Is HB Naturals a Scam or Legitimate MLM Business Opportunity? [Full Review]

HB Naturals is a multilevel marketing company that sells health supplements and hemp derived CBD (Cannabidiol) oil.

CBD has become increasingly popular over the past few years as a “natural remedy” for stuff like anxiety, improving cognition, movement disorders and pain.

It’s especially popular in the United States. Which is largely thanks to the 2018 the Farm Bill that legalized the production and sale of hemp extracts in the US.

Here’s a chart from Google Trends to show you how popular CBD oil has become:

So it appears as though Heart & Body Naturals, like many other network marketing companies, is looking to cash in on this trend.

Good for them. But does that mean you should rush out and join?

Not necessarily.

In this review, I’ll walk you through the company, its products and compensation plan, to help you make a more informed decision either way.

FAQ

1.) What does HB Naturals sell? HB Naturals sells CBD oil and other health supplements for the mind, body and soul. Supplements which were formulated by Alexandria Brighton, who refers to them as the “original Healing Trilogy”.

2.) Who’s running the show? HB Naturals, LLC was founded in 2018 by Paula Scarcella, Ben Scarcella and Alexandria Brighton. Paula Scarcella is also the founder of Green Organics, LLC which is HB Naturals parent company.

3.) How much does it cost to become a consultant? There is no cost to become a consultant. But in order to earn from most of the compensation plan, you’ll need to sell (and in some cases purchase) some products each month.

4.) Is HB Naturals a scam or pyramid scheme? No, this is a real company that sells real products. And just because it’s an MLM company doesn’t automatically make it a scam or pyramid scheme. You can learn more about pyramid schemes here.

5.) BBB rating? HB Naturals, LLC has an F rating with the BBB.

6.) Comparable companies: HempWorx, Kannaway, My Daily Choice, CTFO.

Read on for the full review.

Company Overview

HB Naturals is headquartered in Kentucky, and was founded in late 2018 by co-founders Ben Scarcella, Paula Scarcella and Alexandria Brighton.

Paula Scarcella is the CEO. She has decades of experience in the network marketing and founded HB Natural’s parent company, Green Organics, LLC. She also runs another “health and wellness” MLM called goDesana, which isn’t very well known.

Alexandria Brighton is the woman who formulates the company’s products. She has over three decades of experience with natural remedies and owns the Brighton Institute of Botanical Studies. She’s basically a “natural health guru” of sorts.

According to the company website, their main purpose is to share “synergistic Healing Trilogy products” with the world:

Heart & Body Naturals was launched with one simple purpose; sharing the synergistic Healing Trilogy products formulated with the healing power of plants provided by our creator.

www.hbnaturals.com

And the way they “share” these products with the world, is through the multilevel marketing (MLM) business model.

Which means that instead of selling through traditional retail outlets, they leverage their network of independent consultants to move their products.

Consultants are basically the “front line sales people” who sell this stuff and who recruit others into the business opportunity itself.

This is a legitimate business model and it can be lucrative for some consultants. But more often than not, people end up earning very little profit.

Either way, if you want to be successful, you need to be selling products that represent good value for money. And you need a compensation plan that is both lucrative and ethical.

Is that the case with HB Naturals?

Read on.

Products

HB Naturals sells natural health and wellness products. Everything from hemp oil and pet products, to superfoods and personal care products.

There are dozens of individual products on offer, within the following main categories:

• Hemp Herbals (hemp derived CBD oil)
• Super Foods (powder supplements)
• Coffee
• Pet Products
• Biomineral supplements
• Weight loss supplements
• Personal Care (hair, skin etc)
• Essential Oils

From what I can gather, their most popular products are the “Hemp Herbals” and “Super Foods”. So I’m going to focus my attention on these going forward.

Hemp Herbals

The “Hemp Herbal” product line is made up of full spectrum hemp extract oil that comes in different flavors and sizes.

Hemp extract oil is derived from the flower, stalk and leaf of the hemp plant. It won’t get you high, but it does contain CBD oil. Which some people use for therapeutic purposes.

Is it worth the money?

Well, let me start by saying that it’s a high quality product overall. These oils are made from Kentucky grown, organic GMO free hemp. And it’s a full spectrum plant extract, which preserves all of the natural qualities and potential benefits of the plant.

They also provide 3rd part lab testing results on SOME of their other CBD oils. And you can find the lab results on the official Hemp Herbals website.

With that being said…

This is definitely more expensive than some competitors with very well established, trusted brands in the market. And I struggle to see why. Other than the fact that they use a “proprietary Low-Heat Bio-Availability Enhancement (L-HBE) process” to manufacture it.

Here’s a quick comparison against competing brands, to show you what I’m talking about.

Charlotte’s Web Original Formula (30ml bottle):

• Retail price: $149.99
• Hemp extract: approx. 2580mg
• CBD content: 1500mg
• Price per mg of CBD: 10 cents

CBDistillery Full Spectrum CBD Oil (30ml bottle):

• Retail price: $130
• CBD content: 2500mg
• Price per mg of CBD: 5 cents

HB Naturals 1,000mg (30ml bottle):

• Retail price: $129.95 ($123.45 on auto-ship)
• CBD content: 1148mg
• Price per mg of CBD: 11 cents

As you can see, HB Naturals is more expensive on a “per milligram of CBD” basis.

If you want to further your research and compare other CBD brands with HB Naturals, you might find this list of top brand CBD oils helpful.

Other than price, another interesting thing I found was that HB Naturals don’t disclose how many milligrams of CBD there are within their flagship Elite and Entourage hemp extract oils. They tell you how many milligrams of “hemp extract” there are within each bottle, but not the CBD content.

Which in my opinion is odd.

Because even though the terms CBD oil and hemp extract oil are often used interchangeably, they are not automatically the same thing.

CBD comes from hemp extract oil, so there’s obviously some level of CBD present within each bottle. But 1mg of “hemp extract” does not equal 1mg of CBD.

For example, the same bottle of Charlotte’s Web I showed you earlier, contains roughly 2580mg of hemp extract in the 30ml bottle, and 1500mg of CBD. So it’s not a 1:1 ratio.

I think this is a bit odd and could potentially hinder retail sales. Because the CBD content is one of the MAIN things people look for when purchasing hemp oil.

Super Foods

The “Super Food” product line consists of supplement powders you add to your water or juice. The main ones are Mind, Body, Soul and Nourish which are designed to help you achieve optimal health in different ways.

Here’s an overview of their flagship supplement powders:

• Mind: $49.95
• Body: $49.95
• Soul: $49.95
• Nourish: $29.95

These powders contain superfoods, vitamins and minerals to boost cognition, reduce inflammation, improve kidney and liver health and improve your overall health and well being.

These are a lot more unique to HB Naturals than their hemp extract oils. So comparing these to other products is more difficult.

I guess the best way to know for sure is to do your own research and maybe try some out. You can actually trial the “Healing Trilogy” products for 7 days, at a cost of just $25. Which might be worthwhile before making any longer term decisions.

Compensation Plan (AKA Incentive Plan)

One thing that stood out to me with HB Naturals, is they don’t hold back on providing the full details of their compensation plan on their website.

They provide a video, overview, short and long version of their incentive plan. Which is more than what most MLM companies provide.

They also provide an income disclosure from the get go, even though it shows that most consultants only earn $500 to $2,000 per year.

My point- they are being fairly transparent here, which is a good thing.

Anyways, in this section I’m going to walk you through the compensation plan. So you know the different ways you can earn.

Here’s the video overview from the company itself if you don’t feel like reading:

Getting Started

Heart and Body Naturals have a free membership option that allows you to earn a 20% Fast Start Bonus (more on this below). So it is free to join and start earning.

However, if you want to take part in any other aspect of the compensation plan, you’ll need to meet certain requirements.

Specifically, you’ll need to stay “active” and commission qualified. Which means you need to maintain 25 PSV each month and recruit one person who does the same.

PSV stands for Personal Sales Volume and it’s made up of your own purchases and any direct sales you make. Exactly what “25 PSV” equates to in dollars, is not clear.

Beyond this minimum requirement, you will need to achieve certain “ranks” and sales volume requirements, to take full advantage of the compensation plan. The higher your rank and the more sales you and your team make, the more money you’ll earn.

Consultant Ranks

There are 11 consultant ranks within the HB Naturals incentive plan:

• Consultant
• Executive Consultant
• Bronze Consultant
• Silver Consultant
• Gold Consultant
• Platinum Consultant
• Pearl Consultant
• Sapphire Consultant
• Ruby Consultant
• Emerald Consultant
• Diamond Consultant

7 Ways You Can Earn Money

There are 7 main ways you can earn as a HB Naturals consultant:

1. 50% Retail Customer Bonus
2. Fast Start Bonus
3. STAR Bonus
4. Matrix Commissions
5. Binary Commissions
6. Binary Match Commissions
7. Rank Advancement Bonus

1. 50% Retail Customer Bonus

The Retail Customer Bonus pays out 50% of the CV (commission volume) of every product you personally sell.

The way this works is fairly simple. The company gives you a replicated website, and when someone buys a product through your link, you earn a commission.

It’s not a 50% commission though.

It’s 50% of the CV. And the CV of a given product depends on the product.

For example: the 1000mg bottle of CBD oil I showed you earlier costs $129.95 and has 100 CV attached to it. Meaning you would earn 50% of 100 CV, which is $50.

This is actually VERY good for a physical product. Most companies pay less than 10% on physical product sales. So there’s obviously a big profit margin here.

2. Fast Start Bonus

The Fast Start Bonus pays 20% commissions on any orders your personal referrals make in their first 90 days.

This boosts up to 30% when you purchase a Value Pack ($245 to $429.95) and maintain 100 CV auto-ship order each month.

3. STAR Bonus

When you buy 100 PV worth of product for the month and refer two others who do the same, you’ll earn a $50 “1st Generation” STAR bonus.

When those referrals refer people who buy 100 PV worth of product for the month, you’ll earn a $75 “2nd Generation” STAR bonus.

And when these referrals refer people who buy 100 PV worth of product for the month, you’ll earn a $100 “3rd Generation” STAR bonus.

There’s no limit to how many of these bonuses you can earn.

4. Matrix Commissions

HB Naturals uses a 2×17 matrix that pays out $0.25 to $1 on any orders of 50 CV and above. A 2×17 matrix is a downline that only ever places two people directly under each affiliate, 17 levels deep.

The higher your rank, the more levels you can earn on and thus the more money you can make within this income stream.

5. Binary Bonus

This works on a binary downline system. A binary downline places you at the top, and two of your direct referrals under you. Who each represent a different “leg” (left and right).

Each time both legs accumulate 200 CV, you earn a 4-12% commission. The exact percent you earn, depends on how much PSV you have accumulated at the time this bonus is calculated.

6. Binary Match Commissions

Bronze consultants and above can earn a 5-50% “match” bonus on whatever their team earns in Binary Bonus commissions.

The exact amount you can earn depends on your rank and how much your team earns in Binary Bonus commissions.

For example: a Bronze consultant earns 10% of whatever their Generation 1 referrals earn in Binary Bonus commissions. Whereas a Diamond consultant earns 50% on Generation 1 and 5% on Generations 2-7.

7. Rank Advancement Bonus

Pearl Consultants and above are eligible to earn $5,000 to $100,000 rank advancement bonuses when they advance in rank.

Here’s a quick breakdown of each bonus:

• Pearl Consultant: $5k
• Sapphire Consultant: $10k
• Ruby Consultant: $25k
• Emerald Consultant: $50k
• Diamond Consultant: $100k

These payments are broken down into 10 monthly payments, so you need to maintain this rank for 10 months to reap the full rewards.

What I Like

• High retail commissions
• You can earn as a free member
• The CBD niche is full of potential
• Products appear to be of a high quality
• Overall transparency with respects to the compensation plan and income disclosure
• 3rd party lab testing on most CBD products (except Elite and Entourage)

What I Don’t Like

• Their CBD oil is on the expensive side
• BBB issued an alert about some alleged health claims on their site
• Do not disclose CBD content within some of their main hemp extract oils
• I’m not a fan of MLM in general (for several reasons)

Conclusion

HB Naturals is not a scam. It’s a real company that sells real products, and it is possible to earn money as a consultant. Potentially a lot of money if you can build a big enough team.

I personally love the CBD niche too. I think it is absolutely FULL of potential. Especially as the industry expands and more people become aware of the potential benefits of CBD.

But is this the best way to cash in on the CBD/ health supplement niche?

Well the commissions are certainly attractive. I mean earning $50 on a $129.95 product is insane. That is without question a generous offer.

The trouble is, selling this over competing brands may prove difficult. Unless you’re selling to people you know, I struggle to see why people would pay more for this stuff over better known brands. Especially considering that most people comparison shop these days.

This is why recruiting people into the “opportunity” is a big part of earning money here. As it is within any MLM company. The reality is that if you want to make the big bucks, you’ll need to be constantly recruiting new people.

And unless HB Naturals is providing you with quality training on how to do this using the internet, you are going to be stuck recruiting people you know.

Which sucks, I’ve been there.

In closing, if you are going to do this, make sure you have a solid game plan to generate leads and sales online. Otherwise you’ll probably end up like most HB Naturals consultants who earn between $500 to $2,000 per year doing this.

Whatever you decide, I hope you found this review helpful.