Wondering if Take Shape For Life is a scam or pyramid scheme? This TSFL review tells you all about this business opportunity.
Take Shape For Life in a Nutshell
The whole point of this review is to talk about the business opportunity TSFL presents to you, rather than an in-depth look at individual products. We will be discussing the positives and negatives of the business opportunity, how to get into it and what exactly you will be doing.
I completely understand that some people do not have the time or the patience to sit through this lengthy review. If you are one of such people, hold on for a few seconds and read a point-form summary of some important things to note about Take Shape For Life:
- The company itself is legitimate and they sell meal replacement products
- TSFL is truly all about helping people lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle long-term
- To become a Health Coach, you will have to purchase the Business Kit for $199
- There is a recurring monthly charge $100 to remain an active member
- They operate a Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) business model
- This is one MLM where you just might enjoy yourself and make money for truly helping people
- This is not a work from home opportunity.
- If you would like to earn money from the comfort of your home, click the link below.
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What is Take Shape For Life?
Take Shape For Life is an MLM-based company whose goal is to not only help people reach a healthy weight but also maintain their shape by making healthy lifestyle changes. TSFL’s parent company is Medifast.
The Products
The first thing you should always look out for when you considering an MLM opportunity is the product you will be selling. This is absolutely crucial and the biggest mistake people make is looking at how much the company says they can make before they analyze the products they are offering.
The difference between a legit MLM and a scam is very marginal – it lies in the quality of the products. Products are the deciding factor in any potential success you might or might not have with an MLM opportunity.
You should always look to see if the products are unique, reasonably priced and trustworthy before you join. If they are not, you are already set-up for failure from the very beginning.
If the products are not unique and reasonably priced, no one would want to purchase from you because they can get similar products elsewhere (maybe an actual store) at a cheaper price. I learned in Economics that human beings are rational and they respond to incentives. People will have no real incentive to buy from you.
I’m not the biggest fan of MLMs in general but if you must join one, it’s important to take a good look at the products first to see if you have a chance. My golden rule is: Only consider opting in if you truly believe there is value in the products. If you don’t believe there is value in the products, you are going to have a hard time selling it.
Unlike most MLMs, I actually like what TSFL offers. Instead of promoting individual products, you will be promoting health plans. To be honest, I think the idea of promoting what the products could help people achieve (basically a service) is far better than talking up individual products.
Basically, you will be promoting:
- The Optimal Weight 5&1 Plan: This is their weight loss program
- The Optimal Health 3&3 Plan: This is the health maintenance program. Without changing some habits, one could easily gain weight back. This program takes care of that.
- The Idea of a Free Personal Health Coach: A lot of people realize they have to lose weight but they struggle to find motivation and someone to guide them. Getting their own personal health coach would normally cost a fortune, so the idea of getting a free one (could be you) is a no-brainer.
Overall, I think the products you will be promoting are pretty solid.
There is a large pool of people who want to lose weight and if you are able to consistently find those people, you could earn some decent money from this alone.
There’s a catch though. The weight industry is saturated with so many products and if you are to convince people that your product really stands out, you must provide some concrete proof that the program really works.
By concrete proof, I mean you might have to go through the plans yourself. It is not a requirement of the company but let’s think about it for a second, why would anyone trust your word that the program works when you cannot show that it worked for you?
The Business Opportunity
I said before that you can earn some very nice money on the side just by promoting the products. I cannot say that for most MLMs and in fact, this is one of the few MLM companies where you could get away with treating this part-time.
Anyway, if you are looking to earn a full-time income from this company, you will have to do what MLMs do – recruit people into the company!
The same process as the previous section still applies. Just that now, you get compensated when the clients you get become health coaches themselves. It is now your hope that these health coaches get their own clients who will, in turn, become health coaches and the cycle continues. This is how you grow your downline and rank within the company.
If you are simply promoting the products to potential clients, you are a health coach. If you are actively trying to get people to become health coaches, you are a business coach. Business coaches are also health coaches because they still help clients lose weight, but they recruit.
As a health coach, your rank and commissions depend on the number of clients you have. As a business coach, your bonuses and rank depend on the number and rank of health coaches you have in your downline.
Whether you focus only on promoting the products to potential clients or you choose to sign-up health coaches, you will have to pay $199 for a Health Coach business kit. The business kit is a simple guide that teaches you how to be of help to your clients and how to market the products and opportunity.
After purchasing the business kit, there is a recurring monthly charge of $100. I find it weird that even though you do not buy products wholesale, you do not keep inventory and, in fact, clients purchase products directly from the company, they still make health coaches pay this monthly fee.
The company chalks it down to the cost of running a virtual clinic, training and readily available support. This is a typical MLM tactic that they are hiding under a different umbrella.
The Compensation Plan
I dread writing about the compensation plan of MLM companies because they deliberately make it easy to see just how much you could make in a perfect scenario, and then they withhold information on just how difficult and unlikely it is to even break even.
Instead of describing the compensation plan to you, I want to let people already involved with the company do the honours.
I do NOT endorse this video. I am sharing this video solely for educational purposes. The compensation plan starts at 21:15.
Basically,
- You can work part-time as a Health Coach and make some decent income on the side
- If you want to make full-time income, you will have to join the recruiting side of things and this is pretty much full-time work
- The video is slightly outdated but at the Regional Director level, the average monthly salary is $3,500 and you will need to have 1 or 2 Executive Directors in your downline to attain that rank and remain there
- We can see there is huge income potential in this opportunity, but we can also see that it takes a lot to get there and only about 4% of all their coaches earn $3,500 or more (based on monthly average data)
- There is more to increasing rank than what is covered in the video. Attaining and maintaining a rank also depends on the group volume of the sales made by your downline.
To be honest, it’s not the hardest MLM and their compensation is fair but I want you to be sure of what you are getting into.
Some more numbers…
Let’s look at TSFL’s income disclosure statement from 2015:
Here are a few things to note:
- 88.7% of all health coaches earn less than $5,000 per year
- The average number of months it takes to get to the $5,000 per year level is 34
- This chart only accounts for how much was paid to coaches. It does not include any expenses incurred by the coaches like the recurring monthly cost
- These numbers might look bad but I can tell you it is relatively good, compared to most MLMs. 90% of distributors in other companies earn $0!
Who is this opportunity for?
Take Shape For Life is for you if you:
- Are really interested in helping people lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle
- Are someone that can interact with people and motivate them when needed
- Have $100 every month to pay your recurring monthly charges
- Are into MLMs or ready to take a chance on MLMs
- Are able to go out and talk to people confidently about the program you have to offer them
- Are looking to earn some extra income for putting in some hours of work
- Are NOT looking for a work from home opportunity
Pros
- Health coaches do not have to buy any products and they do not have to keep stock inventory
- What you will be doing in this company is helping people achieve what they want – Being healthy!
- It’s one of those opportunities where you help yourself as you help others
- The failure rates are significantly lower than most MLMs
- The products are solid
Cons
- As good as it looks relative to other MLMs, a large percentage of people still make minimal income
- They do not mention the recurring monthly charge on their website
Is Take Shape For Life a Pyramid Scheme?
The answer is no. Unlike most MLMs, the emphasis of this company is not on recruiting. It’s on finding clients to promote their products to.
If recruiting stopped today, I think the company will do just fine with the strength and quality of the products they offer. I believe most people initially join TSFL to lose weight and then some decide to pay it forward after they have seen results. I read about a Global Director that only joined the opportunity to remain actively involved with the company in order to maintain the weight she had achieved.
Since the strength of the company lies with its products instead of its compensation plan, the company is not a pyramid scheme.
Closing Thoughts
I personally believe everyone should strive to be healthy and this company helps you achieve that. If you go through the program and see results, there is nothing wrong with recommending it to people you know who would benefit from the program. You are actually helping them too.
If you are thinking of building a team, realize that it is actually more difficult than it seems. MLMs are hard in general. If you do not truly believe in the product or you are not comfortable recruiting, don’t waste your time.
If you would love to build your own successful online business where you can promote absolutely anything you want, check out the program that taught me.
Take Shape For Life Review
PRODUCT NAME: Take Shape For Life
Price: $199 for Health Coach Business Kit
Overall Ranking: 60/100
Owners: Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen
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