Welcome to my Beachbody review! If you are wondering is Beachbody a pyramid scheme, in this review, I will help you find out!
I'm glad to see you doing your research before jumping in on a business opportunity. The sad truth is that the world is full of scams and doing research is the only way to find opportunities that actually work.
The changes are that you wound up here because someone reached out to you about the business opportunity or coaching and something made you wonder if this could be a pyramid scheme.
Beachbody is best known for its p90x which was a huge success in the early 2000s all around the world but especially in the US.
Beachbody sells online exercise videos and dietary supplements, but they also offer a business opportunity as a Beachbody coach. The company is definitely network marketing, but is it a pyramid scheme? Read on to find out.
This review will be more about the business opportunity, not so much about how effective the workout products are.
Before we continue, I want you to know that I'm not affiliated with Beachbody in any way or form. I just check out business opportunities for my readers.
My site is about finding alternative income streams to the regular 9 to 5 and I try to find the best opportunities out there that allow you to work on your own terms.
That's why I check out online business opportunities and share my finding with you. I also recommend products I find useful myself, so my content includes affiliate links from time to time.
I want to be completely transparent about this. Because I trust the products I recommend, I will offer my full support if you end up buying or joining a service I recommend. Of course without any additional cost to you.
To find out if Beachbody is a pyramid scheme, we need to define what a pyramid scheme actually means, because people often get multi-level marketing and pyramid schemes mixed.
Beachbody Summary
Company Name: Beachbody LLC
Business Opportunity: MLM in weight loss and fitness niche
Product Price: $39.95 + $15.95/month
Summary:
Beachbody is a well established American MLM company that is best known for the P90X program that was very popular in the 2000s.
There is no evidence that Beachbody would be a pyramid scheme. But it's definitely and MLM company.
MLMs have notoriously low success rate for their individual reps (called coaches in this one). That's why I can't really recommend it as a business opportunity, unless you are very experienced with direct selling and network marketing.
If you want to learn how to leverage search engine traffic for an automated income source that can be scaled to full-time income and more, check out my number one recommendation through the button below.
What Is A Pyramid Scheme
So what exactly is a pyramid scheme? A pyramid scheme is a system where members recruit additional members into the system. The new members are usually promised an irresistible investment or business opportunity in exchange for a hefty investment or "training" fee.
The business opportunity turns out to be to recruit additional members into the system. The only way people can make their money back is by recruiting additional members.
What makes it a pyramid or multi-level is the fact that each member will earn commissions over several levels of recruitment beneath them.
This increases the incentive to recruit additional members because having only a few people straight beneath you can add up to several thousand people quickly if each of them recruits several people.
The problem with this system is that the money moves always up in the pyramid. The higher up you are, the better your income. But the people at the bottom will not be able to make back their money.
There will always be honest people who got suckered into the system but don't want to pass on the problem. They simply end up losing their money.
This is why pyramid schemes are illegal in most parts of the world. They are often used to prey on desperate people in financial distress and there are either no real products or services being sold or they are just a front for the recruitment.
Because pyramid schemes are illegal, the authorities and members will usually realize the scam behind the system sooner or later. This is why pyramid schemes are often short-lived and they will have issued a warning and possible lawsuits before collapsing. A good example of this how officials have been issuing warning about Crowd1 being a possible pyramid scheme.
What Is MLM
MLM or multi-level marketing is a business model that uses the same concept as a pyramid scheme with a few important twists.
There are completely legit companies that have individual sales reps that are allowed to recruit additional reps in return of earning a share of their sales revenue. This is called network marketing or multi-level marketing. I'm sure you're familiar with companies like Tupperware or Herbalife.
So what sets MLM companies and pyramid schemes apart? Well the general consensus is that in a legit MLM the majority of the revenue comes from sales of products or services while in a pyramid scheme the main source of income comes
Sometimes the line between legal MLMs and illegal pyramid schemes is a vague one and there have been cases where MLM companies have tried to hide the fact they aren't really selling anything other than business promises to new recruits.
Authorities like the FTC in the US have also tightened their requirements for MLMs in recent years, issuing warnings that most MLMs aren't actually profitable to most of the sales reps.
But make no mistake, MLMs are still considered legal in most parts of the world if they sell real products, get most of their revenue from them and there aren't unreasonable participation fees.
Now that we know the difference between MLMs and pyramid schemes, let's take a closer look at Beachbody!
What Is Beachbody
Overview
Beachbody is an American MLM company that specializes in home-exercise videos and training programs as well as dietary supplements.
The company was founded in 1998 in Santa Monica, California by Jonathan Daikeler and Jon Congdon.
They are by far best known for their P90X or Power 90 Extreme programs, which was heavily advertised and endorsed by celebrities in the early 2000s. The program was actually created by personal trainer Tony Horton.
These days Beachbody offers several different online, on-demand fitness programs as well as a supplement line to fill in your nutritional needs.
More importantly, Beachbody offers a business opportunity in the form of becoming a Coach in Team Beachbody.
Owners
The owners of the company are the original founders Jonathan Daikeler and Jon Congdon.
Dealers and Cordon teamed up back in 1996 to collaborate in multiple national campaigns until launching Beachbody in 1998.
John Congdon is involved in the management of product marketing, e-commerce, and business operations as well as overseas media distribution. He also oversees the Breakthrough in Beauty, Beachbody's beauty division. Jon holds a degree in political science.
Jonathan Daikeler is actually the one who came up with the idea of selling fitness videos. He actually created a program called :08 Min Abs before founding Beachbody with Congdon.
Beachbody Products
Beachbody offers a wide variety of fitness and weight loss programs for different demographics. Their products include fitness programs, weight loss programs, and supplements.
Fitness and weight loss programs include:
- Double Time: A partner workout program
- Shift Shop: A rapid rebuild program to get back to your previous top shape
- YOUv2: Cardio dance program
- Core De Force: Martials arts inspired workout
- 22 Minute Hard Corps: A simple, no-nonsense workout that only takes 22 minutes/day
- Cize
- Beachbody performance
- 21 day extreme
- P90X: The classic
- 3-day Refresh
- PiYo: Pilates and Yoga combined
- Body Beast
- 21 Day fix
- 10-minute trainer
- Slim in 6
- Rocking Body
- Chalean Extreme
So as you can see they have a lot. What combines the is that they all include a set of blueray or DVD sets. They also have a more modern option of Beachbody On Demand. It's an on-demand service you can access with all your smart devices and computers to stream 1,100 + Workouts.
Their supplement line includes the Shakealogy nutrient shakes and Beachbody Performance Energize snack bars.
The Business Opportunity
Beachbody offers a business opportunity in the form of becoming a Team Beachbody Coach. Becoming a Coach costs $39.95 for a digital business starter kit.
There will also be a $15.95 monthly recurring fee for as long as you keep running your Team Beachbody business.
There are basically two ways you can make money as a coach. By selling products to consumers, or by recruiting more people to join as coaches.
When you get people to join below you, you will earn a share of their commissions. The compensation plan is complicated with several bonuses, as always with MLMs. You can find the full compensation plan here.
Is Beachbody A Pyramid Scheme
So now that we know more about the company and the owners, it's time to look for any evidence if the company might be a pyramid scheme.
There are three questions I like to ask when assessing if an MLM might be a pyramid scheme:
1. How long the company has been around?
Remember how I explained in the beginning how pyramid schemes are almost always shortlived. Sometimes they last only months, sometime few years. But almost never over 5.
Beachbody was formed in 1998, over 22 years ago. The company has established itself as one of the leading fitness companies in the world. Definitely not the M.O. of a typical pyramid scheme.
2. Are there any real products or services being sold?
Pyramid schemes often don't either have any products to sell or they are very obscure because they function as a front to the actual business of recruiting.
Beachbody clearly has real products to sell as their main products are digital on-demand training programs and supplements. They have also sold their products for hundreds of millions. So nothing that would point the company is a pyramid scheme.
3. Are there any lawsuits, court ruling, or issued warnings?
This is probably the most important one when trying to decide if a company is something you want to associate yourself with, even if it's not running a clear pyramid scheme.
Like we talked about in the beginning, pyramid schemes will run in trouble with the law sooner or later and that will evidence. Keep in mind that a couple of lawsuits aren't really anything of concern with huge companies like Beachbody, they are actually expected. But if there are tons of class action lawsuits, that's a different matter.
So let's see what I could find:
- Beachbody Agrees to pay $3.6 million to settle case over automatic credit card renewals
- Another case where a family sued the company for a failed pull up bar that ended up with catastrophic consequences. I won't link to that one out of respect.
And that's about it. To be honest I was expecting to find more lawsuits with a huge company like this. If you check out that first one, it has nothing to do with the company being a pyramid scheme and the case was settled. So nothing concerning.
If you check out Trustpilot reviews about Beachbody, most of the negative comments are about recurring billing issues and the quality of their Shakealogy product. But nothing that would suggest the company being a pyramid scheme, other than a few negative comments about experiences as a coach.
So, Is It?!
Okay, Okay, I get it, you want a clear answer. No. Beachbody is not a pyramid scheme in my opinion. They've been around for over 20 years, they have sold their products for millions of dollars
There are some lawsuits but nothing that screams pyramid scheme. Most important
But if you are thinking about becoming their sales rep (or team member), I might have an interesting alternative for you.
An alternative to MLMs
If you noticed in the beginning I mentioned that FTC has warned people about the MLM business model. The fact is that it's very hard to make income with MLMs, the odds are simply against you.
While it's possible to become a Coach for Beachbody and just sell their services and products, it's very unlikely that you can make significant profit that way. You are very likely going to have to recruit lots of people and have a clear plan if you wish to succeed.
But what if I told that there is another way to turn your fitness and exercise knowledge and experience into a profitable business? It's especially on-demand now during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, as people all around the world are working more at home.
I'm talking about starting your own online business. Online business is superior to being a sales rep or selling your own services or products:
- No need for expensive inventory
- You can automate your sales process, people find your website and other assets online 24/7
- You are not limited by your own time, like with selling services
- Freedom to work from anywhere in the world
- Possibility of truly passive income once the business is set up and running
How this essentially works, is that you set up a website and get traffic there either organically through Google or by paid means or social media.
You can then monetize your website by selling your own digital products or through affiliate marketing. This business model can be used to get more customers for your MLM business as well.
If you want to learn more about this business model and how it all works, check out my number one recommendation through the button below.
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Conclusion
I hope you found this Beachbody review useful. If you have any questions, feels free to leave them in the comments section below and I'll get back to you.
Beachbody doesn't seem to be a pyramid scheme but it's definitely an MLM business. That's why I can't really recommend it as a business opportunity unless you are experienced in direct selling.
I personally use online affiliate marketing as my business model as it allows to scale my business beyond the limitations of my own time as the income structure is cumulative. You work once and get paid for a long time, some times years.
But it's definitely not a get-rich scheme, it takes serious work in the form of content creation and learning new skills. But believe me, in this post-COVID-19 world these skills are in high demand!
So definitely check out my recommendation and think about joining if you want to create a home-based business.
Thanks for reading and remember to share in social media if you found this post useful!
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2 replies on “Is Beachbody a Pyramid Scheme? [2020 Review]”
Thank you so much for this article! I’ve heard of Beachbody before, but I didn’t know enough about it to make an informed decision as to whether or not I should do anything with it. You did an excellent job of explaining what it actually is and dispelling the notion that it’s a pyramid scheme. With so many people looking for alternative sources of income, we must know who and what to look out for. Scams are everywhere. Haha God bless you!
Glad you found it useful! Beachbody definitely doesn’t seem to be a pyramid scheme, but it is an MLM so it’s not for everyone.