Thanks Tenny D first of all for allowing me to post this. I have recently joined up to run a side business that I hope can make me a nice little income stream. First of all let me get this out of the way. I'm not just trying to give you all a sales pitch. Maybe I'm gullible and fall for things but I tried to do my due diligence on this and researched the program for a couple of weeks and watched all of the information I could to digest how it worked. What I'm wanting to do here is kind of explain how it works and to see what you all legitimately think. Now, I will also get this out of the way. You can slice most MLM's any way in the world that you want to and at the end of the day they are all pyramids or pyramid like even if they don't like to admit that. However, doing a bit of MLM in the past, I know the objection of running out of people can be legitimate but Amway started back in the late 50s and they are still going. And my business mind thinks most businesses are pyramids. The supplier sells to someone who sells to someone else etc until it reaches a consumer. The company I have decided to invest what little bit if free time I have into is called Lyoness. They are a company that offers a Global Rewards Card. They have a motto of, "Make Money on Money You Already Spend." Every merchant they partner with offers either 1-2% Cashback and Loyalty Benefits ranging from 1-25%. Some of their partners are Target, BP, K-Mart, Darden Restaurants (Red Lobster, Olive Garden, etc), Subway, Office Depot, Home Depot, American Airlines, and many others. They have four ways you can shop with them (Gift Card Purchases, Online Shopping, Cashback Card, and Mobile Vouchers). For instance, hotels.com is in network and if you use the Lyoness website to click through to hotels.com (so it knows you are using your Lyoness account) you get the benefit of 2% Cashback and 2% Loyalty. So if I booked a 3 day trip to Charlotte for instance for $350 I would get $7 cashback and $7 in Loyalty Benefits. Anyone can become a member of Lyoness at no charge to them. It costs me $1.50 to sign someone up. Then, anytime they shop in the network, I get 0.05% cash back on any purchases they make from now on. And anyone they personally sign up I also get 0.05% of their purchases (2 levels on this commission type). So, if I get 5 people and they all get say 2 I'll have 15 people in my "network" contributing to my payouts on the cash back level. If those 15 people each spend $100 a month in network I'll get back $7.50. I know that doesn't blow you away with excitement. However, the Loyalty Benefits stack up to produce big bonus potential by shopping in the network. I think the average across the board is about 5% in Loyalty Bonuses. So, at $100 per month x 15 people x 5% that's $75.00 in Loyalty Benefits. The company has a program where they give you Accounting Units. There are 5 levels of these Accounting Units but on Level 1 at the bottom it takes $75 in Loyalty Benefits to make 1 Accounting Unit. Each time you get 70 units in your network through shopping behind your units (that you can either shop enough to make yourself or you can buy some on the front end to have them in place) then you get the level 1 bonus. If I buy units up front - which I did - I bought 7 $75 units - then when they mature each one will pay $675 in Loyalty Income to be spent within the Lyoness network. It will also pay me $198 in cash to my checking account. Now, if I had shopped enough in network to make the $75 unit myself (roughly $1,500 in shopping) then I would actually get the $675 back to my checking account to spend however I wanted as well as the other $198 in cash. When that $75 unit matures it moves to Accounting Category II and creates 4 new units in Accounting Category I. In Accounting Category II it takes $225 to make one Accounting Unit. On this level once you get 60 units (at $225 each) behind your unit it pays you $594 in cash and it creates 4 new units in AC II in it's place also. Then that unit moves to AC III where $600 is equal to one unit and when it gets 50 units behind it then it pays out $1,980. In AC IV it pays $5,940 and in AC V it pays $19,800 in cash. Now, don't think I'm a complete dunce - I know that's a lot of shopping that has to take place to make these units mature and move through the system but that's the payouts they have for the accounting categories. They also have Loyalty Commission bonuses. You get 18.75% commission off of your direct members and 6.25% off of your indirect members (which are the members that your direct members sign up). For instance if I bring you in and you get to AC III and get that $1,980 bonus Lyoness will give me a Loyalty Commission of $371.25 just for you doing a good job. If it's a person that you brought in and they get that commission I would get the 6.25% and still get $123.75 myself. Then they have Volume Commission which is guaranteed. As your portfolio grows and you have more members in your network shopping you get this Volume Commission. At Level 2 you get $300 guaranteed per month on top of all of the other commission you make, Level 3 you get $750, Level 4 you get $1,800, Level 5 $4,500, Level 6 $12,000, Level 7 $30,000, and Level 8 $75,000 per month. That's the gist of how they pay but let me explain a few things further below if anyone is still reading: My goal is to sign up business builders who understand this matrix and see the benefit of profiting off of the shopping of others and yourself. I am also heavily recruiting small and medium sized businesses because they can join this program too. The SME's really drive the company from what I can tell. Sure, they have some of the bigger named places that participate but the smaller businesses are the one's Lyoness targets as new members. For instance, I am in the process of signing up a local golf course right now. The golf course is going to offer 1% Cashback and 9% Loyalty Benefits for a 10% total benefit to anyone who has the card and plays golf there. The golf course (or any merchant store) pays $2,590 per location to be in the program. For that $2,590 they will get 1,000 cards to sign new members up with. 1,000 cards at $1.50 each is $1,500 worth of cards for the money they spend. They also get a Samsung Galaxy Tablet to sign people up with at the store and that can swipe the loyalty card. They also receive flyers and promotional materials and are featured on the Lyoness website and get Twitter and Facebook announcements. So what's in it for the golf course right? I signed up the owner of the golf course who is coming in and has bought some of the units on the front end so they don't have to wait for them to be shopped out and can earn all levels of commission immediately. In turn, the owner of the course is signing up the course itself as a Loyalty Merchant. The course then distributes the 1,000 cards to it's members/golfers at no cost to them. All they have to do to earn the benefits is tie the card to their bank account. Then anytime they play golf they receive a bit of a benefit and a small amount of cash back. Now, these people that get the card for free are members in the network. The golf course has produced 1,000 new Lyoness members. These members can also shop anywhere in the network to earn additional cash back and benefits. So, if Joe gets a card from the golf course and decides to use it to book his vacation on hotels.com through the network and spends $2,500 for a week at the beach and $1,000 in plane tickets through American Airlines the golf course itself as well as the owner of the course both will get back 0.05% from him using the network. $3,500 turns into $17.50 each for the course and the owner. But, factoring in the Loyalty Benefits of 2% from hotels.com and 2% from American Airlines that turns into $175 in Loyalty Benefits. Joe created almost 2 1/2 accounting units. These units fall under the units of the golf course owner. The more merchants coming in around here the better. You'll have members actively seeking Lyoness merchants to shop with to save money driving more traffic to their store. Out of the 1,000 people the golf course signs up - if even 25% of them (250) use the card for it's benefits and shop an average of $100 per month in network that would be $300,000 in shopping volume in a year. Out of that $300,000 the golf course and the owner will both make $1,500 cash back. They will also accrue around $15,000 in Loyalty Benefits. At the bottom level where a unit is made with $75 in Loyalty Benefits that would make 200 units itself. I know it's a lot of information to digest but I hope you can see how this works. It just came to the United States in 2012 and I have personally spoken with people who got in this on the front end out in Southern California where it took off first making $150,000+ per month. There's at least a couple of people out there over $500,000 per month right now. There's all kinds of small and medium sized merchants in the network from new car sales all the way to dentists. Signing up a new car sales lot would be a goldmine doing this. 1% cashback 1% Loyalty Bonus. Say a lot sells an average of 50 cars a month averaging $20,000 per car = $1,000,000 in volume. If I sign up the owner and he signs up the dealership I would be getting $20,000 per month back in Loyalty Benefits. At the base level in ACI that would turn into 266 units. 70 units pushes a bonus so I would get the $675 to spend in network almost 4 times a month and I would also get the $198 in cash each time also. Unlike most MLM's I've ever dealt with there is no membership fees, no annual renewals, no autoships, no selling crap no one wants. You use the network members to get some cash back and loyalty built up. If you want in just to shop it's free. If you want to build a side income doing it then it would cost you a little bit to buy some accounting units on the front end. The problem with all MLM's I've ever saw before is the fact they are not sustainable. People never stop shopping. You'll always need to shop - so I don't see how this one will ever stop working. What most people won't come out and say that I don't care to is that yes, the people that get in on the front end will make the most money. It's just a fact of life. Right now is a good opportunity IMO to get in on this here in East TN because not very many are doing it yet. I've always just missed the boat on these MLM's and came in a bit too late. This one is prime time to get in. Apple and Amazon.com are coming into the network next month. Now, besides the obvious answer of it's a pyramid what would you all object about this idea? I wouldn't be fooling with this if I didn't think it had a lot of upside potential. If nothing else I'm out a little bit on this investment. I've already used the benefits to shop at K-Mart, 6 Dollar Shirts, Lugz.com, and to eat out at Longhorn Steakhouse. All things I would have done anyway so it's not like I went out of my way to save a little money. I'm not in it for the little bit of cash back I could make however it is nice to know that I'm saving a bit just by shopping at these stores. I'm in it for that $600,000 per month that the dude out in California is raking in or even the $100,000+ per month many people are making out there and around Boston and some down in Florida. Ask questions, critique, etc. I need to make sure I can halfway easily explain this to anyone who is interested. You all are basically helping me hone my presentation and giving me ideas on what I'll be looking out for in terms of pushback. I need to know how to answer the questions that are going to come up. So far I've been pretty lucky with my business friends I've shot this to and spoke to about. I've got several stores interested in joining and have already got several people that have bought units to work this as a business in my first two weeks. Thanks for anyone that read through this. I know all those numbers and figures can make you cross eyed but I tried to be as detailed as possible explaining this on an internet forum without the help of visual aids or being able to just talk to you about it.
No cost to be a shopper. Minimum to buy units $550. To keep it legal you buy $300 in gift cards to any of the big merchants listed above, $225 for 3 $75 units and $25 to sign up new members. You get the gift cards via FedEx in about 3 days. So actual out of pocket is $250. I mean I got $200 in gas cards and $100 in Kmart card which I would have spent anyhow.
Quick and dirty description so you don't have to read that entire explanation to get the gist of it. Some of you help me out here - just let me know what it sounds like in theory to you. Global Cashback Card to use at any participating merchant. Cashback of either 1-2% across the board, Loyalty Credits anywhere from 1%-25% When you accumulate $75 in Loyalty Credits (about $1,500 of shopping in network) you make an Accounting Unit Once you get 70 Accounting Units behind your unit you get $675 to be spent in network or in cash depending on how you got there and $198 in cash at the base level. It costs you $1.50 to enroll anyone to be a member and you get 0.05% Cashback on their purchases as well as anyone they sign up's purchases also (2 levels) You can buy units up front for $550 minimum. $300 in gift cards, $225 to buy 3 $75 units, and $25 to sign up new members You can sign up loyalty merchants (mom and pop stores or smaller businesses) - $2,590 for a business per location. They get 1,000 cards to hand out to their customers, a Samsung Galaxy Tablet to swipe cards and sign people up on, and various promotional materials People are literally making $100,000 + per month right now doing this by recruiting MLM people that are business builders and recruiting loyalty merchants to sign up in network Like I said - the whole thing is basically broken down in the original post as good as I can do it on paper. It will fill in the holes. But this above is just a cliff notes version.
I have an American express preferred blue card which is 6% back on supermarkets, 3% back at gas stations, 3% at certain department stores, and 1% everywhere else. didn't read your whole block, but this doesn't seem better. just pointing this out for comparison. . .
That sounds pretty good droski. This is like a Loyalty Card though - like the Food City card or a CVS card. You can use it to get the discount and you could still use your AMEX Blue card and double dip. You don't pay with this card you just use it to get the discounts.
Well you have to use the card to scan at stores that take it or if you shop through the Lyoness website with your account logged in and tunnel into, say, lugz.com and buy $100 worth of shoes it recognizes you have used the Lyoness Discount to get your cashback and loyalty bonus. I still pay with my debit/credit card. This card just gives you the discount. Like I said it's like a Food City/Ingles/CVS/Walgreens - etc - type of card.
I don't know if they have released the 2013 numbers yet. It just came to the United States in 2012. Back then, you weren't allowed to enroll merchant stores either. That came along sometime last year from my understanding. Like anything else, the people that work it harder will obviously make the most money and coming in on top is also key in any type of deal like this. I feel that in this area it's untapped - that's why I decided to give it a go.
I'm looking into that also.............with 3 kids I've got to do something. I figured now was as good of a time as any to cash in on some favors I've earned from my banking over the past 10 years. My reputation is on the line to a degree with some of these people so I wouldn't be plugging this if I didn't believe in the concept and the returns.
