Over the last 48 hours shockwaves have torn through Liberty league following the announcements that two of the most well known associates in Liberty League, Michael Hamburger and Rhonda Swan, have left the company.

It’s easy to brush off new associates quitting their business after trying to make it work as ‘not dedicated enough’ or ‘not following the system’. When your top earners start pulling out one after another however, it’s time to admit something’s not working.

So, why did they quit, what does this mean for Liberty League and more importantly what can new and prospective Australian associates learn from this?

Michael Hamburger

When I found Liberty League International within our first month, both Leslie & I were able to “retire” from Corporate America.

This opportunity has completely changed our lives! We were able to replace our six-figure income in less than six months.

The coolest part is that we are offering this same freedom to people around North America.

-Michael Hamburger

Michael Hamburger is the brother in law of Brent Payne, one of the founders of Liberty League International. He joined Liberty League back in early 2003 and by October of the same year formed ‘Team Lifestyle’.

Hamburger claims to be a multi-millionaire and was a member of the Liberty League executive marketing committee. He’s spoken at Liberty League conferences and was a very public figure for the company. Around half of the leadership positions in Liberty League were held by members from his Team Lifestyle.

On August 8th Michael Hamburger announced he was leaving Liberty League International for Lifepath Unlimited.

Having such a close family tie to the business as well as over five years of success can only mean his departure reasons were something serious and should raise alarm bells.

Rhonda Swan

Within 3 months of following the system I bought my first NON-company car. A Mercedes CLK convertible and drove up to my boss and said I could no longer afford to work there anymore. It Felt So Great!!!

A few months later my husband retired from his 10 year career as an engineer!

We now make more in a month than most Americans make in a year. ( US census Bureau : Average American annual income $31k)

-Rhonda Swan

Rhonda Swan is another top earner from Liberty League although not as well known as Hamburger. I believe she was part of Team Lifestyle and back in 2007 ranked 6th worldwide on Liberty League’s leader list.

Rhonda Swan claims to have trained thousands of people in the Liberty League business model and has also spoken at Liberty League conferences.

So why did they leave?

Whilst the departure of two of the major players in Liberty League is great news all round, sadly some people never learn. Swan and Hamburger abandoned one sinking ship to seemingly board another, Lifepath Unlimited.

Interestingly enough Google has cached some text that seems to imply they’ve joined up and formed Team Lifestyle under the Lifepath brand.

However if you click on the link or the cached version the text block isn’t there. Not sure if they’ve since buried the information or where Google got the text from. It is interesting that Google’s cache page for the link does not work.

Whilst Liberty League International is going on eight years of business now and has well established sales pyramids for the big earners, Lifepath is about three years old. Thus the pyramids are smaller and it’s easier to continue selling motivational crap under a different lesser known brand.

I haven’t really looked into what the business model of Lifepath Unlimited is but if these two associates have both jumped ship at the same time you can bet it’ll be practically identical to Liberty League.

If their associate sheeple follow I guess it won’t be long before we start seeing ads for Lifepath on television too. If that happens I’ll have to give them a more thorough going over and expose their nonsense too.

What can Australian associates learn from this?

Big deal, so the Americans are leaving – what do I care?

Here’s why you should care. Liberty League has been operating in the US for eight years now. If after eight years two of the top earners have ditched the product that can only mean one thing, business has slowed.

Perhaps the US market has reached critical saturation point and there’s no room to expand the sales pyramids. If you can’t keep recruiting people then you lose your profit.

Apart from two blog posts from Hamburger and Swan, as far as I know no official statement has been made.

By it’s very nature the Liberty League sales model is cannibalistic. The more people you get under you making you money, the smaller your own potential revenue stream becomes.

Liberty League has only been operating in Australia for two years now and with less known about them here and fresher sales pyramids, the results speak for themselves.

Out of the last 4 associates of the month, 3 have been from the Australian market.

If we’re to learn anything from top earners fleeing the US Liberty League market it’s in the numbers.

The population of America is currently estimated to be about 307 million. If after eight years enough people have been canvassed in the US that the Liberty League sales model is no longer sustainable, that’s a staggering 38 million people on average a year.

Now keep in mind this isn’t scientific but merely statistical. Obviously there’s not even 38 million people in Australia so by all rights the model should have failed within it’s first year.

What Australian associates can learn from this though is that yes the market does appear to have a cap. No amount of believing in abundance can change the fact that there’s only so many people you can market Liberty League to.

Here in Australia we have nowhere near the advertising penetration American associates had. Over there they had thousands of associates competing in a very competitive marketplace.

Over here it’s only been recently we’ve seen television advertising from Six Figure Chicks, UXL and the likes. Why do you think EMC members like Tony Rush who are based in the US are hosting social network sites like LibertyLeagueLife catering to Australian associates?

With this relatively new increased exposure, the Liberty League sales model and Australia’s relatively small population of 22 million – how long do you think it’ll be before the market for Liberty League here goes bust?

Learn from your US co-workers and remember, it’s never too late to get out while you still can.