The last week was spent in a confidential arbitration proceeding that I am not free to discuss.  I am free to say that the Woodwards and the Brady's received word on Wednesday night that our injunction has been lifted on both the non-compete and the non-disparagement clauses.  WE ARE SO EXCITED!  This is one of the best birthday gifts I have ever received.  We have already announced our intention of joining MonaVie when possible and now it is possible!  I want to thank all of my friends for their incredible encouragement and support through one of the toughest times of my life.  Now that I am free to talk about business and competition, I would like to share a few thoughts for moving forward.

1. Remember when you are joining a new MLM to always act with humility and class towards crossline organizations already in MonaVie.  Our goal should be to edify their leadership and come in as students.  Yes, we are excited about the opportunity, but we will let our actions speak for us not our words.  Humility is much more attractive than arrogance.

2. Remember that we are not at MonaVie meetings to sell training materials to crossline groups.  They have their own training systems and we must respect their training as we would expect them to respect ours.  Character, Class and Competence are the three C's to focus on.  Yesterday, I met with Dallin Larsen and many of the top leaders in MonaVie.  What an impressive group of leaders!  Leadership is about providing value to everyone you come into contact with.  The leaders of MonaVie have provided incredible value to people through a great product and servant based leadership.  Let's lift one another as a rising tide lifts all ships!

3. Remember to review you reasons for starting in your own business.  Nothing happens but first the dream as Carl Sandburg states.  What is your dream and why did you get started in your own business?

4. Let's focus on building communities of people who will move products through their communities and customers.  We have an opportunity to build a million people community and to get paid great money to do so.  The distributors are focused on building the communities and that is what we intend to do!

5. Get with your upline in your new business and develop a gameplan to build your business.  I will be personally running PDCA cycles to develop the best training system possible to support people in building the MonaVie businesses. 

6. I will be updating this Leadership blog two to three times a week.  This site is a Leadership blog and any specific business building techniques or business questions should be addressed to your upline.  I love the comments and discussion and plan on continuing the blog.  I won't be as active because I intend to be more active in building a million people team.  Building communities is the best way to positively change people's lives and through them change our culture! 

I want to thank you again for the incredible encouragement and support during this valley experience.  It is now time to climb the mountain.  We are not Quitters - we are not Campers - we are Climbers!  Are you ready to climb the mountain!!

God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Read an announcement from Dallin Larsen today from a MonaVie website.  I am extremely impressed with the character and class that Dallin displays in all situations.  Winning is important, but John Wooden teaches - winning is not winning if you lose your character and class by resorting to mean spirited tactics.  Dallin Larsen is a leader of character and I am not shocked that his business enterprises have been blessed abundantly.  MonaVie is a fast growing company with a vision of going to 20 billion in their first 20 years.  I believe deeply in the life principle—“you reap what you sow.”  Dallin has reaped many rewards in life by first sowing love, respect and belief into people.  We can all learn from the example of Dallin Larsen on character based leadership.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Dear MonaVie Family,

I hope this letter finds you well and enjoying the benefits of MonaVie on a daily basis.

The reason for this communication centers on recent legal filings between MonaVie and Quixtar, a sister company of Amway. I've had a hunch for some time now that with the thousands of distributors joining us on a weekly basis, along with our extraordinary growth over the past few years, that we would, unfortunately, ruffle the feathers of a few of our friends in other direct selling companies. Having previously served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Direct Selling Association in Washington, D.C., I can assure you that the vast majority of people I have worked with from other companies have been highly professional. I'm optimistic that this recent disagreement between MonaVie and Amway/Quixtar will be resolved amicably.

Many of our distributors have enrolled in MonaVie with no prior connection to any direct selling company, while others have had prior experience. For whatever reason, certainly not because we've targeted Amway/Quixtar, various individuals previously with Amway/Quixtar have chosen to join MonaVie. However, in our constant desire to operate as a responsible member of the direct selling industry, we recently went so far as to change our online enrollment form to specifically mention Amway/Quixtar by name, letting prospective MonaVie distributors know that we would not accept their application if they were still under a "non-compete" clause with Amway, or any other company for that matter.

Graden Jackson, General Counsel for MonaVie, has been in communication with various attorneys engaged at Amway's headquarters over the past several weeks. He informed them that we added specific language to our online form, which prohibits current Amway distributors from joining MonaVie. We did this even though we believe we had no legal obligation to show this level of support. In addition, I personally sent an official communication to every North American distributor in MonaVie stating that we have no desire to cause harm or consternation to Amway or any other direct selling company. I spoke the same words on stage at the recent regional meeting in Anaheim.

MonaVie doesn't need Amway distributors or any other company's distributors to grow a successful business. Furthermore, to my knowledge, we have never attempted to recruit another Amway distributor into MonaVie. Have some of their former distributors joined us? Yes. Have some former MonaVie distributors left MonaVie for other opportunities, perhaps even Amway? I'm sure they have. As I stated in my recent letter, and on stage at the Anaheim Regional Meeting, I refuse to attempt to require any disenchanted MonaVie distributor from staying in MonaVie against their will. If they believe their dreams are better served elsewhere, I would say: God bless you; we'll leave the door open should you ever choose to come back to MonaVie for another season in your life, or for the rest of your life.

I believe the reason for our success is because of our exceptional product, our rewarding compensation and incentive package, and the fact that we keep our word. Also, I believe we're successful because of the freedom we offer to our distributors. MonaVie distributors: you are independent distributors in MonaVie, not employees. I would be more than happy if every direct selling company in the world, including Amway, would remove "non-compete" clauses once and for all from their Policies and Procedures. It's my view that these policies are too often unfair to well-intentioned people who simply choose to pursue their dreams with another company, only to be told they are not free to do so, even after dedicating months—or even years—of their lives. At MonaVie, we will continue doing everything in our power to stick up for the rights of distributors.

On Monday, March 17, 2008, out of our commitment to protect the interests of MonaVie—and because we felt we had no other choice—we filed a complaint in the District of Utah, asking for a ruling on Amway's "non-compete" clause and whether or not it is enforceable. The following day, Amway filed a complaint of its own against MonaVie, claiming that we had inappropriately recruited distributors from Amway. We desire to resolve this matter in a professional, timely, and respectful way. To this end, and because I always believe that open communication leads to understanding, I have offered to meet with Amway's President in hopes that we can reach a win-win solution. In the meantime, I would ask that all of your communications continue to be above reproach.

In today's Internet world, I'm sure there will likely be some mean-spirited words spoken about me, our company, my kids, parents, and maybe even the dog I had in high school! Rest assured that I know to whom I turn for strength. I believe in a merciful God who has blessed me in countless ways, one of which is the relationships I have with so many of you. As an Eagle Scout, I try to live by that oath I took 35 years ago. We are doing a good work on so many levels. We're helping the kids in Brazil, and we're helping families around the world through our product and opportunity. I am proud of who we are and our company's culture.

In today's litigious environment, the larger we become, the more we will be challenged. With that in mind, I ask you once again to please represent this product for what it is: a food, not a drug. MonaVie is not intended to treat, cure, or mitigate any disease.

Finally, on a lighter note, we are having another record month at MonaVie! The 20/20 Vision of MonaVie marches onward. May we reach our goals as a company, always operating with integrity and speaking positively of each other and other companies, including Amway.

Warmest regards,

Dallin A. Larsen

Founder and President, MonaVie

I am finishing the research in anticipation of getting approval by lawyers, judges, and arbitrators to share the MLM benchmarking study with the public.  A few of the key areas researched were leadership character, compensation plans (reward vs. work index), product value & demand, publicity in the press, publicity on-line and vision for the future.  MonaVie has designed one of the best compensation plans for the new distributors in the entire industry.  By paying out 50% actual vs. other plans of less the 30% theoretical—they are able to reward both new and established distributors with equitable compensation for the work performed.  Here is an article from Fortune magazine writer Tim Arango.  Sumner Redstone is the leader of Viacom and CBS and understands a good company when he sees one.   On March 25, 2008—I will turn 41 years old and look forward to the best years of my life working with people who understand win-win principles and the true meaning of partnership.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Sumner Redstone's anti-aging secret

There may be some debate about future control of Viacom and CBS, but the media mogul doesn't plan to bequeath his empire anytime soon - thanks to a little purple elixir.

By Tim Arango, Fortune writer

September 4 2007: 5:14 PM EDT

(Fortune Magazine) -- As the years tick by, Sumner Redstone just gets more optimistic. Earlier this year the 84-year-old said he planned to live another 50 years; two years ago he was predicting another 20.

His age has been in the spotlight lately because of the recent public spat with his daughter over his succession plans, but the controller of Viacom (Charts) and CBS (Charts, Fortune 500) has lately been getting a bit of help in the form of a little-known superjuice called MonaVie. "It's a miracle drug," he told Fortune. "I feel great."

A dark-purple elixir with a cult-like following, MonaVie is an antioxidant-rich concoction whose main ingredient is the Brazilian açai berry (pronounced ah-sigh-ee), long touted among health nuts for its anti-aging ingredients.

Vitamin-water it's not: MonaVie costs $40 a bottle, and you can't get it in stores; it's marketed only through the company's network of thousands of individuals who sell it out of their homes (think Avon or Tupperware).

Redstone first heard of the juice from Viacom exec Bill Roedy on a trip to Germany in January. After learning that his butler's sister-in-law was a devotee too, Redstone ordered some up and started drinking four ounces a day. "Since I've been on MonaVie I haven't taken a sleeping pill," he says.

New crack in the house of Redstone

He even considered investing in Utah-based MonaVie after its CEO, Dallin Larsen, came to visit him at his Beverly Hills mansion. Redstone decided against it - because it would present a conflict of interest to recommend it to friends - but Larsen, a veteran nutritional-products salesman who founded the company in 2005, has no better ambassador.

At a recent party, Redstone gave bottles to Bill Clinton and celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck. "Just about every friend I have is on it," Redstone says - a group he says includes Viacom and CBS board members as well as cancer survivor and former junk-bond king Michael Milken. (It can also be found in the clubhouse of the Boston Red Sox; pitcher Jonathan Papelbon is a fan.)

So is it a fad, or is there something to it? Nothing proves that MonaVie cures any ailment, but in one of the first academic studies of açai's benefits, University of Florida researcher Stephen Talcott found that the berry's antioxidants destroyed leukemia cells in a laboratory. But Talcott has since distanced himself from MonaVie and its junkies.

Larsen is careful not to cross the line. "It's not a drug," he says. He touts the juice as a way to "increase energy in a natural way" and to alleviate "the everyday aches and pains from inflammation."

Redstone says he's never felt better. "I know I look a lot younger than I am," he says. "I feel like I'm 40 years old."

Here is one of my all-time favorite business books from Michael Gerber called E-Myth.  I remember the first time I read this book and realized I was not thinking about business properly.  I focused on what I could get done.  I should have focused on creating a system to teach anyone how to get things done.  This paradigm shift began the creation of the Team training system and the results that followed.  Thank you Michael Gerber—you taught me to think through a business in a systematic fashion and this produced long-term results!  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Ever wonder why most small businesses-- no matter how huge effort they put in their endeavor--still fail? Michael Gerber reveals the answers in this book. Accordingly, the future of small businesses revolves in only three philosophies: the e-myth (entrepreneurial myth), the turn-key revolution, and the business development process.

The E-myth

The e-myth, or the entrepreneurial myth, evolved from one very fatal assumption-- that the success of every business is simply achieved by summing up the following: an entrepreneur's desire to own a business plus the certain amount of capital he puts in plus the knowing the amount of targeted profit.

Little did the entrepreneurs know that this assumption spell DISASTER rather than SUCCESS. Entrepreneurs need to learn to focus more on the business—the people involved in it and the phases it normally undergoes. Knowledge on these can save small businesses from experiencing entrepreneurial seizure—a stage wherein an entrepreneur goes through feeling of exhilaration, exhaustion, and despair.

Small businesses basically consist of three main characters namely: the technician (the doer and builder), the manager (the planner), and the entrepreneur (the dreamer, visionary). Moreover, small businesses have different life phases. These are: infancy (the technician's phase); adolescence (getting some help phase); beyond the comfort zone; and, maturity and the entrepreneurial perspective.

The Turn-key Revolution

As implied by the term itself, Turn-key Revolution speaks of the distinct transformations on the way businesses are managed and should be managed. One very prominent example is the introduction of McDonalds the idea of business format franchise to the business world.

The business format franchise has set dramatic turn around on the future of small businesses. Here, the franchisor entitles the franchisee to owning rights to his entire business system. This format is anchored on the belief that the real product of a business is its sales technique rather than what it sells.

The Business Development Process

The business development process is the response to the unending dynamism of the business world. It equips the entrepreneur with the necessary tools to preempt the continuous changes happening around. The process is comprised of three elemental stages: innovation, quantification and orchestration.

The business development program requires the following aspects to be defined:

Your Primary Aim. The owner's primary aim should center on what he really wishes, needs and wants for his life. Defining this will push the owner to pursue his defined entrepreneurial dreams.

Your Strategic Objectives.

This contains standards that help the owner achieve his goals for his business. This should answer the question: What purpose will this serve my primary aim?

Your Organizational Strategy.

Business owners should learn how to appreciate the value of organizational structures. Some points to consider are organizing around personalities, organizing your company, and position contract.

Your Management Strategy.

As the owner you should recognize the truth that the successful implementation of a management strategy is not dependent on the people who could implement it but on the system instead.

Your People Strategy.

This refers to the approach you take towards your people and their work. To make people appreciate the work they do, you should make them understand the idea behind each of their task assignments.

Your Marketing Strategy.

Here is the stage where all attention suddenly shifts from owner to the customer. You set aside your personal goals first and start focusing on the customer's needs.

Your Systems Strategy. There are three kinds of systems in a business: the hard systems, the soft systems and the information systems. The hard systems refer to all those in your business that are inanimate and has no life. The soft systems refer to all those that could be living or inanimate. The information systems are everything else in the business that provides you with data relating to how the two earlier systems interact.