Name: Wake Up Now
Website: https://www.wakeupnow.com/
Price: $24.95/month, $49.95/month, $99.95/month
Owners: Jason Elrod (President), Kirby Cochran (CEO)
Rating: 30/100
Update 28/7/15: Apparently, Wake Up Now has ceased operating since Febuary! Checks on the website shows that it does not operate any more. This article will remain here for informational purposes.
This is due to the following reason:
In a letter written by CEO Phil Polich on February 16, 2015, WUN announced it would cease all network marketing operations due to poor management by former CEO Kirby Cochran citing, “his decisions for a privileged few outweighed the incredible heart and dedication of the many”.[6] Pyramid scheme expert Robert FitzPatrick has said that WakeUpNow’s closure was typical of multi-level marketing companies, and that prior to being ousted Cochran had been presented as a “godlike figure” by the company.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WakeUpNow
#WUNLife
Have you heard about the WUNLife? I bet you have if you have landed on this page! Started in 2009, Wake Up Now (WUN) promotes itself to help people save, manage and make money.
By accessing Wake Up Now, you are paying a subscription to access the Hub. The Hub has many products such as vacation discounts, finance programs, energy drinks, coupons and even more! Their claim is that saving money is making money, and that Wake Up Now provides all the resources you need to live a better life and a more extravagant lifestyle. You could even make more money by introducing friends and families to the WUN Life and help others improve their life as well!
All these sounds great…but is saving money really making money? Is it really such a great deal and opportunity?
What product are they selling?
There are two things they are trying to sell to you:
1. The Hub is amazing!
- Buying discounted products
- Grocery Coupons
- Taxbot: Program to save on your taxes
- Discounted vacations
- Free Magazine Subscriptions
- TellmeMoreLanguage learning software
- Awaken Energy drink
2. Sharing it with others
They basically want you to share the opportunity with others with their B3H3G3 (Bring 3, Help 3, Get 3) program which basically wants you to refer family and friends into the program. By sharing such an opportunity, you are doing the people you know a favor and helping them with improving their quality of life.
Before you do anything…
With such a powerful sales pitch and having so many great products, isn’t it a wise choice to sign up for such a program?
My short answer would be NO. If you are actually thinking of signing up under someone who introduced you WUN, let me go over the Pro’s and Con’s. Read more below about my take on WUN so that you can make an informed choice.
The Pros and Cons
The Pro’s
- Great place to get discounted goods, all in one website.
- Huge range of products offered.
The Con’s
- Subscription fee to access the goods, up to $99.95 per month.
- You have to buy the whole package, instead of what you really need from the website.
- Limited to only selling their products and referring people to it.
- No free trial to start with.
- Products can be found on other sites for free.
- Need to refer people, friends and families to earn money.
To actually access all the products advertised in the video, you would need to pay the full $99.95/month to access all the products, as the lower plans exclude a lot of products that are advertised.
Earning from Wake Up Now
The main point of Wake Up Now is referring other people to join their program as well, starting with your friends and family. They offer an initial program called a Bring 3, Help 3, Get 3 which is basically asking you to find 3 people, and help them get 3 people under them. By achieving the initial program, you can get $600/month if you meet the requirements monthly.
Does it look very familiar like a MLM or Pyramid scheme? I am afraid that it is. You are basically selling subscriptions to people who are interested to sign up under you. For a hefty $99.95 a month, you would probably need to make a very convincing sales pitch in order to get people to sign up under you, or you would probably be stuck paying $99.95 every month without getting any profit.
For the average people who know nothing about Multi-level Marketing, you are basically required to sell in order to profit. If you are unable to sell the product, you will be losing money every month. In fact with most MLMs, only the people at the top of the pyramid would be making the most money. For Wake Up Now, it is the same really. Take a look at this picture below:
Taking a look at these statistics, only 16% of the people have finished the initial program of B3H3G3 and are making a sum that covers their subscription fee. However, there are 80% are making close to nothing from Wake Up Now, earning a few cents per year. Only less than 4% are making anything substantial from the program.
Looking at these odds, what are the chances that a new person would be able to hit Director 3? It is a very slim chance, and considering you are paying $100 a month, that is a very big risk to me.
Cost of Wake Up Now
I have been mentioning about the $99.95 many times on the subscription. There are actually 3 tiers you can choose from:
Basically, members are recommended to get the Platinum tier in order to access all the things the Hub have to offer. By signing up with WUN, you are basically promoting the products they are selling and spreading the word. However, you do not earn any commissions from what you promote until you
become an IBO (Independent Business Owner), which is done by referring other people to the products WUN offers until you hit 90 sales volume and sign up for the IBO program.
All these sound like you are doing free marketing for them, and being forced to sign up for the platinum subscription in order to access everything. This really is a very smart trap that is set by WUN to get you to commit to their products and services.
Some other information about Wake Up Now
Products
The products advertised by Wake Up Now seems great, but most of the products can really be substituted with more well known brands which are cheaper or even free.
Their vacation discounts program? Look at two well-known reputable companies for this one, Priceline and Expedia.
Grocery coupons? You can really get them at coupons.com for free
Identity theft program? I would definitely choose something like Norton, Bitdefender, McAfee, and other more reputable brands to protect my computer from such threats.
3 Free magazine subscriptions? You can definitely check out Amazon Magazines for magazines that start as low as $3
Energy Drinks? Why bother when I could grab a more well known brand like Red Bull for so much cheaper.
Taxbot and TellMeMore seem useful. I agree! You can get Taxbot and TellMeMore separately if you wish.
If you noticed, I managed to find alternatives for some of the products they have already advertised. With enough research, I am sure you can find everything on the internet for much cheaper or even free.
They mention they want to change your life, but by paying $99.95 a month is really a big deal. That is about $1199 a year on discounts and all, not counting the expenses you will spend for buying the
products and goods offered. How do you even consider that earning money, I really do not have a single clue at all.
Income Statement
Did you know that Wake Up Now have been making losses from 2011 – 2013? Here are some statistics:
Net Loss in 2011: $1,928,688
Net Loss in 2012: $3,302,858
Net loss in 2013: $4,548,504
(Source from OTCmarkets)
To me, it seems like the losses are getting bigger and bigger every year. Any rational person would stay away from a company that are raking in bigger losses every year. There is always the possibility that WUN would just file for bankruptcy and disappear one day, and people who invested time and money in it would have lost everything.
Final thoughts
Wake Up Now may look like a very attractive product when you look at it at first. However, the main earner for WUN is actually referring people, and referring more people, which makes it totally a MLM scheme. The products itself are not very unique as they can be easily substituted with many other
products which may offer more or are even cheaper too.
One thing I want to note is that WUN is not a scam, and they are definitely a legitimate company that are paying on time. There are people who are profiting heavily from this system as well. However, most
average people who join the program in the end loses out as they have no idea what to do and how to
promote such a system.
Before you start introducing all your friends and families and trying them to convince them to join the program, just know that such things may make yourself look like you just want their money. This really can ruin some relationships which I have seen before happen to the people around me.
Personally, I do not recommend joining the program if you are new, as most people tend to lose out in MLM businesses.
Final Verdict of Wake Up Now
Website: https://www.wakeupnow.com/
Owners: Jason Elrod (President), Kirby Cochran (CEO)
Price: $24.95/month, $49.95/month, $99.95/month
NOT RECOMMENDED!
So What’s Next?
Wake Up Now actually have an affiliate program that makes users refer people to buy their products. If you are looking to learn how to do that, I recommend starting at Wealthy Affiliate, where you are taught the knowledge and skills in order to earn from affiliate marketing. The best thing is that you start for free, without requiring any payment details to sign up!
In Wealthy Affiliate you are taught how to build your own website from scratch, and learning how to
monetize it through Affiliate marketing. You are required to put in the hard work and time in order to succeed as well. Also, I will personally guide you as well and provide you with all the help you need to start your online business as well.
MiroM says
MLM’s are pretty much illegal in my country.
Terence says
Hi MiroM,
Most MLMs are illegal in my country as well. In any case, its better not to get caught up in one in my opinion.
JohnV says
Great review, shedding light on yet another dark corner. Thanks for providing info which should help others avoid falling for this type of scam.
Life just gets better!
Terence says
Hi JohnV,
Thanks for the comment. I won’t call this a scam really as there are people who make money out of the system. However, majority of the people who sign up for this are stuck at close to $0 income as seen in my review.
Busy Girl says
Thank you for this review! I don’t want to sign up family and friends so I can get a good deal or make money – I want to sign up family and friends if and when I decide it is something worth sharing! Boo to WUN life!
Terence says
Hi Busy Girl,
Exactly the case, one thing I hate is spamming my friends and families with stuff like these, even worse if it is a scam. I don’t have the conscience to go through with it I would say, especially if I know losing all your invested money is high.
Sandi says
Sounds to me just like Amway. In my younger years I was taken in by the sales pitch of MLMers, thank goodness I’ve now worked out how it works.
Terence says
Hi Sandi,
I am sure most of us have been taken in by the sales pitch of many MLMs. At least for me, I am more educated now on this subject and would like to share with everyone out there on the various programs online too!
Neil says
Hey, Terence.
Nope, never heard of WUNLife…
But I have now 😛
As much as I like MLM, it’s programs like these that gives MLM a bad reputation and from what you said, there’s no point in investing in this any way when you can get the exact same products elsewhere.
Thanks for the heads up and I’ll give it a miss.
Neil
Terence says
Hi Neil,
Glad that this post provided you with some great information! I would have to say that MLMs itself have a very bad stigma to it, but it is there for a reason really. But yes, most of the products that Wake Up Now provide have many great substitutes which are more well recognized.