Flow Industry Review: Health and wellness for your hair

Flow Industry operate in the health and wellness MLM niche. The company was launched in early 2016 and are based out of the US.

A “postal address” provided on the Flow Industry website belongs to a UPS store in Middletown, Delaware.

Heading up Flow Industry is CEO and Founder, Malikah Murphy (right).

Murphy began her MLM career in 2007, however the only information about her MLM history was Murphy signing up with Foru International in 2014.

At the time, Sharon Tahaney, President of Foru International claimed;

Malikah has generated tens of millions of dollars, rising to the highest ranks of a company that was more than 70,000 distributors strong.

We are thrilled to bring her success to the foru team.

Despite these claims of success, what Murphy was doing in the MLM industry between 2007 and 2014 is unclear.

In any event, Foru International, formerly known as Genewize Life Sciences, is an MLM opportunity that markets personalized health, beauty and wellness products.

In mid 2014 Foru International was sued by the FTC for making misleading disease claims.

Through a network of individual affiliates, GeneLink, Inc. and its former subsidiary, foruTM International Corp.,marketed nutritional supplements and a skincare product that were purportedly customized to each consumer’s unique genetic profile – based on an assessment of the DNA obtained from a cheek swab provided by the consumer.

The supplements and skin repair serum each cost more than $100 per month.

The administrative complaint alleges that GeneLink and foru violated the FTC Act by making false or unsupported health claims about their genetically customized products.

Company-approved marketing materials included claims that the customized nutritional supplements could compensate for an individual’s genetic disadvantages, and that the customized skin repair serum’s effectiveness was scientifically proven.

The companies also claimed through testimonials that the customized nutritional supplements could treat serious conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and insomnia.

According to the FTC, the companies also deceptively and unfairly claimed that they had taken reasonable and appropriate security measures to safeguard and maintain personal information collected from nearly 30,000 consumers.

According to the complaint, the companies failed to protect the security of personal information – including genetic information, Social Security numbers, bank account information, and credit card numbers; did not require service providers to have appropriate safeguards for consumers’ personal information; and failed to use readily available security measures to limit wireless access to their network.

The above is from a press-release issued by the FTC in January of 2014. Another issued in May reveals Foru International was banned from

misrepresenting scientific research regarding any drug, food, or cosmetic, or any genetic test or assessment and from providing their affiliates with the means to make the prohibited health claims.

Foru International also agreed to not make misleading claims about their security practices, and submitted to an annual security audit “every other year” for 20 years.

Malikah Murphy joined Foru International six months later, around December 2014.

When and why Murphy left Foru International is unclear. With Flow Industry launching around January 2016 however, it is presumed Murphy was with Foru International for less than 12 months.

Read on for a full review of the Flow Industry MLM opportunity.

The Flow Industry Product Line

Flow Industry market a range of health and wellness products, with a particular focus on hair.

• PretTea – “formulated to facilitate healthy stronger hair from the inside out”, retails at $40 for a box of 30 teabags
• Beauteaful – “created to rid the body of toxins using carefully selected herbs while preparing the body for the opportunity to properly absorb the nutrients for healthy hair growth”, retails at $40 for a box of 28 teabags
• VitaGrow – “provides the proprietary nutrients essential for the body”, retails at $50 for a bottle of 60 capsules
• Grow On The Go – “drink your way to healthy longer stronger hair and more radiant skin”, retails at $40 for 90g of drink mix
• Grolixir – “clinically proven to help in the prevention of hair loss and the regrowth of healthy hair”, retails at $50 for a 60ml bottle
• Prelixir – “provides the optimum environment for the new hair as it emerges from the scalp”, retails at $45 for a 60ml bottle

A full retail catalog is available on the Flow Industry website.

The Flow Industry Compensation Plan

The Flow Industry compensation plan pays affiliates to sell products to retail customers.

Residual commissions are paid out through binary and unilevel compensation structures, with fast start and generation bonuses also included.

Flow Industry Affiliate Ranks

There are six affiliate ranks within the Flow Industry compensation plan.

Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:

• Advisor – sign up as an affiliate with a 75 CV autoship order
• Team Builder – remain commission qualified and have a downline generating at least 1000 GV (no more than 50% from any one unilevel leg)
• Manager – remain commission qualified and have a downline generating at least 5000 GV (no more than 40% from any one unilevel leg)
• National Manager – remain commission qualified and have a downline generating at least 12,000 GV (no more than 40% from any one unilevel leg)
• Diamond Leader – remain commission qualified and have a downline generating at least 40,000 GV (no more than 40% from any one unilevel leg)
• Diamond Global Leader – remain commission qualified and have a downline generating at least 100,000 GV (no more than 30% from any one unilevel leg)

Commission Qualification

As per the Flow Industry website;

To qualify for commission as a distributor your Autoship CV must be at least 75 CV.

This roughly equates to about $120 a month.

Retail Commissions

Flow Industry affiliates are paid a retail commission when they sell products to retail customers.

The retail commission paid out is the difference between the wholesale and retail price of products ordered.

Fast Start Check

Flow Industry affiliates are paid $25 to $250 when retail customers or personally recruited affiliates purchase sales packs.

Specific commissions corresponding with sales pack purchases by newly recruited affiliates are not provided in Flow Industry’s compensation plan documentation.

It is assumed however that $25 corresponds with the $99 sales pack and $250 with the $999 pack.

Note that newly recruited affiliates purchasing a start pack constitutes a recruitment commission paid to the affiliate who recruited them.

Residual Commissions (binary)

Residual binary commissions in Flow Industry are paid out via a binary compensation structure.

A binary compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a binary team, split into two sides (left and right)

The first level of the binary team has two positions, with the second level generated by splitting each of these first two positions into another two positions each.

In this manner subsequent levels of the binary team are generated as needed, with each new level housing double the positions of the previous level.

Positions in the binary team are filled via direct and indirect recruitment of Flow Industry affiliates.

Sales volume generated by affiliates is tracked on both sides of the binary team, with Flow Industry affiliates paid a percentage of weekly volume generated by the weaker side.

How much of a percentage is paid is determined by a Flow Industry affiliate’s binary rank:

• Silver (recruit at least two affiliates and sell at least three sales packs) – 10% commission on weaker side volume
• Gold (recruit and maintain four commission qualified Silver ranked affiliates) – 15% commission on weaker side volume
• Platinum – (recruit and maintain four commission qualified Gold ranked affiliates) – 20% commission on weaker side volume

Note that Gold and lower ranked affiliates pass up the percentage difference between their binary rank and 20% to higher binary ranked affiliates in their upline.

A differential binary commission is also paid to the upline:

• first Silver ranked upline earns 10%
• first Gold ranked upline earns 25% and
• first Platinum ranked upline earns 15%

Residual Commissions (unilevel)

Residual unilevel commissions in Flow Industry are paid out via a unilevel compensation structure.

A unilevel compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a unilevel team, with every personally recruited affiliate placed directly under them (level 1):

If any level 1 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 2 of the original affiliate’s unilevel team.

If any level 2 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 3 and so on and so forth down a theoretical infinite number of levels.

Flow Industry cap payable unilevel levels at 6, with a 5% commission generated on each unilevel level.

How many unilevel levels a Flow Industry affiliate can earn on is determined by their rank:

• Advisor – 5% on levels 1 and 2
• Team Builder – 5% on levels 1 to 3
• Manager – 5% on levels 1 to 4
• National Manager – 5% on levels 1 to 5
• Diamond Leader and Diamond Global Leader – 5% on levels 1 to 6

Note that on whichever unilevel has the most value each month, the standard 5% unilevel commission rate is doubled to 10%.

Team Builder Bonus

The Team Builder Bonus is a generational bonus that allows a Flow Industry affiliate to earn beyond six unilevel levels.

A generation in Flow Industry is defined when a Team Builder or higher ranked affiliate is found in a unilevel leg.

This caps off the first generation of that unilevel leg, with a second generation defined if a second Team Leader or higher affiliate is found deeper in the leg.

If not, the second generation of the leg extends down its full length.

Flow Industry pay the Team Leader Bonus down a maximum of five generations, with how many generations an affiliate is paid on determined by their rank:

• Team Builder – 2% on one generation
• Manager – 2% down two generations
• National Manager – 2% down three generations
• Diamond Leader – 2% down four generations
• Diamond Global Leader – 2% down five generations

Joining Flow Industry

Basic affiliate membership with Flow Industry is $49.

A Flow Industry affiliate can also sign up with an optional “sales pack” for between $99 and $999.

The purchase of a sales pack and recruitment of others who do the same, increases income potential through the Flow Industry compensation plan.

Conclusion

It’s no secret the health and wellness MLM niche is crowded.

By focusing exclusively on haircare within that niche, Flow Industry might very well carve out a profitable business.

Unfortunately Flow Industry is let down by their compensation plan.

For the most part it’s balanced, however requiring affiliates to have an autoship order to qualify for commissions is a huge red flag.

For starters, when affiliates are forced to purchase product there’s no way to establish if they’re doing so because they genuinely need the products ordered, or if they’re just ordering to qualify for commissions.

Mandatory autoship also constitutes “pay to play” and was one of the major problems brought up in the recent FTC action against Vemma.

What happens in mandatory autoship MLM opportunities is affiliates sign up, register for autoship and then self-qualify for commissions.

With no incentive to make retail sales, they then typically focus on recruiting other affiliates who also self-qualify for commissions with an autoship order.

If this is widespread enough, you wind up with a product-based pyramid scheme.

Within the context of autoship recruitment, Flow Industry’s binary qualification criteria acts as a strong incentive to recruit sales pack affiliates ($99 to 999).

With everyone on autoship for commission qualification, this can easily create a closed-loop opportunity (little to no retail activity taking place).

The good news is establishing whether this is the case is pretty easy. As a prospective Flow Industry affiliate, ask your potential upline for proof they’re generating more retail sales volume each month than they’re standing autoship order.

If the prospective upline does less in retail volume than their autoship, and they have a downline doing the same, it’s a safe bet you’ll be required to recruit autoship affiliates if you want to make any money.

At the expense of retail sales, this is naturally a problem.

If the autoship requirement was removed, the rest of the Flow Industry compensation plan opens itself up to a far greater probability of significant retail activity taking place.

A good secondary indication of retail activity taking place would be to check if binary qualified affiliates sold three sales pack to retail customers or recruited affiliates.

Ideally these packs should be sold to retail customers. If not initially to qualify for binary commissions, then later on (the ratio of sales packs sold should swing in favor of retail customers over recruited affiliates).

As it stands though, with mandatory autoship and self-funded commission and rank qualification, I’m just not seeing it.