Empower Network Review
Product Name: Empower Network
Product Owner: David Wood & David Sharpe
Advertised Price: $25/month
Upsells: $19.99/month, $100/month, $500, $1,000, $3500
Rating: 0/100
Update 2019: Dave Sharp, one of the founders of Empower Network, is now running a new product called Legendary Marketer. From other reviews, it seems to be a more “legit” venture, with actual training, but the cost is pretty freakin’ sky high, and based on his previous affiliation with this garbage product Empower Network, it’s not something I recommend you invest your money in.
Are You Ready To Work Your Ass Off to Earn Your Lifestyle?
Are you tired of the daily grind? With a laptop and an internet connection I built a small website to generate income, and my life completely changed. Let me show you exactly how I’ve been doing it for more than 13 years.
Oh yeah, remember when Dave charged you ten grand then shut down the company? Yeah. That’s the same guy. Now you want to give him more money because he “went legit”? No way man.
Update 2017: Empower Network has shut down officially, and now the ex owner is asking people to join his new program. It took 4 years to come to fruition, but don’t say I didn’t warn you!
UPDATE 2015: Notice that all “Ex” Top 1% Empower Network have now jumped ship. This is very common in MLMs where people ride the wave of euphoria while everyone signs up, then exits the room before the thing collapses.
What is EN?
Make money by blogging on their network and referring other people to join Empower Network.
Short Review:
Blogging is just a facade for their MLM/network marketing/pyramid scheme, and this program should be avoided at all costs.
Before You Buy:
There is a lot of hype around Empower Network because they give “100% commissions”, and you “make money by blogging”. This is not the whole truth.
The truth is that you make 100% of only some of the commissions, and much of what you earn goes to your upline, ie the people that referred you. After joining, you are then strongly encouraged to ‘go all in’, and ‘upgrade’, which are buzzwords for ‘pay more money’. Remember, in order to make big commissions, you need to actually own the packages.
In typical MLM fashion you pay a minimum fee to enter, and they slowly reveal higher levels of membership that supposedly unlock bigger commissions.
Remember! that to make money with Empower Network, you must refer more people to Empower Network. You are essentially a door to door salesman selling an “amazing” product.
It is an unsustainable business model where eventually, there are more sellers than there are buyers.
Anything Positive?
I’m sure it’s great to be at the top of the pyramid. Too bad there are so many sitting at the bottom.
What You Need To Know:
Not only is MLM one of the worst types of programs to make money with because of the extremely low success rate, they are tarnishing the reputation of real internet marketers like myself. Many of their members spam forums and social media networks trying to refer more members to their downline, so I see this EN crap posted all over the place. EN does not provide sufficient training to actually teach you how to promote your blog, drive organic traffic to it via search engines, or sell real products and services.
The #1 Goal of Empower Network Is To Get More People Into Empower Network
Even though their product is a ‘blogging platform’, this is still a pyramid scheme at heart. Remember, you do not OWN the blog that you write for on Empower Network. EN owns it. They can block your access at any time, and have done it to many people (see video below). There are many free or cheap ways to start out online with a blog that you own 100% of.
The #1 thing you need to be looking for is training. Good training and a quality support community will help you get started online. The next thing you need to look at is sustainability. Will you still be doing this in 1 year? 5 years? 10 years?
One more thing you need to know is that if you do not buy their upgrades for hundreds & thousands of dollars, you will never get those commissions from your downline. If you stay with the $25 monthly fee (plus monthly ewallet fee), you can only make that amount from your referrals.
If someone in your downline pays $500 for the Costa Rica Intensive or $3500 for The Master’s Course, you make $0
Is This Program For You?
I get so many comments from people trying to “correct my mistakes” or “clear up confusion”. Whatever your opinion on MLM or EN is, you need to ask yourself, can I afford this? Remove yourself from all the amazing stories of rags to riches, and pictures of people holding big checks and bigger smiles.
Can you afford to risk $5000 or more on a business opportunity that’s receiving so much criticism from legitimate online business owners? Example 1 | Example 2 | Example 3 These are real people with real businesses, not just guys that blog about how cool EN is.
So, take a long, hard look at your wallet and think – would you take this money to Vegas? Would you give it to a friend to invest for you or would you put all of it down in the stock market today? Can you afford to hand it over to “viral blogging system” even though you are not 100% clear how it works?
Update
Empower is still around, though it’s unclear in what form. They ran a few promos with company names in the sales front but eventually led you to EN in the back end, but I don’t see that so much any more. More recently, they launched their so-called “revolutionary” blogging platform Kalatu, but that hit the ground with a thud (as with their previous attempts outlined in that post).
So some folks are still promoting it, but the hype has clearly died off so I’ve renamed this post “Last Year’s Hottest Scam”. I would just like to indulge a bit and take a moment to say “I told you so” to all the commenters below who spent hours and hours hating my opinion which turned out to be right.
Final Review
It’s become very clear from the comments that this review makes a lot of folks mad. Let’s make a few things clear so I we can avoid some issues down the road.
- I don’t like MLM and you cannot convince me to like it
- I review lots of products, not just EN
- I promote other, legitimate services on this blog
- It is not a secret that Wealthy Affiliate is my #1 rated product
- If you are rude, I will not approve your comments
What is One More Cup of Coffee about? Surprisingly, my goal in life is NOT to talk argue about my Empower Network review! I create websites about various topics like software, homebrewing, health & fitness, and traveling. Then I find companies to partner with, and promote their products on my blog. It’s that simple. There is no secret system.
My online businesses are based on my own personal interests.
I do not have a degree in marketing or computer science. When I started, I couldn’t even build a website. I learned everything I know from an online business training center that specializes in teaching newbies how to start their own online business. I’m still a member today, and continue to generate income from many other websites not related to ‘make money online’, including websites about computer software, health & wellness, and others 🙂
Nathaniell
What's up ladies and dudes! Great to finally meet you, and I hope you enjoyed this post. My name is Nathaniell and I'm the owner of One More Cup of Coffee. I started my first online business in 2010 promoting computer software and now I help newbies start their own businesses. Sign up for my #1 recommended training course and learn how to start your business for FREE!
Can You Really Make Money Posting Ads Online?
abhilasha sharma
thanks for sharing ur experiences……I m saved from this scam.
Nathaniell
Happy to help. Let me know if you need anything else.
Alice
I start reading about EN, after I had one member of the network on my charter boat.
He paid the full price for the charter trip. At the end of the trip he was telling me how much money he makes with the EN, and the GREAT IDEA, he asked me who reads my websites and my blog…. ( I have personal blog, personal website and business website), he asked many questions about my business, and started convincing me to join the EN… telling me how much my charter business will grow from it.
After the charter, he asked me if he can stay for few weeks on my boat, but he cannot pay now, because he is waiting for his paycheck…
I said “ok, you don’t have to pay, just buy food for you and your girlfriend, and you can stay on my boat, I’m not planning any charter trip yet”
3 or 4 days later, I reminded him “you are welcome to stay on my boat for free, but I cannot support you all the time, please, you need to go for grocery shopping”
He told me that he cannot buy any food right now, because IRS took all the money from his account… and they don’t even have the money to buy the tickets to go back to United States.
That was enough for me.
I’m working very hard for my money, and now I have to support and feed 2 extra people? They are not my family, they are not my friends… one of them is the guy who makes the BIG MONEY with EN… but cannot afford to buy his own food?
I kicked them out from my boat… but I wanted to educate myself about EN, and found your review.
Thank you.
Nathaniell
Unfortunately, this is a situation you see with a lot of network marketing/mlm programs and the people involved. Everyone talks about how much money they make, but it’s usually not the case. The way network marketing works is that you need people to BELIEVE that you are making money in order to get them to sign up. Only after they sign up do you start making money!
So many people talk a big game, but the reality is that very few make members make a substantial amount of money from the programs. If they drink enough of the ‘special kool aid’, they jump from program to program, looking for the ‘next big thing.’
Sorry to hear that you ran into these people, but at least your experience will help educate others.
BTW I just got my sailing certification (ASA in the US), so will also be on the sea in the coming years. Maybe I’ll run into you on one of my adventures! Thanks for taking the time to share your story.
FERNANDO
Thanks for sharing your experience Alice. It helps for new people to think way more before getting started with those new systems.
Ian Pribyl
Thanks for the shout out in this post, Nathaniell! Keep fighting the good fight 🙂
Nathaniell
No problem. You’ve done a great job reviewing EN. This was one of those products where I didn’t actually want to sign up and test it myself because of the huge list of upsells, so I decided to leverage the power of YouTube! Most of the high ranking results for EN are still people promoting the system, so someone really has to dig to find out the truth.
Martin p
Thanks very much for your clear, concise sum-up of EN. I have been targeted quite heavily by a friend who’s gone “all in” and although the two Daves present themselves and their stories well something didn’t quite stack up for me. So your excellent video review was, well, excellent. How do I subscribe to your blog?
Nathaniell
Unfortunately, this is how EN works. They tell you how easy it is to earn commissions, but don’t tell you that it’s because you are marketing to friends and family. Most people don’t have the background to start an effective internet marketing campaign, and the “training” that EN offers doesn’t do much either. Most people that promote EN talk about how “everyone” is earning monthly commissions, but most are just repeating EN cheerleader rhetoric. Are you actually looking to start making money on the internet, or just fact checking your friend’s advice?
Jossy
Hi Nathaniell,
I wrote a comment on your Youtube video that you made on Firepa the other day. I stumbled accross your website and want to share my experience that I had with EN. I was a member of EN for one month and decided to cancel my subcription because I hadn’t made a penny in their network. I didn’t regret that I stayed with them for a month even though I wasn’t making any money in their network because as we all know mistakes make you a better person and I’m glad that I was able to learn a lesson. As a matter of fact I got my money back that I invested in their scam network after I contacted with the BBB. It is very hard to get someone out of their network once he/she is infected with their cult virus that turns someone into a zombie. Besides, I can’t recocile to pay over $4500 for some internet marketing information that you can get on Google or Youtube for free. It is destroying people’s life than making it better as they claim it does on their sales page. So be aware of these internet’s well-known con artists!
Nathaniell
Hi! Yes, I remember the comment. Thank you for sharing your experiences with Empower Network. There is a lot of conflicting information out there, with a lot of people promoting it. Typically with MLM programs new people are forced to repeat the rhetoric they hear, saying ‘how much money they make’, even though they don’t make any money. It’s a catch 22: In order to make money, you have to tell people that you are already making money.
That is very good news that you were able to get your money back. I’ve heard stories of some people that are unable to recover the thousands of dollars they invested into the program. Perhaps they went through the wrong channels. Could you tell us a bit more about what process you went through to get your money back? I’m sure others would be interested. From what I’ve heard, EN stops answering emails, cuts you off from your account, and has even said that refunds are not possible.
Thanks for watching my YT channel, and let me know if you need any help or have any questions with your internet marketing ventures.
Jossy
It isn’t that much difficult to get your money back. You just report a complaint to the BBB. After one week or so you will get an email from the BBB that they have contacted with EN on your behalf and then they refund it back. So easy is that. EN is very obedient to the BBB. So I think one of guys need to write a review like this on how people get their money back from EN. I think many people are clueless once they lost their money in their network but we’re glad that the BBB exists.
Nathaniell
It sounds like it was pretty easy through the BBB. I’m sure there are a lot of people searching for this info (I have seen quite a few complaints online), so I will get a post up as soon as possible – today if I can. I know one other guy who lost a bunch of money to EN and want to check with him to see what he did that didn’t work.
Anon
i got wrapped up in all the hype and lost A LOT of money. Never will i ever trust David wood & Dave Sharp again and nor anyone else promoting EN.
And yes you’re absolutely right that te blogging platform is just a facade for their MLM.
My ADVICE TOO? DO NOT JOIN theses rip off artists !!!
Nathaniell
I’m sorry to hear that. You are not alone. I have heard many stories of people going ‘all in’ and figuring out too late that it doesn’t guarantee success as they advertise. I hope this hasn’t soured your opinion on all online marketing/business strategies. I have lots of information on my site for free (check out the video guide in the top menu bar), and please let me know if you need any help along the way.
Ian
Gr8 info. I joined yesterday ($25) purely for the 6 tutorial videos which don’t exist!
No word from my sponsor.
Nathaniell
Sorry to hear that. You can get awesome training videos for FREE in WA, so my suggestion is to get out while you can. Paying $25 to learn that EN is a joke isn’t that bad! I guarantee that you’ll learn more from that free membership than with whatever is behind the wall of ‘secrecy’.
Linda
How do I get my money back from empower?
John Curry
Actually… Empower Network does work, but I still left it. I joined and went all in. Luckily my credit card was maxed (from buying other en stuff) so I didn’t buy the $3k product when it came out.
The Program worked, but after I got my first person in she was like “you said it was only $25 per month, but now its an extra $19.99 and in order to actually get training I have to spend $500?”
I started to explain and mid-sentence i realized I lied to her, and so did the company. I apologized and told her to not buy anything else and quit. I quit too. Never again will I fall for a scam.
Nathaniell
“work” or “not work” is not the question here. The issue at hand is whether this is a long term business strategy, and how ethical the company is. Your friend is right, and you are right – their #1 mistake is offering a $25 product that actually costs more (much more). If you can’t sell it to your best friend, then you shouldn’t be selling it at all.
Don’t worry about falling for a scam – we all did at one point. The key now is to move on to something ethical and sustainable. I hope you find something that works for you.