Get Google Leads Free EXPOSED

Read a so-called review of Get Google Leads Free or Get Google Adwords Free and there is probably a 99% chance the review was written by an "affiliate". The reason I believe this is that the GetGoogleLeadsFree.com web site has an "affiliate" page that includes suggested "reviews", articles, blog posts, ads and more. So if you find a review on another site, compare it to the "affiliates" page at GetGoogleLeadsFree. The affiliate page is very interesting and I suspect about 90% of the eBook's content can be found within the suggestions found on this free page.

The affiliate page is:
http://www.getgoogleadsfree.com/affiliates.html

Now, to kill the surprise - the Ads a NOT free. You have to pay for them. The so-called "secret" is that you use Google Adwords to drive traffic to your web site and "monetize" your site with your own advertising and/or via selling affiliate products. Of course the product they want you to sell is the very eBook they want you to buy. See my previous post for more on this concept.

So... you can't get Adwords for free, but if you are web savvy and can build a web site, drive a lot of traffic to it, and "monetize" that traffic and make more than you are spending... that's the so called "secret". Does anyone call that free??? I don't. I call spending money on Google Adwords "advertising costs". Every business advertises with the goal of making more than they spend - duh. So do they consider their advertising "free" when they are successful? No, that's just stupid. And if you tell people your advertising is free simply because you made more than you spent - are you a liar? Yeah, that's what this eBook's "pitch page" seems to be doing... lying!!!

So what are you likely to learn in the eBook other than this non-secret? Well again, my suggestion is to visit their "affiliate" link... it seems to give all of their "secrets" to driving traffic and selling their eBook. And if the eBook does have any other information that can't be found on the free affiliate page... then just visit the "forums" that they recommend you advertise/post/link on... at the forums you'll probably find all of the "expertise" or advice you need... as well as reviews of GetGoogleLeadsFree. And when the reviews are glowing... chances are it's an affiliate who took the advice of the affiliate page.

The Masked Guru, The RichJerk & Affiliate Marketing

If you're really skeptical, then you think anyone trying to make money in almost any way is a scam artist. On my most skeptical days I think every product promoted via ClickBank is a scam. They all have the same type of "pitch pages", they are all eBooks, and they all seem to sell for $27, $47 or $97 (what ever happened to ending in a 9?), and everyone promoting them is an "affiliate"... which is someone trying to make a buck by promoting someone else's products. One of the biggest sub-categories is for eBooks that teach you how to get rich being an affiliate... and what they all seem to teach you is how to be an affiliate for the very eBook you just bought and are reading.

Did you get that??? Buy my eBook to learn how to re-sell my eBook... and if you are really smart, you can learn how to write an eBook that teaches others how to write eBooks that promote the selling of that very eBook... and all of these get sold via ClickBank.

TheRichJerk.com appears to be this first version... buy my eBook and I'll throw in a web site that will help you sell my eBook.

These days you see less and less of "TheRichJerk" but now there's "TheRichDude.com"... funny though that it goes to a site called "TheRichPrince.com" and the URL doesn't have either one in it... at least the one I found was "dotdothost.com". This site "reviews" (and I use that term loosely - hence the quotes) other eBooks... and surprise, surprise, he is promoting 2 eBooks. He claims that he was scammed many times over by bad eBooks, and after 39 attempts found the 2 that are not scams. And guess what... one "TheUltimateWealthPackage" is sold via ClickBank... and the other is sold via another affiliate program.

Now... do you believe he really read and tried 39 eBooks... and that he really believes in these two???? Since he gives one a 99% rating, and the other a 97% rating... and claims the other 37 aren't even worth mentioning... I choose to NOT believe him. How could 37 be so bad, and 2 so good? I'm not buying... literally.

There are a LOT of variations of the supposed "real review" that aren't real at all. For example, since one of the biggest recommendations in all of these eBooks is to promote your site (the one promoting the affiliate links) by writing articles... most of these eBooks recommend you write lots and lots of articles about your "niche" (aka the affiliate product you are promoting), and post them on free article submitting sites like ezinearticles.com. So watch out when an overly positive review is posted on that site... and watch out for any "review" site that can't seem to say a negative thing about any product... or don't allow comments so actual buyers can say what they really fee.

Now we get to TheMaskedGuru.com. I actually like his little trick because he does provide value, it's free to sign up, and he promotes his two affiliates (so far) in a more "real world" way.

TheMaskedGuru says he's read the other "gurus" eBooks and he's going to "blow the lid" off them. Funny enough, one of the three he is promoting is "TheUltimateWealthPackage"... so you don't have to buy it from "TheRichDude" since "TheMaskedGuru" will review it so thoroughly that you are essentially getting the content for free.

I signed up for TheMaskedGuru... and over about a 10 day period I got TheRichJerk review... a very thorough one... so thorough that now I don't feel the need to waste my money on it. And what little value is does have, I know now about. This week I'm getting his "DayJobKiller" review via email... one part at a time. So I assume next week I'll start getting "TheUltimateWealthPackage" review.

Now... what I really wanted was The Ultimate Wealth Package review... so The Masked Guru is pretty clever. He gets to promote whatever HE is an affiliate of for 3 weeks straight while I read his reviews. And what's The Masked Guru an affiliate of??? So far it only appears to be for a web hosting service, and an autoresponder service. But since TheMaskedGuru is actually doing "real" reviews... and TheRichJerk one was NOT flattering... I feel like I got valuable information for free (albeit a little slow) and I am much more apt to trust The Masked Guru's recommendation of the web hosting company (when I finally get off this free Blogger service) and the autoresponder (when I finally get serious about building a list :)

So... are they ALL scams... well... if it smells like a duck, quacks like a duck, and craps all over your lawn... then you're more apt to think it's a duck. If it actually delivers what it promises... and then promotes something... I don't mind.

Monavie fans: Bill Clinton, Wolfgang Puck and more

The only "comment" to my request for which companies to review as "scams" or "legit" was for "Monavie", a fruit juice MLM.

Today CNN Money.com featured a story about the controller and former CEO of Viacom, Sumner Redstone, drinking Monavie and calling it a "miracle drug". Unlike wild claims from MLM distributors, when a guy worth $8 Billion dollars and who isn't an investor in the company makes a statement like that, it makes you stand up and take notice.

Mr. Redstone apparently has turned Bill Clinton, Michael Milken and Wolfgang Puck (and interesting trio) into fans of the fruit juice according to the CNN Money article.

Monavie is similar to Noni, Xango and Goji in that it is a fruit juice sold via MLM, however, Monavie is the newest of these names, and is the only one of the three that bases it's drink on newest health craze, the Acai Berry. While Monavie is a private company, they apparently have over 500,000 distributors after just 2.5 years. That's a shockingly large number in such a short period of time.

One reason is probably the "no" answers you get when I ask the 6 basic "legit" or "scam" questions of any MLM which are:

1. does it require you to buy "business centers"? ($39 distributor fee - and you can't buy extra "spots" or business centers)
2. does it pay you if you sign up a distributor? (no commissions paid on the $39)
3. does it require you to buy marketing web sites? (no)
4. does it require you to pay for training or motivational material? (no)
5. does it require large up front inventory purchases? (no)
6. do they force you to cancel in writing or over the phone? (no)

With 84 year old Billionaires calling it a "miracle", and a very easy business to enter or exit... the only problem Monavie could run into is if it's distributors make claims like Mr. Redstones. Calling it a "drug" or making product claims will definitely get them in trouble with the FTC and FDA... just ask Mannatech whose distributors got caught on tape in a June 1st 20/20 investigation, has a class action suit against them from 2005, and in July of this year the Texas Attorney General began a suit against Mannatech for "operating an illegal pyramid scheme" and "making false product claims".

MonaVie's founder Dallin Larsen is also quoted in the article and definitely distances himself from Mr. Redstone's "miracle drug" statement... but that's still where nutritional MLM's get into the most trouble.

Real Estate gurus

I looked up Dean Graziosi.... I guess he's an infomercial guy. I don't see many infomercials, but tend to lump all of them into the "scam" file... and when it's about real estate it gets dumped in there pretty fast.

If you want to learn how to buy pre-foreclosures homes... and YES... this can be a huge (but hard) business, I highly recommend the woman at www.ForecloureS.com. She sells a CD course for $400 or $500 and an in-person boot camp for close to $2,000. These may sound expensive, but many of the other gurus lure you in with lower up front costs, and then start trying to get you to buy $5,000 to $20,000 boot camps. What I like about Foreclosures.com is that she doesn't over-hype her courses, or tell you that it's easy.

So... without knowing much about Dean Graziosi... you can take him, Carlton Sheets, just about every guru at the "Real Estate Wealth Expo", plus other infomercial guys like Don Dupree, Kevin Trudeau and a whole host of others and toss them in the trash.

And I'll give you the Foreclosures.com course in a nut shell... you have to "help" 10 homeowners try to fix their problem, and hope 1 to 2 end up needing your cash in exchange for their deed. But you won't buy unless there's a 30% profit margin less your renovation expenses. Her "try to help first" approach keeps you out of the sleaze pile, and gets "thanks you's" rather than law suits.

Her unique way of busting through the noise (when a homeowner gets a "Notice of Default" the entire foreclosure world descends upon them) she suggests you call neighbors, family, friends (finding them through internet searches) and ask how the Notice of Default person is doing. This gives you inside information, and you can then call the homeowner in trouble and say you were "just speaking to so-and-so and they thought you could use my help".

This gives you a "trust factor" that the impersonal letters and post cards that every other guru recommends can't touch. Then you need to maintain trust by actually trying to help them work through their problem WITHOUT you buying it until it's obvious that they have no other solution. And boom... you are the one they trust, so you are the one they sell their home to.

So is Dean Graziosi a scammer... without having read his stuff... what I can tell you is that there is no new information out there... and I personally would not trust anyone hawking their books or courses on late night TV.

Which "opportunity" are you curious about?

Checking my web traffic stats people have found their way to this blog looking for a few "opportunities" that I haven't written about including:

"inlinetrader"
"bowtrol"
"dean graziosi"
"quixtar" as well as "amway"
"topmodeapurses.com"
"free laptop offer"
"the richjerk.com"

I'm familiar with a few of these... but not all. If you're interested in my take on any of the above... or have another MLM or "opportunity" you're not sure about... post a comment and I'm look at whatever seems to generate the most interest.

YTB update

Pardon the delay in relaying Len Clement's "MarketWave Alert #86" regarding YTB. I can't seem to find a recent archive of his alerts on his site (a May 2004 Quixtar alert in the most recent in his archive section), so if you're interested in everything he has to say in each alert, then I strongly suggest you subscribe to the Alert newsletter as I do... it's free... and it only comes out sporadically. So far he's not one to spam.

As for his update, apparently YTB's attorney Ted Lindauer responded to his initial MarketWave alert about the company in which Len Clement described an investigation of one of YTB's top distributors, Rick & Brenda Ricketts, by the Florida Attorney General. In essense Mr. Lindauer stated "...the product... is a business opportunity".

Ahh yes... sounds like Burnlounge to me. The product can't be the business opportunity... or the store, or the web site that markets the opportunity... it has to be a product or a service... at least that's my layman's understanding of the law.

Now, here is where the MarketWave Alert gets a little unclear... or maybe I'm just overly suspicious of everything... but I take things literally...

Mr. Lindauer apparently also wrote to Len Clement that the Florida AG investigation was in 2006 and that they had dropped the investigation as of November. Len Clement goes on to say that he contacted a Florida AG "spokesperson" who stated that the FL AG did NOT have any meetings with YTB "in November".

Now maybe I'm being too literal here, but the unnamed spokesperson didn't deny meetings prior to November, or deny that the investigation had been dropped. Len Clement correctly points out that the investigative "notice" still sits on the Florida AG web site... but it wouldn't be the first time an old notice was left on a web site. Then again, if you look at the blue bar just above the description of the investigation, it does say "Active Public Consumer-Related investigation". So if the investigation really has been dropped... and Mr. Lindauer is worth the piece of paper his license is printed on, he'd get "Active" taken out or even the entire notice removed.

The bottom line for me is that when I was first introduced to YTB it looked, acted and smelled much like Burnlounge's stores... and while Burnlounge never admitted wrong doing, they pulled the plug on their MLM model. So since it appears that the majority of the money made by anyone in YTB is made when they sell a "business opportunity" and NOT when they sell travel, it looks like an illegal pyramid scam to me... and right now it appears the Florida Attorney General's investigation of RickettsTravel.com is still "active".

"Comments" Now Open for Business

Apparently the "comments" sections here was in "pre-launch" as the feature had been accidentally locked. So now everyone is free to comment away.

I discovered the "comments" mistake on the E4L Forum... the folks there have called me out on several things... funny too that one even called me a "wimp" for not revealing my identity. Duh - if the E4L censorship team finds out who I am they'll ban me from the Forum - which I can currently get into without a problem BECAUSE they don't know who I am.

As for why write a blog? Notice first that E4L isn't the only company discussed here. It sounds like a lot of good people have been sucked into a bad idea over at E4L. On a "Lunch with Lorna" E4L call they had a guest speaker... he's got a huge 1200 person downline in E4L. He freely admits that he's never had any internet opportunity luck stating that he's been sucked into many scams, good ideas with bad management, as well as into companies with bad ideas. It's weird that anyone would trust this guys' judgement since his batting average is ZERO in choosing companies... he obviously hasn't learned from his numerous mistakes... and that's pretty much WHY I would write a blog... the bottom line is that there are MORE scams, more good ideas with bad management, and more bad ideas that people make the mistake of thinking they are good ideas... than there are good ideas, with good management, that are legitimate businesses. I'd like to expose all of the bad ones because they give the entire MLM industry a bad name.

E4L is definitely one of the "bad" three (scam, good idea but bad mgt, or bad idea)... in fact it looks worse... it might be a scam... and it appears to be BOTH a "bad idea" with "bad management".

Since it looks, smells and acts like a scam, even if it turns out not to be one... that OBVIOUSLY means it's bad management. By the way - bad management never produces a successful company... please give me examples of bad mgt and successful companies... comments are open for that - lol.

So the final question is whether or not it's a good idea.

To me... it's obviously a bad idea. You can't make millionaires out of anyone but the founder when there are near-zero margins. Try to undercut a low margin industry... and then promise to share in the minimal profits... there is next to nothing to share - so how can anyone make any money? The biggest knock against MLM's are that only those at the top make any money. To combat that you need very large margins to be able to have the ability to enrich as many people as possible. With no margins, and virtually no one making any money, no one will promote E4L the way they do with high-margin MLM's.

Along these lines is the dumbest of the dumb ideas in E4L which is the belief that a customer who gets a surprise check will be so ecstatic that they'll try to get all their friends to buy from E4L. My question is - WHAT CHECKS when there are no margins? A check for 10 cents... 50 cents... a buck? Even if it were a $50 check on a $2,000 purchase... who does that excite? I can get that on my Discover card, yet I don't excitedly tell all my friends to go out and get their own card.

There are no margins... repeat that to yourself at the end of every statement you could possibly make in support of the E4L idea... without margins... no one can get rich... without margins... no one can get rich... without margins... no one can get rich... without margins... no one can get rich... without margins... no one can get rich... without margins... no one can get rich... without margins... no one can get rich

More "proof" in my mind that it's bad management with a possibility of an outright scam...

1. this week is 3 weeks from my first E4L post when I said I'd make my final call - whether it's a "scam" or "legit". This week they should have a functioning site selling "Entertainment for Less" products - so far nothing is up. Why?

2. this week they are having a conference in Las Vegas at the ultra luxury Excalibur (NOT - my 2nd least favorite on-the-strip hotel there after Circus Circus). What are they going to talk about? Well, every online conference they talk about "dreams" and promises... can an in-person conference be any different?

2. Brad has listed a "cool" eBook in the back office - it's a ClickBank Affiliate link to "GetGoogleAdsFree.com" which has been called out as more or less another worthless eBook... basically it suggests you buy Google Adwords... and send the clicks to a page where you sell more expensive ads. So the ads you sell pay for the ones you buy... plus a profit. Save your $67 - and tell Brad he's making himself look dumb at best... and at worst, he looks like a con man about to leave the country with your money when he's trying to make more money off of you on worthless junk.

The eBook costs $67... and the Affiliate payment Brad will collect is 75% or $50.25. Don't trust me? Read this forum for other's opinions on the eBook.

So... Brad - the self-proclaimed Internet expert since 1994 who wants to teach E4L VIP members how to make $10,000 to $100,000 per month within 6 months... is selling crappy ClickBank products - but nothing else so far (well, VIP memberships and the ability to purchase future customers). Can he do ANYTHING that doesn't appear extremely suspicious????

For those on the E4L forum who want me to "offer solutions"... one idea...GET OUT... find a legitimate opportunity that is already in business, who have a known and trusted management team... and WHO HAVE A PAY PLAN.

Most MLM's fail in their first year or two... it appears this one is a still-born. When the supposed launch is so poorly done - what will it be like when (or if) they do launch.

But here's another "solution"... since you and I can't solve the E4L problem... you can ASK QUESTIONS. Ask for details... ask for the business plan (a business plan was written - right?). Ask to see the bank account and books. Weren't they stating that they would be doing national TV advertising? If so, ask to see the ad mock ups. Ask what Ad Agency was hired to do the work - not just to create the ads, but to place the spots. Ask very specific follow up questions whenever another promise is made (see my HotConference post for what I mean about "details"). You see... there is no solution if this is a scam... the only solution is for you to find out NOW before wasting more time and money. If it's not a scam... and Brad is just a nice guy who has no idea how to launch or operate a business... then there isn't a solution for you and I either... his business will fail, and we'll have nothing to show for it.

Finally - one Forum poster commented on my comment that if E4L became as successful as Amazon.com, the top 1,000 in E4L would be earning $300,000 a year... or some nonsense number.

FIRST - you have to become as successful as Amazon.com. Do you really think there is even the remotest chance of that happening????

Is a 5-person team that can't even launch a simple reseller site going to do what thousands of other companies have tried to do in becoming as successful as Amazon.com? Not even in your wildest dreams will this come true. And UNBELIEVABLE success would be one-tenth of Amazon's or $1.2 BILLION in revenue (also NEVER going to happen) and $30,000 per year for the top 1000 in E4L.

$30,000 for the top 1,000 would be an absolute miracle... even $1.2 million and $3,000 for the top 1,000 would be a major surprise to me.

I don't blame you folks for getting sucked into this one... it happened to lots of people during the Dot Com boom... the sock puppet and it's Super Bowl ads had everyone believing selling online pet food and supplies was a brilliant idea... so you've been sucked in too. But now you've been warned. It's a bad idea with bad management at best... and it might be worse... to date it looks, smells and acts like a scam... by the end of this week... if they still haven't launched... will you still believe it's not one?????

HotConference.com vs. E4L

I logged into HotConference.com's "members only" call today... and it struck me as I listened to the founder Joel Therien what is so wrong with E4L.biz. I don't know a ton about HotConference's business, but there are clearly members with questions... one came up about a new product Joel had promised and when it would be launched. Joel responded with the name of the company he was working with, the date and time of his next meeting, and the names of the people he was meeting with. In other words... DETAILS... VERY SPECIFIC DETAILS.

When similar questions are posted by Members to Brad Morse of E4L the answers are vague... VERY VAGUE. You hear "next week" or "soon". He never tells you the names of the companies he's negotiating with... or anything else specific.

Joel Therien also stated today "I suck as a manager" and explained how he brought his sister into the business who has a corporate background. Now I haven't checked into this business enough to know what the issues are... but they have a functioning business (unlike E4L's non-stop "pre-launch" and now "in-launch" whatever that means) and Joel has a blog with videos of himself outside his home. So EVERYONE can track the guy down. Does anyone know who Brad Morse is or where he lives or anything else personal about him???? In addition... if you Google Joel you get a ton of results. If you Google Brad... you get nothing. So you tell me... if E4L is not a scam... then it's a really poorly run "in-launch" business.

For those wondering about HotConference... it's online conferencing with built in VOIP. That way you can host an online meeting, show your desktop or surf the web live... AND have a conversation without having to use the phone. Since not everyone has a computer microphone I also suggest FreeConferenceCall.com as a back up... everyone pays for a toll call... but there are no set up fees or monthly charges... it's 100% free if you're using extra cell minutes like I do.

You can try out virtually every online conferencing service via free trials... the only thing that E4L seems to have done is to use HotConference which I've decided is my favorite.

E4L update - or lack of one

I listened in on a call that "founder" Brad Morse hosted where I expected to hear an update about when the E4L.biz web site and business would officially launch. Their original date was August 1st... the call was August 11th. In summary... there was ZERO info on when E4L will launch... and yet another "carrot" dangled in front of the starving (for news, a business and money) members.

To recap before delving into this farce of a call.... the business concept is to offer below-market prices on "entertainment" products (e for "entertainment", 4L is "for less"). Despite the fact that Frys.com and Amazon.com among others sell TV's and DVD's online already, they've made this a "dream" of a new idea by offering an "affiliate" or Network Marketing pay plan. Now... there is NO published pay plan... but despite this fact, at least 70,000 people have signed up into the system... all "pre-launch". When complainers littered their members only forum after they missed the August 1st launch, they deleted all negative posts (don't you love censorship - NOT) and apparently even banned people from the forum.

So.. back to the "update" call. Once again Brad said "soon" and "by next week" which he's said in past weeks... all with no results. That is it for the update. Instead he offered another monetary and opportunity carrot... he claims that he's been in internet marketing since 1994... and that he threw thousands of dollars at some experts in internet marketing to share their "real secrets" rather than the crappy eBooks that they all sell... and he's going to train 5 "VIP" members (you had to pay $20 to be a VIP member during "pre-launch") on his system so that he could use that time to develop his tools and gain testimonials. The carrot is that he claims he's going to teach those 5 how to make between $10,000 and $100,000 PER MONTH within 6 months.

OH MY THE EXCITEMENT.... and slight of hand... watch the new carrot in the left hand so that you don't notice that E4L.biz is still not up in the other hand.

For you E4L zealots... I took a look at Amazon.com's financials. Their profit margin is 2.51%. On over $12 BILLION in revenue, that's $300 million in profits. Lets say E4L somehow becomes as big as Amazon... with 70,000 "affiliates" already... that means you'll make $4,300 per year if they share 100% of their profits. Which they won't... maybe they'll share 50% (a typical MLM number) so you'll make $2,150 per year. And that's if E4L can match Amazon... which... no matter how zealous you are... you can't believe they'll get any where near that large - right??? So let's say E4L is a HUGE success and becomes a $1 billion company with 2.51% profit margins... and you... an pre-launch member... averages $215 per year in revenues... woop dee doo!!!!

The reason why the zealots love the "Brad's dream" is because they say people will buy from E4L and get a commission check... which will excite them... and so they will in turn refer others... all into the downlines of the original 70,000. But again, using Amazon's 2.51% profit margin... what checks will these customers get that will so excite them? They'd have to buy a $2,000 TV just to make $50. And on DVD's... if you buy a $12 DVD... you get a 30 cent check????

WHO IS GOING TO GET EXCITED ABOUT THIS????

My problem with all of this is two-fold - the idea seems dumb... and second is that this Brad Morse dude keeps missing date after date, and promise after promise, and he has two solutions for this.... the first is to ban complainers (ie censorship) and the second is to make a new, and totally unrelated promise. The zealots latch onto the next "dream" and stick around longer, and longer, and longer.

What I say to them now is... if he can't launch one "dream"... WHY would you think he could successfully launch another one? What will he teach you in this training program???? How to make money off of unfilled promises????

This one scares me... stay tuned... by the end of August... if they don't launch, I think even the zealots will finally pour the extra large servings of coolaide down the drain.

A "pro" MLM arguement

There are the overly zealous arguers for MLM's (pro-MLM), and there are those overly zealous againts MLM's (anti-MLM).

One person who holds himself out as "pro" but not overly zealous is Len Clement. His site MarketWaveInc.com is interesting... but I find his explanation of his position even more so. Read his zealtots article here.

For anyone pro or con... I think it's important reading. If you're "pro", Len Clement states that he's been successful enough to "get out of the rat race" but that he's never once done many of the things most MLM distributors do... like "flash checks" or what got Amway/Quixar in trouble with the FTC many years ago by selling "training or tools for a profit". And you ought to take this to heart... and tone down those things that give the MLM industry a bad name... especially the ones that are illegal.

If you're "con" maybe you'll decide that it's not the industry... but rather the bad apples. If concentration of wealth at the top is a problem... would you rather have communism or socialism? Or would you rather try to figure out how to improve capitalism in our democratic nation? I hope the latter.

I've got E4l and YTB updates coming... sorry for the delay... in E4L.biz's case, no news isn't good news in my mind. In YTB's case... Len Clement has an update that I'll be reporting on shortly.

USANA - scam or not?

There's an all out war against USANA by Barry Minkow... an ex con whose story would make a heck of a movie or book from what I read about him at en.Wikipedia.com. The scams he pulled to keep a fraudlent carpet cleaning business afloat are nearly as funny as they are devious and unscrupulous. Mr. Minkow even had ties to the Genovese crime family... and even worse in my mind are ties with white separatists. He now says through his time in prison, adoption of Christianity, and earning degrees in religion, he has completed a personal transformation, and now battles fraud.

Now what I haven't found in my research is why Minkow has chosen to pick on USANA vs. the hundreds of other MLM's and the handful of publicly traded ones?

What seems apparent though is that Barry Minkow is a master at manipulation of facts, figures and concepts. This post would have to be several pages long to go through each of his USANA accusations... and I won't do that because as I've checked out his YouTube videos, and his "FDI" site (boy does that sound like FBI... and thus my feeling that he manipulates sounds too to create the right effect... as in "they're being investigated by the FDI" could be mis-understood, and indeed there was a Forbes article saying USANA was being investigated by the FBI... which appears to NOT be true - yikes) because it appears Mr. Minkow's attacks on USANA are attacks on the MLM industry in general with only one of two specifics of USANA's pay structure.

So... I'm going to call USANA - "legit". While I don't like the idea of selling multiple business centers to people who don't even know if they can build one, as USANA apparently does, their overall structure and pay plan is technically legal.

Now if you are anti-MLM, then you would be on Barry Minkow's side. If you believe that there are good applications of the Network Marketing model (which I believe - it's just that there are many more that are poor applications at best, or outright scams at worst), then this one takes further investigation. The bottom line is that as a publically traded company, USANA is one of the most scrutinized MLM's in the world. So if you are an MLM supporter.... Barry Minkow is not the guy you want poking around your MLM, because he'll find everything wrong with it since he finds everything about MLM's to be wrong.

For one take on whether or not MLM's are all illegal, or whether some are legit check out this post. One example is Barry Minkow's statement that the top 3% of USANA make 87% of commissions. Well, this isn't far off from the U.S. distribution of wealth... the top 1% have about 33%... and the bottom 80% has only 18%. I also have two additional problems with the USANA numbers:

1. MLM's attract and lose a lot of new distributors... a high percentage of people who have no business trying to start a business. Network Marketing sounds easy... it turns out to be hard... those who would have succeeded in other businesses too are most likely to rise to the top... top 3% in this instance

2. Customers are often counted as distributors. When an MLM offers a distributor fee to get access to "wholesale prices" you'll get people who just want to buy the product for cheaper counted among the "failing" distributors.

For USANA... I don't know the company well... but I'm calling this one legit... with a few things about the pay plan that I don't like. Barry Minkow... he's a heck of a sales guy... I'll give him that.

Is it illegal when it's not unique?

I've run across "GDI" or Global Domains International a couple of times. Their business is to sell domain names that end with .ws instead of .com

You can get .com, .us, .net, .biz, .org and .name (and many others) for between $6.95 to $9.75 for an entire year at cheap-domainregistration.com where I buy ALL of my domain names.

In fact, I just looked up my own name for .ws and it's $9.75 for the year. So what does GDI charge? They charge $35 per year AND I have to commit to two years. That's 350% higher!!! Obviously the extra money is tacked on so they can pay something out to their MLM distributors - right? If I were to commit to 10 years, their cheapest price is $24 per year.

So let me repeat - I can buy the SAME .ws domain for $9.75 per year with only a 1 year commitment... or spend $70 for a 2 year commitment if I buy from the company who launched the .ws domain.

Doesn't this sound like paying for recruitment? I mean what's the extra money for? In legal MLM's you pay a small member fee to become a Distributor and get access to CHEAPER prices... NOT higher prices.

So why would you join GDI? Well, it appears it would be ONLY to make money... not for any other reason. "Legal" MLM's need a legitimate product... and while selling .ws domain names is a product... there would be no business for distributors if they didn't charge 350% more for the "product".

To actually be eligible to earn money in GDI you need to spend $10 per month to get a website with email addresses. Well, once again at Cheap-DomainRegistration.com I can get the same thing for between $1.99 and $3.99 per month.

So you tell me... it GDI "legal". Oh, I know the company will tell you they are... but since it often takes years for the FTC or Attorney Generals to go after the illegal ones like BurnLounge... only time will tell.

E4L update

Entertainment for less said they'd be launching on August 1st... well it's August 3rd right now and nothing has happened. So I logged into their daily "hotconference" meeting at 9am PST to listen in on what's going on.

What a waste of time first off... they had a guest speaker who has only signed up a few people... HUH???? So it's free to sign up... and their guest speaker after several months has only signed up a couple of people.... OK - stop the rant... what's the latest???

Well - now their "founder" Brad has told the 70,000+ folks who have signed up for free that it will be "another 3 weeks". No one seems to know why... and worse... there is STILL NO COMPENSATION PLAN!!!

The folks in this bizarre pre-launch MLM are convinced they are going to make thousands or millions or dollars... but again, I say from WHAT????

They are promising below-market prices on their products.... in other words there will be no margins. You can only pay on profits right? If there are no profits then what are you paying out?

So far not one E4L.biz person has commented here... but apparently... per today's host on hotconference "Lorna" she is getting "hate mail" from members. Wow - what a surprise. And you know what her response is "well, they aren't logging into and listening in on the "hotconference" calls. Well... I did that today... and learning NOTHING. The guest speaker said nothing about the business, and has done next to nothing in the business. Guess what he was doing... he was promoting his other businesses... what a joke!!!

There were actually people asking if they could set up Trust accounts so their 10 year old son could have this imaginary E4L business. "Lorna" said "yes, that's a great idea". Wow... talk about drinking some coolaid.

They keep talking about getting "matching bonuses" and other hype-talk that sounds great.... but IS ANYONE MAKING ANY MONEY??? They never mention that!!! And HOW WILL ANYONE GET PAID when they do finally launch (and now that they missed one launch date - will they ever launch?) - they never mention specifics about getting paid.... why? Well, from what I can tell... this "Brad" guy is the only one who knows... and he's not saying.

Yikes... this only feels fishier by the day... I'll check back in "3 weeks" to see if they've missed another deadline... so stay tuned.