Changing the Future Outcome Review: CTFO rebrands as CBD opp
Changing the Future Outcome began as Chew the Fat Off.
Initially a weight loss niche MLM company, Chew the Fat Off was perhaps better known as “CTFO”.
Changing the Future Outcome appears to be an awkward attempt to shoehorn a new company name into established acronym branding.
Website statistics (Alexa) suggest the Changing the Future Outcome name-change occurred earlier this year in or around January.
Management wise nothing has changed. Changing the Future Outcome is headed up by Founder Stuart Finger. His brother Steve Finger serves as CEO.
Read on for a full review of the Changing the Future Outcome MLM opportunity.
Changing the Future Outcome Products
Changing the Future Outcome still markets the original Chewing the Fat Off weight loss range, however front and center are new CBD-based products.
We source our hemp from Industrial Hemp farms that produce some of the richest, CBD Hemp in the USA.
Our CBD is completely isolated through CO2 extraction & crystal precipitation & is of the highest grade, pesticide free, Non-GMO hemp in the world.
These Industrial Hemp Farms are fully compliant with the State Department of Agriculture regulations & are large US distributors of Hemp, rich in CBD, CBG, CBC, and CBN.
CBD product categories features on the Changing the Future Outcome website include health, anti-aging, nutrition and pets.
There are far too many products to list here individually. For specific product information and retail pricing, refer to the full catalog provided on the Changing the Future Outcome website.
The Changing the Future Outcome Compensation Plan
Changing the Future Outcome combines direct retail commissions with unilevel and matrix residuals.
Additional performance and rank-based bonuses are also on offer.
Note that the commission percentages provided below are paid out on commissionable volume, not the retail value of products purchased or sold.
Changing the Future Outcome Affiliate Ranks
There are eleven affiliate ranks within the Changing the Future Outcome compensation plan.
Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:
- Affiliate – sign up as a free Changing the Future Outcome affiliate
- 1st Level Manager – recruit and maintain at least one MLM commission qualified affiliate or retail customer who purchases at least $47.47 a month
- 2nd Level Manager – recruit and maintain at least two MLM commission qualified affiliates and/or retail customers who purchase at least $47.47 a month each
- Senior Manager – recruit and maintain at least three MLM commission qualified affiliates and/or retail customers who purchase at least $47.47 a month each
- Executive Manager – recruit and maintain at least four MLM commission qualified affiliates and/or retail customers who purchase at least $47.47 a month each
- Vice President – recruit and maintain at least five MLM commission qualified affiliates and/or retail customers who purchase at least $47.47 a month each, and generate at least $25,000 in downline sales volume over a rolling 4-week period
- Senior Vice President – maintain at least five MLM commission qualified affiliates and/or retail customers who purchase at least $47.47 a month each, and generate at least $50,000 in downline sales volume over a rolling 4-week period
- Executive Vice President – maintain at least five MLM commission qualified affiliates and/or retail customers who purchase at least $47.47 a month each, and generate at least $100,000 in downline sales volume over a rolling 4-week period
- Presidential Director – maintain at least two other MLM commission qualified affiliates and/or retail customers who purchase at least $47.47 a month each, you also need to have three directly or indirectly recruited Executive Vice Presidents (one in three separate unilevel team legs)
- Senior Presidential Director – maintain at least two other MLM commission qualified affiliates and/or retail customers who purchase at least $47.47 a month each, you also need to have three directly or indirectly recruited Presidential Directors (one in three separate unilevel team legs)
- Executive Presidential Director – maintain at least two other MLM commission qualified affiliates and/or retail customers who purchase at least $47.47 a month each, you also need to have three directly or indirectly recruited Senior Presidential Directors (one in three separate unilevel team legs)
- Top Gun – maintain at least two other MLM commission qualified affiliates and/or retail customers who purchase at least $47.47 a month each, you also need to have three directly or indirectly recruited Executive Presidential Directors (one in three separate unilevel team legs)
Retail Commissions
Changing the Future Outcome pay a flat 20% commission retail orders.
There doesn’t appear to be any difference between retail customers and affiliates with respect to retail commissions.
Both Changing the Future Outcome retail customers and affiliates are given an online storefront, through which they can earn 20% retail commissions through.
MLM Commissions
To qualify for MLM commissions, a Changing the Future Outcome affiliate must either
- spend $47.47 a month on Changing the Future Outcome products or
- recruit/enroll and maintain at least ten affiliates/retail customers
With option two, retail customers must be spending $47.47 a month each and recruited affiliates must they themselves be MLM commission qualified to count.
Residual Unilevel Commissions
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.
Changing the Future Outcome cap payable unilevel levels at five.
Residual commissions are paid out as a percentage of commissionable volume generated across these five levels as follows:
- level 1 (personally recruited affiliates) – 20%
- levels 2 to 5 – 4%
How many levels a Changing the Future Outcome affiliate earns on is determined by the following qualification criteria:
- sign up as an affiliate = residual commissions on level 1
- recruit and maintain two MLM commission qualified affiliates = residual commissions on levels 1 and 2
- recruit and maintain three MLM commission qualified affiliates = residual commissions on levels 1 to 3
- recruit and maintain four MLM commission qualified affiliates = residual commissions on levels 1 to 4
- recruit and maintain five MLM commission qualified affiliates and have a downline generating $25,000 in sales volume a month = residual commissions on levels 1 to 5
Residual Matrix Commissions
Changing the Future Outcome pays matrix commissions via a 3×21 matrix.
A 3×21 matrix places an affiliate at the top of a matrix, with three positions directly under them:
These three positions make up the first level of the matrix. The second level of the matrix is generated by splitting these first three positions into another three positions each (9 positions).
Levels three to twenty-one of the matrix are generated in the same manner, with each new level housing three times as many positions as the previous level.
Positions in the matrix are filled via direct and indirect recruitment of Changing the Future Outcome affiliates.
Commissions are paid as a percentage of sales volume generated across twenty-one matrix levels as follows:
- levels 1 to 5 – 1%
- levels 6 and 7 – 10%
- levels 8 to 21 – 1%
Note that Changing the Future Outcome affiliates don’t earn full matrix commissions off the bat.
Matrix commissions are qualified for in sequential order as follows:
- recruit and maintain one MLM commission qualified affiliate = 25% of payable matrix commissions across levels 1 to 7
- recruit and maintain two MLM commission qualified affiliates = 50% of payable matrix commissions across levels 1 to 7
- recruit and maintain three MLM commission qualified affiliates = 100% of payable matrix commissions across levels 1 to 7
- recruit and maintain four MLM commission qualified affiliates = 100% of payable matrix commissions across levels 1 to 14
- recruit and maintain five MLM commission qualified affiliates = 100% of payable matrix commissions across all 21 levels
Additional Matrix Positions
Changing the Future Outcome reward affiliates with additional matrix positions, effectively allowing them to earn beyond the the first twenty-one levels of their matrix.
After a Chewing the Future Outcome affiliate recruits three affiliates, every recruited affiliate thereafter generates them a new position in their matrix.
This new position is placed directly above the newly recruited affiliate, placing them in the first level of the newly created matrix.
Additional matrices generated by additional positions fill in tandem with an affiliate’s original matrix.
Commission payouts on additional position matrices are the same as the original matrix (see “residual matrix commissions” above).
Infinity Bonus Pool
Vice President and higher ranked Changing the Future Outcome affiliates qualify for the Infinity Bonus Pool.
The Infinity Bonus Pool is a bonus percentage paid on unilevel team volume.
Whereas residual unilevel commissions are capped at five levels however, the Infinity Bonus pays on entire team volume (no level cap).
- Vice Presidents receive a 4% Infinity Bonus Pool rate
- Senior Vice Presidents receive an 8% Infinity Bonus Pool rate
- Executive Vice Presidents receive a 12% Infinity Bonus Pool rate
- Presidential Directors receive a 13.75% Infinity Bonus Pool rate
- Senior Presidential Directors receive a 15.5% Infinity Bonus Pool rate
- Executive Presidential Directors receive a 19% Infinity Bonus Pool rate
- Top Guns receive a 19% Infinity Bonus Pool rate
Note that the Infinity Bonus Pool is a coded bonus.
This means that when an affiliate in a Changing the Future Outcome affiliate’s matrix qualifies for the bonus, instead of receiving the full Infinity Bonus Pool, they will receive the difference between what is paid at that affiliate’s rank and their own.
If both affiliates are at the same rank, the upline affiliate forfeits the Infinity Bonus Pool on unilevel team volume under that affiliate.
Top Gun Bonus Pool
Changing the Future Outcome places 6% of company-wide sales volume and places it into the Top Gun Bonus Pool.
Top Gun ranked affiliates receive an equal share of the Top Gun Bonus Pool.
How often the Top Gun Bonus Pool is shared out is not clarified in the Changing the Future Outcome compensation plan.
Joining Changing the Future Outcome
Changing the Future Outcome affiliate membership is free.
Conclusion
You’ve just joined a new opportunity for free and now you have two choices.
Do you qualify for MLM commissions by spending $47.47 a month or do you find a combination of ten recruited affiliates and/or retail customers to qualify?
At a minimum, how nine out of ten Changing the Future Outcome affiliates are going to qualify for MLM commissions should be obvious.
Elsewhere in the compensation plan there are no explicit retail sales requirements. This means it’s entirely possible for a Changing the Future Outcome affiliate to sign up, pay $47.47, recruit other affiliates who do the same and max out rank and earnings.
Herein lies Changing the Future Outcome’s primary compliance problem, as an MLM company generating most of its revenue from affiliate orders each month is a pyramid scheme.
The good news is establishing whether or not this is the case at a micro level is rather easy. What you want to find out is how your potential upline is qualifying for MLM commissions.
If it’s via their own $47.47 monthly spend and they’re not generating at least an equal $47.47 a month in retail sales, they’re operating their Changing the Future Outcome business as a pyramid scheme.
One other aspect of Changing the Future Outcome’s compensation plan I have to mention is these so-called “copyrighted” matrix positions.
Changing the Future Outcome describe their compensation plan as a “hybrid 4-part pay plan with copyrighted Profit Sharing Positions”.
These positions are just additional awarded matrix positions. Leaving aside how you’d even copyright a component of a compensation plan, Stuart Finger has been claiming he’s copyrighted additional matrix positions since Guided By God (the precursor to Chew the Fat Off).
To date I’ve seen no evidence of the additional matrix position concept being copyrighted by Finger or any of his companies. I can only thus surmise that any claims to the contrary are disingenuous marketing waffle.
Happy to be proven wrong on that but it’s been four years since we published our GBG review. Just sayin’…
One interesting feature of the compensation plan is Changing the Future Outcome retail customers being automatically enrolled in a single-level affiliate program. This isn’t MLM, otherwise it’d be another major compliance issue.
Rather retail customers are rewarded outside of the MLM compensation plan, although you could argue that with Changing the Future Outcome affiliate membership being free, it’s an immaterial difference.
Nevertheless Changing the Future Outcome retail customers can’t earn MLM commissions, so from a compliance perspective I’m satisfied.
Looking at the bigger picture (and tying into previous retail sales concerns), the question is whether retail customer membership stands on its own, or whether it’s merely a tool to convert retail customers into Changing the Future Outcome affiliates.
Moving on to Changing the Future Outcome’s products, they’re a bit late to the CBD niche but that’s nothing to hold against them.
It actually works in your favor, as you’ve got established competitors to compare them against, as well as non-MLM CBD product offerings.
CBD products are pretty readily available across the US at this point, so definitely do your homework in comparing what Changing the Future Outcome are offering versus what’s available locally and online.
Good luck!
How long before FTC get involved and close down this Pyramid scheme?
Great question Laurence Lowne, I too would like to know the answer.
I’ve seen a lot of comp plans fail at the hands of the FTC and/or Attorneys General within select states. Given the absence of “commissions apart from product sales” (rewards for simply recruiting), it’s not a mystery that the FTC has refrained from shutting down CTFO.
Long may it run, as the consumers benefit from the reliability of a self-regulated comp plan. In other words, CTFO would’ve been shut down by now if there was the slightest reason for government’s watchful eye to do so.
Except that you can:
The FTC’s Vemma and Herbalife cases reaffirmed that attaching products to affiliate recruitment is still getting paid to recruit. And when this is how the majority of affiliates in an MLM company are earning, it’s operating as a pyramid scheme.
Nope. This is the “but we haven’t been shut down yet!” defense.
Not being shut down by a regulator != legitimate business model.
Is Amazon a scam?? You can become an affiliate with them!
HempWorx charges you $20/month just to be an affiliate and then once you rank up you have to spend $250 to $500/month just to maintain your rank.
CTFO is CUSTOMER driven with no STARTUP! Yes, you spend 49.47/month to make money on down line sales but every MLM does this.
Binary legs are scams! That money goes right back into the owners pockets!
CTFO is not a pyramid scheme and by claiming they are is extremely negligent.
Amazon isn’t an MLM company. What they are or aren’t is irrelevant. Ditto what Hempworx is or isn’t.
Sounds like a $49.47 startup cost to me.
You don’t have to pay to earn money!! That shit is for climbing the latter!!
Jesus fucking christ, does anyone know how to do proper research?
You dont have to pay money to make money with this company, but if you want to expand!!! Then you’re probably making money with the company already. Get your facts straight.
You don’t have to spend a dime!! You can make commission, then use that money to buy the fucking upgrade!! YOU DON’T HAVE TO USE ANY OF YOUR OWN MONEY!!!
When they said 100% free, they meant it.
Using money from those you’ve recruited into a pyramid scheme to pay your pyramid scheme fees doesn’t negate the fact that CTFO is likely operating as a pyramid scheme.
If comments like yours are anything to go by, apparently not.
YOU DON’T HAVE TO PAY ANYTHING TO BECOME AN ASSOCIATE!! It’s free, that charge is for an upgrade. You can earn commission, then use that to pay for it!! GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT.
If I don’t see this comment posted, I’ll blow this up all over my Facebook. Already have my screenshots. STOP SPREADING FALSE INFORMATION!!!
Oh, so there’s no “customers only” kind of people? When you sign up your automatically a business builder? (Ozedit: derails removed)
WHETHER YOU PAY YOURSELF OR NOT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH CTFO OPERATING AS A PYRAMID SCHEME.
Get your own facts straight please. And I don’t give a crap about your Facebook, Karen.
If you’d bothered to have actually read the review you’ll have seen this addressed.
And if you wish to discuss non-MLM companies and the ebil gubmint, do it elsewhere thanks (I believe you’ve already disclosed you have a Facebook account).
I’m not sure why you keep referring to CTFO as a pyramid scheme.
NO REAL PRODUCT THAT IS SOLD IN A PYRAMID SCHEME!!!!!!!
CTFO is free to join. You do not need to make a purchase in order to get paid commission. If a customer buys from you, you make a %.
If you choose to make a qualifying purchase each month, then you open up the full comp plan.
I don’t know of many other MLM companies that will still pay a commission even if you don’t make a purchase!
That’s one type of pyramid scheme. Another is a product-based pyramid scheme, in which the majority of company revenue is derived from affiliate purchases.
https://behindmlm.com/mlm/ftc-mlm-companies-with-little-to-no-retail-activity-are-illegal/
That’s pay to play, a strong indicator of a pyramid scheme. What it comes down to is a comp plan that’s focused on affiliate autoship recruitment, making it highly likely CTFO is operating as a product-based pyramid scheme.
Any MLM company that forces you to purchase products to earn commissions is in all likelihood a pyramid scheme. It’s sad these are the only companies you know.