1.  Max International  +101.03%

2.  ULife Research +31.81%

3.  Xango +5.58%

4.  Tahitian Noni +0.84%

5.  Usana  -17.24%

6.  Herbalife -23.57%

7.  Isagenix  -30.71%

8.  Monavie  -30.78%

9.  Melaleuca  -30.84%

10.  Zrii  -82.43%

CLICK HERE FOR ANALYTICS

Sure they have lost quite a bit of traffic, and overall are severely down in their number of unique visitors but statistics still show a large gain of hits up til September of last year.  They lost quite a bit of their recaptured interest during the fall/winter months but interest/activity across the board tends to wane during that timeline.

The truth is they took a huge hit.  The executive team walked and the majority formed LifeVantage.  A huge number of distributors walked at the same time.  Explanations have varied amongst different individuals but most seem to indicate an inability to develop a successful business opportunity with Farley holding the reins.  This is no doubt overly simplified but despite the catastrophic effect there is still hope.  Farley, although near impossible to deal with can generate excitement and capitol.  Their product still carries the chopra seal of approval and they still have a reasonable compensation plan and effective marketing materials.  I’m not saying “expect a rebound” nor would i vote for them into the sweet sixteen of my bracket but despite numerous claims to the opposite they still have some wobbly legs to stand on.

ADA, Okla., March 3 — Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. (NYSE: PPD) announced today that effective April 2, 2010, its founder and current Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman of the Board, Mr. Harland C. Stonecipher, 71, will relinquish the title and responsibilities of Chief Executive Officer and President. At the suggestion of Mr. Stonecipher, the Board of Directors unanimously approved that the title and responsibilities of Chief Executive Officer will be shared equally by two co-CEOs – Randy Harp, 54, Pre-Paid’s current Chief Operating Officer, and Mark Brown, 56, Pre-Paid’s current Chief Marketing Officer. The Board also named Mr. Harp as Pre-Paid’s President.

Mr. Harp was named Chief Financial Officer in March 1990 and served in that capacity until May 2000 and has served as Chief Operating Officer since March 1996. Mr. Harp served on the Board of Directors from March 1990 until May 2004 when he resigned from the Board of Directors as part of a corporate governance initiative required by the rules of the NYSE to have independent, outside directors comprise the majority of the Board. Mr. Harp will continue to serve as Chief Operating Officer.

Mr. Brown was named Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer in October 2006. Prior to his appointment to the new position, Mr. Brown was our National Sales Director for Group Marketing and Senior Regional Vice President for most of the State of Texas and has been one of our independent associates for 15 years. Prior to his association with us, Mr. Brown owned his own printing business for 18 years.

“Both Mark and Randy are ready and have earned the opportunity to assume the responsibilities as Pre-Paid’s co-CEOs,” stated Mr. Stonecipher. “Randy has been with us for 20 years and knows every aspect of our business. Randy’s primary focus will continue to be on operations and I am completely confident in his ability to continue to develop and maintain the efficiencies and excellence of our operational capabilities. We are equally blessed to have someone with Mark’s significant sales and extensive experience lead our marketing efforts. Mark’s involvement has been an integral part of our success since he joined us in 1995 with a focus on both individual and group business. We look to Mark to implement marketing strategies throughout our entire sales organization and play a key role in the continued development of our company.”

Mr. Stonecipher will continue as Chairman of the Board and will remain actively involved with the Company, focused entirely on Pre-Paid’s sales force and other strategic areas. Mr. Stonecipher and his wife Shirley will also be working towards the establishment of a memorial cathedral for parents that have lost a child. The Stoneciphers want to build a memorial place where parents can come from anywhere to establish a memorial to the children they have lost that will live on even after the parents are gone, assuring those parents that even when they are gone, the memory of their child or children will live on. The Stoneciphers lost their youngest son, Brent, his wife, Tina, and only granddaughter, Nikki, in an airplane crash in Ada in July, 2005.

…

The company also made gains in another key measure. Said Van Andel: “In 2009, we increased our market share in the direct selling industry, and continued to drive improvements and adjustments to our business that will help us, and our distributors, succeed over the long term.”

Strong regional sales in China, India, Southeast Asia, and Korea continued in 2009, while the 2008 relaunch of the Latin American market yielded a second year of more than 50% percent increase in volume in the region. Visible work has been done to strengthen and reposition Amway in established markets such as Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, making the region one to watch for 2010.

In the North America market, continued transformation was marked by investments in visibility, training and consumer access. In November, the company launched an ordering “app” for Apple® iPhone, product information and sales support via podcast, and training apps on iTunes®. North America is also the first to implement a new web commerce platform, which will begin a global rollout later in 2010.

“More than ever before, Amway is a truly global company,” DeVos said. “As markets outside the United States continue to develop, we are learning constantly how to better support consumers in many different cultures. Then we take the best lessons we learn in each market and figure out how to apply them around the world.”

Amway does not generally release individual market sales or disclose profitability.

…

“In 2010, we will continue to change the way people see Amway,” said DeVos. “We are finding new ways to articulate our values and our opportunity so that we can connect to entrepreneurs and product consumers around the globe.”SOURCE Amway Corporate Communications

Despite hours of searching i can find no active website or contact information for Tripharma, I did come across a self proclaimed description at Alibaba.com:

We are a US distributor and marketer of quality nutraceuticals and supplement products including without limitation, the new weight loss product Xellex and the female sexual dysfunction product Xzite.

Xellex was researched and developed at the University of Minnesota where it was awarded Two (2) patents and clinically tested at the University of Connecticut. There is no other product like it for safe, long term effective weight management. It is truly the HOLY GRAIL of over the counter weight loss products and will be available to the general public without a prescription for the first time via US DRTV commercials in May.

Not knowing who wrote this, or even if it truly applies, lack of documented information on Tripharma leads only to speculation at this point.   It would seem that Tripharma sells or at least has a product similar to Max International’s MaxWLX product.  It would stand to reason that the patent infringement deals with leptin sensitivity as both products story revolves around such.

Max International believes they purchased all the patent rights to this type of leptin breakthrough.  This case really boils down to who is Tripharma?  Most MLM lawsuits involve recognized players and Tripharma seems to be strangely absent from all my company/information searches.  The damage amount is $450 Million, which for a patent infringement case for a new product seems fairly excessive.  Damages awarded in these type of cases are restricted to money losses incurred by an infringement.  So Tripharma is claiming in essence that Max has sold over $450 million dollars worth of MaxWLX is the last year or so.

Im not holding my breath on this one, Without truly knowing who Tripharma is and Max already having its own set of patents on their product it probably does not fair well for Tripharma.  It typically is much more of a viable option when a patent holder sues someone who lacks a patent but in this case of a patent holder suing another patent holder, does it really come down to Tripharma suing Max or Tripharma suing the Patent Office.  If you argue that one persons patent is infringing on your patent than you really have more of an issue with the issuers then the retainers of said patent.

I know Max believes they purchased all of the patent rights to this formula and breakthrough.  They have even defended what they perceive to be their rights.  So who is this Tripharma company?  Do they have some kind of valid claim?  It will be interesting to see how this lawsuit develops.

For those interesed in the case however, the original lawsuit can be found here: Tripharma vs. Max International

Should people be more open than ever to network marketing (aka MLM)? If they very carefully pick a very good company, team, and mentors, absolutely they should!

The story of Michael Blattman entitled “Aging boomers face stark economics” and printed by CNBC illustrates the huge need for alternatives.  Here is an excerpt:

Not so long ago, Michael Blattman lived in the upscale Washington, D.C., suburb of Potomac, Md., earning $225,000 a year as senior vice president for a student loan company. As he reached his 50s, it never really occurred to him that his job wouldn’t last forever.

“To be perfectly honest, I didn’t really go there,” he said. “Yeah, there was always a risk. Everything in business is a risk.”

In January 2008, Blattman, along with 500 other employees, was laid off by his company. With an $188,000 severance, he wasn’t worried at first.

“The barometer was always something like five or six months until you landed something comparable,” he said. “So I figured, ‘Oh, OK, six months?’ OK, I could do this for six months.  And find the next one. Well, there was no next one.”

As his generation confronted an economic storm of historic proportions, Blattman found himself humbled — and living in a one-room apartment. After applying for 600 openings and getting only three interviews, he was still looking after two years.

…

Blattman gets some solace from the knowledge that he’s far from alone. More than 4 million baby boomers are unemployed, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For many, retirement at 65 is no longer an option.

Facing shrinking nest eggs and mounting bills, they need to work, but they wonder if anyone will hire them again.

“The hardest thing each day is to get up and say, ‘OK, what am I going to do today?’ It’s a constant cheerleading effort every day. The thing is, I’m the cheerleader. And I am the team.  So I’m all in one.”

Blattman starts every day checking out online job sites and sending out resumes for jobs that pay much less than his old salary.

“I have applied for jobs that are one-fourth, one-third of my previous income level,” he said. “And I would have been thrilled to get it. There are just too many of me and everyone else out there. I just wish there was a place for us, to kind of land.”

All the want, the wishing, can lead to worry and to stress.

“People who are in this position can have heart attacks, could get strokes, because of the intense stress levels,” said Blattman.

For Blattman, the chronic stress has induced him to grind his teeth, which has led to several root canals, damaged his implants, and worn away his bank balance. When his health insurance expired in August, he was left with $13,000 in out-of-pocket expenses.

It’s a double whammy: no job and no health insurance. Many boomers are in far worse shape than Blattman. Some have turned to free clinics. It’s just one indication that the health care crisis is really an economic crisis.  And for the boomers it’s only going to get tougher, according to Harvard financial historian Niall Ferguson.

“If they’ve done their homework, then they’ll be afraid,” he said. “Very afraid.”

More than ever, people are open to new alternatives.  If you have a good one, be proud of it and know that there are lots of people out there right now that really need what you have.

Februrary 14th, 2006. The MLM scheme was called Platinum Choice Inc.

According to the allegations,

“While the offer of online games and puzzles is certainly tantalizing, PCI’s primary action was a lottery ticket pool. PCI claimed that it purchased lottery tickets and then would assign them to “qualifying associates in the form of bonuses.”Associates also earned money recruiting new associates and enrolling magazine subscribers who did not participate in the lottery pool. Magazine subscribers paid a $24.95 subscription fee every fourth week, plus an annual registration fee of $25.

Associates also earned an override on subscribers recruited by “downline associates.” As well, for every magazine subscriber enrolled, associates received “pooled mega million lottery tickets, as a bonus.”
Further sweetening the pot, PCI claimed to utilize a “sophisticated system that ranks groups and number combinations – increasing the odds of winning substantially.”

To get in on the action, associates paid nothing for the first year. After one year they were required to pay a $50 annual registration fee and $19.95 every fourth week.”

MMOGULS is creating a MLM distribution network for online video games and social networking sites. Yes online video games. Sound crazy, well it may be but consider a few points.

• The one-day record holder for a movie premiere was Spiderman 3, which brought in $59 million in ticket sales on its opening day. MGM’s James Bond movie just surpassed it last week with $79 million. Grand Theft Auto IV, a video game, recorded sales of $310 million… on its first day.
• For the first time last year, the video game industry surpassed the movie industry in gross sales.
• 68% of households in the United States play computer or video games. Game software sales were $2.6 billion in 1996, and by 2006 they had reached $7.4 billion.
• Forty-seven percent of video game players are between the ages of 18 and 49. The fastest growing demographic is the 50-plus crowd.

This is not even including the massive Asian market. Lets take a look at one example, World of Warcraft. Chances are you have heard of it, or you are playing it right now on your dual monitor. If you haven’t, I bet you would be surprised to know many of your friends probably do. Now i am sure you are thinking, “If I was 20 something or so maybe, but not my friends, not at my age”. Well i know several partners in law firms (can’t seem to get away from those attorneys) that are diehards, we are talking 40, 50+ year old extremely successful men battling it out day in and day out in the virtual world of AZEROTH. The game itself has 10 million subscribers which at $15.00 a month pop brings in about 150 MILLION dollars EVERY MONTH. No shipping, no bottling, no tied up in customs, no tied up in our eastern carrier hub, no physical product. Every month people pay for digital information and this information has created its own economy in the form of gold farmers.

Yes gold farmers. In the game the currency is well gold, but for those people who dont want to spent the time and hard work neccessary to get that gold you can pay real dollars and currency for digital gold. Numerous controvercies have stemmed from these “Chinese” gold farmers either from online gold business making chop shops to the occassionally self made digital gold farmer who passed up on school to make an equivalent $60,000 worth of income annually digitally gold farming. Not bad, especially if your only 9. In total 1.7 BILLION dollars are paid for digital products such as gold, weapons etc every year.

With this in mind, who wouldnt want to cash in on this emerging entertainment venue. MMOGULS also plans to include some sort of social network within its business strategy although how this will plan out with so many dominant free social networks currently available presents many questions. That being said, they have StarGate coming out this summer, and with strong reviews so far, it looks as if they will catch a market. Currently you can enroll and your monthly fee goes towards your virtual mall and social site but will include the games when they become available.

Unfortunately, the largest market of $15 dollar game subscribers are not paid in their binary compensation plan. Only individuals who purchase larger enrollment options that border on non-product based commissions brings into account a former company BurnLounge.

BurnLounge wanted to cash in on the digital media industry, specifically music. One of my friends was the lead architect of the software system for BurnLounge so i came into contact early on with the company. Despite there initial reports of paying only 37% commissions out with a whopping 17% on the third level of a unilevel system (worst compensation plan i have ever seen) I was alarmed to see that my monthly payment went towards granting access to only my burnlounge store. In other words, monthly charges with no music. Now even though the backend possible payout was horrible with the compensation plan you could make some money on the front end with fast starts if you enrolled new members at a huge price tag, but those people got, once again, no music with purchase. So you made money off of new subscribers and not products. Classic Pyramid Scheme definition. You can read more on the BurnLounge FTC rulings at mlmwatchdog.com.

In conclusion MMOGULS has a good idea coupled with a growing industry but the real question is how do you make money off of the $15 dollar subscriber. If that question can be solved they can relieve the potential FTC closings as well as make the opportunity more enticing for the big dogs.

Brief Overview:

The founders of Xocai developed their collaboration first in a retail market in the form of the company Pure Delights Inc. Seeing apparent success there Jeanette Brooks, Andrew Brooks and Kurtis Nielson started Xocai roughly 5 years ago (I consider a MLM’s start date when they START shipping products and paying commissions) when i was first approached to purchase an Executive Position at a $6000 dollar price tag. They have a binary compensation plan and their flagship product (as well as subsequent additions) consist of the combination chocolate (or as they call it, Xocolate) and the Acai Berry(get it Xo cai, cute huh).

Notable Events:

I would have to say the most notable event in the companies history had to deal with their flagship chocolate drink. In order to keep the product as “natural” as possible preservatives were avoided or limited to the point that the chocolate actually fermented and could explode before or upon opening (Chocolate fountain anyone). This led to the, at present, unconfirmed 2 million dollars worth of product replacement during which time they reformulated the drink.

Larry King has also spoken highly of the company and product. His wife is a distributor.

Rating:

Story: Healthy Chocolate, you have to admit its an enticing story. It may not have the mystery of new exotic foods or necessarily the science of clinically researched products but anything that can justify one of our guiltiest pleasures is bound to draw some attention.
Level: 9/10

Branding: Staying true to its origins of “Healthy Chocolate”, Xocai has some of the best looking and original collateral material you will find including product labeling. I think the owners Retail experience definitely helped out in this regards. However, their experience in the consumer world has also shown a misunderstanding of the digital world with some ghastly designed and manageable web marketing materials and websites. They have definitely improved in this regard but with an industry already so focused on image their web design has more “proving” to do.
Level 6/10

Compensation: A binary matching compensation plan with some good global bonus pools make it a strong compensation plan (well, for those who like binaries)
Level 8/10

Product(s): Although a great story, they tout constantly their ORAC value as the highest in the industry. ORAC is the level of antioxidants in a substance and although they have a substantial amount, (dark chocolate + acai berry = HIGH ORAC) even brunswick labs (See Here) the ORAC measuring entity says that, “The ORAC assays are performed in vitro, in the test tube, and therefore do not determine the bioavailability within the body.” In otherwords the higher ORAC levels do not necessarily mean MORE ORAC absorbed and used by the body.
Level 6/10

Technology: Xocai employs InfoTrax as there backend/replicating/commission technological piece. Although no MLM technology seems to be universally perfect it definately is a strong option attracting other companies such as Xango, Nouveau and Max International. They are definately known for their international capabilities and have some nice communication tools in their replicating service. Of course, products ship and commissions are paid right. All and all a strong platform but not customized for the company.
Level 8/10

Management: Upper Management definitely has a strong sales background but it doesnt quite translate as well as one would hope into the MLM world. They have not brought in house as many experienced MLM officers as I would like to see.
Level 6/10

Judgement: 43/60
A solid company that has stood the test of a few years and with a good enough story for some staying power. I would say at this point they are definitely above average but just below some of the larger opportunities making many good networkers pass on a solid company for even greener pastures.