What Is Young Living MLM?

By Strahinja | Not Recommended

Sep 06
what is young living mlm

You may have heard of the name.

After all if you are involved with and use essential oils, that may be what you think of when someone asks you the question, what is young living mlm? You may not know that it is an MLM company through and through.

There is a reason why many companies adopt the MLM business plan. It is the easiest way to make the most profits in the shortest time. Young Living has made that observation and employs the MLM plan to their full benefit.

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What Is Young Living Company

This is a company that was founded in 1993 by the late D. Gary Young. He passed away last year after stepping down as CEO in 2015. His dedication to quality was seen in his work overseeing the growth of the company as well as overseeing the development of his product.

young living

He spent much time watching the operations on the company’s many farms they owned throughout the world. His vision, which became the vision of the company was to bring his product to every home.

The company’s mission statement was to use nature’s healing oils to the benefit of their customers. They do this through their 7 essential values. Those values are:

  1. Focus on the member first - take care of the people and make sure everyone is focused on the customer.
  2. Use Young Living products themselves - they have the best so all employees are encouraged to use them.
  3. Have a positive attitude - no negativity allowed.
  4. Possess and exercise integrity - strict compliance regulations that demand honesty.
  5. Don’t be afraid of change.
  6. Use good judgment.
  7. Be a good communicator.
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These are the principles that help Young Living stay focused and motivated. They also operate under the 5 by 5 pledge that has the company targeting to open 5 new markets every year, help five more people, develop 5 new farms each year, achieve zero waste in five years and reach 5 million more homes in 5 years.

It is a very ambitious pledge one that may not be realistic or constructive. That pledge was enacted this year, 2019, to honor their late founder and his mission. Through all of these motivating tactics Young Living has reached the point where it is grossing about $1 billion a year or more.


The Best Young Living Products

Young Living stands on its essential oil products. These oils make or break the company as they are its most popular and highest selling of all their products. The powers that be at the company have listened to their most ardent customers who claim that essential oils should be included in a variety of other products as well.

what is young living mlm

So the company responded by removing a lot of chemicals from their skin care, cleaning nutritional products and replacing them with essential oils. The company produces a lot of healthy products that should not harm you.

The essential oils come in a large variety ranging between singles, blends, dietary massage and other essential oil variations. Also, the company produces their own diffusers to help you use their oils effectively.

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On top of all that you get cleaning products, nutritional ones as well as a lot of personal care products to choose from and use. The personal care line includes bath and soap gels, body care, men’s care, dental care and a lot more.

The only thing that seems to be missing is cosmetics. To purchase their products you are looking at a price range between about $10 to 25 for the wholesale price. Retail prices are listed under the wholesale ones and are significantly higher.

To get a full look at all their products’ cost you would have to research their product pages, found here.


Signing Up With The Company

When looking at answering the question, what is Young Living, you need to look at their sales force to get an idea of what type of company it is. With about 1.5 million sales representatives selling their products, you know that Young Living is definitely an MLM corporation.

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That means you are going to have to pay something to sign up and work for them. An MLM corporation rarely lets their sales associates get what they need to work properly for free. Young Living is no different.

When you sign up, you are going to need a starter kit. Without that, you can’t sell the products as you cannot demonstrate any of them. That starter kit can cost you anywhere between $45 and $260 and the price depends on the type of diffuser that is included in each kit.

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Then if you sign up as an independent distributor as a customer, you have to make $50 in purchases once a year to remain active. If you choose the business option, you are looking at purchasing $100 per month.

Once you sign up you get to purchase products that are priced 24% below the retail cost. You also become eligible for awards and rewards. If you were referred to the company by a current sales rep, then you have to let the company know that and that you have their company id number.

Other than that you have to fill in the blanks with personal information starting with the language you want to use and the country you live in. It is just like any other MLM company.


Will You Make Money Selling Young Living Products?

We will start with the bad news first. Unless you make it to the top rang of the Young Living MLM ladder, it is highly doubtful you will make any money at all. In fat, about 62% of the independent distributors make less than $1,000 a year.

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It isn’t till you hit the 4th level that you will make a sustainable and livable wage of almost $30,000 under ideal conditions. Only about 3 1/2% of Young Living distributors make that level.

Less than 1% of the the total sales reps in Young Living make it to the top 4 levels where you can actually make the kind of money you were promised when you went to a recruiting meeting and signed up.

The sad news is that about 95% of the total sales rep make just enough money to cover their personal or required purchases. What is worse news is that it takes a 35 minute video to explain their complicated compensation plan to you.

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That is not all the bad news we have to bring to you about making money at this firm. You still have to compete with about 1.5 million other reps as well as recruit your own competition just like any other MLM company.

That takes a big cut out of your paycheck even before you get your starter kit. Like other MLM companies, recruitment is not easy especially with all the other MLM companies out there trying to recruit the same people.

Finally, the company has its own online store which may or may not compensate you for sales made through it.


Some Facts About Young Living

These are some interesting facts about the company so you get a better idea of what is Young Living MLM. 

what is young living mlm
  1. The company sells their products in about 100 countries of the world.
  2. They have farms in about 6 states and countries.
  3. Replaced their entire executive staff and gained 27% in their sales in 2013.
  4. Its main and basically only competitor is DoTerra essential oils company.
  5. Started as a brick and mortar store on a street corner.
  6. A huge variety of products that have essential oils blended with other ingredients.

These are actually the good facts about the company and there are some more which we won’t list here. But now to get to some of the negative facts that have put the company under a cloud of suspicion. 

what is young living mlm
  1. Founder has a sketchy past including a cheap blood test clinic in Mexico that could not tell the difference between human and cat blood.
  2. They charge its members for conferences, workshops, and other sales support events.
  3. There is not a lot of online help or support either. You may have to pay for the help you receive through this option.
  4. A very complicated compensation plan that lets you earn money at least 5 different ways if you are lucky.
  5. Their products may not all be natural and pure. Some may be and are synthetic.


All Is Not Rosy At Young Living

That is because like a lot of MLM corporations, this company practices deceptive business strategies that have gotten them into some hot water, including expensive lawsuits that they have lost. Here are some of those issues: 

what is young living mlm
  1. Fined over $10,000 for 7 safety violations by the Utah Occupational Safety and Health Division in 2000.
  2. Fined in 2017 for illegal trafficking of rosewood, an endangered species. The cost was $760,000.
  3. Lost a lawsuit brought by DoTerra and had to pay their competitor 1.8 million dollars.
  4. Warned for deceptive medical claims by the FDA, the company advertised that their products could be a cure for several diseases and other medical issues.
  5. Warned about their misleading income claims in 2017.


Is Young Living A Scam?

The term scam is used a lot especially when the topic of MLM companies come up. But usually those people who use the term have forgotten its true definition which is the word means to conduct a fraud or dishonest scheme.


Young Living cannot be called a scam because it does produce real products and markets them. They may be dishonest in some of their claims but technically they are not out to defraud anyone. They are not conducting a dishonest scheme.

The difficulty for most people is that they will call an MLM company a scam because of the poor, complicated and very low compensation plans that do not bring the renumeration claimed to the little guy, the sales rep.


Everyone signing up, if they have asked the right questions or looked on the company’s website, knows how they will be paid and what they must be do to get their pay. That is not a scam but a very cheap way to pay people.

So the company is not a scam but it may be highly unethical making their millions off of people who are deceived by hype and wild claims of fortune.


There Is A Better Way To Make A Living


In this series on what are these different companies, we are going to be saying a lot of the same things. That is because there are few differences between each company. They all do the same things because they use the same MLM business model.

The only real difference is the people who head up those companies and some of the products they try to sell. The good news is that there is a better way to make a living or receiving a second income so you can have a better financial future.

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It is called affiliate marketing and it is a very legitimate industry that actually helps a lot of people make more money. Not only is it done through legitimate methods and means, you get to make the choices for yourself.

You get to choose your own business hours, the products and niches you are going to represent as well as how much time and energy you are going to invest. There will not be any pressure from any of the higher ups because you are the higher up.

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Also, you get to review the products and select only those you know something about and which have a good commission split. If the product is too expensive, you do not have to select it. That gives you a lot of control over your new business.

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About the Author


  • Timotheus says:

    Hi Strahinja. Thanks for an honest review of Young Living. I am averse to multi level marketing. One of the reasons is that it is always required of members to recruit more members. Makes me feel like a recruiter or HR person. Which I am not, and I don’t like it.

    The other reason is that I find most MLM businesses require members to keep buying their products monthly. Already we are looking for ways to make money. Not spend money. So, this is another turn off.

    Having said all that, I have actually tried Young Living. That was years ago before I realized what MLM is all about, and in time dislike it. So, I can honestly say that I agree with you about all you said here.

    There are better and easier ways to make money.

    • Strahinja says:

      Hey Timotheus.

      Thank you for the comment.

      Yes, one big problem with MLMs is the fact your primary goal is to recruit others. Other problem is that they need to continue to recruit more people in order for you to get money. It is very hard to make this business option a profitable one, because there are usually some monthly or yearly fees you have to cover in order to continue to be a member and sell their products.

      As you said, there are better ways to make money.


  • Thanks Strahinja, for the review. You have just said it all. Have seen guys promised goodies about these kind of marketing but at the end it becomes a miserable journey. Recently a friend of mine asked me to join one I will not rename but I hesitated because of the same facts you have detailed here.
    One need to do an extensive research before signing up.
    You can find some that are of good reputation.


    • Strahinja says:

      Thank you for the comment Martin. I really appreciate it.

      Exactly. Before joining any MLM company, detailed research is a must.

      Have a nice day.


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