doTERRA is one of the most famous essential oil MLMs out there, with products that continue to be popular. The oils are promoted as being high quality, to the point that they may offer health benefits, while also smelling nice.
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While I’m not personally convinced about the benefits of essential oils, I do enjoy the scents myself. It’s also true that some smells do have the potential to help people relax and de-stress, or to energize them, depending on the smell that is chosen.
Regardless of my own opinion, many people buy essential oils regularly. There’s certainly a market there that you can target. The question is whether you can make money. More specifically, is doTERRA a good way to take advantage of this field. After all, the oils from doTERRA aren’t cheap.
Two Ways To Make Money With doTERRA
There are two distinct ways to earn with doTERRA. The first, and most obvious, is to sell the products. While you’re unlikely to make a lot of money this way, product sales can be a way to earn a little extra income or to offset your own purchases.
The other angle is to recruit others and build a team. Team building is a more complex process, especially as you need to recruit people, manage your team, and still make sales. Still, the income potential is higher.
In this post, I examine both of these areas in-depth, then consider whether doTERRA is realistic as a regular source of income.
Make Money From Product Sales
doTERRA’s main product angle is essential oils. This includes single oils and a variety of blends. The price varies considerably depending on the specific oil or blend. The list below highlights just a handful of examples.
- Citrus Bliss: $24.00 retail
- AromaTouch: $37.33 retail
- Deep Blue: $44.00 retail
- Deep Blue Roll On: $78.67 retail
- TerraShield: $14.00 retail
- Blue Tansy: $133.33 retail
- Lavender: $30.67
- Lemon: $14.67
The variation seems to be linked to the specific essential oils used. This isn’t too surprising, as some plants will be rarer or more expensive than others. There may also be complexities in sourcing them or in the extraction process.
Even so, doTERRA oils do tend to be more expensive than similar oils that don’t come from an MLM. I’ll come back to the significance of the price difference a little later on.
The selection doesn’t stop there. DoTERRA has various other items, including personal care products, supplements, accessories, and diffusers. Most are linked to essential oils in some way or another. The variety may help sales, but honestly, most of the products will only appeal to people who are already interested in essential oils.
Essential Oils Sell!
Despite the fact that I don’t personally believe in the ‘healing power’ of essential oils, I do actually use them in my house! Surprising, right?
I enjoy the different smells and prefer them to using candles which can be a fire hazard and often have too strong of a smell. I don’t use this particular company’s products, but I do see how they can be useful, and actually fun to collect and try. My favorites so far are lavender and peppermint, but some of the blends sound really interesting!
Blending oils? Sounds super fun too!
What that means is that if I, a skeptic, actually buy this stuff, that there’s going to be a pretty good size market out there to potentially purchase your products. “Natural healing” is a highly debated and popular topic online as well. What’s more, interest in essential oils has remained fairly consistent for the last few years
Another thing I like about doTerra’s products is that people really understand and can make use of them. So many times with ‘health and wellness’ MLMs, you find that the products themselves are hard to understand. I just reviewed another product with a healing patch that clearly had no health benefits other than a placebo.
These oils are easy to understand for the average consumer. They smell good. Some help you relax, some help you focus, and others have other things they do.
I also know that some people are making money with this program. Of course, these folks tend to be very dynamic sellers and natural leaders. They have large teams that they motivate to go out and recruit and sell.
So there are people actually earning good money with doTerra, but I personally believe they are in the minority. I also believe that the majority of people earning with this company are not earning full-time incomes – and are either breaking even or barely turning a profit.
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The Challenge of Becoming A Seller
Actually selling products is one of the most challenging aspects of any company like this and with doTERRA, it’s harder than most other companies. For example, companies like Avon and Amway sell a range of different products that appeal to a wide audience, but that’s not the case with doTERRA.
Instead, the majority of doTERRA’s product line is related to essential oils in some way or another. This really limits the potential audience to only people that currently use the oils or are interested in trying.
To make matters worse, you still have to contend with competition from other distributors and from other places that sell essential oils (and there are a lot of companies doing this).
When comparing the same type of oil, it’s clear that you can get similar products on Amazon at a deep discount. Some of this price difference is due to the MLM model. Companies like DoTERRA have to pay their consultants and this cost gets passed onto their customers.
Is there a product-based reason for the difference? That depends on who you ask. DoTERRA representatives would say that doTERRA oils are of higher quality, but doTERRA provides little proof that this is the case.
Besides, the difference between the retail and the wholesale price is a good indication that doTERRA has a high-profit margin (it isn’t really a wholesale price anyway, as distributors don’t purchase in wholesale quantities).
Even if you aren’t impressed with the oils on Amazon, I would argue that there are other high-quality brands out there that don’t charge nearly as much as doTERRA. Simply looking for ones that aren’t MLMs would be a good place to start.
In the end, it doesn’t matter whether or not doTERRA oils are better than the competition. What matters is whether your customers think that they are. You will need to provide very good reasons for why they should pay such high prices for small containers of oil.
Making Sales
DoTERRA primarily uses a reselling model for sales. Under this approach, distributors purchase products first and then sell them to customers. Their income is the difference between the wholesale price and what they sell the oils for.
Distributors are able to choose the price that they sell the oils at, so the commission rate can vary. For distributors that sell at the suggested retail price, the commission rate will often end up at around 25%
One limitation here is that customers can see the retail and wholesale prices on the doTERRA website. Because of this, some may be resistant to paying the full retail price from a distributor.
Make Money Building A Team
The team building idea sounds simple. You’re getting other people to join the company and you then earn from the sales that they make. Of course, there’s much more to it than that.
For doTERRA, the team aspect uses a system called Power of 3. This is based on the idea of each person recruiting three others.
That graphic looks really sweet, but most people grossly underestimate how difficult it is to pitch a ‘business opportunity’ to people. Most folks are happy with their 9-5 job, or if they are not happy, they are too scared (or lazy) to do anything different. It takes a very unique and motivated individual to seek out and try business opportunities.
Because of this, the hard truth is that most of your friends, family, and coworkers are simply not going to want to join your team. Some might – but of those that actually do bite, only a small percentage will contribute to your monthly income.
What’s more, you’re not just trying to get people on your team. Making a decent income with doTERRA means that you need to progress through the company’s ranks. Doing so is where you get most bonuses.
The image below shows the beginnings of this system (the first five ranks). There are another seven ranks after this point.
New ranks give you the chance to earn from deeper levels in your downline. The percentages that you earn increase too. Of course, the requirements to progress up the ranks also grow. These get difficult fast.
You might notice something else interesting about the system. With doTERRA, you get higher percentage payments for the deeper levels in your downline. This is another reason for ensuring that the people in your downline recruit others.
But, as we’ve already discussed, recruitment is no easy feat. Most MLM members struggle to get the team size, performance, and structure that they need to progress very far at all.
Can You Generate Reliable Income With doTERRA?
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Theoretically, multi-level earning possibilities are great and can produce a reliable income. This is certainly true for doTERRA, as the oils do sell and the company has been going strong for many years now.
But practically speaking, such approaches rarely pan out to be ideal.
The vast majority of doTERRA members just do straight selling of the oils (no recruiting) and do not make full-time incomes doing it. If that sounds fine to you, then this may be a good opportunity for you to try! However, for me and for many others, we will only settle for a full time, reliable income.
So how do you become a 'super seller' or top recruiter within the company? You need to look beyond your closest connections and stop looking at family/friends as potential sales targets.
One of the most critical approaches is finding ways to expand the people that you're marketing to. This includes finding people who are actually interested in essential oils, rather than trying to get newbies on the bandwagon. There are tools for doing so and the online environment can be a powerful approach. Even so, you need to take the time to plan and consider whether doTERRA is right for you.
MLM Critic & Author: Nathaniell
What's up ladies and dudes! Great to finally meet you, and I hope you enjoyed this post. I have to be honest though. I'm not a big fan of MLM. Tried it. Hated it.
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Karen
I think Nathaniel needs to actually talk with the scientists and doctors within doTERRA, rather than judging the company because it’s an MLM. Not all doTERRA reps are “zombies.” I tell most of my potential clients about experiences I have had of my OWN, or of my teammates’ experiences. I show them the chemistry of oils, which is all laid out in a good essential oils book (Modern Essentials, The Oil Life, etc.). There is science to it, and there is a very HUGE difference in the purity of oils. Cheaper oils are definitely not in the same category as ones that are much purer. Purity = Effectiveness.
We’ve had numerous customers who have tried cheap-o oils from Whole Foods, and had no results. But tried a sample of doTERRA’s, and had results. And converted. The proof is in the pudding – simple as that.
Nathaniell
I’m curious what these “results” you speak of are, and whether they are not just placebos. If you have any studies published in PEER REVIEWED, reputable scientific journals I’ll be happy to post the links.
Emma Connell
I’m particular about my essential oils, because I use them for their health benefits. I have researched them and find that DoTerra is the most reliable. All their testing surpasses all testing at other companies. I trust DoTerra. That’s why I’m a wellness advocate for DoTerra. I’m also pleased with their compensation plan.
Dana
I’m interested in the namesake credentials of the scientists and physicians that Doterra is using to legitimize their claims. I am really serious because it’s impor to know their actual education, level of expertise , credentials and where they work.
Karen
If you want to see the actual testing results, from Dr. Pappas (world renowned essential oil expert – and a 3rd party tester for many companies), he always raves about doTERRA’s oils, but ISN’T getting paid by them. He tests all sorts of companies’ oils, so that we as consumers find the best quality oils possible. And doTERRA is high on his list. He has even tested oils recently from YoungLiving, and their cinnamon bark oil came up with a contaminant. He tested some from Wal-Mart, Best Buy (who knew they sold oils!?!), and some other “reputable” oil companies. All with results that showed inconsistencies in their purity. And he shows in testing that doTERRA’s peppermint oil (which Young Living claimed had was adulterated), was actually 100% pure of any contaminants. There is so much mud-slinging between the two companies, but I feel deep in my gut that I have chosen the right company to represent – based on experiences, and research on my part.
You can check out Dr. Pappas’ Facebook page called “Essential Oil University,” which is also his company name. He is a trusted essential oils professor at a college in Indiana, and does a lot of distilling of his own oils that I believe he is selling. So, he’s not in any company’s pocket. And he’s so in-your-face, it’s hilarious. He doesn’t sugar coat anything! It’s worth it to check out. 😀
I personally love doTERRA, and so does my family. I’ve been using their supplements and oils for over a year now and love the results I get. I am always reaching for this oil or that oil for something or another. I have built a small client base, but haven’t found any recruits to work the business, but they all love their oils and come back to me with awesome stories of how our oils have helped their families. Maybe someday it will grow into a bigger business for me, but maybe not. I am not too worried about it. I just share my oils with people who I meet now and then, and if they want oils, I help them get them. No pressure, no fuss.
Have a blessed day and I hope you all enjoy whatever oils you have!
Nathaniell
If doTERRA’s oils are better, why do they need to invent a phrase like “therapeutic grade” to make them sound better? Wouldn’t they just be able to point to actual facts and clinical studies proving they product better “results”, whatever those may be?
Hey, if you enjoy the oils, that’s great. I’ve provided links to help people market them in an effective, honest, profitable way. Personally I don’t think they are helpful but I’m separating that part of my scientific mind from the point of this post: to show people how to make money selling them. I realize that others believe they work, and I want to help those people use them to start a business.
People like you seem to not be able to understand that. I don’t care if they work or not. That’s another story.
Mary Callister
Nathaniel, I wish the best for you. I’m sorry you feel you need to spend your time blatantly criticizing the best EO company out there. You see, thousands of us have been trained and have seen the “proof” you are talking about. We have scientific proof that our oils which are God given and found all over the world have the highest quality a plant can give us. We know because we have proven our oils are 100% pure oil. This therapeutic grade of an oils is not a “scent” grade oil, but is of higher quality than for “candle use” only. These plant cells combine naturally with our cells and can enter into our cells which most medications are blocked and stay outside a cell wall. More and more synthetic drugs – man made drugs are not helping our bodies to get well. So, use them, don’t abuse them. One pure drop is all you need. And yes our business plan is e greatest plan out there, because there are four levels in which we can get paid. Count them, four. Other companies have either removed or added properties like water, etc to cheapen their therapeutic grade of oil. DoTerra does not. We use the best part of each plant securing the finest grade of oil available on the market.
Nathaniell
I think anyone reading your comment can clearly see that you are too far indoctrinated into their belief system. If you like essential oils and prefer DoTerra that’s great. Go for it. But to call your oils 100% pure, is silly, because the vast majority of EO’s are just that – 100% pure extract. Also, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS THERAPEUTIC GRADE OILS!!!!
Your “business plan is the greatest in the world”?!?!?!? No way. Network marketing has destroyed many lives, both on the financial front, as well as interpersonal relationships.
Esma
i don’t know the details of oils ingredients grades but I certainlu know about the doterra and other MLM companies business plan and I assure you that doterra is PROBABLY ONE OF THE WORST IN THE WORLD. Just because there are FOUR payment plans doesn’t mean you qualify for them and doesn’t mean you can earn well money just because those payments plans exist. Doterra commission rates are just shocking ! Especially when you compare to the cost of those products!
I’ve done a lot of research on payment plans of different MLM companies because I no longer want to work a full time job as a pharmacist, and I stumbled across forever living. You probably haven’t heard of them but it’s a 38 year old MLM company with amazinh aloe Vera products. There’s aloe Vera everything from toothgel to fish oil, bee pollen to shampoos make up skin care and personal care products and much more and they cost less than what you pay for similar items in a pharmacy or a supermarket. And in terms of membership and payments WE HAVE NO JOINING FEES NO MEMBERSHIP FEES NO OTHER FEES AT ALL. We have a set $8.50 postage fee on all orders unlike doterras postage which starts from $9.95 and goes up according to the amount of purchase (ridiculous). You do a quick online sign up with a sponsor code to become a member.. And once a member you enjoy 15% off on all products. This % can go up to 48%. I’ve reached 43% in 3 months and you know what.. This percentage never goes down even if I place an order once a year or/and if I never recruit anyone. Unlike doterra ending your membership after 6 months of no buy. And not paying you commission from downlines if you don’t purchasr monthly (insane).
On top of all this.. Forever distributors earn crazy amounts of pay.. I managed to earn over $1,000 in just my third month. This month I’ll be earning heaps more than that.. And mind you I only have 4 direct members.. And those 4 direct members have other members (45 in total last month and probably more this month hence why I’ll get paid a larger amount).
And on top of all this im not the only one earning.. One of my members earned $781 last month the other $825 and the other two around that.
So please don’t tell me doterra has the best payment plan out there. A friend who’s bees working full time on doterra for over 3 years earn around $3,500. And she has over 500 members under her. With these stats she would have been making easy $10-$20,000 with forever.
If you want a side job with proper income and fair payment plans with qualify amazing products contact me through my instagram tugrulesmaforever. I’ll be happy to give you more info.
F. Watson
” These plant cells combine naturally with our cells and can enter into our cells which most medications are blocked and stay outside a cell wall.”
I’m afraid you are very confused about the chemistry and physiology behind EO/human cell interactions. About biological science in general, really:
1. Plant and animal cells do NOT “combine naturally”. They do not “enter into our cells”. It isn’t possible. I think you are confused about what a cell is: look up the definition of “cell”, then at the differences of structure and function between plant and animal cells (especially cell size, and membrane permeability). You are also confused as to what an essential oil is: they are volatile, organic chemical compounds derived from the cells of plants. They are not plant cells themselves.
3. Medications are not “blocked by and stay outside of a cell wall”. How do we know this? Animal (human) cells do NOT contain cell walls. They have semi-permeable, bi-lipid membranes which selectively allow or disallow other molecules to pass into the cell, based on molecular size, polarity, and affinity for specialized receptors.
There is actually science behind the interaction of EO and human cells, just as there is for other organic compounds, both natural and synthetic. If you’re going to promote the use of essential oils to others, you have an obligation to understand the basic workings of the human body and how these organic compounds work (beneficially or detrimentally) with the body’s systems.
Kent
Wow, lots of words but no one is getting to the core of essential oils. It’s all about sharing and serving others. If your open to natural forms of health care then sharing oils with others is a blessing to both them and yourself. I don’t sell oils, I present people the opportunity to learn about and experience them. If they experience the same benefits thay my family has and want to learn more great, if not thats also OK. Hopefully I’ve left them with a positive experience and brightened their day a little. I’ve enjoyed reading all of the posts but remember you can’t change any one else’s mind or opinions, just your own.
Nathaniell
If you are using essential oils as a blessing and for sharing and serving others, I think you’re way using them for way more than they’re actually intended for. They are not a magical potion, they are just and extract. Yeah, there may be some health benefits for this or that thing, but your whole comment sounded way too new-agey for me.
Hey, do whatever makes you happy. But from a practical standpoint, what you said just doesn’t make sense to me.
Ashley
Just to provide some proof in the quality of Doterra oils why don’t you have a look on the health Canada website. Over 20 of doTERRAS oils have been tested by health Canada and have been deemed safe, pure, and of high quality. The rest of the oils are currently still being tested for approval. These oils have health Canada APPROVED health claims. You can’t knock it till you try it!
Nathaniell
Ummm, you can definitely knock something before you try it, based on research. Oils being approved as high quality and safe doesn’t mean that they are better than others. Just sayin’
F
I appreciate what appeared to be a neutral take on doTerra or any MLM. With anything, and I do mean anything, there are pros and cons and it’s up to each individual to decide which outweighs which more, to their benefit.
That being said, I find it somewhat humorous that you are advertising (albeit very much in the background) for YOUR business and somehow think it’s better because we are “strangers” verses friends and family. By nature, I don’t feel MLM or affiliates are “bad” – to each their own, right?
I do feel you have made a mistake about MLM’s and who they target – you are assuming they chase down their “targets” and prey on family and friends. This is not true for each person. I have purchased from doTerra, 31, Scentsy, etc. I barely know the people I am buying from – it’s simply that I want the product. I have had people approach me but if I’m not interested (with the exception of Stella and Dot) I’m left alone.
What makes doTerra different in terms of oils? Well, to answer that, you’ll need to try EO’s yourself. It’s like anything else. It seems like you just looked up pricing online and then compared it to Amazon. Can you guarantee the efficacy of those oils? doTerra can. I’ve used oils from lots of places – some don’t use pure EO’s, some do. I personally enjoy the doTerra brand, packaging and products. Did I join to make money? Nope. It just made sense to buy from myself than Target, Whole Foods, etc for things I like and enjoy anyway. I never felt sucked in or anything. And like most anything in life, it takes effort to make it successful. Time. Energy. Intention.
If you would like to try doTerra I would LOVE to send you a sample. 🙂 Not to “pull you in” but just so you can try something out. No gimmicks, nothing more. Just so you can tell any future readers you tried it.
Namaste!
Nathaniell
The trouble with testimonials like this is that they are anecdotal. The oils are “better”, and they “work better”, but there’s no scientific evidence of this.
As for purchasing for yourself, that’s fine. I can appreciate that. But if you’re buying from yourself, you’re still paying for it. I’m not sure what the advantage would be to pay X for doTERRA versus pay Y for another brand. Without looking at the cost involved, buying from yourself doesn’t make it any better unless you’re getting them for cheaper.
But hey, if you’re getting products you like for a price you think is fair, then I can’t say much about that!