Welcome to my Young Living review!
You may have heard from a family or friend of yours about essential oils and how they can relieve you from some pain, help you with stress and anxiety, insomnia, and other health benefits.
What is Young Living? Young Living is well-known globally for its essential oils. From home care cleaners and products, nutritional and supplemental products, diffusers, and personal care products, this MLM company is at the top of its game. But to become a distributor is a different matter and it’s important for you to know the secrets behind Young Living.
Young Living is one of the top companies in the world that produces and sells the best essential oils in the market today. Considered multi-level marketing, Young Living has been at the top of their game since they opened their business in 1993.
But around this success, Young Living has covered up some stories and had lawsuits along the way.
Before we get started I would like to commend you on taking the time to do your due diligence so you don't get taken by all of the scams and rip-offs that are found everywhere on the internet.
That's how you find the legit way to make money online!
I would like you to know that I'm not in any way paid by or associated with Young Living. This is an honest review for the purposes of providing you, the consumer the information necessary so that you can make an informed decision on whether or not Young Living is for you!
In this article, I will show you the background of the company, some of the products that they offer, the lawsuits and competition against doTerra, reviews, and complaints, and my final thoughts if Young Living is good for everyone.
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Young Living Review Summary
Product Name: Young Living
Founder: Donald Gray Young
Product Type: Multi-Level Marketing
Price: $45 – $260
Best For: People who love to use essential oils and do recruitment
Rating: 40/100
Recommended: No
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You may have heard from a family or friend of yours about essential oils and how they can relieve you from some pain, help you with stress and anxiety, insomnia, and other health benefits.
Young Living is one of the top countries in the world that produces and sells the best essential oils in the market today. Considered as multi-level marketing, Young Living has been at the top of their game since they opened their business in 1993.
But around this success, Young Living has covered up some stories and had lawsuits along the way.
In this article, I will show you the background of the company, some of the products that they offer, the lawsuits and competition against doTerra, reviews, and complaints, and my final thoughts if Young Living is good for everyone.
History of Young Living
So, what is Young Living About? Before Young Living started, Donald Gray Young had a severe spinal injury during his 20s. He attributed his recovery with his drinking regimen of “nothing but water and lemon juice”.
In 1982, he was able to recover and opened a health center in Washington state. The center had birthing services and, during the delivery of his daughter, the child died after being submerged in a whirlpool bath for an hour.
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By 1993, Young opened another clinic in Tijuana and this time he claimed that he could detect if a person has cancer just by doing a blood test. An investigative reporter then submitted a blood test, posing as his but instead came from a cat, to see what kind of results he would find.
The representative of the clinic then told the reporter that “his” blood showed that he has liver dysfunction and aggressive cancer and recommended the clinic’s detox program worth $2,000 per week (The cat didn’t have either mentioned illness).
Young was then arrested for practicing medicine even if he didn’t have a license and he pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge.
Not really the background you were expecting, right?
After a couple of years, he became intrigued by oils and turned his farmland to plants of lavender, peppermint, and tansy in Idaho. Donald Gray Young and his wife then launched Young Living in 1993 and is currently operating in Lehi, Utah.
Young Living Essential Oils & Product Lines
The Young Living essential oils are considered the leading products in the industry today. But what separates these oils from the rest in the market? Process of Production.
Unlike other companies that use cold-pressed compression or low-heat steam distillation, Young Living uses a slow steam extraction procedure that effectively and efficiently brings out the wanted essential oils from the plants without doing any unwanted adulteration.
The essential oil of Young Living has different scents that you can choose from. Some of these scents are sacred sandalwood, tea tree, cilantro, wintergreen, and german Chamomile. This product line includes:
1. Essential Oil Singles
2. Essential Oil Blends
3. Roll-Ons
4. Vitality Dietary Essentials
5. Oils
6. Massage Oils
So, what makes these essential oils loved by many people? A lot of people experience benefits just by using these oils, some of these benefits include but are not limited to:
· Natural pain relievers
· Helps fight against stress and anxiety
· Helps fight insomnia
· Digestive orders
In addition to all the benefits mentioned above, Young Living has created a guide on how you can efficiently use their essential oil products.
Other Product Lines
Because of the continuous growth of Young Living, they have expanded the reach of their products in order to answer some of the needs and wants of their consumers.
They have covered Home Products that includes:
· Young Living Seedlings
· Kid Scents
· Animal Scents
· Over the Counter
· Thieves product line
They also have a section for Health and Wellness enthusiasts and the products include:
· Cleansing Nutrition
· Healthy Cooking
· Slique
· Targeted Nutrition
· And many more
Young Living also offers diffusers for your home and personal care products to help you with your beauty regime.
All of these products are especially helpful for all the distributors of Young Living since they can sell to almost anyone and everyone at least two or more products of the company.
This means that they will have a steady income in terms of personal sales and they can recruit other people because of the income opportunity.
Don’t get me wrong though, the MLM industry is tough to be in. You need to personally sell the products or purchase them yourself in order to get retail commissions (will be discussed below) and recruit a lot of people in order for you to rank up and grow.
Standard, Innovation, and Global Expansion
I find it amazing that Young Living is still investing a lot of their money for constant innovation and maintaining their high standard amidst all their success.
High-grade Standard
The company is always proud to say that its products are all naturally-made which is why they have created their own Young Living Therapeutic-grade Standard to ensure that the products are above satisfactory rate. Also, their advocacy is “Seed to Seal” because they process all the plants that they use for their essential oils.
Constant Innovation
With the tight competition in the market today, Young Living has announced that they have 15 new and rebranded product lines. In addition to this, they have also launched over-the-counter products which include pain relief cream and plant-based cough drops.
Global Expansion
In order to keep up with the growing market, Young Living continuously expands its farmlands and offices all over the world.
What started as a small farm in Washington State, they have purchased farmlands in France, Ecuador, Utah, and the Middle East. They have also put up offices in Singapore, Europe, Japan, Australia, and Canada.
In British Columbia, where they grow black spruce trees, they have opened their farm to the public and call it, “Northern Lights Farm”.
Young Living Warnings & Lawsuits
Even though Young Living is as famous as they are now, they are still not free from any warnings and lawsuits.
While doing my research for this article, I came across a number of lawsuits from their competitor, doTerra, and warnings from the FDA because of some unsubstantial claims of Young Living’s distributors.
Let’s start off with how doTerra is “related” to Young Living.
Young Living vs doTerra
The doTerra is known as the direct competitor of Young Living since many of its executives came from Young Living to create their own company. It was launched in 2008, and by 2012, it’s about the same size and profit with Young Living.
In 2017, Young Living lost from a long-running lawsuit against doTerra and paid $1.8 million in legal fees and other costs. The lawsuit came when Young Living alleged the founders of doTerra for stealing trade secrets and violating their respective employment contracts. The judge, however, ruled that Young Living was pursuing the lawsuit in bad faith against doTerra.
Young Living Warnings and Sentenced
Also, in 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice has sentenced Young Living for violating the Lacey Act and Endangered Species Act. They were fined and must pay the government $500,000, donate $125,000 “for the protected species of plants used in essential oils”, and $135,000 of restitution.
What’s good about Young Living is that when they knew about the allegations at first, they started their own investigation and sent a written letter to the federal government. Through their own efforts, they found out that there were more illegally imported plants that were conducted by their employees.
To see the full article regarding this issue, click here.
During the same year, a warning came to Young Living posted in Truth in Advertising because of some distributors’ misleading income claims. (This is actually quite understandable since a lot of MLM companies are having a hard time controlling and guiding their affiliates.) But the court case is still pending.
To see the full timeline of the case, click here.
In 2015, the Environmental Research Center in California issued a 60-Day Notice against Young Living because their laboratory results showed some lead compounds on some of their products.
To see the full complaint, click here.
There’s just one more warning for Young Living. In 2014, the company received a warning letter from the FDA for promoting some of their products like medicines and “can cure diseases/illness”.
To see the full warning letter, click here.
Even though there are a lot of warnings and lawsuits against Young Living, their company is still one of the best when it comes to essential oils. Now that you’ve read about some of their product lines and the lawsuits that were given to them, let’s now go to their compensation plan.
At the end of the day, the most important question is will you be able to earn a lot of money through Young Living and have the financial freedom that you’re dreaming of?
Young Living Compensation Plan
In order for you to become an Individual Distributor for Young Living, you would need to purchase at least one of their product packs which mostly costs from $45 to $260. You would also need to maintain at least 50 personal volume or $50 in a year.
This minimum requirement is actually one of the cheapest that I’ve seen in an MLM company. Most of the companies would require you to have a minimum of 50 personal volumes per MONTH! Outrageous, right? Let’s move on.
Brief Explanation on Compensation Plan
There are a couple of ways for you to earn from Young Living. Here’s a summary of it:
1. Retail Commission – Earn money from personally sponsored customers who purchase products. You get the difference between the wholesale and retail price for these types of sales.
2. Downline Commission – If the person you recruited sells a product and the person down them (onwards), you get a percentage of their sales. 8% for your first level downline, 5% on the second, and 4% on the next three levels.
3. Fast Start Bonus – For your first 3 months, you’ll get a 25% commission from your recruit’s purchases.
4. Member Start Kit Bonus – For every Distributor you recruit, you get 25% commission if they purchase the Premium Member Starter Kit.
5. Generation Commission – If you were able to hit the “Silver” rank, you get an additional 2% commission on the specific sales of your team. And if your team members also hit “Silver” rank, you get an extra 3% commission.
6. Diamond Profit Sharing Pool – If you were able to hit the “Diamond” rank, you get an extra 0.5% of all the Young Living’s commissionable sales.
If you want to see the full details on the compensation plan of Young Living, go here.
Additional Facts About Young Living
Before I sum it all up, I would just like to add a couple of notes that I’ve found during my research on Young Living.
Synthetic Materials
During another lawsuit between doTerra and Young Living, Dr. Robert Papas of Purdue University had found that both of the companies had synthetic materials in some of their oils. After this discovery, the companies dropped their lawsuits even before it got to court.
Member Support is Low
Compared to other MLM companies, Young Living does not focus on the development of its distributors. Most of their workshops, conferences, and training would require you to register and pay a lump sum of money.
Replaced the Entire Executive Team
In 2013, Young Living replaced their entire executive team and called it an “expansion”. They did this because they believed that the old members of the team did not have the same “vision” and “interest” to where the company should be heading compared to Donald.
Although this may sound sketchy and you’ll wonder about their stability, the company actually took a huge growth by at least 27% the same year.
Reviews & Ratings
If you have read the other articles that I wrote, this section typically includes the “complaints” I’ve found from various sites. But for this particular article, I will not include it anymore since I’ve already tackled the complaints and lawsuits earlier.
For a lot of people, the ratings of BBB.org are somewhat important and can be a basis if they would pursue buying products or joining a company.
In the case of Young Living, BBB.org issued an NR or No Rating to the company since there’s no customer service responding to the reviews being given by the people.
Young Living is also not accredited in BBB.org. If you want to check out the reviews, go here.
I’ve also found some reviews on trustpilot.com where most of the reviews are positive. The overall rating of Trustpilot for Young Living is 4 stars out of 5. Here are just some of the reviews you’ll find on their page.
Is Young Living a Scam?
As far as an MLM scheme goes, Young Living is legit. With their world-renowned essential oils and the company's constant innovation, they are doing their best to make it in the long run.
If you’re thinking about becoming a distributor for Young Living, you should definitely think about it first since you will need to recruit people to become your downlines and sell the products yourself.
Research shows that the only people who get successful or rich in an MLM company are those who own it and those people who first enrolled as a distributor. The rest (at least 90%) of the other distributors either purchase the products in order to maintain the required volume of the company or just quit at all.
What I Recommend
I would understand if you are hesitating to join Young Living as a distributor. Personally, I don’t see myself doing hard selling to my family and friends or convincing them to be my downline and recruit their connections.
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Young Living
$45 to $260
Pros
- Wide range of product lines
- Innovation
- High-quality Standard
Cons
- Complicated Compensation Plan
- Lawsuits Filed
Young Living is not a scam, from all that the review has shown, it may have some downtimes just like every other business but certainly it’s just normal to some extend. For the fact that it still consistently in operation, entertaining lots of innovation and expansion around the world means its real and will playoff its members who are determined to work towards its growth.
But I had wondered while Young Living is not accredited in BBB? Its essential oil seems to be very good and with all its benefits as shown in this review, I believe it will make good sales.
However, I may not recommend this Young Living because of it numerous lawsuits, who knows if the company will go down one day just like that after losing it a major case in court and people’s money will be traped.
With all the lawsuits that that Young Living faces it makes me wonder how stable they will be in the future. For me it’s just not worth the risk. Network marketing is definitely a risky business to get involved with.
Affiliate marketing is a lot less risky and the cost of doing business is much less than doing business in an MLM. With MLM you need to purchase products and then you have that overhead to deal with. With affiliate marketing, you have none of that.
It was fun to read your information on this company as I have been using their oils for many years now and am delighted in the results. Great purity and effectiveness. It was interesting to read about the founder’s history and how they eventually started making oils.
My new husband has terrible eczema which has given him daily problems the oils help to soothe his skin and the perfume doesn’t make him worse. The Aussie blue oil also cured his rosacea on his nose in 3 days, amazing when he was told by his doctor that there wasn’t a cure. Thanks for all the great info.
You’re welcome Lily! I’m glad to hear that Young Living products worked for your husband.
Hi Cory. My first question about MLM companies is, why are their products so overpriced? Why is their shipping so ridiculous? Why is their compensation plan commission so low? It looks like all MLM company members have to buy kits and use products of certain values.
In my opinion, the only people that are making real money are the people at the top, and their distributors are left behind and not looked after. I will think twice before joining an MLM company. Their distributors, not all of them, tend to harass customers to become downstream distributors.
The top people in MLM get paid the most and the distributors do the brunt of the work. Everything in MLM is so expensive because they need to charge those high prices in order to pay everyone. The products are rarely worth what they charge for them.
Most of the time you can find similar products at a store for much less the price you pay for the MLM product. This is why I don’t recommend MLM as a viable way to make money online. I couldn’t promote overpriced products to people and feel good about it.