Life Wise Review: Vasayo Black Diamond spins off own MLM
About a week ago BehindMLM reported on Vasayo shutting down.
The company was sold to CEO Daniel Picou, who plans to relaunch the company under a different name.
Coinciding with this is Life Wise, another Vasayo spinoff pre-launched by former Vasayo Black Diamond Rob Alwin.
Not surprisingly, Alwin was also a Black Diamond in Monavie, Vasayo founder Dallin Larsen’s previous MLM company.
Alwin left Monavie in June 2012. Three months later he signed on as Jeunesse distributor.
I don’t know how long Alwin was with Jeunesse but Vasayo launched in December 2016.
In addition to MLM, Alwin runs Lake Life Properties.
Lake Life Properties is a home flipping / property developing / property management company.
We purchase run down homes and major projects and rebuild the home to like new condition!!
We sell some and rent some. We have been doing this since 1987.
In pre-launching Life Wise, Alwin is joined by former Vasayo Chief Scientific Advisor Tracy Gibbs.
On LinkedIn Gibbs cites himself as a “world renowned formulator in the nutraceutical industry.”
A 2021 marketing puff-piece, published by the Native American Fatherhood & Family Association of all places, additionally cites Gibbs as ” the formulator of over 900 dietary supplements and skin care products”.
Although Larsen has sold Vasayo, one would think Alwin, a Black Diamond, would want to stay on with the company.
Further questions arise when you consider it takes time to put together an MLM company, suggesting Life Wise has been in the works for some time.
Gibbs left Vasayo in June 2022, which gives a maximum seven-month time window.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to definitively pin down why Alwin isn’t continuing on with whatever Daniel Picou relaunches Vasayo as.
I might be reading too much into it, but one Life Wise marketing video addressing transparency caught my eye.
In the video, Alwin states;
I have a very, very strong message that I want to share with you folks.
There is something called leadership, and it is either authentic and honest, or it is manipulative.
There are companies out there with absolutely no transparency, and unfortunately that’s a heartbreak.
But it’s why I’m not with those certain companies.
In another video, Alwin states;
We’re not building this compensation plan to make a bunch of money and sell the company.
We’re not building the business so that we can sit in an ivory tower.
Over the last three years as I searched and searched and searched my heart to motivate myself to go do it, my integrity wouldn’t let me go build because it was too many things I didn’t agree with.
So I thought I’ll just pray for them and surely they’ll make changes.
Nope, those doors closed and now they’re right back at the same old things.
Given Vasayo just came to an end and with it Alwin’s time at the company, I think the context is pretty obvious.
One thing I will say is, for all of Alwin’s talk of transparency, Life Wise currently doesn’t appear to exist beyond a YouTube account and closed FaceBook group.
If Life Wise does have a web presence, it has not been made public (so much for transparency).
Another name of interest is Life Wise’s Vice President, Gregg Adelman (right).
Adelman cites himself as a “founding partner” of Vasayo. As per Adelman’s LinkedIn profile, he joined Vasayo in January 2017.
Prior to Vasayo, Adelman was a promoter of the notorious OneCoin Ponzi scheme.
The Ponzi side of OneCoin collapsed in January 2017. As of November 2018, Adelman was still desperately trying to cash out of OneCoin:
At the time Adelman had accumulated 145,990.69 worthless ONE Ponzi points in his OneCoin backoffice.
Adelman hoped to offload his worthless ONE points onto a new victim for $1 a point:
Getting back to Life Wise, in a 15th February Facebook post by Alwin we learn the company is based out of Arkansas.
Life Wise’s headquarters presently appears to be a residential property.
Read on for a full review of Life Wise’s MLM opportunity.
Life Wise’s Products
On February 20th Life Wise uploaded a video to their YouTube channel titled “Life Wise Products with Dr. Tracy Gibbs”.
In the video Gibbs confirms he is behind Life Wise’s product line and details three products:
- Dream – cyclodextrin delivered sleep aid containing melatonin and saffron extract, sold in a box of 30 single-use strips
- Restore – SMEDDS delivered black cumin seed oil and frankincense supplement targeting inflammation, sold in a bottle of 60 softgel capsules
- Clarity – cyclodextrin delivered “energy boosting” supplement, sold in a box of 30 single-use strips
In another video Rob Alwin states Life Wise will also have a $35 “leadership development program”.
The program is put together by Chris Clem, Senior Pastor at Highland Assembly.
The best teaching from the best people. Dr. Clem will be interviewing all the right people, people you want to learn from.
He’s developing curriculum to help lead you into your own personal promised land.
Retail pricing has not been disclosed for any of Life Wise’s products.
From their compensation marketing however, it appears Life Wise’s products will be priced between $35 to $39.
This is presented as wholesale pricing. Whether retail pricing is more or even available is unknown.
Life Wise’s Compensation Plan
Life Wise affiliates sign up and commit to a monthly autoship order.
Commissions are paid when they recruit others who do the same.
Life Wise pays 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.
Life Wise caps recruitment commissions down seven unilevel team levels.
Commissions are paid as a flat amount based on orders placed on any of the seven levels:
- level 1 (personally recruited affiliates) – $5 per product purchased
- level 2 – $3 per product purchased
- level 3 – $2 per product purchased
- levels 4 to 7 – $1 per product purchased
Life Wise Affiliate Ranks
There are seven affiliate ranks within Life Wise’s compensation plan.
Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:
- Bronze Partner – earn $200 a week
- Silver Partner – earn $300 a week
- Gold Partner – earn $500 a week
- Ruby Partner – earn $1000 a week and have three Silver Partners or higher in your downline
- Emerald Partner – earn $2000 a week and have three Gold Partners or higher in your downline
- Diamond Partner – earn $3000 a week and have three Ruby Partners or higher in your downline
- Black Diamond Partner – earn $5000 a week and have three Diamond Partners or higher in your downline
Note that required rank specific downline affiliates must be in separate unilevel team legs.
E.g. At Emerald Partner you need three Gold Partners or higher in your downline. Each Gold Partner or higher must be in a separate unilevel team leg.
Whether there are any rewards attached to Life Wise rank qualification is unclear.
Joining Life Wise
Life Wise affiliate membership is $99 annually.
Life Wise Conclusion
Whereas Vasayo had a strong retail offering, Life Wise is a simple autoship recruitment scheme.
Rob Alwin: This is going to be a place where you can get involved and spend $39 a month … you’re never going to be asked to buy more than that.
We might suggest different business proposals to show you how to build big and powerfully, that maybe you get two products and spend $78.
Maybe we only require you to sponsor one person on autoship of $39 a month. But, what if I laid out a plan where if each person for four you would eventually, with just one product, with no front loading, you could end up making a significant six figure income folks?
In fact you could make a significant income even if you only got one person started.
Here I am, I’m in for free until after launch. Free.
I’m determining whether I want to spend $35 or $39 on autoship. There’s your comp plan.
Nowhere in Life Tree’s publicly available marketing material are retail sales mentioned. In fact I don’t even know if retail sales are even possible.
The FTC has made it clear that retail sales are what differentiates legitimate MLM companies from scams.
If an MLM company isn’t generating the majority of its sales revenue from retail customers, they are operating as a pyramid scheme.
Life Wise’s compensation plan, as presented by founder and CEO Rob Alwin, is seven levels deep of autoship recruitment. There is no retail component as presented.
Rob Alwin: Sign someone up for free and spend $35 or $39 … you can do that as many times as you like or only once.
And you got four friends, and they say to you, they go, “What do we do?”
And what do you say? Go get four.
You only need one but we recommend go get four.
When your four people each go get four, now there’s sixteen people. And you got sixteen times three, and you just made 48 bucks.
You’re bringing in four. Your four grows into a $285,000 a year income.
And even if there was (one might be hastily tacked on following publication of this review), Life Wise’s core business model is obvious: sign up, commit to autoship and recruit other affiliates who do the same.
That’s your classic MLM autoship recruitment pyramid scheme.
And, naturally, sitting at the top of said autoship recruitment pyramid scheme, is Alwin and the rest of Life Wise’s executives;
Tracy Gibbs: I’m super excited to be teaming up with Rob on this new venture of ours, and having a compensation plan that’s completely transparent.
We’re building teams, right there with you. And that’s our salary … we get paid off the compensation plan.
Rob Alwin: We got positions in the business, building the same comp plan and getting paid exactly the way you do.
Ironically Alwin seems able to identify fraud…
Most compensation plans at most companies, there’s massive fraud taking place.
They’re inserting positions above you to attract the leader instead of allowing the leader to come up and show you how it’s done, authentic and real.
…but takes issue with secrecy behind pyramid schemes, as opposed to the pyramid scheme itself.
Moving on to Life Wise’s products, they seem reasonably priced for what they are. Unfortunately any products attached to an autoship recruitment scheme are secondary to the scheme itself.
Another disturbing aspect to Life Wise is the heavy integration of religion. Believe what you want to believe, but mixing religion and MLM lends itself to toxicity, cliques and discrimination.
To illustrate a point, let’s say hypothetically I’m an atheist. Pyramid scheme or no I see Life Wise as an income opportunity and make my way up the company’s affiliate ranks.
I’m earning a decent income on recruitment. But how long will it be before me thinking Christianity is a crock of shit becomes a problem?
One especially potential problematic area is Pastor Chris Clem “developing curriculum to help lead you into your own personal promised land.”
Is Life Wise’s leadership development program religious themed? If so, that’s a potentially major problem for anyone not religiously inclined. Or potentially even worse, following the wrong religion.
So? Just don’t buy the program then, duh.
Sure, and if that was the only red flag I’d be willing to give Life Wise and Alwin the benefit of the doubt. Life Wise’s marketing material however is already heavily laced with religious undertones.
I’d be very surprised if Clem’s program wasn’t heavily pushed onto Life Wise affiliates.
Again, by all means believe what you want to believe – but mixing religion and MLM is generally a bad idea.
When combined with a pyramid style autoship recruitment model, it also enables religious affinity fraud as a marketing tool.
As with all pyramid schemes, once affiliate recruitment dries up so too will commissions for existing Life Wise affiliates.
Unless new victims are found, those at the bottom of Life Wise’s compensation plan will over time cancel their monthly autoship.
This will see those above them stop getting paid and in time cancel their own autoship.
Once enough Life Wise affiliates cancel autoship, an irreversible collapse is triggered.
The math behind pyramid schemes guarantees that the majority of participants lose money.
Currently in prelaunch, Life Wise is scheduled to launch in full on July 4th, 2023.
Update 1st April 2023 – Sometime in the last week or so Life Wise has marked the cited “transparency” video as private. As a result I’ve disabled the previously accessible link to the video.
I thought Life Wise might have deleted their YouTube channel but it’s still up. It’s just a few of the earlier videos featuring Alwin that have been marked private.
On a related note, Life Wise’ website is still “under construction” as at the time of this update.
Herein lies the problem: when confronted with the facts, participants who buy into this will justify the possibility of collapse by rationalizing that “it’s only $39 per month”.
The reality is that – if it survives a year or two, fueled by “Christian zeal” – millions of dollars will end up in the pockets of a few and it’s doubtful that much of that will be donated to religious organizations or missions.
Hey y’all rob alwin here !!! This article is completely twisted and not trustworthy!!!
Our company will have no big packs. No expensive products. The products are for our customers !!! It’s all based on each of us getting and keeping customers!!! Customers are free to join!!!
The entire company and opportunity began this month!!! We incorporated this month.
Where can you get world class products for only $35 or $39 and be able to profit share down 7 levels with all your customers!!!
It’s free to join till July 5 th when we are fully launched!!! Veterans and disabled folks are always free to join.
Yes I love the Lord. I’m who I am. If that offends you please chose a company that feels right!!! All are welcome here.
I have been in this industry for 35 years. We are building a company different than any other ever built. Built for folks that can’t afford those other opportunities!!!!
Tracy Gibb’s products are top shelf. Everyone loves his science.
I’m welcoming anyone who wants to talk to call me directly !!! (removed).
We are donating $1 dollar for every product we sell to tunnel to tower!! Back office and web sites are being built as we speak!!! Open book sales!!! Free to join. Money back guarantee on products!!! God bless y’all!!!
Way too much speculation and false information on this site…so false you could almost call it an intentional lie.
There are no “Commissions” It is a revenue share program. No commissions or $ amount is paid for enrolling.
No forced auto ship, we state that time and time again in our videos. There is no wholesale and retail price. It is one price, same for customers and partners.
Before you publish lies, call or interview an owner. I am open to an interview. (removed). We are transparent. We started talking about doing this company literally 4 weeks ago, incorporated 3 weeks ago and will be rolling out product by April 1st, Official launch date is July 4th 2023.
Our charity is Tunnels to Tower. $1 for every bottle sold goes to Tunnels to Tower. Fully transparent.
Yes, Rob is religious. That is who he is. I don’t wear it on my sleeve and neither to a majority of our customer or partners.
Please interview Rob or Myself or you cannot call yourself an investigator.
Glad to hear you’re willing to directly address issues raised in this review Rob, even though you didn’t in your initial comment.
Considering this article is primarily based on your own statements and representations, what exactly is “twisted and untrustworthy” about it?
It certainly doesn’t offend me but, as a prospective Life Wise affiliate, what if I thought “the Lord” was a crock of shit?
Does that offend you and your Christian Leaders? Will it impact my experience at Life Wise?
The issue is retail customers, which I didn’t hear or see mentioned in any of Life Wise’s marketing material.
As per the FTC v. Herbalife and and FTC v. Vemma, affiliates are not retail customers.
An MLM company without significant retail sales activity is operating as a pyramid scheme.
Look forward to you actually addressing this.
Hi Tracy, thanks for jumping in.
As I replied to Rob, this article is primarily based on your own statements and representations, what exactly is “false information” about it?
BehindMLM is one of the most widely read and oldest MLM publications around. Anything published immediately has a ton of eyes on it and subject to correction is identified and dealt with quickly.
By coming on here and crying “fake news”, you’re not doing yourself or Life Wise any favors.
Having actually watched the videos, no. This statement is bullshit.
Time and time again Rob Alwin reiterates you need to come in at $35 or $39 a month. He even goes so far as to state “that’s the compensation plan”.
That’s your marketing and its conducive to an autoship recruitment pyramid scheme. Own it.
This isn’t disclosed anywhere. The word “retail” wasn’t mentioned in any Life Wise marketing video at time of publication.
Hey Guys …..
It ALL boils down to this …..
LABELS DONT LIE – PEOPLE DO !!!
So Let’s Stop the Bragging and Let’s see what you would want to PUT INTO PEOPLE AND ON TOP OF PEOPLE !!!
Simple !!!
I think you are confusing “recommending” Autoship to enforcing. The only reason it’s recommended is because so many of us are forgetful and if you don’t place an order every 4 weeks you would miss out on your profit share.
So setting up an Autoship is just common sense and helpful. They can always be cancelled or edited each month. No body is forcing it. It’s just wise advice for people starting out and not realizing that if they forget to order each month, they would lose out.
I have NEVER been with a company that only requires a $39 order a month! I would be spending that on stuff from the store… why wouldn’t I just order from a company and if I like it tell my friends about it?
(Ozedit: derails removed)
Lose out on what? Commissions?
“But you don’t have to!” is pseudo-compliance. If autoship is being sold as a commission qualification tool, which pays on recruitment of other affiliates on autoship, you’re in a pyramid scheme.
With respect to the derails; if you wish to discuss non-MLM subscription models, do it somewhere else. Also recruitment = spam-bin.
Sean – you sound like Michael from Essante with the ‘labels don’t lie’ tagline. While labels are important – Essante never tells what is good about their product – only bashes others.
Perhaps you could explain what you see in the Vasayo line that has you here insinuating but saying nothing.
Review updated to note cited Life Wise “transparency” video has been marked private.
Not happy about the name it and claim it personal promised land type of teaching here. A large majority agree “not happy at all”.
It is commendable that the owner of the company immediately jumped on and addressed the issues brought up and clarified and corrected the mistruths.
This new company cares and listens. We had a small hiccup with shipping and a fair resolution was adopted immediately.
If people aren’t believers then they aren’t a good fit and that is okay. I wouldn’t want to wear a size 6 able when I am really an 8. We respect people and people respect themselves to not belong to things they don’t identify with.
This is one of the few companies that cares about the individual bettering themself so that they can help their commmunity, become your best self by nourishing your brain with knowledge by Dr Clem and products that are cutting esge, you feel one of them within 3 minutes.
This is also the first company in which I invested $35 and made $15 week one.
Your article appears so one sided and with a conclusion in mind prior to even writing the article.
I was involved in both Mona Vie and Vasayo. Both ended abruptly without notice and what appeared to be extremely deceiving to most of it’s brand partners. Ask anyone who attended the last Vasayo Conference in Dallas.
Life Wise is the most REFRESHING Network ever.
Your take on this seems more further from the truth than what you chose to write about.
Only time will tell, but in the meantime it is so refreshing to be a part of this beginning journey
You’re confusing this 2000+ word detailed review with your comment.
Bro, what does that even mean? Take off the shill cap and speak like a human being.
A friend of mine got sucked into this whole Three mlm. I recognize the name Daniel Picou but can’t place it from where.
Seems his previous history is scrubbed off the internet cuz in all my searches of him all I find is just related to this new deal. Ugh. Sounds like a crap situation though.
Hi, I have a question? What exactly is the drug in Mental Clarity and why does it take 4 days to feel like you haven’t been drugged.
4 days of anything but mental clarity and the packaging has no information on it. Also, the “nutritionist“ said I was nutrition deficient based on my concerns, how is that an answer to how this product made me feel?
Safe enough for a 2 year old states their advertisement, because everyone knows a 2 year old needs mental clarity.
I think God is pretty disappointed that Life Wise signed him up to be their CEO. They’re putting out more of a God complex vibe.
I am not a lab rat and that goes for the people in my community as well.
Hello Susan, there is no drug in Clarity. There are only food or plant extracted ingredients.
We have sold over 14,000 units to date with ZERO units returned despite out 30 day money back, no questions asked guarantee.
The packing has ALL of the information and every ingredient listed on it per FDA regulations for dietary supplements.
The ingredient facts panel is clearly marked on the back of the box that contains the oral strips.
To which “Nutritionist” are you referring? We employee no nutritionist, I am a pharmacognosist and I have never diagnosed you or anybody with a “nutritional deficiency” so I assume it must be someone you saw professionally on the side.
If you are Nutritionally deficient then you might want to take a nutritional product like The One is is packed full of vitamins and minerals and other nutrients.
Clarity was not made for nutritional deficiencies, it was made to support healthy brain function.
Yes, the products are safe for children because they are food based and if a child is old enough to eat, they can safely take our supplements and yes, there are many children who suffer from nutritional deficiencies, and mental disorders that can benefit from dietary supplements. Simply ask any mother who has a struggling child.
I am proud to support Rob, a God (Ozedit: derails removed)
If your child has mental disorder(s) please seek medical advice. Do not attempt to treat your child with supplements from any company.
@Tracy If I see any more illegal medical claims or bullshit god derails you’re going in the spam-bin.
I’m confused you said:
And then you said:
Sounds to me like you are talking out of both sides of your face.
That aside, your “founding member “ handed me 4 total single serve unmarked packages of your “feels like it’s the 80’s and I’m tripping on acid, for the first and only time “.
So, even if your original packaging is labeled with ingredients, your single serve “dream” and “mental clarity “ are unmarked.
As far as the FDA goes, your product is not approved by the FDA but apparently they have you red flagged so we’ll see how long this goes on before you’re in big big big trouble.
Luckily I am feeling much better but for 4 days I went on a really weird hellish trip.
Just a note to whoever is reading this, just say no to Life Wise. My God is not very happy about this.
Yikes. A semi-distant family member got signed up with this operation a few weeks ago, talking about a “new business venture” on Facebook.
I got a weird vibe from the whole thing, and I’m glad Googling “Life Wise scam” brought me to this website.
I’d never heard of this place before today, but it’s clear that if anybody’s doing “God’s work” out there, it’s Oz lol.
Thanks for the support!
@Susan Laine, i’m going to call your statement out for exactly what it is. It’s a lie. It’s a palling to me. The people would jump on here, and literally outright lie.
Physiologically it would be impossible to go on a one hour trip. Let alone a four day trip by using clarity.
The ingredients are all considered dietary supplements by the FDA. I have used these ingredients in a dietary supplement that was used by tens of thousands of people for five years and now I have put those ingredients into an oral strip and they have been used by literally thousands of people with zero returns and zero complaints.
I don’t know of one company that can claim that they’ve had zero returns after selling 1000’s of units. I don’t know who you are, or what company you are affiliated with, but it must be a competitor. Otherwise you have no incentive to get on this forum and lie.
I challenge you here right now to visit your physician ask him about the ingredients and have him physiologically observe you as you take one of the strips.
Better yet, I’ll actually pay for your airplane ticket to come to Salt Lake City where I have access to a medical clinic with fully licensed medical staff who will monitor you as you take the product.
If you suddenly become high, and even for one hour ago into any medically diagnosed state of mental dysphoria, I will personally pay for an all inclusive vacation for you once you have come down off of your “trip“ .
Our aim and only goal is to help others. Your comments are not honest, and once again, physiologically impossible. Do you accept my challenge to prove your statement false?
Tracy , I’ve had a lot of time to really think about this . First of all I’ve been called a lot of things in my life , but never a liar.
Also , I’m a lover not a fighter so I want you to understand that my inquiry was based on having a negative reaction to your product.
I’m allowed to voice my opinions and my concerns because it’s 2023 and that’s how the world is now. I am not a competitor. I live a simple life in a small town and I was encouraged to try your product. I am an advocate for my community. I love my neighbors ❤️
We live in a world where there’s complete disregard for people’s lives. I personally never thought I’d find myself in this position. I can’t understand why your sales rep picked me.
She can sell frozen ketchup popsicles to a girl in white gloves, that’s impressive. The problem is there was a negative long lasting effect on me.
I’m not interested in any of your business dealings. I’m interested in what I ingested. I have the other packets that she gave me (which have NO ingredients on the individual packages), that’s a problem that can be easily fixed.
My question is this? How would you ever know if your product made someone sick or if they had a bad experience?
I’ve been made to feel like Im a liar, when in fact I speak my truth. Regardless of what you think or believe, you are incorrect .
We Tracy, we do not live in a 100%World. There’s always room for improvement. I’m getting off my soapbox now.
Thank you for your invitation to Salt Lake City. I’m going to take a raincheck. I have a lot of Elder friends there and I’d love to visit them when the opportunity presents itself but I wouldn’t come out to ingest your Mental Clarity product again. I’ve learned a very valuable and sad lesson.
I’m not sorry this happened but I am sorry that its come down to a discussion through a public forum. I’m much better over the phone.
Also, your sales rep never followed up with me. It’s like it never happened.
She told me in a text that the nutritionist said that I was probably vitamin deficient but I learned in this thread you don’t employ a nutritionist. Makes me question the sales rep.
I think you and I should invest in a phone call. Please consider accepting my offer to talk this out. Perhaps we I can get to the bottom of this or at least shed some light on it.
Thank you,
Susan Laine
Just a note on the request for a private phone call. That’s fine if you organize it offsite.
Seeing as this is a public conversation and in the interest of consumer awareness, no private details on BehindMLM thanks.
Calls himself a Dr …. Yet ….. NO degree’s Earned …… What School was that ???
Hmmmmmmm…….
I found that Gibbs’ PhD is HONORARY from Japan!!!