Should I become a Beachbody Coach?

Oi_Sunshine

MLMs are a great way to annoy and alienate your friends and family.

It's also a great way to reduce your Facebook friend list.

So that's kind of like losing weight, right? ????

dbmata

I'll add in a few things for folks to think about:
1. If you're good at it, don't do it for free.
2. Don't pay for the "opportunity" to work for someone else.
3. Don't get into a "business" that requires you to buy and use your own product as a customer, unless it's a cat house or a grocery store.
4. Good products sell themselves, there's a difference between mlms and franchises, people seek out franchises because they're good.
5. Learn the signs of a pyramid or ponzi, and avoid.

Good luck.

3dogsrunning

I'll add in a few things for folks to think about:
1. If you're good at it, don't do it for free.
2. Don't pay for the "opportunity" to work for someone else.
3. Don't get into a "business" that requires you to buy and use your own product as a customer, unless it's a cat house or a grocery store.
4. Good products sell themselves, there's a difference between mlms and franchises, people seek out franchises because they're good.
5. Learn the signs of a pyramid or ponzi, and avoid.

Good luck.

That is really great advice.
The OP may not use it since this post was from 2012, but obviously others are reading it since it keeps getting bumped. Well said!

jimmmer

Would you rather have someone with a B.A. in physical fitness and/or B.S. sports medicine train you or a personal trainer? Who has more value, the person with the B.A./B.S. in physical fitness/sports medicine or the licensed personal trainer?

Do either of them even lift?

iron_jj

Being an obnoxious spamming a-hole sounds like a fun job to me.

pcdoctor01

LOL! I agree. I would never use a personal trainer because I'm frugal. I was just wondering what other folks who do thought.

Would you rather have someone with a B.A. in physical fitness and/or B.S. sports medicine train you or a personal trainer? Who has more value, the person with the B.A./B.S. in physical fitness/sports medicine or the licensed personal trainer?

Do either of them even lift?

littlekitty3

If you do don't quit your day job. I know way too many people who are struggling with this and spend so much time trying to advertise that they all sound the same *dies*

JaeLeePGH

I am sad to see some of these replies. Everything is what you make of it. My Coach makes a few thousand a week.. and the coach above her.. even more. The trick is.. being on a WINNING team. You can't randomly sign up as a coach without finding the right team to be on and making sure you will work well within them.

As with anything.. you get out what you put into it. I am proud to be a Beachbody Coach. I offer free challenge groups.. groups for all sorts of things whether it be nutrition, workouts, grocery trips.. you name it. And why shouldn't I use the product? I lost over 60 pounds using Insanity, P90X, and many more. Like I said.. it is what you make of it. If anyone out there has any questions or even wants to join my Challenge groups to see what ACTIVE.. DEDICATED.. and REAL Coaches can do for their customers and team.. shoot me a message. I bet ya I can prove the nay sayers wrong.

jimmmer

I am sad to see some of these replies. Everything is what you make of it. My Coach makes a few thousand a week.. and the coach above her.. even more. The trick is.. being on a WINNING team. You can't randomly sign up as a coach without finding the right team to be on and making sure you will work well within them.

As with anything.. you get out what you put into it. I am proud to be a Beachbody Coach. I offer free challenge groups.. groups for all sorts of things whether it be nutrition, workouts, grocery trips.. you name it. And why shouldn't I use the product? I lost over 60 pounds using Insanity, P90X, and many more. Like I said.. it is what you make of it. If anyone out there has any questions or even wants to join my Challenge groups to see what ACTIVE.. DEDICATED.. and REAL Coaches can do for their customers and team.. shoot me a message. I bet ya I can prove the nay sayers wrong.

Strong first post...

JaeLeePGH

Thanks Jimmmer.. I actually used to be a very active member of MFP 4 years ago..I just couldn't find my old log in info =(

I decided to join back in because after my baby.. well ya know.. things happen lol.

I am also pretty Alpha and speak my mind.. so ya.. there is that.


And to the guy who said everyone is working for a company that is selling something.. TRUTH. 100%.

RobynMWilson

Noooo! MLM businesses are a terrible way to make money. Most people end up losing money on them. And you become a full time salesperson trying to convince everyone in your life to buy overpriced products..

You're better off just finding new, legitimate employment. Best of luck to you.

And you know this how? Have you ever given an honest, consistent and long-term effort at an MLM? Because MLMs have produced more millionaire than any other occupation. How can you make such a blanket statement without knowing her occupation, education and situation?

Becoming a TBB Coach was the best decision I have ever made and you'll be in good hands with Jenelle (and, no, I"m not in Jenelle's downline and stand to gain nothing by saying this). Make no mistake about it, it does require work and consistency and a strong desire to help people, not just make money. The coaches who are in it only to make money are the coaches you see on here being all spammy and salesy and are the people who will either MLM hop or won't be coaching 6 months from now. I coached around my full time job for 18 months and sacrificed some things in my personal life so that I could quit my job and do this full time, and I don't have one single regret doing it that way! Good luck to you!

RobynMWilson

I am sad to see some of these replies. Everything is what you make of it. My Coach makes a few thousand a week.. and the coach above her.. even more. The trick is.. being on a WINNING team. You can't randomly sign up as a coach without finding the right team to be on and making sure you will work well within them.

As with anything.. you get out what you put into it. I am proud to be a Beachbody Coach. I offer free challenge groups.. groups for all sorts of things whether it be nutrition, workouts, grocery trips.. you name it. And why shouldn't I use the product? I lost over 60 pounds using Insanity, P90X, and many more. Like I said.. it is what you make of it. If anyone out there has any questions or even wants to join my Challenge groups to see what ACTIVE.. DEDICATED.. and REAL Coaches can do for their customers and team.. shoot me a message. I bet ya I can prove the nay sayers wrong.

Not true...

Lindsay Matway, our top coach in 2013, was "orphaned" into this business and had to build hers from the ground up. It doesn't really matter what team you come in with. I was also "orphaned" into this business and am building a solid team, but I see some coaches come in under the top coaches and fail miserably. It all depends on how committed you are to working this as a business and not a hobby and how much of your heart you invest in this business.

RobynMWilson

Don't do it! I became a coach when I was low on cash and it was the worst thing I could have done. There are better and more reliable ways of making money. There are so many problems with Beachbody coaching:

1) You'll always be talking about Beachbody trying to sell products or recruit other coaches. You will drive your friends mad. If you decide not to talk to friends and rely on strangers and online relationships then you will have a much harder time of it.
2) There's a lot of competition out there. You might sign up a customer and then have them stolen away from you. It's in the rules not to recruit on the Team BB website forum yet every day I get messages from coaches trying to entice me away. Holding onto customers means 'building a relationship' but also maintaining it - that takes a lot of time.
3) They say you can do it in only a few hours a day. This is true for people who have been doing it for a while because their downline coaches are also generating income for them with team bonuses and the like. For a new person, being a coach can turn into a full-time job itself because you rely on you only.
4) They say that it doesn't cost much but don't forget that to be 'active' as a coach you have to have 50pv points in purchases, i.e. $50. Your upline coach will probably want you to buy Shakeology to maintain your active status so we're talking about $90 (not sure of current prices today) each month.
5) I find the fake positivity of Beachbody annoying. Coaches will post to their wall about how it's changed their lives and how great things are but that's because they're trying to sell the lifestyle to you! Behind the scenes myself and fellow coaches were ALL struggling. I'm still friends with some of my fellow coaches and they'll write to me about how burned out they are, that they want to quit, etc and then straight after post how amazing their life is and how much they love BB. It's a lie.
6) The coaches are the real money makers for Beachbody. Customers will buy products now and then but the coaches spend money regularly - they have to in order to maintain their active status. I truly think 'coaches' are taken advantage of.

When I quit coaching, I was told I hadn't tried hard enough and I found that so insulting. The idea was that if you work hard, you'll be successful so if you aren't successful then you obviously weren't trying. Getting few sales was tough on the old self-esteem! The most successful coaches (thinking of a friend who went diamond in just two weeks) recruit their friends and family. The friend who went diamond also set up fake profiles, made them coaches under her, paid their bills, etc.

Unfortunately my experience tainted my thoughts about Beachbody to some degree. I still think their programmes are great, I still recommend them but that's as far as it goes for me. Also, as a coach I felt very uncomfortable about some of the programme info that was provided. Les Mills Pump told me to eat 1300 calories, which is way too low. The Ultimate Reset is about 1200 calories and drops down to about 800 in the final week, which is sheer starvation. I often worried about whether or not people were getting anything out of their experience or if they were feeling bad, falling off the wagon and getting into a worse position as a result. A lot of Beachbody's nutritional guidelines are carb-heavy and I've had more success with low carb eating than I ever had with two years of their programmes.

All that being said, it's your choice. Sometimes the best lessons are the ones you've learnt yourself by diving straight in. I usually stay away from BB-bashing because some of their coaches can be really rude and protective but I can only share my own experiences and what I saw. It's up to you to decide what to do with the info!

Funny..I'm not trying to "sell" all my family and friends. Hmmm. And I've been a coach since 2012. And I did build my full time income in about 3 hours per day till I quit my job and started coaching full time.

Please talk about your experience and yours ONLY. You cannot speak for all of the other coaches out there. I"m sorry it didn't work out for you but I've seen over and over again that those who put forth a consistent effort with coaching see success. Including myself.

JaeLeePGH

I am sad to see some of these replies. Everything is what you make of it. My Coach makes a few thousand a week.. and the coach above her.. even more. The trick is.. being on a WINNING team. You can't randomly sign up as a coach without finding the right team to be on and making sure you will work well within them.

As with anything.. you get out what you put into it. I am proud to be a Beachbody Coach. I offer free challenge groups.. groups for all sorts of things whether it be nutrition, workouts, grocery trips.. you name it. And why shouldn't I use the product? I lost over 60 pounds using Insanity, P90X, and many more. Like I said.. it is what you make of it. If anyone out there has any questions or even wants to join my Challenge groups to see what ACTIVE.. DEDICATED.. and REAL Coaches can do for their customers and team.. shoot me a message. I bet ya I can prove the nay sayers wrong.

Not true...

Lindsay Matway, our top coach in 2013, was "orphaned" into this business and had to build hers from the ground up. It doesn't really matter what team you come in with. I was also "orphaned" into this business and am building a solid team, but I see some coaches come in under the top coaches and fail miserably. It all depends on how committed you are to working this as a business and not a hobby and how much of your heart you invest in this business.

Those are good points.. I should take my own advice and like I said.. It is what you make of it. Joining an existing join who is successful is HELPFUL .. but I agree.. you can do it on your own if you have the will and drive to make it happen. Thanks for posting that.

JaeLeePGH

Don't do it! I became a coach when I was low on cash and it was the worst thing I could have done. There are better and more reliable ways of making money. There are so many problems with Beachbody coaching:

1) You'll always be talking about Beachbody trying to sell products or recruit other coaches. You will drive your friends mad. If you decide not to talk to friends and rely on strangers and online relationships then you will have a much harder time of it.
2) There's a lot of competition out there. You might sign up a customer and then have them stolen away from you. It's in the rules not to recruit on the Team BB website forum yet every day I get messages from coaches trying to entice me away. Holding onto customers means 'building a relationship' but also maintaining it - that takes a lot of time.
3) They say you can do it in only a few hours a day. This is true for people who have been doing it for a while because their downline coaches are also generating income for them with team bonuses and the like. For a new person, being a coach can turn into a full-time job itself because you rely on you only.
4) They say that it doesn't cost much but don't forget that to be 'active' as a coach you have to have 50pv points in purchases, i.e. $50. Your upline coach will probably want you to buy Shakeology to maintain your active status so we're talking about $90 (not sure of current prices today) each month.
5) I find the fake positivity of Beachbody annoying. Coaches will post to their wall about how it's changed their lives and how great things are but that's because they're trying to sell the lifestyle to you! Behind the scenes myself and fellow coaches were ALL struggling. I'm still friends with some of my fellow coaches and they'll write to me about how burned out they are, that they want to quit, etc and then straight after post how amazing their life is and how much they love BB. It's a lie.
6) The coaches are the real money makers for Beachbody. Customers will buy products now and then but the coaches spend money regularly - they have to in order to maintain their active status. I truly think 'coaches' are taken advantage of.

When I quit coaching, I was told I hadn't tried hard enough and I found that so insulting. The idea was that if you work hard, you'll be successful so if you aren't successful then you obviously weren't trying. Getting few sales was tough on the old self-esteem! The most successful coaches (thinking of a friend who went diamond in just two weeks) recruit their friends and family. The friend who went diamond also set up fake profiles, made them coaches under her, paid their bills, etc.

Unfortunately my experience tainted my thoughts about Beachbody to some degree. I still think their programmes are great, I still recommend them but that's as far as it goes for me. Also, as a coach I felt very uncomfortable about some of the programme info that was provided. Les Mills Pump told me to eat 1300 calories, which is way too low. The Ultimate Reset is about 1200 calories and drops down to about 800 in the final week, which is sheer starvation. I often worried about whether or not people were getting anything out of their experience or if they were feeling bad, falling off the wagon and getting into a worse position as a result. A lot of Beachbody's nutritional guidelines are carb-heavy and I've had more success with low carb eating than I ever had with two years of their programmes.

All that being said, it's your choice. Sometimes the best lessons are the ones you've learnt yourself by diving straight in. I usually stay away from BB-bashing because some of their coaches can be really rude and protective but I can only share my own experiences and what I saw. It's up to you to decide what to do with the info!

Funny..I'm not trying to "sell" all my family and friends. Hmmm. And I've been a coach since 2012. And I did build my full time income in about 3 hours per day till I quit my job and started coaching full time.

Please talk about your experience and yours ONLY. You cannot speak for all of the other coaches out there. I"m sorry it didn't work out for you but I've seen over and over again that those who put forth a consistent effort with coaching see success. Including myself.

Agreed!!!

jofjltncb6

Just ask to see the tax returns of the people who claim to be making tons of money. That is the only way to know the truth.

As a CPA/tax guy for 20 years, I have seen very few people make money at MLMs.

Preach.

These people exist, but they are the exception...and has been mentioned, the *real* money is in recruiting others, not in selling the product.

Go_Mizzou99

Noooo! MLM businesses are a terrible way to make money. Most people end up losing money on them. And you become a full time salesperson trying to convince everyone in your life to buy overpriced products..

You're better off just finding new, legitimate employment. Best of luck to you.

+infinity

EmpireBusiness

I thought BeachBody Coaches only existed in my nightmares... you mean, they are real???

skullshank

Do you have a blog to promote yourself?

good lord. the thread is 2 years old.
the OP hasnt posted in the forums since may of 2012.

i would direct your question to her in a PM.

FitCurves444

I checked it out once and decided not to join because ... I wanted to help people with their fitness goals.... not their "financial" goals.

I love Beachbody products, but I would never approach a Beachbody Coach. That's just me and I probably represent the majority of the population which you would try to sell to.... and what would you sell? The products and or wellness advice? Nope, you'd be selling the opportunity to be a Beachbody Coach.

psuLemon

Noooo! MLM businesses are a terrible way to make money. Most people end up losing money on them. And you become a full time salesperson trying to convince everyone in your life to buy overpriced products..

You're better off just finding new, legitimate employment. Best of luck to you.

And you know this how? Have you ever given an honest, consistent and long-term effort at an MLM? Because MLMs have produced more millionaire than any other occupation. How can you make such a blanket statement without knowing her occupation, education and situation?

Becoming a TBB Coach was the best decision I have ever made and you'll be in good hands with Jenelle (and, no, I"m not in Jenelle's downline and stand to gain nothing by saying this). Make no mistake about it, it does require work and consistency and a strong desire to help people, not just make money. The coaches who are in it only to make money are the coaches you see on here being all spammy and salesy and are the people who will either MLM hop or won't be coaching 6 months from now. I coached around my full time job for 18 months and sacrificed some things in my personal life so that I could quit my job and do this full time, and I don't have one single regret doing it that way! Good luck to you!

Congrats, you are in the 1% of MLM coaches that actually earns money. The majority of people lose money. Even when including all the huge earners, the average coach makes $4,000 a year.


http://www.teambeachbody.com/home/-/dl_get_file/726c8a0a-09ae-444d-bc94-843ee8e06d7f

http://www.mlm-thetruth.com/research/mlm-statistics/shocking-stats/

Timshel_

Congrats, you are in the 1% of MLM coaches that actually earns money. The majority of people lose money. Even when including all the huge earners, the average coach makes $4,000 a year.

Here is the 2013 statement
http://www.beachbodycoach.com/uploads/fckeditor/mdbody/File/downloads/statement_of_independent_coach_earnings.pdf

Just over 68% of coaches tried to choose being a product seller only and their average yearly income was $487.

Around 25% chose to recruit more coaches and get those perks, which gave them an average yearly income of $3000 for Emerald, $9000 for Ruby

Only about 7% Did the heavy recruiting and averaged $15,000 for Diamond (5%) and $80,000 for Star Diamond (2%).

The average for ALL coaches for the year is $4000.

Of course they all claim they only work a few hours to do it.

catpea33

I"m sorry it didn't work out for you but I've seen over and over again that those who put forth a consistent effort with coaching see success. Including myself.

Which goes back to exactly what I said..... coaches blame you for not working hard enough when it doesn't work out. I can tell you that I *did* put in a consistent effort, including going through my coaching group's training programmes. This is what I said:

The idea was that if you work hard, you'll be successful so if you aren't successful then you obviously weren't trying.

The people it does work out for are in the minority as revealed by Beachbody's own coach earnings statements. Most earn less than $5,000/year.

techtime1987

The reason why most beach body coaches earn so little is because they know nothing about network marketing. I started out making 3,000 a month and now I make anywhere from 8,000 to 10,000 a month. I started my business about a year ago.

jofjltncb6

The reason why most beach body coaches earn so little is because they know nothing. . .[snipped ad]

Did you create this MFP account just to share this testimonial?

Parafly9

My wife was a teacher and is now a SAHM and just signed up a few weeks ago to become a coach. I was extremely skeptical. We did p90x in 2009 (five years ago) and had turned on so many people to the programs.

She has a friend who is a teacher who has been doing it for 14 months and is making about $50k a year now.

But so far, she has done well with it. This is her account:

08/06/14 07/31/2014 08/06/2014 0.00
WE 07/30/14 07/24/2014 07/30/2014 217.93 217.93
WE 07/23/14 07/17/2014 07/23/2014 184.96 184.96
WE 07/16/14 07/10/2014 07/16/2014 119.40 119.40
WE 07/09/14 07/03/2014 07/09/2014 576.00 576.00
WE 07/02/14 06/26/2014 07/02/2014 140.00 140.00
WE 06/25/14 06/19/2014 06/25/2014 54.96 54.96
Subtotal: 1,293.25

That doesn't include the fact that she signed me up and put people under my name, for another $500. She has made, after her cost of Shakeology, about $1300 in the first month, working a couple hours a night.

Her first challenge group had 13 people in it that lost a combined 130 pounds - averaging 10 lb per person. She is getting (completely unsolicited!!) feedback from people like this:

"I just want to thank (my wife) for reaching out to me with this program. I have a lot if weight to lose and haven't worked out in 10 years. In the last 21 days I have lost 12 pounds and 9.25 inches overall. I feel so amazing from the shakeology and the way my body is transforming. I just can't believe it. It is work though and I love it!"

I mean, even when I read it, it sounds like it was planted or faked, but that feedback was posted to my wife on her challenge group FB page entirely alone. When I read that, and I see the success people she is working with are having, I become less skeptical.

I'm still curious to see how it plays out long term, as it's only been six weeks, but she really enjoys it and everyone who is doing it with her has been nothing but thrilled with the results. I think part of it is also that my wife is a natural with people - extremely motivating and encourating. In other words, if there is a personality type that is going to succeed in that business, it's probably people like her.

I'll post back in a few months with more honest info about how things are going. I hate the bull**** and want to know what things really look like. One thing that is a peeve of mine is the 'coach income statements" that show the average star diamond making $90k a year. The thing is, there are some people making serious money that skew that all to the right. As far as I can tell you probably need about 500 - 1000 people downline to make a consistent $50k a year.

maggierocks1

Not if you want to keep your friends

Parafly9

Another update for you guys as my wife continues on this. My skepticism is becoming less and less , however I am realizing that you definitely need to bust your *kitten* to make it work as a coach. My wife works 4 hours every night now after the kids go to bed (8 - 12 or so).

Since my last post on August 6th she has earned over $3,500 since starting on June 25th. She has 85 people in her downline now (6 are other active coaches).

Month 1 6/25 - 7/25 $1,356.16
Month 2 7/26 - 8/25 $2,179.81

We have both continued to lose weight since starting, I"m down 15 pounds and she is down 10 since June. Being a coach adds another layer of motivation vs. just doing a program, I have noticed.

I have noticed that some coaches really annoy others, while some are more tactful. Depends who you talk to. My wife makes the occasional post on FB about coaching but it isn't that often. She still has more kid & dog photos than we do Beachbody updates, haha.

Still interested to see how this plays out over time. I'll update again later

DjinnMarie

No, because I think their products are garbage, and 90% of the reps vultures.

Bash away.... But it's true.

Edit: And I just realized this is a necro thread, bumped by a beachbody coach. Figures.

brianpperkins

"I have noticed that some coaches really annoy others, while some are more tactful." Repeatedly resurrecting a dead thread and only posting coaching experiences on MFP falls into my annoying category.