Busted!!! Bye Bye $$$$

You've been told countless times. But you don't listen and now you're gonna get it... Get what??? A royal beat down from Oprah and what I expect to be a wave of celebrities.

If you haven't heard it yet Oprah is suing some online marketers for using her image and name without consent. Mashable.com reported on August 19, 2009 ~ Oprah Sues Seedy Online Marketers a copy of the full press release can be found here.

In a nut shell Oprah is pretty ticked off at the fact that marketers are claiming false endorsements to peddle their products. And frankly I don't blame her. I'm no celebrity but I would be going ballistic if I came across a product that I supposedly approved of, could you imagine. People were outraged when Facebook announced that profile pictures could be used by their advertisers without your consent. This is no different.

This lawsuit was to be expected. Each company has its own disclosure clauses and their own penalties for breaking the rules. Regardless of those warnings I still see many ads saying such things as "Oprah, Larry King, the View, are some of the few..." This lawsuit is going to be huge, but it's necessary.

The network marketing industry is indeed a very profitable industry, but it has a bad connotation mainly because its not a mainstream way of making money and many have gotten burned by real scammers.

This lawsuit will help to weed out the real from the fake. Many marketers will loose their business and all the money that comes with it. Many companies will go on record as allowing this type of behavior and will be forever tarnished.

In regards to Trump Network ~ the penalties for doing this type of false advertising are very sever, so if you rely on the power of celebrities to run your business, you better watch out.

That being said, those of us that are serious about this business have an obligation to do something about it. We have an obligation to level the playing field. What I have done and will continue to do is tell those marketers that what they are doing is not allowed. If they continue to engage then I escalate it to corporate and let them handle it.

The bottom line is that if you are joining an MLM business simply because a celebrity endorses it than you shouldn't be in this business. I can't speak for other companies but our company, Trump Network, has a very good product line.

The Custom Essentials are huge and provide customized supplements, the Quick Stick are perfect for the avid coffee drinker and those needing to lay off the caffeine, our Silhouette Solution is a breakthrough weight loss program created by world renowned Harvard Physician Dr. Blackburn and other doctors specializing in weight management and gastric bypass surgery. Our product line extends well beyond these 3 groups, and we are diligently working on green products and a line specifically for kids.

What I'm trying to get you to realize is that if the products aren't enough to motivate you, a celebrity will leave you without a business.

Yes, I understand that celebrity endorsements increase sales almost over night, but understand that the celebrity endorsement comes because they like the product not because of other celebrities.

When Donald Trump partnered with Ideal Health to create Trump Network, we were only a small Massachusetts based company specializing customized supplements and perfectly calibrated meals. Trump liked our company because it is has a unique product which is truly affordable, and the company it self was relatively new and hadn't gone through popular growth yet, thus there is a lot of money to be made.

Those are the reasons why I joined and those should be the reasons why new marketers sign onto the company.

In conclusion, regardless of what product you sell or what company you're affiliated with I suggest you stop tooting a fake horn. Speak about the great things your company already has and if you can't come up with any, than I suggest you get out before you are Busted and have to say Bye Bye to all your $$$$.

Cindy