I am just going to copy this verbatim as it is self explanatory:
Can you believe that Usana terminated Duke Tubtim?! I can no longer be mentored by him in Usana! This is what I found out…He was trying to work things out and they terminated him anyways. I could not believe that he got terminated and I asked him: “how did you reply to USANA?”
Here is the letter he showed me.
Dear Mr. Bramble,
In regards to the conversation we had earlier, you mentioned that policy 3.6 was breached. In that conversation, you referred to a meeting that I recently attended. Regarding your above mentioned breached, I had no intent to breach the policies. The individuals you mentioned are independent business owners who have evaluated and have done their own research. On their own free will, they spoke to Mark and Fred directly over the weeks and concluded on their own what they felt was in their better interest. For myself, I made it very clear that we have no intent to solicit Usana members and will not be practicing in those activities. I find it very ironic because I still continue to promote Usana products, and just recently convinced the top person in my “chicken list” to be a preferred customer in Usana. And now as my account is frozen, I am not able to enter her.
To my understanding, there are product lines that Usana carries that Ariix has shown no intent to compete with. So many people have expressed being able to build in both companies due to that reason. If Usana feels that Ariix is in such direct competition that we cannot promote both, then it will give many no choice (including myself) to stop promoting and getting customers for Usana, if the decision is made to build in Ariix. Ariix has expressed that they do not mind if someone also distributes for Usana. From my understanding there is nothing in the policies that states you cannot be in a company that is considered too closely related to Usana. I have made it very clear publically that if people are to build in Ariix, then we will not be soliciting to Usana members.
All of my leaders who have considered joining Ariix are people that have inquired directly to Mark and Fred. Otherwise, everyone else that is actively building Usana can vouch that I am not soliciting him or her about the Ariix opportunity, including many of my own Diamond Directors (many of which I have known and worked with prior to Usana). For the individual that came forward with a recording, they should know very well that they were uninvited. In addition, the recording should have had me mentioning not to solicit to Usana members.
I am aware that in building another company, Usana bonuses will not be attainable and dlm will be turned off. Knowing that, I made sure that my business practices respected the rules in the policies. Even in qualifying to attend an Ariix event/function, soliciting to current Usana individuals will lead to a disqualification in attending their event. Whoever recorded me should have known that first hand.
In all of this, what troubles me most is how I feel discriminated against. Since 2004, I have had people do much worse to my organization over the years and Usana did nothing about it. I find it ironic where one of my previous leaders joined Monavie (which was started by Dallin Larsen, an ex-Usana Corporate staff) and then raided and even traveled directly to my leaders, defaming Usana and it’s associates in hopes of recruiting them. I saw my organization get raided, as Usana did nothing about it. On top of that, that person was still receiving Usana commissions as they were performing this act. In the end, that person recently returned and was one of the main speakers at the Healthy Home Revisited Event in Long Beach. I cannot help but feel an unfair treatment. Then I find out what happened to Lynn Allen Johnson. For her to just hear another opportunity over the phone with her family, and then hearing the actions that Usana took against her afterwards definitely troubles me.
As it stands, I have still been promoting Usana and have been actively getting customers. I am aware that in the policies, someone can be actively building in two companies. I, as well as many others, have been promoting the Usana product lines that Ariix has shown no interest to compete in. If Usana is stating that a choice needs to be made where we cannot promote two companies, then it will put many people in an awkward position. Ariix has expressed that we can promote both. If Usana does not feel the same, I could imagine the decision many could make due to that.
While I explore opportunities now and in the future, can you please give me exact clarity on how an individual can build in multiple companies without the alleged policy violation? I have worked very hard for many years to build a customer base, as well as building many leaders for Usana. As you know, I am not new to the industry; even when joining Usana, many teammates decided to come with me. According to the policies, I understand that I will no longer be qualified for elite bonus or leadership pay when I enroll in Ariix. I look forward to your written response in regards to moving forward in a positive manner.
Best Regards,
Duke Tubtim
It is hard for me to understand why Usana would send a termination letter to Duke 6hrs after he was trying to work things out, considering that he has devoted 7 years of his life representing this company and bringing Usana a lot of profit! How does it make sense that in 6hrs you can decide the future of someone that helped build this company?
I spent most of my time in this company being mentored by him. And I believe Duke had many leaders that learned to be financially independent through his mentorship! What is the future of these leaders without Duke? It upsets me that by terminating him, I feel this company will be doing more damage to itself in a long run.
Duke is irreplaceable!
As a leader, I feel that Duke would be giving mixed messages to his downline. Ariix has nutritional supplements as their main product line. I can totally understand why USANA terminated him. Duke is completely replaceable. If he really wanted to pick another company to work on at the same time, my suggestion would have been something like ACN where there is no close product cross-over. Just my two cents.
USANA Associate
Hm…and do tell me Simon, do you value yourself higher or lower then you value Duke Tubtim?!
What kind of question is that? Of course I value myself higher than I value Duke. Why would anybody value someone else other than themself? I guess if you were religious you would value God higher than yourself. But I’m not religious.
Simon, let me clarify, what I mean by value in this case, as you have said Duke Tubtim
is completely replaceable as if he is/was and employee for some company and got terminated
and not as the business owner he is. What I mean by value in this instance is is the value
of your business with Usana, in your estimation, substantially higher or substantially
lower then Duke Tubtim’s was?
Oh it’s lower. I’ve only been with USANA for just a couple years building it part-time. Again, this is irrelevant to this topic. If I was in the position (not that I would, because I know better) that I was “looking” at another company or even considering it, I would talk to my company (ie: USANA) because I wouldn’t want to risk the type of income that Duke ‘was’ making and I would make sure that what I was about to do was compliant with the policy. This was obviously not done. As a leader, you have to consider your actions as they speak louder than your words. Bottom line: they are competing companies and I for one am glad that USANA reacted the way they did. My own opinion is that it is not very smart to try and build two businesses at the same time. Especially when they are both nutritional companies! I try to put myself in the shoes of an associate who is in Duke’s downline and who is loyal to USANA, then I see my upline leader (Duke) looking at switching companies, I would be very worried that my downline would follow him as opposed to staying with me and thus having a major impact on my income potentially. Many people think the grass is greener and jump ship because they think it will be easier if they are “in first” or “early.” It’s just hype B.S. I know you obviously have a different opinion of the events and I’m not trying to convince you otherwise. But you switching to ARIIX is a confirmation of what USANA was worried about. Chances are, if USANA didn’t terminate him but he tried to build both businesses, many USANA associates in Duke’s downline or who look up to him, would do the same. OR their efforts to build both businesses would spread them too thin and would effect USANA’s profitability.
Good luck with ARIIX! I guess we’ll see what happens in a few years!
Simon,
First off I wish you well in your Usana business and thank you for your comments as most do not take the time
these days (too busy making money?! No, afraid it is a bit less then that! Apathy or non attention.).
Secondly, I agree with you, in part, I have never built in 2 companies and cannot imagine anyone doing so
successfully though some have written books about it. Some that are very close to Usana.
However, I would beg to differ on the manner in which Duke Tubtim went about his participation that led
to Usana terminating him. On a side note I know of at least one Gold Director who did speak with Usana
and they promptly terminated him (his words not mine, I spoke with him directly, name not revealed as
there is nothing online about him as of now and I won’t be the first as I treat all communications as either
public or private so as to never create rumors and when someone tells me something in conversation about
them personally, it is always considered private) after his inquiry, well before he could have had any participation
in Ariix as it was over a month before launch date and there had been no meetings.
As for my participation in Ariix I did not jump, nor do I think I can do any better in Ariix then Usana in terms
of work effort and effectiveness and I especially do not ascribe to a new company being easier ground as it
is definitely not! I just found many things some of which I stated in my letter (email rather) of resignation that
kept bothering me from the computer system to the comp plan changes and revisions to the Asian market stuff
especially China, and some inside conversations about Philippines and on and on, I just was no longer comfortable
being associated with Usana as I knew it, I don’t advise you go that route!
Thank you for good luck wishes for my success with Ariix, I am sure I will need to use everything and draw on
everything to reach the success I desire as I, like you, consider myself a minor player still though I know the business
inside out, especially comp plans and money flow and can teach others when it comes to the sales, prospecting and
closing aspects I am weak at best though I would like to attract a team of 10,000+ people like me into my organization!
Be well.
ps – I just want to clarify though I consider myself a minor player I joined Ariix and purchased the Gold 1000
Pack from the beginning with all reasons pertaining to benefits of the package plus that I believe in order to
be a good example and a product of the product one should have a reasonable display of products on hand to
either let others sample or buy if they need it right away. And everyone in my group that can afford it should
do it that way!
There is less bs in promoting Amazon affiliate websites than mlm. Just let mlm go and do affiliate marketing instead. You could do that and buy Life Force Multiple on Amazon itself for the best vitamins supplements at an even lesser price than ANY mlm company that sells nutritionals.
Hi,
Thank you for posting. How do you know the vitamins you claim are good? Do they have a potency guarantee? Are the processes
protected in any way to assure that degree of quality and potency? Anyone can go and get lower cost vitamins at your local warehouse type
stores, but the people that use vitmins and supplements like Usana and Ariix are really interested in getting high quality and guaranteed potency.
They want to know that what is listed on the bottle is actually in the bottle. And not only that, but that absorption tests have been done to verify that
the human body can assimilate the nutrients as well, to name a few. So generally if you ask me if I want to spend $5 or $120 on my vitamin supply
I would typically lean toward the higher price just because I have been there and done that.
As for MLM/Network Marketing, we are not ashamed of it. Just because many companies come and go and many people try and do not even take
it seriously enough to train, or they have the lottery mentality and somehow they confuse Network with Netluck and lay their money down…
We (I for sure) have always loved MLM/Network Marketing and continue to do it and consider ourselves very blessed when there is a company with
a great product at a reasonable price and a good compensation plan to boot. Actually the Ariix Compensation plan, Activ8, is amazing, if you understand
comp plans, it will just blow your mind!
Always,
Katz
Katz,
I enjoyed your comments about this great industry. I have been involved in the Network Marketing industry for over 25 years now and have been impressed with the founders of Ariix and what they have put together to start this company. I will say that I do have some concerns with the structure of the compensation plan and will continue to evaluate it before I make any further recommendations.
Best of success,
Rob
Hi Rob,
Thanks for stopping in and your great comment! If you would like to explore the comp plan and Q/A it please drop me a line.
I know it pretty well at this point and would like to hear and explore your concerns. I look forward to hearing from you, be well.
Always,
Katz