Health Suppliment MLM's. Are they worthwhile

[Webwatch]

Due to recent fo par by myself on another thread
http://www.matrixwatch.org/forums/showthread.php?p=45428#post45428
I thought it might be worth a look at the whole Nutritional/MLM industry to see if theres any prospect for the average joe/jane to make an honest buck or two in it.

Of course I'm sceptical of anything that requires downline building in order to sell a product after all why would I want to recruit more competition when I can make more money (or should be able to) off my own sales.

Of course with the internet its now possible to recruit people into your downline from totally different areas/country's removing the competition aspect slightly although the internet will still be a competitive area to recruit.

Nutritional Suppliments.
In the busy life many of us lead sometimes we need an extra boost to our dietary needs when all a lot of us are eating is fast foods and quick snacks.
So I feel there definately is a place for some form of nutritional suppliment.
However a lot of MLM's will make pretty outragious claims as to how good their suppliments are in order to sell the products but mainly the marketing stratergy ( For legal reasons they will usually have some form of disclaimer)
i.e Warning! Statements regarding the effects of these products have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. The information and opinions contained in this website do not replace or substitute for the advice of a practicing medical doctor. Please consult your physician before beginning any new diet, supplement regimen or exercise program. Your use of this Web Site is entirely at your risk - the Web Site is provided "as is," and we disclaim any and all responsibility for the accuracy, timeliness, and completeness of the information contained on the Site. We shall not be responsible for any loss or damage suffered by you or anyone else in connection with this Web Site or the information contained in it.

From what I've learnt the best ones should also buy back unsold stock, after all as a nutritional suppliment they must have some form of sell by date.

So what I'm looking for is good or bad stories of this industry in order to build up a picture of whether they are worthwhile.

Are these products really for using or just for selling.

[coralal]

Due to recent fo par by myself on another thread
http://www.matrixwatch.org/forums/showthread.php?p=45428#post45428
I thought it might be worth a look at the whole Nutritional/MLM industry to see if theres any prospect for the average joe/jane to make an honest buck or two in it.

Of course I'm sceptical of anything that requires downline building in order to sell a product after all why would I want to recruit more competition when I can make more money (or should be able to) off my own sales.

Of course with the internet its now possible to recruit people into your downline from totally different areas/country's removing the competition aspect slightly although the internet will still be a competitive area to recruit.

Nutritional Suppliments.
In the busy life many of us lead sometimes we need an extra boost to our dietary needs when all a lot of us are eating is fast foods and quick snacks.
So I feel there definately is a place for some form of nutritional suppliment.
However a lot of MLM's will make pretty outragious claims as to how good their suppliments are in order to sell the products but mainly the marketing stratergy ( For legal reasons they will usually have some form of disclaimer)
i.e

From what I've learnt the best ones should also buy back unsold stock, after all as a nutritional suppliment they must have some form of sell by date.

So what I'm looking for is good or bad stories of this industry in order to build up a picture of whether they are worthwhile.

Are these products really for using or just for selling.

Under the direct sellers act ( DSA ) there has to be a buy back policy with all companies less a restocking fee. Each Nutritional Suppliment has to have an expiry date on the packaging.

A good company will allow you to buy the products at wholesale from the company with no downline building at all. This way you can order and use the products for personal consumption. Most good companies allows you to buy the product at wholesale and be able to sell the product at a retail profit for yourself and no downline building is required.

Stay away from any company that does not have these features in their plan. Also stay away from any company that pays you for recruiting. In a legitimate company a product has to be bought before any commissions paid out.

One of the finest attorneys in the industry is Jeff Babner and if anyone would like Jeff's site to learn the real laws of Networking or MLM, you can PM me and I will forward Mr Babner's website for you.

I think we should all have the facts about the industry before we make any acusations or Judgement. Like I said in another thread, I have been in the industry for 28 years and have helped license over 50 companies ( I was not involved with those companies, Just helped them license properly ) .

I take the industry very seriously and want to make sure companies obide by the laws like any other Industry.

Thanks For Reading

[Webwatch]

Thanks Coralal.
I agree its important to focus on the facts.
In my opinion the key is always going to be the product itself and if all a potential sales representative sees is the money making potential from recruiting then something has gone wrong either with the way the business has been presented or a serious flaw in its conception.

As with any business, competition will be fierce and a huge amount of effort will be involved to keep things running.

I'm no business man but I'm sure in the early days you must be prepared to eat sleep and drink your venture and any one that says 'earn money while you sleep' and other buzzphrases like this should be viewed with some suspicion.

So to start with we have at least few things to look for when considering joining a Multi-level-Marketing company.

1. A buy back facility for unsold stock
2. No pressure to order a minimum quantity per week/month
3. No huge emphasis on recruiting others

Feel free to post the link to Mr Babners site as it may prove a usefull resource.
I've found this one to be getting started with http://www.mlmlegal.com/

[coralal]

Thanks Coralal.
I agree its important to focus on the facts.
In my opinion the key is always going to be the product itself and if all a potential sales representative sees is the money making potential from recruiting then something has gone wrong either with the way the business has been presented or a serious flaw in its conception.

As with any business, competition will be fierce and a huge amount of effort will be involved to keep things running.

I'm no business man but I'm sure in the early days you must be prepared to eat sleep and drink your venture and any one that says 'earn money while you sleep' and other buzzphrases like this should be viewed with some suspicion.

So to start with we have at least few things to look for when considering joining a Multi-level-Marketing company.

1. A buy back facility for unsold stock
2. No pressure to order a minimum quantity per week/month
3. No huge emphasis on recruiting others

Feel free to post the link to Mr Babners site as it may prove a usefull resource.
I've found this one to be getting started with http://www.mlmlegal.com/

I think this is a great thread and the way we should discuss and disect companies without just running around blind and speaking nonsense.

That is the correct address to Jeff's site and it is a great site.:applause:


Thanks

[Webwatch]

As Greenwood Health has already been mentioned maybe its worth taking a look at.
Its important to ignore the connection with YMMSS/STA as this will just put a negative perspective on things and hopefully this thread can be more of a fact finding mission.

I notice they have a minimum order amount of $40 a month in order to participate in the bonus's from one's downline, is this common place with similar MLM's ?.

I don't doubt that anyone venturing into a Business like this should have no problem spending $40 a month on stock if they intend to resell the products.

There is also an executive level where a minimum of $100 per month is needed in order to receive bonus's, with a higher commision rate.

Of course you don't have to acheive this monthly commitment if you just want to use the products and have no interest in the compensation plan. But would any member take the risk of not acheiving this amount just in case someone they have recruited has placed a big order.

I'ts nice to see on the Greenwood homepage that the compensation plan isn't mentioned straight away and focus is mainly on the products.

Coralal-Do you have any experience with the type of Greenwood Health products on offer and how easy they are to resell.

[coralal]

As Greenwood Health has already been mentioned maybe its worth taking a look at.
Its important to ignore the connection with YMMSS/STA as this will just put a negative perspective on things and hopefully this thread can be more of a fact finding mission.

I notice they have a minimum order amount of $40 a month in order to participate in the bonus's from one's downline, is this common place with similar MLM's ?.

I don't doubt that anyone venturing into a Business like this should have no problem spending $40 a month on stock if they intend to resell the products.

There is also an executive level where a minimum of $100 per month is needed in order to receive bonus's, with a higher commision rate.

Of course you don't have to acheive this monthly commitment if you just want to use the products and have no interest in the compensation plan. But would any member take the risk of not acheiving this amount just in case someone they have recruited has placed a big order.

I'ts nice to see on the Greenwood homepage that the compensation plan isn't mentioned straight away and focus is mainly on the products.

Coralal-Do you have any experience with the type of Greenwood Health products on offer and how easy they are to resell.


As for the products that Greenood Health has I can not make any comment as I have not used or had them analized by a professional. On the exterior they look like products that you can buy at any health food store and no shipping charges. ( I could be wrong tho, But I think they are outsourceing the purchasing of their products, because their labelling does not say any to the contrary )

Their compensation plan is very difficult ( by my perspective ) for the average person to make any money. The reason I say this is that you have to buy 100.00 personal each month ( not a big deal if you are using the products yourself or retailing them ) and in order to make any decent money you need to recruit 3 people ( The average person only can sponsor 1.5 members ) and have 1000.00 dollars in Group volume and then you only get paid 4 levels. Then there is 4 more hurdles to get to the maximum benefits, but these requirements are practically impossible for 98% of the small home based business entrepenur. These requirements are 3 personally spomsored Pearl members ( that means they each need 3 personally sponsored members having 60,000 dollars in volume in each of their groups, which is a very difficult feet for the Professional fulltime Networker ) and you also have to have 200,000 group volume in your first 6 levels ( by the way Group Volume should mean your entire group, no matter how many levels it goes down, this is totally a kickback of funds to Greenwood because it is called spiilage because 99 % can not achieve this level ) .

As you can see this is pratically impossible for anyone to make any money with this type of plan. This is the same as any breakaway plan that was outdated years ago.

I find it Ironic that Greenwood Health makes this statement

1) Greenwood Health Systems has absolutely no "Group Volume" requirements to earn bonuses.

But their compensation plan looks like this


Title. Distributor. Silver Recruiter. Gold Recruiter. Diamond Recruiter. Pearl Recruiter. Super Dooper Recruiter.
Qualification Requirement. 30 points monthly of qualifying Bonus Volume. 120 points monthly of QBV + 3 personally sponsored distributors + 1,000 Group Volume Points in first 6 levels per month. 120 QBV. + 3 personally sponsored Silver Recruiters + 4,800 Group Volume Points in first 6 levels per month. 120 QBV. + 3 personally sponsored Gold Recruiters + 24,000 Group Volume Points in first 6 levels per month. 120 QBV. + 3 personally sponsored Diamond Recruiters + 60,000 Group Volume Points in first 6 levels per month. 120 QBV. + 3 personally sponsored Pearl Recruiters + 200,000 Group Volume Points in first 6 levels per month.
Level 1 20% 20% 20% 20% 20% 20%
Level 2 5% 5% 5% 5% 5% 5%
Level 3 5% 5% 5% 5% 5% 5%
Level 4 5% 5% 5% 5% 5%
Level 5 5% 5% 5% 5%
Level 6 5% 5% 5%
Level 7 5% 5%
Level 8 5% 5%
Level 9 10%
Level 10 10%

AS U CAN SEE THEIR IS GROUP VOLUMES EVERYWHERE.

I ALSO FIND IT IRONIC THAT THEY HAVE NO PRICING ON THE SITE.

Thanks

[Webwatch]

Thanks Coralal,
I think this is the pay structure Greenwood say they dont use, although why Greenwood have a whole page designated to a totally different pay system is beyond me, its a bit confusing to say the least.
I need a vitamin boost just to understand how their payplan works :)

I think ive tracked down the one Greenwood use at this page:
http://www.greenwoodhealth.net/np_new/sv_bv.htm

and this page
http://www.greenwoodhealth.net/np_new/unilevel_bonus.htm

[ycchen]

Great discussion. I suggest that we change the title of this thread to reflect the fact that we are focusing on a badly design/outdated MLM called "greenwood", in which this is pratically impossible for anyone to make any money with this type of plan.Yet, esto -- the YMMSS / STA ponzi scam promoter -- continues to sell this impossible greenwood scheme to the desperate YMMSS / STA victims.

[charleymatey]

I know that many MLMs are very hard to make money out of, yet I have also seen several people claim to have made alot of money through them. the health side in particular seems to bring a positive response as it strikes a chord in many. Is there any that could work? Or are they all just out to make money for themselves at the expense of the workers??

I also see that you advertise a few MLMs on the weblinks. Have these been tested by people here? Are they endorsed by you?? And more importantly - is it worth getting involved with them?! :)

[Webwatch]

Hello Charleymatey and welcome to Matrixwatch.
Regarding the Web Links I personaly haven't tried any of them so couldn't reccomend any at the moment.

Maybe its the old 'Is the product for using or just for selling argument' which crops up with MLM's that needs looking at.

Is a $25 fruit juice drink really any better than a $2 carton you could buy at any supermarket, a lot of MLM's make the claim that there is some special health benefits associated with their products but is this really the case.

In this Internet age do we really need MLM's are'nt they just going to die out when consumers can buy almost anything online, without the need or extra cost involved of joining an already over saturated recruitment arena.

Surely if your going to start your own business wouldn't you do some market research first and see if there was a niche market in your area you could get into without having to recruit competition just to make your business successfull.

What are the key factors needed to be succesfull in Network Marketing apart from great sales skills such as being able to sell chocolate to umpa lumpas (Igloo's to eskimos is a bit old hat) do you also need to be able to convince people success is easy if you get others to join under you. Is it now more important to be able to talk a good scheme rather than actually sell anything.

Many MLM's use this positive mental attitude approach-if you think your going to be successfull you will be, but I'm sure it takes a lot more effort than that.

I've seen Billion/Trillion dollar networking industry mentioned- is this really the case or just for those at the top of the Pyramid, Sorry I mean MLM Commision Structure (Dont mention Pyramid I think its taboo in MLM cirlces).