Wake Up Now is advertised as a money making opportunity and basically a “all in one” place for all your shopping needs.
Yet if you run the numbers yourself and look into their business model, you’ll see that it’s basically a scam and even a pyramid scheme in my opinion.
Update: Wake up Now (WUN) no longer operating (it was a scam).
I don’t like being right about these things, but it turned out WUN was a scam and people lost a lot of money. I have a review breaking down the operations it was doing, but if you came here looking to see if it’s legit, you got your answer folks.
Now if you’re wondering about other potential companies to join that are legit, just try this, it’s the best.
Wake Up Now in a nutshell:
It’s basically an MLM company which hooks you into it by promising major sales/discounts on pretty much anything and everything you could imagine: Airline tickets, hotel stays, food, clothing, shoes.
In addition it also features a promotional program within it that allows you to refer others into the company and earn money in the process.
In theory it is designed to be a one stop destination for everything you’ll ever need to buy online and while the idea sounds good, as I said earlier, if you run the numbers, you’ll quickly realize it’s promises don’t exactly add up to the discounts they promise and the biggest reason for that is that you’re paying a monthly membership which even in spite of it’s rewards program still leaves you in the negative when compared against other companies which sell the same/better services & products.
Let’s examine this further:
Wake Up Now (WUN) price:
Here a screenshot of their pricing plan:
Keep in mind these are monthly plans. As you can see, you’re encouraged to buy the most expensive one because it will yield the most benefits (as they say). But even if you take it’s lowest price, you’re going to see why in most if not all case, it is NOT cost effective to buy products from this company.
1. The Products/Services within Wake Up Now
While I am a bit confused as to who would honestly sell products through this program (if that’s how it really works), I found that even if you take some of the products they show in the sale’s video on their home page and compare it to other places like Amazon which sell the same things, it’s either pretty much the same and in some cases a little less/more expensive.
Here is another screenshot:
Let’s do some VERY simple math:
Let’s take the yellow croc shoes above. On WUN they sell for $19.99. As you can see on Amazon it’s around the same price more or less.
But if you add in the monthly membership of WUN, it’s obviously a worse investment to buy the same product from WUN. The same could be said for the other shoes above.
You can make the same case for many of the other low cost items they sell there, add in the monthly membership and in pretty much all instances, it’s worse if you buy it through WUN, even if you factor in their “cash back” rewards.
So to summarize, most of the products you buy through WUN will end up costing you more when you factor in the monthly membership charges. So why may I ask would anyone ever want to join this program? Enter the next problem…
The ability to make money:
Wake Up Now is an MLM program. MLM means multi level marketing. Within this business model, every person you refer, you make money through. Every person your referrals refer will also make you a percentage. On their site they boast how you can make $600 a month and more with their program. But here are a couple of problems with this:
1. It’s very difficult to refer anyone to this company. It’s basically the equivalent of being a salesman. I promise you, if you have no marketing experience, you’ll be lucky to even refer 1 person into it and they are probably not going to be happy.
2. Less than 1% of all it’s members make a profit. I looked at their income charts. Apparently, 96% of it’s members make next to nothing yearly while less than 1% actually make good money on it. 56% make $0.10 a year. Yes that’s right, a year. I don’t even think the poorest countries in this world have such low earnings a year. Here is a screenshot:
3. It’s basically a pyramid scheme. One of the biggest indications of this is that so few people actually make a profit in this business. Also there is no actual product, it is an MLM company, and what you pay for this company is in my opinion beyond what I consider fair value for what is offered. These 4 characteristics lead me to the conclusion that WUN is a pyramid scheme.
Naysayers to this argument will say that the reason so few make money with this program is because they don’t put in the work needed to succeed, but in my experience MLM companies like these almost always have these low profit turnouts and almost always because they share the characteristics of a typical pyramid scheme.
4. You’ve already seen that through this company, buying products is not a good investment, so how can you ethically promote this business to someone else? If you really feel that this business model is fair, then you need to re-think how you define honest earning.
Pros:
- You can make money through this business.
Cons:
- Most likely a pyramid scheme.
- What you pay for products in WUN is usually going to cost more than if you purchased it elsewhere.
- You can get a lot of things for free that WUN charges money for.
- There’s a lot of people who in spite of loving this program cannot explain what it is! When you have a business that’s not clear, it makes me wonder why this information isn’t available!
Final Rating: Wake Up Now
Red Light (Scam)
1 out of 10 stars. I believe it’s a pyramid scheme and just a flat out scam. Also not an honest way to make money. Agree or disagree with me, you’ll find it’s very hard to back this place up especially when you understand how it really works!
Is there anything I recommend instead of WUN? Well I could name quite a few places but the one which gets my pick is a program called Wealthy Affiliate. I believe that place to offer a much better opportunity. You make a REAL business and there’s a whole bunch of other reasons, including:
Final Thoughts on Wake Up Now:
Whenever I see claims that you can get so much for less than what typical places offer it for, I become interested, but the skeptical side of me also becomes aware.
Through looking into WUN, I found way too many red flags that make it impossible for me to ever recommend using this company, whether for it’s “Discounts” or “opportunities” to make money. This kind of business model just strikes in the wrong ways.
I’ve seen companies like WUN in the past who advertise discounts on similar types of things to people in hopes of hooking them in, which does happen. Then as it turns out, what you pay for is either not what was advertised or there are hidden charges you’re not told about until you purchase. I’m not saying this happens with WUN, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it since the business model seems similar.
- You’ve seen why it’s not cost effective to buy from this company.
- You’ve seen why this company is considered a pyramid scheme.
- If you’re thinking about making money through this program, I hope this review has reversed that. I recommend honest places like this one above all else.
You can certainly have your own position on this company and if that’s the case, let’s talk about it, but I think it’s going to be VERY difficult to convince anyone, including myself that this company is legitimate. Also those who are defending this place, do me one favor:
Explain to me very clearly what WUN is. And saying “It’s a program which offers freedom” is not an explanation (I hear this a lot), it’s a deviation from the answer.
This American life confirmed my suspicions. There are several WUN scams going around. Only 4% of “investors” make any money.
This is common for pyramid schemes and I saw that report you mentioned. For anyone interested, just Google “WUN American Life”. You’ll be able to listen. It’s an hour long and proves how uninformed people are about it. They really couldn’t even explain what WUN really is…
I just want to say I love reading all the rebuttals against the claim that WUN is BS. Why does everyone who is involved with this scam, er, I mean, “company” say the same thing everytime? Hahahaha.Perhaps they were coached what to say. Anyways, I have been asked to join this company many times, by many people and guess what? These people aren’t making the money they claimed they were at one point. And can we talk about the celebrity endorsments? Hahahaha! “If Chingy and Paul Wall say its Real, then it Must be”.
A lot of people try to defend back investments Karalyn and one way is to do just what you say: Say it isn’t a scam. It’s basically a defensive mechanism.
The stock keeps plummeting and their latest financial disclosure is looking even worse than the previous one.
It’s a ticking time bomb. This MLM is soon to explode.
I’ll have to personally look into this Amy, but thank you for letting me know. I’m honestly not surprised as this is how most MLM’s end up being. I just feel bad for all the people they’ve suckered in. Thanks for sharing this.
I have two friends that started posting about this MLM and I had to dig deeper in order to show them the facts. As of right now they aren’t receptive but I won’t stop trying to pull them out of the fog.
Thanks for having the info here.
My pleasure Amy. It’s unfortunate when friends & family get suckered into this kind of stuff and worse try to pull you in as well. It’s these dirty types of things that make me stay away from MLM completely.
I’m not sure if you’ll be able to convince them otherwise. Once people convince themselves they made a good purchase, even if it’s really bad, they won’t believe it. I certainly hope things resolve but in my experience, until the company crashes of the people involved don’t make much/any money, they’ll keep believing it’s good for them.
Actually it is completely free to join WUN. No I am not an affiliate, but next time you make a review, make an honest one that isn’t based on opinionated garbage.
Theres a difference between pyramid scheme and having a pyramid structured business. Everything is built in a pyramid structure if you draw it out. A corporate business, a household, the government, a church or any organization there is. There’s always the top guys going down to the bottom guys. It all depends on who came in first or who has the most talent or work ethic or work experience or who has more authority. WUN is different, If Brandon brought me in I CAN surpass his income if I work harder and do more than he does, I may be under him because he invited me but I COULD surpass his income if my work ethic surpasses his. THIS is where WUN is different.
AND they help eachother as a team, not as individuals like most other mlm’s or scams out there… But if you think about it, everything is a pyramid structure. Your job is a pyramid structure. Does that make your job a pyramid scheme. No it doesn’t. C.E.O makes more than ANYONE, President makes more than the Vice president, Vice President makes more than the management, management makes more than the supervisors and the supervisors make more than the employees. LESS than everybody else. At least WUN allows them to move up the ladder and much faster.
I’m going to be honest Shay: You made several good points and you’re not promoting the company so I have NO problem debating this issue with you. But after reading everything you said and doing further research, I still came to the same conclusions about Wake up Now. Let me explain:
1. What you say about pyramid schemes & regular pyramid structured businesses is absolutely true. In fact, I made an entire post about it here which actually backs up many of your points. I even linked it in the actual article above, but here it is again.
However, with WUN, you are not entering into a regular business model, you are entering into an MLM and with these business models, most of the time, including this one, it is a pyramid scheme and the main reason for this is their recruitment model which I am about to explain in the next point…
2. Surprisingly it was free to join when I checked it again. When I originally did this review, it wasn’t, but that doesn’t give it enough credibility to be rated as a legitimate company. I’m sure like with other MLMs, you are going to be “pushed” into joining some membership level in order to gain access & the ability to do more in the company.
Because most people who join this company do so (in my opinion) to make money via recruiting others, not “saving” money through the offers you see. You’re looking at a cycle of people recruiting others that then go on to do the same, all with the same promises of making money. That is a pyramid scheme.
The ONLY thing that can even remotely take away the pyramid scheme argument is that they have products to sell, But I doubt it’s their own and they are just affiliated with other third party companies to make extra money of their members. I could be wrong, but I doubt it.
But even if I’m wrong, the addition of the re-recruitment model which I’m guessing is safe to say most members will try to take advantage of is where the REAL incentive with WUN exists and again, that model is a pyramid scheme, sorry.
Just an fyi, the “free” aspect is only for you and the first three people you recruit, after that, you HAVE to make others pay to move up in the company. so while you may be free at first, you are STILL charging others/ripping them off.
I had a feeling there was a catch, but I didn’t know exactly what it was. Thank you for pointing this out and I do hope other readers will see this.
Your welcome, Vitaliy. I also found their annual report online, which is publicly published on any company with shareholders. You can look it up at otcmarkets.com. Their symbol is WORC. It is 40+ pages long. Some takeaways are that the founders declared bankruptcy in several previous companies, they are over 4MIL in debt, stock is actually worth .01, they lease their office and shareholders aren’t allowed to sell their shares. They also express concerns over the FTC and the high turnover of distributors. I don’t see them lasting long at all. I feel sorry for those that have high hopes for this company helping set them financially free when the company is in debt big time.
Great find Danielle! They say if you want to know the future, you need to look at the past. This also makes me believe WUN won’t last very long if they keep going the same way they are now.
Thank you for your honest assessment of WUN. I am seeing a lot of friends joining and being “evangelists” for this scam. You are right that you are not saving or gaining anything by joining but in fact losing money. I commend you for offering your visitors a great alternative. I know from experience that your alternative program works. I joined them and checked out their offerings years ago so I know what they provide is solid. It is great for those who want to build a solid online business.
I challenge the WUN people to do some investigation on this company. Wes Melcher does some great videos on youtube that breaks down this company and its offerings. I highly advise you check them out. Don’t be led by hype.
Thanks!
Thank you very much Danielle! I’m glad you not only saw through the hype of WUN (I like how you call them Evangelists :)) but also have seen the alternative, Wealthy Affiliate and what it can do. I’m going to personally check out the videos you suggested on Wes Melcher.
All the best!
Vitaliy
I’d like to know – have you ever even signed up for Wake Up Now? Rather than bashing it have you ever thoroughly read everything on their site? If the answer to the first question is know than you’ve already answered the second one for me. If you don’t make money or save money with WakeUpNow, 9 times out of 10 you signed up under somebody who was money hungry and didn’t know what they were doing. Wake Up Now has changed so many lives in so many different ways. It teaches you how to teach yourself, how to become a leader and most importantly how to help others. PEOPLE JOIN PEOPLE, NOT COMPANIES. If you ask me, Wake Up Now has taught me the greatest lesson of them all – selflessness. I learn to teach and I earn to help. The products and services are real! They help pay your car note, they have some amazing offers of some of their products, and although you may be able to find some of those products cheaper somewhere else, those places don’t pay you residually. Did you know that one of the first MLM companies was AVON? Did you know that companies such as Wake Up Now use those billions of dollars in their advertising funds to pay their members to advertise rather than using billboards, media and other sources of typical advertisement like McDonalds and other companies do? Like I said before, PEOPLE JOIN PEOPLE, NOT COMPANIES. You can’t judge a book by it’s cover. Think thoroughly research before your speak!
You certainly have a right to your opinion Roxy, but because you did post what I’m almost certain is your Wake up Now affiliate link (which I removed), I question a lot of your claims. But let’s say for the sake of argument you didn’t have a personal interest in referring people through my site to WUN.
No I did not join this program. You don’t always have to join programs to see what they are. I’ve been in the business of online marketing for years and I know most of the time what a company is all about just by looking at their sales page. Why would anyone knowingly want to step on a rake? That’s what I see with this program.
However, when I do reviews, I do a lot more than just look at the sales page. I try to dig as deep as possible into the company and find out more about it. I look for what both sides of the story are saying, I look at claims made by the company. Long story short, I do some pretty thorough research.
I seriously cannot find any financial benefit of joining WUN. The ONLY thing that makes sense is the referral program. That is the only place where it’s potentially beneficial to join. But didn’t you see my stats on how less than 1% of all it’s members make a profit?
And what about this claim that people join people, not companies. Are you kidding me? The #1 reason people join places like this is because they want to make money or save money. This idea that you join a group and you all succeed as a team is a mentality I often see with pyramid scheme type companies that advertise themselves as incredible opportunities.
I don’t know if you’re actually successful with WUN or not, but I seriously question if you REALLY believe you’re being selfless and helping people by referring them there. I just can’t see myself doing something like that. I don’t believe in this company.
All the best to you.