NuSpira operates in the nutritional supplement MLM niche.

The company is headed up by co-founders Mark and Kat Sterling.

Mark Sterling (right with Kat), last appeared on BehindMLM as co-founder and COO of TRVL.

TRVL was a discounted travel MLM company launched in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Launched in late 2021, TRVL had collapsed by mid 2022.

Prior to TRVL Mark Sterling, was Vice President of Sales at Epic Trading, a $99 a month MLM pyramid scheme.

Going back further, circa 2019, Mark and Kat Sterling made a name for themselves as Tava distributors.

Mark and Kat Sterling are based out of Georgia in the US. In NuSpira’s Terms of Service we find a corporate address in Melissa, Texas.

This is the address of LaCore Enterprises, making NuSpira a LaCore Enterprises owned MLM company.

Note that there is no mention of reference to LaCore Enterprises or owner Terry LaCore on NuSpira’s website.

Read on for a full review of the NuSpira MLM opportunity.

NuSpira’s Products

NuSpira markets a range of nutritional supplements. Key ingredients featured on NuSpira’s website include “organic functional mushrooms” and purple corn.

  • Khiav Mango Detox Drink – “a caffeine-free mango-flavored herbal infusion designed to restore balance in your body”, retails at $69.99 for a pouch of 30 servings
  • NuSpira Black Mushroom Coffee – “a powerful blend of adaptogen mushrooms that will revolutionize your health and delight your taste buds like never before”, retails at $59.99 for a pouch of 30 servings
  • NuSpira Latte Mushroom Coffee – same as the black mushroom coffee but latte, retails at $59.99 for a pouch of 30 servings
  • VIAB Liquid Multi-Vitamin – “our premium Liquid Multi-Vitamin is your daily essential, delivering a potent blend of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants in every delicious serving”, retails at $59.99 for a 32 fl. oz. bottle (~887 ml)

Note that purple corn doesn’t feature prominently in any of NuSpira’s products. NuSpira states its mushrooms are grown “using high-nutrient ingredients like purple corn”.

Although not disclosed, it’s assumed NuSpira’s products are manufactured by LaCore Labs.

NuSpira’s Compensation Plan

NuSpira’s compensation plan is a healthy mix of retail and recruitment commissions.

Residual commissions are paid through a binary team, with two Matching Bonuses available.

Profit Sharing Pools are also available but at time of publication are undefined.

NuSpira Distributor Ranks

There are fourteen distributor ranks within NuSpira’s compensation plan.

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

  1. Brand Ambassador – sign up as a NuSpira distributor
  2. Pioneer – generate and maintain 40 PV and 500 GV a month
  3. Executive 1 – maintain 40 PV a month, generate and maintain 1000 GV a month, refer and maintain one retail customer and recruit two Pioneers or higher
  4. Executive 2 – maintain 40 PV a month, generate and maintain 2500 GV a month, maintain one personally referred retail customer and two recruited Pioneers or higher
  5. Executive 3 – maintain 40 PV a month, generate and maintain 5000 GV a month, maintain one personally referred retail customer and two recruited Pioneers or higher
  6. Director 1 – generate and maintain 80 PV and 7500 GV a month, refer and maintain two retail customers and recruit two Executive 1s or higher
  7. Director 2 – maintain 80 PV a month, generate and maintain 12,500 GV a month, maintain two personally referred retail customers and recruit two Executive 2s or higher
  8. Director 3 – maintain 80 PV a month, generate and maintain 25,000 GV a month, maintain two personally referred retail customers and recruit two Executive 3s or higher
  9. Ambassador 1 – generate and maintain 120 PV and 50,000 GV a month, refer and maintain three retail customers and generate and maintain two recruitment legs with a Director 1 or higher in each
  10. Ambassador 2 – maintain 120 PV a month, generate and maintain 100,000 GV a month, maintain three personally referred retail customers and generate and maintain three recruitment legs with a Director 1 or higher in each
  11. Ambassador 3 – maintain 120 PV a month, generate 250,000 GV a month, maintain three personally referred retail customers and generate and maintain four recruitment legs with a Director 1 or higher in each
  12. Global – generate and maintain 240 PV and 500,000 GV a month, refer and maintain four retail customers and generate and maintain six recruitment legs (two Director 2s or higher in two legs each and one Ambassador 1 or higher in two legs each)
  13. Legend – maintain 240 PV a month, generate and maintain 750,000 GV a month, maintain four personally referred retail customers and six recruitment legs (two Director 3s or higher in two legs each and one Ambassador 2 or higher in two legs each)
  14. Icon – maintain 240 PV a month, generate 1,000,000 GV a month, maintain four personally referred retail customers and recruit and maintain seven recruitment legs (three Ambassador 1s in your stronger binary team side and one Ambassador 3 or higher in two legs each)

PV stands for “Personal Volume”. PV is sales volume generated by retail sales and a distributors own orders.

GV stands for “Group Volume”. NuSpira counts GV as PV generated across a distributor’s weaker binary team side.

Note that to count towards rank qualification, referred retail customers must be ordering 40 PV or more a month.

Retail Commissions

NuSpira pays commissions on product sales to retail customers.

  • 25% is paid on regular retail customer orders
  • 15% is paid on preferred retail customer orders

A “preferred customer” is a retail customer who has opted to maintain a monthly autoship order in exchange for a discount.

NuSpira retail customers are able to refer retail customers. When this happens:

  • the referring retail customers receives credits that can be put towards NuSpira products; and
  • the distributor who referred the referring retail customer receives a 15% commission on the referred retail customer’s order

Retail Customer Bonus

NuSpira pays a $50 bonus per four new retail customers referred in a calendar month.

There is no limit to the amount of Retail Customer Bonuses a NuSpira distributor can earn.

Recruitment Commissions

NuSpira distributors earn a commission when they recruit distributors who sign up with an Enrollment Product Kit.

  • recruit a Get Started Kit distributor and earn $50
  • recruit a Launch Kit distributor and receive $125
  • recruit a Growth Kit distributor and receive $225
  • recruit a Builder Kit distributor and receive $375
  • recruit an Executive Kit distributor and receive $500

Residual Commissions

NuSpira pays residual commissions via a binary compensation structure.

A binary compensation structure places a distributor 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 distributors. Note there is no limit to how deep a binary team can grow.

At the end of each week NuSpira tallies up new sales volume across the binary team.

Distributors are paid a percentage of new sales volume generated on their weaker binary team side based on rank:

  • Pioneers earn 10% capped at $500 a week
  • Executive 1s earn 10% capped at $1000 a week
  • Executive 2s earn 10% capped at $2000 a week
  • Executive 3s earn 10% capped at $3000 a week
  • Director 1s earn 15% capped at $5000 a week
  • Director 2s earn 15% capped at $7500 a week
  • Director 3s earn 15% capped at $10,000 a week
  • Ambassador 1s earn 20% capped at $12,500 a week
  • Ambassador 2s earn 20% capped at $15,000 a week
  • Ambassador 3s earn 20% capped at $17,500 a week
  • Globals earn 20% capped at $20,000 a week
  • Legends earn 20% capped at $25,000 a week
  • Icons earn 20% capped at $30,000 a week

Note that new NuSpira distributors can temporary obtain higher residual commission rates by spending more:

  • Growth Kit distributors receive a 15% residual commission rate for 60 days
  • Builder Kit distributors receive a 20% residual commission rate for 60 days
  • Executive Kit distributors receive a 20% residual commission rate for 90 days

Although not explicitly clarified, I believe weekly residual commission caps based on rank still apply.

Once residual commissions have been paid, weaker side volume is matched against the stronger binary team side and then flushed.

Any leftover volume on the stronger binary team side carries over.

Matching Bonus

NuSpira distributors earn a Matching Bonus on residual commissions paid to personally recruited distributors.

  • Director 1 through Director 3 ranked distributors earn a 20% Matching Bonus
  • Ambassador 1 through Ambassador 3 ranked distributors earn a 25% Matching Bonus
  • Global and higher ranked distributors earn a 30% Matching Bonus

Generational Matching Bonus

NuSpira pays a Generational Matching Bonus via a unilevel compensation structure.

A unilevel compensation structure places an distributor at the top of a unilevel team, with every personally recruited distributor placed directly under them (level 1):

If any level 1 affiliates recruit new distributors, they are placed on level 2 of the original distributor’s unilevel team.

If any level 2 affiliates recruit new distributors, they are placed on level 3 and so on and so forth down a theoretical infinite number of levels.

NuSpira defines a generation within a unilevel team leg when a Director 1 or higher ranked distributor is found in the leg.

This distributor caps off the first generation for that leg, with the second generation beginning immediately after.

If a second Director 1 or higher ranked distributor exists deeper in the leg, they cap off the second generation. The third generation for that leg then begins under the second Director 1 or higher ranked distributor.

If no second Director 1 or higher ranked distributor exists in the leg, the second generation extends the full depth of the leg.

Using this generational structure, NuSpira pays a Generation Matching Bonus on residual commissions earned on up to seven generations per unilevel team leg.

  • Director 1s earn 10% on the first generation
  • Director 2s earn 10% on the first generation and 5% on the second
  • Director 3s earn 10% on the first generation and 5% on the second and third
  • Ambassador 1s earn 10% on the first and second generations, 5% on the third and 2% on the fourth
  • Ambassador 2s earn 10% on the first and second generations, 5% on the third and 2% on the fourth and fifth
  • Ambassador 3s earn 10% on the first and second generations, 5% on the third and fourth, 2% on the fifth and 1% on the sixth
  • Globals earn 10% on the first to third generations, 5% on the fourth, 2% on the fifth and 1% on the sixth
  • Legends earn 10% on the first to third generations, 5% on the fourth and fifth and 2% on the sixth
  • Icons earn 10% on the first to third generations, 5% on the fourth to sixth and 1% on the seventh

Profit Sharing Pools

NuSpira’s compensation documentation references “profit sharing pools” for Director 1 and higher ranked distributors.

As per the compensation documentation screenshot above however, no specific information is provided at time of publication.

Joining NuSpira

Basic NuSpira distributor membership costs aren’t disclosed on its website.

New NuSpira distributors can opt to sign up with an Enrollment Product Kit:

  • Get Started Kit – $199
  • Launch Kit – $499
  • Growth Kit – $899
  • Builder Kit – $1499
  • Executive Kit – $1999

Primary differences between the kits are bundled NuSpira products and increased commissions for the Growth, Builder and Executive Kits.

NuSpira Conclusion

LaCore Enterprises MLM companies can be hit or miss when it comes to compliance.

NuSpira’s compensation plan has token retail requirements (4 retail customers at the highest rank isn’t much), putting it at risk for distributor spend volume being higher than retail spend volume.

Across NuSpira’s lower ranks though, where the majority of distributors typically fall, PV requirements are in line with minimum retail customer requirement volume.

Thus in order to qualify from Executive 1 through Ambassador 3, all a NuSpira distributor needs to do is meet personal retail customer and GV requirements.

This would in turn alleviate concerns at the higher ranks, despite the low personal retail customer number requirements (if retail volume is healthy across the lower ranks, higher ranked PV spend should be cancelled out).

One glaring compliance issue is “pay to play” with NuSpira’s Enrollment Product Kits.

Getting distributors to spend more to earn more is a big no-no. Any ordered product by distributors should only be because the product is needed.

Getting distributors to spend more to earn more is “pay to play” and indicative of a pyramid scheme.

Granted here we only have a one-time spend required but it’s still a potential violation of the FTC Act.

Beyond that NuSpira’s mushroom coffee offering is pretty bland. Mushroom coffee has been a thing for well over a decade in the MLM industry.

NuSpira starts off by making a big deal about purple corn being used to grow their mushrooms but doesn’t capitalize on it.

The unique method for growing mushrooms used in NüSpira products involves using high-nutrient ingredients like Purple Corn.

This makes the mushrooms rich in antioxidants, which are really good for you. This process ensures that our mushrooms have more of the good stuff you need!

Mushrooms already contain high levels of antioxidants. How much of a difference does growing them with purple corn make?

And what variety of mushrooms are we talking here? NuSpira’s website only references “adaptogen mushrooms”.

Cost wise NuSpira’s coffee doesn’t seem that bad, coming in at $2 a serve. Things could potentially be cheaper with powder tubs but for now only single-serve sachets are available.

I’ve heard some mushroom coffee blends can taste terrible so definitely try as a retail customer before committing to anything.

Beyond that, if for some reason you’ve got an itch to sell mushroom coffee, NuSpira might be for you.

One last point I’ll make is to be a bit careful with LaCore Enterprises companies. They tend to both pop and disappear with little to no warning.

Good luck!