The reader wrote this after attending a MonaVie meeting and researching the company online:

[xxx] invited me to a meeting he had at his house last night. Most of the people there were members of the church. All of the attendees were distributors except for me. I told [xxx] you gave me a bottle and it actually tasted good and when I was drinking it consistently, it made me feel good. The cost is too expensive. I’ve never been a big fan of MLM business models. I was once an Amway distributor way back until they weren’t consistent with paying me hard earned commissions or numbers were wrong.

My take on the MLM model is that networking marketing is a legitimate business model, but only favors the small percentage who attain the upper echelon. According to MonaVie’s compensation document, 5% attain that model – which means 95% are not going to make that level and while getting there the investment of time and money lost is substantial.

My gut feeling is a definite no for me in my situation, and even if I had lots of money to invest there will be many losers adding to the commission structure. Having a lot of losers doesn’t always favor in my eyes either. These ‘losers’ could be church friends, business associates, and if taken in the wrong contexts, you have the chance of losing them or tainting your relationship…believe me I have first hand experience with this situation. The recruiting time to get into the model is extremely time consuming during valuable family time – which is usually in the evenings.

My sense is that business models as such are counting on the fact that the attrition percentage is required to have those at certain levels make it through their bonuses and commission plans. It would be interesting to know the funds invested by the attrition percentage. If 95% of the distributors will not make that level, and say 50% jumped out or decided it wasn’t for them and they gave an earnest effort of 3 months of hard work recruiting and buying their individual cases, it comes to approximately $152,889,323. This is based on the fine print of quantity of distributors who reported to a survey of respondents in the compensation plan. They are reporting 13& of each ranking. In each ranking they report a number, of which I did the reverse to 100% approximately, then multiplied the average person giving it a solid 3 months of work, buying $130 a month of a case plus an additional case each month to help in marketing their down line = $750 (give or take a reduction for buying a second case at bulk rate).

Total number of approximate distributors is 429,163. 95% of this number is = 407,705 approximately, of which you take approximately 50% who decided to drop out, which I believe is a higher rate, which is = 203,852. Then you multiply this by $750 which comes to = $152,889,323. This represents just 50% of the probable attrition rate of people buying 3 months worth and then jump out after viewing the potential fancy cars, video on what the potential could be, etc. The number actually spent by the remaining 50%, continued people buying even at the higher 5% would be even higher. The number of people continued in the program for longer than 3 months, the remaining 50%, or even the 5% of elite lines, total could represent a $500M company.

Of that roughly $500M and the highest paid 5% gaining approx. $6.8M (which is approx. 8 people), this represents maybe 1% or less of the gains of the company, while the remaining 98 to 99% of the revenue go to the company and paid out commissions (8 in each Royal, Presidential, and Imperial). The top 5% represents approximately 21.5 thousand distributors of which starts from a portion of Bronze & Silver at it’s lowest amount of commission checks all the way to Crowne Black executive, which gains the $6.8M. Wow, what a great business model for the principals to have salary percentage at its lowest levels. Again, these are approximate numbers based on their own compensation plan.

Given these ratios, your chance of winning in Las Vegas are greater. Even the chance & percentage of time and opportunity to gain levels of revenue running your own business as a principal are greater than the percentage of gaining to the top 5% (21,500 out of 429,000 people).

Hope this helps. MLM and network marketing is a legitimate business model, but the percentage & opportunities for success aren’t quite there.

4 Comments

  1. cheri hogan 02/08/2009 at 12:02 pm - Reply

    Take another look at the income disclosures sheet and it will tell you that 90% are wholesale drinkers only. The other 10% are business builders.
    Do all the ones who take it as a business make it? Does every new business that starts out make it? NO I was very against network marketing when we first got involved with Monavie. We just drank the juice for the health benifits. But lo and behold ppl who I saw that were making money with it were the ones who educated themselves in the network marketing field and what it takes to make it. Did I follow what the upline was doing and teaching? yes and when I found that it was not working I changed direction. I will agree that there is a system in Monavie that I was following and it was the same model as Amway Once I figured that out I ran as fast as I could away from it. There are a couple of training systems in Monavie and what works for one won’t work for another. Monavie is an awesome company. Hands down. and yes what worked for me was finding the right system and truly understanding how this business model works. Its all about education and not buying a gazillion tools

  2. joanne 05/28/2009 at 8:43 pm - Reply

    I have not been in this monavie business long and I have to say, That I have been in amway, and It is not the same. Monavie, not only works hard to help every new distributer succeed in the business but it pays better than any other marketing company on the earth. There is a reason they have sold 2 bilion dollars worth of juice in 4 years. It’s because the juice has the real enzimes and the quality of fruit to go with it. If anyone can find any other product that can do what monavie does for everyone, I would be extremely surprised. I sell fresh tree ripened peaches off the trees all summer have for 12 years. There is only one product that has the patened process that keeps that acai and other nutrients in there, It’s monavie. We sell alot of product to people who want to try the product then they get so sold on the juice they want to tell their friends. The top distributers have not all been in this from the start. as a matter of fact there is one that just ran by a few hundred to get to the top. It is not a pyramid. A corporate job is a pyramid. Do most people have any possible way to pass their boss? or have his job? People are uninformed. I and 46 of my friends are very thankfull for monavie and how it has changes our health for the better. The management is superb, and every week they look for new ways to help us get more money in our pockets as distributers. way to go Dallan and Brig.

  3. Jon 07/15/2009 at 12:53 pm - Reply

    Joanne,

    It is clear you have been brainwashed. No offense, but your spelling and grammar prove that you really do not know what you are talking about and are spewing it back from the mouths of those who told you.

    95% of the people in the business are poor, .01% of the company makes more than half the total profits. You are nieve to think that people actually want you to succeed when, if you stay at the low level with less than 10,000 a year in income (NOT EVEN INCLUDING EXPENSES), they make more money.

    Your “managers” are probably part of this 95% and are filled with false hope.

    Enzyme*

  4. Janna 11/28/2009 at 9:23 pm - Reply

    A friend I have known for 20+ years has recently become a Monavie distributor. (Doesn’t Mona Vie mean MONEY and LIFE.. in that order?)

    Out of curiosity I attended a presentation she held recently at her home. The place was packed. The speaker was amazing! He was absolutely skilled, charismatic, high IQ, and if I were broke and had lost my corporate job and didn’t know anything about MLMs, I would have signed up right there! Speaker kept saying “the juice sells itself” and “I talk about the juice to EVERYONE I come across… the bellboy, the busboy, the waiter, the Starbucks barristas, the retail checker, the plumber, EVERYONE I MEET IN LIFE!” He’s only 34 years old and a multi-million dollar earner. Bravo to him, and good job Mona Vie for getting someone so charismatic into the program so early.

    Now for my friend. She’s desperate to make money and be independent from her current living situation. She’s held other sales jobs and gotten into many other MLMs in the past (cosmetics, health devices, vitamins, etc). She’s a natural salesperson and has a perfect radiant youthful gorgeous appearance… she never ages… ever… whether or not she ever takes or uses those products she sells.

    I have a rare condition in my joints and am drinking the juice and not expecting miracles. I’m doing many other things to heal the condition, too. She told me if I ever recover and become a distributor I can “use the recover as a testimony that the juice works”. Every contact she makes with me now is about the juice.

    Bottom line: I am not a salesperson, a marketing person, nor do I want every friend or contact in my database to be someone I need to talk “JUICE” with. I prefer to earn money in other ways. I wish her great success… but when she told me to use the juice as a testimony to my recovery…..ugh. Not a chance.

    Peace.

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