Not sure if ViSalus is a scam, a pyramid scheme or the right business opportunity for you? This ViSalus review provides all the info you need about this company.
ViSalus in a Nutshell
Let me start by explicitly stating that this is not a review of the Vitalus product line. I do not know whether the products work or not because I have not tried them. The whole point of this review is to provide as much information as possible to decide if the business opportunity ViSalus presents is a good one for you.
Even though we will be talking a little bit about the products, this is a review of the business opportunity rather than individual products.
I’m fully aware that some people might not be able to sit through this long review due to time or patience constraints. If you are one of such people, hold on for a few seconds and read a point-form summary of some of the things you need to know about ViSalus:
- The company itself is legitimate and they sell actual weight loss and lifestyle products
- To become a distributor of the company, you will have to purchase a Starter kit for between $49 and $999
- After purchasing a starter kit, you will have to purchase your monthly challenge kit
- This comes with a recurring monthly auto-ship charge of between $49 and $299, and you need this remain an active member.
- They operate a Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) business model
- There is a chance you could make money but like most MLMs, your chances are very slim.
- This is not a work from home opportunity.
- If you would love to build an online business promoting absolutely anything you want from the comfort of your home, click on the link below.
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What is ViSalus?
ViSalus is an MLM-based company that sells weight loss products, dietary supplements, and other related products. The company was bought by Ryan Blair in 2005.
The Products
The first thing you should want to know about an MLM opportunity you are considering is the product you will be selling. The biggest mistake people make is that they look at how much the company says they can make before they analyze the products they will be selling.
The difference between a good MLM opportunity and a blatant scam lies with the strength of the products. The products determine if you stand a chance of being successful or you are set-up for failure from the very beginning.
You should always look to see if the products are unique, reasonably priced and trustworthy before you even consider joining an MLM opportunity.
If the products are not unique and reasonably priced, it means the products can be gotten elsewhere (maybe an actual store) at a cheaper price. Why then would any reasonable individual purchase the products 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.
ViSalus’ promotion tactics are a little different from most MLM companies. Rather than promote individual products, you will be promoting the company’s Body by Vi 90-day Challenge. Quite frankly, I like this idea of promoting what could be achieved using the products, rather than hyping the products themselves.
The Body by Vi 90-day challenge involves setting a weight loss goal and striving to achieve this goal within 90 days by using ViSalus products and making some lifestyle changes. At the end of the challenge, you can submit your results to stand a chance of winning some very nice rewards.
Even though I am skeptical about how much one’s weight loss is due to ViSalus products, it could be convenient to promote the opportunity if indeed, you are able to prove the products work. If you complete the challenge and achieve noticeable results, people around you would be curious to know how you did it.
This is your best shot at selling these products because there are lots of weight loss products out there and the challenge kits are not cheap either. However, I think people might be willing to take a gamble on the price if they can see from your results that the products really work.
There’s a catch though. Only people who know you personally and know for sure that you achieved your goal within 90 days will believe your claim that the products work. This limits your pool of potential customers to your family, friends and co-workers who are interested in losing weight. While this might help you break even on your initial challenge kit cost, it is nothing substantial or long-term.
I think everyone should strive to look fit and healthy. However, achieving weight loss has more to do with lifestyle changes than it does any products that you buy. The concept of weight loss is simple: Lose more calories than you gain. Most people know this, but the real difficulty is in making the necessary changes to reflect this.
ViSalus products have calorie counts but if one maintained their poor eating habits and consumed ViSalus supplements, they wouldn’t lose any weight. Good results can only be achieved if you alter your eating habits by replacing some of the high-calorie food you eat with ViSalus low-calorie supplements.
The weight loss has everything to do with cleaning up your eating habits. If you replaced Coke with water for 90 days, you would lose some weight. ViSalus asks you to change your eating habits and then sell you their products, in order to make you believe that you achieved your results because of their products.
**In the blueprint of their products page, they state that their claims have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This makes their products untrustworthy to me.
In summary, the products are not unique, they are expensive and they are not trustworthy. You can’t make a living off selling the products alone.
The Business Opportunity
Even though the product this company offers gives you a better chance than most, the real income potential in network marketing lies in recruiting people to join the company.
If a company recruits people without selling products, it would be a blatant pyramid scheme and they would be shut down in no time (if they are allowed to start at all). We established in the last section that even though you might make a few sales, you will run out of friends and family to sell to. Considering you will have to pay for the products monthly, recruiting is your best shot at making real profits.
Whether you choose to only sell the products or you choose to recruit people into the opportunity, you will need to spend between $49 and $999 on a starter kit. Here are the different starter kits available:
- Basic Starter Kit: $49
- Executive Starter Kit: $499
- Star Starter Kit: $999
All starter kits include a simple guide on how to get started, company brochures and some product samples. The executive and star kits both come with challenge kits, with the star kit having more products than the executive kit.
After purchasing a starter kit, you will have to choose a monthly challenge kit. If you got the basic kit, you will be charged for your selected monthly challenge kit and they will ship during the month. Since both the executive and star kits both come with challenge kit, you will not be charged for your selected monthly challenge kit until the next month.
If you are able to get 3 members on a challenge kit of equal or greater value to yours, you will get your next kit for free. You will be getting your monthly challenge kit for free every month for as long as this criterion is met.
How To Promote ViSalus
The convenient way would be through the internet but unfortunately, they don’t teach you how to do that. What your sponsor is most likely going to pass down to you is the idea of promoting the company through ViSalus “parties”.
Basically, you setup a date and time and then invite as many people as possible to come to your house or a particular venue. They advise you to display the brochures and samples in your starter kit and then play a presentation video. The end goal is to convince these people to sign up to the opportunity under your enroller ID by the end of the presentation.
Having these people sign up is necessary but not sufficient. To build a business, you will have to bank on these people that signed up to host their own ViSalus “parties” and get people to sign up and so on.
Remember that it is not enough for these people to just sign up. They have to remain active by purchasing the products.
If you are not personable, not only should you not be considering this opportunity, but you should stay as far away from network marketing as possible.
If you learned how to get leads through the internet though, you will find this opportunity a lot simpler. You can get a constant stream of members on the internet and the fun part is: You don’t go to them. They come to you.
The Compensation Plan
I don’t like translating the compensation plan of most MLM companies. What they all have in common is that they deliberately showcase how much you could earn in a perfect scenario, but they hide just how difficult and highly unlikely it is to make money.
Instead of describing the compensation plan, I will just let them describe it to you with the video below.
Disclaimer: I do NOT endorse this video. I do NOT recommend ViSalus and I am sharing this video solely for educational purposes.
- Your rank is dependent on both your personal and group qualifying volume
- The attitude and participation of members in your group is what determines your failure or success in this business
- It is not sufficient to have active members right now. To remain successful, your downline has to keep purchasing the products and growing their own network forever
- While you might know your direct recruits, you might not know their own direct recruits and so on. Your success or failure will depend hugely on people you do not know personally
The last reason is why 95% of people in MLMs fail.
Who is this opportunity for?
If you truly believe in the quality of the products, you are comfortable being somewhat pushy, you can stand being rejected a lot and you have the strength to push on even when results are not forthcoming, then you stand a chance of being successful – albeit still a slim one!
A program that charges up to $999, to begin with, and then $299 per month after that can never be regarded as beginner-friendly to me. As a matter of fact, I don’t think any kind of MLM is the right way for anyone to begin life in marketing. It is way too hard, even for experienced marketers.
This is not an opportunity for those looking to work from home unless they know how to get leads. If you want to make money from home, here is a program that can help you.
Pros
- Distributors purchase the products at wholesale prices
- You can choose to build your business online if you know how to
- They incentivize their distributors (e.g free challenge kit for 3 referrals)
Cons
- The products are not unique and they are somewhat expensive
- The start-up costs are high
- The company’s claims have not been evaluated by the FDA
- Curiously, they have not released any income disclosure statements
- It is very unlikely that you will make profits
Is ViSalus a Pyramid Scheme?
This is one of those cases where one chooses to sit on the fence. If I was pushed to answer yes or no, I would say no. Here’s why:
Because ViSalus did not release the income disclosure statements, the answer to this question comes down to opinion. If recruiting stopped today, what do you think would happen to the company?
I think that even though profits might drop, the weight loss audience is so huge and sensitive that if you know what you are doing and how to market the products, you can still make money without recruiting.
I think people that want to lose weight will have no qualms with spending money on a program if they are presented with concrete evidence to support the claim that the program really works.
ViSalus offers a product that I feel is strong enough to carry the distributor and the company itself if and only if, you as a distributor knows how to find the people to sell the product to. If you are relying on selling to friends and family, then you don’t stand a chance. If distributors don’t stand a chance, neither does the company.
Closing Thoughts
MLMs are hard! This fact remains the same regardless of the company in question, whether it is ViSalus, Young Living or Amway. The fact is MLMs are setup for 95% of members to fail. Of course, they would never tell you this. They take your money first and then let you find out the hard way.
However, I am convinced that if I chose to promote ViSalus, I would do very well. What makes me so certain?
Imagine I gave this company a stunningly positive review and recommended the 90-day Body by Vi challenge to you. If you bought the challenge after reading my positive review, I would earn a commission. If you signed up to become a distributor, you would count as one of my referrals.
Since you are reading this review, there is a good chance this post is ranked well in search engines. I easily could have lied to you and baited you into joining ViSalus, but I didn’t because I don’t truly believe in the products.
If you would love to build your own successful business where you can promote absolutely anything you want without having to recruit, check out the program that taught me.
ViSalus Review
PRODUCT NAME: ViSalus
Price: $49-$999 for Starter Kit
Overall Ranking: 40/100
Owners: Ryan Blair, Blake Mallen & Nick Sarnicola
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