Individual direct sellers’ earnings have always created controversies. Some people strongly argue that it is not possible to make even a part-time income in direct sales, let alone a yearly six-figure income. On the other end of the spectrum, there are others who claim it is so easy to get rich.
The truth obviously lies somewhere, but where exactly? To shed light on this whole issue and help educate the beginners, I think we should just take a look at the real picture. Below are some facts from ten major direct selling companies’ income disclosures for 2022:
A typical Amway IBO’s (Independent Business Owner) average earnings in the U.S. was $850 in 2022.
32% of U.S. Registered IBOs had no reported sales, did not sponsor another IBO and did not earn any compensation.
Of those who received a payment from Amway, the top 1% earned $87,400, the top 10% earned $14,600 and the top 50% earned $3,500 on the average.
Amway IBOs at the “Founder Platinum” level made $43,500 those at the “Platinum” level $18,600 in 2022.
Click for Amway’s compensation report.
An Arbonne “Independent Consultant” in the United States averaged $223 in 2022 in commissions and overrides. This group was 63% of Arbonne’s total sales force.
Arbonne District Managers’ annual average was $1,800, Area Managers’ $9,200, Regional Vice Presidents’ $34,300, and finally, National Vice Presidents earned $151,000 in 2022. National Vice Presidents made up 1% of the field force.
Click for Arbonne’s compensation report.
In 2022, about 142,000 of Herbalife’s U.S. Distributors earned money from their sales and the sales of those they sponsored. In a typical month, about 67,500 distributors earned money.
50% of first year Distributors earned more than $210 in a month. Top 10% in this group earned more than $1,800 and top 1% earned more than $7,900 in a month.
50% of all other Distributors earned more than $247/month. Top 10% earned more than $4,400 and top 1% earned more than $18,600 in a month. In 2022, the tenure of this top 1% typically ranged from 5 to 12 years.
Click for Herbalife’s compensation report.
In 2022, the average monthly income for all ItWorks! Distributors was $304. That year, 95.5% of all Distributors received income from ItWorks!.
85% of ItWorks! sales force members were at the Distributor level, averaging $87/month in 2022. Those at the Ruby level were 6% and made $660/month on the average.
Presidential Diamonds (0.3% of all) made $13,500/month and Ambassador Diamonds (0.1% of all) made $23,200/month in 2022.
Click for ItWorks!’ compensation report.
93% of Mannatech’s field force in the U.S. averaged $3/month in 2022. Those at the Gold Associate level were 2% and made $44, 0.6% were at the Silver Executive Director level and earned $1,205.
Silver Presidential Directors made $14,500. 2-Star Platinum Presidential Director was the highest level of achievement, and these made $67,000 / month in 2022.
Click for Mannatech’s compensation report.
In 2022, Nu Skin paid approximately $209 million in sales compensation to Brand Affiliates residing in the United States.
On a monthly basis, an average of 24% of U.S. Active Brand Affiliates earned a sales compensation payment and the average monthly sales compensation paid was $985.
“Brand Affiliates” who made up 15% of Active Brand Affiliates earned $36/month on the average. Brand Representatives (4%) made $675 and Diamond Directors (0.15%) $11,200.
Blue Diamond Directors were at the highest level (0.26%) who averaged $39,600 in 2022 in the United States.
Click for Nu Skin’s compensation report.
22% of Optavia’s Independent Coaches in the U.S. had no earnings in 2021 and 8% made between $0.1-100 annually.
Yearly average incomes of approximately 13% of coaches were between $1,000-2,500 whereas about 2% of the field force made $7,500-10,000.
Those who earned more than $200,000 made up 0.23% of Optavia’s coaches. They were in the business for 89 months on the average.
Click for Optavia’s compensation report.
A typical R+F’s paid Consultant earned $366 annually in 2022.
88% of those who ordered R + F products in that year in the U.S. were strictly customers.
9% were “Product Ambassadors” and were paid between $20 and $24,550 annually. “Business Builders” constituted the remaining group of 3%. Among this group, “Developing Business Consultants” made between $20-61,900, “Evolving Leaders” $1,930-866,100 and “Advance Leaders” $207,500- 1,880,000.
Click for Rodan + Fields’s compensation report.
Scentsy divides its Consultants into two groups in its earnings disclosure: Group 1 consists of Consultants who were with the company for all 12 months of 2022 and Group 2 with less than 12 months.
There were 48,300 consultants in Group 1 whose yearly average earning was $2,776 (minimum $128, maximum $1,180,000). Group 2 composed of 142,100 consultants. They were paid between $0 and $22,300 (average $228).
Click for Scenty’s compensation report.
In 2021, there were a total of 23,000 active USANA Associates in the United States. Actives are those who made at least one purchase in 2022.
USANA reports its Associates’ earnings in “net profits”. It defines net profits as “the sum of (i) all commissions, bonuses, and other compensation paid by USANA to an Associate, minus (ii) non-commissionable purchases (e.g. sales aids, welcome kits, event registrations) made by an Associate and shipping and taxes paid by Associates.
31% of USANA Associates in the U.S. did not make any net profits in 2022. 38% made between $0 and $250. 5% made between $1,000-2,000 and 0.1% above $200,000.
Click for USANA’s compensation report.
There are several significant takeaways from these figures. To me, these statistics once again show three important things:
1) It is actually possible to achieve really high income through direct selling.
2) Not everybody reaches those high levels.
3) In fact, “1” and “2” above are public information that everyone has access to.
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Hakki Ozmorali is the Founder of WDS Consultancy, a management consulting and online publishing firm in Canada, specialized in providing services to direct selling firms. WDS Consultancy is the publisher of The World of Direct Selling, global industry’s leading weekly online publication since 2010. Hakki Ozmorali is an experienced professional with a strong background in direct sales. His work experiences in direct selling include Country and Regional Manager roles at various multinationals. You can contact Hakki here.
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