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I am glad you are stopping by to check out my Nu Skin review to find out if this MLM company is worth joining or just a waste of your time and money.

My Nu Skin review focusses primarily on the business opportunity rather than reviewing their products even though it plays a small part.

I will cover the compensation plan, income potential, as well as pointing out the good and the bad about the Nu Skin MLM business opportunity.

Sick and tired of selling and recruiting and not making a dime despite all your hard work? Read more about I make passive income online and how you can too.

After reviewing dozens of MLM company and haven’t been involved in direct selling for (too) many years, I know what to look out for in a good business opportunity.

If you are reading this Nu Skin review because you are looking for a work from home opportunity then it is best to read the whole article.

At the end of this post, I will show you a business opportunity that may just be what you are looking for.

Let’s get started.

Nu Skin Review – Is It Just A Waste Of Money?

The Nu Skin Company – A Quick Overview

Company: Nu Skin Enterprise/Pharmanex
Founders: Blake Roney, Sandie Tillotson, Steve Lund, Nedra Roney
CEO: Truman Hunt
Headquarter: Provo, Utah, USA
Revenue: US$2.25 Billion (in 2015)
Start-up costs: not quite clear if any
My Rating: 10/100

What Is Nu Skin All About

Nu Skin is an MLM company in all its glory with a complex and hard to understand compensation plan and highly overpriced products. (more about it later)

Nu Skin has been around for a very long time. It was founded in 1984 and sells personal care products like anti-aging skin care products, makeup, essential oils and also dietary supplements (just to name a few).

At present, Nu Skin is available in 54 countries and has nearly 1.2 million distributors worldwide.[source: Wikipedia]

“In the United States, the Company had an average of 65,778 Active Distributors during 2017′, according to Nu Skin.

In Nu Skins over 30 years of being in the direct selling market, they have acquired a few brands along the way. In the late nineties, they bought an MLM company called Big Planet that sold internet services.

In 1998, they also acquired a company by the name Generation Health which is the parent company for Pharmanex. That’s how Nu Skin started to sell dietary supplements.

In 2011, Nu Skin purchased LifeGen technology. Aided by the genetic database of LifeGen, Nu Skin launched their very popular anti-aging skincare range ageLOC.

A Few Words About The Nu Skin Products

Nu Skins offers 200+ products ranging from nutritional supplements, oral care, makeup, essential oils, and most importantly their flagship product line ageLOC.

The prices are high as expected but I was quite shocked when I looked at their weight management and body shaping system which retails at $1299.00 for 90 days. That equals a daily cost of $14. Wow!

Well, there are many favorable reviews regarding the anti-aging skin care products online. I mean people are willing to pay lots of money for products that promise to reduce the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines so the consumer looks more youthful. That’s why companies like Rodan+Fields are very successful.

The issue many people have with Nu Skin is that they make bold claims on how their anti-aging products work.

If these products target the genetic source of aging or even multiple genes, wouldn’t it need approval by the FDA?

All there is documented is that the Facial Spa Device received clearance by the FDA as a Class II medical device.

Moving on…

How To Join – The Nu Skin Business Opportunity

It is not quite clear to me if you do need to pay a joining fee or not to become a Nu Skin distributor. When I click on the button ‘Join Our Team Now’, it takes me straight to the sign-up page where you also need to fill in your sponsor’s name and sign the ‘policy and procedures’ agreement.

Some reviewers say you have to pay a fee of $25, others state that you need to order products worth of at least $100 and others say it is free to join plus you get a free replicated website.

Here are some things that are worth noticing in the policies agreement:

In the policies agreement, Nu Skin says that Brand Affiliates/Distributors need to document before submitting a subsequent order that they have sold products to at least five retail customers each month and have consumed or sold 80% of Nu Skin products from any previous orders.

Another interesting fact is that if the distributor signs up for the ADR (Nu Skin auto-ship program), the products purchased through the ADR program don’t count towards personal or group sales volumes.

You also have to agree “…there are no returns allowed on Nu Skin Products purchased with ADR Program points….”

Even though it looks like it doesn’t cost anything to join, you’ll need to order business materials and products to showcase to customers. An introductory package costs from $359.

The Compensation Plan – Velocity

There are two ways to earn money with Nu Skin. As a distributor, you can order products at wholesale price and sell them at retail price to your customers. How much commission you earn is not stated by Nu Skin.

The second way to earn money is based on your performance and comes from team commissions in your downline.

Now, I must say, Nu Skin’s compensation plan is one of a kind. I thought I have seen it at all but no. Nu Skin’s comp plan is called Velocity and to be frank, what the heck is going on there? One has to get used to unknown terms so reading the glossary is a must.

What are building blocks, sharing blocks, flex blocks???

Okay, here we go:

A building block represents 500 points of sales volume
A sharing block is (are you ready for this?) “… [a]subset of Building Blocks and consist of 500 points of Sales Volume that only come from purchases made by Retail Customers, Members, Brand Affiliates, and Qualifying Brand Representatives who you’ve Registered and Registered Retail Customers in the United States and Canada of your Registered Brand Affiliates and Qualifying Brand Representatives. Your personal purchases do not count towards Sharing Blocks. Sharing Blocks are only applicable to Qualification and are a subcategory of Building Blocks. Therefore, all Sharing Blocks are Building Blocks, but not all Building Blocks are Sharing Blocks. ” (source: Nu Skin website)
A flex block: this one can be used as a substitute for building blocks. If you don’t reach the required number of building blocks per month to get paid commissions and to maintain your paid rank, you can use the flex blocks to still get paid commissions on team sales. Flex blocks are allotted to your account once you qualify as a sales leader. Makes sense?

In order to earn bonuses and commission, you need to qualify as a sales leader. There are three steps involved.

You need to write a letter with intent to Nu Skin telling them that you want to get the qualification process started.
Once it is accepted, you have to complete 12 building blocks (four of which are sharing blocks) in six consecutive months. That means you have to have a minimum of 2 building blocks (1000 points in sales) each month.
Once you’ve met the requirements, you can call yourself a brand representative. If you don’t qualify you have to start with Step 1 again.

To maintain your status as a qualified brand representative, you have to have four building blocks (2000 in sales points) each month. If you don’t, the flex block will automatically be applied.

Well, I must say I am feeling a bit exhausted now.

Moving on…

Can You Make Money Selling Nu Skin

According to Nu Skins income disclosure, I say ‘No’, you can’t make a decent income with Nu Skin. What I mean by decent is at least a monthly income of $500 or more.

Let’s have a look at the income disclosure from 2017 for the USA. The earnings don’t take any expenses into account. It also doesn’t include the retail markup, the distributor can earn by reselling products they purchased at wholesale price for the retail price.

On a monthly basis, only 15.42% of active distributors earned a commission. To earn an average of a $912/a month you would need to be a Gold Executive.

I think the numbers on the screenshot speak for themselves.

Pros And Cons Of The Nu Skin Business Opportunity

Here is a summary of the Pros and Cons in a nutshell

Here are the Pros:

Nu Skin is an established company with 30 years plus of experience
BBB rating A+, only 11 complaints
Wide product range

That is where the Pros end for me.

What are the Cons

hard to understand compensation plan
low earning potential
there are no numbers of earning potential for retail sales
overpriced products
ongoing negative headlines in the past: the FTC investigated several times because of Nu Skins multi-level practices as well as “making deceptive or unsubstantiated claims about its products” [Wikipedia]; Nu Skin had to pay millions of dollars to settle ongoing allegations.
In 2016, Nu Skin had to pay $47 Million Agreement to settle a pyramid scheme lawsuit after being sued by China in a Utah federal court

Wrapping It Up

Based on what I have found out about Nu Skin, I wouldn’t recommend getting involved in the Nu Skin business opportunity. The reason they got only a rating of 10/100 is quite clear.

The compensation plan is hard to understand with challenging requirements to even reach Brand Representative. Also, to maintain a rank and getting paid team commissions, you have to have 2000 points in sales volume each month.

There is a lot of pressure, to say the least. I haven’t found anything regarding training, social media tools, and the likes.

How are you supposed to sell the products? Word by mouth, presentations, advertising?

The earnings potential is very low and actually not worth the effort.

If you like the products that’s fine. But it doesn’t mean you have to become a salesforce for Nu Skin.

There are definitely better business opportunities out there.

A Better Way Of Making Money

There are so many other ways to earn money and work flexible hours at the same time.

What I am about to introduce is not the promise of getting rich quick (is there such a thing?), instead the opportunity to build a sustainable business without recruiting or being depended on one company or one product.

Related post: How I Make Passive Income Online and earn four digits a month.

For the past three years, I have been building my online business that doesn’t involve recruiting or calling people at all. Now I can work whenever and wherever I want to work with only a laptop and an internet connection.

I have to be honest though: my recommended business model may not be suitable for everyone. It takes at least 6 to 12 months of consistent work to see the first results aka earning money.

You may have heard of affiliate marketing before but never really knew what it was all about?

In a nutshell, first up it is a legit way of earning a commission for products you recommend via a website or a blog that you have to build.

In return, you earn a commission when people buy products or services via your blog.

The website/blog is your own business, you own it not anyone else. You are in control of what you want to write about and what kind of products you would like to recommend to your readers.

It is a true work from home opportunity where you can work at your own pace as much or as little as you want to.

If you are able to invest between 10 and 20 hours of work a week then you will surely succeed.

Once you get the foundation right, you will earn passive income for years to come. All it takes is good training, consistent work, and taking action!

The key is to learn everything about how to build a website (it is easy, click here and I show you how to build one in 2 minutes), how to write content, how to engage with your readers, and how to rank your website.

Extra tip; with my recommended business model you will still have your friends and family, and you don’t have to deal with complicated compensation plans etc.

The Advantages Of Affiliate Marketing:

low start-up costs, if any
the opportunity to earn passive income for years to come
a legit way of making money online
you are in control of what products or services you like to recommend
work from literally anywhere in the world
no recruiting
no selling
no inventory – you only need a good laptop
flexible hours
you are not tight to only one company
your blog is accessible 24/7 by potentially millions of internet users around the world

The Cons Of Affiliate Marketing

it can take months until you earn money
for beginners, there is a learning curve involved
it can be challenging not to see any results for a while

Who Is Affiliate Marketing For

for people who’d love to build their own business risk-free
for Entrepreneurs
for people who love to learn and love challenges
for everyone who wants to build a passive income stream
for people who want to work truly flexible hours
for people who seek time freedom

Ready to take the leap and start a legit business that doesn’t involve recruiting or selling?

All About Nu Skin – Just A Waste Of Your Time? [Review]