Emris International Review v2: Momentum Business Academy
Emris International was co-founded in late 2019 by Matthew Harris, Ilean Harris and Aspen Emry.
BehindMLM published its initial Emris International review in June 2020.
Shortly after launch, Emry left the company and went on to launch Bravenly Global.
Husband and wife Matthew and Illean Harris continued to run Emris International. The company today however looks nothing like it did back in 2019.
On the corporate side of things, Emris International launched as a Florida corporation. Today Emris International’s website provides a corporate address in South Africa.
The Harris’ however still appear to be based out of Miami, Florida.
Today we’re revisiting Emris International to see what’s changed since BehindMLM’s initial 2020 review.
Emris International’s Products
Emris International launched with weight loss tea and CBD oil.
That’s all gone, with “Momentum Business Academy” in its place.
Momentum Business Academy Is A Groundbreaking Online Educational Platform Designed To Give You The Keys To Entrepreneurial Success In A Digital Age!
Momentum Business Academy is marketed on the premise “the traditional education system is broken”, and that it’s the “business school of the future”.
Momentum Business Academy is a global entrepreneurial community, committed to sharing the most cutting edge wealth creation strategies & philosophies.
Momentum Business Academy components featured on Emris International’s website include:
- Cashflow 101 – “Transform Your Life With These Coveted Cashflow Secrets”
- Wealth Mastery – “Master The Wealth Generation Secrets of Millionaires”
- High Performance Secrets – “Unlock Your Limitless Potential, Producing High Quality Results Faster Than Ever”
- Goal Setting Workshop – “Discover The Power of ATOMIC Goal Setting & Turn Your Dreams Into Reality”
- The Art of Persuasion – “Dramatically Increase Your Influence & Close More Sales Than Ever Before”
- Network Marketing 90 Day Business Transformation – “Roadmap To Transforming Your Network Marketing Business In 90 Days Or Less”
- Traffic School – “Cutting Edge Lead Generation Strategies For A Digital Age”
- Digital Assets/Info Products – “Turning Your Expertise Into Profitable Online Courses”
- The 7 Figure Coach – “Create Your Own Coaching Business For Impact & Profits”
- Webinars For Influencers – “How To Use Webinars To Increase Your Sales & Grow Your Influence”
Emris International doesn’t disclose who’s behind any of Moment Business Academy’s components.
Momentum Business Academy is available through two retail subscription tiers:
- Standard – $47 a month, includes access to Cashflow 101, Wealth Mastery, High Performance Secrets, Goal Setting Workshop and “monthly webinars with subject matter experts”
- Pro – $97 a month, adds remaining Momentum Business Academy components
Emris International’s Compensation Plan
Emris International’s compensation plan revolves around selling Momentum Business Academy subscriptions to retail customers and recruited affiliates.
- sale of a Standard subscription generates 40 PV each month
- sale of a VIP subscription generates 85 PV each month
PV stands for “Personal Volume”. PV is sales volume generated by personal subscription sales (includes an affiliate’s own subscription).
Emris International Affiliate Ranks
There are fourteen affiliate ranks within Emris International’s compensation plan.
Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:
- Brand Ambassador – sign up as an Emris International affiliate and maintain your Momentum Business Academy subscription
- Senior Brand Ambassador – generate and maintain 40 PV over a rolling 5 week period
- Executive – maintain 40 PV over a rolling 5 week period and recruit and maintain two Senior Brand Ambassadors or higher
- 1 Star Executive – generate and maintain 80 PV over a rolling 5 week period, recruit and maintain three Senior Brand Ambassadors or higher and generate and maintain 1500 GV in monthly weaker binary team side volume
- 2 Star Executive – maintain 80 PV over a rolling 5 week period, maintain three personally recruited Senior Brand Ambassadors or higher and generate and maintain 4500 GV in monthly weaker binary team side volume
- 3 Star Executive – maintain 80 PV over a rolling 5 week period, maintain three personally recruited Senior Brand Ambassadors or higher and generate and maintain 9000 GV in monthly weaker binary team side volume
- Director – maintain 80 PV over a rolling 5 week period, maintain three personally recruited Senior Brand Ambassadors or higher and generate and maintain 18,000 GV in monthly weaker binary team side volume
- 1 Star Director – maintain 80 PV over a rolling 5 week period, maintain three personally recruited Senior Brand Ambassadors or higher and generate and maintain 36,000 GV in monthly weaker binary team side volume
- 2 Star Director – maintain 80 PV over a rolling 5 week period, maintain three personally recruited Senior Brand Ambassadors or higher and generate and maintain 75,000 GV in monthly weaker binary team side volume
- 3 Star Director – maintain 80 PV over a rolling 5 week period, maintain three personally recruited Senior Brand Ambassadors or higher and generate and maintain 150,000 GV in monthly weaker binary team side volume
- Vice President – maintain 80 PV over a rolling 5 week period, maintain three personally recruited Senior Brand Ambassadors or higher and generate and maintain 300,000 GV in monthly weaker binary team side volume
- Senior Vice President – maintain 80 PV over a rolling 5 week period, maintain three personally recruited Senior Brand Ambassadors or higher and generate and maintain 600,000 GV in monthly weaker binary team side volume
- Executive Vice President – maintain 80 PV over a rolling 5 week period, maintain three personally recruited Senior Brand Ambassadors or higher and generate and maintain 900,000 GV in monthly weaker binary team side volume
- Presidential Ambassador – maintain 80 PV over a rolling 5 week period, maintain three personally recruited Senior Brand Ambassadors or higher and generate and maintain 1,200,000 GV in monthly weaker binary team side volume
GV stands for “Group Volume”. GV is PV generated by an affiliate and their downline.
Note that from Director, no more than 50% of required GV can come from any one unilevel team leg.
With respect to recruitment requirements, at least one recruited Senior Brand Ambassador or higher must be on both sides of the binary team to count towards rank qualification.
Momentum Business Academy Subscription Commissions
Emris International affiliates earn $15 per Standard MBA subscription sold and $35 per Pro subscription sold.
The same commission is paid out regardless of whether the subscriber is a retail customer or recruited affiliate.
Recruitment Commissions
Emris International affiliates earn a commission on recruitment of affiliates:
- recruit an Entrepreneur tier affiliate and receive $15
- recruit a Mogul tier affiliate and receive $35
Residual Commissions
Emris International 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.
At the end of each week Emris International tallies up new subscription volume on both sides of the binary team.
Executives and higher ranked affiliates are paid a percentage of subscription volume generated on their weaker binary team side:
- Executives earn an 8% residual commission rate, capped at $2500 a week
- 1 Star Executives earn a 9% residual commission rate, capped at $2500 a week
- 2 Star Executives earn a 10% residual commission rate, capped at $2500 a week
- 3 Star Executives earn an 11% residual commission rate, capped at $2500 a week
- Directors earn a 12% residual commission rate, capped at $2500 a week
- 1 Star Directors earn a 13% residual commission rate, capped at $2500 a week
- 2 Star Directors earn a 14% residual commission rate, capped at $5000 a week
- 3 Star Directors earn a 15% residual commission rate, capped at $10,000 a week
- Vice Presidents earn a 15% residual commission rate, capped at $20,000 a week
- Senior Vice Presidents earn a 15% residual commission rate, capped at $30,000 a week
- Executive Vice Presidents earn a 15% residual commission rate, capped at $40,000 a week
- Presidential Ambassadors earn a 15% residual commission rate, capped at $75,000 a week
Once paid out on, volume is matched against the stronger binary team side and flushed.
Any leftover volume on stronger binary team side carries over.
Matching Bonus
Emris International pays a base 10% match on residual commissions earned by personally recruited affiliates.
They also pay a residual Matching Bonus on up to two generations, tracked across 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.
Emris International defines generations in each unilevel team leg when a Director or higher ranked affiliate is found in the leg.
This first Director caps off the first generation for that leg, with the second beginning immediately after.
If a second Director or higher exists deeper in the leg, they cap off the second generation for that leg.
If no such ranked affiliate exists, the second generation of that leg extends down its full depth.
Using this generation structure, 1 Star Director and higher ranked affiliates earn a residual Matching Bonus as follows:
- 1 Star and 2 Star Directors earn a 5% match on up to one generation per unilevel team leg
- 3 Star Directors and higher earn a 5% match on up to two generations per unilevel team leg
VIP Subscription Bonus
Emris International affiliates earn a 10% bonus on VIP subscription volume if they sell and maintain 250 to 499 PV in VIP monthly subscription volume.
If the affiliate sells and maintains 500 PV in VIP monthly subscription volume, a 15% bonus is paid out.
Director and Vice President Bonus Pools
Emris International takes 1.5% of company-wide sales volume and places it into a Director and Vice President Bonus Pools.
The Director Bonus Pool is made up of 1% of Emris International’s company-wide subscription volume.
The Director Bonus Pool is paid out every 4 weeks based on shares:
- Directors receive 10 shares
- 1 Star Directors receive 12 shares
- 2 Star Directors receive 14 shares
- 3 Star Directors receive 16 shares
- Vice Presidents receive 18 shares
- Senior Vice Presidents receive 20 shares
- Executive Vice Presidents receive 22 shares
- Presidential Ambassadors receive 24 shares
Note that whereas the Director Bonus Pool is paid out every 4 weeks, shares are awarded every week.
The Vice President Bonus Pool is made up of 0.5% of Emris International’s company-wide subscription volume.
Vice President and higher ranked Emris International affiliates qualify for shares in the Vice President Bonus Pool based on downline subscription volume.
Vice President Bonus Pool shares appear to be awarded on a 1 GV = 1 share ratio, with the following limitation:
at most 50% of can be counted in the ETCV requirement for one’s Paid-As rank.
ETCV is Emris International’s non-standard label for GV.
I’m not 100% sure but it sounds like Emris International caps countable GV at 50% of whatever a President Bonus Pool qualified affiliate’s rank required GV is.
Rank Achievement Bonus
Emris International rewards affiliates for qualifying at 1 Star Executive and higher with the following Rank Achievement Bonuses:
- qualify at 1 Star Executive and receive $250
- qualify at 2 Star Executive and receive $500
- qualify at 3 Star Executive and receive $1000
- qualify at Director and receive $2000, paid over 2 months
- qualify at 1 Star Director and receive $5000, paid over 4 months
- qualify at 2 Star Director and receive $10,000, paid over 4 months
- qualify at 3 Star Director and receive $20,000, paid over 4 months
- qualify at Vice President and receive $50,000, paid over 4 months
- qualify at Senior Vice President and receive $100,000, paid over 4 months
- qualify at Executive Vice President and receive $400,000, paid over 4 months
- qualify at Presidential Ambassador and receive $1,000,000, paid over 4 months
Note that rank qualification must be obtained for the full payout period for Director and higher.
Joining Emris International
Emris International affiliate membership is tied to the purchase of a Momentum Business Academy subscription
- Entrepreneur – $96 and then $35 annually (Standard subscription tier)
- Mogul – $146 and then $35 annually (Pro subscription tier)
Emris International Conclusion
Emris International sets itself up as a pyramid scheme by forcing affiliates to pay for Momentum Business Academy subscriptions.
These conveniently tie into monthly PV requirements (eventually affiliates are expected to maintain a Pro subscription). And what you’re left with is an MLM opportunity in which recruitment is the focus.
You sign up, pay your monthly subscription fee and get paid to recruit others who do the same.
If Emris International were serious about retail, they’d allow affiliates to sign up without a subscription and exclude affiliate subscription volume from rank requirements entirely (or at the very least require a 50% split between retail and recruited affiliate volume).
I believe this ties into Momentum Business Academy being a weak retail offering.
Momentum Business Academy has a lot of marketing copy to it but not much substance. And this is compounded by Emris International not specifying who’s behind course content.
I suspect it’s the Harris’ themselves, meaning Emris International is just a marketing platform to sell their content through.
Digital Assets/Info Products – “Turning Your Expertise Into Profitable Online Courses”
There’s nothing wrong with this but failing to disclose who is behind Momentum Business Academy is a potential FTC Act violation. Notwithstanding aforementioned pyramid concerns.
Addressing what differs Momentum Business Academy from “free online information”, Emris International writes;
Information alone is not the answer. And with the ease of publishing content online, making sure the information and strategies you’re seeking to implement are proven and credible is more challenging than ever.
Enrolling in Momentum Business Academy not only places you on the fast track towards entrepreneurial success, but we’ve cut out all the fat that does not serve your goals, and provide the very best of business education that’s practical, proven, and powerful!
To their credit, Emris International do offer a 60 day refund window – but only to VIP tier subscribers.
If for any reason you wish to cancel your subscription or receive a refund, we gladly offer a 60-day, money-back satisfaction guarantee to all VIP Customers.
Why Standard subscriptions are excluded from this policy is unclear.
As it stands, potential MBA subscribers are left unable to make an informed decision as to whether the “information and strategies” in it are “proven and credible”. This again would be another FTC violation (deceptive claims).
Returning to Emris International’s compensation plan, lower ranked affiliates are heavily penalized by a static $2500 residual earning cap.
What is the point of increasing the residual commission rate from 8% to 13% but limiting weekly residual commissions to $2500? All that’ll happen is affiliates will hit the cap sooner.
This kills momentum and any incentive to grow the business early on.
Considering the majority of an MLM company’s affiliates are typically spread out across lower ranks, this could also be a consciously nefarious decision.
Either way there’s plenty of room for improvement.
On a closing not, I don’t know if someone forgot to pay the hosting bill or what the story is, but images on Emris International’s website have been broken for some time.
I don’t know what triggers it but I am sometimes able to bring up Emris International’s broken website. Other times I am asked to choose a region, which redirects me to a Momentum Business Academy branded website.
No idea what the need for two websites is. I did note Momentum Business Academy’s website provides a virtual office corporate address in Miami, Florida.
For me personally, due-diligence into Emris International would begin and end with “pay to play”.
If you want to dive deeper, be sure to grill your potential Emris International upline on specific examples of the impact MBA has had on their business.
Make sure to specify you want examples outside of Emris International itself, otherwise that just further cements the “product exists to promote a pyramid scheme” problem.
Approach with caution.