It's hard to come across an adult who hasn't heard of or been offered a NuSkin MLM business opportunity. This massive multilevel marketing company celebrates 25 years in business in 2009 which says volumes about it's legitimacy as an MLM company. But when you think about it-- is the company's success really any indication that you will succeed as their distributor?

The Company

The company now known as NuSkin Enterprises was initially called Nu Skin International in 1984 when it was founded. After growing big enough in the US, it expanded its operations into Canada in 1990 and was soon available in other countries around the world. But the company has had it's share of highs and lows. In 1997, the company agreed to pay a $1.5 million civil penalty to settle FTC charges over that claims that it's supplements containing chromium picolinate and L-carnitine resulted in muscle-maintenance and fat-loss were unsubstantiated. It's an incident that was almost forgotten when the company reported it's largest revenue year in 2008 with over $1.25 billion in revenue in 48 international markets.

Today, Nu Skin operates in 48 worldwide markets with personal care products sold under the Nu Skin brand and nutritional supplements sold under the Pharmanex brand.

The Compensation Plan

Like several other MLM businesses, Nu Skin provides two ways to generate income: through retail markups on the sales of products bought at wholesale prices and also by sponsoring new reps or distributors into your team and receiving a residual from your team's income. The commission you receive from your team increases as you advance levels through qualification. Without going through the details, it's enough to say that it takes extreme commitment to climb the ranks in this particular MLM business. And another thing -- anyone on your team who manages to outsell you within a given period can then "break away" to establish their own team and you stop receiving income from that person.

The Verdict

For the inexperienced recruit, starting in NuSkin can seem like "survival of the fittest" in a small pond with some really big fish. That's usually the problem with an MLM business that has been around for so long. It probably has expanded to the rest of the world. After a few months, it becomes more and more difficult to find people who haven't heard of NuSkin and are willing to listen to you offer your business opportunity to them. Unless you've got the expertise to find and tap new markets consistently, you should look for other business opportunities. There are a lot out there so be sure you've considered all your other options.

There are definitely some amazing success stories from people who have signed onto NuSkin, but there are also quite a few horror stories of people who entered the program with more optimism than good sense and ended up regretting the decision.

Many people make the mistake of thinking a company's success will automatically rub off on them. Instead of imagining what it will be like if you manage to hurdle through all of the hoops to make it to the top levels, think about the marketing system each company uses. Ask yourself if there is a strong chance to replicate the same success that has led to substantial residual income for those who have come before you.

But if you're really serious about getting into Nu Skin and if you're really looking to expand your marketing efforts from a different angle, definitely take a look at the largest marketplace on the planet, the Internet. If you can figure out how to market to the 1.6 billion people on the web each and every day, you more than likely will skyrocket to the top of the leader boards of Nu Skin or any other MLM business you get involved with for that matter.