ACN continues to be a popular MLM that gets attention. In this review, I’ll explain if it’s worth joining it or not because I have a lot of experiences promoting products online and making money from it.
I can help you decide of this is an opportunity worth getting into and if not, what is better.
Quick Report on the ACN MLM:
Price: $499 application fee to join, plus other expenses.
Overall Rating: 3 out of 10 stars (Proceed with caution)
In spite of the fact that this MLM has existed for nearly 2 decades, I’ve only recently heard of ACN and decided to look into the program since there is opportunity available in making money online with it.
While the program does have certain features and services that are fairly priced, I personally don’t see there being much opportunity in succeeding with it.
Although this is my personal opinion, I will explain exactly why I feel this way within this post. I will also cover the speculation of whether or not ACN could be a pyramid scheme.
The ACN MLM explained:
An MLM organization founded in 1993. It mainly deals with selling products and services to people that range across many different areas. Some include things like gas, internet and phone connection, TV and other types of everyday services that are mainstream in today’s world.
ACN also has a referral program for it’s members that allows them to get others into the program as well as to sell the same services to their customers and earn a piece of the money. Honestly, it’s not that different from a traditional MLM.
I took a look at their compensation plan and while it was difficult to understand all of the fine details, all you really need to know is that it explains situations and scenarios of how much you can earn for referring others into the program and creating an up line/down line.
There is a $499 application fee to get become an IBO and get started with them (becoming a business owner via selling their products) which is a common thing to see with MLM programs. Personally I am not a fan of those.
Details on what ACN sells:
Mainly services people require in their life. This is divided into personal services (for your home) and for businesses. Here is a screenshot + explanations:
For the most part, I took a look at the pricing for some of these services and they seem pretty fair when compared to the competition. Usually with MLM programs, the cost of products and services is usually much higher than what similar things go for on the market, but in this instance, I was fairly impressed.
However because I haven’t tried any of them, I cannot comment on the quality of these services so if you’re someone who has given ACN’s services/products a try, do let me know below how you felt about it.
Now as I mentioned earlier, once you become one of their business owners, you will then be able to sell their products and/or refer others into the program. This is where I’ll weight in on how practical it is to make money with the system…
Can you make good money with ACN?
Like with most MLM programs out there, the opportunity to make money certainly does exist and it is possible to become very successful with it.
Usually with other MLM programs I look at, the compensation plan doesn’t reward people enough and in order to make any good money within the MLM, you’ll need to refer a lot of people and/or sell a lot of their products and even then the money making opportunity isn’t large.
From what I’ve seen with ACN, the prices of the services being fair, there is certainly a chance to sell the products and make decent money with it. The only real concern I have is people might start trying to sell everything ACN has to offer and this is a mistake, especially if you’re doing online marketing.
Although I am not a fan of MLM programs and believe there are much better opportunities out there to make money online/offline with, if you’re serious about working with MLM and are considering selling their products/services online, I’d personally only sell one product or service and if necessary something else they offer, but ONLY if it’s related to the original thing I’m selling.
Example: Selling online services. I may want to also sell phone services.
When trying to make money online, one of the best things you can do is find a niche market and promote a specific product to that niche. So for example if there is a niche group of people looking for a better internet connection, you could pitch them ACN’s service.
Too often people make the big mistake of trying to sell everything and anything on their websites while not actually identifying their niche market. This makes it much more difficult to make money with because there are a lot of irrelevant products being sold. They may be good in quality, but niche markets only look for what they want and it’s always something related to the niche.
I would strongly recommend you seek proper guidance on how to market to niches prior to promoting anything, whether it be ACN’s products or anything else as an affiliate.
As for the referral program, I don’t think there is a lot of money to be made unless you refer a ton of people into the system. This is normal for MLM programs and is one of the reasons I am personally not a fan of theirs.
Is ACN a pyramid scheme?
Based on what I’ve seen the answer is no.
If it were just the refer program which ACN was composed of, then we could make a strong case for it, but otherwise, I don’t think it is. There are products being offered there at a fair price which is good news.
Generally if an MLM is a pyramid scheme, there is no actual product and if there is, it is priced to a ridiculous point. The only thing I really don’t like is the IBO fee ($499). But this is based on initial research into the company.
Pros:
- Good pricing for some of their products/services.
- From what I’ve seen, they are doing charity work.
Cons:
- High initial price to get started with as an IBO.
- I don’t feel there is massive potential to make money with this and believe there are better alternatives out there.
- Confusing compensation plan.
Final Rating: ACN
Yellow Flag (Caution)
3 out of 10 stars. It could certainly work and I don’t see any major red flags, but I strongly believe you could make much better money elsewhere. This is my #1 recommendation (Wealthy Affiliate).
My final thoughts:
I’m not a fan of MLM programs and have never endorsed one. I’ve been doing online marketing for 9 years and believe affiliate marketing is the much better opportunity because you’re not bound to any single organization, plus the payout from my experience is much higher.
Certainly if you wish to make good money with ACN, you’ll need to work like crazy to get anywhere and while hard work is required to get anywhere in life, I believe through MLM programs, it’s much more difficult than it needs to be.
If you wish to make good money online and/or become a business owner, online marketing in my opinion is where the opportunity is at. The only thing besides hard work that’s required to succeed in it is the right source of training which you get at Wealthy Affiliate. That program will show you how it needs to be done by providing training and flexible opportunities to make money THROUGH the training.
As for ACN and other MLM programs (legitimate ones), my opinion on it/them may differ from yours and if that’s the case or if you agree with me, do let me know!