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Should you join Total Life Changes?
If you’re here wondering whether or not you should join one of the hottest health and wellness MLM companies right now then you may want to read on to see some reasons why I would choose to NOT join and some reasons why I might.
In the end, it is up to you to decide what is best for you. If you’re looking for a review of Total Life Changes, although this isn’t a full review of the company, I do give my opinion on many things I think the company is doing right and shine some light on the problems as well. You’ll be well informed after reading this article.
What Is Total Life Changes?
You probably already know about Total Life Changes if you’re considering joining. But just in case you’re still unsure what the company is all about here is a brief refresher.
Total Life Changes is a 20+ year old company created back in 1999 by Jack Fallon who is currently the company’s CEO. The company sells a range of health products including detox tea, weight management solutions, essential oils, multivitamins and more.
I’m sure you’ve heard or seen people on social media or maybe even in real life talking about Iaso Tea. Iaso Tea is the flagship product of Total Life Changes and it seems to be quite popular among women all over the world especially those who are into fitness, weight loss and dieting.
Total Life Changes gives you the opportunity to sell Iaso Tea and their other products, earning you money on retail sales and bonuses. Like all MLMs, you’re also encouraged to recruit other sellers, called Life Changers to sell the products. Doing this would result in you building a team and earning additional bonus commissions on their sales and group volume, thus earning you even more money than if you were to simply sell the products alone.
Now that either sounds like something you’re interested in or something you’re not. If you still aren’t convinced what to do then here are my 6 reasons why I would not join Total Life Changes and 5 reasons why it might actually be a good idea to join.
6 Reasons Why I Won’t Join TLC
When I first heard about Iaso Tea, I didn’t know that it was sold through an MLM. I later found out that you had to sign up to Total Life Changes in order to be a distributor.
I could sell the tea if I wanted to but then I’d have to join this MLM company, pay a fee to register and recruit people. I decided against joining for the following 6 reasons.
Reason #1: I Hate MLMs
I don’t like the MLM business model. I was an Amway IBO back in 2004 and although it taught me a lot about business and having a success mindset, it was an experience that showed me the ins and outs of MLM business.
Today, I don’t like MLMs because it’s a business where almost everything is stacked against you. Success in MLM is a steep uphill climb. Many multi-level marketers do not know how to market and this causes a lot of problems in MLM.
For example, the person who recruited you doesn’t know how to market and is expected to show you how to sell the products and move volume as a team. You don’t know how to market and you cannot teach people you recruit how to market. But you’re in a marketing company.
No matter how many workshops you take, they never teach you how to do it the right way and you may argue that maybe Amway’s training had it’s weaknesses but most MLMs have one end goal – how many people do you know who you could possibly recruit?
MLM has other problems:
- prospecting and in-so-doing, alienating your friends and family.
- pyramid scheme structures
- controversial lawsuits and FTC investigations
- complex compensation plans (you never know how exactly you’re getting paid)
- low quality and overpriced products
- low earnings vs high expenditure
I’m talking in general here about why I hate MLM and not about Total Life Changes which happens to also be an MLM company. MLMs have never had a good reputation and people run if they hear you’re involved in one.
John Oliver of HBO’s Last Week Tonight show did a hilarious but on-point exposé on multi-level marketing a few years ago. I agree with almost everything said on the show. You can watch the entire show below.
He did not mention Total Life Changes on the show but to be honest TLC isn’t that much different from some that he did mention. After all, it is an MLM company.
Reason #2: I Do Affiliate Marketing Successfully Already
Affiliate marketing is a way better business model than MLM. You get to use the internet instead of face-to-face interaction to promote products that belong to other people.
Sure you can do that with Total Life Changes but there are a lot of other differences.
- You aren’t tied to one company. You can affiliate with as many companies as you like and promote endless amount of products.
- You don’t have to pay-to-play. It is free to join as many affiliate programs as you like and promote them however you want.
- No recruiting. Your income does not depend on other people (like a team).
- Infinite earning potential. Because it’s the internet, people can get referred by you all day, every day so your earnings can go as high as it takes. There are people earning hundreds of thousands per month in affiliate commissions.
- Passive income. Do the work once and you can earn for years. Great affiliates are always actively maintaining and growing their businesses.
Affiliate marketing is what I do online. I’m currently putting most of my focus on two websites and do not want to get sidetracked with something like a Total Life Changes business so this is another reason why I decided not to become a Life Changer.
It’s great to diversify your income and put your eggs in different baskets but due to the other reasons on this list, I’d rather just continue focusing my efforts on my affiliate marketing business.
I’m already having success with this business model in contrast to my experience with multi-level marketing years ago. The cool thing though is that I could still apply the skills from affiliate marketing to promote Total Life Changes but the negative aspects of doing an MLM business right now heavily outweighs the positive ones.
Reason #3: Autoship? No Thanks!
In order to qualify for commissions in Total Life Changes, you have to be on autoship each month.
Autoship means that you’ll have to agree to be billed at least $49.95 each month for a product that Total Life Changes will send to you. This product can be used by you personally or you can sell it or use it for samples.
This is a great way to get you to personally use the product so that you can sell it with confidence but it also means that you’re paying in order to get paid and there’s no way around it. Well, you could qualify for commissions by having 8 preferred customers on autoship but being on autoship is still the easier way to qualify.
Many MLMs require that you order a certain amount of product each month in order to qualify for commissions. This is the reason why some distributors have garages filled with stock that they can’t sell.
This is also the reason why some MLMs are labeled as pyramid schemes because the money being distributed isn’t from retail sales but from purchases by members within the organization. If the volume of purchases like this are significantly higher than retail purchases then this may flag the FTC to launch an investigation.
I’m just not a fan of autoship and this is one of the biggest reasons why I would not join a company like Total Life Changes.
Reason #4: Pyramid Scheme Concerns and Lawsuits
I’m not saying that Total Life Changes is a pyramid scheme. It appears to be a totally legitimate MLM to me.
But others may not see it that way. And MLMs definitely have this type of reputation where they’re all looked at as pyramid schemes just because of the fact that you have to recruit other distributors.
Parts of the compensation plan can definitely lead to TLC being fingered as a pyramid scheme. The need to be on autoship to qualify for commissions adds to the fire.
I generally do not want to be associated with any business where things look even a bit sketchy.
Ethan Vanderbuilt, a regular critic of MLM companies and pyramid schemes certainly thinks its one. He points out that “personal purchases are required to rise through the ranks” which is a very dangerous thing if you’re trying to avoid being called a pyramid scheme.
From the evidence, it doesn’t seem as if Total Life Changes has set itself up to avoid the pyramid scheme claims. I wouldn’t want to be a part of that.
Also, lawsuits do not help. In February, The Environmental Research Center filed a Notice of Violation of California Law Proposition 65, against Total Life Changes, LLC for having lead in two of their products, the MatriX Meal Replacement Vanilla Flavored Shake Mix and the Phyte Green Vegetable Mix.
I’d rather not be associated with all the drama. Give me good old affiliate marketing where I can choose the companies and the products that I want to promote. The pay plans are simpler – sell a product, get a commission. Sometimes you can even get bonus incentives for volume as in the case of the WP Engine affiliate program and you don’t have to depend on a team or make personal purchases.
Reason #5: Lead By Example
I already tell folks not to join MLMs and if you’ve read all the above so far then it’s for those very reasons.
It would look very hypocritical for me to then go and join an MLM company. And how will I recruit others if I did?
I’m not going to change my mind about MLM any time soon. I love affiliate marketing and would rather teach others how to make money using this very good business model where you do not have to worry about your business getting shut down. MLM business owners do not make their own rules. They work for the MLM company. Affiliate marketers run their businesses how they want to, make their own rules and decide what they want to promote.
Reason #6: Not Too Interested About Selling Tea
If I wanted to sell tea, it would be easy. I’m great at doing research and then writing about it to help others.
It’s one of the skills you learn as an affiliate marketer. You can research just about any market you want and then create a niche website about it. Just monetize the website and earn commissions to be paid for your hard work.
But it’s important to build websites around things that you’re at least interested in. This way, you’ll be more motivated to write about the topic than if you chose something you’re just not interested in.
I’ve created projects before around products and topics that I just wasn’t that much into and they’ve all turned out one way. A half done website will minimal content that I just gave up on at some point.
Tea just isn’t something I think I could write passionately about. Sure there are other products but I’d want to write about the flagship product and it’s benefits. Tea isn’t like billiards, music production, writing or online marketing where I could just open the computer and start typing once I have some ideas generated. I’m just not going to be motivated enough to especially with everything else going on that’s stopping me from being a Total Life Changer.
I’d Join TLC for These 5 Reasons
Sitting down and thinking about the opportunity though, I kinda gave myself some reasons why it might be a good idea to just go ahead and sign up to sell Total Life Changes products.
Never mind all the bad stuff above. Some people will just look at that and shrug. Some have been there before and others are new and have no problem with the stuff I’ve listed. Especially when they read reason #1.
Here are 5 things I considered when I was thinking about it.
Reason #1: I Can Sell Iaso Tea Online
Knowing how to do affiliate marketing can allow you to see this opportunity in a different light. With all the skills I’ve learnt over the years, I realize that I can sell Iaso Tea online like no one else can.
I wrote a detailed how to about selling Iaso Tea on the internet and it is the plan that I would follow if I were to join Total Life Changes. I’m willing to bet that I can move a good bit of volume by myself alone using this method.
The things that make this plan workable are:
- access to a Total Life Changes replicate website
- setting up a separate website to write helpful articles for people looking into buying Iaso Tea
- being able to learn affiliate marketing or already knowing how to do affiliate marketing
The fact that I’m confident that I will make money month after month with this method means that I’ll be able to just re-invest part of those commissions to pay for autoship.
Reason #2: It’s Pretty Affordable
Speaking of autoship, the price isn’t really that bad and it’s pretty affordable compared to some other companies.
After spending $49.95 to get a startup kit, you just need to spend at at least $49.95 each month for the autoship. The startup kit fee is a one time charge and the cost to stay in business every month is just $49.95 on the low end.
With a plan to make money by leveraging the internet for both retail sales and recruiting, you should be able to make enough sales commissions and bonus commissions to keep up with the autoship.
I just don’t like how it’s compulsory and a requirement to get paid the commissions that you’ve earned.
Reason #3: People Believe In the Products
From my experience in real life with Iaso Tea, people do believe in the products and would purchase them without wanting to get involved with the business opportunity.
Women who desire to drop some pounds are drawn to the promise of dropping 5lbs in 5 days. It doesn’t matter if after they start drinking the tea, they change their diet and start working out, they’ll still attribute the weight loss to using the tea.
The tea claims to suppress the appetite and with all-natural ingredients it also works as a detox so it’s possible that there are some real benefits to its consumption.
It’s good that people like the products being sold by Total Life Changes because you can definitely retail them and make money even on the internet.
Retailing the products though isn’t likely to make you a whole lot of money compared to if you built a team of distributors otherwise I wouldn’t worry about that part of the business. And I’d certainly encourage others to forget about it. But you’re in a business to make money and with the nature of MLM it’s something you need to do.
Reason #4: TLC is a Legit MLM
This certainly sounds like an oxymoron seeing that most MLMs are labeled as pyramid schemes and there is some evidence that Total Life Changes isn’t much different.
However, from what I see, you can totally sell Iaso Tea to the general public and earn commissions and retail bonuses without having to recruit. You’re not likely to make a lot of money but it can be done.
This makes TLC a lot less sketchy than a lot of other MLMs who put the focus more on recruiting than selling the products. TLC does have some strong requirements in their compensation plan concerning personal purchases and recruiting but after being in business for over 20 years it’s unlikely that they’ll be going away any time soon.
Reason #5: I Can Build a Team
Ok so there’s a part about building a team that I can’t just ignore if I were to become a Total Life Changes distributor.
Using the same method I outlined for selling Iaso tea, I can definitely recruit others and show them how to sell the tea without bothering their friends and family.
Doing the same thing I’m doing, it’s likely that they’ll be more successful than other Life Changers who use more traditional methods which means I’ll have strong binary legs earning me and also themselves, bonus commissions.
It also means that I’ll be able to show them the perks of affiliate marketing which would help them to create a stream of income and show them some skills they can use beyond being tied to an MLM company. This alone would be very rewarding to me.
So Should You Join Total Life Changes
These are my considerations for and against joining Total Life Changes. Ultimately, I’ve decided that I don’t want to be a member.
Should you join Total Life Changes?
You’ve read the article and seen all the arguments. What you decide is totally up to you and what you feel comfortable with.
Whether you join Total Life Changes and become a Life Changer or not, you should definitely look into affiliate marketing, a business model that has a lot of nice perks and benefits.
With affiliate marketing, you will be able to use my method for promoting Iaso Tea and recruiting a team without bothering your friends and family. It’s strictly online and people are going to be actively looking to buy the products without you having to physically go find and interact with them.
To learn more about affiliate marketing, I’d suggest becoming a member of the affiliate marketing community Wealthy Affiliate where you can get simple step-by-step training, support, access to tools and resources for affiliate marketing success as well as the ability to communicate with others who can help you build a successful business in whatever niche you choose.
Read my full review of Wealthy Affiliate here and sign up. It’s free to get started.
