Usana Health Sciences has become a very large and well-known health and wellness network marketing company They offer a variety of healthy self-care and home-care products, as well as an income opportunity if a person becomes a distributor and sells their products.

However, there are some very real concerns and issues about starting or participating in a Usana business. In this article, I will provide and unbiased review of the pros and cons of developing a Usana business, and see if we can find out whether Usana is a great opportunity – or a great scam.

Usana was founded by Dr. Myron Wentz, a microbiologist and immunologist. Dr. Wentz began Gull Laboratories in 1974, and built it from a one-man operation to a leading provider of viral diagnostic tools . In 1992, Wentz sold his stake in Gull Labs and began Usana with the hope of preventing disease, not just treating disease. Today they offer a line of high-quality supplements and personal care items.

For distributors, Usana pays out with a binary compensation plan, where a representative builds a left-side and a right-side simultaneously. One of the good things about their compensation plan is the fact there is no monthly group volume requirements. Commissions are earned based on group sale volume (GSV).

Another big pro about beginning a Usana business is the need – currently, the demand for products that might help in the prevention of disease is huge. With the current marketing trends being what they are, you can sell just about anything that has “anti-oxidant” written on it.

Usana is a network marketin company, which simply means that a distributor can go join and build a downline, and grow a distribution channel. The first flag that we noted was that Usana encourages their distributors to purchase business opportunity leads (or bizop leads) to grow your organization. The problem with opportunity-seeking leads is that nine times out of ten, they are not really looking for an opportunity. In fact, the way that many opportunity leads are gathered is rather misleading. The process works like this: you are out surfing the web, looking at different sites, and you suddenly see a pop-up ad to win a free toaster if you take a quick survey. If you take that survey, you will be asked to submit your name and phone number to get your free toaster. The minute you fill out that form, you actually become an opportunity-seeking lead.

For people that have used opportunity leads before, this would explain why so many times when they contact the lead, they have no idea how they got put on an opportunity-seeking list. Also, these types of lead lists are sold and re-sold multiple times, so that when you get around to contacting the lead, they have already talked to eight different people with a “huge business opportunity”.

The reason that so many network marketing businesses have such a bad reputation is due to many of the ineffective marketing techniques new distributors are taught to grow their downlines. The sad thing about growing a Usana business is that if the distributor does not want to use opportunity leads, they are encouraged to go after their “warm market” or their friends and family. They are told to hand out free product samples, business cards, brochures and flyers, and if the distributor ever becomes discouraged, they are simply told to “stay motivated”.

The fact is, someone could absolutely make tons of money marketing health and wellness products – if they know how to market effectively. Trying to build a six-figure income on the backs of friends, family, and work associates is more than just a tough sell – in this day and age of skepticism and scams, most people have been pitched on making money with network marketing, and they do not want to be approached by their family members for income opportunities.

In closing, I would say that starting and developing a Usana business is lucrative if someone knows how to market effectively. It is not a scam, but like any business, success will be determined by the skill-set of the marketer. The potential to grow a huge business is there, just not with outdated marketing techniques.

If someone does not have the first clue on how to market effectively, then I would suggest they either learn how to be an effective marketer, or else just use the products and leave it at that.