Wondering if Organo Gold is a good business opportunity, a scam or even a pyramid scheme? Read this Organo Gold review to get pure information on this company.
An Overview of Organo Gold
I want to start by explicitly stating that the whole point of this review is to provide enough information for you to determine whether the opportunity Organo Gold presents is right for you. Even though we talk a little about some of its products, this is a review of the opportunity rather than individual products.
I understand some people do not have the time or patience to read the whole review. If you are one of such people, here is a bullet-point summary of the stuff you need to know about Organo Gold:
- The company is real and it sells actual products like coffee
- To become an affiliate (or distributor), you will have to invest $49.95 in their Business Entry Kit
- After that, you will have to invest more money on a product package (more on this to come in the review)
- Your product package determines how much commissions you would be earning
- There are recurring monthly charges on these product packages
- They operate a Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) business model
- It is possible to make money but like most MLMs, it is highly improbable. 98% of people fail with MLMs.
- This is not a work from home opportunity.
- If you would love to make money from the comfort of your home, click on the link below.
To be fair, there aren’t many MLM companies that sell coffee. The problem now is, to the regular customer, this coffee is way overpriced and you can understand why this would be a nightmare for distributors.
Recurring monthly charges and inability to make regular sales would naturally lead distributors to focus on recruiting instead and this is one of the signals of a pyramid scheme. In addition to all these, the company does not provide proper training to distributors on how to get leads.
Fortunately, my preferred system teaches you how to get leads promoting absolutely anything, including Organo Gold products if you want. Best part is it’s FREE to join too. 🙂
What is Organo Gold?
This is an MLM-based company that sells beverages, brewing cups, body management and personal care products, enriched with a herb called Ganoderma (a traditional Asian mushroom). The company was originally founded in 2008 by Bernardo Chua, but due to some problems had to re-launch in 2010.
The Products
People often get blinded by the income potential these MLMs put in front of them that they forget to take a deep look at the strength of the products they would be promoting. The tie-breaker between a legit MLM and your typical scam usually lies with the products.
As a distributor, one thing you must always make sure of is that the products you will be promoting are unique high-quality products that are inexpensive. If you are wondering why, maybe we should put this into perspective…
If the product is not unique, it means it can be gotten somewhere else. So ask yourself why someone would buy a product from you when the same product could be gotten somewhere else (maybe an actual store) for much cheaper.
I do not recommend MLMs but if you must join one, make sure you take a look at the products you would be promoting before you opt in. As a rule of thumb, only join in if you truly believe there is value in the products. If you do not believe in the value of the products, then you would only be wasting your time and money trying to sell it to others.
Some of the products Organo Gold offers are:
- Coffee
- Latte
- Mocha
- Hot Chocolate
- Green Tea
- Brewing Cups (4 flavours)
- Seed Oil
- Soap
- Spore Powder and much more…
I have not personally used any of their products, so I cannot give any information on the quality of each product but I can tell you this: Even though coffee might be new territory in the realm of MLMs, coffee does not pass the test of being a unique product. The closest feature to being unique in their coffee is the fact that it has Ganoderma in it.
Organo’s Gourmet Black Coffee has 30 sachets in it and retails for $30. Walmart, which is more trusted than Organo could ever be, and other grocery stores sell the same thing for half the price. Now tell me why any rational person would purchase black coffee from you rather than just go to a grocery store.
I looked up reviews of their products and it seems to be a fair split between positive and negative reviews. Some say their heart keeps beating fast due to the high level of caffeine in their coffee, while others say the tea is nice and it helped them lose weight.
Not only are the products expensive, not unique and untrustworthy, you will also have to go through the process of trying to convince buyers to purchase products they are not familiar with. 95% of the people you will meet would not know what Ganoderma is and they would not care to pay extra just because Ganoderma is in the products. How do you go about convincing such people?
To close this section up, answer this question: If someone came to you with the same products at the same price, would you spend your money on the products?
If your answer was no, why then would you expect to sell the products to other people?
The Business Opportunity
Most MLM companies offer products but we have established from the last section that you wouldn’t have much luck selling Organo products. Considering how much you would have to spend to get the products (later in this section), you will probably not break even by selling the products.
If we want to cut the crap and be honest with ourselves, the real business opportunity is in recruiting people into the system.
Whether you choose to only sell products or you choose to recruit new members into the company, you will have to pay the $49.95 for their business entry kit and you will have to invest in a product package.
Product Packages
Bronze Package: This is the first package you are required to purchase and it costs $150. This package qualifies you to earn 10% commissions in their compensation plan. Be aware that to remain active at this level, you will have to pay a recurring monthly fee of at least $50.
Silver Package: This is a higher package level than the bronze package and it costs $450. This package qualifies you to earn 15% commissions in their compensation plan. To remain active at this level, you will have to pay a recurring monthly charge of $100.
Gold Package: This is the highest package level and it costs a whopping $1,300. This package qualifies you to earn 20% commissions in their compensation plan. To remain active at this level, you will have to pay a recurring monthly fee of at least $100.
Honestly, I think it’s much easier to sell the business opportunity than it is to sell products. People would rather hear “Here’s an opportunity that can make you money” than be told to pay $30 for a bag of black coffee.
Don’t get me wrong. You are highly unlikely going to make money either way but you stand a higher chance by recruiting people. If selling products has a 99% chance of failure, recruiting would have a 98% chance of failure. Marginal, but still something.
The Compensation Plan
This is one section I do not enjoy writing in my MLM reviews. They structure the compensation plan is such a way that people only see huge earning potential without realizing how difficult and unlikely it is to achieve it.
Organo Gold’s compensation plan is similar to USANA. Basically, you have a left arm and a right arm in the pyramid. You start by filling both your left and right arms with people you recruit into the business. Afterward, your goal becomes to fill in as many new members as possible into your downline.
Below is a video explaining the compensation plan in detail to you.
Disclaimer: I do NOT endorse this video. I do NOT recommend Organo Gold and I am sharing this video solely for educational purposes.
Let’s skip past the semantics in the video and face some harsh realities:
- To stand a chance of success, you need to have two functioning people (one for each arm) who are successful in the business
- It is not enough to be successful right now. To have long-term success, the people on both arms need to be successful forever
- The number of levels deep into your downline that you earn commissions for depends on your own level
- Your own work ethic and commitment plays a very tiny part in your potential success or failure
- Your success or failure is largely dependent on the people in your downline, most of whom you wouldn’t know personally
Can you now see why a lot of people fail, despite the numbers they talk up as income potential?
Some Stats
If you do not believe anything I have said up till this point, I’m a little bit hurt but it’s okay.
How about we look at their official income disclosure statement from 2015?
Here are a few things to note:
- 86.34% of participants earn less than $599 a year
- To make the stats look less bad, the company records everyone that has purchased at least one product as a participant. This includes people that came in for just the products, rather than the opportunity
- We cannot tell from these stats how many people came in for just the products, rather than the opportunity. MLMs structure their stats like this on purpose
- However, distributors count as part of the participants because they also purchased products.
- Even with the polished stats, we can still see that 80% of the people in their “leadership ranks” earn less than $4,000 a year.
Who is this Opportunity for?
I would say this is for experienced multi-level marketers who already have a huge network. This requires a lot of hard selling and cold calling, so I’m sorry this is not for you if you were looking to stay home and make money.
If you want to work from home, you should just start up your own online business. No recruiting, no hard-selling, no cold-calling. None of that stuff.
If you are not comfortable with the idea of going out and talking to people trying to sell them products or an opportunity, network marketing, in general, is not for you.
What I liked
- In the unlikely event that everything ticks out perfectly, you could earn some nice money
What I didn’t like
- The event that everything checks out perfectly is extremely unlikely
- It is a pyramid scheme
- The products are relatively expensive, untrustworthy and not unique
- 98% of people fail in MLMs because the conditions are not conducive for success
- The start-up costs are high for a beginner
Is Organo Gold a Pyramid Scheme?
Yes, it is a pyramid scheme. If recruiting stops today, the company still stands with its products but the business opportunity crumbles immediately.
People might make an argument that we do not know how many sales the company makes to regular customers who are not interested in the opportunity and my counter-argument is the company has decided to withhold that information from us for a reason.
A lot of those sales are made to existing distributors and new distributors and if recruiting stops, those sales stop. The company still exists and will continue to exist because sales are made to customers and distributors without a clear distinction between them, making it a less obvious pyramid scheme.
In any case, the same pyramid scheme cons still stand: the top 2% of the distributors get over 90% of the earnings, while the bottom 98% share less than 10% of the earnings.
The best time to join a pyramid scheme is when the scheme is just starting and you are nearer to the top of the pyramid than you are to the bottom. If you join Organo Gold now, you will be at the bottom of the pyramid of a company that is quite old.
Closing Thoughts
Whether you choose to take my advice or not, know this: MLMs are hard! MLM companies would never tell you that. They will take your money and let you find out the hard way but if you are not cut out for it, you are very likely to fail.
Some compensation plans are more conducive than others and you have a higher chance of succeeding with some MLM companies than others but in general, they are harder than any company would like to admit to you.
If you would like to make money in a system where the training, tools and community are there to help you succeed, a system where you can make money around anything you love rather than recruiting, there is a system that allows you to do just that.
No hard selling, no cold calling, no recruitment, no downlines, no pyramids, you work from home and they have a free trial too.
Organo Gold Review
PRODUCT NAME: Organo Gold
Price: $49.95 for their Business Entry Kit
Overall Ranking: 30/100
Owners: Bernardo Chua and Shane Morand
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