Empower Network – A Scam for the Ages?
Name: Empower Network
Website: www.empowernetwork.com
Price: $25/mth basic, $100/mth inner circle, $19 payment, $500 Costa Rica Intensive, $1,000 15K Formula, $3,500 Master’s Retreat
Owners: David Wood & David Sharpe
Overall Rank: 30 out of 100 points
**UPDATE: Empower Network Collapsed. The Company and Domain No Longer Exist.
The Product
Empower Network (EN) has been often times confused as being a REAL opportunity because of the relentless marketing taking place by the people pushing the product. However, there are many folks with real experience with Empower Network that are not happy and I am going to uncover some of the reasons why within. In this review I am going to be walking you through what EN is and help you decide whether or not it might be your path to Internet success.
Before I get started though I just want to clarify one thing. Empower Network is one of the lowest ranked products that I have ever reviewed and you are going to get a good idea why. If you are reading this, chances are you have been subject to someone “shamelessly” promoting EN to you and that is a normalcy. They can be very slimy, they promote slimy promotions, and if you become a member you are going to unfortunately be required to pass on the “slimy” tradition.
To put things into perspective, take a look at how Empower Network compares (or doesn’t) to other programs in the industry, you can get free websites (the foundation of your business) online. This can be accomplished through platforms like wordpress.com as well as many other hosts. There is a low price point to get started and a low price point to keep going, you won’t be subject to high ticket purchases in the same way that you are going to be within Empower Network. Plain and simple, you do not have to spend $1,000’s + monthly fees to create and grow a business online.
Pros vs. Cons
There are few pros and a lot of cons with Empower Network. The problem is that there is no real product behind the program, rather YOU are the product. The goal of the program is getting you to promote the very same scheme to other people and building a downline. Unlike other MLM products where there is actually a product that you are selling to customers (ex. Avon, Melaluca, etc), Empower completely lacks this element.
Here is a breakdown of the Pros & Cons of the Empower Network program:
Pros:
- Get your own empowernetwork.com blog
Cons:
- Has all of the common attributes of a PYRAMID Scheme
- No clear description of what the business is about, what you will be doing or what kind of interests you need for success.
- If you join, you have to become a ruthless sales person promoting Empower Network to others
- Riddled with “upsells”
- If you want to succeed, you are going to want to invest minimum $140/mth
- You have to PAY $20 per month just so you can get paid
- Widespread COMPLAINTS online about Empower Network
- No free trial
Who is Empower Network Intended for?
They claim everyone is going to earn money, with little money, with little work, on autopilot! Sounds like the DREAM we are all envisioning doesn’t it. However, that is not the reality of this program. Although anyone can join this product, it is intended for people that are willing to work very hard to build a downline and in many cases, do so in an unethical way because you are not actually “selling” anything to people, you are selling the fact that they will be able to sell what you are selling.
Here is a breakdown of how the compensation model works:
Confused? Well, that is because the more you dig into this apparent product, the more confusing it becomes as to what it actually is. It is reminiscent of “pen mail” where you send 5 people, they send another 5 people…and then so on and so forth. The person at the top of the pyramid (or triangle) gets paid the most, just like any other ponzi-like scheme the Empower has unlimited levels and payouts are always going to be “passed up” to the people at the top.
Guess who is not at the top. YOU. Guess who is at the top? The owners and the first few folks that got in at the starting point.
If you are not good at aggressive recruitment and hard selling people on the idea of a scheme like the one above, Empower Network is not going to be for you.
Tired of Ruthless Schemes Like Empower? Get REAL Help.
Empower Network Tools & Training
There are several different layers to the training offered at Empower, each have an additional price point. The training provided is really dependent on “whom” you sign-up through in this scheme. Some “upline” affiliates will offer you wonderful support and help (in attempt to build more success by having a successful downline). The actual materials within Empower very weak in nature because they are centered entirely around “how to promote empower network to others”.
There is also A LOT of emphasis on upgrading once you get into the system. This is called going “All In” and your sponsors will likely encourage you to go all in by calling you a “wussy” and other derogatory terms. Why? Because if you don’t buy all the training modules within Empower, then you are not going to be making others money.
That is what it is all about. You buy all the stuff (over $5,000 in total, which I will get to) and this money is going directly to your uplines and their uplines. If you don’t buy, then nobody is going to make money off of you and you can expect to be shunned by those “above” you.
If you are looking to earn money online and do it in a way that is ethical and can be applied to any niche, Empower will not be the community for you. Their primary focus is going to be training you how to promote Empower to other people. You have to look no further than the top affiliates, they are showcased within the program…but they are promoting the program itself versus earning money through other affiliate programs/niches.
Does Empower Network Offer ANY Support?
If you want a personal support system, EN is not going to be your program. There is no training or support offered without an extra cost (Inner Circle which is $100 per month for videos), and even at that, it is not personal training it a series of audios and videos. I never recommend any program that does not offer personal support and in which you do not have direct access or help from the owners. You will likely never have any meaningful contact with the owners directly. The owners are active in the promotion of their product and motivating the “crowd” to promote EN, but you will not see them selflessly helping folks within the bottom tiers.
Also, many folks complain that they are belittled within Empower Network by their so called “team leaders” if they don’t go all in. Going all in means that you buy all of their low grade products (which make your team leaders money) and if you don’t buy into the up to $5,000+ in products over the course of a year, be prepared to be called some really vulgar names (Read REAL customer comments below this review if you don’t believe me).
**In comparison, you can get started and get full support for completely FREE from experts…this includes FULL 1-on-1 mentoring and support and the owners are actively involved.
There are weekly calls from the David’s which is more of a “rah rah” session than anything else, aiming to recruit more people into their scheme.
How Much Does it Cost to Join Empower Network?
The pricing of Empower is complex and much more than it initially appears.
Blog Beast – Blogging System ($25 per month) / ENV2 – The fee just to take part of empower and to get your own blog (that every other member gets). There is nothing unique about this blog and you are tied to the EmpowerNetwork.com domain which is starting to get caught as SPAM by many search engines (not good!). And you can get much better blogs, in fact, your own FREE WordPress blogs where you are not tied into promote EN (you can promote your own niche).
You also do not own the content you create on your blog. I have received many complaints from folks that have quit Empower and have not been able to delete their websites because when you join, you sign a disclaimer stating that you don’t own any of the content you create. In essence, you basically get nothing for this $25 per month fee other than fact that you are creating content for someone else on a blog that looks the same as everyone else.
Important Update: These “paid” blogs have recently lost a lot of their “mojo” within the search engines (late May, 2013). In fact, EN no longer holds the #1 ranking under their own keywords (you can check for yourself if you like). This is because Google has deemed a good portion of the website as SPAM within their latest Penguin update. You can get much superior blogs for free elsewhere, so if you are buying into this program just for the blog, then I would suggest you save your money.
Also, if want to get the full scoop on Empower Network 2.0 (ENV2), you can get that here.
See a full comparison of Empower Networks PAID blogs vs. free websites here.
e-wallet ($19.99 per month) – In order to get paid, you need to pay for their payment processor. This is unheard of and the only reason that Empower Network has to do this is because they are working on the fringes of what is legal. There is absolutely no way a company like this would ever get approved by a reputable credit card processing company. Paypal or a normal Merchant account (Mastercard, Visa, Amex) would never allow payments to a company like Empower because they deem it as ILLEGAL or too high risk!
Inner Circle ($100 per month ) – This is hardly an inner circle. Other than giving you access to a some inner circle audios, becoming part of this program allows you to get paid even higher commissions ($100 residuals). So again, you are not paying for an actual product, you are paying to further promote the product that doesn’t really exist. It is like having a bag of air that you are selling for $25 and then paying $100 more to be able to sell you bag of air for more. But the EN pricing structure gets even more ridiculous than this!
Costa Rica Intensive ($500 one time payment) – This is a video sequence that focuses on building a business for the longer term…a business that again revolves around promoting Empower Network to others. I think you are probably getting the hint by now that the EN product is promoting the same product to others
The $15K Formula ($1,000 one time payment) – This is another video series that includes 9 videos in total, each video being a couple of hours in length. This covers a variety of topics outlining how to promote Empower network online. An example of this is using Youtube or Facebook…HOWEVER, Empower Network can no longer be promoted via these channels. This should throw up the red flags for you, the fact that Empower has been completely banned from Facebook and Youtube!!! This is the first product or service I have ever heard of that has been banned.
The Masters Retreat ($3,500 one time payment) – This is a series of 41 videos (mostly motivation) that were recorded at the Empower Network masters retreat. To me, spending $3,500 on motivational videos seems absolutely outrageous considering that most of this information has little to do with creating your own business and more to do with motivation (plus you could get a 10 YEAR membership at an all inclusive online business platform for the same price as well as get access to any of my other recommended top services (see The Good within the top menu)!). This is a high ticket product and the only reason you will see others attempting to get you to buy this product within the EN system is because they earn commissions off of you when they do.
So in totality, you are looking at $5,000+ $140 per month if you want the full suite of products offered within Empower Network. That is a far cry from the $25 price point that everyone seems to be promoting out there. Be forewarned, Empower Network is expensive, is overpriced, and you are looking at $1,000’s if you want all of their included training (going all in).
My Final Word on Empower Network (EN)
The product is YOU promoting the product to others. There surely are different things you can purchase within Empower after you buy into the initial blog, but that is there to drive the compensation model. You are shamed into buying it because your “sponsors” will not give you any additional help if you are not active within Empower and if you ever say anything negative about this network, be prepared to be jumped on.
The product is based around YOU promoting the Empower Network system to other folks (ahem…can you say pyramid scheme?). Need I say more? There are VERY few folks that are part of this program that have their own website, understand the proper way of creating a business online, or that are promoting different products other than EN itself.
You will see a lot of people “excitedly” promoting Empower Network to you and that is ONLY because they are going to earn money if you sign-up through them, not because they believe in the product itself (although they think they do).
I would stay as far away as you can from Empower Network and don’t look back if you are looking to create a real niche, business. One that you are passionate about and one that doesn’t require you to sell the very same system to others to recoup your costs. It may be convincing and people may be “begging” you to join underneath them, but it is not a real opportunity and the promotional module naturally encourages you to promote the very sam program to others. The system is centered around you selling it to others and around you going be forcefully pushed towards going “all in”…which means spending well over $5,000 and going into debt in many cases. Not exactly a $25 product after all.
Again, MY Overview…
Name: Empower Network
Website: www.empowernetwork.com
Price: $25/mth basic, $100/mth inner circle, $19.99/mth e-wallet, $500 Costa Rica Intensive, $1,000 $15K formula
Owners: David Wood & David Sharpe
Overall Rank: 30 out of 100 points (YES, 30…read the comments below to see real user feedback)
Just a Few (of the many) Empower Network Complaints Found Online…
Empower Network Complaint #1: Empower Network – A Not So Favorable Review
Empower Network Warning #2: Empower Network Review…Scratch That…WARNING!
Empower Network Bullying Complaint #3: Empower Network Bullies!
VERDICT: Pyramid-style scheme, VERY expensive, no support if you aren’t willing to SPEND
** Get the TRUTH About Building a Business Online! **
Do you have a personal review or complaint that you would like to share about Empower Network? If you do, I would appreciate it if you could leave your comments/experiences below! Thanks!
Kyle
Owner, WaysToAvoidScamsOnline.com
150,000+ EN members in over 150 countries (and growing daily), somewhere between $60-$80 million dollars in commissions paid to the active affiliates in the last 18 months, and all you wussified WUSSIES say Empower Network is a scam. Anyone that is not part of EN is a total loser. How about taking a good look in the mirror and accepting responsibility for where you’re at in life right now and stop blaming everything and everybody else.
Kyle, I like how you piggy-back off the most popular and best internet marketing company in the industry only to put it down to promote your own BS. Btw, what’s Wealthy Affiliate’s alexa ranking at http://www.alexa.com compared to Empower Network’s?
There was a company called ZeekRewards a few years back that was “boasting” about how much money was being transferred within their system, in fact MUCH more than Empower Network. People with the same sort of outlook in business as you were avid promoters of this program stating that it could not doing anything wrong. It relied on many of the same principles of EN, in order to earn money you need to sign-up folks below you, in fact that is the only way you can earn money online.
I don’t see folks from EN promoting other products or services. You are no different. Why? Because you will be shunned within the program by your sponsor/upline because if you don’t promote EN, you are not making the people above you. Did you know that only 0.675% of people are making more than $1,000 per month, yet many are spending $5,000 + $140 per month on the program? Think about those numbers for a second. If you don’t feel bad about promoting a program like this to others, you are turn a shoulder to what is going on and you are no better than people that are stealing purses from old ladies.
I could care less if people join my program or not (even though we offer a heck of a lot for FREE), I just want people to be informed before they make any decision online. To be honest Dave, I have grown tired to folks coming to me with their horror stories within EN. Being treated like crap, called wussy and much worse (it seems like you have that down), losing their jobs, not being able to pay rent, being pressured into spending money on the program instead of their children. That is the sort of stuff I don’t support and if you do, it is really telling.
By the way, Alexa has nothing to do with traffic or success of a company. If you had a clue about the Internet, you would know this and you would know that Alexa has NO real tangible traffic data to work with. This is a “foolish” metric that all the EN folks seem to be touting, yet none of them seem to really understand it. Perhaps you might want to check out this piece I wrote on this so you can get up to speed with things that you are talking up.
Thanks for a really fantastic and honest review Kyle – much appreciated. I just really bitterly regret not having seen this sooner.
I’m currently an active member of EN due to a person whom I had been following for a few years. She’s been shouting from the roof tops that it is the best thing of her 20 odd years of marketing. Based on that trust (which is totally misplaced as I discovered), I joined EN about a month ago. I didn’t go “all in” but have bought the $1000 15k formula (much to my regret). Some of the elements in there may be useful but overall I consider it as being something that is overpriced and under-delivers on most levels, essentially a rip-off product.
Ever since joining I have had my doubt about EN as I just couldn’t really see the value in all of their products. I have to admit that I was somehow brainwashed which is very unlike me as I normally consider myself to be astute with such things. Still, I have learned my lesson the hard way and will be looking at your site in much more detail. I may possibly sign up.
Overall, even though I have had a bad experience with EN and would not recommend their system to anyone, I still strongly believe that internet marketing is the way to go for me.
I’m currently in the process of cancelling my EN membership (basic plus Inner Circle) including the eWallet and my Autoresponder. All in all, a not so significant $170 per month. My sponsor has not really done anything other than welcome me to her facebook group. I’ll be removing myself from that group too.
Rob, your experience is all too typical…including the brainwashing aspect. The thing is when you join something and everyone is “told” they are to believe in what is being said or they need to get lost, you naturally have a group of believers of something, regardless of whether or not is it is the right thing to do.
In addition, when you get a bunch of people in a room with limited knowledge as to what they are doing, then they are all immediately going to feel intelligent. Both of these are the working forces behind empower and unfortunately there is an ongoing push to sucker new people into the program…and then they become part of the entity that suckers new folks in and so and so forth.
I think you have validated why you have made the decision that you do and I think others reading this may see the, what may initially seem hidden, “truths” behind how the system actually works.
I can tell you that there are bright days ahead for you man…I would love to work with you and help you turn things around. You can find me within WA or you can drop me a note here or on my About Me page if you ever need a hand getting a REAL business up and running online and I will be more than happy to help you out.
I didnt do EN i looked into instant pay day network and the two are connected. I didnt even go the full way i knew it was a scam. Once i posted my first add on craigslist like i was told to do . Craigslist flagged it as spam . So i did not do that required 3rd step in the program and i received spam for months with that you need to be in it to win speech. Face book has banned them , so much for a legit stay at home opportunity
I was a sucker for EN and a newbie on internet marketing I have been with EN for a couple of months and I still dont understand internet marketing and everytime I went to ask a question they want to send me back to the 10 steps which did not answer my questions and I started to think I was doing something wrong. I really wanted it to work and since I was not all EN my sponsor had no words for me basically said in one of the training calls if people are not all in she dont have time for that I felt like I am not asking you to hold my hand but give me better feedback and she would direct me to ask my questions to the facebook group which they make you feel like your questions are stupid.
I still would like to know how make money online if possible but I really dont know who to trust.
Please, please, please save your money. I read people went to there Denver event that didnt have the money to go drove hours and didnt even have a place to sleep but it was people that took most in but that is crazy.
I wish something could just bring them down with the economy money is to hard to come by for people to take advantage
Rach, that is the unfortunate thing. People are buying into the “hot air” and travelling to these events spending their last money. I have had many folks contact me that have literally spent their last dime in hopes that one of these events is magically going to change their lives.
It changes their lives, but for the worse. Now they have no money and they just attended the biggest “rah rah” buy more session of their lives. I had one lady (read comments below) that even wrote in worried about her friend that left her sick child at home to attend this and spent their money (they need to pay the bills).
I am not OK with this and it sounds like you are not either. I am so sorry to hear that all this has happened to you and I do want to offer my help to you if you ever need it. You can get in touch with me via my About Me page here on my site, or you can connect personally and get help from me within the WA community.
OK, I was in Denver at the Life Vantage conference the same time as the Empower Network conference was going on in the back half of the convention center.
I spoke to a few of the EN folks on my breaks. I DO know what a pyramid scheme is since I developed products for Fortune High Tech Marketing which the government shut down as a pyramid scheme back this February. Luckily, I had done my research 3 years or so prior and found WAY too much negative chatter online about FHTM so only got involved on the manufacturing side of it. Govm’t told FHTM the only product they sold was distributorships because the product we manufactured for FHTM was only being stockpiled by distributors who were forced to buy monthly allotments in order to get the pittance of compensation that they also complained about….
SOoooo…. In Denver, I kept telling the Empower folks there.. “you have NO PRODUCT”!!! Their answer was the mantra “our product is education, just like you buy at any college….”
OHHHH, that is just selling air… and getting others to sell air…. Danger Will Robinson!!!!
On of the biggest reasons I chose Life Vantage is that for every distributor, there is an average of 9 customers and the compensation program encourages ALL distributors, regardless of rank, to add new product-buying true customers at least once a month. No selling air….
Anyone interested in how the government views the sale of education via network marketing, Google on “Dare to Be Great Glen Turner”.
Turner was selling educational tapes, Tony Robbins style, and selling distributorships to sell those tapes. Even though the tapes could have been considered the product, the tapes taught people how to sell distributorships.
EN has very limited time. The government responds when they are overwhelmed by complaints from burned distributors. BEWARE.
Yeah, one thing you can never do with their audience is tell them that they are wrong and definitely don’t have a conversation about their actual business model. They have been told many different things like:
(1) People pay $5,000 for education, it is OK to spend this on ours
(2) All companies are pyramids
(3) You have to spend more money to earn more money (go “all in”)
(4) If you don’t join, you must be a wussy
Programs like this are unfortunate because they prey on desperation and people that really should not be spending their rent money on overpriced programs just so they can do the same to others.
I just watched their video, and as I clicked of the page, this is what I got
Don’t be a wussy! Click ‘Stay on page’ to join now!
Are you sure you want to leave this page?”
WOW!!!!! Do they know what a wussy is?
That is just the start of it Robert. When you join and pay the initial $25 per month for a site you don’t own (and doesn’t rank), you will be forced to pay another $19.95 so that you can get paid. Then you will be called a wussy until you go all-in, which means paying $100 per month additionally for the “inner circle” and $5,000 for the other upsells.
Thank you for this. I almost signed up an hour ago, but had a strange feeling and decided to have dinner first. I was required to enter my email address to view the informational videos. Ironically, less than an hour after viewing the EN videos, and thankfully before I signed up, I received an email alert from Google that they had blocked someone in Cancun from using an application/device to attempt hacking into my email. Had to immediately change passwords. Also ironic, EN requires in their user agreement before you sign up that you will not defame them in any way, and breaking that agreement entitles them to $5000. Red flags everywhere.
BEWARE – I saw online that at the Denver event they announced ENV2 Empower Network Version 2 the is supposed to launch this fall.
This will probably keep people on the hook longer with this whole interface change.
I saw a couple of YouTube videos that were recorded by people at the event and a couple EN blog posts from people.
Odd, because I thought that they made attendees sign nondisclosure agreements at these events.
Anyway, members are touting on FB, etc. that this is going to “change the internet”……
Very bold statement that an “iterative” update is going to change the Internet. Hopefully they do make an ethical move away from the current scheme they are currently offering folks.
Well, I’m pretty sure the pay structure/recruiting methods will stay just as it is…….updating the interface and adding technical capabilities will only serve to repackage the same scheme. People will still pay a lot of money and will lose a lot of money, except the 1% who continue to profit off of others. I will say that it is that 1% who are VERY excited to start promoting ENV2.
That same 1% are the ones who actually go to these events and leave them even more mesmorized and ready to recruit more people. I see no end in sight in the near future. More people will part with their money and end up more broke and disillusioned than ever before….
You can forecast the future by looking at the past. In this case, people can expect the same line of ethics out of the EN program that they expect from the past. A business built on a structured scheme that people “buy into” just so they can promote it to the next person…and so on.
You don’t see people within EN promoting anything other than EN and there is a reason for that, their only financial model is to sell overpriced, high ticket “all in” products to folks to directly displace money from their bank accounts and put it into theirs. It appears that many folks are waking up to what is going on so this is definitely a good sign.
I have been part of EN but only on the $25 dollar amount and I decided to get out. Did I do anything with the program the answer is no. I just could not get myself to take action in something I guess I never really believed in. I see the same leaders Tony Rush, Jon Mroz , Tracy Walker ,Kris Darty & the two Irish people(forgot their name). They all seem like good guys but it seems like they are making a killing at this. Maybe they just took massive action where the average person takes little if any. Is it us legitimately complaining about EN or is it just us being lazy? I did nothing so I guess I shouldn’t expect any results. Bottom line is I love online marketing I’m just looking for the right person to start working with.
When someone tells you something is worth $1000, but they’re selling it for $25to make it feel like you’re getting a good deal, the products is probably worth LESS than $25
I would agree with you that this is a typical rule of thumb. Many of the gurus and schemes online use “high value” bonuses to try to convince you that the product you are buying is at a rock bottom price.
“Buy my product for $7 today and get $10,000 in bonuses!”.
That sort of snake oil sales is going on everywhere these days it seems. Even worse though is when you say your product is worth $1,000, then you sell it for $25…and then you realize that it is actually worth $0. That is what is happening within EN as they are selling people inferior blogs to that are available online for free. Blogs that don’t force you to promote EN and blogs that can actually ranking in the search engines.
Leila,
Your post makes me want to cry, I have religiously written blog posts for 5 months every single day and have been pulling my hair out wondering why I am failing when everyone else is out there looking like they are making tons of money… Often my kids sit on my lap as I struggle in front of the computer. So sad.
Here we are busy Moms and huge suckers trying desperately to make a go of something, which is impossible to succeed at. I truly believed in it. I got up to the $500 mark and have been pushed to get the 15k, by the end of the month I feel like a gambler who goes to the casino and wastes all their money trying to get rich quick when all I really wanted was to give my family a better life and pay off all our debts.
Kyle can you really teach someone who is not super techy how to get on Google? After over 100 blogs I have no list, no followers, no sign ups, no nothing. My up lines only advice was that I have no “niche” and I should stick to blogging only about Empower and blogging.
I told them I love my topic, I know they are well written and I know nothing about Internet marketing and they told me to buy the 15k for $1000 I don’t have. I feel sick about the whole thing. And totally confused. :0( PS Is Ashley not the wife of David Wood??
So sorry to hear about the run around you have been going through Kelly.
Let’s get a few things straightened out so you can move towards creating a REAL business online. First, you should not be using an Empower blog if you are trying to build success within a niche. These blogs are geared towards only the promotion of EN, they don’t rank, and they are inferior to every free blogging platform I have seen out there. In fact, I can offer you a superior to that within WA (in fact two) that you will be able to use to start a business within any niche.
Next, your sponsor is pushing you to go up to the next “mark” because they are making MORE money off of you if spend more. It is a sick way of doing business, but that is exactly what is happening. You are being taken advantage of for your money, they could care less about you doing anything else other than spending money or promoting EN to others because that is the only way they are going to make money.
You absolutely should follow your niche, follow your passion and follow your dreams. Don’t let anyone tell you other wise. The only problem now is that you have not been given proper training or a proper platform to build a business. You are within a scheme that could very well suck you dry if you continue down the path you are on. I do hope you consider either WA or one of the more established, “business building” products/services out there because it does sound like you have all the drive and work ethic necessary to create a good deal of success online.
If you need anything else or have any further questions, do let me know.
Kelly – if you really like to write you should look into writing “content” for others while you pursue learning about blogging. It will not make you rich, but you can make a bit each month. Oh, and let me also mention that writing or ghost writing is hard work.
Hey Kyle…just wanted to let you know that a couple of facebook Empower Network members are calling the Denver convention the “No Wussy” event…lol
No Wussy = Not Willing to Part with $5000.
That is their marketing strategy and part of the way they operate over there. They need to belittle folks in order to get them to spend money on their high ticket, over priced programs.
This is was posted on a Facebook wall of an ex-friend of mine (A scamming family for sure). It takes a little digging, but not much to reveal that some little big dreaming loser joins Empower Network, sets up a blog under some Pseudo-Mentor identity (“Business Plan”) only to refer to Empower Network. There is no product what so ever, but it looks better if you hint there are lots of products and ALL SOLD out, due to overwhelming demand. Please note that with this badass EN high roller – there is ONLY one “opportunity” to buy left. Massive pressure hype. There is nothing here, traffic accident lookers! only Empower Network and their sub-zero quality minions looking for you to be their next product – all skinned and re-packaged
(below is copied from Empower Network Affiliate self proclaimed Top Dog (Homeless Bad Ass) Blog-boy wonder “Join a Mentor”
I would love to upload the screen capture image instead, but the comment section here only allows text.
My Products
Sorry you can’t buy today!
We already sold everything. SOLD
That is really what you are looking for if you are a seller.
The SOLD sign in front of the investment house.
Its also the case when you want to buy.
Think about it, when you buy you feel good, and its not rare.
Everything you buy and every time you buy you feel good.
The only time you don’t feel good is when you pay
and you don’t have enough money, but you had to do it!
Creating our own economy and making money online
should be a must in ever person’s life
The good news is today its going to feel good.
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Hey Kyle. Good work. I also sinked my money in EN and got nothing from it. So beware when thinking about joining EN. They are simply selling air, and you will notice it sooner or later. Cheers from Poland. Daniel
UPDATE: I took a look at Kyle’s membership site WA and would like to retract my statement about not signing up with him in what he does.
While I still don’t personally agree with bashing the competition, what Kyle offers seems solid and when I get some time I may even sign up for it myself to take a closer look at the training.
I don’t usually post comments without due diligence as I don’t like to spread false info, but I didn’t do that tonight and felt I should followup with this to make it right.
Hey Shawn,
Glad you did decide to join so you can see where I have been coming from. I have been within the online world for 11 years now and I am by no means in the business of bashing, I have simply had enough of people getting scammed and people taking part in schemes that they are told are completely legitimate when I know otherwise. You wouldn’t believe how many people have come to me asking for help that have spent $1,000’s on products (like the ones within EN) and have missed rent payments and end up with a sub par education and nothing to show for it.
They are told they “didn’t try” or they “simply are not action takers”…and that is why they didn’t achieve success. I don’t agree with this and I have helped 10,000’s of people create REAL businesses online. This means create them from the ground up, from the initial phase of creating a website right through the content, seo, marketing, and long term business plans. That is what I teach, what we teach, and the ethical approach to creating a business online.
I can appreciate where you were coming from. I defend things I purchase too. I used to have a Samsung phone (I hated it) but I would defend it at all costs compared to an iPhone even though I knew deep down inside the iPhone was better from my past experiences. Why? Because I made the purchasing decision to buy it and I would feel like an idiot saying that I make stupid decisions with my money. This goes for anything you buy.
That is exactly what is happening within EN. People are spending $1,000’s on a scheme, only to try to push this same scheme (in order to earn money to others). When you tell them “something is wrong” with what they are doing, they will defend it. Unfortunately, there is no rebut to anything I have said because I am speaking from experience and I am speaking on behalf a massive audience of people that have come to me crying “scam”. It really bothers me because I could offer someone a 20 year education at WA for the price they are paying at EN with better training, better websites, better tools, better support and a much more helpful community. TWENTY YEARS!
I am here to help man and I would love to work with you going forward and help you create a highly tangible business online. One that works when you are not there, one that can be within whatever niche you want, and one that is sustainable without having the “suck” other people into some sort of scheme. You have access to me now so make sure you hit me up if you ever need anything.
KYLE,
So what makes what you do so much better? I am all ears …
I care about people’s success, not earning MONEY off of people. A big difference. You should check out WA if you get a chance, the Starter membership is completely free and offers WAY more than what you are trying to lure people into EN with (a viral blog… you mean a branded WordPress blog you don’t own and that doesn’t rank?…for $25). C’mon man, how can you feel good about promoting that.
I just wanted to drop you a quick line to “Thanks” for saving me time, money and inevitable disappointment. I received an email from the “Coffee Shop Billionaire” (another piece of trash) that was touting the Empower Network in order to make $100 per day extra. I decided to take a step back do more research. I’m glad I did. My gut told me that something was not kosher – this whole thing wreaks of Thomas Bowdoin Jr.’s “Ad Surf Daily” or their second scam – “Golden Panda Ad Builder” The whole thing was a just an elaborate Ponzi scheme. At least that’s what the US States Attorney’s office declared (in the case of AdSurf & Golden Panda) when they sued, won and convicted the lot of them. I fell victim to that trap – lost 2k.
I must be a total schmuck, do you know that the video link featuring one of the Dave’s actually got me teary eyed – especially when he got to talking about how he was homeless (I was able to relate to him on that one) and how he took his daughter to DC, bought his mom a new car (cash)..Etc, Etc. Mark my words…this company is going DOWN! You know why – the same reason why Ad Surf Daily went down. The product or service you’re “buying” is WORTHLESS. It’s all smoke and mirrors – just a facade to funnel money to your upline! These people get what they have coming to them. And don’t think for a moment that the US government won’t compel Costa Rica or any other Nation (Cuba, Venezuela & Sudan are some exceptions)to extradite them.
Is there no decency?
Moody
Programs like this continue to thrive because people get suckered into them by people like the ones you mentioned. It is unfortunate and going forward, you should be more careful in the programs you choose to join Moody. Do your due diligence and if you want a hand getting up and running online, have a peak at my Getting Started page. I can definitely help you out (personally).
Hi Kyle,
You have done a great job by writing this review about EN. You are gonna save many people’s hard earned money. EN does talk about SEO; their own site is ranked lower in Google’s first page for “Empower Network” keyword. What an Irony!!
And your site is above EN site for “Empower Network” keyword search. 🙂
It is a little ironic, what is even more ironic is that the very same people that are promoting the “high ranking” SEO blogs and promoting EN are often times not using these blogs. They are not practicing what they preach because they know the blogs don’t rank and frankly superior websites to the ones people are paying $45 per month at EN are available for free online.
Hi Kyle
I have read with interest your blog here as well as the other comments from other people almost sucked into Empower network, which my wife and I were considering, but I am definitely not going to touch this now. Thanks
I have spent a fair amount of money over the last 2 to 3 years trying different schemes out, and I just can’t find what I am looking for.
I run a business in the health industry, which could be doing better, but as you know with the global recession we have been hit quite hard and had to downsize our premises to a single clinic. Now I have spent a small fortune on this traditional business, but I need a second income which I am hoping can replace the one I have now,without stock, employing staff and all the other costs of a traditional business.As well as the hours and huge committment it takes.
So my question for you Kyle ( and I apologise for the long winded post ) is there there any way of doing an online business part time, and if you pardon the scammy terminology, and earn a significant amount of money and i’m talking in the region of £10k/$15k to £15k/$20k a month as starters and build up to more, and work from anywhere, at anytime with whom so ever you want, or is it just hype, and you need the full time committment, of 15 hour days, 6 – 7 days per week, and some money to invest?
Please tell me the honest truth…
You will never “start” at $10K per month, you have to work towards that. Is that possible? Absolutely. Any amount is possible, there are people earning $100K’s per month and that is not all that uncommon. Before you build a skyscraper though, you must first plot your foundation and that is the approach I am a proponent of. If you think this is going to happen FAST, you are kidding yourself. This is a business and it will take hard work and dedication on your part (which is sounds like you do have a grasp of).
It all comes down to getting proper education and having a support system that is there to help you out. Avoid joining a scheme, because in order to keep your revenue coming in you have to “suck” others into the scheme.
This review is such a joke. It’s sad if anyone believes it.
Perhaps you would like to disprove anything that I have said. I would love to hear a refute.
Here are some of the things that you may want to cover:
(1) Why are you selling people on a $25 per month blog that doesn’t rank?
(2) Is that the only money they are going to have to pay or are you going to try to force them to go all in?
(3) Do you make money promoting anything other than EN? If not, how come?
(4) How many people in Empower have their own niche websites promoting products besides EN? Perhaps you could share a few
(5) Are you pushing people in your downline to BUY stuff because you make money when they do? Is that the only reason?
I would love to hear your responses to this when you get a chance Chris.
I knew I should of come here first. I paid my 25 bucks THEN I saw the 100 dollar “special suckers circle” I decided after that to check them out. I know better and I am very frustrated myself. I just want to find away to start working towards income outside of my day job and I just need to know . DO i have to kill myself day in and day out to get there?
Thankfully you didn’t go for the $100 circle, because that was just the start of what you were going to be “bullied” into buying. There were over $5,000 in products and many conferences that you were going to be called a wussy until you invested in. I can help you get rolling in the right direction Steven, no slight of hand required.
Hi Kyle, you had responded to another post of mine under the zeek scam. Well my friend leaves for Denver Thursday and I’m just beside myself. She actually posted in facebook tonight that she is high on life and knows this is going to be the answer to all her dreams. I’ve tried talking to her to no avail. She is helping me out by letting me stay with her family so I’m seeing firsthand all this garbage. I cannot even imagine how much money she has spent on all the convention events besides the actual convention ticket. She is so impressed that they have rented the entire Hard Rock Cafe one night that’s all I’m hearing. Funny money can buy s lot of things including renting out a restaurant for the night. Her and her family are having to look for new housing as we speak and I just know the money she needs for a move is going to be wasted on this BS. I thought she was an intelligent person, even has a background in legal from college but she will not listen to anyone that comments negatively on it. Her 2 yr old has been having various seizures in the past week that have had him hospitalized twuce with no answers yet but she still insists on going. I get the task of watching her son while she is gone and I’m terrified of something happening. Unfortunately its going to take her losing a lot of money before she realizes the stupidity of all this.
I am sorry to hear about your friend Lisa, but hopefully she will come to her senses. This is a cult like mentality and you probably won’t be able to say or do anything to help her snap out of it. The unfortunate part is that in order to realize any of the “opportunity” within Empower Network, your friend is going to have to sell this exact same “opportunity” to others. That is how the scheme works and the minute she is unable to convince new folks to come into this business and pressure them into buying expensive, low quality “info” products, is the minute that her so-called massive opportunity will fizzle.
I do wish you and her all the best (and her son) and I hope that you both have a lot of success in the future. If you ever need a hand with anything going forward or need help getting a business of your own up and running online, just let me know.
I have just wasted a few days and several hours listening to someone try to “convince” me that this is the best thing since sliced bread. And how I can make an enormous amount of money. When I asked “what is the product?,” he couldn’t tell me. I also took the time to watch a 50 minute video of one owners describing how this BS works from his mansion in Costa Rica, I’m assuming. And after wasting almost an hour, I was still confused.
I’m currently involved in a very respectful direct selling company and I don’t have to “convince” anyone to use my products or to join me in business. The products I sell are consumable and they actually do what they say they do. Plus, I don’t want to have to “push” anyone into anything.
I live in Denver and this “friend” was trying to get me to sign up and attend this weekend’s hoopla. When I told him I was booked all weekend, he basically “shunned” me saying that if I was smart, I would cancel everything and jump on board. BIG RED FLAGS EVERYWHERE!!
Thanks for this review. I’m happy I didn’t “drink the Kool-Aid!”
The convincing turns into bullying and pressuring you to go “all in”. That first $25 to get in the door turns quickly into you spending $5,000+…just so you so-called “friend” can earn money directly off of you. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck…
Thanks Kyle….I do plan on getting something started online soon as I’m disabled due to two serious auto accidents. As for my friend, she is in Denver as we speak and her talking is very cult like. She has already started pressuring me that I have to spend $125 Wednesday. To appease her I said that I want to wait to see what kind of money she makes first. Her comeback was I have to do it now because they are coming out in 60 days with a social media site bigger then Facebook. I didn’t even respond back she just keeps pressuring me. She has already made plans to go to Dallas in October. I just found out today that the electric is being turned off tomorrow morning but she decided to still go to Denver when if she would have stayed here she could have paid the bill. We live in Houston and its as hot as can be so no power is going to really be fun. Thankfully her son is ok but I’m sure he’s going to be miserable in this heat too. She has posted so much on Facebook its sickening. She already has two of her friends wanting to hear more but my hunch is when they hear what it is they will not be so interested. Her husband wants to know all about this scam so I am going to show him all your comments, thanks for everything.
This is so sad to hear. The problem is that she is not going to be able to explain what she is selling to you. She is offering your the same dream she has been offered and in order for you to take part in this dream, you need to buy the koolaid from her (that way she makes money off of you). Then in order for you to make money, you need to do the same thing to unsuspecting folks and so on.
I hope for her sake and the sake of you as her friend that she wakes up before you spends $1,000’s on the courses (that are required to go all-in and that here sponsors are going to want her to do). It is pretty shameful to choose an scheme like this over your own child and over paying your rent and that does prove the state of mind she must be in.
All the best with your situation.
I just spent the last few hours reading your reviews of Empower Network. Glad I did. I had my card out, ready to join, then decided to do some digging. That is when I happened upon this. I saw a posting on face book and commented to the guy about it. Since then I have been approached by 3 different people on face book about EN trying to get me to join. Like most people, I have been trying to live paycheck to paycheck, even working not only full time, but also at a part time job. If I want to be insulted and called names, I will stay at my full time job. I am staying as far away from EN as possible. I am going to be doing good to pay my rent this week, so, I know I can’t afford to join.
It’s really funny too, because the guy who first introduced me to EN, doesn’t put the usual comments on things on f/b, in the comment space he puts in the pre-written shpeel about working from home and making lots of money. And I am really getting sick of the phrase “badass”. Give me a break already. I am definitely going to check out WA and see what it is all about. I am a distributor for a childrens clothing co. in CA. but haven’t had the knowledge of how to start up my own website and blog. Since I don’t have the knowledge, I haven’t been able to connect with people to get them to go to them clothing website to possibly purchase clothing. I would also like to get the word to some big retail co. if at all possible.
Thank you for your time and your reviews of EN.
The unfortunate part is that you would have gone from “badass” to “wussy’ really quick if you didn’t fork out the additional $100 per month for the inner circle and the $5,000 for the other products that you are required to buy if you want to be an “all in” customer (which is the only way to get real respect because you are basically giving money directly to your sponsor).
I would love to work with you and I can definitely give you a hand with your existing business Etta (website, training, and support included).
Kyle, the way I saw the EN comp plan was that there were no predictability in income because of all the pass-ups. If I came in at $25 and I personally brought my friend in at $5,000, I wouldn’t make squat because I’m only at the $25 level!Also, when you pass-up HALF your people that ain’t a 100% commission! Plus, where are the retail customers?
Yeah, exactly. And it is by no means 100% commissions that is touted and sold to people when they join. It is 100% for certain commission, but overall it works out to be much less and you can only earn if you SPEND a good deal of my buying into those programs. That is where they get you on the “going all in” aspect, because to earn money selling the same fromage to others, you need to own it.
And there are no retail customers. Without the sponsor-based “scheme” of it, nobody would spend $5,000 on the overpriced products. No way…
This whole post and thread is pretty funny. Yes, I’m a current EN member, but I’m a very straightforward individual…meaning I won’t lie when it comes to explaining how EN works.
Take the $25 blog for example:
I used for a little while (like 40 blog posts), but I got annoyed with it because you can’t really customize it the way you like…and I’d rather promote my domain instead of someone elses company. I also noticed that it wasn’t ranking worth a damn in Google. I have a number of posts from my own blog that rank better than people using their EN blog…and I have gotten more leads from my own blog than EN’s.
Most members won’t admit it, but ALOT of the top earners don’t even use their blogs…so why are they encouraging their downline to use theirs?
Easy. They want your recurring payment of $25 bucks every month. Same goes for the Inner Circle. They know damn well paying $100 dollars a month for audio trainings (that you can get for free by just listening to the Monday night EN call) is not worth the money. It’s really just a bunch of “hoopla rah rah” sessions in my opinion. Stories are great, but living in a van or being a former drug addict has nothing to do with learning how to make an income online. You’re making good money now, so all of that “rags to riches” mess is irrelevant at the present moment.
So why pay for the Inner Circle? Easy. They want your recurring payment of $100 as well. Let’s be real here…there’s no way most members would buy this stuff if it wasn’t required to in order to resell it to others.
Just because people want to earn an income online doesn’t mean they have to go broke doing so…and that’s what EN encourages more or less. Think about it, if EN was really teaching you to build a “business”, you wouldn’t have to buy $5000 worth of products and be in the negative as soon as you get started. You would be basically operating at a loss.
I remember I heard about the event in Austin, Tx. where David had everyone who had made a commission stand up in the audience and then went on to say how a high percentage of EN members at the event have made money.
What he failed to do was ask how much money did they invest before they made a commission. So even if someone made a $25 sale, but went “all in” at $5,125…they are still $5,100 in the hole.
I can go on and on, but this is just a glimpse into what goes on in EN. I’m pretty sure I’ll be back lol.
P.S. I signed up as a free member of WA a few days ago…looks very good so far. Don’t worry, there’s no hypnotizing or sob stories within the training lol.
Mike, you are one of the smart ones…there is no doubt about that and I can tell that you have a bright future ahead of you. Most people in the system just assume the system is ethical and that is the right thing to do, because they are listening the “hoopla rah rah” (as you stated) within the training, the live webinars, and from their sponsored relentlessly telling them it is the right thing to do in attempt to bleed more money out of their pockets (and into their own coffers).
I want to help you, but I want to do so in a way where at the end of the day you are going to feel good about what you created and where you are going to earn a consistent online revenue (and sustainable one), by helping people…regardless of the niche you choose.
The Empower blog is customizable (see mine legitpress.com). You need at least 60 well written blog post with the right keywords. strategically place throughout the blog post and you will get 5 to 10 leads every day. It works for me. Of course, if you have money, advertising goes a lot faster. I have also discovered that many of the big earners have started to blog now that many advertising systems have become watered down and too expensive.
60 well written blog posts? Whoever taught you that has no idea what they are talking about. Strategically placing keywords within the article? That will in no way lead to rankings. Perhaps you should get some REAL training online and get yourself a website that is hosted on your own domain, not a redirect.
The irony of the “big earners” not using the blog system at EN is because they know it is not a good idea.
I was so close to paying that $25 but something told me to research it. So are there any good ones?
Hi Kyla, I can help you get up and running for nothing. The fact of the matter is that I care about helping people and I would love to work with you.
I was a dumb dumb and believed the hype. Paid my $25 to find out that if I wanted to get anywhere I should really invest $3k! If I had that kind of money I wouldn’t be looking at something like this. I am so sick and tired of low-life leeches like these people trying to scam desperate, genuine people out of their precious money. Is there NO real opportunity out there?!
Your story sounds all too familiar. You join for the $25 Viral Blogging and then your sponsor immediately tries to get you to upgrade to the Inner Circle…and then belittles you until you part ways with up to $5,000 more for your “investments” into the program. This has to stop and by you exiting before it was too late (and you lost a bunch of money), you are helping put and end to the this cycle/scheme that preys on the vulnerable.
And in respect to “getting real help”, I would love to invite you to check out how the process of making money online really works. Head over the the “How does it work” page on my site here and I will get you moving in the right direction Dawn.
How should I trust an obvious amature? I’ll do my own research thank you. CHECK YOUR TYPOS fool. You look rediculous.
The irony in your comment is no different than the irony that the folks exude within EN (and it is very clear that you are an active member of Empower).
And of course, you obviously have no rebut to any of the statements that I have mentioned or any of the feedback that others have had about Empower Network. The problem is that you cannot validate WHY you are charging people $25 per month for a blog that doesn’t rank or that they don’t own, $19 per month to get paid, another $100 per month for audios that should be free…and $5,000 for overpriced training packages. The reason. It is all about you making MONEY at the expense of others and that is what the entire scheme you are involved in is based upon.
One day you will wake up and realize that you are selling hot air to people that are easily gullible.
I wish you all the best.
These people like Ashley clearly don’t have a clue as to what they’ve really got involved with. It sounds like she is just another naive brainwashed participant in this scam.
I’m so glad that I never took that fateful bait that I have been bullied into joining. I am going to file a complaint to the FTC to hopefully have this scheme/scam closed down and for the two Daves to face prosecution, as this is what they deserve AND all those so-called marketers who leveraged and harvested their lists for their own selfish greedy gain.
Hopefully, this would result in a clawback from these unscrupulous marketers as with what I understand is happening with the Zeek scam last year.
People visiting this page, take note of Kyle is saying as HE IS THE REAL DEAL as he is doing the right thing in providing a honest review in these online scams that plague the Internet.
I echo what Kyle says and say STAY WELL AWAY FROM THE EMPOWER NETWORK, it WILL HURT YOU!
I congratulate Kyle for the good advice he gives, well done man!
Hi Kyle,
Thanks for all the valuable input. It doesn’t matter what anybody say, you know what you are talking about.
I am a member of Empower Network and have not actively started any blogging or marketing yet, I think deep down inside I knew that I can’t promote something that I do not believe in 100%. Now I know whay I didn’t start.
I must admit that if one put all the hype aside, one will realise that you are actually branding Dave and Dave, and not your own dreams or opportunities.
I definitely will not try and discredit and person or opportunity out there, but it is very important that people go into something with their eyes open. Take all the information out there and make an informed decision.
It is also very important that one gives value to potential buyers first, before you try and sell them a product. I feel that with Empower you buy, and then you hope that you will get value out of products that are very expensive.
I did however get value from the products in EN, whether it was value for money remains to be seen (I am still a newbie in Internet Marketing). I think I will only know once I join your programme
.
What is very interesting is that most of the EN leaders own blogs/websites is ranking higher than EN – it must make one wonder: What is going on here? EN claims that their platform is ranking very high?
What is very important for me is to be integral and honest in all dealings with people – you look to be one of the very few people that have that trait.
Thanks again for all your valuable posts.
I agree Jerry, that should set off some immediate red flags. The “entrance” selling point for anyone promoting EN (which is all anyone within Empower actually promotes) is a blog for $25 per month and another $19.95 per month. You don’t own these things, they don’t rank, and the very sponsors that are trying to recruit you do not use them.
Why would they do that to someone?
First, they want to make money at any cost…which always means displacing money from someone else who likely needs it much more than they do. Secondly, they are told to do this. Everyone within Empower Network promotes Empower Network. I have yet to see someone come forward with a successful business in another niche as result of EN and I think that is very telling of what this program is.
Kyle, thanks for putting this information out there. I am a former “All In” member as of a few minutes ago who’s been feeling that something wasn’t right for awhile. I actually stopped all activity over a month ago, and your article is what put me over the top and made me immediately go clean out all my blog posts (don’t even want to be affiliated in any way)and cancel all my subscriptions. I’ve even started to unsubscribe to all the email lists and unfriend a few of the people on my FB friend list that really promote it hard.
Here are my reasons and then I am going to paste something at the end (a excerpt from an email marketing message I just got a few minutes ago) that will blow your mind.
1. First and foremost I am a Christian and I got really tired of all the cursing and anti-Christian views that are freely expressed throughout the video marketing, the calls, the training, and even the live event. To me that is totally inappropriate and unnecessary. I would be saying the same if it was any religion. I noticed at the last event that they have toned down the cussing somewhat because I think they started to realize that families are involved and people are getting fed up with it. However, I shouldn’t have to feel like I can’t freely share what I do with people in my social network because of the fear of exposing my church family (or anyone really) to the inappropriateness or the uncomfortable feeling of representing something that’s against what I stand for. I even tried to completely customize my “blog”, but that became a waste of time when EN forced the “badass” button on everyone. Its a button of a scull and the word badass on every page right at the top. To some people thats not a big deal, but to me and a lot of people it is.
2. I got tired of all the hype and rehashing of the same stories over and over again. I stopped getting on the weekly call long ago because I felt it was a waste of time – the same message every week. Join and go all in. I felt like I was always searching for how people are really making this work. Sometimes I would get an answer depending on who the interview was with, but it usually involved high cost, or only part of the information needed to be successful.
3. I went to the live event and there were some good speakers. I enjoyed myself for the most part, but at the end of the day it was a rah rah session for getting people excited and going all in. It is not a pitch fest for other products, but do they seem to pitch going all in all day! Also if you’re not into group hypnosis (which was a little creepy to me) then this is not the event for you! The most impressive part to me was the training I got from my team’s mastermind the Monday after it was all over, but at this point it doesn’t matter because the info was mostly geared toward promoting EN.
4. The blog platform is horrible! The default theme had nothing but EN promotion all over it which was confusing for my topic of choice. For someone just wanting to blog its not a good idea. Once I switched over to the custom theme it seemed all of the features were disabled (specifically I remember being annoyed that I could use google analytics anymore – if you can’t track your visitors how can you optimize??). You can’t add your own plug-ins at all, and its very difficult to get the formatting right.
5. Lastly I began to become disgusted with the general feel of the community where everyone is promoting to each other side systems and tools that supposedly give you automatic sign-ups. There are member sites that charge an arm and a leg to get you leads when if you just cut out the middle man and learn how to get leads yourself, the cost is much less! I experienced this first hand with my friend promoting one of these systems to me and it felt very sleezy. She asked me to join several times, along with a few other people, with the premise that she wanted to help me get on stage and so do the owners (thats what they all say), but I knew that she also would get a commission. The problem is people are leveraging small successes of signing up people that eventually quit not too long after. The leads are NOT very targeted. Plus its just another thing to promote which can be very confusing for unsuspecting people looking to cut corners. They only waste more money.
Here is an example of someone promoting one of these systems and it is APPALLING the type of language that is used:
This email is from an Independent Empower Network Affiliate and not directly from Empower Network LLC.
Me again…
I called it appalling because the language is borderline that of buying slaves back in the day. I know that is dramatic, but he’s talking about buying paying members and gifting them to his team!! These are people for crying out loud. People who are totally clueless that they’ve been “bought”. If you notice he pushes for getting at least the 15K course in order to participate in this gifting (getting team members for free).
Kyle I know you will be all over this. I think I will end it here, but for those of you on the fence… hear this from someone who was ALL IN and just got out… DON’T DO IT! SAVE YOUR MONEY please. I wish I had seen this months ago.
I think all of the issues with the program are completely valid and that you will find that these are some of the biggest concerns that other folks have that have been active members within EN.
The cursing is not appropriate at all and to anyone that thinks it is “cool” when a business curses, I would argue the exact opposite. It is cool when a business does not need to use vulgar language and the fact that in order to become a “badass” within the program you need to spend your “rent money” (as many people have to do), that is pathetic. The bully tactics used within this program are definitely creating a lot of backlash and it sounds as though you have had your fair share of these experiences.
I still can’t believe they are using a 12 year old boy to sell the program. It is the “story of success” that a 12 year old made $3,000 per month for 4 months in a row (like that is supposed to be outlandishly impressive to begin with). The unfortunate part of all of this is that he was promoting EN to others and from the very get go, he is learning methods of making money that are unethical. I can still remember back to when I was 13 and I worked 16 hour days (doing a real job) and made $3,000 per month the ethical way.
As you said, the information and training materials are geared around promoting EN. I have yet to see someone come to me arguing that Empower Network has showed them how to make money within their own niche and with visible proof they knew what they are doing. Instead I heard the same old “you suck Kyle”, EN is the best…without a lick of quantifiable evidence other than you can make money by sucking other people into the very same scheme.
You stated:
That is exactly what I have been trying to tell those that say “you can promote any niche you like”. Have you have ever walked into a bank and had them try to sell you a toaster oven? That is like promoting ANY product besides EN on an Empower blog. It just won’t work and there is a reason these blogs are overtly promotional towards the program itself…they DO NOT WANT PEOPLE PROMOTING ANYTHING BUT EMPOWER!
I do thank you for stopping by and you I do think that your personal insights are going to help the folks that are on the fence as to whether or not this program is legitimate or not. It is clearly in the “gray area” of the business world and like you and MANY others, I share the opinion that this program is highly unethical.
I am another victim of EN now Victor!! I joined in March this year. I did not go “ALL IN” but I spent still about two grand with EN and all the other scammers within EN promoting their traps.
I really thought that EN was a blessing. I thought it would be a blessing for single mothers, and help stop government dependency. I take my responsibility in joining EN and it is my fault I got took. I should have looked at the income disclosure. I assumed that it stated that “these are not typical results. results depend on how hard you work” And did not look because I knew it was possible to make money online if you have the right tools.
It was not until someone told me to look at it. At that moment I realized these people are straight scammers and thieves. They always put down college students and I am a college student and because I AM a college student,I automatically knew the game and everyone in its game. These people put down anything that is sound and pervert the truth to a lie.I felt like crap..please excuse me but that is how I felt.
What was really sick the person who told me to read the income disclosure (ID)knew what it read and tried to tell me he was going to make money and be honest with people O.o he must thought since I’d been played a foul I was still a fool. That is impossible mathematically and can not be done with out deception,no matter how you try to dress it up or put sugar on it, it’s still a lie.
I am also a Christian and this is where I made my other mistake. I didn’t find out what the bible said about “get rich schemes” this is what the bible says:
Proverbs 13:11
Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.
Proverbs 28:19-20 Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty. A faithful man will abound with blessings, but whoever hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.
Proverbs 22:16 Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth, or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.
The guy who told me to look at the ID..stated that he was a christian (wolf in sheep clothing)also took money from me. Before he disclosed the income statement to me, he contacted me though fb and perfect timing (I had just spent $1000,$700 on that lead generation which they gave me 147 leads for $700 and my “sponsor” after I spent the money treated me like I was glunk on your shoe.)I was crying and in a mess. He told me that he would build a website for me for free. I thought that FINALLY someone who really cares about my success..he told me that to make money I needed to have my own website, which sound true. He made me a website I paid $65 for domain name and hosting…then he said that he is making money with EN and he’s been in internet marketing for 20 years and he is from Canada. He told me that he is an expert in SEO and he has a special program to put my website ranking top in google and yahoo. He stated that he usually charges $500 but for me he will only charge me $150. I told him what happen to me I guess he wanted his cut too. This all happen in a matter of a week. During that week he was promoting webinars, on how to market, when I went to his EN website, guess who’s website he was using??
When I told him that he basically scammed me and still doing EN is against everything that God stands for, he stated “I don’t socialize with negative hurtful people. You lost a great friend. I deleted you from fb and now I’m am with twitter too. Just to let you know. You give God a bad name with you actions” I stated back “The truth always hurts.. I already unfriend you from fb. I forgot about twitter. I do not want want to be connected to someone(s) who are building wealth thru deception.. Your selling your soul. Dishonest money never last.” He said “My love for God is very big. Thou shalt not judge pharaseee.” I didn’t respond. Proverbs 26:4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him. I kept the mean text messages he sent me to remind me how cruel people can be. I want to warn anyone out there about this guy and tell you his name but these are the kind of people who represent EN.
I did the same thing I cancel my subscription and unfriend a bunch of people on fb. And probably 50 to 75 people unfriend me on their own (so grateful..lol).
I’ve learned research everything, even if you believe someone verify. Never let anyone rush you in making any decisions. MLM, Network Marketing all are built on a the same concept with a over priced product…that requires a monthly out pocket expense to make a profit..
I will stay in school 😀
Wow,it sounds like you have had quite the journey but an all to similar one that folks are experiencing within EN. The reason people make money within EN is because they are taking money from others. The only way the “others” can make money is by continuing this down the chain. The products are there as a facade for what is really going on here and those that are paying to go “all in” are being pressured (like yourself) to doing so.
Sponsors are there to make money off of you. If you don’t buy all the overpriced packages and you act like a “wussy”, they don’t make money off of you. That is how the business works and that is how it is going to continue as long as people continue getting sucked into the doldrums of this “scheme” (not to be mistaken for an actual business opportunity because people ARE NOT creating businesses).
Thanks for stopping by and I do wish you all the best in the future. There are legit programs out there and I hope you spend some time and do your due diligence before jumping into anything next time around.
“The reason people make money within EN is because they are taking money from others.”
Holy cow! This is EXACTLY what happens when I go to Wal-Mart or McDonald’s! They take my money…AND THAT’S HOW THEY MAKE MONEY! D:
I’m SO glad you pointed out this nefarious scheme to me! It turns out EN isn’t the only ones who do this…big companies like Microsoft and Apple are ALSO making money by taking money from others! When will the madness end?!
Thank you so much, Kyle. You’re surely a life saver.
You are not really comparing EN to McDonalds or Walmart are you? These are both companies that sell tangible products to customers. REAL companies.
What you are doing is selling people on the idea of making money…and then in order for them to do the same thing, they have to sell the idea to others. Yes, there are products within EN but they are just a mechanism for you to “bully” people into going all in so you can make money directly from people.
The $25 per month VIRAL (not sure how they are viral) blogs do not rank in Google, they cannot be used to promote any product other than EN, and you actually do not own the content. You can get MUCH better blogs for free.
So right away you are TAKING money from others. Why wouldn’t you promote a free, superior blog to these people instead then…because YOU care about making money and that is it.
Then $19.95 for the ability to be paid. This is the only affiliate program I have EVER seen to charge people money in order to get paid. The reason this is in place is because no REAL credit card company or reputable merchant would touch a scheme like Empower.
Then people have to pay another $100 per month for some “audio” motivation.
Then another $5,000 to go “all-in” (and be a badass).
Then they have to attend conferences.
A lot of money to dole…and in the end what do they have. The opportunity to promote this exact same crooked scheme to others. But you are OK with promoting this program to your downline because YOU are making money. That is it. This is greed and you are doing people a disservice.
I do wish you all the best Michael and I hope one day you realize that what you are doing is not even close to operating a real company and you are way off base trying to compare this to a BUSINESS like Wal-mart of McDonalds. Those are real companies that sell tangible products to customers.
Wow! So agree with you! I am a new member of EN and when I watched a recorded session in Dec. at one of the homes of the Dave,s I was so sick by amount of time the “badass” word was used and putting down educated people….but what really made me turn off the video was when Dave used the name of God in one of his ” favorite sentences” . Thanks for this article.
Tomorrow I will say goodbye to EN.
Yeah, the language definitely offends a lot of people, but that is definitely part of the marketing angle. They don’t want wussies, they want badasses (which is hidden language for, if you don’t buy our stuff you are not worth our time).
Thank you Kyle,
I receive so many promos. I have looked EN over and over and I was wondering what the product was. It so funny that you have clarified that for me!NO PRODUCT!!!
I want to share something of value. My blogs are just a hobby right now (that isn’t what I was hoping) but at least I am giving something that I care about and hope to figure it all out someday.
For all the lies online, there are some great people. I came across your site a long time ago, and always wanted to join your membership site when I started making money.
I am glad I came upon this review! Thanks again, Mary
Hi Mary,
The best way to earn money online is to take a passion and run within it. That is the beautiful thing about the Internet, it is so vast and the audience is over 2 billion people wide, so you can be working within any niche and you can be very successful online. And if you want to get started, you can definitely do so for FREE (no catches). This will get you moving in the right direction with your existing business and you will be able to network with myself and others inside of the community.
Thanks for stopping by!
Wow…was I feeling the pressure of the high-pressure video sales pitch. I decided to go to the corporate website…almost feel for its modern minimalist slick and professional appearance. Then I decided to Google “Empower Network scam” and lo and behold I find this page and others speaking to the true nature of this online “money making opportunity.” THANK YOU for saving me from myself and the wrath and disappointment of my husband for wasting money.
Yeah, there are lots of reviews (real ones) out there that will accurately depict what is actually taking place within this program. When you look behind the people relentlessly promoting EN on Facebook and other social mediums and people gloating about how great it is (without actually know what it is they are offering others…a scheme!), you will realize this is nothing more than a new school ponzi. It relies on “newcomers” to fund the upline and it relies on bullying to get people to part with more money.
I think you made the right decision.
Wow! My Higher Self told me to come back here to see something…not knowing what that “something” was until I saw what Kyle said… So you’re the owner of WA????!!!! REALLY PEOPLE! Anyone who feeds into this guy’s crap is super small minded! This guy is clearly only here to get your money! He thinks he’s clever! However there’s people out here like me who is quick to air out the truth! This Kyle guy came up with WA, a program he has stated himself, is similiar to EN! If my company is so ridiculous, why mimic it Kyle? I know why, because you thought you were clever, and you thought you would be able to get EN’s audience, which is huge by the way, to be dumb enough to get in your program. So lets make a system like it and tell all of their members and the people thinking of joining them it’s a scam, and I’ll be rich! I would ask for feedback from your team at WA, but this is your blog, so of course you can go in as other names and give fictitious testimonies! I’m good on that! But to anyone reading this who cares about what this guy has to talk about…consider this. Do you think he has the capacity to support you all? What if, just as with other newbies, you have a lot of essay questions for him? He won’t help newbies! I guarantee you he won’t! But my team will! Kyle chill out with all the bashing man…come on back to the “grand daddy” of these wanna be programs…including yours! As I stated before, I sincerely apologize for everyone’s misfortune with EN, if any. EN will help you market ANYTHING you do! Kyle just disgusts my spirit with his blurt outs about how we only teach you to market EN. We here at Empower Network is full of culture, compiled of people from all over the world and different walks of life. What “Peanut Brain”<-Kyle
Wow! My Higher Self told me to come back here to see something…not knowing what that “something” was until I saw what Kyle said… So you’re the owner of WA????!!!!
Yeah, I am the owner of WA, glad you sorted that out as I explicitly explain this throughout my site. You stated “I am here to get your money”, in fact, quite the contrary. I am offering people a solution (only if they are interested) to work within a company, Wealthy Affiliate, that has been around since 2005 and has been an industry leader teaching Internet Business to 100,000’s of folks since then.
We are not a mimic of EN, we have been around much longer and we actually providing training on how to create a business online, within any niche and leveraging many different marketing techniques. We also cover a broad range of training within WA and help everyone from local marketers, to domain marketers, to SEO experts, to PPC marketers. We are not an MLM scheme and we offer a completely FREE Starter membership that exceeds the value of what you are “trying” to get people to pay for. How ethical does that make you?
You stated “Do you think he has the capacity to support you all?”. Yes, actually and we take pride in it. Business is not just about taking money from others and I hope that one day you will come to your senses and realize this. You are promoting a blog system ($25) that should be free, merchant accounts so people can be affiliates (which should be free), and audio “rah rah” training for $100 per month…then $5,000 in one time course packages. I can offer 20 years of WAY better education and support and tools and services for the same price.
But I guess that makes you more ethical. I will just continue being a peanut brain and selfless help folks create “REAL” business online while you continue bullying people into going all-in for low end training just so you can make a buck. Kudos to you and I wish you all the best.
PS. At no point did you educate us on how Empower Network is a quality program and how my arguments are invalid (and I think there is a reason for that).
Hi Kyle
Thanks for the interesting and informative article on EN. After reading this and a few other reviews I have decided to cancel my EN membership. I joined only 6 wks ago and was totally sucked in with all the hype but then the alarm bells were ringing when:
1. All EN links are banned from FB as scam
2. Constant harassment to get ALL IN
3. I realised i was getting all my seo training from youtube and not EN.
4. My youtube vids were getting to first page of google but not my blog posts
5. No real training from my sponsor just videos getting u amped with no follow through
6. the FINAL straw came when i realised ALL my EN links i had shared on google+ were instantly removed!!!
How can anyone in EN claim this can work when google is banning them as spam!!
I am so pi****d at the amount of time and money i have wasted with this and feel guilty as Im a single mom with a little 2 yr old boy, I have put all my time and effort into this and not given him the attention he deserves and for what.. so dave and dave have more content out there they are stealing from us the ones who stupidly paid to write it!!
I plan on coping/taking my content to a new site and deleting everything on EN that i have made before cancelling my next mth subscription.
If your reading this and your trying to get out of EN try to do this so your not giving them all your content and im sure your pic too.. just so they keep it personal!
The whole cult leader totally struck a cord as that is just what dave wood is like, i should of know better after I grew up in a cult with my family and escaped when I was 14.
Maybe too much information but I am so angry at dave wood for conning my again.
Thanks Kyle i will check out your offer when my faith in human nature is restored.
I am sorry that you had to go through all of this before you came to this stark realization that what you were doing may not be right. I hope that I can help you restore your faith in human nature and if you do need a hand with anything going forward, please do let me know and I can get you moving in the right direction. Thanks for stopping by with your insights into EN and I wish you all the best Leila!
hey Kyle,
Some people tend to look at Empower network in either being black or white colored
Well, it is somewhere in between.
There are many pros and cons about EN.
1/ the blogging system: To be honest, I have not used it. I have even advised some of the members on the Facebook group to use their own blogs, so that they can have full control over them. I don’t see why you have to pay someone to blog, when it can be done for FREE. Yet, even if you use free platform such as WP, it is still good to get a good course/coaching on blogging ( just a time saver at the end of the day).
2/ The Innner circle: it has quite interesting videos., motivational and not. And most of the people who have succeeded online should agree the technical skills without proper mindset will lead to NOwhere.
3/ Coaching: mastering any sort of skill, including making Money takes time, and/or money, whichever you have more of.
Sometimes it is much cheaper to spend $5 or $10k on the right coaching, and start moving on forward, instead of digging yourself in the send, and trying to rediscover the wheel. I personally spent 2 years time and > $15K on products trying to figure things out.
So, the question is: how much is your time worth?
Just going to the cheapest public college for 1 years will cost you >10k. is it worth it???
4/ Does Empower network have a product?
EN is the product itself. The “expensive” Costa Rica Retreat , and so on products are simply “personal development/growth” products.
Do you think FTC will anytime ban Les Brown or Tony Robbins for selling their Motivational products???
And how much a coaching from Tony Robbins would cost you? How would you quantify the benefit you possibly reap from his coaching?
5/ Can everyone make money with EN?
The answer is YES. But the answer is what are you willing to give, in order to get?
If you are a beginner/enthusiast marketer, and are expecting to get rich overnight forget about it! The closet undertaking that could provide you with such result is either:
a/ win the lottery
b/ rob a bank
You decide which one is for..:)
Hey Evan,
Thanks for stopping by, I do have found some apparent flaws in your logic and I hope you will revisit these items with me here and explain where you are coming from…
Yet you sell people on the idea of joining Empower for $25 to get access to the Viral Blogging System. So you are saying this should be free, but you are recommending people pay YOU so they can access this system. Then another $19.95 so they can do the same thing to others. Not sure how this is ethical, but perhaps you could fill me in. You can get WAY better blogs for free and it sounds like you are aware of this…yet you are going against your gut instinct and taking people’s money so you can “have more”? Is that your only goal?
I agree you need the right mindset, but you also need the skills to create a business. Mindset by itself is not adequate and the fact of the matter is, these audios are geared towards influencing you to promote Empower Network to others. You like everyone else in EN is promoting EN. Do you not know how to promote products in a niche of your own? If so, they why are you promoting a program that is trying to sell people a blog that they don’t own and that doesn’t rank for $25? You think that you would move in a direction where you could feel good about what you are doing.
What if I told you I had a much cheaper solution than Empower that provided much more advanced training within a community that cares. Would you be interested in promoting that instead? I can tell you that there are much better places to get educated and I know one of the intimately and I would encourage you to go check it out. Instead of trying to sell people on $5,000 in upsells (going “all in”), you could be telling them that they could get a 15 year education (websites, support, live video classes, classrooms, community, expert help, keyword tools, hosting, etc ALL included).
But I guess there is a bit more money in RIPPING people off….
Really. Can you sell this product to customers without them having to be involved in EN? The last time I checked you had to be part of a levelled scheme in order to sell the products or own the products, because rest assured, if these products were being sold to the outside world without having a system (ponzi like) behind it, they would not be selling all that well. They are overpriced and in many cases, should be free.
I see many of you comparing EN to Tony Robbins, who himself is a scam. Bad comparison. It is called preying on the weak and putting people in debt that are willing to pay for a little bit of “hope”.
In essence, you ARE robbing a bank. You are taking money directly from someone’s bank account and putting it into YOURS…so they can have the opportunity to do the same to others. Don’t you find this to be “sick”? The only way people are making EN is by pushing others into their downline, I have yet to see a tangible business owner come out of EN…in other words, someone that is not making money by solely getting others to join into the scheme via their downline.
You have a choice in life in respect to your ethics and how you go about making money. You may want to reconsider your approach because you have been brainwashed into thinking what you are doing is actually helping someone.
Hey Kyle, great post but why even respond to this guy!? #1 he said he never used the system and that right there disqualifies anything else he has to say! You did a great post and congratulation on being at the top for the search “Empower Network”. Somebody has to be there since the company can’t seem to rank for it’s own damn name. That should tell people something right there. #Pathetic
There are a lot of folks that say they “are not” members of EN, yet they defend it. This is a red flag to me right away and is an obvious giveaway. The problem is that nobody can effectively defend the program and therefore they will typically resort to name calling.
Kyle,
Your last statement I don’t agree with. How is someone paying you for the blogging platform robbing the bank? How is the customer that WANTS the blogging system and paying your directly for you, robbing the bank? So what it has a multi-level pay out, but I don’t consider that robbing the bank.
How do you make money Kyle? Or do you give all your stuff for free?
I make money like every other ethical person out there, by helping people. I give things to people that are free and tell people where to get them for free if it is available for free. So yes, by you selling an inferior blog system (assuming you are within the EN scheme) to people when a superior product is available for free, this could be viewed as taking advantage of people. If you are knowingly doing this, it speaks volume as to how you operate in business.
I wasn’t fooled for a moment . I got some stupid email video from a lady I’ve never heard of. All I heard sampling the 16 min video is “I’m rich and god wants you to be rich too, get in on this opportunity”.
I guess I was simply bored catching up on the financial news.
Hmm no thanks, I’d rather earn my living the honest way “trading derivatives”.
Yeah, there are many honest ways to earn a living online and unfortunately EN is not one of them.
I was almost there man. They do know how to prey on the weak – I’m living pay-check to pay-check and thought this could get me somewhere.WRONG!! so glad I found this site. The big turn off for me was a video in which “costo-rica dave” went swimming with some other idiots (Can you say drunk, college low life’s)and this guy dives in at the base of this water fall where the water is swirling around and sucks him under (like waterfalls do…) and dave “saves” him. Man, he was freaky after that – “I saved his life” “I brought his life back so he could be around to see the true successes of life through EN” it was really scary to watch and all I could think was “cult-leader” he has those freaky eye’s! Man will this guy please just go AWAY! Buyer beware!!!!!
Marc
If you look around there are some really bizarre college “frat” like party videos with very little content, a lot of swearing and a lot of talk about going “all in” if you want to ever become a badass. I am glad you came to your senses quickly Mark, I think you understand that a legitimate business requires a real education and understanding of how “business” actually works, not a rah rah session that tells you that you are great because you are “part” of something. If you ever need a hand with anything going forward, I am here to help you man.
I just unsubscribed and deactivate my account with them . Im so glad I read this article. The eerie things you mentioned in regards to the basic package and then paying the additional money just to get paid, I thought was a ripoff and you barely get what you pay for. I’m so glad I did this thanks for yhe article. You saved from wasting a lot of money.
If you could elaborate on your experience with EN, the folks reading this thread would love to hear it Karen. Also, I would love to help you create a tangible business online and if you ever need a hand with this, here is the process for getting started. Thanks for stopping by and I wish you all the success in your future!
I saw two programs the starter and the premium package..can you make money with the starter program first
You can definitely get up and running on the Starter Tony, you have full control over your website and you can promote whatever you like on your site. We also offer you training and support within the Starter. If you want some more info on it, have a look at my outline within the side menu to the right.
Most everything in society is built like a pyramid. There’s a top down structure in most every company out there. But yet the pyramid has become somehow sononomous with scam. I just think that’s odd. It’s A CONSPIRACY! LOL
Actually, companies are not pyramids, they are companies. Someone starts a business, they do well and they HIRE people to do tasks. How the architecture works is dependent on the company, to compare this to a pyramid scheme is absolutely ridiculous. I am not sure who has been brainwashing this idea into you that a company is a pyramid scheme, but it must be someone that actually is part of a pyramid scheme (and is defending the fact that they are REALLY unethical).
Really Can you the hired help ever make more than the ceo? no, therefore pyramid the guy at the top gets all…
if you put as much effort into promoting EN as you have bagging them, then you just might have been successful at something for once in your life.
What product does Tony Robins sell for $10K is he a scam?
A CEO is not necessarily at the top of the pryamid and to comparing your role at EN to owning an actual company is a ridiculous comparison. Companies have an architecture of employees and they ALWAYS have products they can sell to the outside world. Two thing that you are not doing because you are part of a scheme, not running a company (although you may have been fooled into thinking so).
And yes, Tony Robbins selling $10K products is a scam.
I used to be in EN but left because of the “moving carrot” aka upsells. I did not appreciate this especially that I was on a tight budget. Now I am back to my own blog and I would like to know if WA has training for bloggers as well.
The moving carrot…that is an accurate analogy. Only the rabbits will continue to chase that carrot until they have spent $1,000’s. And, absolutely you will get REAL marketing training within WA within any niche and you can already have your existing blogs/domains in place first.
You need to get your facts straight right along with your attitude Kyle. This is one of the most untruthful, misleading and irresponsible reviews I have ever read in my entire life. Guys like you shouldn’t even be allowed to express yourself unless you’re locked inside of a box with a piece of chalk. It’s unfortunate and tragic that some people might actually be influenced by your lousy review of one of the greatest companies to come along in years. What a schmuck.
You are a wussy loser like everyone else in empower that isn’t going “all in”.
Wow Don, you really explained ZERO points in your argument here. You like every other “negative” condescending person within the Empower cult does not have one argument that proves the point of how unethical your behavior is.
Let me start.
You are sucking people into a system by offering them a blog for $25 per month. These are blogs that don’t rank. These are blogs that you don’t own and that actually should be free, but of course you are making money from it by luring people into the system so it is suddenly OK. I explain exactly how ruthless it is to sell these blogs within my comparison here.
Then they have to pay another $20 per month if they want to earn money. So not only have they paid $25, they need to be “in” for $45 if they want to earn a lick of money.
Then they get assaulted by their sponsors who are trying to convince them to go “all in” and buy the $100 per month “motivational audios”…along with $5,000 in other programs. Why? So that the sponsors can make more money off of their unsuspecting downline. Hmm….
Give me a break, when you can actually explain yourself in a clear way (which I can guarantee you won’t be able to because you are promoting a sham), please don’t bother trying to assure yourself what you are doing is ethical. It simply isn’t.
Thanks, I was about to make another mistake. Is there anything decent out there?
Yes, there is still some decency left online. Here is how you can get up and running online with out any investment and it will get you moving in the right direction.
Getting Started
If you ever need a hand with anything Jr, you can just ask as well, I will be more than happy to help you out.
I watched and listened to EN videos with Dave and at first it took me by surprise, I thought “hell maybe this could work”; however I realized that they never give you the full story, they sit there and talk and talk about how rich they are, but they never explain how the whole system works. Kyle if you could help me develop a business marketing online, or point me in the right direction I’d appreciate it. I don’t want to be in the EN scheme of things.
Jon, would love to help you out man. I can honestly say that if you want to be part of a scheme, then EN is the way to go. If you want to create a REAL business, you should learn how to do so. The process of making money online starts with a website, that is the core of your success. You can get these for free (you do not have to pay the $25 per month Empower is trying to charge you).
From there, you need a real education and you can check out my “The Good” to get an idea of some of the products out there that will get you a proper education online, ones with substance and that will teach you how to create a business within any niche. You will find that the folks within EN are all promoting EN to other people and that should immediately set off red flags to anyone with a simple understanding of business.
If you need anything ever, you can hit me up and I will be more than happy to help you out.
There has been a lot of educated comments here, however, I doubt that any one of you have at your disposal the resources to research any company, including Empowernetwork, as the FTC does.
Living in Costa Rica does not in any way place the owners outside of the USA justice system. Before making such a claim it would only be fair to do your due diligence into the state of relations between the USA and Costa Rica.
As for the rest of your article…..probably true, depending on whether you’re on the inside or sadly on the outside looking in.
For myself, I find that a company needing 500+ modules (yours) must be very hard to understand.
Hey John,
Like everyone else within EN, you have baseless arguments in respect to the actual “service” (if you want to call it that), that is offered. I have no issues with someone living in the beautiful country of Costa Rica, but it is a well known tax haven and there are many benefits (tax wise) to living there…also known as avoiding taxes in some circumstances.
And by being on the “inside” I am assuming you mean part of the scheme which involves one person selling the idea of success to the next, forcing them to spend a big wad of money on “mindset” training (and perhaps a little bit of training of some substance), and then encouraging them to do the same to other unsuspecting folks.
I find it comedic that you would criticize a service that offers training, lots of training. If you go to a library you don’t want to have only one book do you, well the same goes for education…but I guess you have validated that you are not interested in “educating” people, you are interested in selling others on a system and building a downline. Fortunately for folks that want to learn how to create a business, there are resources out there that can help them out. 500 “training” modules (keyword, they are actual training) is a good thing. They are organized in classrooms and run in congruence with experts that actually own businesses online.
Thanks for stopping by and I do wish you all the best.
I just joined EN and now I read all this. Do I just go cancel it ? I am gonna try to do all that right now!
I believe you would have to contact your sponsor for that and they should be able to help you out (if not you will have to deal with it through your credit card). I do want to warn you though that if you do stick with it, you are going to be pushed into buying many more products. The $25 is just the start. This is followed by another $19.95 per month for a merchant account (which you need to use their system), and then the pitch to go “all in” which can cost up to $100 per month in addition to this plus $5,000 in one time training products.
I think you’re a bit harsh on Empower Network, but I think the problem is you’re assuming it’s a networking or MLM company and it isn’t.
They provide a high ranking blog platform, which currently has a Google PR of 4, and according to Alexa is one of the top 500 sites in the world and one of the top 250 in the US) and they provide different levels of training in both mindset and marketing.
The opportunity, is an affiliate program with a powerline structure, and pays out 100% commissions. The affiliate program is optional, and at last check I believe more than 30% of active members in Empower Network are retail members – meaning they aren’t affiliates.
You have the prices right, but you have how it works way wrong.
Empower Network pays 100% commissions on the products their affiliates sell, and to participate in the affiliate program it costs $19.95 a month.
And the way the commission structure works is backwards to how you have it. This is how I explain it to my team.
When you first become an affiliate your first 6 sales is a 50/50 split with your powerline sponsor. You keep the first, third, and 5th sales, and you pass up the second, fourth, and 6th sales to your sponsor.
After that, it becomes and 80/20 split on every 5 sales after that. So let’s say you just passed up your 6th sale, you would keep the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th sales, and pass up the 11th.
You keep four and pass up one, which actually reverses how commissions in the business works, because for the first time ever, an affiliate can make more money than their sponsor.
And since you keep your first sale, you actually break even on your first sale.
What confuses a lot of people is that you have to own the product you want to earn commissions on – it’s an integrity thing… how many of you have bought products from people who don’t own or use them? Empower isn’t shady like that.
In fact, they DO have 24/7 support (people they pay twice the standard rates) and I’ve used them. When you call, you get a live person.
They are also they only company that has a live income disclosure that shows the actual income averages of their affiliates.
Go to Empower Network, scroll down to the bottom, and see for yourself. It’s all right there. Pick up the phone and call them.
As for ‘help’ with your business? All the information you need is in the products, plus, we have live calls every Monday night 9pm EST.
And if that’s not enough, the corporate blog platform can be share by affiliates and they get credit for the sales. All they have to do is add their ID at the end of the URL.
And speaking of integrity, the owners of the company make their money the same way all of the affiliate do – as affiliates themselves.
It is a solid option for anyone looking to make money online, and the company pays out millions of dollars every week in commissions.
I am one of thousands of success stories and if you were to call me right now, I’d say the exact same thing. In fact… I’ll put my money where my mouth is.
If you’re seriously looking at Empower Network and want to talk to a member? Visit my site above or call me and I’ll be more than happy to talk to you and answer your questions (919) 576-9255
He Dexter,
Thanks for stopping by and I am sure that you are an awesome guy, but at the same time, you only know what you have been taught. I want to offer a bit of clarity to some of your statements/arguments and hopefully it will shed some light onto the program that you are so passionate about.
You are right, MLM companies have a product. A product that you can sell to the outside world without them having to join your downline. You are involved in a borderline ponzi scheme. If you don’t believe me, you can look up the definition of ponzi here. You are selling people on a dream and in order for them to achieve that dream, they are required to sell the dream to the next person.
Here is where it would be nice if they taught you about SEO over at EN. First off, Google PR is meaningless. A PR of 0 can easily outrank a PR of 7. So PR 4 means nothing in respect to rankings or the value of the actual blog you receive.
Second, Alexa has no bearing on search engine rankings nor does it define whether or not a website is legitimate. In fact, Alexa has no idea how much traffic any given website gets, so to use this as some sort of “success metric” is ridiculous. You can read about how Alexa rankings work here.
You are also paying $25 per month (+ $19.95 per month to get paid) for something that is offered MANY places for free…and in a fashion that will get ranked much better than EN blogs. You are in essence ripping people off by selling them a blog that (a) doesn’t rank (b) is content they do not own (c) is inferior to free websites platforms and services that are out there.
You don’t get 100% commissions. You get 100% on the first commission, every second one after that up until your 6th (assuming you are paid up), and then every 5th after that. So as time goes on your commission rate moves closer and closer to 60% (assuming people are fooled into sticking around longer than 6 months), not exactly 100% commissions. Thankfully some of us passed Math and could bring reality to the “errors” in their commission calculations.
I have yet to see an Empower member working to create a tangible business (and doing a mediocre job at it) promoting anything outside of Empower Network. Why? Because the business is based on selling the dream to a downline, getting them to buy “all in” and you earn money as a result. You are basically taking money from one person that you sucked into the program and putting their money directly into your pocket, but not 100% of the time because you don’t really get 100% commissions.
Affiliate programs don’t cost you money. You are paying for a merchant account and the reason you have to do this is that no renowned merchant program like a major credit card, bank or Paypal would consider touching a pyramid scheme like EN. You are paying for something that NO ONE in the industry is paying for, there are 10,000’s of affiliate programs out there and they are all free to get paid through.
The reason you want people to buy the products is so YOU can make money. Nothing else. There is no other argument than that, why else would you push someone to spend $5,000 on some weak mindset training. Because it makes you money and you are willing to call them a “wussy” if they don’t (perhaps not you personally, but I have seen high rates of this attitude).
That is definitely not integrity. Integrity would be telling people not to spend their “rent money” and helping them create a real business. Integrity would not be playing on people’s financial weakness and getting them to join a scheme like this. That is integrity and hopefully you step up to the plate.
Paid phone support. I wonder how qualified these folks are and why they are “working” a support line if they have so much marketing knowledge. There has never been a quality paid support when it comes to creating a business, the reason being is that if they knew their stuff they would have their own business. Just think about that for a moment.
Yeah, 90% of the people that join Empower Network never make their money back and 99% of them never make more than $4,900. Not exactly living the dream.
Of course they do, and as I said within my refutes here there is no “integrity” involved in what you are doing. They “mindset” training may have been convincing but if you can look at this from an outside perspective, you will realize what you are really doing. You are selling a dream, you are not creating a business and I hope for your sake that you can take your hard work and effort and apply it to something of substance because I do believe that you and everyone else in this world does have what it takes to be phenomenal success.
Thanks Dexter, it seems that Kyle is on a hunt for EN big time, I just joined and I saw that It was up to ME, to change things, in no way do I expect them to make money for me, in any MLM program, and AVON is set up just as well as Herbalife and they kick ass, just not my bag, there will always be bashere and haters, I have paid much more than these people have asked for EX:Tony Robbins seminars, etc…I wanna pay to play, life is like poker, if you don’t have the buy in, you cant play simple as that. Thanks Dexter and I am going to just follow MY OWN instincts for myself, any person who would read one article and cancel something their passions lead them to, need not be associated with positive networks like EN, Avon or any MLM program. They are simply not ready yet, and lastly, Kyle this would have been almost believable if you were not advertising something else. totally not fair, just give your opinion not your sales pitch. I wont be looking at your website just on that basis alone, I cant stand this type of internet bashing. Bad Kyle Bad Kyle!!! smh
Thanks for stopping by Justyce. I can tell you first and foremost, that is sounds like you are passionate about success and that you will likely achieve it in great proportions at some point because of this drive, however ultimately it is your choice whether or not you are going to do it in a way that is ethical or unethical. There is a big difference!
And I am not bashing with a promotional purpose, I am simply outlining a program based on what it is. YOU (as in YOU) are promoting first a program that claims MASSIVE success, one that anyone can accomplish fast. But there is a caveat. In order to reach this success, you have to convince other gullible folks that they can create success and buy through your downline. Then you try to get them to do the same thing.
Let’s look at the products you are selling…
(1) $25 blog – Doesn’t rank in Google very well, sell on the idea of a high Alexa (which is a hoax, as Alexa has nothing to do with rank), and you can get much better blogs for free online. I have done a comparison if you want to check it out. Also, you don’t own your blog and you don’t own any of the content on it….but that doesn’t really matter because Google has classified Empower Network as spam (along with many other major online entities.
(2) $19.95 to accept payment. If you want to get paid, you have to pay even more? There is no other company that does this and you don’t even OWN anything, so it is not a true merchant account, you are basically taking money from others and this is a loophole that puts the responsibility on YOU for the transactions that take place, rather than them being on EN. Paypal and ALL major credit cards would never touch EN with a ten foot pole.
(3) $100 per month for motivational audios. Yeah, motivational audios. Motivation is a big part of success, but perhaps helping people start a REAL business would be a good start with some training? Also, this is part of the “all in” agenda that in order to sell this stuff to others, you have to pay for it yourself…the REAL reason people buy into this next level. At this point we are into this program for $144.95 PER MONTH!
(4) $5,000 in other ONE TIME programs. Go all in you wussy…are the words of many folks within EN. People are missing their rent payments to buy these video and audio trainings just so people like yourself can earn a few extra $1,000. Not sure how one could feel good about themselves after doing this unless their only focus in life is money, not actually helping people out.
And in regards to WA, which I think you are referencing as the program I am “promoting” (as I recommend several QUALITY programs), I can honestly say that you get more training, more help, and more websites (and higher quality) within our NO COST starter membership than the folks spending several $1,000 + $140 per month at EN are getting. But of course you wouldn’t be interested in this because you are in the business of taking people’s money and need to convince them that the hot air you are selling is actually worth something.
I wish you all the best in your endeavours and hope one day you realize what you are doing and promoting may not be the most ethical.
eek! I was a few clicks away from entering my credit card details before I decided to see sense and google some reviews of the company- Kyle your advice probably saved me a lot of money I don’t have. It seems this ‘company’ makes money off those struggling. For poor uni students like myself the ‘pitch’ is very attractive, but I’m glad I got out before I got in so to speak. ‘d rather be poor and ethical than in debt and unethical :-p
You like me, were looking for opportunity while they were in uni. 😉 I can assure you that there is real opportunity online and opportunity that doesn’t involve you working within a scheme promoting the same scheme to others. \
The initial $25 is just the start. There is an immediate fee of $19.95 per month if you want to earn money (for a merchant account) and then you are PUSHED heavily into a $100 per month…and then you are called a wussy until you spend an additional $5,000 on products. So not only did you save $25, you potentially saved $1,000’s which you can use towards paying off your education and towards creating a business of substance.
The terminology, adopted over the last several years, by those in technology/government/corporations is fascinating: “high-priests”, “gurus”, “masterminds”, “ninjas“, “thought leaders”, “evangelists”; quasi-religious/cult-like descriptors. Corporatocracy/technology is the new “enlightened” secular god(dess)/deity; the church‘s hierarchy is inhabited by technology evangelists, social media gurus, charismatic motivational speakers, mastermind consultants and exalted thought-leader high priests; speaking in tongues of psycho-babel:
“As CEO of this world class, innovative and dynamic corporation, I empower you to be strategic evangelists of our paradigm-shifting software and services. A results-driven, highly motivated, enthusiastic, synergistic, process-relational outlook will leverage our comprehensive framework of best practices and proven methodologies; allowing you to unleash your maximum potential, as catalysts for transformational momentum of the brand!”
In response, the assembled employees ascend as one, cheering and applauding in unrestrained thunderous ecstasy. Inevitably, at the Q & A session, a “brilliant” employee will ask the “deep” question, reverentially and earnestly: “What keeps you up at night?” This question demonstrates that the employee is a fully-invested, thoughtful, engaged, empowered individual!
SUMMARY: you internet social media “marketers”, SEO “gurus” and thought-leader “masterminds” are charlatans and/or insane.
The long and the short of it, those that can themselves a “guru” or “ninjas” are not. They are in business to take your money and I have never met someone that knows what they are doing and has an ego to classify themselves as a GURU. That is ridiculous, but exactly what is taking place en mass within Empower. Everything is “motivated” to think that they are doing something wonderful, when in actuality they are exchanging money with one another and taking money from the newcomers.
I was in EN for about 7 Months and I can say with honesty there is no product to sell. The blogging system you can get from WordPress for free from word press and like others have said all they do is say “Get All In, Get All In”.
Now me personally i am suspicious if someone tells me not to pay my rent or bills and get all in and that is exactly what the leadership meetings are all about. People telling stories of how they spent their rent or Mortgage money to get all in etc. That was suspicious but after i signed up for it and spent my $25 the person who brought me whom i have a moderate connection with flat out said that it was an “Up sell GoldMine”. The reason he told me it was an up sell gold mine is because after i signed up i asked him “what do i do, there is nothing telling me what to do now and he said that it was an up sell gold mine and if i could work try to at least pay the $1,500 for the 15K formulate because they will teach you Facebook PPC”.
I already know PPC because i am an affiliate marketer so i didn’t feel the need to pay $1,500 for it. I was more so trying to understand what i was selling because i signed up on emotion and being that i already make money as an affiliate marketer i was trying to see if i could make money with this as well but i have a hard time trying sell something that is free on word press.
Not only that all of the EN leaders don’t use their Empower Network blogs they use something else and that was a huge red flag for me. They obviously realize that the blogs are useless as they don’t get ranked in Google or Yahoo.
The cost for the plans are way to much especially the 15K formula at $1,500 and the Master Course at $3,500 plus and even the Costa Rica at $500 even though i don’t know what details they involve but i have heard from other members is that all they do is talk in videos besides showing you how to do Facebook PPC. I realized quickly that all they wanted to do was up sell me and when i constantly heard leadership saying “get all in even if you have to use your bill money do it” i was like whoa, What kind of friend is that.
Be careful because they play on your emotions and try and get you to spend your money. It’s a great brainwash that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy but when you get down to it you are paying for a word press blog that you can get for free and training you can get on you tube. The videos are like old school sales seminar videos and they are cool but not that cool. just my 2 cents.
I am glad you figured out what was taking place. Your sponsors are not really there to help you, they are there to encourage you to BUY stuff. If you don’t upgrade, they don’t make money. If you don’t suck other people into the “scheme”, they don’t make money. They could care less if you go off and earn money through another program or from affiliate marketing because that doesn’t make them money. It is an opportunistic system that is based on “sucking” new folks in.
People need to wake up to what is going on here and people that are part of the system have no idea what they are doing or why they are doing it, but they are told it is the right thing to do. To people outside the system, we understand really how unethical this scheme is. I am glad you moved on John, you are going to be better for it and on to bigger and better things.
PS. People trading their rent for “all in” I so unfortunate and I hate to hear stories like that. These people are being taken advantage of and I hope some of them can read this before it is too late!
I enjoyed reading the article and responses. I was a member of EN for a couple of months. I actually joined at the $25 blogging and 8 core daily actions level. The reason I joined, is because I had viewed a video from Vick at Big Idea Mastermind, whereby he was offering “free” entrance to his site, instead of the monthly (take a seat everyone) $497 MONTHLY fee. To get into his programme you had to sign up for EN.
As a “newbie” I did like the blogging system. I thought it was useful as I didn’t (still don’t really) understand SEO. It was great having an SEO programme on my WP back office when creating a blog. After a month I thought I’d upgrade to the ewallet. As you know, you need that to get paid with (also to access BIM). The transfer fees however, if you bring anyone into EN and get paid, are extortionate, as I live in Australia. After I worked through the 8 core videos, I thought you’d have to be pretty dense to think they are worth anything of value.
Then I looked at the forum, and was stunned by how many people were writing “what do I do?” and “where do I start?”. Some forum members were very helpful. Others it was a case of “just do the 8 core values”. Huh? They don’t teach you what to do. They tell you what to do. Big difference. I guess that’s why they keep pushing you to “buy” the big stuff, so that you’ll learn what to do, to actually make money. It’s bit of enticement to “make” you upgrade.
I think what really put me off, after a few weeks of still checking it out, was that I logged onto EN one day, and there was Dave Wood (?) the long haired one, on a video. He’s telling me he’s going to hypnotize me, and watch this video of how EN has a member only new tool (can’t “sell” it), for $25 a month. The new tool was a way to make your own videos and put them on your blog. I don’t know if you could use them elsewhere. Selling point? EN won’t ever take your videos down. At the end, Dave’s telling me, to get my credit card/money out now and pay the $25 a month. Well, his garbage hypnotism didn’t work on me. I thought sod that and switched off.
On top of that, why on earth would anyone pay the Inner Circle extra $100 month for the same videos or audios whatever it is. I mean – EVERY month. Maybe you get something new every now or then – I don’t know. I got out a couple of week’s ago. Also note, they keep your UN active for some time after you stop your subscription, incase you want to come back. I guess that’s OK for those that do go back. Frankly, if I stop subscribing, I want my details wiped. I deleted my blogs as much as I could before I left, so I didn’t leave them anything, hopefully.
I think that most of the people making the money got in early. On top of that they knew WELL how to do MLM. Some of them have very successful backgrounds in this business. I do believe some people can make money with EN, but definitely not beginners, or those who don’t have a supportive upline. Which wouldn’t surprise me if that is 95% of members.
I did hardly anything the first month with EN. I was scrounging around trying to figure things out -trying to learn from uploaded youtube videos, and people on the forum. I had problems with my blog page loading properly for two weeks. I made no money, but as I said I
wasn’t really working at it – just digging about trying to figure it out. One of the “what the heck am I supposed to be doing” crowd.
As an end note, I’m not a snob, but I checked out my capture page video, and to hear Dave Wood “f” if you get my drift, surprised the heck out of me. Too bad if your Christian or take offence in some other way to that language. If you’ve ever checked out some of their videos, it is almost like a cult following of people around Dave Wood in particular. He is very appealing to a lot of young people. That’s part of the reason EN is very successful. What I DON’T get, is how some member’s are accountant’s and very “professional” people. Maybe it isn’t a pyramid. I think it’s close to it.
Sorry for the long input, but I hope I’ve helped some people out.
Annie, you don’t have to feel bad about your decisions and not “doing anything”. The reason you became stagnant within the scheme was because you weren’t willing to recruit others into the same scheme that you had fallen for. That is OK and anyone with any sensibility would take the route you did and move on realizing that this was nothing more than a “money exchange”, with most of the money going to the upper levels.
You are better off for your decision. I can assure you of that. I would also love to help you turn things around and get moving in the right direction within the online world. I can help you understand the principles of online business and I can help you get rolling in the right direction for NO COST….websites included, training included, support from REAL experts included, and being part of a community that cares about ethical success, not just making money. You can take me up on my offer at any time here.
Thanks for stopping by and your insights are definitely going to help those unsuspecting folks that are being “convinced” that Empower is the only way to achieve their dreams online, when in fact they are becoming a donor to the money pyramid.