Elepreneurs promises you an opportunity to be happier, healthier and wealthier. But, is Elepreneurs a good opportunity or just another MLM creating wealth for itself at the expense of its sales force?
Is Elepreneurs a Good Opportunity? Elepreneurs does not provide enough information to evaluate its opportunity. Because of Elepreneurs’ lack of transparency, poor online reputation, and troubling multi-level compensation plan, caution is advised.
Although Elepreneurs does not provide enough information to evaluate its opportunity, in this article, I show 9 reasons why you should NOT join Elepreneurs.
Is Elepreneurs a Good Opportunity?
If you visit the Elepreneurs website, you might think it’s selling happiness. The Elepreneurs’ flagship product Elevate: The Smartest Coffee, is said to make people happy.
Elevate is NOT the secret to happiness.
In a moment, we’ll take a deep dive into Elevate and its ingredients. For now, it’s essential to realize that Elepreneurs is selling the ILLUSION of a business opportunity.
Not a real opportunity, only the illusion of an opportunity.
If Elepreneurs offered a legitimate business, it would provide information proving the opportunity was real. Plus, we would be able to verify this information with 3rd party sources.
What little information Elepreneurs publishes about its opportunity is misleading.
Before an experienced businessperson invests in a business, they want to know the total costs, potential income, and company policies that may impact the investment.
Elepreneurs does not offer any of this. In fact, it actively hides the information we need to assess its opportunity. This lack of transparency is reason enough to avoid Elepreneurs.
Why would you invest your time and treasure with a company that intentionally hides the precise information you need?
Based on the company’s lack of transparency, its reputation and the reputation of the industry, it is my opinion that Elepreneurs does not offer a legitimate opportunity.
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9 Secrets About Elepreneurs You Need to Know.
- 1Elepreneurs is a multi-level marketing company (MLM).
- 2MLM is an outdated business model that causes most players to lose money.
- 3Elepreneurs fails to disclose essential information about earnings, expenses, and company policy.
- 4Elepreneurs distributors, aka Independent Elepreneurs, do not own a business. They are independent contractors.
- 5Independent Elepreneurs are not their own boss, they are governed by the rules of the company.
- 6It is estimated that less than 1% of Independent Elepreneurs earn a profit.
- 7Based on industry averages, most Independent Elepreneurs will lose money and quit within their first year.
- 8Some Independent Elepreneurs will incur substantial debt.
- 9MLM is in steep decline as the predatory nature of the industry becomes known.
Elepreneurs is an MLM.
The Better Business Bureau
describes Elepreneurs as a multi-level marketing company, aka MLM.
BusinessforHome.org describes Elepreneurs as a direct sales company. However, Elepreneurs is not a member of the Direct Selling Association and is not governed by the DSA Code of Ethics.
‘Direct sales’ is a broad term that initially described door-to-door salespeople who sold brushes, vacuum cleaners and encyclopedias directly to the consumer.
Traditional direct sales companies were exclusively focused on retail sales.
Their sales people earned a full-time income through sales. There was little to no focus on recruiting or building a sales team.
Territories were protected to ensure salespeople could earn a full-time income from retail sales.
Also, a sales position with a traditional direct sales company was not marketed as an “opportunity.”
Plus, salespeople, who worked for a traditional direct sales company, did not pay the company for the privilege of making it money.
Another characteristic of the original direct sales company is the salesforce was very compact with no more than 3 or 4 levels.
Typically, the sales force of a traditional direct sales company included the salesperson, a local director, a regional director, and maybe a national director. There were no other levels.
The more levels a company has in its salesforce, the more it profits by exploiting its salespeople. And, the more difficult it is to earn a full-time income through only retail sales.
Because of MLM’s horrific reputation, MLMs prefer to describe themselves as direct marketing companies. However, the truth is in the compensation plan.
If a company has a multi-level compensation plan, it is a multi-level company or MLM.
Some companies might be described as a network marketing company, but again, if it has a multi-level compensation plan, it is an MLM.
The Elepreneurs compensation plan has 12 levels. It’s an MLM.
You Are the Customer.
Unlike a traditional direct sales company, in an MLM like Elepreneurs, the salesperson must pay the company for the privilege of making it money.
It quickly gets costly.
Paying Elepreneurs.
If you follow the money, you will see that more money is flowing out the pockets of Independent Elepreneurs than into them.
Also, the more an Independent Elepreneurs pays in the beginning, the more they will lose.
First, an Independent Elepreneur must pay the company $49 for membership.
Second, Independent Elepreneur must buy a starter kit. There are three starter kits to choose from: The Happy starter kit for $249, the Happier starter kit for $499, and the Happiest starter kit for $999.
Typically, when an MLM offers three expensive starter kits, the most expensive one will be pitched first. The two less costly kits will be pushed only if the recruit cannot afford the $999 kit.
You are the customer!
Also, without access to the Elepreneurs’ company policy and Independent Elepreneurs agreement, we must assume that starter kits are non-refundable.
In other words, if you purchase a starter kit, you own it. You cannot change your mind and sell it back to the company.
Third, Independent Elepreneurs must enroll in auto-ship which will probably cost at least $100 per month.
Elepreneurs’ flagship product is DOSE, a bundle of two products, Elevate coffee and XanthoMax. A one-month supply of DOSE costs $116 on Amazon.
Therefore, a minimum auto-ship order is probably about $116 plus shipping.
A review of Elepreneurs published in BehindMLM.com concluded that Elepreneurs is primarily focused on auto-ship recruitment.
By selling the dream of wealth and opportunity, Elepreneurs seduces its salesforce into buying excessive amounts of overpriced products.
That is the point of all the feel-good marketing on the Elepreneurs website.
It’s all designed to turn you into a captured customer who gives the company a lot of money upfront and more money each month.
Without an accounting audit of the company, it isn’t possible to determine how much of the company’s revenue comes from its sales force.
However, decades of research into the MLM industry indicates that most MLMs earn most of their revenue by forcing their salespeople to buy excessive amounts of over-priced products.
By forcing the salespeople to become the company’s biggest customers, companies like Elepreneurs earn millions while the salespeople lose money.
Elepreneurs Products.
Essential to selling the illusion of opportunity is Elepreneurs claim of having exclusive one-of-a-kind products that can only be purchased through Elepreneurs.
If you believe that, you might conclude that the so-called opportunity is real and that you will have a market advantage if you join the salesforce.
You might even believe that Elepreneurs is your ticket to wealth.
It isn’t.
If you try Elepreneurs so-called opportunity, you’ll be lucky if you are not left humiliated and in debt.
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Elepreneurs’ line of products includes;
- DOSE (Elevate and XantoMax bundled together)
- Elevate: The Smarter Coffee
- XanthoMax
- KetoCre
- Extreme Energy Patch
- Sound Sleep Patch
- Hangover Defense Patch
- Pure 2.0
- Timeless Skincare
- Elier Mud
- Elier Serum
Magic Coffee & Happiness.
Elepreneurs flagship product is the DOSE product bundle that includes Elevate: The Smarter Coffee and XanthoMax.
When taken together, Elepreneurs claims these products will make you happy.
Elevate is instant coffee with a proprietary blend of trace supplements. XanthoMax is a proprietary blend of Xanthohumol, Turmeric and caffeine.
Because each product is a proprietary blend, you will never know if you’re getting what you paid for or how much of the active ingredients are in the product, if any.
Sold separately, 30 servings of Elevate costs about $70 on Amazon. 30 capsules of XanthoMax costs about $52.
These products are insanely expensive, and you can’t be sure what you’re getting for your money.
For comparison, XanthoMax contains an unknown amount of Xanthohumol and costs about $52 for 30 capsules.
A competing brand available on Amazon, Swanson Xanthovital Standardized Hop Extract, contains 50mg of Xanthohumol and costs $8.56 for 30 capsules.
This huge price difference raises questions.
Why does XanthoMax cost 6 times more than its competitor’s product?
What are you paying for when you spend $52 for an $8 product?
Magic Coffee.
Elevate: The Smarter Coffee costs about $2.50 per 4-ounce serving. One serving equals one teaspoon of dry powder and contains mostly instant coffee.
Although it’s a proprietary blend, the active ingredients listed on the label include, in order of prominence, Coffee, Sunflower lecithin, PEA (Beta Phenylethylamine HCI), Cocoa, Griffonia Simplicifolia Extract, L-Theanine, Caffeine, A-GPC (Alpha-Glyceryl Phoshoryl Choline), Bacopa Monnieri Extract, Kucha Tea Leaf Extract, Cocoa Bean Extract, Green Tea Extract, Green Coffee Bean Extract, and Chromium Polynicotinate.
If a serving is one teaspoon and it is mostly instant coffee powder, how much of the magical ingredients can possibly be included? Probably no more than a trace.
According to drugs.com, a dose of Sunflower lecithin is between 1 and 35 grams per day. The minimum, 1 gram would be ¼ of a teaspoon.
This same website reports a single dose of L-Theanine is 250mg or .05 teaspoon.
The dosing for PEA (Beta Phenylethylamine HCI) is debatable and may range from 300mg to 1 gram. 1 gram would be ¼ of a teaspoon.
With only looking at the dose of three ingredients, we can see that Elevate may not contain an adequate amount of any of them.
Incidentally, Sunflower lecithin costs about 3 cents a serving. L-Theanine costs about 7 cents a servings and PEA (Beta Phenylethylamine HCI) costs about 7.5 cents a serving.
Based on these findings, Elevate is expensive instant coffee.
There is nothing new or unique about so-called smart coffee. It’s been around for years and several competing MLMs offer a similar product.
If you search Amazon for smart coffee or nootropic coffee, you’ll discover that Elevate Smart Coffee is available there, plus dozens of competing brands.
Many of the competing brands sell for less than half the price of Elevate.
Possibly Unsafe.
PEA (Beta Phenylethylamine HCI) is listed as an ingredient in Elevate: The Smarter Coffee. However, WebMD.com reports that PEA is possibly unsafe for most people.
According to WebMD, PEA is similar to the drug amphetamine and may cause similar side effects, including rapid heart rate, anxiety and agitation.
WebMD warns that PEA is NOT known to be safe for women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. Also, PEA may trigger those with bipolar disorder, causing them to become manic.
Research has also shown that PEA can exacerbate schizophrenia and trigger hallucinations and delusions.
Product Complaints.
If you search Amazon for Elevate coffee, DOSE, XanthoMax, or any Elepreneurs product, you’ll find plenty of customer reviews.
Overall, the product reviews were favorable, with 3 to 4 stars. Some of the positive reviews may be from Independent Elepreneurs trying to boost the product’s rating.
On average, about 25% of the product reviews are complaints. Some of the reviews, although positive, complained about the price or how the products only worked for a short time.
It isn’t surprising that the effectiveness of the product is limited. The human body will adapt to any stimulate or mood-enhancing supplement.
Experts in the use of nootropics recommend they are only used occasionally to maintain effectiveness in the body.
Complaints I found on Amazon about DOSE included allergic reactions to the product and irritability.
Many people complained about how awful the coffee tasted and how it gave them headaches.
Many complained about the price too and said it wasn’t worth it.
Some complained that the product made them nauseous and tired or that it did not work as promised.
One person claimed it kept him awake for three days and upset his stomach.
Some people mentioned in their review that they purchased the product through Amazon to avoid getting roped into the MLM opportunity.
The comments about avoiding the MLM shows how despised MLMs are.
Elepreneurs Poor Reputation.
Consistent with the product complaints is the poor reputation of the company.
While searching for Elepreneurs complaints, the first return in Google was the Better Business Bureau listing for Elevacity the sister company to Elepreneurs.
The relationship between Elepreneurs and Elevacity is a bit confusing. However, it appears that Elevacity is the source of the products, and Elepreneurs is the sales force.
Both Elepreneurs and Elevacity are owned by the holding company Sharing Services Inc. Sharing Services Inc. is managed by Robert Oblon, the founder, and Frank Walter and Jordan Brock.
The BBB profile for Elevacity notes that the alternative name for Elevacity is Elepreneurs and gives it a C rating.
In the past 3 years, the BBB received 79 complaints and 22 reviews about Elevacity/Elepreneurs.
51 of the claims have been resolved by the company and the details removed.
In addition to complaints about the products, there were complaints about how difficult it is to cancel auto-ship and about poor customer service.
There were also complaints about not getting a promised refund and credit cards being charged without authorization.
Complete Scam?
Laura H. left a series of comments on the BehindMLM.com review of Elepreneurs and claimed that the company is a complete scam.
Laura H. claims to have been an Independent Elepreneur but was not paid the commissions and bonuses she earned. She also reports that her upline and downline left the company.
Laura wrote, “If you’re looking for an opportunity, I would not recommend Elepreneurs at all. I lost so much money.”
In the same comment thread, Soloman T. stated his wife was an Independent Elepreneur who also was not paid commissions and bonuses she earned.
Dr. Will left a laser targeted comment on BehindMLM that I feel reveals a troubling truth about MLM in general and Elepreneurs specifically.
Dr. Will wrote, I’m a professor of nutrition, and I can tell you that you’re wasting your money on Elepreneurs overpriced coffee. Selling MLM is basically packaged psychopathy.
Elepreneurs Income Disclosure Statement.
According to the Direct Selling Association Code of Ethics, a member company is required to provide the information needed to evaluate its opportunity.
Also, the former Chairwoman of the FTC, Edith Ramirez, stated that a legitimate MLM must accurately represent its business opportunity and how much a participant will probably earn.
Elepreneurs fails to meet both requirements.
The Elepreneurs Income Disclosure Statement is an unsubstantiated estimate that claims “the average participant in a direct selling business earns between $500- $1000 per year.”
Although this claim is pathetic, it isn’t true. The truth is far more dismal.
Based on extensive industry research, the average participant in a direct selling business never earns a profit and, in fact, loses money.
The research of Dr. Jon Taylor published on the FTC website shows that less than 1% of the people who try an MLM opportunity will earn a profit.
Over 99% lose money.
Elepreneurs was founded in late 2017. It has two years of data showing how much its sales force has earned in commissions and bonuses.
Elepreneurs intentionally chooses not to publish how much its Independent Elepreneurs earn for a reason.
Probably that reason is that an accurate income disclosure statement would prove the Elepreneurs opportunity is NOT real.
Elepreneurs Compensation Plan.
The purpose of the Elepreneurs Compensation plan is to get a recruit so excited about the opportunity she joins for $49, buys the $999 starter kit, and enrolls in $100+/month auto-ship.
From that point, the compensation plan is used to continually re-sell the dream of opportunity and emotionally bond the Independent Elepreneur to the company.
An Independent Elepreneur who is emotionally bound to the company will continue to buy over-priced products each month even when they are clearly losing money.
The Elepreneurs Compensation plan is not a legal document. It is a piece of marketing created to sell the opportunity.
Often the compensation plan is offered as proof of how much money can be made with the opportunity. This is misleading.
The compensation plan is a hypothetical presentation of what a person MIGHT make if they jump through the hoops, buy enough products and play the game long enough.
The Last Word on the Elepreneurs Opportunity.
Multi-level marketing is an outdated and inefficient business model that goes back to the 1940s.
This is the 21st Century. MLM is a dinosaur on its way to extinction.
MLM has always sold the promise of opportunity, but most people found it only delivered false hope, humiliation and debt.
For the rank and file salespeople, failure is baked into the MLM compensation plan.
The only people who profit from MLM is the company and the few MLM professionals at the top of the salesforce. It’s the same with Elepreneurs.
Smart coffee is nothing new, and the secret, proprietary formula in Elevate: The Smarter Coffee is nothing new either.
What is unique to Elepreneurs is the outrageous price.
When prospective customers can find far cheaper alternatives online, making money pushing over-priced products becomes impossible.
If you do manage to find a customer, they may not stay a customer for long.
Also, Elepreneurs is focused on recruitment and selling starter kits and auto-ship to new members. Recruiting is very difficult.
There are hundreds of competing MLMs trying to do the same thing.
Many of the competing MLMs also sell an enhanced instant coffee product.
And, if recruiting wasn’t tricky enough, MLM is in decline. The internet has exposed MLM for what it is and most people want nothing to do with it.
Now, anyone can access the research on the FTC website and discover for themselves that the so-called MLM opportunity is not real.
Based on industry research, if you join Elepreneurs, you can expect to spend more than $1000 and never earn a profit.
After a few months, you will probably drop out and have nothing to show for your efforts except a credit card bill and strained personal relationships.
If you enjoy losing money and buying overpriced instant coffee that tastes awful, the Elepreneurs opportunity might be for you.
However, if you want to make money as efficiently as possible, I encourage you to consider affiliate marketing.
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You’re the boss. You don’t have to jump through any hoops or play any silly games, and you don’t have to chase after your friends either.
Your Best Opportunity.
In my experience, affiliate marketing offers most people their best shot at financial independence.
Success in any endeavor requires effort, patience, and commitment. It’s the same with affiliate marketing.
The difference is the internet is the opportunity. As an affiliate marketer, you leverage the internet for profit.
Unlike MLM and Elepreneurs, starting an affiliate marketing business is easy and affordable.
About $50 a month is all you need to build a profitable business with unlimited income potential.
An affiliate marketer does not recruit anyone. Instead, she builds a website that generates income 24/7.
It’s about working less and earning more.
Anyone who can navigate the internet and write an email can succeed as an affiliate marketer if they have the drive.
The key is to get the right training, learn the necessary skills, and trust the process.
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An amazing course. Go through all the training. If you get stuck, ask questions. Do each and every lesson. It’s very interesting and very rewarding.
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Suggested Reading:
- Why Affiliate Marketing is Better than MLM.
- Is Traveling Vineyard a Good Opportunity?
- The Heartbreak of MLM.
If you found this article about the Elepreneurs opportunity helpful, or if you wish to contribute to the discussion, please leave a comment below. Thank you.