doTERRA has what can potentially be a pretty good money making opportunity. But is this business opportunity over-hyped? And what about all the recruitment that goes on… is doTERRA a pyramid scheme type scam that is going to be a waste of your time and money?
I know there are a lot of questions swirling around the business opportunity that doTERRA offers so I decided to write this post to give you my take on it. I’ll be going over how you make money, the mlm (pyramid) side to it all, whether or not I think its a pyramid scheme, and more.
doTERRA Overview
doTERRA is a health and wellness mlm company that sells essential oils. I am a big fan of essential oils and own two oil diffusers in my house, so I like what they bring to the table here. They seem to be very good quality and somewhat overpriced… but who knows… maybe they really go to great lengths to ensure the best quality and purest oils.
But anyway, I’m here to talk about the business opportunity not the products. I’m sure you are well aware that anyone can join doTERRA and make money with them. They are a direct sales company and this means that their team of independent distributors, or “wellness advocates” as they call them, are the ones who do all the selling and marketing.
The “pyramid scheme” part of this business is how they are mlm and distributors can recruit in other distributors and make money off of them.
How You Make Money
There are 2 basic ways that you make money here. You can either sell doTERRA products yourself of you can recruit in other distributors and make money from the products that they sell.
When you make direct sales you will earn 25% profits on those sales. This is a decent number. It isn’t anything great but its nothing terrible either.
But the real money comes into play when you recruit. Recruitment is key if you want to make good money here. Its all about recruiting in more distributors underneath you, moving up the ranks, and earning money off of them.
doTERRA has several ways you can earn off of recruitment but the main way is their Unilevel Organizational Bonus. This compensation structure goes 7 levels deep. The distributors that you personally recruit in make up your level 1, the people that they recruit make up your level 2, and so on all the way to level 7.
You can see the table below that I took a screenshot of which shows you the commission percentage you will earn per level. 
Another important thing to note is that you need to move up the ranks to unlock the whole comp plan. And moving up the ranks is all about recruitment. While you do need to sell a specified amount of products on your own, recruitment is going to be your main focus.
Pyramid Scheme?
Although this compensation plan does really push distributors to go out and recruit, I still can’t call this a pyramid scheme. The reason for this is because they do make distributors sell products to remain active. It may be a “shady” mlm, but calling it a pyramid scheme just isn’t right.
Also, according to their 2016 income disclosure 67% of all sales come from customers and not distributors. This is a pretty good number and, if true, pretty much proves this isn’t a pyramid scheme. Because the only way this would be one would be if it were too reliant on recruitment for its revenues.
Conclusion On doTERRA – Scam?
doTERRA is not a scam nor is it a pyramid scheme. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean its a good business opportunity for you. The fact of the matter is that with mlm’s like this very few people make good money. In order to make good money you pretty much have to recruit and build up a big downline. Because of the pyramid-like structure, there are always going to be many more people at the bottom struggling than at the top, which is where all the money is made.
I wasn’t able to find any clear income disclosure from doTERRA that proves this. The one I found didn’t give all the numbers and didn’t show how much distributors in the lower ranks made on average. But I have reviewed enough mlms (Jerky Direct & Valentus recently) to know that with a compensation structure like this one very few people will make good money.
So if you are going to pursue this opportunity just know the reality of it. There is a lot of potential to make a lot of money here… but it is not easy and most people fail.
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Questions, comments, concerns? Leave them below in the comment section and I’ll get back to you soon ?
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