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Is World Ventures a Pyramid Scheme? – What You Should Know

WorldVentures

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WorldVenturesWorld Ventures claims to be a community of fun, freedom, and fulfillment. But is there more to the story than just this? What’s the deal with all the members trying to recruit other people to join? Is World Ventures a pyramid scheme that you should avoid?

In this review I will be going over how this business model works and whether or not it’s a pyramid scheme. I am not affiliated with this company in any way so I’m not going to try to make it seem better than it really is. In fact there is a major downside to this type of business that I will be going over… Which is something that members aren’t going to tell you more than likely.

World Ventures Review

World Ventures Is a travel MLM company that plans what they call “dream trips”. Basically it’s a company that plans vacations for people… That’s pretty much it.

They have two different memberships that you can join at, which include:

  • Gold Membership: $200 + $50 per month
  • Platinum Membership: $300 + $100 per month

Now whether their memberships are worth the price is a debate for another day. From what I have seen and reviews I have read it seems that the prices are pretty darn steep when you look at what they provide you. Their “dream trips” don’t really seem to save you much money, and personally if are going to go on vacation I would rather plan my own trip… Because I think I could save more my own.

But anyways, I’m not here to review the actual membership services that World Ventures provides, I’m here to review the business opportunity which many people are calling a pyramid scheme.

World Ventures is a direct sales business. This means that they rely on independent representatives to sell their memberships. This is what they push members to do to help cover their own membership cost. The membership cost is obviously very expensive and the solution they give you is to recruit in other members to help cover your costs and more.

Anyone can become one of these independent representatives and earn money doing this. As an independent rep you will earn commissions from the initial sale as well as the monthly membership that your referrals pay. But there’s much more to it than just this… Independent reps can also earn commissions from independent reps beneath them, and beneath them, and beneath them, and so on.

A Look at How You Make Money

If you join World Ventures and decide to start promoting the business to other people in order to make money you will first be able to earn in two different ways: through direct commissions and personal sales bonuses. Direct commissions are commissions from the membership sales you make directly to customers. So when you sell a membership you get paid a commission and you also get commissions from the monthly membership price that the particular customer pays. And the personal sales bonus comes in when you make three sales within 30 days.

But there is a heck of a lot more to the compensation plan than just this. There are many different promotional levels, or what I call ranks, within the compensation structure. When you first join you will be considered an Enrolled Rep and once you become active you will be considered an Active Rep, and at both levels you will only be qualified to earn direct commissions and personal sales bonuses.

But as you move up the ranks you will be able to unlock more parts of the compensation plan. As you can see in the table below, once you reach the rank of a Qualified Rep you will be able to earn many more commissions and bonuses…

And there’s plenty more where this came from. This is just to give you an example, but there are many more ranks including Senior Rep, Director, Marketing Director, Regional Marketing Director, and National Marketing Director, all of which unlock more of the compensation plan and allow you to earn more.

If you see people in this business making tons of money, this is why. They are able to do this because of the recruitment based structures that are in place. World Ventures has both a uni-level and a binary compensation structure in place. I’m not going to be getting into how these work too much, but the basics of them are that you will earn commissions from the independent representatives beneath you. So you can earn commissions from the people that you directly recruit in (level I), from the people that they recruit in (level II), from the people that these level II people recruit in (level III), and so on.

While you definitely can make money by selling products directly to customers via direct commissions, the big money is made with recruitment of other independent reps. It’s all about building up your downline and having commissions flow up to you from many different independent reps beneath you. And of course this is the reason people were calling this a pyramid scheme.

So Is It a Pyramid Scheme?

It can be difficult to determine what businesses are pyramid schemes and what aren’t. MLM’s can be legitimate. There is nothing illegal about having a recruitment based compensation plan like this. The problem comes in when the business relies too much on recruitment of other independent representatives rather than membership sales to the general public.

I have seen a lot of really “shady” MLM businesses over the years that rely on recruitment a heck of a lot and still operate legally. Because of this and because of the fact that World Ventures has been around for quite some time, I wouldn’t call it a pyramid scheme.

They do have a legitimate business that sells legitimate travel deals and while the business does place a great deal of emphasis on recruitment of new members, they seem to know what they are doing and seem to be operating within the legal boundaries.

Might Be Legal But Is It Worth Joining?

Now just because I say that this business is not an illegal pyramid scheme does not mean you should go out and join. Remember at the beginning where I said there is a major downside to this type of business?

The downside is that with MLM’s like this it is very difficult to make money. They have a pyramid -like structure where money flows from the bottom of the pyramid up into the pockets of those at and near the top. What this does is creates a very uneven income distribution where those of the top or reaping most of the rewards, while those at the bottom are having money that they could be possibly making taken away from them and given to those above them in the form of commissions.

And as we all know with a pyramid -like structure such as this, the overwhelming majority of people are at the bottom. This means that the overwhelming majority of people will find it more difficult to make money with a compensation structure such as this. So while the business opportunity may seem incredible, and they might make it seem like the best path to financial freedom, this is a major downside. This is the reason that MLM businesses have such high turnover rates… THEY ARE NOT EASY!!!

I review MLM opportunities like this quite often, Zija InternationalRodan and Fields, Youngevity, etc…. and when I do find ones that disclose their income statements, I always find that the vast majority of people make a very little money.

Conclusion on World Ventures – Join or Not?

Whether or not it would be worth it to join is completely dependent on you. There are people that really excel with MLM businesses like this but as I said most people do not. The bottom line is that to really excel you are going to have to recruit in lots of people and do so continuously. If you think you have what it takes to do this then go for it but if you don’t then this might not be a great choice for you.

Personally I would never be any good with MLM opportunities such as this which is why I avoid them altogether.

If you are like me and don’t think that an opportunity like this is right for you then you might want to take a look at how I make money online. You can read my “make money online guide” where I explain what it is I do, how it all works, etc. for more info.

And of course leave any questions or comments you may have below. I’ll get back to you when I can 🙂

About the Author

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I hope you found this article helpful! I'm Kyle, the creator of this site, which is probably pretty obvious after seeing the name. Like most, I've had my fair share of difficulties and a pretty bumpy road while trying to find success online, which is why I put togetherthis guide so that others can get started right the first time around.


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