Nature's Sunshine, The Company
40 years is a unheard-of amount of time for any MLM business..heck, a lot of people running them aren't even 40 years old!
But Nature's Sunshine has been making their products for more than 40 years. They're a publicly owned company now, which means they have shareholders to please…what that means for you is financial accountability, sustainability, and security.
Talk about security: their stock jumped 5.1% in one day this month.
There are over 680,000 members (but that's including product-buying members too) in 40 countries. They have a charitable wing called the Sunshine Heroes Foundation, which supports wellness for children around the world.
Management is what you would expect from a shareholder-controlled corporation: experienced in business. Gregory L. Probert, the chairman and CEO, was President of Herbalife. In case you don't know, Herbalife is one of the oldest and most respected nutrition MLMs in the world. It's the gold standard, actually, so anyone who worked in upper management there really knows their stuff.
It's also way cool that Mr. Probert was also VP of Worldwide Home Entertainment at the Walt Disney Company! This is top level management material here…you'll be in good hands if you join.
The Nature's Sunshine Products
With over 500 products, all you're going to get here is a rough overview of the kinds of things they sell. It's more important that you know about the quality…
Most of the products are manufactured in Nature's Sunshine's own facilities which maintain strict quality control standards. Products are tested from start to finish of the manufacturing process.
Nature's Sunshine is certified by NSF International, a non-profit NGO that rates manufacturing processes in the health industry.
Nature's Sunshine has just opened its own research facility where they will develop new products and study the effects of nutritional products on the human body. Located in Utah, the facility was just announced this year (2015) and represents a multi-million dollar investment.
Top sellers include:
- Probiotic Eleven® ($37.45 for 90 capsules)
- CleanStart® Wild Berry ($74.85 for 14 days)
- Co-Q10 (50MG) ($35.95 for 30 capsules)
- Thai-Go® (Two 24 fl oz. bottles for $89.95)
The Compensation Plan
An interesting side note: if you're a doctor, there's a special NS opportunity for you if you want to sell the products out of your office.
For the rest of you, there's the Legacy Compensation Plan. Margins are high, you get rebates on your purchases, and pretty high overrides down to six levels (if you qualify). Oh, there's the car allowance which ranges from $100 to $1,000 per month.
The only thing is, you have to be pretty far advanced in your rank to get any of these benefits. In fact, you don't even get any manager commissions until you reach the Star rank, which is the third rank up from the bottom.
But if you do reach Star rank, commissions are 10% on your first level, which is pretty nice. Subsequent levels drop off until finally at level 6 you're at 5%, then after that 1%.
If your team gets high enough volume (QV = 1000+) then you're looking at 20% rebate on purchases. With a QV of 100, you'll get 10%.
For each new Legacy Member you sponsor, look forward to a 40% bonus. Finally, you can buy products at wholesale at up to 33% discount.
To join, purchase $40 worth of Nature's Sunshine products and membership is free.
The Verdict
I always try and find some crack in the veneer of a successful company and MLM opp, but with Nature's Sunshine it was pretty difficult. The one thing you have to watch out for with a long-standing successful company like this (as far as a business opp goes) is market saturation. In other words, Nature's Sunshine might be too successful for you if your particular geographical area is already maxed out on distributors.
Otherwise, the company checks out. Rock solid management, quality products (and lots of them), even a known brand can all work for you…and they'll have to with the compensation plan's steep barriers to earning your first commissions and bonuses.
