Why I quit Beachbody Coaching

Things have changed for me the last few months. Outside of working on my Master’s degree the last 1.5 years, the time I can commit to Beachbody is limited. And when the limited time is available, I don’t want to do it. My whole being rejects it.

Each time I’ve had a break from school work, I’ve thought “I’m going to reignite my coaching and get it built up so when school starts up, I’ll be set and sailing smoothly.” I’d get up at 5am, workout for 30 minutes then spend 45 minutes trying to figure out how to take the better selfie so I looked 1) thinner; 2) energetic and 3) pumped that I’m doing workouts at 5am. It doesn’t make sense. And then I’d post to Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and get zero hits. Yea, hard work and hustle pays off down the road, but doing this for months on end and getting nowhere starts to become burdensome and unexciting. I don’t want to spend my life tied to social media. I don’t want people to know when I’m leaving my house for vacation with my family or working out or at the grocery store or how amazing my ordinary life is because I have children and am 100% a mom to them. 80% of my Facebook friends are parents, they have awesome ordinary lives too. I also find, over time, that social media has a way of making people feel less about themselves. In the way of “Oh… look how happy and amazing she is doing and succeeding and I’m just sitting here like ‘I’m out of wine and my kids are crazy today.’ But she has make-up on and looks awesome in her faux workout gear… and I’m a slob with hair that’s been in a ponytail for 3 days straight.” I’ve set Facebook aside so many times and felt instantly bad about myself and my lack of success.

Did I fully put my heart and soul into being a Beachbody Coach? No.

You know why? Because it isn’t my heart and soul.

My kids are my heart and soul, and so is my husband. It means more to me to be available to the three of them than to be available to someone who wants my time but doesn’t want to commit to doing the work. It sounds harsh and it sounds rude, but really, it’s an investment of time. You have to know where you’re willing to invest that time.

It’s also an investment of money… Oh yea, you have to spend money in order to stay active. If you’re not selling $55+/mth to earn points, you become inactive. And there’s the whole pyramid scheme part of it (yes it is multi-level marketing [MLM] but it’s also a pyramid), success club, how to get coaches, etc… The best way to stay active and to show people you’re serious is to show everyone (daily) that you drink your Shakeology, which runs you a sweet $100/mth (+/- tax/shipping). Oh, and a $17/mth coaching fee you pay so you can be a coach. That’s $1400+/- a year out of your pocket so you can be an active coach. Now if you get 3 people to be on Shakeology home direct each month, that’s $99/mth in your pocket, so sort of like covering your cost of Shakeology. But you really need 4 people because that’s $132/mth and that covers your Shakeology, coaching fee and then actually gives you a profit. But if any of them are signed up for club, you get less back from them (15% back instead of 25% back). So if all 4 of those people are signed up for Club and Shakeology HD, you’re back to $80/mth from 4 customers, and you’ll need a 6th to cover your coach fee/Shakeology costs and make $3 profit. But now everything is changing to Beachbody on Demand, so good luck with that.

The goal really isn’t to get people to buy the workouts (because that’s just a one-time cost)… the goal is to get them set-up on Home Direct orders (Shakeology or Performance Line). Let me add a disclaimer here: If Shakeology is your jam, that’s awesome. I’m happy for you. If it’s giving you the results you wanted it to, even better. Get after it!! 

Now, if you’re reading this thinking “I want to be a Beachbody Coach…” let me give you (few) words of advice… FIND A GOOD UPLINE/SPONSOR COACH!!! Just because your friend is asking you to join doesn’t mean they are the best FIT with your goals for the company. They want to rank advance and you’re in the spot to help them. If you want to actually WORK the business, I’d start searching for Top Coaches and feeling out which one seems to vibe more with your life/goals/desires for what you could be with Beachbody. You want people who will inspire you, work with you and guide you as much as they can. Yes, a lot of this you will do on your own and you will have to rely on you and your work ethic to rank advance. It does help having a supportive upline, with good training and team goals and someone who can guide you. It also helps to have someone who understands that you don’t want to be on a 10:30 PM EST call because you’re usually in bed and get up at 4:30 AM to workout every day. And yes, I stood my ground and never joined the call, which showed (to them) I wasn’t serious about succeeding… but to me, it was more important to sleep and get up at 4:30 to work out than it was to listen to someone talk. I respect your time/availability, and I ask that my time/availability is respected as well.

Also, remember to be a product of the product (if you’re going to sell). Do the workouts and live/breath/drink Shakeology. And then post it all over social media that you worked out today.

As for the workouts, I do believe in them. I think the really hard ones (any Insanity, T25, P90X-series, and Body Beast) are well worth the investment and time commitment to complete them. I think they’re great guides to getting you into a fitness routine if you’re not currently in one and you’ll see actual results if you follow the calendar and have a healthy diet. Shaun T is the only trainer I could handle day after day and it always felt like he was in my living room helping me do the best I could do each morning. In the end, I was only doing Insanity or Insanity Max:30. They were the level I needed and the hardest.

I thank Insanity and T25 ALL THE TIME when I’m out running or trying a new physical activity and have core strength or proper form, or can do more than I could a couple months ago. They laid a base foundation for me to be able to go out and run Warrior Dashes and now join Crossfit.

I now have zero desire to tell anyone where I’m working out or what I’m doing. I feel like I’m taking it back as a personal commitment to myself and not a commitment to the world. If I want to do this for me, it has to be FOR ME. If I can motivate and inspire along the way, I will. I just don’t want to use my social media as a platform for an MLM job anymore.

In the end, if you’re interested in giving it a shot, go for it. Keep in mind it takes a lot of hard work, it takes hustle, and it takes time. Know in advance where you’re willing to commit your time and if you have the money to invest (read above) go for it.