Jús International – An Unbiased Review

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010 at 10:01 AM

Jús International is a network marketing company that started out sharing office space in the Boise area with its founders “other” business – a magazine called IQ Idaho that is no longer in print.

Jeffery Boyle was the original man behind the curtain at Jus – but no longer works there. He was ousted by the investors from his command as the president of Jus along with his brother Brad and the rest of the management team. The investors then stepped in and placed themselves at the helm. This all happened in May of 2009.

The company headquarters have been relocated to Salt Lake City, UT and the executive staff has a whole new face, but I’ll get into who they are a little bit later.

For now, I just want you to know that I am in no way affiliated with Jus International, although I have had some friends and relatives that have been a part of the company at one point or another. I tell you this to let you know that I am not basing this review off of some random information that I just looked up on the internet, although you can confirm some of it online if you know where to look. As always, I want you to have the right information as you make a decision that can and will affect your long term financial situation.

Is Jús International a Scam?

Although I would probably never join Jús (more on that later), it is most definitely not a scam. They have a good product that undoubtedly benefits a lot of people, and a pretty good compensation plan for what it is. Furthermore, commissions are driven by sales of their product, and not by new enrollees. This is one of the major clues you will get as to whether a company is legit or not.

Potion or Lotion?

Jús Jús International’s product is a health beverage by the name of j23 or Jús. It is a combination of three different “proprietary” blends – two of which include combinations of the 23 different superfoods that are in the bottle.

Here are the three blends and what they are supposed to do:

Herb & Mushroom Blend - Supports cardiovascular and immune system function.
Superfruit Blend - Helps provide your body with antioxidants and nutrients to protect it from damage and aging.
Resveratrol Blend - There is some controversy on whether Resveratrol actually does what it’s supposed to in humans, but it is said to benefit people with Alzheimer’s and even cancer. Jus doesn’t take it that far, however… they simply say that it is primarily known as an antioxidant and for its support of heart health.

The twenty-three superfoods that are included in the product are a variation of juices, purees, and extracts. They include:

Goji Berry Juice (Wolfberry), Wild Blueberry Juice, Acai Puree, Goji Berry (Wolfberry) Extract, Cranberry Juice, Pomegranate Juice, Acerola Juice, Mangosteen Whole Fruit Puree, Sea Buckthorn Berry Puree, Aronia Juice, Wild Bilberry Extract, Wild Blueberry Extract, Cranberry Extract, Noni Juice Extract, Apple Extract, Aronia Extract, Mangosteen Extract, Pomegranate Extract, Tart Cherry Extract, Prune Extract, Raspberry Seed Extract, Strawberry Extract, and an Herb/Mushroom Blend.

Jús and ORAC

One of the things that they LOVE to tout at Jús is their ORAC score. (There are actually 5 different ones that they measure.) Because of all the different superfoods they have in their product, not only can they help benefit more people, but their ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) score is off the charts.

Some people argue that the ORAC score is not the best way to measure a products health benefits, but either way, those numbers are impressive.

Others ask why they would only have the one product. To this they respond that having only one product creates a more unified approach to marketing by the distributors. I agree with this, because then all the distributors have the same tools and resources to use to build their business. Having too many products is nice because you can have a little variety, but it can also cause a lot of confusion among distributors as it creates too many options, marketing tools, and significantly increases the training needed to be successful.

They are keeping it as simple as possible at Jús, which is a smart move in my opinion.

Who’s Running the Show?

The current corporate staff at Jús International is a completely different group than when it started – and I do mean completely. In fact, there is not one person on the corporate staff that was there at the beginning.

Seth Miller is the current President of Jús International. He is a Utah native and loves basketball – he received a full ride basketball scholarship to Colorado Christian University, where he graduated in 1997 with a degree in communications and an emphasis on international business management. Shortly after graduating, he became an international business development manager for Tahitian Noni International. Twelve years and nearly 70 countries later, he became the Vice President of Global Markets for TNI. After only seven months in that role, he was given the role of President of Jús International.

Darrell Ieremia Darrel Ieremia is the Vice President of International Affairs at Jús. He graduated from Brigham Young University in 1997 and quickly got a job from Tahitian Noni International as the General Manager over Mexico. In the beginning of 2005, he became the Director of International Development for TNI, where he stayed for a little over a year and a half. In August of 2006, he and some of his college friends started a new network marketing company based out of American Fork, Utah called CoreVital, which less than two years later closed its doors for business. After CoreVital imploded, he started his own side business to help network marketers expand their businesses internationally, and called it i2o International Outsourcing. Before finally getting a job with Jús International in September of 2009, he did a little work for 4Life Research, yet another network marketing company.

Pamela Mercado is the Vice President of Marketing at Jús. She graduated from Michigan State University in 2001 with a degree in communications. Shortly thereafter, she became a sales representative for Pepsi. In March of 2003, she moved on to be a sales consultant for GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals. While there, she played a big part in the promotion and sales of Levitra, a treatment for ED (similar to Viagra). She was in the top six in the nation for Levitra sales in 2003. In March of 2004, she moved on to Solvay Pharmaceuticals where she repeated her success as a sales representative. In March of 2006, she became the Director of Marketing and Field Sales for SUZANNE, a start-up network marketing company owned by Suzanne Sommers. Then, in September of 2008, she made one final change before becoming the VP of Marketing at Jús. She was the VP of Marketing and Sales at BioNovix, yet another network marketing company. However, her time at BioNovix was shortlived, as they closed their doors as of May of 2009.

Justin Serra is the Vice President of Operations at Jús. He is a Boise native and received a degree in business management and marketing from Boise State University. His bio on the corporate website is one that makes me question the veracity of the other corporate leaders’ bios. The “Boise-based technology company” that he was a division head for, was a small family business by the name of Bitsmart. It is still family owned and operated today. The paper crafting and scrapbooking company where he gained all his international sourcing and logistics experience and helped them grow over 300% in just two years was a company by the name of Chatterbox Inc. Unfortunately, that growth was all a big façade and Chatterbox Inc. ended up being a mini ENRON. Whether Justin helped report that 300% “growth” deliberately or negligently, I don’t know. Either way, his corporate bio is not as impressive as Jús International would have you believe.

Richard Durham is currently the Chairman of Jús International. His resume is quite impressive… he graduated from the Wharton School of Business and the University of Pennsylvania. He has held several management and c-level positions at both Huntsman Packaging Corporation and Pliant Corporation, which are in all actuality the same company. Huntsman Packaging Corporation was renamed Pliant Corporation when it was sold to Chase Capital Partners. He has since been part of a number of private investment firms, which is where he came in for Jús. His private investing firm, Aries Capital Partners, is the primary investor for Jús International.

Cam DeBuck is the Vice President of Information Technology for Jús International. According to his bio on the corporate website, he brings over 20 years of IT and software development experience to Jús. He has worked for both Agel and Tahitian Noni International, both network marketing companies. It was hard to find any information online to confirm those facts, but I’m not too surprised – afterall, the IT guy usually isn’t in the spotlight.

Andrew Dent is one of Richard Durham’s partners at the private investment firm, Aries Capital Partners, and is also the Chief Financial Officer at Jús. He has a bachelors and a masters degree in accounting from Brigham Young University in Provo, UT. He brings a lot more financial management experience to the table for Jús International.

And finally, Jason Reading is the Chief Executive Officer at Jús International. He graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in accounting, and he went on to receive an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is also a partner at Aries Capital Partners, the principle source of long term funding for Jús International. He and Richard Durham formed it when they both left Peterson Partners, another investment firm they were a part of. He has also held positions at Leucadia National, Merrill Lynch, and Price Waterhouse. Something unique about Jason, is that he was a Major in the Army National Guard.

So in summary, the people that are running things at Jús are sharp – almost too sharp. They seem to have plenty of experience under their belts both in and outside of network marketing. However, the question of why the entire original executive staff was replaced makes me just ooze with curiosity. What is the reason to get rid of the founders? Were they mis-managing funds, or just not getting the job done? Or was it really a hostile takeover, like so many then distributors suggest? We may never know the exact truth to those questions, but whether you are already a distributor for Jús, or are just considering joining, there is a way that you can take the chance of a “corporate screw-up” completely out of your personal equation.

Want to know how? Keep reading…

Is the Compensation Plan Fair?

Jús International's Fast Start Bonus More often than not, people place too much focus whether the compensation plan is the most incredibly ingenious one they have ever seen, which actually causes them more trouble than they realize. You see, when something really looks too good to be true, it generally is. Compensation plans are no exception to the rule. If you come across one that you have to do no work to get paid, turn and run.

While Jús International’s compensation plan for their distributors is not my favorite, I have to admit that it IS a pretty good compensation plan. It is a unilevel plan that they guarantee a 50% payout of all company revenue as commissions to their distributors, which is significantly better than a poke in the eye. Their plan boasts eight different ways that a distributor can get paid.

First of all, you can earn through retail and preferred customer sales. Next, there are first order fast start bonuses that you can earn for all of your new enrollees. Depending on the kit that they purchase, up to 42% of it will be paid back to distributors as a bonus. (See chart above.)

Next is what they call the Unilevel Bonuses – This is the commissions from the sales volume in your downline. It gets paid up to 9 levels down, and the neat thing about this is that the comp plan uses something called horizontal and vertical compression.

To the left you will see an example of horizontal compression. Each time you enroll someone in the business, they go on your front line. You can do this as many times as you like; however, they only count your three “legs” with the highest sales volume. The rest of your legs get “compressed” or added to the smallest of your three largest legs, as depicted in the example to the left. The volume in each of these three legs determines your pay rank. (See chart below.)

Vertical compression works similarly – the commissions get paid up nine levels, but if there is somebody that is inactive or doesn’t meet their requirements for that level, it “compresses” or skips them as a level. This can be nice, as long as you are not the one that didn’t meet the quota.

This is one of the reasons that I personally dislike this kind of compensation plan, but is no reason that should prevent you from becoming a Jús IBO.

Jús International's Commission Structure The other ways for you to get paid as a Jús IBO are through the campaign bonus(changes periodically), the check match bonus(matching bonus on your downline’s checks), the leadership bonus(bonus reserved for leaders), and the incentive/trip bonus.

Don’t worry about making sure you understand it 100% before you join… You don’t need to understand it to get paid. It’s a fair compensation plan.

How Can YOU Succeed in Jús International?

If you are counting on exploding your business by dragging your friends and family to hotel meetings, then I wish you the best. Even if you are good at that, 90% of your team won’t be, which means as soon as you stop building your business, it will stop growing. To REALLY be successful in Jús, you absolutely must learn the way to brand YOURSELF as “the leader with the answers“ to the REAL problems that almost every network marketer faces. That will enable you to really be of service to people that are struggling in Jús and the network marketing industry in general, and your paycheck will inevitably grow.

As Bob Burg and John David Mann state in their book entitled “The Go Giver”,

“Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment… [and] your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.”

So you see, you can only achieve the monstrous, long lasting success that you are probably after with Jús by learning and applying the concepts and strategies of The Elite Inter-Networker.

I think Jús is a very good company overall and that your chances of success in the network marketing industry are probably just about as good there as with most other companies, but don’t leave your success up to chance!

If you are serious about becoming a top earner in Jús, and in helping the rest of your team do the same, complete the form below to get more information on the training and tools that you will unquestionably need to build your business the right way!

School is always in session…

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To Your Smashing Success,
Jeff Maughan

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