Update on HB 162: The Network Marketing Accountability Bill
“Now, they’ve held off on making any decisions until January of 2026, but the way I see it, that’s better than saying it’s not going to happen, period.”
I said I would give you an update on the Delaware HB 162 bill that is trying to regulate network marketing and hold them more accountable. If you didn’t listen to that episode, I highly recommend you go back, check it out because I laid it all out on the table. Now, they’ve held off on making any decisions until January of 2026, but the way I see it, that’s better than saying it’s not going to happen, period.
The Gossip Line: MLM Questions & DMs
“Some of it is people just wanting the tea on certain individuals. But I don’t like going down that road. It feels too much like gossip.”
This past week on social media, I have been answering a lot of questions in regards to MLMs. I’ll be real.
Some of it is people just wanting the tea on certain individuals. But I don’t like going down that road. It feels too much like gossip. And I will leave that for the Reddit threads. I’m not out here trying to stoop to that kind of level or anything like that, or quite frankly, like get sued for defamation.
You know, I know what I know from my experiences, and that might not be what others in the business experience, good or bad. What I am here to talk about is business, the facts.
BODi: The Red Flags Are Waving
“I think it’s on its demise… Anytime a brand starts cutting down on products, that is a major sign.”
Now, one of the questions I was asked is how long do I think BODi will be around?
I have been calling it for a while that I think it’s on its demise.
I truly believe there are a lot of red flags that indicate it’ll be a year or even possibly within the fiscal year. This past week they announced that they’re discontinuing the mint chocolate beach bars.
So anytime a brand starts cutting down on products, which BODi has been doing a lot of this year, that is a major sign that they are trying to cut their costs to try to improve their capital. Now, someone mentioned in my DMs about Autumn Calabrese selling her home.
Like that’s a red flag. You know, I don’t think that that’s very strange. You know, she is one of the few faces, if you will, of Beachbody left. I’ll get into that a little bit in this episode.
But, you know, she, she bought when interest rates were low and her home is in one of the only two counties in Florida. So she’s in Dade County, I’m in Palm Beach County. So these two counties are the only ones that are still exponentially growing in Florida. Like, the rate of moving here has definitely dropped.
The real estate market has changed. So you could make the argument that, yes, maybe her income isn’t coming in the way it used to, so she wants to profit off this and to have, like, a little cushion in her bank account.
But you know what? If there’s one thing that I’ve learned is that the wealthy use real estate investments all the time to get ahead.
It’s smart. You know, I don’t find it that odd that she’s selling her home now. Ironically, one of the reasons she purchased where she did is because some of her former BFF Beachbody coaches live nearby, and now they don’t speak.
But also think about it. She doesn’t have a lot of those same travel engagements she used to to the east coast or down to Puerto Rico for Beachbody. So those types of reasons to come to Miami are off the table, and it’s not exactly around the corner.
It is a long flight, and she has sunshine and palm trees in Calabasas. So, I mean, and no humidity.
So it’s. It’s not that bizarre.
Downsizing & Pivoting: MLM Coaches Rewriting the Narrative
“Pivot is a major word they use in their captions… I don’t buy it.”
What I do think is weird is how former Beachbody coaches are now downsizing their homes and they’re trying to reframe the narrative as to why. Like, you know, using words like it wasn’t in alignment with me anymore, or they feel called to do something new, or pivot.
Pivot is a major word they use in their captions. You know, I’ve seen it with coaches making a shift to homeschooling, or they’re trading in their Porsche for big sprinter vans. Now, the argument could be made that all these reasons are genuine and from the heart, and they very well may be.
I’m just saying, from my personal experience with how fake and phony network marketing can be and from hearing your stories as well, I don’t buy it.
Okay. You know, it could be like, look, yeah, cashing in on real estate because that’s the smart thing to do. Or are you having to downsize because you don’t have the income coming in that you once did at Beachbody? Right.
Your new dinosaur MLM is in, you know, feeding the bulldog, going the homeschool route. Okay, yeah, maybe that’s because you feel called to do it. But think about it. It’s a lot better to receive 8 to 10,000 per year per kid in the state of Florida versus dropping 30,000 per kid for a private school.
A growing family for sure needs more room.
But a brand new sprinter van is 50,000, whereas a flashy Escalade starts at 90,000. You know, different choices are being made. And for me, I’m noticing that financially, it’s the, quote, unquote, smarter move.
It’s the more fiscal move, you know, fiscally responsible move, versus when they were at the height of their Beachbody careers. Now, I’ll let you make your assumptions. I’m just putting some of this out there for you.
Financial Real Talk: When the MLM Paycheck Slows Down
“Never live beyond your means because you never know when the rug can be pulled out from underneath you.”
And because I always keep it a hundred with you.
There have been times in the last couple years where I have been worried myself. I’ve had to take on more jobs, including going back to teaching golf full time. Yes, 100%. I was so angry and worried when I heard Beachbody was changing their compensation plan.
Comp Plan Shake-Up & Top Coach Gaslighting
“I was being punished as a result of their lack of effort.”
And I’ll dive into this on a different episode. But I want to talk about what that shift was like and the gaslighting involved by these top coaches who are, quite frankly, now at Make Wellness. Not all of them, but a lot of them. And what that all felt like with that.
We’ll save that for a different time. Okay. You know, I was. I was beyond frustrated because Beachbody decided to make that change to the compensation plan. And it was due to women who have been milking the system for years. They were making six figures or more. They were the catalyst of the changes. Whereas folks like me, who I was still a product of the product.
I was hitting success club. I was maintaining rank. Like all the things, like, I was being punished as a result of their lack of effort, quite frankly. And I resented the CEO.
I resented my shady fellow Beachbody coaches. And sadly, like, I had to make adjustments to my marketing team and. And, you know, the budget that I allotted that which all of those people have families that they have to support. Right.
So it was beyond me. It was affecting the people who I worked with. Obviously, you know, people always want to talk about how it’s affecting the coach at hand, but it does affect the people that they work with as well.
Virtual assistants, like I said, email marketing, website design, all the things I personally cut frivolous spending on, things that just weren’t necessary. You know, I barely have time to think, let alone listen to audible. So, okay, boom. $15 saved per month.
And I’m just using as an example, right. There were so many different ways that I had to go through my budget and really see, like, where am I spending money that I don’t need to be. I will say, though, I never had to touch any of the money that I put away into my IRA or my SEP IRA though, like, nope, like, we’re all good there.
And my main word of advice to you, no matter whether you’re involved with network marketing or not, but especially if you are, is never live beyond your means because you never know when the rug can be pulled out from underneath you.
As a child, my parents always instilled in me, like, never be one of those people that buys what you want, begs for what you need. And I live by that.
Trainers Under Lock & Key: Contracts, Control & Creative Block
“Think of it as if you’re an artist… and someone’s just totally nitpicking that you chose the wrong colors.”
Now, what is another red flag for me in regards to Beachbody’s collapse? It’s seeing the trainers going on to other fitness apps and promoting new programs. What a lot of people don’t realize is that all these trainers, they were under contract with Beachbody, so they weren’t allowed to create content or programs elsewhere.
Which is why you saw a few years ago, OG’s quote unquote, retiring. But that was just them telling Carl they wanted out of their contracts. So think Chalene Johnson, Tony Horton. You know, they asked to get out of that years ago because they knew they quite frankly aged out and they were never going to get another, like, All Star program that would be the highlight of whether it was the winter quarter or the summer.
Like, they knew their ship had sailed, but they were stuck in this purgatory where they still loved fitness. Or maybe they wanted to create something for like Chalene Johnson, for example. Like, she wanted to create programs for women’s like hormonal health and things like that, but she was stuck and she couldn’t because of the contract.
So the trainers there, they have these contracts that they are tied to and they also get paid per play of their program.
So whether it’s a full program, like every time you go on Beachbody on Demand, think of it like every time you go and download a Brandon Lake song on Apple itunes or something like that, like, there’s. There’s residual money going back to the artist, just like there was with the Beachbody trainers. That’s. That’s how they were making their coin.
Oddly enough, though, this past week, I actually received an email from Beachbody saying that there are applications that are opening up to a quote, New P90X program. So we’ll see what that’s all about.
I think it’s funny that Beachbody, you know, they have to keep tapping into their old demographic of millennials and older like, to try and stay afloat. They’re just not hitting it with the Gen Zers or whatever else generation that is younger than millennials.
Their programming, it doesn’t slap as the kids say, because this whole system of network marketing, it’s dated. And those people, those think of the young people in their, like, late 20s, things like that. I mean, you could even trend to say early 30s, but I would say late 20s.
Like, they don’t want to be involved in network marketing. Like, that is, like, creepy stuff that they find, quote, unquote, cringe.
You know, I received a DM from someone actually today talking about Shacklee, which is another dinosaur. Mlm. Okay? She was talking about how she was in Shacklee for 15 years, but they have women and men who have been in it for 50 years.
And there’s a group that scams elderly Shacklee distributors to teach them social media. Okay? Now, she told me she, you know, this is a really humbling thing, like, when people can tell you this, like, because it’s painful for, you know, women and men to see their family members still, like, roped into this whole network marketing thing.
But she was telling me her mom pays $200 a month for an Instagram account that looks like you literally paid someone $3 an hour on five or four. Okay? She, quote, unquote, gets help from these. This group that is, like, promoting services on, like, let me teach you how to do, you know, Instagram. And the worst part is Shacklee corporate allowed this group to be at their conference and promoted their services.
So these people who have no clue how to run social media, okay, they’re getting roped into marketing, social media marketing for $200 bucks a month, and they’re, you know, stuck at like 80 followers. Like, no one’s seeing that, Linda.
And you’re just dropping money for no reason, like, to make you feel like you, quote, unquote, have a business. And I’ve been telling you this ad nauseam, that the corporate mentors like the fact that they’re allowing this and promoting it at their conference, like, they’re just as bad, they are just as culpable to this awful system, because without the distributors, these people don’t have a job.
They don’t have a job, which is why they go from one MLM to the next. You think it’s any mistake that you have people who were formerly at Modere, now at Make Wellness, or formerly at Beachbody, now at, you know, Shacklee or Hu and Grace. Like, it’s. Anyway, I think I’ve made my point there.
Trainer Exodus: Made4, Chris Downing & New Platforms
“These trainers… the chains have been released from their contracts and they can do whatever they want.”
Let’s get back to the trainers and their new endeavors. So you have Megan Davies and Idalis, which, by the way, her program, 30 Day Breakaway, is by far one of the best BODi ever put out. The fact that it got me to run a 5k in 30 days is a true testament to E. Dallas.
But anyway, they teamed up together on an app called Made4. It’s a fitness app. You know, that didn’t surprise me. I always, first of all, they both live here in South Florida.
They always would travel together. I’m sure there was some camaraderie involved where they felt like they were quote unquote outsiders, you know, compared to say in Autumn, you know, truth be told.
And one of my friends who is a former Beachbody coach, she’s doing their program and she told me that on a live Megan and Idalis, they were very vague, but more or less they said that they had to, quote, wait their turn and they couldn’t create anything outside of BODi.
At times it would take them two plus years to even get picked for a program which then would get torn apart in the whole process. So like, think of it as if you’re an artist, right, and you make this painting and someone’s just totally nitpicking that you chose the wrong colors or whatever style. Like that’s how these trainers feel about their programs.
They’re their babies. You know, Chalene Johnson, she did a whole podcast series on this on her Patreon apple.
So this information that my friend was telling me about Megan and Idalis, it checks out with what Chalene has said about her experience at Beachbody. Now these trainers, now that they’re like released, so to speak, the chains have been released from their contracts they can do whatever they want and they can come out with new programs way more often.
They don’t have to wait their turn, so to speak, or get bumped to the back of the line because the CEO place favorites. Earlier this year I wanted to support Chris Downing. So he left Beachbody years ago and he came out with his standalone program in the beginning of the year.
And what I love about him, beside the fact that he is a Christ follower and I’ve always loved his workouts and we are both like minded, like. So if you know, you know, if you want that kind of person mentoring you through fitness and I definitely recommend you check him out.
And his program gives you lifetime access, by the way. It’s not a subscription. No BS. Full transparency. The link is an affiliate link. But you know, I only do affiliate links with products, programs and companies that I truly believe in. And I do believe in Chris Downing and what he produces.
And I love that he saw the writing on the wall with BODi and the CEO way before anyone else did. So make sure you check him out.
JJ vs Peloton: Rage Bait & Fitness Feuds
“Now, I’ve always said, never crap on where you came from.”
The big controversy with trainers going their separate ways this past week, though, is with Jennifer Jacobs. Now, I have to say, I loved when she came to Beachbody, because she was definitely shaking the coconut tree with her sassiness.
And there wasn’t just one brunette bombshell to choose from anymore. And her cycle rides were always my favorite. The playlists were absolute fire. We would chat a bunch in the DMs, and I did get to meet her one time at the 2022 summit.
She’s definitely more reserved and introverted than the other trainers. I kind of got the vibe that she looked at all of these MLM chicks walking around fangirling her and was like, wtf is this? I definitely felt that, you know, it’s not a secret that the trainers thought it was bizarre that the network idolized them.
What I always personally found more weird was the idolization of coaches. Like, that is beyond bizarre. So this past week, Monday, June 23, JJ hinted on her socials that she was coming back to Peloton, or people assumed it was Peloton because the ad showed her walking onto camera with a bike in the background that looked branded to a Peloton bike.
So it was the black and red. It didn’t say Peloton, but if you saw it, you would be like, oh, that’s Peloton Bike. It was so similar that Peloton actually had to issue a statement saying she was not, in fact, returning to Peloton and Peloton Lovers… they were talking all about it because she was a beloved instructor.
Now, she hasn’t been at Peloton for five years, but they still love her. And she made a huge impact. In fact, when she came to Beachbody, she brought a lot of her OG rides with her. Like, she was infamous for her 80s rides, 90s rides, and of course, her Top Gun ride.
The next day, the flywheels, if you will, began to fall off. The next post showed the second half of the video, and this time Ladder was tagged on the post. And she yells, cut. As if, you know, obviously they’re filming an ad, right?
And then the actor, who was supposed to be the production assistant, I guess, like, is asked by Jennifer to remove the psycho bike. She’s like, what is this doing here? And he’s like, oh, sorry, I was using it to dry my clothes.
Now, this is a major dig to those Peloton lovers or any writers quite frankly, because the reality is, yes, many people love Cycle rides. They get results. It is fantastic cardio workout. Many people, they purchase it and they just let it collect dust or they hang their clothes on it. Mine is so I don’t have a Peloton, but I had a BODi bike. Have a BODi bike.
I should say. Mine is in the garage right now. But that’s namely because I’m just pissed that Bodi removed the copyrighted music so it doesn’t get used. Bodi, once again, saved costs. They got rid of all of that copyrighted music from its platform, and now all of their rides suck because it’s really weird to be doing a ride with a trainer and have them talking about how they love this song or this, this, any other thing, and it’s not even matching up because they don’t have those rights anymore.
One of the things that I loved about JJ is she never talked about specific songs, and she never, like, she never chose playlists that, oh, I just happen to like this song. She always did it to the beats per minute. That was her thing.
Like, it didn’t matter because with Beachbody, the first play was whatever the soundtrack was that that trainer chose for that workout. But then after that, because Beachbody was cheap af, unlike Peloton, they only got the first playwrights.
So the say if you did that right, again, you wouldn’t get the same playlist of songs. And JJ recognized that and saw that flaw. So what she did is she would just choose beats per minute.
So, however, whatever zone you were in, she knew what the beats were per minute, and she would choose songs based upon that. And she would encourage the, I guess the sound team or whatever. Hey, you know, you need to pull from these particular, you know, songs, playlists, edm, etcetera, Whatever it may be. So it’ll match up.
She’s very good at what she does. Okay, I’ll just say that. Now, Peloton people, they were ticked off about this marketing approach. They were annoyed that JJ teased them that she was coming back like, but, you know what? Teaser. And they were also slighted that she was hating on Peloton.
Now, I’ve always said, never crap on where you came from.
It’s not a good look. Not only was she making an announcement that she was going to Ladder a different fitness platform, but she was making jabs at her OG start, which was Peloton.
But wait, there’s more. So JJ and Ladder, their marketing team, they just kept pummeling Peloton. Okay, it wasn’t just like, a one and done on June 25th.
Like, they just posted another one. And people were going ham in the comments, like, I renewed my Peloton app because of this ad, because they were annoyed. The campaign is literally called Ditch the Bike, and they want you to ditch the bike and join Ladder.
Or people are saying things like, this is in poor taste. Like, you wouldn’t be where you are are if you hadn’t even, you know, been given the chance by Peloton. And, you know, one person said, like, not to mention, like, your former teammates have never publicly said a bad word about you, despite she left Peloton, right, and went to Beachbody, and now she’s at Ladder.
Like, I’m sure she had some creative input, but ultimately, it’s up to the decision of Ladder and their marketing team, right? Like, she went as far as filming in front of the Peloton studios, okay?
Now, I believe, just like the other trainers, she’s still getting paid by Beachbody. I don’t know that for a fact, but it wouldn’t surprise me, you know, for her workouts on the platform. Whereas it’s not like she has contracts left with Peloton.
At the end of the day, Beachbody, you know, they have to be paying these trainers for their likeness, their creative process, et cetera. And I’m sure it’s in there somewhere that they’re going to get paid in perpetuity as long as, like, they’re not bashing the company. Right? Hence why Megan and Edalis, they were so aloof on that live call that I talked about earlier.
Now, whether Beachbody people want to admit it or not, Peloton is more of a household name, which is why we never should have gotten into the cycle business in the first place, Carl. Maybe we would still have a coaching network if we hadn’t. But I digress. So I can see that a lot of this marketing by Ladder is… it’s called Rage Bait.
If you don’t know what that is, like, there are times where you’re scrolling through social media and you see something, you’re like, oh, my gosh, I can’t even believe this chick would post something like that. Like, what an idiot. It’s on purpose, y’all. Like, it’s literally called Rage Bait.
And it’s a very popular thing with TikTok. Where are young people? What platform are young people on? They’re on TikTok.
They’re not. Hate the Age of Millennials, but they’re not on Instagram. The young peeps are on TikTok and of course Snapchat. But don’t get me started on Snapchat. But I can’t stand that app. It creeps me out. So Ladder, they’re trying to attract that younger crowd. Okay, right.
By using these marketing tactics. And it’s working. I mean, there are people in the comments section talking about, like, I’ve never heard of Ladder until now. And me personally, I hadn’t. I had no idea what it was until Jennifer, who I do follow on Instagram, she posted it and, like, made Ladder a collaborator on her posts.
And then of course, I see in the comments, you know, some Beachbody coaches who have been doing Ladder programs and they’re using it, and I’m like, oh, my gosh, like, seriously, can I not get away from you people like that alone. I was like, I just don’t really want to do this. Like, it was major turn off for me.
Marketing Gone Wild: Ditch the Bike & Cringe Campaigns
“Tearing down another brand isn’t a way to elevate yours.”
And Ladder went on to post two videos with their Ditch the Bike campaign. One had the fake Peloton instructor who. It was kind of goofy and JJ, you know, is saying that Ladder is the best app in the world, etc. And then they pitch to Peloton people because this fake Peloton instructor, he was wearing a tank top that they blurred out, but you could see that it said, like, Peloton branding on it.
They pitched to all the Peloton users like, hey, we’ll give you 90 days free if you ditch your bike and sign up with Ladder, you know? And in this video, that’s another dig at Peloton, you know?
So they did that and then they went on to talk about, like, it’s a similar app, though, because Peloton, the last few years, what they’ve done is they’ve gone beyond the bike. They do strength workouts, running programs very similar to Beachbody.
Although I was so annoyed when I saw they had a golf specific program on Peloton, because that was an idea that I personally pitched to Jeff Hill back in the day on a corporate call. And he straight up told me, no, we’re not going to do anything like that.
Like, we. We like to be generic. Okay, how’d that work out for you, y’? All? And yes, that is the same Jeff Hill who is now at Shacklee using old products and distributors from Modere. I don’t know when people will learn that you need to evolve or you’re just going to die out like the dinosaurs.
Anyway, my idea went to Peloton. Apparently. I feel like I could literally write the script for success for so many of these companies. But anyway, this second dig at Peloton was referring back to this feud that Ladder and Peloton had previously.
So Ladder claimed that Peloton was copying their strength, app, and they were quote unquote, flattered. So at the end of the day, whether it’s Beachbody, Peloton, Ladder, or Faster Way to Fitness, none of this is revolutionary. Okay?
People have been doing deadlifts, squats, curls, et cetera since the beginning of time. There’s literally a move called farmers Carry. Why? Because farmers had to carry heavy loads of grain, water, all the things while they were working and tilling the land. Okay, like, come on, people. Like, this isn’t new news.
What it is is also petty.
Like, tearing down another brand isn’t a way to elevate yours. If yours is that great, it’s going to stand on its own. Now, the second video they released was the one I briefly mentioned earlier. JJ she’s walking the streets of New York City, and it’s part of the Ditch the Bike campaign.
Now, she doesn’t mention Peloton specifically by name, but she pauses, stops, and. And then they briefly flashed to the Peloton studio, and they parked trucks with this campaign of Ditch The Bike, join Ladder in front of the Peloton studio. So incentivizing users to switch over is not a new marketing tool.
Think about how, like, AT&T and Verizon, they’ll tell you, like, we’ll give you a free phone if you switch over to us.
What is creating a buzz is using JJ as the prop. People are talking. In fact, one of her former co workers at Peloton, who is, like, probably one of their most famous instructors, Alex Toussaint, he spoke out about the campaign in one of his classes, and I watched it, and, yeah, you could tell he’s pissed.
He’s like, this would never happen if I was at work that day. And he said, listen, like, I still love her, but watch your effing mouth when you are talking about my team, meaning Peloton, because these trainers all run in the same circles.
Like, this makes it also weird, awkward, and to me, very cringe. And truth be told, like, because it gives these weird, awkward vibes, it almost makes it feel, like, unbelievable, if that makes sense.
Like, it’s a dog and pony show, if you will.
You know, Ladder got people talking, but did they really gain new members from this? Between this campaign and the fact that I saw Beachbody people cheering it on, I was like, it just gave me super bad vibes.
And obviously the peloton people are pissed. You know, it’s to the point where, like, I don’t even know if I would try that platform. I had never heard of it before. But just this tactic alone was major turnoff for me.
And that says a lot, considering JJ truly was one of my favorite trainers from Beachbody.
Final Thoughts: MLMs, Consent & Cult-Like Realizations
“It’s not that all the products that are part of MLMs are bad… The business model sucks.”
Now, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this episode today.
I’ve really been diving into the MLM topics and questions on Instagram, sharing your experiences and testimonies. And I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, it’s not that all of products that are part of MLMs are bad.
I personally use a lot of products that I like that are MLMs. I still use Beachbody products. I use crunchy makeup. I use Doterra essential oils. Right? Like, it’s not that the products in itself are bad. The way that distributors are marketing them and using them like that can be shady.
Right? Shady practices. It’s the fact that the business model sucks. It’s just, it’s. It’s trash. So I’ll leave it at that. If you have questions, I’ll give you honest answers from my experience. And I do share on my socials. Like I said, your own personal experiences.
I always keep it anonymous. I don’t want to be out here, you know, dragging people over the rails. I blur out people’s names, let you connect the dots on your own.
I’m seeing a lot of new people following me, whether they’re, you know, at an MLM and they’re kind of like, wanting to see what those of us who are out of the cult are saying.
I don’t know. I’ve noticed corporate mentors following me all of a sudden. From formerly a Beachbody, former Beachbody coaches are starting to, like, either slide into my DMs or following me.
And listen, I’m just here to make sure everyone has informed consent before they make this decision. There are a lot of beautiful pieces about being part of a network marketing company. I really honor the time that I was a part of Beachbody. I really did for most of my career, if you will. And experience with them felt like I was making a difference.
But when you take a step back and you really remove yourself from the culture and that cycle, you start to really realize, like, there’s a really big problem here. And that’s why I’m talking about it.
