By Melissa Dylan
(Please note: some info has been updated based on valuable reader feedback. Corrections are noted throughout.)
Last month I wrote about the multi-level marketing company, masquerading as a health supplement company, Plexus. We determined that to reach Emerald level a person must recruit a minimum of 300 people, generating a minimum of $360,000 in sales for Plexus.
Funny thing about Plexus Ambassadors (their real titles), they brag openly about how great their lives are in order to recruit more of us to shill their masses. Are they actually making any money? It turns out, maybe not. In order to reach really high levels of success (e.g. Emerald Level) you must recruit a minimum of extra people, for which you will receive exactly zero dollars. What you DO earn is trips, a free car, and about $67,000 share in the Emerald Pool. (Which is not, sadly, a fancy hot tub. I called around.) Yet Emerald Level Plexus Girl brags about personal earning of $400,000 per year. How much Plexus is she unloading to make THAT happen? That’s today’s question.
Let’s keep in mind that in order to hit the minimum 300 recruits to hit Emerald level, each would have to be a direct recruit. This means you know and are capable of hypnotizing or blackmailing 300 other people to convince them to shill pink drink.
Chances are you’re not, though. Chances are you’ve recruited lots and lots of people, and each of them recruited people, etcetera, etcetera.
For the sake of arguments, let’s imagine our Emerald Ambassador is the mayor of their town and incredibly likable. She manages to direct recruit 50 people. (It still seems like a lot. I don’t even know 50 people, and cats don’t count.) This earns her 500 points. Each of her recruits recruits 5 more people at 4 points each and we’re at 1,250 points. Throw in 83 recruits under them at 3 apiece, and she’s an Emerald. We’re now up to 383 people, increasing annual yield for Plexus to $460,000/year. Taking the system to its logical conclusion, the highest number of recruits required to earn 1,500 points is 2,979 people (any more and you’re kicked up a level to Sapphire) yielding $3.5M per year just from ambassadors alone.
Let’s go back to the minimum of 300 recruits. It’s simpler and illustrates the minimum amount of revenue generation for each Emerald Ambassador. Each of the recruits is required to purchase $100 of Plexus products every month to “qualify” for commission. However, they don’t earn commission on that first $100 of product, even if they manage to turn around and sell it to someone else. This generates a minimum of $360,000 in gross product volume for Plexus–volume on which they’re not paying direct commission. This works out into a sweet deal for Plexus, but not so much for Plexus girl and her supposed $400,000/year.
Turns out that every qualified ambassador also earns a monthly stake in the general Ambassador Pool. The pool consists of 45% of the gross product volume for the month. This is where we’re actually seeing the fruit of those Qualification Sales. The size of the pool is divided by the number of Plexus Points in the entire company, and a dollar exchange amount is calculated monthly.
Using the reported annual product volume of $225,5701,000, that works out to $18,797,500 per month, forty-five percent of which is $8,458,875.
You have to divide that number by the overall number of points held by all active ambassadors in the Plexus Universe. Their literature assures us that it’s designed so that the amount per point is never lower than $1.80 per point, but that since the system was introduced it has ranged from $2.82 – $4.89. I have no way of knowing whether or not that’s true, but it’s plausible. That means that $8.5 million up there would be divided by 2,191,418 points, and considering Emerald Ambassadors alone account for 150,000 points minimum, that’s easily achieved.
What does that mean? Shut up, I’m getting there. It means our Emerald Plexus Girl is earning between $4,231 – $7,338 per month.
Imma let that sink in for a minute.
She is earning between 4 and 7 K without having to sell a single item.
So yeah. That’s significant. At the high end that’s earning us $94,817. Let’s be clear: there are only about 100 Plexus reps making this much money. A few make slightly more, but most make a lot less. If you’re a Plexus rep with only two recruits you earn exactly $30.86 in an average month from the pool.
As for Emerald Plexus Girl, we’re still far short of the bragged-about $400,000. Along the way she’s earned between $10 – $100 for about 100 of her Ambassadors and their recruits, and a series of Achievement bonuses as she reached Emerald level. This will put us roughly $6,950 closer to game time. Add in the $67,000 from her Emerald pool and we’re at $168,767. (Updated based on feedback from previous article. Additional calculations have been adjusted as well.)
Where does the rest come in? Does anyone actually sell this stuff?
Plexus Girl and her annoying Lexus and L-branded steak will have to make up the rest of her $400,000 on sales volume. She earns 25% commission on her own sales. To earn the remaining $231,233 Plexus Girl would have to sell $924,932 in Plexus Products.
That’s 11,000 packs of Plexus Slim.
That’s 917.5 packs per month. A pack lasts an entire month. That’s 918 people buying a pack per month.
Obviously there are other products, too, but you get the idea. Even if the average customer spends $300, she has to find 257 customers per month. People who aren’t dodging her phone calls or hiding her profile on Facebook because they’re so fed up with her. She can also direct-order from Plexus and sell her product directly and earn an extra 25% but that’s acquiring a huge financial risk and even still you’d need to sell 458 Plexus Slim packs per month, or find 129 $300 customers.
The alternative is that she is eligible to earn 5% of what her Level 1 Ambassadors earn on their sales. Even if she has 300 of those, they would need to generate $6,103,660 to make up the shortfall. So while it’s possible that they are selling a combined $6,103,656 in product, it’s not likely. So let’s break it down.
Things are even worse for our two-recruit Ambassador up there earning only $30.86 for the pool. She’d have to sell 48 packs per month just to earn $1,000. If she buys it in bulk to keep on hand she’ll only have to sell 24 packs, which doesn’t sound like a lot until you start thinking of the people you know. Of those people, how many could you convince to buy an $84 pack of powdered drink every month? Why would you even WANT to?
The bottom line is still that it ultimately doesn’t matter how much people sell–the profit for the company is in the Ambassadors themselves. Plexus pays out just over a third of the $360,000 (minimum) they earn through Emerald Plexus Girl’s recruits, and Plexus Girl doesn’t even reap all of the benefits. I’m not saying it’s NOT a pretty cushy girl for Plexus Girl and her $168,000 per year. She’s a rare gem, indeed, and honestly has my respect. She also has this guy’s respect:
I was surprised that the share in the Ambassador pool was so high for Emeralds, but was not surprised whatsoever to find that the actual commission structure is somewhat of a scam. I’m not calling anyone a liar, but the person bragging about their $400,000 in earnings each year might want to qualify that they’re talking about gross sales revenue, and that she doesn’t get to keep it. But then again, this person is purely theoretical and in no way someone who actually exists.
The Bossy Introvert 
“When in doubt, spreadsheet it out.” = mantra for life.
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Wow angry much….can you tell me what your talking about? She used all the facts from the Plexus website. I myself have read and reread all the statistic she used in this article and they are all correct. Based on the fact that you have to call names shows the writer is not the one with a problem….Just saying
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I may have said it a little differently but I agree! And to think she has an MBA! Lol. Although I must admit, the comp plan is a little complicated. None of her numbers add up. She has no idea how Plexus works Asa business. Glad I didn’t waste my parents money on an MBA to end up blogging. Lol. But seriously, Pkexus products is a health and wellness company that has helped me and my family tremendously health wise. I decided to share these amazing results with my friends and ended up in business. I only joined to get my products at the lowest price. We dont get paid to recruit. But if someone does join we do get a little commission. Not much but it does add up over time. As word spreads new people join up and we do have a point system. Between one and five depending on how deep. We can go as wide as we want. Not just three as you said. I’m not sure if you were fed incorrect information or you just gleaned it incorrectly from your own research. But you’ve got it all wrong for the most part. I would be happy to explain it to you if you would allow me the time. It is not illegal, it is not koolaid. It is a combination of amazing products that are making hundreds of thousands of lives better health wise and you can make a living while you share the information and products. Feel free to get in touch with me. I will even send you some samples to try!
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Getting bonuses for ranking, by recruiting other ambassadors, is pretty much the same as getting paid to recruit people.
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Can I try some?
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Melissa, you are awesome. I LOVE how angry it makes these brainwashed folk. V. enjoyable. Bless their cotton socks.
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In love with your website and about to devour the rest! Stumbled upon you today, because I have an annoying FB friend constantly shilling this snake oil.
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It is illegal though. You may not get paid to recruit, but you don’t make any money unless you do. Not to mention everytime I see these god awful Plexus plugs, its claiming to treat something (joint pain, fibro, inflammation, blood sugar issues, cholesterol issues…just to name a few that I’ve seen). If you’re going to claim something to be an effective treatment for a medical condition, then that’s a drug, and it is LEAGALLY required to be evaluated and apporved by the FDA. And since plexus IS NOT approved by the FDA, almost every single post ive ever seen from an ambassador is false advertising. Not to mention I see ambassadors consistantly talking about how safe it is, and how you can take it with any medication, when you have any condition. That’s downright dangerous, Plexus in itself hasn’t been clinically studied AT ALL (even though ambassadors LOVE to tell you it has) so unless you’re a docter who’s familiar with the ingredients that have been clinically tested (and it’s not like they release ALL the ingredients or the amount of each anyways) you need to shut the fuck up about how safe it is, because you have no idea.
Plexus is a fucking scam, and if you can’t believe that then you are literally an idiot and deserve to be put on your ass once this company gets shut down.
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Actually it has. Clinical studies has shown that it helps with weight loss. Also Google gut health in general. It will show you stidies o how getting your gut healthy can help you get healthy in general. I am not saying quit all your meds and take Plexus. I am saying try it and see. If it works for you great if not 60 day money back guarantee. Win win in my book.
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I’m so glad I came across your analysis of their business model. A friend of mine on Facebook is blind, desperate for employment, and has recently signed up to become a Plexus Ambassador. Being blind myself, I totally understand her frustration in finding employment, but this is just not the way to go.
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Ok – this is my (and my wife’s) Plexus story.
Disclaimer. I am an Ambassador. I have sold Plexus to exactly 0 people.
My wife has struggled with her weight her entire life. She had a strange body type where all of her wait was in her lower half, despite having a tiny, tiny waist. She is currently 48, so this has been a problem for a long, long time.
In March of this year she started taking Plexus. By mid-May, NONE of the clothes in her closet fit anymore. They all swamped her. She has lost almost 30 pounds, and now weighs less than she did in high school. She feels great.
She also used to get debilitating migraines 2-3 times per week. She got them so often that she would run out of all of the migraine medicine that the doctor could give her. Since she started Plexus, she has only gotten a small handful of dull headaches.
It is probably not for everybody, but it works miracles for some. I am a supporter of it because it gave my wife her life back.
For me? I have taken Plexus (the Triplex) for two months. I have lost about 16 pounds. A good part of that is because I don’t eat like an idiot anymore. Part of that is me, and part of that is the Pink drink helping me curb cravings.
The stuff CAN work. I don’t think I will ever get rich, but I will tell people about it if I think it will help them. I post absolutely NOTHING on Facebook.
Lastly (sorry this is so long) – I don’t know why it works. I don’t know, really, IF it works. Anecdotally, however, it seems to help with weight loss, inflammation, and auto-immune issues. Again – nothing scientific, just the stuff I read.
Good luck to everybody.
Mike
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I respect the fact that you haven’t sold this product to anyone else (yet at least) and that you acknowledge that the product may not have helped you. I assure you, it didn’t. If this product and the wild claims associated with – curing infertility, high blood sugar, low blood sugar, magical weight loss – actually worked big pharma would own it and doctors would be putting everyone on it. It’s a scam. A classic pyramid scheme. The “stuff you just read” are phony testimonials from people trying to sell the product. Some Plexus products are considered so dangerous they have been banned in some countries (notably Australia) and nothing is FDA approved or even independently tested. My sister who is physically disabled and somewhat mentally impaired from a brain injury got roped into this mess by someone on Facebook and it was a financial and emotional disaster for her. Wake up, people. There are a few people at the top of the scheme making a ton of money. You will never be one of them and you are peddling very expensive garbage – potentially dangerous garbage to your friends and family. That’s not a nice thing to do to people.
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I think that if the product works for you and you sign up to save a little money and end up helping a few other people along the way, great!
I don’t think anyone should enter into a MLM expecting to replace an income. Being involved in several MLMs over the last 10 years, I do believe there are money making possibilities but it takes time and patience to get there and usually your initial earnings are just a few extra dollars to start.
I personally have tried plexus(for 7 days) and loved the effects it had on me! But would I sign up to be an ambassador, probably not. I, also do get annoyed when people haggle you, especially on Facebook. I also don’t like getting asked over and over to be an Ambassador, I know they are trained to ask because many peoples no’s are not right nows. My no is a no and if I decide I want to, I will contact you! I am sure many of you can relate.
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Nobody selling plexus is making a half million dollars a year no company would do that as far as I can see her info came directly from the plexus sales outline as I am an ambassador, yes I took the plunge, am I making money, no. However my Sister is a diamond ambassador and none of know EXACTLY what she is profitting but it’s not a half million a year.
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I have a (now former) friend who is selling Plexus on facebook. I had to block her because I couldn’t take it anymore, seeing the endless posts (up to 4 or 5 a day) was plucking my last nerve. She is clearly brainwashed by the apparent superpowers these products have. What scares me is the health claims they make (along with the disclaimer that they aren’t making health claims), but even with a disclaimer I feel like if you’re making health claims, you’re making health claims. At that point the disclaimer means nothing, in my opinion. These untrained ambassadors are acting like they have medical and nutrition degrees, and for all intents and purposes, are practicing medicine without a license. And when they make contact with you, they’ll talk about how Plexus was really created to treat diabetes. They can’t post that online, but they won’t hesitate to tell you that individually. Hello, practicing medicine without a license. Sell your product, I don’t really care, but don’t sell it based on the fact that your friend is tired after a long week or has a headache. You don’t know why they have a headache or fatigue. To say that your product will help it is practicing medicine without a license. STOP IT!
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I am glad to see more and more people waking up to the reality of these marketing scams like Plexus.
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There is a local gal in our community that has managed to convince many desperate low-income people that she is making a million dollars a year selling Plexus. I feel bad because they are parting with money they don’t have to play the Plexus lottery. I have tried the products and do like a few of them. I have researched the earning potential for this at home business and have decided that for myself it is not an option. My family brings in a combined $200k plus and I think that even for me I don’t believe the required time recruiting other ambassadors would be worth the minimal financial gain. This lady makes it look super glamorous but she is away from her family so often that she may as well join the corporate world because she is not doing a part-time work from home gig when she is gone four times a year a week at a time and then driving all over the state recruiting people.
I am glad your article spells out the reality of this business and others like it.
SMH
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I have a friend in the medical profession that has started selling this crap. It wasn’t long before I had to unfollow. I don’t care what company it is, no one wants to see your constant sales pitch.
She obviously bought a lot of product, as she GAVE me many different products. I didn’t notice any weight loss or great health improvement.
One thing that’s funny is they make a product, Block, that is supposed to block you from gaining weight from your heaviest meals. She’s been selling Plexus at least a year and never lost weight off of it. In the past month, she’s gone back to limiting her calories, and working out. Obviously that Block doesn’t do shit. It’s main ingredient is white bean extract.
One other thing; she’s already paid out of pocket and went to Vegas for a Plexus event there. She’s also paid to drive a couple states away for an event.
We’re talking educated people. Apparently no common sense. I don’t get it. If I turn my friend on to something and she can sell it, and then get another friend to sell it, how is anyone making any $ if everybody can sell it. Clearly the only ones buying are the ones “selling.”
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