Forever Living MLM Review: Aloe Vera-Based Scam and MLM Pyramid Scheme?

Forever Living Review

The overview and rankings

What to look for in a MLM:

What is Forever Living?

Forever Living was founded back in 1978 by Rex Maughan in Scottsdale, Arizona. It is a Multi-Level-Marketing company that is currently operating in more than 150 countries around the globe.

They started out as a small firm selling aloe vera-based products. However, they grew up very fast due to their word of mouth marketing strategy.

It was so successful that Rex Maughan even managed to be included in Forbes’ list of richest people in the US in 2002.

Here is a 4-minute video that shows what Forever Living is all about...

Let's then move on into knowing...

Is Forever Living a pyramid scheme?

No, Forever Living isn’t a pyramid scheme. This is because the members of the company can still earn good money by simply selling the products.

In short, they don’t need to recruit just to earn money. But a better and more fitting question to that is…

Is Forever Living a pyramid scheme in disguise?

What is a pyramid scheme?

A company that has been paying members whenever they recruit people. This becomes the norm and standard instead of selling actual products or services.

A lot of countries have already banned these kinds of companies because it is impossible for all of the members to make money from a company that only pays for recruitment.

You can check out this diagram from Wikipedia below to see why...

The members who do make money inside a company such as this do nothing but just recruit people and say to them that they can take part in this MLM business opportunity.

But if you were to closely see the diagram, you can notice that it’s just impossible for members to make money because they are just going to run out of people they can recruit.

You can dig deeper into these “pyramid schemes in disguise? From this 5-minute YouTube video below...

But why is it that...

Success is rare with Forever Living

It is hard to achieve success in an MLM such as Forever Living.

This is because statistics have proven numerous times already that between 72.5% and 99.9% of all MLM members are losing money.

This happens because MLMs have a “sales quota” which means that they can only stay active if they can sell a certain number of products or go beyond it every month.

If they are unable to, then they have no choice but to just buy the products for themselves.

This is why the majority of all MLM members are losing hundreds, if not thousands of dollars from their own savings before they can have their first single recruit...

How does Forever Living Work?

Forever Living works by selling aloe vera-based products that come in the form of drinks, lotions, creams, and accessories.

They also have an affiliate program where anyone can join and become members. This then gives them the ability to purchase the products at wholesale prices and sell them at retail prices, thus earning.

It sounds like a win-win scenario. But wait till you learn that Forever Living saves millions of dollars in supposed marketing campaigns because they are just letting their members do all the marketing!

Before we learn if this is really what’s happening, let’s know more...

Forever Living products

If you are really interested in becoming one of their members, then it makes sense that you try their products yourself. This way, you know what you are getting yourself into. But if it turns out that there’s no way you can buy them soon, then just read through them and know what their products do.

Here are a few of Forever Living’s best-selling products:

• Forever Aloe Vera Gel ($19.31) - A 1-liter juice drink that is made from pure aloe vera. It provides your body with the needed vitamins and minerals to keep you stronger and healthier, while letting you enjoy the sweet and rich taste of pure aloe vera juice drink.
• Forever Royal Jelly ($28.51) - This provides you with the vitamins, minerals, and amino acids needed to strengthen your immune system and make you more energetic and generally healthier. A bottle of this contains 60 tablets.
• Aloe Hand Soap ($13.23) - A 16 oz. bar of soap made from a combination of aloe vera, natural oils, and fruit extracts. It keeps you clean and kills germs, viruses, and bacteria whenever you wash using this soap.

Sounds interesting? Well, take note that these kinds of products aren’t really that special. In fact, they are very common with MLMs.

Here are some of the other MLM companies that sell similar products:

All of them say that they are special and that they stand out from one another. When the reality is that all are just offering very similar products.

Knowing that this is the case, then what makes Forever Living special?

Forever Living flagship product

• Forever Supergreens ($33) - This is a natural blend of aloe vera, fruits, vegetables, and superfoods, that is designed to supply your body with the needed energy that strengthens your immune system and makes you generally healthier. A bottle of this contains 30 packets. 

You can also check out this 2-minute video about Forever Supergreens...

So, does that mean...

Can you make money with Forever Living?

Yes, but it’s hard. There are a few people who make money, but they’re just over extroverted people who work throughout the day trying to recruit people into the company.

They even treat this as their full-time job or business. And what’s worse is that they’re just earning slightly higher or sometimes even lower than minimum wage.

They don’t even have an official income disclosure to prove that their members are actually making money...

How to make money with Forever Living

There are 2 main ways you can make money from Forever Living.

And that is through:

• Selling their aloe vera-based products
• Recruiting members into the company

But take note that you can only earn money from the sales of your recruited downline members and not by simply recruiting them.

This is how they save themselves from being called a pyramid scheme and being shut down by the FTC.

How much does it cost to join Forever Living?

One of the surprising things about Forever Living is that there is no subscription fee, which is a bit rare for MLMs. However, you surely need to buy their products to become a member.

Here are the business starter packs you can choose from:

• Clean 9 Pack, Vanilla Lite Ultra ($87)
• Clean 9 Pack, Chocolate Lite Ultra ($87)
• Start Your Journey Combo Pack ($253)
• Touch of Forever ($364)

The cheapest packages contain the smallest amount of products while the most expensive option has the most number of products, which the company says, is the best value for money...

Forever Living monthly cost

You must maintain 140 PV monthly for you to become an active member. PV means personal volume.

I’ve also calculated the estimated costs you are going to incur on the first year:

• $87 to $364
• $140 x 12 = $1,680

Minimum costs for year 1 = $1,767 to $2,044

And take note… That’s before you add up the other expenses just like training, food, travel, and gas allowance!

Forever Living compensation plan

What MLM companies usually do is have confusing and complicated compensation plans.

It turns out that Forever Living isn’t different because their compensation plan is downright confusing as well. But don’t you worry, though, because I will do my best to simplify this…

Forever Living gives you 3 main ways to earn as an official member:

• Retail Commission - Earn a 30% commission on every product that you sold.
• Differential Commission - Earn 13% to 35% commission every time you and your downline members sell a product.
• Leadership Bonus - Earn 2% to 6% bonus of the total sales of your downline team, depending on your rank and level.

Most likely, you’re still confused. Well, I understand because that’s completely normal.

MLMs always use weird acronyms and fancy names so that people will think that there are a lot of ways to earn from them even if there are just 2 simple things to do.

And that is by:

• Selling their products
• Recruiting members into the company

If you’d like to dig deeper into their compensation plan, then you can watch this 13-minute video below. 

Or maybe just check out their full compensation plan here.

Is Forever Living a scam?

No, Forever Living is not a scam. The company has been around for more than 4 decades and they have been selling legitimate products ever since. They also pay their members accordingly.

But the thing is… Most members are disappointed to learn that they’re losing more money instead of making money each and every month.

Hence, many call the company a scam.

Just to be fully transparent with you, I am not a distributor myself and I do not endorse it in any way.

I have researched the website, testimonials and information on the Internet to get to the bottom of what this program genuinely does. This is because I have been burnt from programs just like this in the past and I want to prevent others from making the same mistakes. If you’d like to learn how to “Spot an Online Marketing Scam” then click the highlighted text.

What I like about Forever Living

Key Terms:

• Pyramid Scheme – recruits members via a promise for payment from recruiting others into the company rather than providing a product
• Affiliate Marketing- Connecting a customer to a product they are looking for and receiving a commission for doing so
• Red Flag - A warning sign

#1 Established reputation

One of the best things that I like about Forever Living is that they have been around for more than 4 decades.

The company was founded back in 1978, which means they have been operating for 42 years.

This is very rare for MLMs because most of them shut down after just 2 to 3 years… This is a good sign that you’re in the right hands and that you’re safe with Forever Living.

What I don't like about Forever Living

#1 Expensive products

Forever Living sells expensive products even if they are just simple juices, creams, and lotions.

As you can see on the examples above, there are a lot of other similar products from other brands that sell cheaper options even if they have a lot of positive reviews.

#2 Saturated market

The health and wellness market, which Forever Living belongs to, is already very saturated.

In fact, health and wellness MLMs are the most common kind of MLM.

This means that you have a lot of competition to face out there and that it’s going to be a bit hard for you to sell these to a lot of people.

#3 Hidden monthly expenses

For you to stay active in Forever Living, you need to achieve 140 PV monthly.

This means that you must sell $140 worth of products every single month just to stay active and be eligible to receive commissions.

If you can’t, then you have no choice but to buy the products yourself just to stay active and earn bonuses and commissions.

This is a fact that MLMs don’t want their members to know, as their biggest client base are their customers who always buy their stuff hoping that these can help them achieve financial freedom...

#4 Is Forever Living a pyramid scheme in disguise?

If you must maintain spending $140 monthly just to stay active, then the best way for you is to just recruit people to become your downlines.

The diagram below shows what's happening here...

This way, you pass the problem and hassle to them.

Well, that isn’t technically right especially if you’re talking about business ethics!

This is why Forever Living can be considered as a pyramid scheme in disguise...

I checked Google Trends to see how Forever Living fares in terms of popularity...

As you can see, the number of people searching for Forever Living on the internet is decreasing. The red line is for Farmasi, another MLM that's faring also well.

This only means one thing, and that you are going to have a hard time selling their aloe vera products because people are not much into it.

My opinion - Forever Living

Forever Living is one of the most notable MLM companies as they have been operating for more than 4 decades.

They also sell legit quality aloe vera-based products. However, they’re just downright overpriced.

And what about their business opportunity?

The fact that the only way you can make money from them is by recruiting as many people as you can, already shows that there’s something fishy about this company.

What’s more is that you continue doing this even if you already know that the majority of your recruited members are just going to lose money.

There are a lot of other business opportunities out there that pays better and provides better incentives and bonuses...

How I make passive income online

MLMs are not scams or illegal. However, I'm not a fan of them because of the restrictions to the expensive products you have to promote.

Once I learnt about affiliate marketing, I realised it's a far superior business model because:

• You can promote anything you want and truly own the business
• You never need to sell to friends and family
• It's completely free to start

In 2018 I had no idea what affiliate marketing was.