Thrive Life Review: Is Thrive live a scam?

Welcome to my Thrive life MLM review.

You probably came to this page because you wonder if Thrive Live life is legit or a pyramid scheme?

No need to worry you’re in the right place for the answers to these questions.

Over the last few years, I’ve been busy creating reviews about all kinds of online products.

Some turned out to be fake others were legit ways to make money online but in the process, I learned how to spot scams.

In this post, I’ll show you absolutely everything you need to know about Thrive Life life and after reading it you’ll know exactly if you should give it a chance.

What is Thrive Life?

Thrive Life is an MLM company that manufactures and distributes freeze-dried food. Steve Palmer and Jason Budge founded Thrive Live in 2004 as a company that provided shelving and packaging services to people that wanted to store provisions.

In 2011, they pivoted and started getting into manufacturing and distributing freeze-fried foods with the help of Gea Ray freeze dryers.

Thrive Life headquarters is located at 691 S Auto Mall Dr. American Fork, UT 84003.

Here’s a videoshowing what Thrive Leads is all about as a company.

How does Thrive Life work?

In short, Thrive Life is a company that distributes freeze-dried food and recipes. Instead of directly selling it to consumers they have chosen to use the MLM model which gives you the choice to earn money by:

• Selling the products for a commission
• Recruiting people to earn bonuses.

What is MLM?

MLM (a.k.a network marketing or direct selling) stands for multi-level marketing.

According to Wikipedia, multi-level marketing is a marketing strategy for the sale of products or services where the revenue is derived from a non-salaried workforce.

As a part of this workforce, you sell the products from the company, and/or you recruit people to do the same thing. This group of people you recruit will work under you and is referred to as your downline.

The bigger your downline is the more money you can earn passively (technically speaking) because you’re getting paid a percentage based on the performance of your downline.

This also means the person that recruited you which is called your upline is making money based on your performance.

The act of recruiting turns an MLM company into a pyramid-shaped organization where the first people to join make the most and are on the top of the pyramid and those last to join are at the bottom.

Source: Wikipedia

MLMs have been around for a long time. There are Multi-level marketing companies active today that was founded in the 1950s. MLM has a lot in common with pyramid schemes which is why scammers often use MLM to disguise their pyramid scheme.

Is it absolutely necessary to recruit people? No.

You can also stick to just selling products which you can order at wholesale price (25% discount) and re-sell to make a profit. This is easier said than done for multiple reasons which are why most members try to recruit others so they can earn more money.

How to join Thrive Life

You have to be introduced by a member (known as a consultant) or you can sign-up through their website. After that, you have to purchase one of their starter packs.

They have 3 packs that you can choose from:

• Personal Plus $100
• Business Builder, $202
• Business Builder Plus, $499

The starter kits contain:

• Freeze-fried snacks
• Freeze-fried pantry can products
• Website/ tech package
• Welcome letter
• first things, first flyer
• and more.

You’ll go through their training after which you’re ready to start hosting parties, selling products, and recruiting people.

Is Thrive Life a pyramid scheme?

To answer this question we need to know what a pyramid scheme is.

What is a pyramid scheme?

A pyramid scheme is a type of scam where people are promised money for joining the scheme and recruiting other people. No selling of a product or service is involved whatsoever.

So you might be wondering where the money comes from?

The people that join are expected to pay a one-time fee and in exchange for that, they get a percentage of the fee of everyone they recruit after that.

The problem is from a mathematical standpoint it’s impossible for everyone to make money because you simply run out of people.

Take a look at this picture below showing how it’s impossible for everyone to earn money.

Source: Wikipedia

As you can see, in this pyramid model it’s required to recruit 6 people. You’ll notice from the 12th level and further, it’s not possible anymore for everyone to earn money.

The 2.2 Billion people on the 12th level need 13.1 billion recruits in total for them all to make money which is more people than there are currently on Earth.

Looking at the description of what a pyramid scheme is, Thrive Life can’t be classified as a pyramid scheme from a legal perspective. 

Thrive Life sells products and has given people a method to make money without recruiting people.

That being said, there are some things that worry me. Read below to find out what I mean.

Who can benefit from Thrive Life?

Who would benefit from joining Thrive Life:

• Expert salesmen
• Expert recruiters
• People that want to use Thrive Life products for themselves.

Who shouldn’t join Thrive Life:

• People that hate sales jobs.
• People that hate recruiting
• People that expect to earn passive income

Thrive Life products

A good MLM should have quality products that you can sell so I thought it was appropriate to look at what they offer. Thrive Life is at its core a food distribution company geared towards men and women that want food that lasts longer and is easier to prepare.

Thrive Life sells fruits, vegetables, dairy, meats, sauces, seasoning, and more.

It’s logical that it’d cost a lot but I notice that Thrive Life products are a lot more expensive than other freeze-dried products that are on the market.

An example of that is the Thrive life freeze-dried eggs. 

12 oz costs $39,95 while if you look at the freeze-dried eggs of Honeyville you’ll get 20 oz for $35.99.

I can imagine as a Thrive Life consultant it’d be hard selling products with prices like this even if the products produce excellent results. 

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Products have tangible benefits
  Some of these MLM companies sell products of which you don’t know if they’ll benefit you until you use them. An example of this is essential oils. Its never been concluded from a scientific perspective that they work which limits you in promoting their benefits. Thrive life has the advantage with their products that what you see is what you get. People know exactly what they’re buying.
• It’s a proven company that’s been around for a while
  Despite what people may think about MLM companies it says something that they’ve been around since 2004. It means the company knows how to handle adversity. If a company survives to an economic crisis it is safe to say they’re probably here to stay.
• 30-day money back guarantee
  All products on Thrive Life have a 30-day money back guarantee which makes products a bit easier to sell because it removes risks of not getting the value you pay for as a customer.

Cons

• Expensive products
  The Thrive Life products sold are insanely expensive making them hard to sell to others. I can imagine associates having a lot of trouble with getting rid of the products they purchased with the goal of reselling.
• You have to pay to play
  You have to purchase a specific amount of Associates products to stay eligible for getting commissions based on your downlines. The higher the rank, the more you have to purchase.

Thrive Life Compensation Plan

Thrive Life can be considered a traditional MLM when you look at their compensation plan. You either re-sell their products for a commission or you can recruit people and receive residual income, climb up the ranks, and earn bonuses.

In total there are 9 ranks that all come with their benefits such as getting a higher commission percentage of all your sales starting at 25% to a max of 40%

• Consultant
• Ambassador
• Mentor
• Director
• Executive
• Silver
• Gold
• Platinum
• Emerald

Here’s a screenshot of the Thrive Life compensation plan with all the commission rates for every rank.

How much does it cost to start a Thrive Life “business”?

The compensation plan is very confusing at first sight but these are the most important things to know when it comes to the cost of staying a member.

To maintain your rank you have to purchase $50 of products every month. This number only applies to the lowest rank which doesn’t give you the opportunity to recruit and earn additional bonuses.

Team ranks (above consultant) also have a minimum number of products that you have to purchase as you can see in the picture below.

Add to that your enrollment packages and it will cost at least $100 in the first month and after that, $50 every month.

How much can you earn with Thrive Life?

Technically, the sky is the limit but in reality, we know because of factors such as your ability to recruit, your competition, and the performance of your downlines there’s is often a limit. 

Unfortunately, Thrive life hasn’t published an income disclosure to see what current members are earning but I do see it shares the same “handicaps” most MLM companies have which prevents members from earning decent money.

Why aren’t people earning decent money with MLM companies like Thrive Life?

I have summed up the reasons why it’s hard to make money with Thrive Life and MLM companies in general into 3 points.

1. MLM’s are often associated with pyramid schemes
MLM’s have a pyramid recruiting structure that you often have to join to be able to make decent money or at the very least not lose money. The problem is a lot of pyramid schemes disguise themselves as MLM programs making it difficult to differentiate the two.

This is the biggest problem why most distributors have a difficult time recruiting people. The moment people hear about how you can make money by recruiting people red flags appear in most people’s minds.

2. You have to consistently invest your money to earn commissions
You’re only eligible for bonuses and commissions if you buy their products. The bigger the bonuses the more product you have to buy. You do get discounts but if you can’t sell the products I can see you easily fall into a financial deficit (which happens to the majority of MLMs).

3. The price of the product often isn’t aligned with the market

It’s hard for a multi-level marketer to sell products because most MLM products tend to be a lot more expensive than similar products sold by non-MLM companies. This means even if you’re really good at recruiting your downline still needs to sell those same expensive products for you to make decent money.

You can see that translate in these statistics I found about Multi-level Marketing.

• Nearly half (47%) of MLM participants reported that they lost money.
• One in four (27%) MLM participants reported that they broke even (made no money).
• MLM participants are 7% more likely to declare bankruptcy during their lifetime.
• Direct sales have risen 79% in the last decade, but MLM participants continue to lose money.
• 90 – 99% of distributors in multilevel marketing only receive a couple of hundred dollars commission per year.
• Out of 33,000 interviewed, 90 people made enough money to cover costs in building their business.
• 50% of the people who start a network marketing enterprise abandoned it in the first year.

Sources:
FTC
AARP
Jobsinmarketing.io

Thrive Life Reviews, Opinions, and Ratings

To keep this as objective as possible I wanted to look at what others had to say about Thrive Life. Thrive Life has been around for a while but it hasn’t been reviewed from an MLM perspective a lot. I did find a few bloggers that reviewed the Thrive life MLM program and here’s what they had to say.

There’s a real split here between all the bloggers. There’s a general consensus that Thrive Life isn’t a pyramid scheme but opinions vary when it comes to it being a great opportunity.

I can imagine solely based on the reviews on the internet that you’ll have a hard time coming to a conclusion about Thrive Life.

My Personal Take

Thrive Life is not a pyramid scheme or another type of scam. It is a legitimate MLM company but I have some doubts about the actual earning potential of the consultant opportunity.

It makes sense that the products are expensive but it’s so much higher than the rest of the market that I wonder if you can sell enough to earn money without recruiting?

The moment you start recruiting your monthly fees grow exponentially. In my opinion, this type of opportunity isn’t ideal for everyone. The people that are going to benefit from programs like these the most are people with expert sales and recruiting skills.

I do think it’s better than the majority of MLM companies active right now. I have seen MLM companies that require you to invest +$1000 without having any certainty that they can get it back. 

Thrive Life isn’t like that.

That being said, I’d rather go with a make money opportunity with lower financial risk and less road blocks that could prevent me from succeeding.

Verdict

Is Thrive Life A Pyramid scheme? No. Thrive Life is not a scam but it isn’t a great opportunity either. The financial risk is high because of the monthly fees you have to pay and chances of earning that money is low.

Thrive Life Alternative

Let’s be honest unless you’re very skilled at selling and recruiting, MLM’s seem like a bad deal.

What if I said to you there’s a method to make money online that doesn’t require you to recruit people or resell products?

Sound like a better option for most right?!

If you want to make money online from anywhere including your own home I recommend looking into affiliate marketing.

I think this method is a better option for most people because you can earn just as much as with multi-level marketing but you don’t have to bother people to join your downline.

There is no need to dig yourself into a financial hole without knowing if you can succeed and you aren’t required to sell a minimum of products to stay eligible for commissions.

I learned how to do affiliate marketing with the help of a step-by-step beginners course on an affiliate marketing training platform called Wealthy Affiliate.

Interested in doing the same? Learn more about the training platform and try out their FREE starters course.

If you have experience with MLM companies like Thrive Life leave a comment.

I’d love to hear what you think about it.

That’s all for today.

See you at my next post!