Is Young Living A Scam Or Pyramid Scheme? Full Break Down Of Young Living

Young Living is a MLM and this type of money making system is very closely linked to pyramid schemes. Look at the picture below:

This is what it looks like when you join a MLM and what it looks like when you join Young Living. While you do make money by actually selling the product's Young living offer, you make most of your money by recruiting people to sell under you.

Why spend all your time recruiting people to see under you? Because you get a piece of the commission of everyone below.

Going ever further, you get a piece of the commission of the recruits your recruits get to sell under them. This is called a downline. 

This type of system rewards people at the top more than the people at the bottom and most of the profits stay at the tippy top of the pyramid. 

The person at the top of the pyramid doesn't have to sell a single product to be the most successful in this type of scheme. 

This is why MLM's are considered pyramid schemes. If you end up joining a MLM make sure you're at the top of you're doomed to lose money.

Do You Value Money Or Relationships?

There's a reason I'm asking this question. At some point (this is especially true if you're new to network marketing/MLM's) you're going to have hundreds of dollars of products to sell and no customers.

Remember when you join a MLM you're most likely going to be recruited or under one person or multiple people. 

These people above you depend on you selling and their sole purpose for recruiting you is to earn commissions off your sales.

Who do you think they're going to push you to sell to? Your friends and your family.

I've instinctively avoided all money making schemes that involve recruiting friends or family or selling to friends in family. I value the relationships more than anything else. 

The people who recruited you, though? They could care less if you ruin close friendships or burn family members to get a sale. These people only care about money and they don't care how they get it. 

This is why I love affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is all online based and you don't actually have to sell any products - you simply refer people online to products and a different company sells the product/handles customer service.

If you have to choose between affiliate marketing and MLM, always choose affiliate marketing. 

MLM Success Rate is 1%

It's actually less than 1%.

The reason for this is pretty much what I've already explained up top - it's designed so only 1% get all the money and the bottom does all the work and makes nothing.

The people at the top of the pyramid are smart and well trained. They know if they can get 100 people selling under them, they're going to make money even if the bottom 100 don't.

When you go to sign up for the program you're going to get pressured to buy the largest order. Your recruiter will tell you the more you buy the bigger the commissions you'll get which is true.

On that order your recruiter gets a bonus, however. 

Next, like I said up top, they're going to pressure you into selling to your family and friends. It's not because they think by selling to your friends and family you'll become wealthy, it's because they need you to unload some of your products.

They know 99% of people are going to lose money but if you buy $500 and sell $250 to your friends they get a chunk of that.

If they have 100 people lose money but sell something they'll still make a lot of money. 

How Much To Join Young Living?

There's one thing good about MLM's and this applies to Young Living - it's pretty cheap to join. At least cheap in the sense if (when) you lose your initial investment it shouldn't be so high that your life is damaged in a significant way.

Maybe you hurt some relationships in a damaging way which will effect your life but financially it shouldn't ruin you. 

One selling point you hear a lot with MLM's is they are much cheaper to start than a brick and mortar business which is true.

Brick and mortar stores cost about $100,000 to start and that's going to take a bank loan or dipping into your life savings to get.

The success rate for brick and mortar stores aren't good either and most people end up failing.

99% fail with MLM's but it doesn't hurt as much to lose $500 when compared to $100,000. 

What Is Young Livings Compensation Plan

If you've never dealt with a MLM before then you don't understand how complicated the compensation plans are.

The compensations plans in most cases are the size of literal books and are extremely hard to dissect - it feels like you need a math degree to figure out what's what. 

Having said that I'll decipher the compensation plan now to the best of my ability.

First off, you get 24% commission every time you sell one of Young Living's products. I've already said, though, you're not going to make your money this way. 

You're going to be making your money by creating downlines and recruiting people.

When you recruit people you get a 25% bonus when your new recruits order products and you get a $25 bonus for every starter kit your recruits order.

Additionally, you earn more when you recruit and your recruits sell more.

Below is how the commissions work out once you get your downline built:

It's a little confusing but the more people you have underneath you, the more commissions you earn. 

That's why people spend some much time recruiting people in MLM's and less time trying to sell the actual products. That's also why MLM's are similar to pyramid schemes.

The Products Are WAY Overpriced

So far I've only really talked about Young Living the company and the dangers of MLM's. Now it's time to actually look at the products Young Living sells.

The main line of products that come from this company are essential oils. Essential oils are herbal or plant extracts and depending on the plant, gives you different benefits.

I personally believe in the power of herbs and herbal medicines and essential oils definitely have benefits.

The problem with Young Living's essential oils is they're WAY overpriced. I compared their prices to another leader in herbal products, Starwest Botanicals, and Young Living's essential oils are more than DOUBLE Starwest Botanical's essential oils.

Why are people going to buy essential oil for more than double the price? There's plenty of competition out there and Young Living's quality isn't so good people will be willing to pay double. 

What I Like About Young Living

There's not actually a lot that I like here. 

If I was forced to say something positive it would be at least if you're not successful here you shouldn't be financially ruined like you would be starting a brick and mortar store. 

What I Don't Like About Young Living

There's a lot here I don't like.

Here are my main problems:

1) MLM's are very hard to succeed with and they only have a 1% success rate.

2) MLM's and Young Living are very close to being pyramid schemes and most of the profits stays up towards the top of the pyarmid. 

3) The products are WAY overpriced and there's equally as good essential oils for half the price. 

Here's A Better Way To Make Money

Hopefully by now I've talked you out of joining Young Living. This company's products are too pricey and the fact that it's a MLM makes it even worst - MLM's have low success rates and are basically pyramid scheme.

If you are looking for a completely legitimate way to make money from home or online, you should think about joining Wealthy Affiliate. Wealthy affiliate is where I learned how to make money online and now I make more today than I ever did before.

Wealthy Affiliate gives you all the tools you need to succeed and has top of the line training. It's completely free to try too!

Click below to read my full review: