The Xango business opportunity, which is in the health and beauty business, has been one of the fastest growing companies in the direct sales industry.

There have been companies in the network marketing industry that had high hopes of matching Xango's success, but for one reason or another they fell by the wayside taking down distributors' hopes, dreams, reputations, and even money.

There are some things to be learned from the Xango business opportunity, so that you know what to look for when you're choosing a legitimate home based business. Once you understand the network marketing industry and how it works, you'll be less likely to fall victim of scams and the unscrupulous people running these companies.

It's no fluke that Xango turned out to be a big success, but everything the founders did was a calculated move. Here are 5 reasons why this company became the runaway hit it did.

The Industry

If you're ever wondered why there are so many pills, lotions, potions network marketing companies out there…here's the answer: it has been the most successful industry bar none over the last 50+ years in network marketing. You'll be hard-pressed to find a home without some kind of lotion, potion or pill in it.

The nutritional and personal care industry is huge…and very competitive. Companies that enter this marketplace better have a unique product that stands apart from the masses - if they want a shot at success.

When you're looking at a home business, make sure you're looking at an industry that has been proven successful already. If there's no market for your product or service i.e. no buyers, you're going to have a rough road ahead trying to beg and convince people to buy into it.

The Xango business opportunity gave average people a chance a building a health and wellness home business within an industry that was already proven for success. This was a key point that aided the growth of the company tremendously.

The Founders

You may be perplexed as to why it is important who founded (and even who's responsible for day to day operations) the company you're looking to get involved with.

Here are some of the reasons:

Running a network marketing company successfully takes special kinds of skills and know-how. The people who have had success running a network marketing company before have the odds on their side that they'll be successful running another successful network marketing company.

The dark side of the home business industry is that there are countless people who make a habit of starting less than honest companies only to make a quick buck only to have the businesses to fail time and time again.

There are people who have criminal backgrounds who are running companies that are pretty much destined to fail. These kinds of people do not care who they are hurting. They just want to play a money shuffling game and get as many people in as they can.

The Xango business had some founders come off of the success of another network marketing company. Some of the Xango founders have professional business degrees and or have served on professional direct selling boards (DSA).

Some have been involved with fortune 500 companies. In other words they had business experience. In a nutshell, they had the experience and savvy know-how to make it work.

Overall, you want to look at the people who are running the companies that you're looking to get involved with.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which has the power to shut down companies, would be a good place to start to see if the company has gotten on the radar of this powerful government organization and if any sanctions have been issued.

The attorney general in your state or the state in which the company originated could be another place to do research.

You may want to stop by www.MLMWatchDog.com and do a search. Rod Cook runs this site and he's pretty much on the money when it comes to reporting the going-ons in the network marketing industry.

Yes, even in the health and wellness home business industry there are shady characters and businesses. Make sure you do your homework in this area or you may regret it.

The Product

As stated before, if you're going into a competitive industry you have to have a product that stands out from the rest.

There are many companies out there that tried to copy Xango, and Tahitian Noni, and even now Mona Vie with me too kinds of products - only to fail because they never had a true leg to stand on to begin with.

If there are no buyers for your products, then why would you want to be in an industry selling a product no one is asking for? To change people's buying habits is hard. To go with what they're already buying is a whole lot easier.

Xango brought a unique product to market, that was not readily available. This made a huge impact on why they were able to grow as fast as they did. No one had ever heard of the mangosteen fruit. And no one thought to puree the fruit and bottle it.

When you're doing your company research you'll want to take the time and look into the products you'll be selling. If you plan to market it online, you have to make sure there is a buyers market online willing to purchase it.

The Length of Time in Business 

It’s a fact that all kinds of business can go out of business.

From the mom and pop business to a franchise to a network marketing business - all have the propensity to go out of business within the crucial first couple of years in business.

It's a known fact that certain kinds of brick and mortar businesses do not turn a true profit until their second or third year in business.

When you're looking at ground-floors and start-ups it's best to know the facts of the risks involved when getting involve with these new kinds of companies. The opportunity to make money should be the same whether you get involved in the first 6 months of the company or the third year of the company.

Be wary of companies that tell you have to "get in early." It's a common catch phrase for those Ponzi schemes and money shuffling types of companies.

And in many jurisdictions you can be prosecuted for bringing people into a scam or Ponzi scheme whether or not you knew it was a scheme or not. Ignorance doesn't hold up well in court.

There are many legitimate home based businesses that have been around for years and even decades. These are not hard to find. Xango itself has been around since 2002.

Make sure you do your due-diligence when choosing a company, especially a brand new company.

The Compensation Plan

How you're getting paid is not as simple or cut and dry as you might think.

There are several well-known kinds of compensation plans – from the binary to the unilevel to the stair step to a matrix to a hybrid plan that mixes in different elements of different kinds of comp plans together.

Some plans favor the average part-timer whereas some favor people who can "move" a lot of products every single month.

Although the compensation is an important element when looking at a network marketing business, it should not be the first thing you look at.

What made Xango so successful is that the founders took a plan that favored the average person coming into network marketing – the part-timer.

They used their past successful experience being part of another successful network marketing business and saw what worked there and tweaked it to make it better for the average distributor coming into the Xango business opportunity. Add to that the no-breakage policy and stream-line compression and you see why so many people liked the Xango compensation plan.

Other companies looking to follow suit in the success of Xango may want to look into making a dynamic compensation plan similar to Xango's.

So in a nutshell, you want to look at what it is you have to do to qualify for your complete commission check every single month. How much product you or you group has to order etc… You'll want to do this before you sign on the dotted line.

Overall

You can see what made the Xango home business so successful. You can apply the same common and business sense to when you're looking at the various network marketing opportunities.

If you take your time and do your research and due-diligence you'll be less likely to run into a scam and more likely to have success beyond your wildest dreams.

After all, you're in business to make a better life for yourself...why not do things the better way the first time around.

You'll save time, money, and frustration if you do. It's a tough decision but someone's got to make it.