MLM Bingo is a sure fire MLM detector! Even better, it’s free. Download it, copy it, distribute it because it’s released under the Creative Commons for anyone and everyone to enjoy. Please tell everyone about it, and have fun!

How to play MLM Bingo - a fun game for all ages:

1. Print out and bring the MLM Bingo card to any meeting that you suspect may be intended to motivate you to join an MLM company, or excel at being an MLM distributor.
2. Each time you hear one of the phrases on the board, or see one of the actions described, cover that square with your last penny, an M&M, a small pebble, or other marker.
3. When you get 5 in a row, you win! At that point, you can be sure you are in an MLM meeting. It’s advised that you leave quickly.

Click to get the higher resolution image or download the PDF directly.

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What is Usana
Usana is an MLM company based in Salt Lake City, Utah (Utah is the mother ship for MLM companies!) that sells health care products. The company’s founder, Myron Wentz, PH.D., began the company in an effort to improve cell health. Although Usana produces dozens of items, they can all be separated into three different categories: skin care, vitamins, and nutritional supplements.

Usana employs a much smaller number of people than other MLM companies like XanGo, but it is still a multi-million dollar company. Unfortunately, Usana stock prices have been falling over the past several years. Several lawsuits and controversy over-inflated executive resumes have probably contributed to this decline.

Quality of Product
As far as product quality is concerned, there are several opinions on the matter. According to Usana, product quality is a paramount concern. During manufacturing, several tests are conducted to ensure uniform product potency, weight, hardness and purity. The company also follows Good manufacturing Practices for pharmaceuticals rather than food. With these guidelines and tests, Usana products have earned a reputation for safety, but effectiveness is another matter.

Some sources claim that more affordable dietary supplements can be just as beneficial as Usana products. There hasn’t been a lot of research conducted to prove these theories though. To establish their own credibility, Usana points to several Olympic athletes who use their products. On the other hand, those athletes are Olympians and they tend to be sponsored by Usana as well.

Compensation for MLM Associates
Usana works on a binary compensation plan. According to Usana, the average associate made about $600 in 2006 and the average commission qualified associate made about $1500. The company clearly states that these numbers are no guarantee of how much an associate will make though. As nice as it would be to have some extra money, these numbers don’t look like a dependable income for a family.

Additionally, many people spend more money on the products than they earn by selling them. According to several recruiting presentations, each new Usana distributor must buy a minimum of about $445 worth of the company’s business tools and health products to get started and then they must continue to buy about $290 worth of its health products every month thereafter in order to qualify for commissions. For avid Usana users, this might be a great deal because they are committed to the product. For someone on board for the money, it can make return on investment a difficult task though.

Conclusion
At the moment, Usana is under a lot of scrutiny. For most people, Usana probably isn’t the number one way to get rich either. On the other hand, their products are safer than many dietary supplements on the market and it might be worth becoming an associate if you like their products enough.

Usana News
Here are some recent news stories about Usana’s bumpy road:

Usana Borrowing $215 Million to Go Private

Usana Wins Best of State Award - Again

Usana CEO Tries to Buy Out His Own Company

If you want to keep up on Usana news, read the Usana blog.

Bob Schmidt was a top-level XanGo distributor who was scheduled to speak at their next convention. He was in network marketing for 33 years and was 63 years old. Already beating cancer, he died while kyaking at Lake Tahoe over Memorial Day weekend.

Here is a tribute to him from XanGo that they showed at convention in Florida:

I’m going to review some of the biggest MLMs in the next few posts, starting with XanGo, a fancy fruit drink MLM spinoff from MLM company Tahitian Noni…

An Overview of XanGo, LLC

What is XanGo?
XanGo LLC is a multi-level marketing company based in Lehi, Utah that specializes in making dietary supplement products out of mangosteen fruit. They have hundreds of employees working on-site and hundreds of thousands distributors across the globe.

XanGo products are sold in Australia, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Singapore, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Quality of Product
As far as product quality is concerned, XanGo products do come in cool packaging and meet ISO standards of safety, but they shouldn’t be categorized as miracle workers. XanGo itself expressly states that their product “is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease” (which is required by law).

This might lead consumers to ask why the product is so special and so expensive. The answer would probably be the monopoly the company has on mangosteen. The two strongest selling points for the drink are its taste and its antioxidant content. Of those two features, the taste is the only unique quality though. After all, most fruits and vegetables are good sources of nutrients and antioxidants. Unfortunately, the taste is a hard to duplicate though.

Mangosteen really is a delicious fruit. It is a regular favorite of tourists and newcomers in Southeast Asia and, having been to Thailand myself, I have rarely met anyone who didn’t like mangosteen. Its flavor has occasionally been described as a sweet and creamy citrusy blend with a hint of peach.

In addition to having a flavor that is difficult to recreate, mangosteens have also been hard to come by because they are native to Southeast Asia and they only grown in very warm climates. That makes is hard to grown them in the U.S.

Importing hasn’t been a viable solution in the past either. In fact, it was illegal to import mangosteen into the U.S. until 2006. Even then, only small amounts were allowed across the border and then sold to specialty restaurants. In 2007, mangosteens began appearing in a few New York grocery stores for $45 a pound, but that price is much higher than it would be in a country like Thailand or Taiwan. Chalk it up to shipping costs, I guess. Such a high price makes XanGo juice look affordable.

Unfortunately, it might be hard to taste mangosteen in XanGo juice too. After all, XanGo juice is actually a blend of mangosteen, apple, pear, grape, blueberry, raspberry, strawberry, cranberry and cherry juice. With eight other fruits thrown into the mix, it must be pretty hard to taste the mangosteen. This last conclusion is really an assumption though because I haven’t been willing to become part of the MLM or fork over $37 to buy the product.

XanGo Success Rate
As far as distributor success is concerned, I am sure that some people have made a fortune working for XanGo. I am also sure, that most XanGo distributors (about 70%) merely use their status to buy XanGo juice at a discounted price. This makes them fit better in a loyal customer category rather than the burgeoning entrepreneur category. I guess the most important thing to remember is that XanGo is a legitimate MLM company with a reliable compensation plan; even if it does seem complicated.

Conclusion
Whether XanGo products are really amazing or not, the company is certainly doing well. There are plenty of people who are willing to swear by its beneficial effect on their lives. Personally, I would rather save up and go to Southeast Asia for fresh mangosteens rather than buy the products, but that is only my personal preference.

What is your experience with XanGo?

Just for fun I wanted to see what MLMs are best represented on the Internet. To give you an idea I listed the top 10 MLM companies based on about how many people search for their name. Avon has been along longer than most MLMs and several years ago they focused on improving their internet presence.

10 MLM companies online (number of searches)

1. avon 410,942
2. pampered chef 209,940
3. mary kay 200,016
4. monavie 130,821
5. quixtar 98,766
6. herbalife 79,995
7. primerica 74,853
8. melaleuca 62,965
9. xango 55,189
10. amway 42,233

Later on the list there were MLM companies like (ones listed first have more searches): shaklee, usana, noni, arbonne international, tahitian noni, nuskin, stampin’ up, nature’s sunshine, forever living products, nu skin, pre-paid legal, neways, nouveau riche, tahitian noni international, goyin

These numbers are approximate, but it gives you a rough idea. What I find interesting is that TNI has three variations of their business ranking: noni, Tahitian noni, and Tahitian Noni International.

We found this post about evaluating an MLM business. The blog generally takes a pro-MLM stance - if there is good training. What I found is good information about the MLM industry by a man named Tim Sales (I didn’t make that up and as far as I know that’s his real name).

So I have a question for our readers - from your experience which MLM companies are the best, and why? How do you evaluate an MLM business?

Lennon Ledbetter, a former Amway distributor who trains Amway distributors seems to be doing pretty well. Two years ago he bought a foreclosed mansion in Utah. And as far as I know he still lives there. He bought the sprawling 9 acre palace for the bargain price of $7 million (appraisals came in at over $20 million).

The previous owner was a [in]famous attorney named Keith Barton. According to a news story about the sale: “The new owner says he will be sympathetic to the Barton family and will allow them some time to move out.”

Judging from the size of the house, he probably needed a lot more than “some time” - as well as a fleet of moving trucks. It sounds like there was a bit of drama with the sale, too bad I missed the action (I mean auction)!

There are some great pictures of the house owned by Ledbetter on this blog. And no, I didn’t make up his name, as far as I know, it too is for real.

The moral of this story is there is hope - it might not be from being a distributor - or from selling product -  but offering services to those who do. Those who Believe. Just consider being a distributor on the job training for your next venture!

If you need a little motivation today, something to make you smile, this MLM joke is for you. Get that grin back.

QUESTION: How many MLMers does it take to screw in a light bulb?

ANSWER: No one really knows because they keep trying to recruit a new person to do it!

MLM distributors could make our best affiliates – because you really get the concept of sharing what you find with your friends. Plus you make money doing it! Basically that’s what affiliate marketing is, only the online version.

Believe is a comedy about the MLM business. It’s hilarious and your downline will get all the jokes!

You have a web site for your MLM business but you don’t take yourself too seriously, right? So enjoy some laughs. Post a movie review. Tell people to go to your site. We give you the banner ad and you put it up on your site. If someone clicks on it and then buys the DVD, you make a percentage of the sale. You can log on to the Believe site and get stats on your sales.

Brilliant!

Here’s where to sign up for the Believe the Movie affiliate program: http://www.believethemovie.com/store/partner/register.php

You know what a Ponzi scheme is, right? Named after Charles Ponzi who ran several pyramid schemes during the early 20th century, a Ponzi scheme uses money from one set of “investors” to pay off a later set. This works great for a little while until investors start to run out.

However, to pay off the first investor, Ponzi required payment from three or more other investors in pay himself and the original investor. Now he has four investors. To pay them all off, he needed 12 more for a total of sixteen. To pay them, he needed 48 more, then 180, then 684, and so on, thus the more well-known term of “pyramid scheme.” It’s illegal because there is no product or service being provided in exchange for the “investment.”

BING! Then a light bulb went off in somebody’s head. Provide a product or service, and suddenly your pyramid scheme is legal!

Along comes Amway. Not the first “legitimate” MLM company, and far from being the last, but it is arguably the most well known and successful MLM in the world’s history. Now, Amway created a lot of millionaires. So it’s good, right?

Sure it’s great, if you’re one of the guys smooth-tongued enough to convince hundreds of people to fork over their cash for overpriced products. Have you noticed that an MLM pitch is never about the product, but rather about selling the dream of financial freedom?

Who do you know who is willing to pay $10 for a $2 bar of soap? But they will if it means getting rich quick! There are no hard statistics on the matter, but some estimate the failure rate of MLM distributors to be as high as 99.9 percent.

I’d rather take my chances at the blackjack table. At least there I have a 50/50 chance of winning and, even if I lose, my garage won’t be full of soap.