Why I’m Saying Goodbye To Vi

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Well, now that the cat is pretty much out of the bag, and , I feel as though I can finally discuss a certain matter that has been weighing heavily on my mind to the point that I have decided to part ways with my MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) company ViSalus.

About a week ago, when a colleague informed me of what had happened, I thought it was kind of messed up. However, the more I thought about it, the more it pretty much forced me to make the decision I made.

It was pretty much “cut my losses now”, or “be cut” later on.

Now, I am not too sure of all the facts, and maybe I am partially overly sensitive because this particular incident happened to several team members of mine who I know for a fact had put a lot of work into building our ViSalus team into what it is today.

But rather than give accolades to these marketers for doing such a astronomical job recruiting, ViSalus corporate execs decide to give them “da boot” instead…

According to “updated” policies & procedures, ViSalus promoters are not permitted to be a part of any other business ventures so long as they are in ViSalus.

This is usually a common standard procedure with most MLMs, however, in this case here, you have a couple of “Rock Stars” who were recruited by a top ViSalus team leader who knew full well what internet marketing venture they were already involved in.

In fact, it would seem that ViSalus was more than okay with the fact at the time, yet they decided not to inform these marketers that their participation in this venture was in violation of the company’s policies & procedures.

Well, here it is 10 months later, thousands of new distributors and customers now on board, and the Rock Stars responsible for bringing in this influx of new recruits is pretty much told that their services are no longer needed.

Sorry, but that sounds like a pretty shady way of doing business if you ask me. 

But for the record, I am no MLM expert by any means. I am not even going to begin to understand or explain this recent termination, but one MLM expert weighed in on the issue with the following blog comment.

“This is exactly why you should not treat your company like your religion and base your identity around the company’s brand. (I still can’t stand being at a company sponsored event cause of the hype and sizzle, even though I believe in the business model.) Your business can be taken away from you and you are left with nothing.”

The “silver lining” to this story is that the leaders who were terminated are excellent marketers, and continue to make a significant income as internet marketers.

So, the real lesson here (so says the MLM expert) — “Develop traffic generation and marketing skills, and you will always be immune to this type of corporate bullying.”

And, quite frankly, the “hype and sizzle” has faded for me as well.