In the beginning stamp orders were filled in Shelli’s living room. They quickly outgrew the home and moved in to several different facilities. After outgrowing each one, they finally found a place they could call home, in Kanab, Utah, where the manufacturing side of the company is still located. However, in order to provide additional growth opportunities, the business’s home office was moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. In 2004, a new facility was opened in Riverton, Utah. The company has now expanded its doors to include Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, France and Germany.

The company’s first catalog was published in 1997. The catalog simply featured artwork that could only be found through Stampin Up! What began with only a small number of demonstrators have now grown to consist of tens of thousands of demonstrators. The company credits its success to eight key principles: Relationships, Integrity, Personal Development, Balance, Efficiency, Growth, Change and Positive Environment.

The Stampin Up! Company is a proud member of the DSA or Direct Selling Association. The job of the DSA is to provide and enforce a code of ethics that all members must strictly follow.

Stampin Up! sells their products through in home demonstrators. The demonstrators are able to set their own hours, work as many or as little hours as they choose, make some extra cash, all while having fun working with stamps. The demonstrators attend various different training sessions. As well, they are offered a variety of different incentives to help motivate their sales.

As a host of a Stampin Up! Workshop, you invite family and friends over to your home to learn about exciting techniques and products offered by a demonstrator. Stampin Up! Hostesses not only learn a variety of different stamping techniques, they also get to view new project ideas and have a great time with people they enjoy being with.

When you purchase the rubber stamps, they come unassembled. However, they are quite easy to assemble. You will need to trim the rubber part of the stamp as close to the image as possible. Then you will need to match the rubber stamps with their correct blocks and peel off the sticky label and apply. You will also need to apply the correct label to each stamp. Before long, you will be on your way to creating unlimited projects with your new stamps.

What began as a way for two sisters to make some extra money, all while working from their home, has turned into a company spread throughout many countries. The company allows demonstrators to not only make extra money, but allows them to set their own hours. The demonstrators are able to sell products they enjoy working with, while being able to make lifelong friendships.

Usana has an employee base of under a thousand people scattered throughout the globe with customer’s and associates numbering almost 200,000 per distribution network. Forbes magazine has noted their earnings in 2007 that amounted to $425 million that was generated mainly from it distribution networks.

Usana produces products that are of high quality and satisfy the needs of their customers. To further prove its mission, it has sponsored many sport clubs and sports activities.

Usana operates on the MLM approach. It opens up business opportunities for people who would want to sell its products. In general, the image of Usana is that of a company that is devoted to making people well by its products. Most products offer relief and if taken continuously, can slow the aging process and cure skin abnormalities.

The company has grown because it was able to attract people who could work at home and supplement their earnings from it. Many people have made Usana their full time work profession and recruit more members as possible. Usana uses this approach to build up its members ranks by cultivating and nourishing their key performers. These performers serve as the catalyst for many people who want to make a good business in the home based business.

The Usana line of products are diverse but fall under general categories. There are foods, drinks, enhancers, and nutritionals. The drinks are energy drinks that can boost a person’s sluggishness; the foods here refer to nutrition bars and powder mixes; the nutritional refer to food supplements like pills and special drinks. Usana also has delved into beauty products that enhance a person beauty like face creams, hair cleaners and so on. These are targeted at promoting the wellness of a person. They do not touch on heavy foods for it is costly to do so and would compete directly with famous food chains.

There was a report in 2004 that called the governments attention to the business practices that are being used by its members. So far there has been an inquiry but there has been no official findings yet. For more information check out http://mlmnetworkmarketingtraining.org

Usana relies heavily on a heavy distribution network that moves its products. Each distribution point has the opportunity to create and recruits its own people to start that point. It starts out as a small team then branches out by members recruiting more people to enter the system. A member gets paid when people buy their products – whether it is wholesale or retail. A member can earn money by recruiting new members and gains a commission for that or directly sell items. The more people you recruit and they recruit and sell more then this is where the big bucks come in. The strength lies in active recruiting. Some people have questioned the methods used by Usana to get members or by its selling system but it has been overlooked as being the norm for MLM companies.

There is nothing to complain about their products other than their price. The products are great quality and have a wide variety of choices. The problem I see with Usana is their network-marketing plan.

Usana, while being a great company, places an extremely high priority on recruitment of distributors. The products are important, but the money is made in the recruitment. Usana represents itself as a great “income opportunity” with huge incomes for all that are in it. But what they don’t tell you is these types of MLM’s always lead to a certain loss for the new recruit. Those at the top are benefited while those at the bottom struggle a bit more.

Product based businesses like Usana, present themselves as a business where you can make a lot of money, even quit your job. They lean on the concept that you can set your own standard of earnings! That this is fair, the American way. MLM’s seem to cater to those that got in first and got to the top, the rest have to work a little harder.

They hold up their top earners as representation of what everyone can do. This can be a little deceiving and a bit unfair. Usana is based on a system called the “binary compensation plan”. This is not a bad plan, but what is difficult about this type of plan is it requires the distributor to always maintain two legs in its downline in order to earn any commissions.

If you, the distributor has sponsored one person and they have sponsored others, that is called a leg. That leg could be producing thousands in volume but you would not receive any commissions because you don’t have another leg producing volume. If you have a second leg that is producing a small volume, lets say a 1000, but your other leg is producing 30,000, your commission will be based on the smaller leg of 1000.

The difficult part is you are trying to keep your healthy leg going, but the other leg dissolves a bit. You have to work very hard to keep them both maintained and pretty even in its volume. But the company is making a lot of money off that 30,000 leg. So the company keeps the commission, the distributor works harder to get that smaller leg to match the other one, in the mean time, who loses and who wins?

So, do you want to work hard, have a few hundred people in your downline, spend a lot of money on product and sales materials and after all that to earn a $1000 a month in commission with Usana, or would you like to earn a great residual income that will continue to grow?

Agel Enterprises LLC is a nutritional supplement supplier and a multi-level marketing (MLM) company. lt started in March 2005 in Provo, Utah. Agel currently markets its products to 55 countries.

The product line includes nine discrete gelceuticals, which are the world’s first nutritional supplements that are suspended in gel. Agel also has the world’s first all gel care line with Ageless. The nine different products use proven ingredients to target specific maladies to do things; such as, reduce joint pain, promote heart health, intensify energy, and reduce appetite. Some of the supplements are also notable in that they are both kosher and halal certified, making them acceptable to Jews and Muslims to ingest.

The company has become especially popular in lsrael and many Muslim countries, such as, Malyasia and lndonesia.

A Little History:

The founder of Agel is Glen Jensen. He previously worked in other MLM companies; such as, Nu Skin Enterprises and Neways. He recently joined the World Federation of Direct Selling Associations. ln September of 2008, the company moved its global headquarters from Provo, Utah to Lehi, Utah. The move was done to accommodate the rapid growth as well as to put it closer to Salt Lake City Airport.

Business Model:

To become an active Agel distributor, you must first order your Agel Roadmap. There are two choices, either the Executive Kit or the Personal Pack. You also have to setup your automatic monthly autoship.

Since Agel does follow the structure of a multi-level marketing business model, you more than likely will be instructed to create a list of 100 names, initiate a marketing campaign (with emphasis on recruiting people), and to commit to making at least two contacts per day.

Agel Training:

Monthly Product Webcasts conducted by Agel Corporate: This is every first Wednesday of each month where you get information on the various products from the experts.

Private Business Review (PBR) progam: Schedule a grand opening PBR in your home or somewhere else. The goal here is to develop a team and do a weekly PBR.

Plug into Agel Business Brief (ABB) network: Participate in a local event or meeting. For those areas that do not have an available ABB, make one.

Participate in Weekly Leadership Calls: Be in contact with your local leaders frequently for updated information and motivation.

Book attendance at major Agel events: Agel World is held annually and regional Go Diamond Weekends are held periodically.

30 Minutes a day of personal development: To focus on your goals, review progress, and plan you day.

Agel Compensation Plan:

There are nine ways to make money in Agel. The Agel Comp Plan includes expense allowances, travel award funds, team volume commissions, matching bonuses, and luxury car fund.

To create a commission, you must first be on autoship. lf you are on autoship, then you can earn an income through the following methods:

Retail sales: selling of the various products.

First order bonus: earn once you have recruited someone. If your new Agel distributor buys the Executive Kit, you earn $200. If your new Agel distributor purchases the Personal Kit, you earn: $35.00

Each personal enrollment also counts towards your commissionable volume.

Executive Rank Qualifications: Each month 1% of Global CV is shared amongst team members.

To qualify for the bonus, team members must be either a Supervisor, Manager, or Senior Manager. An additional 0.5% of the CV is shared amongst those who qualify at Director or Regional Director.

Annual Leadership Retreat: Each year, usually the Diamond Director and above are invited to a once a year leadership retreat and other special events. Expenses are paid for and luxury accommodations are provided as you increase you level of success.

Expense Account: Another perk for those who are at the Senior Director level and above. This lump sum is paid monthly.

Senior Director: $500
Corporate Director: $1000
Diamond Director: $1500
Double Diamond Director: $2000
Triple Diamond Director: $2500
Quadruple Diamond Director $3000

The money is to help pay the costs of building your business.

Luxury Car Bonus: For those at Senior Director and above. This bonus is designed to pay for cars and related costs but you are not required to turn in any receipts and can use the bonus any way you want.

Senior Director: $500
Corporate Director: $1000
Diamond Director: $1500
Double Diamond Director: $2000
Triple Diamond Director: $2500
Quadruple Diamond Director: $3000

Team Volume Commissions: This is for residual income. Basically, the compensation is a two-leg business structure. You earn 10% commission on your lesser leg, which means that for every unit of CV you accumulate in your lesser leg, you will receive ten cents back in Team Volume Commissions.

Leveraged Matching Bonus: You can earn up to 50% of the Team Volume Commissions being earned by any team members that you have personally sponsored, up to 7 levels down.

Conclusion:

Agel MLM Opportunity is an MLM company that seems to be a viable business for anyone interested, but it not one without its criticisms. Many of the complaints against Agel focus on excess predictions of sales volumes and resulting bonuses, high “buy-in” costs as well as the
complicated compensation structure.

There have also been some complaints regarding the effectiveness of the Agel products.

Overall, many supporters and merchants who are involved in Agel say that it is a genuine, profitable multi-level marketing business opportunity. It has taken steps to deal with the complaints.

In essence, Agel offers a unique business opportunity for those interested. lt is a viable opportunity and you can generate a worthwhile income, but only through hard work and diligence.

I might add here that the trainings given are not satisfactory for many individuals who do decide to join. Most of the success generated will stem for using offline methods taught by Agel, which involves having a large list of family and friends and/or the capability to sell.

If none of these apply to you, you might want to consider using a marketing system that will train you on how to market your Agel opportunity using primarily the internet. Most marketing systems also provide a sales funnel that allows its members to generate an income while developing their business. This will help offset any costs you encounter from your marketing, as well as you overall business.

If you use the offline or online marketing strategies to building your Agel business, you need to be open to learning new skills. This is the necessity of every entrepreneur.