Are you considering a business with a direct sales company? Are you particularly looking for a boutique style business?

Then, Initial Outfitters must have come across your research. In this article, we feature a boutique style, party-plan with multi-level compensation plan company, Initial Outfitters.

What is this company and how does it work? Is it a company that you should join or make a business with?

 Let’s learn together about Initial Outfitters in this article and find out what’s good and bad about the business opportunity that it offers.

Initial Outfitters (IO) is a direct selling company founded in 2006 by spouses Jim  and Alicia Storbeck  and Beth Reeves.

 The Storbecks were doing marketing research for famous companies such as Hallmark Cards and Bausch + Lomb prior to leading their own businesses.

 Jim owns a commercial and residential holding company while co-owning Initial Outfitters, Inc.

Alicia, on the other hand previously founded Heartstrings Enterprises where Beth Reeves also worked as a production manager.

 All three, Jim, Alicia and Beth founded Initial Outfitters.

The company is a proud partner of several charitable organizations that aim to feed and educate children. IO is especially passionate in its lunch back and backpack campaigns from which 100% of the profit from sales of these products are donated to charities.

Initial Outfitters products fall under the categories of jewelry, apparel, accessories, home decor, baby and pets. Below are some of the product's price ranges.

• Jewelries - $12 - $49
• Bags - $19 - $151
• Luggage Set - $270-$290

Home - Kitchen and Entertaining - This category covers napkin rings, table runner, placemats, cutting boards, and coasters. 

• Home - Garden Flags - $16-$18
• Home - Trivets - $24
• Home - Flour Sack Hand Towel - $24
• Home - Wall Clocks - $29
• Home - Dish Mat and Floor Mat - $29
• Home - Pillow Covers - $14 - $49
• Face Masks with various designs - $16
• Sanitizing Spray - $29

Pets Items - Including pet tags and bandana - $14-$24

There are other various pieces of products under the apparel, accessories and baby categories as well.

Looking for a similar company? You could check out Chalk Couture, Life Expressions, or La Bella Basket.

You can join Initial Outfitters by hosting an event to sell IO’s products. This way, you can earn $100-$150 credit to spend on IO’s products and 50-70% discount on several items depending on the value of your event sales.

To join the business opportunity as a distributor, you have the following enrollment options:

$29 Online Boutique

$39 Fresh Start Kit

$59 Build Your Own Starter Kit 

$99 IO Essentials Starter Kit (as seen on the picture above)

$199 Love It All Starter Kit

All these starter kits come with 1-month of virtual back office access and are renewable at $18 per month.

The  Initial Outfitters Compensation Plan

There are several ways to earn bonus and commissions from Initial Outfitters’ compensation plan. Here are some of these.

Retail Sales profit

As an Outfitter in training, you can earn 20% to 22.5% of retail commission. When you reach monthly sales of above $1750, your retail commission is increased to 22.5%.

For promoted Outfitter, that is after accumulating personal sales of $1000, you can earn 25% to 30% of commissions depending on your monthly sales value. The minimum monthly personal retail sales requirement for Outfitters is $500.

Team Sales Commissions

As a promoted Outfitter, you can earn team commissions ranging from 0.5% to 5% on your team sales at different levels depending on your title and that of your team members.

When your personal sales increases for the month and your level 1 and level 2 recruits sales increase to satisfy the below qualifications, you can earn up to 4% to 12% team commissions. Also, you can earn 5% bonus on your new recruits first $5000 personal retail sales in her first 12 months.

Promotion Bonuses

IO pays members who got promoted to higher ranks. These bonuses can be in the form of product credit or cash amounting to $100 to $25000 depending on your rank. 

Here’s the link to the detailed summary of IO’s compensation plan.

Can You Make Money With Initial Outfitters?

IO’s income disclosure statement posted on its corporate website is not really an income disclosure statement that I’m expecting for an MLM company.

 I think it's more of an income disclaimer than an income disclosure statement. In a case monitoring inquiry conducted by Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council, some misleading claims by representatives have been noted and were brought to the attention of IO.

As a result, IO revised its income disclosure statement and stated that results may vary depending on individual capacity, business experience, expertise and level of desire. Also, the company further stated that “testimonials and examples used are exceptional results, generally among the top 5% of the consultants…”

This income disclosure statement from IO does not mention anything about average or median earnings of its members. I must say that the mention of the top 5% of the consultants who share their testimonials about the business could mean the company’s success rate where the top 5% of the consultants are satisfied enough to share their success stories.

This presentation of IO about the possible income earnings in joining the company is too vague and could not add value to the company’s business offerings.

Without a proper income disclosure statement, we cannot help but think that Initial Outfitters is just another MLM company with a very low success rate when it comes to its consultants getting a decent income from the business.

 Across the MLM industry, it is a proven fact that the success rate in terms of income earnings does not go up higher than 10% of all the members. Without a detailed income disclosure statement, IO just open itself to such discouraging findings as well. 

Let's have a quick look at the Pros and Cons of  Initial Outfitters.

The Pros Of Initial Outfitters

• IO is a legal business that has been in operation for 15 years.
• The company is accredited by Better Business Bureau with A+ rating and is a member of Direct Selling Association.
• The company participates in charitable causes.
• The product portfolio covers a wide category of products giving various choices to customers. 
• Joining the business requires low initial investment.

The Cons Of Initial Outfitters

• Tough competition on product categories and even pricing.
• There’s no detailed compensation that is readily available on the corporate website.
• To receive commissions and bonuses, you need to qualify with at least $500 monthly personal retail sales.
• There is no detailed income disclosure statement.

Conclusion 

So, Initial Outfitters is a boutique style multi-level marketing (MLM) company that has been in existence for 15 years already. It is accredited by Better Business Bureau and is a proud member of Direct Selling Association.

 The company operates with a mission not wholly leaning towards profit but also in giving back to the community. The products encompass several categories and you can say that there’s something for everyone on its product catalogs. Also, joining the business requires a minimal money investment.

However, IO is facing tough competition from a sea of large and small companies offering similar products. I find the compensation plan lacking some detailed explanations and it requires a relatively high sales quota for consultants to qualify for commissions and bonuses. There is also no detailed income disclosure statement where average income and median income for all consultants are presented. 

Surely, I can say that Initial Outfitters is a well-established company with products that are continuously updated to meet the demands of the time however by looking at its business opportunity, I can’t find enough proof to say that it is not just another MLM company.

 IO has not discounted anything about what we have already known in terms of how consultants are mostly faring in terms of their income earnings when joining an MLM business opportunity.

 And, when we look at income findings of most MLM consultants across the industry, it is not something that could really add value to a similar opportunity just like with that of IO.