Vasayo are based out of Utah and headed up by Dallin and Karree Larsen.

Dallin Larsen first popped up on most people’s radar as Usana’s President of Sales in the 1990s. Larsen held several executive positions in Usana before his appointment as President.

In 2001 Larsen was appointed Vice President of Sales at Dynamic Essentials. Dynamic Essentials ran into regulatory problems with the FDA in 2003, with Larsen leaving the company that same year.

In 2005 Larsen (right, with Karree) founded and launched Monavie, which today is what he’s best known for in the MLM industry.

Monavie marketed a blended acai berry juice and initially was pretty successful within the MLM sphere.

By 2014 things at Monavie weren’t looking good, prompting Larsen to leave the company.

Rather than shy away from his past, as is often the case, in a Vasayo marketing video Larsen is refreshingly candid about his departure from Monavie.

[0:33] Two years ago, after it became apparent that we had lost control of the outcome of Monavie for several reasons, including a significant philosophical disagreement with our private equity investors, as to the company’s culture and who should lead the company, we decided to step away in July of 2014 and agreed to stay out of the industry for two years.

We have honored that agreement.

[1:30] When we resigned from Monavie we shared a video message stating that we didn’t know for sure what our future was going to look like.

Now, two years later, we have clarity.

That clarity brought about the launch of Vasayo.

As for Monavie, it plunged into $182 million dollars in debt and was sold off to Jeunesse. Jeunesse promptly set about dismantling what was left of Monavie and integrating it into their own business.

Larsen appears determined not to make the same mistakes he felt he made with Monavie again;

[3:35] We have every intention of leading this company until our last breath. This will be the final journey of our lifetimes.

In addition, we have no intention of every selling this company. We’re not starting with an exit-strategy in mind but instead, to build and leave a legacy.

And unlike Monavie we will maintain more than fifty percent ownership in the company, so that we can steer the ship and culture in a direction we believe to be in the best interests of our distributors.

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

The Vasayo Product Line

Vasayao’s nutritional products are marketed under a flagship “MicroLife Nutritionals” brand.

  • Core Essentials – vitamins and mineral supplement via a vegetable-based capsule
  • Neuro – “a meal for your brain”
  • Energy – a herb-based energy spray
  • Renew – a liquid-gel based “antioxidant support system”
  • Sleep – a mist-based sleep support supplement

Retail pricing for Vasayo’s products were not available at the time of publication.

The Vasayo Compensation Plan

The Vasayo compensation plan pays affiliates to sell products to retail customers.

Affiliates are also given a thirty-day window to earn off product orders made by new personally recruited affiliates.

Vasayo Affiliate Ranks

There are eighteen affiliate ranks within the Vasayo compensation plan.

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

  • Brand Partner – sign up as a Vasayo affiliate
  • Qualified Brand Partner – generate 80 PV a month, maintain one active customer and two active affiliates (one on either side of the binary team)
  • Executive Brand Parner – same as Qualified Brand Partner in addition to generating 800 GV in lesser binary volume a week
  • Bronze – generate 80 PV a month, maintain at least two active customers and two active affiliates (one on either side of the binary team) and generate 2000 GV in lesser binary volume a week and 300 GV in unilevel team volume a month
  • Silver – generate 80 PV a month, maintain at least two active customers and two active affiliates (one on either side of the binary team) and generate 3000 GV in lesser binary volume a week and 800 GV in unilevel team volume a month
  • Gold – generate 80 PV a month, maintain at least two active customers and two active affiliates (one on either side of the binary team) and generate 6000 GV in lesser binary volume a week and 2500 GV in unilevel team volume a month
  • Platinum – generate 80 PV a month, maintain at least two active customers and two active affiliates (one on either side of the binary team, one of which must be an Executive Brand Partner) and generate 8000 GV in lesser binary volume a week and 5000 GV in unilevel team volume a month
  • Pearl – generate 160 PV a month, maintain at least four active customers and four active affiliates (two on either side of the binary team, two of which must be Executive Brand Partners) and generate 10,000 GV in lesser binary volume a week for two consecutive weeks and 8000 GV in unilevel team volume a month (max 4000 GV from any one unilevel leg)
  • Blue Sapphire – generate 160 PV a month, maintain at least four active customers and four active affiliates (two on either side of the binary team, three of which must be Executive Brand Partners) and generate 12,000 GV in lesser binary volume a week for two consecutive weeks and 12,000 GV in unilevel team volume a month (max 6000 GV from any one unilevel leg)
  • Ruby – generate 160 PV a month, maintain at least four active customers and four active affiliates (two on either side of the binary team, four of which must be Executive Brand Partners) and generate 15,000 GV in lesser binary volume a week for two consecutive weeks and 20,000 GV in unilevel team volume a month (max 10,000 GV from any one unilevel leg)
  • Emerald – generate 160 PV a month, maintain at least four active customers and four active affiliates (two on either side of the binary team, five of which must be Executive Brand Partners) and generate 20,000 GV in lesser binary volume a week for three consecutive weeks and 30,000 GV in unilevel team volume a month (max 15,000 GV from any one unilevel leg)
  • Diamond – generate 240 PV a month, maintain at least six active customers and six active affiliates (three on either side of the binary team, three of which must be Blue Sapphire or higher) and generate 30,000 GV in lesser binary volume a week for four consecutive weeks and 50,000 GV in unilevel team volume a month (max 20,000 GV from any one unilevel leg)
  • Black Diamond – generate 240 PV a month, maintain at least six active customers and six active affiliates (three on either side of the binary team, three of which must be Emerald or higher) and generate 50,000 GV in lesser binary volume a week for four consecutive weeks and 150,000 GV in unilevel team volume a month (max 50,000 GV from any one unilevel leg)
  • Royal Black Diamond – generate 240 PV a month, maintain at least six active customers and six active affiliates (three on either side of the binary team, three of which must be Diamond or higher) and generate 70,000 GV in lesser binary volume a week for four consecutive weeks and 250,000 GV in unilevel team volume a month (max 80,000 GV from any one unilevel leg)
  • Imperial Black Diamond – generate 240 PV a month, maintain at least six active customers and six active affiliates (three on either side of the binary team, four of which must be Diamond or higher) and generate 90,000 GV in lesser binary volume a week for four consecutive weeks and 500,000 GV in unilevel team volume a month (max 125,000 GV from any one unilevel leg)
  • Crown Blue Diamond – generate 320 PV a month, maintain at least six active customers and eight active affiliates (four on either side of the binary team, five of which must be Diamond or higher) and generate 110,000 GV in lesser binary volume a week for six consecutive weeks and 800,000 GV in unilevel team volume a month (max 150,000 GV from any one unilevel leg)
  • Double Crown Blue Diamond – generate 320 PV a month, maintain at least six active customers and eight active affiliates (four on either side of the binary team, six of which must be Diamond or higher) and generate 130,000 GV in lesser binary volume a week for six consecutive weeks and 1,000,000 GV in unilevel team volume a month (max 175,000 GV from any one unilevel leg)
  • Triple Crown Blue Diamond – generate 320 PV a month, maintain at least six active customers and eight active affiliates (four on either side of the binary team, six of which must be Diamond or higher) and generate 150,000 GV in lesser binary volume a week for six consecutive weeks and 1,500,000 GV in unilevel team volume a month (max 250,000 GV from any one unilevel leg)

PV is “Personal Volume” and is sales volume generated by a Vasayo affiliate’s own product orders and that of their retail customers.

GV stands for “Group Volume” and is PV generated by a Vasayo affiliate’s downline.

An active customer is a retail customer who has ordered at least 35 PV worth of products within 4 weeks.

An active affiliate is a Vasayo affiliate who generates at least 80 PV a month (4 weeks).

Lesser binary volume is GV generated by a Vasayo affiliate’s weaker binary side (see residual commission explanation below).

Retail Commissions

Vasayo affiliates earn a 20% retail commission on products ordered by their retail customers.

  • a bonus $50 is paid if a Vasayo affiliate generates 500 PV in retail volume over a rolling four-week period
  • a bonus $150 is paid out if a Vasayo affiliate generates 1000 VP in retail volume over a rolling four-week period

Recruitment Commissions

When a Vasayo affiliate recruits a new affiliate, they earn a Product Introduction Bonus on that affiliate’s product orders for 4 calendar weeks.

The Product Introduction Bonus is a percentage bonus on sales volume generated by the recruited affiliate’s orders.

How much of a percentage is paid out is determined by volume generated by the recruiting affiliate for that month:

  • 80 PV a month = 10% Product Introduction Bonus
  • 160 PV a month or more = 20% Product Introduction Bonus

Residual Commissions

Residual commissions in Vasayo are paid out 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 second level of the binary team is generated as required, by splitting each of the first two positions into another two positions each.

Subsequent levels of the binary team are generated in the same manner, with each new binary level housing twice as many positions as the previous level.

Positions in the binary team are filled via direct and indirect recruitment of new affiliates.

At the end of each week sales volume on both sides of the binary team is tallied up. Vasayo pay affiliates a $25 cycle commission per 240/480 GV matched on both sides of the binary team.

This volume can be matched on either side, capped at 1100 cycles ($27,500) a week:

  • Starter Group to Executive Brand Partner – 100 cycles ($2500)
  • Bronze – 200 cycles ($5000)
  • Silver – 300 cycles ($7500)
  • Gold – 400 cycles ($10,000)
  • Platinum – 500 cycles ($12,500)
  • Pearl – 600 cycles ($15,000)
  • Blue Sapphire – 700 cycles ($17,500)
  • Ruby – 800 cycles ($20,000)
  • Emerald – 900 cycles ($22,500)
  • Diamond to Imperial Black Diamond – 1000 cycles ($25000)
  • Crown Blue Diamond and higher – 1100 cycles ($27500)

Note that to qualify for residual commissions a Vasayo affiliate must recruit and maintain at least two active affiliates (one on either side of the binary team).

Matching Bonus

Vasayo affiliates who generate at least 160 PV a month qualify for a matching bonus on residual commissions earned by their downline.

Vasayo pay the Matching Bonus based on unilevel generations.

A unilevel compensation structure places a Vasayo affiliate at the top of a unilevel tea, 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 unievel 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.

Generations are defined when a Bronze affiliate is found in each individual unilevel leg.

Once a Bronze ranked affiliate is found, the first generation is capped off and the second generation begins.

If no second Bronze ranked affiliate is found, the second generation extends down the entire length of the unilevel leg.

The Matching Bonus is paid out as a percentage of residual binary commissions paid to downline affiliates in these generations.

How many generations a Vasayo affiliate can earn on is determined by their rank as follows:

  • Bronze – 20% on one generation
  • Bronze (with five active retail customers and 400 monthly PV) – 25%
  • Bronze (with eight or more active retail customers and 640 monthly PV) – 30%
  • Silver – 10% across two generations
  • Gold and Platinum – 5% across three generations
  • Pearl and Blue Sapphire – 5% across four generations
  • Ruby and Emerald – 5% across five generations
  • Diamond to Imperial Black Diamond – 5% across six generations
  • Crown Blue Diamond and higher – 5% across seven generations

Rank Achievement Bonus

Vasayo affiliates earn a Rank Achievement Bonus for qualifying at the following ranks:

  • Black Diamond – $100,000
  • Royal Black Diamond – $200,000
  • Imperial Black Diamond – $400,000
  • Crown Blue Diamond – $600,000
  • Double Crown Blue Diamond – $800,000
  • Triple Crown Blue Diamond – $1,000,000

All Rank Achievement Bonuses are paid over ten four-week installments.

The appropriate rank must be maintained along with 160 PV in qualifying monthly volume.

Leadership Bonus

Ruby ranked Vasayo affiliates who generate 160 PV a month qualify for shares in the Leadership Bonus pool.

The Leadership Bonus pool is made up of 2% of Vasayo’s company-wide sales volume.

The Vasayo compensation plan states that affiliates can

earn shares based on your paid-as rank and additional shares based on additional qualifications.

No specific information on the qualification criteria is provided.

Joining Vasayo

Regular Vasayo affiliate membership is priced at $239, $329, $499 and $889.

The more a Vasayo affiliate pays for membership the more products they receive.

There is also a Vasayo “Founders Package” for $1495. Apparently there’s a separate 1% bonus pool paid out to Founders Package affiliates (I’ve also seen 2% advertised).

Conclusion

From the Vasayo marketing video I quoted from in the introduction of this review;

[5:16] In today’s regulatory environment, the only companies that will survive and thrive, will be those companies that create a massive and loyal customer base.

Rather than those companies that simply focus on recruiting other distributors.

It is indeed a new day in direct selling and in my view this is good news, not bad news.

Broadly speaking Vasayo lives up to Dallin Larsen’s philosophy, meaning it’s not just lip-service to retail sales activity.

Before we get into the compensation plan, I want to address the $1495 Founders Package. If the package is indeed tied to one or more bonus pools, that’s clearly pay to play and should be discouraged.

If Vasayo affiliates want to pay $1495 to receive a deeper discount on products, that’s fine but from a regulatory standpoint there shouldn’t be any financial incentive for doing so.

Outside of that red flag, Vasayo’s compensation plan is extremely well-balanced between retail sales and building a downline.

The key to this are the active customer requirements, which require retail orders of 35 PV or more per active retail customer required.

Right from the start (Qualified Brand Partner), Vasayo affiliates are required to maintain active customers. This balances out the required PV requirements, with each active customer generating 35 PV towards the requirements.

At each Vasayo affiliate rank the required retail customer PV counts for well over majority of required monthly PV. That means an affiliate is going to be primarily qualifying for commissions via retail customer sales, which is ideally what you want in an MLM opportunity.

The retail qualifiers also ensure that a good percentage of downline volume will also be derived from retail customer orders.

The recruitment commissions on newly recruited affiliate orders are capped at thirty days and are of course subject to retail volume qualification.

Normally I’d raise an eyebrow but trying to focus solely on recruiting new affiliates and collecting on their orders isn’t really sustainable in Vasayo. You’ve got nothing to work towards residually unless you put in the time generating a decent retail customer-base.

As to Vasayo’s products, I felt this was the weakest component of the company. The MicroLife Nutritionals range doesn’t appear to be any different to what you might find in a health store or through rival MLM companies.

That’s not to say the products are a write-off, just that carving out a retail market might be more of a challenge than your average Vasayo affiliate is prepared for.

That and pricing has yet to be disclosed. Given the readily available competition, if Vasayo’s products are priced too high selling them might prove difficult.

Given the retail sales qualifiers in the compensation plan, costly products will discourage affiliates if they can’t make sales. The solution won’t be to remove the retail qualifiers but rather to increase the value of Vasayo’s products beyond the affiliate wholesale discount.

On that note, Vasayo’s steep affiliate package entry ($239) might set he bar a little too high for the mainstream (why isn’t there a non-product joining level?).

From the Vasayo marketing videos I watched, it’s clear that the company intends to introduce other products further down the line. These might eventually make the product line stand out but for now Vasayo’s offering is a bit uninspiring.

Nothing really struck me as targeting anything other than broad health and nutrition.

Say what you will about Monavie, from an MLM business model standpoint Vasayo has clearly been well thought out and executed.

I can’t fault the company for regulatory compliance (Founders package aside), but it remains to be seen if the rest of the opportunity lives up to expectations.

 

Update 15th February 2023 – Vasayo has announced it is shutting down.

CEO Daniel Picou has purportedly bought out the Larsens, and intends to prelaunch a reboot MLM opp on February 20th.