio anywhere in the compensation plan (i.e. Is $1 spent equal to 1GV point?).  What have they got to hide here?  If it is a 1:1 ratio, then just tell us.  I think that they should stick to a straight “uni-level” compensation plan.

I see some very positive things about the company, and some negative things.  They will have to work on the compensation plan a little more to make it easy for the “Average Joe” to explain it.  They also have to get more “unique” products in their product line.  For me, I’ll pass on Iaso.

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I’ve been recently seeing many people promoting a new company called WebProsperity.  I have various “issues” with this company, and will again use the 12 evaluation criteria:

Company track record - This company is too new.  Brand new company = huge risk!

Strong management – NOT!  If you read one of my previous postings @ http://themlmteam.com/blog/2008/08/16/my-analysis-of-the-gbg-corp-compensation-plan-the-%e2%80%9cgbg-10-in-1-liquid%e2%80%9d/ you will see that I will never recommend anything that Mr. D’Arcangelo promotes.

Unique consumable products – Products?  What products?  There are no physical products.  I would never get involved with a company that sells virtual products.  This is very highly questionable!

Legal, fair, balanced compensation – 2×15 matrix?  Who are they kidding?  The “Average Joe” will never build to their 10th or 15th level.  Where is this “fair” for them?  Give your head a shake!

I’ve looked at the compensation plan over at http://review-webprosperity.com/6/webprosperity-compensation-plan/.  I’m really confused, and I’ve got a lot of MLM experience!  If the “newbie” can’t explain the compensation plan in simple terms, then how can they tell it to everybody they know?  They don’t even give percentages in their payouts.  I think that they have a lot to hide in this compensation plan by not telling their “people” these numbers.  Keep it simple, silly!  Just a very confusing compensation plan here!

High reorder rate – How is there a real “perceived” value with a virtual product?  There can never be a very high reorder rate wtih a virtual product.

Low personal production requirement – So little is known about this company so far, so the verdict has not been ruled on this.  Will there be other requirements to qualify for a check (other than ordering their $30 or $60 monthly packages)?  Only time will tell!

Timing vs. trends – Sheesh, they’re using the old “get in on the pre-launch” hype.  Don’t be fooled by this garbage!

No risk – There is huge risk with this company.  It’s only a matter of time before the complaints start coming out of the woodwork on them.  When it does, the sh*t will hit the fan!  The BBB is going to have a hay-day with this one.

I also have issues with the product.  I’ve had some time to brood about this.  I don’t trust anything that David D’Arcangelo puts his name on, especially with my previous dealings with him in AMS Health Sciences.

As far as I can see, they are just using WebProsperity to build their own databases of “known” Network marketers.  When you’ve imported your contact list (from Outlook or any of your instant (Yahoo, Live or GMail) messengers) into WebProsperity’s database, that will soon open up your mailbox (and your contact’s) to unsurmountable amounts of spam.

My final word on this is to avoid WebProsperity … if it’s the last thing that you do!

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I came across a company called ForeverGreen quite recently.  Their first product was a seaweed plankton product called FrequenSea, and it seemed to take the MLM market by storm when the company burst on the scene.  As I look at this company further, I see many strong aspects with it, but I also see as many weaknesses also.

Here is what I have to say about ForeverGreen, as I give you my objective opinion:

Company track record: There were 3 complaints filed against them, which have all been successfully resolved.

Strong management: It appears that this company has a very strong management, as most of their current management has come to them from other industry giants (i.e. Morinda (now known as Tahitian Noni), Unicity Network/Enrich International).

Unique consumable products: This company has a few products that tend to be not very unique.  For instance,  their SecreSea line of products is a skin care line.  There are many companies out there that offer skin care products.  What makes them different than other companies, like Mary Kay or Avon, that offer the same type of products?  Their 24-karat chocolate is just another line of healthy chocolate.  There are a few companies out there that already offer healthy chocolate.  What makes their chocolate different from the likes of Xocai, etc.?  What makes their Food First line of raw foods unparalleled?  What is it that makes their spices or essential oils stand apart from the crowd?  Do we really need another energy drink (ElectriFire) in an already flooded market?  We’ve seen other version of their SecreSea, 24-karat chocolate, raw foods, spices & ElectriFire all in other companies before now.  ForeverGreen is just trying to play catch-up to say that they also have these products now!  This is far from ground-breaking.

Competitive pricing: It seems to me that their pricing structure is quite high and very inconsistent with the QV/CV to dollar ratio.  Their 25 QV/CV level is steady at $48.  Their 50 QV/CV level ranges from $80-$96.  Their 100 QV/CV level ranges from $160-192.  Their 200 QV/CV level ranges from $320-384.  Finally, their 400 QV/CV level ranges from $625-672.  Figuring out the numbers, the distributor is paying out between $1.55-1.92 per QV/CV point.  Why is there such a difference between them?  I have seen many companies, and this is one of the highest that I have seen in a long time.  That is not fair to the distributor!

Legal, fair, balanced compensation plan: Never before have I seen such an inconsistent compensation plan that is built to work against the distributor.  I can’t stress enough that the QV/CV to dollar ratio has to be more consistent, as it will be easier for the distributor to calculate what they have to purchase every month to qualify for a decently-sized check.  It is horribly unfair when the distributor has to pay out almost $2.00 to earn only 1 QV/CV point.  This comes to the next inconsistency I have discovered in their compensation plan.  If you order 400 QV/CV or more in your first month, you receive a 25% personal rebate on all single orders.  For example, if you order an ElectriFire Smooth or Spiced 400 QV Pack (400 QV/CV or $672.00), your price with the rebate will be $572 ($672 minus 100 QV/CV points), not $504 ($672 – $168).  This is a compensation plan that does not give true value to its distributors.  I also have to address their 2% bonus in their unilevel compensation plan.  Since 50% of volume is paid to monthly unilevel commissions, you would need 100 people to purchase the extra 2% in QV/CV just to break even on the difference if you were to purchase that additional 2% QV/CV.  What in the heck are they thinking?  The company is the only entity that will reap any true benefit of this portion in their compensation plan.  It is not put there in consideration of the little guy.  Don’t ever be fooled by something like this that calls itself a bonus.  Shame on you, ForeverGreen!  You should be ashamed for having the audacity to pull the wool over the eyes of your distributors with this obvious flaw in your compensation plan.  This only sucks more money out of the distributors’ pockets.  Yet again, this gives no real value to its distributors.  Tsk tsk!

In my humble opinion, this is not a company or compensation plan that I can honestly recommend to anybody.  Don’t get me wrong, but I have the utmost in respect for Chris Tinney (the master distributor in ForeverGreen), and the fact that he is taking it to the streets with his cross-country ForeverGreen tour.  This compensation plan does not equally reflect the rebate in dollar to QV/CV ratio.  Couple this with the fact that their dollar to QV/CV ratio is so contradictory, this is a compensation plan that is not made to favor the Average Joe.

I got a call from somebody in Texas the other night advertising “if you could place 20-30 people in your MLM business every month”. I promptly said to him that I knew what program he was trying to pitch me on, and was not interested in it.

He obviously wasn’t listening to me very well, and went on with his sales speil.  It really sounded like he was speaking from one of those “canned” sales scripts.  You probably know them, too, when somebody tries to “strangle” you with them.  I told him I wasn’t interested in what his was trying to sell me, and then thanked him for his time then hung up on him.

There is nothing that turns me off more when I get somebody trying to sell me something, and they really don’t listen to what I have to say.  Selling to somebody isn’t all about getting the sale, it’s about giving a solution to a problem somebody has.

Judging from the time that he called me, I think that I might have also been on one of their “live calls”.  The second thing that turns me off is when somebody puts me in front of a crowd without telling me.  There are laws in certain states now that make it illegal to record you without your knowledge, and it is the legal right of the caller to tell the person on the other end of the phone that they are being recorded.  If you make calls and record them for future use (i.e. training, etc.) make sure you know which states have these laws.

I wish that they would listen to their prospects. When are they going to get it? Listen to what your prospects have to say!  If you’re not listening to your prospects, you’re only giving them something that you want them to buy.

Judging from this guy’s lack of listening skills, it looks like he’s probably struggling with his business.  If he had actually “listened” to me, he wouldn’t have went through his feable, time-wasting attempt at “phone-spam”.  He would have thanked me for my time, then let me get back to what I was doing before he interrupted me.

By listening to your prospects, it also helps build a relationship with them.  You also don’t come off as a pushy salesperson.

If he actually had asked, I would have told him that there are other ways to generate leads for his business than resorting to pointless phone calls to people that aren’t looking for his product or service.

I wish the best to the guy that called me, but I’ve got one small bit of advice for him:  “Listen to your prospects”.  If you’re going to be successful in any kind of marketing, it is important to take to heart what your prospects have to say to you.

You will also be more successful at what you do, and be more respected in your area of expertise.

I have been asked by a close friend of mine to analyze the compensation plan & product provided by GBG Corp.  I have used the 12 criteria to analyze it, and here are my findings:

Company track record – Upon going to the Better Business Bureau website, I found that there were 4 different addresses for GBG Corp. in the Vacaville, CA area (this brings up a major “red flag” for me … why 4 different addresses … what are they trying to hide here?!).  There were 5 different complaints registered with the BBB (4 for “Refund or Exchange issues” & 1 for “Sales Practice issues”, all of which have all been resolved).

Strong management – The man that has put his name behind the “GBG 10-in-1 Liquid”, Mr. David D’Arcangelo, had once been the President of AMS Health Sciences, a company that I had been a Marketing Representative with.  This was also another MLM/Network Marketing company that marketed a weight-loss system.  Prior to his departure from AMS Health Sciences, it had been discovered by the Board of Directors at AMS Health Sciences (to this day, AMS Health Sciences is a publicly-traded company) that he had “watered down” the ingredients in their liquid nutritional product called “Prime One”, and modified (i.e. “dummied down”) the ingredients in one of their nutritional supplements called “AMS-100”.  He had also masterminded a “giveaway program” for the 2 aforementioned products. AMS Health Sciences lost millions of dollars due to the marketing of this “giveaway program”.   Due to the previously mentioned negligent actions of Mr. D’Arcangelo, this caused the stock price of AMS Health Sciences to plummet, thus the Board of Directors requested the resignation of Mr. D’Arcangelo.

Would I want to get involved with another company that is associated with Mr. D’Arcangelo?  To be very direct, I will say that I’d rather be put into a room with 20 lions and stick my head into each of their mouths – one by one.  This would be putting it very kindly!

Unique consumable products – The “GBG 10-in-One Liquid” is not a unique product in the marketplace.  It just takes from products with other well-known products in the industry.  For example, a liquid product containing Goji is marketed by a company called FreeLife.  There are at least 2 companies with products that contain Mangosteen – the 2 more-known companies are Xango and Vemma.  There is at least one company that, prior to GBG, marketed a product containing Amalaki – called Zrii.  In my honest opinion, GBG just continues to jump on the “Me, Too!” bandwagon any time it sees a company marketing a product with a “breakthrough” ingredient.  This does not make it a remarkably unique product.

Competitive pricing – It is great to see that the product is priced low “for the masses”, but that also means that there will be a lower payout to the distributor force.

Legal, fair, balanced compensation – It is an extreme “insult” to the distributors if any company that pays 5% or less in their compensation plan.  It is crucial to “do the math” here:  GBG pays out 2% on the first 5 levels (40 cents per distributor on a $20 purchase, and one dollar per distributor on the next 4 levels for that same $20 purchase).  That kind of payout is abysmal, as it only equates to a total payout of $984.80 if you have a completed 2×9 matrix.  This is hardly what I would call a “retirement income”.  Please don’t try to tell me, “Yeah, but they pay out a whopping 50% on level 10!”.  The “Average Joe” will never get to level 10 in their matrix.  The company only uses that 50% figure to hide the obvious flaws in the rest of their compensation plan.

In an addition to their regular compensation mentioned above, they have added a 5 level “Car & Mortgage” Bonus only pays out, yet again, one dollar per person on every person in your uni-level matrix.  This is separate from your other 2×20 matrix.  Even if each person in your 5 level matrix gets only 2 people (just for illustration purposes), your paycheck down to those 5 levels only equates to $62.  Barely enough for a “tank of gas”, let alone a “car payment”.  Not a great way to reward your people!  It’s just there to balance out an already poor compensation plan.

This company rates extremely low as a recommendation.  Mr. D’Arcangelo has a “less than stellar” track record, and you need a “small army of distributors” in their compensation plan to produce any kind of long-term residual income.  The payout is one of the worst I have seen in the industry for a long time.  In fact, the only thing that I can recommend is to avoid this program at all costs.

I hope that my objective analysis of this company and product has provided you with enough information to establish an educated decision with regards to participating in this program.