There is a lot of hype going around these days about the Beachbody coaching opportunity. “It’s just another pyramid scheme” or “It’s a scam” are some of the comments that are being thrown around. If those comments are based on facts, then that’s fine.
But I like information based on knowledge of the subject instead of just comments made by the type of people that are always negative no matter what the topic. We all know people like that, don’t we? I was looking into this as a business opportunity and I didn’t want rumors and hearsay to be what I based my decision on, so I set about finding out all about Beachbody, their products and the coaching business that they offered.
I was approached about the Beachbody Coaching Opportunity last year. I’ve always been a health and fitness oriented of person and I’ve been doing the Beachbody P90X workout for years now. I had been a mortgage broker in Texas up until a few years ago and I was looking for another business opportunity that was more in line with my interest, such as in the fitness industry. Having done P90X, I was familiar with Beachbody, but I had no idea about the Coaching Opportunity, so I had an open mind and I was definitely interested. I’m not one to jump into a business situation without all the facts and details so I set about to do some research and find out everything I could about this new venture that I was considering. Some of the easier to find facts about the company were of interest to me. One was the fact that Beachbody has achieved an A+ rating with the better business bureau. Beachbody has been around over ten years now and is now the number one infomercial retailer in the nation. They also hold the number two and number three spots with P90X, Insanity and Turbo Fire respectively. So far, I’m not finding any information pointing to a scam or pyramid scheme, but I wasn’t through digging into this just yet.
I began to speak to customers and customers that had become coaches and had bought and used the products, and also, I wanted to find out about Beachbody’s customer service. Beachbody offers a 30 day no questions ask guarantee on all their products and I wanted to find out if they honor that guarantee. Everyone I spoke with had nothing but good things to say about Beachbody customer service. Returns are rare and are apparently extremely low by industry standards. One of the sure signs of a scam is reluctance to honor a refund policy and I could only find positive comments about Beachbody customer service. That accounts for the A+ better business rating, but now I was looking to find out more about the actual coaching opportunity itself.
Beachbody pays a commission of 15 to 25 percent on the products that the coaches sell. Now, having been in business myself, I can tell you that after you pay for your own overhead and marketing, 15 to 25 percent is difficult to achieve for a small business. And Beachbody pays all the marketing cost for the benefit of the coaches in the company, actually giving or assigning customers who have called in from the infomercials on TV. No other company that I’m aware of advertises their products at their own cost and then allows someone else to share in the profit. For Beachbody the benefit is to have coaches who will contact new customers, keep them motivated and make additional products available and to educate those who are now to working out and may have questions about the products. I view this as not a scam but good marketing and a win for Beachbody a win for the coach and a win for the customer. I have to admit that I wasn’t even considering this to be a scam anymore. Beachbody has put together a unique marketing structure and it works.
Now on to the question that everybody wants to ask. Do Beachbody coaches make money? Yes they do. Can you get rich overnight? Absolutely not. The truth is that this is a business. It’s your business and if you want to succeed, then you have to treat it as a business and work hard at it. I have talked to a great many Beachbody coaches. I’ve talked with some who have replaced their 9 to 5 jobs and incomes in only a couple of years. A great many are making an extra six of seven hundred dollars a month as just a part-time income and from my conversations with those people, those incomes continue to grow. I’ve also spoken with people who are making two and three hundred thousand dollars a year and a few who are making over a million dollars a year. Due to legal issues, Beachbody does not like for its coaches to make income claims in their marketing, but everyone I spoke with has, off the record told me that the incomes of the coaches are growing and growing quickly. Next I ask some of the leaders in Beachbody a question that concerned me and that is about saturation. At what point will the market become so saturated with coaches that the coaching opportunity will be crushed from its own weight. The numbers I got from Beachbody were somewhat reassuring. Currently there are 50,000 coaches in the USA and none in any other countries. Projections over the next five years are for a need of one million coaches and expansion into other countries. If those numbers are accurate and the expansion to other countries is successful, then at least for the near and medium term, saturation is still a long way off.
I looked at the Beachbody opportunity from every direction and could not find a hint of a scam or a scheme of any kind. It’s a solid business opportunity and it’s backed by a solid company with well-known, reputable products all backed by a guarantee. The cost to get started as a coach is only about $40 dollars and even that is guaranteed and refundable.
So it’s not a scam and it’s not a pyramid scheme. The truth about Beachbody Coaching is that it’s a solid, viable business opportunity. I looked into it, found it to be exactly as it was presented to be and I chose to become a Beachbody coach based on my research. I started as I would with any business, with hard work and very little money coming in at first. Now, I still work it as a business, I’m making more than I was as a mortgage broker and one of the side benefits is that I stay in great shape and my health is excellent. Beachbody Coaching may not be for everybody, but it’s definitely not a scam or a pyramid scheme.
I have more information on Beachbody Coaching at my website: http://www.getfitandlean.com
If you’re considering this or any business opportunity, find out the truth before you invest your money or your time.
Jim Scott is CEO of Scott Fitness and has over 25 years in the health and fitness field.