If you’re looking to start an online business, both Wealthy Affiliate and World Ventures are popular choices. But when your goal is travel, which of these two very popular platforms is the better choice? World Ventures travel club reviews are a mixed bag. Some call the travel club a scam while others can’t get enough of it.
But what about Wealthy Affiliate? Can Wealthy Affiliate really help you build an online business that can not only fund your travels but also travel with you?
In this Wealthy Affiliate vs World Ventures review I’m going to share my personal experience with the two platforms. I’m going to compare and contrast the two, listing pros and cons for each. As someone who loves to travel, I’ll share my honest review for which platform is the best business for travel.
This Wealthy Affiliate vs World Ventures review will examine the following:
- What’s the difference between network marketing and affiliate marketing?
- Do you need to be a part of a travel club to travel cheap? Is World Ventures a scam?
- Are the World Ventures membership dues worth it?
- How does Wealthy Affiliate’s training platform work?
- How much money can you make with Wealthy Affiliate?
- Is there a Wealthy Affiliate scam?
- Which is the best business for travel? Wealthy Affiliate or World Ventures?
Network Marketing vs Affiliate Marketing: What’s the Difference & How Does Each Work?
The main difference between Wealthy Affiliate and World Ventures is in their business model. World Ventures uses a network marketing compensation plan and Wealthy Affiliate teaches affiliate marketing.
With network marketing (also known as multilevel marketing), you as the representative are looking to recruit a team. This team will be called your downline. You’ll want to both sell your product or service to your downline and also to teach them to do the same and recruit a downline themselves.
Network marketing usually gets grouped together with pyramid schemes. This is because the growth structure of network marketing companies looks like that pyramid you see. It’s important to note that pyramid schemes are illegal and network marketing & multilevel marketing are not.
Network marketers do 2 things: gather a few customers & then teach others how to do the same.
For a more detailed look into how network marketing works, read my article “Can You Make Money Network Marketing?”.
On the other hand, affiliate marketing is the process of connecting people online with the products and services they are already searching for. Unlike network marketing, there is no downline, no recruiting, and affiliate marketers tend to have many different products they market for as opposed to a single product or service.
Affiliate marketers partner with trusted merchants like Amazon, Target, Walmart, Apple, etc. and then earn commissions every time their target audience makes a purchase.
For a detailed look into how affiliate marketing works, read my article, “How to Google For Business: Make Money Affiliate Marketing“
As you can see, these are two completely different approaches to online business. Now that we understand these differences between network marketing and affiliate marketing, let’s take a look at the individual platforms to determine which is the better business for travel.
You Should Be Here! World Ventures Travel Club Review
Let’s start at the very beginning. I’m someone who has extreme wanderlust. I have a major passion for travel. In 2018 alone I traveled to Barcelona, Las Vegas, Amsterdam, Bali, Switzerland, Iceland, Tokyo, and Dubai. So when it comes to traveling, I know what I’m talking about. (If you love travel pics you can follow my travels on instagram @batmantravels.)
Before I cracked the code to cheap travel, I would see people on social media traveling all over and I couldn’t figure out for the life of me how they could possibly afford it. Are they rich? Do they just make way more money than I do?
I started searching more and more for how to travel cheap. During my research, World Ventures popped up on my radar as I saw the World Ventures “You Should Be Here” signs posted by members. I decided to try it out myself.
I want to first be absolutely clear on something. I LOVED my World Ventures Dream Trips. The people I met were incredible & I fully enjoyed my vacations. However, is this travel club the answer when it comes to feeding your travel addiction and earning consistent revenue?
Having had experience in network marketing before, I wanted to avoid recruiting & downlines so I decided to join World Ventures for a year as a customer. The following summary touches on the main points, but for a more in depth review & analysis, click the button below.
How Much Does It Cost to Join World Ventures As a Customer?
World Ventures currently has 2 main membership packages available: Platinum & Gold. If you only want to be only a customer and not a representative, you would be paying $99.99/month for Platinum and $56.99/month for Gold. These dues convert into Dream Points which you accrue in a piggy bank and can use later towards booking Dream Trips.
As you’d guess, Platinum membership offers more perks than Gold membership. These include transfers to and from the airport, spa treatments, advanced access to Dream Trips, etc.
Are the World Ventures Membership Dues Worth It on the Customer Side?
Unfortunately, when you do all the math for what you’ve actually spent, the savings just isn’t there. Members will say that all the monthly membership dues go right back into the trips, however there are limits to the amount of accrued Dream Points you can use for each Dream Trip. Additionally, the bulk of your Dream Points you’re accruing can’t be touched for a FULL YEAR AFTER YOU JOIN.
The costs add up. Platinum pricing at $100/month means in a year you’ve spent $1200 and you still haven’t booked a Dream Trip which will be several hundred dollars on its own per person. Additionally, you still have to book the FLIGHT which is the most expensive part of any trip and not included in the Dream Trip pricing.
Again, let me restate that I did enjoy the 2 Dream Trips I took during my year as a customer with World Ventures. However, I’ve since found free ways to save thousands on flights which puts me so far ahead in the expense column that I’m able to travel every 2 months WITHOUT ANY TRAVEL CLUB DUES.
The only way I’ve found to be ahead as a customer through World Ventures would be to successfully complete the Get 4 Pay No More bonus. This turns off your dues but still allows you to accrue Dream Points as if you were still paying. I wasn’t able to refer 4 people as a customer, but if you can do it, you’ll be ahead.
How Much Does It Cost to Join World Ventures as a Representative?
Stay away from the World Ventures business side. In addition to your monthly membership dues, representatives have a one time fee to pay to join up.
The following video explains World Ventures compensation plan in a nutshell. If it seems complicated, don’t worry, it is.
As with all network marketing and multilevel marketing schemes, World Ventures compensation plan is filled with lots of talk of bonuses and triggering commissions and getting paid not for what you do but for what your team does. These bonuses and commissions are triggered VERY infrequently, and for this reason it is not worth it to be a representative.
Pause the video at 3:01 & the fine print discloses that a whopping 80% of World Ventures reps made $0 in commissions for that year. ZERO. Those numbers don’t lie.
World Ventures Review Summary
In summary, World Ventures is 100% legal and is not a scam. However, on its representative side it isn’t the easiest platform to make money with and it would be a difficult way to fund your travels as confirmed by the World Ventures Annual Income Disclosure statement shown above.
From the customer side, in my opinion the travel dues are simply not worth it. I’ve found much cheaper ways to travel without needing to pay any travel club dues. I save thousands on flights using a free cheap flight alert platform called Scott’s Cheap Flights and add to that savings by using travel rewards cards to save on accommodations.
Now, let’s look at the affiliate marketing training platform called Wealthy Affiliate.
Wealthy Affiliate Review: Can This Affiliate Marketing Training Platform Fund Your Travel Addiction?
As I mentioned at the top of this article, Wealthy Affiliate is a training community aimed at showing entrepreneurial minded people how to build a successful online business in affiliate marketing.
There are no downlines, no recruiting, and because of this the training & compensation is much more straightforward. However, as with any business, success with this will take work, focus, and patience.
How Does Wealthy Affiliate’s Training Work?
Wealthy Affiliate’s training walks you through the 4 steps of building a successful affiliate marketing business:
- Choosing an interest and finding your profitable niche
- Building a website
- Attracting visitors and driving massive traffic to your content
- Turning that traffic into conversions and monthly revenue
No matter what level of experience you have, the training is set up for both the absolute newbie (like me) as well as for someone with affiliate marketing experience. I had never built a website or written an article for affiliate marketing before, but through the literally hundreds of hours of training within this platform, I was guided through every step. This could feel slightly overwhelming for the newbie, however with over 100,000 active members, you get a real feel for community & support as well.
Through 24/7 live chat, member training, forums, and more, there is always a quick way to get an answer when you have a question.
Instead of covering all the training, live webinars, keyword research tools, resources, etc. that you get with Wealthy Affiliate in this article, I’ll let you cover that at your leisure here with my detailed Wealthy Affiliate Review.
How Much Does It Cost to Join Wealthy Affiliate?
With the amount of training available, Wealthy Affiliate is surprisingly affordable with the best membership plan costing less than $1/day. There are no upsells for training modules, and you can create a free starter account to test drive the training first with no payment information needed.
Is Wealthy Affiliate a Scam?
No, Wealthy Affiliate is 100% legit. In fact, for the purposes of this article I want to be completely transparent with my Wealthy Affiliate results. This is, after all, all about whether Wealthy Affiliate can be a business that not only funds your travels, but also travels with you.
I feel like transparency with real numbers speaks volumes. The training with Wealthy Affiliate is completely eye opening, thorough, and more importantly it delivers.
World Ventures vs Wealthy Affiliate: Pros & Cons For Each
World Ventures Pros:
- Get 4 Pay No More Bonus eliminates all monthly dues
- As a representative on the business side, commissions are earned not only for what you do but for what your team does as well
World Ventures Cons:
- Expensive monthly dues
- Hard to complete Get 4 Pay No More Bonus
- With pricey monthly membership dues, overall travel savings aren’t really there
- Network marketing compensation plan has a very high fail rate
Wealthy Affiliate Pros:
- No downlines or recruiting
- Vast amount of training is affordable with no upsells
- Compensation is straightforward
- Training delivers
Wealthy Affiliate Cons:
- Vast amount of training can be overwhelming to a newbie
The Verdict: The Best Business For Travel Between World Ventures & Wealthy Affiliate Is…
Wealthy Affiliate
Summary
Once I found Wealthy Affiliate and learned how to build a profitable website that literally earns thousands per month, I started traveling more than ever before. It has been everything I was looking for and more. I’ve had nothing but positives from it and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a way to supplement their income and be their own boss.
Feedback
How do you feel about this Wealthy Affiliate vs World Ventures travel club review? Are you a member of World Ventures? Would you like to share your love and adoration for it? Are you a Wealthy Affiliate success story? Want to share your story? Or maybe you have a better business for travel?
Share your experience, leave any comments, or ask questions you have in the comments section below! I’m always open to answering questions, sharing stories, and I’m always available.
Hanna says
February 17, 2019 at 10:03 pmHi Eric, thank you for sharing this article. I am glad that you have clearly pointed out the difference between network marketing and affiliate marketing. This is one of the reasons why I was unsure about World Ventures. The customer side seemed ok, but still expensive to me. It is multilevel marketing, and not my cup of tea.
But i do love to travel.. so, i might check out your Scott`s cheap flights review.
All the best!
Eric Cantu says
February 18, 2019 at 12:10 amThanks for the sincere comment, Hanna! I appreciate that. Thanks for chiming in!
Todd P Matthews says
February 16, 2019 at 7:04 pmHi, Eric, WA is definitely 100% legit. Joining was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made and I’ve seen positive results since joining in October 2018. I have two niche sites. One is strictly affiliate marketing and another actually covers my own online products, as I am a creator. The WA platform, over the past few months, has helped me build and I couldn’t be happier with my results thus far.
Eric Cantu says
February 17, 2019 at 11:43 pmThank you for sharing your story 🙂 Best of luck to you and continue building!
Nate says
February 16, 2019 at 3:48 pmThis is a really great post! I generally loathe MLM companies. I think they prey on vulnerable people. I’m glad you put this information out there.
My question about World Venture is whether or not the trips are group trips or individual trips. Even though you don’t recommend using the program as a customer even, I think this info would be helpful to people in making a decision.
Eric Cantu says
February 21, 2019 at 2:38 pmThanks for the question 🙂 World Ventures Dream Trips are group trips taken with other World Ventures members. Thanks for the comment!
jaykaynigltd says
February 16, 2019 at 3:41 pmHow long has world ventures travel been in existence? If it’s very expensive as painted in this article,why are people still doing it?
wealthy affiliate has comprehensive trainings but how do you earn while learning since it comes with a monthly subscription too? Though it’s a lot cheaper than world ventures but how can you make your monthly subscription as a newbie on wealthy affiliate with no working or functional website?
Eric Cantu says
February 21, 2019 at 2:43 pmGreat questions. World Ventures was founded in 2005. I think the main reason people jump in is because they truly believe they can’t afford travel affordably without a travel club. However, as mentioned in the article, Scott’s Cheap Flights has saved me thousands on airfare, while hotel rewards cards give me nights free all the time. No travel club dues necessary.
When it comes to the business side of World Ventures, many are lured by the potential riches of a network marketing compensation plan that unfortunately fails way more than it succeeds. With affiliate marketing you have a much more straightforward approach. And when you jump in with Wealthy Affiliate you’ll have your own website up and running by lesson 4. There’s no waiting game for that.
Thanks for the comment and questions!
Dave Sweney says
February 16, 2019 at 3:37 pmThis was an interesting comparison between two very different business models, with the goal of determining which offers more potential to realize the claimed outcome of what you will get with the World Ventures Travel Club as opposed to the money you can earn potentially following the training within Wealthy Affiliate.
It is notable that 80% of World Ventures members earned nothing during that period disclosed by their annual income statement. Nothing? That doesn’t sound like travel is in the works to me.
From my own experience, the MLM business model is unsustainable over time. The affiliate business model is.
Eric Cantu says
February 21, 2019 at 2:31 pmYeah, the 80% number jumped out at me too. Unfortunately this is the common bell curve with network marketing and MLM. Thanks so much for the comment!
Vapz says
February 16, 2019 at 1:43 pmOh!!! How I loved reading this review. I came in contact with World Ventures last year and I immediately knew it wasn’t for me. I could quickly see all the consequences you listed but I have been on Wealthy Affiliates for 3days now and I can already feel that sense of support and encouragement coming from all the members. But, good Sir, I would love it if you can give me this advice as a newbie that you once were, which of the numerous trainings would you advice me to take in my first 1month that would give me the highest knowledge?
Eric Cantu says
February 19, 2019 at 10:39 pmThis is actually a question I get asked a lot. Out of all the WA training, which is the best to jump all-in on to get the biggest head start possible. The answer’s easy. Start with lesson 1. When you’re done their, go straight into lesson 2. After that, and most people never see this coming, it’s lesson 3. lol. WA’s training is straightforward and every single bit of it is there for a reason. The secret to success with WA is just following through, applying what you learn, and continuing forward. That’s it. Hard work mixed with the right training always gets results 🙂 Thanks so much for the comment!
Luke says
February 16, 2019 at 1:27 pmHi Eric, very good and informative comparison of Wealthy Affiliate and World Ventures. You described very well the network marketing and affiliate marketing. For me it is disturbing to push people into a business like MLMs. A friend mentioned World Ventures to me because of my love for travel, but Im just not sure. I like your post and your affiliate marketing explanation and alternative. You’ve got my gears moving! thanks for sharing with us!
Eric Cantu says
February 17, 2019 at 2:29 pmVery happy to help. In my opinion, affiliate marketing trumps network marketing every time. Much more straightforward and no recruiting or downlines! Thanks for chiming in!
Stella says
February 16, 2019 at 10:30 amHi Eric if I was not already a member I would have clicked the button to join WA!
You have reignited my drive to succeed! Thanks so much & happy flying to you!
Stella
Bush Lady
Eric Cantu says
February 17, 2019 at 2:23 pmThank you, Stella! I appreciate it!
Craig says
February 16, 2019 at 4:00 amHi Eric,
Really liked your blog comparing both WA and World Ventures and may I say fantastic job with your income stream, great effort! I’m not the biggest fan of MLM and your comparison post was useful and came across as unbiased, especially with the income disclosure.
Thanks and much continued success to you!
Craig
Eric Cantu says
February 16, 2019 at 10:28 pmThanks, Craig! I feel like transparency is the best with these reviews. If people love MLMs, go for it, but these numbers don’t like and Wealthy Affiliate is clearly the one that delivered many times over for me. Just doing my best to share that. Thank you!
Barbara says
February 16, 2019 at 3:33 amGreat Post, lots of things to think about here. I have joined World Ventures a few months ago and my questions & concerns about the Dream Trip points accruing without being able to fully use them continue to go unanswered. My upline tells me if I refer something like 15 platinum members then the limits will be removed when booking Dream trips but this seems impossible. I agree that it’s an expense and I’m not really comfortable with passing that expense onto other people to get them to join.
Eric Cantu says
February 16, 2019 at 1:24 pmThese are the exact concerns I saw during my time with World Ventures. After a full year and finally being granted access to the Dream Trip points I had been accruing I found that I could only use a handful at a time, and with each month came more dues and more accrued points which I could never catch up to. If you’re looking for an alternative I highly recommend affiliate marketing over network marketing. it’s much more straightforward, and as you can see, the affiliate marketing training community I’m a part of really delivered for me. Thanks for the comment!
Steve says
February 16, 2019 at 3:14 amHi Eric
A very comprehensive review. After joining World Ventures I thought the Get 4 Pay No More was going to be easy. I was unable to recruit even 1 person. I’m stubborn so I will stick with them only to take a Dream Trip that I haven’t been able to find time in my schedule to take. As you say, the costs are adding up. Like you, I looked into affiliate marketing as an alternative & also like you, WA popped up on my radar. Let me say that I’ve only been with WA for 3 weeks now and so far they live up to everything they offer. The training is first class and the community support is amazing. I did a lot of market research before I joined WA everything in your review is 100 percent correct.
Thanks for the good advice and it’s good to know I’m not alone.
Steve
Eric Cantu says
February 16, 2019 at 1:27 pmSpectacular comment! Looks like we followed the same path. Well said, and I agree with everything you mentioned. And yeah, at least get 1 Dream Trip out of World Ventures, lol. Don’t beat yourself up about trying it. You tried it so now you know, right? You live you learn! Keep progressing with WA! Best business decision I ever made. Thanks again for the great comment!
ajibola40 says
February 16, 2019 at 3:12 amNice article here on wealthy affiliate and world ventures travel club.
I’ve been recruited and joined World Ventures but haven’t had any of the success my upline had. To be honest I’m not into recruiting. I found this article after watching a YouTube video of yours. Thank you for showing an alternative WITHOUT needing to recruit.
Eric Cantu says
February 16, 2019 at 1:13 pmThanks for the comment! After trying out both, I realized quickly that you don’t need to pay expensive travel club dues to travel the world. All you need is an online business that funds your travels and travels with you. That’s exactly what I found with Wealthy Affiliate 🙂 Thanks for the kind words!