Founded in 2003, LifeVantage Corporation is a publicly traded (ticker LFVN) network marketing company specializing in scientific anti-aging products using its clinically studied Protandim supplement.

LifeVantage has a very fascinating story…

The company's stock went through the roof way back on 2005 after they made public the clinical studies and TV specials by ABC, the Today Show and PBS about their Protandim product in 2005, The corporation's stock skyrocketed. With no sales to backup the publicity, this premature publicity shoot up their stock up to over $20 per share but it could not stay there. During this time Protantim was just available by way of retail channels and nutritional store sales were very dismal.

In May of 2009, after more than six months of developing and preparation they ventured into multilevel marketing for distribution|After more than 6 months of developing and research, in May of 2009. Not surprising to those who recognize the power of network marketing, LifeVantage sales have completely increased and with that their stock worth has more than tripled from its low of less than $0.10 in November 2008. I don't want to jump into conclusions, but it looks like multilevel marketing is proving to be a great suit.

As with every assessment, let's start off with the easiest place to spot a scam… THE MERCHANDISE!

Protandim Review - Since I have not yet tried it, I can'tcannot speak for the merchandise. What I can say is I am more willing to try it than any other nutritional merchandise I have seen recently due to the thorough clinical studies and peer reviewed research that was spent on it. A little over twenty universities have started a range of self funded medical studies on the product in relationship to its relation on anti-aging and disease. Several have been completed and are posted on www.pubmed.gov under Protandim to look at.

In contrast to the majority of nutritional products, Protandim is not an antioxidant by supplementation instead it is a merchandise that activates the body's production of its own natural enzymes which the body makes use of to tear down free radicals. Clinical researches appear to confirm that it is many times more effective than taking external antioxidants for this purpose. The LifeVantage corporate website (http://www.lifevantage.com) gives access to all the studies, reports and news video releases on their product that explains how it acts and what it does.

Protandim's "uniqueness" in terms of marketing...

In constrast to most MLM businesses which almost always goes the old "try it out (for 30, 60 or 90 days) and see how you feel" shtick, LifeVantage distributors canconfidently exclaim that Protandim is clinically proven to reduce oxidative stress by slowing down the rate of cell aging to the level of a 20 year old.

We all know that this is not enough to make a company a hit, but it's a good introduction for distributors. Getting people to test the product is often the most difficult part in building a nutritional multilevel marketing business, but LifeVantage holds the aces in this matter.

As for the cost of the product, I was also pleasantly surprised. In an industry where product autoships are routinely above one hundred dollars per month, a one month autoship supply of Protandim for a retail "preferred customer" is only thirty nine dollars! This pricing is far less than the business norm, thus making it possible to obtain loyal retail customers.

Besides the Protandim product, it also has a skin care product called TrueScience which is a skin cream designed with the anti-aging properties of Protandim. What's striking about the overall product line is its simplicity; just two fundamental products, with one core selling point, and a price that is actually reasonable.

Ultimately it is going to take a lot more than research and publicity for a product to make it. Protandim will have to make a noticeable impression on the wellbeing of the folks taking it, whether it be more energy, better sleep, not getting sick as frequently, etc. There are not too many individuals who will spend money on a product monthly based on research alone. If you are reading this review and have actually tried Protandim, please do give us comment on the product.

LifeVantage MLM comp plan

The MLM compensation plan is so lucrative that i'm not even going to go there. There is quite a lot of money available in every MLM compensation plan as long as it's legit. If you hear somebody going on about how their MLM compensation plan pays the most money in the business, high chance something is not right.

Technically speaking LifeVantage maximizes a unilevel MLM comp plan paying down 9 dynamically compressed levels with the potential for a matching bonus on the first 4 levels and a coded bonus for LifeVantage pack qualifiers that allows for bonuses to be earned through infinite depth. If none of this makes sense to you don't worry about it.

The most important part about the comp clan is legal, since it only pays commissions on product sales. LifeVantage has taken an extra step to promote the movement of product that I especially like and which does a lot to ensure legality. As with every company, distributors should stay qualified to earn commissions, in LifeVantage this means 200 PV per month in personal volume. The nice part is that the volume generated from personal "preferred customers" lessens the personal volume requirements for distributors. This means that as a distributor, I can reduce my monthly personal volume requirement down to the minimum of 30 PV if I have enough personal customers consuming product.

Behavior rewarded will be duplicated so when you see a company reward the enrollment of loyal retail "preferred customers" (individuals buying the product, but not partaking in the business opportunity), you will most likely have a higher customer to distributor ratio. One of the most significant thing that the attorney general and FTC looks at when determining if a company is a pyramid scheme or not is this ratio right here..

LifeVantage - Company and Leadership

There are a few notable points of interest about the LifeVantage beyond the short history I have already mentioned. The company is a member of the Direct Selling Association (http://www.dsa.org/forms/CompanyFormPublicMembers/view?id=44F6200000362) and the BBB (http://www.bbb.org/denver/business-reviews/health-and-diet-products-retail/lifevantage-corporation-in-littleton-co-90014185). They were implicated in and settled a lawsuit with Zrii. In this lawsuit, they were accused of having conspired with former Zrii management/distributors to break contracts and switch to companies. It was settled for 400,000 dollars even if the lawsuit sought damages of $2,500,000. This type of lawsuit is not uncommon in the multilevel marketing industry and in my opinion nothing to be worried about.

The leadership behind the company are David Brown, who used to be with Metabolife as the CEO and the Director of Science who is also the driving force behind Protandim, Dr. Joe McCord. It is noteworthy that Dr. McCord was the co-discoverer of antioxidant enzymes and their relationship to free radicals in 1968 at Duke University. I also like the fact that LifeVantage has experienced in-house legal counsel with Eric Marchant, who has counseled multi-national hundred million dollar Multi-Level Marketings in the past.

Let's take a quick look at the industry and competition

We all know that nutrition is the backbone of Multi-Level Marketing industry and there is zero doubt that the health and wellness industry is growing and will keep on growing. On the flipside I think at present you have an excess of companies coming into the industry and it is easy to get confused and be lost inside the rubble except if you have something distinctive… I think LifeVantage has just that. With a low product price point and the sort of studies and hype behind Protandim, I think they are suited to thrive in the multilevel marketing business.

The final word…

LifeVantage sells a legit product at a price point that real consumers can afford and together with a MLM comp plan that is in my opinion more legally sound than your average MLM. Even though the company has put a lot of research and publicity you still want to be sure your belief is 100% behind it before delving into it. In network marketing, belief sells and no amount of research can replace that. Go the distance or not at all. This company will work if you work it.