Is Optavia a Pyramid Scheme or Good Business Opportunity?

Optavia is a Multi Level Marketing Company established in 2017.

As this company targets those looking to lose weight, you may have stumbled on this page because a family member or friend recommended you to join and referred to it as being a GREAT BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY!!!

The truth of the matter is that you have been presented with this opportunity by someone you know because the best chance to earn an income within Optavia comes from recruiting others to join.

That fact leads to all MLM companies being labeled as pyramid schemes, but I will not label Optavia as such. That is due to the fact that it is possible to make an income from selling their products.

So to know whether or not this business opportunity is right for you, this post will provide full details so you can know what Optavia is about and all it has to offer. I must share the fact that I am in no way associated with the company and I am in a position to share this review with you because I have past experience with another MLM company called World Ventures.

As I have strived to make a passive income in the past within that MLM company and other past business failures, I have found success with internet marketing which is the best way to go about marketing products in general.

MLM companies will turn you into that annoying friend that harasses everyone you come across to join or buy your products.

It’s a known fact that there is a low success rate for members within Multi-Level Marketing Businesses and if you consider joining it would be in your best interest to learn everything you can regarding marketing online to reach a wider audience instead of being limited to the people in your circle.

If you want to learn how to make money online for the best chance of establishing a passive income and live a more free lifestyle, subscribe and get weekly content and a 7-day course for making money online.

Now it’s time to get to the review of Optavia and see if it’s the right opportunity for you

What is Optavia About?

Based in Baltimore, MD, the Optavia Diet may sound unfamiliar as the name hasn’t been around for very long. The company was referred to as “Take Shape for Life” before being rebranded as Optavia in July 2017. Take Shape for Life began as a subsidiary of Medifast, a weight-loss product company founded in 1980 by a medical doctor named Dr. William Vitale.

Membership

One of the perks of joining a multi level marketing company is that it is usually cheap to get started. Unfortunately, Optavia is quite an expensive business venture.

There are 3 expenes to factor in when becoming member of Optavia which is detailed below:

1. Health Coach Business Kit ($199)

This kit contains tools, plan information, and a year of access to your personalized OPTAVIA website.

2. Yearly Business Renewal ($99) 

Every year there is a $99 renewal fee to maintain your website. 

3. Sales Quota

This is where it gets tough. You must make a monthly order on Optavia’s product packs to qualify for any commissions earned on sales the previous month. 

Most MLM’s offer a month’s worth of supplies with a sales quota that is less than $100. The thing is that the price of the kits you are expected to buy every month with Optavia is VERY, VERY expensive.

In maintaining membership you must invest in one of the following 3 kits detailed in the image below.

Compensation

When it comes to getting paid, multi-level marketing companies usually have a compensation plan that is complex and difficult to understand. While it is possible to make money from investing in their 30-day meal plans and reselling them at retail price, the best way to get paid is through recruiting others to become health coaches. So for more details on Optavia’s compensation plan, you can check out the video below.

There are 3 ways to get paid as a member of Optavia which are as follows:

1. Retail Sales-You can earn 15% commissions on client orders.
2. Bonuses-You can earn a 5-16% bonus on client orders when you reach the rank of a senior coach
3. Team Bonus- You can earn a 2-12% bonus on sales made by people recruited to your team.

Optavia’s Products

Optavia products feature a variety of foods that targets those looking to lose weight. There are meal replacement bars in different flavors, pizza bites, cereals, smoothies, pretzel sticks, soups, and more.

While the products might be healthy, as pointed out before it is quite expensive. An example below is a comparison between Optavia and the granola bars offered through the popular Kind brand.

In breaking down the price per bar you will get the following outcome below:

Pros of Joining Optavia

• History in Business
• Promoting a Healthy Lifestyle

As the parent company of Optavia, Medifast is well known and has a reputation for providing decent products to consumers. While Optavia has only been established in 2017, if you don’t change the name it can be thought of as one of the older multi-level marketing companies around.

If you are not interested in the business side of Optavia and want to get involved for self-improvement and living a healthy lifestyle then it maybe worth looking into.

The biggest positive about the program is that it educates people on the subject of health as diet alone is not the all in one solution to peak physical fitness.

Cons of Joining Optavia

• Low Success Rate
• Expensive Products
• Expensive Business Opportunity
• Must Recruit to Make Decent Money
• Training
• Complaints

When it comes to training on promoting and selling products, Optavia has the same problem as most multi-level marketing businesses. The problem most members face when becoming a member of these businesses is that you are lead to believe their products are GREAT and STAND OUT from the REST and HOW GREAT it would be to INTRODUCE this to your FRIENDS and FAMILY!!!

If you are an owner of any business, especially nowadays with the Covid situation, you need to know how to MARKET ONLINE. Optavia training methods are a big part of why most people fail and since it is in the weight loss category you will need specific targeting to people that could benefit from their products.

There is a lot of competition in the diet and weight loss field, and unless you know a bunch of people that are overweight then how will you recruit? On their website they say “as an OPTAVIA Coach, you’ll have the opportunity to show others the way while building a business that can transform your life”. This goes to show you that the coaches can be anyone that signs up to become a member as opposed to people with years of experience on the subject of health or marketing.

For those that have decided to become a health coach, Optavia’s Income Disclosure Statement for 2017 reveals that only %1.49 of distributors made between $30,000-$50,000 that year.

It has been covered on how the products are expensive and the business opportunity is quite expensive as well. There is suppose to be a 30-day money-back guarantee, but there are a good number of complaints on the bbb and some are in regards to people having an issue getting refunded.

Conclusion

Optavia is not a business opportunity I would recommend if you are an inexperienced marketer.

There is much more to lose than gain by joining Optavia, and recruiting a family member or friend can ruin a relationship which is something that happens every so often when talking about multi-level marketing.

There are some newer network marketing companies that understand the importance of marketing online and will teach you some social media strategies to promote their brand.

Optavia does not offer such training to give you advanced knowledge in regards to marketing online.

If the person that signs you up really knows what they are doing and can provide you some real training then it might work out.

With that said, there are plenty of opportunities to make an income online which will require less work and can eventually replace your day job. For a chance to make a passive income to change your life for the better and take control of your own fate instead of having to rely on recruiting…

Click Here for a list of ways to make money online

or Click Here for My Number 1 Recommendation to start making money online

Now that you know what is Optavia about I wish you the Best of Luck In Your Business Endeavors.

If you have any experience with Optavia or have used any of their products feel free to leave a comment in the section below.