Laguna Blends
Finally, MLM meets Burning Man! Hippie Boho meets social selling with Laguna Blends, a company selling nutritional products infused with hemp. Healthy hemp products are nothing new to the likes of music festival fans, hippies, and alternative lifestyle folks who seem to be attracted to hemp products or anything that's derived directly from the earth and makes a low impact on resources.
But will Laguna Blends' coffee and protein drinks make it with the rest of the population? Will regular ol' folk see the wisdom in “functional beverages” made from hemp…and more importantly, will they buy them?
Of course Laguna Blends is also a business opportunity, or else you wouldn't be reading about it here. That'll get coverage below, as we explore the world of Laguna Blends.
The Company
Laguna Blends is launching now in the US and Canada. In other words, Q2 2015, which means April -June of 2015. Definitely by July 2015. They plan to expand internationally in two years.
Based in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, the new company looks to Oregon Gold and MonaVie for inspiration. Both companies have made hundreds of millions selling nutritional coffee beverages.
They're partnered with Naturally Splendid Enterprises, Ltd, a research and development company specializing in nutrient-dense foods and related products. Their HempOmegaTM protein formula will play an important role in Laguna Blends' lineup of products, especially in the near future, when they hope to roll out even more products than currently featured (four).
The President and CEO of Laguna Blends is Stuart Gray. The company is publicly traded and in April 2015, Grenadier Resource Corp purchased all the outstanding common shares of Laguna Blends. LB is now a subsidiary of Grenadier.
The Products
- Laguna Blends Protein Coffee
- Laguna Blends Protein Latte
- Laguna Punch – Nutritional Beverage
- Laguna’s Hemp on the Run
The protein coffee is the flagship product and features whey and hemp proteins. Every serving provides 20% of your daily protein (wow). The product is sold in powder packs so convenience is built into the product's selling points as well. Let's just hope it tastes as good as it sounds!
The Protein Latte is a sweeter version of the coffee product.
The Laguna Punch Nutritional Beverage is meant for athletes because it delivers not only protein but also many more essential nutrients and vitamins.
Hemp on the Run is a single serving of hemp protein for dissolving in water or anything else you can think of, hot or cold. You can even sprinkle it over your cereal, as it's considered a super food so it's especially relevant to eat in the morning when athletes need their energy.
The Business Opportunity
They structure the business opportunity on what they call a “Hybrid Binary, Unilevel Compensation Plan”. Details haven't even been published yet, but Laguna Blends promises the following:
- ongoing promotional plans to assist affiliate with sales strategy
- a web-based back office designed facilitate communication and training
- plans to develop the web platform into a recruiting tool
- ongoing training for affiliates
- a plan that allows affiliates to generate income right from the get-go
The Verdict
The products have real promise because hemp is ever so slowly yet surely becoming more of a mainstream thing (it's not just for hippies any more!). The company seems to be on solid ground, having already been acquired by another company. It's publicly traded, responsible to shareholders, and if you can understand how to read them, their financials should be available to shareholders, if you can get your hands on them.
That means financial accountability, which is what you want backing you up when you invest by becoming an affiliate. You want assurance they'll pay out, they won't go out of business immediately, and they operate for profit making, not stealing your money via a pyramid scheme.
All the right signs are there: even the focus on product rather than recruiting. The product is “slightly unique”, backed by nutritional science, and intriguing, not to mention healthy and (probably) delicious! This makes it an exciting opportunity, so keep an eye out for those compensation plan details and you could be in on something great.
