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?
Shelley
“I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn’t, than live my life as if there isn’t and die to find out there is.”
Obviously I am not talking about God here. Hope everyone understands what I mean. .. Sometimes we argue and fight about subjects SO passionately.. that even when there is a change appearing within us, we can’t accept it, let alone reveal it. Intelligence is not in standing your ground obstructing/stopping others from reaching out to that object. Intelligence is to stand back and let people make their own choices.. observing the outcome, learning from it and applying it to yourself.. that will help you be a better person. – This is not aimed at anyone.. just sharing my thoughts about the subject generally. Regards, Shelley J Kapoor
Nathaniell
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I’m not sure that ‘observing’ while others make mistakes is always the route to go. Some people are honestly uninformed and would rather make decisions. I agree that we don’t have to try and change someone’s mind because in the end, we reap the benefits and consequences of our own decisions, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with trying to help people save money and headache in an industry where there are a lot of dishonest people.
Kelli
So, let me understand your thoughts a little more clearly Shelley: “Intelligence is not in standing your ground obstructing/stopping others from reaching out to that object. Intelligence is to stand back and let people make their own choices.. observing the outcome, learning from it and applying it to yourself.. that will help you be a better person.” Imagine you are walking through a park with your children. You notice a bee hive in a tree nearby. You know if your children get near the bee hive they could be stung. But to be “Intelligent” about the situation one must allow the children to reach out to the bee hive and be stung while you “observe the outcome?” THAT helps one to become a better person? I know the situation is a little more dramatic than what is being discussed in this blog, but that is, in fact, what you are saying! There are many people out there looking for a way to make a little extra money; some are looking to make a LOT of money! Without blogs like this one, that isn’t one sided by all means, there are people who support EN and there are people who do not. It is up to the person reading the blog to decide what they believe. But many people look to blogs like this one to help protect them from “sketchy” businesses. Or at least provide the information they have about said business. It is still up to each individual person if they choose to sign up or not. But it is nice to know that if I chose to go ahead and sign up, I have a good chance of getting stung!
John Johnson
I laughed out loud at the comments. So silly. *Whiny voice – I didn’t make any money after one month so I quit- it’s a scam!!!!! Please! What they are selling is not a blogging system people! Yes you can get a blog anywhere for FREE but what they offer is a very simplified blogging system THAT MAKES IT VERY EASY TO GET TRAFFIC TO YOUR BLOG- which cannot be done by FREE blogs.
What they are selling is not air. Any business can use Empower Network. A clothes store- they write a blog with pictures about their store, clothes etc. and if they stick to what they teach you, traffic will come to your blog! That’s it!
They make it perfectly clear that you don’t have to SELL THEIR PRODUCTS- you can sell your own!
Empower Network is not just MAKE MONEY MAKE MONEY- they tell you read inspirational books – and the BIGGEST LESSON IN SUCCESS IS – NEVER GIVE UP- just what a bunch of you idiots did when you “tried” for a month or whatever amount of time and “didn’t make money” – really? Do you think this is magic? It actually takes hard work and crazy persistence.
I can’t believe all the idiots bashing EN without actually truly knowing what it is … unbelievable.
Nathaniell
I wonder why it is that Empower Network attracts such rude and crass people to their system. Do you not think you could have phrased your comment a bit differently without calling people idiots and being so condescending?
I agree, many people fail with ANY project because they give up before they really tried that hard. This much we can agree on.
But the reason EN is a scam is not because you absolutely CAN’T make money with it. I thought I made that clear in my review. The reason it’s a scam is because you pay for things that should be free. The ‘training’ doesn’t train you to do anything other than promote EN. There is a lot of pressure to ‘go all in’, and ‘be a badass’. When people don’t want to commit huge sums of money to the program, they are called ‘wussy’.
EN does not make it easy to get traffic to your blog. They try to pawn off their Alexa Rank as if it will help you rank well, but this is not true. Alexa Rank does not have anything to do with Google rank.
So in the end, you are paying for something that should be free. You are getting training that doesn’t deliver what it should. And in the end, you are made to feel like an idiot unless you commit thousands of dollars to the program. Oh, and they can cut off access to your blog, account, and membership any time they want.
Why would I build my business on a platform that I don’t own? By buying my own domain and using WordPress I can have full control over the entire blog, an no one can take it from me.
Ethan Vanderbuilt
I am glad to see you fighting the good fight against this scam the Empower Network. Below is the link to my post on this same topic.
http://ethanvanderbuilt.com/2013/05/13/the-empower-network-is-a-scam-yes-it-is-in-my-opinion/
Nathaniell
With all the commenters telling me I was wrong, I was beginning to doubt my own words! Lol. Glad I’m not the only one who see EN for what it is.
Ty
Seems it’s easy to call anything a pyramid scheme when you don’t really understand what one is. Takes no effort to say something is illegal or a scam without providing any true facts or evidence to backup your claims.
The judicial system works on an innocent until proven guilty principal and I see no ‘proving’ going on here just a bunch of biased opinions towards something someone has just decided they don’t like very much for whatever reason.
Anyone who wants an unbiased opinion on MLM in general should do themselves a favor and search ‘Tim Sales’ on Youtube whose videos do a great job of defining the kind of opinions about MLM or any other business that people reading this should really pay attention too when considering an opportunity like Empower Network. Not by taking any notice or wasting more of their valuable time with the likes of the junk written on this page.
Thank you! 😉
Nathaniell
Would you like to tell me why this ISN’T a pyramid scheme? So far everyone Empower Network member here that has told me what I write on the page is ‘junk’, has REFUSED to tell me HOW TO MAKE MONEY WITH EMPOWER NETWORK! I mean seriously, how can you make money with EN, other than by promoting EN? Every single success story out there is about people promoting EN. If you would like to provide me with evidence here, I will print it.
Mel
I was EN member and I disagree with yours nuisance Ty!
Contrary, everything written by Nathaniell is Truth and common sense!
Melinda Judy
I joined Empower Network last year first at the $25 site where they tell you you can make money blogging about anything. i really didn’t get that. How do you make money just blogging about anything? It seemed like you should be blogging about a particular product or service, At first I blogged everyday not seeing results. Than the upsale started where I was supposed to buy this Inner Circle. I bought it and the Costa Rica Program.
I watched the Costa Rica program for $500 and listened to each video where David Wood rambled on forever about his rags to riches story. It seemed like he never got to the point of anything and I felt more and more frustrated and that my time was being wasted. Alot of the information I didn’t understand and couldn’t see how to use it. The thought of of paying another $1,000 for the next upscaled program to listen to more of his babble seemed like paying $1,000 for the Chinese water torture. I didn’t get much outof it in spite of all the hype
Nathaniell
That’s unfortunately what you get with EN and a lot of other MLM/network marketing companies. You spend hours on end listening to BS that is not the real, practical steps you need to build a business. They focus on things like their own story and how much money you can make, rather than actually how to implement these steps. You can even see it in the comments here on the page where people tell me how stupid I am and how awesome EN is, butnot one single person here has said what it exactly is that you with inside EN other than promote EN .
I’m sorry to hear that you got caught up in all the upsells. Companies like this abuse the trust of customers. If you continue with your online business endeavors you can write it off as a business expense at tax time. PLUS if you amortize the cost over two years, and mentally consider it a ‘lesson’, and count it as a ‘tuition fee’ for learning how to avoid scams in the future, then it’s only a dollar a day for a really good lesson 🙂
Hmmm…makes me think of a good business idea: Learn How To Avoid Scams – Online a dollar a day with Empower Network! What do you thinK? 😉
Mel
I couldn’t agree with you more Nathaniell! Everything you are explaining here is Truth and unfortunately a lot of an ordinary people get burn including myself. Correctly said, I was recruited not sponsored by the EN sponsors and left alone after I payed almost $50 to get started, without any help, support guidance whatsoever, just automated e-mails asking to signed again, to buy more product, to go a next level where I would learn more. Of what …? The amount of $50 is monthly payment, a next level $100 as well and because I didn’t “upgrade” (luckily) within the one month frame they wanted me too, they just kicked and lock me out from the Extreme Team.
Thank you very much for sharing and you really should go ahead with your idea of the idea, How to avoid scams!
Nathaniell
Thanks for sharing your experience. The sad thing is that many of these ‘support groups’ and ‘mastermind’ whatevers are actually designed to get you to buy more products. Basically what they do is try to get your email address so not only are you in their downline, but you are also on their email list. This, much like your experience, means you will get lots of other emails promoting various other products and ‘awesome’ / ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunities.