MonaVie started doing business in 2005. "We have the fastest growing company in the world" stated his founder Dallin Larsen. MonaVie allegedly does business in 5 different countries. As per their brochure they state that their competitive advantage is a scientifically formulated premium nutritional products. Their business model is designed to be distributed person to person through an MLM or multilevel type business model. But is MonaVie a scam?

"Our products feature an exclusive blend of the powerful acai berry, found only in remote regions of the Amazon, and other nutrient-dense fruits, each selected for its specific nutritional properties." states Larsen. With such proprietary formulas one can only think you have a diamond in the rough. But is it?

My goal for this article is provide factual information to the entrepreneur interested in starting a a reliable and viable business from home. I will not be bashing nor will be cheer leading for MonaVie but giving you hard factual information.

Before I begin, lets discuss the benefits of starting a business you can run from home or otherwise known as a home based business. These benefits are part of ANY home based business including MonaVie.

1. Tax advantages of owning your own business

2. Avoiding long daily commutes

3. Work whenever you want from where ever you want.

4. Not dealing with corporate policy and bureaucracy

5. Your earning are directly proportional to your efforts - no income ceilings

6.AND finally - no boss on your back telling you what to do.

If you visit MonaVie's website you will read that their mission statement is the following - "At MonaVie, our mission is to change and improve lives around the world by introducing unique nutritional products, offering a rewarding business opportunity, and by giving back through our charitable initiatives" you will also come across a serious of questions such as "Is it time that you want, or more time? Health, or better health? An income, or a bigger income? Freedom, or greater freedom? Whatever your goals are, MonaVie can help you achieve them"

If you search online and you read an article that was published in August of 2008 by Tony Dokoupil from News Week Magazine, he says " According to MonaVie's income disclosure statement from 2007, "More than 90 percent were considered "wholesale customers," whose earnings are mostly discounts on sales to themselves. Fewer than 1 percent qualified for commissions and of those, only 10 percent made more than $100 a week. The attrition rate (or drop out rate) was not disclosed but as per a recruiter almost 90% of new recruits leave within 90 days.

Ok so let's get into the active distributors income earnings figures...

If you analyze this statement 97% of active MonaVie distributors receive an average income (before taxes) ranging from $23 per week to $172 per week. This report does not include customers or distributors who have not met sales requirements within any of the preceding 8 weeks to be considered "active.

Now, if you take a look at the actual business opportunity, here is what it looks like for the independent contractor. The initial investment is $40 but to be considered active it gets close to the $200 per month mark. These figures reflect the numbers of a huge amount of distributors that barely break even or make a tiny profit. But it appears that many distributors no matter their success seem very enthusiastic about the products.

Now here's the question and I dislike using this word but you have to when speaking about this particular business model. Is MonaVie a pyramid ? Or is it a viable way to build a business?

If we look at the earlier statement of the 97% of the distributors earning anywhere from $23 - $173 per week, you can see how MOST of the money is made by this group only to benefit the top 3%. Where the top 3% "Black Diamond" level earn anywhere from $1.5 - $3 million per year. If you ask me there is a huge disconnect between the top earners and the average distributor. You draw your own conclusions to the previous questions.

This type of model is known as the MLM or multilevel business model. Where an organization grows by "recruiting" more distributors via opportunity meetings (or sales presentation) which are meetings held individuals in their home or in a rented conference facility such as a hotel. It is the belief of many people that this MLM business model no longer holds true in todays modern economy. It worked for years but many believe it is dead or slowly dying out.

If you're like most people you dislike selling not to mention recruiting. But this is what is needed in order to succeed in any MLM business. You will be forced to talk to friends and family or your "warm market" putting a stress in those priceless relationships. Unfortunately this process is essential if you're going to grow your business in MLM and the hope is that the new distributors your recruit will do the exact same thing in order to push the product and the business opportunity.

The reality is that you have to recruit as many distributors as possible in order to make a nice living, because the way MLM is built it is not designed to compensate your direct selling abilities but rather how many people you bring into your organization. This puts you in a position where you have to teach your new recruits about the products, then teach them how to sell and how to keep them motivated enough so that they do not become another statistic in the MLM industry.,

What has been happening over the past 2 - 3 years, there has been a movement by marketers to sell products and services over the internet. This allows them to leverage technology such as the internet, where the internet does most of the heavy lifting for you and your earnings are directly proportional to your direct selling abilities rather than recruiting a massive team.

In closing, MonaVie is not a scam BUT it is not a viable way to start a home based business. The MLM business model is completely outdated and does not hold true for todays modern entrepreneur that wished to leverage the power of technology. MLM used to work up to the late 1990's where we did not have things such as google, youtube, facebook, myspace and twiiter. No longer do you have to be "belly to belly" or have an "in your face" approach to business if you want to grow successfully, you just need a new skill set and business model that will help you do the same.