We’ve had Christmas music playing at the house for weeks now. We all have our favorites – and for young children, a standard favorite is “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer”.

While listening to this song this year, something occurred to us that Grandma can actually help Direct Sales goo-roo’s.

Here’s what we mean:

Grandma can help as a litmus test to figure out if a product or marketing plan is any good.

How?

Well, if you listen to certain goo-roos out there, they can lead you to believe that the best way to generate income is by slapping any product you can think of together and then “throwing” it out to the masses. Without any regard if the product is any good or if the average “Grandma” can use it or even afford it!

We’re no goo-roo, but there’s a better way.

Now, we’re not saying that there aren’t good companies or products out there. (There are literary hundreds of great companies to choose from.)

But it’s also good to use the “grandma test”:

If the product you’re selling or pitching isn’t good enough where you’d want your own grandma (assuming she had the problem your product solves) to have it, then it’s not good enough to sell or promote to the public, either.

Think about it – it’ll keep you out of a lot of trouble! This simple test can serve you very well for making happy customers…and, in many cases, BEFORE you even get involved with Company A or Company B.

So how does MyShoppingGenie stack up to the “Grandma Test”?

Not only can Grandma afford it – it’s free after all – the application can save Grandma Hundreds of dollars a month on things she’s going to purchase anyway. (Especially if she’s one of those hip Grandma’s who loves surfing the Internet!) What Grandma do you know who isn’t interested in stretching every dollar they have?

It’s a far better alternative than some of these autoships we’ve seen where it’s gonna cost Grandma an arm and a leg each month for some miracle pill or juice that might help her live longer – but ruin her finances in the process. Instead – we give Grandma a free product that saves her money on things she’s going to buy anyway.

So think about it the next time you’re looking at a product or a company.

Do you really want to run over your own Grandma? Sure it’s a funny song – but it’s not something you’d want to do in real life.

If it’s good enough for Grandma – it’s good enough for everyone else too!

A few months ago MyNet Universe expanded into Ireland and the United Kingdom. The vast majority of the showcase was well received by Distributors who were charged with giving away free Genies and ultimately end users who installed the free MyShoppingGenie application – saving them both time and money.

As with any business or opportunity, there will be doubters. Even worse, there will be those who simply fall for age old myths and perceptions without doing their due diligence. I’ve yet to figure out what it is about the Direct Sales Industry that produces such fear – every business “recruits” and “promotes”. (A business after all can only remain in business if somebody actually knows about it.) Regardless of the necessity to promote, there will be those who opt for the hype surrounding Direct Sales. The most common being – somehow – somebody at the bottom is going to lose out. There are those who are convinced that Direct Sales is an unsustainable model.

We touched on this back in October, sighting The California Perfume Company who recruited their first Sales Representative in 1889 – more than 120 years ago. If you don’t recognize the name – they changed the name in 1939 to Avon. Today, Avon leads all Direct Sales companies in revenue with $10.7 billion in product sales for 2009.

In 120 years, Avon still hasn’t found that last elusive person that’s left at the bottom. Yet, there are those who simply won’t take the time to study the Direct Sales Industry in this way. Opting instead on a phobia that everyone finds two, who find four – who then find sixteen. Before you know it – you’ve exceeded the world’s population. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about – the SEC (and yes, that’s the Securities and Exchange Commission) has a diagram on their website that actually shows this mathematical theory. (And who’s going to argue with the SEC – right?)

Yes, it looks logical – and mathematically it works quite nicely. Theories however are just that when you can’t document a single case of any company (or the entire Industry at large for that matter) ever exhausting the world’s population. With thousands of Direct Sales companies recruiting over the years – the theory still can’t be attained.

The reality of the industry doesn’t actually work the way it’s been promoted – nor does any team actually look like the pyramid that many point out. When you have a 120 year old company, and multiple others who are more than 50 years old still recruiting without hitting bottom, you begin to look at anyone who promotes these theory’s and fears as ignorant or simply uneducated about the Industry.

Rory Egan appears to be intelligent enough – a famed (and successful) journalist in Ireland for the Sunday Independent. Unfortunately, Rory buys into the “unsustainable model” theory. He not only wrote about it, but produced a news piece aired on RTE One which laid claim that MyNet Universe’s focus was recruiting. (Both The Sunday Independent and RTE One from what I hear are Ireland’s equivalent to The New York Times and 60 Minutes here in the States.)

To put things into the proper perspective – Mr. Egan’s focus is recruiting – not necessarily MyNet Universe Distributors who sell the MyShoppingGenie License or give away free Genie Applications. Documentation provided by MyNet Universe shows 40,000 “Distributors” had given away 1.6 million “applications” – a 40-1 ratio in favor of application end users over recruiters. Unfortunately, fear has a way overpowering facts. Both the written word and video that Rory produced gave a deplorable perspective of the company and the industry at large which focused on recruiting.

Although we’ve not attained the success Mr. Egan has as a journalist or reporter – we do have a firm grasp on how both words and video can be composed to forge views or perspective. To illustrate how easy this is to do, we found the following video that was not only re-edited, but completely turns Rory’s entire story around.

We have no idea who did it – or where it came from – but we do agree that this is a far more accurate representation of MyNet Universe and the industry at large. In other words, produced by someone who knows and understands the industry. As a journalist, anyone can write about a subject – but I wouldn’t want a journalist doing my plumbing or electrical work simply because they can write. That’s not due diligence – it’s more like irresponsible.

We enjoyed how this was edited – and it illustrates perfectly how words and footage can be pieced together to promote either side of the story.

It simply depends who’s doing the editing. ;-P

‘Tis the season to shop!

Black Friday – Cyber Monday – and now “Green Monday”?

Yep – Green Monday. It’s yet another retail term coined by e-Bay several years ago that’s grown in popularity with the advent of Internet shopping.

Traditionally, the second Monday of December has been the best shopping day of season for the online retailer. comScore defines Green Monday as the Monday with at least 10 days prior to Christmas – and retailers are only too happy to take advantage of another shopping frenzy.

No doubt, online retailers have been thrilled with sales thus far. Cyber Monday this year surpassed the $1 billion mark for the first time – making November 29th the biggest online shopping day in history. By December 1st, over $13 billion has been spent online for the current shopping season.

A growing percentage of Internet deals found this season have been uncovered with a free application called MyShoppingGenie. With a quick install, MyShoppingGenie is ease to use (you can “search” right?) which collects real time information from over 200,000 stores, liquidators and product manufacturers, including over 1,000,000 coupons and special offers. (Meaning: If there’s a special to be had – The Genie will find it 24/7/365.)

Shoppers want to save not only money, but time. While the Internet does both, those that have installed the MyShoppingGenie application find shopping even faster, with the added ability of side by side comparisons from retailers to achieve the best price for their ideal gift. The Genie application runs in the background and only appears when it’s needed most – during a search.

Gone are the days of typing in site after site, or first finding coupon codes and then jumping over to the retailer to redeem savings. MyShoppingGenie’s compare button displays hundreds of retailers who carry and sell each item – while MyShoppingGenie’s new Deals Page lists items according to “Deal”, “Deal Type” (either Sale or Coupon Code) and the retailer offering the deal, with direct links to the site offering the item.

“Saving the Green” has never been easier with MyShoppingGenie this Holiday Season. It’s fast – it’s easy – and best of all – it’s free!

The numbers are in from the first of the week regarding Holiday Shopping – Black Friday to Cyber Monday.

To say the least – they’re staggering. According to an IBM Press Release, and data from Coremetrics, online sales in the United States were up 19.4% from 2009 last Monday. Web sales were also estimated to be 31.1% higher than on Black Friday, three days earlier – making Cyber Monday the biggest shopping day of the year thus far.

John Squire, of Coremetrics stated that Internet shopping on Monday was highlighted by major retailers offering free shipping and other aggressive discounts to lure consumers.

“Consumers this year appear much more willing to open their wallets and are turning to online stores for the convenience of shopping wherever and whenever they like,” he said. “Retailers have done an exceptional job across the board of appealing to consumers with highly personalized promotions and a slew of free shipping promotions”.

The average order value (AOV) online was also up from $180.03 to $194.89 for an increase of 8.3 percent. (The largest jump by the way was last year, 2009  – with the average order jumping from $130 in 2008 to $180 in 2009.) Consumers flocked online last Monday, with shopping momentum not only being maintained but with a stronger momentum throughout the entire day compared to Cyber Monday just one year earlier.

During the Holiday’s in 2009, online spending jumped from just 6% to 12% and did not decrease afterward. If this trend continues into 2011 like it did in 2010, look for online sales to maintain between 15% and 20% maintaining until next years Holiday Season.

As MyShoppingGenie leads the way by assisting consumers in finding the best bargains online with their free application, and an overall increase in online sales, the future looks very bright for MyNet Universe and MyShoppingGenie Distributors.

If you’re not in the game at this point, it’s time to make your move.

During the MyNet Universe Economic Empowerment Summit held in early November in St. Louis, the company announced several new initiatives to be launched. This new Marketplace is designed to help consumers save money, while at the same time providing additional income for Distributors who hand out free Genie applications.

The first initiative launched by MyShoppingGenie is their Deals Button found on the Genie 4.0 application. The Deals page has gone under a renovation the last few weeks and had a target launch date of December 1, 2010 and has been released just in time for Christmas.

This new button allows customers who’ve installed the Genie application to search for any type of product they need and returns REAL TIME Deals with special offers both locally and online with items they desire. The page lists items according to “Deal”, the “Deal Type” (either Sale or Coupon Code) and the vendor who is offering the deal, along with an opportunity to view all deals from the merchant.

The page is powered by PaylessSeach.com and provides third party prices, products, services and merchants in a single location for a quick and easy find, allowing consumers to search for products they want across several stores at the same time.

Distributors are paid off each offer redeemed via a license agreement attached to the Genie and each purchase made by the customers using their Genie and Deals button found on the Genie application.

Other new initiatives to be launched by MyNet Universe are a new Genie Marketplace and Shopping Button that will offer even more savings for consumers. Both products should be release by January, 2011.

While talking around the Thanksgiving dinner table this past weekend, the question came up “Where in the world did Cyber Monday come from?”

To answer that question, we looked to the one source we always go to in instances like this – the Internet.

According to the Shop.org/BizRate Research 2005 eHoliday Mood Study, 77 percent of online retailers said that their sales increased substantially on the Monday after Thanksgiving in 2004. That trend has driven some serious online promotions and discounts from retailers in years since.

The term “Cyber Monday” debut on November 21, 2005 in a Shop.org press release entitled “‘Cyber Monday’ Quickly Becoming One of the Biggest Online Shopping Days of the Year“. Last year, “Cyber Monday” was second largest online spending day of the entire year with $887 million spent online on a single day. (The biggest shopping day in 2009 occurred two weeks later, on December 15th.)

While it took some time for everyone to agree that Cyber Monday was a bona fide phenomenon, it’s clear over the last few years that Cyber Monday is an event all its own. According to the National Retail Federation, nearly nine in ten (88.2%) retailers will have a special promotion for Cyber Monday this year.

With so many retailers in on the action this year, finding the absolute best price can be a daunting task. But just how are you going to navigate the massive assortment of deals found on an animal like the World Wide Web?

Millions of shoppers now use MyShoppingGenie as their survival guide during the year, and the free MyShoppingGenie app can come in mighty handy with a day flooded with deals and specials. The MyShoppingGenie application is not only ease to use (you can “search” right?) but collects real time information from over 200,000 stores, liquidators and product manufacturers, including over 1,000,000 coupons and special offers. (Meaning: If there’s a special to be had – The Genie will find it 24/7/365.)

Looking for that coveted gift item? All you have to do is “search” any major search engine and up pops the MyShoppingGenie which pulls all the information and pricing for you – as opposed to surfing from site to site. (You can watch how it works on the company’s website.) The MyShoppingGenie free application enables shopper to compare retailers side by side with real time gathering of prices and specials – making gift finding a cinch. Save yourself some time and more importantly money – not just Cyber Monday – but all year long with this amazingly simple, yet powerful application.

As a result, Cyber Monday becomes a cinch with MyShoppingGenie as your guide this year. It’s easy to install – easy to use – and best of all – it’s your best deal of the Holiday Season. (It’s free!)

By far, the most popular articles in the early life of this site are focused on Direct Sales Alexa rankings. We stumbled upon the topic back in September when MyShoppingGenie came out of nowhere climbing to number four on Alexa. A month later, the Genie was right behind two of the biggest names in the industry, Avon and Amway.

Last month, MyShoppingGenie was only five hundred points away from jumping over Amway at the number two spot. It didn’t long with the rapid pace MyShoppingGenie has been climbing the rankings. A month later, MyShoppingGenie has set itself firmly in second place with only one company ahead of them – the industries oldest Direct Sales Company around – Avon.

Not much has changed since last month’s rankings with a couple companies changing positions in the rankings. MyShoppingGenie moves from number three to number two. Isagenix also moves up one spot, breaking into the top ten for the first time and dropping Mary Kay to number eleven. While all company numbers change on a daily basis, Monavie was the only company that lost ground during the month dropping one spot to number fourteen.

MyShoppingGenie has had a meteoric rise up the rankings since April and has climbed over top names in the industry over the last few months. Don’t be looking for the number one spot next month however. Avon has a firm hold at number one with a five thousand point lead over MyShoppingGenie, a much larger jump from the five hundred it took to jump over Amway last month.

So here they are:

November’s list of the Top 25 Direct Sales Companies based on Alexa worldwide rankings:

1. Avon – 3,555
2. MyShoppingGenie – 8,622
3. Amway – 9,363
4. Melaleuca – 11,862
5. Pre-Paid Legal Services – 13,530
6. USANA – 13,555
7. Market America – 16,101
8. Send Out Cards – 17,306
9. NuSkin – 17,489
10. Isagenix – 19,237
11. Mary Kay – 20,096
12. ACN – 25,822
13. Forever Living – 35,061
14. Monavie – 39,135
15. Tupperware – 42,443
16. Pampered Chief – 43,196
17. Ambit Energy – 45,687
18. TriVita – 45,931
19. Agel – 46,141
20. 5Linx – 49,101
21. YTB Travel – 51,450
22. Arbonne – 53,471
23. Tahitian Noni – 59,069
24. Stampin Up – 62,539
25. AmeriPlan USA – 74,001

The Genie Economic Empowerment Summit on November 12^th and 13^th at the St Charles Convention Center is just around the corner and you don’t want to need to ask someone else what it was like because you missed it.

You want to be there Friday from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM for the breakout sessions that will deal with subjects you are interested in knowing. The company, who is always responsive has reviewed and taken into account the calls and emails they’ve have received, and realize these are subjects of importance and you, the field, need to know more about them. MyShoppingGenie wants to build your confidence, so that when other enquiring minds want to know, you too will be able to answer.

The breakouts will be taught by Distributors and our Corporate Team members. These sessions will be taught from experience, not theory. (There IS a difference!) This ensures you will receive knowledge you can actually put into action and get the results you aim for!

Sessions will run for 1hr and 15 minutes, with a 15 minute break and then the next breakout session will begin. The same classes will be taught several times throughout the day so you will be able to take advantage of all the topics and won’t have to miss anything. These sessions will give you keys you can use to take your business to the next level.

Saturday from 9:00 AM until 4:00 PM will be a day of learning as well, but will also have a great deal of recognition and awards for a job well done by many Distributors. It will be good to hear from some of the top Distributors and find out how they achieved their success. Saturday will also unveil some new systems that will be the talk of MyNet Universe and… the world. This will help you build a team and increase your sales – making results appear faster and easier.

But the best reason to be a part of the Genie Economic Empowerment Summit is for the simple fact that the MyNet Universe Distributors who have built the largest businesses are always at the major company events. Have you ever wondered why they would take time and money to come to an event when they are already being paid more than the average Distributor? It’s because they’re above average and want to stay that way.

Just plug into the company events and gain the same knowledge these Distributors are using to succeed. Great ideas are usually “caught” not just taught, but you have to be there to “catch” them.  Success is not a spectator sport, it involves contact.  You’ll want you to be a part of this great event on November 12^th and 13^th and help set up your 2011 business year for great success!

Login to your back office and order your tickets today!

We have to admit – when first introduced to MyShoppingGenie, one of the first things that crossed our minds was “Is this one of “those” toolbars?” If you don’t know what we’re talking about – be thankful. You’ve never had to deal with the potential risks associated with these types of products. Sure, they look cool and do hold some advantage to the end user – for a price.

If you still don’t know what we’re talking about – MyShoppingGenie addresses the issue directly on the company website which states:

“The MyShoppingGenie shopping and search App does not collect, save or transmit any information about you, your computer, your search habits, your email address, your Internet connection or anything else.

We also certify that the MyShoppingGenie App contains no adware, spyware, malware or anything else that interferes with the operation of your computer or your privacy. The Genie App only appears on your computer screen when you open and use a major search engine.”

User privacy has become a huge issue for those who want to protect it. There have been rumblings in recent years aimed at Google over findings that every single search term ever queried and user click on the search engine can be traced back to a particular IP address and computer. (Over 10 years of data!) A company like Google however, would never actually sell that information to anyone and betray the trust of over 75% of computer users who make Google their preferred search engine. (Therefore, cutting their own throat.)

Smaller companies however who are trying to get a leg up can and do take advantage of this situation making adware, spyware and malware a huge problem for end users who don’t want to be bombarded with ads, or want others tracking what they’re doing on their computer. Malware, which is short of “malicious software” can be a huge pain to get rid of, and often wipes out entire systems before it’s finally disposed of.

During the installation of the free MyShoppingGenie application, it’s simple enough to see and agree MyShoppingGenie doesn’t even ask for user information. There’s no registration required, or any questions concerning name, address, or e-mail.

While MyShoppingGenie states it does not pass on or track user information – honestly, we just took them for their word having no reason to doubt it was true until last week.

In a stroke of luck or what could be considered irony – verification that the application doesn’t need user information came from none other than critics themselves who have been frantically attempting to discredit the company because of fears and phobias surrounding the company’s distribution model – not necessarily the product.

Here’s what they’ve found:

“Anyone can check this out for themselves if they have the technical know-how. Install the MSG application, and have a network traffic sniffer running. Do a search and then click on an MSG result. When you go through the network traffic logs collected by your sniffer you will note that the MSG application DOES NOT track any user clicks and DOES NOT send that information to any MSG related domain.”

If the MyShoppingGenie application did track user clicks on various domains and servers sending it back to MyShoppingGenie it would be considered “spyware”.

All that trouble with some “traffic sniffer”-  and all they had to do was read the company statement above. (But we do appreciate the verification.)

Frankly, you don’t actually need a fancy “traffic sniffer” to verify that a search engine query (the search term) IS passed to Payless Search, Shopping.com, BizRate, PriceGrabber, DealTime, and Google Products. If the search query matches, how could there be no communication? A search term, along with a packet of information telling the related shopping site the “hit” or “traffic” was sent from a MyShoppingGenie application is where the communication ends however.

In regards to pay-per-click (PPC) as a License Holder, our trust lies within each of the corresponding shopping sites that MyShoppingGenie links to for tracking to credit clicks and commissions – not MyShoppingGenie itself. Connecting to, and supplying offers from all these brand name stores and sites is a key reason why we’ve categorized MyShoppingGenie as a true “Direct Sales” model and company – rather than an MLM or Network Marketing Company.

In closing, a special note for License Holders to verify how this works. If you’ve submitted your Amazon.com user account into the MyShoppingGenie back office, do a search on any computer you know your application is installed. (You’re moms, your neighbors, or a co-worker.) Then go to Amazon.com through MyShoppingGenie. You’ll find the matching search term with your unique identifier you’ve submitted (account number) in that URL.

After landing on Amazon.com, no other communication, special “traffic sniffer”, or technical know-how required.

We certainly trust a company like Amazon.com from that point on, wouldn’t you?

When our Direct Sales report on Alexa was published in September – past experience had shown this might be a hot topic. We can verify, rankings are still a key point of interest around the industry. Search terms and traffic came in from every single company on last month’s list. What’s even more interesting from the data we collected is just where this traffic was coming from – All over the world.

Direct Sales appeals to everyone who’s looking for and open to opportunity. The industry does not discriminate by sex, race, or religion. All that’s required is a desire to better your standard of living and a willingness to work. The advantages of the industry are many and include hundreds of products and services that can capture one’s imagination and passion. Direct Sales companies also offer products, systems and tools built and designed for the average person at a very nominal cost. In addition there’s a huge advantage for everyone who can get into a business for themselves – but not by themselves. The best of both worlds.

To demonstrate the world wide appeal, Alexa also offers rankings based on country. It’s interesting to note based on this graphic displayed here, MyShoppingGenie actually ranks higher in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand than it does in the United States.

Nor is it surprising that Ireland leads the list of countries pulling up and researching MyShoppingGenie.com. As reported late last week a news organization in Ireland did a story on the company. While the story was designed to discredit the company, it’s apparent from these statistics that people are actually checking out the site for themselves to see what all the fuss is all about.

It’s undetermined if the high rankings in Ireland are due to the distrust over media sources like it is in the United States, or if news of a free shopping app caught everyone’s attention. Regardless of the reason, Ireland is checking things out for themselves and we appreciate the free plug and advertising from the media.

On to this month’s rankings MyShoppingGenie firmly plants itself one spot higher this month to the number 3 position for October. Like last month, the rankings also provide a graphic of the top 5 companies to show how these rankings can and do fluctuate on a daily basis.

This month’s listing also provides some new names and companies that were not listed last month. Not necessarily because they moved up in the rankings – but were not researched for our list in September. Some were found, while we were kindly made aware of others. (And we thank those who were kind enough to help us out in that regard.)

As a result of new companies showing up, all companies listed from 20-25 have fallen off this month’s list with the exception of YTB Travel, which made the biggest jump on the list over the last month from 72,700 to 51,851. (Ranking at number 20 for October, up from 23)

Companies who were bumped off the Top 25 list include Tastefully Simple, Trump Network, Xango, and Amsoil. (All still well under the 100K ranking.) New companies not listed in September include Agel, 5Linx, Ambit Energy, and AmeriPlan USA.

All Top 10 companies remain in the Top 10 with minimal shuffling up or down this month’s rankings. MyShoppingGenie moves up from number 4 to number 3 on the list and is merely 500 points away from capturing the number 2 position outright.

Amazing what a free shopping app can do – huh?

October’s list of the Top 25 Direct Sales Companies based on Alexa worldwide rankings:

1. Avon – 3,626
2. Amway – 9,445
3. MyShoppingGenie – 9,951
4. Melaleuca – 12,449
5. Pre-Paid Legal Services – 13,919
6. USANA – 14,553
7. Market America – 16,196
8. Send Out Cards – 16,820
9. NuSkin – 19,415
10. Mary Kay – 20,017
11. Isagenix – 20,248
12. ACN – 28,532
13. Monavie – 36,850
14. Forever Living – 40,065
15. Tupperware – 41,631
16. Pampered Chief – 43,508
17. Agel – 49,412
18. TriVita – 51,185
19. 5Linx – 51,476
20. YTB Travel – 51,851
21. Ambit Energy – 54,933
22. Arbonne – 52,956
23. Tahitian Noni – 56,595
24. Stampin Up – 59,796
25. AmeriPlan USA – 66,168