People have been confused about what Usborne Books really is. Is it a pyramid scheme? Is it a Multi-level Marketing Company? What is the difference?
This review will clarify that for you. Usborne Books, also known as Usborne Publishing is a company that sells books for 0years old to young adults.
Their products have different features that will entertain most youngsters and encourage parents to buy their kids these books.
That is a common way for MLM companies to garner more people in buying their products. Yes, I just called Usborne Books as an MLM company.
It is in a way an MLM company since it not only encourages people to buy their products but they also recruit people so they can earn more money.
That is the basic structure of an MLM company, to recruit more people to earn more money. This pattern can be seen with Usborne Books if you dive deeper.
So before you decide to enter their business opportunity, read this review to see if you can earn with Usborne Books and how much you can earn.
This review will discuss how Usborne Books work and how they compensate their distributors, or as the company calls them, consultants.
We will also try and explain all the complicated aspects of MLM companies especially their Compensation Plans.
Table of Contents
Background Check
Founded in 1973, Usborne Books or Usborne Publishing is a publishing company that sells books that cater toddlers up to young adults.
The company is based in the United Kingdom and was founded by owner Peter Usborne. It is currently based in the United Kingdom but they do sell in other countries.
In 1989, they started expanding in the United States and their base is found in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
What is Usborne Books?
Usborne Books is a publishing company that sells books for kids aged 0 years old to young adults. They also have services that help schools and libraries.
It cannot be considered as a scam since they have legit products to sell. Although they recruit other people so they can earn more money.
With more sellers or consultants, they make more money especially those with higher positions.
Usborne Books is a part of a larger company called Education Development Corporation which is a part of the Direct Selling Association.
Since their opening in the US, they have garnered multiple awards for their amazing performances.
They were included a couple of times on the list for the Top 200 Small Businesses in America by Forbes Magazine. Also, three times in the fastest growing business in America by the same magazine.
It has been a very good run for Usborne Books and they are not looking to slow down in the near future. They are estimated to earn $120 million in annual revenue around the world.
Usborne Books Product Line
As an MLM company, you have to sell a legit product. For Usborne Books, it is obviously books that cater kids up to young adults.
They sell different books that you would expect to entertain most kids and some teens. there are gimmicks that they put into their products so they become unique.
One of their best-selling books is their non-fiction including the “Shine-A-Light” books that require the readers to use a flashlight in order to read the books.
Their target is to sell books in schools, libraries, and individuals, of course. They also offer services for schools and libraries.
Their website, where you will find all their books, is very easy to navigate. They have programmed the website so all you need to do is select what is best for your kids.
You can navigate the website first by selecting the age you prefer:
0 to 2 years old
3 to 5 years old
5 to 7 years old
7 to 11 years old
11 to 13 years old
Young adult
You can then proceed to select the type of book that you would want your kid to read. You can select different categories that your kid would like.
They have both fiction and non-fiction books. You can see the list here:
Beginners
Classics Retold
Discover
Fabulous Fiction
Flipbooks
Spanish
Phonics Readers
True Stories
Puzzle Adventures
First Thousand Words
Touchy Feely
Usborne Reading Program
There are other books that Usborne Books published. In fact, they have published over 3,000 books since their very first year.
With 35 writers and 50 book designers, you would not be surprised by the feat they have achieved. They also have around 250 people under staff, accounting, marketing, and the like.
How can you earn money with Usborne Books?
So there are a few ways to earn money with Usborne Books but most of them are attained if you have higher ranks.
The same goes for every MLM company, meaning you have to earn your position first if you really want to make good money with companies like Usborne Books.
First, is Selling Products
As a consultant, your primary job is to sell books to individuals, libraries, and schools. Only the three are your customers, you cannot sell Usborne books to a bookstore as per their disclosure.
Usborne Books gives their consultants an average of 25% commission which means that if you join them as a consultant, you need to sell $100 worth of books to earn $25.
You can sell products via a website or you can find other ways to gather more people such as Usborne’s own book fairs where you get a 17% commission for every book you have sold.
Team Leader
In order for you to become a team leader, you need to make a personal sale worth $1,000 which you are required to attain two months prior to the date of the promotion.
This is not an easy job to do. Considering the math of it, with Usborne’s books averaging at $15, you have to sell 250 books within those two months.
Come to think of it, children’s books are not always on popular demand compared to beauty and health products.
That is just personal sales though. Your team needs to gather $2,759 worth of sales two months before the promotion as well.
That is why you need to gather and recruit more people to work in your downline. The good thing about Usborne Books is that they do not allow you to just earn money from your downline.
Although in some ways, you do earn money from them, unlike other MLM companies, you still need to attain personal goals before you can earn money from your recruits.
However, this is not an easy road for you if you join Usborne Books. In order to be promoted, you are also required to recruit 3 consultants that are earning $500 each.
In addition to that, you need to recruit 3 “success-bound recruits” so your promotion will be finalized.
When you and one of your recruits earn a Team Leader rank, you share what they call a “Promote Out Bonus” where you share $250 fro your promotion.
Senior Leader
The same requirements as the Team Leader are to be attained if you want to become a Senior Leader.
The difference is that you should have at least three Team Leaders in your downline. One second-level Team Leader, and two first-level Team Leaders.
If one of your Team Leaders gets promoted as a Senior leader, you earn a $500 Promote Out Bonus.
Executive Leader
The initial requirements are still the same as that of a Team Leader promotion. The additional requirements are 1 third-level Team Leader, 1 second-level Team Leader, and 3 first-level Team Leaders.
You earn $500 as a Promote Out Bonus if one of your Team Leaders gets promoted.
Director
The same requirements as the Team Leader. Additional requirements are 1 Executive Team Leader and 6 first-level Team Leaders in your downline.
If one of the people in your downline is promoted to a Director as well, you will earn $1,000 as a Promote Out Bonus.
How can you join Usborne Books?
In case you still want to join Usborne Books, here is how.
If you just want to be a consultant and sell books to individuals, then you can either choose to purchase a mini kit that costs $75 or a full kit which costs $125.
As a consultant, you will be required to give away prizes and discounts from your kit so that you can garner more customers.
If you want to sell books or services in schools and libraries, you need to pay $150 for your background check, supplies, and training.
You are not required to sell books in libraries and schools but you are somehow forced since these are the places where you will find the most readers that are interested in your products.
What I like about Usborne Books (Pros)
1. Great books
They sell great books with high-end quality because of their amazing staff that includes writers, book designers, and marketing personnel.
The books have received great reviews from various customers which only goes to show that they really value their craft in writing and making children’s books.
2. The company has a good rating
Usborne Books have received various praise from people and their hard work has really paid off with the company earning hundreds of millions of dollars yearly.
They have also been included in Forbes Magazine for different reasons. Usborne Books also has an A+ Rating in BBB, the highest rating they give.
Why I don’t like Usborne Books (Cons)
- Bad Customer Service
While their books are great, Usborne Books’ customer support and service are not.
There have been a lot of bad reviews about how Usborne Books do not respond accordingly to customers’ requests.
Expensive Startup Cost
Compared to some MLM companies. $125 is not that big but for a book company, $125 is too much of a startup.
You are also required to give other customers a discount or some prizes from the kit that you have purchased which is not worth it.
Bulky Inventory
Since you need to travel and sell the physical books to a customer, you need to carry them around and books are not light.
Compared to some that just advertise online and make a delivery. You can do that but would you rather pay for an additional delivery fee?
Should you join Usborne Books?
Save yourself and your money by not joining Usborne Books. You are better off looking for other opportunities instead of an MLM.
First, there is a very low success rate in MLM companies and only 1% of the people who join businesses with MLM companies succeed leaving the rest with failed businesses.
The money in MLMs flows upwards and it would take a lot of time, effort, and money in order for you to go to a higher rank.
You are forced to recruit other people and you are most likely to approach your closest friends. You risk losing your money and your relationship from your loved ones.
Conclusion
The first thing that you have to do is to always check if you are about to enter an MLM company and the next one is to avoid them at all times.
If you join an MLM company, you only risk losing your own money and even damage relationships between you and your family or friends.
Look for other opportunities on the internet and you will find better ways to make money online.
One example is Wealthy Affiliate which is a kind of Affiliate Marketing.
Wealthy Affiliate helps you determine what you need in your online business and helps you create the perfect website that will give you the most potential to earn money online.
See, if you join Wealthy Affiliate, you will have the chance to learn the basics of the internet. Something that MLM companies would never teach you.
Their training only gives you a gist of what business can be but they do not give you enough information about the internet and how the business will work online.
Wealthy Affiliate teaches you everything that you need to know in online business. That is both online and business for you to make passive income from the internet.
In MLM companies, you need to invest almost all your time and effort plus a lot of money to startup your business. That is not the thing with Wealthy Affiliate.
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With a step-by-step lesson plan, you will learn how to make a good website at first while improving day by day.
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