I wanted to update this blog because I have a few people Email me every so often asking me about Herbalife and if I think it is a good opportunity for them and what happened with my business. As you can see from my post - I stopped blogging about Herbalife in 2010 and have not desired to come back and talk about it openly until now. I am going to tell you the truth - my truth - and you can take it as just that. This is my story and what happened to us on this journey that ultimately led to losing a lot of money. That DOES NOT mean that you will have the same results but I will say very openly that in my opinion and strictly my opinion, you should proceed with caution and only choose this MLM if you have a way to generate your own leads and have some money to spend. Herbalife - in my opinion from my own experience - is not a business to choose if you are struggling for money already. I think this is more of a business for people who have money to spare or have extremely good marketing and sales skills - neither of which did we have going into this.
So let's get to it. A few years ago I had quit my job because I was sick and tired of some specific situations (that I won't go into here) at my long time job in the corporate world that just weren't getting resolved. I took a 6-month leave from working because I had saved up some money to live off of for a while and had recently gotten married and wanted a fresh start in my career as well. My husband and I were introduced to Herbalife during this time because someone told me it was a great business opportunity and though we were skeptical we went ALL in and started our own Herbalife business. We didn't have the money to spare but after numerous calls with trainers and the like, we were sold on the idea that we would make that money back if we just put in the effort to sell the products and build our business. As you can tell from my beginning post we were super excited but skeptical all the same. I wanted to use my experience with it to help others determine if it was a "scam" or another "pyramid scheme" that wouldn't pan out or if it was a legitimate business that made you money. I will answer my opinion on this at the end of this post.
Very excited, I was jumping into my business head first determined not to fail. I used all the products - tried every one of them myself and posted my TRUE opinions of those products. The products were great and gave me exactly the results they promised when I used them as directed. I even got added benefits of reduction in joint pain and really began to get healthier. I lost a lot of weight and overall looked and felt much better. The products weren't the problem - they worked and they worked well. If anyone is thinking about buying Herbalife products I would recommend talking to your doctor and go for it because they really do work.
Now at this point we had bought into Herbalife at the highest level you could get in at, spending a large sum of money to do so. We spent money on printing, website fees, ordering supplies such as samples and marketing merchandise (brochures, catalogs, cups, bags, notepads, etc.) and really started marketing our business the only way we knew how (mind you we weren't direct marketers or sales people - I had ecommerce experience but not the type I needed for this business to be successful) - by hitting the streets and posting our printed material in every public spot we could find; by hosting parties with our family and friends; by calling the list of family and friends that didn't come to the parties; by posting online on our social media sites and blogging; having friends recommend the products to their friends and so on.... we saw very little success this way but did gain about 5 regular customers which quickly dwindled to 3. We maintained those 3 right up to the bitter end.
We attended all the recommended calls. We communicated openly with our trainers/upline/etc. We bought every tool they suggested on the training calls because we did not want to fail. Then we made the biggest mistake of our short lived Herbalife career and that was buying into the lead packages. These lead packages were designed to get people to buy the business (not the products). We paid BIG money for leads and spent numerous hours a day cold calling these leads and using the methods we were taught in our training sessions. Out of the leads we bought, only about 6 or 7 panned out to anything. Out of that number all but 1 asked me for their money back and the one that didn't went to jail and we never heard from that person again. We even had a couple file complaints with the BBB against us, which we were able to resolve but it was a hassle and stressful. Basically after the lead generation, our business went belly up and there was no more money left to keep building our business or to pay our bills for that matter. I don't know if this was our fault, the luck of the draw or what but this was a mistake for us. It may not be this way for you but you need to really think about the money you are investing and decide how much you could lose without putting yourself in a bind. Make this decision wisely based on your own circumstances. Again this is just what happened to us and may not be what will happen to you.
We lost over $10K by the time it was all said and done (in less than a year) and I truly wish I was exaggerating that number - frankly I am embarrassed to even tell this story which is why I think I waited so long to come on here and post the rest of the story. We took the money from my retirement fund and got ourselves back on track and I went back to work full time at another corporate company. We built our lives back up after that epic failure on our part but we did keep trying to sell the products on our own. I continued to use the products for another 6 months until I had some medical issues come up (unrelated to the products) and just got out of the habit of using the products until eventually I just gave up all together. It just went dead for us because we ran out of money to invest and we didn't make any profit at all. We had no more motivation left to keep trying and focused our attention on rebuilding our finances so we could pay our bills again.
So what is my opinion of Herbalife - products and the business? Before I tell you I first want to reiterate that this is my honest opinion - and I will restate over and over that this is only my opinion and I am by no means an expert on the matter because I do not want to tell you not to try the business or the products. I just want to tell you to be cautious and really analyze your own financial situation before you take on more than you can afford:
I have already stated that I love the products. They truly work if you use them as directed. After I quit using them, I gained all that weight back that I had lost and then added an extra 20 lbs. on top of that. So know that if you want to get healthy and lose weight (with these products or any other way), it is a lifestyle change and something you need to commit to. You don't have to take the products forever but you do have to change the way you live so that you are exercising more and eating better. For my personal experience, I fell back into my busy working life where I spent all my time at a desk and in the car so I have a hard time finding time for exercise and eating properly. I often eat on the run or eat junk food just because it is fast. So by no means is my weight gain any fault of me quitting the products - rather I didn't stick to my life style change that I had found when I was able to be at home more.
So is the business a scam in my opinion? If I would have answered this when I was ending my business I would have told you yes more out of anger than anything. Even last year, I would have told you yes because I couldn't see my own failures in the business. But now, I have been through some MLM training and started learning more about direct marketing and I know now that the tools and traditional methods of marketing do not work any more for big profits and I didn't have the knowledge of MLM marketing or the vision to think outside of what I was being trained to do and find ways to do it differently on my own. Although I tried it on my own at the end, I didn't have any more money to invest in different types of marketing and was so angry that I couldn't have possibly succeeded at that point. So I am going to say this, it is not a scam or a pyramid scheme. It can be an effective business for the RIGHT people but in my opinion those people need to be good at sales (not the products but the business) and be good at marketing outside of what you are being trained to do by traditional methods. It is an MLM business - so it is a pyramid but these types of businesses are not schemes - they are real businesses with real opportunities for the right people. There are real people making real money from this business and they do it well. So if you are good at MLM's and you have some money to invest then go for it. And again, in my opinion solely based on my own experience, when I say money to invest I'm not talking $100 or $500 or $1000. I'm talking thousands of dollars for a good marketing and lead generation plan. My personal opinion is that if you are not good at sales, introverted, unsociable, living paycheck to paycheck or just flat out broke DO NOT DO THIS. But again, this is only my opinion and you could very well have different results than I had. Be cautious of the sales pitch because they are selling you a dream as most marketing does (regardless of company or product - that is just how marketing works). They are trained salespeople with great skill and they do their job very well. You will be so excited about the opportunity but unless you have extra money to burn on growing a business I would really analyze the risk you are willing to take compared to your marketing skillset and size of your own warm network of people to sell too. It may be well worth it to you but it may not be. I cannot tell you to do it and I cannot tell you not too. The point of all of this was just to tell you my story and what happened to us because when we started this business, that is what I promised to do in my beginning blog posts. I wanted to keep that promise even though it is a couple of years later. I promised to tell you if it was a scam and it isn't a scam but it was a mistake for us.
Now on to what I went through after the fact and what I am doing now...
I struggled a long time to get back on track and start building my retirement fund back up. I did get back on track and am building my retirement account back up slowly. I am in a corporate job that requires a long commute that I hate and although the company I work for is great, I don't want to do this the rest of my life. I am a great worker and put in all my efforts but I want to work from home and be my own boss. I am truly in a place where I think I am making that happen.
First, I have a career dream - I want to someday have a pet related business. I have built out this dream in my head because I love animals so much and really want to spend what is left of my working years doing something I love and that is working with pets. To get me started on steps to my dreams I started my own online pet store of which I am currently rebuilding the site and putting in more products. This site will be www.jackspackpetplanet.com but as of the date of this post, the current site is not what is going to be out there and the product listing is going to be much better. I ran into some issues with a provider and couldn't get the products loaded right so I stopped and found a better provider and am having much better luck on my test site. I plan to relaunch in the very near future. I will try to add a post to this letting you all know when it is out there and ready to use.
But in addition to my pet store, I was introduced to a fairly new company called Younique. It is another MLM but let me tell you I have been doing it for only a month and have already started seeing profits. I redesigned my master bath with the profits I made in February. I would like to take a moment to introduce you to Younique and because you are reading this post - it means that you are looking for a way to earn some extra cash by doing a business of your own. I think Younique might be another opportunity you would be interested in that that you can do in addition to your other businesses/jobs or as your only job depending on your personal circumstances. I am not trying to sell you on another business but just want to introduce it to you and tell you my story about it. You can already tell from my other post that I am honest and not going to sell products that I do not believe in.
Younique was started in 2012 by a brother and sister team out of Utah. It is a cosmetic and skincare line that has a goal of empowering women and helping them build confidence. I can say after my other MLM experience - I needed confidence rebuilt in me. I have been using Younique's products - just like I did with Herbalife and I love them. I love the makeup and skin care. My favorite thing is that the products are all natural and animal-cruelty free, which is very important to me. Here is why I think Younique might be the MLM you are looking for:
- It isn't a get rich quick scheme but you can make extra money without spending a lot of your own money.
- It only cost $99 to get started. This is a very small investment to start your own business.
- You get a free website for life so you aren't getting all those extra fees and they don't push a lot of extra selling tools or back office tools that you have to buy. So what you spend up front - the $99 - is what you are going to spend.
- You get a really cool presenter's kit with lots of great mineral make-up and those famous 3D Fiber Lashes (mascara) that will make you decide to never go back to regular mascara ever again. You will love this kit - and just the kit makes the $99 a great investment for the make-up alone. If you buy and love mineral make-up you will understand what I mean by this.
- There are no annual fees or autoship requirements or anything like that.
- Once you are in - you are in. You don't lose your status as a Younique Presenter because you didn't meet quota or pay some crazy fee.
- It is a new enough company that the market isn't flooded like other MLM companies that have been around a long time. At the end of February we had less than 20K presenters worldwide.
- You aren't going to lose your asses (excuse my language) by going into this business. The investment is minimal compared to other MLM's and if you put forth any effort at all you will quickly earn that investment back. The products are so good that they really do sell themselves just by showing people the products or posting before and after make-up or skin care pictures online (of yourself, your customers, your friends, etc. - so no Photoshopped models or anything like that). The products are easy to sell.
- Almost every woman loves make-up. Some men love make-up and there are industries that love make-up such as theater, children's dance and beauty pageants, salons and spas, etc. So it is something that truly most everyone wants and needs.
- Think Mary Kay for a minute. They started in 1963 and now have over 4.8 million consultants and the brand is still strong and well-known. When we say Mary Kay people don't think of it as a scam or a direct marketing company - they know it for the products and the products are still booming. In addition, those early consultants that stuck with it had successful businesses and are reaping the rewards of being in on the early stages of the business. In my opinion, Mary Kay is great and Younique is going to be this popular in the future, I just know it. We are starting off strong and the products are so great that we are having trouble keeping them on the shelves right now. Everyone that tries it wants it and when you have a product that strong and needed by such a large demographic you are going to have people that want into the business.
- Because Younique is fairly new, it is in the early stages of the MLM world. This means NOW is the time to join. Start building your business and gain loyal customers to the products. As time goes by you are going to be glad you did.
- You invest your time and money the way you desire - not by being pushed into it on high pressured "training calls" that promise you the world if you just buy this one more thing. So if you want to do your own marketing buying leads, using pay-per-click ads and so on you can. If you don't want to, you can still make money selling these products by doing in-house or online parties and simply by talking about it on Facebook and other social media sites. What you spend and how you market is up to you. They do have a few rules around marketing but are not super restricted like some other companies are (Herbalife being one of the super restricted ones in my opinion).
I will be starting a Younique Blog and a Jack's Pack Pet Planet Blog soon. Feel free to click on my profile and start following my other blogs if you would like. Those should be active in the next few days.
Finally, please do not contact me about Herbalife as I am no longer in that business and really do want to put that experience far behind me. My opinion and story are stated here so please use that information to make the best decision for you. Remember though that this is only my story and there are thousands of others that have different stories. They may be successful and happy - but if you talk to these folks you need to make sure you are talking to HONEST people not just people try to sell you on something. You will have to learn to read the sales pitch and decipher the truth. I for one am all about the truth - now being called transparency in the business world - which is why I made a horrible sales person using the fake it until you make it (or lie until they buy) plans. I do not do those and do not encourage you too. Honesty is the best policy. Period.
