Make Wellness’ prelaunch is a pyramid scheme
Having just come off a weekend of being sick, I’m feeling a bit behind on the reviews. Caught up on the news yesterday and so today I wanted to get back into it.
First on the list was Make Wellness, a new MLM company revealed by Justin Prince last month.
I’d saved some notes and links in advance for when Make Wellness came up. Seeing as this was back in the first week of August, I was surprised to see Make Wellness’ website was still just a recruitment form.
Well OK then, how long is this supposed to go on for? October 31st, 2024? November 30th, 2024?!
It was around this point I realized Make Wellness’ prelaunch was a pyramid scheme.
Justin Prince’s Make Wellness marketing cites him as a “co-creator” of Modere. This tracks with Prince previously citing himself as an equity holder in Modere.
Prince’s relationship with Modere broke down through a series of lawsuits. Following his termination, Prince sued Modere and Modere sued Prince.
Unfortunately being state-level cases filed in Utah, I haven’t been able to track the cases beyond initial filings last October.
Prince did issue a video statement on June 24th, suggesting he was coming out ahead.
Certainly Make Wellness going into prelaunch further supports that.
Prince is joined in Make Wellness by co-founders Truman Hunt and Robert Finigan.
Truman Hunt made a name for himself in the MLM industry as Nu Skin’s CEO dating back to 2003.
Under Hunt’s leadership, NuSkin
- was fined by Chinese officials for running a pyramid scheme in 2014;
- settled allegations of Chinese bribes and corruption with the SEC in September 2016; and
- settled a pyramid scheme class-action for $47 million in October 2016
Truman stood down as Nu Skin’s CEO in December 2016. He was cited as Utah’s highest paid CEO for the same year.
Robert Finigan is Modere’s former Chief Marketing Officer.
Make Wellness markets a range of nutritional supplements they claim contain “obscure peptides”.
Beyond that it Make Wellness’ offering sounds like your typical MLM range of supplements:
Pricing, retail and wholesale, is conspicuously absent.
If you’re curious about Make Wellness’ compensation plan, Erin Bies has a YouTube video up going over it.
BehindMLM will eventually have a full Make Wellness review up but this article is about their prelaunch.
Make Wellness’ prelaunch hit the public on or around August 1st, 2024.
It costs nothing to sign up and this is from the Pre-Enrollment Terms and Conditions”:
To maintain your account position, you acknowledge that you are required to make a personal purchase of MAKE Wellness products by October 31, 2024.
In the event you do not confirm your account position by making a product purchase by October 31, 2024, you will be free to re-register an account position with MAKE Wellness with whatever sponsor you choose.
You also acknowledge that you and your sponsor may choose to place your account under a different sponsor at any time before November 30, 2024.
It’s a bit vague but from that it appears Make Wellness’ prelaunch is set to drag on for another two to three months.
That’s problematic because Make Wellness prelaunch distributors “are required to make a personal purchase of MAKE Wellness products by October 31, 2024.”
This is pay to play, a strong indicator of a pyramid scheme in MLM. There is also no retail in Make Wellness, and I’m assuming the prelaunch mandatory purchases are commissionable.
One month of prelaunch with full retail pricing details? I might bring it up as a potential problem but OK. Three to four months of forced purchase recruitment with no retail commissions?
That’s a pyramid scheme. And don’t tell me after three to four months of pyramid recruitment, all of a sudden everyone in Make Wellness is going to focus on retail sales.
Presently there are 9600 members in Make Wellness’ official prelaunch private FaceBook group.
Till prelaunch is over, Make Wellness doesn’t have a single retail customer. I’m not sure exactly when Make Wellness’ prelaunch ends, but this prelaunch pyramid will certainly be a focal point in our full review.
Update 30th August 2024 – Likely in response to this article, Make Wellness has abandoned its mandatory purchase pay to play business model.
Instead, Make Wellness now financially penalizes affiliates who don’t purchase products when they sign up:
You do not need to make a purchase to become a MAKE Wellness Affiliate. Affiliates who finalize their account and pre-order the Founder’s Box starting October 14, 2024, will receive:
• Early access to MAKE Wellness products
• A commemorative Founder’s Box
• Five $20.00 shareable discounts
These Affiliates will also gain early access to start sharing MAKE Wellness with customers from November 1 – 15, 2024.
Affiliates who finalize their account but do not pre-order the Founder’s Box will be able to start sharing MAKE Wellness with customers beginning November 16, 2024.
Financially penalizing affiliates who don’t commit to a product purchase is still indicative of a pay-to-play pyramid scheme.
Update 30th November 2024 – BehindMLM has published a launch Make Wellness review.
Why would anybody in their right mind join?
I certainly appreciate that the author has exposed many MLM scams over the years. But stating that Make Wellness is a pyramid scheme, along with his reasoning for saying so, makes absolutely no sense at all. Here’s why…
He throws out some dates, and wonders how long pre-launch is going to last, then concludes it’s a pyramid scheme? C’mon man, you’re better than that… Let me fill you in:
MANDATORY PURCHASES HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM THE COMP PLAN ENTIRELY.
(Ozedit: recruitment spam removed)
Classic “everybody loves BehindMLM… until we review your scam.”
Indeed, which is why how long Make Wellness’ prelaunch was the determining factor of Make Wellness’ prelaunch being a pyramid scheme – but rather how much of a problem it would be.
One more time for the illiterate dumb fucks in the back row:
No they haven’t. I don’t know why you’d lie about this when anyone can look at Make Wellness’ prelaunch T&C and confirm:
timeisnow.us/images/terms&conditions.pdf (section 1 as of August 22nd, 2024).
I’d of course welcome Make Wellness pivoting away from pyramid recruitment but we both know that’s not going to happen. That’d be a 10,000 strong bait and switch.
Oh and of course you couldn’t help yourself with a recruitment link. Fuck off pyramid recruitment scammer.
Wow I guess I got Mr Oz pretty riled up. So much flowery language, but why did you delete tons of facts that I presented?
To your credit you did reveal an important fact. They have not updated the T&C yet. I agree it should be done ASAP. (Ozedit: snip, see below)
Don’t confuse me calling you out on your recruitment spam bullshit as getting “riled up”. Anyone who attempts to flog a recruitment link on BehindMLM is a five-second shitstain on my day that I blink and move on from without second thought.
Because, as you have conceded, whatever bullshit you came up with had nothing to do with Make Wellness’ prelaunch being a pyramid scheme as presented.
You don’t get to make up a bunch of “but what about” bullshit and run with it. And that’s on top of me typically just nuking recruitment spam without addressing anything in the comment.
Had you of actually read the article before rushing to post your recruitment link, you’d have seen the source material and we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
But you’re a marketing hack trying to shill a pyramid scheme, and so here we are clutching pearls.
Apology accepted. Let’s move on.
what about their co-founder jenn milks or jenn myers from st george – pretending to be a doctor- one in the same???
I didn’t come across Jenn Milks or Jenn Myers in my prelaunch research into Make Wellness.
I’ve been doing a lot of research on this. I tend to agree with Mr Moon, this is not pay to play. Let’s see how the launch goes.
Pretty crap research if you missed the “pay to play” spelled out for you in Make Wellness’ prelaunch T&C.
Sat through a pitch mtg with Justin, Truman, and their “doctor” Jen Milks, mentioned above.
The big focus was on PeptiYouth peptide, which is “not available anywhere else.” What they didn’t reveal, however, is that PeptiYouth is, in fact available elsewhere.
You can buy products that include it at GNC and many places online. Google it. Make Wellness merely has the rights to use the peptide in the MLM CHANNEL. Big difference.
Requests for ingredients have fallen silent.
That won’t go over well once the prelaunch reps find out.
I am part of make wellness. A few things i want to correct. We are currently in pre-enrollment not pre-launch. We are learning about the products, formulation and everything else.
There is NO requirement to purchase anything (even once we officially go into pre-launch on october 28th when product is available. At that point you can purchase if you desire but again not necessary to be a part of the company or to make commission.
Products are not currently on site because they are in the labeling process. The commission pays 10-40% once pre-launch begins. Currently there is no price to pay as you say. There are NO monthly purchase requirements or minimums.
Would you buy something from someone who was repping something who didnt actually ever buy the product themselves… no.. probably not. So it is encouraged but NOT necessary to affiliate with Make.
If you can sign up it’s a prelaunch. Calling a prelaunch a pre-enrollment when you can enrol is stupid.
Ah, I see Make Wellness has now officially updated their T&C. Bit sad they’re being shady about the date of effectiveness, that’s not the same T&C that was available on August 1st.
Anyway, now Make Wellness are penalizing affiliates who don’t participate in their pay to play pyramid scheme:
How hard is it to just launch and let your distributors sell to retail customers?
All this negativity toward Justin Prince and his new company…. You must’ve been personally burned by him…. Also, you must hate to see others succeed.
I feel bad for you….
^^ That’s what you took away from Make Wellness’ prelaunch being a pyramid scheme?
You must be illiterate. I feel bad for you…
Good on you for acknowledging Justin Prince has victims he’s “burned” though. I’m not sure exactly what you’re referring to but it’s something I guess.
The way you responded to these comments kind of takes away from your whole article. (Ozedit: snip, see below)
No it doesn’t. Whether I’m Mother Teresa or the world’s biggest asshole, Make Wellness’ prelaunch as detailed in the article is still a pyramid scheme.
Fuck off shill.
i am not connected in any way to that company, I think we have to wait to see if it qualifies as an illegal pyramid scheme.
IMO it is too early to judge, I understand your point of view, no too much info to clarify. I am waiting for more info. I don’t think anyone is trying to scam anyone here. but you never know.
Ya’ll need to know the definition of pyramid scheme. Look it up.
This company sells products. It’s not just about recruiting. If you aren’t selling products or recruiting is your main focus then yes you would have a pyramid scheme.
I am not affiliated with Make Wellness but I do know JP after working with him with Modere. He has a ton of experience, is genuine, and yes he did co-found the current Modere company.
The Modere business model was Justin’s idea to help relaunch Modere, previously called Neway. Newway failed as a company an today Modere flourishes.
Yes, Modere fired him but he case after case was dismissed. So, what does a driven man do? Start his own company.
The irony being if you had looked up the definition, you’d have realized product-based pyramid schemes are a thing.
“bUt We HaVe PrOdUcTs!” hasn’t been a fraud defense for decades.
So Hoe did he Co-found Modere when it was a Purchased Company (Neways) …. bought by Z Capital ……. Neways failed as a Company ….. At the time … They were doing Hundreds fo Millions a year …. That is Not a Fail in Anybody’s Book ……
And Lets Look Deeper into the Word BioActive …..
Bio Active just means cellular usable ….. Bioactive just means that there is a biological cell using something …… and as far as a Peptide that just means a Amino Acid Chain ….. Nothing at All Special about any part of what you just said …… It goes on in the Body all the time ……
This goes On in the Human Body Since the Beginning of Time …..
“Peptides, which are chains of amino acids, are an absolutely essential element of all life on Earth…. This includes Plants and Animals ……
Ans Once you see the labels …. What the Heck does Caffeine which is Acidic to the Human Body have to do with Peptides in the First Place — It doesn’t …. It’s just Jacked Up Stimulants ……
I have been in the World of Product Development my Entire life …. and all I See …. is a Company using some Big Words …. Bioactive ….. Precision ….. and AI …. to influence you Purchase Cheap Junk …. The Marketing Box is worth More than the Product …..
And if yo are going to use AI for Anything for Any Human Body …. You would have to Scan the Body first and then Target what you Need ….. This is NOT One Size Fits ALL……
So After All of that ….. Whattya Got ….. And Just Look at the Weak Studies they are Touting Around …. They have Nothing to do with their Product Line Whatsoever …..
Anybody ????
Sean, that’s EXACTLY what I’ve been thinking. Are a list of ingredients available yet?
There is a List of Ingredients …..
I think What Everybody is Forgetting here is the Play on all the Marketing Words …..
But it boils down to this :
Peptides, which are chains of amino acids, are an absolutely essential element of ALL LIFE on Earth. For Everything ….. Everything that Lives …. From Plants to Animals to Humans …..
So NOTHING NEW but a Bunch of Marketing Words …. Bioactive ….. Precision and AI ….
And there is MORE marketing around the BOX it comes in than the Labels ….
When you Read the Labels …. Show me Anything Different than Any other Drink on the market with Caffeine ….. Mushrooms and Everything else you Read ….. Not One thing Special thank Anything else in the Market Place other than the Emphasis on Words that people will Believe instead of Researching to find out you’ve been using them since Birth or you wouldn’t be alive ……
Show me Different …..
The definition of a pyramid scheme: (Ozedit: snip, see comments #18 & #19)
Regurgitating overly narrow examples of a pyramid scheme doesn’t add anything to the conversation. Even less so when it’s already been addressed.
This is all pretty entertaining. Being on the software side of things for this and similar industries…it’s laughable that they are touting they “broke the internet” yesterday. lol. It means your site and software suck actually.
This is a sad time in product MLM in the US. While it’s wrong to do, I get why so many company’s are screwing their field and converting to a pure affiliate model.
These and 92% of product in this industry are an absolute joke that you are paying an insane markup for. This company could have the best products in the world btw and it will still fail, not be spoken about in 6-9 months, and most will be on to their next and shorter run with less credibility than they had.
The game has changed in the US. Only companies that have it even close to down are Modere and Lifewave which is actually growing.
It’s sad because I feel for these affiliates or reps that need a place to go or opportunity to make money…but product MLM in the United States is not the answer. Better off opening a lemonade stand.
Hearing about a commemorative box and touting AI reminds me of Awakened touting NFTs. This is the equivalent to Arby’s saying “we have the meats”.
With all that said, it’s quite entertaining and much healthier than watching or getting sucked up into political posts lol. Good luck everyone!
The pre enrollment was simply saying you were interested in being an affiliate with Make Wellness. We were allowed to purchase the product but were not MADE to as stated.
Also, Justin was let go with notice via email- pretty shitty and he DID win the case against Modere.
He was hired to bring Newways into the 20th century and created the social retail selling platform and of course was the top paid sales rep and when a company is suffering financially, who do they eliminate first?? The people making the most money.
I hear nothing about Asmah the former CEO of Modere leaving and going to another company or many other top leaders that left and were sued but won their case as well.
The Bioactive Precision Peptide, if you google it- you will see that Make Wellness has exclusive rights to it for 5 years.
Did GNC use it in the past, yup but they can’t produce anymore products with it for at least 5 years.
I absolutely hate when people like you try and create a false about a person and company when you don’t have your facts straight!!
You were, as stated by Make Wellness on its website when this article was published.
If it’s their “top sales rep” then I take it he’s not making very many sales?
Source?
Multinational retail chains don’t typically let go of product licenses if said product is flying off the shelves. I’ll let you put two and two together.
Yet somehow nothing you brought to the discussion pointed out anything false that had been stated. Hate is a strong word but it’s certainly annoying when the local “huffnpuff” crew rock up with excuses.
Now that Beachbody/BODi mlm is defunct, many of those coaches are jumping on the Make Wellness bandwagon.
13,800 affiliates – 5days
10M in sales and 43k customers in less < 10 days
JP cofounded Modere and these products are not the same. Yes, Modere and LifeWave are both excellent companies and so is MAKE.
Kind regards all
GT