So you are probably here because you came in contact with a Youngevity distributor or you were curious to see if Youngevity is the real deal or a scam.
The moment I hear about recruiting people to make money my mind immediately goes towards those same thoughts.
Luckily, for the last 3 years, I have been reviewing make-money opportunities just like Youngevity and have become really good at spotting make money online scams.
After reading this post, you’ll know exactly if this is that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity or run for the hills. At the end of the post, I’ll also provide you with an alternative just in case Youngevity isn’t for you.
Now let’s get into it.
Youngevity Review — Is Youngevity A Scam?
Overview
Name: Youngevity
Website: Youngevity.com
Founder: Dr. Joel Wallach
Type: Beauty product Multi-level Marketing company
Price: $25 to join and after a minimum of $499,95
Summary:
Youngevity is a health product company that markets its products using Multi-level-marketing. When we’re looking at the definition of a pyramid scheme and what the law considers a pyramid scheme it’s not one.
This doesn’t mean anyone can become financially free by selling Youngevity prducts. In reality, there’s only one specific group that tends to succeed with Youngevity. Read my review to find out if you belong to that group or if you’ll be wasting money.
Similar to: Younique MLM program, Young Living essential oils MLM program, MaryKay MLM program
Recommended: Only for a very specific group
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What is Youngevity?
Youngevity is a company that sells and manufactures health products. Youngevity was founded by Dr. Joel Wallach with the mission of extending people’s life with help of health-increasing products.
Youngevity has been around for 20 years and its current CEO is Steve Wallach. Youngevity uses MLM to sell their products and has used this strategy to grow not a billion-dollar business.
Youngevity has expanded its catalog and sells more than 2000 health-related products and is currently based n Chula Vista, California on 2400 Boswell road.
How does Youngevity work?
Youngevity is a company that uses the traditional MLM strategy to sell its products.
According to Wikipedia, MLM stands for multi-level marketing its a marketing strategy for the sale of products or service where the revenue is derived from a non-salaried workforce.
The earnings of the workforce come from a pyramid-shaped or binary compensation system.
As a Youngevity distributor, you join this non-salaried workforce.
Youngevity provides you with 2 methods to make money:
- Direct Selling
You purchase products from Youngevty and re-sell them and earn a commission on every sold product. - Recruiting a team
You put together a team of distributors and earn money based on their performance.
Before you start signing up there are a few things you have t take into account:
1. You have to invest financially on a monthly basis
Just signing up and trying to sell and recruit people isn’t enough you need to purchase a minimum amount of Youngevity products monthly based on the level you’re at. You start with a sign-up fee of $25 and $499,95 to start your business.
2. Team or customers must be active
To be eligible for bonuses based on recruiting you need at least to have 3 members in your downline to invest financially on a monthly basis.
3. Higher levels require you and your team to spend more
There are multiple tiers in the Youngevvity MLM program and the higher the tier, the more money you can make. You’ll have to invest more financially to get in those tiers.
This is how the Youngevity MLM program works. If you want to know how the levels work and the exact commission rate for every level you can read about their compensation plan here.
Is Youngevity A Pyramid Scheme?
Pyramid schemes often disguise themselves as MLM companies so asking this question isn’t strange.
No. Youngevity isn’t a pyramid scheme. When you look up the definition of a pyramid scheme it doesn’t qualify for one.
What is a pyramid scheme? oxford languages
Definition: a form of investment (illegal in the UK and elsewhere) in which each paying participant recruits two further participants, with returns being given to early participants using money contributed by later ones.
The key thing is that no product is being sold in a pyramid scheme. In other words, the members are basically financing the company. Youngevity sells more than 2000 different products.
This doesn’t mean it’s automatically a great opportunity to earn a residual income. There are some things about companies with an MLM structure that worry me and I’m going to elaborate on that later in this post.
Who can benefit from Youngevity?
Who would benefit from investing in Youngevity:
- Expert salesmen and recruiters
- Extrovert with influence in their community
- Online influencers
Who shouldn’t invest in Youngevity:
- People that aren’t naturally social
- People that hate recruiting
- People that can’t take financial risks
Pros and Cons
Pros
- You have a proven brand on your side
- High-quality products
Cons
- You have to stay active
- Hidden fees
- Earning potential is low
- Too much competition
- The marketing model has a bad reputation
What products does Youngevity sell?
In its inception, Youngevity was geared towards offering products that helped with increasing your physical health but over time they chose to take a more holistic approach to what it means to be healthy.
Youngevity products can be divided into 6 categories:
- Health and Nutrition
- Home and family
- Beaty and Spa
- Fashion
- Food and beverages
- Services
There’s a lot of variety in the products Youngevity sales which can be a good thing for distributors.
Here are a few examples of products you could sell:
As you can see the products are a bit expensive compared to what you can find in normal stores.
Can you make money with Youngevity?
Yes.
You can make money as a Youngevity distributor but it’s definitely not for everyone. As they say in their disclaimer at the bottom of the opportunity page, your results are going to be based on how much talent you have.
The truth is…
…earning a decent income with Youngevity or any other MLM company is incredibly hard.
The people that tend to excel in MLM have decades of sales and recruiting experience.
Why is it so hard to make money with Youngevity?
I have summed up the reasons why it’s hard to make money with Youngevity 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. It’s a giant red flag in most people’s eyes.
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.
3. Too much competition
Youngevity is a company trending to become a trillion-dollar business according to their website which means there’s is an insane amount of independent sellers around the world.
You’re basically selling the same products that millions of others are trying to sell which makes it that much harder to stand out and succeed.
That’s a lot to overcome for someone that doesn’t have any sales or recruiting experience.
Multiple studies have shown that the majority of people that get into MLM lose money rather than earn it. This makes sense if you take into account the 3 factors I just mentioned.
On the pink truth website, there’s an article that references 2 different reports from researchers named Robert FitzPatrick and Jon Taylor. They did separate studies using different methodologies, and both concluded that over 99% of distributors lose money.
My Personal Take
Youngevity might be one of the better MLM companies I have seen to this point. They do have a lot of quality products even though they’re slightly overpriced in my opinion. The only real problem I have with Youngevity is the way they “sell” their MLM program.
It’s advertised as a way to create financial freedom but the chances of actually earning that are incredibly low. Most MLM’s have a 1% success rate when it comes to earning a full-time income.
If I was going to spend a lot of time and money on a method to quit my 9 to 5 and possibly risk ruining relationships with recruiting I’d at least want a 70% success rate.
The only people that tend to make money with MLM’s are those high up the “pyramid” and those that are exceptionally skilled in recruiting and sales.
Verdict
Is Youngevity a scam? No, but it’s incredibly hard to make a full-time income with Youngevity.
Youngevity Alternative that is legit
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 buy products upfront and after that try to sell them?
Sound like a better option for most right?!
If you want to make money online from anywhere including your own home I recommend you to look at Wealthy Affiliate.
It’s the platform that taught me how to create an online business revolving around my interests.
That’s all for today. If you have any questions or you just want to show some love don’t hesitate to leave a comment.
See you at my next post!
