There are so many different programs that use multi-level marketing. The company Forever Living is no different. A lot of people are wondering whether or not this company is a scam or if you can actually make a substantial income. This article will show you everything you need to know!
Forever Living Review
Name: Forever Living
Founded: In 1978 by Rex Maughan
Field: Multi-Level Marketing Programs
Overall Rank: 45 Out of 100. Forever Living is an honest MLM-program. They have own benefits but products are a bit overpriced and the system isn’t perfect.
You would probably love to see My #1 Recommendation with an overall ranking 98 Out of 100. I have used that system myself already for more than 2 years and it’s bringing me bigger and bigger income every month.
What Is Forever Living? – Aloe Vera Products for Everyone
Forever Living was established in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1978 by Rex Maughan. This company is one of the world’s largest producers of aloe vera products and they are able to control cost and quality through the entire process because they own their own aloe plantations and warehouses. They don’t outsource.
While a lot of other multi-level marketing companies usually only target women, this company offers products for everyone! Some years ago the company reported having over 4,000 employees and 9.3 million distributors. They also had a revenue of $1.7 billion. With numbers like that, they must be doing something right!
Forever Living offers many aloe products for everything from health to beauty. Not only can you buy aloe products but you can buy products that are made by bees, products that will help charities, and accessories.
Forever Living Products – Nice Products, But Overpriced
There are so many different products that Forever Living offers. They naturally say that every single product that Forever Living product is rigorously tested. Not only does the company screen the materials before production begins but they also test all the products during production and a third and final time once the product is done.
These are Forever Living product categories:
- Bee Products
- Drinks
- Nutrition
- Personal Care
- Combo Packs
- Skin Care
- Weight Management
Another great thing about these products is that none of them are tested on animals. They also have received the Islamic Seal of Approval, Kosher Rating, and they are certified by the International Aloe Science Council.
You should remember that talking about their high quality is a part of their marketing speech. Every single MLM-company loves to explain how their products are tested in the best laboratories of the world by leading scientists of the Universe.
While all this is good for the products, one thing you have to realize is that the prices are much higher than a similar product you can buy at the store. For example, a 3.25oz stick of deodorant is $6.63 and a 12oz bottle of shampoo is $19.20. That’s around 3-4 times higher price what I usually pay in the supermarket.
Like most multi-level marketing products, they are so expensive because there are so many people who will get paid. While the prices are higher than a product from a store, you could still order a sample to try it out if you want. Think about Herbalife, Mary Kay, Amway and hundreds of other MLMs. All of them naturally say that their products are the best in the world.
Many people don’t recognize any difference between supermarket and Forever Living products. I mean the only significant difference is the price. Forever Living has added aloe vera to their products. That’s probably the most significant difference. However, I don’t like the fact that MLM-systems are always putting some extra on their prices.
How To Get Started with Forever Living?
After seeing everything Forever Living has to offer, you may be wondering how you can start selling and making money. The first thing you’re going to have to do is go to the website and apply to be a distributor.
Before you can even see how much you will have to invest, you have to actually sign up. Once you do you will be given an ID and temporary password.
Once you login you will be able to buy your first kit. The cheapest is the Mini Touch of Forever. This is priced at $176.24. With that being said, you have to spend money before you can even begin to think about making money.
While this is the cheapest kit, keep in mind that you want to have as many products with you so you can actually show people. This will end up having you spend more money.
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The cold fact is that only around 5% of Forever Living distributors succeed well. That’s 1 out of 20.
Take 19 of your friends and you. All of you join Forever Living but according to statistics only one of you will be successful. I think it tells something about the system. But, of course, you can beat the statistics. I believe that anyone can learn to build a successful business even without any prior knowledge. I just doubt if Forever Living is the right place to start.
Forever Living Compensation Plan
The next thing you are probably concerned with is what your compensation will be. After all, you don’t want to do all kinds of work and put a lot of money if you aren’t going to be able to get compensated well.
The way your compensation is measured is by something called case credits. Each product is assigned a certain amount of case credits. These case credits will add up and they will be what determines everything.
Every distributor will have a monthly goal. There are 4 different ways that you can reach it. Those methods are explained below.
Your Personal Order
This is the orders your personally put in, whether it be for yourself or to just have extra products on hand. It can also be from people who order products through you.
Did you know an interesting fact that MLM-companies earn a big part of their revenue from purchases of their own distributors? They look at the goal at the end of the month. If they didn’t meet it, they are basically forced to buy products to meet the goal.
Orders From Your New Distributors
These are the orders from people in your downline. They can be for products for their personal use or for products they want to make sure they have to show others. It also counts when people order products through your distributors.
Orders From Your Retail Customers
This is when customers use your name but order products right from the website and the company ships the products to them. Notice, that you can promote Forever Living products also online. You don’t need to go to the street to meet people if that doesn’t feel good. You can learn here how you can sell your products online for thousands of people without ever even meeting them.
Orders From Your Wholesale Customers
Wholesale customers get a 15% discount. This is when customers use your name and order through the website and then the company will ship them their order. The only difference is that they buy bigger quantities.
One great thing is that you can combine all of these ways and meet your goal faster. Remember, if you don’t meet your goal then you can’t get any volume bonuses.
Here is a video that will explain the compensation plan more thoroughly. Notice that the video is created by Forever Living staff and it contains promotional material. I added it here just for educational purposes because I am not promoting their system.
In addition to the compensation, there are some added bonuses. We will look at those below. NOTE: If you are not so interested in the Forever Living compensation plan, you can skip this chapter. The great thing about Forever Living and other MLMs is that you can earn passive income unlike in a typical 9 to 5 job.
- Forever2Drive
You can get additional compensation to save for your dream car, boat, or motorcycle. The way this works is you have to get a certain number of case credits, or more, each month for 3 consecutive months.
- Eagle Manager
You will move up in the ranks. Once you become an Eagle Manager not only will you be able to go to the yearly retreat, but you will get bigger bonuses, more money, a larger team, and recognition. The way you qualify is by making at 720 case credits, with at least 100 of those coming from your new personal downlines, personally sponsoring and developing 2 new downlines, and being active every month. The qualification period runs from May 1 to April 30th.
- Global Rally
With this bonus, you will get to travel and be one of the people to represent the company. You can travel to over 150 countries. The way you qualify for this is by being active every month. The more case credits you sell the more spending money, accommodation nights, and activity money you will get. The qualification period is January 1st through December 31st.
- Chairman’s Bonus
With this bonus, the company pays back a percentage of its annual revenue to the top people. To qualify, you have to be level at 1, 2, or 3. You also have to be active every month and qualify at least 1 month for the Forever2Drive bonus.
- Global Leadership Team
With this bonus, you will be able to present new ideas and concepts, will be recognized worldwide, travel all over, and make more money. The way to qualify for this is by being active every month and earning AT LEAST 7.500 case credits. The more you earn, the more bonuses you get.
Conclusion – Is Forever Living a Pyramid Scheme?
Forever Living is not an illegal pyramid scheme. They are an honest company that has been around already for ~40 years. That’s a huge time when we consider that most businesses fail during their first 1-5 years.
Forever Living has good products but they are charging some extra because it’s an MLM-system. When you buy their products you “belong to the team” and you pay for the feeling you get. You don’t pay only for the product but also for the brand.
Then if you are a salesperson (distributor) of Forever Living, you need to be hard-working and persistent to succeed. Nothing will come for free so you shouldn’t wait for quick victories. You can make a living by selling their products but I don’t want to commit myself to their system. I would rather sell products that have a better price/quality ratio.
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Whether you join Forever Living or not, I recommend taking a closer look at Wealthy Affiliate. They will help you step-by-step to sell any products online for a huge audience. You can apply the skills you’ll learn there with MLM-systems or in other business models.
Wealthy Affiliate is not an MLM because they teach affiliate marketing. You will learn to connect with hundreds, and thousands of people online every day even without any prior knowledge or experience. Selling and promoting products online is probably easier than in the street and you can reach a much bigger number of people.
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What do you think about Forever Living as a business opportunity?
Would you like to sell their products or do you prefer other ways to earn money?
Let’s have a conversation in the comments below. I’ll answer to all of your questions and comments personally.
When you said “over prices” is not true, because all YOUR similar products in the supermarkets are based on water and other chemicals (shampoo and etc.)Here we are talking about products of Aloe as first and main component.If you chect the persenatge ot the other components in the products from the supermarkets and pharmacies you will notice yourself that the prices for WATER and other chemicals are even more expensive than the Forever living company products.
Thank you for sharing your opinion Polly. I have reviewed more than 100 network marketing companies like Forever Living and I always here the same 🙂 Every company says that their products are special and tested in the best laboratories in the world etc.
Anyway, the most important thing is that they are providing real value to you and I am sincerely happy for that!
By the way, have you already read my Ultimate Make Money Online Guide? It will teach you the 4-step strategy to make money with Forever Living that works for me and 1,000’s of other people all around the world.
Your review says “Forever Living is an honest MLM-program.” You also mention that the “products are a bit overpriced and the system isn’t perfect.”
What do I conclude from these statements: that I should stay away from this MLM program. I have been a part of local MLM program (based in my home country) only once and my first experience was really bad. I lost my joining fees. The program turned out to be a scam.
I have checked out numerous MLM programs, however, I have never taken any interest in joining. I am not interested in fee-based earning program.
Yeah, MLM programs are very controversial.
Some people make a fortune while 95% of members just spend more than they earn from the program. I’ve never been a big fan of MLMs. However, recently I’ve changed my opinion a little bit about them. Some MLM-programs are fine if their products are not overpriced. That’s rare but there are a few pearls.
I have heard about Forever Living for quite sometime already and in fact it has been there long enough that all other income generating marketing have already been phased out. I used to doubt their marketing program sustainability and to be honest their products are a bit expensive compared to leading brands.
They have marketers that really convinces us to join and be a part of their business but it seems that they are more into reclaiming their share of profit than their genuinity of selling the product. That discourages me to join because I want to endorse something in which I truly believe and that really works.
Not only in the sense that you profit but also because it is also effective. But I guess my doubts were wrong because after all these years the marketing business has never reduced nor fade instead it has grown globally and has made more members up to the present
Hi Jojo,
great arguments. It really feels that many MLM-programs are just much more interested in the system and earning money rather than helping their clients. I’ve asked some network marketers why they are selling products for a very expensive price even though they aren’t really worth it. The answer is: “It’s a faster way to make money.” The other thing is providing the best value for customers.
I’ve joined a few similar programs in the past and I do think they can work well with certain types of people, as long as the company is not a scam.
In my opinion, one of the biggest things to watch out for when dealing with MLM schemes like this is if the company requires a constant purchase for you to maintain your standing with them. I think those that allow you to remain stagnant without any purchases for a long period of time will turn out to be less shady.
The ones I always hear about where people lose a lot is when they are forced to stock up on products with the promise that it will pay off someday.
That’s a good point, Fantasia!
Many MLM-systems charge you a monthly fee or require that you make a certain amount of sales each and every month. That forces distributors to buy their products even though they wouldn’t be earning a single dollar.
In the end, they may end up with lots of products but a thin wallet. Actually, that’s what happens with most people because +95% of MLM-marketers fail.
Hi Roope! Excellent article! I really don’t like MLM programs. And what you said: about you become a part of the team, all the effort you have to do to make good money and the overpriced products, It didn’t convince me at all. I think almost all MLM programs come with these type of cons.
That’s true Wizkha. Most MLM-programs are selling overpriced products. Gladly there are few good options out there like Avon.
Anyhow, I prefer a “normal” business model instead of complicated MLM-systems.
This is really cool. With it being so many scams on the internet, it’s makes it hard to tell the real from the fake. They make false promises and guarantee you this and that. But when you purchase the product, its complete crap.
I hate it because i know from personal experience. Its good that your actual reviewing these products and helping people save their money. I want to be an online marketer, what program do you recommend best? Thanks, great review.
Hi Garrett,
yeah, many programs online give false promises. In my opinion, Forever Living is more honest than those. They have good products though they are a bit overpriced.
I recommend going through Wealthy Affiliate step-by-step training if you want to be a successful online marketer. I didn’t have any experience of affiliate marketing before starting their training but nowadays I’m doing it full-time and earning more and more money each month.
-Roope
The problem with this kind of product is that they appeal to a very small and specific part of the population: Those that read labels and care about whether products are tested in animals or not or if they are ranked high in particular nature website’s lists, and are willing to pay double the price for those benefits. Most people go for cheap prices or, if they wish to spend more money on it, go for recognized brands.
This makes it hard to get the benefits we seeks, so as a business it seems rather rocky a road; I think we can get better benefits investing our time in business with a higher success rate, I mean, you said it, “The cold fact is that only around 5% of Forever Living distributors succeed well. That’s 1 out of 20.”.
Unless you have contacts and friends that fit the description of the target demographic, Forever Living doesn’t seem very profitable.
Hi Rosette,
you have good points. Forever Living niche is not huge but I think it doesn’t need to be if you are an online marketer. On the Internet you can read so many people all around the world. Still, I prefer marketing products that have a better price than Forever Living products because I only want to provide the best products for my audience.
In addition, a big part of MLM-marketers don’t use the Internet very effectively for their marketing so they need to rely on offline techniques. They can be effective as well but also more challenging.
-Roope