Archive for January, 2010
IT’S OFFICIAL ARBONNE FILES CHAPTER 11
Author: Micah
I find it ironic that last week I had a conversation with a new Arbonne rep. Naturally, they were trying to recruit me and during that conversation it was stated that “Arbonne is a multimillion dollar company that has no debt! Zero. 100% debt free“.
I ask at that time if they were sure about that because I had heard from trusted sources that the company might be in financial trouble.
Sure enough, despite the propaganda the company was passing down as fact to their distributors, the sad news of a chapter 11 comes down today.
According to Arbonne….
Arbonne has a direct sales network of 750,000 independent contractors and the company said they would receive their pay and compensation as usual during the bankruptcy.
Given that they have already been playing a little fast and loose with their facts I have my doubts about anything resembling business as usual when it comes to paying their distributors.
I truly hope I’m wrong!
UPDATE 2-Nature’s Gate shampoo, soap maker seeks bankruptcy | Reuters.
Till Next Time
Text “HAITI” to 90999
Author: Micah
No matter how much money you don’t have at the moment Haiti needs help!
If you have a merciful bone in your body follow the instructions below.
1. Pick up you cell phone
2. Send the word “Haiti” via text message to 90999
3. Wait for the return message and send “yes” when asked.
You’ll donate $10.00 to the red cross SPECIFICALLY for relief in Haiti…
The money, which was donated via text messages, will go directly to Red Cross disaster relief efforts in Haiti. According to Jeffrey Nelson, a Verizon spokesman, his company won’t charge customers for processing the donations and is looking into ways to advance the money so it can reach the disaster zone more quickly. T-Mobile has also said it will facilitate the donations without charge. On Thursday afternoon, AT&T said it would waive fees for text message donations to Haiti and retroactively reimburse users for fees already paid. Sprint customers, however, may incur a fee if they aren’t subscribed to an unlimited data plan.
Guys, we all need money! I know that and these are hard times but it’s time to pay it forward and give of what we have.
This is the fastest and most simple way for you to help out!
My prayers are with all of you in Haiti!
God Bless
Next time
INVISUS Direct drops MLM model.
Author: Micah
Our modern world has brought us some incredible technologies.
Just 15 years ago, researching anything meant a trip to the Encyclopedia Britannica or the local library. Who would have thought that in such a short time all of that information and much much more would be available at our fingertips.
Wonderful isn’t it! But it doesn’t come without a price.
With all those wonders comes those that prey on the unsuspecting by breaching the perceived security of your internet connected computers.
Ivnisus Direct offers services that keep your private information private. Good services that, once set up, require little to no additional action from the user.
A couple of years ago, Invisus entered into the MLM industry with this product in hopes of ramping up its sales. And it did, however, the internet and technology business isn’t for everyone and when “less than qualified”, people start pushing these kinds of products, problems are going to arise.
In the past couple of weeks INVISUS made the decision to end their marketing efforts in the MLM arena and instead to intensify their focus on improving their already excellent products.
The reaction to this has been mixed but from my standpoint as an I.T. professional, I applaud their move.
Why?
Because, while network marketing is great for moving large quantities of product with minimal overhead, I believe that Internet Security issues are best left to those who understand, and have experience with, the technologies. The network marketing model lends itself to the introduction of hobbyists and amateurs into a field where lack of expertise can be a dangerous thing.
My opinion is that IVISUS made this move to preserve the reputation of the product and the company!
INVISUS will retain it’s affiliate model and all the changes are scheduled to rolled out in Feb. 2010.
My hat’s off to INVISUS for evaluating their situation and making a decision that best benefits their customers!
INVISUS SERVICES CAN BE FOUND HERE
Next Time
The Newest Face of Avon
Author: Micah
Avon Calling!
The LA Times reports AVON has selected Zoe Saldana as the face of it’s latest product.
Appearing in recent box office hits such as “Pirates of the Caribbean”, “Star Trek”, and most recently “Avatar”, Zoe has been getting a lot of major box office face time lately.
Clearly AVON has taken notice and made a wise decision in making her the face of it’s newest product, “Eternal Magic”.
January 13, 2010 | 11:32 am
You may not have recognized her as the 10-foot, bright-blue warrior princess Na’vi in James Cameron’s sci-fi blockbuster “Avatar,” but statuesque Hollywood starlet Zoe Saldana is otherwise hard to miss.
And come April, she’ll be even more visible — as the face of Avon‘s newest fragrance, Eternal Magic, which, according to the company press release, “takes inspiration from the rare Princess Monaco Rose.”
The 31-year-old actress, who’s been floating around Hollywood for a decade starring in endearing movies such as “Center Stage” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Star Trek,” also will be featured in Avon’s brochure as a face of the company’s cosmetics collections.
This is the actress’ first major endorsement deal (and “Avatar” is her first billion-dollar movie). She also joins the illustrious ranks of past Avon spokesmodels, which include Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Hudson. Looks like the tide has finally turned for the talented screen siren.
Is Ijango dead in the water?
Author: Micah
In August and September last year, ijango was making a lot of noise. They managed to attract a lot of attention and not all of it was good.
I decided to revisit them and see where they are in the new year, so I attended a webinar to see what was what!
Not surprisingly there was the same hyped up efforts to recruit new reps and now there are promises that iJango reps are going to be paid $1.00 per month for every “active customer” they have under them. Sorry, there was no explanation of what qualifies as an “active customer”.
There was a brief demo of the EOS browser which left me wondering at whom this “product” was targeted. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, computer savvy people don’t use these kinds of products and the computer confused will never have the patients to get it set up. It’s a product without a market.
But…
It was that $1.00 per month per customer thing that stuck in my head. Now I know why!
Unless you’ve been living in a cave lately you know about the Time Warner Cable and Fox Network controversy. If you’ve somehow missed it here it is in a nutshell…
FOX wants Time Warner to pay an amount equal to $1.00 per subscriber for the rebroadcast rights for FOX programing, (That’s about $45 Million dollars for 2010). Time Warner says it’s not worth that much and only wanted to pay $.50 per subscriber for FOX programing.
All that has now been settled but here’s where this ties together.
Ijango is telling it’s reps that the company is going to pay them $12.00 per head per year for customers that may or may not generate a dime in revenue for the company.
That’s 12 times what FOX Network was asking from Time Warner Cable! 12 TIMES!
Something isn’t right here! Again.
What exactly is going on? Why are they, (iJango), willing to pay 12 times per head what Time Warner Cable balked at paying for FOX Network?
Has iJango become that popular? Have they actually figured out how to make enough to pay out this kind of money just for using their service and/or their browser?
Or…
Are they trying to “hype up” enough traffic to remain afloat?
Some say that iJango started out with apx. 16,000 reps and that this number has now dwindled to less than half that. They also say that, due to this decline, the web traffic has dried up to such a point that their (traffic based) business model has foundered and may now be dead in the water.
Rumor? May be. I looked at Alexa’s traffic numbers for iJango.com….
Here it is my friends!
This is a web traffic based business that has very little web traffic! A business that offers a product that will not be used by the computer savvy and can not be used by the computer challenged.
All of this means that the very people that iJango targets with it’s hype and marketing, (the technology challenged), are the same ones that will be unable to use it.
Look at the numbers for yourself and draw your own conclusions.
Here are mine.
The whole idea behind Ijango was ill conceived right from the start.
Despite those who claimed it to be new and unique, it’s an idea that’s been tried and failed. The idea failed before and is failing again because hype and hotel meetings are not going to generate “Google like” traffic and create a place where companies will pay to advertise.
It’s not going to happen!
Is there a lack of understanding at the top of ijango?
They seem to believe that the mere act of using the internet somehow generates money, (or at least that’s the sales pitch). It’s time for a reality check folks.
No money is made by anyone until somebody buys something and iJango has nothing to sell!
Having no product for sale, I can only conclude that this business model is designed to feed off it’s own reps and that iJango is simply giving them back a few pennies every month from the $20.00 they are paying to stay in the game.
Time will tell and it’s not going to take long. From the traffic numbers, it looks like people are running away from iJango as fast as they ran toward it 6 months ago. Little to nothing they’ve promised has happened and even die hard iJango reps are stepping back to reevaluate the business.
If something doesn’t change at iJango and change very soon, I fear that this ship will go down by the bow.
Use the brain God gave you, keep the money you earn and never slow down!
Next time
More Legal Actions – YTB Back in The Court Room
Author: Micah
Here we go again!
After two failed attempts, a third law suit has been filed in Illinois against Your Travel Biz, (YTB).
In this latest action against the company, the plaintiffs are seeking $100,000,000.00 in damages and stating, (among other things), that YTB has….
“perpetrated an illegal pyramid scheme that represents one of largest fraud(s) in the history of the State of Illinois and the history of this nation.”
OK, I agree that YTB is a pyramid scam. 70%+ of the revenue is generated from recruiting and feeding off of their own reps and less than half ever make a dime from the travel “product”.
But here’s the issue I see at the moment. This law suit may very well be to broad.
Consider that quote above that TYB is the biggest fraud in the “history of this nation”. Getting a court to agree with that is asking a lot.
We’ll keep you posted as this latest legal action develops but on first look, I suspect that it will be thrown out on the same grounds as the first two.
Next Time
AIT Web Hosting – Is there really money in this one?
Author: Micah
AIT, (Advanced Internet Technologies), is making some pretty impressive claims about their reseller program.
No doubt, there is some money to be made in the web hosting business but the numbers that they are showing seem overly optimistic.
In their chart they show that with just 10 customers your monthly profit is POTENTIALLY $893.00… http://www.ait.com/reseller-program.php
Here’s my problem with their numbers.
Web hosting simply is not that expensive and this $893.oo number they show you is based on a single month in which you are charging every single customer a $249.00 setup fee.
In a world of $20.00/mth hosting with no setup fees this would be a really really hard sell!
AIT is a good company but the numbers they are showing you don’t work. If you’re looking for this kind of home based business it might be in your best interest to keep on looking.
Till Next Time!
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