"MLM's" or Multilevel Marketing companies have been around for decades and for every 1 majorly successful one, there are about 10 others that bite the dust after just a few years in existence. MLM's get their popularity by providing individuals the opportunity to go into business for themselves and potentially escape the daily hustle of the 8-5pm lifestyle from overly critical and dysfunctional employers. In other words, MLM's such as Herbalife, Tupperware, Mary Kay, Amway, Avon, etc. all provide everyday individuals with the ability to sell a particular product and become entrepreneurs.
Before I get started, I'd like to make one thing very known. This is simply me sharing my personal experience in the MLM company-Herbalife International and in no way is intended to slander, blame or disrespect the company or it's distributors in anyway. Truth be told, I still hold many great memories in my time with the company and have publically told individuals when asked that I wouldn't change anything if I had to do it all over again because of everything that I was able to learn in the short 5 years with the company.
Without doing a complete retelling, my time within the weight management company known as Herbalife ran from 2012-2016. My wife Adrienne and I were blessed enough to have the opportunity to travel and truly learn the art of leadership and business management because of this company. But, after 5 successful years of helping hundreds of individuals achieve a healthier lifestyle and realize their potential as leaders and business owners, the gas started to run out. One day we were sitting VIP at Leadership Development conferences, making a respectable living, running fitness classes with over 100 individuals while speaking all about nutrition on stages surrounded by hundreds of individuals. So what happened? Why walk away from all of that?
For three simple reasons...
1. For being a person that preached wellness to people, I myself wasn't that healthy.
2. I simply wasn't having fun anymore with big brother constantly looming over me.
3. Changes were happening and the company was questioning several of my core values.
For further details, read below...
1. Like my good friend Uncle Ben (Spider-Man reference) would say, "with great power comes great responsibility." If there was one thing I noticed from being a former professional wrestler, it was this, God gave me a talent of being an incredibly charismatic individual. During a seminar or performing in a fitness class, gathering eyes
and the attention of the individuals in the room just came natural to me. But, when you know how to entertain crowds, you become heavily in demand and if there is one gift I do not have, it's the ability to say no to people. In my heart, I'm a people pleaser. So, with this increasing demand for my talents came with it a physical and mental strain on me. I began teaching multiple fitness classes daily for various distributor's around Central Florida anywhere from 6am to 7pm at night while jumping on conference calls, coaching my own clients, traveling to events midday and more. This would eventually lead me to question my adrenal health after attempting to get out of bed one morning and I physically didn't have the energy to move. Long story short-my stress hormones officially became overtaxed and shut my body down. It would eventually take me a solid year to recover from this.
2. Let me be up front and honest with everyone reading this, I have a humility issue (surprise). I guess it stems from having to grow up at such a young age and having to confront some troubling situations during my childhood. Now, I'll be the first to admit no one knows everything, even the greatest experts in any particular field. There is always something new to learn, but where I personally struggle is when I have physical data to backup the success of my respective methodologies and I feel like my bosses or colleagues are micromanaging me and in my opinion, showing their lack of faith or trust in me. This is how I felt towards my final two years with Herbalife. Everyone was succeeding, everyone was growing, everyone was winning the long game but for particular individuals that will remain nameless, I feel like they struggled with my team and I's success simply due to the fact that we had a different way of going about things and those different things were showing major growth that went completely against their more traditional business methods. After several years of disagreements with said individuals and one massively false accusation against me, that would lead to my breaking point with not wanting to associate my name and reputation with Herbalife International any longer.
3. With the FTC investigation against Herbalife came with it many changes to the overall structure of the company and how they managed their distributors. As frustrating as it was adjusting to these new business structures, I started to pay more attention to who the company was beginning to spotlight in their marketing material and hire to participate in their various nutritional training seminars. As many of you know, I'm a devoted Christian and as accepting as I am of individuals from various cultures and religious backgrounds, I simply couldn't sit by and watch as individuals I cared about were being taught very dangerous religious methodologies. My mindset was this, whatever you do or practice in your spare time is on you but don't come to a nutrition conference to talk about food and then begin to preach your cultish practices and try to convince business members how it's a beneficial practice. The final nail in the coffin came when in 2016, I was sitting in one of our monthly business seminars to actually see the guest speaker show an image on the big screen of their dying grandparent with a motivational quote on the image and then go on to say how great of a leader they are because that same day they still went to an Herbalife business event because they didn't want to "let down their team." This disgusted and enraged me to the point I walked out of the event and was very loudly letting every individual that was in close range of me to let them know how disgusting of an act this was. I would look at my wife and simply let her know this was the last Herbalife event we would ever be attending.
Commiting to a particular mission for 5 years and walking away was incredibly difficult, especially when you have no idea where your next paycheck is coming from. But, when you remain faithful, I truly believe amazing things can and will happen. And that's exactly what happened. It wasn't overnight, in fact, it was a good year before I saw the vision for what I truly wanted to achieve and the impact I wanted to create for this world.
The platform that I've used to share my message has always remained within the nutrition and fitness world. I truly believe that this is the platform that the Lord is calling me to be part of. Just this time, in a different manner. Since quitting Herbalife, I've become a certified Personal Trainer and Nutrition Coach and I carry those two certifications with great pride. My mission now is to use my God-given abilities to help spread practical and science backed education to the wellness community, and I truly believe that Taz Fitness has been leading the way in this area.
In conclusion, I would never bash MLM companies as a whole. There are several great companies out there that can inspire individuals to achieve something greater within themselves and I can really respect that. Without this particular MLM company, I probably would've never started in the health industry so if there is anything I owe back to Herbalife, it is that they pulled out of me my inner-entrepreneur that I never thought I had. Do I still believe the products are great, of course. But do I believe their business practices and nutrition philosophies are lacking severely, absolutely. This is why it's so important to hire a certified Nutrition Coach, someone that isn't simply trying to sell you a product but someone that is professionally trained and educated in the world of nutrition and knows how to build a customized protocol that is safe for you. For more information on our nutrition protocols and personalized training programs, we hope you would consider Taz Fitness for help.
"Coach Taz" aka Taylor Rodriguez is owner and head coach of Taz Fitness & Nutrition. He is a Personal Trainer & Nutrition Coach located in Deltona, FL that coaches individuals online and in person. Taylor was a former partying pro wrestler turned fitness enthusiast after the economic downturn of 2008-2010. After losing almost 70 lbs, his new passion is to help struggling individuals find a new confidence within themselves to achieve any goal that they see possible. To begin coaching with Taylor or to request a free consultation, contact us today.
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