Is Kyani An MLM? Pyramid Scheme? Or True Opportunity?

Hey, it’s Leo thanks for dropping by.

Ok right out of the gate here let me answer the question is Kyani a pyramid scheme? No not all.

Ok of its not a pyramid scheme, is Kyani an MLM? Yes it is. And as such they have a homebased business opportunity available to people.

And that’s what we’re going get into today. We’ll go into a little history of Kyani. We’ll cover the products. And of course, we’ll get into the business itself. We’ll talk about how you’re going to make money and build your business.

And I’m confident that by the time you’re done here you’ll have better idea as to whether or not this opportunity is going to be a good fit for.

And of course I chime in and tell you what I think.

Ok, let’s jump in.

Disclaimer: I am not a member or an affiliate of Kyani. All the information researched for this review is available online within the public domain. This review is my personal opinion and any recommendations/conclusions are my own which you may or may not agree with. What you decide to do after reading my review is up to you. You can see the full disclaimer here for more info.

Kyani – A Little History

Kyani, which means “strong medicine” in native Alaskan is a multi-level marketing company that sells health and wellness product. The company was founded 2005 by Kirk and Jim Hansen along with Carl Taylor after discovering the health benefits of superfoods such as Alaskan Wild Blueberry and Alaskan Sockeye Salmon.

And in 2006 they were open for business starting with their Sunrise and Sunset products. Jump forward to 2008 and Nitro FX gets added to their product line. In that same year Kyäni expands into 4 Asian markets.

2009 has their headquarters in downtown Idaho Falls. And at the same time, they expand into Sweden. It’s in 2010 that Kyani introduces their Global compensation plan offering their business opportunity to the world.

2001 adds another product to the Nitro product line – Nitro Xtreme. By 2012 Kyani has added 11 new countries in which it operates. In 2014 they introduce Potato Pak to help undernourished children and families around the world.

2019 bring a few more products – called HL5 and FIT20. Which is grass feed hydrolyzed collagen. 2020 bring more products Kyäni ON: Optimized Nootropics that supports mental focus and brain health. And Kyäni Core140+ a meal replacement shake.

Ok, now that you know a little more about Kyani let’s take a closer look at their products

The Products

If you’re going to get into this business you need to know what you’re selling right? As mentioned on their website all of their product ingredients are wild and organically sourced superfoods.

Just a heads up you will find some of the same products listed in more than one category.

Digestive Health – USA

Here you’ll find products that are designed to help support your digestion.

• Restore – A probiotic blend designed to help your digestion function – $36.95

All the products listed below are a different combination of products all part of their Nitro Nutrition Program.

• Plant Based Nitro Nutrition Go Bundle (w/Origin) – $247.95
• Whey/Collagen Nitro Nutrition Go Bundle (w/FIT20) – $247.95
• Whey/Collagen Nitro Nutrition Plus Bundle (w/FIT20) – $362.95
• Plant Based Nitro Nutrition Plus Bundle (w/Origin) – $362.95
• Whey/Collagen Nitro Nutrition Pro Bundle (w/FIT20) – $467.95
• Plant Based Nitro Nutrition Pro Bundle (w/Origin) – – $467.95

Triangle of Health

This is their 3 step system to help provide your body get the nutrition it needs.

Kyani Triangle of Health Pack – $129.95

• Sunrise – This is a blend of concentrated vitamins and minerals
• Sunset – All-natural Tocotrienols & Omega-3s
• Nitro FX – This helps your body’s ability to produce nitric oxide

They also have a Couples Kyani Triangle of Health Pack for $234.95.

You can purchase Sunrise, Sunset and Nitro FX individually. Plus, you’ll also find different combination packs and bundles available as well.

Nitro Nutrition

Here you’ll find Plant-Based Protein Bundles and Whey/Collagen-Based Bundles. These are the same bundles found listed in the Digestive Health – USA category.

Wellness Solution Bundles

Active Living Bundle – $329.95

• 1 box of Sunrise
• 1 bottle of Sunset
• 1 bottle of Nitro Xtreme Pomegranate
• 2 bags of Core 140+
• 3 boxes of FIT20 Performance Protein

Weight Management Bundle – $329.95

• 1 box of Sunrise
• 1 bottle of Sunset
• 1 bottle of Nitro Xtreme Pomegranate
• 4 bags of Core

Well-Being/Healthy Aging Bundle – Berry Lemonade – $211.95

• 1 box of Kyäni Sunrise
• 1 bottle of Kyäni Sunset
• 1 bottle of Nitro Xtreme Pomegranate
• 1 box of HL5 – Berry Lemonade

Proteins & Shakes

Here you’ll find products to help with protein and collagen support. You’ll find their Origin plant based protien shakes. As well as other Whey/Collagen bundles. They even have Chocolate.

Energy / Nootropics

These products are designed to give you energy with a focused mind.

• Kyani ON – Mountain Berry – $26.95
• Kyani ON – Peach Mango – $26.95

The Cost Of Getting Started

To get started you will need to have a sponsors ID. If you have that then you’re good to go.

Now since I don’t have a sponsor ID I could not get past the first stages of joining to find out he cost of getting started.

So, I did some research and the following information regarding the cost of joining has been gathered from other online sources.

At a minimum you will need to buy a business kit for $89.00. This kit contains training brochures regarding network marketing (MLM) and how to market the products and recruit others. There are no products included in this kit.

Form there you have choice of 3 other kits that do contain products.

1. Business Pack = $399
2. Business Builder Pack = $599
3. Business Premium Pack = $1,299

There is also an annual fee of $20.00.

The Making Money Part – The Compensation Plan

When you own and operate your own business like I do. Making money is pretty straight forward. But not with an MLM company.

The compensation plans can be very complicated to understand. Plus, you must meet certain monthly qualifications in order to be eligible to earn commissions.

You can view their compensation plan here. Below is a quick overview of their plan.

With this plan you have Genealogy Trees, Sponsor Tree and a Placement Tree.

The Genealogy Tree tracks the relationships between all the Independent Business Partners in Kyani.

The Sponsor Tree is everyone you personally enroll is positioned directly under you on your first level. And then anyone you have personally sponsored that sponsors someone will go on their first level. And so on and so on.

The Placement Tree allows you to place your personally sponsored business partners anywhere you want in your downline.

Qualification Requirements

In this plan there are 2 levels of qualification.

1QV (qualifying volume). Here you’re considered a distributor and are eligible for weekly bonuses.

The second qualification level is at 100QV per month. And at this level you’re considered a qualified distributor and you are eligible for all the bonuses. The ranks within their compensation plan are based on the QV from the placement tree.

This 100QV will cost you on average $100 or more per month if you don’t make enough sales to meet this 100QV minimum requirement.

Here’s their ranking chart using the placement tree QV.

Retail Profit Bonus

Retail profits are pretty straightforward anytime you sell the product to a registered customer you’re going to make the difference between the wholesale price and the selling price. These profits will be paid to you weekly. And in order to qualify for this bonus you must have a Paid-As Rank of Distributor.

Prime Bonus

Every time a customer enrolls in a Prime membership you as the business partner will receive a bonus.

Customer Builder Bonus

You’ll receive a bonus every month your customers have a combined QV of 750, 2500, or 5000. And you can only earn one bonus level per month.

Independent Business Partner Bonuses

Team Bonus

When someone in your downline enrolls a new team member, you may be eligible to receive the Differential Team Bonus. This bonus is calculated using the Sponsor Tree.

And is paid dependent on your rank, the starter pack your new enrollee buys as well as the rank of the business partners between you and the enrollment.

Fast Start Bonus

If you achieve the rank of Jade within your first 31 days you will receive a $200 bonus.

Reach Pearl or above within your first 31 days you will receive a $500 bonus.

Reach Sapphire or above within your first 31 days you will receive a $500 bonus. And if you maintain this rank for the following month you’ll be eligible for an extra $1000 down
payment for the Sapphire Car Program.

Power Play

To earn this bonus, you must have three personally sponsored Business Partners, each with a minimum of 100 QV, and three personally enrolled customers with a combined total of 150 QV or more within a calendar month. You must be a Qualified Distributor or higher to qualify for this bonus.

Kyani PayGate Accumulator

This bonus is calculated on the monthly CV (Commissionable Volume) generated in your Placement Tree.

Generation Check Match

Once you reach Sapphire or higher in rank. You can earn a percentage of every PayGate payout from independent business partners in your sponsor tree downline up to 9 generations deep.

Leadership Bonuses

Diamond Pool 

Once you reach Diamond rank or higher you can share in the Diamond Pool. 1.5% of all Global CV (commissionable volume) every month is put into this Diamond Pool.

• Diamond 1 Share
• Blue Diamond 2 Shares
• Green Diamond 4 Shares
• Purple Diamond 8 Shares
• Red Diamond 8 Shares
• Double Red Diamond 8 Shares
• Black Diamond 8 Shares
• Double Black Diamond 8 Shares

Red Diamond Pool

Once you reach the rank of Red Diamond or higher you can share in the Diamond Pool. 0.5% of all Global CV (commissionable volume) every month is put into this Diamond Pool.

• Red Diamond 1 Share
• Double Red Diamond 2 Shares
• Black Diamond 2 Shares
• Double Black Diamond 2 Shares

Infinity Bonus

Once you reach Black Diamond and/or Double Black Diamond you’ll be paid 1% on all the CV in your sponsor downline. If there is another Black Diamond or Double Black Diamond or higher in your sponsor tree. This Infinity bonus is reduced by half.

Dream Car Program

Ranks Sapphire or higher are eligible for the dream car program. There are 5 tiers to this program which can reach a monthly payment as high as $10,000.

Trips

There are incentive trips available. These trips vary by market.

Can You Make Money With Kyäni?

With any MLM business opportunity you do have the chance of making money. But it’s not going to be life changing money for the majority of people.

Now Kyäni does provide an income disclosure statement. But it must be noted this is a global income disclosure statement representing all 54 countries they operated in as of 2019.

So, keep that in mind when looking at this statement. Because if you live in the USA you’re not getting a true representation of what the actually earning are of consultants in the USA.

As you can see the average median monthly income shows that 70.4% of all distributors earn less than $470.00. per month.

Now this is the gross income number. This does not take into account the money business partners are spending each month to stay active and build their business.

To stay active, you must have at least 100 MQV (Member Qualifying Volume). So, these monthly incomes are lower by at least $100.00 per month.

Now there’s one other thing I want you to note at the top of this income disclosure statement. They also have the average earning of Business Partners in the first 2 years.

This is the number that really caught my attention. If you notice in the first 2 years the top 50% of Business Partners earned a whopping $44.00.

What Are People Saying About Kyani?

No company is without it’s unhappy customers/distributors. Go to the Better Business Bureau website and you see many complaints about Kyani both from distributors and customers.

I also found that back in 2017 a class action lawsuit was filed against Kyani along with its CEO and 100 unknown co-conspirators claiming they are running a pyramid scheme.
Source: Truth In Advertising

This is information you need to include into your over decision making when it comes to this business opportunity.

What Training Can You Expect?

Your training is going to come from the tools available in your Kyani replicated websites back office. As well as mentoring from the person that sponsored you or any other leader in your team.

The Upside Of Kyani 

#1) Legitimate Business

Kyani does have a legitimate homebased business opportunity for anyone who’s interested

#2) Consumable Product Line

Being consumable products this gives you the opportunity to have customers ordering from you on a regular basis.

#3) Caring Hands Foundation

Their caring hands foundation has been helping children in with nutrition, education and sanitation since 2010.

#4) Established Company

Kyani has been around since 2005. Which is great because many MLM companies go out of business within 5 years.

#5) BBB Accredited

Kyani has been accredited with the Better Business Bureau since 2006 and the currently hold an A+ rating.

The Downside Of Kyani

#1) Sales And Recruiting

Unless you have exceptional sales and recruiting skills or are willing to develop them your business will never see the success you want it to.

#2) Competition

The health and wellness market is very crowded. Besides the hundreds of other MLM companies in this space.

You’re competing with retail and online stores selling similar products offering the same results.

#3) Expensive Products

Not only are you in competitive market,  your selling expensive products.  People want the best bang for their buck.

And with so many alternatives that offer the same results and costing less. I see selling this over priced products as an uphill battle.

#4) Low Success

This is a story you’ll hear over and over again You’re sold on the dream of financial freedom. And  everything you can do with all the money you can make.

And the reality is 99% of people involved with MLM never make any significant money. In fact, the majority of people lose more than they ever make.

#5) Monthly Qualifications

In order to qualify to earn commissions you need to meet the minimum 100QV every month.

So, if you’re not making sales you’re going to be spending at least $100 a month to stay qualified.

Only in MLM do they have these idiotic qualifications.  No other business model has this.

And it’s because of monthly qualifications like this that put people in debt. They figure if they hang in there long enough they can make enough money to cover things and then move on to make even more money.

Unfortunately, that rarely happens and people end up in more debt after quitting MLM then they were before they got sucked into one.

Here’s My 2 Cents About Kyani

No matter how I look at this. This is just another MLM in the super competitive health and wellness market selling overpriced products. And telling people their products are better than anyone else’s and because of that there is a golden homebased business opportunity.

And that’s so far from the truth.

Sure, they have quality products, I don’t deny that. But they are overpriced. And the reason they are is they need that extra margin so they can payout on their compensation plan. It has nothing to do with their products.

Now you’re in business trying to sell overpriced products, products that customers can find that offer the same results for less money. So, there’s your first major challenge.

Next you have to constantly recruit people in order to build your downline so you can climb the ranks so you earn those bonuses. Major challenge number 2.

All the while having to meet a monthly sales minimum in order to qualify for commissions. And if you don’t meet that monthly minimum to stay qualified you’re going to have spend at least $100 on products each month until you start making money.

Which for 99% of people that get into MLM, that never happens. Most people will lose money.

Now really, does that sound like a great business opportunity? Be honest.

Now I am speaking from experience. I too was sucked into an MLM many years ago. And like millions of people before me I busted my ass, I did what I was taught and after year of doing that and seeing no real results. I made the best decision of my life and I quit that business.

Just wish I did it 6 months sooner. But like so many other people I thought if I hung in there and worked harder things would turn around. And of course, they never did.

Now you may have what it takes and be in the 1% that actually makes money in MLM. And if you feel you have the killer sales and recruiting skills to make this business work. Then go for it, and I wish you all the best.

But as for me every time someone reaches out and asks my opinion about any MLM. I tell people to run far and run fast from any MLM opportunity. It’s just a recipe for failure.

And of course, at this point I’m asked how I make money online. And I tell them. I’m an Affiliate Marketer. And have happily been making a full time online income as one since 2005.

Honestly it’s the only business model I recommend to anyone who’s interested in building a business that they own and control 100%. Unlike an MLM where you don’t.

If you want to learn exactly how you can build your own thriving online affiliate marketing business follow the same 4 simple steps I’m using. You can do that here.

Thanks for dropping by. I hope my review gave you a better idea of what this opportunity has to offer. And I hope it’s helps you with your decision making.

I believe in you!
Leo