Hey there sea changers, and welcome back to my series of MLM reviews for those of you looking to supplement your sea change income by building yourself an online Multi Level Marketing (MLM) business. Today we delve into the extremely popular online world of health and weightloss supplements with my Isagenix MLM Review. These are great products to promote online as those purchasing are more usually interested in the contents and benefits rather than the look and feel aspects of them. So, is Isagenix a MLM program worth joining? Grab a health shake and let's check it out…
What is MLM?
Multi-level marketing (MLM) programs are the mainstay of the ‘party plan' world of products such as Tupperware, Mary Kay and Amway etc. and, recently becoming more and more prevalent within the supplements market. One of the reasons for this is that much of the sales and marketing for MLMs is now being managed online – alleviating the need to run parties – and, more importantly, not hassle everybody you know to join (you can of course, but you don't have to).
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The ‘multi level' aspects of MLM come from its hierarchical nature in which you make commissions based not only on those that you sell to, but also the sales of those whom you ‘sign' into membership arrangements as well.
In short, the process works as follows:
- You join the program, either via referral from another person (known as your up line) or directly through their website.
- You promote the products of the company via parties, workshops or online.
- As you make sales, you offer incentives to your customers to sign up as a member of the program (there are different names for this but they all mean the same thing).
- That new member is then placed ‘underneath' you in a hierarchical arrangement (known as your down line – you are commonly known as their sponsor).
- You, and a number of levels of your up line, then gain extra commissions for everything they sell as well.
- If they manage to refer their customers into memberships, they also become a member of your down line allowing you to make up line commissions as well.
The number of levels of your up and down lines will vary depending on the program you have joined. Commission rates will also change as your down line grows or contracts and many will also offer other incentives such as total company sales percentages and/or access to membership prizes as your own business grows.
What is Isagenix?
Isagenix is an online supplements company based in Arizona in the United States – it was founded by John W. Anderson, who, along with Jim and Kathy Coover, pride their company on the absolute quality of their products which are extensively tested with scientific and clinical backing. The whole business is run on 12 core values with a vision to “impact world health and free people from physical and financial pain, and in the process create the most trusted and respected health and wellness company in the world”.
They are well-known in the industry and have grown since their inception 14 years ago to a current worth of around $3 billion.
What do they sell?
Isagenix offers a full range of health and wellness supplements in the following categories:
Weight loss
- Fiber snacks – weightloss snacks
- IsaDelights – Chocolate bites
- IsaFlush – Digestive supplements
- IsaGenix Snacks – Chewable weightloss snacks
- IsaLean Shake – Range of meal replacement shakes
- IsaLean Bar – Meal replacement bars
- Natural Accelerator – Weightloss capsules
- Harvest Thins – Weightloss snacks
- Slim Cakes – Weightloss snacks
These products can be purchased individually or as value packs ranging from $200 up to $1500.
Performance
- Amped Protein Powders
- IsaLean Pro Shake – Performance based meal replacement shakes
- Amped Repair – Post workout supplement
- Amped Protein Bar
- Amped Hydrate – Workout sports drink
- Amped Nitro – Pre workout supplement
- Amped BCAAs
These products can be purchased individually or as value packs ranging from $120 up to $150.
Vitality and Wellbeing
- Sparkling energy drink
- E+™ Energy Shot
- Vitamins, minerals and essentials for men, women and children
- CytoActives – Anti-ageing
- IsaGenix CBD Peppermint Oil
- FiberPro – Fiber supplement
- Shake Boosters – Heart, Immunity
- IsaGenix Coffee
- Collagen Bone Broth
- Organic Greens and Fruit
- IsaMune with zinc
These products can be purchased individually or as value packs ranging from $20 up to $550.
And for those of you in the cosmetics or essential oils niches, they also offer a decent range of products within these categories including:
- Essential oils and diffusers
- Cleansing, toning and day creams
If you were interested in this company, I would also be keeping an eye on their CBD oil range (they have one item at time of writing) as this is a booming industry that would certainly add another great string to your bow here.
MLM Program outline
The Isagenix MLM program calls its members Isagenix Independent Associates and at first glance, it is a fairly stock standard program if not a little confusing in regards to their commission/payment structure. However, to start on a positive note, information in regards to this program is located directly from their site without the need to undertake any long searches. Here are the basics:
Associate Discount: 25%
Base Commission rate: Commissions are earned via the accumulation of ‘cycles' within the sales trees of the sponsor
Down line commission rates: Based on the number of cycles down to 5 levels (I think)
Minimum monthly spend to qualify for commissions
- Affiliates are required to maintain at least 100 Personal Volume (PV) purchase level per month to qualify for commission – approx $200. Purchases do not have to be for personal use – I.e. customer orders count towards this amount.
Payment terms: Weekly and monthly.
Application required?: Yes, personal and payment information required.
Purchase requirements to join: Yes
- $29 annual payment.
- Product Packs are available but not mandatory.
Marketing materials provided: Personalised marketing website, contact manager and a tracking back office.
As with most MLM programs, commissions are paid on the number of Group Volume (GV) points assigned to the total sales of you and your downline. Business Volume points (BV) are assigned to each product and vary per product but a generally allocated and 1 point per $2 spent. So, a BV is 50% of the total sale price meaning that you are paid commissions on roughly 50% of the sales price.
Down line commissions (known as Cycle Payments) and rankings are determined by the total GV that you and those of your down line generate in a calendar month. To qualify for cycle payments within Isagenix, you (or your retail customers) will need to purchase a minimum 100PV points worth of product monthly (roughly USD$200). Most MLM programs manage it this way so as to be able to assign higher BV points to items they are trying to move, and to ensure that they are not overpaying for items that may cost them more to manufacture. Also, to ensure that you are getting sales based results rather than simply signing people up whom don't purchase.
As per above, you personally do not need to purchase product for personal use to qualify for cycle payments if you can generate the required sales amounts via your own customers. You should note however that the base premise of the Isagenix MLM program is the following:
- Eat it: Use the products yourself so that you can experience the results
- Love it: See the results and love the feeling
- Share it: Share your results on your personalized website, social media or email lists to generate sales.
So, although it is not mandatory to make personal purchases of these products, it is kind of insinuated that to succeed, you should be a using advocate of them – to be honest, that actually makes sense to me in that you will do a lot better in this MLM game if you have a good understanding of the product in question.
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How can I get paid?
This program outlines 6 ways in which you can make money when you promote and sell their products – plus a number of bonus/incentive structures as well. These are quite standard for a MLM program with commission rates designed to reward those that rise through the ranking system. Although if I am being honest, I am struggling to understand the whole ‘cycle' payment thing – maybe once I write it all down it will make a little more sense. Anyway, this is how you can earn your cash:
Traditional purchase and resell
This is where it all began – the traditional buy and sell business model. This process is simple. You purchase the products with your discount of 25% and then sell them at retail prices via parties, markets, kiosks or store fronts. You not only get to pocket the difference, but as you have purchased them online via your account, you also qualify for the cycle payments and bonuses as well.
Retail direct profits
Retail direct profits work in the same manner as the traditional processes above except this is managed online. All you have to do is simply refer your customer to your own personalized site where they purchase Isagenix products as retail prices. Again, you are paid the difference between the retail and wholesale price for the purchase.
And better still, the BV of the product counts towards your monthly 100PV requirement.
Product Introduction Bonuses
Product Introduction Bonuses (PIBS) are paid when a newly referred member of your team purchases a qualified value pack with their first order. The bonuses paid are dependent on the product pack or system purchased.
Team Bonuses
Now, this is where we get a little funky. Team bonuses are the basic payments that most MLM companies utilise when they discuss rank, or unilevel, commissions. In the case of Isagenix however, this is calculated and paid in terms of cycle payments. And so that I get this right, I have copied some of this next part directly from their Compensation Plan.
As personally recruited Associates are added to your downline, they are divided into two ‘legs' (a common practice within MLM programs). When an Associate accumulates at least 900 BV in group volume (GV), at least 300 BV comes from one side of the sales team (the Minor Volume Sales Team), and 600 BV comes from the other side (Major Volume Sales Team), the Associate earns a Team Bonus, also referred to as a Cycle. An Associate can earn multiple Cycles every day and up to 250 Cycles per week.
From what I can tell, each ‘cycle' is worth USD$54 (about 4.5%) meaning that on base value, you earn $54 for every 600 BV generated by your downline.
Note: Unlike many other MLM programs, it appears that your top-level down line members must be personally recruited by you and cannot be ‘moved' to your tree by another member of your up-line (happy to be corrected below).
Rank bonuses
As you start to reach a new rank, Isagenix pays you a once off rank bonus once you qualify at that level as follows:
- Consultant: $250
- Manager: $500
- Director: $750
- Executive: $1000
10% Matching Team Bonus
Once you are qualified as an Executive, you will receive a matching bonus of 10% of the cycle payments of all personally enrolled consultants and above. These are paid as payment cycles and Executives can earn up to 250 bonus cycles per week.
Ranking structure
As you have probably noticed, the cycle payments and bonuses paid out above are reliant upon the ‘rank' that you are assigned within the Isagenix MLM program. This ranking structure is not as straight forward as others but does rely directly upon those associates that you have personally introduced. Cycle payments are based on your total monthly Group Volume, the number of underlings you have within your down line and of course, how much they sell/purchase in a calendar month (measured in BV). There are five ranks within this program:
Rank requirements are as follows (you start as an Associate):
Consultant
Manager
Director
Executive
What else do you get?
On top of the potential earning methods outlined above, IsaGenix also offers a couple of bonus options for those who make consistent purchases or achieve higher rankings within the program. These include:
Platinum
Platinum is the top recognition rank and comes with additional perks and benefits outside of the Compensation Plan! To qualify for platinum, you need to maintain Executive level for three consecutive months with a team that has produced an average of 225 cycles within a thirteen-week time frame.
Platinum members then qualify for program re-entry whereby they can create a second membership account to place new members underneath thereby creating a whole new level of income stream legs.
Special Incentives and Promotions
The final way to earn income with Isagenix is through incentives and promotions. The IsaBody Challenge® rewards participants with free product and swag as well as other promotions that include special trips, travel, awards, cash bonuses, and Isagenix-branded gear.
What is good about it?
So, after a good look around the site and looking at all the options I could find, I do like the following:
- Information in regards to their MLM program is comprehensive and easy to find.
- There are no personal purchase requirements to maintain commissions.
- Members are rewarded for personal recruitment rather than relying too much on others.
What is no so good about it?
There are also some things to be aware of including:
- The whole ‘cycle payment' scheme is incredibly confusing.
- Payments are made on total downline results only and not on levels based on rank.
- There are not as many bonus payment levels as many other schemes.
How much can you make?
One thing I did like about this program was the fact that they are extremely transparent in regards to the chances of making decent money as an ambassador – or MLM in general.
Of the top 1%, IsaGenix reports an average income of $177k.
My final thoughts
Look, MLM is not an easy platform to make money in and there is nothing here that appears to make this program easier than any other. If I am being honest, as someone who likes to think that he has a fairly decent understanding in regards to how MLM programs work, I really struggled to get my head around the whole payment cycle thing. It just seems a little over complicated to me.
So is it worth its weight? Look, the Isagenix program does not raise any real red flags for me and whilst there are definitely not as many payment and bonus options as some others within in this niche (such as Shaklee and Plexus Worldwide) there is ample opportunity to earn if you can attract and nurture a down line. There is plenty of information available ( which trust me, is rarely the case) so if you are passionate about Weight loss or Health supplements and like this brand, then to be honest I cannot see much in there that would cause me to warn you off.
The joining process is quite simple and from a startup point of view, there are not the usual financial pressures of needing to make minimum purchases in order to qualify for commissions. Although should you find yourself falling short of your monthly PV requirements (I.e. not coming in from your customer base), then some personal purchases will be required to top it up from time to time – this is common in the first few months of joining any MLM unless you have a good lead base to target from the outset.
I was unable to locate any negative reviews in terms of non-payment or poor quality products for this site however there was some negative comments about the MLM program itself – although it was not really anything that is uncommon in regards to MLM programs.
Conclusion
So there you have it, my honest review and appraisal of the Isagenix MLM program. I hope it has been of assistance but as usual, if you have any questions or experience with this program please do not hesitate to reach out by commenting below – especially if any of my information is inaccurate.
Are there any other programs you have been looking at but want to know more about? If so, please comment below and I will do my best to get some details for you.
Do you want further assistance with any of the above or need help to build your own Supplements or MLM based website?
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Until next time
Have fun
Paul
Note: If you make a purchase from this page, there is a very good chance that I make a commission from it – these commissions do not increase your sale price.