Sports Drinks | Juices | Energy Drinks

Many MLM companies will teach that one must retail some product to break even on personal use purchase. Generally that is true. But, any successful network marketing professional knows that the BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY is what drives this retail, not so much the product. MLM products are not meant to be retailed. If so, the price would be much cheaper. Forget about the middle-man argument, that by selling a product MLM style cuts out and thus saves costs. It simply is not true. MLM must pay out roughly 40% of all revenues to its sales force. That is a huge burden- and will basically set any MLM product to be priced at a PREMIUM.

Thinking that I can retail my product in any given store is a misnomer. In order to be successful, a pro must sell the business opportunity, not the product (which of course, must be good enough to buy). If a product was good enough to just put on the shelf, then it would be there. Getting back to what MLM is, it is the selling of a business, and people business. The sooner pro’s grasp that concept, the more they will see success. Sell the business, not the product.

Attention network marketers! You know who you are. You know this business, and you have attended an opportunity meeting or two. The other day, in the middle of an opportunity meeting for MonaVie’s Acaiberry drink. I stepped back and just watched. I saw the confident expressions on all the willing participant faces. Their emphatic applause imparted the hope that one day they would succeed. Hope that one day they would earn an income enabling their dreams to come true. In this relentless pursuit to self-reliance, I wondered how much money they spend, how much energy and faith exert, and how much time they spend for their network marketing careers.

The numbers do not lie. The vast majority of network marketing ventures end in failure (much like any business venture). However, few businesses create a following where meetings are more like religious revivals than training meetings. This MonaVie meeting was excellent. The speaker, an attractive master at his craft, could say no wrong. The faithful applauded loudly, hanging on his every word. He is the living epitome of success, and all watching apparently wanting to emulate him.

Anyone who has cashed a hard earned commission check knows that the heart of network marketing beats in the meetings we hold and attend, much like attending church. MLM 101 dictates that meetings generally consist of three main elements as follows:

1. Product Explanation- improves your life
2. Corporate Background- trusted individuals who help you
3. Business Opportunity- get ahead in life

Truly successful “networkers” have very good, informative, and motivational meetings. The cutting edge product is absolutely essential to your health, corporate figureheads are noble with supreme business acumen, and most importantly, the sense of urgency with their unique business opportunity rivals the need for food and water. My question is, how is this different than a religion? Religions might be characterized with the following:

1. Product- better way of life (a set of rules to live by)
2. Corporate Background- trusted servants (God and his servants)
3. Business Opportunity- get ahead in life (go to heaven, not to hell).

Maybe this is a stretch. But, it is evident that many religiously follow their MLM. In my last meeting it happened to be MonaVie. Passionate belief in their juice and business opportunity justifies what the vast majority pays (or donates). All to be a part a company that is very much bigger than they are individually. Yes, they certainly do get something for their money, and some do end up making a good living. Is it a freakin’ religion? No, but I think it is close. Is that necessarily a bad thing?

Super Juices are taking the market by storm. As natural alternatives to supplement pills, prescription medication, and general food supplements are drinks packed with vitamins, nutrients, and energy, these juices are generally a mixture of exotic fruits packed with vitamins and minerals. In the wake of Glaceau selling Vitamin Water to CocaCola for $4.1 BILLION, if there ever was ever a question of the super juice’s niche in the wellness revolution, there certainly isn’t now. The network marketing industry might have been ahead of the curve taking full advantage of this revolution with the advent of their unique super fruit juices. Tahitian Noni International, Xango, and other highly successful network marketing companies, many based in Utah, have been banking the rewards of this niche in wellness revolution with super juices for over a decade.

Forever Living Products (FLP) pioneered the network marketing super juice movement with aloe juice over 25 years ago. Now worldwide, FLP reportedly has yearly revenues of over $1 billion. Tahitian Noni International (1996) launches noni juice when the true demand for these products was just at a beginning. Next was XanGo (2002), started by a group of disgruntled Tahitian Noni VP’s in 2002, launched XanGo Juice, a mangosteen fruit mixutre; later MonaVie (2005) launched it’s self titled acai berry juice. All three companies reportedly bring in over $300 million each in yearly revenues. The domino effect continues today, as the network marketing industry jokes, “anyone with a million bucks and a juice is starting their own company.”

Funny or not, the fact is that the super juice boom is a reality. Listed below is just a sample of recently launched or currently launching super juice products and companies, each with their own stories, exotic blends, and anecdotal remedies, and more importantly will require millions of dollars of capital to get off the ground.

• Free Life(2003), super juice made from the Himalayan goji berry
• Agel (2004), vitamins/minerals/herbs proprietary Suspension Gel Technology
• Quixtar (Amway) Seismic Super Juice low sugar with vitamins for kids
• Xocai, acai berry mixed with chocolate
• Zrii(2007), another Himalayan fruit, amalaki
• NuWays(2007), Durian Fusion- southeastern Asia’s durian fruit (King of Fruits)
• Sisel(2007) has 4 main juices made from seaweed
• Ocean Grown (2007), algae and krill oil (not really a juice, but close enough)
• GoYin (2007), a mixture of various super fruits

This string of super juices hitting the market has actually caught the attention of big corporations, and there is no question that are taking this niche seriously. Recently Anheueser-Busch and CocaCola are reportedly set to get in on the acai berry market. Prices for the acai berry have reportedly jumped over 60% within the last year.

Vitamin water was a big move into solidifying the new world of healthy alternative beverages niche in the market. It is, however, doubtful we will see the same multi-billion dollar purchase deals for any super juice companies. As hard as these companies have tried to brand their version of the fruit in their product, there is no way to stop anyone from making their own noni juice, acai juice, or amalaki juice. Hence the domino effect of network marketing companies coming up with the latest and most innovative products. With the marketplace drastically more competitive compared to 10 years ago, it will be interesting to see what new super juice will be next, and what network marketing company will come up with it.

PROVO, UT – Tahitian Noni International (or TNI) is one of a many Network Marketing companies that populate the mountain valleys of Utah. Utah, where there are more “mlm” distributors per capita than anywhere else in the world. With such fierce competition, one would wonder what would motivate an established company who essentially raised that bar of excellence in the industry to break one of the cardinal rules of network marketing- cutting distributors commission checks.

“The name of the game in network marketing is getting in at the right time, with the right company, with the right product,” says Ron Wilson, a seasoned network-marketing executive. Ron has experience more companies than he would like to admit. One of his favorite quotes is, “companies have failed me, products have failed me, but network marketing [as an industry] has never failed me.” TNI, for a long time, was his saving grace, his final home for a battered distributor.

Sadly, as history has proved with most network marketing companies, they have a life span- even the good ones. Once a certain sales level is attained, a company must innovate to take sales to the next level. Innovation usually is centered on a new product, a new system, a new bonus, or when all that doesn’t work and as in TNI’s case, cut commissions to the lifeblood of the company, its sales force.

Cutting commissions is what TNI, and many other companies do when on the brink of self- destruction. Other prominent companies that have resorted to this have suffered, and suffered dearly. Usually cuts are a result implementation of one bad program after another, loss of touch with their distributor base, and/or flat out arrogant shortsightedness in decision-making. Ron was a victim to this, and sees what his company has done to him as nothing less than betrayal. “If someone asks you to build a house for $100K, you build it, and they only pay you $75K, are you going to build them another house? Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.” Unable to recruit, unable to feel passionate about what he once loved, Ron once again finds himself in the typical network marketing cycle, living off what’s left of his monthly checks, and patiently look for the next big opportunity.

Discontent is not uncommon among network marketing professionals, not to mention the countless distributors who are part-timers. Distributors, although technically self- employed, are at the complete mercy of the company they distribute for. Contractually powerless, once sold on a company, every effort, dollar, and moment is dedicated to a company that owns him, and has virtually no accountability.

Ron is among the elite, able to make a living off the system, literally one in a thousand. A dedicated dreamer and believer of what network marketing offers; financial freedom, self-reliance, healthy innovative and cutting edge products, and the chance to strike it rich. What many “on the outside” believe to be a cult of predatory opportunists that feed off the weak and naive, network marketing is a vibrant and legitimate business to many others.
With a loss of heart, but not a loss of spirit, Ron is optimistic about the future. “Like I said, network marketing has never let me down.”