We are at it again. This time we are dissecting a video created by Usborne Books & More Director, Tabatha Roche. She put together a video of Frequently Asked Questions for those who may be thinking about joining Usborne Books & More. This video was created on February 18, 2016. We have addressed any information released by Tabatha that since has gone out-of-date due to the date the video was created. Some of the misinformation is although no fault of her own. But very little.

Once again, I have the YouTube transcript below with my comments in red (and sometimes blue and green) just in case the video mysteriously disappears. Directors are very good at making things they don’t like to see/hear go away with just a click of a button.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwP860HWRUU

Hi. My name is Tabatha Roach. I’m a director with Usborne Books and More and I’ve got some answers for you to the most frequently asked questions from those who are considering the business opportunity with our amazing company. I think this information will help you and we sure hope you decide to join us.

Just to give you a little more information about Tabatha. She has a bachelor’s degree in secondary education. She has been with Usborne Books & More for 14 years, which puts her pretty high up in the pyramid.

First up as a consultant what am I required to do? Great news. There are no sales requirements or quotas for consultants. Our company truly wants anyone and everyone to give this business a try without any risk only reward.

When this video was created, this was not true. You could not enter a direct order for under $85. The policy has since changed. If you just want to take direct orders or do parties, then there are no sales requirements. However, total sales for a party must be at least $85 to qualify for Host Benefits. If you do not make any sales in six months, then your consultant status becomes inactive.

If you want to enter into the School & Library market, which will open up again some time next year, then there are and have always been requirements. We will go into more detail in our next blog post.

If you want to bring in a team, then there are sales goals required to keep earning income off of your downlines hard work.

As a consultant do I get a discount on these amazing books? Absolutely at least 25% off. But when you are a new consultant in your first 90 days, you will get to earn many free books from the write your own success story incentive program throughout your first 90 days and many consultants earn hundreds and hundreds of dollars in free books from that program. On top of that at any point you can host your own book parties so as the consultant you would not only make the money but you would also get all the free books. This is definitely the best way to build an absolutely incredible home library.

This is a horrible idea. Let’s do the math. I will use every example as $999.99 for the year.

Option 1 Purchasing as a Consultant via a party:

$999.99 + free books ($180.00 free books + $112.50 in ½ off books = $292.50)

+ $112.50 (the other ½ of free books you are required to pay)

+ $2.00 Hostess Fee

Subtotal $1,114.49

+ $84.00 Tax (Rounded)

+ $112.00 Shipping & Handling (rounded)

Total: $1,310 (rounded)

You received $1,404.99 in books for $1,310. You will receive your 25% commission totalling $249.75. That covers your shipping and handling charges, taxes, hostess fee, and $51.75 in books. The cost less your commission is $1,060.25.

Don’t forget that you will receive a tax document if you earn over $600 in commission, even if you are spending the money personally. Therefore, you will have to claim earnings on your business. You can try to write it off as personal expense. But the IRS doesn’t forget that you still earned money. They don’t care how you received it.

Option 2 Purchasing as Book Fair

$999.99 + 50% Free books ($449.50)

+5.00 Book fair fee

+ 69.00 tax (rounded)

+0 Shipping & Handling (free on book fairs)

Total: $1,074 (rounded)

You just received $1,449.49 books for $1,074 with a 17% commission of $169.83. The cost less your commission is $904.17

Again, do not forget that you will have to claim your earnings on your taxes.

Option 3 Purchasing via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or other retailer

It is much more cost effective to either find a consultant going out of business and is desperate to unload her inventory while taking a financial hit. Or shop through another retailer. Amazon does offer Usborne and Kane Miller books with free 2-day shipping. Barnes & Noble does discount Usborne Books. And you do not have to claim earnings on your taxes since you didn’t join an MLM just for a discount.

How much money do I make for each party? You do you make 25% Commission and we get paid weekly on those commissions. You also will have the opportunity to make personal sales bonuses each month and to earn a promotion and a raise that is very lucrative within your first couple months of the business. So really you can make as much as you need to or want to whether that’s several hundred dollars a month or a six-figure income. The opportunity is available to everybody.

There aren’t any raises in the world of MLM. I think Tabatha must be referring to having to build a team. I have seen some videos where consultants will state the average party is $100. The newer videos are saying $400. But we have heard consultants stating that parties have been dead and they’ve made $0 in sales. That is why Tabatha isn’t answering the question.

This is the percentage you would make if you build a team. Notice the pyramid structure? The more people you manage to sucker into joining under you, the more of a percentage you “earn” off of your downlines hard work.

Is training and support available for my new business? Absolutely. First of all the support is incredible at Usborne Books & More. When you join, you will be added to a team Facebook group where you will get all kinds of support and encouragement and of great sharing of ideas and questions answered. As for training we have an excellent step-by-step training program called the consultant success plan that is self-guided and you will walk through it checking off boxes and taking in each task and step as your time becomes available to do so. And it will walk you right to success.

There is outdated training offered by Home Office in the Consultant Toolbox. Some of it is current. The CEO refused to remove the outdated information stating that a new “state of the art system” would be in place in a month and he refused to spend time cleaning up the old information when it was going to be replaced. Long story, short…the state-of-the-art system failed and UBAM reverted back to the old system. The old system still has out-of-date information listed.

The Facebook team pages are not helpful. It is not training. They are heavily monitored and it is frowned upon for anyone to tell their team that their training is not helping. You do not receive training on the product you are selling. However, you will receive training on how to recruit and harass friends and family to book parties.

Do I need to carry an inventory and also am I responsible for delivering books? No and no. We are not required to carry an inventory and we don’t need to deliver books because when people order from our web sites on Facebook parties or from home parties we have the book ship automatically to them easy.

Tabatha, inventory is required. How else will one sell product at booth events? Oh right. You pay a fee to have a booth. But leaders and directors will tell you that booths are for recruiting and not for selling. Then, when do you actually sell the product? You need product on hand. Don’t you prefer to see what you are buying when you aren’t familiar with a product?

Plus, it is better to have consignment on hand. Otherwise, the feared “Book Buck” will show up at your customer’s front door instead of the actual book she ordered. We have repeatedly talked about Book Bucks. Would you rather have a happy customer or an angry customer? Have inventory. It’s not guaranteed that another consultant may be willing to let you purchase one of the books that is either out-of-stock or out-of-print for your customer.

Are there any hidden fees or additional costs? No, there are no hidden fees and in fact our home office takes care of our hostess books, hostess free books, and half-price books at no expense to us. And once your incentive period, your first 90 days is over, it is moving forward just eight dollars a month to maintain that shopping eCommerce website and consultant back-office, less than a hundred dollars for the year. And considering you can make an average of a hundred dollars per party pretty worth at nights eBooks and income.

Tabatha is not being honest, again. Doesn’t every MLM have hidden fees? There were more fees that she failed to mention. Since then dollar amounts and offerings have changed. See below:

1: The eCommerce website

a. Free 6-month subscription upon joining, then $50 per year

b. The system crashes during sales

2: inTouch

a. $5 + tax per month

b. Helps you organize your mailing lists, create mailing campaigns, and set up auto-responders

c. Create additional email accounts that will end in @myubam.com so that business emails can stay ‘business-like’

3: Read All About It Customer eNewsletter

a. New consultants receive their first 90 days as part of their kit

b. 6-month or 1-year subscription online (for $30 or $50 respectively)

4: Business Supply Store

a. The business supply store is another way for UBAM to make money off of consultants

b. You will have to purchase or make your own marketing materials

c. Marketing materials have a tendency to become outdated so most consultants make their own

d. Logo supplies can be found here such as banners and shopping bags

e. Catalogs are pretty useless to buy when they are updated twice per year. However, books go out-of-stock and out-of-print so quickly that the catalog is obsolete.

Are there any additional perks to being an Usborne Books & More consultant? Absolutely. There are many just by being a business owner. You’re going to develop so many great new skills and just grow personally. And those things are going to spill over into the rest of your life and you’ll be very grateful for that. I think owning your own business is a very empowering thing that everyone should get to experience. Also our company is so incredibly generous they love to give us free stuff, whether it is through our monthly home office challenges that they give us free books, Godiva chocolate gift cards, whatever you can think of really. Fun stuff every month or our big challenges each year, like we have a dream vacation Challenge incentive every single year. I personally have gone to places like Ireland, Paris on a Mediterranean cruise, Alaskan cruise; oh my goodness what an awesome perk to doing a job that you love. And finally I am so grateful for the perk of just getting to be a part of our literacy movement. Our mission at Usborne Books & More is so important. And when you join this company you become a part of that. And I’ll tell you it feels real good to be a part of the solution to the literacy crisis in our communities.

Tabatha, people begin careers for one major reason. Do you know what that is? To make money. People want to be able to pay for the basic necessities in life: food, shelter, and clothing. Everything over that is a bonus and creates a happy person and family. Don’t get me wrong. You have to love what you do. But you have to be able to financially support yourself while doing it.

We can buy our own chocolate and pay for our own family trips. SHOW ME THE MONEY!! That’s right. You can’t. You aren’t allowed to. But your CEO shared with one consultant just how much his top earners make. And guess what? It isn’t in the six-figures.

Finally, how do I get started? I mean how can you not give this a try after all that awesome news about what you can gain from this business and the fact that there is no risk. Well, getting started is super easy. Just reach out to the person who introduced you to the business and they will help you to get your consultant starter kit ordered.

You have two options. One is a $75 starter kit and one is a $125 starter kit plus tax. No shipping charges. Just know that you do have the opportunity to earn a half or full kit refund in your first 30 days. So if you’re able to get the larger one, it’s definitely worth it because you can end up getting that for free. But if the budget only allows you to get the smaller one, it’s got all you need to get started. The important thing is getting started. There’s lots of great rewards to gain. We hope you join us

Please DO NOT get started. We have seen so many consultants enter this MLM thinking they will make a difference only to discover they are pushing an overpriced product while going broke. There are so many better choices out there.

When you support an MLM, you are not supporting “small business” or a family. You are making the one’s at the top of the pyramid make a pathetic income while those underneath them go broke. This isn’t how a real business works.

That’s my story. Tell me yours.