On one particular day, the woman had to rush to the field to fetch some cassava and millet, since she would not take particularly long, she decided to leave the baby sleeping in the hut with the faithful dog. She left quickly and was gone.
When she returned she found the door to the hut open. She became particularly worried when she saw that the whole hut was in disarray. Pots and pans were everywhere, clothes all over the floor and bed covers were in a mess. The thing that made her heart leap within her with dread was when she saw blood stains all over the hut. “Oh my God!” she cried out as she frantically began to search the heart. The she saw a sight that made her heart miss a beat. She saw the dog wagging its tail looking at her and having blood stains all over its mouth and face.
Thoughts began to rush through her mind as she drew a conclusion, “the thing I feared most has happened. The dog has eaten my baby!” She was filled with dread and horror which was then followed by a rising anger within her. “Why did I ever leave my baby with a dog, what was I thinking?” She immediately rushed outside, got an axe, came back to the hut and with one fatal blow, struck the dog in between its eyes. The dog gave out a sad filled howl and died almost instantly.
She then began to look around the hut to see where the baby’s body could be as she was already screaming on top of her voice, “My poor baby dead, my poor sweet baby’s dead!” That is when she noticed another voice, the voice of her baby! She immediately stopped crying and began to frantically search the hut. When she looked under the bed that is when it the truth hit her.
Lying next to her baby was the fang ripped body of a hyena. The baby was safely at the edge of the hut and it appears the faithful dog had been in between. Then she realized that the dog had defended the baby by fighting and killing the hyena for the safety of the baby!
What had she done! In a fit of rage she thought the dog had eaten her baby when in actual fact that dog had fought and kept the Hyena away from the baby!
What is the moral of the story? Do not make hasty judgment on any matter before getting all the facts right. You will make wrong decisions that will cause you to regret for the rest of your life!
It appears that there have been a number of events in Zimbabwe specifically Tiens that have been a cause for alarm amongst distributors and leaders that have caused many to move to other Multi-Level Marketing companies (here after referred to as MLM). It has especially been claimed that this has been necessitated by a number of factors within Tiens that have been cause for concern.
As a leader, international lecturer and distributor of the Tiens business, the onus has fallen on me to speak out on this matter. As an individual that joined Tiens over six years ago, worked within the system, seen all the many teething problems Tiens has (like any other company would have), I feel duty bound to speak the truth and allow that to be the litmus test that will allow all those (especially the new distributors) to make some wise choices. Let me speak about this allow the truth to speak for itself. The truth will always set them free!
Closing of Tiens
That could not be further from the truth. Tiens has been in existence for the last 16 years and is growing bigger and better. There has been closing of branches but this has been a strategic plan based on sustainability of the same. If you are a business man and your various shops are not able to sustain sales necessary to maintain an open branch, what would you do?
Major factors for the closure of branches
1. Rapid Expansion – There was a rapid opening of branches based on initial market penetration exercises. This meant there was way more branches and that made the company top-heavy. That means there are too many fully fledged branches with all their costs of operations when the actual market was still being determined.
2. Bureaucracy – Many new markets would have registration, compliance, laws etc. that would get the company bogged down in a bureaucratic stalemate. This would take months and would thus create loopholes for major losses through pilfering of company resources by staff and management.
3. Dishonesty – This came from the key dealers that would be tasked with the initial stores to handle business on behalf of Tiens through Specialty Stores. Instead of operating honestly and transparently, they would start stealing downlines, pvs and even tell new people to move to other networks. This unethical practice is in this writer’s opinion the single biggest factor for the collapse and loss of a number of key countries and branches in Africa and even now threatens the Zimbabwe Tiens operations.
In order to be fair, I am going to outline through and earlier article I wrote what a good MLM company should be like. I wrote this article back in June 2011 because there are many MLM companies but unfortunately not all of them are genuine. The few major and genuine companies are known and are easy to trace, the rest are highly questionable. So, let me do justice by using a criterion as outlined by Rod Cook (The MLM Watchdog) to determine what a good company is in comparison to a dodgy one.
You can read the article here by following the link (http://www.revwaltermwambazi.com/2011/06/mlm-due-diligence-12-ways-to-verify.html) for a reference point but the main points will be outlined below. In your due diligence, utilize the points and make reference to them as you gauge your new found company. In the case of my brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe for whom this is written, check out Greenworld thoroughly using these points and see how that company fares on. As you do this, please be open minded and let THE FACTS speak for themselves!
Remember that true success in Network Marketing takes years to accomplish therefore before you tie down three to five years of your life building a long term asset, please ensure that you are connecting yourself to a) the right company b) viable product range and c) the right leaders. These three are foundational factors and if any of them are not right, the chances of your business tanking are very high!
So, let’s get on with the list…
1. What is the least you can register for?
Are your new friends asking you to spend more than $500? What is the least you can join for? Can you make a small order and sample the products first?
In Tiens our registration is $20. The activation level is $200. Any company above $500 to get started is bordering on questionable levels. Check your opportunity and make comparison.
2. Simplest test – view their website!
First suspect clue would be no street or city address, worse yet, only an email address, no phone number. Then look for the pictures and names of the owners of the company. Not having these on a website is a quick absolute reason NOT to join. Some wise, seasoned MLM distributors doing their Due Diligence Investigation will use “http://earth.google.com/” to look at a satellite picture of the size and location of a supposed MLM Company office. If the address turns out to be anything else, run my friend!
With Tiens not only do we have all these but the Tiens Health Industrial Park complex is one of the best in the world by an MLM company. Our founding father Chairman Li Jiyuan has an impeccable record as one of the greatest businessmen in China. He is #74 richest man in China according to Forbes Magazine and is the 993rd richest billionaire in the world.
3. Gifting programs?
Run from any company taking payments by Moneygram, Western Union, FedEx or UPS only! A trained MLM Detective will tell you that scam artists do this to avoid Postal Fraud charges. A PMB (private mail box) address is an indicator of dodging Postal Fraud Investigators. Be wary of any company that cannot afford to have a genuine Postal Service mail box. Gifting Scams are famous for this! Also, any company that uses a yahoo.com, gmail.com or any other free email address instead of a registered domain address is VERY SUSPECT! Any genuine company will have their own email address under their domain. For instance, if their domain iswww.bestmlmbusiness.com, then their email should say [email protected].
Tiens has never offered or made claims about income apart from what the plan says. Also the company takes payments via their bank account. As I will mention, Tiens has been let down by the leaders and distributors who are dishonest and take advantage of their positions to make money off people.
4. Best MLM investigation tricks:
Next go to the Internet and enter the following into one or two of the major search engines:
A. The MLM Company's name (owners too) and the word "scam". Go through two pages! Look for forum message comments for legitimate complaints (see D below).
B. Then do the same for complaints, lawsuits, and news articles archived on search engines.
C. Also check who registered the website domain of any new company claiming: amazing, incredible, proprietary, never seen before in the universe, revolutionary, products, services or technologies! Check http://www.whois.net/ for the domain lookup. Companies with good offerings would register a name 6 months to a year ahead of time.
D. A warning for MLM Researchers! There are sad sites and forums that are unfairly negative toward all MLM - Network Marketing companies. Ignore these "Anti – MLM Zealots" and only look for appropriate information. A good MLM Detective will ignore 99% of their ranting!
You will certainly find some scam under the carpet even for Tiens but here is our testimony that still stands for us. Over 1,000 car recipients, over 300 yacht recipients, over 50 villa recipients and literally tens of thousands of travel incentive recipients since the inception of Tiens.
Hundreds of people have had their lives changed completely both through the health products and also through the financial freedom the opportunity has presented including this author and many leaders who are now leaving ship for Greenworld. More later…
5. A Secret due diligence tool!
www.compete.com can give you Internet Web Ranking Due Diligence that only 1 out of 10,000 knows about, great tool for verification.
Although our main site leaves much to be desired in terms of rankings and site visits, it at least has some data. Try http://en.world-food.com and see the response given.
6. Lots of nutritional product hype?
Raise the dead? Live 130 years? Cure Cancer? Cure HIV? (which is an illegal claim for any nutritional)!
A. Get a list of the most critical ingredients and Google them up.
B. Read through the scientific studies. Some may be complex, but the last sentence usually gives you a good idea if the study was a Plus or Minus for the product. Then make your own judgment!
Here Tiens comes through with flying colors. The biggest setback for Tiens has been more to do with the distributors exaggerating with hype and hot air than the company itself. If you study the Tiens products, they are manufactured directly by Tiens itself with all the relevant credentials from leading watchdog bodies.
Check and see whether Greenworld has the same.
7. Next research MLM detective "push button"!
Go to the Better Business Bureau (http://search.bbb.org/search.html) website for the city where the MLM-Network Marketing Company is located. Most are free. You are looking for the number of complaints the BBB has not resolved. If there are over 2-4, hold off joining, it very well could mean problems. MLM Detectives don't overly trust BBB reports but they can be good indicators. You can also check with the Direct Selling Association. They have listed companies that operate within the ethics and reputation as required by law. Here’s their site http://www.dsa.org/
Tiens is registered with DSA and prides itself in being affiliated to all the leading watchdog associations both locally and internationally. Tiens strives regularly to meet and comply with all the regulations stipulated by the local authorities in the countries where they operate, sometimes at very high cost to themselves but this is done in order to ensure an enabling environment for the dealers who will operate therein.
Check and see whether your opportunity has taken any steps in dealing with this. As you all may be well aware, Tiens is a DSA registered company. We also have listings on BBB. Please check and see whether Greenworld are.
8. Caliber of Leaders
This one goes without mention. Ask yourself, who are the front men leaders in the company? What kind of background do they have? Are they beacons of integrity or have they had unanswered queries on their financial activities? There are many opportunities that tend to be run by people with a history of running scams to con unsuspecting victims out of their hard earned cash.
Also if the distributors were in previous opportunities, find out why they left. Get independent information before drawing conclusions. Many times you will realize that they actually have left scandals and financial irregularities in the previous companies where they operated. Please beware!
There are others but then I will leave you to read the article for yourself and see.
The Zimbabwe Scenario
I am forced to write all this because of the current scenario in Zimbabwe. It has been seen that many distributors are operating with one leg in both Tiens and Greenworld. Worse still, others have gone as far as recruiting people for Greenworld in Tiens branded and recognized shops!
The three greatest pillars of our business from an ethical standpoint are honesty, integrity and transparency. Some of the great leaders in Tiens have been seen to have left Tiens and are now openly recruiting, speaking ill of and discouraging people from operating their Tiens businesses. This has been exacerbated by the rampant peddling of untrue stories about Tiens and its founders.
As you read this I want you to think hard about what I am going to say here.
· Did you know that some key leaders have left Tiens after failing to pay outstanding debt in the tens of thousands of dollars?
· Did you know that these very leaders consistently stole downlines, pvs and even moved networks knowingly to build their own as to appear to be the best?
· Did you know that the very leaders even openly told new distributors belonging to other networks to re-register under themselves
· Did you know that these leaders were also the most favored and highly esteemed by management in spite of all the complaints and glaring accusations?
· Did you know that at all times without fail Tiens SA has always paid bonuses consistently and entered pvs without fail? The reason bonuses were not being received was not because Tiens did not pay but because certain shops would not pay? (they would misuse the money and claim otherwise)
· Did you know that on the run up to this message, there was major contention between leaders over these very issues?
· Did you know that many leaders do not understand the strategy for income growth in the Uni-level Marketing Plan and thus rushed for status instead of consolidating and building?
I am not going to divulge names because that is beneath me. However, even as you read this and perhaps you are already Greenworld (former Tiens) take time and do your homework. Remember that any business built on a foundation of dishonesty, lies and deceit will never last. It may blossom for a while but the irony about life is that people are brilliant lie detectors! They can and will see through all the smoke and mirrors and find out the glaring truth!
Should you decide to stay on with Greenworld, please take your Tiens membership card and cut it in two! I also wish you all the best. Should you however realize your mistake, I beseech you to take your Greenworld card and cut it into two and forget about it.
Here’s my advice, move completely or stay completely! Do not have a leg in both because you will scatter your efforts and build no one at the end!
You cannot serve two masters at the same time as you will love one and despise the other. Take your time and get the facts. Do not let the words of those that have chosen to leave become your decider. Do your homework and get to the bottom of everything!
Another glaring fact is this one, Tiens has done great things to promote and prop up some of the leaders turning them into icons and mentors. This was done at a great cost to both the leaders and the company. These leaders have been given all preference sometimes even to the detriment of other leaders in the market. Yet, today Tiens has been stabbed in the back. You do not spite the hand that feeds you. To you the new distributor that is contemplating moving, ask yourself, what are the circumstances behind such a falling away? Why all of a sudden?
In conclusion, Tiens is growing bigger and better. The plan is exciting, the opportunity is thrilling. Those that have failed to make money through this opportunity when they get to the higher levels mostly have never understood the concept of “Pentagons of Growth” or “Asset Building”. This is a meticulous process that requires great comprehension and strategy. Tiens is the best and will remain flying high long after much of the competition especially Greenworld has settled in the market.
Any company that has leaders that build their businesses based on plagiarism, stripping downlines and robbing their former company of distributors have a bad foundation for their beginning. Learn this, if you want to build a business, build it on the premise of honesty, integrity and transparency, not on dishonesty, deceit and selfishness!
To all my fellow Tiens distributors, as our beloved trainer Mr. Wang Yuqiang would say, “fromer easter to wester, tiens de bester! Yes or no?”
See you at the top!
International Trainer and Life Coach!