Team Beachbody Review-Is This MLM Company Worth The Work?

I didn’t know that Team Beachbody was an MLM until today. Previously I had Beachbody on demand and loved the workouts that I could do in my basement from home. Now I see they offer so much more, and since it is an MLM company, I will do a Team Beachbody review today. I wonder if this MLM company is worth the work a person has to put in. Will they make money?

Home workouts have been in great need this past year. I used the program before I had a gym to go to every day. I did weights and stretches that helped so much. But this year for a few months I could not go to the gym and neither could so many others. Home workouts were the thing.

But that isn’t what this review is about. Can you make money with Team Beachbody MLM? Let’s dive right in to see.

Who Is Team Beachbody

Jon Congdon and Carl Daikeler started Team Beachbody in Santa Monica, California in 1998. It is a privately owned media-based and fitness company. They were given $500,000 angel investments to start their company, with which they purchased the Beachbody.com site. They created workout videos and used the domain to build their business.

When they began their MLM business in 2014, each coach made a commission on the videos they sold for exercise.

Now, this is something I wasn’t aware of, Team Beachbody sells dietary supplements and superfoods like Beachbar and Shakeology. In 2018 they released Openfit, an app that programs and tracks your nutrition. In 2019 they released Team Beachbody Video On Demand.

As you can imagine Team Beachbody’s business boomed with the stay-at-home orders from COVID.

Team Beachbody is an MLM-based company and sells its products partially through people who sign up as coaches, in addition, the company sells its product through Infomercials.

Beachbody does operate under a couple of different names. Team Beachbody and Beachbody are the same company, but when you buy from Team Beachbody, you are assigned a Representative Coach.

What Is MLM (Multilevel Marketing)?

An MLM, or Multilevel Marketing company, is a type of business that relies on its sales force to recruit additional salespeople below them, thus creating a “downline.” These salespeople then receive commissions on their own sales, as well as the sales of people they’ve recruited into the MLM.

While some people view MLMs as pyramid schemes or get-rich-quick opportunities that make up for their low pay with quick money from one’s own downline, other people use MLMs to actually make an active income.

While others work hard at their MLM business and never break even so to be on the safe side, it’s important to do your research before deciding whether or not an MLM is right for you.

What Does Team Beachbody Offer?

The founders have developed and purchased new products since 1998 and continually offer something new, as well as, superfoods.

The year 2007 saw the development of Shakeology, which has protein in the form of pea and whey protein with herbs, vitamins, probiotics, digestive enzymes, and antioxidants.

Then again, in 2015 they started Video On Demand which is a home workout live streaming app, not to mention they offer this through Netflix. It includes 80 Day Obsession, Morning Meltdown 100, Insanity, LIIFT4, and 21 Day Fix.

In 2018 they developed Openfit which offers over 350 live classes with a personal fitness trainer on Facetime.

Team Beachbody Review

I read a few discrepancies in the policies. In 2017, Beachbody paid the city of Santa Monica $3.6 million because they illegally charged credit cards when it was time to renew a member’s yearly plan.

In the policy and procedures associated with the application to become a Team Beachbody coach. It stated that a coach could not make “false or deceptive claims about Beachbody’s products or business opportunity.” Yet the owner himself claims that Shakeology can keep you younger and healthier.

California state took suit against Team Beachbody for making false claims, yet they tell their coaches they cannot do it.

In one article in Forbes, it says the upline coaches will actually kick you out so they can find people who will promote Beachbody. It also stated that the coaches are so competitive that some are mean to their downline.

On a Beachbody Video On Demand plan, a coach can make a 40% commission. But with the release of Team Beachbody On Demand to Netflix, a great deal of the commissions are gone. Only the owners get paid when people watch Netflix for their exercise routine. Basically, the owners undercut their coaches and took away a great deal of any income they could make.

How To Become A Team Beachbody Coach?

If you want to become a Team Beachbody coach, you can go to their website and apply. Once you are accepted, you are a Coach; point often overlooked, nowhere in the policy statement, does it say they provide certified training? You will be trained to “invite, invite, invite” new people to become coaches. Building a downline is how you earn money.

When a new member signs up to purchase products through Team Beachbody, the company will assign that new person to a coach. A coach can increase their downline by pushing the coaching MLM position on new product members.

I want to add that a Team Beachbody coach is not really a trained fitness coach or nutritionist unless, of course, they were one before they started as an MLM representative. They are just everyday people who are called coaches.

Price To Join

You begin with a required charge of $40 for a starter kit and then move on to a monthly charge of $16. Even after you pay the money, you will not make money until you sign up for an active coach. You do not make a dime off of the products you sell.

Team Beachbody Compensation Plan

It is important to note that these are protentional incomes based on a clear downline, but things get a little muddy when you actually look at the incomes of the coaches and what level they are on.

The #1 star Diamond in the Team Beachbody ranking made over 3 million dollars in 2020, while the average income for a coach of the same rank was just over $10,000. Yet, the average income was $15,800 while the low income was $360, but at least 50% of the coaches make $0. The average income alone is way below the poverty level income.

Video Of Team Beachbody Compensation Plan

Team Beachbody Income Disclosure

Some Beachbody coaches (very few) make millions, but 1/2 of all Team Beachbody coaches never make anything. You only make money off of your downline who have a downline also. You don’t make money off the products you sell, like Shakeology, although you can make a 25% commission on retail items like accessories, gear, and apparel.

Pros And Cons

Team Beachbody has a few pros as well as cons. On the positive side, we will list a few pros and on the negative side, we’ll talk about some cons.

Is Team Beachbody A Scam?

No Team Beachbody is not a scam, but I do have my concerns about the integrity of this company and how they treat their MLM coaches. A scam is a dishonest organization, with that in mind, Team Beachbody is dishonest in some of their dealings but this alone does not make it a scam. Setting up their selling and promotional plan based on an MLM program is not dishonest. Although, by the same token, the claims of how much one can make are deceptive.

So, in reality, an MLM company is not a scam, even though you may not make money.

Video Overview Of Team Beachbody Review

The Problem With MLM Companies In General

According to an FTC Government file, an MLM operation does not have a clearly defined definition. It calls MLM’s a “product-based pyramid schemes” and compares it to an illegal chain letter. You know the letters you receive in the mail, it says to put a dollar in an envelope with a copy of the letter and send one to 10 people. Then if you do this, you will make a ridiculous amount of money.

The FTC Government document also states that MLM “is inherently flawed, unfair, and deceptive.

My Recommendation Regarding Team Beachbody Review

Please remember that this review is NOT about the video-on-demand or exercise programs produced by Team Beachbody. These programs have good ratings and high satisfaction. My review is about the MLM portion of this company and how they make their money.

Only a select few at the top make money. But Team Beachbody, just like all other MLM companies, work on hype. They talk up the high income, so you believe you will also make that kind of money.

What sets this MLM company apart from any other MLM company is how they tell their coaches they can not do certain things to promote their business, yet the company itself goes against the policy they wrote. Also, the way they sold on demand to Netflix. They literally took money away from their coaches to make big money for themselves.