Is MonaVie the Fastest Company to $1 Billion Dollars in Revenue?

Are you referring to this Inc article?

I don’t see any mention of those statistics, so I must have the wrong Inc one. Please source the correct article so we can verify your claim.

Also, being #3 and #18 overall doesn’t sound like the fastest company to $1 billion. There are apparently companies ahead of it. I’m not saying that it’s not impressive, but pointing out that this is evidence the claims of MonaVie distributors are not accurate… which is really the main point.

I also don’t think Inc. does any accounting to verify these numbers. I would like to read their methodology. Lastly, I still don’t count as shipping juice to distributors as a sale. When the distributor sells it or consumes it, that to me is the real sale.

My point is that Inc.’s numbers are unverified by any accounting firm. Why do you believe it? Inc. Magazine also hands out their awards to companies who openly commit fraud like LHR: (see http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29881849/ns/dateline_nbc-the_hansen_files_with_chris_hansen/page/4/). Clearly the Inc’s Fastest Growing Companies doesn’t legitimize a company.

I think MonaVie is very different than Coke. I’ve never seen someone buy a can of Coke and consume it over weeks as a bottle of MonaVie is intended. Everyone sees Coke being consumed all the time. 99.99% of the people I know have never seen anyone consume MonaVie. Most people have never even heard it, except for you say it’s the “$45 wine-bottle juice.” Their reaction is to bust out laughing, because someone tried to push it on them.

To get back on the subject, there’s evidence that the distribution chain of Coke needs restocking all the time. I just don’t see distributors moving MonaVie – instead it seems to pile up at their homes as they thought they were going to get rich with it.

Ummm, so you are saying that MonaVie doesn’t sponsor sports cars and MLB teams like the Red Sox? Just wanted to clear that up…

For MonaVie not to be a scam, they have to show some scientific evidence that it’s $45 juice is superior to $4 juice. Otherwise, you simply being scammed out of $41 (more if you count shipping).

Very few people confuse Kiyosaki with being a “financial mastermind.” He made his millions by partnering with top Amway distributors to sell Rich Dad, Poor Dad (a fictional story, mind you), so his “endorsement” of MLM is his way of paying back those people who helped him. It has nothing with MLM being a via business, which we can see from MonaVie’s income disclosure statement, it is not:

http://media.monavie.com/pdf/corporate/income_disclosure_statement.pdf

I don’t consider a cell phone sold until an end person buys it. If Sprint puts it in its stores, it’s not a sale. Chef Boyardee can count it’s product as sold when it goes to Costco because every Costco around the country reliably moves it to the end person. MonaVie distributors don’t reliably move it. You can tell me that every MonaVie distributor sells 5 cases of juice every month. There are a lot that don’t a single bottle. Show me a Costco that doesn’t sell a single case of Chef Boyardee.

I run in many different types of circles. For example, I was talking with a new guy who just contracted with a company I contract for. I know nothing about his circle. He was the person I mentioned. I also share circles with hundreds of people on the Internet… none of them common interest… all walks of life. Same reaction with MonaVie… laughter.

It’s a scam when there are piles of distributors pushing MonaVie to cure various medical conditions and using that as justifying the $45 price. It’s not “overpriced”, it’s like a car dealership selling someone a Yugo for $75,000 and telling that when it’s get to 88mph it will take them back in time. Not only can you get a product with equivalent and features for much, much less… it doesn’t do what it’s billed to do. That’s a scam.

I’ve heard there are 2.5 million distributors of MonaVie. A little more than 14,000 is not a good number at all. You should also note that 82% of the ACTIVE sellers don’t make minimum wage. And they are required to buy over $1500 of juice as well, meaning that most work close to 500 hours a year for nothing. That’s a month of 8 hour days. Not good anyway you slice it.

Most businesses have a product that provides some kind of value to the end consumer. In other posts here and countless times in the comments of this MonaVie article, we’ve seen that the product isn’t more nutritious than ones 1/20th the price.

I got my information on Kiyosaki from a number of sources, but yes John Reeds is one of them. I’m not aware of John Reeds selling a book, but nonetheless, it is irrelevant. Kiyosaki’s personal finance information is dangerous. You can also read more on The Simple Dollar who explains exactly why Robert Kiyosaki is a dangerous person to follow.

I’ve heard that Trump endorses network marketing, but I haven’t seen what he endorses. Warren Buffet does not endorse network marketing, he invested in the Pampered Chef, a product that’s competitively priced with other equivalent products like those found in Williams-Sonoma. When MonaVie drops the price of its juice to $4 a bottle to compete with it’s peers and finds a way to prevent distributors from making illegal health claims, I’ll endorse MonaVie. Until then, it’s words apart from Mary Kay, Tupperware, or Pampered Chef.

It’s really not hard to scare people away from the idea of selling juice at $45 a bottle. Simply imagine how many sales it would get in the supermarket.

How many people have I saved thousands of dollars by telling them that they’ll spend $1500 a year to just buy the juice. If they want to “work the business” (as you say), they’d have to spend thousands more in tools. Then there’s the thousands in flying around the country for various training conferences.

Again, it’s not a product that sells without tricking people into making them think it’s something it’s not. MonaVie itself lies about how much the amount of ORAC in it’s juice. I don’t know how you sleep at night knowing that fraud is being committed on such a high level.

The value is only in the eye of the purchaser if they are making an informed decision. In listening to hundreds of people who buy MonaVie, they aren’t making an informed decision.

Some of them think that they are replacing their need for vegetables. Some of them think that MonaVie is a good source of nutrients. Some of them think that there is a likelihood that they’ll get rich or at least financially independent. Some people think it helps lower cholesterol as you stated. The list goes on forever, but each of them I’ve shown to be false.

One claim distributor1 makes is that people are saying that MonaVie gives them energy. Unless they are talking about eMV, it’s simply not true. MonaVie headquarters admits it.

I can believe the business grows fast, but that doesn’t mean it has staying power. Napster grew fast too, but very few people use it today. Why does MonaVie grow fast? It’s because it promises to be everything to everyone – make you and your friends healthy and wealthy. People want to believe in that dream, that Utopia, so they give it a shot. People want to believe in it so much that they perceive it’s doing something that it isn’t. It’s called the placebo effect.

Go give a bunch of college non-alcoholic beer and they’ll behave drunk. It’s been done a number of times, and this is no different. Just because the result makes you think the beer is alcoholic, doesn’t mean it is. Each of those students would swear there was a lot of alcohol in the beer. They would say, “I know my body!”

Just because you think MonaVie is doing something, it doesn’t mean it is. That’s why Men’s Journal commissioned a lab to prove that there there is nothing of value in MonaVie: http://www.mensjournal.com/superjuices-on-trial. This is why Dr. Alex Schauss, advisor to MonaVie also says that the juice has little nutrition (Read his paper: http://www.juicescam.com/dr-alex-schauss-orac-and-freeze-dried-acai/).

Give me some information that I don’t know if you don’t think I know it. I haven’t found a distributor yet who knows more than me.

Distributor1, you talk a big game, but you provide no proof to back it up. How about giving us the doctor name and phone number who said it was a miracle? How about you show me the independent audit that MonaVie has a billion in revenue? You just repeat what your upline said or what you heard in some company cheerleading session.

MonaVie Scam, I would like to apologize for any rude comments I made about you. While I do not agree at all with your take on this whole MonaVie debate, I applaud, admire and respect the passion and effort you are putting into something you obviously believe strongly about. While I enjoy a good debate, I try to never be insulting to the other person, regardless of my emotions. I obviously failed and for that I apoligize. I know better.
I would, however, like to make a couple points regarding info that I feel you may have inadvertently misinterpreted. First, the IDS is from last year. We are almost to the end of 2009. The 2.5 million distributors you reference is a much larger and more current number than the IDS includes. And yes, many people do not, and will not, make a penny with this company. It’s not the fault of the company though. The compensation plan is awesome. The majority of the population, while they dream of riches, are not willing to do the steps necessary to obtain them. They want a quick fix so they turn to NM because of the promises of great wealth. Those promises are not false, as great wealth can be had, but I agree they are often misrepresented as being too easy to obtain. It takes steady consistent effort for 1-5 years to make it to those levels. I try to be very honest with anyone I share this business with. I don’t want people below me to just fill up slots and make me rich. I want people who will make the journey with me. My family says I should be the legal moderator for our team because I always check and correct them if they inadvertently state something not entirely grounded in facts. I do not like the distributors making huge claims and false promises any more than you do. Perhaps even less, as I am banking on this company being here in 10-20 years and anybody that threatens the integrity of this company with illegal claims is obviously endangering my future. So, to all my fellow distributors out there, please make sure you go online to MVU and at the very least do the Legal Compliance course.
In regards to the energy claims, you have a point if you are just referring to the “scientific” aspect of energy and calories. However, I believe what these people are referring to is “felt” energy. Let me explain. When you are sick, you feel drained and listless, as you recover, you have more feel more energetic. If you are dehydrated and you drink a big glass of water, you feel more energetic. If you are a couch potato and start exercising, you will feel more energetic. All of these are zero or negative calorie actions, that make you feel more energetic. It’s not “energy” in the sense of calories, but “felt” energy in the sense of a body operating in a healthier state.
Lastly, in regards to the cholesterol issue, it IS a legal statement to say that MonaVie pulse can assist you in lowering cholesterol. “Foods containing at least 0.4 grams per serving of plant sterols, eaten twice a day with meals for a daily total intake of at least 0.8 grams and as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease. Two servings (4 ounces of juice or 2 packets of gel) of MonaVie Pulse contain 0.8 grams of plant sterols.” -MonaVie website. I do know several people personally whose levels have dropped significantly after consuming the juice for a short period of time. Is it the juice? Is it a placebo effect? You believe what you like. That is your prerogative and I will not try to convince you either way. I’m just stating the chain of events that transpired.

Now, as I should take a lesson from you and apply myself to my endeavors with the passion and steadfastness you have displayed here, I need to stop my end of this debate and focus on other tasks. I thank you for your time and wish the best for you.

Thanks Anthony,

The income disclosure statement is the most recent data that MonaVie provides. If they choose to provide more recent data, I will point to that. If they do not choose to, then it’s just speculation that MonaVie has grown in the last year.

The compensation plan where 82% of the actively working people are earning less than minimum wage doesn’t not sound “awesome” – unless you are in awe of how poor it is. I agree that the general population doesn’t get riches, but I don’t think 82% of people actively trying to make money in the real work make less than minimum wage.

I don’t disagree that wealth can be had with network marketing. However, I would expect a network marketer to be able to objectively show the benefit of the product. When test after test comes back showing that the nutritional benefit is less than products that cost far less, it might be best to look to for another product to market.

I’m glad that you don’t want distributors making false claims any more than me. I hope you agree then MonaVie releases information like $1 billion in revenue and have no auditing. Even Newsweek is skeptical saying, “As a private organization, MonaVie isn’t required to publish financial data, making such claims difficult to judge.”

And it’s not just the 100% false claims that I want to get out in the open, it’s the misleading claims that I want to get out there. It’s the ones where distributors point to the ORAC of acai, ignoring the fact that MonaVie is NOT acai and we know the ORAC of MonaVie from Dr. Alex Schauss’ tests (and that it doesn’t compare well to eating an apple).

Also misleading is the explanation of “felt” energy when applied to MonaVie. When you are sick, you lack energy because your body is fighting the sickness. When you are dehydrated, your body lacks energy because your body lacks water. When you exercise, you get more energy because you are training your body that it might need this energy in the future.

You may notice all the above are due to some deficits in your body. There is no evidence that the body has some kind of “MonaVie deficit” that can only be cured by MonaVie. If you don’t agree, I would like to see some documented proof of a “MonaVie deficit” in the body. If you do agree that the body doesn’t have a “MonaVie deficit”, then you might argue there is a fruit deficit. In that case, I would say that the answer is to eat fruit. Last, the placebo effect does explain why one might have “felt” energy. After all the placebo effect is all about what one is feeling, and not always reflective of what is going on in reality.

Yes, MonaVie Pulse can make a cholesterol claim. I missed distributor mentioning MonaVie Pulse, because he referred to it in the lower case without MonaVie – (i.e. “drinks the pulse”).

Nonetheless, distributor1 can make that claim of “Foods containing at least 0.4 grams per serving of plant sterols, eaten twice a day with meals for a daily total intake of at least 0.8 grams and as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease. Two servings (4 ounces of juice or 2 packets of gel) of MonaVie Pulse contain 0.8 grams of plant sterols.”, but I don’t think he can definitively give credit to MonaVie as he did when he said, “the pulse has helped my family a lot in high cholesterol problems. 300 down to 100 something. Thats huge.”

One says “may reducing the risk of heart disease” (notice that it isn’t definitive). Distributor1 says it is THE reason for a “huge” change in his family’s cholesterol. this article says “adding 2g of either to your daily diet can help lower your total cholesterol by about 10%.” So if you were to take 2.5 times the amount of recommended daily dose MonaVie Pulse, you might expect to go from a cholesterol level of 300 to 270.

I read that MonaVie Pulse retails for $3.77 a serving (source, let me know if that’s incorrect). You would need 2 servings (one days worth), and 2.5 times that for 5 servings total. So you’d have to pay $18.85 a day in MonaVie Pulse to get the 10% gain. That’s almost $7000 a year for one person. Better hope that MonaVie Pulse is covered by your health insurance.

As you said, believe what you like, but the science has been performed and I don’t see anyone saying that it’s invalid.

EdFromOhio,

I think you are proving my point. People who buy extra Pepsi or canned goods are not distributors. They don’t intend to sell the goods to someone else. Transfer of MonaVie to distributors are just that distribution not sales.

Here’s your first rep recommending buying 6 months at a time: “Try THE JUICE for six months, but preferrably a year with an unbiased mind toward how you feel. You could purchase a 12 case bulk order of MonaVie Active for $995 plus shipping ($23/bottle). One case a month makes the order a years supply.”

That’s a distributor asking someone to spend nearly over $1000 (including shipping) to try something.

Would a multi-billion dollar public company like Enron do the things that they were doing to jeopardize their future? I think not. I hope you get the point that a private company like MonaVie can get away with even more.

Also just because you have $100,000,000 in revenue, it doesn’t make you a $100M company. There’s a tremendously big difference there.

Even if MonaVie distributors weren’t making illegal medical claims, this comparison wouldn’t be accurate.

Comparing style of jeans is similar to comparing taste of food. All jeans and food basically serve the same function (keep legs warm, provide you with nutrition and calories) despite the brand. If A&F want to differentiate their brand on style and (legal) marketing, that’s great. If MonaVie wants to do the same on taste, I’m all for that too. You see a lot of food marketed on that factor.

However, if MonaVie is going to charge a higher price by pretending to be more functional (i.e. provide more health benefits), they need to scientifically prove that claim. Otherwise, you are left buying it for the taste and I don’t know anyone who has ever said it tasted like it should be priced at more than $12 for 8 oz glass.

Steve, I’ll let you take on that project. I don’t think Tide costs 10x more than All, Gain, etc. and gives you no obvious benefit ever. If you can show that, then you’ll probably have a popular blog.

fastest product to rip american public off 1 billion dollars is not something i would be bragging about.