Last week was a week of R&R for me and my family.  Tai and I treated my mom, dad and sister with a trip to Miami.

Here we are waiting for our plane and having some breakfast at the Detroit Airport.

Mom, dad & my sister Joanna at the airport

Tai & I at the airport

We decided to spend most of our time on the Miami beaches so we decided to stay in a beachfront hotel on Miami Beach.  It was great waking up to a view of palm tries beach and blue ocean.

This is the view from our hotel room balcony.

View from our hotel room balcony.

Here’s a shot of the beach up close from the boardwalk.

Miami beach from the boardwalk

Me on the Miami Beach boardwalk

I took this picture right after we got to the hotel, that’s why I’m in jeans, no sunscreen on.  The sun was so strong I burned my shoulders pretty quickly.

That same day me, Tai and my dad decided to go visit the South Beach area, see the nightlife and get some food.  Mom and sis were so tired from traveling they were asleep by 6pm.

We were lucky because it was a Sunday and South Beach was crazy busy.  I even ended with a python around my neck and a parrot on my hand…

Me & Tai with an albino python and a parrot on my head

I thought the python was cool, but I was really nervous about having that giant bird on my head…

What if it took a dump on my head?…

Luckily that did not happen

After seeing the sites and sounds of South Beach we had some food and drinks…

Actually it was one drink, a giant Mojito.

Tai & I enjoying a Mojito in South Beach

After dinner we walked around some more.  Stumbled upon some amazing stores and art galleries.  However we were tired and went to bed early so that we could get rested for another exciting day in Miami.

I’ll tell you more of our adventures in Miami in my second installment of “Fun In Miami.”

Till then

VoiParty is certainly one of the few companies to bring communications into the multi level marketing world. It is allegedly the first one trying to become lucrative based on the peer to peer Inter-Exchange Communications protocol. This Inter-Exchange Communications protocol, or IXC for short is an interesting alternative to long distance calls, routing calls between users on the internet and practically generating passive revenue while doing it.

This strategy alone is said to produce a multi-billion dollar revenue stream each month. And by bringing it to the direct marketing field VoiParty attempts to turn it into an even more profitable business opportunity. Let’s take a look at what their chances to succeed are.

Based in Florida, the company is active on the market since 2005. Their slogan is “A Communications Revolution”, and that is what they are seemingly trying to accomplish. It also seems as they have the right people to do it.

The company’s founder Dr Ciro Martinez II, which is currently holding the position of President, has a Master of Business Administration and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Washington University, a Bachelor of Science in law and a J.D. from Northwestern University, and has published books regarding the current economical crisis.

The management team comprises also of Joe Mechado, co-founder and current CEO, and Paul Jorgensen, holding the position of senior Vice President.

It looks like they have the right people to succeed, but do they have the right product as well? VoiParty sells a package of communications services which provides free calls within the network. As a downside, the calls from other networks are considered and paid for as long-distance calls.

What generates the income, a customer would ask?

The cash flow is generated by all the long distance calls routed through your connection via internet. These calls are actually free calls within the network, and the cost difference is what actually makes the profit.

The market for this type of product is huge, but unfortunately already overcrowded by the traditional communications companies. It is a well known fact that phone companies have been struggling for decades to survive and make a living. The advantage here is that VoiParty is using the Inter-Exchange Communications approach, which allows them to offer calls free of charge within the network.

This can be their ace in the sleeve, and can guarantee them a slice of the market. Moreover, by using the direct sales approach the marketer appeals to connections between relatives and friends, which would have all the incentives to want to keep in touch without having to pay a dime.

VoiParty employs a 3 by 12 matrix based compensation plan. There are different ranks available, such as system and network developer, network executive, vice president and senior vice president. For each of these there is a “star” rank available as well. They also offer bonuses for enrolling others in your team, down to the fifth level.

The training provided by VoiParty is rather shallow, consisting only of general tips and outlines of what a marketer should do. They seemingly don’t consider that training is an important aspect of this business, and leave the task of getting the required information to the distributor. But this is most definitely going to get them nowhere, and it is a rather sad thing.

However, if you still want to join VoiParty you can do it, and minimize the risks of failure by getting correctly educated on specific marketing techniques, compatible with VoiParty, but also applicable to a host of other MLM companies.

You can get information on how to correctly enroll people, how to build a strong network, and how to market your product correctly. You can get informed and ready to thrive with VoiParty simply by clicking the provided link.

Numis Network is apparently the only company currently dealing in numismatics in the multi level marketing world.  There were at some point other companies selling collector’s coins, but for some reason which is not that difficult to speculate they ended up closing their business. One of the possible causes for their failure can be the fact that they concentrated all their efforts on single type of items. This considerably reduces their target market, and guarantees to yield a smaller profit. Moreover, how many people willing to invest in collector’s coins do you know? The market for this product is very narrow and exclusive, while the people interested in numismatics have a tendency to remain the same. This can be an advantage as well, as they can easily be found, but with all the drawbacks that this business presents this provides little comforting.

The company does not share any information on the actual date when it was founded. They seem willing to give more information on what their plans are and on the individual backgrounds of the founders.

The management team is comprised of Ian Cordell, founder and company President, active in the direct selling industry since 1994 and having co-founded International Direct Selling Technology Corporation, Christopher Kent and Jake Kevorkian, both company co-founders and EVPs. Christopher Kent has been working with Ian Cordell since 1994, when they started their first company together. One invaluable addition to their team is Mike Mezack, the famous expert numismatist, having hosted many shows and infomercials on numismatics and featured on the Coin Collector show. Regarded as the best numismatic salesman in the world, he allegedly has produced sales in excess of one billion dollars. The recruiting of Mike Mezack will surely boost the credibility of Numis Network in the eyes of their clients, but is it going to be enough to make this a successful company?

They also need a credible and concrete product, but that’s not that challenging to achieve when dealing with precious metal coins. With the current crisis affecting the US market, effectively causing the currency to be based on debt, investing in something which actually has an intrinsic value can prove to be a smart idea. But the difficulty lies in the entire concept of numismatics. Rare coins have an established value, and rarely one can find the specific collector willing to pay more than that accepted value. So, if you want to buy low and sell high Numis is not the business for you.

As we have already stated, Numis is merely moving the concept of dealing in numismatics to the multi level marketing area. This means that the market is already established, and that they only add to it that personal touch which is granted by the direct sales approach. But this market is pretty solid in its smallness. Once you get to know the numismatics enthusiasts, that’s pretty much it. Another interesting feature of this market is that competition can exist only in the amount of collected coins, and not in their value. The coins cannot hold different properties from one another, or do things that other coins do not do. This gives an impression of honesty and transparency to the business.

So far, there are good and less good aspects to this company, incentives for joining and things that can be tackled by an industrious and well educated marketer. But how do you actually make a profit with Numis? Their compensation plan employs a simple two legged structure, with no limit to the number of levels for which you can get bonuses. But the whole idea of this binary system is that you have to work a lot in order to get profits from your lesser leg, and that’s true even if you have a large number of individuals in your downline. They also offer bonuses collected from the joining fees of your enrollments.

In conclusion, it takes a well trained marketer to make this a lucrative business. Numis’s training consists of extensive presentations of each coin, so their distributors will be prepared to answer every possible question from their clients. They also hold business conferences and presentations on a regular basis. An interesting fact about Numis is that they are paying 50 dollars for each person in your downline willing to join their training program.

But this is not of any help to someone new to the whole direct sales business. In order to succeed you need a thorough understanding of the concept, and that knowledge is invaluable. If you want to actually have a chance of being successful and make money with Numis you should exhaust every source of information you can find. You can acquire all the information needed in order to explode Numis Network just by clicking the provided link.

21TEN appears to be the best thing that happened to the multi level marketing world in quite a while. They almost seem not to be conscious of all the competition with which the market they are targeting is filled. They go about carelessly, focusing on their products’ advantages as a confident teenager on his way to college.

This overall casual attitude is also reflected by their choice of advertising, making use of fresh and trendy words, employing puns and a minimalistic graphic design. With a rather unorthodox approach they have the chance to step right in front of the already established companies, and practically steal their clients. But this would only be granted by a capable management team, well designed products, a rewarding compensation plan and able training. Let’s further analyze 21TEN and see if it has the required ingredients to become successful.

The company itself is young and has yet to be launched. Although it has been pre-launched at the beginning of 2010, the scheduled date for their launch is the 15^th of May. Being the newest division of OxyFresh, it shares the latter’s headquarters in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. OxyFresh has been around for more than 20 years, activating in the health and wellness market sector.

The management team comprises of a long list of names, all with extensive backgrounds in the marketing field. Janine Avila, Vice President of Field Support, Carla Ballensky, Director of Distributor Services and Events, Melissa Gulbranson, marketing VP, Tom Lunneborg, Director of Production and Distribution and Steve Wood, Finance and Operations VP are all led by the company’s founder, Richard Brooke. Richard Brooke, the company CEO, is active in the multi level marketing field since 1977, became successful in direct marketing already before he was 30 years old.

21TEN only markets one product for the moment, and that is Life Shotz. On can gather from reading the product name that they promote a rebel attitude, but the only rebel thing about Life Shotz is the way it is marketed. Its purported benefits are numerous, ranging from anti aging, immune system building to mood enhancing and a low impact on the environment. Life Shotz comes in the shape of a powder, this choice being motivated by the eagerness to minimize the impact on the environment by requiring less fuel for the distribution. Life Shotz contains a host of berry and fruit extracts, xylitol, Stevia, Resveratrol, vitamins and minerals. Life Shotz comes in 10 piece boxes, and can be purchased by ordering one, four or eight boxes. Every Life Shotz box also includes personal development cards for downloading various podcasts.

All the benefits that Life Shotz allegedly provides make of this product a highly desirable one. There already is an established market for healthy products in the direct marketing world, and 21TEN has devised a perfectly fitting item for this market niche. All the clever marketing does not imply that they are only targeting young people, because anyone can benefit from the healthy properties of Life Shotz.

21TEN employs a unilevel compensation plan, altered to provide several bonuses. In order to join one has to pay an initial fee and then a smaller annual fee. In exchange for the initial fee one is granted the so called Distributor Kit, containing various materials on how to business building, personal development and also a subscription for Success Magazine.

One can advance in rank by maintaining a certain number of active distributors, and this suggests that they really are interested in their distributors’ team work. Depending on the number of personally sponsored distributors, one can become Sales Manager, Sales Director or Regional Sales Director, each rank providing a larger bonus.

21TEN has chosen a direct approach for their training, rather than providing the usual online training courses. This emphasizes their interest in personal contact between their distributors, and comes in useful for building strong teams. Already by giving the Distributor Kits they provide some materials, and it is the sponsor’s responsibility to further train the new marketers.

In conclusion, it is clear that the many years of experience granted by OxyFresh can only give birth to a successful company. 21TEN is a great opportunity for new and experienced marketers alike, but what would make the difference between the average entrepreneur and the top 3% which become really successful? The answer is information. By learning what a sponsor can teach means that one has to limit his knowledge down to a company average. Only by inquiring and looking for other sources of information one can have a shot at making it big.

If you want to join 21TEN now, but you are not sure of what marketing technique is more appropriate for this business, don’t waste any time. Check the provided link for specific knowledge on How To Tame 21TEN.