Vitae Global launched in early 2017 and operate in the coffee MLM niche.

The company is based out of Wyoming in the US and headed up by co-founders Jim Britt and Louis Volpe.

Jim Britt first popped up on BehindMLM’s radar as co-founder of Quanta in 2013.

Quanta was a personal development MLM opportunity that saw affiliates gift each other fees under a “100% commissions” business model.

Launched in late 2013, Quanta collapsed within a year.

Quanta isn’t mentioned in Britt’s Vitae Global corporate bio, although it does state he

began his entrepreneur career in the network marketing industry over 40 years ago.

He has built large distributor organizations and consulted, trained and served as a performance expert with more than 300 network marketing companies.

Louis Volpe’s corporate bio credits him as Vitae Global’s “Product Sourcing Specialist & Formulator”.

Louis Volpe has been a leader in the nutritional supplement and Network Marketing Profession for over 30 years.

He’s been a top field producer, building sales organizations totaling over 100,000 distributors in multiple countries.

Because of his passion for high quality supplements, Louis opened Advanced Labs, which has become a major importer of nutritional raw materials.

As Lead Formulator and President at Advanced Labs, Louis is able to bring together locally sourced ingredients from around the world to create cutting edge products that produce real results.

Advanced Labs LLC own the Vitae Global website domain through an address in California.

In addition to co-founding Vitae Global and manufacturing its product line, Advanced Labs LLC also manufacture Valentus’ “SlimRoast” line of coffee products.

Read on for a full review of the Vitae Global MLM opportunity.

Vitae Global Products

Vita Global market a combination of “Lean Java Bean” and personal development.

Lean Java Bean is fueled by two clinically tested active ingredients, Super Citrimax and ChromeMate, that targets fat cells, satiety, impacts metabolism and energy balance for improved body composition and a lean sculpted physique.

Vitae Global claim Lean Java Bean ‘controls appetite so you eat less without feeling hungry‘, regulates sugar absorption, is a natural source of antioxidants and provides

  • increased metabolism so you burn fat quicker
  • increased energy and stamina
  • mental clarity and
  • consistent weight loss

Lean Java Bean is available in a box of thirty single-serve sachets for $59.95.

Vitae Global’s “Personal Growth Series” include

  • Power of Letting Go – seventeen audio programs (16 hours) for $299
  • Power of Letting Go Experience – ‘the experiential component of The Power of Letting Go program, uses “Brainwave Technology” and a soothing background music ambiance of “Inner Peace Music,” both designed to put your brain into a relaxed, receptive, alpha state‘ for $159
  • Cracking the Rich Code – ‘provides a success blueprint for those who want to increase their earning power and the strategies needed to develop the “mindset” and the “mental toughness” necessary for succeeding financially in today’s world‘ for $199
  • Overcoming Stress & Anxiety – ‘learn the many causes of stress and how to deal with them, you’ll be guided through, with relaxing music, a letting go process that relaxes and relieves daily stressors allowing you to see things from its proper perspective’ for $79
  • Live Life at Level 10 – ‘provides a systematic approach to making significant improvement in your life‘ for $19.95 a month

The Vitae Global Compensation Plan

The Vitae Global compensation plan is a mix of retail sales and affiliate recruitment focus.

Vitae Global Affiliate Ranks

There are twelve affiliate ranks within the Vitae Global compensation plan.

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

  • Affiliate – sign up as a Vitae Global affiliate and maintain 50 PV a month
  • Platinum – sign up for 50 PV monthly autoship, recruit two affiliates (one on either side of the binary team) and generate 300 GV or more in weaker binary volume a week
  • Ruby – increase personal monthly autoship order to 100 PV, maintain two personally recruited affiliates (one on either side of the binary team) and generate 500 GV or more in weaker binary volume a week
  • Emerald – maintain 100 PV monthly autoship, recruit four affiliates (two on either side of the binary team) and generate 1000 GV or more in weaker binary volume a week
  • Diamond – maintain 100 PV monthly autoship, maintain four recruited affiliates (two on either side of the binary team) and generate 4000 GV or more in weaker binary volume a week
  • White Diamond – maintain 100 PV monthly autoship, maintain four recruited affiliates (two on either side of the binary team) and generate 8000 GV or more in weaker binary volume a week
  • Purple Diamond – increase personal monthly autoship order to 120 PV, recruit six affiliates (three on either side of the binary team) and generate 20,000 GV or more in weaker binary volume a week
  • Blue Diamond – maintain 120 PV monthly autoship, maintain six recruited affiliates (three on either side of the binary team) and generate 60,000 GV or more in weaker binary volume a week
  • Black Diamond – maintain 120 PV monthly autoship, maintain six recruited affiliates (three on either side of the binary team) and generate 120,000 GV or more in weaker binary volume a week
  • Double Black Diamond – maintain 120 PV monthly autoship, maintain six recruited affiliates (three on either side of the binary team) and generate 200,000 GV or more in weaker binary volume a week
  • Triple Black Diamond – maintain 120 PV monthly autoship, maintain six recruited affiliates (three on either side of the binary team) and generate 250,000 GV or more in weaker binary volume a week
  • Crown Black Diamond – maintain 120 PV monthly autoship, maintain six recruited affiliates (three on either side of the binary team) and generate 350,000 GV or more in weaker binary volume a week

Retail Commissions

Vitae Global affiliates are paid $30 per box of Lean Java Bean they sell to retail customers.

There is no mention of retail commissions paid on the sale of the Personal Growth Series.

Customer Acquisition Bonus

The Customer Acquisition Bonus rewards Vitae Global affiliates who sell Lean Java Bean to preferred customers (retail customers on monthly autoship).

Each retail order generates a 20% Customer Acquisition Bonus. The bonus is divided into four tiers as follows:

  • receive 5% for having two active preferred customers
  • receive 5% for having five active preferred customers
  • receive 5% for having ten preferred customers
  • receive 5% for having twenty preferred customers

When a Vitae Global affiliate makes a retail sale, they receive the Customer Acquisition Bonus as per the above qualification criteria.

If the affiliate has less than twenty preferred customers, they are paid their applicable percentage and the rest rolls up to the first qualified upline.

This upline is paid as per how many preferred customers they have, with the rest (if applicable) passed up until an affiliate with twenty preferred customers is found.

If a Vitae Global affiliate doesn’t have at least two preferred customers, they don’t receive a Customer Acquisition Bonus (the whole 20% is passed up to the first qualified affiliate).

Recruitment Commissions

If a Vitae Global affiliate signs up with an affiliate package, the affiliate who recruited them is paid a recruitment commission.

  • recruit a Beginner Package affiliate ($199.95) and receive $40
  • recruit a Success Package affiliate ($499.95) and receive $100
  • recruit an Entrepreneur Package affiliate ($999.95) and receive $200

Residual Recruitment Commissions

Each Vitae Global affiliate package generates a Builder Code Bonus.

If an affiliate signed up with an affiliate package, they are potentially paid a Builder Code Bonus when a newly recruited affiliate signs up with a package anywhere in their downline.

The maximum Builder Code Bonus paid out on each affiliate package is as follows:

  • Beginner Package – $40
  • Success Package – $100
  • Entrepreneur Package – $200

How much of the bonus a Vitae Global affiliate is paid is determined by which package they themselves signed up with, as well as specific Builder Code Bonus rank qualification criteria.

Manager

To qualify at the Manager Builder Code Bonus rank, a Vitae Global affiliate must sign up for 100 PV autoship, recruit at least two affiliates and have a total minimum downline of four affiliates.

  • Beginner Package affiliates earn $8 on any package purchase
  • Success Package affiliates earn $8 on a Beginner Package and up to $20 on a Success and Entrepreneur Package purchases
  • Entrepreneur Package affiliates earn $8 on a Beginner Package, up to $20 on a Success Package and up to $40 on an Entrepreneur Package

Regional Manager

To qualify at the Regional Manager Builder Code Bonus rank, a Vitae Global affiliate must sign up for 120 PV autoship, recruit at least four affiliates and have a total minimum downline of 20 affiliates (no more than eight counted from any one unilevel leg).

  • Beginner Package affiliates earn $16 on any package purchase
  • Success Package affiliates earn $16 on a Beginner Package and up to $40 on a Success and Entrepreneur Package purchases
  • Entrepreneur Package affiliates earn $16 on a Beginner Package, up to $40 on a Success Package and up to $80 on an Entrepreneur Package

National Manager

To qualify at the National Manager Builder Code Bonus rank, a Vitae Global affiliate must maintain 120 PV autoship, recruit at least seven affiliates and have a total minimum downline of 100 affiliates (no more than forty from one unilevel leg and twenty from two other legs).

  • Beginner Package affiliates earn $24 on any package purchase
  • Success Package affiliates earn $24 on a Beginner Package and up to $60 on a Success and Entrepreneur Package purchases
  • Entrepreneur Package affiliates earn $24 on a Beginner Package, up to $60 on a Success Package and up to $120 on an Entrepreneur Package

International Manager

To qualify at the International Manager Builder Code Bonus rank, a Vitae Global affiliate must maintain 120 PV autoship, recruit at least ten affiliates and have a total minimum downline of 500 affiliates (no more than one hundred and fifty from one unilevel leg and one hundred from two other legs).

  • Beginner Package affiliates earn $32 on any package purchase
  • Success Package affiliates earn $32 on a Beginner Package and up to $80 on a Success and Entrepreneur Package purchases
  • Entrepreneur Package affiliates earn $32 on a Beginner Package, up to $80 on a Success Package and up to $160 on an Entrepreneur Package

Corporate Manager

To qualify at the Corporate Manager Builder Code Bonus rank, a Vitae Global affiliate must maintain 120 PV autoship, maintain at least ten personally recruited affiliates and have a total minimum downline of 2500 affiliates (no more than seven hundred and fifty from one unilevel leg and five hundred from two other legs).

  • Beginner Package affiliates earn $40 on any package purchase
  • Success Package affiliates earn $40 on a Beginner Package and up to $100 on a Sucess and Entrepreneur Package purchases
  • Entrepreneur Package affiliates earn $40 on a Beginner Package, up to $100 on a Success Package and up to $200 on an Entrepreneur Package

With respect to “up to” bonuses, the maximum is always paid out.

If the recruiting affiliate isn’t a Corporate Manager, they receive their share of the Builder Code Bonus and the rest is “passed up” to a higher qualified upline affiliate.

In this manner the entire Builder Code Bonus is paid out sequentially until an eventual Corporate Manager Entrepreneur Package affiliate is found.

Residual Commissions (binary)

Vitae Global’s residual binary commissions are paid out on first order volume sales of Lean Java Bean.

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 that there is no limit to how deep a binary team can grow.

Lean Java Bean box purchases (both by retail customers and recruited affiliates) are tracked weekly on both sides of the binary team.

Each Lean Java Bean purchase generates 50 GV. When GV is matched on either side of the binary team at a ratio of 400:200 GV, a $40 cycle commission is paid out.

How many $40 cycle commissions a Vitae Global affiliate can earn weekly is determined by their rank:

  • Platinum – up to $2000
  • Ruby – up to $4000
  • Emerald – up to $10,000
  • Diamond – up to $15,000
  • White Diamond – up to $20,000
  • Purple Diamond – up to $25,000
  • Blue Diamond – up to $30,000
  • Black Diamond – up to $35,000
  • Double Black Diamond – up to $40,000
  • Triple Black Diamond – up to $45,000
  • Crown Black Diamond – up to $50,000

A matching bonus of 25% is paid on residual binary commissions paid to personally recruited affiliates and affiliates they recruit (2 levels).

  • to qualify for the first level (personally recruited affiliates) binary matching bonus, a Vitae Global affiliate must be at the Emerald or higher rank with at least one Ruby or higher affiliate on both sides of their binary team
  • to qualify for the second level binary matching bonus, a Vitae Global affiliate must be at the Purple Diamond or higher rank with at least one Diamond or higher affiliate on both sides of their binary team

Residual Commissions (unilevel)

Residual commissions after a retail customer or recruited affiliate’s first order are paid out via a unilevel compensation structure.

To qualify for residual unilevel commissions, a Vitae Global affiliate must generate 50 PV a month and have two preferred customers (retail customers on monthly autoship).

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.

Vitae Global cap payable unilevel levels at nine. How many levels an affiliate can earn on determined by recruitment:

  • recruit and maintain one affiliate = 5% on level 1
  • recruit and maintain two affiliates = 5% on levels 1 to 3
  • recruit and maintain three affiliates = 5% on levels 1 to 3 and 7% on level 4
  • recruit and maintain four affiliates = 5% on levels 1 to 3 and 7% on levels 4 to 6
  • recruit and maintain five affiliates = 5% on levels 1 to 3, 7% on levels 4 to 6 and 8% on level 7
  • recruit and maintain six affiliates = 5% on levels 1 to 3, 7% on levels 4 to 6 and 8% on levels 7 and 8
  • recruit and maintain 7 affiliates = 5% on levels 1 to 3, 7% on levels 4 to 6, 8% on levels 7 and 8 and 10% on level 9

Leadership Generation Bonus

The Leadership Generation Bonus allows a Vitae Global affiliate to earn residual unilevel commissions beyond the initial nine available levels.

To qualify for the Leadership Bonus, a Vitae Global affiliate be qualified to earn commissions on all nine unilevel levels (Director qualification).

If an affiliate is Director qualified, they qualify for the Leadership Generation Bonus as follows:

  • Senior Director (generate 20,000 unilevel team GV and maintain three personally recruited Directors) – 2% on level 10 to infinity
  • Regional Director (generate 50,000 unilevel team GV and maintain six personally recruited Directors or one Senior Director and and two Directors) – 2% on level 11 to infinity
  • National Director (generate 100,000 unilevel team GV and maintain six personally recruited Directors and one Regional Director or three Regional Directors and four Directors) – 2% on level 12 to infinity
  • International Director (generate 200,000 unilevel team GV and maintain six personally recruited Directors and one National Director or three National Directors and four Directors) – 2% on level 13 to infinity

Unilevel team GV is counted at a rate of up to 50% from the largest leg, 20% from the second largest and 10% from the third to fifth largest.

Although not explicitly clarified in the Vitae Global compensation plan, I believe the Leadership Generation Bonuses stack (an International Director earns the percentage bonus from the lower three ranks etc.).

21 Day Fast Track Bonus

There are two Fast Track Bonuses a Vitae Global affiliate can qualify for within 21 days of signing up.

  • FTB1 – acquire two preferred customers and recruit two affiliates with a Success or Entrepreneur Package and receive $100
  • FTB2 – qualify or FTB1 and recruit two more affiliates with a Success or Entrepreneur Package (still within 21 days) and receive another $100

If an affiliate signs up with an Entrepreneur Package themselves and exclusively recruits Entrepreneur Package affiliates, both FTB1 and FTB2 bonus payments are doubled to $200.

Note that a Success or Entrepreneur Package purchase is mandatory to qualify for the 21 Day Fast Track Bonus.

Lifestyle Bonus

The Lifestyle Bonus is a $200 to $5000 bonus paid upon affiliate rank qualification (residual binary).

Specific details are not provided in the Vitae Global compensation plan documentation at the time of publication.

Lifestyle Car Bonus

The Lifestyle Car Bonus is a monthly bonus of $500 to $1000 per month, paid to Diamond or National Director ranked affiliates.

Again, specific details of the Lifestyle Car Bonus are not provided in the Vitae Global compensation plan.

Joining Vitae Global

Basic Vitae Global affiliate membership is $30.

Full participation in the Vitae Global income opportunity requires the purchase of an affiliate package:

  • Beginner Package (5 boxes of Lean Java Bean) – $199.95
  • Success Package (14 boxes of Lean Java Bean) – $499.94
  • Entrepreneur Package (14 boxes of Lean Java Bean and the Personal Growth Series) – $999.94

All affiliate packages include the $30 basic affiliate membership fee.

The Entrepreneur Pack also comes with access to a “Vitae Travel Club” and ‘ticket to private training with Jim Briss in Las Vegas‘.

The training is self-explanatory but there’s nothing about a travel club on the Vitae Global website, so I’m not sure what that’s about.

Conclusion

Vitae Global’s compensation plan has some pretty strong retail incentives.

The retail commission alone is roughly 50% of the cost of a box of Lean Java Bean. The Customer Acquisition Bonus is an additional 20% reward, based on preferred customer orders.

Preferred customers equals repeat business (monthly autoship), so encouraging focus on acquiring them helps to build a strong core business.

Unfortunately all of this is let down by an equally strong focus on affiliate recruitment and pay to play.

Vitae Global all but spell this out in their own official compensation plan documentation:

Your BBP (affiliate package) purchase determines your Status – the amount of code bonus you are eligible to receive.

The notion that Vitae Global’s affiliate packages are optional is a mirage. If you don’t buy a package, you’re locked out of a significant portion of the compensation plan.

That means less money in commissions, which makes the purchase of an affiliate package mandatory if a Vitae Global affiliate wants to maximize earnings.

The affiliate packages are bundled with Vitae Global product and alone aren’t a problem.

Paying recruitment commissions and tying the packages to pay to play bonuses however are major compliance issues.

Recruitment commissions alone are enough to drag Vitae Global into pyramid scheme territory. The residual recruitment commissions are even worse.

Vitae Global’s residual recruitment commissions force an affiliate onto autoship and then, based on which package an affiliate themselves purchased, rewards an affiliate solely on the recruitment of new package-purchasing affiliates.

This is quite obviously pay to play, with how much a Vitae Global affiliate spends on their own package directly impacting their residual recruitment commission rate.

MLM commissions should always be a result of individual and/or group sales performance, not how much an affiliate spends when they sign up as an affiliate.

The 21 Day Fast Track Bonus is also an example of pay to play recruitment in action and defines the underlying core of Vitae Global’s business model:

Sign up with an Entrepreneur Package, sign up for affiliate autoship (mandatory for rank advancement and residual recruitment commissions), and recruit other Entrepreneur Package affiliates.

And if you can’t afford an Entrepreneur Package outright, don’t worry – “package upgrades” are available for when you do have the money.

This makes Vitae Global’s aforementioned retail commissions and bonuses look like an afterthought. And quite obviously, even with the incentives, retail isn’t really going to be a focus here (beyond the minimum 2 preferred customer requirement for some commissions).

Speaking of afterthoughts, there’s no mention of Vitae Global’s Personal Growth Series in their compensation plan.

Do affiliates even get paid for selling the personal development product?

It doesn’t seem like it, and so I’m thinking nobody except Entrepreneur Package affiliates will be buying the courses, and only because an Entrepreneur Package is required to max out available commissions.

I’m not knocking the content of Jim Britt’s personal development courses, but it doesn’t seem like much has changed since Questra launched. It’s almost as if Britt has a stable of courses he can attach to any opportunity.

As to Lean Java Bean, the active key ingredients are Super Citrimax and ChromeMate.

According to InterHealth, the manufacturer, Super Citrimax is a ‘a patented, 60% hydroxycitric acid (HCA) water extract from Garcinia cambogia‘.

InterHealth also manufacture ChromeMate and claim it ‘uniquely combines the benefits of chromium and niacin into a single mineral complex‘.

Out of curiosity I compared this to Valentus’ SlimRoast product (remember, Advanced LLC manufacture both products).

Valentus’ SlimRoast product also contains garcinia cambogia (albeit at 50% HCA) and “Chromium as Polynicotinate”.

Lo and behold, Chromium Polynicotinate is just a combination of chromium and niacin.

So basically we’ve got the same active ingredients in both coffees, sans 10% HCA.

The question is are you even going to notice?

While I can’t definitively answer that, what I did notice is that Vitae Global’s Lean Java Bean costs the same per box as Valentus’ SlimRoast.

You’re getting an active ingredient with 10% more HCA for the same cost.

If Louis Volpe and Advanced Labs were a neutral third-party supplier, this wouldn’t be a problem. I don’t know the specifics of their supplier agreement, but I imagine Valentus could just negotiate the better ingredient(s) are used in SlimRoast.

Here’s the thing though, Volpe is a co-founder of Vitae Global. Does the vested interest in Vitae Global having an edge over Valentus edge out his vested interest in seeing Advanced Labs retain its Valentus supplier contract?

Furthermore, what does the quality of Advanced Labs’ Lean Java Bean product have on other supplier agreements?

Either way there definitely appears to be some conflict of interest issues there.

With respect to the MLM industry, the bottom line for now though is that Vitae Global are offering a more powerful version of Advanced Labs coffee for the same as Valentus’ are charging.

What with SlimRoast being Valentus’ flagship product offering, the potential effect on Valentus if Vitae Global affiliates use this fact in their marketing remains to be seen.

Looking at the bigger picture, you’ve got a recruitment heavy comp plan with chain recruitment, mandatory affiliate autoship and $1000 affiliate packages tied to income potential and retail incentives.

Lean Java Bean is better priced than competitors but the personal development courses seem out of place.

Some retailing is required but clearly it’s not enough. That and ultimately no matter how much retail volume is generated, it’s still going to be overshadowed by compliance issues in the rest of the compensation plan.

It’s still early days to Vitae Global do have time to address these problems. Don’t count on it though, as the company already appears to have attracted a certain type of MLM marketer.

At least based on the Vitae Global affiliate marketing material I went over for this review.