My Forever Living review
Company: Forever Living
Website: www.foreverliving.com
Type: MLM
Products: Aloe Vera
Rating: 3/10
Is Forever Living a scam?
The company and products are not that bad, but in general I am not a big fan of multi level marketing. I do not know why so many people go nuts about mlm these days and more than 90% of them will never make enough money to recover from the initial investment into the company.
So many people are blinded by the idea that if your downline makes money, you will also make money. The truth is that your success is not so depended on your efforts, but the efforts of your downline. If an mlm does not have products to promote, then it will be considered a pyramid scheme which is illegal.
The products that Forever Living is promoting are mostly aloe vera gel and oils, honey and vitamin supplements. For you to be a retailer of these products, you need to buy them first. Even if you do not want them for personal use, you still need to buy them every month. Finally I will say that the products are legit, but the compensation plan is on the borderline of being a scam because of the compensation plan.
Compensation plan
As any other mlm company you will find that they have different levels and you need to adhere to specific prerequisites in order to qualify for those levels. You will get a commission rate of 15% from each product you sell directly to customers as a distributor.
If you manage to get 2 CC’s (Case Credits), you will become wholesale qualified which will allow you to earn 30% commissions from the retail price. Case credits reflect upon your personal sales volume and each product that you buy or sell will have a specific amount of CC’s.
When one of your enrollees makes a direct sale, you will earn 15% of their retail price, but once they also manage to become wholesale qualified, they will earn the full 30% and you will then get nothing. Your group will become bigger as you enroll more people and your enrollees enroll more people to their downline.
As a result of this your monthly CC will increase each month and will allow you to climb to the next level. The levels are as follows:
Levels
There are 4 levels inside Forever Living namely Distributor, Assistant Supervisor, Supervisor, Assistant Manager and Manager. To reach these levels, you need a specific amount of CC’s. For example the Supervisor needs to have at least 25 CC’s.
Personal Bonus
Your personal bonus will be added to the 15% that you earn by selling the products. For example as an Assistant Supervisor you will earn 15% + 5% which will equal 20%.
Volume Bonus
This is the amount that you will earn from all the sales generated in your group. For instance as an Assistance Manager you will earn 5% from what your Supervisors make and 8$ from what your Assistance Supervisors make.
This compensation plan is the core of the business.
Should you be interested in MLM?
Now that you understand what mlm is because I used Forever Living as an example, you need to know the cons of it. As any other business model, there will be undesirable aspects that you need to keep in mind.
- High expenses. For example, you need to buy the touch of forever combo pack to qualify and this will cost you $414.7 to start with. The entry level costs of mlm programs are relatively high compared to other business models online.
- Too much competition. This is why most people fail with mlm and probably the biggest reason why I am a big fan. You are limited to only one market and there are hundreds if not thousands of other people promoting the same product or opportunity. There is no flexibility in this business model.
- You need to buy the products in order to promote them. It is this idea that keeps the business floating because many people buy the product just to qualify. I wonder how many people are actually using the products because most of them do not even have enough space to store them anymore.
- You are dependant on your downline or group. Most people consider this to be the cherry on top, but for me it is not. You have little control on how well your group will perform and if your group does not make money, you will not either. If you are not willing to train your group, then there is no hope for you.
Why I recommend affiliate marketing?
With affiliate marketing you can get started for free. How great would it be to get your feet wet without any risk involved and can you say the same for mlm? You do not need to buy any product in order to sell them and you have a list of thousands of product that you can promote.
You are also not dependant on your group in order to make money online. If you work hard on your business, then you will reap the rewards and nobody else can take credit for it.
Are you a fishing fan? Why not create a website around fly fishing and make a passive income from it. There is also no limit to the amount of products you can promote. If you believe in a product or service, you can promote it.
Many people are lured into mlm because of the passive income that they can earn and they forget that they can also earn a passive income from affiliate marketing. Once you have built your blog to the level you want, you can leave it on autopilot and it will make money for you while you sleep.
You can also decide on whether you want to continue with that website or start another one. There is no limit to the size of your websites and also the amount that you want to build. All you need is the right training and guidance and you can be on your way.
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This is a very informative website, not only in reviewing different programs but also with comparisons of their pros and cons. Amazingly easy to naviagte and easy to understand. Your step by step approach can really help a “newbie” find direction in the confusing online marketing arena!
Keep up the fantastic job!
Thanks Diana
Simplicity is a core factor in helping people to make money online and to avoid scams.
Hi there,
I was interested a bit about MLM because my friend in the office asked me to join her ‘leadership seminar’. I suspected it was a MLM, because she sold some beauty products (which not really a popular item) and advertise it heavily on social media.
I’m glad to find you article here. Forever Living Aloe is the product she sold if I remember correctly. Glad to find the information in your article here. I don’t like to pay that high just to join the program.
I will keep an eye to affiliate marketing then. Thanks.
For me it does not make sense to buy the same product each month just to qualify in order to sell it. Most of the sales will come from this autoship program.
Hi Viljoen,
Very interesting article, I come across so many sites that offer MLM programs and they always seem so promising. But you’re right, the intial cost is always so expensive and you have no control of the downline, which is where your income will be coming from. I have been studying Affiliate Marketing since September 2015 and feel I have a much better future there.
Regards, Sylvie
I agree with you Sylvie.
With Affiliate Marketing you have more control over your success. Leave me a reply if you need help with anything.
Hi Viljoen
Thank you for the fantastic review. Forever Living sounds like a bad idea to make money on or offline. What I really dislike about these type of MLM’s is that they have amazing compensation plans you can’t ever reach.
Due to the limitations of selling their products and the sheer level of market saturation it is impossible to achieve the costs of the program, let alone an income. Awesome read.
Ethan
Hi Ethan
I am the type of person that does not like to approach random people on the street with an mlm proposal. Affiliate marketing lets me work from my computer which is by far the best.
As teenagers our parents never told us to go out and earn ourselves some passive income.. No they say
”Go get a job” It something that is burned into us from long ago. Passive income is something that I’ve just started studying in the last 6 months. Love your site. keep me updated on the passive income. 🙂
Hi Torrey
Yeah I know the feeling. They also told me that a job is also safe which is not the case if you look at the current unemployment rate.
Passive income takes time to generate but once you have reached your financial goals, then you can pop the champagne.
I think mlm is a scam and pyramid scheme. They do have products but you are constantly trying to sell them to strangers or get your family to buy them lol. I like the idea of building a website on something I love and telling people about that. There is millions of people online every minute of the day. Did you ever try mlm before affiliate marketing?
Hi Tammy
I was involved with 2 different MLM companies in the past. That was before I knew about the internet. I did not make my money back because I found it very hard to get referrals to join my downline.