Pro and Cons of Network Marketing

Yes, 10 years ago I left the corporate world and wanted to become become a millionaire by 35.
I was already using some products by NuSin and jumped into working at it full time. The promise was not a QUICK rich plan, but years of hard and consistent work.

Amway, Herbalife, NuSkin, FreeLife, Young Living, etc (the list is long)... Yes, some have great products, but they also come with great prices.

Let me explain why!

MLM makes us believe that direct marketing is the cheapest way to get a product to the consumer.

That is TRUE. Only: in most MLM there are 6 to 10 levels of distributors who each need to earn a commission and make money to buy their own overpriced generic products.

This is also TRUE: Ex. : Shiseido sells a cream for 100$. 70$ is used for advertisement and marketing and to pay the pretty faces you see in Vogue. 20$ goes to the company for revenue and less than 10$ goes to R&D and the actual raw material cost. What do you buy: an expensive, poor quality cream.

Also TRUE: MLM company XWZ, sells their cream for 100$. Pays 70% of it to their multi level distributors (marketing cost) and can still afford with 30$ to invest in good ingredients. What do you buy: an expensive, good quality cream.

NOW: mind you: this is only for products with a high M&A cost, NOT for generic products and household products or consumer products with a low M&A. ESPECIALLY now that many of these products can be purchased directly over the net.

Most MLM pay out anything between 40-75% of their sales price to the level of distributors involved.

Here is some satire on MLM companies: Have a look at these

There is a certain power in network marketing, sharing with family friends, colleagues...do we not want the best for our beloved ones? Of course it is!

I yet to have to encounter a great MLM Company that has great, competitive products with a tech edge, good compensation plan and long term future, making a change in peoples lives.

See the next funny commercial of how a father talks to his young boy about "important things" in life ... I hope he does not end up with a new car and a teenage pregnancy at the same time!!

“Fruits, Lies and Videotapes”

I have gathered from YouTube some infomercials on the wolfberry products, mostly drinks, either pure or mixed with other powerful anti oxidant fruits.

What a lot of fruit juice manufacturers fail to say is how much ORAC ( Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity ) contents is in the bottle!

Moreover, many of these juices are reconstituted, meaning they are made from concentrates. NOT from fresh raw or cold pressed juice. Yes, they usually do not contain preservatives, but why would it? … it is hardly a fresh natural product!

USDA research has shown that processing (such as evaporation to concentrate) significantly reduces the ORAC.
So, I am not calling it “Lies” but at least some form of deception, whereby manufacturers take claims of fresh produce and then attribute it to their processed products.

One example is this of “Del Monte”
Even though the USDA claims that “prunes” have the highest ORAC score of fruits ( 5700 TE ) per 100 grams, Del Monte fails to state that their premium prune juice has same or at least a fraction of that ORAC level.
On the same label, it is said “water extract from prunes” meaning it is not pure pressed juice!!! Consumers are made to think that drinking their product is the same as eating fresh prunes.

I have written many of these companies, including Del Monte, to explain this or at least mention on their packaging the factual ORAC level of the finished product, not referrals to their fresh produce. I have yet to receive any formal reply of any of them, including some “Fruit Juice Manufacturers Associations” in the USA.

In case they do, I will post their replies.

This is what Brunswick Labs, an independent testing facility on ORAC levels, state on their own web site: "The fact that a commercial product contains one of these plant products does not necessarily mean that the ORAC value of the product will be the same as the plant product in its' pure form. "

So, please sit back, relax and let the info overwhelm you. It is very hype and American. The Big Dream! You may need a broadband for quick streaming…and eat some fresh fruit or vegetables if you can!

The Greek philosopher Hippocrates said : "Let food by your medicin" but this is what God says in the Bible in Ezekiel : "The fruit of the trees be for food and their leaves for medicin".

It is amazing to see how MLM companies can turn these fruits into juiced products and sell for more than 50USD per bottle! One needs to be shrewd to see if all their claims are valid or not..

(REMARK: I do NOT endorse any of the products or companies shown)