Are you interested in getting fit and helping others do the same? Then you’ve probably heard of becoming an independent coach with Beachbody. Having established for more than 10 years now, it is one of the most popular fitness empires in the US and Canada. But what is it like to run this business as your own? Read the pros and cons of Beachbody coaching in this article for some helpful insights.
Beachbody Business Opportunity at a Glance
- The company specializes in in-home fitness programs, nutritional supplements, and exercise gears. These are the products that you will be promoting as a coach.
- As of December 2017, they recorded more than $1 billion in product sales.
- Beachbody has more than 340,000 independent coaches in which, 75% of them are women.
- Their marketing strategies include infomercial, eCommerce, as well as social media.
- The Business Starter Kit costs $39.95 – not inclusive of any products. This start-up fee is waived if you purchase a Challenge Pack (ranging from $140 to $400+) which allows you to try the fitness program and supplement yourself.
- The recurring fee is $15.95 per month and this cost covers the maintenance of 3 personal websites and a back office that facilitates sales tracking and marketing training.
The Pros
So, what’s the thing with Beachbody that makes it such a popular product?
1) Well, for starters, obesity is one of the most common diseases in the US and more than ⅓ of the adult population struggles with weight problems.
This group of people is desperately looking for a solution and the dramatic body transformation experienced by most Beachbody customers seems to be evidently, the answer. The figure of the trainers is a strong representation of that and with such a solid reputation in the industry, it may not require a lot of effort to convince people that the program really works.
2) Looking at all the positive testimonials and my personal experience with one of the fitness program, I must say that their workout and community support are pretty amazing. The exercise routines are well-structured, professionally delivered and come with the versatility that fits any level of users.
I’ve seen people in their 20’s to 60’s participating in these programs so it certainly appeals to a wide range of audiences. What’s more, they make exercising at home so much fun, convenient and inexpensive when compared to a typical gym membership which can cost about $800/year.
3) There’s no prerequisite to becoming a coach. You don’t need any fitness qualification (although that could be an advantage), there’s no monthly quota to meet and no inventory to stock. This low barrier-entry has made it possible to work from anywhere with minimal startup costs and get paid on a weekly basis.
4) Beachbody offers one of the most lucrative commission rates in the fitness niche. You get to earn 25% for any physical product sales and a recurring 40% for Beachbody on Demand which is their digital fitness program. Considering the propensity of people who are internet savvy nowadays, I find the latter to be a good product choice to market to the modern consumers.
5) Due to the wide range of products, the company has come up with a link generator system whereby coaches can link their referral ID to a specific product page and use the link for customers to complete their purchases. This type of system is similar to affiliate marketing and it is known to improve sales conversion.
Besides that, Beachbody has a strong presence on Facebook and Instagram because I think the timeline/imagery postings are quite effective in showing people one’s transformation. So, if you are active on those two platforms, you can certainly use them as a marketing tool to grow your coaching business.
The Cons
Now, before you venture too far off, here’s the other side of the program that you need to take into consideration if you are planning to run a long term fitness business.
1) In reality, Beachbody coaching operates with a network marketing structure. So on top of product commissions, one can also earn through various levels of ranking incentives and bonuses by building a team of coaches called down-lines. In other words, you need to be actively recruiting new people into your team for the compensation system to work.
The challenge here is that recruiting isn’t the same as moving products. It involves selling an opportunity, a lifestyle, a dream – common verbiage we hear a lot – and an illusion, that people can generate passive income in the process. You see, a person who likes using Beachbody may not necessarily be interested in promoting their stuff AND pushing people to do so through subtle tactics can leave behind a bad taste.
In modern consumerism where product choices are abundant in the market, recruiting members is often seen to benefit personal gains, repulsive and somewhat cult-like. Unless you are very aggressive and have thick skin, you can easily become one of the 99% of members who actually lose more money in MLMs than what they have invested.
2) One of the more popular products in their range is a dietary supplement called Shakeology and one is supposed to consume it during their fitness programs in order to achieve the desired results. Many coaches will promote this supplement because of its lucrative commission (up to $32 per sale) and recurring income if customers order on a monthly basis.
However, quick research shows that this supplement lacks certain nutrients and actually contains a high amount of sugars that can lead to weight gain! So much for exercising your butt off, uh. Plus, it is also more expensive than other brands that have more complete nutrient profiles.
Given the nutrient facts and cost, my conscience tells me that this might not be the best diet shake to recommend people. Will you do it just for the sake of earning product commissions? That’s something to think thoroughly about.
3) Another thing that makes me cringe when it comes to MLM related food supplements (not just Beachbody) is that the members act like they are some kind of experts who can give nutrition-related advice to other people. The company certainly doesn’t condone this act, but they also can’t prevent it from happening, especially since anyone “without an experience” can become a coach and give their opinions. You could potentially become one of them too.
Showing people how to do great exercises and teaching them what to eat are completely two different things, so do know your limitations and act responsibly without causing any harm to other people’s health.
4) While Beachbody garners a lot of social media buzz, I don’t find them as effective when it comes to search engine marketing, especially with the kind of website that comes with your monthly membership. These are just replicated web pages on subdomains that link to the company’s main website and the content is so minimal that I doubt Google will ever find it.
I did find a coaching site and was surprised that she published her contact number and personal email so that potential customers/members can get in touch. I don’t know about you, but I’ll never reveal this type of information – publicly – online. It could put you in a vulnerable position if someone decides to harm you.
If you are serious about running an online business, you need to get a business email AND invest in a blog so that you can use keywords to rank for your product reviews. For example, when I search for “best in-home fitness program”, this is what shows up on the first page of Google.
This blogger clearly knows what she’s doing and as a result, this article rank first for that particular keywords and if you look closely, some of them are actually Beachbody fitness programs. All this can be achieved through search engine optimization (SEO) and the best platform to do so is to build a WordPress website.
So, Is Beachbody Coaching Worth Your Time
Considering that there’s a huge demand in this niche, I think the pros outweigh the cons when it comes to Beachbody coaching. Their fitness programs are worth looking into since they will benefit most people’s lifestyles and budget expectations nowadays. As for the consumable supplements, I’ll leave that out for the experts to do their jobs.
Since the company is growing in an online presence, I believe it is also possible to promote its products worldwide and make money WITHOUT having to recruit team members. That is if you have a good foundation in online marketing.
This skill can be acquired at the Wealthy Affiliate training program where they teach you how to start an online business from scratch. If you like to learn more, have a look inside and I’ll personally walk you through the setup process. Hope to talk to you soon.
jessie palaypay says
While I do believe in the BeachBody workouts and have a workout product from them (Body Beast), I don’t agree with their sales tactic. I’d rather sell their products from an affiliate marketing standpoint and doing a product review.
I don’t like the fact that “coaches” of Beachbody are not certified as nutritionists nor are they certified by NASM to be personal trainers either.
Dale says
In all honesty, I never heard of Beachbody. And for sure I have never heard of it as a MLM business model. I have tried a few MLMs before and failed with all, but one of them and voila as soon as I started making pretty good money, the bottom fell out and the company closed. I’m sure there are a lot of people making good money and hey, if it’s legit than, why not?
asmithxu says
Hi Cathy,
For a second, I didn’t think that I knew anything about Beachbody but who hasn’t heard of P90X? It was huge a few years back and actually seems like a good quality program. However, I agree with you about the fitness supplement. Not only is it expensive, it’s also not suitable for everyone. If someone becomes a coach through Beachbody, I hope that they do their research before making any nutritional recommendations.
Scott Hinkle says
This review confirms my feelings. In the past, I have looked at Beachbody program, but was really turned off by the MLM marketing structure from within. I’m also not too hot on not having any prerequisites and questions that would make one qualified to become a coach.
After a lot of research, I decided to start my own fitness blog instead through the training at Wealthy Affiliate and totally love the support that I am getting.
Russell Osborne says
This is actually the first I have heard about Beachbody. I became excited at the beginning and was about to ask about its availability in my country. As I continued to read, I thought better of it though. I used to do MLM and the experience was not good. Hence, I have no desire to get back into that type of business model.
Marta says
Hi Cathy.
I’ve never heard before about Beachbody coaching before, but I suppose it works like Herbalife, where anyone can sell and talk about nutrition even though they don’t have much experience with it. In that way, I don’t particularly like MLM. Anyway, I know that it’s not easy to work out right without the supervision of a professional coach or to eat healthy without a nutritionist who really can help you out.
Maxx says
Good information about BeachBody and knowing at a glance after reading the whole content.
I have come across their program when comparing between gym memberships and home base training. In fact, I prefer the home based due to the flexibility. I read a lot of reviews and overall, they are quite positive.
However, I didn’t know about that little negative part about their supplement products. Will have to check on that in the near future.
Mark says
Hi Cathy.
This is great to know. I was all in with the pros, especially now with summer approaching. Beachbody coaching is big business. I’ve heard the name several times. However, I didn’t know much about the company until now.
Network marketing is really not my thing though, so it was a complete turn-off when you mentioned it in the cons. I think if they would incorporate some kind of training to help educate their coaches on nutrition and diet, it would be a more attractive product.
Cathy says
Hi Mark, Beachbody does provide training and the coaches themselves are really good. You just got to like approaching new people and sharing about the products in order to earn a sustainable income.
Stella says
Hi Cathy,
This is a very interesting post. I have heard about Beachbody before and was aware that it uses network marketing methods to distribute its products and recruit potential coaches.
I must admit, network marketing is simple, but really needs a complete change of mindset and self-development in order for one to succeed.
The bonuses pay off in the long term though as you become a people-person who coaches others how to do the same.
Personally, I don’t enjoy talking that much unless I want to know more about and listen to people. MLM or network marketing is about listening and providing a solution to a problem that person may have.
Cathy says
Exactly Stella. These are some of the questions that people should ask themselves before venturing into fitness coaching OR any network marketing for that matter. Just like you, sales talking isn’t my kind of thing and I realized that after getting a few cold responds during my earlier days of trying out this income model.
It certainly pays off in the long term, but it’s not for everyone.
Andrew G says
You make valid points in the online marketing niche being integrated with Beachbody. As long as the company is all right with the affiliate marketing process, Wealthy Affiliate can definitely help to get the ball rolling, and earning real potential income. Nowadays it’s easy to build sites, getting them hosted, and starting on the path to making income online using fitness products.
Cathy says
That’s true Andrew. Fitness is always an evergreen niche and if a company makes themselves too exclusive (like most network marketing do), it would backfire on their brand at some point. They need to be more open to consumer trends and behaviors in order to survive in the market.