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The hype around the “viral blogging system” that is the Empower Network has been unrelenting since they launched.
Everywhere I turn online, I keep hearing about this amazing blogging system that pays you 100% commissions when you sign up someone to use their system.
Naturally, I did my due diligence and uncovered the dark truth about this MLM that I think everyone who is thinking about joining the system should know.
In the following review, I’m going to tell you why it is best to stay away from the Empower Network.
The Empower Network Opportunity
First, before I go into why you should stay away from the Empower Network, let’s take a look at what is offered at the Empower Network.
This is what prospects see when they’re first introduced to the opportunity and it actually looks like they’re getting something of value. You’ll see below in the pros & cons section why this is not so.
Viral Blogging System ($25 / month)
Your introduction to EN would be the “viral blogging system” which you pay $25/month for access to. This enables you to set up a WordPress blog that you cannot do much more customization than adding your picture and bio and a few banner ads.
You can then blog about anything you like and hopefully get search engine traffic (providing you know how to keyword optimize your posts).
As a basic member (paying $25/month), you have the opportunity to promote Empower Network and receive 100% commissions.
In order to get paid though, you’ll have to pay an additional $20/ month to get an ewallet account. So in order for you to take advantage of EN, it would cost you a minimum of $45/month.
But EN doesn’t want you to stop there. The training (8 Core Commitment videos), basically try to upsell you to much more expensive products in the system starting with the…
Inner Circle Mastermind Training ($100 /month)
This is a series of ongoing audio training that you would pay $100 per month to access on top of the $45 you’re already paying.
In the sales letter for this upgrade, they encourage you to get the training with a few choice words that I like to call empowering:
“So what’s your decision?
Success, or no success.
Be a wussie, or be a top gun marketer.
You are choosing one of the two based on what you do right now. Just remember, when you do what successful people do, you get similar results.”
Apparently, a lot of the “pushing” to upgrade uses this type of language.
The Costa Rica Intensive ($500.00)
This training promises to “take you to the 7-figure level” and costs $500 one time charge.
13 people gather for a mastermind session in Costa Rica to basically show you how to promote Empower Network to others.
$15K Month Formula ($1000)
Then for $1000 one time charge you get some overpriced training that should help you succeed online.
The training shows you strategies you can use to get traffic, like using Facebook which ironically has blacklisted the domain. This means Facebook sees any EN link as spam and protects users from viewing the site.
Other training is also irrelevant or of little value and can be found elsewhere online for much, much cheaper.
Costa Rica Masters ($3500)
Then there’s the course you pay $3500 for. There are people that are buying into these overpriced courses that have little value when they could be building a solid business for themselves with much superior training that costs only a fraction of what EN charges.
The Empower Network Compensation Plan
The EN compensation plan is confusing. From what I could understand is that you get paid 100% on your referrals so you should get $25 when you sign up someone on the Viral Blogging System.
For you to get compensated for the upgrades, you’d have to have to upgrade yourself. So say for example, you were at the $25/month level and you referred someone who ended up getting the $500 Costa Rica Intensive, you would not get the commission. One of your uplines who already brought this course would get the $500 commission.
Your hard work, someone else gets paid. This is just a ploy to get you to upgrade and spend more and more money.
Pros / Cons of Empower Network
There aren’t a lot of pros to speak of when it comes to the Empower Network as you can probably tell from the review. However there are quite a bit of cons (reasons why you should just stay away).
Pros:
- Access to a network of people who want to make money online (if you’re familiar with niche marketing then you know why this is a pro).
Cons:
- Paying $25/month for something that you can get freely elsewhere on the internet
- Paying $20/month just to get paid
- Multitude of upsells that you MUST get in order to succeed
- You do not own what you’re paying for
- Training is of little value for the money you pay
- No direct access to David and David
- Other members actions affect the entire system (eg. Facebook spam issue)
- Misleading sales messages
- Others get paid for your hard work.
Why You Should Stay Away From Empower Network
I’ve already laid out more than a handful of cons above that should give you just enough reason to stay away from the Empower Network. However, if you’re still not convinced let me go into a little detail with some reasons why you should avoid EN.
1. They’re lying to you about how online business works…
Right in the sales letter for the very basic membership (the $25/month viral blogging system), they tell you that you “have to have your OWN blog.”
Then they have you believe that getting a blog is headache and it’s going to cost you about $383 to get a blog up and running. Truth is you can start a blog for under $50 (hosting and domain included) and sometimes even less (Free).
Then they have you believe that you need their system otherwise it’s going to cost you thousands of dollars for programmers when things go wrong. Unbelievable. When you use WordPress (the same blogging system they use), you don’t need programmers or designers or anyone else.
2. You shouldn’t have to pay anything to get paid
Well sure, you’re running your own business so you should have a payment processor right? Well, why isn’t this included in the basic membership?
You can sign up for $25/month but unless you get an eWallet account, you won’t get paid any commissions. So if you’re going to work the system then you are going to have to spend $19.99 every month for a payment processor. This is how you’re getting paid your commissions.
The system doesn’t use Paypal for some reason so that option is out.
3. You don’t own anything
This is a big one. They say that you should get your own blog but when you sign up to get your blog, you’re actually getting a page on David and David’s Empower Network site.
It’s their site and their brand and you’re building it for them.
Not for yourself. For them.
You cannot do much customization outside of adding your picture and bio and adding a few banners. You can’t change the theme or add functionality to the blog.
If you do decide to cancel, the content is theirs and they won’t delete your blog with your name, picture and bio on it. Instead they’ll use the funnel (your hard work) to sign up more people.
4. It’s all an elaborate scam
It seems to make sense – there are products and a compensation plan. So it’s legit, right?
Well there are no real products. If you don’t own anything but rather you’re building their brand, then there is no product. Most of the training just teaches you how to promote Empower Network so it’s just a big scheme to get people to sign up and earn commissions with blogging as their promotional method.
How long will Empower Network last?
Facebook and Youtube are two social networks that have already implemented bans on Empower Network. Users on Facebook are protected from Empower Network links and Youtube is banning all channels that are EN affiliated.
And in case you didn’t already know, EN is based in Costa Rica. If they were based in the United States, then they would probably get shut down by US Law Enforcement.
There Are Much Better Opportunities Online
It goes without saying that Empower Network, with all their overpriced training, is not the ideal place for anyone to learn how to start an online business.
It is not the place to learn how to blog.
It is not the place to earn money online.
If you want to learn how to blog, there are thousands of blogs online that will teach you how to get a blog up and running and how to make money from it.
If you’re looking for training on how to start an online business then there are some sites online that would offer that training for a fee and even for free.
Here’s a review of my top pick.
Do not get fooled by the lies. You can learn how to make thousands online without emptying your bank account and without being subjected to bullying language to get you to upgrade for sub-par, over-priced training courses.
Empower Network is just another internet scam that has managed to fool a lot of people. Stay away and learn how to build a real business that you own.
If you have experience with Empower Network, I would like to know about it in the comment section below.
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