But clearly they’re not all going to make it, right?  Of course not.  According to Network Marketing for Dummies, there are over 1000 network marketing companies, and in the first year, most of them fail.  About 200 of these network marketing companies belong to the DSA, leaving hundreds of companies as simple MLM startups with absolutely no future.  So what makes one company work, and another fail?  And what is it that takes a company from a new opportunity into a mature business?  Let me suggest these elements of success:

The Company, must be financially transparent, and be lead by experienced leaders.  There are only a small handful of publicly traded MLM companies, they include: NuSkin, Amway, Usana and a few others, but these are mature big companies, LifeVantage is public traded, but is small, and relatively new, very new if you discount the retail years.  A pubic traded company forces them to spend money that provides transparency.  It isn’t cheap, but it is the behavior that you can trust, where some companies make it up, a public traded company can not. Also look at its leadership.  Are they experienced, and where did this experience come from?

The Timing must be perfect. In real estate, timing is all about location-location-location, in business, particularly in network marketing, its all about timing-timing-timing.  Every company starts slow, and once it takes off, which happens at about $50 million a year in revenue, momentum launches that company through a surge of growth, until it levels out (maturity). If the business opportunity you’re looking at has already gone through that phase, you are not ground floor, not at all.  The DSA, says the first 135,000 people in a network marketing business as distributors or agents, are ground floor, for companies that reach a mature status.  Do NOT dismiss timing so quickly, and do not be fooled that a mature company is best, because they’ve got all the kinks worked out, or because they’re going global, or expanding their products.  You get in late, you won’t grow something huge.  Expanding products only helps existing distributors grow, it doesn’t help you come in and build a new business in a mature company.

The System they have must allow for you to be duplicatable, and allow others to do what you do.  If it does not, your business won’t grow.  They company must have a proven system that everybody is taught, and anybody can plug into.  If this business is based solely off the Internet, it won’t work… because network marketing is a people business.  Use the Internet to support your business, not build it.  The company system must allow for you to do the work, if somebody else is doing the work, somebody else is getting paid, and its no more complex than that.  Also, if you have to create a new system, and not follow an established one, endorsed and trained by the company, you will most likely fail, unless you’re a professional who has done this business before.

If you’re not Compensated for your work, why do it?  The product  must have enough margin built in for you to get paid, and you should be able to get paid quickly, and have a long term value.  The compensation plan must reward all aspects of behavior both for short term and long term, and for the new distributor, and the top level agent.

The Product must be unique.  It must be patented, to prevent others from duplicating your efforts, and taking your market share in the future.  If its a health and wellness product, it must be backed by third party science, preferably peer reviewed and published research.  Is your companies product based on borrowed science?  (they take an ingredient and make a product around that ingredient, or is it a product in and of itself).  If its a technology product, it must be unique and sustainable in the long term, for example, if you invested in a fax machine business, likely today you wouldn’t be growing.  The product must also be consumable., if not, you’ll not create a long term growth and sustain it long term.

The trends of the market must dovetail with the story of your company.  Who are your customers, and is your product in that demographic, and is it trendy?  Do people want it?  If not, good luck.

Peter Drucker a world renown economist, says if you are missing 1 of the items above, your chance of success are reduced to about 80%, if you’re missing 2, its reduced to about 40%, and if you’re missing 3, you simply will not succeed.  Plug in  your company into that formula and I can tell you why it will or will not work.  Its that simple, no more.

Please feel to reply with any corrections.

http://www.theprovenplan.com/training

http://www.executiveboardclub.com/

http://www.pro10training.com/

Don’t for get http://bigbluecalendar.mhsoftware.com/

Please feel to reply with any corrections.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17143561

So this is when PubMed.gov becomes powerful to this unknown blogger, when it adds to his hidden agenda?  But lets move on…

The study does show that Curcumin alone is a Nrf2 suppressant because it inhibited protein phosphatase activity, in toxic dosages.  However it says: “and when curcumin is not administered in toxic doses, these multiple pathways converge to induce HO-1″, meaning when its at non-toxic dosages, it works as the other 50 peer reviewed studies suggest.. it stimulates antioxidant production.

See: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Curcumin%20Nrf2

More important however, McCord has said, each indvidiual ingredient alone, doesn’t do much to stimulate Nrf2, and it was important to have a low dosage of each.  But when combined, they’re 18 times more powerful than any taken alone, including Curcumin.

ASEA is made from salt and water, that goes through a patented refinement process to create these Redox molecules.  Protandim is made from 5 herbs, that are patented in this blend, and the formula is published with the patent.  Are there any other differences?

Both claim to be backed by science, so lets compare this.  I sseached pubmed.gov for reserach on ASEA, and I found nothing.  I found no peer reviewed research on ASEA’s patented process whatsoever.  I did find science about Redox Molecules, but there is no proof that is peer reviewed science that the ASEA product addresess this.   Im also concerned that they say, their bottles are designed so even saliva doesn’t get into the bottle, because it will destroy the molecules… if that’s the case, what happens when it gets into my stomach with the acid?  Human clinical trial is in order I think.

In stark contrast, Protandim has 7 peer reviewed studies, one is a human clinical, that show Protandim actually does what it claims.  See the difference?  Peer reviewed science and published science is what Protandim has, ASEA has… none.

The ASEA company is a privately held company, allowed to make up whatever financial data they choose, LifeVantage (Protandim) is publicly traded with open financials, and they cannot make this stuff up.

Protandim is being researched by many universities, ASEA so far as I know is not being studied by anybody but those labs or scientists hired by the ASEA company.

So in summary, maybe the ASEA product does works, but its a hard sell when there is no peer reviewed science on their product (not its ingredients or science behind the product).  Borrowed science isn’t effective.  I also think that Sea water is a hard sale, and being a private company has its challenges.  But they’ll get some traction, especially if the product works.  I also wonder what the patent is really for?  Is it for their manufacturing process, if so what are the barriers to market for the next Redox molecule product.

Feedback welcome.

Another flaw is that top gainers might be brand new companies.  Going from 10 pages to a 100 doesn’t mean its really growing, statistically speaking it might still be brand new.  While other companies that have been around for decades and show a 10% growth, really have not grown at all, its just some new news or search might have kicked up a spike in interest.

Its important to note, that MLM companies on MLMRankings.com are simply not gathering data from sales, or really new enrollments, but from general news and interest from Internet queries.  A good example, is One24, a business that is nearly entirely Internet marketed, isn’t really growing at all, but people are simply putting up more content to try to grab the last few people to get into their downline.

This is one reason I really like LiveVantage.  Since the company is public traded, they report their numbers on the Internet as a part of their SIC filing requirements.  These revenues can be used to measure real growth.  It would really be nice if the other 99% of MLM companies would report their numbers.

See: http://www.mlmrankings.com/faq.asp

“As for McCord’s financial motivation, there can be little doubt that he’s paid well for being a spokesman.”

Duh, of course there is little doubt that he is paid.  This is not a secret, it has never been; SEC filings require LifeVantage to disclose this, it’s public information.  It’s also true that McCord puts a great deal of time and effort to continuing research and help educate and support the company.  He SHOULD be compensated.  He has spent a lot of time bring Protandim to market, with his research and help in its formulation.  We also know that McCord gave (donated in exchange for stock) a lot of time and materials well before the company became a network marketing business.  Something that all early adopters who invest receive… stock.

But the part that I find most objectionable is this unknown author’s summary:

“It is up to the reader to decide how much integrity millions of dollars can buy. I presume it varies from person to person.”

What?  In what way has McCord lost his integrity?  Because he’s compensated for his work or because he has continued to endorse Protandim with the gold standard in science – peer review?  I’ve never heard anything he has said that risked his integrity, in contrast, he’s been extremely consistant, open and honest.  Maybe its because McCord contributes when needed to some element of the research as conducted in the last few years?  Doubtful, because something this author doesn’t consider or add would make that position folly.  All the research studies were peer reviewed, and published in some of the most well respected and screwtinized journals.  The peer review process has access to the same information, including yes, McCord is compensated, and they STILL passed his research (or research from others) with flying colors.  Even the latest research where McCord plays a small role, or none at all, echo his findings.

Distributors who listen to McCord understand he’s compensated.  Many don’t know exactly how much, but its not important.  McCord is extremely well decorated in the field of free radical biology, his experience is so overwhelming what he’s compensated at is not relevant, unless this unknown author knows about something illegal.  But he or she doesn’t, otherwise it would be front page news, and investors who watch this stuff, would be jumping ship.  Yet the stock continues to gain traction.  Is it because good things are yet to come?  Most likely.

Is this claim empty from the unknown blogger, who’s motive is clearly one-sided?  Yes.  It’s true McCord will do very well with Protandim financially, as he should.  While he alone doesn’t deserve credit for Protandim’s existence, nor will he alone be responsible for its success and adoption as one of the most important supplements a human can take, he plays a very pivotal role, and yes, a big slice of the pie.  But lets be clear here.  There is ZERO evidence McCord has cooked the books.  If this unknown author wants to suggest that McCord is in it for the money, and is not a valid spokesperson, then show me how.  It is a well known fact, as spoken publicly by CEO David Brown, McCord passed on a deal to sell Protandim to a big pharmaceutical company with a blank check years ago, and passed on the deal.  In it for the money, hardly.

McCord is simply one researcher however.  8 peer reviewed studies now include dozens of names of scientists and doctors who have been participating in research with Protandim.  Many of these (if not all) have no financial stake in Protandim whatsoever, totally independent from LifeVantage, yet echo and confirm McCords findings and contributions regarding  Protandim.  And this is only the beginning, since many and new 3rd party research is forthcoming, leading to huge statistical data on Protandim’s effectiveness in the years go come.

Anonymous skeptics and undeclared anti-protandim evangelist-bloggers will find no solace in their feeble attempts to discredit Protandim or McCord with lies and distortions.  3rd party peer review with real science will continue and a sea of research and experience regarding Protandim will overshadow them.  The only thing they will retain is some high page ranking when searching for the words “Protandim Scam”, as a relic of a once traffic websites with sophomoric arguments and vengeful motivations to be uncovered.

http://www.studynrf2.com/blog/index.php/2011/07/enroll-as-a-distributor-with-protandim/

and also:

http://www.studynrf2.com/blog/index.php/2011/07/how-much-protandim-are-distributors-required-to-buy/

For links to enroll see:

http://www.studynrf2.com/Business.aspx

As you enroll preferred customers you qualify for sign up bonus’s and long term residual income.  If you sell it at retail you simply get the profit over your costs less your rebates.

Post comments with questions.

If you make Pro 7 in your first year after you enroll OR if you are already enrolled and you make Pro 7 by Aug 2012, you will receive:

• 1 Free event/year
• Plaque
• 20% advance on all incentive trips
• Tie/Scarf
• Special Seating at events
• VIP Treatment at events
• Special recognition at events
• Priority event registration
• Early bird price for events
• Pin