Inspired Living Application Review: Mobile videos
There is no information on the Inspired Living Application website indicating who owns or runs the business, however going by the provided street address appears to be operating out of the US state of Oregon.
The company’s website domain (livingapp.com) was registered on the 13th of October 2012 and lists a “John Rodgers” as the owner.
Rodgers (photo right) was a “founding representative” of Zurvita (2008) under the branding of “FoundersTeam”. The FoundersTeam website is now defunct and redirects to that of Inspired Living Application.
On one of Rodger’s Zurvita marketing pages, Rodger’s states that ‘much of (his) background is in the ministry serving as a Bible teacher in Oregon‘.
No idea what happened with Zurvita (or when he left), but it appears John Rodgers has decided to launch his own MLM opportunity with Inspired Living Application. Read on for a full review.
The Inspired Living Application Product Line
Inspired Living Application market a series of “personal development videos”, delivered via their branded Inspired Living application which runs on mobile devices.
The videos are delivered once a week, with the app providing paid members access to a library where they can view archived videos.
Inspired Living Application credit “development” of their app to third-party developer “Savage Apps”. Savage Apps have been around since 2008 and are headed up by CEO John Marr.
Update January 11th 2013 – John Rodgers has clarified that John Marr is a co-owner of iLA and that although John Marr is developing their app, it is not under the Savage Apps brand. /end update
Inspired Living is available via a free subscription with the company or retail subscription cost of $6.95 (the only difference being the paid subscription provides access to the archive library).
The Inspired Living Application Compensation Plan
The Inspired Living Application compensation plan uses a matrix compensation structure to pay out monthly commissions to its affiliates.
Matrix Commissions
Inspired Living Application use a 3×7 matrix to pay out monthly residual commissions.
A 3×7 matrix places an affiliate at the top of the matrix with three legs directly under them (level 1). In turn, these three legs branch out into three legs (level 2) and so on and so forth down seven levels.
Each of these legs is a member position which can be filled either via direct recruitment or the recruiting efforts of an affiliate’s up and downlines.
Using the above matrix compensation structure, Inspired Living Application pay out a monthly commission based on how many filled positions an affiliate has in their matrix.
How much of a commission depends on what level these filled positions fall on:
- Level 1 – $1 (3 positions = $3)
- Level 2 – 80c (9 positions = $7.20)
- Levels 3 and 4 – 10c (108 positions = $10.80)
- Level 5 – 5c (243 positions = $12.15)
- Level 6 – 10c (729 positions = $72.90)
- Level 7 – $1.10 (2187 positions = $2405.70)
Matching Bonus
If an Inspired Living Application affiliate recruits a specific number of new affiliates, the company pays out the recruiting affiliate a matching bonus on their recruited affiliates’ matrix earnings.
This matching bonus is paid out as a percentage and is offered in three tiers:
- recruit 3 affiliates = 10% matching bonus
- recruit 6 affiliates = 20% matching bonus
- recruit 10 affiliates = 40% matching bonus
Joining Inspired Living Application
Affiliate Membership to Inspired Living Application is available in two options:
- $9.95 a month or
- recruit 2 retail customers and your subscription is free (as long as they continue to pay their monthly subscription cost)
Conclusion
Despite being subscription based and paying out commissions from monthly membership (subscription) fees, Inspired Living Application do have a solid retail option that is completely detached from the income opportunity.
I can’t fault them for that (retail is always a must in MLM) but upon evaluating the value this retail subscription provides, do see some potential issues.
Not so common now, back in the day you had MLM companies launching all over the place using matrix compensation plans with e-book libraries. These ebooks more often than not were internet marketing related but did more often than not cover a wider range of topics.
In the end though, the libraries themselves were irrelevant as members were paid to recruit new members into the scheme – with everyone getting paid as long as monthly memberships were paid.
Quite obviously with no retail selling of products or services (or “token” retail offerings, ie. retail = $9 a month, affiliate = $10 a month), these opportunities amounted to obvious pyramid schemes and typically collapsed shortly after launch.
Even with a retail option, it’s hard not to look at Inspired Living Application as the transformation of the “e-book library” MLMs to mobile devices.
I say this because the only difference between a free membership and paid retail membership is access to the archive library. Thus one can surmise that the subscription itself isn’t worth anything but the library is what’s being charged for at $6.95 a month.
Pretty much the entire legitimacy of Inspired Living App depends on how many people their affiliates are going to be able to convince to join the company and pay $6.95 a month for.
From a company standpoint it’s clear that much pressure is put on prospective affiliates to come in at the $9.95 a month affiliate level. Inspired Living Application Owner John Rodgers declares the affiliate option to be “the option that makes the most sense” repeatedly in the official marketing material.
The inherent red flag in the Inspired Living Application opportunity is that nobody is going to sign up at the $6.95 level and thus you wind up with a company full of affiliates, paying other affiliates with their monthly membership fees.
Like the e-book library opportunities, new affiliates, unable to attract retail customers as their uplines before them, are then only able to earn commissions by selling the matrix income opportunity rather than the merits of the personal development videos.
Comparing the paid retail customer option against the affiliate option only further highlights the lack of value in the product, with affiliates paying just $3 a month over retail customers. Sure they get a replicated sales website but when you consider the compensation plan, most of that is no doubt going towards paying uplines and matching bonuses.
Speaking of which, 1092 recruited paid customers or affiliates to generate $106.50 a month? Forget about trying to convince retail customers to pay $6.95 to access a personal development video library each month… 1092 recruits for $106.50 a month is going to be an extremely hard sell on new recruits.
…at least it should be if Inspired Living Application is being marketed truthfully and without unrealistic income hype.
The clearest way to evaluate the legitimacy of Inspired Living Application would be to ask yourself, as a prospective affiliate, how the opportunity was presented to you personally. Was the pitch focused on the income opportunity or the personal development video? Did you even know what Inspired Living Application’s product was before looking it up yourself?
The second port of call will of course be your potential upline’s downline. What is the retail customer to affiliate ratio? Do they even have retail customers?
For those conducting thorough due diligence, it’d also be worth asking your potential upline’s upline the same.
With a matrix compensation plan, any company that relies on monthly subscriptions always runs the risk of being a pyramid scheme if they fail to attract retail customers.
This was the problem with every e-book library MLM company ever to launch and with the change from e-book library to mobile video library, I’m not that confident it’s going to be enough to bring in the retail customers.
Thank you so much Oz for your quick review of this opp/product launch.
I am “in” during this free period. We’ll see what happens in the future.
I am sure there will only be 100% affiliates and that this is basically a money matrix with the education/training as the cover up. Like the eBooks situation.
I will keep watching, but not try to get everyone I know in – watch and wait.
At the Inspired LIving Application web site (on the bottom of the home page) is the company’s address: 218 SW Daniels Street, McMinnville, OR 97128.
Google Maps shows that it’s the address for a little rinky-dink house on a run down little street that features other little rinky-dink houses. Zillow shows that it’s a 1488sqft house that’s worth about $168K. Street shots show a “for sale” sign out front.
Inspired Living Application is being run out of some guy’s little house. That’s not the kind of company (start-up or otherwise) one should become involved with.
FYI, the phone number is an answering service. 8002 and others are still available.
http://www.voicenation.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=VNLA&Product_Code=ORPOR-503-LEX&Category_Code=ORPOR
I just did a “reverse lookup”. Yep, the 218 SW Daniels Street address shown at the bottom of the ILA web site is the address for John Rodgers’ house. So he’s running the business out of his house.
This thing has a “rotten egg smell” all over it.
Nothing wrong with that as long as he “delivers the goods”. 🙂
Response by John Rodgers, President, iLA:
I would like to personally thank the author of this article for taking the time to write about iLA.
I see from the home page that your motive for such articles is to, “provide the public with relevant and accurate MLM information, news and company reviews”.
The time that you took to research and write demonstrates the genuineness of that desire. It is because of my appreciation for what you have done that I would like to assist and provide further information.
That being said, I will simply not comment on any information that is accurate and fill in the blanks.
The company is an LLC with myself and John Marr of Savage Apps as owners. On staff we currently have Matt Wolcott as COO, Char Barnhart of RD Business services in accounting and a support staff of 3 for customer support.
After about 3 years of going through growing pains trying to find an identity as a company Zurvita has settled into the market as a health and wellness company and is now thriving.
Mark Jarvis, founder and president of Zurvita, is a dear friend and mentor and I am truly happy for the success that all of my friends at Zurvita are having.
To clarify; iLA, the application, is being developed by John Marr, the CEO of Savage Apps. iLA will not be in the portfolio of Savage Apps nor does Savage Apps have any ownership on iLA. Savage Apps is not a third party. John Marr is part owner of iLA.
The difference between the free membership and the retail membership is huge. Access to the archive will be of tremendous value.
We are pleased to offer our free option so that people can get a preview of the quality of video content and commitment to video production that we are committed to offering. It is our goal as a company to create the single most robust collection of personal video content offered in one place.
In addition, our recordings will not be regurgitated video clips of existing material (although from time to time we WILL be pleased to feature one of the classics from Zig Ziglar, Jim Rohn and others). We will be taking much time and expense to create a quality of video that is unparalleled in the industry.
In short, we are committed to make iLA a content rich value for any student of personal development offering things material they simply can not get anywhere else.
That’s a good observation and I’m glad that you pointed it out. The presentations that we currently have on the site are temporary until we get our professionally produced videos up.
The content of those videos will be reviewed by our legal team and fully compliant. Until then I may just re-record it and change those terms. Thanks for the observation and input.
While much can be said about that I’ll simply share that we have had our legal representation (Kevin Thompson, a highly respected MLM attorney) review the compensation plan and we have made adjustments to the compensation plan that was in the original business plan.
We have made these adjustments out of a desire to be fully legally compliant.
I’m quick to agree when I think you have a good point however I’ll have to respectfully disagree with you on this point. In fact the cost to be a retail customer highlights the true value of the service. If there were no true value to the service than we would only be charging $1.99 a month.
I would add that I think that it’s premature to speak of the “lack of value” in the product when you have yet to see the product. We will be very confident in our product as we will be producing it. As you may know, the average cost for professional video production is $3,000 a minute and more. In short, this is no ebook.
I’m afraid that I have a hard time understanding this paragraph. I wish I could help with that.
I think that you’ll find that when our final marketing pieces are done (we have not even opened for prelaunch at this time and a lot of things are in progress) you will find that we will not be beating on the “money drum” in the way that a lot of MLM companies have been known to.
Quite simply we will be very proud of the user experience and quality of the product that we will be offering.
Once again I would like to thank you for your time and energy in writing your review. If you have any questions I would like to invite you to call or write our customer support staff and they will be able to connect the two of us.
Sincerely,
John Rodgers
President,
iLA
Hey John thanks for getting in touch and clarifying various things.
Thanks for that I’ll update the review.
Practically speaking though it’s just archive (library) access though right?
The free membership option delivers the current video when as it’s released so I’m finding a hard time pegging any value to the videos themselves, seeing as members are in effect paying for archive access only.
At the end of the day, regardless of the money spent producing them these videos are only going to be worth as much as people are willing to pay for them.
I personally am not convinced it’s going to be enough to get people to pay $6.95 a month for but that is simply a potential red flag I’m highlighting.
The actual numbers, as you point out, won’t be known until post-launch. You do have a retail option there so I wish you all the best with the launch.
Mr Rodgers,
Thank you so much for answering some of the concerns Oz brought up. Very professional. I was in the massive ponzi scheme Zeek Rewards and I don’t recall Paul Burke answering issues on this site. Maybe Mr. Burke did, but I never read any.
The best way to take control of your new business and avoid speculation in this arena (MLM review sites) is to answer the “red flags” brought up immediately like you did. Kudos to you my friend.
I do have a position in the company, listened to your live call Thursday night (wonderful job, by the way) and have shared the business with several people who are cautiously interested.
Anything is great when it is free. I am also in another new start-up company and we had 25,000 “pre-enrollments”. Once the company actually charged money, only about 3,000 stuck around.
I hope that iLA gets to 100,000 by February 1st AND everyone sticks around once the first $9.95 charges hit their credit cards.
I love personal development, and the idea of the multi-billon dollar industries of MLM, personal development, and mobile apps coming together in Inspired Living Application is incredible.
Now let’s get busy and make this work for the long haul!
First time I’ve heard his name was with Zeek, there’s no connection is there?
KT is an attorney who specialize in MLM. He had a website providing info on Zeek Rewards recovery process.
Before that he checked compliance on a bunch of companies, and some of them chose to use his name as sort of a “badge”, as in “we had to be legal if we hired him”. 🙂 There’s some guesses that he had a hand in Funky Shark’s shutdown.
I listened to the conference call and Mr. Rodgers has a classy presence and was very forthright about the new venture and the pre-launch status.
I hope he hasn’t gone viral too soon. There are some very aggressive promoters latched onto this already. The compensation structure is suspect IMO as a “forced matrix” is very much, as Rodgers honestly admitts, is a long haul to get into a real income.
His posting here reveals a savvy individual. The product may or may not have a real world retail value outside of the pyramid but only time will tell. The market will tell him what he needs to know.
Meanwhile with something like 13 thousand already lined up and signed up, he should have ample cashflow in the spring to ramp up. Modest beginnings do not necessarily impede a product like this from being a success.
I wish him well and hope that he will enforce compliance on what can easily become an unruly mob of promoters. It’s a tough business, as we know.
I agree with much of what Steve [above] penned. However, when I extrapolated the comp plan [A company wide forced Matrix], down a few more levels than where it is now, by level 17 it would make this the largest Networking/MLM/DS business ever, by a factor approaching ten [10] times any previous business.
By level 19 it has 5.8 BILLION members. So with the structure of pre-registrations already down to about level 9, that means that those who join now, or on the next level, will have to hope that this is the biggest business EVER in Networking, or else they won’t get paid on that all important level 7, with the $1.10 down there.
Which means that if you’re not already in and placed a few levels before those now, then you are hoping for some pretty impossible numbers, such as 5.8 BILLION members on level 19.
There IS a fix though, but it would require a change in their comp plan to allow for this.
**Check MY maths for yourself. I don’t THINK that I’m wrong.
LEVEL 0 [ZERO], WHICH IS, AS SUCH, THE 3 POSITIONS DIRECT TO THE COMPANY
Level 1 3 x 3 = 9
Level 2 3 x 9 = 27
Level 3 3 x 27 = 81
Level 4 3 x 81 = 243
Level 5 3 x 243 = 729
Level 6 3 x 729 = 2,187
Level 7 3 x 2,187 = 6,561
Level 8 3 x 6,561 = 19,683 ** END of 1st level payouts
Level 9 3 x 19,683 = 59,049 ** End of 2nd level payouts
The business is ALREADY approaching this 19,000 mark!
Level 10 3 x 59,049 = 177,147 ** End of 3rd level payouts
Level 11 3 x 177,147 = 531,441 **End of 4th lvel payouts
Level 12 3 x 531,441 = 1,594,323 ** End of 5th level payouts
Level 13 3 x 1,594,323 = 4,782,969 ** End of 6th level payouts
Level 14 3 x 4,782,969 = 14,384,907 **End of 7th level payouts
Level 15 3 x 14,348,907 = 43,046,721 **End of 8th level payouts
Level 16 3 x 43,046,721 = 129,140,163 **End of 9th level payouts
** Where the business is almost at –
as far as the joining levels earning to level 7. Meaning that it would have to have 129 Million members-
for you to get paid the $1.10 on YOUR level 7 !!
Level 17 3 x 129,140,163 = 387,420,489 **End of 10th level payouts
Level 18 3 x 387,420,489 = 1,162,261,467 ** End of 11th level payouts
Level 19 3 x 1,162,261,467 = A TOTAL OF 5,230,212,591 PEOPLE IN iLA **End of 12th level payouts
There’s also the “golden period” for companies, where they aren’t paying out the FULL compensation until the matrix fills to the levels where they are paying out down the 7 levels deep of comp plan.
I’ve had the iliving app cross my desk a few times and feel it is just another fad. I don’t see any real income to be made and since it is a matrix I see it just fizzling out like most of them do.
Any time a company launches with a matrix it’s like, “hurry everybody get your spot so you can get in first because so and so joined and were all going to reap the rewards since he is a heavy hitter.”
PLEASE….
My experience is that is a big lie and only the doers that recruit actually make some money but usually they fill in their own matrix and never see any overflow from above anyways.
I’ll end with agreeing with everyone about this company as well as recommending to steer clear of anything that sounds to good to be true or has a virtual product.
Creating success in MLM takes time and work. Pick one company and just stay!
Thanks for writing TCH. In an effort to offer some clarity I will add a couple of things. You write,
Our compensation plan is not known as a ‘Company wide’ forced matrix. Each person’s matrix is independent. There could be someone on the 30th level of the company today that would end up with a full matrix before someone that is 10th level from the company all based on their ability to build a team.
There is a certain amount that is committed to to the compensation plan. That amount will ALWAYS be paid to the field in the form of bonuses etc. We have people that we are accountable to that will make sure that the “breakage” is not used as considered as company profits.
John Rodgers
President,
iLA
I’m very impressed with how John handled himself here. I get a good feel and I’ve done well with my feelings over the years.
ATTN: Mr. J. Rodgers.
Thank YOU for your clarification. There has of course been a LOT of mis-information regarding your company, especially if I may say so, in the areas of compensation.
In the event of a fresh NEW company like iLA, there is often a LOT of embellishments & other exaggerations which one has to sort through, in order to ascertain the facts.
With that in mind, I look forward to seeing some Official Press or News releases alongside the website updates which will convey the FACTS and stop the desperadoes out there from doing and saying things which could endanger the welfare of what could be a great company.
My Associate, Steve uses one of these services which gets news out “on-line” to innumerable reputable publications and may be willing to share this avenue with you, should you wish.
I do have one question, which has come up a number of times and may also apply to myself. The persons who first told me about your company are NOT the sort of people with whom I would LIKE to be aligned. As such, what avenues are available for those who, like myself [I know a goodly number], are quite interested in your company, but would rather be aligned with persons’ of a better character, for want of a better word?
A suggestion could be that you provide a DEDICATED e-mail address for those like us, who have now missed out on EARLY placement, but would prefer to be in an HONEST group, rather than a “Desperate” group. Something of this nature would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance, should you take time to respond. TCH
Mr. J Rodgers,
I applaud you for your character in answering all these questions. I am already in your company and can’t wait to see what you deliver.
If you could clarify the comment about the “office” address it wouldbe very helpful as that is something i have been asked multiple times.
It’s is 100% acceptable for a company to have humble beginnings and be built from someone’s house, as long as ethics and morality are always in line the organic growth will occur. However, it is important to clear this up and not leave to people’s speculations and narrow minds.
Can you farther explain why the first payments will be happening in April and not match.
Also, is there any geographical restriction as to where associates could come from, meaning can we sponsor associates around the world?
Finally, when will we have a final 100% compliance approval from the SEC? If it’s not already there.
I would like to thank you for your time in advance.
J.
I’m intrigued, interested, but very skeptical??? Really would like Mr. Rodgers to answer TCH & John’s questions.
I must say that when I saw Mr. Rodgers actually responded in such a quick & professional manner…I was extremely IMPRESSED to say the least!!
@ Cannon Ball … I think you’ll find that the address on the home page is actually #1018 Northeast 3rd Street, which is a brownstone commercial building. Hope this helps 🙂
@ Nicki . . . FOR THE RECORD . . . at the date and time (8 days ago) when I last looked at the iLA web site, which was just minutes prior to my first post on this page, the address at the bottom of the iLA home page was indeed the EXACT ADDRESS that I featured in my post.
And simply by typing that address into Google Maps and Zillow, then doing some “white pages” research and tax records research, I was able to easily and quickly see that it was a rinky-dink house on some small street.
Further research (all of two minutes worth) showed that the house was indeed John Rodgers, the owner/founder of iLA.
It is blatantly obvious that at some time during the past eight days, someone at iLA, probably John Rodgers himself, has updated the address on the home page of the iLA website, which is: ilivingapp.com
HOWEVER . . . the new address on the iLA web site makes this even more interesting. If you would take just a few minutes to do your own research (as I did after reading your post), you’d discover that the new address that’s been put in iLA web site, the address you featured in your post (however, you left out the “SUITE D”), is actually the address for PDR (Pacific Development & Restoration, LLC). And PDR has been at that location for quite some time.
Hmmmmmm . . . why is it relevant that PDR is at that address? Well, if you would do some more research, you’d discover that John Rodgers used to work for PDR at that very location. He may even still be working for them.
My hunch is that when I pointed out in my previous post that the iLA business was being run out of some rinky-dink little house that belongs to John Rodgers, that someone at iLA, probably John Rodgers himself, quickly went and put a different address on the iLA web site. And the new address he put on the site just happens to belong to his current/former employer.
My hunch is that John Rodgers asked his previous (or maybe even current) employer, PDR, if he could use their address on his web site to make it appear that the company iLA is being ran out of real office and not a small house
I encourage you to type the latest address that’s on the iLA web site into Google, and you’ll see that it’s the address for PDR and not iLA. Be sure to include the “Suite D”.
Like I said in a previous post, this thing has a rotten egg smell all over it. Then too, so do a lot of start-ups.
I wish iLA much success, regardless of whether it’s being run out of a house, an office, or a van down by the river. As long as they pay their bills and commission checks on time, all the power to them.
nicki, the address u shared with cannonball is also not the correct address. my husband and i have been doing r research, we have personally contacted business owners n the Brownstone facility, and their is no ILA ne where.
their is a construction Company that is situated n “ila’s” suite #, now the owners of the construction company r 2 men Mike and Paul, so their is no true physical location of ILA n this business address u have provided…
@ Ataylor . . . I commend you for doing your own research. You are correct; there is not an iLA business at the latest address that appears on the iLA web site.
Yesterday I actually called two of the businesses that occupy other suites at that address; both of them said they do NOT know of any company called “iLA”, and both of them said that the company called “PDR” (Pacific Development & Restoration) is in Suite D, not iLA.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Something smells fishy here!
Just so readers of this post are made aware, the “business” address that was on the iLA web site on January 10, 2013 was: 218 SW Daniels Street, McMinnville, Oregon 97128.
I encourage readers to plug this address into Google Maps, then Zillow. And if a reader has a few extra minutes, go to any of the property data websites (and/or tax records sites) to see the records. It’s on record that this is John Rodgers house.
Then sometime between January 10 (the date of my post) and January 17 (the date of Nicki’s post), the address on the iLA website was changed to this address: 1018 NE 3rd Street, Suite D, McMinnville, OR 97128.
I encourage readers to plug this new iLA “business” address into Google Maps and Google Search. Google Maps will show you what it looks like (both from above and street level). You’ll see that it is a two-story brick commercial building.
Google Search will show you many links that show that the PDR business is in that particular Suite D, which as I wrote in a previous post, is where Rodgers worked or may still work.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. Something smells fishy here!
Look . . . I mean no ill will towards iLA. But anyone who is thinking of getting into iLA (or any MLM company, for that matter) should ALWAYS do their due diligence. One should ALWAYS strive to find out EVERYTHING about the owner(s), where the company is located, who is actually running the company, how the company is funded, where the company is getting its money, and much more.
I wish more MLMers would do their homework. But sadly, most just “believe” in whatever a company throws at them. Which is why I absolutely LOVE this “Behind MLM” web site.
Those behind this site do great work, and provide a tremendous service to the MLM industry. They “peel back the layers of the onion” to reveal so much about the company they are investigating.
Just so readers know . . . on January 10, after reading Behind MLM’s review of iLA (which I had never heard of before), I went to the iLA web site, checked everything out, then decided to check out what kind of office they’re doing business out of. I simply plugged the address into Google Maps and Zillow.
To my surprised, the address provided on the iLA web site was, as I pointed out, a small rinky-dink house on a small street. Then on January 17, @Nicki posted that a different address is now on the iLA web site. And now I’ve learned, as has @Ataylor, that Suite D at the latest address is occupied by PDR and has been for some time.
I’m going to call it as I see it . . . I believe that John Rodgers put his home address down as the location of iLA, as a physical address is more credible than a P.O. Box.
Then after I noted this in my January 10 post, Rodgers scrambled to put a more “credible” address on the iLA web site. Except the address he provided is actually that of another business, the Pacific Development & Restoration company, which coincidentally, is where Rodgers worked or still works.
A person doesn’t have to be a trained private investigator to connect the dots here. It’s just common sense research that’s available to whoever does their homework.
It will be VERY interesting to see how iLA tries to “spin” its way out of this “address mystery”.
By the way, I know someone who knows Rodgers well, as they were in one of his downlines. I’ll save their opinion of Rodgers for a later post, if necessary, as what they’ve told me most definitely sheds much light on why there’s an “address mystery” for iLA.
But for now I’ll just put it this way: if you put wonderfully rich chocolate frosting on on a mud cake, it’s still a mud cake. In other words, outer appearances can cover-up something which is not very appealing.
It’s the Streisand effect… the more you cover things up, the more people will see it for what it is.
hey cannonball, thank u 4 the comment, my boyfriend and I r trying to not get r money taken…and we think this is definitely a pyramid scheme.
Also “customer support” from ILA contacted us, her name is Rene and we questioned her about the physical address and said that the 1018 address ste D the owner of PDR Mike Holien, is selling his space where ILA is supposed to b.
i questioned this rene girl, many people r questioning the business address, how can u guys post an address that isnt realistic yet, that makes ur company look bad, she even said i had a point….
i also told her, how can u guys b taking peoples credit card info 2 charge the 10.00 on the 1st of February if ur business address even concrete, she said she didnt know but that was a good point!
Now if ne1 wants more info…call Rene @ (Ozedit: contact details removed), bcuz the 800 # obviously no1 ever answers, so playing fair ne1 that has questions should call Rene, honestly she wasnt very helpful, she couldnt answer my questions, she was going 2 4ward my # 2 her “supervisor”.
also she mentioned John Marr was also an owner of ILA w John Rodgers, And she stated John marr was a very successful business person, he is the CEO of SAVAGEAPPS.
i actually told her, well if hes a successful person then y is this successful business being ran out of John Marrs house?? she quickly turned around and said, I have no idea and SAVAGEAPPS is nt incorporated w ILA.
so if thats the case y mention savageapps? she said “Good point”!
@ Ataylor . . . in your first post you referenced your “husband”. In your second post you referenced your “boyfriend”. It’s one or the other; or perhaps you have an extremely tolerant husband who accepts that you also have a boyfriend, who is also quite tolerant.
In your next-to-last paragraph you referenced the iLA business being ran out of “John Marrs [sic] house”. I think you have John Marr confused with John Rodgers. It is John Rodger’s home address that was on the iLA web site, not John Marr’s.
I must confess . . . my eyes hurt after reading your post. I’m going to go have a drink.
cannonball, i understand how ur feeling, how do u think my husband and i feel? were doing a crap load of research and its just going to one place 2 another.
my husband is my husband but 4 certain reasons i had 2 mention he was my bf…john marr is running SAVAGE APPS out of a crapy looking house. But Rene (customer support 4 ILA) says John Marr is the Ceo of the successful business Savage Apps.
im sorry, if ur business is doing so damn well, and u supposedly have ties w Warner Bros, then y u do live n a very crappy place and thats ur Famous wk address as well…
U mentioned above that u know some1 that knows John Rodgers, have they said nething about the business address????
Thank you all so much for taking the time to ask so many good questions. I have answered all of the questions in writing or in person with everyone up until the point of the 15th. so I will begin there.
Quite a lot seems to have been made about the location so I will explain. The address that is currently listed and on file with the state of Oregon in our articles of incorporation is my home address.
When we filed we had no need for an office (nor do we now for that matter) as this is a virtual business and has no need of a store front. It is that address that was originally on the website.
However the day that someone stopped by my personal home in the hopes to meet me I realized that was not a good idea. With that thought in mind I asked a friend of mine if I could use his office as a mailing address.
If anyone has any other questions about that than please feel free to contact me. Our customer service will make that possible.
John Rodgers
President,
iLA
A 60 day prelaunch is pretty standard in the industry. It’s time that is need to check systems and make sure that everything is operating properly.
Besides, we have a 30 day money back guarantee so commission is not paid until business has been on the books for 30 days.
We are not a security, as such I have no plans on filling with the SEC.
on the 19th. Cannonball wrote,
Those are my sentiments exactly. I too would like to encourage people to do the same. It is because of that that I want to make my self totally available to anyone who has questions.
In time iLA will be known as being a company that is know as having a standard for excellence. However because we are not yet even on the market I realize that people will have there questions.
To those people I say, “feel free to contact me”. Customer service will make that possible. (by the way in case your wondering, we are pleased to allow our customer service staff to work from there homes. That is why right now we really don’t need a physical office).
I can’t help but wonder why people feel the need to speculate about such things. If someone simply takes the time to contact me I am more than willing to accommodate questions.
Indeed I did in fact work for PDR. They are a fine company that does GREAT work. I was proud to be with them. As I stated earlier, the owner of that company (I think it tactful not to mention names in this forum) was kind enough to let me use his address once someone actually showed up at our home after seeing the address on the website.
Once again. There is no need for mystery. I am available to all who have questions.
Looking forward to seeing the application come to life!
First of all iLA has always been clear about our relationship with John Marr and Savage apps. On the web site it says “we are very fortunate to have John Marr, the CEO of Savage apps as the developer of iLA.” The work that John has done with Savage Apps is a great example of his work.
About his home; I am personally saddened by this ad hominem rhetoric. I’ve known John for years. He’s a man of humility and sacrifice. Not only is he CEO of Savage Apps but he is a local pastor and he has served sacrificially for years in the ministry both here in the states and on the mission field. A better man one can not meet.
In conclusion, as I said earlier, we are looking forward to releasing an amazing app with a great user experience filled with strong content. When we open for business it will be clear who we are and what we stand for.
Until then I know that people will have their questions. I applaud people doing their research. Having said that I would like to encourage you in this; there is no need for “mystery” and “speculation”.
Thanks for taking the time to answer people’s queries John.
Need to put all the change on the website and the blog explaining the changes. Transparency, dude. 🙂
I’m glad you’re providing the answers, but you should have put all that on your website in the first place. Then you can point to it and say “did you look at our website?” Instead of “reacting” to the speculations (not to mention look much better).
Hi mr john rodgers: It has not been so wonderful in your neighborhood lately….
I recently spoke with you in reference to a few concerning subjects, and all you did, was try to sell me ILA even more, in which I am not interested in joining ILA Again….being the fact, that no one is able to get straight answers from you nor your New Customer Support Agents……
Now i understand that not every question will be properly answered, but your customer service agents should strive to know basic knowledge questions….being that I am an associate of ILA, no wait sorry…..was an associate of ILA.
Per our conversation, you acted as if “we were bestfriends”, i take offense to this, as I do not wish to know you personally, as i only wish to know you as a bisiness venture.
Ataylor I wish you the best in your future endeavors.
Hi John and all friends here.
I’ve been reading all the comments and answers.
We in Asia working harder in recruiting were also waiting for the launching and more informations of ILa and the company behind iLa.
Hopefully, iLa won’t be another pyramid or ponzi scheme.
Thanks
Wow. I sit here reading all these post and its shocking… If your not satisfied with the information givin , do not be apart of the new buisess venture.
Many companys have done well doing this and as well as investors. Its definately a toss up so for considering the launch is still six days away.
FYI, Kevin Thompson has an interview with John Rodgers
https://plus.google.com/113143561586530648571/posts/Grva9y3gRWk
I’ve been with iLA since January 6th and have NOT regreted it one bit. People can be so negative and if you’re that speculative, you shouldn’t be in the MLM industry…period!
It’s not for the weak at heart. iLA is NOT a get rich quick business. You need to work it like anything else.
There is a product being sold here and if you do your research, you will see that health and wellness is where people are heading these days.
iLA is health and wellness for the mind, body and soul, and from what I understand, the app will grow WITH you so you won’t get bored…don’t worry.
EVERYONE, no matter how high up they are in life, can use room for improvement. Until we can walk on water, there is room for improvement.
By the way TCH…you got your little chart wrong on the matrix. There are actually 2,187 people TOTAL on level 7, not just in one leg. It takes 3,279 people to fill a matrix. And, you earn below that level on the people you personally sponsor when they fill their matrix.
For a company that is GLOBAL, I don’t think 3,279 people is a lot to recruit, IF you know how to market your product.
I believe that John Rodgers is a man of integrity and for him to come forth and answer your questions, AMEN to him and the company as a whole.
I don’t know of any MLM company that has been gracious enough to take the time to answer concerns like John has.
So, until this thing goes into full swing, either stay out if you can’t handle it, or be patient and wait to see what it has to offer you.
There are already over 30,000 of us that are quite excited about our new venture and we jumped in with both feet and did the “do” to get to where we are today.
God Bless ALL of You and Best of Luck in whatever endeavor you partake in!
I have joined iLA without checking everything out. When telling friend about it to ask her to join me, she did so much checking my head was spinning. She declared it a Scam.
We then went through a lot more and after about 4 hours work she has decided to wait and see but is actually more hopeful that it will be legit. I have several others also waiting to see and they all agree it could be the best thing around. I sure hope so as to me it looks legit.
Wendy… Famous last words….NEXT!
Network marketers are not in the convincing business. We are in the “sorting” business. If someone is skeptical, that’s their issue to deal with, not ours.
Networking marketing is the most difficult business to be in, but it can also be the MOST rewarding.
Have I missed something here? I didn’t find any retail commission anywhere in the compensation plan (in the review here).
I found some sort of retail commission under “Joining ILA”:
“Recruit 2 retail customers, and your subscription will be free” is a fair enough incentive to recruit a couple of customers, but I didn’t find any incentives to recruit more than 2.
Other than that, I’ll agree with this one:
I don’t think it’s a scam, but I don’t think it’s an “income opportunity” either. There’s too little money involved here. That’s why I looked for retail to customers rather than selling the opportunity to recruiters.
Retail customers are someone NOT looking for an opportunity to join, but willing to try a product or service and pay for it, as a one time “try it purchase” or as continued purchases.
This is so typical the brushoff that turns people off Network Marketers and MLM’s. It’s the attitude of “we don’t need you, you need us” arrogance that turns me away from the whole business.
Way too many fall for this tactic thinking this is how to attract the people they want, they actually turn away more people they want then those they don’t want. The successful ones I see stay with the skeptics and applaud them in their due diligence.
@M_Norway
$10 = affiliate
$6.95 = retail customer (can’t earn)
There doesn’t appear to be any incentive to obtain retail customers, so they’re pretty much going on “we hope we wind up with more retail customers than affiliates”.
That strategy is typical when the sales person is following a “script”, and you’re asking (critical) questions about something outside what the script is covering. 🙂
I don’t think that’s what Viv meant. Wendy spent 4 hours on ONE single “customer”. That potential customer started probably immediately to look for reasons to say “no”.
It’s simply not worth it spending hours on trying to convince someone who isn’t really interested. Sometimes it’s better to GIVE them those reasons yourself relatively early, helping them to make that “no” decision much faster.
I don’t believe Wendy’s customer was interested in MLM income opportunities at all. And people will usually tell you whether they are interested or not, in one way or another. Wendy’s customer DID exactly that.
Viv was right. Sales people or recruiters are not in the convincing business, they are in the sorting business. You can’t convince anyone about anything, unless they already are willing to believe in it.
Thank you M_Norway! You hit the nail on the head as to what I meant. Why sit with one person for 4 hours when you can be making calls during those 4 hours?
You may as well get a J.O.B. if you’re going to sit in one place for hours on end (I don’t mean “literally” sitting but going through the thought process with someone, dissecting their every “negative” word as to why they DON’T want to do this business.
It’s a waste of precious time and if you treat your MLM business like a business, you won’t be sitting there waiting for someone to say “Oh…okay…yes, I’ll join.”
They’re going to join just to get you off their back and then guess how long that person will stay in the business or guess how productive that person will be for your business or their own business?
Sounds like a few people here can use some motivational, inspirational words of advice coming through their mobile devices!
There is no way out there to get rich overnight unless you win the lottery or your family leaves you a huge inheritence. You MUST work for what you desire.
Who’s to say that you’ll get rich off of this? If you don’t, so what? Wouldn’t an extra $500 to $1,000 a month come in handy alongside what you’re already doing?
Then the salesperson is wasting time trying to close a deal that shouldn’t be made in the first place. What does that say about his/her training and judgement?
And what *does* that have anything to do with iLA any way?
Yes, salespeople are in the sorting business… so are scammers, who’s basically selling a fraud. Remember the Microsoft paper a while back, about how those Nigerian scam emails are written so poorly so only naive people would click on them? Those are “self-sorting”.
So what *does* that mean when applied for people who are looking for income opportunities? They are VULNERABLE to the right pitch… or they are receptive to the right idea. SAME THING.
The question is… do *you* know what you are marketing / selling?
I think iLA is doing fine, I joined after reading this blog and I have no regret.
Very good article. Thanks for all the research. I also am impressed with John Rodgers replies.
I joined and will continue to follow.
I am so impressed with John Rodgers response to this thread. I have no doubt that his intentions with ILA are 100% honest.
I also joined after reading this post so ILA it is!! I sense a man with great integrity and I am looking so foward to receiving my Personal Development apps weekly!
Is it still possible to join for free? The comp plan video says can join for free but the joining options are only paid subscriptions of 2 types.
Also, how much is an associate paid for getting a customer?
Associates get the same monthly commission for customers and affiliates. Recruiting affiliates does pay out more via the comp plan though when you consider the matching bonus.
I had a look and it appears the free membership option is gone. Maybe it was hard to argue the value of the content library was $6.95 a month when they were giving the content away for free each week after all.
Taken from the FAQ though:
So is it that iLA is no longer compliant when nobody can join for free now?
Well as per their own FAQ, it would appear that in removing the free membership option iLA are indeed now “forcing people to pay to participate”.
You can join for free… if you make two sales (i.e. get two people to pay for subscription).
How do you “make sales” without joining first?
At this point in time, it is not possible to join for free. Only 2 paid options available. Will John clarify why?
I was under the impression that iLA can be joined for free…download the app and you have access to only the current video.
It is the paid levels that give you access to the blog and archived materials. Am I wrong? Great thread overall, though.
It is still possible to join for free and have access to the current videos.
I joined iLA on 1/2/13 – the very first day you could sign up. I quickly got 10 people to join with me (2 days).
I honestly was more interested in the videos than I was with the income potential, since I already had a F/T job, working 3 Direct Sales Businesses, and 3 young children to take care of.
I wanted tips on time management, self-development, etc. I knew a lot of people like me, which is why then that the business opportunity appealed to me.
From the beginning, we were told that we would be paid via an eWallet. – This is the first type of “marketing” venture I have ever been in so had no idea what it was; I assumed it was another “PayPal-type” system – well, I was wrong.
The eWallet system in place with iLA has fees involved. In other words, you have to pay to get paid – which thoroughly pissed me off to say the least.
It didn’t matter how “low” the fees were (as people were so quickly to claim when I mentioned the fees in the FB group – there are evidently other eWallets that charge higher fees); the fact that you had to pay anything to get paid was/is still ludicrous in my mind.
No, I am still not happy with this, but decided to stick it out for a while when I received notification of my first check on Apr. 5th.
That check, which was only for 2/1 – 2/28, was $306.18 – not bad for basically a few hours of work. I honestly don’t remember how many I had in my downline at the end of Feb. though.
Now, to my understanding, the next check in May, will be for 2 months instead of just the 1 (Mar. & Apr) and with 667 in my downline now, I am looking forward to that one. 🙂
From someone who is in it, I can honestly say that I am 99% happy with my decision to become an Associate with iLA, with only that small percentage of unhappiness due to probably my ignorance of an eWallet.
@Melissa
How many non-affiliate retail customers do you have?
I don’t have any. I haven’t done any kind of marketing for affiliates or customers since Jan. – the first week I began.
Hmmm.
Here is a copy of the E~Wallet terms of iLA:
i-Payout tells absolutely nothing about licenses and similar stuff?
I checked their “About” page for information like that, to see what types of services the company legally is licensed to operate, and in which countries. All I found was some “other types of information”, something that looked like real banking or payment processing info, e.g. “White Papers” and other BS.
Important information about the company is missing (or hidden), and instead they’re trying to serve some “general information”.
Here’s an example, the first “About” entry:
A normal “About” page would have NAMED those two companies, rather than referring to it as “the combination of two companies”.
A normal “About” page would have mentioned some legal information, e.g. what types of services the company is registered for in which countries.
* To operate a payment processor service in the US, a special type of license is required, a money-transmitter license.
* Several banking licenses are required in the EU, depending on the types of services.
“Our worldwide banking and money transfer partners” is rather vague? The company was flashing some logos, but it’s rather vague in the factual information about its partners.
I-Payout doesn’t clearly identify its own role, i.e. the legal information about the company’s registration and licenses, its role in partnerships, the company ownership and registration country, and similar legal information.
The important legal information was replaced by meaningless “marketing statements”, rather vague information that don’t tell anything important. It tells how profitable it will be for company clients to use it. That normally means higher fees for the other users.
“Banking relationships” is a rather vague description. Most of us have that, but that doesn’t mean we legally can operate as banks ourselves.
@Oz
The company is still in pre-launch stage. The “official” launch date is June 1-2. That is when the emphasis will be shifted to focus on building a customer base.
I guess the best way I can think of to explain that is that when people come up with inventions, those people “test” that product out with friends/family first before they market it to the masses. It gives the “inventor” time to perfect the product by working out any kinks beforehand.
The iPayout is still a thorn in my side. JR called personally to explain that this was the cheapest system that they could find in order to operate a payroll Internationally.
As I said before, this is the first of this type of “marketing” that I have been involved in. I have a “real” job and then I also participate in 3 home businesses, and have never had to “pay to get paid.”
I always thought that payroll and any fees related to payroll, were incurred by the company.
However, other people that have been involved in other “marketing” programs, tell me that this is a common practice.
Now, all that being said, my personal associates are dropping from iLA like flies – (again, I haven’t “pushed” iLA since Jan. as I was waiting to find out what the income would be.)
Most of these, are people who did not get any personal associates themselves.
Sounds to me, as suspected, that the retail side of things is not viable.
People aren’t signing up unless the income opportunity is attached.
This is a common excuse those involved in pyramid and Ponzi schemes use. What you’re going to do is irrelevant, what you’re doing now and have done is all that matters.
Everything else is irrelevant smoke and mirros.
In my honest opinion, it is usually hopeless to join a potentially illegal business in the hopes of it “going legit”. Yet a lot of these recruitment-heavy companies (MLM and pseudo-MLM scam) often use this “we’re just recruiting reps” excuse to basically operate a pyramid scheme: you pay into the system and you get paid while you do more recruiting.
Such company rarely survives beyond a year because its sales people only knows how to recruit more sales people (who wants to make money), NOT CUSTOMERS (who wants to PAY money). Which you already found out for yourself.
Does this mean that those who have a few bucks in their accounts and decide to quit, then lose their earnings? If so I am guessing again that the company keeps the funds.
With the payout system iLA has in place right now, I can see a lot of recruits dropping out like flies. Who really wants to pay all those crazy extra fees anyhow considering the recruiting arena is surely already been depleted since the launch of iLA.
All the first big promoters already got themselves positioned high in the food chain, so they don’t care about these fees. The middle and bottom recruiters are the ones who will think twice about it and think about quiting because who the hell wants to pay out when there is nothing coming in.
Seriously do you iLA affiliates think there are unlimited leads to join this thing?
Oh don’t forget about going to the next webinars which are geared to sell you on going to the big seminars which of course will be geared to get you to stay in the business which is then geared to get you to recruit.
How much money do you have available? Get ready to pull out your credit cards.
Hello OZ,
This is all based on old information. I’m curious what you think of the new app already being launched. ILA Tax shield. Now this is being taught as a recruiting tool as well. However, it seems to me to be a legitimate retail product. Thoughts?
Thank you for your time.
Has the compensation plan changed? New apps don’t change the business model (nobody paid for the app, they paid for iLA membership).
Wasn’t the iLA “break out” convention this past weekend? I’ve looked online for info about it, and can’t find anything. No photos or videos of it posted.
Just wondering how it went.
I think it iLA is great and I signed up immediately under a friend after checking out the videos – I’m really into Personal Development in all areas of my life and have been for about 5 years now so this has come at the right time for me.
I’ve also read a lot about apps and this one is so professionally produced by a well respected app creator. I’m very impressed with the way I got my weblink immediately I joined up – no hosting charges like some businesses.
I don’t see what is wrong with sharing something good and getting paid for it. The company clearly has a legal team to ensure everything is above board and I daresay, they are taking all these comments on board and making sure everything is absolutely watertight.
The fact remains that those who are skeptical will remain so and argue that way until the cows come home and that’s fine – those that are open-minded to this business and choose to get in on the ground floor as I did after doing my research will sing its praises – and that’s fine too!
I’m very impressed by the way John answered all the comments. I am very skeptical about any business ideas and always check out reviews before jumping into anything. But this to me is what I’ve been looking for in terms of the personal development opportunity from people who are specialised in their field and the earning opportunity.
Everyone has the same opportunity for the same price for the same product. Good luck to all the ila community!
Well the new app they released is called iLA Tax Shield and it is purely retail, as in if you purchase it and the monthly subscription, that is retail commission and paying for such app does not allow you to earn money in the company.
I tread very lightly here, I know you’re very knowledgeable in the industry and this is in no way saying “RAH RAH YOU’RE WRONG OZ THIS IS LEGIT.” But an app that is only retail should boost retail sales with CUSTOMERS buying the app (although people who are IBOs with iLA purchase the app retail as well and that purchase is credited to their upline)
It’s going to be tough to determine the legitimates of MLMs with solely Mobile App products since they operately differently from traditional products such as health supplements, coffee, skin, video email, cards, etc types of products.
YES, I am an iLA affiliate, but I’m not a blind defender of the company. I do like they’re transparency and willingness to make it work, but if I smell foul, I will be the first to jump ship.
My question to you Oz IS, if you were handed the keys to the company, what would/could you see changed to make iLA more compliant/sustainable/etc where. I love your commentary, but I want to see if you have proposals to fixing issues you see.
@Jeff, what other apps besides the tax shield does ILA have? I thought they were supposed to have inspirational apps.
Sure, if there’s retail customers purchasing the app (subscription). Doesn’t negate the concerns over affiliate revenue coming in from the other app though (the one they originally launched). Having a retail option isn’t enough, you actually need the (non-affiliate) customers too.
Given the marketplace, I don’t think an MLM app is viable. Commissions have to be paid out in MLM and somebody has to pay for them. Advertisers will only pay so much and that leaves the users. Given the sheer amount of apps already out there I’m doubtful any MLM company is going to bring anything new to the table.
Like any other niche an innovative app will succeed, even if it’s attached to an MLM compensation plan. All we’ve seen thus far are “me too” apps. Tax, “communication” (Rippln), health advice, marketing tips etc. There are already dozens, if not hundreds of apps providing this service.
@yo YES, the main app is the inspirational app that will have a growing archive of content. There will also be apps that the company itself will release seperate from iLA that will only be meant for retail commissions.
Yes, MLM companies need retail customers, absolutely agree. I think if the customer version of the app dropped to say $.99/mo or $1.99/mo, it could make it more viable instead of having the retail version only $3/mo less than the IBO enrollment.
I don’t know, this is a damn tricky industry but plenty of companies with lesser stability than iLA have lastest for long periods of time.
Here’s my reasoning with MLM apps viability, and I could be way off but the way I see it is like this. Take a MLM nutrition company, each one has a signature product (Visalus challenge, Advocare Spark, Monavie Juice, etc etc) but each company has a bunch of products which can all be sold at retail.
A company like iLA, yes, you would have to obtain the iLA app and pay the $9.95/mo to be an IBO, and that’s a bit tricky, but if the catalog of apps increases (just like a catalog of nutrition products increases).
The options and possibilty for retail customers increases (assuming the apps are in demand and made to appeal) and thus the legitamacy of a company can increase.
Again Oz, I know you deal with MLM drones who blindly defend their company, and I assure you like in my last post I am not. You’ve been covering the industry a lot longer than I. What I’m doing is just providing my take and opinion. Again, I appreciate what you do from Down Under :).
And despite all this, they still are experiencing growth in the summer months which is impressive for any MLM.
I think Oz (I could be wrong) that you and I want any MLM company to be fair, honest and successful as it makes the industry look better as a whole.
Now, now, don’t go bandwagon fallacy on us… 🙂
The problem here is not the app or the membership, IMHO, it’s the way they are bundled.
Apps are almost never sold person to person. It can be “shared”, and perhaps you can embed a referral link, but people will have to download the app from the official app stores any way. Downloading it anywhere else is a security risk. Registration w/ a discount/referral code will work.
I have no problem you getting MLM commissions off sales people, but again, can you separate the customers (who pay money) from the affiliates (who earns money)? And if you can’t, is the company really heading in the right direction?
Which is why Oz often asks: how many retail customers do you have? And very often, the affiliate starts to hem and haw and sputter and starts to recite brainwashed canned sales speech, because they don’t have that data but felt they have to say something because to admit they don’t know makes them feel stupid.
Haha Hey K.Chang, judging by my recent posts you know I tread very lightly to jump any bandwagon. I’ve already admitted I’m an affiliate, but I’m an open minded person and not willing to sell my soul for a company.
As for the customers/affiliate issue I totally get. You can’t have more employees than customers to use a typical business model as an example. Which is where in the early stages, I think distinguishing the 2 is going to be difficult, I admit. I’m actually going to call a corporate head tomorrow to discuss this.
Because of that issue is where I suggested that maybe they should’ve have a catalog of apps to start out with (such as a MLM nutrition company having numerous products) and you pay a fee to be able to distribute the apps. THAT is what I’m forecasting iLA to be.
Yes, you’ll have to get the main app and pay the $9.95/mo to become an affiliate, but every other app will be retail only and can potentially grow a customer base.
On top of that, I think either lowering the retail option for the main iLA App or raising the iLA affiliate cost will encourage more retail customers (who pay money) instead of everyone just jumping on the affiliate option.
And apps are never sold person to person, well sure. But that’s a broad statement. Nearly every app I’ve downloaded was referred to me by someone else. So going off what you said, I say “Hey man, got this neat app check it out.” They go to a referral link and Download it and I get paid commission off that sale, boom there it is.
Ultimately, they have to Download the app from the app store just as a packing facility has to ship out nutrition products. HOWEVER, like nutrition MLMs, customers still have to go to a referral site and register so the company knows who to pay commission to.
Once they register, they enter their login info to the app and viola, access to the content.
I hope I’m painting myself as not a brainwashed canned salesperson and someone who is trying to see the potential here.
The possible snag I see here, which someone pointed it out in the prior comments, is when more apps come out for retail sales, will the field be able to function both as recruiters and sales people.
As someone said, recruiters know how to recruit other recruiters, but not necessarily sell retail. To be able to do MLM, a person needs to be able to present the business side AND retail the products as well.
That is the one unknown here.
The PRIMARY purpose of MLM affiliate is to sell the products or the service. The SECONDARY purpose is to recruit additional salespeople. Remember, the primary term is marketing. 🙂
If they put the cart before the horse, then it’s probably heading the wrong way. 😀
Touche friend, touche
To my credit, I did say both their purposes, just did not prioritize them 😉
Oh, I know. You don’t sound like the wishful thinking wild-eyed parrots (that can only repeat PR speech and what they LIKE the world to be instead of what it actually is) that typically come here. 🙂 There’s stil hope in the world. 😀
Haha I try buddy, I try to be logical and have common sense. Should be considered a superpower nowadays.
Confession time – The personal development content got my attention and I did sign up to see what they were going to do.
I did it only from a customer viewpoint – I did not promote it, attend any of the conference calls, etc. In fact, I only glanced at an occasional email from them every few weeks when I remembered to check that email account.
The videos were several minutes long and the production was very nice. The speakers were engaging. While there were different topics, it seemed to be a bit heavy on the ones about business. While they were (surprisingly) well done, they were not anything exceptional.
I have customized my youtube subscriptions to create my own “personal development program”. One of the subscriptions is for Brian Tracy’s channel who was one of ILAs speakers. I get more videos per week, based on my interests, for free.
From a retail position – ILA simply is not worth it. I would never ask anyone I know to pay even a dollar a month when they could get comparable, even better, video content for free by spending a few minutes on youtube and clicking some subscribe buttons. (I think affiliates have to also pay a $19.95 fee so they can accept payments – though I don’t know the details on that)
The reason I decided to post this is because we are coming up on a new year and this is the time a lot of people resolve to improve their lives, start a business etc. Save your money. Watch youtube for free and find something more viable if you want to start a business.
^^A fair opinion, but to play devil’s advocate, it seems like they’re doing pretty well (I emphasize SEEMS since I don’t have #s in front of me).
To each their own and if the business isn’t for some, don’t join it, but more content and more apps are coming, and I applaud the company for making the apps/content as rich as possible, MLM opp or not.
The question is… if this is sellable as is, why do they need MLM?
Jeff-
Why do you say it “seems” like it’s doing pretty well? I did a search and the bulk of what showed up was from last Janurary/first pert of February which is when they launched. There were only a few mentions beyond that time.
I checked a couple of the people who had posted about a year ago and they appear to be no longer with ILA.
I found two FB pages. One is a fan page and the last update was in December showing a withdrawal of $93.36. The other is the official page which has a handful of posts for this month but, other than a few likes, there isn’t really any real interaction/discussion that one usually sees on business pages (my husband’s fairly new FB page for his local B&M business has more activity/replies).
For a business that launched almost a year ago with an mlm plan, I would expect a whole lot more activity than I did. Other than the official company stuff, there is very little out there which “seems” to me that it isn’t doing all that well.
That’s the problem – IMO it is not sellable. Like I said, they did a nice job on the production but the actual content is not worth paying for when you can get comparable or better for free.
From this quote..I’d go on to assume you think all MLM products are unsellable without the MLM umbrella?
@Zoe
-And aside from Facebook buzz, without hard numbers, we have no idea how it’s doing. I never see chapstick trending on facebook, so chapstick industry must be suffering too right?
Chapstick has a very active FB page with close to 4 million likes.
You didn’t answer my question. Yous said “it seems like they’re doing pretty well ” – why do you say that?
I have seen that you are taking $9.95 from my cking acc. I also find that you have been doing this for around a year.
I am a Social Security recipiant with an income of under $600.00 per month. Just how this got started is a mistery to me.
This is a PLEA for you to stop taking these funds. Also my ph. # (Ozedit: number removed) if you will call me.
@Green Probably best to get in contact with Inspired Living themselves over that.
Why don’t you answer the question rather than trying to derail it?
But to answer your question: most MLM products are unsuitable for traditional retail channels, yes. They are overpriced or way too niche-y or way too pseudo-science. And often, they serve as a disguise for an outright pyramid scheme that relies on affiliates to self consume instead of sell to the public.