We’re in the world of COVID-19 and I’m homeschooling two kids on two curricula at the same time. My military wife is deployed helping with the COVID-19 response.
However, the FTC has warned many MLM companies about COVID-19 claims about health and investment claims. I thought it may be useful to refresh (not republish) this article with this message. It may give you a flavor for how MLMs work in general.
Happy Halloween everyone. I’ve got a tale of a scary MLM to share. It’s my first attempt using a new writing tool, Scrivener and a new writing shorthand called Markdown. Normally, I’d put more time into proofreading the article and formatting, but having spent dozens of hours on it as it is, I need to bite the bullet and publish.
Regular readers know that I have a hobby of analyzing MLMs and showing consumers how they deceive you. Last week, I noticed that Nick Loper of Side Hustle Nation had highlighted a friend who has grown a $4k a month business in an hour a day. Kellie Gimenez is doing it with an MLM called Beachbody. You may know of Beachbody’s workouts: P90X and Insanity are two of the most popular ones.
Truth is, I’ve been meaning to write about Beachbody for a couple of years now. I noticed a good high school friend of mine promoting it on Facebook. I pushed it to the back-burner because I wanted to believe it was legit for his sake. Also, I see nothing wrong with P90X. From what I’ve heard it is a great workout.
With Nick’s podcast and what Kellie said, I couldn’t ignore Beachbody any longer. Oh well, this could make for an awkward 20th reunion in a few weeks if we both go.
This is a long article so if you want the “TL;DR” version, it’s:
“Get the hell away from Beachbody’s Shakeology and its ‘business opportunity.’ You are wasting your time and money. Every piece of information seems to show it is an illegal pyramid scheme according to the FTC’s guidelines. A former Beachbody Coach also gives good details into the pyramid scheme nature of the company. According to her, the focus is not on nutrition or fitness, but classes instead include: “How to never take no for an answer when trying to sign on new coaches” or “How to not take no for an answer when selling Shakeology.”
You can pick up Vega One available on Amazon which is extremely similar (and better in some ways) for half the price. A former Beachbody Coach mentioned Nature’s Plus Spiru-Tein High Protein Energy Meal is a great choice at about a single dollar per serving, 1/4th price of Shakeology.
There’s no reason to be a Coach to get a discount as you can get the Shakeology discount price on Ebay without paying coaching fees.”
The Products
As I said in the introduction, I don’t mind the workouts. They seem legit.
What is extremely fishy is the Shakeology product. The product itself isn’t particularly, but the pricing. Before I cover it allow me to explain why pricing matters in an MLM.
Why Does Pricing Matter in an MLM?
This is a good question and few people seem to grasp it initially. One of the best explanations I’ve seen is by a commenter on FatWallet using an analogy:
[I go into this analogy in more detail here.]”Say Mr Pyramid buys pens in bulk from Staples and sells them for $100 each. Who’s gonna pay $100 for a pen? But tell them that they can also sell pens for $100, and we’ll pay you $30 for every pen you sell, plus you can recruit people to sell pens as well, and you’ll get $10 for every pen they sell, and $5 for every pen their recruits sell. Three levels, $45 commissions total on a $100 sale. Everyone has to buy 10 pens a month for personal use to participate in the program. Just find three people who find three people who find three people…. In the end, yeah, you are buying 10 pens a month for $1000, but you are getting $3150 in commissions, so don’t sweat it. Why wouldn’t you join?
Product is moving. The pens get used. No recruitment revenue, only product commissions. Absolutely 100% a pyramid scheme. The only real reason people are paying $100 for a pen is for the opportunity to make money off the sale of pens. Completely unsustainable as eventually, you run out of people to sell to and those at the bottom get hosed buying $1000 pens but not being able to sell them. This is an extreme example, but if you look at the world of MLM, there are some pretty big name companies out there that somewhat fit this mold on a less cut and dry basis.”
This is why The Verge and The Atlantic are writing about Herbalife which is being investigated by the FTC for being an MLM that is a pyramid scheme.
Back to Shakeology
Anyone who has read my ViSalus article knows this is a red flag. There I showed that ViSalus was charging $1.50 for a shake that any consumer could make with 3 simple ingredients for under 50 cents: whey protein, Fibersure, and a multivitamin. I know saving a dollar doesn’t seem like much, but in 10 minutes of time, you could save your $300 or more each year. Unless you are the CEO of company making millions this is exception use of your time.
Unfortunately Shakeology isn’t quite as easy to break apart. There are many ingredients. I found a nutritional label here, which is worth looking at.
There’s a pretty good product comparison of many shakes including Shakeology here. It criticizes Shakeology in quite a few places, but gives it an overall thumbs up for ingredient choices. His conclusion is interesting:
”Drinking shakes as meal replacements is not, in my opinion, a sustainable long term health plan. No liquid meal replacement satisfies the need to eat and chew solid food, which also stimulates the release of digestive enzymes in saliva… I do not recommend any of these products as a route to supreme good health. However, if you are going to drink a meal replacement, opt for Shakeology by Team Beachbody, it seems to be way better than the others in terms of the quality of the ingredients.”
So in fairness, Shakeology may have decent ingredients, but it isn’t necessarily a good health choice (according to this extensive review).
As we covered earlier, pricing does matter in MLM. According to Gimenez’ description on the Side Hustle Nation podcast, the meal replacement shake is around $4 or $120-130 a month. We’ll dig into pricing in a minute, but we are going to take a quick detour.
At the 11:50 mark of the podcast, Nick Loper politely says, “ummm, it didn’t really do it for me” while laughing (Translation: You don’t want to put this in your mouth.) Kellie says that some shakes “you can just shake in a shaker and go for it.” With Shakeology you need to “find your mix” and “you need to blend it.” She mixes the chocolate flavor with peanut butter, a banana, almond milk, ice.
This is where Shakeology starts to fall apart.
If you go back to the nutritional facts, it only has 140 calories a serving, not a good value for $4. It’s marketed a meal replacement, but I’ve never seen 140 qualify as a meal. The US RDA for calories in a day is around 2000 calories. (It varies with age/gender, but that is an average.) People typically eat three meals a day. Allowing for some snacks, a typical “meal replacement” should have between 400-500 calories.
Thus to get a true “meal replacement” you’d have to drink 3 shakes at a cost of $12. However, as Ms. Gimenez points out you need to “find your mix” and “blend it”, so it isn’t meant to be a “meal replacement” on its own. Let’s just say that for $4 and an additional dollar of mix ingredients, you can make yourself a $5 shake. That’s in your own home, not at a swanky restaurant as you might in Pulp Fiction (Note: adult language). If you are going to pay restaurant prices for a shake mix at home, you might as well buy $40/lb. steaks at your grocery store.
Wait, there aren’t any $40/lb. steaks at your grocery store? Are there any shake mixes that are $4 for 140 calories? The closest thing you can find is Carnation Breakfast Essentials, No Sugar Added, which has similar calories, protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals for $0.62 a serving (nutrition label: http://www.nestlehealthscience.us/asset-library/PublishingImages/8.0PRODUCTSLocalLandingPage/Nutritional%20Panels/CBE-Powder-NSA.jpg). If you use the Subscribe and Save option, the price comes down to 50 cents a serving. Yes, I know Shakeology Coaches are going to try to rip me apart for the comparison saying that Carnation is full of bad ingredients. However, as long as shakes aren’t a good health choice (according to the review referenced above) to begin with, quibbling over the differences here doesn’t make sense. What’s vastly more important is that the nutrition label is very, very similar, but at around 1/6th or 1/8th the price of Shakeology. If you are looking to get into shape the important things are calories, protein, carbs, fiber, etc., not whether it has apple pectin powder or wheatgrass in it.
Update 1: I found a similar product, Vega One available on Amazon, that is $53.48 (as I write this) or $2.43 per serving. Looks like it almost identical with digestive blends, antioxidant blends, probiotic blend, tons of vitamins and minerals, similar calories/protein. Vega One has double the fiber and an Omega 3 blend, which arguable makes it better at a much lower cost. Oh and Amazon’s autoship (Subscribe and Save) saves me an additional 20% off the $53.48 price making it $42.78.
Update 2: A former Beachbody Coach mentioned Nature’s Plus Spiru-Tein High Protein Energy Meal as a great choice in the comments. It is about a $1.15 a serving or nearly 1/4th the price of Shakeology. The comment also gives good details into the pyramid scheme nature of the company. According to her, the focus is not on nutrition or fitness, but classes instead include: “How to never take no for an answer when trying to sign on new coaches” or “How to not take no for an answer when selling Shakeology.”
In a year, you would spend over $1200 a year drinking Shakeology, but save a thousand dollars going with Carnation Breakfast at $225. That buys a lot of Beachbody workouts, time with a personal trainer, or other things that will help you get in shape.
And let’s take a minute to mention how terribly inconvenient it is blend a shake if competing products have an option to “shake in a shaker.” You certainly aren’t paying for convenience with Shakeology… you are paying for inconvenience.
However, if you are going to go with blending route anyway, I suggest that you get a Nutribullet (here’s my review) and make this mix at home for around 50 cents a serving. I combine frozen fruit (around a cup), whey protein (1/2 scoop), Greek yogurt (a tablespoon), and some spinach (you’ll never know it is there) and blend away. Sometimes I get crazy and add flax seed. It tastes great and costs probably around 50 cents a serving… again a fraction of Shakeology. So for the health nuts that have a problem with the Carnation Breakfast option, this is another option that should eliminate all health questions.
Finally here are some other cheaper alternatives to look into:
To summarize, it seems like Shakeology tastes so terrible that you need to mask it with a plethora of other ingredients. It is so expensive that the pricing at a restaurant is famous in a movie for being outrageous. Shakeology may be healthy for a shake, but shakes aren’t healthy to begin with. It misrepresents itself as a meal replacement when it is really nothing of the sort at only 140 calories. In only becomes a meal replacement when you add the other ingredients… at which point you might as well just had the meal.
Beachbody Bummer has a great chart about how absurd Shakeology pricing is… Pricing for 200 calories: Slimfast is $0.63, Ensure is $1.03, GNC Total Lean is 2.36, Shakeology is $6.66. Yikes!
Given all the problems with Shakeology, a natural question to ask is, “Who is going to pay $4 a serving for Shakeology?” If that sounds like the “Who’s gonna pay $100 for a pen?” from the Pen Pyramid Scheme, you are starting to get the idea.
What Can you Expect to Earn as Beachbody Coach
When someone presents you with a business opportunity it is always wise to crunch the numbers. Beachbody has posted an their income disclosure statement (PDF) on its website. You’ll want to click on that.
The first thing you’ll notice is that the document is from 2010-2011. Hmmm, that’s not a good sign. Giving Beachbody the benefit of the doubt, I dug deeper and found a Beachbody income disclosure statement from 2011-2012 at an obscure URL (see the link when you mouse over it).
I was unable to find information from 2012-2013. Maybe it exists, but I think Beachbody just gave up and didn’t release one. You’ll find out why I presumed they gave up as we analyze it.
To make things easy, these income disclosure statements are commonly referred to as an IDS in the MLM world, and I’ll keep the same convention. Also since they go from the end of December to the end of December, I’ll just use the year that encompasses 99% of the data. So I’ll refer to the 2010-2011 as simply the 2011 IDS and the 2011-2012 as the 2012 IDS.
I’ve evaluated IDSs from dozens of MLMs, and the first place to look is always the fine print. In footnote 2 of the 2011 IDS you’ll find that only 49.3 of Coaches earned a check from Beachbody… 50.7% earned nothing, nada, zilch. In the 2012 IDS it gets worse as footnote 3 says that only 45.9% earned checks… 54.1% earned nothing, nada, zilch.
Thus the chart that you see in each of the IDS’ is automatically missing half the data. It’s like analyzing hitter’s performance in baseball, by only looking at the hits and ignoring the outs he makes. Or it’s like evaluating a QB in football by looking at only the completed passes he makes and ignoring the incomplete passes.
It doesn’t make sense to sweep the failure of 50+% of the workforce under the rug in a footnote…
…but it gets worse.
In each IDS footnote 1 says that it includes Coaches who were with Beachbody the entire period. Thus the data includes only experienced coaches who have been with Beachbody for a year. The growing pains of people new to Beachbody are excluded. This means that those who have put in a year in the business had a less than 50% chance of receiving a check of any kind.
Churn Rate in MLM
I Interrupt this analysis to talk about churn rate in MLM.
It’s important to note that there is a huge churn rate in MLM. It ranges from 60-90% from the few companies that have accidentally disclose it at one time or another. (It is never regularly reported by any MLM that I am aware of.) It’s not often that people will stick around in business when they aren’t earning a check. In fact, I go out on a limb and say that it is dumb to put a year in a business that isn’t paying you a check. It’s a crazy limb to go out on, I know.
There is a great article on Seeking Alpha that explains that the people at the top of the pyramid stay year after year while the people at the bottom quit when they make no money and are replaced by new people (i.e. churn).
Back to Beachbody IDS analysis
Getting back to the IDS analysis, all the people who got churned in under a year or were members from June to July (not qualifying for either IDS), are excluded from this analysis.
Here’s what I would consider a more accurate representation of the Beachbody Income Opportunity. This chart has four “cases” depending on the churn rate that I don’t believe is disclosed by Beachbody. It assumes 100,000 Coaches – I had to pick a number since I didn’t see one disclosed. This is a nice round number to get an idea of the percentages… and in my experience it probably isn’t too far off from the actual number of Beachbody Coaches in the United States.
From my experience with MLMs, “Case C” or “Case D” are the most likely cases accounting for the churn. So when you read this chart you’ll see that somewhere between 4.59% (4,590 of 100,000 in Case D) and 18.36% (18,360 of 100,000 in Case C) of Coaches earn checks after accounting for typical churn for IDS 2012. From there you’ll most of those (71%) are “Retail Seller” Coaches.
Beachbody Expenses
While Beachbody provides an Income Disclosure Statement, like all MLMs, it avoids any attempt to estimate expenses. Thus we are at a loss to figure out how much money a Beachbody Coach actually brings home.
The excuse they give is that the expenses vary with each person. They do, but many of them are consistent. Here are a few to think about:
- Conference Fees – The Beachbody Coach Summit ranges from $99 to $295 depending on when you buy it. As I write this, 10/24/14, the price for the event on 7/16/15 (still nearly 9 months away) is $195. The early pricing was expired months ago (7/31/14).
The people who benefit from this early pricing are the people who are already in and already making good money… the people in the diamond ranks. It doesn’t seem right to me that the people who are making the most are going to end up paying the least. The new person who joins in 2015 is going to pay $245 or more.
This doesn’t count hotel, car, airfare, and food (restaurants are expensive), which reasonably add another $1500 in costs. Some will argue that conferences are optional. No doubt about it, they are.
However, the same people will talk out of the other side of their mouth saying that if you are serious about the business, you need to go. They’ll also say that the people who aren’t making money aren’t putting in the effort in doing stuff like this.
To those people, I’d say, “You can’t have it both ways.” Either going to the conference is a critical ingredient AND COST of doing the business or it is not. If it is not, then not going is not an example of something “not trying.”
- Monthly Coach Fees – There is a monthly $15.95 fee to be a Coach. That pays for a website and a subscription to “Success.” I’ve covered this already when I wrote about the ViSalus scam, a similar MLM shake company, but it is worth mentioning here.
The “Success Magazine” is brainwashing material, more commonly known as propaganda, directed at the MLM business. If you look at the company that distributes it, they make it clear that their business is partnering with MLMs. Just go through all the partners at the bottom of the screen and you can see that they work (it appears 100% exclusively) with pyramid selling companies. If you’ve ever seen a copy of Success Magazine, you’d see that 90% of it is sound business advice designed to gain trust… but the other 10% of it is about legitimizing MLM. In contrast, pick up any other business magazine, Fortune, Entrepreneur, Inc. Fast Company, BusinessWeek, and you’ll see nothing about MLM being a legitimate business. In fact, Inc will tell you quite the opposite.
The problem is that most people buying into MLM are too brainwashed to see that “Success Magazine” is essentially an infomercial. You shouldn’t pay a monthly fee for propaganda… especially propaganda that sells advertisements. It is a combination of paying for the Metro and your company newsletter.
The website is another area where the company shouldn’t be charging money. Facebook, Tumblr, and other similar websites don’t charge money. They make their websites available to you for free and you don’t even work for them. Why would you pay Beachbody money for a website to sell their products? Does your current office job charge you for the use of the company’s email system? Of course not.
The website that Beachbody provides has almost no incremental cost to add coaches. It is similar to the cost that iTunes incurs when you buy music there: it is fractions of a penny to send the music. The real costs are in producing the product the first time. Same thing with the Beachbody website. I don’t know how often they roll out new tools on the website, but for the most part it should be very basic, something with minimal costs to produce the first time and very few ongoing costs to update pricing and policies.
It may not seem like the monthly $15.95 fee is outrageous, but it’s a huge deal when Netflix raises rates from $7.99 to $8.99. Netflix is a good example of a company that provides product in unlimited quantities that is extremely expensive to produce… and it’s priced at nearly half of Beachbody Coach fees. It is interesting to see how the $190 in annual Coach Fees stacks up add up to the income that is being earned.
- Weekly Club Fees – I’ll let this Beachbody Coach explain this: “There is also an option to be Club Member that costs $2.99 a week and is billed quarterly. I consider the Club Membership as a cost of doing business, because in order to qualify for the customer lead program, one of the requirements is for a Coach be a Club Member. Some Coaches don’t like this, but to me $2.99 a week is a small price to have customer placed in my business.”
This is Mindbloggling. It is an annual fee of over $155 a year. It is almost as much as the Coach Fees themselves, but it can be overlooked since it is such a small number. It’s billed more often though. I realize this is “optional”, but many, like the Coach above, consider “a cost of doing business”, simply because the Beachbody created a policy to makes this fee a requirement for the customer lead program.
The customer lead program is a hairy best of complexity. Good luck wrapping your head around this 5 part series. The gist of it is that if someone signs up at Beachbody who wasn’t referred by a Coach, Beachbody will place that customer with a Coach who has paid this $155 annual membership.
Breaking it down, Coaches make money by either selling product or recruiting people to be Coaches who buy product… but this system allows Coaches to make money for doing neither. Essentially Beachbody’s website is doing the Coach’s job. Sounds like a nice free lunch, until you realize that it isn’t free.
It should be obvious that it is a strange game Beachbody is playing. They charge Coaches for websites, but when the Beachbody.com website makes money they disperse the commission to Coaches.
Shouldn’t Beachbody keep those commissions that they earned without any Coach’s help and use it to pay for the websites? That would make sense. The only reason I can see to NOT do it this logical way is that there are very few leads, and it is more profitable for Beachbody to collect the annual $155 in Club Membership fees from Coaches to qualify to get one.
Profit Analysis
It’s business 101 that income minus expenses equal profits. Making money is earning profits, not income. Here’s some analysis from Beachbody’s own information.
The easy expense is coaching fees. The $15.95 monthly fee comes is rounded down to $190 a year. The “cost of doing business” weekly fee to qualify for leads is another $155 a year. That’s $345 and you haven’t gone to a conference. You didn’t put gas into your car to go a meeting. You didn’t buy any sample product to give away. This is pretty close to the bare bones minimum.
When you fall into the 50% that didn’t earn a check after a year, the Beachbody people are going to say, “It’s because you weren’t committed.” However, by “committing” yourself, you are guaranteeing yourself of only one thing: greater expenses. As we see, the odds of greater income are extremely slim and there are certainly no guarantees.
If you start adding some of the expenses I listed it isn’t trivial. It can be thousands of dollars.
Using “Case C” of the 2012 IDS in the above chart, we see that only 18% (18,360 of 100,000) earned any income at all… 82% (rounded) earned nothing. Of those lucky enough to make a check, 71.4% had an average income of $467 Combine those two stats and 95% of Coaches are below Emerald who either lose money or maybe break even… earning no real profit for their time spent.
Using “Case D” of the 2012 IDS in the above chart, it gets worse with only 1% of Coaches making it to Emerald or above… around 99% either lose money or break even.
And remember these expenses are incurred from the start of the business, while the income is measured of those who have been there for a minimum of a year.
Is Beachbody a Pyramid Scheme?
That’s the question that people are going to ask when looking at MLM. Many people just jump to the conclusion that it is a pyramid scheme. That’s not a bad instinct and let’s look at why:
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is the authority on pyramid schemes and put together this document to help consumer tell whether an MLM is legit or if it is an illegal pyramid scheme. I’ll quote some important lines, but it is worth reading the whole document:
”Not all multilevel marketing plans are legitimate. If the money you make is based on your sales to the public, it may be a legitimate multilevel marketing plan. If the money you make is based on the number of people you recruit and your sales to them, it’s not. It’s a pyramid scheme. Pyramid schemes are illegal, and the vast majority of participants lose money…
… Avoid any plan where the reward for recruiting new distributors is more than it is for selling products to the public. That’s a time-tested and traditional tip-off to a pyramid scheme…
One sign of a pyramid scheme is if distributors sell more product to other distributors than to the public — or if they make more money from recruiting than they do from selling.”
In three separate places in one small document they’ve made it very, very clear… selling product to the public (people not in the MLM) is legit, making money recruiting people is a pyramid scheme. That’s consistent with every legal definition of a pyramid scheme that focuses on endless chain recruiting.
To summarize in caveman language: “recruiting hierarchy (”building a team”/pyramiding/[call it what you want]) is very bad. Selling to public (friends, family, etc.) is good.”
So with the FTC guidelines in place, I have to conclude that Beachbody is indeed an illegal pyramid scheme. I’m sure Beachbody’s lawyers are drafting their cease and desist letters now. To them I’d say, this is my constitutionally protected opinion based on the FTC’s guidelines and the information that I am going to (and have already) presented. While you may choose to conclude differently, I think your opinion would not be based on any evidence, so you might as well conclude the world is flat.
Before we Get started. Let’s debunk the pyramid scheme myths
To start I have to debunk the three pyramid scheme myths that MLMers always come to me with:
- A pyramid scheme doesn’t have a product or service. It seems this is part of a definition on Wikipedia. It simply isn’t true. Otherwise the FTC wouldn’t have put out the document on MLMs that I referenced above. MLMs clearly have products and services yet they can be pyramid schemes. Also, the FTC wouldn’t have shut down this MLM which was selling Dish Network products for being an illegal pyramid scheme.
- You can earn more than the person who recruited you, so it can’t be a pyramid scheme. That’s another common myth. Go through the FTC guidelines again and tell me where you see that. It’s a story that MLMers tell each other to convince themselves that they are legal. It’s not based on any case law or regulatory body that I’ve ever seen.
- Your company is a pyramid. This is the most common one. These people are confusing legal hierarchical organizations not based on recruiting with pyramid schemes that are based on endless chain recruiting. Think of it this way… A software engineer at Microsoft can make 6 figures a year without ever recruiting a single person. Typically zero percent of his annual salary is based on him recruiting others. If we go back to the FTC guidelines, this income is not based on recruiting, and clearly it is very legal. So no, Microsoft, nor your typical company, is not a pyramid scheme.
Here are some Beachbody Coaches spreading these myths (and a couple of others):
Coach 1 – Spreads “doesn’t have a product” and “a company is a pyramid” myths.
Coach 2 – This Coach doesn’t use any of the above pyramid scheme myths, but instead uses Donald Trump who licenses his name to MLM companies and sells books to MLMers. Of course Trump isn’t a distributor or Coach with any MLM company.
Coach 3 – Spreads the trifecta: “doesn’t have a product”, “a company is a pyramid”, and “you can earn more than the person above you” myths.
Lindsay Matway via YouTube video – Says a pyramid scheme is “making money not by selling product, but signing up people below them”, which is an accurate definition of Beachbody, at least in the Gimenez case study above. She spreads, “no real product being consumed” myth. The example of the FTC shutting down a company used Dish Network TV service, which is certainly a real product and consumed by viewers. The rest of the video is fluff unrelated to definition of pyramid schemes.
Coach 5 – Spreads “You can earn more than the person who recruited you” myth. Doesn’t address any of the key things that may make an MLM a pyramid scheme.
Coach 6 – Spreads “doesn’t have a product” and “a company is a pyramid” myths. Documents the money that Beachbody pays him, despite misleading people with these myths.
Coach 7 – Spreads “bogus product” myth.
Coach 8 – Spreads “doesn’t have a product” and “a company is a pyramid” myths. Creates a whole chart of misinformation such as legal MLM is generated ONLY by product sales which ignores the key difference of selling to recruits vs. selling to the public. Chart has a myth about the presence of a training program making a difference. Chart makes up a “get rich scheme” vs. “true work” myth. The only thing really accurate about the chart is the overpriced product being a sign of a pyramid scheme. As covered earlier, this points to Beachbody being a pyramid scheme. Spreads a myth about the BBB not accepting Beachbody as a member if it were a pyramid scheme, but the BBB page clearly says, “BBB accreditation does not mean that the business’ products or services have been evaluated or endorsed by BBB.” Spreads a myth about the DSA not accepting companies that pyramid schemes, but the DSA spreads a definition of pyramid schemes that doesn’t match federal regulators.
Coach 9 – Spreads “doesn’t have a product” myth. Doesn’t cover any of the points brought up by the FDA.
Coach 10 – Spreads “a company is a pyramid” (via image), and “you can earn more than the person above you” myths.
That’s 10 Beachbody Coaches I found in just a few minutes simply by going to Google and searching “Beachbody Scam” and “Beachbody Pyramid scheme.” Not one of them had a legitimate reason that I could see why Beachbody is not a pyramid scheme. Not one of the coaches addressed the point about making more sales to the public than through its downline of distributors.
Some of them are making significant money. It is gross negligence on Beachbody’s part to not sufficiently police the misleading of consumers. At a very minimum, Beachbody could put an official page on its site and tell distributors to not address the topic at all simply point to the website.
I just solved Beachbody’s massive compliance issue in under an hour. This stuff isn’t rocket science and any reputable company would have been all over it.
So How is the Money being Made in Beachbody?
The Kellie Gimenez case
Kellie made it clear in the Side Hustle Nation podcast that she makes $4000-4500 a month and that $500 comes from direct sales. The rest comes from commissions from her downline. Here is what she says at the 17 minute market of the podcast:
”A majority of your income isn’t going to be coming from the products. The majority of your income, as you grow a team, is going come from your Coaches and the volume they sell. Because you can only sell so many workouts a month… If they aren’t drinking Shakeology every month, I mean, they can buy one workout and never buy anything else from you.
… When I first started as a coach and didn’t have a team underneath me, I was making about $500 selling products. That’s not bad. It paid for our groceries. It paid for gas. It was a good income, but it’s definitely not something that could be a successful side hustle.
She’s clearly making more from recruiting than from sales to the public. Kellie is essentially saying this is how it is designed. She even is negative on making sales to public.
This fits the FTC’s definition of an illegal pyramid scheme exactly. Any reasonable person would have to conclude that using the FTC’s guidelines and definition, Gimenez is running a pyramid scheme. She may not even realize it, because of the myths of pyramid schemes that I presented above. She might be a fantastic person… certainly sounds like it on the podcast.
As a reminder Kellie is a Diamond level Coach in Beachbody. This is in the 0.4% or 0.1% of Coaches depending on “Case C” or “Case D” of the my IDS analysis chart above. If anyone in the organization should know the rules and is abiding by them, it should be diamond Coaches. Beachbody corporate should be “coaching” their distributors about the FTC’s guidelines regarding pyramid schemes and at the very least look at its top distributors and see if they are making their money from the downline vs. selling to the public.
Let’s Look Back at Shakeology’s Pricing again
Ms. Gimenez’ quote in the previous section about which products are being bought is significant. If someone buys a workout, the commission is earned one time and then maybe never again. However, Shakeology is different as a customer spends consistently on it month after month. It seemed like Nick cut her off before she could say it, but it certainly sounded like she was ready to say that the emphasis is on selling the shakes.
In fact, if you go back and listen to the podcast, at the 11:30 mark, Kellie says that she tries to get everyone to buy the shakes.
Given what we saw with the Pen Pyramid Scheme analogy in the section about Shakeology, it fits the mold to be a pyramid scheme. Get people using vastly overpriced pens/shakes regularly and reward a fraction of the money back to the people at the top pyramid.
It might not be a smoking gun of a pyramid scheme, but it is another major piece of evidence against Beachbody. They could very easily offer an affiliate program that rewards Coaches for selling product without the pyramid of rewards for recruiting more Coaches. Such an affiliate program would quickly end any questions as to whether it is a pyramid scheme.
Beachbody’s own words on their Income Disclosure Statements
I thought that Beachbody’s own words in its Income Disclosure Statement interesting.
”Many of our Coaches have chosen not to build a business, but rather join for the opportunity to purchase our programs at wholesale and to be able to earn extra income by helping their friends and family purchase our programs. For this period, 33% of our Coaches decided to take advantage of the bonuses available for those who help the company recruit and enroll other Coaches and retail Beachbody® products to customers. This activity is rewarded through a binary compensation plan which pays bonuses at the Development and Leadership Ranks of Emerald Coach and above.”
First Beachbody makes the fundamental mistake that most MLMs make and have Coaches “join the [business] opportunity” to earn a discount. Many MLMers describe it like being a member of Costco. There’s fine, but Costco conflate a business opportunity with a discount.
The discount earned by joining is 25% according to Kellie in the podcast. That is a hefty chunk on the monthly price of Shakeology. The question becomes, who is left to buy the products at a retail price… the “public” mentioned in the FTC guidelines?
Next, the Coaches who join “to be able to earn extra income by helping their friends and family purchase our programs” are building a business contrary to the opening sentence of that quote. If selling product to family and friends doesn’t count, then it looks even more like a pyramid scheme when evaluated through the FTC’s guidelines.
The final two sentences of that quote are confusing at best. It makes it sound like earning a bonus is a decision that someone makes such as ordering a cheeseburger at McDonalds. It then bonuses are earned by recruiting and enrolling other coaches as well as retailing Beachbody products to customers. However, according to the first sentence retailing Beachbody products to friends and family are not running a business. So unless there’s some distinction of what a friend/family/customer is (and the FTC doesn’t seem to make this) apparently we can exclude retailing Beachbody products in the later part.
That leaves us with earning bonuses for recruiting and enrolling. As you can see, this is where the majority of money is earned. That’s hits the FTC’s guidelines for being a pyramid scheme on the nose.
Beachbody Bummer is a great resource
I stumbled upon Beachbody Bummer which lists federal warnings about pyramid schemes and MLMs. I would have like him/her to link to the SEC’s guidelines, but nonetheless she/he does a great job at highlighting some of the important things like inappropriate pricing (as mentioned earlier).
The Beachbody Scam
As we’ve seen actual profits are very, very rare in Beachbody. Yet it doesn’t distributors from recruiting. They can’t see the “business opportunity” for what it is… a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Here’s a great quote from Harper’s Magazine on Mary Kay and MLM schemes:
“The women I interviewed for ‘The Pink Pyramid Scheme’ told me stories about struggling to patch together daycare or to survive high-risk pregnancies while working long hours scouting prospects and hosting parties without any guarantee of a sale. Debts mounted, marriages failed. They couldn’t have it all because Mary Kay’s business model (like that of any multilevel-marketing enterprise) is designed primarily to profit from, rather than enrich, its workforce.“
Think about those recurring expenses in relation to the average income. Suddenly the Coaches fees and Club Membership fees make sense.
Think about the high margins the company is earning on distributors buying Shakeology… even when distributors buy it wholesale Beachbody makes a substantial profit. It’s essentially the Pen Pyramid Scheme, but with (slightly) less exaggerated margins and purchased much more regularly. The Pen Pyramid Scheme doesn’t become less of pyramid scheme if they give distributors the right to buy pens for $80 instead of $100. A 20% savings looks good, but it is minimal when the pricing is so absurd.
Do the Ends Justify the Means?
Beachbody Coaches may argue that in the end people are getting healthy, so who cares about all the scammy stuff that goes along with it. If you are really interested in people’s health, then I suggest you simply coach them without Beachbody. Form a buddy system and keep each other in check.
There are countless other tools available. The free website SparkPeople is a health community. Additionally you could also use another site StickK.com (my article on it: StickK to Your Goals) is a way to keep people motivated.
I have no problem with Beachbody workouts, but there are numerous options available. Workout videos have been around for decades.
Just a few minutes of research can give you all the value of the “ends” without all the problems associated with the “means.”
I STRONGLY IMPORE everyone to petition the government with your feelings about this as I have done. The official FTC Twitter account has instructions about how you can communicate your opinion of scams and help others avoid being scammed:
If you think you see a scam, talk with someone. Your story could help someone avoid that scam. Then report it to the FTC at https://t.co/gtPxXAxsek: https://t.co/PWFawyXejS
— FTC (@FTC) May 20, 2020
This article was originally published on October 31, 2014. It contains the best information I found at the time of publication. If anyone has factual information where I may be incorrect in my OPINION above, they are welcome to leave a comment for my own and public review. Readers with different opinions are always free to publicize those opinions elsewhere.
I strive to update this article, and all my articles, with the best information available to help consumers make an informed decision. I may not always achieve that goal due my other career and family obligations, but I do my best. If I’ve been informed publicly (such as Twitter) multiple times over 1-3 months it will probably get my attention. One easier way is to leave a comment.
Just to make it extremely clear to readers and MLM lawyers looking to sue me, the article above is my constitutionally protected opinion. It’s strange that I have to say it and cite the FTC above, but some lawyers act badly when they are offered a bunch of money by a company looking to bully a military family.
Thank you! I feel so much better about passing up this “opportunity” and j have to say it is really hits moms – particularly stay at home moms – into this because sadly there is a lot of isolation when you stay at home, plus 24/7 busyness, and exercise/eating well takes the back burner. Setting personal goals seems futile sometimes! It is hard to ignore the amazing results people are getting yet it comes at a cost. Almost all my close friends and family I told about bb coaching were like NOO!! Thank you for all your suggestions on how to make steps to improve my health and find like minded community support. I am wondering how long this scheme will continue? It’s pretty rampant in my area.
Chrystal you are so right, I live paycheck to paycheck and got sucked in by an old high school “friends” yet she has a high paying ft job so does hee husband and I think its really crappy that they target struggling housewives. I will say I do love shakeology it does help w a list of things n the workouts and eating plans do work. But I spent 2yrs as a coach and made 130 dollars total…and once u don’t make any $$ ur coach won’t talk to u anymore. Like i said in previous replies I had friends who just bought the workouts and lost just as much weight if not more than ppl drinking shako. I would love to see this company investigated bc its a pyramid thru and thru. ..and how convenient that their top top coach is an ex lawyer and her and her sister make 6-7figure incomes. I should have listened to my family bc they all said the exact same thing as yours…”Noooo” lol…they’re always right and I’m a sucker for these kinda things
Beachbody bummers website requires a login / password to view.
Years ago I got a bag of shakeology that actually had a metal part in it. I took a picture and sent it to my coach; I requested an emergency phone call to discuss this. She didn’t honor my request. I lost all respect for her. I have been looking for a good substitute for shakeology for husband. He really likes shakeo and can tell a huge difference if he misses his daily shakeo but I hate giving money to scam artists.
If memory servers, Beachbody Bummer’s website didn’t used to require a login/password.
Hope, here is the # for coach relations. Even tho ur not a coach you can ask for a supervisor and complain about your “coach”
[Editor’s note: Phone number redacted as I can’t verify it at this time. I recommend that people refer to Beachbody’s official website for support information.]
You do not need any of these gimmick shakes to get healthy. Just buy a juicer and start juicing fresh produce (veggies and fruits) It is pure nutrition and heals so many ailments. Weight loss is also a benefit too! Just put in ‘juicing’ into any search engine and find info. There are many documentaries to guide you as well. Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead was the one that started me. I went from pre-diabetic, high BP and cholesterol to normal blood work in months.
I too got a login/password message too when I clicked the link. If it didn’t require one before, it appears to now. At least from mobile.
Thank you for this. I have been side-eying my acquaintances who are
coaches because I suspected as much, but glad to be vindicated.
When you clicked which link? Websites can change over time and this is a fairly old article.
Shakeology has heavy metals in it go to labdoor.com it will show which protein shakes to buy.
I figured that out in 2 days. They know their strategic marketing and they sell it good! I’ve seen the coaching BS . They claim it’s not a pyramid through their choice of words. If anyone has a lick of common sense and see the writing on the wall IT is! Clearly spells and looks pyramid. Now I did one challenge for yes I am a stay at home mom for the convince of the workouts at home. But shakeology heck no… $130.00 a month for me only ummm red flag there. I bought my first bag on eBay ( cheaper ) yes, you have to doctor it up. But! Like all other shakes too… but not all of them either! Lost 10lbs. The first month. Now,
This month I went to GNC and spent $60.00 bought powder, with lower sodium and more protein than shakeology for my leaner muscles. And I bought a water boost … still using my workouts from bb putting my theory to test. So trust me I’m so anti shakeology and I’m going to prove this with my Dailey videos on not using shakeology and going to show my hard work on a non shakeology budget. But for real the workouts are amazing and it’s cheaper on demand!!! Just workout without all the wasting of money!!!
Diet-shakes does seem to attract a lot of scams.
If you want a diet-shake that’s decently priced and with scientific documentation. (And I mean really documented by real doctors in a hospital setting and with publicly availiable documentation)
Then you should try [Editor’s Note: This isn’t the place to advertise competing products. I’ve removed the product name.]
Shakeology is not meant to be told for someone to drink this instead of food. We market it as a great way to add value into your day. Nutrition. Dense nutrition. I tell people how and when to include/add it into their day depending on their diet and lifestyle. Most people do eat 3 meals a day. And its my job as a coach to help people understand that 5 is better. I teach meal ideas snd snack meal ideas. Getting them in the routine of eating meals correctly. And what they should consistent of. Some people over eat and snack too much, consuming way too many calories in a day. Having shakeology as part of your breakfast or a snack, or a post workout can benefit someone greatly. As a coach, we offer monthly accountability groups to teach and motivate into an overall healthier more fit lifestyle. The conferences are not mandetory. Some ppl never go. Ever. The women in my challenge groups grow into such positive, healthier people. Nor do they have to have the club membership. Coaches do not have to have it either, but its one hell of an easy way to have access to a ton of full workout programs all from your phone (of which you can choose to stream onto you tv). As a mother of a toddler, its been a blessing to work from home and help others with the nutritional knowledge ive gained and help to push them, all while furthering my own mental and physical strength and growth. The products are truly CLEAN quality and great for anyone to have. The workouts have gotten me in the best shape any gym could have done w me wandering around and eventually just hoppin on the treadmill. We need more than a treadmill. And we need support and learning and accountability; a coach and monthly group to participate in. As I mentioned, being a mother of a young child, it was the only way I could get any workouts in; at home. And as for shakeology goes, it’s been a great, easy way to add in vitamins and superfoods I never get on the daily. It would take over 2500 calories in a day in whole foods to get what we ‘need’ everyday. Shake this shit up in a shaker cup and go. 9/10 ppl love the taste! Ive never had a single complaint w consumers. Consumers love It so much that they want to become a coach and inspire others w their newly found healthy journey and help others become healthier as well. Its been a positive, uplifting community to surround myself in. Instead of paying $90 for my old boxing membership doing the same hour long workout at a gym, and buying protein powder and fruits and amino acids to make a decent shake, ill pass that up. Ill pay $100 for shakeology and workout at home w my amazing programs, run my challeng groups where I guide people how to really eat well and right and let them enjoy their nutrient dense, yummy, filling, clean, quality drink thats easy to shake up and consume. Nor have I ever been told to never take no as an answer. I help people with their struggles and weaknesses and light a fire under their asses in my groups. Most people do not know how to make a correct meal. Nor what a snack consists of. They have no idea that carbs arent The enemy and dont know what good or bad carbs even are. They have no idea how to go about clean foods and shopping and prepping. Thats what we offer. Bye Felicia.
Why aren’t you teaching people to use the cheaper products with dense nutrition. As the article covered in the podcast, the salesperson and her friend didn’t have kind comments for the taste.
I can’t really follow the rest of what you wrote because it isn’t divided up into paragraphs.
Where did you go to get your degree in order to practice nutrition? Surely you have one because you tell people when and how to consume their Shakeology?
Sounds like you are acting as a dietician. Aside from the points in this article, it’s sad that anyone can call themselves a “coach.” It’s misleading and annoying.
I am actually very knowledgeable with FOOD. Assessing someones diet and what they’re not getting enough of or getting too much of isn’t rocket science. Therefore im helping tons of people. I am training for a fitness competition, so dont tell me I dont know my shit. Maybe I could help you! Hah. There’s a reason people have a 6 pack. Its because they know the science behind food and fitness. (Me). Bye hun.
Agree. The term “Coach” is incredibly misleading. It’s a worthless, purchased title that BB markets to make people feel important. Most of them know nothing at all about nutrition or fitness. Total sham. Even worse are the people that fall for it. Giant pyramid scheme…
Kayla Graves said: “Shakeology is not meant to be told for someone to drink this instead of food.”
Of course it is marketed as a replacement for food. It’s promoted as a weight loss aid. If it wasn’t substituting for food, then Shakeology would simply be adding calories and would be worse than useless as a weight loss aid.
Kayla Graves said: “I tell people how and when to include/add it into their day depending on their diet and lifestyle.”
So what you’re saying is that you simply parrot the instruction sheet and provide no real value. Got it. Par for the course for MLMs
Kayla Graves said: “Most people do eat 3 meals a day. And its my job as a coach to help people understand that 5 is better. I teach meal ideas snd snack meal ideas.”
Job??? You don’t have a job. You paid into a pyramid scheme that provided you with a paper-thin premise to pretend that you have a facsimile of a job. You’re not a nutritionist or a chef so whatever information you impart about meal and snack ideas would be utterly worthless compared to the vast amount of good information that’s available for free online from a plethora of sources.
Kayla Graves said: “Some people over eat and snack too much, consuming way too many calories in a day.”
Really? Thanks for sharing that Einstein. Are these the kind of profound insights you share with your “clients” when you’re posturing in an attempt to rob them blind?
Kayla Graves said: “Having shakeology as part of your breakfast or a snack, or a post workout can benefit someone greatly.”
No more so than any other meal replacement shake that costs a fraction of the overpriced pyramid scheme BS you’re selling.
Kayla Graves said: “As a coach, we offer monthly accountability groups to teach and motivate into an overall healthier more fit lifestyle.”
In other words, you work for free. The only thing you’re trying to motivate people to do is to buy your crap products and ensnare more suckers.
Kayla Graves said: “As a mother of a toddler, its been a blessing to work from home and help others with the nutritional knowledge ive gained and help to push them, all while furthering my own mental and physical strength and growth.”
You don’t seem to have any real knowledge other than what you read in a Shakeology brochure and perhaps the odd article in a fitness magazine. You shouldn’t delude yourself into thinking otherwise.
Kayla Graves said: “The products are truly CLEAN quality and great for anyone to have.”
That’s a worthless throwaway comment. Simply parroting buzzwords from a brochure does not make it so.
Kayla Graves said: “The workouts have gotten me in the best shape any gym could have done w me wandering around and eventually just hoppin on the treadmill.”
That shows your ignorance in a nutshell. You are not performing at a level remotely comparable to working out with a professional trainer in a gym. It is delusional to think otherwise. How many top-performing athletes rely on a work-from-home video regimen? None.
Kayla Graves said: “And as for shakeology goes, it’s been a great, easy way to add in vitamins and superfoods I never get on the daily. It would take over 2500 calories in a day in whole foods to get what we ‘need’ everyday.”
That’s complete and utter BS and it demonstrates your ignorance about nutrition. Shakeology is no greater than any other dietary supplement or meal replacement shake. It’s just scandalously more expensive and connected to a pernicious pyramid scheme.
Kayla Graves said: “Shake this shit up in a shaker cup and go.”
You got the “shit” part right at least.
Kayla Graves said: “9/10 ppl love the taste! Ive never had a single complaint w consumers. Consumers love It so much that they want to become a coach and inspire others w their newly found healthy journey and help others become healthier as well. Its been a positive, uplifting community to surround myself in.”
Hah! Such blatant BS! Your shake is garbage. People cringe at the taste. If consumers loved it, the company wouldn’t have to rely on a pyramid scheme to sell it. Your community is a cult of mediocre greedy self-serving dolts with delusions of grandeur.
Kayla Graves said: “Instead of paying $90 for my old boxing membership doing the same hour long workout at a gym.”
That’s incredibly misleading. You can’t learn to box properly by watching a Beachbody video at home. That’s like saying you saved hundreds of thousands of dollars by watching a few episodes of House instead of going to med school.
Kayla Graves said: “Ill pay $100 for shakeology and workout at home w my amazing programs, run my challeng groups where I guide people how to really eat well and right and let them enjoy their nutrient dense, yummy, filling, clean, quality drink thats easy to shake up and consume.”
That’s such a colossal pile of cult-like BS. If you cared about what people eat, rather than just selling them your moronic shakes, you would encourage them to shun processed shit-in-a-bag masquerading as food and encourage them to eat whole foods exclusively. The knowledge you impart is basically worthless, and the worst part is that you have to do this worthless “coaching” (aka, recruiting) for free.
Kayla Graves said: “I help people with their struggles and weaknesses and light a fire under their asses in my groups.”
What you really do is try to coerce people into selling worthless pyramid scheme shakes, so that they in turn can coerce people into selling worthless pyramid scheme shakes. Don’t delude yourself into thinking that engaging in such scammery is providing a valuable service to anyone. You’re not a fitness trainer and you’re not a nutritionist. Nothing you bring to the table has any real value.
Kayla Graves said: “Most people do not know how to make a correct meal.”
Nor do you apparently. You think a “meal” is some Shakeology powdered shit in a can. How laughable.
Kayla Graves said: “They have no idea that carbs arent the enemy and dont know what good or bad carbs even are.”
Where are you finding these people? In a head trauma ward. Who the F doesn’t know what a carb is, and why would they need a doofus MLM scammer to explain it to them when there is an abundance of reliable free sources a few keystrokes away on the internet?
Kayla Graves said: “Assessing someones diet and what they’re not getting enough of or getting too much of isn’t rocket science.”
No its not rocket science; it’s nutritional science – an area in which you are woefully unqualified.
Kayla Graves said: “Therefore im helping tons of people.”
Trying to help yourself to people’s money is what you are really doing. You have no expertise whatsoever.
Kayla Graves said: “I am training for a fitness competition, so dont tell me I dont know my shit.”
You don’t know your (you’re) shit. Not even a little bit.
Eating well is a good thing. Working out is a good thing. But you have no special or elusive knowledge; no formal training in fitness coaching or nutrition. What you do have is a simplistic overview of a few talking points gleaned from fitness magazines and Shakeology brochures. You present yourself as a guru when in fact the sum total of your knowledge could be learned in about 15 minutes of Googling.
You teach people how to open a shake canister. You dumb them down so they’ll fork over money for your products. Bravo!
” It would take over 2500 calories in a day in whole foods to get what we ‘need’ everyday.”
Hi, finishin my PhD in Nutritional Science. Gonna need a citation for that because it’s highly unlikely you got that from a reliable source.
Keep doing what you’re doing. If people are inspired to drink a healthy drink, exercise, and feel better about themselves then more power to you and to them. Forget the haters.
A couple of days ago, the FTC issued some new guidance to MLM companies in the wake of law enforcement actions against Herbalife and Vemma.
It’s worth reading and asking if Beachbody publicly releases audited numbers of the retail sales that the article states. Also is Beachbody forthcoming that “very few MLM participants earn more than a small amount of supplemental income” and making sure that all potential distributors understand that?
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/business-blog/2017/01/redress-checks-compliance-checks-lessons-ftcs-herbalife
What’s interesting is you don’t need any nutritional or fitness education to sell the shakes. You just need to be good at convincing people to listen to you. You and these other coaches sound slightly irresponsible giving this kind of guidance with no former training.
By the way, being able to get down to 8% body fat for a competition doesn’t mean you are knowledgeable about food. It means you can carb cycle with enough discipline to drop weight over 8~12 weeks. Big deal. I did it too. You can take any competition diet off of the internet, follow it, and drop weight. It doesn’t mean it’s healthy, it doesn’t mean it’s right for YOU, and most people become nutritionally deficient from this as your diet is so limited during this time.
You probably paid money to be in the competition, too. Just like shakeology, it’s a rip-off because there is zero pay-off unless you are overall #1 in the show.
Sounds like you are a failed disgruntled BB coach. Work harder and don’t be so fucking “lazy.”
Jake, did you read the introduction? I’m not a failed or disgruntled BB coach.
BB banned my account for questioning their pricing on Shakeology on forums. I then created another account and posted to the old thread questioning why they banned my account and challenged them to come out from hiding behind their delete key and defend their pricing and banning my account. Guess what? They banned that account and deleted that post in under 15 minutes and now the entire thread has been deleted!
How can a company who’s mantra is “challenge” be so afraid of a challenge themselves and not step up to the plate? Is it because they can’t defend such tactics?
Why were they so afraid to reply? They were obviously reading these posts. Were they afraid of a possible ground swell of come backs? Well that is life! Embrace the challenge as they like to state. What a cowardly act of hiding behind the scenes, secretly deleting posts that they are to afraid of, without so much a word? Did they offend other readers? I think not! After my first post I had 5 buddy invitations!
How about advising on the reason you banned my accounts and deleted my posts?
What type of person or company does cowardly acts like that?
Bob, it’s the type of company that knows their time will be up soon enough. When I left BB (after 2yrs of making no money and spending 120/month on shako & website) all the other “coaches” who were supposed friends; begged me not to give up that it takes time. Yet when I 1st joined I was told I’d have my shako paid for in a few short months. You know by scamming other ppl to buy on auto ship. When I called to cancel I was told I had to fill out an online form w an electronic signature bc of “security purposes”…it was really so they could charge me for another whole month of shako. I filled out the online form was given, a confirmation code and I was charged for another month. I called a supervisor and was told “oh ya we have your form but your signature didn’t come thru so it was voided” and they refused to give me my $$ bk for the bag of shako they fraudulently charged. Thank God I cancelled 3wks before the ship date bc my credit card reversed the charges. They made it so difficult for me to “quit” and then all these “motivational, in it to help the ppl ‘coaches’ all deleted me from their groups . Some of these ppl were life long friends/acquaintances. Some of them are still very nice but they have no desire in helping me on my health and fitness journey anymore. I guess if I’m not making them $$ in their pyramid I’m no longer useful to them. When I 1st started and asked, “isn’t this a pyramid” I was told NO NO NO it’s network marketing. I said its the same thing except u offer a product. I was told to talk to the top leader (won’t say name) but she’s a 5 star diamond coach and quit her 6figure career as a lawyer to be a BB coach full time. Her, & her husband and her sister are ALL the millionaire coaches. So they say..but i was told to talk to this person bc she’s a lawyer and a lawyer wouldn’t get involved in a criminal pyramid!? I would love for karma to come bk on these ppl living the high life off of struggling house wives that put all their $$ & faith into this “company”
Yeah, I think the time is coming to an end, soon. I like shakeo, it did help me lose the 2nd baby weight (no small feat at 42). But I’ve never attempted to sell it, and I do think it’s overpriced.
There are quite a few coaches in town, and a friend recently started. I’d given her a BB program as a gift (the one that helped me lose the weight), and one of her other friends got her into it. I like the workouts. I like the emphasis on health but…how many people, really, can you sell on shakeo and new programs? That’s the only way to make money.
When BOD came out I saw the writing on the wall. I held off for a few months but now – for $100-150 a year I have access to dozens of full programs and online materials. Why would I need shakeo or to be a coach? As far as I can tell, the only people buying anything are coaches. It’s like a club. Yeah, sure I’m going to spend $120 on a new program…why do that when I can just get T25 or P90X3 or whatever.
Bob said: “How can a company who’s mantra is “challenge” be so afraid of a challenge themselves and not step up to the plate? Is it because they can’t defend such tactics?”
Because their mantra, like all MLM mantras, is complete and utter BS. Of course they can’t defend their tactics –because they are indefensible. Every MLM past and present has been predicated on BS and deception – misrepresenting the chances of success in the so-called business opportunity, lying about what’s in their products and the value they provide, etc.
Bob said: “Why were they so afraid to reply? They were obviously reading these posts. Were they afraid of a possible ground swell of come backs?”
They chose not to reply because they controlled the venue, so of course they took the easy route and simply quashed your posts and the thread. Had it been a venue beyond their control they would have dispatched the trolls to spread company propaganda and misinformation and drown out facts with noise. And when that doesn’t work, they resort to bribery or petty baseless SLAPP lawsuits.
Bob said: “What a cowardly act of hiding behind the scenes, secretly deleting posts that they are to afraid of, without so much a word?”
Of course they are cowards. What did you expect from an industry predicated on swindling single mothers, little old ladies, and down-and-out desperados? These are the same companies that sell bottles of toxic third-rate fruit juice and tell people that it cures cancer.
Bob said: “How about advising on the reason you banned my accounts and deleted my posts?”
Again, they banned your accounts and deleted your posts because they were able to and it was the easiest way to silence your criticism. These are dishonest and irredeemable sacks of dung. The only time they’ll ever admit guilt is when the feds have their backs against the wall and they are facing multi-million dollar class action settlements.
Bob said: “What type of person or company does cowardly acts like that?”
A total POS, obviously. The MLM industry is consistent and predictable.
This is typical response of most “Coaches”. they THINK they know. they only know what Beachbody programs them to learn. That fact that this “Coach” is pushing, and undoubtedly recommending to many others, this over priced ShakeO product proves it. There are many other meal replacement / protein shake products that provide the same results.
Kayla Graves said: “Shakeology is not meant to be told for someone to drink this instead of food.”
Of course it is marketed as a replacement for food. It’s promoted as a weight loss aid. If it wasn’t substituting for food, then Shakeology would simply be adding calories and would be worse than useless as a weight loss aid.
Kayla Graves said: “I tell people how and when to include/add it into their day depending on their diet and lifestyle.”
So what you’re saying is that you simply parrot the instruction sheet and provide no real value. Got it. Par for the course for MLMs
Kayla Graves said: “Most people do eat 3 meals a day. And its my job as a coach to help people understand that 5 is better. I teach meal ideas snd snack meal ideas.”
Job??? You don’t have a job. You paid into a pyramid scheme that provided you with a paper-thin premise to pretend that you have a facsimile of a job. You’re not a nutritionist or a chef so whatever information you impart about meal and snack ideas would be utterly worthless compared to the vast amount of good information that’s available for free online from a plethora of sources.
Kayla Graves said: “Some people over eat and snack too much, consuming way too many calories in a day.”
Really? Thanks for sharing that Einstein. Are these the kind of profound insights you share with your “clients” when you’re posturing in an attempt to rob them blind?
Kayla Graves said: “Having shakeology as part of your breakfast or a snack, or a post workout can benefit someone greatly.”
No more so than any other meal replacement shake that costs a fraction of the overpriced pyramid scheme BS you’re selling.
Kayla Graves said: “As a coach, we offer monthly accountability groups to teach and motivate into an overall healthier more fit lifestyle.”
In other words, you work for free. The only thing you’re trying to motivate people to do is to buy your crap products and ensnare more suckers.
Kayla Graves said: “As a mother of a toddler, its been a blessing to work from home and help others with the nutritional knowledge ive gained and help to push them, all while furthering my own mental and physical strength and growth.”
You don’t seem to have any real knowledge other than what you read in a Shakeology brochure and perhaps the odd article in a fitness magazine. You shouldn’t delude yourself into thinking otherwise.
Kayla Graves said: “The products are truly CLEAN quality and great for anyone to have.”
That’s a worthless throwaway comment. Simply parroting buzzwords from a brochure does not make it so.
Kayla Graves said: “The workouts have gotten me in the best shape any gym could have done w me wandering around and eventually just hoppin on the treadmill.”
That shows your ignorance in a nutshell. You are not performing at a level remotely comparable to working out with a professional trainer in a gym. It is delusional to think otherwise. How many top-performing athletes rely on a work-from-home video regimen? None.
Kayla Graves said: “And as for shakeology goes, it’s been a great, easy way to add in vitamins and superfoods I never get on the daily. It would take over 2500 calories in a day in whole foods to get what we ‘need’ everyday.”
That’s complete and utter BS and it demonstrates your ignorance about nutrition. Shakeology is no greater than any other dietary supplement or meal replacement shake. It’s just scandalously more expensive and connected to a pernicious pyramid scheme.
Kayla Graves said: “Shake this shit up in a shaker cup and go.”
You got the “shit” part right at least.
Kayla Graves said: “9/10 ppl love the taste! Ive never had a single complaint w consumers. Consumers love It so much that they want to become a coach and inspire others w their newly found healthy journey and help others become healthier as well. Its been a positive, uplifting community to surround myself in.”
Hah! Such blatant BS! Your shake is garbage. People cringe at the taste. If consumers loved it, the company wouldn’t have to rely on a pyramid scheme to sell it. Your community is a cult of mediocre greedy self-serving dolts with delusions of grandeur.
Kayla Graves said: “Instead of paying $90 for my old boxing membership doing the same hour long workout at a gym.”
That’s incredibly misleading. You can’t learn to box properly by watching a Beachbody video at home. That’s like saying you saved hundreds of thousands of dollars by watching a few episodes of House instead of going to med school.
Kayla Graves said: “Ill pay $100 for shakeology and workout at home w my amazing programs, run my challeng groups where I guide people how to really eat well and right and let them enjoy their nutrient dense, yummy, filling, clean, quality drink thats easy to shake up and consume.”
That’s such a colossal pile of cult-like BS. If you cared about what people eat, rather than just selling them your moronic shakes, you would encourage them to shun processed shit-in-a-bag masquerading as food and encourage them to eat whole foods exclusively. The knowledge you impart is basically worthless, and the worst part is that you have to do this worthless “coaching” (aka, recruiting) for free.
Kayla Graves said: “I help people with their struggles and weaknesses and light a fire under their asses in my groups.”
What you really do is try to coerce people into selling worthless pyramid scheme shakes, so that they in turn can coerce people into selling worthless pyramid scheme shakes. Don’t delude yourself into thinking that engaging in such scammery is providing a valuable service to anyone. You’re not a fitness trainer and you’re not a nutritionist. Nothing you bring to the table has any real value.
Kayla Graves said: “Most people do not know how to make a correct meal.”
Nor do you apparently. You think a “meal” is some Shakeology powdered shit in a can. How laughable.
Kayla Graves said: “They have no idea that carbs arent the enemy and dont know what good or bad carbs even are.”
Where are you finding these people? In a head trauma ward. Who the F doesn’t know what a carb is, and why would they need a doofus MLM scammer to explain it to them when there is an abundance of reliable free sources a few keystrokes away on the internet?
Vogel you hit the nail on the head! It’s all scripted and some r better than others at selling. When I lost 20lbs and 37inches using the products and programs I was thrilled. Then when I hit a plateau I continued to drink this so called miracle shake exercised daily and still ate the correct portion controls. When I started gaining weight for no reason I went to the drs and was informed I have thyroid issues and I told him about shakeology. He already knew plenty about it and said u can get the same nutrients from a salad and fruits and that there’s 23gms of carbs in ea serving of shako. And to stop drinking it immediately. So I guess those are not the so called “healthy” carbs lol…when I informed my “coach” she didn’t even respond and that’s when I finally woke up and realized my mom was right all along these ppp r con artists and know basically nothing except u can’t be fooled anymore so therefore I must be dropped from their list of important “clients”
I am so sad to hear this although I suspected it. I’ve used Beachbody programs for years and love most of them. I’ve also tried a lot of different shakes, including Vega and making my own. Vega makes me want to throw up and all my other shakes leave me hungry after awhile even though I add a lot of protein and other ingredients. I accidentally ordered a chocolate shakeo and it was so good with added spinach, banana and peanut butter. The best thing was that I wasn’t hungry for hours and seriously cut my cravings for junk. I’ve drank shakes since I was a kid long before they were even a thing. I realize Shakeology is overpriced though and I hate MLMs. I recently signed up as coach to cut my costs even though I didn’t trust the setup and fees but I too think it will end up costing me more. Now I really wish I hadn’t signed up. But my personal trainer friend (who was really good at her job) said she’s lost all business since Beachbody came to our town. I do want to help myself and my friends and we absolutely love the Beachbody on Demand. I’ve never found it so easy to work out before. I’m not pushing the shakes and want to cancel my order as soon I find a good substitute. I also work for another MLM and while they have an awesome product and are legit I can hardly make money with them anymore either. I wish all MLMs would be banned.
I’m in the same boat… I love the 21day fix workout &have lost a decent amnt of weight so far, &I like the shakeo for the most part, but HATE the ridic. cost. I ONLY signed up as a coach for the supposed”discount” &don’t want to waste my time soliciting everyone on soc.media, but now that it’s time to buy a new workout, I have no idea how to go about buying it. I already requested the form to cancel my coach membership bc I didn’t realize there was a monthly fee. I’m just trying to fig out the best deal/cheapest way to continue doing the workouts &am not sure where to go from here? I wish I would’ve demanded more details on what I’d actually be getting/spending when signing up bc I still don’t even know. Should i order a new workout, THEN cancel my coach membership, or does it even matter? Suggestions, anyone?
Liz, do you need the DVDs, or are you fine with streaming workouts? If you have the setup at home or on your computer (and fast internet), you can sign up for Beachbody on Demand. Right now they have an “all access” deal – $99 for the entire year – ALL programs. All of the eating/ portion/ schedule info is on line for each program.
If that would work for you, I’d go ahead and do that. Then, once you are set up, cancel your coach membership. Because then you have access to all of the workouts and all new ones that come out.
If you want the DVDs, and you want a *new* workout, then yes, buy the workout before canceling. If you want the DVDs, but want an older workout, you can probably get it used for way less.
I am not even a Beachbody Coach or in any way affiliated with this or any network marketing company but need to point out obvious flaws in this man’s arguments – the woman who claimed to make $500 from direct sales and $3000 from the sales of those she recruited – made so based on the sales TO THE PUBLIC by her sales team (not from recruiting the people.) Anyone who works in a sales environment at a company has a Sales Manager who gets paid to recruit salespeople, who sell the products and earn a commission – and in turn the Sales Manager gets his salary/commission/bonuses paid for and so does the General Manager (and the President/Owner).
[Editor’s Response: I don’t think she said that the $3000 came from sales by her pyramid to the public (i.e. not other Beachbody salespeople). She seemed to say that selling wasn’t the way to make money and her focus was on growing her pyramid through Facebook ads. It’s been a long time since I listened to the show, but that’s my memory of it. Let’s not confuse MLM with a sales management career.]
They are not paid bonuses by the act of recruiting but based on the results of those recruited.
[Editor’s Response: And if those results are from other people who recruited others? I defer to the FTC’s guidelines that I cited. Please take it up with them.]
It is scary to me knowing consumers who write these articles (yet buy cars from dealerships who qualify for the same definition of a ‘pyramid’). Consumers can’t be so blind. Buy your health products from a company like GNC, or Wal-Mart, or Amazon (the company paying this man to discredit other products and promote theirs… the ultimate ‘red flag’ for me when buying products) or buy them from a friend and their MLM. All options involve profit – so give that to a friend or give it to a company. Just don’t be fooled – it’s happening with every purchase you make anyways. Welcome to what is called the ‘economy’ folks.
[Editor’s Response: Car dealerships aren’t close to a similar definition of pyramid. Who gets recruited to open up a rival car dealership? I’ve never heard of it happening. I don’t think I promoted any Amazon products here. In other articles, I’m said that I’m very happy with my Amazon Fire TV stick or something along those lines.]
Always be as skeptical with an MLM opportunity as you are with other purchases. But be equally as skeptical as people who get paid to write articles and websites to trash companies under the guise of ‘true information’ and subtly promote others. Make decisions on your own.
[Editor’s Response: I want to make it clear that no one offered to pay me money to write this article. I am a fan of Nick Loper’s website and I wanted to shine a light of what the FTC says about MLMs and pyramid schemes. Take up “true information” with the FTC, not me.]
I wish the website author wasn’t so ‘lazy’ so he could find a business creating value – not promoting fear and mistrust among friends.
[Editor’s Response: I researched and thousands of words and addressed hundreds of comments. You mistakenly state that car dealerships are a pyramid. Who is acting lazy?]
I would encourage you to follow your own wise advice – ‘take up your concerns with the FTC’. Obviously these companies are functioning inside of the guidelines or they wouldn’t be in business. If they are not – then take up your “true information” concerns with the FTC.
[Editor’s Response: A high-ranking FTC official disagrees with your “obvious” statement. Read Bloomberg’s article:An Insider Explains Why the FTC Can’t Put an End to Pyramid Schemes.
Additionally, The FTC spokeswoman has already trashed the MLM industry for not being legitimate.
I have taken my concerns to the FTC and it seems like they’ve come to the same conclusion. Thanks for your support.]
I would also encourage you to gain your knowledge from other sources than ‘thousands of words’and addressing ‘hundreds of comments’ – perhaps a textbook on Economics would help you understand the concepts of networking, Marketing and Sales. If you are unable to draw any other conclusion from my car dealership remark than that they are pyramids – that is concerning. The fact your comment indicates you are concerned with Facebook advertising for someone promoting their business is worrisome also.
[Editor’s Response: Textbooks on Economics don’t cover MLM. If you are unable to understand that MLM is about recruiting and car dealerships are not – that is concerning. I have no problem with Facebook advertising, but it wasn’t geared to sell product, but recruit salespeople into what appears to be a scheme (as I mentioned previously).]
I have made a Google search for your knowledge as well as people who come to your site hoping for legit, unbiased information.
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/35744
There’s an example of an article written by a very successful company regarding Network Marketing for those looking for information.
[Editor’s Response: You failed looking for unbiased information, because the bias of the author is clearly disclosed at the bottom of the article in his bio. Also, Entrepreneur specifically states that they don’t stand behind legitimacy of the article: “The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, not of Entrepreneur.com.”]
Your website confirms a great comment I heard years ago – that the internet is the bathroom wall of society. Which is unfortunate, for those of us come searching for balanced, intelligent information – not a one-sided chest beating exercise, grounded in unsubstantiated and very biased opinions.
[Editor’s Response: You seem to be the only one bringing biased information with that Entrepreneur article to the table. Hope you at least found some intelligent information from the FTC.]
Based on the comments echoing your sentiments, you have certainly found an audience who drinks your brand of Kool-Aid anyways.
Dave Burton said: “Obviously these companies are functioning inside of the guidelines or they wouldn’t be in business.”
That statement shows a profound lack of critical thinking. It’s akin to saying that if a thief is still on the streets rather than in jail, he cannot possibly be a thief. Dumb on its surface and painfully dishonest.
Dave Burton said: “I would also encourage you to gain your knowledge from other sources than ‘thousands of words’ and addressing ‘hundreds of comments’ – perhaps a textbook on Economics would help you understand the concepts of networking, Marketing and Sales.”
That’s a silly red herring. Textbooks on economics don’t address multi-level marketing. Try staying on topic instead of admonishing people to go on wild goose chases.
Dave Burton said: “If you are unable to draw any other conclusion from my car dealership remark than that they are pyramids – that is concerning.”
Car dealerships have nothing to do with MLM and they aren’t pyramid schemes. It’s a worthless analogy and a distraction from the issues at hand.
Dave Burton said: “I have made a Google search for your knowledge as well as people who come to your site hoping for legit, unbiased information. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/35744 There’s an example of an article written by a very successful company regarding Network Marketing for those looking for information.”
Your Googling skills are as a deficient as your critical thinking abilities. You are suggesting that this site is providing biased information and instead are steering people to a threadbare 16-year old Q&A, devoid of facts and references, penned by some ass who serves as an adviser to MLM companies – and you’re calling that unbiased??? ? Do you have a head injury?
Dave Burton said: “Your website confirms a great comment I heard years ago – that the internet is the bathroom wall of society. Which is unfortunate, for those of us come searching for balanced, intelligent information – not a one-sided chest beating exercise, grounded in unsubstantiated and very biased opinions.”
Bitch, please! You are the one treating the internet like a toilet and thumping your chest like a deranged bonobo. You’re clearly not looking for balanced intelligent information – your only goal is to undermine it; and that couldn’t be more obvious
Dave Burton said: “Based on the comments echoing your sentiments, you have certainly found an audience who drinks your brand of Kool-Aid anyways.”
He’s not offering Kool-Aid; he’s also not offering outdated one-sided inspid BS from an MLM apologist as “unbiased information.” Ironically, if an MLM were selling Kool-Aid it would be priced at about $20 a pouch and they’d be telling everyone that it’s a pathway to untold wealth, as well as a cure for cancer. Smarten the F up!
Also note that this webpage is devoted to the subject of Beachbody – e.g., their pyramid scheme and their worthless overpriced shakes. Instead of saying anything relevant to the topic at hand, you’re spraying piss like a blind dervish at a urinal.
Seems like the above doesn’t know what a pyramid scheme is, and casually throws around unsubstantiated accusations and straw man arguments about doing it for money when the opposite is true – some big pyramid schemes have tried very hard to quash this site with legal threats, so I’d imagine its harder to keep it going as a service to the public that it would be to simple shut the site down.
Also, pound sand with your “friends” comment. You’re not my friend and you’re not doing anyone any good with your comment.
Your opinions on what a pyramid scheme are not relevant. See the article I posted in the above comment and educate yourself on something other than one sided, biased websites that only confirm your misguided opinions.
[Editor’s Response: Please tell me you aren’t referring to the Entrepreneur article that admitted it was biased and not actually of the opinion of Entrepreneur.]
You can be sure my friends comment wasn’t directed at you David R. I am very astonished you would be so arrogant to think that an anonymous internet posting was addressing you personally, I don’t even know you and likely wouldn’t enjoy your company if you are as unpleasant in real life as you appear online.
Thank you for speaking on behalf of the entire internet as well – believe me, there are people out there with critical thinking skills that will appreciate my comments. Not everybody is like you. Thank goodness for that!
[Editor’s Response: The people with critical thinking skills saw through your trick when you posted the Entrepreneur article. They surely won’t be appreciating your comment.]
Dave Burton said: “Your opinions on what a pyramid scheme are not relevant.”
David wasn’t expressing an opinion on what a pyramid scheme is. What he said was that you don’t seem to know what one is; and with that, any reasonable person would agree.
Dave Burton said: “See the article I posted in the above comment and educate yourself on something other than one sided, biased websites that only confirm your misguided opinions.”
You provided a link to a 16-year-old Q&A, devoid of facts and references, penned by a consultant to MLM companies and you actually expect people to believe that it is unbiased or valuable? And you have the gall to all this site misguided??? Man, you MLM apologists suck so hard; just the worst bottom-of-the-barrel dross imaginable.
Dave Burton said: “You can be sure my friends comment wasn’t directed at you David R. I am very astonished you would be so arrogant to think that an anonymous internet posting was addressing you personally, I don’t even know you and likely wouldn’t enjoy your company if you are as unpleasant in real life as you appear online.”
The comments you post here are addressed to all the site’s readers, and David’s reply was perfectly reasonable. No one here cares for your petty sniping. Get on topic or piss off.
Dave Burton said: “Thank you for speaking on behalf of the entire internet as well – believe me, there are people out there with critical thinking skills that will appreciate my comments. Not everybody is like you. Thank goodness for that!”
David made no attempt whatsoever to speak “on behalf of the entire internet” and it would appear that don’t have the faintest inkling of the meaning of “critical thinking”. You suck at trolling too – a mind-bogging example of an inept MLM apologist.
Dave Burton said, “I have made a Google search for your knowledge as well as people who come to your site hoping for legit, unbiased information.
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/35744
There’s an example of an article written by a very successful company regarding Network Marketing for those looking for information.”
Dave, congratulations on being hypocrite of the year. First of all, how does someone say they are looking for unbiased and “legit” information, then post in the next sentence, after posting a hyperlink, that it was written by a biased resource. This logic can only be described as, bizarre.
Second of all, that article is an advertisement in disguise. That is not something people need to read to learn about “Network Marketing” (MLMs shiny new toy word), and if you are going to attempt to discredit someone’s work based on explicit bias, please reference where he is receiving compensation and from whom in this article instead of foaming at the mouth.
Dave Burton said, “You can be sure my friends comment wasn’t directed at you David R. I am very astonished you would be so arrogant to think that an anonymous internet posting was addressing you personally, I don’t even know you and likely wouldn’t enjoy your company if you are as unpleasant in real life as you appear online.”
Your friend’s comment? Do you have multiple personalities?
Why is it arrogant for someone to call you out in a public forum for your BS? If you choose to write in a public domain, then you sign an unwritten contract to be scrutinized. How are you going to be so offended after putting out an extremely vile posts against the author? It would seem someone can’t handle a taste of their own medicine.
Dave Burton said, “I am not even a Beachbody Coach or in any way affiliated with this or any network marketing company but need to point out obvious flaws in this man’s arguments”
This is obviously a lie, or you have a weird agenda to go to random blogs based on topics you know nothing about and attempt to defame an author. Nobody would come here and write like you have without being some kind of corporate shill or an outraged distributor.
Who should the people trust? Geoff who is a stranger from the internet, or Entrepreneur magazine?
[Editor’s Response: Clearly Geoff as the Entrepreneur article reads as an advertisement from a biased source that Entrepreneur doesn’t stand behind. Geoff isn’t doing any these things.]
Please people whatever you do – do not drink Geoff’s Kool-Aid. It is a dangerous concoction. Side effects include: hypocrisy (unhappy that I challenged the author, when according to Geoff’s own words ‘posting in a public forum opens you up to scrutiny’) false assumptions (believing I am in an MLM company, not someone looking for information) and blindness (inability to see I came to this site looking for information, not to be met with a negatively biased agenda)
Don’t allow your emotions to override logical thinking Geoff.
Dave Burton said: “Who should the people trust? Geoff who is a stranger from the internet, or Entrepreneur magazine?”
That’s not the choice that people have in front of them. Some of the choices they do have are as follows:
1. Geoff, a contributor who has consistently been posting well though-out, well-referenced, fact-based comments here for quite some time versus some anonymous troll crackpot MLM apologist who has yet to make a single incisive contribution or put a single fact on the table.
2. LazyMan’s well-respected consumer finance blog, which contains a treasure trove of research and verifiable facts about the pitfalls of MLM versus a threadbare Q&A published by a paid MLM consultant 16-years ago.
3. The wealth of additional information published by mainstream media sources, experts, and government agencies which have established conclusively that the MLM is industry is a shit-filled morass of crooks and liars versus propaganda published by PR people paid by the MLM industry.
Dave Burton said: “Please people whatever you do – do not drink Geoff’s Kool-Aid.”
Please top talking about Kool-Aid; you sound like an idiot. I’d sooner drink anything Geoff is offering than a BS Shakeology shake.
Dave Burton said: “I came to this site looking for information, not to be met with a negatively biased agenda.”
You can drop this charade any time because no one here believes for a second that you came “looking for information”. You came here to discount it. You are a blatant troll and are very, very bad at it.
Dave Burton said, “Who should the people trust? Geoff who is a stranger from the internet, or Entrepreneur magazine?”
Let’s be clear, again, that “article” was written by a ridiculously biased source to help further your agenda. I have no financial bias and no attachment to this website. Your attempt to assassinate my character by doubling down on that article makes you look like a complete lunatic.
Dave Burton said, “Please people whatever you do – do not drink Geoff’s Kool-Aid. It is a dangerous concoction. Side effects include: hypocrisy (unhappy that I challenged the author, when according to Geoff’s own words ‘posting in a public forum opens you up to scrutiny’) false assumptions (believing I am in an MLM company, not someone looking for information) and blindness (inability to see I came to this site looking for information, not to be met with a negatively biased agenda)”
Your over-dramatized paragraph does not help to make you look more intelligent, but rather is distracting from the attempt to refute my points. Let’s get away from this chicanery and stick to the topic (BeachBody’s Shakeology, and/or directly addressing the posts).
First of all, your use of the word hypocrisy is incorrect and misleading. The definition of hypocrisy is: a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess. My emotional fervor has nothing to do with this word, and your inability to use it correctly while continuing to go off the rails makes you look like an idiot.
The last thing I am going to do is take you at “your word” that you are not a corporate shill or disgruntled distributor (coach). The way that you attempt to attack people, instead of points within the article is absurd, and nobody would have this kind of passion to write as you are writing…just because.
If you came to this site and actually looked for unbiased information, then you would not have written anything. Instead, you posted an extremely biased article, attacked 3 different people to date that have a difference of opinion, and have continued to spout off at the mouth. It is fair to say, that you are on some serious “Kool-Aid”.
David Burton said, “Don’t allow your emotions to override logical thinking Geoff.”
This actually made me chuckle. You have to be one of the worst internet trolls of all time to come up with a line like this.
You all seem to preach critical thinking – yet display none. Critical thinking involves evaluating information from various sources, not sources that simply align with your preconceived notions.
[Editor’s Response: When I first wrote about MLM nearly 10 years ago, I had no preconceived notions. As I’ve read what the FTC and other consumer advocates have written, it has proven to be truthful at least 95% of the time. When people have come to support MLM, they present someone financially-biased such as what you did with the Entrepreneur article.
Keep in mind that I objective reviewed that Vemma was a scam years before a court of law agreed with the FTC that it was.]
For those reading here online that do still enjoy using critical thinking – here is another article from someone who’s opinions differ from this website… many people enjoy hearing 2 sides of an idea, not just 1-sided drivel.
This guy even does a great job of describing websites like this. There are even some facts in here for Geoff and Vogel (unfortunately, these facts oppose their preconceived notions, so they are unable to accept them.)
[Editor’s Response: Once again another financially motivated person looking to build his own pyramid/downline (as noted in the postscript) extensively quote the Direct Selling Association, which is, by the unbiased and accurately, well-cited Wikipedia, a public relations and lobbying organization of MLM companies]
You guys all made my day – a website dedicated to tearing other people down doesn’t seem to like having differing opinions or having his ideas challenged. Pride is a dangerous thing. Rise above it.
[Editor’s Response: This website doesn’t tear people down. It’s an entrepreneurial and personal finance one like a combination of Entrepreneur and Money Magazine. Not sure why you’d think that entrepreneurship and personal finance is about tearing people down.]
Dave Burton said, “You all seem to preach critical thinking – yet display none. Critical thinking involves evaluating information from various sources, not sources that simply align with your preconceived notions.”
Dave, this weird psychological projection technique you are trying to use is not going to work here. It would be wise of you to take your own advice and start considering relevant counter-points to your nonsensical platform. If you are going to sit here and preach that you are open-minded while listing ridiculous propaganda pieces, then we aren’t going to take you seriously and you will continue to flounder.
Dave Burton said, “This guy even does a great job of describing websites like this. There are even some facts in here for Geoff and Vogel (unfortunately, these facts oppose their preconceived notions, so they are unable to accept them.)”
I don’t have any preconceived notions, as I have spent over a year researching and learning from unbiased experts in this field. All of my positions have been developed from reading FTC guidelines, clinical studies, statistical studies, and investigative reporting.
You have done nothing except distract, defame, and misguide in your posts. You have maintained a ridiculous and unfounded position that has been crippled through sound logic.
Dave Burton, “You guys all made my day – a website dedicated to tearing other people down doesn’t seem to like having differing opinions or having his ideas challenged. Pride is a dangerous thing. Rise above it.”
I’m glad that I could “make your day”, but it may be time to find something a bit more productive to do with your time. This website is designed to protect and inform consumers from people like you, and it continues to do great work!
Dave Burton said: “For those reading here online that do still enjoy using critical thinking – here is another article from someone who’s (sic) opinions differ from this website… many people enjoy hearing 2 sides of an idea, not just 1-sided drivel.”
What I find most amusing about your pathetic attempts at trolling is that you simply throw a link at us and say it contradicts what we’re saying but you don’t say how – in fact, you don’t articulate any arguments of your own at all. You’re not presenting a different POV, you’re just deflecting from engaging in a true debate, where your lame arguments would be handily eviscerated, and hiding behind an argument from authority.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_authority
Dave Burton said: “You guys all made my day – a website dedicated to tearing other people down doesn’t seem to like having differing opinions or having his ideas challenged. Pride is a dangerous thing. Rise above it.”
You haven’t provided any challenge at all. In fact, of all the MLM trolls I have encountered here, and there have been many, you are among the most inept. This is a website dedicated to helping consumers make better financial decisions. You get torn down because you’re a belligerent troll who doesn’t present any insightful or compelling ideas and whose sole purpose seems to be disruption. You also seem to lack sufficient awareness to recognize the audience. It’s like complaining that you didn’t get a nice reception after marching through Harlem wearing a white cap and bedsheet.
I bring up the fact that DB was making unsubstantiated claims and ad hominem attacks, DB then proceeds to attack ME personally like that’s a counter argument.
You’re not presenting a case any more compelling than other MLM shills – you’re just a little wordier than most.
It’s fun watching the 3 blind mice spout off the same information in different ways – accusations of deflection, misdirection, psychological projection, insults against MLM people then asking for a logical conversation? If only you all had the ability to be as critical against the negative information and misinformation the website is spreading – you would be able to construct a balanced argument.
[Editor’s Response: And yet you can’t cite any misinformation on this website. This information is about protecting consumers which is not “negative information.” It can only be construed as “negative” if you are someone who likes to exploit people.]
I came to this site for information – not negative propaganda. Any website or person who is unable to accept an opposing view, without getting all bent out of shape is what really concerns me. As I explore the idea of starting a Network Marketing business – I will encourage those I speak with to review both the negative sites like this one, and the positive and allow them to make an informed decision that is right for them. The general population isn’t as foolish as you seem to think – the website acts like it needs to ‘protect’ them. How about Educating them, with both Pros and Cons of a decision? Empowering them to make a decision that is right for them?
[Editor’s Response: What if you had an opposing view that domestic violence is a great thing and improves of the victims? Accepting opposing views of things that harm people such as MLM/pyramid schemes is not a good thing.
If you actually tried to put a valid argument for MLM (not to be confused with Network Marketing), we could have a discussion about it. Instead you simply attacked the well-cited and well-sourced view presented here and tried to claim bias, with no reason for doing so. You also presented your own clearly marked biased article and tried to the logical fallacy of Argument by Authority.
The general population is actually pretty smart. That’s why around 95% stay away from MLM/pyramid schemes. It’s the MLM population, over 99% of them lose money, that I have concerns about. I’d like to be able to help these people not lose money.
And yes, people are free to make the decision themselves. Unfortunately, they are often not presented with the concept of MLM being a pyramid scheme or that 99% of the people who join will lose money. They are shown fast cars and vacations.
Nearly 10 years into researching MLM, I haven’t found any pros.]
One comment was made from a Beachbody Coach who has achieved great financial success – rather than encourage her entrepreneurial spirit or offer sound financial advice (like the website claims to offer) – it attempts to discredit the Doctors in her downline. I guess being a website financial information site means it is well postured and more intelligent, and educated than Doctors?
[Editor’s Response: Which comment was this? Did she give names of the doctors in her downline. Was she forthcoming with her identification or potentially someone just trying to validate a scam. Can we confirm that this person makes her financial success from directly selling product to consumers who are not in the organization, or did she build a big pyramid of a downline? So many questions need to be answered before we can evaluate her case.
And I always encourage people’s entrepreneurial spirit, but I want to make sure we aren’t doing so for pickpockets or other areas of illegal activity.]
I have invested enough time talking with those who are incapable of seeing things in a different way. I am going to turn off the comments now. I will use this website and this thread as a great example for those I talk to if I do decide to proceed with an MLM business. You guys all responded as expected and your close-mindedness and inability to share even 1 positive comment about an Industry growing exponentially is evidence of that.
[Editor’s Response: Here’s something positive. A few companies charity-wash by making small donation so some charities that might be profitable. However, since I can’t find any MLM operating legitimately according to the FTC’s guidelines here, it’s like Robin Hood stealing from the poor and keeping 99.999% of it for himself. It’s hard to suggest that the 0.001% that is given back is positive given the circumstances, but there you go.
Also, MLM isn’t really growing and certainly not exponentially. Look what happened when Vemma had to start playing by the rules.]
People aren’t foolishly buying these products and causing these many, many different MLM’s to grow – they seem to be finding things they enjoy buying, likely researching them on the internet, willingly spend money on them, seemingly to get a result they enjoy as they continue to buy. Of course, some don’t get a result – and return products or stop taking them. Like any other business model.
[Editor’s Response: When the scheme was taken away from Burnlounge and Vemma they didn’t buy products and didn’t continue to buy. The company’s sales tanked. It wasn’t like any other business model which is why the FTC made the comments it did.]
Until you are willing to expand your thinking even 1 percent to grasp that idea – you have nothing more to add to this conversation.
Good day gentlemen.
Dave Burton said, “It’s fun watching the 3 blind mice spout off the same information in different ways – accusations of deflection, misdirection, psychological projection, insults against MLM people then asking for a logical conversation?”
I’m not sure how that was confusing, but let me rephrase since this went over your head. You are a degenerate troll that has done nothing but ignore facts and evidence to further your goals. You have wasted your time by trying to defame people while completely degenerating the conversation. You have used the terms listed above to hide from the reality, and that is why we asked you to have a logical conversation…simple?
Dave Burton said, “If only you all had the ability to be as critical against the negative information and misinformation the website is spreading – you would be able to construct a balanced argument.”
Again, this is the same stupid deflection crap that makes no sense. We have placed well balanced and articulated positions in front of you, and you have continued to maintain your delusional position while ignoring the actual purpose of the discussion. You are a terrible internet troll that has tried to use blatantly bad psychological manipulation to further their agenda.
Dave Burton said, “I came to this site for information – not negative propaganda. Any website or person who is unable to accept an opposing view, without getting all bent out of shape is what really concerns me.”
After reading this, I only have one question. How high was the fall on your head?
Dave Burton said, “As I explore the idea of starting a Network Marketing business – I will encourage those I speak with to review both the negative sites like this one, and the positive and allow them to make an informed decision that is right for them.”
Finally, we are getting somewhere. I’m going to go out on a limb and say you are already fully indoctrinated in an MLM (you can hide behind the term “Network Marketing” if it makes you feel better), based on your devotion to the industry. Please do encourage people to come here for information, but don’t be surprised if they don’t join afterward. This conversation has not given you a strong footing for recruiting in the future, and probably will make your downline think of you in a different light.
Dave Burton said, “The general population isn’t as foolish as you seem to think – the website acts like it needs to ‘protect’ them. How about Educating them, with both Pros and Cons of a decision? Empowering them to make a decision that is right for them?”
I don’t believe anyone said the general population is foolish. This, again, is some made up nonsense to help with your psychological bull…
This website does a wonderful job of weeding through stinky pile of feces your rambling puts out there. Anyone that gets taken in by MLM can utilize this website as a resource to see through the manipulation and lies.
To date, there are no pros with MLM, and if you feel there are (which I’m sure you do), then you can feel free to list them, but be prepared for them to be refuted.
Dave Burton said, “One comment was made from a Beachbody Coach who has achieved great financial success – rather than encourage her entrepreneurial spirit or offer sound financial advice (like the website claims to offer) – it attempts to discredit the Doctors in her downline. I guess being a website financial information site means it is well postured and more intelligent, and educated than Doctors?”
First of all Dave, thank you for not linking the comment (sarcasm). Second of all, anyone who is going to believe a random, biased, anecdotal comment without any evidence is going to be easily deceived. If that person provided a tax return form showing the income they made from Beachbody (never going to happen), then there may be something to work with. Third of all, there are plenty of doctors that are bad business people. They didn’t go to school for business, and it is foolish to assume that the amount of schooling they have gone through would suggest they are experts at things outside of their field. Would you assume that a PhD in psychiatry would be great for calculus? (Rhetorical question, of course not)
Dave Burton said, “I have invested enough time talking with those who are incapable of seeing things in a different way.”
Is this your way of saying you have spent a lot of time trying to hold a conversation with the man in the mirror? (That would be your reflection)
Dave burton said, “I am going to turn off the comments now. I will use this website and this thread as a great example for those I talk to if I do decide to proceed with an MLM business. You guys all responded as expected and your close-mindedness and inability to share even 1 positive comment about an Industry growing exponentially is evidence of that.”
Dave, nobody is believing you aren’t involved in MLM already (you have now used multiple terms to help confuse the identity of the business). You are clearly a corporate shill or disgruntled distributor that is lashing out, presumably at a source that stopped a recruit from joining your “team”.
If you already knew how we were going to respond, then why bother posting in the first place? This seems like a bizarre exercise in futility…
Dave Burton said, “People aren’t foolishly buying these products and causing these many, many different MLM’s to grow – they seem to be finding things they enjoy buying, likely researching them on the internet, willingly spend money on them, seemingly to get a result they enjoy as they continue to buy.”
Where is your evidence of this? There is no proof to suggest MLMs gain revenue based on consumer sales versus recruting/sales to distributors based on the goal of generating retirement income. This is more indoctrinated crap spilling from your mouth. In fact, now is the worst time to join MLM, because all of the MLMs are offering their products cheaper on Amazon and eBay than they are through distributorships.
Dave Burton, “Until you are willing to expand your thinking even 1 percent to grasp that idea – you have nothing more to add to this conversation. Good day gentlemen.”
Stamping your feet out of the door in defeat while trying to proclaim mental superiority is a hallmark of MLM indoctrination. Your hollow, canned, and utterly useless posts have come fallen short and as such, in a last ditch effort, you try one last time to claim the upper hand by telling us to stop.
Dave, please make good on your word and show all of your recruits this website and this comment section!
Dave Burton said: “If only you all had the ability to be as critical against the negative information and misinformation the website is spreading – you would be able to construct a balanced argument…I came to this site for information – not negative propaganda.”
Oh Dave, you poor SOB. Let’s recap your contributions to date. You first appeared 3 days ago making a fallacious argument that an MLM distributor is no different from a sales manager in a non-MLM company, which is demonstrably false. You then incorrectly suggested that MLM health products are no different from those sold at GNC or Wal-Mart, also demonstrably false, and proceeded to launch an unprovoked attack against the blog host, claiming that he’s lazy and sowing fear and mistrust; that he was posting misinformation (what that was, you never said); and, despite having no such evidence, that he was being paid to write negative articles about your MLM.
You then suggested that people should shun the information here and read other sources for “unbiased” views, but the only source you presented was a shallow 16-year-old opinion piece with no references penned by a paid MLM PR consultant. Hardly something that would pass as unbiased or compelling. Worse, you didn’t even make a point; you just posted the link, spiked the football, and ran from it without discussing any of its content.
You proceeded to slag other contributors here as misguided, and then the wheels really fell off your cart. Since then, the only comments you have posted have consisted of petulant whining and personal attacks.
So for all your bitching about how this site is unfair and how we need to read more unbiased information, the only thing you have come up with in support of your charge was that one horribly outdated superficial article authored by the MLM industry PR consultant, which no rational person could construe as an unbiased source, and which by no means refutes any of what has been said here to date. And you have yet to point out a single statement that is untrue or biased.
Either you came here with intention of disrupting the site, or you decided to become disruptive as revenge after your initial superficial comments were eviscerated. Whatever the reason, your MO is that of a bomb-throwing troll and it’s clear that your goal was never to learn anything.
Now you have degenerated into full meltdown bitch mode, and witnessing it is equal parts sad and funny. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out troll.
Dave Burton said: “The general population isn’t as foolish as you seem to think.”
I think the general population is much smarter than you are. That’s why so few people among the general population become distributors for scammy snakeoil MLM pyramid schemes. That’s why MLM has such a bad name that even MLMs don’t like describing themselves using the term because they know people will run in the other direction. MLMs have a horrific PR problem — entirely deserved. and of their own making.
Dave Burton said: “I have invested enough time talking with those who are incapable of seeing things in a different way. I am going to turn off the comments now… Until you are willing to expand your thinking even 1 percent to grasp that idea – you have nothing more to add to this conversation. Good day gentlemen.”
How infantile can you be? You are upset because no one is moved by your vapid self-serving statements. Your inability to sway people is a direct result of the lame arguments you have put forth and the sociopathic manner in which you have conducted yourself. When everyone disagrees with you, maybe you should accept that the problem isn’t with them but with you and your ineffectual commentary.
Another post by DB, another series of ad hominem attacks and unsubstantiated arguments. The author of this site and Geoff said it well, but quite simply MLMs are set up in such a way that most people make little to no money, while they’re promised huge incomes for little work. It preys on individuals who don’t realize the risks.
It’s a shame, but I know people fall for it, just like people fall sway under politicians who speak so assertively they assume they must be speaking the truth (nevermind the facts). It’s a false equivalence, saying both sites are equal, where most of the arguments of the other side are name calling and things like casual libel against the author to this site. DB proves that there’s a need of independent voices like this site more than ever.
I purchased 21 day fix from beach body and was pursued to be a coach but I decided it wasn’t for me since I am really not a social person and the fees did not seem worth the risk. I was told to be a coach I would have to pay the membership fee plus buy at least one bag of shakology per month which seemed outrageous to me.
I ended up buying the challenge kit for21 dayfix which includes the workouts, the portion containers, and blender bottle, and a bag of shakology.
I was told that the shakology was set upon a subscription plan automatically and I would have to cancel within 30 days or I would be charged the $130 a bag and receive another bag in the mail automatically.
I called and canceled and was still charged and still received another bag. I had to call three times in total to cancel, luckily I had the money in my bank account and nothing bounced but all in all it was a nightmare and put a really bad taste in my mouth for the company.
I plan on getting another beach body workout soon because the workouts are great but I will go through eBay and get a used or second hand DVD set.
Jess I had the same problem and I was a “coach” (unfortunately I fell for the dream of big $$ lol) but once I realized I wasn’t making anything and spending a fortune I quit. And I had the same problem w cancelling. I got charged 2 extra times and had to have my credit card company fight the charges. That whole experience made me really angry and I now see beachbody for what it really is
Hi everyone.
I’ve been talking to a Beachbody coach via a social media platform and have been considering jumping on the train. Her progress is inspiring to say the least – first of all, her progress with her own health and fitness and, secondly, her success in her coaching abilities and financial situation. She appears to be strong physically and emotionally, and she has reportedly quit her well-paying full-time day job to coach part-time and make a full-time income.
Thankfully I am a somewhat savvy individual, so I have taken all her claims with a grain or two of salt, but my job pays pretty poorly. I’m working my butt off for a small company that should but doesn’t appreciate me. I’ve been getting frustrated with my financial and job situation to say the least. I’m a well-educated hard worker, so all these frustrations come to a head when I’m on social media and observe this coach who, well, she seems wonderful, and I think I could do what she’s doing and be just as successful.
The only problem is that I am a private person with multiple health problems that I worry about- a., in my abilities to do the exercises, and b., in my ability to not have the shakes wreak havoc on my GI. Also, I do not use my real name on social media because I have been stalked by someone whom I seek to avoid for the rest of my life. Talk about burdens.. thank God I found Jesus some years ago, but I won’t turn this into a spiritual post.
Anyway, I shared these burdens with my prospective coach and she said that they have vegan shakes which would sit well with me. She said that many people with health conditions more serious than mine have become successful coaches and have even improved their state of being. In fact she said my obstacles will inspire other people facing the same challenges. And lastly, regarding my privacy concerns… she said that I could use my middle name but that people will be inspired by me being the real me so, if I use a fake name, that is coming across as a lack of authenticity.
The last bit is what rubbed me the wrong way the most out of everything. I mean the whole thing is weird to me- posting videos of myself exercising in spandex on the Internet for anyone to see is weird enough. Selling powdered shake stuff is also a little weird (let alone drinking it). But to feel pressure to use my real name when.. there is a real risk to my safety.. doesn’t rub me the right way. To ask me to put it all out there for just the potential of gain- no guarantee of my success at all- is asking a whole lot of me.
Anyway, I haven’t made up my mind on this Beachbody thing (leaning toward no), but I have decided that, God willing, this will be the year I start my own business and take control of my financial success. I am so tired of chasing jobs at companies that underpay employees when I could be using my skills and education for people I believe in- myself and my prospective customers- in a field that I believe in- health and wellness.
I hope that if you choose to respond to my comment that you do it in a way that is positive and constructive…
Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day.
Bella, please consult with your doctor and dietician/nutritionist about how Shakeology might have value over other products in the marketplace (such as a few Vegan ones I suggested). It might help you cut through the hype of the product itself.
Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) is just that… marketing. In MLM 99.5% (or so) of people lose money, so I’d agree with your friend/sponsor that you need to be 100% all-in. That’s kind of the opening bid in attempting to be 5 of 1000 to just make ANY money.
Please don’t be confused by the pitch… MLM is not a business.
Hi Bella, stick w your gut and say NO to coaching. My coach told me how she was 6 months away from quitting her management position w excellent pay to be a full time coach. That was 3yrs ago she hasn’t quit her job. I know another coach who is an RN and she’s been saying for yrs how she can live off BB alone and hates her job as a nurse, yet she’s still there. I fell for the scam and wasted thousands of dollars n it went straight to the top of tge pyramid. If you eat healthy proportioned meals and exercise 30mins a day u will lose weight. I suggest just buying a program and that’s it. Dont get sucked into the auto ship and scam of coaching. These ppl r liars and they pray on the good intentions of ppl like u and me to line their pockets. Best of luck
Bella, just remember that coaches will say pretty much anything to get you under them in the pyramid. No matter what doubt you present to them they will find a way to make you think it’s the best decision you could ever make. They want you to believe they care about your health first, but think about it. It’s definitely about the money first. I’m an emerald coach hanging on by a thread, and I know at some point I’ll get out of this completely. My coach would convince others that you could leave your current job and make a living from being a coach. One girl fell for it, left her job, and struggled and ended up needing to find another job. There are so many coaches in my area now, it’s friends competing against friends to screw friends. Now that it’s so popular I really don’t see people being successful. And you put a lot of your spare time and money into it.
Shakes are not for losing weight but are for improving your health (so they say). They can aid in weight loss because if you only have that for breakfast you’re cutting calories. They are not regulated, meaning there’s no 3rd party company that is making sure what BB says is in the shakes, really is in the shakes. One time I asked a rep if they could send me a complete list of ingredients and their origin. They came back and said that’s proprietary information. If I’m an employee shouldn’t proprietary information be available to me?
I stopped promoting this company after all the horrible incidents with customer service. One girl was over charged on sales tax and took 3 months to get her money back. 3 months of me calling and pestering. I firmly believe they would not have addressed it if I didn’t keep nagging them. I also believe this is happening to other people and that they are getting away with tax fraud. Among other fraudulent activities. I had customers get charged and never receive the product. Who wants to inconvenience their friends. It’s just not worth it. Oh and you end up acting like an expert on health and fitness and unless you have a degree in it, how can anyone do that? I was always afraid someone was going to get hurt and I would feel liable.
Anyway just thought I’d share some of that with you. I’m glad I found this page because there aren’t many places where disgruntled BB employees can voice their concerns or opinions without feeling like their BB peers are watching.
I made the mistake of getting involved with BB, thinking I could make some extra money! I should have known when my so called Coach would never meet me at my home, only at a cafe.
More bells should have gone off when he didn’t have a car, but was claiming this high status (Diamond) I believe. I paid fees and autoship for beach body for about a year and half, and wasn’t able to recruit anyone to coach or get autoship! And trust me I tried!
The best I could do was sell my increasingly growing over stock of the product at a discounted rate. This so called Coach of mine would never answer my questions about the money, and kept showing me all these people added to my down line and how all I needed was toget people in my up line to start making money!!! I had probably about 25 people in my downside!!!!
I turned up the heat on him and then we started playing phone tag, and even though he had two numbers to reach me; he chose only one and told me he wasn’t gonna be calling all these numbers to talk to me! Guess it was OK when he was getting me sign up though!!!!
He later promised toget me something for all the people in my so called down line, not much but something; because I was done doing business with him, especially after I thought he was a genuine friend and invited him to my wedding and was told “I don’t do weddings, you sure you wanna do that?”
I attempted to even get another Coach but nothing was done, it took longer than it should but I was able to stop the autoship of shakeology, and selling it at a loss of about $45 wasn’t working anymore because one of the guys at my job found it online for about $65 versus trying to do autoship for about $130!!!!
To this day I have never heard from this guy and reached out to him once on Facebook and got nothing!!! Now beach body is advertising a set quarterly fee of $34 to be able to view all their workout dvds over tablet, phone etc etc! Anyone know if this is a scam as well? I know that there dvds are good but what brought about this promotion, when they were pushing the purchase of same?
My guess is that Beachbody realized that people would buy a few DVDs and it would be enough for them. If it’s $34 per quarter for access, they are generating $136 per year from each customer. It might not be the best value for your dollar.
The on-demand deal is not a scam. I held off for a long time and eventually tried it. It’s pretty great actually.
(They also have a $99 a year option.)
For the price, you get access to a large library of older workouts (at least a dozen different programs), plus online access to the paperwork/ recipes/ workout calendars. If you purchased any DVDs, you get online access to those. (Right now I think they have a deal where if you do the $99 for the year, you’ll get all new programs released this year.)
I really like it – I’ve done one older program where I printed out the calendar and worked my way through it. I also like having access to whatever when I don’t know what I want to do. I’ve done yoga, hip hop, and weight training this way. They have a lot of random “workout of the day” things when you want to do something but you don’t know what.
I think that they did this to compete with Daily Burn, and similar services. I definitely think it’s worth the $99 a year if you are one to workout at home. There are so many workouts. So many. I was skeptical at first but it’s been great for those days I can’t get to the pool.
I do think, however, that it will speak more to the death of the “coach”. Obviously the “money” is in selling people shakeo, but at least you’d make some money selling DVD programs too. That’s pretty much gone down.
First off, we live in an era of being with digital/subscription based services or products. Look at Microsoft, Netflix, and Amazon….All the same process where they want to get your monthly or yearly amounts of money to utilize their products/services….and not to mention they all went digital. There isn’t a single CD/DVD/Disc to buy a “product” but instead, you download or stream it to obtain it.
What the CEO at Beachbody decided to do was very smart and say, “We need to start doing what these other companies are doing because this is the way the technology world is now….and we really need to make money….and FAST.”
What the idiot failed to realize….is that continuing to implement these so called, “Challenge Pack” deals is not all that handsome and dressed up when you start getting all these additional fees added and the cost of Shakeology being over $100 a month is actually a total rip-off.
If you are willing to pay just the $99 a year for the workouts, it may be worth it if you want a “variety” but consider this, there are ALSO over a “variety” (liking this word a lot right now) of daily workouts that you can pay MUCH LESS for or do for FREE….like walk or run or best thing in my own opinion, is to eat right and quit the late night snacking and ordering out from high priced restaurant chains.
I think a lot of this is going to depend on lifestyle and personality. I personally love the gym. I swim 2x a week, walk on my lunch break, bike to work 2x a week (weather permitting), run on the weekends.
But…
– my husband travels, sometimes a lot. I can’t get to the gym at 5:30 am when he’s traveling because I have 2 little kids. My first DVDs purchased (P90X, years ago) were great for when he travels. When he doesn’t travel, we take turns at the gym. So I like to workout on “his” gym days.
– Weight training and yoga. I need it. It’s hard to motivate myself to just *do* it. I find it boring. I also really like “group fitness” so a workout DVD (or streaming) basically forces me to do it and finish, almost as if I was in a class.
I want to be one of those people who is self-motivated to workout at home, but I’m not, and my lifestyle just doesn’t fit that. Anyway, if I pay $99 a year, and do about 2 workouts a week, I’m getting them for $1 each. Contrast that to my YMCA membership (I swim 2x a week), and I’m spending approximately $16 every time I get into the pool. Now, I love the pool, and I’m not willing to give it up. It lets me “zone out” with no kids, for 45 minutes!
It’s also important to separate healthy eating/ diet and fitness. It’s great when they come together, but they don’t always. “Just go for a walk and stop snacking” goes a long way for making a lot of Americans healthier. As a woman who had a baby in her 40s – let me tell you, that’s some mighty stubborn weight. I was already eating healthfully and exercising regularly. Calorie counting didn’t work long term (it was so much effort and I lost the same 15 pounds 3 times. So much work to add it up every day, on top of a full time job and not enough sleep). I needed something *simple*. I have to say that the container system in 21 day fix was a complete godsend. But what works for one person, won’t work for another.
I was able to buy the container system once and lose the weight (3 years ago now) and yay! It was a far cry from USDA recommendations for 6-11 servings of grains a day. It was literally my first introduction to the idea that that many carbs is a bad idea.
For 5 am workouts, or when the husband is traveling or the weather sucks, I love the streaming workouts. Variety is good, but sometimes I also just like to force myself to complete a full program that gets progressively harder.
All that said, if it fits your lifestyle, $99 is a lot cheaper than a gym membership. But you don’t need shakeology. Just generally eating healthfully may work. It may require more than that depending on your age and other factors, but there are many ways to get there too.
All that means is that the “bread and butter” of challenge packs is gone. Yeah, you can sell someone on a “streaming” challenge pack, once. So I really don’t see how coaches are going to make any money, except for shakeo. I know 1 or 2 coaches who were making a decent amount as a side job, but after a few years had to quit. Got too saturated. I like the workouts, and the BOD is a good value. But that really doesn’t require a “coach”, or the MLM business.
I really don’t mind the $99 annual price. It seems pretty reasonable with the rest of the market. I found a couple of articles, like this one and this one, and Beachbody’s $99 price looks to be competitive. There are a couple of free options and some that are much more.
This is going to be long, but I hope everyone reads every word!
I was doing very, very well as a Beachbody coach. I reached the Diamond level. I was making $600 a month -It should have been $800, but I was purchasing shakes. $600 a month, not bad, right? Here’s what they told me. You can do it in only an HOUR a day. Read on…
Ummmm NO! No you cannot do this in an hour a day. I work a full time job. Once you build a team, you MUST be available to them 24/7. All of their questions, their needs, etc. Trust me, with a team of 20, that takes a lot more than an hour a day. Not only are you answering their behind the scenes questions (one on one) you’re taught to organize team calls, participate in team calls, and run coach basics groups… Oh, and you were also encouraged to reach out to 20+ people a day to make your own “sales.” Understanding that only 2-4 of the 20 would buy. You’d reach out to 20 and 15 would get back to you. Now you’re spending hours answering potential customer questions and getting them to purchase.
Put the team and training aside for a second… Don’t forget your *own* social media accounts and staying consistent with your own sales. Add friends everyday. At least 10… People you don’t even know! Using social media you should be developing “your own brand.” You’re encouraged to “put your truth out there.” Meaning you should reveal to ALL these people (some you don’t even know,) your deepest most personal struggles. Private things. Because you never know who can relate and that, and in turn, will result in a sale. I’ve seen people post about being raped, sexually abused, drug addiction, you name it -Deeply personal issues because THAT’S what you’re encouraged to do. All for what? To sell a bag of Shakeology because one person *might* relate to what you just shared with 800+ people!
Back to reaching out to 20 people a day-DO NOT puke Beachbody they say. True -Nobody likes a sales person. “Take an interest in them. Ask them about their life, their kids, their dogs.” basically, convince them that you care about them just to make a sale or to sign them as a coach! Be fake and act like you care. It might lead to a sale because they think you actually care deeply about them. Once the relationship is built, now start in with shakes and workouts.
I was *easily* working this business 5 hours a day. EVERY DAY! For $600 a month. Here’s where Beachbody gets really rich. I rank advanced quickly and I was being celebrated as a great leader. A rising star. Blah, blah, blah -That means I was making MY up line MONEY. Go me! Well guess what? I got BURNT out. We’re talking anxiety attacks, stress, sleepless nights becuase they push, push, push you. The more you do, the more they want. If you don’t do all of it, you’re a lazy loser who, “must not want it bad enough.”
Shortly after my burnout, I went off the radar. I just couldn’t do it anymore. Enter my up line who endlessly harassed me and were just plain cruel. Why? Because I had TWO diamonds on my team. If I quit, those two diamonds would roll up to them along with all of my customers and other coaches. They said horrible things to me -I actually cried a few times they were so cruel. I call this the attempted ladder collapse. if you start flailing, you’re now useless. They’ll do whatever they can to push you out just to rank advance themselves. My current coach is DYING for me to quit right now. The two diamonds on my team would become here. Hello 2 star rank advancement for her!
I REFUSE to quit. Not because I LOVE Beachbody, but because I worked my ass off and I WILL NOT allow them to bully me. I’m not giving in to the “mean girl” game. I’ll wait this MLM out. I’ll make genuine sales here and there. Genuine meaning, not predatory. I refuse to recruit anyone else into this vultures nest of a business.
I had a good team built, but my “down line” kept falling off. Meaning, they drank shakes for one month and just stopped. They’d go inactive, I’d lose rank, and never hear from them again.
Sarah M.,
I am flabbergasted. I’ve been waiting year to use that truthfully in a sentence, but that is the most accurate reaction.
I can imagine why there is a push for distributors to discuss deeply private personal details. Others who have experienced similar things might identify with the person and could sign up based on the shared experience. That’s not saying it right, but I can see the motivation.
Your comment encompasses bits and pieces of thousands of others of every MLM that I’ve covered.
I suggest that you educate all your downlines that “team” is wrong. A team is everyone on the same level contributing. Instead, I suggest you point them to the FTC guidelines on MLMs and recruiting/pyramid schemes.
You want to make sure that people aren’t focused on building pyramid schemes of recruiting. In my experience, MLMs typically call that building a “team.”
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2016/07/what_the_trump_network_and_other_multi_level_marketing_companies_felt_like.html
I’m sorry about your experiences Sarah M. It’s another good personal example of why the only people who truly profit from these pyramid schemes is the company facilitating the product. The truth is that for everyone who washes out, they’ll just say they didn’t try hard enough. There’s always more people to try later.
Truly, education is the best solution. The more know about the traps of MLMs, the fewer that will fall into them.
Sarah M. I wish I had read your post first. It’s the one that hits home the most. I’m only an emerald but I feel the same exact way as you. I put only a good years worth of effort into this and felt some of the things you did. Though I can say I wasn’t treated as poorly as you were. I’m at the same point, no more recruiting but will stay in it as long as I maintain emerald status. I can’t believe Diamonds only make $600 a month. The way they make it sound you would think they were making $3000 a month. I could never see leaving my current job to try and make a living as a BB coach.
Thank you for sharing that. Someday they’ll have BA (Beachbody Anonymous) where all the burnt out coaches can share their stories and get some rehab. LOL
CA_girl yes, us burned out BB coaches do need a rahb from BB LOL. …and I want to know how these diamond coaches the 5-6 star ones say they make 6-7 figures…I’m sure u have heard of the 2 elite diamond coaches who are sisters and one “was” a lawyer but quit that job to do BB. ..I tried looking up her law info and its still showing she is a practicing lawyer.
You’re also 100% right about friends screwing other friends to make their goal. Everyone I went to hs w is selling BB. One of my friends took my client that’s when I said eff this. And then I was told I didn’t want it bad enough. It took 3 months for them to let me quit. They kept saying we got your cancellation form but we didn’t see ur electronic signature so its void. And they continue to charge all fees. I had to call my credit card company and have them fight the charges. I have tons of stories for BBA (beachbody anonymous) LOL
No, it is not a scam but it is a multi level marketing endeavor. To even get the possibility of making any money you have to put out quite a bit of money to be a coach or to stay active. You also need to hound everyone you know to buy the products. The coach who recruited me was very aggressive and appeared to be very interested in me and my life, but the moment I signed, she was pretty much gone. The workouts are great, the shakes and supplements, not so great. There’s better on the market and for less. If you’re lucky you get some help from the coach you were assigned or the coach who signed you. I had virtually zero help. Which meant learning it all on my own and making quite a few mistakes that cost me money. You can work full-time on growing this “business” for less than part-time compensation. The rules change all the time. And the ways you can earn continue to change and benefit their top diamond coaches. I was a coach for seven years. I hung in there. It wasn’t like I got started and then gave up because it was too hard. But it did get harder and harder to make money without nearly accosting everyone you meet with this opportunity for their health and fitness. People are really vulnerable about that. But when people start running away from you when they see you coming or start hiding you on Facebook because of all your posts, there’s something wrong. It is no different than any other multilevel marketing company. If you attend all the coach summits and as many events as possible and meet the CEO, celebrity trainers and a lot of the top earners you may get somewhere and you may get some help. But I don’t guarantee it. The financial outlay ends up being enormous. The hook is they tell you it’s very inexpensive to get involved as a coach. And a lot of people not only want to help themselves, but want to help other people be healthy. It really plays on your emotions. But the costs mount and mount. But unless you are a top earner you really are on your own. If you need something to do and have money to spend, go for it. I recommend you just start your own business doing something that you love and you are good at without contributing to the multi millions made by this company. When I started out there were about 22,000 coaches throughout the US. But now with it being in Mexico and Canada there are hundreds of thousands of team beach body coaches. There’s nothing really new and the market is already saturated with all the health and fitness products, workouts and supplements there are out there. Find something else to do that pays you instead of you having to pay the organization to be a part of it. And that’s my educated two cents.
Given what you said there Ronnie, I’m not sure how to come to the conclusion that it is not a scam. However, you are entitled to your opinion.
Simply because according to the government and the Better Business Bureau, and the IRS they are doing legitimate business. So I am just remarking on the fact that legally they aren’t seen as a scam. My personal opinion may be different, though…
Regarding the three entities you mentioned:
1. The “government” is very vague. The FTC is a government organization that has historically covered MLM/pyramid schemes. and the FTC Chairwoman said that MLMs need to start operating legitimately something like 11 times in this short speech – https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_statements/993473/ramirez_-_dsa_speech_10-25-16.pdf. I suggest that you read the necessary guidelines provided by the FTC there and compare them to a specific MLM. Personally, I’m not sure if any MLM (except the few who have already been caught) voluntarily do any of them.
Bloomberg has covered why the FTC can’t shut down pyramid schemes: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-27/an-insider-explains-why-the-ftc-can-t-put-an-end-to-pyramid-schemes. The quick analysis from that inside expert is that it costs taxpayers too much money to prosecute them in a court of law.
My opinion that it would be similar to suggesting that stealing wallets and purses is legal as long as the town doesn’t have the money to hire enough police officers to crack down on it.
2. BBB – The Better Business Bureau is a private organization that has supported scams before. CNN Money and Truth in Advertising has shown that the BBB ratings simply can’t be trusted.
– Source 1: http://money.cnn.com/news/companies/bbb-ratings/
– Source 2: https://www.truthinadvertising.org/ad-watchdog-tina-org-investigates-bbb-ratings/
3. To the best of my knowledge, the IRS doesn’t investigate pyramid or Ponzi schemes.
I hope your previous opinion took this into account. If not, maybe it is worth re-adjusting your view.
Thank you for all that additional info. Love the eye opening!! Do I want to trash anyone? No but this is truly a game changer where my opinion is concerned. If the FTC, the BBB and the IRS aren’t credible factors in a company’s reputation or business practices then I’m a bit incensed.
Well, they can be, but there are exceptions to the rule.
The FTC actually did a ton of work to try to stop pyramid schemes in the last couple of years, but the system allows every company a fair trial and those trials tend to cost hundreds of millions of dollars and go for 7-8 years. The Bloomberg article that I cited explains that we really need new legislation. This is why it is important to vote for credible politicians and put them to the task of protecting consumers.
Thank you for the well researched coverage. I honestly hadn’t looked at the Beachbody company from the financial/pyramid angle.
As a fitness professional who has spent a lot of time and money becoming knowledgeable about wellness, I am outraged by “coaches” who push nutrition and health tips that are not in their scope of practice. It’s a slap in the face. Unfortunately, there’s a market of buyers looking for their quick fix at any price.
Beachbody does make it clear that these “coaches” are not in general fitness professionals. They are just there to make suggestions to you on products and becoming your upline when you become a coach. There are some coaches who are pros but most are in it for the money or discount on the products and have no fitness training or certifications. Furthermore I forgot to mention above that in addition to the business fee and the membership fee about 2 years ago you could No longer get leads via having a membership. The membership only became good for streaming workouts and to keep you at your level. You had to be a minimum 50 point – read dollar – Success Club member to get leads. So, biz fee, required membership fee to stay at your level and Success Club fee.
I feel in hindsight I was duped and misled. I was a vulnerable, desperate new single mom when one of the original and first multi- diamond level coaches – who was friends with the CEO Carl Daikeler and star trainer Tony Horton of P90x- approached me about it. She would not take no for an answer and offered to transfer her friend’s biz to me when she quit. She complimented me constantly and took an “interest” in me and my life. She was in touch quite often. The good thing was that the biz she transferred to me came with leads and contacts and a list of people who had bought the products in the past. A business that had already been built I was told. I just had to maintain it and grow it. By the time i signed on the dotted line, she disappeared. I had to teach myself the business which is complicated and convoluted and it cost me a lot in mistakes by not understanding the rules. Nearly everyone jumped ship from the business I was handed. And my friends got sick of hearing about it on Facebook so they would hide me. I did however make some Money. Typically enough to cover all my expenses and put some in my pocket. One time I had a $3000 check but that was a fluke. It never happened again. I had so much product that I had to buy to keep my PV current so I could get a check. I couldn’t give the stuff away. The only things that seemed to sell were workouts. I could never bring myself to push Shakeology on anyone. I tried it for a while but it took a lot of added components to make it taste decent. Plus it gave us horrible gas. Beachbody said that would happen and to just keep drinking it and it would eventually subside. When you flood your system with such rich and high quality, vitamins and minerals your body had to get used to it. Ok, whatever!
I would never ever recommend anyone get connected in any way with this MLM scheme!
Hi
I just wanted to share my experience and story.
In 2010 after having my 2nd child I was 160lbs. No big deal, I just needed to lose 30lbs to get to my pre-baby weight.
I got Carnation Instant Breakfast, tried to eat healthy…but the scale didn’t budge. I knew I had to get serious, so I ordered the South Beach Diet book and followed it to a T…I lost 10 lbs the first 2 weeks!!! Yay! But then my weight loss stalled, I got discouraged and quit the diet. I ended up gaining the weight back plus more. I tried the Atkins diet, once again saw results then stall again for weeks! I felt tired and shaky…I quit again and gained the weight back plus more again. I tried juicing, but after spending $200 on a juicer, it was so expensive. I had to use so much fruit and veggies to make a small cup of juice and all the good fiber was extracted and thrown in the garbage. I ended up deciding that juicing was too big of an expense. It cost between $4-$5 a cup and it was a huge mess to clean up!
Eventually after failed dad diet after failed dad diet a year after my sons birth I was over 250lbs (I don’t know my highest weight because my scaled at the time only went up to 250lbs.)
I was so depressed…I’m only 5’3″ and carrying that much weight on me was painful. I was up late one night and saw an infomercial for Slim in 6 and I said well…what the hell do I have to lose at this point?
When it arrived I tried out the workouts, some days I would only get through 5 minutes and sit and watch the rest…I modified…rested…and failed…but the difference??? The community I became part of…the Beachbody Community. They were so supportive…so I didn’t give up!!! I pushed through and lost weight week after week…until I stalled…and stopped losing weight…was I doomed to be 170lbs for the rest of my life!?!?
Then my Coach talked to me about Shakeology…$130?????? What the serious f*ck!?!?
Whatever take my money…
I was skeptical…I tried it for a week and felt nothing…
I though great!!! $130 down the drain…but it tasted decent and was easy to make so I committed to drinking the whole bag.
Then after the 2nd week, things started changing. My adult acne started clearing up (I was 27 y/o and had had acne since I was 12!) My hair wasn’t falling out anymore, it was stronger and shinier…I used to have hair all over my lap after brushing it…
I noticed I could get through my workouts easier, I had to force myself to eat my mid morning snack because I wasn’t hungry. And then I stepped on the scale…I was finally losing weight again! Next thing I knew after a year after ordering Slim in 6 I was 130lbs!
I lost 120lbs in 1 year with beachbody workout and Shakeology.
Then my life went upside down. I ended up getting a divorce (my husband was insanely abusive and things got to the point I feared for my life). I was a single mother of 2 children with no job and my ex husband quit his job and abandoned us.
I had to cancel my shakeology…I was pretty devastated…a couple months later my hair started breaking off again…my face started breaking out. I felt tired…all…the…time!!!! I turned to coffee as it was cheap…but it was short term energy. I was able to maintain my weight but it was a constant struggle.
Eventually I re-married and 18 months ago we welcomed our baby into this world. Unfortunately with being pregnant came the weight gain. I found myself at 168lbs after having our baby. I quit my job so I could nurse him and be there for him. Unfortunately with nursing I was hangry all the time and I ate and ate and within a year after having my son I was 187lbs!!! I knew I had to do something before I lost control again and got to 250lbs again.
Since I quit my job I knew Shakeology was out of the question so I googled for shakes that were similar but cheaper. That’s when I found Vega One. It was $49 for a month supply from Amazon a lot better than $130.
So I bought it and started my Slim in 6 again…one again the first week I didn’t see the results I wanted…I didn’t feel any different…but I wanted to give it a try…after going trough a months supply of Vega One I felt nothing, I was hangry about and hour after taking it, i was breaking out, my hair was still falling out…but I wanted it to work!!! So I bought another tub of Vega One…sure it had less vitamins, antioxidants than shakeology but it had lots of protein and fiber…it just had to work…
By time May came along I had lost 5lbs in 2 months…that was it…it wasn’t helping me curb my cravings, it wasn’t keeping me full, I didn’t feel any extra energy…
I was about to give up when a Beachbody Coach approached me about Shakeology…it was a sign to me…so I ordered it…it’s been 1.5 months since I’ve been back on shakeology…it came with a year of beachbody on demand.
In 1.5 months I’ve lost 32lbs!!! I have so much energy now. My skin has completely cleared up…my hair is healthy and shiny again. I have regular bowl movements again.
The ingredients in Shakeology are far above what’s in Vega One…period.
I have Vega One 2 months and I wanted it to work…but it simply didn’t…
I turned to Shakeology again and as before…it worked!!
It’s not a scam…it’s not a pyramid scam…
What’s the difference between a Coach recruiting a Coach and that Coach recruiting a Coach…everyone gets a cut of the product…
Guess what that’s what happens when you buy from a car dealer…the salesmen gets a portion of the profit, the owner gets a portion and the manufacturer gets a portion.
Just because it’s direct sales doesn’t make it a pyramid scam…it’s just not a big box store you’re buying from, it’s a person…big deal…
I spent $50 on Vega One and it was literal crap!!!
I spent $4-$5 on a glass of juice, a huge mess and a lot of lost fiber…
Guess what I spend $5 on a glass of shakeology, add a banana, 1/2 a cup of skim milk and 1tablespoon of PB2….
It’s 350 calories for my shake…IT IS A MEAL…
So once again you saying it’s only 160 calories and not a real meal shows how little you really know about the product and how it is incorporated into ones life.
I don’t appreciate you’re ignorance and obvious bias about a product and company you know very little about.
I’m not a coach…im a customer and you know what!?
I’m going to be a coach…why!?
Because I am the product…I lost 120lbs with Beachbody…
And now I’ve lost another 32lbs with beachbody!
Ive tried everything else…IT SIMPLY DOESNT WORK!!!
And when I am a coach, I’m going to change lives…I’m going to save women like I was, who felt stuck in a body they don’t recognize!
They are going to drink shakeology, workout to beachbody on demand and they are going to get healthy!
Beachbody saved my life…Vega One did nothing, juicing did nothing…that’s the simple truth!
By “Slim”, you mean SlimFast right? I tried to find a Shakeology Slim product and only saw comparisons with SlimFast. So if SlimFast is the solution, I’m confused about the Shakeology stuff.
I think I mentioned in the article that there are lot of community things such as SparkPeople. There’s certainly no need to overspend on product to be part of the community.
If you want to save lives, why not become a certified trainer. How many hundreds of hours of training do you need to be a Beachbody “Coach”?
Sarah’s story reads like a colossal crock of shite. Not a word of it is verifiable and there is no plausible reason to think that Snakeology was responsible for even an ounce of weight loss (which instead can be attributed solely to a combination of increased exercise and decreased caloric intake). And a yo-yo fad dieter whose weight fluctuates wildly and balloons at over 250 lbs (at 5′ 3′ — morbidly obeses) is really the last person anyone should be taking nutritional advice from. Especially when that advice is to overpay for moronic pyramid scheme shakes.
Sarah G said: “It’s not a scam…it’s not a pyramid scam…Just because it’s direct sales doesn’t make it a pyramid scam…it’s just not a big box store you’re buying from, it’s a person…big deal…”
It’s not direct sales; it’s multi-level marketing, and yes, it is most certainly a pyramid scheme. Ingesting their dopey shakes doesn’t confer you with special knowledge about what does or doesn’t constitute a pyramid scheme. If anything it seems to have blunted your ability to to distinguish a scam from a legitimate business.
Relying on shakes to maintain weight loss is idiotic. It is unhealthy and unsustainable. Learning to eat a proper well balanced diet of nutritious whole foods, along with regular exercise, is the way to go. Drinking synthetic garbage out of a bag or a can is for rubes and desperadoes. And MLM is the bailiwick of fools.
By “Slim” she means “Slim in 6”, which is one of the old Beachbody exercise programs. I think a precursor to P90X?
You know, I think the ingredients in Shakeology are decent and some of the flavors taste pretty good. I like smoothies, and have them for breakfast a few times a week. So I have no problem forking out money for protein powder. I was skeptical myself, but have to admit I didn’t get sick for an entire year after starting to drink the stuff. I don’t really see it as any different than any protein powder that you are going to put in a smoothie, maybe with a mulitvitamin.
And that is what makes it overpriced. Don’t fool yourself. It *is* a pyramid scheme. It’s $130. If you buy it, your coach gets $32.50. But that means the cost to produce it is less than $100, right. But wait! You become a coach. You now get to buy it for $97.50. ($32.50 off the sticker price.) But YOUR coach also makes $32.50. Well then, the cost to produce it *must* be less than $65, right? That’s a hell of a markup.
Honestly, their Beachbody on Demand is a great deal, and gets you access to the workouts, the meal plans, and the “community”. No need to buy shakeo.
Marcia said: “I was skeptical myself, but have to admit I didn’t get sick for an entire year after starting to drink the stuff. I don’t really see it as any different than any protein powder that you are going to put in a smoothie, maybe with a mulitvitamin.”
Um, you do realize that you’re making a wildly erroneous association between consuming Snakeology shakes and, allegedly, not getting sick, right? They don’t advertise the product, at least not overtly, as a measure to prevent getting sick, so there’s no a priori reason to think that t would, and there’s nothing in it, including the multivitamins/protein you spoke of, that would prevent sickness. If in fact you didn’t get sick for a year, you can rest assured that it had nothing to do with those moronic shakes. Despite your claim to the contrary, you don’t seem at all skeptical.
Marcia said: “Don’t fool yourself. It *is* a pyramid scheme…That’s a hell of a markup. Honestly, their Beachbody on Demand is a great deal, and gets you access to the workouts, the meal plans, and the “community”. No need to buy shakeo.”
If you know that it is a pyramid scheme with ridiculous markups (in other words, they are swindling people) why on earth would you support them by signing up for the on demand content (essentially putting $160 into the pockets of thieves/con artists), especially when you can get similar content for free elsewhere on the internet. The “community” you spoke of consists of dishonest snakeoil shake peddlers and pyramid scheme desperadoes. Why on earth would anyone want to be a part of that?
When it comes to the online content – I find it to be high quality, all in one place, and reasonably priced (for me, $99 a year). I have access to all of the programs that they have ever released, and really enjoy them – yoga, pilates, 21-day fix, P90X. A lot of variety, and having it at home or on vacation really works with my lifestyle. (FT working mom with kids). Price wise and content wise, it’s really no different than other similar programs/ sites like The Daily Burn, for example.
You can find similar workouts online for free, sure – but typically they come with ads, not all of them are high quality. I pay for Netflix because I don’t like ads, I pay for Hulu to be ad free, I don’t have cable TV. I’m quite happy to pay $99 a year for access to hundred of workouts with no ads. I compare it to gym memberships (which I have), personal trainers (which I also have), and other online exercise streaming services.
You seem to have a bone to pick, which is causing you to be not exactly objective. It’s okay to look at the full offerings of the company and recognize that some of it is quality and a good deal, even if the overall method of the company pretty much sucks.
I wasn’t making any claims at all about shakeo, just an observation. I started drinking it, and did for a year right when I had a very young toddler. I was sick constantly for the year prior. And that next year, I didn’t get sick at all. It was pretty glorious.
If the price/content is really no different than similar sites like The Daily Burn, then I’m with Vogel, why not support those instead?
You yourself said, “Don’t fool yourself. It *is* a pyramid scheme.” If a significant amount of Coke’s profits came from a pyramid scheme, I’d probably choose Pepsi.
I like the workouts. I try to be objective and all… I went through all the pros and cons when I chose the YMCA, for example, because I wanted a pool and the benefits of the pool, childcare, discounted summer camps, swim lessons, and family swim times outweighed the cost concerns.
My experience with BB workouts goes back to P90X, which I got for Christmas one year when my husband was traveling a lot and I had a small child. It was great. I tried a few more exercise programs that really helped me lose the “I had my second baby after 40” weight, and also helped strengthen my joints when I injured them doing dumb things.
So I have history with the programs, and I like the workouts, and it’s a good deal. I could *try* The Daily Burn, or other subscription services, but why? I like the ones that I have now.
I don’t know where the whole BB thing will end up. I’ve seen many local coaches quit due to their recent change in requirements – you are not allowed to be working for more than one MLM. So no BB + LLR I guess. But mainly I have acquaintances who were into BB and wine delivery services. With BOD, who is going to buy the DVDs anymore? I feel like a significant way that coaches got “new customers” was with the DVDs. So you could sell one person a different program every year. That’s gone now. Plus, the real money is in “building a team”, which is why it’s a pyramid scheme. Eventually you get to a point where a local area is “saturated”.
I figure it has to peter out at some point, and will be mostly a streaming service for exercise videos. I know several coaches who earn free vacations from BB. So for fun, I googled a bit and looked at what it took to earn that. It was something on the order of getting 2 new customers every month for a full year. That’s a lot of hustling. And of course the “free” vacation doesn’t include airfare. I kind of remember seeing photos from someone I know on FB. In order to get plane tix for them and their family x4, they had to fly in earlier and later than when the cruise left, and then had to pay for a hotel for a few nights here and there. Um, that’s not free?
Anyway, it’s all a pretty fascinating topic, both streaming videos, shakes, and even subscription services. Blue Apron, Stitch Fix, those snack box things, “kid’s entertainment”. Buy Buy Buy.
Marcia said: “When it comes to the online content – I find it to be high quality, all in one place, and reasonably priced (for me, $99 a year). … Price wise and content wise, it’s really no different than other similar programs/ sites like The Daily Burn, for example…. I compare it to gym memberships (which I have), personal trainers (which I also have), and other online exercise streaming services….I try to be objective and all… I went through all the pros and cons …I have history with the programs, and I like the workouts, and it’s a good deal. I could *try* The Daily Burn, or other subscription services, but why? I like the ones that I have now.”
Actually, it doesn’t really sound like you’re being objective at all. You’re admitting openly that you aren’t willing to consider alternatives and instead stay with what you know because it’s familiar. But $100 for a handful of workout videos doesn’t seem like a great deal in any scenario, and it’s hard to fathom why you would bother with piddly home workout videos if you already have a gym membership and spend money on a personal trainer (and any experienced gym rat would know that a handful of exercise videos are not even remotely comparable to a gym membership or personal training).
Sounds like you’re throwing away money on the videos, which you’re perfectly entitled to do even though it doesn’t make sense financially. But more important is the ethical aspect, which you seem to be glossing over. Why would you (or anyone with a conscience) give $100 a year to an organization that you characterized as a pyramid scheme, especially given that there are non-pyramid scheme alternatives? It’s impossible to justify ethically/morally.
Marcia said: “You seem to have a bone to pick, which is causing you to be not exactly objective. It’s okay to look at the full offerings of the company and recognize that some of it is quality and a good deal, even if the overall method of the company pretty much sucks.”
What is it exactly that I’m not being objective about and what bone am I picking? Let’s recap what you said previously:
Marcia said: “And that is what makes it overpriced. Don’t fool yourself. It *is* a pyramid scheme. Honestly, their Beachbody on Demand is a great deal, and gets you access to the workouts, the meal plans, and the “community”. No need to buy shakeo.”
I agree with you that it’s a pyramid scheme and that there is no need to buy the shakes. The only areas in which we seem to disagree are the value of the videos relative to alternatives, and the ethical responsibility to not support companies that act as shells for pyramid schemes involving products of dubious value. Who of sound mind and good conscience would want to be part of that “community”?
Marcia said: “I wasn’t making any claims at all about shakeo, just an observation. I started drinking it, and did for a year right when I had a very young toddler. I was sick constantly for the year prior. And that next year, I didn’t get sick at all. It was pretty glorious.”
Apparently you don’t know the meaning of the word claim. You have made the same claim twice now – i.e., that you drank Snakeology’s ridiculous shakes and then didn’t get sick over the next year. In the second telling of the story you added the embellishment about having been constantly sick the year prior. It’s hard to fathom why you would simultaneously hedge by denying that you were making claims.
Perhaps you meant that you weren’t drawing an explicit cause-and-effect conclusion, but the clear implication was that Snakeology kept you from getting sick – it wasn’t even subtle. So are you know going to pull a 180 and argue that it was not your intention to make such a suggestion ? Do you in fact believe what commonsense would dictate; i.e., that it’s nothing more than a meaningless coincidence and never merited being mentioned at all? I certainly hope so. Someone would have to be quite a rube to think that these shakes prevent illness in any way, shape, or form.
Sigh,
$100 a year for hundreds of workout videos. Not a few. Hundreds. I have worked my way through P90X, PiYo, 21 Day Fix, and the yoga series. I like them, they are high quality workouts.
The Daily Burn is $30 a month. (At least, it used to be $30 a month, when I looked into it, it’s probably less now.) It cost more. Why would I even do a trial when I’m happy with what I already have? I started with DVDs on the other workouts, and they are working for me.
For the same reason, I have opted to stick with my family YMCA membership, instead of joining a *different* gym that 3 of my friends have joined. It also has a pool AND a kiddie pool AND it’s 5 miles further away from my house AND it’s 2.5 x more expensive. I like the YMCA pool, it’s close to my house, and it’s working for me.
I *like* P90X, yoga, 21 day fix, PiYo, Body Beast, Hammer and Chisel, etc. etc. etc.
WHY would I even want a streaming service when I already have a gym membership and a trainer? Well, first off, I have a full time job and kids – I mentioned that right? So, I get two mornings a week to work out, plus 1 or 2 weekend days. You know, because the husband and I take turns, because CPS frowns on leaving your young kids home alone. This means if I want to work out every day, and I do, that I need to be able to do it in my house. It’s also more efficient anyway, no need to get in my car.
So, the trainer I have right now is a running coach, because I’m training for a half marathon. That training group is 3x a week. (I have worked with personal trainers in the past too, right now I’m focused on the race.) Those are my 3 days a week to work out outside of the home.
On the remaining 3-4 days, I work out at home at 5:30-6:30 am, when my husband is at the gym and the kids are asleep. No it’s not going to get me ripped or buff like a personal trainer, but I don’t need that. I’m looking for functional strength so I don’t throw out my back picking up a 35 pound kid. I’m looking for yoga, and flexibility and workouts that can help my joints. You KNOW I was doing Jane Fonda back in the day. (I’ve got Jillian Michaels workouts too! And I probably have a dusty old Tae Bo video too.)
I like the workouts so I use them. I don’t like the MLM aspect, and I’m pretty honest about that to my friends. If anyone asks my opinion of the company and the workouts, I tell them. I like the workouts, they are great. Don’t waste your money on the other products. The workout videos, for $99 a year, are a good deal if you are someone who likes to, or needs to work out at home. (Before I had kids I never worked out at home. I’d *much* rather be at the gym, in the pool, on my bike, or out running or walking.) Although the advantage to doing weights at home is that I don’t have to worry about picking up germs at the gym. My kids are big enough vectors for that.
As far as the illness “claim”, it’s not a “claim”. It’s an observation. Working full time with young children and infants really really sucks. It’s exhausting. Because you don’t sleep. With kid #1, I was sick for 5 straight months when he was a baby. From November 1 to March 31, I was healthy for a total of about 30 days. Talk about miserable.
With kid #2, luckily, that sick winter wasn’t the first year, I think because he was in a smaller daycare, fewer germs. But then it grew in size. So the second year, when there were 3 more kids in the daycare, it was brutal. He brought home everything. Work was horrible. I was sick a LOT, but at least not for 5 straight months. That was the year I got bronchitis and was sick, down and out for a full month.
And then I wasn’t. For a full year! It was great. It may have been a complete coincidence. Who knows, who cares. Just an observation. For me, it was worth giving it a try. I liked how I felt, and I continued on it for a full year.
I’m capable of separating what I consider the quality of the workouts, and the quality of the recipes found on the blog, and the general encouragement of people are trying to be healthy – from the MLM aspect. I get a good value from the workouts, considering a full half of the workouts that I do in a year have to be done at home.
Peace out
For what it’s worth, it looks like The Daily Burn is $15 a month. Beachbody On Demand appears to be $39 quarterly. So it’s $156 vs. $180, which is pretty close. It gets a little closer if you might quit as you don’t have to pay for a whole quarter of The Daily Burn. Jillian Michaels’ FitFusion is $10 a month or $89 a year and seems to have more content than anyone would need.
So I’d say that it should be a no-brainer to try FitFusion for a month and maybe save yourself $60 a year. It would make even more sense if you’ve worked through some of the Beachbody ones as you’d get something new.
There’s no barrier with trying something new, it probably takes 2 minutes to enter in your information and a credit card.
Marcia said: “As far as the illness “claim”, it’s not a “claim”. It’s an observation.”
As I suspected. You don’t know the meaning of the word claim. For your edification, and to hopefully put an end to your protests, here is the Oxford definition:
“Claim: state or assert that something is the case, typically without providing evidence or proof.”
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/claim
You are CLAIMING that you started drinking the shakes and then didn’t get sick for a year, while you had been sick in the preceding year. You are making a statement/assertion “without providing evidence or proof”. Is that clear now?
Marcia said: “And then I wasn’t. For a full year! It was great. It may have been a complete coincidence. Who knows, who cares. Just an observation.”
Given that the shakes are not marketed for preventing illness and have no properties that could conceivably prevent illness, any rational person would have immediately come to the blatantly obvious conclusion that it’s a complete coincidence, and they wouldn’t have even remotely suggested otherwise in a public forum. As to who cares, I do. It saddens and sorely vexes me to think that people exist who are gullible enough to think (or dishonest enough to lie and say) that moronic ripoff MLM products prevent/cure diseases.
Marcia said: “I’m capable of separating what I consider the quality of the workouts, and the quality of the recipes found on the blog, and the general encouragement of people are trying to be healthy – from the MLM aspect.”
You can only separate the two if you don’t have a functioning moral compass, given that every dollar paid into Beachbody supports a pernicious and predatory pyramid scheme centered around moronic overpriced meal replacement shakes. The issue is not whether you’re capable of numbing yourself enough to ignore it but rather that it’s morally indefensible to do so.
There’s no shortage of online and offline communities devoted to health, nutrition, fitness, and encouragement. There is no justification for wanting to be part of this particular community of scam artists and simpletons.
Shakeology is marketed as “the healthiest meal of the day” in their advertising. So it IS considered a meal replacement. The ingredients cause a lot of gastric issues, including bloating and flatulence. They say it’s your body’s way of getting used to it and it will eventually go away. Really? Typically if your body has a reaction like that too food or pseudo-food, it is telling you NOT to eat it. There are better meal replacements out there. But instead of a meal replacement how about eating clean, wholesome food and more plant based food??? THAT is a hell of a lot less expensive than Shakeology.
I have 2 bags of shakeolgy it’s gross I prefer my orgain powder instead my body does better eating real food
Hair falls out because of rapid weight loss, stress, surgery, medication, childbirth and much more. Not because you drink Shakeology and then stop. Go ahead, become a coach! I did for 7.5 years. What a mistake, in general. I did get in the best shape of my life and I am paying for it with osteoarthritis And borderline osteoporosis. And I was already in good shape. The workouts can be dangerous to your joints, ligaments, tendons and muscles. There are plenty of things on the market to drink as a meal replacement. BUT Meal replacement shakes are not real, whole food. The weight you took off will come back, I promise you. You will get tired, sore, bored, busy and stop following TBB. You have had success and you attribute it to TBB. Give yourself more credit! As a coach when you can’t make your PV and you have to pay out of pocket to stay active, when people run from you when you approach them because it is going to be another sales pitch for TBB products or to sign up under you to be a coach, when your body aches in the morning from working out too hard, maybe you will get the hint. When the coach above you abandons you after you sign up because he or she has done their job of getting you to sign up and fork over the money and other than that they couldn ‘t care less except for the money you spend and a percentage funnels UP TO THEM. When you have to start investing more and more and more money to stay “in” with the group. When you realize a healthy, clean, mostly plant based diet is MUCH healthier than ANY SHAKE you can drink…then visit here again. It could be months or years and I promise I won’t say I told you so. That’s not how I operate. But I can see a brainwash a mile away. There are many workout programs that work on this exact model that are a lot healthier and a lot less expensive. Tony Horton, Chalene Johnson and Shaun T don’t care about you and don’t be fooled into thinking they really do. They do what they are told by the company to stay a part of this nearly billion dollar MLM. And owner Carl Daikeler will say anything to get you on board. You will disappear at the Coach Summit, you will be ignored at the Saturday events, you will need to spend A fortune to get on one of their success cruises. You will alienate friends and family. Become a REAL personal trainer, coach or fitness professional instead. Start your own health and fitness business. It will cost you a lot less. Use what you have learned and experienced to help others with instead of making TBB rich. Good luck.
RommiB you are 100% correct. Everything you said is the truth. Once I stopped BB & quit being a coach the “team” ignores you and deletes u. But not before they go thru ur friend list and try to scam them. I gained my weight bk and then some. Ii have mamy medical issues now as well that I did not have before BB. Thos is a horrible company and they do NOT care about you or your health. Tjey care about $$ and that’s it
Ronnie and Katie, your words ring true to me. MLM is the pits; so are overpriced snakeoil meal replacement shakes . Together, it’s the worst of both worlds.
So thrilled to see people not falling for these MLM scams. Or listening to those who did and got out! I fell victim because I was very vulnerable when they started pursuing me. We all need to speak out about companies like this. Without fear. Thanks Lazy Man!! We need more people like you and Ethan Vanderbilt who are willing to go out on a limb. These companies are dangerous to our emotional and physical health and our wallet.
I love Shakeology. The chocolate flavor is my favorite. Cafe Latte is my husband’s favorite. Strawberry is my sister’s favorite. No one is hounding us to buy the product, I was never contacted by a coach either. I found it and made the decision to try it all by myself. We buy it because it tastes great and can easily be a meal replacement. Need more calories? Add more calories to it, duh. You talk like the only way to make it is with plain water and nothing else. Mixing a smoothie with those cheaper ingredients is more of a hassle than scooping powder into a blender. I timed myself. It takes me less than 30 seconds.
[Editor’s Response: Taste is subjective. As I pointed out in the article the interviewer and interviewee both seem to agree that it tastes horrible. The interviewee even makes significant money selling the stuff. Of course you can add more stuff to it, but that means spending more money. Also at that point, it’s not reviewing Shakeology. If you listened to the interview that I quoted it was mentioned that people add stuff to it. Yes, it may be more work to add frozen fruit, Greek yogurt, and protein powder, but I’m willing to spend the extra 30 seconds for fresh, real ingredients with limited chemicals that simply taste great. I’ve been going by the name Lazy Man for more than 11 years and even I am not that LAZY.]
As for the MLM scheme, why can’t you be happy with the people who have achieved success in making a business their own? It’s not your job to spy on them and find their faults so you can tell the world about it as if you are the ultimate authority on the subject. Heck, I wish I was making money like some of those coaches! They are kicking ass and helping people not die of obesity. HOW DARE THEY! I’m sure there are sucky coaches out there too, and those are the ones you want to talk about because they help your extremely biased review.
[Editor’s Response: First, MLM is NOT a Business. Second, MLM harms consumers as illustrated by this fable. I didn’t spy on people, I listened to a podcast that they promoting. Next you’ll accuse people of spying on Game of Thrones on Sunday nights. I’m not saying I’m the ultimate authority, but I have been studying MLM schemes for 10 years now and I think I can back up many of opinions with documents from other experts including the FTC. Finally, let’s remember that experts have very different diet recommendations that don’t include shakes, but you’ll probably say that the Mayo Clinic is biased.]
It’s clear you talk about the horrible taste of the shakes, yet have never tried one yourself to make your own decision.
[Editor’s Response: Not that I’d spend the money, but I haven’t seen them for sale in my grocery stores. As I said before, I’m relying on my opinion of how the the podcast sounded. No one really cares about my particular taste buds anyway. I think lobster tastes bad, but I’m not claiming that everyone agrees.]
I have read some of your other posts about different MLM companies. You honestly sound like some grinch who can’t be happy for people so you sit at home and tear apart successful companies because deep down, you wish you had their success too. Think about how many people you have scared away from these businesses. Thanks to you they will never have a shot at making a full-time income, being there for their kids’ sporting events, will continue to hate their 9-5, and always remember that “one guy” who said MLMs are a trap.
[Editor’s Response: So you are an unbiased person who just simply likes the taste of Shakeology. However, you not only read all of this article and the related hundreds of comments on the product that you like… but you also went and read my OTHER articles on MLM companies. I can’t understand why you’d spend a dozen hours or more on something that you disagree with. As for successful companies, I haven’t been able to find one MLM who has voluntarily complied with the the FTC’s guidelines to the industry.
I’m the “one guy” who said MLMs are a trap? What about HBO’s John Oliver? What about the College of New Jersey School of Business? What about Peter Vander Nat. What about Truth in Advertising’s MLM articles.]
You need a hug.
and a workout.
[Editor’s Response: You don’t know how many hugs and workouts I have. Your arguments sound like they come from the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz.]
Jessica said, “No one is hounding us to buy the product, I was never contacted by a coach either. I found it and made the decision to try it all by myself.”
Why do I find this hard to believe? Shakeology is one of the hardest products to find, if you are looking for a meal replacement shake, and usually when someone tries so hard to deny they were influenced by a MLMer, they usually were. Again, if you are a savvy consumer, and you are looking for meal replacement shakes, then you would do a Google search, or go into a GNC style store, or a grocery store, and you wouldn’t find Shakeology. You either found it because of a MLM friend, or through the workout discs (because they have commercials after every workout for the stuff).
Jessica said, “Need more calories? Add more calories to it, duh. You talk like the only way to make it is with plain water and nothing else. Mixing a smoothie with those cheaper ingredients is more of a hassle than scooping powder into a blender. I timed myself. It takes me less than 30 seconds.”
Or, you could take out the Shakeology and just use the other ingredients? Seriously, why are you taking this mysterious powder, especially if it isn’t complete. Also, I agree with LM, if you are into making smoothies, it is probably going to take you the same time as making a shake and it is not a hassle. How hard is it to get some frozen berries and juice at the store while you are shopping for your other groceries? That point is terrible.
Jessica said, “As for the MLM scheme, why can’t you be happy with the people who have achieved success in making a business their own?”
Is that the same as saying, why can’t you be happy that a pedophile had sex with a child, because the pedophile achieved success? Where is the logic with this statement?
Jessica said, “Heck, I wish I was making money like some of those coaches!”
AHA! So, you know the terminology they use for the MLM reps, you are taking the hardest to find and most expensive shakes, and you are jealous of their success. Sounds like we have a brand new MLMer on our hands that is disgruntled because a prospect found this website.
Jessica said, “They are kicking ass and helping people not die of obesity.”
There is no scientific evidence to prove this is true, and in fact most clinical findings have argued the exact opposite effect. People have short-term success, they plateau, they give up, and then they gain more weight than when they started.
Jessica said, “I’m sure there are sucky coaches out there too, and those are the ones you want to talk about because they help your extremely biased review.”
Ah, the old, there are “sucky” MLMers out there, but I’m different line. This has been transposed to fit every MLMers needs to justify why they are somehow different or better than the rest. Here’s the truth, you all say that line, and you are all the same. Oh, and because someone has a different viewpoint from yours doesn’t make them biased, it makes them different. MLMers love to misuse the term bias, because it sounds so much better than calling the reviewer a jerk for not liking the product, service, or company.
Jessica said, “It’s clear you talk about the horrible taste of the shakes, yet have never tried one yourself to make your own decision.”
Why would that matter, and would that change your comment if LM liked the shakes, but still wrote that MLM is wrong and the company is bad? Of course not, this is just a stupid distraction technique to digress from the premise of the article, which is, MLM is not a viable business opportunity.
Jessica said, “I have read some of your other posts about different MLM companies. You honestly sound like some grinch who can’t be happy for people so you sit at home and tear apart successful companies because deep down, you wish you had their success too.”
Wow, a random Shakeology “customer” (obviously not the case), spent tons of time researching MLMs in general as well as her own? She is foaming at the mouth because her one or two prospects didn’t want to join, and is now taking her aggression out online? How typical.
Oh, and how presumptuous to assume that anti-MLM bloggers sit around and get joy from this. LM has paid heavy prices for writing these articles and has done a great service for consumers.
Jessica said, “Thanks to you they will never have a shot at making a full-time income, being there for their kids’ sporting events, will continue to hate their 9-5, and always remember that “one guy” who said MLMs are a trap.”
Oh my, you even repeat the same MLM propaganda BS that is used to warp all of the MLMers. Who are you kidding? You are clearly a MLM shill.
Jessica said, “You need a hug.
and a workout.”
You need a brain transplant.
I usually go with pickpockets, but the pedophile analogy drives it home.
If there are ANY “sucky” MLM distributors out there, we need to point the finger at the MLM company to explain what FORMAL training they received and what REQUIRED FORMAL testing they completed to become a distributor.
Geoff!
Adoring you right now.
Jessica is spouting the rhetoric of a coach. This is how they try to convince people how good TBB is. They appear to be a “regular” person and sing it’s praises. When actually they are actively recruiting coaches. I love the YouTube videos ” I quit Team Beachbody” or “Team Beachbody is a scam” those are actually coaches doing their damndest to recruit you with some reverse or weird propaganda and pseudo logic. I am so glad I got out of the clutches of TBB.
You and Geoff are 100% correct. She is either a BB coach or customer. ..she said all the same lines all coaches do. And these so called successful coaches are full of shit.one girl I know has been telling ppl for 5yrs that she’s almost able to quit her job bc she makes so much at BB LOL. I know another coach that said she’s traveling all over Asia, all her pix are photoshopped hahaha. ..con artists of the highest degree is what they are and if I can save someone else from wasting their $$ on this BS so be it. And Geoff ur correct I lost a lot of weight and inches in 90days then plateaued got angry stopped and gained everything bk n then some.
It’s been awhile since I posted. Amazed that this is still on-going after a year.
Let’s get one thing straight out of the “Rabbit’s hat” as I like to make the catchy term.
Beachbody sells itself very well with the workouts. They use social media like the bible (sorry Jesus) and advertising is very big on the TV. They’ve been around since…my God maybe Suzanne Summers or Jillian Michaels started? I highly doubt they can match the success of Richard Simmons, but I’m going to be up front and say I actually did a few workouts in the last year or two including the newest one by Chris Downing. I’m pleased with all of the workouts as LazyMan does mention that “he doesn’t mind the workouts” and they are “legit” and certainly can produce real results with hard work and dedication.
But I echo time and time again LazyMan’s best line….Do you have to “join” this $#^% to be a so called discount buyer, coach, diamond seller or whatever to simply purchase stuff? NO !!!!
As many may notice just like in this “era” of advertising and marketing, Shakeology is everywhere and mentioned nearly every 20-30 minutes as a “sales tactic” to get people involved in the MLM like many others out there. Is it wrong? Of course it is.
Go to a car dealership or my favorite place is the mall where all those center aisle sales people try to grab you….and BOOM….someone spills their words of selling something on how this car has “LOADED” features or this product can help you do this and we have proof from others to show it….and we have a GREAT SALE !!!!
IT’S A SALES TACTIC. THEY ARE TRYING TO MAKE COMMISSION DAMN IT. WOULDN’T YOU DO THE SAME IF YOU WERE DESPERATE TO MAKE MONEY TO SUPPORT YOU OR YOU FAMILY?
Sorry….shouldn’t be yelling but this is the truth in life.
Anyway, without the products, Beachbody won’t go defunct as it will take a miracle to shut down the company completely, but the “structure” can falter and need to be restructured since Herbalife and many other MLMs are getting caught not producing legitimate “disclaimer statements” because people are starting to stretch Social Media around the length of the Earth to let people know “NOT” to join unless they just want to utilize the customer aspect of it and NOT sell anything.
Do some research and you’ll find that over the last year, investigations have increased that many of there structures are not “structurally sound” and therefore, you joining them is guaranteed loss of money vs. gain. You might be better off going to a casino to gamble the money and see if you can take home more than you can lose.
For someone claiming to call out a company’s lies, this article is full of misinformation, half truths, and complete lies.
There is NO weekly membership fee, you do NOT need to purchase Shakeology to be or remain a coach, Shakeology is actually very tasty without adding anything to it, and some people merely become “Coaches” for a discount on products (which would explain much of their data), not to actually be part of the business.
I promise you, everyone who is a coach understands what they are getting into and that it is an MLM, as Beachbody is extremely forthcoming. I don’t know about other teams but it is against BB Policy to sell to people you do not personally know or push products, so that statement on not taking no for an answer is complete bunk.
I’d like some reliable sources for some of your bogus statements, especially as it relates to nutrition because you are so far off base, it is laughable.
Shucks,
This article is a few years old now. Policies may have changed since the article was written. I have forgotten many of the details over the years, but I’d like to address your comment as best I can.
The Club membership fee is listed on what I believe is the official BeachBody website: http://www.teambeachbody.com/en_US/team-beachbody-tutorial. Specifically the quote is, “The risk-free cost of your Club membership is just $2.99 a week, billed $38.87 quarterly.”
I’m not sure if I said that anyone needs to purchase Shakeology to be or remain a coach. If so, please point out where and I’ll correct it. I believe (and intended to say) that coaches may purchase product as part of a requirement to qualify for compensation payments, which the FTC seems to say should not happen. Again, if you can supply the exact quote, it would be easier for me to fix.
Discount coaches are discussed in extensive length in the previous comments. It is my understanding that MLM companies are encouraged by the FTC to separate coaches who are involved for the business opportunity and preferred customers who are looking for a discount on products. This FTC document covers that in better detail.
The reason I wrote this article was in response to a top distributor who was using Facebook ads to recruit a downline. That doesn’t seem to be selling to someone they personally know. If Beachbody can’t manage its top distributors to work within its own policy as you are suggesting, that’s an additional blemish on their record and use of MLM.
Hopefully, those FTC citations are reliable enough sources for you. In the 600+ comments here not many people have said that my statements are bogus, off-base, or laughable. Maybe you just don’t understand the MLM industry very well.
Ummm shucks you’re wrong, I was a “coach” & was told don’t EVER call it am MLM bc that’s the same as a pyramid and to call it network marketing. Also we were told to go thru our friends friend list and and sell to them.also you do need to buy shakeology to stay an active coach bc you need 90PV points to remain active. The whole thing is a pyramid. Yes the shakes taste good but only if u add almond milk a fruit and ice in a blender. Just using water and shaking it in the cup is gross. Idk one BB coach that drinks it wo adding to it and blending. Also it costs 17/month for website and u have to have that if u want to sell and the 100/month for shako. It’s a scam and the recruiting coaches lie and lie just to get u signed in under them. The only thing good about bb is the workouts.
Katie said: “Yes the shakes taste good but only if u add almond milk a fruit and ice in a blender. Just using water and shaking it in the cup is gross.”
ROFL. I bet! Almond milk with a fruit and ice in a blender tastes good without the need to add anything to it. Reminds me of those old cereal commercials: “CardboardiOs along with milk, juice, toast, butter, and jam is part of a balanced breakfast.”
The whole “health shake” thing infuriates me. Under no circumstances should the word “health” be tagged on to some shitty vitamin-fortified beverage. These products are antithetical to health.
Said like a truly indoctrinated TBB coach. There ARE former coaches responding here and have FIRST HAND information and have escaped the indoctrination, brain washing and cult like behavior of TBB and it’s “coaches”. It is a scam that coaches perpetrate on friends, family, strangers, their Facebook “friends” and anyone they can. TBB drilled home how Many contacts to make a day. Coaches are seduced and then duped with pseudo health propaganda.
Vogel I was only saying that in response to schmucks comment that everything lazy man n others said about shako is a lie LOL. Shuck said the shakes tasre great w nothing but water, that is the lie. And everything schuck said is an actual lie. BB is a huge scam and is definitely a pyramid/mlm..shuck said every coach knows they are getting into an mlm and that is another lie. BB is a huge scam and if u have thyroid problems this so called super shake is actually bad for you bc of all the carbs in it. I was a sucker and fell for the bb scam.
Shucks is a typical acolyte, and it’s all about the specific language being used.
No, you don’t HAVE to buy Shakeo, but you MUST purchase 90PV of products a month and, wonder of wonders, Shakeo with the coach discount gets you there. And that is most definitely pointed out by “coaches”. I’m SURE BB didn’t set it up that way on purpose. (rolls eyes).
As far as a BB policy against selling to those you don’t “personally know”, that’s malarkey. I know from attending BB meetings and being exposed to BB tactics that you are told to sell friends, family, acquaintances and people you meet but you are ALSO told to join health and diet related Facebook groups, insinuate yourself into conversations and tell people you can “help them”. “Helping others” is a big buzz phrase within the company. “You can help others AND make money” is hammered on repeatedly. Unless the definition of “personally know” has changed to “Someone five states away you met on Facebook” then that’s simply a lie. I’ve even heard one of the top BB coaches say that using social media to “expand your business” is perfect because ALMOST NO ONE KNOWS ENOUGH PEOPLE TO GO DIAMOND IN REAL LIFE!
Full Disclosure: I was on Shakeo for over a year while I was involved with a coach. And I DID lose weight and I DID feel better and I actually liked the flavor of Shakeo by itself with water after the change in formulation in (I believe) 2014. But it was much better with a banana, some peanut butter and milk. I soon realized that I lost weight because I was being more active and I felt better because I was actually intaking something in the mornings instead of skipping breakfast as I normally did. And I realized I could replace the Shakeo smoothie with something very similar for far less money and not have to deal with the sales pressure and pseudo-Religious carnival atmosphere of the meetings.
As s Certified personal trainer this has PYRAMID scheme all over it
I don’t know if anyone else has posted this, but I tried Garden of Life’s Raw Organic Meal in the flavor Vanilla Chai, and I actually prefer it to Shakeology. It’s 1/3 the price of SO. All of these “shakes” pretty much taste like garbage. It’s not a dessert, it’s a health drink. What do people expect, honestly?! It makes me laugh a little.
I tried Vega One and sorry- it’s gross. It separates, is gritty and undrinkable. I use Shakeology as a supplement and my hair and nails are growing and stronger and I do snack less, feel better and have lost a few pounds (only a few – it’s not a quick weight loss product). I wouldn’t replace a meal with a shake – that never works. I drink it just with water – no add-ins. Shakeology is sooo expensive, but its the only shake I can stomach (the vegan versions). I am not a coach and don’t consult one either.
To each their own on the flavor, I guess. Even the Shakeology salespeople seem to say it tastes bad, so I’ll take their word for it.
My hair and nails grow no matter what I do. I think they’ve been doing that since birth. I know they’ve been doing it from my kids since birth.
Let’s say that 20% of people think that Shakeology tastes good (seems generous from the comments here). It appears that there are 1 million vegan people in the US. That’s an addressable audience of 200,000 in the US. (I’m presuming that people who are not vegan would likely choose other products.) So then we are left looking at what percentage of the 200,000 really would want Shakeology. In my opinion, some 75% of vegans are typically in very good shape – not in need of a weight-loss product. So now we’re down to about 50,000 who might be in the market. So what percentage of those people are going to want to overpay vs. Vega One or other examples in this article?
Actually that one million number cited above is a little old. It’s 1.65 million according to this more updated article. The math still seems to hold that there’s really not much of a sales opportunity here, fair?
I worked at BB corporate HQ for 6 years in management.
I drank the shakes most days, I liked the taste, I think it helped keep weight off, felt pretty good after drinking them. Yes, there is some bloating/gas when you first start, but that went away after a week. And I was very ‘regular’ thereafter. So Yay for regularity
-BUT-
They were free for employees.
Now that I’ve left, would I pay $4/shake? No, I don’t think so. Nope.
Would I join Beachbody, an MLM company, as a ‘coach’? Oh hell no. no no no no
I think the workouts are good, On-Demand is a decent deal. And I would buy Shakeo in a store at half the price in a heartbeat.
Just my 2 cents.
I’d drink them if they were free too ;-). And I like your point about joining the MLM as a ‘coach’ :-).
Bruce do you have any idea if the ingredients are for real? All these amazing super foods from around the world? I tried finding out from customer service where every single ingredient originates from and they told me that’s proprietary information. Kind of weird that their coaches (those working for them) aren’t allowed to know proprietary information about the business.
Man I wish I got them for free lol….if you don’t mind me asking what made you leave the job? I was a coach for a few yrs n realized it was a scam
>Bruce do you have any idea if the ingredients are for real? All these amazing super foods from around the world? I tried finding out from customer service where every single ingredient originates from and they told me that’s proprietary information. Kind of weird that their coaches (those working for them) aren’t allowed to know proprietary information about the business.
Yes, the ingredients are all real, many of them sourced from South America, and are very expensive to source and mass produce. Keeping up with the demand has been challenging. I think there is complete info on the the ingredients but not their origin on the website.
>Man I wish I got them for free lol….if you don’t mind me asking what made you leave the job? I was a coach for a few yrs n realized it was a scam
That is off limits.
>They claim the reason it is so high is that they source the ingredients from around the world. And that there are over 60 ingredients? No wonder people are regular. I couldn’t stomach it. Didn’t do as well as a multi-vitamin and eating clean – fresh fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, legumes. Nothing justifies the exorbitant price tag – even the organic Madagascar Vanilla – that they claimed they could only use because they would not put anything non-organic or natural in their shakes. Yea, ok…
Actually true, believe it or not. The development team’s mandate was to not use anything non-organic and they stuck to it. There are also some probiotic ingredients which account for some people having GI reactions – I knew a couple of people that wanted to use it but it was not compatible with their digestive systems. It IS an expensive product to produce. Whether or not you feel its worth it is up to you.
>I certainly hope they aren’t claiming that they source ingredients from around the world. That’s not environmentally friendly. There more information here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/26/business/worldbusiness/26food.html.
We should be encouraging locally sourced foods like those from farmer’s markets.
Good point. I do know that they have helped some remote communities due to the production/purchase of said ingredients, but it still has to be shipped here.
>And they probably should stay away from the term “superfood” as well: Experts say superfoods may be a super scam
It’s a marketing term sure. I do think that article is a bit biased, I believe there are some health benefits associated with ‘superfoods’,. Whether or not that justifies the price is another question…
>Beautiful link. Acai, goji berry, et al…if they have the name “super” in front of them that means super high price and not super results. Another hype and money maker. I would love to see TBB put out of business. But there are too many “coaches” and I use that term loosely, who would die for TBB. Sad, sad, sad. Wake up America! yes, some of the workouts are great and so is the streaming BUT you have to be careful. A lot of the plyometric exercise and high weights are dangerous and can cause more harm than good. Take it from a certified and trained former fitness professional, so many of their claims are pseudoscience and just backed by throwing money at infomercials and using really good looking, fit “celebrity” trainers. There is so much wrong with what they purport to be healthy, it is astonishing. “Muscle confusion”? Really? Although HIIT does work, it also can be dangerous. You have desperate overweight people, single mothers, aging people, who will try just about anything to look better. Clean eating and sensible exercise is the only way to lose the weight, keep it off and not injure yourself.
Some valid points. I workout with a trainer because I am prone to injury.
Yes, it is all marketing – BB is at its core a marketing company. I do think the workouts, if followed, do work, no question – I have seen the results in my former co-workers first hand. But they are not for everyone. And I think ALL exercise programs, no matter who produces them, will work as advertised IF YOU DO THE WORK. What BB has been successful at is figuring out how to keep people motivated and on track, and making that part of their business model.
I agree with RonnieB: eat clean and healthy, exercise sensibly and you’ll keep the weight off. But he is also right in describing BB’s core demographic – ‘desperate overweight people’ is a bit harsh but there is a kernel of truth there. People here are looking for a quick fix, a magic solution. BB workouts have worked for a lot of people and they’ve been able to parlay that success into what they are today.
But if you look around the world, the kind of obesity we have in the US is not the norm, and they don’t have BB to keep them healthy lol (yet anyway). How does the rest of the industrialized world do it? I was in Tokyo a few years ago, and walking around I did not see a single gym. I also saw maybe a couple of people that could be considered obese, a handful more that were overweight, and absolutely no one who would be considered morbidly obese. Everyone else looked pretty trim and healthy, no matter their age.(other than the cigarettes, don’t get me started).
Guess what – they don’t overeat as much, they don’t eat/drink as much crap, and they walk a lot more! It’s not rocket science for chrissake!
They claim the reason it is so high is that they source the ingredients from around the world. And that there are over 60 ingredients? No wonder people are regular. I couldn’t stomach it. Didn’t do as well as a multi-vitamin and eating clean – fresh fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, legumes. Nothing justifies the exorbitant price tag – even the organic Madagascar Vanilla – that they claimed they could only use because they would not put anything non-organic or natural in their shakes. Yea, ok…
I certainly hope they aren’t claiming that they source ingredients from around the world. That’s not environmentally friendly. There more information here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/26/business/worldbusiness/26food.html.
We should be encouraging locally sourced foods like those from farmer’s markets.
And I quote from the Shakeology.com website
“Made with globally sourced superfood ingredients”
Yep, they are searching the globe for ingredients. Or so they say. Either way, it is a lose, lose situation.
And they probably should stay away from the term “superfood” as well: Experts say superfoods may be a super scam
Beautiful link. Acai, goji berry, et al…if they have the name “super” in front of them that means super high price and not super results. Another hype and money maker. I would love to see TBB put out of business. But there are too many “coaches” and I use that term loosely, who would die for TBB. Sad, sad, sad. Wake up America! yes, some of the workouts are great and so is the streaming BUT you have to be careful. A lot of the plyometric exercise and high weights are dangerous and can cause more harm than good. Take it from a certified and trained former fitness professional, so many of their claims are pseudoscience and just backed by throwing money at infomercials and using really good looking, fit “celebrity” trainers. There is so much wrong with what they purport to be healthy, it is astonishing. “Muscle confusion”? Really? Although HIIT does work, it also can be dangerous. You have desperate overweight people, single mothers, aging people, who will try just about anything to look better. Clean eating and sensible exercise is the only way to lose the weight, keep it off and not injure yourself.
The workouts DO work. I was in the best shape of my life. Nearly bodybuilder shape. But it took so much hard work on MY part. I had to be motivated and I think there are many programs I could have accomplished this with. And shakes and diets and recipes. The thing is that programs like Insanity are SO hard on your joints and even yoga – which they push with a vengeance –
when it became popular as a miracle workout, is VERY hard on the joints. I quit being a coach when I kept getting scammed about where the “brass ring” and the “prize” was and it got farther and farther away without investing LOTS of my own money or hounding everyone I know to get the free cruise, free Summit Tix, Diamond coach status. Trust me, anyone who was my age when I started – 49 – now is probably suffering physically and monetarily after buying all the workouts and doing them.
Coaches say Proprietary ingredients because they can’t POSSIBLY remember all of this. Here it is from the website. Again there is a lot of pseudo-science in this:
“1. PROPRIETARY PROTEIN BLEND: Whey, Pea, Sacha Inchi, Chia, Flax, Quinoa.
Protein is made up of amino acids, the body’s primary building blocks. Muscles, bones, skin, internal organs—and much more—are all made of amino acids. What’s more, we’re in a constant state of breaking all these things down and rebuilding them. Long story short, we’re made of protein and therefore we need to consume it to stay healthy. This blend is formulated with a variety of quality protein sources.
2. PROPRIETARY SUPER-FRUIT/ANTIOXIDANT BLEND: Camu-Camu, Acerola Cherry, Bilberry, Lycium Berry (Goji Berry), Green Tea, Luo Han Guo, Pomegranate, Rose Hips, Vitamins A, C, E.
A number of your body’s vital processes depend on a series of chemical reactions called the oxidation-reduction (redox) cycle. Free radicals are generated by oxidation reactions. Antioxidants inhibit oxidation. When in balance, they’re both good things and necessary for a number of biological processes. Unfortunately, a number of 21st century issues, including lousy diet and stress, can promote free radicals, causing an imbalance between free radicals and antioxidant levels. Consuming antioxidants helps bring balance back, therefore helping to fight free radical damage and helping support a healthy immune system. Vitamins A, C, and E are known antioxidants. Also, key superfoods in Shakeology have been specifically selected for their antioxidant properties.
3. PROPRIETARY SUPER-GREEN/PHYTONUTRIENT BLEND: Moringa, Chlorella, Spirulina, Spinach, Kale.
Phytonutrients are substances distinct to plants that also happen to benefit the animals that eat them (including us). They’re also what give fruits and veggies their various colors, thus the saying, “Eat the rainbow.” The nutrition science community has been gaga over phytonutrients for years, as new studies come out almost daily—most demonstrating how they help support human health and vitality. While we still recommend you eat your veggies, this Shakeology blend will give you a phytonutrient leg up.
[Related: Learn even more about Shakeology’s ingredients.]
4. PROPRIETARY ADAPTOGEN BLEND: Ashwagandha, Astragalus, Cordyceps, Maca, Maitake, Reishi, Schisandra.
Adaptogens are just what they sound like: substances that have traditionally been used to help the body adapt and respond to the effects of stress—and they’ve been being used by cultures across the planet for centuries. While there’s no shortage of science behind many of the ingredients in Shakeology, this blend focuses more on holistic approaches, traditional practices, and ancient wisdom to offer ingredients that can help promote homeostasis, or balance, in the body.
5. PROPRIETARY PRE- AND PROBIOTIC/DIGESTIVE ENZYME BLEND: Yacon Root, Chicory Root, Bacillus coagulans , Amylase, Cellulase, Lactase, Glucoamylase, Alpha-Galactosidase, Invertase.
Your intestines are loaded with bacteria—and much of it is hugely beneficial in a number of ways, including helping properly break down food and creating important nutrients like short-chain fatty acids. Probiotics such as Bacillus coagulans are digestible forms of these beneficial bacteria. Prebiotics, including yacon root and chicory root, act as food for these important little critters. Consuming a combination of the two can help support the biome in your belly, therefore supporting a healthy digestive system.
Enzymes are catalysts that facilitate chemical reactions. Digestive enzymes, in particular, break down the food you eat, therefore helping with nutrient absorption. Amylase, for example, breaks down carbohydrates. (Fun fact: your saliva contains amylase so the digestive process actually begins the moment you start chewing.) Lactase breaks down dairy. Anything in Shakeology with an “ase” at the end of it is an enzyme.
So you see, when you break it all down, Shakeology’s proprietary blends are actually easy to understand.”
This was so in depth. I found it by trying to look up the shakeology ingredients. I once used a sample size of shakeology. I didn’t love it, but it was free, so I gave it a go.
I seriously hate when people who are into fitness are so into shakes. If you’re drinking a smoothie with some protein powder, okay, fine. But seriously, why does anyone think a meal replacement shake is a good idea for the long term? I keep Burt’s Bees protein powder on hand for a once in awhile breakfast if I am in a hurry. It just happened to be the cheapest and healthiest of the dairy free proteins at my local grocery store. The thing lasts me forever because I actually prefer to EAT my calories, rather than drink them.
I have been so annoyed lately because I am a beach body customer. I love their workouts and have even gotten certified to teach a couple of their formats. However, I am constantly being asked to become a coach. Now that I am certified to teach, I am annoyed with their proteam membership, too. It used to be that you would get an actual dvd and music cd to put onto whatever device. Now, you get a digital download. Fine. I get that. But here’s the thing that annoys me: You can’t even use their logos without paying $30/month. So, if I want to advertise, I have to be paying them $30/month on top of the $250 to get certified in the first place. I teach another exercise format and it is so much cheaper!
Anyway, I am glad I came across this so that I have actual ammunition the next time someone tries to harass me about why I should be a coach and/or buy shakeology. I think I’ll just send them this link directly.
Nice article about Shakeology. I’ve always wanted to try Beach Body because that’s supposedly how Missy Elliott lost so much weight: http://rightweigh.com/missy-elliott-celebrity-weight-loss-surgery.html
Please don’t pay attention to how celebrities lose weight. They often have personal trainers, personal chefs, and can choose not to work if they want to (I’m sure Missy Elliott can afford very above average housing costs).
Celebrities are also paid money to endorse brands, so it’s possible that the statements are endorsements. The article that you point to seems to say that it’s just eating well and exercise, which I think anyone and everyone endorses. There are all types of great exercise options out there. Exercise videos are just a fraction and they have been around for decades.
I wish you could see my standing ovation after reading this. Thank you for saving me from spending even another minute considering this as a “business opportunity.”
Yes, they do claim the ingredients are from around the world.
I’d love to see an update on this.
I read the article and comments. Really thankful I did.
I signed up under a coach as a coach, but only for the discount and knew I probably wouldn’t actually coach. Have really loved the shakes, (I used vegan so not to get the bloating) the workouts and especially the accountability. My coach stopped contacting me so I canceled the shakeology and just keep up with the workouts on my own. I’m four months in and am pretty confident that I don’t need the accountability at this point, BUT having it for the first couple months really was helpful.
It was the shake price that started getting me curious. After I canceled it and used up my last bit, I started feeling like a crackhead that needed their shakeo. (Mentally not physically, and I’m being funny.) I’ve been looking up comparable shakes for better prices.
That’s when I went down the “there’s lead in shakes” rabbit hole. That’s how I got to this article. I even clicked away to your eBay link and literally did start feeling like a crackhead when I saw a bag for $85.
Thank you for taking the time to break this down for people like me who just don’t have the time or resources to do it on my own. Maybe there are flaws in your research, maybe not. But I do think I came across this for a reason and it really does help me see that I could probably put almond milk, spinach, bananas and blueberries in a blender and do just fine with some ice and straw.
I’ve seen TV ads for their various workouts and wanted to try them. They’re probably good for anyone with the dedication to stick to them. However, I didn’t even know about the shakes…I read this when doing background searches on the company because I was considering applying for an employee communications job there. I’ve changed my mind! I may still try one of their workouts someday, but I won’t work for them!