MLM Products for Floxies

Let’s talk about MLM companies.  First, MLM means multi-level marketing.  Avon, Mary Kay, Arbonne and Pampered Chef are all examples of MLM companies.  Their sales/distribution model is one in which independent sales reps (as opposed to employees) sell the products directly to consumers – typically by throwing parties and whatnot.  The “multi-level” part of MLM means that the sales people get other people to sell the product too.  So, Sophie is a sales person for Mary Kay.  Sophie gets Lori to start selling Mary Kay products.  Sophie will make money off of not only what she sells directly, but also what Lori sells.  So it ends up being a big pyramid in structure.  But it’s not a pyramid company, because pyramid companies are illegal – technicalities.  Anyhow, you make money based on how much of a product you sell, and how much of it the people under you sell.  That makes sense, right?  If not, google will tell you more.

The reason that I’m mentioning MLM companies is because there are several floxies who have been helped by products that are sold using the MLM model.

Before I go into what those products are, I’m going to editorialize a bit (it’s my blog, I do what I want! :p ).  The sales method does not say anything in itself about a product.  There are good and bad products sold through the MLM model.  There are also both good and bad products sold through the traditional retail model.  A product is not a “scam” just because it is sold through the MLM model.  There are some very good (or at least perfectly fine) products that are sold by MLM companies.  There are also some products that are crap that are sold by MLM companies.  Just like when you go to Target – some stuff is great but not everything is.

There are pros and cons for the consumer in buying from companies that utilize the MLM model.  The pros are that the sales person generally knows a lot about the product that s/he is selling, and you get to socialize while you shop.  The cons are that every sales person for a MLM company has an inherent conflict of interest.  The sales person has a financial interest in you buying in to the product – not just because they get a commission off of the sale (and all MLM products are marked up a significant amount), but also because they want you to believe in the product so much that you want to sell it.  So, it’s really difficult to tell whether a person who is singing the praise of a product sold by an MLM company was genuinely helped by the product or if they just want you to buy it so that they can make money.  (Also, there tends to be a lot of cult-ish Kool-aid being drunk in the MLM company culture.)

BUT, if someone believes in a product enough to want to sell it and to want to get their friends to sell it, well, maybe it’s just a good product and what I wrote above is just cynical.

Here are the MLM companies and products that have been reported to help Floxies:

1.  doTerra essential oils – http://www.doterra.com/us/  Here is a post that Erin wrote about her experience with doTerra essential oils – http://blogs.naturalnews.com/fluoroquinolone-recovery-brought-to-you-by-nature/  Several Floxies have reported being helped by the oils.  I can’t say that I know much about them, but I certainly believe the reports of the Floxies who like them (especially the ones who aren’t selling the oils and therefore have no conflict of interest).
2. Asea – http://www.asea.net/  They say all the right things about redox signals and complex cellular feedback mechanisms that are definitely broken in us Floxies.  I don’t know if Asea is actually a way to fix those broken feedback loops or if it’s just expensive salt water.  No clue.
3. Isagenix – http://www.isagenix.com/ – Nutritional supplements of all types.  They have some amino acid blends that look interesting.  I’m not sure that you can’t get something equivalent from Whole Foods though.
4. Zija – http://drinklifein.com/ – I haven’t looked into it yet, but I heard from a fellow Floxie that it helped her a lot.
5. Usana – http://www.usana.com/ – See comment below from Destruida

I have zero personal experience with any of these companies or products.  I don’t know much about them.  Each one has been reported to help a Floxie friend or two.  Will they help you?  I don’t know.  I certainly hope so – if you want to try them.  If you don’t want to try them because you don’t like the sales model, or because you read something negative about them on the internet, that’s cool too.  I recovered without using any of these products.  But that doesn’t mean that other people can’t be helped by these products.  Other people have been helped by these products.  So… there ya go.

Floxie friends who sell these products, feel free to put your contact info in the comments section of this post.

But friends, all of you, if you decide to sell these products, PLEASE do not try to get customers from the Floxie support groups.  That’s a tacky way to try to get customers and it will get you kicked out of the support groups.

With all that said, I am now off to an Arbonne party that my co-worker is throwing.  Hopefully I’ll get enough free champaign to make up for the dent in my wallet.