A Great Life Review: Weight loss tea with autoship recruitment concerns
A Great Life operates in the weight loss MLM niche and are based out of Maryland in the US.
Heading up A Great Life are co-founders Wes Wheeler and Dave Lear.
Dave Lear last popped up on BehindMLM’s radar back in 2015, as co-founder of The Elite Networker.
Earlier that same year The Elite Networker co-founders launched Total Takeover.
Both The Elite Networker and Total Takeover operated as pyramid schemes and collapsed shortly after launch.
After The Elite Networker collapsed, Lear went on to promote Valentus.
I wasn’t able to find an MLM history for Wes Wheeler, which I’m flagging as suspicious.
Read on for a full review of the A Great Life MLM opportunity.
A Great Life Products
A Great Life markets a weight loss tea they’re calling “Not the Average Skinny Tea”.
What Makes Us So Special?
Our precisely chosen ingredient blend has been sourced from exotic regions like Asia, Africa, and South America and were selected on the fact that you can FEEL the product working almost instantly.
Not The Average SKINNY TEA Works with your body 7 different ways to help you lose weight.
When you take a look at our ingredients you will understand why so many people are drinking our tea every day!
People who have been stuck in a weightloss rut are now getting “unstuck” and achieving the best body of their lives with the help of our Muti-Functional SKINNY TEA!
Not the Average Skinny Tea retails at $69.95 for a box of thirty single-serve sachets.
A three-pack is available for $154.95 ($51.65 a box) and a six-pack for $239.95 ($39.99 a box).
The A Great Life Compensation Plan
A Great Life’s compensation plan rewards affiliates for making retail sales and recruiting affiliates who maintain a monthly product order.
A Great Life Affiliate Ranks
There are five affiliate ranks within the A Great Life compensation plan.
Along with their respective qualification criteria they are as follows:
- Life Changer – maintain a monthly product order and refer at least one retail customer
- Professional Life Changer – maintain a monthly product order and recruit and maintain at least two Life Changer ranked affiliates
- Gold Life Changer – maintain a monthly product order, maintain at least two personally recruited Life Changers and generate at least 5000 BV a month on your weaker binary side
- Platinum Life Changer – maintain a monthly product order, maintain at least two personally recruited Life Changers and generate at least 20,000 BV a month on your weaker binary side
- Diamond Life Changer – maintain a monthly product order, maintain at least two personally recruited Life Changers and generate at least 40,000 BV a month on your weaker binary side
BV stands for “Business Volume” and is sales volume generated via retail sales and affiliate orders across the binary team (see residual commissions for more information).
Retail Commissions
A Great Life pays commissions on the sale of Not The Average Skinny Tea to retail customers.
- a single box retail sale generates a $20 retail commission
- a three-pack retail sale generates a $30 retail commission
- a six-pack retail sale generates a $50 retail commission
Recruitment Commissions
A Great Life affiliates are paid to recruit new affiliates down three levels of recruitment (unilevel):
- recruitment of a Starter Pack affiliate generates $20 on level 1 (personally recruited affiliates) and $5 on levels 2 and 3
- recruitment of a Builder Pack affiliate generates $40 on level 1 and $10 on levels 2 and 3
- recruitment of a Pro Builder Pack affiliate generates $60 on level 1 and $15 on levels 2 and 3
Residual Commissions
A Great Life pays residual commissions 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 houses two positions. The second level of the binary team is generated by splitting these first two positions into another two positions each (4 positions).
Subsequent levels of the binary team are generated as required, with each new level housing twice as many positions as the previous level.
Positions in the binary team are filled via direct and indirect recruitment of affiliates. Note there is no limit to how deep a binary team can grow.
Residual commissions are paid out on sales volume generated across the binary team.
- the sale of one box of Not The Average Skinny Tea or recruitment of a Starter Pack affiliate generates 40 BV
- the sale of a three-pack of Not The Average Skinny Tea or recruitment of a Builder Pack affiliate generates 80 BV
- the sale of a six-pack of Not The Average Skinny Tea or recruitment of a PRO Builder Pack affiliate generates 120 BV
A Good Life pays residual commissions using a Residual commissions are paid using a 40 BV/80 BV ratio.
That is to say a residual commission is generated each time 40 BV on one side of the binary team is matched with 80 BV on the other wise.
For the purpose of residual commission calculation, which side of the binary team 40 BV is matched with 80 BV on doesn’t matter.
Each 40 BV/80 BV ratio match generates an $8 residual commission.
Bonus Pools
A Great Life take 5% of company-wide sales volume and places it into three Bonus Pools.
The three Bonus Pools are split based on affiliate rank as follows:
- Gold ranked affiliates receive a share in a 1% Gold bonus pool
- Platinum ranked affiliates receive a share in the Gold Bonus Pool as well as a 2% Platinum bonus pool
- Diamond ranked affiliates receive a share in the Gold and Platinum bonus pools as well as a share in a 2% Diamond pool
Joining A Great Life
A Great Life affiliate membership is available in three options:
- Starter Pack – $20 plus a box of Not The Average Skinny Tea for $49.95 ($69.95 total)
- Builder Pack – $20 plus a three-pack of Not The Average Skinny Tea for $124.95 ($144.95 total) or
- PRO Builder Pack – $20 plus a six-pack of Not The Average Skinny Tea for $189.95 ($209.95 total)
Conclusion
Product-wise A Great Life appears to be not much different to any other weight loss tea MLM opportunity.
When we designed our tea, we made sure to not only create the best functional tea for energy and weightloss, but also the yummiest!
In fact, in a recent survey carried out by a few of our product testers, 100% of them said, It tastes like Christmas.
Nothing really stood out as unique about Not The Average Skinny Tea, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
If the tea works as advertised and is competitively priced, retail demand will follow.
Unfortunately that brings us to A Great Life’s compensation plan, which only requires a token effort at retail sales.
The Life Changer rank requires an A Great Life affiliate to make one retail sale. The wording of the compensation plan implies this is a one-off sale, with the only additional qualifier then being group BV.
Once that initial retail sale is made, A Great Life affiliate can focus on recruitment of new affiliates, all of whom are likely to be on autoship due to the mandatory monthly purchase requirement.
Update 25th June 2019 – As per a an official corporate marketing video uploaded to A Great Life’s YouTube channel on February 7th, 2019, it appears retail requirements have been abolished.
As per A Great Life’s marketing presentation, all that’s required to qualify as a Life Changer is an autoship order and recruitment of two affiliates (click to enlarge):
As above, autoship is mandatory throughout A Great Life’s affiliate ranks.
As recommended by A Great Life corporate, steps to become a “great Life Changer” are recruitment of two affiliates who each purchase products:
Followed by getting those two recruits to each recruit two affiliates who purchase products:
Retail sales are not required and are entirely absent from the only example A Great Life provides in the presentation on how to advance in the business. /end update
Update 27th June 2019 – Despite their marketing material clearly suggesting autoship is mandatory (rank advancement screenshot above), A Great Life’s compensation plan states that affiliates can qualify for commissions via autoship or retail sales.
Optional retail requirements are mentioned only for the Life Changer rank, after which retail can be ignored.
Given the focus on autoship in A Great Life’s marketing, the fact the company does not provide a copy of its compensation plan to the public on its website, and that retail can be ignored altogether, I maintain retail sales are not a core focus of the company. /end update
What you potentially wind up with is a company full of affiliates purchasing product each month to qualify for commissions. And as a result of purchases made to qualify for commissions, so the legitimacy of Not The Average Skinny Tea becomes irrelevant.
From a regulatory standpoint the autoship recruitment model is that of a pyramid scheme.
In this scenario, once recruitment slows down the majority of A Great Life affiliates will realize a loss.
Update 29th June 2019 – Jordan Wright of A Great Life has been touch to advise the company has “removed the videos” the screenshots above were taken from.
We have also updated the slides for future presentations and we are meeting to consider doing away with the pro builder bonus, replacing with something better.
We do have a significant retail customer base, I believe a lot of that is due to how good our products are, and a few reps who do radio.
We spent a lot of time making sure that we abided [sic] by all laws and we are constantly working to improve ourselves.
You have raised some valid points on how some things can be improved.
Due to these changes I’ve edited the review to reflect that A Great Life doesn’t force affiliates onto autoship for commission qualification.
As at the time of this update, A Great Life still do not provide official compensation documentation on their website.
Update 13th May 2020 – As of this month A Great Life has been sold off to Total Life Changes.
At the time of publication A Great Life’s website is non-functional. Alexa traffic charts show a general decline from mid 2019.
Unbeknownst to most, these “collapsable” schemes accomplish what they set out to do from the start.
They collect a long list of names and emails to continue the perpetual scheme promoting cycle.
That’s why the same individuals pop up every so often promoting different programs and schemes.
The only test that is relevant before joining any MLM scheme is very simple. The prospective distributor needs to ask themselves if they would purchase this product at retail price if there was NO business opportunity attached to the product.
Even if they want to lose weight by drinking tea, would they buy this one regardless of the relatively high monthly cost or not? Very few new bizz-opp seekers conduct this basic due diligence, then they complain if they don’t make any money!
In an ideal world, however people are fallible. More so when potential income is involved.
You’re far better off going over the compensation plan and getting a sense of how money flows through the business.
I emailed Nate Bianco as Dave Lear and Nate work together on July 17, 2019 with some questions and his emails says call him however he leave no phone number and I have no reply from as of July 21, 2019.
His email is: (removed)
PS As a professional entrepreneur for 38 years I would always leave a phone # as an insurance and financial broker I have nothing to hide.
Review updated with news of Total Life Changes sell off.