Have you been looking into the 4Life and now you’re wondering if it’s a scam or a legit business opportunity? Well, I’m going to reveal those answers to you in the article below.
I took a look into 4Life and I found some good things, and some not-so-good things.
Be sure to read everything before joining.
Because:
It might not be quite as good as you’ve been led to believe…
Let’s get to it!
What Is 4Life?
4Life was started in 1998 by the husband-and-wife team, David and Bianca Lisonbee and is based out of Utah. It is an MLM company in the nutritional supplement niche, mostly focusing on boosting the immune system.
4Life sells a wide variety of products – for people and animals.
Some of their products include:
- Energy Go Stix
- Fibre System Plus
- Toothpaste
- Aloe Vera
- Equine Performance & Show
- Essential Oils
Here are some examples of how much some of their products cost:
- Toothpaste = $13 retail / $10 wholesale
- Volcanic Mud Mask = $32 retail / $24 wholesale
- Energy Go Stix (30 count) = $56 retail / $42 wholesale
- Peppermint Essential Oil = $$31 retail / $23 wholesale
- NutraStart Chocolate Meal Replacement (15 servings) = $48 retail / $36 wholesale
This gives us an idea of whether their products are overpriced as compared to other similar products.
How Much Does it Cost to Join 4Life?
There are a couple of ways to join 4Life:
1. Preferred Customer = $25
Preferred Customers purchase the 4Life Enrollment Kit and this allows them to buy products at wholesale prices. Preferred Customers are not distributors and are not business builders.
2. Distributor = $25
Distributors are people who want to earn an income with 4Life. They also purchase an Enrollment Kit at $25 and can get products at wholesale prices. Distributors can earn an income following the compensation plan requirements.
Distributors are encouraged to also buy an enrollment pack to experience the products.
There are many packs to choose from, with most of them being in the $180 – $400 range.
You’ll also have to factor in other optional costs of running a business such as business cards, marketing materials, a website and travel expenses.
To remain active and qualify for the compensation payments, you will need to have 100PV per month. This can come from sales that you make. I know that distributors often get into trouble by purchasing this themselves so that they can remain active.
4Life Compensation Plan
I’m going to post a YouTube webinar going over the compensation plan. (You can also view it from 4Life’s website here.) I’ll try to break down the information the best I can below the video. It’s not easy though because they are so confusing!
It’s funny because when the video starts, the presenter says this is the “best compensation plan in the industry.” I don’t know how many times I’ve heard that one. Everyone says that about their company’s compensation plan. But maybe he’s right? Let’s see!
There are 7 ranks in the compensation plan. Here are their names, plus their qualifications:
- Associate – 100PV (Principal Volume) / month + 1 Distributor or Preferred Customer (PC) at 100PV / month
- Builder – 100PV (Principal Volume) / month + 3 Distributors or PCs at 100PV / month
- Diamond – 100PV (Principal Volume) / month + 6 Distributors or PCs at 100PV / month + 3000 LP (Life Points) / month
- Presedential Diamond – 100PV (Principal Volume) / month + 8 Distributors or PCs at 100PV / month + 10,000 LP (Life Points) / month + 2 Diamond legs
- International Diamond – 100PV (Principal Volume) / month + 10 Distributors or PCs at 100PV / month + 20,000 LP (Life Points) / month + 2 Presidential Diamond legs
- Gold International Diamond – 100PV (Principal Volume) / month + 12 Distributors or PCs at 100PV / month + 20,000 LP (Life Points) / month + 3 International Diamond legs + monthly Organizational Volume (OV) of 250,000
- Platinum International Diamond – 100PV (Principal Volume) / month + 12 Distributors or PCs at 100PV / month + 20,000 LP (Life Points) / month + 3 Gold International Diamond legs + monthly OV of 1,000,000
Here is a screen shot from the video of the commission percentages that can be earned at each level:
There are also different bonuses and rewards that you can qualify for beyond the commission percentages.
Look, all I know is that the video that I posted is 40 minutes long. 40 minutes to explain how you get paid. Are MLMs complicated on purpose?
4Life Income Disclosure
4Life does have an income disclosure, and you can see it in full here. The income disclosure covers 6 months from October 1, 2018 – March 31, 2019.
This income disclosure tells the tale that so many of them do. It’s hard to make a good living in an MLM. (By the way, there is a note under this chart on the 4Life website that says 16% of distributors made no income at all.)
I got my handy-dandy calculator out, and it says that 99.2% of 4Life distributors make an average of $32,988 or less in a year. $32,988 isn’t a bad income, however, that’s only 2.5% of distributors. And it doesn’t take into account expenses, which can add up.
Positive Reviews and Complaints
I did find a few positive reviews. These reviewers said things like:
- I tried the products and I feel great!
- This is an amazing company with great values.
I’m going to add an image of the next one. It comes from the BBB website.
I have an issue with this review. Claiming the products helped he and his wife have a baby I believe is against FDA guidelines. Be careful when you see claims like this. This obviously can’t be proven.
There were a couple of 4Life complaints on the BBB site too. They said things like:
- Lousy company
- The products caused me a lot of health issues
- I don’t like the artificial sweeteners in their products
- My mom got sick using the products and it took a long time to get a partial refund
- Wrong product ordered and received and I can’t get a hold of anyone at 4Life
They do get an A+ rating with the BBB, which is good. They also have some products on Amazon, and those ratings also seem favorable:
Overall, they do seem to get favorable ratings for their products.
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Is 4Life a Scam or a Pyramid Scheme?
Now the big question. Is 4Life a scam? No, it’s not a scam. This company has been in business for a long time and so far they are operating just fine.
Is 4Life a pyramid scheme? They aren’t technically an illegal pyramid scheme because they do have products they can sell to customers. However, if recruiting becomes more profitable than selling the products, it starts to border on being a pyramid scheme. There’s an interesting way that these MLMs get away with this. I’ll tell you about it in a minute.
Pros
- They’ve been in business for a long time
- The products have good reviews
- Small start-up costs
- A+ BBB rating
Cons
- Products are expensive and will be hard to sell to customers (they can buy something similar for cheaper elsewhere)
- To make really good money, you will have to recruit
- Only the top 3% of distributors make a decent living
- You have a monthly 100PV that you have to hit to stay active
- People who make it to the top of an MLM work at it full time and then some
- People who make a lot of money make it because people below them are spending (and likely losing) money
There was something in the income disclosure that I wanted to point out.
In case you can’t read what it says: “Distributors do not earn any compensation for simply recruiting and enrolling Preferred Customers, as compensation is only earned on the sale of 4Life products.”
I mentioned above that MLMs have to have focus on selling product otherwise they can get into trouble for being a pyramid scheme. The way they get around this is by selling the products – to distributors. When you become a distributor of an MLM, YOU are the customer. And that’s how the people in your upline make money.
An Alternative to 4Life
If you’re looking to build a real business (let’s face it, being a distributor in an MLM is NOT your own business), one that you have complete control over and one you can do on your own schedule, then why not try affiliate marketing instead.
With affiliate marketing, you promote other people’s products and you earn a commission from it. I’ll give you a quick example.
Let’s say you love baseball. You can create a website around baseball gloves. You can create content by providing reviews of different gloves, how to make sure a glove fits properly and anything else you can think of that will help people find the perfect glove. (And there are tools that help you know what people are searching for.)
Then you sign up for affiliate programs (they are free to join) and you get a special link attached to you. You add that link in when you recommend products, and when someone clicks on the link from your content and buys, you get a commission.
There’s no recruiting, or hard sales (you attract people to YOU), or uplines, confusing compensation plans, training recruits or any of that.
It’s you. Your website. Your commissions.
If you’d like to learn more about it, I give you more details here.
Conclusion
Is 4Life a scam? In my opinion, it’s not a scam, and it’s hard to call it a scam unless the FTC says it is. But with the recent shutdown of Advocare’s MLM program, I would always be a little wary that it could happen. If it did happen, your income would be shut off in an instant.
Instead of joining a risky MLM, why not try affiliate marketing instead? It has an extremely low start-up cost, it IS your own businesses that you have complete control over and you can promote anything you like. Yes, it takes time and consistent action to build it up, but wouldn’t it be worth it?
This is the platform that I recommend to teach you the exact roadmap to build a profitable affiliate site step by step. See why there are over 1.4 million members. Your first 10 lessons are free and there’s no credit card required to sign up.