Herbalife has been around since the 80s. It aims to sell weight loss shakes and supplements following the company’s diet. Most people are familiar with Herbalife by purchasing the products and giving the diet a try. However, with the MLM structure Herbalife follows, it is possible to make money online.
But how much money can you make with this business opportunity? Not so much.
Although it has been in the market for a very long time, Herbalife has proven to be a way to earn a few bucks only. Does this mean it isn’t worth your time?
To make it clear, you can make money with it. The problem lies in how saturated this business model is. The commission plan isn’t as good as the company promises either.
Overall, you can find a way to earn extra cash but through much effort. Again, is it worth it?
There’s a lot to share about our Herbalife MLM review and the system itself, which we will do to conclude whether it is the next big move in your life or not.
What is Herbalife?
Herbalife is a well-known MLM company, and it has been around for decades. We even find it difficult to believe that you haven’t heard of it before.
Los Angeles-based company is one the largest distributors of nutritional supplements, weight reduction, and beauty products worldwide.
Herbalife was third on the DSN 100 List 2020 with a revenue of $5.5 Billion. The company employs more than 8,300 people and has over 2.3 million distributors in more than 90 countries.
Today it is an empire, but when did it all begin? Who is the person behind this multilevel marketing company?
Mark R. Hughes founded Herbalife in 1980. He was just twenty-four years at the time. He sold products from his car trunk together with Richard Marconi and Lawrence Thompson.
Hughes was inspired by the death of his mother to find safer methods of dieting. According to the future founder, this is because the cause of her death is poor weight management and an eating disorder.
His first product was a protein supplement that helped people manage their weight. It is still one of his most loved products in the company.
The company also has a plan that follows a solution for weight loss and also gain it.
Herbalife requires you to eat one meal a day that contains at least twenty vitamins and supplements. You had to choose whether to replace your normal meal with supplements or company products or to add it to meet the daily requirements.
In the beginning, the company’s merchandise was sold door to door, via word-of-mouth and not through any commercial retailers like today.
Due to the date and how things worked, they had a high success rate and made $23,000 per month, proving that their products worked.
Their first year was a success after making over two million dollars. The company then expanded to Canada thanks to the huge success it achieved.
Hughes applied his marketing skills to television booking openings that lasted two to three hours via cable.
Herbalife also published its magazine, “Herbalife Journal.” This was filled with testimonials, success stories of distributors, and customer success testimonials.
The slogan of the company, “Lose weight now-Ask me how,” was quickly adopted on bumper stickers and buttons. Some businesses even copied it without too much difficulty.
Hughes decided to expand the company overseas in the second half of the eighties. To finance the expansion, Herbalife merged in December 1986 with a Shell company based in Utah.
They were able to grow more quickly than if they had to make a public offering. Hughes, who was now the chairman of the new company Herbalife International, took 14 million shares, while Lawrence Thompson received the remaining 2 million at the time.
By 1988, the firm had moved to Mexico, Spain, and New Zealand. International product sales were booming as well.
Then, by 1991, they had reached a total of $91 million. It was $400 million in 1995.
The company is present in Asia, Europe, the Americas, and other markets, and it continues to grow as of today.
How Does It work? – Explore MLM further
Initially, we mentioned the MLM model and how it worked, but it was very straightforward and without much detail.
This is why it is crucial to go over the entire concept of multilevel marketing. In this way, you will better understand what you are diving into when choosing Herbalife.
Multilevel marketing, also known as MLM, is where you become a distributor or a member of the company to earn revenue and commissions. This is usually based on recruiting people but also selling products/offering services.
Most MLM and compensation plans allow you to make commissions selling products. However, a belief running around is quite accurate: It is true that MLM companies don’t allow you to make a lot of money.
Primarily, your income will come from recruiting new members and distributors that need to buy a starter package. Not so much from what you sell from the company.
Based on how many new members you recruit and how well you add them to your MLM account, the downline is the team that you build.
Each MLM company has its own income rate, commissions, and fees. It is important to review the business plan carefully and to offer your opinion on whether Herbalife or any other MLM is worth your time.
This model is often compared to a pyramid scheme, as it works in the same way: You recruit people to make your money.
However, as we mentioned before, but differently, schemes don’t work with real products and services. But they will try to get you to pay money for memberships or other items that don’t work.
As we have already mentioned, Herbalife is about this business model. We will still need to look into the other aspects of Herbalife to see if it is worth it, based on its compensations and plan.
Turning into a Member: Herbalife’s Membership
We have some great information for you if you’re considering giving this company a chance. After all, we know everything about the first thing you must consider: Cost/Prices.
Are Herbalife memberships too expensive? Is it more affordable than other businesses?
We can tell you that it is reasonable to some extent, especially when we consider that other MLM companies set several fees, conditions, and expenses when signing up for them.
To join Herbalife, you will need to pay $94.10 for membership to become a distributor.
Although this is a great deal, you will need to purchase a starter kit as an Herbalife Distributor.
You can choose from two different kits that include different products. Or you can invest more in both. Keep in mind they are both from different prices.
This is why the packages offer a variety of items that are priced according to their cost:
- International Business Pack (IBP): $94.10. It includes a messenger bag, sports bottles, buttons, and important books and guidelines. There are also sales aids and other support items.
- International Business Pack -Super Starter: $124.10. The same products are included, but it also includes Formula 1, Herbal Tea, and an entire sampling set.
With the membership and starters packs, this will mean that you will need to spend approximately $218.2 plus the fees and expenses depending on how you work as a distributor.
It is also important to remember that shipping costs and other fees do not count towards the price of the starter kit.
After the membership and packs, the condition of Herbalife is that you must sell the products within a certain time frame.
You must remember this since you will need to pay for the products if you don’t sell them.
What Herbalife Products Will You Sell?
Talking about products, which ones are they?
The terms herbal products and supplements are what define the ones from Herbalife perfectly.
The popularity of Herbalife products is worldwide. You should be familiar with them and have even tried them.
Don’t worry if you haven’t. This isn’t some kind of showing out that you have done it. If you don’t know about them nor which ones are most popular and what additional options you need, we are here to solve this.
First, Herbalife offers five main categories: Healthy Weight, Core Nutrition, Specialized Nutrition, and Energy.
We will add a variety of products to each category and name the most popular.
- Formula 1 Shake mixes 750g: Core nutrition. All flavors are approximately $43.30.
- Healthy weight: Herbal Teas Concentrate, 1.8 Oz. The prices range from $26.40 to $46.20 for 3.6 Oz.
- Specialized nutrition: Herbal Aloe Concentrate, digestive products 1/2 gallon. About $122.
- Energy and Fitness: Drinks $29.55, and most popular snacks around $21.40 per box of protein bars.
- Hair and skincare: Cleansers start at $20.95, and acne solutions and kits start at $76.25. Bath and body start at $20.
You can also find subcategories within the main categories that offer more specialized products.
Each sub-product costs at least $20 retail, but you as a distributor will need to be aware of the discounts you get to sell them.
Distributors are typically given a discount of 25% on all products and can also sell them at full retail price.
Earning with Herbalife: Compensation and Profit
We will make it clear that MLM models and companies don’t allow 90% of people to make lots of money. Thus, the percentage can be even reduced to 5%.
Some people consider the business to be a great source of extra income. However, it all depends on how well you sell and how you handle the company’s compensation plan.
Herbalife offers six ways to make money. The main ones, however, are just two or three at best.
- Retail profit: The commission you receive from sales of products is what makes you money. The commission you earn from the sale of products is 25%. However, you can still sell them at retail prices. You will earn $25 if you sell products for $100.
- Wholesale profit: This means that you can make around 42% of the potential retail profit or about 7% to 17%. Based on your current plan, this can make it quite difficult.
- Royalty Overrides: Your recruits to the company or downline organization earn you a commission based on their own sales and recruits.
Additional commissions and earnings, such as annual and production bonuses, depending on the conditions you meet.
You may be eligible for monthly or annual bonuses if your sales exceed a set amount and you recruit a certain number of new members.
You make more money by selling and recruiting, as the wholesale profit is less attractive since most people can’t achieve it.
MLM companies also work on the basis of rankings. The higher your rank, the more you will earn commissions.
For Herbalife, there are over 11 different ranks. Most MLM companies do this to make it tough for anyone to climb.
This is why a very low percentage is actually able to make over $200 per month (with Herbalife, at least).
Pros & Cons: Working with Herbalife
In our experience, this MLM company isn’t profitable. Although it can be a good source of extra cash, it is plain when it comes to compensation.
This is actually a personal experience, as we were there when someone spoke and we decided to invest.
We want to give you an overview of the pros and cons so you can have a clear idea of this company and business option:
Pros:
- It is a well-known company that follows a legal business model.
- If you get the starter kit, it isn’t too expensive to join.
- It has an excellent reputation on the market, and most people are familiar with Herbalife.
- Network marketing and person-to-person selling can be done just as easily as online sales.
Cons:
- However, its reputation has declined over time.
- Due to the fact that most people don’t like its “balanced nutrition” products and diet, the company is losing credibility and clients.
- It’s not easy to make a lot of money. The company acknowledges that most independent distributors make about $1,000 per year. It’s not much.
- It won’t matter how much you sell products, but rather how many distributors you bring in.
- Low commissions and slow processing times for payments that are the bonus or extra profit are some of the drawbacks.
- You will struggle to sell if your reputation is declining. The products are also expensive.
With all this in mind, what can we say about it? Herbalife isn’t good.
Today, the company is a huge business and continues to sell many products.
We don’t doubt that some of these products work, but their reputation is declining because people get poor results or worsen their condition after quitting the pills, teas, or shakes.
There are many jokes and bad reviews about the brand. The complaints continue to mount, and there are more reasons not to rely on them.
The Downside of Herbalife
We will dive deeper into the cons to ensure you understand why this MLM company is a no for us.
For it, we need to focus on more than just the disadvantages when you become a distributor. You must know more about how the products affect your customers as well.
Also, these involve the ones we noticed during our experience but also based on other people’s reviews.
- Shakes are processed (a lot).
The meal replacement shakes from Herbalife are high in processed ingredients like protein isolates and sugars. They also contain artificial flavors and emulsifiers.
These ingredients also include a range of vitamins and minerals that make up the missing nutrients, and they haven’t proven to be reliable.
The biggest problem is the high sugar content of the shakes. 40% of each serving’s calories come from added sugars, most notably fructose.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that you limit your intake of added sugars to 5% per day. This equates roughly to 25 grams per person for an average adult. This is clearly way too exceeded by Herbalife.
The Herbalife shake contains 18g of sugar in two servings.
It is generally recommended to get your nutrients from less processed foods, such as fruits, vegetables, high-quality proteins, and whole grains.
- They make you hungry.
Herbalife shakes can be described as meal replacement shakes but doesn’t have enough calories to make them a meal. Thus, you get hungry or don’t end up replacing anything.
The shakes are 170 calories when mixed with nonfat milk. This will leave you hungry all day.
Mixing the shake with fruits can increase the calorie count and fiber content, but it won’t provide any extra protein or fat.
- Again, it is expensive.
Each 30-serving Herbalife meal substitute mix container costs over $60, which is quite a lot.
Herbalife recommends two shakes per day. This makes it even less affordable per month and hard to sell the products. This is also without including the supplements you should take.
Although swapping out meals for smoothies can save money, the savings might not be enough to cover the extra cost of smoothies or supplements.
- Herbal supplements may cause liver damage.
Herbalife recommends several weight loss supplements that include a variety of ingredients.
These supplements aren’t tested for efficacy and have not been regulated by any government agency to ensure their purity or quality.
You should be aware of signs and symptoms that could indicate adverse reactions to supplements.
There have been numerous reports of liver damage from Herbalife weight loss products. This can sometimes lead to liver transplants or even death.
Some Herbalife products may have been infected with the bacteria B. This bacteria has been linked to the same condition we’re discussing.
Many over-the-counter and supplement medications can cause liver damage and adverse effects.
One study funded by Herbalife showed that protein-rich diets supplemented with Herbalife Formula 1 didn’t affect liver function. Would you trust it, though?
- Not everyone can consume it.
The Herbalife diet is not suitable for all.
This program is not recommended for people with allergies, sensitivities, or intolerances to shakes and supplements.
Also, it mentions helping lose and gain weight. For the latter, things usually go downhill faster.
Skip MLM Companies for Good
MLM companies aren’t options we consider at all. Instead, they are a huge “pass” for us even when some of them offer great compensation plans and work.
However, the business model isn’t reliable, and it is very easy to lose reputation. Do you want to aim for something better in the future? You can lose the opportunity by working for the company.
Then, if we don’t like MLM, what do we do with our money?
We favor business models that allow us to be self-employed and seek out direct sales and services that can bring us a passive income and independence.
Local lead generation is one and our favorite options. Although it may cost more than Herbalife in the short term, it won’t require you to put all of your savings into it. Just think about it. It could be your own business.
It’s easy to do later. Although it can take some time, passive income is possible with the business model, which encourages us to continue with it even more.
Local lead generation is entirely online. This means that you don’t need to stock products or work around the needs of stores.
How can you make money from lead generation?
This is based on the way to build or create websites for clients. You can either contact them directly or bring their attention to them. You should also ensure that their sites rank well in Google so they get organic traffic and you generate leads for them.
The traffic is what is then converted to leads, and these leads are converted into clients later.
It isn’t hard to understand, but it still requires some technical skills and knowledge. Nothing that cannot be solved.
Our suggestion and financial advice overall is that you skip Herbalife. Even if you don’t give lead gen a try, you should look for better alternatives to make money.
The Local Lead Generation Process for Your Business
All right! So, everything is about building properties and generating leads. But how does the process actually take place? Are there other steps I need to know?
The steps I mention below are what students from our local lead generation program follow to generate leads for businesses like yourself. So I’ll help you see what we do. And how if you join our program, you can simply generate leads for your own business (unless you want to start a side hustle and build a laptop lifestyle business).
Essentially, our lead generation can be divided into four steps:
The first is prospecting. You need to take the time to do market research on a niche (industry) and determine how many phone-driven businesses are there.
Keep in mind that this is local research as you need to know how many companies need leads. For example, you may search for “plumbing services Youngstown OH.”
You will find dozens or even hundreds of businesses trying to get themselves in front of the customers by ranking on Map Listings, organic results, and even Ad.
The second step, building. When you find a niche (plumbing, tree services, a software company, real estate…), you will need to start building your digital properties. You don’t need to be an expert in HTML or coding. It can be easy with the right tools.
The third step is now taking time to rank your lead gen website. With the site done, you need to work on SEO strategies and start dominating those Google search results. If you’re new to SEO, it stands for Search Engine Optimization.
To keep it simple, it consists of the entire process of growing a company’s visibility on search engines like Google and generating organic traffic. And remember this, local lead generation is part of the strategies.
Moving on to step four, once you rank the site, you will start getting your ROI and profits. You only need to rent it out to a local business interested in the leads the site generates. You can offer a couple of free leads to their move on with the actual pay per lead.
To review steps 1-4 above, I described it to a normal student who is building a lead gen business to help local service providers generate more calls. But replace the student with you as the business owner. And replace sending the leads to a business to simply siphoning the leads to your personal business.
By the way, fun fact, about 20% of our students in our local lead gen program are actually business owners who went through the program. And they use the skillsets we teach to generate leads for their own business.
An Example of Lead Generation: Home Advisor
You must be thinking, “if lead generation sounds so good so far, how come I haven’t seen any company?” That’s the thing; there are many out there. You just don’t know they are dedicated to it.
HomeAdvisor is one of the best examples you can find on the Internet as it is a top lead generation company that has spent millions building its brand but also earned even more zeros for this same reason.
They started small as everyone else but invested in building their brand awareness to make people who are looking for home services go to their website and find what they need. They are over 75% of people’s first choice when they need those services.
If you don’t get HomeAdvisor that much or need a refresh, users need to submit their information to request a service and get a professional or expert who can provide it.
HomeAdvisor’s job is to share your information, which makes you a lead, with local companies so they can contact you and offer the service you’re requesting. For sharing this lead information, HomeAdvisor gets paid by the companies. This happens for every single lead they send to multiple businesses.
Business owners who don’t have marketing skills or don’t even know how to have any online presence will always rely on those pages to list their services. They will save time and effort, but companies like HomeAdvisor can make them spend lots of money as leads aren’t exclusive (one lead is sent to multiple companies after all).
Using Facebook Ads aka Paid Ad Platforms: Do They Generate Leads?
They DO generate leads. If not, no one would use them.
However, you need to remember two facts:
- Paid ads or platforms can be expensive.
- They don’t generate “natural” leads.
Whenever someone sees or clicks in one of those ads, over 80% of them did it by accident or are trying to close/report it.
Why? Because they aren’t looking for those services. At least not at the moment.
What those ads do instead is interrupt their time on the platforms. Users aren’t there to find companies or businesses unless they are searching for a specific company’s user, and for that, there’s a search bar. This is why it is hard to convert them to actual customers who will show interest in the companies’ services. Also, you’re limited by a budget.
When using lead generation, everything is organic. You aren’t forcing others to pay attention to your business but rather being there when they need you. This is why Google’s organic traffic will always beat paid ads, and the reason companies continue investing in it, which is a lot cheaper as well.
What Is Local SEO?
Don’t worry… I didn’t get it at first either. Following the short explanation, local SEO focuses on scaling businesses’ visibility on search engines. However, this is only for those who serve their communities face-to-face.
What does this mean?
Experts and professionals like painters, plumbers, and dentists (but not only them) offer their services to their local customers. Why? Because they can’t deliver them unless they are located in the same area of their customers.
To make sure those businesses get more leads, you need to rank them locally by claiming the business listing on Google to place them on Map Listings. Local SEO also involves online reviews, citation management, and how you manage your entire online presence in the local area.
If you are going to bet on lead gen, you need to adapt yourself to today’s world: The Internet.
Keep in mind that although traditional channels and methods like billboards, warm calls, and pamphlets still work, they aren’t part of your tools. Whenever someone needs a service, they go to Google and search for it.
“Dentist in Miami” or “plumbing services in Orlando,” etc. And you can keep coming up with services or professionals people need and look for. Thus, you need to make sure you’re using Google to get the companies in front of their clients.
Users will always click on the first search results (those near the top), and many of them will be either Ad links (people paid to place their websites there), Map Listing, and then you get websites. Almost all of them are your goal and where you should always aim to place yourself.
Can My Business Utilize a Local Lead Generation Strategy?
If you want customers, you better know you need it. Following the previous explanation, lead gen is all about placing businesses in front of their customers, choosing them over their competitors.
Put it simply – it’s all about closing deals and having clients for those companies to make money. The main difference with the usual methods companies use for this is how lead generation approaches different channels to get them in the right place of the market to get customers.
Those channels are all focused on the Internet as most people are searching for products but also services across the net. The issue is that the Internet is way too broad, and businesses don’t know how to place themselves. They usually try, but they get one common result: losing money and time.
How Powerful Are Organic Leads from Google?
For companies looking for customers, it’s everything. For you? Pretty much the same. When you build a business with digital properties, you get to make thousands of dollars a month.
This isn’t a “get started today and get rich tomorrow” thing, but it is HIGHLY scalable, and ROI + positive results are guaranteed. Learning a fairly decent and very needed set of skills to create your digital properties and start ranking them on Google is required.
I have invested in several online businesses over the years, and if there’s something uncertain, whether you will get your ROI or not, even more than the actual profit.
However, this business moved my earnings from five figures a year to a month in ONLY passive income while sitting comfortably at home.
On my laptop. Anywhere. Anytime.
You can look at one of the first sites I built back in 2016, and it continues making me over $1.000+ every month. The best part is that I don’t need to touch it or the rest I’ve built over the years, just like this digital property.
What Makes Lead Generation SO Alluring?
Here it goes: you can work from home.
The main issue with regular business opportunities is how much you need to invest in staff, equipment, or rent to have a place to sell your products or offer your services.
We all know the hassles of traditional businesses that involve regular expenses, which are extremely high. Can you afford it? I don’t think so, and even if you can, is it worth it? Now, it isn’t only about the money. You also need to put in a lot of work, and it isn’t only during the first couple of months or years. Usually, it is as long as you continue running it.
You can save yourself those headaches and bone-breaking tasks and expenses with lead gen since it is more about generating leads with digital channels—mainly websites.
Websites can be VERY cheap to build, and with many tools online, you get to do it in a couple of hours instead of days. Any virtual or digital business is scalable and won’t need constant maintenance.
So, let’s summarize this:
- You save money in regular expenses with traditional and most online businesses as what you need is yourself and digital properties (websites).
- You can bet on passive income.
- There’s no need to hire more people to get started.
- You can generate leads in multiple industries, which allows you to work on any niche you want.
How Can I Get Started in the Local Lead Generation Program?
Anyone can start and learn. That’s the beauty of this business model. I knew nothing about SEO, Map Listing, and everything I’ve mentioned so far. It is all about learning the skills, gaining experience, and deciding to take the step.
Remember that this business model will never get old as business owners are always looking for leads. They need to do business and scale their companies. Why not do the same while helping others and still making money?
You can start with this local lead generation course highly recommended for anyone wanting to grow in the business. It is a close training that will take you through each step and make sure you are able to get your ROI, profits and take control of your life.
You will be added to an incredible lead generation family ready to help you 24/7 when asking questions on the group. Anyone is welcome who’s willing to put in the work. Click here to watch the lead gen webinar.