Kathy Smith’s Blog and Your Gateway to Success

I want to thank and honor those who bravely serve our country. America is founded on the principle of freedom, justice, and liberty for all.

Our nation’s soldiers serve every day to protect our country and its ideals. On Veteran’s Day, take a sacred moment to remember  those who sacrifice their lives every moment to achieve peace and democracy for us.

And with that, I would like to share a wonderful story from 52Best’s Friday Story.

* A Gift from Our Veterans *

In September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a social studies school teacher at Robinson High School in Little Rock, did something not to be forgotten. On the first day of school, with the permission of the school superintendent, the principal and the building supervisor, she removed all of the desks out of her classroom.

When the first period kids entered the room they discovered that there were no desks.

“Ms. Cothren, where are our desks?”

She replied, “You can”t have a desk until you tell me how you earn the right to sit at a desk.”

They thought, “Well, maybe it”s our grades.”

“No,” she said.

“Maybe it’s our behavior.”

She told them, “No, it’s not even your behavior.”

And so, they came and went, the first period, second period, third period. Still no desks in the classroom.

By early afternoon television news crews had started gathering in Ms.Cothren’s classroom to report about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of her room.

The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students found seats on the floor of the deskless classroom, Martha Cothren said,

“Throughout the day no one has been able to tell me just what he or she has done to earn the right to sit at the desks that are ordinarily found in this classroom. Now I am going to tell you.”

At this point, Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it.

Twenty-seven U.S. Veterans, all in uniforms, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk. The Vets began placing the school desks in rows, and then they would walk over and stand alongside the wall.

By the time the last soldier had set the final desk in place those kids started to understand, perhaps for the first time in their lives, just how the right to sit at those desks had been earned. Martha said,

“You didn’t earn the right to sit at these desks. These heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. Now, it’s up to you to sit in them.

It is your responsibility to learn, to be good students, to be good citizens. They paid the price so that you could have the freedom to get an education. Don’t ever forget it.”

~ Author Unknown ~

Note: Stories similar to this can often be an “urban legend” and the false product of a creative mind. However, this is not fiction and is a true story. Please check Snopes by Clicking Here for the complete this story.

Kathy

“On this Veterans Day, let us remember the service of our veterans, and let us renew our national promise to fulfill our sacred obligations to our veterans and their families who have sacrificed so much so that we can live free.”
- Dan Lipinski

“My heroes are those who risk their lives every day to protect our world and make it a better place–police, firefighters, and members of our armed forces.”
- Sidney Sheldon

“The willingness of America’s veterans to sacrifice for our country has earned them our lasting gratitude.”
- Jeff Miller

Many people are searching for a home based business, especially in this poor economy.  Ideally, they would also like to make a difference in people’s lives as well as earning extra money.  So instead of stuffing envelopes or something mundane, really contributing and being compensated for it.  I have come up with a definition of four different kinds of unique opportunities where 3 of them are the “black holes” that people fall into and then there’s what I call the “fourth kind”.  I am going to explain how the fourth kind of an opportunity can change your life.  I do want to add a disclaimer that this is my definition that I came up with for explaining the four different kinds of unique opportunities.  It was an easy way of explaining and helping you to have a different perspective.

What is the fourth kind?  There are many different home based businesses and many of them are established and have good products but don’t have something unique to set them apart.  I am going to describe the four kinds of “unique” opportunities and why you only want the fourth kind.

The first kind is a scam. It may appear to be very unique and seem too good to be true.  Caution – when something seems too good to be true, it usually is.  You need to do your research and search on the internet and check the Better Business Bureau.  There are tons of scams on the internet that people are attracted to that seem like they will provide the answers to their problems.  Many people lose thousands of dollars and then sadly give up, thinking there is no possibility of their making money by having a home based business.

The second kind is based on just recruiting or no real product.  Whatever the business, it looks really interesting and the idea seems really unique.  But . . . word of caution – if it’s just based on recruiting or no real product -  it’s either a pyramid or a ponzi.  What’s the difference?  Well, with a pyramid, they promise consumers or investors large profits based primarily on recruiting others to join their program, not based on profits from any real investment or real sale of goods to the public.  A ponzi, on the other hand, has no product.  As the FTC explains, “A Ponzi scheme is closely related to a pyramid because it revolves around continuous recruiting, but in a Ponzi scheme the promoter generally has no product to sell and pays no commission to investors who recruit new “members.” Instead, the promoter collects payments from a stream of people, promising them all the same high rate of return on a short-term investment. In the typical Ponzi scheme, there is no real investment opportunity, and the promoter just uses the money from new recruits to pay obligations owed to longer-standing members of the program. In English, there is an expression that nicely summarizes this scheme: It’s called “stealing from Peter to pay Paul.” In fact some law enforcement officers call Ponzi schemes “Peter-Paul” scams. Many of you may be familiar with Ponzi schemes reported in the international financial news. For example, the MMM fund in Russia, which issued investors shares of stock and suddenly collapsed in 1994, was characterized as a Ponzi scheme.”

Take a look closely at the businesses out there and if you see that they are talking more about your making money and there’s no real product  – run – run as fast as you can.  Sooner or later, they will be shut down.

The third kind is a start up.  Most people are drawn to a start up because they want to get in at the beginning of the beginning and have the chance for great wealth, but what many people do not realize is that most start ups fail.  They can’t anticipate the obstacles they have to overcome and whether it’s a poor compensation plan, poor product, not enough market research, lack of integrity, poor business plan, not prepared for rapid growth, etc, the bottom line is you invest your time and money only to have the doors close.

Now we come to what I call the “fourth kind”.  It’s not scam, it’s based on real products backed by science and offering something no one else has and it’s not a start up but it’s a ground floor opportunity with a 10 year proven business model with a leader in the health and wellness industry.

How can you have a ground floor opportunity with a proven business model?  Easy.  Have a CEO who has the integrity and 35 years of wealth creation expertise to build a strong foundation with a customer driven business and then after 10 years of this proven business with over 50 nutritional products that are backed by science, introduce a product that is a category breaker.  Something that has no competition and can provide a true wellness experience for people.

Curious?  Find out more by going to:  www.trivitacactus.info

Enjoy life!

Kathy
718-407-0035

# : 13158176

Meta Keywords Tag is Dead!  The sky is falling – the sky is falling.  This is what you’re seeing blasted out on the internet.  What does this mean?  Well, one of the biggest topics for anyone in internet marketing is search engine optimization.  From your websites to blogs to lens to articles, etc.  Many people have put a lot of weight on Meta tags.  First of all, for what are meta tags?

Metadata is information about data. The <meta> tag provides metadata about the HTML document. Metadata will not be displayed on the page (except for the description and you’ll see the title at the top of your browser), but will be machine parsable.  Meta elements are typically used to specify page description, keywords, author of the document, last modified, and other metadata. The <meta> tag always goes inside the head element of your html. The metadata can be used by browsers (how to display content or reload page), search engines (keywords), or other web services.

There are three key meta tags:

1)  Title
2)  Keywords
3)  Description.

Title has the heaviest weight so you always want to have your primary keyword in your title.  Keywords are another story.  Many people do what’s called “keyword stuffing”.  That’s when you list tons of keywords thinking you’ll get your website or whatever you’re submitting higher on in the search engines.  And you might for a short period of time, but then you’ll see it disappear.  Why?  Because it’s considered spamming or what some people call “Black Hat SEO”. You really only want to have about 5 keywords listed.  The Description should be keyword driven but offer a description of what your page is about and have it compelling enough for someone who reads it to want to click through on it.

Now, Google has said they don’t use the meta keywords for ranking and they haven’t for some time but Yahoo did.  In fact, September 21, 2009, Matt Cutts published on the Google Webmaster Central Blog that “Google does not use the keywords meta tag in web ranking”, and stated even more directly that Google could care less about the meta keywords tag.  Well, now Yahoo is on board too and that’s the big announcement right now.

During the a Search Engine Q&A session at the SMX East conference in New York this week, Yahoo officially announced that they have stopped supporting the meta keywords tag as an ranking factor in their web search algorithm. Yahoo was the last major search engine to openly admit that it was an element of their search ranking results.

So many people are worried but it’s really not a big deal.  First of all, should you change your practices?  No.  I just wouldn’t spend as much time worrying about it.  The description does still matter because Google will pick it up to describe the page (as long as it’s written based around the keywords in your page).   One consideration when writing the description is to watch your length because if Google does list it, you don’t want it cut off.  The title tag still matters and I would still populate the keyword tag with some primary keywords.  There are other search engines out there that may pick up on it.  The Golden Rule is to make sure your meta keywords tag contains keywords and phrases that are relevant to the page content.

What you have to realize about search engine optimization is there are many key factors to being listed in the search engines.  Google will never reveal all their criteria but there are some that are common sense.

Google still looks at title tag, on-page content (including Header tags) and of course – linking – internal and external as well as other factors.  Page Rank is important too but the first criteria to me is content.  Write something worthy to read about and be focused.  When you are writing something you want to have a keyword that you know would interest people, e.g. they are searching on it and then check the competition.  If there is a lot of competition, then you want to have a long tail keyword.  Now write quality content around the long tail keyword and that will help you get listed just based on that.  Add to that quality links and anchor tags and authority and that is what will drive your site’s potential.

One final note – meta keyword tags may not be as important but keywords are and that’s where you want to be able to write with your information keyword specific.  Also, I have someone who I mentored who was frustrated because they felt what they were writing was sounding unnatural because they were trying so hard to insert the keywords into their material.  That means that you’re writing around your subject, not about your subject.

If you have chosen a keyword (long tail keyword preferably) to write about, then it should be appearing naturally with the keywords’ weight to be around 3%, which is every 100 words, the keyword (phrase) should be repeated 3 times.  If you are struggling trying to insert it, it means you’ve chosen poorly. 

For example, I am writing about meta keywords and you’ll see that this blog does not appear to be “forced to write about meta keyword tags”.  That’s how you know you’ve written a good article with content that is keyword driven.  Just focus on 1 or 2 keywords on a page.  If you have it in the title, description and h1 tags and body content of the page with anchors, and the competition is low for those keywords, you will be listed high in the search engines, and of course, still add in the keywords in the meta keyword tags.

So don’t worry about those people who are running around screaming the sky is falling.  Yes, meta keyword tags are not really a consideration but there are many other factors that will help you and if you create a well written piece with taking into consideration some of the key elements, you’ll find you will get listed organically.

More information to come on this and if you’d like to get a jumpstart on Internet Marketing, enter in your name and email and take my course.

To YOUR Success!

Kathy

Before you read any further, I want to let you know that I will be providing a review on Yoli as well as comparing it to a product that I have yet to find a comparison.

I have been in 20 other network marketing companies and I have people come to me to evaluate a business because they know that when I sink my teeth into the research, I do my due diligence.

I am also a believer of multiple streams of income so while I have a 100% belief in the company I am in now, I always keep my eye open for an additional stream of income.  I will tell you that I have not listed all the reviews on this blog or all the research I have done so far.  I have just started to list it but I haven’t yet found one to compare.

So let’s talk about Yoli because that’s why you’re here.  Yoli  is a network marketing company located in Salt Lake City, UT. It is founded by several former Xango representatives who are focused on providing a healthy alternative to the ineffective and high-sugar energy drinks on the market today.

Now when researching a business to join, there are several criteria you should examine:

• How long has the business been established
• Products
• Management
• Unique Selling Point
• Marketing and Systems
• Customer base or Distributor Base
• Compensation

The first point is important because though many people are attracted to a start-up, most start-ups fail because they can’t anticipate the obstacles they have to overcome.  I’ve seen this happen time and time again.  So Yoli has it’s first strike against them but let’s take a look at the other criteria.  I know you may be willing to take a risk, though I wouldn’t advise it.

I will say the company I am with has a 10 year proven track record and just launched a new product line with an addition to their compensation plan that makes it like a ground floor opportunity, but without the risk.

The second point is the products. Now everyone is so excited about Yoli because it’s a nutritional drink that is delivered in what they call a very unique delivery system.  Yoli’s product is called a Blast Cap. It appears to be a small receptacle filled with a nutritional powder that gets screwed onto a water bottle, pushed, and the powder dumps into the water and creates a juice.   It tastes like Tang, and one BlastCap is equal to six servings of fruits and vegetables. Instead of a pre-mixed drink, the BlastCap comes in the form of a small cap that you “blast” into a container of water. Then, shake to mix, and you’re ready to enjoy.It’s a nice idea. Certainly makes shipping easier. But beyond that, it’s another line of nutritional juices in an already saturated juice market and the delivery system is not that unique.

The company I am with, one of their products delivers a similar way, where you can pour the ingredients into water, but this product helps with joint pain.  Golfers have been using it and have endorsed it.  We also have a product that is also in powder form that you can mix and it provides 30 fruits and vegetables.

The delivery system is not that unique so is the product? It’s another anti-oxidant juice which we have plenty on the market place right now.  And if you take a look at the ingredients, much of it you can find on the market already:  Vitamin C and a proprietary blend of some of the most popular ingredients of the day: Pomegranate, Alkaplex®, Acai extract, Gogi Berry, Resveratrol, Oxyphyte™ White Tea extract, Probiotics, and Monatau®,Also, it’s 1 product.  I know they are going to be releasing more but the last company I was in was a start up and promised fantastic products they would deliver on and it never happened.  So just a caution on their promises on delivering more.

The company I am with has over 50 nutritional products backed by science.  They have their own research center and they align themselves with the top hospitals and universities to keep up to date on the latest science and to do independent research studies.  The newest product they just launched has over 100 scientific tests and 2 years of clinical studies proven to reduce inflammation and you wouldn’t believe the fantastic testimonials we have been receiving from people on the dramatic effect it has had on their lives.  It really makes you feel good to share this product.  Oh, and it doesn’t have preservatives either.

But my focus here is giving you a review on Yoli, so let me continue.  Management is next. The folks who started Yoli have prior network marketing experience and that’s great but from what I understand they may also have problems because Xango has a problem with some of them leaving to start a new company.  I will also say this, just because they have years of network marketing experience doesn’t mean they can start a successful company.  I wish them the best but to me, it’s more important to be in a company that has that proven record.

The CEO of the company I am with has over 38 years of experience with a multi-million dollar media company and he also founded his own fulfillment company and research company.  When he had health challenges and he found his path to wellness, he started this new company in 1999 to share his knowledge and help others experience wellness and help them to create wealth to fulfill their life purposes.  The products truly deliver a wellness experience.  He once had someone come to him with a product that would make him millions of dollars and he took a look at the ingredients and said, no, you can get this at the general store.  I won’t make that part of my product line.  That’s the kind of integrity you have with this company that I am in.

Okay – now onto the next criteria.  Unique Selling Point. You have to have something that makes you unique otherwise why would someone join you?  I already spoke about how I really don’t see how the twist cap is so unique and actually I think that can work against them.  When I talk to customers about some of the products I have and I give them a choice between the product that has a similar delivery method, where you open it up and pour it into a drink and shake, they would rather have the actual drink or pills – it’s easier.

But what really makes the company I am in so unique is you can actually acquire customers and affiliate members from the company from the infomercials they generate.  So they have high quality products backed by science and you can also jump start your business by acquiring customers and affiliate members.  Oh, and I forgot one other point – they follow up with your customers for you at no cost to you.  Can you imagine that?  They send out health journals, product catalogs, weekly emails and more with what they call their Master Conversion system.

Marketing – this is really important. Without marketing, it doesn’t matter how great your product is if you don’t have marketing and systems in place to help you build a business.  With Yoli, you are sharing the product and showing their “unique delivery system” and that’s great.

But with my company, you can also share the product and help people with their health issues which is phenomenal but at the same time you can acquire customers and affiliate members from the company.  Also, they have many different sales tools to help you to build your business from video emails, electronic reports, powerpoint presentations, videos, training and more.  They have even trained on social networking and there are multiple ways of building the business but they also have a very simple system in place to help you to be successful.  You truly are in a business for yourself but not by yourself.

Customer base or Distributor Base – this is so important that I should have listed this first.  Most people don’t even think about this but if you look at most network marketing companies, they are distributor based.  What that means is usually it’s the person selling the product who is the customer.  A true test of a product is if you would take it or share it without being paid.  And that’s what we have here with my company and especially their newest product.  With Yoli and the way they are marketing it, it’s distributor based.

With the company I am in because you can acquire customers from the company and because they pay a great bonus if you personally acquire customers, we are building a customer based business.  That’s a stable business model.  In fact, I can even take a percentage of my commissions to continue buying customers, which means that my business will always be continuing to grow.

And last, compensation. I put this last while others put it first.  To me, I think that if you have a good company with a strong foundation and high quality products with systems in place, you will be successful and you will achieve the wealth you need to realize your dreams.  But many people really get wrapped up in the compensation plan so let’s take a look at it.

The Yoli compensation plan is a hybrid of both binary and unilevel systems which makes it both intriguing, and potentially confusing.  In a binary system you place your recruits and the recruits of your recruits (your downline network) into one of two or more legs in your organization. Monthly volume bonuses are typically a percentage of the lowest performing leg in your organization.

While this may not be a big deal at early stages in a MLM business it can be very frustrating if you grow your organization to the point where you have legs doing hundreds of thousands of dollars a month in sales that you are not receiving commission on. This is why the Yoli compensation plan is hybrid system.  There is a unilevel compensation plan based on recruitment but you have to get promoted a few times before that kicks in.

With Yoli, you can join as a Preferred Customer for $29.99 but you don’t earn commissions.

With my company, you can join for $35.00 and soon that will be going away too!  You’ll be able to join and just acquire 1 bottle of the companies newest breakthrough wellness drink.

Yoli also has the Basic Pack at $59.98; Builder Pack at $124.95 and Pro Pack at $239.92.

You can also join with buying a case with my company and that’s $139.99.

With Yoli, I do like that compensation is paid weekly and with my company, you are paid on all bonuses weekly too, with commissions paid on the 10th of each month.

With Yoli, you’re paid a Retail profit which is the difference between the retail and the wholesale.  That always bothered me because it means we can be offering a product to the consumer cheaper.

With the company I am in, there is no wholesale price.  You’re paid a bonus of 30% for 90 days for the new product line they have launched and then 21% lifetime commissions.  (and if it’s a business builder (what my company calls affiliate members) , there is a total 70% fast cash payout – highest in the industry for any new activity for 90 days.)

With Yoli, you are also paid Fast Start Bonuses.  So if you signed up someone with a Basic, you would make $2.50.  Hmm. not that great.

With my company, if you sign up someone and they have 1 bottle of Nopalea on autoship, then you would make $15.00 on that first purchase (and the comp plan gets even better).

If you signed up someone in Yoli with a Builder Pack, you would make $10.00  (The Builder Pack is $124.95).

If you signed up someone in my company and they bought a case of their new product ($139.99) then you would be paid 30% and so you would make, $42.00.

If you signed up someone with the Pro Pack, you would make $40.00.  The Pro Pack is $239.92.  So in my company, you’re paid $42 on that sign up when they are only paying $139.99 whereas with Yoli, you have to sign up someone with $239.92.

Now Yoli has a Break Even Bonus and that part at first I thought was great because it can help pay for your autoship but then that means you don’t have to purchase the product.  As I’ve said before a true test of a product is that you would purchase it without getting paid.  I think you need to be in a company that you want to and will purchase the product.  So I’m actually glad that we don’t offer that.

Oh, and in Yoli – they have a cap on your weekly earnings.  A cap!  That means they haven’t constructed a good compensation plan in my opinion because it means they are afraid of breakage.  We don’t have a cap on our compensation plan.

Promotions are earned in the Yoli compensation plan based on the monthly volume of your lowest performing leg. This is common of binary systems.

What I like about the company I am with is they have a unilevel with what I call a modified binary.  You’re not penalized for your other leg.  There’s a 50% rule.  Any one leg can’t contribute more than half of the points for that rank, but guess what?  You get paid on ALL the volume (of course, depending on your rank).  So in a binary, you could have 10,000 volume in one leg and 5,000 volume in another leg and you’re only paid on the 5,000.  In my company, if the points for the rank is 5,000, you are paid on all 15,000, depending on the tiers you qualify for but when you first start you are already qualified for 3 tiers and just having $40 on autoship and 1 personally sponsored and you are already qualified for the 4^th tier.  All of this unlimited width.

You will also hear about an executive matching bonus with Yoli, but you have to be a 5 Star Gold to achieve that matching bonus and that is GV of $2,000 in your weaker leg and have 1 to 5 Stars in your separate legs, and you have a cap of $1,300 weekly.

As I said, we don’t have that cap and with the company I am with you are paid you a generous bonus over your first 90 days for each new Sonoran Bloom member you acquire. A 70% fast cash payout is distributed three tiers down and to the upline Directors in your organization, and there’s more to the compensation plan that I can share with you if you’re interested.

One of the nice things about Yoli is they indicate they are going to give back.   The YoliGive program is a way of giving back some of the wealth and abundance generated through Yoli revenues back to people in need. Yoli will partner with several charities that reflect our commitment to helping disadvantaged people from around the globe.

Now, of course, they say they will and hope they do fulfill that.  The company I am with donates time and money to charities including, The House of Giving and has been for a while and they also work with doctors to teach them about health products and solutions.

Also, with my company I can place people anywhere I want to and help folks out but they can also acquire customers directly from the company. Not only that but we will be able to acquire affiliates from the company too from the infomercials airing on the new product.

So to me, There’s no comparison.

For me the main points that I won’t be joining Yoli is:

• it’s a one product company (right now – yes, I know, they’re coming out with more products too but it’s also a variation on their initial product,
• they don’t have a category breaker product,
• it’s a distributor based model, not customer based;
• they don’t follow up with your customers
• they don’t have infomercials generating customers for you
• you can’t acquire customers and affiliate members from the company
• and it’s a start up.

I am in a company that I haven’t yet found a comparison. TriVita has high quality nutritional products where you can acquire customers from the company and they do the follow up for you. TriVita is a generational business that will be paying me for years to come.

That’s why my commitment is to TriVita. With all the programs that people have approached me with, I haven’t been able to find a company like TriVita. TriVita has a commitment to excellence, to high quality products, to helping their affiliate members succeed and providing the best service for the customers and to truly help others experience better health, a better life and in following that path also achieving greater wealth to achieve their life purposes. I love their mission statement and I have embraced it completely. TriVita’s mission statement is: “To inspire people to experience wellness and to create wealth for their life purposes.”

With TriVita, I will not have to jump from business to business anymore and if you chose to join Yoli, I wish you the best of luck but if you want to be in a company that is about to take off from the infomercials airing on their new breakthrough wellness product and the opportunity to international expansion, call me on 718-407-0035.

And if you do chose to join Yoli, I’ll leave the light on for you.

Call me on 718-407-0035 and I can answer any of your questions and go HERE to read more about TriVita and find out more about their new breakthrough wellness product, Nopalea, go to: www.trivitacactus.info.

Wishing you good health and great wealth!

Kathy

Independent TriVita Affiliate Member Katherine Smith ID# : 13158176

I have so many people approach me about other business opportunities. I have been pretty good about analyzing the businesses and I’d like to provide you with information that can help you make the best decision for you on whether or not to join Mandura. If you’ll look on my post on Efujson, you’ll see I called it. Many folks jumped to it and now they’re looking for something else.

Mandura is the latest start up that people are jumping to and I was asked to take a look at it and here’s my thoughts. Mandura is a multi-level marketing company in the Health and Wellness sector that is based out of Utah. They promote a fruit juice that is said to be one of the best antioxidant juices on the market. With that claim in mind, is Mandura going to be the next big thing in network marketing, or will it be just another fruit juice company?

First of all Mandura’s a start up. On one hand that’s great because as we all know if you get in at the beginning you really have the chance to make the kind of income you dream about. Of course, most start ups fail and with the last one that I was in where I put 2 years of my time and resources only to have it close up, I will never be in a start up again. That’s just my word of caution with start ups but I know it will still attract many people like moths to light. The business I am in is a ground floor opportunity but with a proven business model.

Second of all Mandura is a one product company. The one product, coined “A Royal Family of Fruits” contains Durian, Mangosteen, Acai, and Blueberries. I’m sure it tastes wonderful and has some excellent anti-oxidant qualities, but aren’t there plenty of mangosteen and acai products on the market? Also, the problem with one product companies is if there’s a problem with the product, there goes your product. But the main problem that I see is it’s not a category breaker product.

The company I am with has over 50 different nutritional products and has a phenomenal Superfruit Juice that is a category breaker. It’s based on a cactus that the National Institute of Health has studied and there are over 278 peer reviewed scientific tests. Folks from all over the world are constantly come to the Sonoran Desert to study the cactus and other plant life because the Sonoran Desert is the only desert in the world that has such an extreme environment and what the plants produce to survive in the desert also help us.

But my focus here is on Mandura. One other concern I have about the product is that Durian seeds are toxic. Now I am sure that the processing will be done correctly and that won’t be a problem but that still bothered me to read it.

You also have to pay $10 a month for your Mandura website. I like to be with companies where you don’t have to pay for the website. You have enough costs as it is.

With the retail sales, from what I can see, In order to be eligible for this commission, your retail customer must purchase Mandura directly from the official Mandura website. You send your customer to one site but you are responsible for keeping track of your sales for your 1099. That was a red flag to me. I can’t see the IRS being too happy over that one.

But when you talk to someone in Mandura, one of the key areas that everyone is excited about is it’s compensation because it’s 1 line. After you join, everyone falls under you in one line. It’s a great concept but this is where it really starts to become a distributor based model – not a customer based model. I really see Mandura as a distributor based model and you have to have $100 on autoship to be active.

I am a firm believer in a customer base model. If your income is based on distributors, then when they stop working the business or jumping to the next shiny thing, your income goes down. A person who recently joined TriVita had thousands in his downline in another company but they slowly dwindled away and here he is again looking for something else. I know folks in TriVita who built up their business with customers and are making six figure incomes. I am not saying you’ll make that but the customer model is a stable model.

With my company I can place people anywhere I want to and help folks out but they can also acquire customers directly from the company. Not only that but we will be able to acquire affiliates from the company too when the infomercials start in another month. I see true duplication.

Oops – I keep getting distracted – sorry. The focus is suppose to be on Mandura but as you can see when I compare another business to TriVita, they fall short. I haven’t found one yet like it.

There’s no comparison.

And here’s an important point with TriVita – they follow up with your customers. They send them high quality color product catalogs every month; health journals every other month; weekly emails and specials. This is where the retention comes in with customers and with the catalogs, they are able to see all of Trivita’s other products.

And in TriVita, in order to rise up the career ranks, you only need to personally sponsor 3 people – that’s it!

I won’t go into the rest of the comparisons. For me the main points that I won’t be joining Mandura is:

• it’s a one product company,
• they don’t have a category breaker product,
• it’s a distributor based model, not customer based;
• they don’t follow up with your customers
• they don’t have infomercials generating customers for you
• you can’t acquire customers and affiliate members from the company
• and it’s a start up.

I am in a company that I haven’t yet found a comparison. TriVita has high quality nutritional products where you can acquire customers from the company and they do the follow up for you. TriVita is a generational business that will be paying me for years to come.

That’s why my commitment is to TriVita. With all the programs that people have approached me with, I haven’t been able to find a company like TriVita. TriVita has a commitment to excellence, to high quality products, to helping their affiliate members succeed and providing the best service for the customers and to truly help others experience better health, a better life and in following that path also achieving greater wealth to achieve their life purposes. I love their mission statement and I have embraced it completely. TriVita’s mission statement is: “To inspire people to experience wellness and to create wealth for their life purposes.”

With TriVita, I will not have to jump from business to business anymore and if you chose to join Mandura, I wish you the best of luck but if you want to be in a company that is about to take off from the infomercials to air soon on the product and the opportunity to international expansion, call me on 718-407-0035.

And if you do chose to join Mandura, I’ll leave the light on for you.

Call me on 718-407-0035 and I can answer any of your questions and go HERE to read more about TriVita and to find out more about Nopalea, go to: www.trivitacactus.info.

Wishing you good health and great wealth!

Kathy

Independent TriVita Affiliate Member Katherine Smith ID# : 13158176

I was part of a start-up where myself and many experienced networkers really thought we had found the business where we would achieve that walkaway income. Of course, as most start-ups do, it closed down. Two years of putting in my time and resources only to have it close down. Independent Business Owners lost thousands of dollars that they had put into the business. I had been in about 15 other programs but that last one really hurt because the belief was so strong that this was the business where we could all achieve our financial dreams but for many reasons, it imploded.

I decided once and for all, I was going to do my due diligence and write out a list of criteria and really research the next business that I was going to join and I wanted to make that business the last business I will ever have to be in. I didn’t want to jump from business to business as I have seen many others do and I didn’t want to be in a start up because most start ups can’t anticipate the obstacles they have to overcome.

Ironically since the start-up I was in closed down, I have seen many leaders jumping and just recently I have seen them jump again. Don’t jump. Do your research and join the right business and stay with it because there is always going to be some new company where they are going to promise you millions or this is the next best thing only to find out when you join that another company comes out again promising the next best thing. It’s only if you have a huge list of contacts that you can jump from business to business and make money but . . . the flip side to that is people start to lose belief in you because they are wondering if the business they join you in will leave them sponsorless because you’re jumping to the next best thing.

When evaluating a business, here are some points to look for and then see my notes at the bottom as to why I joined the business I joined and why I haven’t found anything better and I’m glad I am building it right now.

Criteria #1: How old is the company?

This is so important. I know, I know, the appeal of a start up is so great because you can be in the beginning of the beginning and make millions but don’t do it. 90% of all MLM and Network Marketing companies will go out of business and fail within the first two and a half years in business. Having a business closing down hurts a lot of people. You should be looking for a company that has been in business no less that 5 years. Then you’ll be stacking the odds in your favor. Side note: I am in a proven business that right now has a ground floor opportunity. It’s no risk because it’s not a start up but you have a start up opportunity.

Criteria #2: What is the Unique Selling Point

You may find the company has similar products but they offer something other companies do not or they have a product that is called “a category breaker” meaning it has no competition. For instance, I just heard someone jumping to yet another new juice company and it has a high quality Superfruit juice but it’s a 1 product company and it’s competing with the Acai and Mangosteen, etc. It doesn’t offer something unique. Also, take a look at what is unique. There is a nutritional company that was a failed nutritional company but was recently purchased by a famous person. It is unique because they do testing to see the nutritions you are lacking but Rod Cook has seen it time and time again that these companies don’t work. If you don’t know who Rod Cook is, then subscribe to mlmwatchdog.com. He has an impressive reputation and many years in the industry.

Criteria #3: Can you be passionate about your product?

There are some network marketers who will say that doesn’t matter. They’ll look at the compensation plan and whether or not they can build it but again, I say, don’t do it. If you believe in the products, you’ll believe in the company and in building your business. It will show through when you’re talking to customers or prospects. Make sure you find a company that has a phenomenal product(s) that is backed by scientific proof and testing and that they are high quality products.

Criteria #4: Compensation Plan

Okay, I did say you have to believe in the products and I’ve heard that it’s a good product when you want to buy the product even if you’re not being compensated, but hey, this is a business. You want to understand the compensation plan. If it falls below a total of 20%, then it’s not worth your time and energy to get involved. I know, I know, there are some that have great marketing plans attached to them like populating through Facebook, and that may be fine for immediate income, but I am looking at a real business that is going to be my walkaway income. When I selected the business I am in, it was to select a business, not a hobby. Also take a look at how many people you must enroll to begin earning income. The lower the number the better. In a future blog, I’ll discuss the different compensation plans from the breakaway to the matrix to the unilevel to the 2up to the perpetual leverage, binary and more.

Criteria #5: Reputation and Integrity

This is so important. You can have a business that is fantastic but if the leadership does not have the reputation and the integrity, it’s going to start to collapse like a house of cards. You’ll find it difficult to bring people in or customers and even more important, you don’t want to be involved in a business that does not have a good reputation. Search on the business in the BBB. Search on the owners. Don’t be fooled by some of the results in the internet. So many internet marketers nowadays use the word scam to put down one company and say why their company is the best. Just do your research and make sure it’s a company that you want to be a part of and that you would want to recommend to others.

Criteria #6: Saturation

What is the competition? How available is the product? Where can it be sold? Can you get something similar at your local store? It’s okay to have some competition but too much is not good. For example, energy drinks are VERY competitive.

Criteria #7: Policies and Procedures

What are the guidelines for marketing? Can you use your own websites? One of my friends was in a business and they could only use the replicated site – there wasn’t a way for you to brand yourself. Another company that I was in would not allow us to use marketing material unless they approved it and they make it difficult to get it to them and then it would take weeks before approval.

Criteria #8: Marketing

Does the company have a marketing system. Many companies have teams that have their own marketing but it is much more powerful when it is company driven. Would you want an infomercial run by a team or would you want an infomercial that is run by a 38 year old media company with programming in 200 countries? hmmm

Criteria #9: Publicly Traded or Privately Held Company

I am including this as a criteria because some network marketing companies make a big deal about this. There are pros and cons to this. For the publicly traded, of course it’s great because you get to see all the financials. But the bad part (and pay attention here), is that they are more slow to make decisions and more focused on serving the needs of their shareholders than their consultants. Whereas with the privately held company, the owners are free to plan long term without concern for short term gains for stock holders. However, this goes back to Criteria #5. Make sure you research the owners and the company to ensure their integrity and reputation.

Criteria #10: Sponsor or Recruiter

This is important. If you find all the criteria above have been answered to your satisfaction, the next question is do you want that person as your sponsor. I always believe in keeping with the person who contacted you first. It’s just network marketing etiquette and I know there are some network marketers out there who would scoff at this but I still abide by it. But are they a sponsorer or a recruiter? A sponsor is someone who takes the time to help you be successful. They will motivate, coach and train you. A recruiter is someone who just keeps signing up people. As the saying goes, they throw them against the wall to see who will stick there, and in some cases, abandons them. In the last business I was in, I had many people from the downline calling me because their sponsor(recruiter) had deserted them.

The next thing to consider is what your sponsor can supply that will assist you in building and training your network. What kind of welcome or training package will you and your downline receive? Does your potential sponsor provide a newsletter, advertising help, training and promotional materials, or advertising? Do they have a proven system that you can follow? There is no reason to reinvent the wheel if the material is already created.

I hope this information helped you. I joined TriVita and it met all of the above criteria and more. I think what I really love about TriVita besides the integrity of the company, the fact that they are aligned with top hospitals and universities to do independent testing of their products, and their products have a less than 1% return rate and are high quality products, and their new product Nopalea that is a category breaker, is the Cooperative Marketing business model. It evens out the playing field so everyone can have success even if they’re not a sales person. You can acquire customers from the company (and the company follows up with your customers for you at no cost to you) and very soon they are going to have infomercials on their new product AND the opportunity where you can start for just $35.00. WOW. Talk about duplication!

If you’re interested in finding out more, go to: www.sixfiguresthisyear.com. Either way, I hope I helped you in any decision you make and I wish you the best of success and good health in your endeavors.

Kathy

Katherine Smith, Independent TriVita Affiliate Member #13158176

I just received a call from someone on my team who shared with me they don’t expect any business growth right now because it’s the summer time. They’re falling into the same trap that newbies fall into or people with the wrong mindset.

Whether it’s summer, winter, fall or spring, if you feel it’s not worth the effort to build your business and you slow down, your business will slow down and so will your income.

There was a great story I read recently where a father had his own business and his son was visiting him from out of town. His son saw the advertising money he was putting into the business and said to his father, this is not the best time to do this. Everywhere business is slow. Meanwhile the father had a great business and was attracting many clients. But when he thought about it, he agreed with his son and slowed his advertising. Guess what happened? His business slowed down and his reaction was, my son was right.

Now of course you’re reading this and saying, Kathy, it is a known fact that summer is a slow month for growing your business. Yes, but you can still be building your business AND your pipeline. Even though it is summer, continue to put forth a concerted effort, and you will LOVE the momentum this builds for the fall.

And if you really take a look at it, there really isn’t any good time to build a business. Let’s see – starting November is holiday season and people won’t want to spend money. January to March is tax season and that’s not a good time. June to end of August is summer time. Doesn’t leave much room to build a business, does it? What you need to keep in mind is be persistent and consistent and you will build a sucessful business.

With the summer time, you can also change your strategy. Realize that people will be out during the day and most of your calls will take place in the evening. If you are able to do trade shows and events, now would be a great time to share your products. Even if you don’t have the money to set up at an event, you can still go and gather business cards and make contacts.

Always get people on autoresponders. Whatever the season. I have someone who responded to my 5th autoresponder indicating they were on vacation but would be getting back to me as soon as they got back. Now that explains why they didn’t return my phone call. And that’s ok – because the autoresponders continued to follow up and it worked!

You should always be reevaluating your advertising. Not just in the summer but always. There are seasonal advertising techniques that need adjustment. I recommend always having more than one method of advertising. You can always make changes and there will be times when one is more powerful than other. Always be building a list so you can be building a pipeline. Maybe you have a marketing campaign that isn’t producing well in the summer, or maybe even COSTING you too much. It’s time to “trim the fat” and get rid of that marketing strategy.

Also, think about this. If most people think that summer is not a good time to call people, guess what? If you’re calling your leads when no one else is, you’re going to have access to more people! I just read recently and thought it was great and will share it here. While there are a few less “fish in the lake” in the summer months, there is a far greater percentage of the “fisherpersons” that pull their bait out of the water.

To share what Jim Rohn has said, water and nurture the crops in the Summer and harvest them in the Fall. If you work just as hard in the summer months, you’ll either be building your business or setting a strong foundation where you’ll be rewarded in the Fall. Where most people who believe in the myth that they can’t build their business in the summer, start to build their business again in the Fall, you’ll have a head start because you’ll be capitalizing on the momentum you built.

And as Henry Ford said, if you think you can; you can and if you think you can’t, you can’t.

So go forth and build your business, and if you’re seeking a business where the company does the advertising for you and you can profit share off their customers, call me on 718-407-0035 or go to:

www.sixfiguresthisyear.com

Wishing you much success, good health and great wealth!

Kathy

I usually like to provide some business tips on this blog but I came across this information from numerous sources and I felt it was too important to ignore. I really feel that anyone that’s in business for themselves needs to take action and reply to this. Many times we complain when something has been put into effect but we have the chance right now to make a difference.

The California Assembly passed SB 17 on a majority vote on June 28th 2009 which contains a provision for a 3% withholding tax on independent contractors. If this bill becomes law, and you are in California your company will be required to withhold 3% of your monthly check and send this amount to the State of California.

If this bill is enacted, it will decrease the size of your monthly checks and create substantial administrative burdens and expenses for All MLM Companies. Throughout history, across the country, direct sellers as well as other independent contractors have been exempt from withholding taxes because many of their expenses are deductible. This legislation sets a dangerous precedent that other states and even the Federal Government could follow.

If you share my concerns, please voice your opposition to this bill ASAP by contacting the Governor and Senate President Pro tem Darrell Steinberg and let them know how you feel.

A sample letter appears below for your convenience, but your communication will be most effective if you use your own words. Contact information for the Governor and Senate President also appears below.

Here’s a sample letter if you live in California:

SAMPLE LETTER:
Dear [ ]:

Withholding on independent contractors, like me, a (name of Company) Distributor, would place a large burden on my family. Unfortunately, once again, the California Legislature is considering an independent contractor withholding proposal.

[Tell your personal story in your own words] I have been a (name of Company) Distributor for more than [Insert the number of years you have been working with your company] years. Originally, I enrolled because I liked the products and wanted to earn some additional money. Now my family depends on this extra income to supplement our budget.

I am not opposed to paying my share of taxes, but it makes no sense to me to send the state my money and then have the State send it back to me when I file my tax returns. I need every dollar I make to run my business. I have to pay my business expenses from the commissions I earn. While I of course support the need to pay taxes, withholding up front on taxes I may never really owe will cause severe cash flow problems for me. My business is already difficult enough. If you burden us with more administration and paper work it only serves to make the business more difficult and less attractive and therefore it will be more difficult to grow my business.

In the end, the State will not end up with any more money. If you do consider a withholding proposal, I request that you exempt direct selling companies.

Please do not sign any budget resolution that contains independent contractor withholding for direct sellers. It would hurt my family and my business as well as tens of thousands of others in my occupation.

Sincerely,

==============

I was just approached by someone about Efusjon and telling me I should join. First of all, my mentor who made a million dollars per year in network marketing, who sadly has since passed away from bone cancer, really showed me what to look for in a business. You don’t want to jump from business to business. You want to do your research so you know you’re in the right business and then make that commitment. My sponsor in the current business I’m in is a great testimony to that same scenario. He jumped from business to business from 2003 to 2007 and at the same time his sponsor on a part time business built it to a substantial six figure income. That’s when my sponsor decided to get serious and within a year’s time rose up the career rank.

That’s not to say I don’t evaluate all the new programs and changes. I do. And every single time, I am rewarded with knowing that I’m in the right business.

Let’s take Efusjon for instance. Yes, it’s led by a leader in the industry and it’s viral with facebook and the games. I think that’s great. And it’s natural energy drinks. Hey that’s great too. And I’ve been told it has a great compensation plan. Well, that may be true for some folks, but not compared to the business I’m in.

I’ve also heard that there are some teams that are going to do infomercials and create a rotator with google. Well, I think that’s great too but I have seen this happen before and it doesn’t work. An infomercial takes a lot of money and you need to be able to make changes and have the expertise. The business that I’m in which has a 10 year proven track record, is backed by a 38 year old media giant with programming in 200 countries.

Of course, you’re going to say, well that’s an established business. I’m seeking a start up. Well, right now we have a ground floor opportunity with a proven business model. The company has just launched a new product called Nopalea. It’s a category breaker product. Do you know what that means? No competition. Do you think there’s competition with Energy Drinks? You betcha! My company’s new product has an addition to the business model providing weekly bonuses for 90 days for each new activity, meaning everytime you or someone within your 3 tiers signs up a person, it kicks off this bonus plan. You can build beyond 3 tiers and you place people where you want with the matrix and you can build to unlimited width.

Oh, and by the way, this company that I’m in will very soon be airing infomercials on both the product and the opportunity and we’ll be able to acquire those leads from the company. How great is that?

The name of the company is TriVita and here’s some bullet points on why I feel TriVita is still the best opportunity around.

1) If someone says with their opportunity they are running infomercials driven by a team – unless the person is a millionaire, they don’t have the resources to pull an infomercial and redo it until it’s done right and they don’t have 38 years of experience like Ellison Media. Even if the infomercials were company driven, you would have to take a look at their expertise. This has been done before by teams and it didn’t work.

2) TriVita has a category breaker product like Nopalea where people are getting results within weeks. It helps to reduce inflammation which is really helping relieve people’s pain and discomfort. Take a look at the products of the company you’re evaluating – if there is competition for their products or it’s a 1 product company, you’re betting everything on that one product. Does your product make a difference? All of TriVita’s products produce results – they have a less than 1% return rate and that’s after 10 years!

3) TriVita has 50 other products where TriVita backends markets to them so they can find out about the products and order them.

4) TriVita has a master conversion system where they build loyalty and they have a system in place to retain the customers and cultivate an ongoing relationship. This is huge because this saves you time, money and resources. TriVita employs a constant stream of benefits to build sales and loyalty from your customers from a monthly product catalog to special offers and discounts to a wellness publication; weekly emails covering health issues and more at no cost to you.

5) TriVita has a fantastic compensation plan

For the Share and Earn:

* Paid 30% for 90 days for each new customer you bring in and then 21% lifetime commissions for customers and
* Paid 30% for 90 days for affiliate members you sign up and then 7% on your affiliate members (3% on first tier but all other tiers are 7%)
* Paid 15% and 10% for tiers 2 and 3 and same scenario above

For customers with TriVita’s 50 other nutritional products:
* Paid 70% bonus for first time customers for TriVita’s 50 other fantastic products and then 21% lifetime commissions.

Then for all your customers in your group, you’re paid paid 4% for tiers 2 to 7 for your customers.

And . . . Remember you have unlimited width. You are not forced to have only 3 on top – that’s just how we build but if you fill all 7 tiers, guess what? You open up another leg.

And this is not including the additional commissions and bonuses you receive as you rise up the career rank and as you rise up the career rank, you are paid additional commissions and bonuses beyond your 7th tier.

Folks, TriVita is airing soon infomercials on this phenomenal product Nopalea and the Share and Earn business. We have a new product launching in October and next year we’re going international and you can even sign up someone now internationally.

That’s why my commitment is to TriVita. With all the programs that people have approached me with, I haven’t been able to find a company like TriVita. TriVita has a commitment to excellence, to high quality products, to helping their affiliate members succeed and providing the best service for the customers and to truly help others experience better health, a better life and in following that path also achieving greater wealth to achieve their life purposes.

Just take a look at TriVita’s mission statement: “To inspire people to experience wellness and to create wealth for their life purposes.”

So back to the original question, Efusjon, will I be joining? No. Should you join? Well, I would say take a look at TriVita. Do your due diligence and I think you’ll see what I did.

Call me on 718-407-0035 and I can answer any of your questions and go HERE to read more about TriVita and to find out more about Nopalea, go to: www.trivitacactus.info.

Wishing you good health and great wealth!

Kathy

Independent TriVita Affiliate Member Katherine Smith ID# : 13158176

I have been receiving calls from many of my friends on their YouTube accounts disappearing and so I decided to share this information on my blog for those of you who may have also been effected by this and maybe you’ll find something of use.

The YouTube Slap.  If you are trying to find your YouTube videos and can’t find them, there is the potential that YouTube has shut you down if you have been using unethical ways of promoting your vidoes.  Hmm.  Maybe I should just say aggressive; or black hat techniques.  Basically if you have been downloading someone else’s videos, creating multiple channels; using massive tags that have nothing to do with the content of your video, spamming, etc. expect to be shut down.

Recently YouTube has been more aggressive about enforcing their rules and guidelines and confused YouTubers are wondering where their videos have gone.  One person I know tried to reach support and was told to go to the forum and ask questions and that got nowhere fast.

There are networkers out there already scrambling and coming up with ideas on how to circumvent this but if you choose to jump on the next bandwagon, I have some advice for you.  Set up one account where it is tied to only 1 IP address and you are advertising “within the guidelines”, so if you end up having your other youtube accounts shut down, at least you won’t have lost ALL your advertising efforts.

What are the guidelines?  Here are some recommendations to follow:

1)  Have just 1 YouTube account per ISP
2)  Don’t use automatic software to add comments, ratings, etc.
3)  Don’t upload duplicate content.
4)  Have videos that show value
5)  Don’t buy views – this is one of the red flags
6)  Have relevant tags to the content of your video

If you haven’t yet been found by YouTube, you might want to make changes now. If you’re like most people you want to be as aggressive as you can but still fall within the safe zone.  Make your priority to deliver value and build your presence with integrity and you’ll have a sustainable business.

Let me know if you hear anymore.  I would love to hear other people’s views.

And by the way, there is a business where you don’t have to worry about marketing.  The company does it for you.  If you’re interested, let me know.

Kathy