I have a friend who just started selling a product called MonaVie. I've researched it on the internet and it sounds like a pyramid scam to me. Does anyone here have any experience with it and if so can you give me the pluses and minuses?
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Originally posted by Jitter Free
I have a friend who just started selling a product called MonaVie. I've researched it on the internet and it sounds like a pyramid scam to me. Does anyone here have any experience with it and if so can you give me the pluses and minuses?
My husband and I drink it every day. It's not a pyramid -- a pyramid has no product -- it is multi-level marketing. Totally legal. It's not a scam.
I've been a distributor for over a year but I'm only in it for the product. I have an auto-immune connective tissue disease and honestly it has changed my life.
If you don't care about the product, you probably wouldn't make a lot of money. I could probably do well in it since I have a pretty powerful testimony and am passionate about the health benefits, but I don't have time for all the home tastings, meetings and rallys.
A recent newsweek article said this:
"...most of the million-strong sales team is really just drinking the juice, according to MonaVie's 2007 income disclosure statement, a federally required printout of their distributor earnings. More than 90 percent were considered "wholesale customers," whose earnings are mostly discounts on sales to themselves. Fewer than 1 percent qualified for commissions and of those, only 10 percent made more than $100 a week."
Liquid Life has the same **** and it is made here in Tulsa.
Thank you. Here is a link to the Newsweek article. I didn't realize it was that recent- August 2, 2008. Very timely. I found the financial disclosre section very interesting not to mention the apparent issues between MonaVie's founder and the FDA at the founders previous company. http://www.newsweek.com/id/150499.
I also found the following blog interesting as well. http://www.purplehorror.com/. Eventhough it is called the purple horror, it is a blog and seems to be represented by believers and non-believers alike.
I feel sorry for all you healthy people who are going to die from nothing.
After hearing this is the founder's third "miracle" product and his last was ordered destroyed by the FDA I lost all confidence.
That an I wouldn't buy anything from an MLM.
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Originally posted by sgrizzle
After hearing this is the founder's third "miracle" product and his last was ordered destroyed by the FDA I lost all confidence.
That an I wouldn't buy anything from an MLM.
I'll remember that next time you call and say: "Conan, old buddy, wanna get together for lunch and talk about a business opportunity I got for you?"
From reading some of the blog comments, I'm curious how good a mixer Monavie is. [:P]
MonaVodka?
>>I feel sorry for all you healthy people who are going to die from nothing.
Good health just means you are dying at a slower rate than other people......
Actually good health means you will likely live longer, keep kicking up a storm right up till near the end, then just drop. Its the unhealthy that liiiinger a long, slow and agonizing end. Course, I for one refuse to buy into the prevailing "dying" thing. I think its time that fad has run its course and I refuse to join in. [8D]
I joined...achieved some rank(star 500)..but really it only benefits those at the top. it IS a pyramid..but not a scheme..this is classified as a MLM - Think AVON..have a product and don't get compensated on JUST recruiting people...BUT at the meetings they have around Tulsa they do say...to make the money you really need to sign people up and ALSO sell product...if you don't you don't move up ..and don't earn money..
NOW saying that I DO DRINK the juice..I think its great..it has a GREAT taste(unlike other juices mentioned here)....I give it to my family because its the one thing that everyone likes and if I can get my kids to DRINK 10 servings of fruits a day...i am going to do it...I priced out getting each of these items and juicing them myself daily and it ran well over 100.00 a bottle..(oz - serving)...so I think its a great product I just can't get into MLM as much as some people....there are a few families in the top tiers of this business in Tulsa...they tout making 50-70k PER WEEK...and I believe they are doing it...but anyone who thinks they will EVER come close to that are sadly mistaken...
Yeah, Z...those people making 50-70k/week are the ones who are rich people signing up their rich friends. That's my impression anyway.
zstyles, a pyramid does not involve tangible goods. It's strictly a cash-only con game. One person puts in money (or not), recruits two more-they put in money, they each recruit a couple more who put in money, and after three or four levels of that, the originator cashes out, then someone else moves up, they cash out. So long as fresh donors to the program keep coming in, it works. Eventually it falls apart and people get hosed. That's why they are illegal.
One popular pyramid scheme in the late 1980's was called "the airplane". New recruits were the passengers, you worked your way up the "plane" till you become the "captain" then you parachuted out with $800 or so off your initial $50 investment (I didn't take time to work out the actual numbers, just giving you an idea how it worked). People would meet between two and three times a week and show up with new recruits.
I have a very outgoing friend who sold MonaVie. She still drinks the stuff but she only lasted selling it for about six months. She said it was a lot harder than the company made it out to be, that the commission structure is screwy and that the Tulsa market is way over saturated. She told me that while she did make money she spent more money trying to sell it(and buying it for herself) than she brought in.
Your JUST now being hit up for MonaVie? WOW! Where have you been?
Good product. Too $$$ though.
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Originally posted by Bat Bat
I have a very outgoing friend who sold MonaVie. She still drinks the stuff but she only lasted selling it for about six months. She said it was a lot harder than the company made it out to be, that the commission structure is screwy and that the Tulsa market is way over saturated. She told me that while she did make money she spent more money trying to sell it(and buying it for herself) than she brought in.
That is about the time span of most sellers 3-6 months..it is hard to sell unless you have a REALLY close and good upline......drink it..or get with somone and buy in BULK it brings the price down quite a bit..I have gotten to the point I crave my shot everyday :) I am sure we could have conversations about this all day...but my opinion is unless you know 100 people who trust you without asking and will buy into it..don't get into it..its a hard sell and not for those that really are not "drinking the koolaid"
My take on MLM's is that the parent company can justify a higher wholesale cost than they could selling to Walgreens and they have virtually no marketing expense, since it's all done on what I call a hand-to-hand basis.
What better recomendation for a product than the word of a satisfied friend, relative, or co-worker? That's far more effective than store displays, electronic, or print media.
Tropical Plant Database: Acai (//%22http://www.rain-tree.com/acai.htm%22) (basis of MonaVie)
"Much of the new acai fruit demand has resulted from several new product launches in the U.S. It seems the U.S. is in an "acai craze" today as a result of a some high dollar marketing programs touting it as the new, mysterious, power fruit of the Amazon... along with a host of health benefits - from weight loss, to increased energy and lower cholesterol. This type of marketing strategy isn't new however. It is a direct result of other "exotic" fruit products like noni and mangosteen netting billions in U.S. sales through network marketing companies and direct retail sales playing on the exotic flair of some common tropical fruit but that isn't well known in the U.S. Since noni's profitable appearance in the U.S. market several years ago, many enterprising companies have been searching for the next and newest (highly profitable) noni-replacement from an "exotic" tropical fruit.
"Ironically, Brazil's 'poor man's juice' seems to have temporarily filled the bill as the new high-dollar 'rich man's' health drink in the U.S. Brazilian heads are shaking at this recent American acai craze (as well as the high prices!) but they are certainly trying to increase production of acai fruit so they can capitalize off it as well. Various acai products are now widely available (and heavily marketed) in the U.S. natural products market - from liquid fruit drinks and freeze-dried or powdered juice extracts in capsules and tablets, to ingredients in natural energy bars and snacks. As with any product with a high-dollar marketing campaign behind it promising all the usual 'lose weight, stay young, prevent disease and have more energy' impulse desires of most Americans... consumers still need to question the claims, do their own research, and try to choose a product with a money-back guarantee in the likely event that the product doesn't live up to it's far-reaching claims.
"Acai is an interesting fruit and highly popular as a low-cost beverage where it grows, but it has never been marketed or sold in Brazil or in the Amazon for any health benefits whatsoever. (And remember, in one Amazon city alone, over 400,000 pounds of acai fruit is sold daily!) It makes one wonder... could an enterprising American launch an 'exotic' cranberry juice drink to Amazonians who'd never heard of or seen a cranberry and get them to pay $40 a quart for it? Who knows... at least cranberries have some medicinal uses for urinary tract health!"