In honor of Mother’s Day, I made a special one-time offer to the Moms that read my Success Newsletter (sign up for free and get and I will give you a free copy of Think and Grow Rich). I limited the special to three Moms, but a fourth Mom sneaked in at this last minute and I decided to honor her with the special as well.

So here is what we are doing…

First, I sent them all a care package that included the “It’s Called Success” program and Mike Dillard’s Building On A Budget. That alone is over $350 worth of incredible content related to building a profitable Network Marketing business on and off the Internet.

Next, I am giving each Mom 5 hours of personal coaching ($1,000 worth) to help them set up a template for success on the Internet.  We are actually going to build a lead capture page and set up a Google Adwords campaign to drive traffic and begin to create her own laser targeted leads.

Lastly as another bonus I haven’t even told them about yet, I am going to set them up with a blog, host it and and optimize it. (another $250 value).

I have asked the Moms to allow me to document some of the results we get so stay tuned.

I will never offer the special Mom price ever again, but I might consider another special offer once I wrap up with the Moms.

If this is true, then the question really becomes:

Sloppy Management or Questionable Ethics?

Are we really to believe that Dallin Larsen either...

A. Didn't realize that MonaVie no longer contained Celadrin?

B. Didn't realize that over 16,000 entries about MonaVie/Celadrin can be found on Google?

Dear Diamonds and Above,

A few days ago in San Diego, California, a company by the name of Imagenetix filed a lawsuit against MonaVie and named many of our top distributors in the suit.  This was in breach of an agreement we had reached with Imagenetix earlier in the week.  We expect this issue to go away over the next few days.

To give you some perspective and to calm any concerns you may have, when MonaVie first launched in 2005, we included in our product a trademark ingredient called Celadrin®.  Because we weren’t able to reach terms of use back in 2005, we stopped using this ingredient.  However, Imagenetix has claimed that some of our distributors continued to refer to Celadrin® as an ingredient found in MonaVie Active and as such, Imagenetix believes that MonaVie has violated their intellectual property rights in the ridiculous amount of $2.5 billion!!!   

As a show of good faith, we’ve reached an agreement to once again include Celadrin® in MonaVie Active.  However, we are also very disappointed that Imagenetix chose to breach our agreement through the filing of their lawsuit.  We’ve obviously been in contact with them and their attorney called us as early as yesterday apologizing for the filing of the lawsuit, stating that he was uninformed that MonaVie and Imagenetix had already reached an agreement.  He was obviously embarrassed and we were less than amused.

Imagenetix has assured us that they will retract the filing and make a statement of such over the next few days and we fully expect them to keep their word.  If for whatever reason, they remain in breach of our agreement, rest assured that MonaVie is well prepared as always, to protect the interests of all our distributors.  Feel free to share this information with anyone in your respective groups who may have inquired as we’ve fielded approximately a dozen calls over the last few days at the company.  However, I would caution you not to overly concern anyone by spreading discussion on this topic, as again, we fully expect it to go away over the next few days.

I guess this means we’re no longer under the radar!  Keep up the good work!!!  And let this serve as a reminder, MonaVie DOES NOT contain Viagra!

Dallin

I first heard about MonaVie before it launched, over four years ago. Because I write about the Network Marketing industry for two media outlets in addition to this site, I try to keep up with what's happening in the industry.  I subscribe to hundreds of news feeds and follow companies as closely as possible.

MonaVie jumped back on my radar in 2006 when former Nascar driver Geoff Bodine claimed:

“It’s (Monavie) got rid of the majority of my arthritic pains,”

I wrote about it, but didn't really think about it much further until a MonaVie distributor posted another  comment on one of my blogs:

I'm looking for people who are suffering from asthma, high blood pressure, diabetes, Monavie drink, has the #1 anti-oxidant to help peaple who suffers from these diseases...

God bless her, she is simply trying to grow her business and she mentioned that her upline told her about blogs that could get her leads.

I began to see a pattern of behavior on behalf of MonaVie distributors.  About that time, I also got reports from people going to live MonaVie meetings where all kinds of crazy things were being said. "The lame can walk and the blind can see with MonaVie", wrote the reader. The reader was obviously joking, using an exaggeration about the lame and blind, but his point was that the meetings centered around miraculous claims.

Then a few months later, I was on YouTube and found dozens of MonaVie distributors talking about the product and diseases such as Lyme Disease and Arthritis. I wrote about and posted one of the videos on this blog. A day later, I found a comment on the YouTube video saying the following:

"who said there is no cure for Cancer Logon to the monavie,com and use ID # 580838 from the Enroll to get ur health better,Cancer no more"

At this point, it was obvious that the culture in MonaVie was to make claims. Culture does not travel up from the newest distributor. Culture filters down from the leadership.

Because most of the time these MonaVie claims were made face to face, the FTC and FDA can not come down on the company without a complete and costly investigation. However in the age of YouTube and Blogging, the evidence of these claims was overwhelming and it forced MonaVie to react.

Rather than reel in the leadership and educating the distributors, MonaVie reacted by banning web sites produced by anyone below the level of Black Diamond, a move that might prove devastating to the Black Diamonds and above since they are now being sued over the Celadrin claims.

When you build your business on a culture of questionable (or untrue) claims, it will eventually catch up with you.

Amway can stay in England.

A United Kingdom judge has dismissed government claims against Amway operations there, saying major reforms last year fixed company faults that favored selling training materials over products and misrepresented earnings.

The ruling clears Amway UK, a part of Ada-based Alticor Inc., of the threat of expulsion from one of Amway's oldest international markets.

In a letter to employees around the world, Alticor President Doug DeVos and Chairman Steve Van Andel said the ruling was not a "pop-the-champagne victory."

"This is a reminder that the marketplace and regulators hold us to the highest standards. We have an obligation to meet those standards - and we intend to do so," they wrote.

The company has more than 100 employees in the UK and 10,000 distributors.

The judge in the case expressed his belief Amway allowed "misrepresentations" of its business by independent sellers in years past and failed to act decisively against the misrepresentations.

The reformed Amway business model, he wrote, is "fully formulated, comprehensive, open and transparent and capable of effective and ongoing implementation without supervision."

Spokesman Rob Zeiger said the ruling was a "solid validation" of reforms implemented by the company in the United States and abroad.

Additional details have come in about the Imagenetix vs. MonaVie Multi-Billion Dollar lawsuit.

In my last post I wrote about a "culture of overlooking" and I am now more convinced that is true of the leadership behind MonaVie.  There is little question that MonaVie has (had?) some serious momentum.  The only question is how they got the momentum.  It appears at this point that much of the momentum was created with questionable claims about the MonaVie juice product.

I feel bad for the individuals within "The Team", apparently mislead about the leadership behind MonaVie.  They leave the lawsuits, chaos and turmoil of Quixtar to find themselves with a $2.75 Billion lawsuit hanging over their heads, (out of the frying pan and into the fire, so to speak).

OK, enough commentary and opinion, here is a great summary of what is known from IBOFightBack at Get The Facts - The Truth About Amway and Quixtar:

MonaVie apparently added small amounts of Celadrin to one of their products for a brief time in 2005, but never purchased further supplies of Celadrin, and never obtained the sub-licence to use the Celadrin trademark. Despite this, there exist over 10,000 webpages advertising MonaVie as containing Celadrin    and promoting Celadrin's health benefits - including recent sites by TEAM affiliated former Quixtar IBOs, the major MonaVie training company, Black Diamond University, and even a document still available on MonaVie's own corporate website. According to the Imagentix There also exists video footage from February this year (2008) of MonaVie's top distributor, Black Diamond Brig Hart, explicitly describing Celadrin as an ingredient in MonaVie Active and touting Celadrin's health benefits.

Remember what I said about a "culture of overlooking"?

Based on the number of questionable health claims that I found on YouTube and throughout the Internet, there was a culture of touting these claims within MonaVie.  This is much less of a problem when the touting is done face to face, but we don't (only) live face to face any longer.  We also live with technology.  MonaVie associates took their illegal claims enthusiasm for the product online and eventually ran into trouble when the claims were pointed out. 

Culture in Network Marketing does not happen from the bottom - up, it happens from the top - down.  In other words, low level associates did not all of a sudden get a bright idea to start talking about how MonaVie cures Lyme Disease. It was part of the culture.

Now we have this whole Celadrin issue.

There is clearly no Celadrin in MonaVie, yet everyone from the company to the top distributor (Brig Hart) is talking about the benefits of the Celadrin found in MonaVie.

Again, it's the culture.

If the leaders are saying:  "We'll look the other way and things will be OK as long as we are growing."

That is not true leadership and clearly that is not that way to operate a business that so many people rely on as their sole income.

"There is no moral precept that does not have something inconvenient about it."

- Denis Diderot

This story is just breaking...

MLM Company, MonaVie is being sued by Imagenetix Inc. for $2,750,000,000.00 (I believe that is $2.75 Billion!) in a trademark infringement lawsuit.  The scary part of this is the fact that not only is MonaVie being sued, but so are a number of top leaders, including...

Dallin Larsen, Henry Marsh, Randy Larsen, Amy Cowley, John Brigham Hart, Lita Hart, Steven Merritt, Gina Merritt, Corbin Roush, Holly Roush, Charles Kalb, Deborah Kalb, Ronald Prudhomme, Brenda Prudhomme, Edward Aristizabal, Shelly Aristizabal, Brian Cattano, Jill Cattano, Matthew Curtis, Kimberly Curtis, Tina Dupart, Todd Hartog, Angelique Hartog, Rodney Howard-Browne, Adonica Howard-Browne, Mickey Karshner, Victoria Karshner, Jason Lyons, Carrie Lyons, Angel Matos, Grayson Maule, Ken Porter, Robert Robinson, Linda Robinson, Devon Robinson, Todd Smith, Stephanie Smith, Frank Soucinek, Jr, Cynthia Soucinek, Brian Thayer, Jacqueline Thayer, Bo Vanpelt, Carrie Vanpelt, Black Diamond University Inc, Darrell Utterbach, Tracy Utterbach, Joseph Licciardi, Patrice Licciardi, Andre Walton, Penny Walton, James Bellacera, Denise Bellacera, Kelly Bangert, Jillian Bangert, Eric M Gutman, Rebekah Gutman and Does 1 - 10,000, inclusive

Apparently, MonaVie (and it's leaders) has been touting a trademarked ingredient called Celadrin without the permission of the trademark owner.

My opinion:

I have long thought that there was a "culture of overlooking" at MonaVie. The company first caught my attention because of it's associates illegal product claims like "curing cancer". So many of these crazy claims were taking place that it was obviously part of the culture within the company.

Culture and leadership are such a vital part of building a long term Network Marketing business and it appears as though MonaVie CEO, Dallin Larsen has sacrificed some of that for the sake of short term growth.

I will post more details as they roll in.

Now you have that chance with the new MLM Blog advertising...

This link explains everything: MLM Blog Advertising

You can do an "Advertorial" which is a blog post (like a press release) that will show up here at the MLM Blog and will also have a great chance of showing up at the two other blogs I write, MLM.Business-Opportunities.biz and MultiLeveler.

I have seen top ten Google results for a number of advertorials, this is an excellent way to expose your business.

The second option is a banner ad and then we are also offering a 125 x 125 button ad.

See all of the details: MLM Blog Advertising

This certainly goes contrary to all of the talk about the Acai Berry found in MonaVie.

They study was done at the Center for Human Nutrition which is part of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Here is a link.

Freep.com:

She's first lady of the 6,000-member Greater Grace Temple in northwest Detroit, and tools around town in her 2008 pink Cadillac Escalade.

Such is the enviable lifestyle of Crisette Ellis, 44, of Bloomfield Hills -- married 19 years to the church's Bishop Charles H. Ellis III and a leader in her own right with Mary Kay Inc. One of the Texas-based cosmetics organization's 500 national sales directors, she's achieved more than $1 million in career sales commissions.

QUESTION: Would you please tell us about your early years?

ANSWER: I'm a Detroiter who was in the first graduating class at Renaissance High School. My BS degree from Michigan State University is in public affairs management. I thought I would be Miss Corporate America.

Q: What attracted you to Mary Kay?

A: I took maternity leave in 1994 while I was a program control analyst at Ford Motor Co. I was six months pregnant and had a 2-year-old daughter, Kiera, and 20-month-old son, Charles IV. My priorities began to shift. I didn't have enough time with my children, but really wanted an opportunity to use my degree to make my own money. Mary Kay came along at the right time. I could work Mary Kay around my life.

Take this simple quiz and find out.

Here are my results:

21,172,000
How much money will you be worth?

Founder David Mills saw a tasty business idea, put it on the front burner, and served up dividends.

Warren Buffett probably doesn’t know it, but without him fast growing Australian kitchenware party plan business The Chefs Toolbox may never have got off the ground.

After 14 years as an investment banker, David Mills was casting about for a business idea when he saw that famed investor Buffett had recently purchased The Pampered Chef business in the US. Just four months later, The Chefs Toolbox was born.

“I was looking for a business and saw that The Pampered Chef had been bought by Warren Buffett and I thought ‘if it’s good enough for him, it could work for us’, and away we went,” Mills says.

Five years later, his punt on Buffett’s buy – and a whole lot of his own hard work – is starting to pay dividends. With a network of just over 400 consultants across Australia, The Chefs Toolbox achieved revenue growth of just over 60% to more than $4.7 million in 2006-07 and looks set to surpass $7 million this financial year.

If you are interested in Amway and always wanted to be a blogger, now is your chance.

Contact: mlmblog@mlmblog.net

Salt Lake City federal Magistrate Samuel Alba ordered USANA to pay $142,510 in attorney fees to Minkow and his Fraud Discovery Institute.

USANA has dropped charges of defamation but still has a charge of securities manipulation pending.

Barry Minkow served eight years in prison for stock fraud before (ironically) founding his Fraud Discovery Institute.

In my soon to be released book on The 5 Key Essentials In Picking A Network Marketing Company, I talk about products. Having a unique product is vital for long term success in Network Marketing.  That point apparently rubbed a MonaVie representative the wrong way.

After I offered my opinion about MonaVie, I was told that I didn't know anything and that no product compares with MonaVie in the marketplace which lead me do a little research where I found a comparison of MonaVie with a product called Perfect Acai. 

I have no affiliation with Perfect Acai (or MonaVie), but I thought the information presented was interesting:

From PowerSupplements:

How much Acai is in your product?

PERFECT ACAI™: Perfect Acai contains 1,000mg (1 gram) of 100% freeze dried Sambazon Organic Acai per serving. There are 60 servings in a bottle. Most clients do 2 servings a day, so they get 2 grams of Acai per day and 1 bottle last 30 days.

MonaVie™ Juice: Unknown. Monavie is a proprietary blend of 19 fruits and there is no way to know how much Acai is in each serving.

What is the source of your Acai?

PERFECT ACAI™: Perfect Acai exclusively uses Sambazon 100% Freeze Dried Organic Acai. Sambazon Acai is Fairly Traded. Sambazon Acai is certified organic and is a member of the Fair Trade Federation.

MonaVie™ Juice: Unknown. A review of the Monavie website and promotional material does not state where they purchase their Acai from.

What is the price per serving of your product?

PERFECT ACAI™: One serving is 2 capsules and there are 120 capsules in a bottle. One bottle is $39.95 and if you buy 3 bottles the price drops down to $29.95 a bottle. One serving of Perfect Acai will cost between 50 and 67 cents.

MonaVie™ Juice: One bottle of Monavie juice is 25.35 ounces and cost about $45. One serving is 2 ounces. The cost per serving of the Monavie juice is about $3.55.

To be fair, MonaVie has other juices plus the active version contains glucosamine.  In my research I also found dozens of comparable Acai liquid products, similar to MonaVie.  You can see these on Google.

Anders Gustavsson is the man behind MLM - The Game, an interactive Network Marketing game that is meant to be a training tool and learning experience. 

The following is part 1 of a 3 part series by Ander's on the subject of:

Effective Network Marketing Training Uses Accelerated Learning

Books, seminars, and many trainers often rely on listening and memorization as their main method for their audience to retain information. People learn while they are there, and some may take hand written notes with them home. Unless this information is reviewed several times using the various methods to stimulate the different senses, it will often be forgotten unless it is immediately applied in the real world.

Network Marketing is largely about effectively teaching people to duplicate your efforts.  The teaching style of only listening and memorizing is out dated, boring, and is not the most efficient way to learn.

When you are training your downline your lessons will be much better remembered if you create accelerated learning environments that will interest a broad range of people. Accelerated learning practices don't just tell you the information; they engage trainees in the process. While involved this way, people will learn with multiple senses.

These are some of the main effects of Accelerated Learning;

1) Both sides of the brain are being used simultaneously making it much easier to remember and truly understand new materials.

2) There is interaction with others which not only elevates the energy and blood flow to the brain but also offers even better memory retention.  This also creates a positive mental attitude which further contributes to learning.

Have any ideas as to how you can use or create any creative accelerated learning techniques

If so, please comment below.

In part 2, I will share information about the learning process, and in part 3 we will wrap up with many ideas for you to utilize and test.

Anders Gustavsson
President
Infinite Synergy, Creators of MLM The Game
http://www.mlmthegame.com