If you’re reading this Herbalife review, you’ve probably been approached by a Herbalife distributor trying to recruit you into the Herbalife home business.

You’re probably sceptical, and for good reason.

If you’ve done any amount of research on Herbalife, you’ve no doubt found a ton of negative coverage.

So you’re going through some Herbalife reviews in order to figure out, does Herbalife business opportunity work?

Is it some type of scam or pyramid scheme, or is it a legitimate business opportunity that you can take advantage of to build a prosperous future?

Herbalife has had a very turbulent history, probably more so than any other network marketing company in recent history. They’ve been mired in lawsuits and most famously were attacked in 2014 by hedge fund manager Bill Ackman.

I’ll let the cat out the bag early before we really dig into the Herbalife review:

I’m not a big fan of Bill Ackman. He appears to have some double standards which is really not surprising for a hedge fund manager or indeed anyone from Wall Street.

But we’ll talk more about that later.

But I’m also not a big fan of the Herbalife business opportunity, although there are both pros and cons.

Before we talk about all that, let’s start with the basics.

What Is Herbalife?

Herbalife is a health and wellness company that sells vitamin supplements and meal replacement shakes.

But the difference between Herbalife and other traditional supplement companies is the method by which products are sold into the market.

Traditional companies spend millions of dollars on marketing, advertising, and retail expenses.

Herbalife on the other hand, distributes their products through independent distributors through the Herbalife business opportunity.

In this way, they don’t need to spend a dime on advertising campaigns and other traditional retail expenses.

Instead, independent distributors are paid commissions on sales and recruitment of more distributors.

This type of business model is known as network marketing or MLM (multi level marketing). It makes the Herbalife home business extremely efficient.

If sales aren’t made, nobody gets paid.

Brutally fair.

Before we get into the meat and potatoes of this Herbalife review, let’s talk about the history of Herbalife.

How Herbalife Started

Mark Hughes founded Herbalife Nutrition in 1980 by selling health supplements from the trunk of his car. 

It was only 2 years into the business that the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) received complaints about unrealistic claims made about the Herbalife products.

The company was forced to modify it’s claims and reformulate the products.

Only 2 years later, the Department of Justice in Canada sued Herbalife for misleading product claims in their advertising.

By 1985, Herbalife had increased its sales from $386 thousand in the first year to $423 million in its fifth year of operation. 

That same year, the California Attorney General sued Herbalife. Again, it was due to unrealistic product claims. The Herbalife business never admitted wrongdoing, but settled anyway for $850 thousand.

They were forced to discontinue 2 products.

The following year, Herbalife became a publicly traded company, being listed on the NASDAQ. But due to all the controversy, Herbalife posted a loss of over $3 million that year.

In 1997, the Herbalife business was sued yet again, this time by 2 former Herbalife distributors. They claimed that Herbalife had been withholding earned income.

In May 2000, Mark Hughes was found dead of a drug and alcohol overdose.

The company was then led by Christopher Pair until October of 2001.

In 2003 Micheal Johnson, former president of Walt Disney International, joined Herbalife Nutrition as CEO. 

Bill Ackman And The Herbalife Lawsuit

One of the most famous network marketing documentaries is Betting On Zero. The film depicts the 2014 lawsuit against Herbalife and what triggered it.

The film depicts a very biased version of what happened and really attempts to pull at the heart strings.

While some of the stories are indeed heart wrenching, it’s important to understand that the filmmaker cherry picked the worst stories he could possibly find.

Wall Street billionaire Bill Ackman is depicted as some type of hero in the film.

But as we will learn in a bit, Ackman is actually looking out for only one thing… his own wallet.

Bill Ackman Makes Bank From MLM

In 2014, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman placed a billion dollar short order on Herbalife stock.

To put it simply, a short order is a “bet” that a stock will go down in price. So if the Herbalife stock tanked, then Bill Ackman would make a lot of money.

Ackman claimed that Herbalife Nutrition was a “sophisticated pyramid scheme” and that the company would collapse. 

It’s worth noting that in the past, Ackman had made a lot of money with a different network marketing company called LegalShield.

He thought it was a great company and the stock would increase in value so he placed a huge long order on LegalShield stock.

His LegalShield bet paid off, and he made a lot of money.

So either Bill Ackman doesn’t understand what a network marketing company is or how the Herbalife business model works, or he had an axe to grind with Herbalife.

Either way, his bet on the Herbalife home business did not turn out well for Bill Ackman.

Who Is Bill Ackman?

Bill Ackman used to be a self proclaimed activist investor.

He would find companies that he thought were in trouble or poorly run, buy large stakes in the companies, and then attempt to turn the business around.

This is essentially what Warren Buffet did to make his billions.

Ackman had a few large wins, but many consecutive failures using this “activist investor” approach.

But Ackman really got his start by value investing in the commercial real estate business. He understood real estate on a fundamental level and did quite well in this business. 

He was also very good at raising large amounts of money, so he eventually started his own hedge fund.

In 1997, Ackman started investing in a company called Gotham Golf because he thought the business was severely undervalued.

He continued buying into Gotham Golf as the stock price declined until he eventually blew up his position, along with his hedge fund, in 2003.

Ackman’s First MLM Bet

After blowing up his first hedge fund, Ackman started another fund, Pershing Square.

He had found another undervalued company which he thought might get him out of the reputational hole he had dug himself into.

He invested in an MLM (multi level marketing) company called LegalShield in 2004.

At first, his bet wasn’t paying off; LegalShield stock kept declining.

So he published an article on all the wonderful things about LegalShield in the hopes that he could drive the price up.

It worked, and he made a ton of money.

Later on however, he was sued for market manipulation.

During the housing bubble prior to the financial crisis of 2008, Ackman placed a bet against MBIA.

MBIA was an insurance company insuring municipal bonds. While his bet was correct, his timing was way off. He was losing a ton of money on this bet.

His investors were pulling their money out of Ackman’s hedge fund due to the losses as well as his legal trouble with LegalShield.

Ackman Asks For Help

Since Ackman’s hedge fund was hemorrhaging money, he needed help.

He went to billionaire Carl Icahn, one of the most ruthless investors on Wall Street.

Icahn agreed to buy some stocks from Ackman at above market value. He could see that the stocks were undervalued so it was still a good buy.

Icahn made a killing on these stocks when they eventually rose in price.

But Ackamn had sneakily put a clause in the contract which entitled him to some of the profits if they exceeded 10%.

They sued each other, and Ackman won for over $9 million.

Ackman Attacks The Herbalife Business

In 2010, Ackman made a huge investment into J.C. Penny. It was a bad investment and he lost nearly $500 million. 

Desperately looking for a way to save himself from his J.C. Penny blunder, Ackman then targeted Herbalife.

He noticed that Herbalife was using some sketchy sales practices. Upon further investigation, he found that they were using a network marketing business model.

Ackman claimed it was an illegal pyramid scheme, destined to collapse.

He then shorted the stock, thinking that the Herbalife business would inevitably collapse.

If successful, he would make billions.

Keep in mind, Ackman made money in the past by investing in a network marketing company called LegalShield.

So it doesn’t appear as though he has a fundamental problem with MLM companies.

Despite what Ackman believed, the Herbalife stock kept rising, and his hedge fund kept losing more and more money.

He then launched a very public attack on Herbalife Nutrition in order to drive down the stock price. 

Carl Icahn got wind of Ackman’s short position.

As a way to get back at Ackman, Carl Icahn made a huge investment into Herbalife, driving the stock price way higher and causing Ackman to lose even more money.

The Herbalife Lawsuit

In desperation, Ackman lobbied the US government to shut down the Herbalife home business.

It worked…

Sort of.

The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) did investigate the Herbalife business, but deemed it to be a legitimate network marketing business. 

Herbalife didn’t get off scot free though.

They were forced to pay out millions of dollars to a portion of its former distributors as well as restructure the business, primarily the Herbalife compensation plan.

Bill Ackman’s bet never paid off, and he lost yet again.

2020 COVID-19 Crisis

In the documentary Betting On Zero, Bill Ackman is depicted as some type of hero.

As though he simply wants Herbalife shut down because of all the harm that Herbalife is allegedly causing lower and middle class folks.

When the stock market crashed in 2020 as the United States went into widespread lockdowns, Bill Ackman went onto CNBC.

He was on the verge of tears, basically begging the government to bail out the markets.

Perhaps Ackman was caught flat footed once again.

Either way, it’s important to realize where the money comes from when the stock market is bailed out by the government…

It comes from the pockets of the middle and lower class.

It comes in the form of taxes and inflation.

Bill Ackman is OK with taking money from middle class folks to save his billion dollar hedge fund, and he pretends to care about the folks who failed to be successful in Herbalife.

But at the end of the day, Bill Ackman only cares about Bill Ackman.

You can watch the Betting On Zero trailer below.

Is Herbalife Trustworthy?

Most Herbalife reviews are very biased in a certain direction.

Either they claim this is the best company on the planet, or it’s an illegal Ponzi that shouldn’t be allowed to operate.

This Herbalife review is meant to give you a balanced view and come to your own conclusion based on the fundamentals.

Is Herbalife as a business trustworthy?

This is a difficult question to answer so bear in mind that this is my personal opinion, based on the research I have done.

So it depends on what you mean by trustworthy.

If you are a Herbalife distributor and you perform well and bring in income, you will certainly get paid. So in that sense, Herbalife is trustworthy.

Remember, the US government did an in depth investigation and deemed it to be a legitimate company. Herbalife is also listed on the Better Business Bureau. 

They sell real products and the majority of their income is generated through product sales, not recruitment of business reps.

This does mean that Herbalife is a legitimate business and not a Ponzi or pyramid scheme.

So does the Herbalife business opportunity work?

Yes, for sure.

There are millions of reps worldwide who are earning good money by promoting Herbalife products.

But here’s the problem.

In order for you to build a long term successful business that you can feel good about, you have to be selling products that you love and firmly believe in.

But the internet is flooded with very negative reviews about the Herbalife products. Personally, I would never attach my name to them.

What Are The Products Of Herbalife?

The Herbalife products are separated into several categories by the company.

They have weight management, targeted nutrition, fitness, and skin care products. 

But Herbalife is probably most well known for their 3 main core products:

Herbalife Cell Activator, Multivitamin Mineral Complex, and the Meal Replacement Shake.

Herbalife’s nutrition philosophy as outlined on their website is sketchy at best.

The claim that really sticks out to me is that a healthy breakfast and small frequent meals throughout the day is essential for weight management and overall health.

This has been unequivocally disproven by the scientific community.

It has become common knowledge in recent years that breakfast is not actually that important and could actually be detrimental to your health.

I can say anecdotally that since I started intermittent fasting and skipping breakfast, I feel way better than ever before.

My anecdotal claim is supported by emerging scientific studies and Herbalife’s claims feel as though they are simply trying to promote their products and “healthy” snacks.

So let’s briefly discuss the two most popular Herbalife products.

Herbalife Cell Activator

If you are reading this Herbalife review, then you’re probably someone who wants to understand something fully before adopting it into your personal life.

And the science of “cell activation” is…

Well, not really science at all.

I haven’t been able to find any type of explanation in terms of what call activation means, except for websites and videos published by Herbalife distributors. 

For me, that’s a big red flag.

Additionally, the ingredients that are used in this “cell activator” formula have been heavily scrutinized by medical professionals.

As an example, one of the ingredients used in the formula is Resveratrol, which is a commonly used antioxidant.

Studies have shown that the lowest effective dose is 5-10mg, but the Herbalife Formula only contains 0.9mg of Resveratrol. 

Another ingredient used is Pomegranate Rind Extract, at a quantity of 11mg. Yet the minimum effective dose is 800mg.

Not even close!

If you are ever researching a supplement and you’re wondering about the efficacy and dosages contained, Examine.com is a great resource that you can use to find real scientific data.

Herbalife Meal Replacement Shake

The meal replacement shake is probably the most well known of all the Herbalife products. They use primarily soy protein and fructose in their formula. 

Fructose is more likely to be stored as fat because of the way our bodies process it.

I’ll be honest…

I’m no scientist.

I’m not truly capable of explaining this properly. 

So I’ll let you read about it yourself on the NCBI website if you choose to do so. 

There are quite a few reviews about the taste of the meal replacement shakes. Taste is rather subjective so it’s hard to say whether or not something will taste “good” to you. 

The reviews on the taste of Herbalife products are mixed, but who knows, you might like them.

Herbalife Products FAQ

Herbalife Business – How It Works

As we discussed already, the Herbalife business uses network marketing as a means to distribute their products.

You can not buy any of the products in retail stores as they are only sold through independent Herbalife distributors. 

This saves the company a lot of money and allows them to pass profits on to their own customers and even offer a potentially profitable career selling Herbalife products.

There are several benefits of Herbalife business model.

You can choose the people you work with, get great tax advantages, work when and where you want to work, and stop trading time for money.

It was Jim Rohn that said, “Profits are infinitely better than wages.”

Time is finite, money is not.

So trading time for money seems like a bad trade.

Herbalife – Can You Make Money?

The honest truth is yes, you can make money with Herbalife. There are many people who make mind-boggling amounts of money in the Herbalife business.

The problem is, most people don’t.

Network marketing is not necessarily an easy path to riches.

The process is fairly simple, but it’s certainly not easy. 

You may start to see your friends and family as a “target” where you’re always wanting to steer the conversation to your business.

This can put a strain on relationships and may cause your loved ones to withdraw.

But if you have the right training and build your Herbalife business the right way, it’s quite simple.

Sell products, recruit business builders, and teach your new recruits to do the same.

You can read a detailed article on how to succeed in network marketing here.

Is Herbalife A Pyramid Scheme?

The short answer is no.

Network marketing is a legitimate business model and the Herbalife pyramid scheme allegations are unfounded. 

Obviously a lot of the misconceptions about the Herbalife MLM come from Bill Ackman’s attack on Herbalife back in 2014.

But there’s more to it than that.

In the past few decades, there have been many illegal pyramids and Ponzi schemes that branded themselves as legitimate multi level marketing.

When these illegal pyramids inevitably collapsed, the network marketing industry was vilified.

You can’t really blame people for having a negative view on network marketing. 

There really have been bad actors who have tainted the business model.

If you are in network marketing, it’s up to you to behave in a professional and ethical way and become successful.

This is how we will change the reputation of network marketing.

Herbalife Compensation Plan Explained

If you look up the compensation plan for Herbalife on their website, they tell you that they pay out over 70% of profits to their distributors. 

That’s not exactly true. 

If you look up their income statements, you will find that they actually pay out less than 30%. It’s a nuanced topic since the Herbalife compensation plan is so complex but the marketing is slightly misleading.

So how does Herbalife pay you?

The truth is, it’s a pretty complex pay structure but we will try to break it down to it’s core.

When you sell products to your customers, you would earn a 25% commission on every product sold. These commissions would be classified as “retail commissions”.

When you advance in the pay plan by achieving specific sales volume and recruiting, you would gradually achieve a higher “rank” in the pay plan structure.

As a Distributor, you would earn 25% commissions on all products sold.

As a Senior Consultant, you would earn 35%.

And as a Qualified Producer, 42% and as a Supervisor, 50%.

Example Of How Herbalife Pays You

So how much does Herbalife pay?

For example sake, let’s say you achieved the Supervisor level. You would receive a 50% commission from every sale made by you.

If you had someone in your team directly below you who achieved the Qualified Producer rank, she would earn 42% of every sale she made… you would receive 8% of all of her sales for a total payout of 50%.

If you recruited a brand new Distributor and he goes out and sells products, he would earn 25% commission on his sales, and you would also receive 25% of all of his sales.

Again for a total of 50% paid out on each product.

That’s really the core of the Herbalife compensation plan broken down. There are additional bonus payouts but if we were to explain every nuance of the pay plan, you’d be here all day.

Is Selling Herbalife Profitable?

It certainly can be.

But it’s not an easy road.

The most important element of success in the Herbalife business or any network marketing business is duplication.

The real power of network marketing is NOT you becoming a master at selling.

It’s a balance of selling and building an organisation underneath you that will continue to grow without your efforts.

If you’re using hardcore sales tactics, you might become very good at moving product.

But the people you recruit into the business will not be able to duplicate your success, and you will never grow a team that you can earn from in the long term.

So one of the best things you can do is to simply do what your sponsor teaches you to do, and then teach your own recruits to do the same thing.

You can read a full article on what it takes to become a successful network marketer here.

The real Herbalife business benefits will not come overnight. It takes 3-5 years of diligent, intentional work to build a team that will bring you residual income for years to come.

It’s gonna take a real commitment.

How To Do Herbalife Business Online

The rising dominance of the internet has changed business practices for basically all types of business, and that includes network marketing.

It’s no longer necessary to go door to door selling products when you can simply put up a website and drive traffic to that website.

But I see a lot of Herbalife distributors trying to do internet marketing all wrong.

Their social media pages are filled with pictures of their products and they’ve got the Herbalife logo all over their social media pages.

Think about what that does. 

Before anyone will ask you about Herbalife, they will do a Google search and immediately find all kinds of horror stories about possible liver damage, pyramid schemes, and FTC investigations.

That doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in the Herbalife business.

How To Promote Your Herbalife Business

The key to a successful online Herbalife business strategy is not in talking about Herbalife over and over again.

You don’t necessarily want to promote Herbalife online…

You want to promote YOU.

The goal is for people to join YOUR team and buy YOUR products.

It’s about branding yourself, building YOU, Inc.

Instead of posting pictures of your products all over your Facebook feed, you should talk about the results you’re getting in your life, whether you’re talking about personal health and fitness or business.

Your potential customer should never know what you’re promoting until they’re in your sales funnel or talking to you personally.

The internet is full of distractions and if you give them too much information without talking to them personally, it’s a virtual guarantee that they will fall down some obscure internet rabbit hole.

Keeping that premise in mind, let’s cover the online Herbalife business basics.

There are 3 main things you need to do in order to build a business online.

1. Build A List

This could be an email list or simply a list of leads that you will reach out to personally or on social media.

If you’re building online, I would highly recommend that you build an email list so that you can keep in touch on a very regular basis without being weird.

2. Provide Value To The List

Don’t spam your email list with product offerings or sales pitches every day. If you do, your email subscribers will unsubscribe very quickly.

The key is to provide value. Your readers should look forward to opening your emails every day without feeling like they’re being sold to.

3. Sell And Recruit

A good balance is to keep things about 80% value based and 20% sales based. After all, you are running a business and need to make money, right?

You just don’t want to be spammy.

In the age of the internet, our BS detectors have become very sensitive and most of us can sense a sales pitch from a mile away by now.

I encourage you to check out this full guide to building MLM using internet marketing.

Herbalife FAQ

Let’s discuss some of the more common Herbalife business related questions.

Herbalife Review Summarized

Overall, the Herbalife business is a legitimate opportunity.

You could become wealthy in this business if you come into the business with realistic expectations and you truly love and believe in the products you’re selling.

The Herbalife pyramid scheme allegations are false, so that isn’t something you need to worry about if you’re looking into this business..

But to be honest, this wouldn’t be my first choice if I were looking for a network marketing opportunity.

There has been too much bad press and most people know about Herbalife from seeing it on the news.

From being attacked by Wall Street to various governments investigating possible liver damage from Herbalife products, many people would be quite hesitant to join the Herbalife business. 

This could make your job quite difficult and just adds another barrier when you’re talking to someone about your product or opportunity.

The majority of Herbalife product reviews are also not great.

If you’ve used them for years and have great experiences, then by all means you could promote them and do well.

The most important thing when it comes to sales is you must love and believe in what you’re selling.

If you wouldn’t sell it to your mom, then you shouldn’t be selling it to anyone.