Back in December 2023 BehindMLM published its first Frequense review. We found a particularly basic MLM opportunity with two forgettable products.

And for some reason Frequense was selling clothing, of which they had more lines than supplements.

Turns out, although it wasn’t disclosed on their website, Frequense was in a prolonged “beta-testing” prelaunch phase. Following several delays, Frequense launched earlier this month.

Today we revisit Frequense for an updated “full launch” review.

The Company

While we know Frequense is a LaCore Enterprises company run by Barb and Dave Pitcock, unfortunately this is still not disclosed on Frequense’s website.

This is an ongoing potential violation of the FTC Act (disclosures).

LaCore Enterprises does have a history of failing to disclose ownership and executive information related to its many MLM companies. This had gotten better over the previous few years but Frequense is definitely a step backwards.

While the Pitcocks are Kansas residents, LaCore Enterprises is based out of Texas.

Frequense’s Products

Frequense markets a range of nutritional supplements, presumably developed by LaCore Labs.

  • RISE Nootropics – mango lemonade organic mushroom blend to “boost mental clarity”, retails at $99.99 for a 132 g tub (4.7 oz) or a pouch of thirty single-serve sachets
  • SOURCE Trace Minerals – “packed with … potassium, magnesium, iron, calcium and zinc to support healthy bones and muscles”, retails at $49.99 for a 60 ml bottle (2 fl. oz.)
  • SYNC Collagen Sticks – “synchronize body and mind”, retails at $99.99 for a pouch of twenty-one single-serve sachets
  • Relieve Cream – 2000 mg CBD cream, retails at $99.99 for a 120 ml tub (4 oz)
  • Balance CBD Tincture – 1500 mg cbd oil, retails at $99.99 for a 30 ml bottle (1 oz)

Frequense’s Compensation Plan

Frequense’s compensation plan pays out on sales volume generated by retail customer and recruited affiliate orders.

Frequense Affiliate Ranks

There are nine affiliate ranks within Frequense’s compensation plan.

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

  1. Affiliate – sign up as a Frequense affiliate
  2. Copper – purchase $50 in product each month, refer and maintain one active retail customer and recruited affiliate and generate at least $500 GV a month
  3. Bronze – continue to purchase $50 in product each month, maintain one active retail customer and recruited affiliate and generate at least $1000 GV a month
  4. Silver – continue to purchase $50 in product each month, maintain one active retail customer and recruited affiliate and generate at least $2500 GV a month
  5. Gold – purchase $100 in product each month, refer and maintain two active retail customers and two recruited affiliates and generate at least $5000 GV a month
  6. Platinum – continue to purchase $100 in product each month, maintain two active retail customers and two recruited affiliates and generate at least $10,000 GV a month
  7. Double Platinum – continue to purchase $100 in product each month, maintain two active retail customers, recruit four affiliates and generate at least $25,000 GV a month
  8. Triple Platinum – continue to purchase $100 in product each month, maintain two active retail customers, recruit five affiliates and generate at least $50,000 GV a month
  9. Diamond – continue to purchase $100 in product each month, maintain two active retail customers, recruit six affiliates and generate at least $100,000 GV a month

GV stands for “Group Volume”. GV is sales volume generated by an affiliate’s sales volume (including retail customer orders), as well as that of their downline.

For Copper to Platinum, no more than 60% of required monthly GV can come from any one recruitment leg. This is reduced to 40% for Double Platinum to Diamond.

Note that while Affiliate through Silver ranks require a <$100 monthly purchase, Frequense’s compensation plan states:

The requirement to earn the Team Rewards bonus is the Affiliate must spend a minimum of $100 on personal qualifying product purchases.

The requirement to earn the Team Rewards bonus is the Affiliate must spend a minimum of $100 on personal qualifying
product purchases.

Thus in order to fully participate in Frequense’s MLM opportunity, a $100 minimum monthly order is required across all ranks.

Also note that required retail customers and recruited affiliates must both spend $49 or more a month to count towards rank qualification.

Rank based product discount

Frequense offers affiliates a discount on their own product orders based on rank:

  • Affiliates receive a 5% discount
  • Copper ranked affiliates receive a 10% discount
  • Bronze ranked affiliates receive a 15% discount
  • Silver ranked affiliates receive a 20% discount
  • Gold ranked affiliates receive a 25% discount
  • Platinum and higher ranked affiliates receive a 30% discount

First Order Commission

The First Order Commission is generated when a personally referred retail customer or recruited affiliate places their first product order.

The First Order Commission is paid two upline levels:

  • level 1 (referring affiliate) – 20%
  • level 2 (upline who recruited the referring affiliate) – 5%

Residual Commissions

Frequense pays residual commissions 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.

Frequense pays 25% on all sales volume paid out as residual commissions across the unilevel team.

This sales volume can be generated via both retail customer orders and Frequense affiliate orders.

Based on their rank, Frequense affiliates earn 5% to 25% in residual commissions.

  • Affiliates earn a 5% residual commission rate
  • Copper ranked affiliates earn a 10% residual commission rate
  • Bronze ranked affiliates earn a 15% residual commission rate
  • Silver ranked affiliates earn a 20% residual commission rate
  • Gold and higher ranked affiliates earn a 25% residual commission rate

Note that the difference between Affiliate and Silver residual commission rates and the maximum 25% rate is paid to higher ranked upline affiliates.

E.g. You are Silver ranked and a Copper ranked affiliate in your downline generates sales volume.

They are paid a 10% residual commission rate on the volume. This leaves 15% in residual commissions on the volume to pay out.

Being Silver your residual commission rate is 20%. 10% has already been paid out on the volume so you receive 10% (20% – 10%).

This leaves 5% still to pay out on the volume. This 5% is paid upline to the first Gold or higher ranked affiliate.

Legacy Bonus

The Legacy Bonus is a traditional monthly residual commission, paid out on sales volume down five levels of recruitment (this is the same unilevel team used to pay residual commissions):

  • Gold ranked affiliates earn 5% on level 1 (personally referred retail customers and recruited affiliates) and 5% on levels 2 and 3
  • Platinum ranked affiliates earn 5% on levels 1 to 4
  • Double Platinum ranked affiliates earn 5% on levels 1 to 5
  • Triple Platinum and Diamond ranked affiliates earn 5% on levels 1 to 6

First Order Pool

Frequense sets aside an undisclosed percentage of monthly sales volume generated by first orders.

Platinum and higher ranked affiliates qualify for a share in the First Order Pool each month:

  • Platinum ranked affiliates receive one share
  • Double Platinum ranked affiliates receive two shares
  • Triple Platinum ranked affiliates receive three shares
  • Diamond ranked affiliates receive four shares

Joining Frequense

Frequense affiliate membership is free at time of publication. Regular Frequense affiliate pricing is $49.99.

Note that to qualify for all commissions and bonuses, Frequense affiliates must maintain a minimum $100 monthly product order.

Conclusion

In addition to going back to failing to disclose company ownership and executive information, Frequense sees LaCore Enterprise re-enter potential pyramid scheme territory.

Frequense’s compensation plan appears to be an attempt to balance forced product purchases with retail sales. Ideally Frequense affiliates are spending $100 a month, which is supposed to be offset by two retail customers spending at least $49 a month each.

The problem is forcing affiliates to order product each month is in and of itself “pay to play”. This is a regulatory red flag, irrespective of whether Frequense is operating as a pyramid scheme.

This matters because “pay to play” is one of the hallmarks of an MLM pyramid scheme.

Typically in an MLM company the majority of affiliates don’t make it past the first few ranks. In Frequense Copper to Silver, the first three ranks, only requires one retail customer.

While not exact, using minimum requirements this equates to affiliates spending $100 a month but only generating $49 a month in retail product sales.

Keep in mind this is for full MLM commission qualification. If a Frequense affiliate wanted to potentially leave money on the table, they could just meet the $50 minimum spend requirement.

Something else to factor in is that not every Frequense affiliate is going to be hitting their retail customer targets. They are far more likely to be meeting their minimum product order requirement however, as all this requires is them opening up their wallet each month.

Company-wide, I’m not seeing anything in Frequense’s compensation plan that would suggest affiliates are generating more retail sales volume each month over the company-wide affiliate spend.

If that’s the case, then Frequense is indeed operating as a pyramid scheme. This is particularly concerning as Frequense has been blasting “so and so qualified for Visionary by generating $5000 in sales” on social media all year.

What ratio of that Visionary qualifying volume across the company was retail customer order volume?

As for Frequense’s products, nothing really stood out to me. Five products is better than two, but I stand by my opinion in our original Frequense review;

There’s no real hook to market and get people engaged.

As a prospective Frequense affiliate, one quick check you can do is ask how many active retail customers your potential upline has had over the past few months.

If they don’t have any, run. If they do, ask for specific dollar volume and then weigh that against the upline’s own monthly spend (this is likely to be $100 or close to).

If the retail volume doesn’t exceed the upline’s monthly spend, they are unfortunately running their Frequense business as a pyramid scheme as per the FTC Act.

Pending efforts to bring Frequense into regulatory compliance, or at least a clearer effort, approach with caution.