What Is Empower Network About – The Empower Network Pyramid Scheme
Website: www.empowernetwork.com
Price: $25/mth basic, $100/mth inner circle, $500 Costa Rica Intensive, $995 15K Formula, $3,500 Masters Retreat
Owners: David Wood & David Sharpe
Overall Rank: 2 out of 5 Stars
What Is Up With Empower Network Really
May 2014 Update: Vick Strizheus announced publicly on his personal blog that he found himself being BANNED from Empower Network. He further goes on saying that Empower Network privately contacted his top Big Idea Mastermind leaders and asked them to “lock arms” with EN.
This is yet another proof as to what is Empower Network about, to how Empower Network lacks professionalism to not even give Vick a real reason why he got banned. Why even associate yourself with a company that can in any day just ban you without giving you a reason as to what you did wrong.
This all comes to light just after a month that Vick launches Internet Traffic Formula via Empower Network. Which according to Vick, Empower Network got a split of the sales from the system launch. Which just kinda sucks when after all that, you find yourself being BANNED, according to Vick. Vick is known to have founded the Big Idea Mastermind after joining Empower Network back in December of 2012.
In another note, on January 23rd 2014, EN had their Empower Network Freedom Event at the James L. Knight Convention Center in Miami, Florida.
The Freedom Event started with about 2,300 people gathered in an event that looked to be done with very low budget which left most that attended wondering if the Empower Network has lost their beliefs.
The company struggled to get attendees to the Freedom event, which according to sources, the tickets were discounted three times reaching their lowest point at $49 each.
This event offered workshops during the weekend to teach various marketing tactics, while most felt this may have been due to their viral blogging failure and outdated training materials.
Empower Network has attempted to fix some of the things that seems to be driving their business downhill. However, with their attempt to launch their new viral blogging platform called Blog Beast on September 23rd, 2013 it failed.
We just have to see what else will they come up with to try to stay afloat.
What Is Empower Network
The Empower Network LLC (EN) is an online program that assist their members to start earning money online and start their online home business.
Empower Network training is available to their members, which include marketing training, information products as well as a blogging platform.
Their affiliate program pays %100 commission that allows members to believe that they can accomplish a substantial online income while working from home.
However, initially, when they are trying to recruit you, Empower Network fails to tell you that they have multi-level memberships in their program.
But before I get into explaining more, I want to disclose out there that I have purchased the Empower Network system.
So before you say that I’m bashing on something that has never even given it a fair shot, well let me tell you I have, for a whole year.
In A Year Of Me Promoting EN, I Was Successful, But Why Did I Leave?
They have someone called a sponsor and at first they insist that you can start by only paying $25 a month but it is not until you are in that you then find out that you have other membership levels and you must purchase those in order to climb the success ladder.
The EN sponsors are the ones that at one point will discourage a member of EN. When I left EN, even though I was successful, my sponsor actually said it was “MY” fault and that some “people” aren’t cut out for this.
I made my sponsor money, I made EN money, I myself made money, so why would a so called “sponsor” be saying those things.
What happened to support and guidance?
Oh, that’s right. There ISN’T any.
So why I left? Several reasons, but to name a few:
1. – EN has no administration to monitor all the spamming that people are posting out there.
2. – I like to make my own business decisions so in essence I’m not a follower, but a leader.
3. – I’m doing just fine with my own blog which I have full control.
4. – Lack of support and guidance from sponsor.
Look, if you are tired of all the crap of Empower Network, the name calling (wussies, losers as they love to say), then you should read about my #1 top pick review by clicking here. You will be able to see the difference, the guidance and support are like nothing else out there.
But hey, don’t let me be the one that tells you, I would like you to see for your self by clicking here!
How Much Does Empower Network Cost?
Blogging Platform (Owned by Empower Network) – $25 a month
In order to get inside Empower Network, you will need to pay this fee on a per month basis. This is their first and basic level. You will also have access to this level training which has the basics to start an online business. Additionally you will have access to their back office tools and their Monday night Empower hour.
Inner Circle Membership – $100 a month
Once you upgrade to this level, you will have access to audio on the founders of Empower Network, the team leaders and members. In a nutshell this level will provide you with a basic fundamental concept on making money online. At this level you are able to earn commission if someone joins under you.
Costa Rica Mastermind Intensive – $500 (One Time Payment)
Once you have upgraded to this level, you will have access to a series of videos made up out of 10 modules plus a bonus. These audios will cover more advanced marketing strategies with concepts on your approach on online leads and audience.
The 15K Formula – $995 (One Time Payment)
Once upgraded to this level, they will teach their members how to market online on a more technical aspect. They will focus on how to grow your business long term.
Masters Retreat – $3,500 (One Time Payment)
Once upgraded to this level, you’ll have around 40 individual training which will enable members to learn as you earn. Videos made my Empower Network David Wood and David Sharpe.
Empower Network Compensation Plan
After activating their $19.95/mo fee, you will be pretty much free to sell any of the Empower Network products as an affiliate.
The only products that pay 100% commissions are the first five products and a merely 85% of the Masters Course which is $3,000 of the $3,500 price tag.
The way you will only be able to qualify for commissions is if you take part of one of these two ways:
First is by making a sale of each product to a non-affiliate. In other words, a sale to a customer who does not activate their affiliate account.
Second, by buying each product yourself.
If you do not meet any of these two criteria and you make a sale, the commission will pass-up to your sponsor.
And by the way, on each of the six products you earn commissions on, you pass-up your 2nd, 4th, 6th and every 5th sale thereafter.
How Does Empower Network Work?
I would like to make this clear to anyone interested in joining Empower Network. Keep in mind that you MUST purchase all the levels described above in Empower Network in order to get paid for a particular commission.
For example, if you only buy the $25 a month blogging platform level, and someone signs up under you, you will only get the commission on the $25, however if that same person buys into the higher levels within Empire Network, you will NOT get paid for those commissions as you are only paying for the $25 level.
In other words, if the person signed up under you upgrades to the Inner Circle Membership, in order for you to earn the commission of that, you MUST also be upgraded to the Inner Circle Membership and so forth and so on.
Please note that there’s marketing out there that probably makes it look way too easy for the average person to be successful, and by some, they claim that this is the person at EN that is unlawfully saying that and not Empower.
But why doesn’t EN put strict rules or monitors this kind of behavior from those members? But everyone tries to wash their hands and at the end, it’s no ones fault according to the supporters of Empower Network.
Empower Network Products?
There is a lot more cons than pros with Empower Network.
One huge problem in regards to Empower Network is that there is no real product behind the program, the product is basically YOU promoting the same thin air to other people and those people selling the same thin air to others.
Unlike other MLM products where there is actually a product that you are selling, EN really lacks this.
Pros:
- Get your own Empower Network blog (But this shouldn’t really be in the Pros section as you do NOT own the blog itself, Empower Network does. So if you leave EN you can’t take your blog with you.)
Cons:
- Has all of the common attributes of a PYRAMID Scheme
- No clear description of what you will be selling and what business model they have in order for you to be successful and make money
- If you join, you have to become a ruthless sales person promoting Empower Network to others
- Empower Network has many “upsells” which they push frequently and tell you is needed to make money
- If you want to succeed, you have to invest minimum $140/mth
- Additionally to the membership levels mentioned above; you have to PAY $20 per month just so you can get paid
- One of the owners is located in Costa Rica (A tax haven country which raises a lot of red flags in my opinion)
- Widespread COMPLAINTS online about Empower Network
- No access to the owners
- No free trial
- Failure rate is very high
- Competition levels are increasing daily
- You will be called a Wussy if you don’t upgrade memberships
- Overpriced to what you get, in other words, to get all the products, the full experience and the greatest earning potential, it’s expensive.
How Empower Network Is A Scam
According to Empower Network, everyone is going to earn money, with little effort and little investment and on autopilot!
Sounds like the DREAM business we all wish to have.
However, if this would be the case, why is there so many negative complaints about Empower Network?
It all comes down to that they promise something that will only happen to 10% of the people that join.
Below is a Commission Chart and Empower Network Compensation Plan provided to me that I would like to share with you:
In order for you to start making money, people that come under your belt need to start recruiting, and those people have to go out there and recruit more people and so forth and so on.
In fact, many sponsors (the person leading the Team) will “kick” you out if you do not upgrade your membership as of course, this will not give him any benefits and he will “lose” commissions.
If you are NOT an aggressive recruiter and you really don’t care in selling people a scheme like this one, then Empower Network is not going to work for you.
Hence why in my humble opinion I consider Empower Network a scam.
Empower Network Complaints
I have heard a lot of complaints regarding EN, however the number one complaint that I receive from several current and past members is that in a nutshell, the support and training will come from the person that is sponsoring you.
So if you really are still thinking in joining Empower Network, you will need to search for a good sponsor.
If you get a sponsor that really doesn’t know what they are doing, that sponsor will set you up for failure and you will definitely NOT be successful.
The actual materials within EN are very weak and are focused on how to promote Empower Network to others.
Also, the owners are never actually helping others to be successful, all you see them do on their videos are to encourage the crowd to promote EN and that’s basically it from the owners, there’s really no 1-on-1 interaction with them even if you get stuck on how to do things.
Actually the current members complain about their sponsors all the time, and the number 1 cause of people that have left EN is due to their sponsors and the lack of support.
In addition, even other sponsors offer help to those current members that are not happy with the support of their current sponsor. They recognize that there is a problem with certain sponsors, however EN doesn’t do anything about it.
Everyone is pretty much left on their own to guide other members under them. I think EN should have a guide or tighten their rules on who can be a “proper” sponsor that can actually lead.
If you really want to earn money online and do it in an ethical way and the principles can be done to any niche market, then EN will not be the community for you. As mentioned before, Empower Network is focused on how to promote their programs to others.
**In comparison, my #1 recommended product provides FULL 1-on-1 mentoring and support and the owners are actively involved.**
The Empower Network Review
The product is based around YOU promoting the Empower Network system to other people, there’s really NO product to sell.
In my humble opinion, this is the worst online scheme out there.
There’s really nothing more to say.
You will always see a great hype from people that are trying to recruit you, and that is solely because those recruiters will earn money from you if you sign up under them.
Trust me when I say that they are not hyped on their “product”, they are only hyped at the opportunity they have to take your hard earned money and will push you to eventually convince you to get in Empower Network.
My recommendation to you is to stay far away from Empower Network.
Who Is Empower Network For?
At first it may sound like a great opportunity and lucrative, but unfortunately it is NOT real, it is a SCAM!
At the end of the day, if you want all the products offered by Empower Network, you will be spending the hefty amount of about $5,000+ and let me tell you, this is way out of the initial $25 that they promise you at the beginning to get started.
So unless you have that kind of money that you would see go to waste, then Empower Network is NOT for you!
Review Summary…
Name: Empower Network
Website: www.empowernetwork.com
Price: $25/mth basic, $100/mth inner circle, $500 Costa Rica Intensive, $995 15K Formula, $3,500 Masters Retreat
Owners: David Wood & David Sharpe
Overall Rank: 2 out of 5 Stars
Tired of Online Schemes like Empower Network? Read about My #1 Top Pick Review by Clicking Here!
If you have a personal review or complaint that you would like to share about Empower Network, I would appreciate it if you could leave your comments below. Thanks!
Your friend,
This review was very helpful, as I considered joining EN. Thank you!
Hi Laura, thank you for your comment. I’m so glad that you found us before considering joining EN. A lot of people don’t realize that EN is a pure SCAM and they are told from the outside that they are only going to pay $25 per month to start their business online, then as soon as they get in the door they are thrown into the “spin cycle” of upsells. For example after you pay their $25, you get hit with:
First the $19.95 per month for the affiliate program access…
Then the $100 extra per month for the inner circle audios…
Then the over $5,000 in one time payment courses…
And worst of all, they belittled you if you don’t go “all in”, which is basically buying all of their stuff. This in my opinion shows a complete disdain for ethics.
Hi Eddie, Thank you for this review on Empower. I have heard a lot of banter about this company but never really got the full story.
Its obscene that companies like this can exist and get away with fleecing people. Hopefully, with all the negative reviews they are receiving they will soon slither back into the hole they crawled out of.
Oh, sorry great informative article by the way.
All the best. Lis.
Hi Lis, the problem is that in order for people to make money within EN, others have to spend money within EN. It ends up being a group effort to get people that have no idea what they are doing promoting a product they have no idea what it is other than the fact that it makes them money. People will do just about anything for money, including take money from others which is the premise of the Empower Network system. You join, I get money from you. You do the same to others, you get money from them, with the belief that you might get some of the money because the others are down your pipeline. But you better sign-up for the “all in programs” or they will call you a wussy just so that they can get more money out of you. EN is definitely a scam and an unethical company.
Hi there,
Just one question. Right now, in March 2014, as the new programs have been launched, don’t you think that they may have addressed those problems and complaints, and have developed a new approach ?
Empower Network is known even right now for March or April or any month of 2014 going forward to always masking their entrance points under so many different names and many different levels of sponsors.
I always recommend people to ask for support before buying and really doing your homework not only with EN but also when buying anything online. This will ensure you that you at least are getting a pretty good idea of the people behind the program or service.
From the beginning of 2014, they made big promises to “help” their members with Empower Network’s Big Idea Mastermind Event, but at the end, it was an expensive workshop in Vegas ($997) and an expensive call center ($97/month) and at the end, they force you to buy into more programs within EN.
So this help they were promising, was really only reserved for those who bought the workshop in Vegas.
Karleen, not sure if Empower Network will ever address their own problems and all of the complaints that people have after finding out they’ve been scammed as these will keep piling up as EN launches new products within EN.
Let me tell you one thing Karleen, EN may keep developing new approaches for whatever product they launch, but the materials and the results will always be the same scam.
I have to say after reading this, that you my friend did not give much accurate information. I have full direct access to my sponsor, he has helped me out big time, in fact I have access to people who arent on my team who have helped me out.
The training that get within the products are exeptional, if you want to succeed it up to you and no one else.
So if a person depends on their sponsor for success that person will fail regardless.
I have learned so much since I have been with empower, and yes u have had to figure some things on my own. People who fail at this are people who do not really want to make it they want the easy road to success. I was in miami and their event was not low budget and it changed my life….so before you give your opinions understand they are your opinions. Empower Network is a business not a lottery ticket
Actually, I wrote my review with the intention of accuracy. Every one that is brainwashed by EN say it isn’t accurate but they cannot rebut a single statement that is made.
My intention is to warn folks of programs and/or systems that are not legit online, so I think I’m doing a dutiful job here. You might think that you are doing something ethical, but I assure you that you are promoting EN just like everyone else at EN. I’m sure you have been taught techniques that are absolutely incorrect in the real world of online business.
Now you mentioned you have had to figure some things on your own, but why are you paying for all these so called training by EN and attending an event in Miami and yet left to “figure things on your own”? Looks like EN should be giving you all the Support you need to be successful don’t you think? Especially if you are paying high ticket items for EN and their other products.
Now let me outline exactly what you are doing:
1. You joined the program through an upline. They told you to go all in (or maybe not), but if you do, they get more money.
2. In order to earn money, you have to do the same to others. You need to try to get others to join the “system”. If they join, you get paid.
3. If that doesn’t work, there’s no money coming in. In order for this pyramid to work, you need a constant flow of folks coming in from your downline. Simple as that. Let me tell you, this is known as a ponzi. The product you are buying is on “how to promote the product”..and let me tell you, there is a very good reason that almost all merchant accounts will not touch this, which is why there was a shut down period in March of 2013.
If you can explain to me how the revenue you are earning is not the displacement of money from one person to another to join in your downline and the sole purpose of a downline, then I will be happy to have a discussion.
You have been completely fooled into thinking you are doing something ethical from the rah rah sessions you are involved with. EN does not offer an info product, it is an invisible product. Info products are a real business yes, but they do not require a downline to continue. I hope you come to terms and your senses in respect to this one day.
Genesis, if you can honestly show me that you are NOT promoting EN and you are doing well within a niche, I will give you an ounce of credibility here.
Very well said.
I just found your post after doing a search on “leaving empower network”. I feel the same and can agree with some of the points you stated. I do think that EN is trying to address some of the issues people keep pointing pointing out, but not sure the issues will be fixed or glossed over. I also have had very little contact with my sponsor which has been discouraging.
I don’t blame you for feeling discouraged. I mean, I would be too with a program like Empower Network.
Many don’t get help from their sponsors, and from my personal experience and from talking to a good amount of people that were in EN, was that if you don’t go “All In” and spend $5,000, their sponsor wouldn’t help them going forward.
Most get into Empower Network without realizing that they are going to buy into a higher price point in order to continue if they want to move forward with this program.
I always recommend asking for support before you buy anything online. By doing this you can get a good idea of the people behind the program.
Thanks for stopping by Adam and sharing your experiences with Empower Network.
Hi!Eddie I wish I am in the right online network scheme. I have been searching the online network as
My own business for a long time.all the time I been
Scam but I never give up.I have lost and spend lot of my saving,cause till now I have not getting a right
Mentoring person and proper coaching. Omg I wish
This r the blessings one.
Awesome and well written review Eddie. I joined EN and failed. I never went all because at the time I just trying to learn how to blog. After I joined it was kinda of too late. I gave it about 6 months before throwing in the towel. It was not enjoyable and could have used that money elsewhere. Live and learn. Mike