is Isagenix a pyramid scheme?

So you are probably here because you came in contact with an Isagenix associate or you were curious to see if Isagenix 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 Isagenix 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 Isagenix isn’t for you.

Now let’s get into it.

Isagenix Review — Is Isagenix A Pyramid Scheme?

Overview

Name: Isagenix
Website: Isagenix.com
Founder: John Anderson, Jim Coover, and Kathy
Type: MLM company
Price: $49.95

Summary:
Isagenix is an MLM company that manufactures and distributes dietary supplements and personal care products. This company sells products that are a bit overpriced but can’t be considered a pyramid scheme but that doesn’t mean it’s a good opportunity for everyone. In fact, I think only 1 specific group could succeed with Isagenix. Read the post below where I explain who and why that is.
Similar to: Younique MLM program, Young Living essential oils MLM program, MaryKay MLM program, Amsoil MLM program
Recommended for: 1 specific group

Read about my #1 recommendation for making money online

What is Isagenix?

Isagenix is a subsidiary of Zija International, Inc. that manufactures and distributes dietary supplements and personal care products. The company was founded in 2002 by John Anderson, Jim Coover, and Kathy Coover.

Since 2018, Isagenix has been run by Travis Ogden.

Isagenix headquarters is based in Gilbert, Arizona, United States

Isagenix can be considered a traditional multi-level marketing company. According to their website, they have more than 200.000 MLMs distributing their products and have made $958 million.

These numbers are impressive but when looked more into Isagenix I did find some things that worry me. Read my review to find out what I mean.

How does Isagenix work?

As I said before, Isagenix is a traditional MLM company. MLM stands for Multi-level Marketing.

According to Wikipedia, MLM stands for multi-level marketing it’s a marketing strategy for the sale of products or services 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 an Isagenix Associate, you join this non-salaried workforce.

So how do you earn money?

Instead of the floaty explanation on the website, I’ll explain it simply.

You basically can earn money in 3 ways:

Direct Selling
You purchase products from Isagenix at wholesale price (10-25% cheaper) and resell them at retail cost and keep the difference.
Commission-based selling
Earn a commission based on business value (Value placed on every Isagenix product) you receive when selling Isagenix products
Recruiting a team
You put together a team of distributors and earn money based on their performance.

Isagenix Compensation plan

I wish I could say the compensation plan was incredibly simple but unfortunately this isn’t the case. The plan mainly revolves around recruiting, buying products, and re-selling the products.

Dependent on your performance with these 3 activities you’re able to rise in rank and every rank comes with its financial benefits.

RANKS OF ISAGENIX
There are five ranks that an Isagenix Associate can achieve:
• ASSOCIATE
• CONSULTANT
• MANAGER
• DIRECTOR
• EXECUTIVERANKS

To climb the ranks and make decent money you’re going to have to recruit people. In contrary to most MLMs I know you need to build two teams a left team and a right team and depending on their performance in a specific timespan you earn money.

What’s incredibly irritating in my onion about MLM is that your commission isn’t solely based on how much money your referrals spend. They base it on a term called business volume which is different for each product making it hard to estimate how much you’ll earn at a glance.

They use a lot of these terms and even created an Isagenix glossary but it’s all unnecessarily complicated in my opinion.

For those that are interested here’s the entire compensation plan.

Heres a video of Kathy Groover explaining how to maximize the compensation plan.

The problem with MLM companies is that they can be a great cover for pyramid schemes. All over the internet, you can find articles about MLM companies that turned out to be pyramid schemes.

So is Isagenix a pyramid scheme in disguise?

No. Isagenix is not a pyramid scheme (from a legal perspective). 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.

How to spot a pyramid scheme

The key things are that no product is being sold in a pyramid scheme and you’re being pushed towards recruiting. In other words, the members are basically financing the company.

Amsoil sells more than 1000 different products and when doing direct selling the difference between stock and wholesale prices is 25%. You won’t make a lot by just doing direct sales but it is technically possible to earn money like this.

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 Isagenix?

Who would benefit from investing in Isagenix:

Expert salesmen and recruiters
Extrovert with influence in the motorcyclist community
Online influencers
People that want to use the products and not sell them.

Who shouldn’t invest in Isagenix:

People that aren’t naturally social
People that hate recruiting
People that can’t take financial risks

Pros and Cons

Pros

Quality products
International
They don’t sell you on a dream
Simple compensation plan
It’s a proven brand

Cons

MLM companies have a bad reputation
Recruiting
Products are expensive
Performance is needed just to stay eligible for earning commissions

What products does Isagenix sell?

Isagenix has a catalog of products too big to go over one by one in 1 review without it affecting your reader experience so what I’m going to do is cover the categories of products they sell.

Isagenix sells products in the categories:

Shakes
Bars
Snacks
Functional Beverages
Everyday supplements
Skin
Essential oils

Isagenix sells a lot of individual products but according to their website, the most love products are their packs with a combination of multiple Isagenix products.

Are Isagenix products expensive?

If you’re thinking of possibly joining Isagenix as an associate it’s important to know how much their products cost. This is going to determine for a large part how much money you’re going to spend on buying products and how difficult it is to re-sell them.

The truth is that Isagenix products aren’t the most expensive products on the market but they’re definitely up there when it comes to price. Altprotein did a great comparison of Isagenix and alternative shakes.

It turns out there are a lot of cheaper alternatives out there which I can imagine will make it harder to sell.

This seems to be the case with the other products as well.

Professional dietists have mentioned in articles that the majority of ingredients found in their products are also found in cheaper alternatives such as Optifast.

They have also said the herbal supplements that are supposed to set it apart have not scientifically been proven to work.

So overall it is safe to say that Isagenix products are expensive in comparison to most other brands.

Are Isagenix products safe?

This is a hard question to objectively answer. The FDA doesn’t regulate dietary supplements which means all Isagenix product research is done by Isagenix themselves which gives room for bias. They have done multiple studies with the University of Illinois and Skidmore college.

The problem with the results is that there is no way to find out if these are correct or complete. It has occurred in the past, that Isalean bars from Isagenix had to be recalled due to over-fortification of vitamins and was deemed unsafe.

Since then there haven’t been any mentions of Isagenix providing people with unsafe products and the bars are being sold again on the website.

What people are saying about Isagenix products?

When it comes to Isagenix there’s a mixed bag of opinions about their products. This mostly has to do with the fact that there’s is a group that strongly beliefs that their Isagenix diet doesn’t work.

The main talking point when it comes to Isagenix is their weight loss pack which basically is a 30-day challenge where you replace meals with Isagenix nutrient products and go into a calory deficit.

The majority of people will naturally lose weight when they go into a calory deficit this is why the group exists that thinks it’s a scam. Here are a few screenshots showcasing what people are saying about Isagenix.

Can you really make money with Isagenix?

Yes.

You can make money as an Isagenix associate but it’s definitely not for everyone. Your results are going to be based on how much talent you have and your place in the pyramid structure.

The truth is…

…earning a decent income with Isagenix 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 companies like Isagenix?

I have summed up the reasons why it’s hard to make money with Isagenix 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 (which happens to the majority of MLMs).

3. Too much competition
Isagenix is a billion-dollar company 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

Isagenix is not a scam and they offer working products. That being said, the products are overpriced and there are a lot of discussions online about their justification for the price.

I wouldn’t recommend becoming an associate unless you have a lot of sales experience and a skilled recruiter. It’s mostly the salesmen and recruiters that are making a lot of money with MLMs. Their compensation plan is set up in such a way that it’s only possible to earn decent money if you also participate in recruiting people.

The studies on Pink Truth earlier show that the chances of making decent money with multi-level marketing are extremely small. If I’m financially going to invest in something Id rather have it be an opportunity with a higher success rate.

Verdict