Hey guys, I've been busy ferreting away on my own ventures and thought I'd stop for a moment to bring you a case study that some of you may find useful for one purpose or another. If nothing else, then at least it will highlight another area that average Joe is being suckered into. Who knows, it might even start a trend 
CASE STUDY
Who? – Empower Network
How did you find it? – Twice. Once through “Casual Gamer Millionaire†on Udemy and now through an unsolicited email in my inbox.
What is it’s primary purpose? – Sells “Blogging Systems†to content owners. Wordpress with a $25/month price tag.
Any secondary features? – Upsell you to higher ticket “insider†packages. Generates you money through referring people to sign up to the same service.
Rating – 4 / 10
Study Findings
After watching “Casual Gamer Millionaire†to see what his “business model†consisted of, it wasn’t at all surprising to find the whole system simply as a front for an MLM system. The video owner makes money from his blog by uploading videos of him playing games. At the same time he tells his audience how he’s making loadsa-money just by playing games, just from people clicking on his site.
WOW! EASY MONEY! SAY IT AIN'T SO!
It ain't so.
Lo and behold, when average Joe rocks up to do the same as his new idol, $25 / month ends up leaving his bank account. The referring content owner gets a combination of almost every-other payment made, along with sub-affiliate sales from his new protégé.
As for Empower Network, they encourage their content providers to use their “business systems†and advance through their additional "masters courses" to learn how to increase their monthly revenue. Of course, each one MUCH more expensive from the last. With 5 upgrades in total (at least visible on their site) and income being brought in from the suckers at the bottom, the big money players will poach the smaller guys into taking on the higher courses… lining their pockets with the proceeds and fuelling their own success stories.
If EN’s figure of 155K users is correct, then they are pulling in at least $3.8MM a month.
What users get in return is a straight forward wordpress site, optimised with a very efficient and aggressive sales funnel, along with a finely tuned affiliate structure to get people to come in and do the same.
To summarise the business model: Lure in money chasers >> They buy into the “easy money†>> Upsell to higher tickets >> Chasers convinced they are in business & buy into the system even more.
It is a self-perpetuating system using the MLM model, offering wordpress blogs and “business support†as it’s product.
Conclusion(s)
Personally, MLM makes me angry. But rather than debate on the morality of the system, it clearly makes a lot of money, notably by posing as a business in a box. What we can learn from this is the benefit of having a dedicated affiliate presence and payout structure. It’s one of the best I’ve seen with very well thought out counters to most arguments. However, as with all MLMs, you will always need more bodies at the bottom to fuel the monster and keep your income streams alive.
I don't know about you, but I'd want a bit more than just a damned wrodpress site for $25 a month.
Possibly something to emulate.
Definitely something to avoid.
There you have it, my first shotgun business case-study of somthing that keeps popping up.
Hopefully it was of some use to someone. Whether that is to prevent or encourage you to join the network, at least now you can see the mechanics of it all before making a decision!
Cheers,
Dez
CASE STUDY
Who? – Empower Network
How did you find it? – Twice. Once through “Casual Gamer Millionaire†on Udemy and now through an unsolicited email in my inbox.
What is it’s primary purpose? – Sells “Blogging Systems†to content owners. Wordpress with a $25/month price tag.
Any secondary features? – Upsell you to higher ticket “insider†packages. Generates you money through referring people to sign up to the same service.
Rating – 4 / 10
Study Findings
After watching “Casual Gamer Millionaire†to see what his “business model†consisted of, it wasn’t at all surprising to find the whole system simply as a front for an MLM system. The video owner makes money from his blog by uploading videos of him playing games. At the same time he tells his audience how he’s making loadsa-money just by playing games, just from people clicking on his site.
WOW! EASY MONEY! SAY IT AIN'T SO!
It ain't so.
Lo and behold, when average Joe rocks up to do the same as his new idol, $25 / month ends up leaving his bank account. The referring content owner gets a combination of almost every-other payment made, along with sub-affiliate sales from his new protégé.
As for Empower Network, they encourage their content providers to use their “business systems†and advance through their additional "masters courses" to learn how to increase their monthly revenue. Of course, each one MUCH more expensive from the last. With 5 upgrades in total (at least visible on their site) and income being brought in from the suckers at the bottom, the big money players will poach the smaller guys into taking on the higher courses… lining their pockets with the proceeds and fuelling their own success stories.
If EN’s figure of 155K users is correct, then they are pulling in at least $3.8MM a month.
What users get in return is a straight forward wordpress site, optimised with a very efficient and aggressive sales funnel, along with a finely tuned affiliate structure to get people to come in and do the same.
To summarise the business model: Lure in money chasers >> They buy into the “easy money†>> Upsell to higher tickets >> Chasers convinced they are in business & buy into the system even more.
It is a self-perpetuating system using the MLM model, offering wordpress blogs and “business support†as it’s product.
Conclusion(s)
Personally, MLM makes me angry. But rather than debate on the morality of the system, it clearly makes a lot of money, notably by posing as a business in a box. What we can learn from this is the benefit of having a dedicated affiliate presence and payout structure. It’s one of the best I’ve seen with very well thought out counters to most arguments. However, as with all MLMs, you will always need more bodies at the bottom to fuel the monster and keep your income streams alive.
I don't know about you, but I'd want a bit more than just a damned wrodpress site for $25 a month.
Possibly something to emulate.
Definitely something to avoid.
There you have it, my first shotgun business case-study of somthing that keeps popping up.
Hopefully it was of some use to someone. Whether that is to prevent or encourage you to join the network, at least now you can see the mechanics of it all before making a decision!
Cheers,
Dez
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