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Making Money With doTERRA: How Realistic Is It?

August 17, 2019 by Nathaniell

oil in amber bottle on a white basin with flower petals; with text overlay at the top in lavender-colored banner "Making Money With doTERRA_ How Realistic Is It"

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. 

Table of Contents

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  • Two Ways To Make Money With doTERRA
    • Make Money From Product Sales
      • Essential Oils Sell!
      • ==> Reach A Wider Audience And Get Your Business Online
      • The Challenge of Becoming A Seller
      • Making Sales
    • Make Money Building A Team
    • Can You Generate Reliable Income With doTERRA?

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 

Interest in Essential Oils

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.

==> Reach A Wider Audience And Get Your Business Online

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).

Black Pepper Essential Oil
Some of the many black pepper essential oils on Amazon
DoTERRAs version of black pepper is much more expensive

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. 

doterra power of three

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. 

Early Ranks

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?

The doTERRA Review

Products
Business Opportunity

Final Review

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.

User Rating: 1.65 ( 1 votes)
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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.

Affiliate marketing is cheaper, faster, and easier. See for yourself and join millions of other successful affiliates generating income from their blogs!

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Category: Multi-Level MarketingTag: MLM, Network Marketing Reviews, Reviews

About Nathaniell

I’ve been building profitable affiliate blogs for more than a decade, and built six-figure blogs in a wide variety of niches, including computer software, self help, and home & garden topics. I do things a bit differently, and I hope you like my perspective and my style of teaching.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Becky

    November 24, 2017 at 8:31 am

    Just started the doTerra
    If it gets rid of my bible cyst on my finger, then I am sure it will sell itself
    But, so far, the cyst remains, oh well

    Reply
  2. Barry

    November 15, 2017 at 12:45 pm

    only thing I got from this article is that doTerra reps/users seem like they would drink the kool aid. I did not see any personal attacks from the author other than his consistent response that there is no impartial scientific studies proving one oil is better than another.

    personally I use some doterra oils as I buy them from a rep friend to help her out but cant say i tell any difference.

    Reply
  3. Stephan Marosvary

    November 12, 2017 at 7:20 am

    Essential oils do not provide health benefits.

    https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/doterra-multilevel-marketing-of-essential-oils/

    Reply
  4. Chel

    October 4, 2017 at 7:23 am

    I am with doterra and I joined 11 months ago. I thought i would be able to sell doterra products so easy and in the beginning straight away was sharing and posting, spending lots of time on my insta and facebook posts. I haven’t made 1 online sale, none. and I made easy 50 or so posts. The only enrolment that I made was with a friend who liked the oils already and wanted to purchase a couple, only a couple and that’s it. since then o enrolments and I still post consistently. I am almost ready to pull the pin as I’m very frustrated with it all now. Though, there is someone in my area who is a top leader and there making up to $500k a year. How is this even possible ? and here I am posting away with 1 enrolment in 11 months. I am starting to think that MLM is definitely not for me, very disappointed and frustrated with it all now. I do love using my oils but I’m done trying to sell and recruit people. It’s just not happening.

    Reply
    • Gayle M Haulbrook

      December 20, 2017 at 5:57 pm

      I hear you, Chel – I started with doTerra about 18 months ago. When I did my taxes this past April, it came up that I put in almost $3,000 on building a website, product, vendor expenses at expos and going to the convention and made a total of $16. I feel stupid!

    • Nathaniell

      December 21, 2017 at 7:34 am

      Your experience is very similar to many people Gayle. Lots of people get involved in MLM, and end up spending more than they make. Although they are making money, the business is not profitable.

    • Danielle

      February 8, 2018 at 10:32 pm

      Maybe you should try and set up a meeting/interview and gain some insight or encouragement? Also ask whoever enrolled you for some tips/assistance 🙂

  5. scott

    August 22, 2017 at 6:28 pm

    i have a question as far as doterra. if i get recruited by a rep to be a rep. would i make the same amount of money if i were to just sign up by my self and start my own team?

    Reply
    • Jenn

      September 22, 2017 at 10:03 am

      Yes. You make exactly the same. You create your own team no matter where you start.

    • Ginger Bradwell

      December 4, 2017 at 10:20 am

      Nathaniel,

      I don’t see where I can start a new question so am replying, hoping you get this. I need advice. One year ago I signed up for DoTerra through a good friend and my spot was given to me as the person whose spot I aquired no longer wanted the responsibility of tje $100/month LRP. I guess it took many signatures. Within this year Doterra advanced me to Elite. I haven’t enrolled even one person but the group under me is growing. I signed on with the understanding that I would maintain the $100/monthly LRP but needed time to make the decision to grow the business. Just recently a downline went from wholesaler to elite in three months. My upliine friend is asking me to give her the downline’s enrollment and also has threatened to take my spot with DoTerra away (she has threatened two other doterra members, also) if we don’t perform. I’m quite sure her threat is illegal. Do you have any advice for me? Your comments will just help me to decide how to handle this. Thank you!

    • Nathaniell

      December 5, 2017 at 8:26 am

      I can’t comment on the legality or legitimacy of these “threats”, but stuff like this is why I stay away from, and recommend people stay away from MLM. I know for a fact that as a website owner, no one can threaten to take away my referrals or prevent me from making money. If a company decides to not work with me for whatever reason, I can just promote something else.

      If you’re making money with doTERRA, you may want to “play ball” just to keep your income coming in. But if it’s costing you money AND they are trying to take away your status in the company, what have you go to lose? I’d ditch them and promote a more ethical company selling essential oils.

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I started my first internet business in 2010 for the simple reason that I hated getting up early in the morning to go to work. I never had enough time for a second cup of coffee!

Ten years later, I’m helping other people plug into the same methods I use to make money online with affiliate websites. There’s a vast world of opportunities online, and I want to show you how to access it! …[read more]

Nathaniell
August 17, 2019

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