Why most MWR Life reps are completely broke

It’s hard to decide which MLM products are the shadiest…it might be financial coaching, but “tech” products and legal services are a close second, and let’s not forget travel and shopping discount memberships.

Well, MWR Life wraps them all up into one MLM-tastic package with a big, bright red sticker on top that says “sue us!”. Too harsh?

Company actually has done a few things right, despite major issues. Have I been involved?

This video explains everything:

Make sense? Either way, here’s the full review on MWR Life.

Overview

MWR stands for My Warranty Rewards, and the company is headquartered in Aventura, Florida.

They were founded by Jay Tuerk and Yoni Ashurov in 2014, and they’re currently operating only in the U.S. and Canada with Ashurov as their COE.

This company is pretty new, and they haven’t generated a ton of buzz yet (though there’s definitely some). This is another MLM that teaches distributors to target their “warm market” – family and friends. The warm market approach is also known as the lose all your friends, alienate all your family members, and get blocked on every social media channel approach. Works every time.

How much does MWR Life cost?

There are three different starter packages ranging from $99-$499. This MLM doesn’t have any actual products, so you’re not getting a giant box of miracle pills and eye cream if you buy the more expensive packages. All you’re getting is access to more aspects of the compensation plan.

• Silver ($99): This is the basic package, and with it you’re partially eligible for the compensation plan, including customer bonuses, expansion bonuses, customer residuals, and team residuals.
• Gold ($299): This is the builder package, and benefits include access to the full compensation plan, a founder position (lol @ paying $299 to be called a “founder”), “gold status” on your website, and eligibility for a $500 monthly 3×3 guarantee.
• Platinum ($499): This is the success package, and it includes full eligibility for the compensation plan and everything else in the Gold package. In addition, you get a manager position, a qualified founder position, an MWR Academy certification, a 10% pay increase on personal production, and private coaching calls.

In order to stay active, you also have to make monthly payments to Biz Center to access websites and training materials, and that costs $30/month. In order to stay qualified (to receive commission), you need to be active and have at least 5 Customer Points. Each product package is worth 1-2 Customer Points.

This is getting to be a pretty expensive venture (over $1,000/year, in total, plus the initial investment).

Products

MWR Life doesn’t actually sell any products, but they do sell a huge array of “life-enhancing” services.

Financial Edge

These are there financial coaching services. The package comes with a variety of programs and training materials with different focuses, from budgeting, to credit scores, to savings and investment. The package includes:

• CreditMAX
• EquityMAX
• MoneyMAX
• WealthMAX

It retails for a whopping $79.97/month. I can give you some budgeting advice for free right here – spending 80 bucks a month is not budgeting and saving money.

Lifestyle Advantage

This is their discount and savings program that’s meant to help you find more affordable travel deals, retail products, and dining options. Their booking website supposedly has a “110% price savings guarantee”. The package includes

• Travel Advantage
• Shopping & Dining Mall
• Grocery Getaway

It costs $49.97/month. Again, spending money to save money. It makes no sense, especially because their systems DON’T save you $50 a month. Often times, they don’t save you anything at all.

Life Essentials

This is a package that combines 10 of their most “essential” services, which you can also buy separately, into one monthly subscription. The membership includes:

• Roadside Assistance
• 24/7 Telemedicine
• 24/7 Tech Support
• 24/7 Personal Assistant
• Legal Access Plus
• Financial Coaching
• Tax Hotline
• Identity Theft Protection
• Personal Accident Coverage
• Worldwide Air Medical Evacuation

This package is $49.97/month.

Are these things actually “essential”? Some of them, like roadside assistance, tech support, and personal accident coverage are actually very beneficial to have…but you likely already have them. Your car insurance, the company that made your computer, and your credit cards offer all kinds of coverage that’s likely better than theirs.

Opportunity

Their website is full of stock photos of lambos and mansions in Malibu, but can you actually make money with MRW?

There are 11 ways to earn with this company. Here are the main routes.

Customer Commissions

Every time you enroll a new customer, you get a $25 one-time bonus. On top of that, you get anywhere from $.25-$8.00/month from customers throughout your organization, unlimited levels deep. The higher your rank, the higher your commissions.

Considering the high prices of their monthly memberships ($50+), these are pretty weak commission rates.

Team Commissions

You also get monthly residuals from distributors in your downline up to 7 levels deep. These commissions range from $.50-$3.00.

• Level 1 – $.50
• Level 2 – $.50
• Level 3 – $1.00
• Level 4 – $4.00
• Level 5 – $1.00
• Level 6 – $1.00
• Level 7 – $3.00

If you start out as a gold or platinum member, you also get 25% commission on the entire pay of your direct recruits. Clearly they want you to buy in big, because that’s a much better deal than the standard commission rates.

Bonuses

MRW has a bonus structure that’s pretty similar to other MLMs. Most of their bonuses are given out if you can sell a lot in a short amount of time, especially within your first month, or once you start moving up to the top-level ranks. A lot of these bonuses require you to buy in at gold or platinum level.

Recap

This is one of those MLMs that doesn’t have a real product to stand on. They offer a variety of vague services, most of which your average person already has access to through other (far cheaper) means, such as their insurance, product warranties, credit cards, and AAA memberships.

The compensation plan is very, very top-heavy. Most people will earn nickels and dimes, but the few who make it to the very top will rake in the cash.

It’s a big risk though, considering it’s one of the most expensive MLMs I’ve reviewed if you want to access the compensation plan and stay qualified.

If it’s really financial freedom you seek and you like automated ways to build passive income, there are better ways.

(and you can trash those old MLM habits, too)

from MLM Companies

Is Kairos Technologies just a Ponzi scam?

Kairos Technologies sounds like some sketchy, big brother company from a 90s teen flick. I’m picturing a group of disinterested college students dressed in all black doing matrix-like moves past security guards and laser beams to break into a multi-million dollar company and expose their secrets.

Turns out, the actual Kairos Technologies is nowhere near that big and powerful, but they are definitely sketchy enough to play a movie villian.

Was I ever involved?

This video explains everything:

Make sense? Either way, here’s the full review on Kairos Technologies.

Overview

Kairos Technologies is based out of the UK…and that’s about all the information that’s available on their website.

Nothing about when they were founded or by whom, although their domain was registered in 2014. The “Management” page on their website leads to a weird, generic diagram of the management structure that you’d find in a business 101 class without naming a single person in leadership.

They appear to also go by the name KairosPlanet, and a quick search on LinkedIn will uncover a handful of people who might be in leadership, although with the way MLM hands out titles like candy, they could just be regular distributors.

It doesn’t matter though, because none of these people have any information on their profiles. Michel Vieira calls himself President of KairosPlanet, but his profile says nothing else other than that he lives in Geneva, Switzerland. He doesn’t even have a profile photo. Janny Cavassini, a man who randomly pops up in one of their marketing videos under the title “CEO of Kairos Technologies” also lives in Geneva, Switzerland and is following Kairos Technologies, but his official title on his LinkedIn profile is just “social worker / entrepreneur”. [1]

Again, sketchy.

The Kairos website urges people to “Become part of a global international project by creating your own planet in the Kairos Universe.”

Sounds cryptic and alluring, but if you think that’s supposed to mean something, it’s not. The rest of the website is filled with such poorly written English that it’s hard to figure out what this company is even pushing. My guess is they’re not actually based in the UK…just a hunch.

How much does Kairos Technologies cost?
Kairos offers four different “agreements”, depending on how much an affiliate wants to invest and how much disk space they want to rent out. The more money and disk space, the higher the ROI.

1. 15 GB Rent: $125
2. 70 GB Rent: $597
3. 180 GB Rent: $1,577
4. 320 GB Rent: $2,777

Products

Kairos Technologies doesn’t actually sell any products or services. Instead, they recruit people to provide them a service that they then pay for.

Basically, affiliates rent out a portion of their disk space. They must have a certain amount of available disk space (15 GB to 320 GB), and they must download and install a special software program that they then have to leave running by staying online for at least 10 hours a day. The company is renting this unused disk space to “develop global distributed computing systems”.

In addition to renting disk space, affiliates get access to a variety of hardware and software programs, depending on their buy-in package, from Kairos Technologies that are likely all bogus. They include…

Software

• KairosMail, a secure mailing service (for all affiliates)
• KairosDisk, secure cloud data storage (for affiliates who purchased packages 2-4)
• KairosSurf, secure internet access (for affiliates who purchased packages 3-4)

Hardware

• KairosPhone, a secure and private communications device that has the specs of a cell from 2004 (for affiliates who purchased package 4)
• KairosRouter, a 3G secure wireless data transfer system (for affiliates who purchased package 4)

Opportunity

As I mentioned, each buy-in package offers a different ROI, all depending on how much money you’re willing to invest and how much disk space you’re willing to rent. Kairos estimates the following ROIs:

1. 15 GB ($125): $312.50 annual ROI
2. 70 GB ($597): $1,492.50 annual ROI
3. 180 GB ($1,577): $3,942.50 annual ROI
4. 320 GB ($2,777): $6,942.50 annual ROI

In addition to this money, affiliates make commissions on referrals through a unilevel compensation plan infinity levels deep.

All affiliates get 15% commission on their Level 1 (personally sponsored affiliates). After that, commission rates depend on rank. Affiliates who get past Assistant rank, the first ranking, get 10% on their Level 2 and 5%-30% on their level 3 and onwards.

That means that the highest ranks, like the Chief Ambassadors, are making a whopping 30% on ALL of their Level 3 affiliates and onward, infinity levels deep. That’s huge. Of course, no one makes it up that high.

The company also offers a 1% Matching Bonus, a 1-2% Leader Supporting Bonus, a 1% Generation Bonus on your two strongest legs, and a 1% World Bonus Pool. However, you have to hit certain ranks to access these bonuses.

Recap

If you’re still confused about what it is this company does, that’s because they don’t really do anything.

Kairos Technology might just be a straight up Ponzi scheme. How are they making money to pay you 200%+ ROIs for doing nothing but turning on your computer?

They’re not.

What they’re doing is taking the massive membership fees from new affiliates and giving you a part of them. Textbook pyramid scam if I’ve ever heard one.

Look, if it’s financial freedom you seek and you like automated ways to build passive income, there are better ways.

(and you can trash those old MLM habits, too)

from MLM Companies

Why trendy Jamberry won’t lead to real money

There’s one thing pretty much every woman I know loves: manicures and pedicures.

Women will go out and easily drop a couple 20s to relax with a friend, a glass of wine in hand and their feet being massaged in a warm pool of water, and come out looking fresh. Jamberry seizes on women who enjoy being pampered because hey, who doesn’t? So have I been involved?

This video explains everything:

Make sense? Either way, here’s the full review on Jamberry.

Overview

Let’s say that one day, your friend Susan asks you and your pedicure pals to come over to her house for a manicure instead of making a trip to the salon. You say yes, and then spend your whole Saturday afternoon listening to a sales pitch for nail stickers that goes something like this:

For the same price as a manicure at the salon, you can spend 30 minutes in your bathroom trying to blow-dry nail stickers onto your nails while your kid screams at you from behind a closed door about his dirty underwear. Eventually, you’ll come out with stickers on your nails.

Then your friend Susan invites you to these sales pitch fake manicure “parties” every single Saturday for the rest of your life….This is basically Jamberry.

Okay, maybe not quite this bad. Let’s start with the basics.

Jamberry Nails was founded by two sisters who claim to be “revolutionizing” the nail-wrap industry.

Christy Hepworth, Lyndsey, and Keri Evans co-founded in Lindon, Utah in 2010 in their basement, just like the founders of every craft/beauty MLM ever.

According to Christy, “At the beginning, we did a couple of Groupons. We also went to an expo — made a little banner, and got a table and everything. Tons of people loved the product and placed orders. Then we were mailing out orders from the basement at all hours of the night.” [1]

By 2011 they were up and running with an e-commerce site and test products. They weren’t the first company to do nail wraps, but they broke into the game at the perfect time. Nail wraps were still fairly new in the manicure world and were pretty much just being used by nail artists in salons. Jamberry was one of the first companies to allow consumers to buy nail wraps directly online.

In 2013, the company had over 50 full-time employees and 7,000 part-time consultants.

Now, less than 4 years later, they have over 100,000 consultants across the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, and the UK.

Their new CEO, Elizabeth Thibaudeau, has been in executive leadership at a number of MLMs, including Nu Skin for the past 20 years. [2]

How much does Jamberry Nails cost?
Starter kits for new Jamberry Nails consultants cost $99 plus shipping and handling.

There are no monthly sales requirements for being a consultant and earning a base commission rate on personal sales, but in order to be an “active” consultant and earn overrides and bonuses, you need to sell at least 200 PV per month.

Products

Jamberry sells nail wraps, which are basically nail stickers that you apply with a heat source. Their designs are printed on, so it’s not only possible to rock nail art that’s more detailed than your traditional nail polish can achieve, but you can also have custom designs printed.

The company sells over 300 designs and then some rotating seasonal designs that include everything from superheroes from the latest summer blockbuster to college football teams to holiday themed nails. You can also order custom designs on their website. In an interview with NY Magazine, the founders said that one of their most popular custom orders is nail wraps with ultrasound photos on them.

They also sell a Jamberry heating tool to help you apply the nail wraps, but you can just use a hair dryer. Nail wraps last 2 weeks on average for nails and 4 weeks on average for toes.

The nail wraps cost around $15-$17.50 for a sheet of 18 nail wraps, or you can subscribe to their monthly gift box program for $25/month and receive a box of surprise nail wraps that are valued at around $30.

The nail wraps don’t have the best reviews, scoring only a 2.8 on Makeup Alley with less than half (45%) of customers saying they would buy them again. A lot of customers commented that the wraps are a pain to apply, don’t look great, and are uncomfortable or even sticky to wear. [3]

Opportunity

There are 5 ways to earn with Jamberry:

1. Retail + Personal Sales Bonus
2. Level Overrides
3. Fast Start Bonus
4. Advancement Bonus + Matching Bonus
5. Generation Overrides

Commission on personal sales is 30%, which is industry standard. Consultants can earn additional bonuses that tack on 3-10% extra in commissions on personal sales for selling over a certain amount each month.

You can earn anywhere form 3%-12% on your Level 1 overrides. Higher ranks can earn 3-7% on their Level 2 overrides and 3-5% on Level 3 overrides.

Fast Start Bonuses are offered during your first three months as a consultant if you hold enough parties and make enough sales. They offer $75-$100 in product credit and a $100 Lead Consultant Advancement Bonus.

Advancement and Matching Bonuses are $100-$400 and are reserved for Lead Consultants and above.

Generation Overrides are reserved only for the highest ranking consultants – Team Managers – and they’re 2%.

Rank Advancement Bonuses are offered at Lead Consultant ranks and above, and they range from $50-$200.

Recap

Jamberry Nails is pretty wholesome when it comes to MLM, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to be achieving “financial freedom” selling nail stickers any time soon.

At their commission rates, you’re getting $300 for every $1,000 you make in sales. Considering you’re selling nail stickers that cost less than $20, you’d have to have a LOT of friends willing to buy your stuff (like, over 50) every single month…just to make $3,600 a year.

That being said, it’s a fun way to make some side money and get some free product, especially if you’re into nail wraps.

But if it’s financial freedom you seek and you like automated ways to build passive income, there are better ways.

(and you can trash those old MLM habits, too)

from MLM Companies

Can you really make money with THW Global? (full review)

Have you ever tried to make a quick buck on something that sounded way too good or easy to be true? Getting paid to shop, getting paid to travel, getting paid to play games?

Or maybe, getting paid to watch videos?

You know what they say about things that sound too good to be true…But that’s exactly what THW Global is going after.

Does this mean I’m involved?

This video explains everything:

Make sense? Either way, here’s the full review on THW Global.

Overview

You probably heard about this company through the insane amounts of buzz they created, building up a contact list of almost half a million interested people before they even formally launched their platform.

(And then they finally did launch last fall with a nasty surprise for all involved, more on that later…)

Watch videos and ads, make money. Sounds fantastic.

A lot of their buzz came from the ridiculous claim they made about being “Bigger and better than YouTube”. Well, YouTube has 1 billion users and $4 billion in revenue so they’ve got some catching up to do. [1]

There’s basically no legit info to be found on this company, even months after launch. Their website now tells me “Viewing from within your country has been temporarily suspended while improvements to the system are in process, please check back later.”

Sketchy much?

It takes a LOT of digging to find any information on where this company is located or who founded or owns it (the domain is private). However, a LinkedIn page for Steve & Vicky Bruce shows that they might be the founders of THW Global, or at least executive positions within the company. Their entire profile is a long, cheesy ad for the company.

Aside from the ad, their profile shows little relevant experience other than a year as independent marketing consultants. And nearly 30 years of experience as…a Pipefitter at General Motors?

It does, at least, lead to one viewable page on their company’s website, but over half the page is an ad for 888TravelForLess.com, a travel savings membership program. Basically, these people are spam central. Svbruce.thwglobal.com

The page does show that over 1,600,000 members have been registered to date. Not sure if I believe that or not, but either way, no one’s made any money yet because their platform has been in beta testing since last August.

How much does THW Global cost?
Here’s where they dropped the bomb on users.

When they first started signing people up for the platform, they claimed it was free. When they finally launched beta testing, they turned around and announced it would cost users $39.95 a month in membership fees, and, wait for it…

$995 for a certification to qualify for a coded bonus.

$995 to get certified to watch videos, no joke. Their monthly membership fee of $39.95 alone is excessive, but a $995 certification? This dwarfs just about any other MLM’s fees, and it’s pretty obvious where their revenue is coming from. Hint: it’s not advertisers. It’s you.

Products

Their product is a video platform that they claim will be bigger and better than YouTube by paying viewers to watch their videos rather than paying content-creators to make the videos. Basically, flips the YouTube model on its head.

This sounds great at first glance if you’re looking for some fast, easy money.

But if you start to think about it, you realize it has got some major flaws.

First of all, YouTube pays its members to make videos rather than watch them, because content is king. Without their content, YouTube would be nothing. If THW Global isn’t paying for their video content, they’re either not going to have any (would explain why they’ve been in beta mode for way too long), or they’re going to have terrible content, which is not going to drive traffic.

But okay, they’re going to reel in advertisers to use the platform to air their content, and presumably those advertisers will pay the company to broadcast through their platform because they’ve got so many viewers.

The problem here is that these viewers are paid viewers. Advertisers are not going to whip out their wallets in a frenzy for paid viewers, because paid viewers aren’t going to be engaged, they aren’t going to interact, and they aren’t going to buy. They’re going to click play, tune out, and let their paycheck roll in.

In the end, advertisers aren’t paying for clicks and views. They’re paying for customers. THW Global users would not be likely customers.

Opportunity

So, you might have already guessed that there’s not much of anything out there in the way of a detailed compensation plan.

But they do claim you make $5 watching a video and can make up to $25 an hour. Seems a little unlikely, as no advertiser is going to pay $5 per view, but I digress.

You’re also only allowed to watch up to 10 hours of video a week. Still, an extra $1,000 a month for watching online videos is not bad. One executive even touts that an extra $1,000 a week for American families could have prevented the entire housing crisis by helping people meet their mortgage payments (the company clearly doesn’t shy away from grandiose statements).

Then there’s the MLM structure, which allows you to supposedly make money off the views of people you refer to the platform as well. No details on that yet.

Regardless, all of this seems highly unlikely. My guess is it’s going to be nearly impossible to even make the $39.95 you spend on your monthly membership back, let alone profit. That is, if they ever launch…

Recap

So the idea behind this platform is inherently flawed, and I think they’re well aware of that. In reality, they’re just trying to cash in on membership fees before they tank, like so many other MLMs.

They’ve been putting off their launch forever, and despite almost a year’s worth of buzz, a single person has yet to make any money off the company. I’m starting to wonder if they’re not just collecting mass email lists to sell to companies and spammers.

Either way, go ahead and give them a throwaway email if you want, but I wouldn’t spend a single dime with this MLM.

But if you like automated ways to build passive income, there are better ways.

(and you can trash those old MLM habits, too)

from MLM Companies

Why North American Power couldn’t make MLM work

If MLM reps are all about #cleaneating and #allnatural trends, then they should be all about this #cleanenergy trend emerging in direct sales.

NAP was positioned to ride the wave, but despite years in business and even snatching a spot on the Forbes list, this company couldn’t make the MLM model work for them in the end.

It really screwed their distributors, who were perhaps a bit too trusting. Was I one of them?

This video explains everything:

Make sense? Either way, here’s the full review on North American Power.

Overview

Based in Norwalk, Connecticut, North American Power was founded by Kerry Breitbart and Carey Turnbull as a retail energy supplier working off a direct sales model. Think a wannabe Viridian Energy.

Brietbart in particular is pretty well known in the energy industry. He is a member of the National Energy Marketers Association Energy Committee, and he spent 20 years with United Companies as a crude oil broker and eventually President and CEO.

The company has over 70 full-time employees and rakes in $250-$500 million a year in revenue. [1] [2]

In 2011, NAP was fined $100,000 by the Maryland Public Service Commission after an investigation that showed the company was employing misleading sales practices. [3]

Breitbart attributed the problem to their rapid initial growth, and immediately reconciled the problems. NAP bounced right back, and in the same year were listed on the Forbes list of “America’s Most Promising Companies”. They ranked #57. [4]

The growth didn’t stop. By 2014, they were also making Inc. Magazine’s list of “America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies.” [5]

Anyone who knows the first thing about MLM knows that they don’t fare well in regulated industries, though. Direct sales is too riddled with accusations regarding product value, product claims, recruitment practices, and Ponzi schemes to go up against additional federal and state regulations.

This is probably why energy MLMs are rarely sustainable (pun intended). The energy industry is filled with rules and regulations that don’t mix well with network marketing.

By 2015, North American Power completely dissolved the network marketing arm of its company out of nowhere, leaving distributors totally stranded, with years of team-building and rank advancements down the drain. [6]

How much does North American Power cost?
Affiliates could join NAP by becoming electric or gas customers. There’s no sign-on fee or start-up kit, but they would have to pay a monthly energy bill from NAP.

An alternative was to purchase an American Wind or Home Automation Services from NAP, which were $20/month and $70/month respectively.

Products

The company can only provide its services in states which have deregulated their energy industries. That comes to a grand total of 12 states: Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Texas.

Starting out, they offered service in four categories: electric, gas, solar, and wind power.

Now they’re mostly known for offering electricity and natural gas services. They’ve won awards for customer service and offer competitive fixed rates for monthly energy.

NAP is an independent energy supplier that essentially buys electricity wholesale and then breaks it up into various plan options that customers can choose from. Switching to NAP doesn’t require any installations or service visits and can be done online.

One thing that makes NAP unique is their trademarked Understandabill service. It’s a home energy report that delivers data to your regarding your energy usage and energy conservation tips. It provides usage comparisons, forecasts, electricity usage breakdowns, and personalized recommendations at the touch of a button.

Opportunity

There was no differentiation between customer and distributor when NAP was still running on a direct selling model, which is always problematic. It means they had no real retail arm.

A basic customer was always a distributor as well, and vice versa. All customers were part of the affiliate program, whether or not they were interested.

They ran on a hybrid unilevel compensation plan with residual commissions, and they also offered all kinds of bonuses. Manager level affiliates (those with 3 teams of 10 customers) got a $500-$1,000 bonus. Senior Managers (with 3 teams of 25 customers) got another $500-$1,000 bonus.

Directors (those with 5 teams of 25 customers) raked in a $1,500-$3,000 bonus, and Senior Directors (with 3 teams of 100 customers) made bank with $2,500-$5,000 in bonuses.

Recap

While the majority of affiliates at NAP were probably making pennies on the dollar, meaning the shut down of their network marketing arm didn’t actually impact their earnings that much, imagine if you had worked your way up to the top ranks and become a big earner.

These guys were raking in huge sums of cash on a massive downline and a rank that probably took a lot of time and work to achieve. All of the sudden, with no warning, they found themselves essentially fired – jobless and without any income whatsoever.

Can’t say they were completely blindsided, as this kind of activity comes with the territory of working MLM. They shut down out of nowhere, especially in the energy industry.

Look, if it’s financial freedom you seek and you like automated ways to build passive income, there are better ways.

(and you can trash those old MLM habits, too)

from MLM Companies