Earlier this week I went to a presentation about Mona Vie. Mainly out of interest, as most of the things I had read online contained the words "scam exposed", "why I quit this scam", "scam or real deal?, "scam exposed" or "pyramid scheme". Pretty much all negative things and I'm also sure that looking up "pyramid scheme" in a thesaurus would list the "scam".
So my cousin and I rocked up to this presentation, and I wasn't expecting that much. Sit down, watch a slide show, listen to the usual passive-aggressive pseudo-motivational soft-sell preaching, see a lot of people in suits, pretend to be interested, maybe eat a few snacks available, and so on.
But I have learnt not to trust my expectations. I wasn't disappointed. We arrived in this office building, made our way through small groups of people and got to a meeting room with probably 60 people there (not an exact figure, but it helps with the maths). Lots of youthful looking (aka younger than me) people.
As the night progressed I started to realise that some guys were 18 (maybe like 5% or 3 people). Most of these suited and booted youngsters (70% or 42 people) were about 21 to 25. In the age range 26 to 31 (9 people, that's 15%). And 32+.... maybe 6 people (that's 10%). There was one lady there who claimed she was in her 60s.
There was a guy there, probably in his early 30s, who was something Mona Vie term a Black Diamond (aka earns a shit ton of money and drives a black Merc - basically a Mona Vie company car).
I was surprised so many young people - I got the impression that a few young people, in Australia at least, are concerned about their future and want to do something about it. They're inspired by guys like Donald Trump, quote Robert Kyosaki's writing as if he is a prophet, draw analogies with Warren Buffet and present with infectious, youthful enthusiasm about how they dropped out of school or uni but still can make money.
And it is true, you can make money if you're willing to work hard.
I use the word "infectious" as it is. Listening to one guy speak, although it was a bit tongue-in-cheek, some parts did make me laugh and he did get some degree of audience participation.
Marketing this healthy lifestyle choice that Mona Vie offers seems also to be something that appeals to this ambitious youth, and of course the allusion of wealth and riches limited only by hard work definitely appeals. Acai berries feature heavily in Mona Vie products too, re-emphasising the fat-loss/cures-all-diseases fad of this super-fruit. They name drop Brad Pitt and some other popular celebrity, saying how they swear by acai berries, while surreptitiously hinting that as their drinks contain acai berries therefore famous celebrities are endorsing Mona Vie too.
The juice is a fusion of some 18 other fruits as well as acai (a skeptic would point out that most of them exotic and difficult to buy), and as if by some scientific magic when all these fruits are mixed together they become super-healthy, somehow unlocking cathartic power within these fruits.....so of course, Mona Vie makes a perfect choice for adding 19 different fruits to your diet. Actually, this was quite hard to swallow (pun intended...). I've had many an argument relating to Chinese herbal remedies and adding things like goji berries, red dates, honey dates and ginger to soup and drinks. And while they do indeed add certain qualities to the flavour and probably do make things seem a bit more wholesome (I actually believe there are benefits in drinking hot grated ginger and honey to boost your immune system), I'm not that sold on the idea that just because a few South American tribes have less disease and ailments from eating acai berries, we should too.
Aside from the enviro-science (scivi?) embellishments, the drink is actually quite tasty. I got to try some of the Mona Vie Original. It tasted like a really thick Innocent Smoothie (popular in the UK) mixed with with fizzy sherbert, like the Sherbert Fountain sweets. It was pretty good. Like biting into a orange peel and feeling the gentle, tingling zestiness, but none of the pithy, bitter sourness. While drinking a mouthful of watery yogurt mixed with Sprite and tiny bits of debris that are just gently dancing around your mouth (like rinsing your mouth out with beer after eating a sandwich; you can feel all the food particles swishing about but it's beer and food, you can't spit them out).
Everyone was really friendly and welcoming and everyone who wasn't bemused by this presentation was incredibly passionate about the benefits of Mona Vie; health-wise and financially. Almost like a cult. Almost like a religion, where heaven is a mixture of wealth and acai berries.
So my cousin and I rocked up to this presentation, and I wasn't expecting that much. Sit down, watch a slide show, listen to the usual passive-aggressive pseudo-motivational soft-sell preaching, see a lot of people in suits, pretend to be interested, maybe eat a few snacks available, and so on.
But I have learnt not to trust my expectations. I wasn't disappointed. We arrived in this office building, made our way through small groups of people and got to a meeting room with probably 60 people there (not an exact figure, but it helps with the maths). Lots of youthful looking (aka younger than me) people.
As the night progressed I started to realise that some guys were 18 (maybe like 5% or 3 people). Most of these suited and booted youngsters (70% or 42 people) were about 21 to 25. In the age range 26 to 31 (9 people, that's 15%). And 32+.... maybe 6 people (that's 10%). There was one lady there who claimed she was in her 60s.
There was a guy there, probably in his early 30s, who was something Mona Vie term a Black Diamond (aka earns a shit ton of money and drives a black Merc - basically a Mona Vie company car).
I was surprised so many young people - I got the impression that a few young people, in Australia at least, are concerned about their future and want to do something about it. They're inspired by guys like Donald Trump, quote Robert Kyosaki's writing as if he is a prophet, draw analogies with Warren Buffet and present with infectious, youthful enthusiasm about how they dropped out of school or uni but still can make money.
And it is true, you can make money if you're willing to work hard.
I use the word "infectious" as it is. Listening to one guy speak, although it was a bit tongue-in-cheek, some parts did make me laugh and he did get some degree of audience participation.
Marketing this healthy lifestyle choice that Mona Vie offers seems also to be something that appeals to this ambitious youth, and of course the allusion of wealth and riches limited only by hard work definitely appeals. Acai berries feature heavily in Mona Vie products too, re-emphasising the fat-loss/cures-all-diseases fad of this super-fruit. They name drop Brad Pitt and some other popular celebrity, saying how they swear by acai berries, while surreptitiously hinting that as their drinks contain acai berries therefore famous celebrities are endorsing Mona Vie too.
The juice is a fusion of some 18 other fruits as well as acai (a skeptic would point out that most of them exotic and difficult to buy), and as if by some scientific magic when all these fruits are mixed together they become super-healthy, somehow unlocking cathartic power within these fruits.....so of course, Mona Vie makes a perfect choice for adding 19 different fruits to your diet. Actually, this was quite hard to swallow (pun intended...). I've had many an argument relating to Chinese herbal remedies and adding things like goji berries, red dates, honey dates and ginger to soup and drinks. And while they do indeed add certain qualities to the flavour and probably do make things seem a bit more wholesome (I actually believe there are benefits in drinking hot grated ginger and honey to boost your immune system), I'm not that sold on the idea that just because a few South American tribes have less disease and ailments from eating acai berries, we should too.
Aside from the enviro-science (scivi?) embellishments, the drink is actually quite tasty. I got to try some of the Mona Vie Original. It tasted like a really thick Innocent Smoothie (popular in the UK) mixed with with fizzy sherbert, like the Sherbert Fountain sweets. It was pretty good. Like biting into a orange peel and feeling the gentle, tingling zestiness, but none of the pithy, bitter sourness. While drinking a mouthful of watery yogurt mixed with Sprite and tiny bits of debris that are just gently dancing around your mouth (like rinsing your mouth out with beer after eating a sandwich; you can feel all the food particles swishing about but it's beer and food, you can't spit them out).
Everyone was really friendly and welcoming and everyone who wasn't bemused by this presentation was incredibly passionate about the benefits of Mona Vie; health-wise and financially. Almost like a cult. Almost like a religion, where heaven is a mixture of wealth and acai berries.
The price I was shown was around AUD$4,000 for a year up front. This gives you something like 96 bottles of Mona Via per year, which is pretty pricey, but I was lead to believe that by getting heavily involved in the MLM bit, you can recoup costs quite well. Quite well in the sense that it takes a few years. This is actually a mistake that lots of people make; they think it is some get rich scheme where they can plough all their hard earned cash into.
There were a few holes in their arguments and some of the figures they mentioned (like the presentation they showed had little mistakes and typos that show a lack of attention to detail, and that annoy me enormously especially in a presentation to the public) but there were some interesting points raised. As our environment is getting more fucked up each day - all manner of nasty chemicals are polluting our food, water and skies, the richer inhabitants are going crazy for healthy living. The health and well-being industry will explode in the coming years and so more and more people will want to get involved in this product.
I'm not going to join. In fact, before I even attended the event I made the decision of why I didn't want to get involved. There's already just enough hours in the day for me to do all the things I want to do. I don't have a surplus of time. One of the main reasons why people fail at this business of network marketing is that they don't invest enough time in it. The 24 hours that make up my day are already completely devoted to self-development and self-improvement. "When they invent a 25 hour day I'll get round to it" one of my old managers used to reply to anyone that asked him to do something and he was really busy already. He also made coffee by putting hot water and milk in a cup first, then adding the coffee granules....make of that what you want....
Whether reading, watching, listening, working or learning, sleeping, eating, making coffee...all of these activities are benefitting me in some way. At the moment my time for self-growth is much more valuable to me than development of riches. Potential development of riches I should add.
I also know that I am not a good salesman and Mona Vie looks like it entails a fair bit of selling. Admitting your weakness is a step to becoming stronger. I've got no real interest in being a salesman it. My skills and personality aren't really geared towards it anyway.
I'm hesitant to brand Mona Vie a scam and bullshit. It gives the illusion of wealth; some actually mange to become richer, a lot don't. The word scam is quite a harsh word, but I think that scary connotation is on purpose, so as when people hear it they become wary of the scheme.
There is nothing like a get rich quick scheme.
Maybe buying 15 Bitcoins from Mt Gox at the current price of $292 then withdrawing them and selling them another site for $600. Maybe even buy yourself some Dogecoins and do some virtual tipping. Such as, if you like this article....
There were a few holes in their arguments and some of the figures they mentioned (like the presentation they showed had little mistakes and typos that show a lack of attention to detail, and that annoy me enormously especially in a presentation to the public) but there were some interesting points raised. As our environment is getting more fucked up each day - all manner of nasty chemicals are polluting our food, water and skies, the richer inhabitants are going crazy for healthy living. The health and well-being industry will explode in the coming years and so more and more people will want to get involved in this product.
I'm not going to join. In fact, before I even attended the event I made the decision of why I didn't want to get involved. There's already just enough hours in the day for me to do all the things I want to do. I don't have a surplus of time. One of the main reasons why people fail at this business of network marketing is that they don't invest enough time in it. The 24 hours that make up my day are already completely devoted to self-development and self-improvement. "When they invent a 25 hour day I'll get round to it" one of my old managers used to reply to anyone that asked him to do something and he was really busy already. He also made coffee by putting hot water and milk in a cup first, then adding the coffee granules....make of that what you want....
Whether reading, watching, listening, working or learning, sleeping, eating, making coffee...all of these activities are benefitting me in some way. At the moment my time for self-growth is much more valuable to me than development of riches. Potential development of riches I should add.
I also know that I am not a good salesman and Mona Vie looks like it entails a fair bit of selling. Admitting your weakness is a step to becoming stronger. I've got no real interest in being a salesman it. My skills and personality aren't really geared towards it anyway.
I'm hesitant to brand Mona Vie a scam and bullshit. It gives the illusion of wealth; some actually mange to become richer, a lot don't. The word scam is quite a harsh word, but I think that scary connotation is on purpose, so as when people hear it they become wary of the scheme.
There is nothing like a get rich quick scheme.
Maybe buying 15 Bitcoins from Mt Gox at the current price of $292 then withdrawing them and selling them another site for $600. Maybe even buy yourself some Dogecoins and do some virtual tipping. Such as, if you like this article....
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