In Business Since: 1998

Financial Strength: Very Strong. Division of Billion dollar company Nuskin Enterprises.

Management: Richard King, President of Big Planet is a former executive with computer networking giant Novell. Executives of 15 year old MLM/direct sales company Nuskin Enterprises have a long track record of success and are obviously highly experienced in network marketing as well as corporate management.

Management Rating: 5 Stars

Online Training & Support: Excellent. One of the best, if not the best, online support system in the industry with online training and certifications, newsletters, a regularly updated website with the latest news, events, and promotions, and even an online radion broadcast. Also available are independent representative websites that can be individually customized and personalized, as well as online sign-ups, product orders, and genealogy reports. The Big Planet Store, Big Planet's global internet mall with hundreds of thousands of products, is awesome.

Field Training & Support: Field support through corporate sponsored regional and national events, as well as distributor led local meetings in select areas. Distributor led trainings are usually conducted by one of Big Planet's very successful distributors who have built a very large business, even before Big Planet came into being, through BP's sister company Nuskin. Consequently, higly experienced support is not hard to find.

Motivational Support: Motivational support provided via newsletters, corporate website with online newsletters, daily updates, etc. Support is also provided through local weekly meetings in select areas, regional training events, and national conventions.

Training & Support Rating: 5 Stars

Products/Services: Internet service, long distance, paging, internet appliances, and one of the hottest internet malls in MLM, including products from sister companies Nuskin, Pharmanex, and thousands of other name brand products and services from many major internet stores. Using BP's internet service, I consistently experienced a faster connect speed and better service than a major nameb rand ISP that "claims" to be the best. On the telephone, tech support was easily accessable with very little wait time.

Product Quality/Effectiveness Rating: 5 Stars

Product Market Rating: 5 Stars

Business Opportunity Market Rating: 5 Stars

Compensation Plan: Stairstep breakaway. Very lucrative compensation plan with a unique bonus on the backend called a builder bonus. A drawback to Big Planet's compensation plan is the fact that you do not receive overrides from the volume generated by your downline members until you become an executive. And inherant in stairstep breakaways is the fact that you cannot receive an override on someone that has achieved the same position as you until you reach the executive(breakaway) position. However, breakaway companies have been around a lot longer than the other companies and are perhaps responsible for helping the majority of top industry representatives achieve financial independence. And combined with excellent telecommunicatins/internet services and hundreds of thousands of mall products in practically every category imaginable, BP's compensation plan is extremely lucrative for those who are willing to do what it takes to reach top positions within the comp plan.

Compensation Plan Rating: 3.75 Stars

Overall Rating: 4.79 Stars

Advantages: Financial Strength, Billion dollar parent company, Experienced management, own ISP, very internet centric company, low sign-up cost. One of it's main product lines include the I-Phone, which is a telephone with a screen and keyboard for internet browsing. This makes the products and the opportunity easy to demonstrate. The low sign-up fee to become a representative is also a plus. With Nuskin and Pharmanex, Big Planet's sister companies, as an addition to the Big Planet products and opportunity, BP reps can attract both nutritional and personal care minded networkers as well as those who would rather promote high tech/telecommunications. Being that nutrition and telecommunications are the dominant industries in network marketing, Big Planet is poised to attract prospects who have always been interested in both industries but never wanted to promote more than one company. This is a big plus.

Disadvantages: A stairstep breakaway, especially one where reps do not receive downline overrides until he or she becomes an executive, in our opinion, is something that is not the best choice for a high tech/telecommunications company. However, the Big Planet mall with the hundreds of thousands of products, along with Nuskin and Pharmanex products, will push active distributors to the executive position relatively fast.

Comments: Big Planet is definitely one of the best internet centric companies in MLM, and coupled with NSE's worldwide resources, an upcoming internet giant. Those who choose to position themselves and build an organization now will reap the financial benefits.