I just found out last night that Emerald Passport is dead.
This was a company that was the dominant Top Tier Opportunity in 2005 (Liberty League aside.)
It was the company that Marie and I first hit a multiple-six figure income with.
I thought now would be a good time to explain why it failed, and if you are in Emerald Passport, what to do next.
Here is a screenshot of the home page from last night:
Now, what strikes me is that Emerald Passport is pointing to the “global economic downturn” as the reason for it’s failure. It’s not.
Sam Lajik, the “Master Distributor” and rumored owner of Emerald Passport always told me that economic downturns are great for home businesses. In fact, just about every successful network marketer knows that.
In fact, since I resigned from Emerald Passport in 2007, I have been selling an even more expensive top tier opportunity. And I have a higher close ratio!
It has been EASIER to sell. Not harder.
One of the myths about recessions is the fear that people aren’t buying things. Rule #1 in marketing is that people will always buy things they want. In fact, I just got a brand new iPhone, and I love it!
Now, the one thing I love about marketing information products is that once created, you have very low costs of doing business aside for marketing costs. How much would it cost Emerald Passport to pay their sales force? How about close to zero. Emerald Passport, like all business opportunities has a 100% commission-based sales force. And you could even make the point that they EARN money from having inactive distributors. There’s the yearly admin charge ($97), and I know they were making a substantial kickback from Profit Masters, which supplies the movie/contact manager system for Emerald Passport.
What kind of overhead is really at stake here?
Now Emerald Passport just wrapped up a conference in Punta Cana, and I think it was clear that they just couldn’t get people to the events.
It has nothing to do with an economic downturn, but rather with bad management.
Emerald Passport chased away top producers and their core leadership group – myself included.
They implemented draconian marketing policies that prohibited distributors from marketing online. In fact, they told me they didn’t want me teaching internet marketing to my team anymore, and told me to shut down my training site, and to speak on the conferences calls about how “it was easy, you just buy leads and take them to the conference call.”
I met over 1000 people at different events, and less than a handful were successful using the company tools.
Part of it had to do with marketing funnels and processes that were untested. Sam Lajik just created what appealed to him, and was not open to hearing about alternatives – even more marketers that had more experience on the internet.
Emerald Passport was slow to adapt to the internet. By now, most people know that people retain more info from video format, which is why company webinars that are visual, makes more sales than old-school audio teleconference lines.
But it was the decisions that were made at the top that ultimate broguht Emerald Passport down from great heights.
Just take a look at this chart from Google Trends:
It shows a steady decline.
Now, in my opinion, I think the reason Emerald Passport failed are these:
- The “You-can’t-market-anything-but-Emerald-Passport” rule
- The lack of transparency about seeing who was in your extended downline
- Untested marketing funnels and conference calls
- Slow to react to changes in the marketplace
- Fear of internet marketing (just look at how my old sites are still clogging up the first pages of google for Emerald Passport, Profit Masters, Profit Masters Team, adn other related terms)
- Too many calls and not enough leaders (just look at the repetition in the HBC magazine Ads.)
- Failure to attract top marketers from other companies
The #1 reason why companies fail is poor management.
It had nothing to do with the global downturn.
Agree? Disagree? let me know below
PS – You can watch my video review of Emerald Passport that goes into MORE detail here. It was recorded before I knew Emerald Passport was in such deep trouble, but you can see how uncanny my predictions are.
PPS – If you don’t understand what a top tier opportunity is, download the CFN report that I wrote. (No opt-in required)
{ 33 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree with you on poor management. I think that you have to change with the global issues and think out side the box to make things work. Ive been in business for 10 years now and Ive been in the ups and downs and yes we are down but I’m doing what I can to make it work and promoting more with emails and online marketing something I’m new at, and we are putting fliers out in other small business’s and postcards to promote us.
Keeping positive:)
Scherie Lee – owner- operator
Southern Sun Sations Tanning
Florida
Hi Andrew
I think you are right,poor management
Andrew, I totally agree. It’s a bag of () Blaming the Economy.
I know you were successful, however I really got a migraine for
attending these conference calls. I guess in everything Education is always important and to have a Product teaching wealth fundamentals, but not allowing people to have “Multiple Income Streams” is insane. I’ll tell you they are planning something, money does make one controlling at times. That’s kinda what went on here.
I’m currently using iBuzzPro and I’ve decided to make iBuzz my Primary Business. I made more money in iBuzzPro while attending the same Conference calls at Emerald Passport. iBuzzPro rocks!
Hi,
‘Emerald Passport’ was certainly a great programme to begin with and here in the UK it created a excellent cameradie to those that joined and I still maintain some contact with some of them.
@Rose Dallas: I will say, in this economy, it’s not a bad idea to have a lower cost program, especially one that has a product based around marketing, to sell to prospects that are not in the market for a top tier opportunity.
I use iBuzzPro also, and selected it as my “drop-sell” from my main opportunity.
Of course, diversifying into 3-7 companies is a bad idea. You have to have 1 main opportunity you focus on. Kudos on your success, Rose!
@Cliff Dean: I agree. The big benefit that I myself didn’t realize was the fact that a top tier opportunity – one that holds events – is a great opportunity to really meet and connect with some positive entrepreneurial-minded people. I’ve met some of my best friends at events like this – in fact, many at Emerald Passport events.
I got a great deal of benefit at the first and second Phase 2 conferences I attended with Emerald Passport.
EPI was the only company out there, that had “real products” in education, self and wealth development products, coupled with a good history, years in the business. (over 18 years in publishing and 6 years on the Internet)
It is true, they could not change with the times, and update their systems and be more flexible on the marketing aspects and more up to date technology, ie, better videos, foremat
and a lower entry point for those that could not afford higher price points in this economy.
Also, everywhere you look now there is a new multi level marketing company coming aboard with a new launch phase and alleges to have the latest and greatest products, especially in the energy/health/water vitamin products. (over 6 in the last six months have launched ) Difficult road for anyone that joins them unless you have marketing skills or our willing to invest and learn them. They all advetise their latest health benefits for taking their products. (most of these can be purchased right off the shelves at Costco at substantial savings)
Even Donald Trump, now has gotten into the Internet Multi Level Marketing business with his new approach “health kits to determine what you need to keep you healthy and then you can purchase the special programmed, healthy vitamins and food supplements from them, an MLM program just kicked off last week.
There will be more and more new launches for 2010. So as any new product or program, is offerred to you, just due your due diligence, use caution, do not rush in, ask for references.
Invest in yourself, learn Internet marketing skills and you will be successful in any business you go into. Would highly recommend Andrew and Marie, the marketing couple, who teaches these highly needed skills to succeed. They taught me and just google my name RayLanfear to see what I have applied in the last few years, from learning these skills from them.
New opportunities, to earn a substantial income are everywhere, just due your due diligence
Continued health and success forever to all.
RayLanfear
Las Vegas
Andrew,
I have to agree with you. I have to say I was quite shocked to learn that EPI told you and Marie that you had to comply with their marketing or leave. Why would a Company get rid of one of their top producers. It did not make sense to Kelly and I. EPI had a lot of potential but poor management drove it into the ground. When a Company refuses to adapt to new technology or use new marketing techniques it can not grow. Interesting chart you included. Thanks for the update and giving an explanation.
Sincerely,
Jerry & Kelly Barber
@Ray Lanfear: Great points Ray. “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” Take your time, do you research, and pick one opportunity slowly – then once you’ve got it, focus with laser-like intensity on marketing it.
I agree 100% with you.
Even on an economy crisis, the money do not disappear.
Where is all the money? with all the people that are selling products in demand. The higher amount of people that sees your product the higher chance to sell, and the only way to expose to the masses is the internet. There is no recession on the internet
EP didn’t failed. Sam Lajic did. It was bad management but also lack of leadership. The one controlling everything was Sam. Every one else was a puppet or a hired gun. I bet he is laughing all the way to the bank now. Too bad for those who believed. By the way, the general consensus is that the economy is recuperating lately so their explanation makes no sense. Only Sam knows the real reason for EP’s failure.
Rick
know nothing about this company, and it is sad ..that is why i am proud to be shakee.. http://choosehealth.myshaklee.com
we had been doing great and with a dedicated OWNER and CEO we had been in business since 1956.
I invite you all to visit my website.. and let me know what you think..
Hi!
I wish to respond to what Rick had to say.
Simply put – it does not matter what or how a company or product is built, invented, or managed if there is no integrity.
I will not PRETEND to know what happened here at epi with the product. I will say that anyone ( I don’t care who you are or where you are from ) who passes judgement on another person and publicly makes statements with no facts or truth behind their statements is only showing their lack of wisdom and foolishness. This is the last person I would ever consider doing business with.
I will say that in my experience with epi that there is a reason behind everything that makes sense if you truly see and understand the big picture.
I do know for a fact that Sam was looking very carefully at some things that would have greatly benefitted all of the people distributing the epi products.
It takes time to have proven methods that work, and letting your people try anything and everything is not ever a wise decision for any business endeavor. It is better to error on the side of caution than to leave your people unprotected and failing because of failed methods or over extension “possible” things that “might” work.
Imagine paying for your kid to go to college to be a doctor and all the teachers could focus on is the next best profession to learn such as being a lawyer – would that benefit your kid – would you see that your money was being leveraged and wisely used to pay these teachers and school, or would you feel cheated and like your money, your kid’s time, and all your efforts were being wasted?
No one should ever assume anything about another person’s motives or activities, and you should take another look at your own motives for the comments that you have made regarding Sam Lajic. I detect and hear a lot of bitterness in an effort to find someone to blame for what is being called the “failure” of epi. I do not believe failure is a correct term to be used in this case – I do consider that this may simply be a different path or road to a new journey.
Change never happens if everything remains the same -
Is something better going to happen with epi?
I do not know, I simply know that everyday is a new journey.
So wake up with a smile, put one foot in front of the other, thank God for another day to live and make a positive difference in the life of even one person today regardless of what you do or what business you choose to focus on.
You are only responsible for what you choose to do with the tools and talents you have – not what someone else does. Your choices are simply yours and have no bearing on what someone else chooses to do even if the consequences and effects do influence your decision.
Every breath is either positive or negative – What are you choosing today, each moment, are your words and actions benefitting another human being or destructive to their existence?
Laying your head on your pillow at night knowing that you have said and done that which was honest, true, good, and just to every person you effected or encountered during your waking hours ( knowing that you chose to do the right thing ) regardless of who the person was or what they did is what will bring a good night’s rest and peace in the end.
@CD Smith:
I’m not sure who Rick is, who you allude to, but point well taken about choosing positive or negative with every action.
As to my motives, I would have preferred Emerald Passport to have continued. It looks bad on the industry, and it was quite an easy sale for me if I had someone who was looking at both Emerald Passport and my opportunity.
However, motivations. There’s where things get complicated. I don’t think it was right that Sam decided to keep people on the Leadership committee in the dark right up to the end. To me, that just doesn’t seem right. It would seem to me that having a final conference would allow Emerald passport to have a final conference before throwing in the towel was a thought-out process, which would have given all ticket purchasers an opportunity to use the ticket they purchased. It’s just not sort of thing that had not been planned out in advance.
And having worked with Sam Lajik – and learned some valuable things from him – I also know that he had some flaws (as I saw them from my perspective anyhow) in how he decided to run things. He was slow to make decisions, and seemed unable to accept constructive suggestions.
He always told me that he wished he was a distributor and could focus on making sales instead of managing the company. So perhaps this will play out well for him personally.
Sam can not make a dime as a distributor today. Sam monetized on EPI members many many times , getting cuts from “approved” leads vendors and so on. He afraid of new FTC rools. Simply becoase he does not know how to deal with it. He also was not able to adapt to the contemporary business paradagm. His conference calls and teachings “how to brake trough mental blocks” was a complete shame on the company.
I do not blame this primitive man. It is not Sam. It is Leadership commetee members, who were not able to speack up when its is needed.
Sam let some of them brake rools and do one up. It was unfair business practice by leadership commete members supported by Sam. I have tracked many EPI leaders emails and have documentation aboit it. The leadership lost integrity on the individual dasis. That what happens with EPI.
I know exactly why EPI closed up. It was due to the fact that the “leaders” were taking money from new team members and not delivering the product. I have first hand knowledge of this. I bought a P2 event ticket back in April of 2009 and NEVER received it. I asked for a refund and was denied it by the fool that sold me the ticket. I also know that the “leadership council” knew that EPI was going down but some members were still selling the product. Even going so far as to sell all 3 phases to an elderly couple during the Punta Cana conference. This “Christian” businessman would even delay the delivery of the P1 product for 3 days so that refund time, according to the contract, would expire. He actually told me in a phone conversation that was why he delayed delivery. The issue with EPI was that Sam was afraid of the FBI investigation that I and others started. I know for a fact that one leader, from College Station, TX, committed fraud and theft across state lines. That is where they become Federal charges. I know I will never see any of my money returned, but seeing those that deserve it get put in prison will put a smile on my face again. By the way, I am out nearly $6k. That might not seem like much to someone that makes a six figure income but to someone like me it is a fortune.
@Mark: Taking money and not delivering product had been a problem before with Jim Rivas.
Sad to hear about the shady practices of “Christian” business people, like Ed Bounds. The problem in this industry at least, is often the people who are the most vocal about their Christian-background, and use it as a sales tool, often act in opposition with the very thing they are shouting from the rooftops.
Hi!
I wish to respond to what CD Smith had to say about what I had to say.
CD Smith says integrity is more important than anything. Well, exactly! A company is only as good, or as “integral” as its owner and management. My point was that Sam (Lajik? Lajic? Logic?) was the owner and management and as Andrew pointed out, before the last conference, he lied to all the distributors by letting them buy into a business that he was going to shut down. Isn’t that a lack of integrity? According to you I am passing judgments but I see it as expressing an opinion in a world of free speech. Don’t worry, I have no business for you to join me with, I am just one of the thousands of people who believed in epi was let down by Sam. I was around epi probably before you were. Don’t be so quick to think I don’t know what I am talking about. Of course there is a reason behind epi closing down and all I was pointing out is that the reason they gave makes no sense. It shows that the company is lying and therefore its owner has little integrity. You are guessing that Sam closed it down to protect the people LOL. You are right that positives can come out of this but you are naive to think that the company was shut down to protect the people. That excuse would be worst than the one they gave. Andrew showed, the sales were down. Other companies like epi are successful in this economy so it had nothing to do with it. My guess is that the big money was made already. Probably wasn’t worth keeping epi around so Sam shut it down. Not because of fears of the FBI or FTC like someone said. As far as I know Sam is not American, he lives in Canada. Maybe because all the money he made is offshore and he has something to hide from the tax people but as you said, and as I said, who knows? Except for Sam. One thing is for sure, I would never joined him in another business after what he did to so many people like Andrew and me.
Rick
@STranger: The deeper I got into leadership at Emerald Passport, the more uncomfortable I became. I became aware of the low sales numbers being generated by the other members of the leadership committee, I became uncomfortable with idea that there were kickbacks going on between lead vendors and management, and I became very uncomfortable on the leadership committee itself!
It was my first experience on any committee of any sort, and the meetings struck me as a waste of time, since good ideas were just not implemented.
Sam Lajik preferred to surround himself with “yes-men” on the leadership committee: distributors who agreed with him on every single point, and complimented nearly everything he said. The truth is, Sam could be a phenomenal leader. He has a strong ability to get people to agree with him. The problem was classic. He surrounded himself not with people who could provide a needed counterpoint – but people who didn’t offer any resistance to his ideas.
He had a hard time delegating, over-worked himself, and had a miopic view of the business. On top of this, he was paranoid about letting distributor use (or teach) anything about internet marketing. Which was really a shame for the distributors. The internet is key to building a business. You can’t realistically do it without the internet anymore.
In my opinion, the main problem Sam Lajic has was that he ran EPI like a distributor – he really didn’t think like a business owner. And that makes all the difference in the world over the long-term.
As a former rep with this company, I’d like to make several comments not heard here yet. I have been kicking myself in the rear for having participated. Here’s why:
Why do so many people willingly join opportunities without even knowing the name(s) of the owner? That should be a huge red flag. Do not ever again associate yourself with something that does not give you their names and phone numbers. Good grief! Why do they (Sam and Christian?) wish to remain unclaimed as owners? All the reasons are bad. It has nothing to do with humility. Don’t be a chump. Avoid those who wish to remain secretive.
The 2-Up model begs for cheating. Prior to joining, several of the ‘names’ that you heard on conference calls offered me deals for advancing. For that matter, why would any thinking person agree to pay the rep’s portion of the entry fee? You are going to be bringing them two people, are you not? That’s money in his pocket and leverage for you. Heck, if I did it again, I would find someone who gets me in as “qualified” for some minimum amount. And believe me, I could find several. The 2-Up is dead or dying. I have seen some 2-Ups that pay the new rep on the very first sale and the third sale. Much better for all concerned, but still subject to cheating.
The McQuirter issue, otherwise known as by the false name of James Alexander. Apparently Sam and this former KKK leader were buddies for 25 years. It was James who called leaders and had them take down their team web sites. Sam tapped danced away from that quickly and never acknowledged the truth of this long, long association with him. Let’s just call it the sleaze factor. It was very apparent.
Last comment — this Ed Bounds guy. Before he was given a regular voice on the conference calls, I once heard him say ‘thank you’ to a guest speaker 17 times. What does that tell you about him? He was trying to establish his presence on these conference calls as an important person, but could think of nothing else to say. So he embarrasses everyone by taking 5 minutes to say ‘thank you’ 17 times in 17 ways. I’m not kidding! Very transparent. That guy in Philadelphia (Tom?) was the most sincere of the bunch. Perhaps the only sincere leader of the bunch.
It would be interesting for others here to communicate what these conference call leaders have gravitated to now. I’m sure they will not all go in the same direction.
I have been following this thread and I couldn’t help myself from sharing my experience with EPI and Sam. I was close to the action long enough to give some perspective on this. I was with emerald during the good years (2005-2006) when sales were happening and attended some of their events while befriending the leaders.
Those events were really weird… if you had a good idea and spoke to the president at the event, he would look for help to Sam or some employees! It was like he did not know himself why he was there. I would ask a basic question, like how the name of the phase one product came about or the difference between phase 2 and 3 and he would look at me as if I was speaking a different language, in fact, he did not know that the Phase 2 WAS the conference we were attending!
Obviously, he did not know it because he was a straw-man – a cut-out for Sam… Same with that Christian guy, they introduced him as the manager but when I would ask a question and he would know lots of stuff about the payplan, backoffice, etc. but when I asked him a ‘real’ question, about the future of the business, you could see he had nothing of value to say because he was probably not given the canned answer by Sam. I asked 2 of the low level employees who is the owner of the company, and I swear to god, terror crossed their face as if each was going to lose their job if one word came out of their mouth. I just pretended it did not happen, because I was making money in this business but I have participated in many events before from more than one company and never saw so many paranoid corporate people, afraid of one person, and that person was Sam. It was a strange feeling when he was around, everybody seemed to behave.
Then there was James, the best leader they had in front of the room I thought. I liked him but he too was only good if he spoke about marketing or personal development, he could answer questions on basic levels, but anytime you asked a company question, he sounded like a spokesman for a drug company, no real answers, just ‘official sounding answers’ that were meaningless. You could see James was just a puppet, when cornered about something, he looked like someone who was told what to say. When you asked James or even the manager about something to help you make a sale, they always had good answers. It was surreal at times like if I had entered the twilight zone and everybody was working undercover or trying not to exist!
Over the years, I have remained friends with some leaders in emerald and I spoke to someone lately who said the same thing to me: something was fishy about Sam and his so called master distributor status (this is how he was introduced). Emerald leaders seemed to agree on one thing, Sam was clearly in charge and was the only one making decisions, yet it seems he could not make a decision to save his life. I dealt with him personally and he was the worst people manager I have ever seen. Other leaders told me he was running things like a dictator and a bully, and did not let talented people shine. Anytime anyone would start making money, Sam would have James “deal” with them… It became a joke between us, don’t make too much money or you will get terminated.
Another thing about Sam, whenever you did or suggested something good, Sam would say ‘I told you that’ or ‘I taught you that’. He took credit for everything except being an owner of course. I am told that their last conference in Dominican Republic had only a dozen people in the room. – Wow! They must have had more speakers and staff than attendees judging by the past events I attended! Now that must have been super weird. I remember the last conference I attended, Sam would go to each person, and stick a camera in their face and say ‘tell us why this is so great’ and if what we said was not great enough, he’d say do it again, never said please, never heard him say thank you, never polite either, just the most unsophisticated character I ever met…
I think most emerald leaders would agree with me to say that he was like a dictator or a bully without much personality. By the way, he’s not Canadian, he’s from Bosnia or near by, and was probably a communist before coming to Canada so no wonder he can’t ‘lead’, no wonder he could not understand how we Americans value individuality, all he ever talked about was to keep the business alive, all for the ‘common good’ but the common good was his emerald passport business of course. And when you did anything different, you had to look out, because they would send James in to terminate you. The worst part is that they would keep changing the rules over and over.
You know what they say about bullies, they are cowards. Hiding behind a bunch of legal crap to claim they don’t own the company, or behind slogans like ‘for the common good’ sound to me like a coward. Sam had the leadership of a third rate Panamanian Dictator. As my friend Andrew said, it was bad leadership, NOT the economy. It’s times like this that people are looking to learn new ideas to make money, not turn their backs on them. Now that Emerald is gone, I can say good riddance to Sam, too bad he drove a nail into the coffin of 2 up plans.
Sorry, I will keep my name out of this because I know Sam and he knows me and also because I want to respect the anonymity of my EPI friends.
Cheers!
@Alan Smithee
Good point about finding out company owner first. It would be ideal in a perfect world, but I don’t think it’s a deal-breaker. Given my experience with Emerald Passport, I understand the importance of checking out the management before getting involved in any business – especially if it’s something you are looking at for the long term.
2-Up model has tons of flaws. In fact, it’s on it’s way out. The lower priced 2-Up businesses, like iBuzzPro, etc, very often, deals get cut. Very few people like the qualifying. In fact, before EPI, I was in Val Smyth’s Mentors in Motion, and these businesses have no way of tracking the money. In my current top-tier opportunity, it is different. No funny business, you get an invoice generated by the company for who you have to pay, and how much. I find it very refreshing not to have to deal with all of that stuff.
Marie and I are starting our own business shortly, and we didn’t go with a x-Up or a traditional MLM model. (Without getting into too much detail.)
James Alexander. I haven’t really weighed in on this. This was a total shocker to me, but it happened well after I left Emerald. I couldn’t sleep the night I found out. James was one me all the time about my training site, my other websites, my affiliate links, etc. I’m not sure Sam knew about his past. James was a very secretive guy. Very studied in basic human psychology – the kind of guy you just couldn’t relax around. But, from what I know about spending time with Sam, I’m just not sure he knew.
About Ed Bounds and the “thank you’s” – that was the corporate culture at Emerald Passport. A lot of “Yes-Men,” a lot of ass-kissing, a lot of blind devotion. It was widespread and embarrassing. Unfortunately, Marie and I played into this in the beginning. Not our finest moment. Part of it is for sales, part of it I think is basic indoctrination engineered by Sam.
As for the future? I hear everyone is moving towards a “free-to-join” program called Tampogo. Got an email from somebody yesterday about that. I think that speaks volumes about the confidence everyone has, after the Emerald Passport collapse.
@EPI EX-Director:
I laughed a few times reading your comment. You know that laugh when you hear something said that’s very true.
James WAS the best speaker they had. I have heard many times how people heard Sam explain the compensation plan and be blown away by his lack of delivery, his combativeness if somebody asked a question, and his lack of ability to connect with the audience. And yet, he had such control over the group. Here’s the crazy part: He shot down good suggestions, explained why they couldn’t work, and then rambled off-topic for 20-25 minutes to the point when he stopped, nobody had anything to say. And yet he had such command over his “crew.” I think clearly Sam is masterful at mind-control. He implicitly tried to imply that if you left Emerald Passport, you would regret it and not be able to have success anywhere else. He implied that “he” was the person who taught you the golden key to 2-Up success.
And when I was on the Leadership committee, I was shocked at how poorly he managed himself and was unable to make decisions about the business. Even all the ones he did make kept changing. For example, the website rules shifted ALL the time.
And when you get down to it, it became kind of like a cult, with him at the center. Very weird, like you mention.
Sam lives in Toronto now, which is why the “bootcamps” always took place in Toronto. He was paranoid about having his picture taken, and told me not to put his picture on my website. He was, like James, very vague about his background.
I was told the owners of Emerald Passport were a group of ex-pat investors. Whether or not that’s true, I’m not sure we’ll ever know. But it’s clear who made the poor decisions that crushed Emerald Passport on the rocks.
I have read all of the posts here and do understand why so many people feel the way they do. I was, as many of you know, a member of the MST (Marketing Support Team) which conducted many of the training calls each week with Emerald Passport Inc. or EPI. Here are my two cents worth on the events of the past few weeks.
I believe that the company did not close due to the “econonic downturn” as their website stated. I truly feel that the sales that were made certainly were and had been declining over the past 12-18 months. Did this happen as a result of the economic situation? Not really. It may have had a small portion with why sales were down, but only a very small factor.
When a business does not change with new technology, new marketing ideas/strategies, updated communication with customers/distributors and does not see a need to improve upon what once was a system that worked the inevitable will be for the business to go backwards. This is what happened with EPI.
I am not going to point fingers at any one person(s), but the decisions that were made were NOT that of the field support teams, more specifically those of the ELC and MST. I know for a fact that none of us on either team of field support leadership knew that the doors were slamming shut. Only one person having contact with the field knew that.
This truly left a lot of people without an income source…literally overnight. I know many people that are now scratching their collective heads over what to do next. Many options are out there and many have been evaluated, discussed, tossed out and a few chosen to share with others to check out.
What I am doing is what you may choose to do as well. I wanted a company that I could replace a solid income with. I wanted a company that was based in the USA. I wanted a company with products that I didn’t have to change someone’s buying habits in order to have them purchase them. I wanted a “no-brainer” for people when they saw a website actually designed with intelligence. I wanted something that didn’t take a large chunk of working capital to start. In short, I wanted something that I could share with my team from EPI that actually would put income in their pockets almost right away.
There are a ton of emails/phone calls/text messages coming my way each and every day from many of you that like me, were left without an income producing business. I appreciate all of you and your thoughts. I have “landed” and we all will find what is right for each one of us. I will never have only one source of primary income again and recommend that no one ever does!
If you wish to talk further with me or just send me a note, click my name and contact me through my website there. I am available and welcome reconnecting with you if you wish. Thanks.
Wes from Rochester, Minnesota
Hello everyone. I am still recovering from the news eventhough EPI was not my main income source.
My comment is mainly to thank those of you who briefly explained what happened. It would be interesting to hear what you guys are doing now and what you would suggest as the next business. Feel free to email me something. In the meantime I am busy with a couple of proyects related to supplements and water that have had a tremendous impact on my own well being, as well as everyone who as also using them.
I wish success (and wellness) to everyone who reads these comments.
Klaus
I don’t know about Tampogo as a destination for ex-Emerald Passport leadership. Perhaps some, but this I can verify from a conference call today.
I heard these ex-EPI leaders in their new business – LGN Revolution. (That’s another 2-up plan that recently had to lower the minimum entry price to $200 from $800, presumed because of the recession.)
Jim Norris, Maurice Smith, Tom Washington, and Jack Russo were all on the call recruiting new blood — the old “One Big Team” crew at EPI.
At least they have a readily identifiable company owner and an annual Feburary convention in Las Vegas which costs only $45. But it is still a damn two-up.
Sooo … I know I was a sucker … how do I get my money back?
@Wes: I think the biggest shame of the whole Emerald Passport failure was their lack of disclosure to the field – especially the leadership committees. I can still recall how much of a workload was dropped on the leadership team in terms of conference calls and in my opinion, long-winded weekly meetings that really served no purpose. We always tried to think of reasons to skip those
It was obviously known well in advance, and they had those P2/P3 conference back to back to wrap everything up cleanly and offer an opportunity to deliver the conferences people paid for.
That’s the part that just strikes me as very, very WRONG.
Jim Norris left Emerald Passport a long time ago. I was shocked at how Emerald Passport raided his training system, then basically muscled him out after he had a stroke.
As for the 2-Up. I think a straight 2-Up is really dead. And I think Emerald was the last top-tier 2-Up you’ll see for some time. The 2-Up model doesn’t work like it should. It creates a psychological barrier to making your first 2 sales. And the fact that many prospects have been in one, and don’t like them, has rendered it quite unpopular.
Most of the big companies, like Liberty League International (now Polaris Media Group), Wealth Masters International (and it’s front end Carbon-Copy Pro) and Lifepath Unlimited have modified this so that the new guy makes some or all of the money on the first sale. And it’s easier to sell something like that than a 2-Up, in my opinion.
Tampogo is where the other 1/2 of the leadership team is steering everybody (Cynthia Maurice and Linda Costopolous). Both of whom are dedicated to helping their team. I just think a business like Tampogo is not a smart choice. The reason? Marketing is about being specific about your target market. Any company who claims that “everyone is a good prospect” because “you’re buying this stuff anyway” just does not have a good business model looking into the future.
That’s the Amway model. It sounds reasonable, but the attrition tells a completely different story.
I learned that from my first MLM company, several years ago, Melalecua.
@Warren: If you mean you’re a sucker because of the Emerald Passport business opportunity is a scam, well it wasn’t.
If you mean because you bought in recently, particularly at the Phase 2 or Phase 3 levels, I’m not sure there’s much you can do. Emerald Passport was incorporated in Panama, which I *LOVED* visiting, but which is notorious for being an offshore haven for shell companies. Clearly Emerald was wrapped up with a final Phase 2/Phase 3 that was more for decoration than any real content – and now it’s gone.
You’re best bet is to contact whomever sold Emerald Passport to you, but I would assume they’re in the dark just as much as you are, unfortunately.
Amazing as always
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