The weight loss industry is worth an estimated $70 billion every single year and still growing. But, did you know you can also make money selling weight loss products? My guess is you probably already knew this which is why you are searching through Optavia reviews.
This Optavia review will go over the good, bad and ugly to see if this is a good moneymaking opportunity and worth your time. Don’t dare join until you read this review.
What is Optavia?
Optavia.com is the result of the re-branding of the Medifast subsidiary “Take Shape for Life.” Optavia is considered Medifast's “lifestyle brand,” with an emphasis on whole life habits as well as meal replacement products. Medifast was founded in 1980 but Optavia was only founded in 2002 by Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen. Their headquarters is in Owings Mills, Maryland.
What are the Optavia Products?
Optavia sells meal replacement foods for weight loss. Clients choose the Optavia weight loss meal plan they prefer, and orders of packaged foods are shipped on a recurring basis. Octavia foods are high in fiber and protein and low in fat and calories, and cost roughly $350-$425 per month.
How Much Does it Cost to be an Optavia Coach?
At the time of this review, you can become a coach by purchasing the Optavia Business Kit for $199 which is a one-time fee. There is also a yearly renewal fee of $99 to remain an Optavia Coach.
The kit includes:
- Marketing materials like a coaching guide, client introduction pack, and brochures about the Optavia meal plans
- Business and desk accessories like a desktop organizer, pens, Notecards, decals, a coach bottle, and more
- Free access to a personalized website
- Access to a business management portal
- 3 month subscription to the Healthy Habits e-newsletter
- Support training videos by email
- Locked-in pricing for the next scheduled Optavia convention
The kit clearly comes with a lot, but you may still be reluctant to spend this upfront fee. Fortunately, there are other home-based opportunities out there where you don't need to pay any upfront fees and you can get started for free with sites like Wealthy Affiliate, SurveyJunkie.com, and Fusioncash.com.
Optavia Compensation Plan
Optavia has several levels of compensation, broken down into essentially three tiers. According to their compensation plan, there are three ways to make money with Optavia. We’ll try to decipher it for you down below as best as we can.
- The first tier, Optavia coach competency, resembles a standard commission plan where you earn commission on direct sales. Optavia coaches earn 15% commission on sales, with bonuses for volume. For coaches who generate $1,200-$6000 per month in frontline volume, commissions range from 15-28%, with these bonuses included. Coaches are also encouraged to attain Optavia Coach Certification, and certification earns an additional 3% commission bonus on sales. Certified coaches are also eligible for consistency bonuses of up to $1000 when they maintain sales volume levels for 3 consecutive months.
- The second tier, Optavia coach competency, is based on the ability to recruit a team of coaches, with compensation based on team performance. Ranks are based on the size of your team, with growth bonuses paid on level 2 and below, with sales bonuses paid at level 1. Senior coaches through Executive Director ranks earn 4%-12% commissions. When a certified business coach achieves the executive director rank, with $6,000 in frontline volume, 5 qualified teams, and $15,000 in group volume for 3 consecutive months earns a $1,000 bonus.
- The third tier is for Optavia business development and is based on the performance of a large downline. Director-level ranks are eligible to earn money down 6 generations, with compensation bonuses of 1.5%-2.5% for each generation.
Commissions of any percentage are only available on qualifying products, which include Optavia supplements, snacks, infusers, etc. Commissions are not available on Optavia merchandise like apparel or program materials.
Optavia coaches do not earn commissions on their own purchases, which are instead passed up to their sponsoring coach.
How Much Money Can You Make With Optavia?
The Optavia income disclosure statement is helpful in assessing your potential earnings as a coach. Apparently, 0.15% of Optavia coaches make more than $200k/year, and they have been with the company for an average of 113 months. Including those founding members, just over 1% of Optavia coaches make more than $50k/year. A full 82% of Optavia coaches, who have been with the company for 1-3 years, make less than $2,500 per year.
These figures don’t look very promising. If you are looking for a consistent way to make part-time or full-time income with your own business, you might want to try My Best Work At Home Recommendation. It’s FREE to get started.
If you aren’t interested in a business opportunity at the moment and want to make some side income, you can also try free sites like SurveyJunkie.com and Fusioncash.com.
What We Like About Optavia
We have laid out the logistics, so let’s look into some of the things we like about this company.
Reputable Company
Optavia is a subsidiary of Medifast, which have been in the health and wellness industry since 1980, so they are a well-known brand.
Optavia Complaints
No business is perfect, so let’s take a look at some of the red flags we found and determine if these are deal breakers or not.
BBB Rating
They have a Better Business Bureau profile, but at the time of this review, they don’t have a rating. They have issued, the business an NR rating, which means a rating can’t be assigned at this point because they have so many complaints on their BBB profile related to customer service issues. But it should be noted that Optavia has been responsive to the complaints.
Keep Your Day Job!
If you look at the Optavia income disclosure statement, you will notice that these figures don’t instill a lot of confidence. 82% of coaches earned less than $2500 for the year. The fact that such a large percentage of Optavia coaches make little or no money isn't a good sign.
But most people that try to start a business fail so it may not be a direct reflection of this company per se. Either way, if you want to consider additional options you may want to check out with My Best Work At Home Recommendation instead.
If you are looking to make some side income, you can try other alternatives like SurveyJunkie.com and Fusioncash.com.
Expensive Products
Their product packages can cost anywhere between $350 to $425 for a one month’s supply which is quite pricey. You have to keep this in mind if you are planning to sell their products, especially when there are so many other weight loss MLMs out there that are a lot less expensive where people can buy from.
Time To Recruit!
To earn more, you need to move to tier 2 and 3 in the compensation plan. This means you will need to recruit other coaches and build your downline if you want to earn more commissions.
If the idea of direct selling or recruiting people to make money doesn't appeal to you, then you might want to try sites like SurveyJunkie.com and Fusioncash.com.There is no direct selling or recruiting required with these sites to make money.
Is Optavia a Scam?
Optavia isn't a scam. It's a division of Medifast, which has been in business since 1980, selling weight loss and meal replacement products.
However, this opportunity may not be right for you. The biggest problem is that this business model seems to focus a lot on recruiting and direct selling. Making money in any business is difficult, but even more so with an MLM business model because you’re usually chasing down people.
Fortunately, not every business works like this. There are some business models where your customers actively seek you out and come to you which is what My Best Work At Home Recommendation focuses on. It's FREE to get started and there is less of a focus on recruiting to make money. So that might be worth checking out if you want to start an online business.
So, there you have my opinion on Optavia. If you have any more questions, feel free to read their FAQ page. If you have any experience using Optavia or want to share your thoughts, please leave a comment below.
Until next time,
Eddy with a Y
Who is this Dr. Anderson? What is he a doctor of. I can’t find any information on his education or internship. Is he a quack?
Great post! Thank you for the insightful article. I would like to add a little bit more information that optavia is a weight loss or maintenance plan that prescribes eating a mixture of purchased and processed foods – called “fuelings” – and “lean and green” homemade meals.