So you're looking for an honest Build Your Empire University review to figure out if this is a legit opportunity to make money from home.
Build Your Empire University provides education on how to use "attraction marketing" on social media to help you recruit more people into the Enagic MLM.
You'll be taught how to make your life look amazing on social media so that you "attract" people to message you to find out what you do.
If you can convince them to "be their own boss too" then you sell them a water filter system for thousands of dollars and make commissions from any sales they go onto make.
I've spent over 40 hours researching the Enagic MLM and the connected training programs such as BYE (Build Your Empire) University to get to the bottom of what's going on here.
I've reviewed hundreds of courses that help people make money online including a ton of other MLMs.
In this review I'll cut through the noise to show you the actual ways this company works, who it's suited for and if you can really make money from it.
If you're like me and you prefer watching videos then just watch this 20-minute summary...
Build Your Empire University review: The overview and rankings
Name: Build Your Empire University (BYEU)
Founder: Ashley Taylor and Brodie SalNitro
Type: Attraction marketing training for Enagic MLM
Products (Including Pricing): $1,980-$5,980 for a water machine
Success Stories: Very hard to find honest ones (people are encouraged to "fake it till you make it")
Price To Join: $1 for a 7 day trial then $99 a month
What to look for in a MLM:
Summary: Build Your Empire provides "attraction marketing" education. This is a fancy term for faking it till you make it on social media to "attract" people to slide into your DMs to figure out what you do.
Then you simply sell them Enagic MLM products (water ionizer systems and turmeric supplements) for thousands of dollars. And encourage them to sell the same to other unsuspecting victims to help make you (and them) more money.
Make Time Online Rating: 10 out of 100
Recommended: No
What is Build Your Empire University?
Build Your Empire University is a training program to help promote the Enagic Multi-Level-Marketing company.
Build Your Empire University is a corporation and a school that claims they can assist their clients in starting online professions and do not require any experience running an internet business.
They claim to be able to help individuals transition into the internet business sector, and they have established a step-by-step blueprint that has enabled thousands of clients from all over the world to either supplement their existing income or quit their day job.
They have several modules, which we will discuss further in our review, and they believe they can assist people in accomplishing this goal in just six months using their program.
To provide a high-level overview of what you get with Build Your Empire University, their package consists of training modules, an exclusive partner program, coaching calls, Q&A calls, support channels, action points, and monthly access for as long as you are a subscriber.
They also provide a money-back guarantee, stating that if you are still determining their capabilities and modules, you can test them out for a week at only one dollar. This option is available to customers who need clarification about purchasing their products.
It will show you how to use "attraction marketing" and how to use paid ads on social media to scale this commission based sales job.
If you want it to become a full time business for you, it really becomes a sales manager position where you encourage your downline to sell more stuff for you!
Before we go any further I can hear the die hard Enagic members screaming...
But Enagic isn't an MLM, it's "direct selling" or "network marketing".
So I'll let the FTC explain the difference between Direct selling and MLM's...
Enagic distributors are not employees. And they recruit additional sales people into the company to become part of their "downline".
That is the exact definition of a MLM.
To learn a bit more about Build Your Empire, watch 5 minutes of the video below (it's 2 hours long and I would recommend watching all of this if you really want to figure out the full picture here. But I'll drip feed important sections of this video when relevant throughout this review).
- 16:51 - Other Enagic Training Platforms
Now, you may be thinking...
Why is that a video for "The Breakaway Movement" and not "BYE University"?
Well...
Here are just some of the programs that help you to recruit people into the Enagic MLM (they all offer the same thing basically):
Honestly that isn't even all of them. But they all are variations of trainings to help people promote the Enagic MLM.
There's no saying for certain why there are so many programs training people on how to make money with Enagic.
It could be because each program eventually gets a bad name for itself, called a scam or the owners just want to start at the top of their own pyramid.
Speaking of which...
Is Build Your Empire University a pyramid scheme?
Build Your Empire University is not a pyramid scheme.
It provides education to help people use social media to "attract" other people into the Enagic MLM.
However BYE University and Enagic have signs of being a pyramid scheme in disguise.
Enagic technically is not a pyramid scheme either. It's possible for distributors to make money by selling the expensive water machines and turmeric supplements.
But here's what I mean by being similar to a pyramid scheme in disguise...
What is a pyramid scheme?
A company that promises payment to members for recruiting more people into the company rather than selling a product or service.
The Wikipedia diagram below proves it is impossible for everyone to make money inside a pyramid scheme. That is why pyramid schemes are illegal in most countries...
However, Enagic does offer products.
If you can sell the products you do make money.
It's just that the money you make by selling really expensive water machines isn't a whole lot! At least not until you recruit a downline into the MLM to sell products for you...
Watch this short video to see exactly what I mean here...
Success is rare with Build Your Empire University
Between 72.5% and 99.9% of all MLM representatives lose money. That's a fact.
I looked into 167 MLM income disclosures and worked out the minimum a distributor would need to spend to remain active for one year. I even gave the MLMs the benefit of the doubt in this study and yet I still found that 92.3% of all members lost money.
Sure you could be in those 7.7% of people that make money.
But even then only 1 out of 179 members make more than $30k a year from MLMs.
It's just important to understand that to be successful inside a MLM will involve recruiting a ton of people who will ultimately lose money or scrape by.
Most people (even super successful distributors) seem to not understand this or just squash this fact and end up getting a ton of mental health issues because of it. There's something to be said for making money in an ethical way when you are genuinely helping people with a problem.
Ready to make passive income online?
Hey, I'm Mike.
I created a passive income online within a year. I had no marketing skills or online experience when I started.
How does Build Your Empire University Work?
The five are the basis, the discovery process, a company-launch strategy, and funding a business before your coaching call.
After you have completed the initial modules, they also provide a few additional modules that accelerate the process of launching an internet business.
To thoroughly evaluate this online course, we examined various features of Build Your Empire University. The first considerations were design and usefulness.
We are delighted to report that this course has put considerable effort into the user experience. Not only will you get the knowledge you cannot obtain elsewhere, but the entire process will be pleasurable, as their website is user-friendly.
Everything we encountered was professional, clean, and user-friendly.
As far as the videos are concerned, they are all high resolution and quite transparent about how they offer their content, so you won't have to watch a film that rambles on for thirty minutes about nothing pertinent.
The aesthetics and arrangement of this course are far superior to those of other classes we've studied, some of which will cost you thousands of dollars.
The issue with many online courses nowadays is that they attempt to overcomplicate matters, whereas Build Your Empire University simplifies everything because they feel less is needed.
Their actual courses are in-depth and comprehensive, and we can tell that a lot of time and work went into collecting and producing them.
Again, the type of information that you will get from these courses is familiar, meaning that you will not necessarily find it elsewhere.
Build Your Empire University works in three steps:
- Get a $1 all access trial
- Watch the training modules and step-by-step videos
- Book a free call with a coach to get started
After the 7 day trial your card will automatically be charged $99 per month on an ongoing basis. So make sure set a reminder on your phone to cancel the membership if you don't want a nasty surprise in a weeks time!
BYE University will throw a lot of stuff at you such as...
Build Your Empire University products
Here's what you'll actually receive from BYE University
- Mindset (brainwashing) training
- 100 videos with training on social media marketing/ "personal branding" to sell Enagic's products & recruit people into it
- Private FB group
- Weekly live calls
Brodie and Ash seem like good guys. They really do provide as much value as possible from this type of training.
You will learn some decent skills about how to market and brand yourself on social media. You'll even get some tips on how to use paid ads on social media and how to scale the sales you make.
But it doesn't get away from the fact that you will basically be taught how to fake it till you make it. You're sole job is to recruit people into the Enagic MLM and then become a full time sales manager to encourage your downline to sell these expensive water machines.
Talking of which, what are the...
Enagic products
Enagic has 8 water Ionizer machines and various Ukon (turmeric) supplements.
The machines are not just overpriced water filters. The only thing they filter out is chlorine.
The main selling points of water Ionizers (other than changing the pH of water) is that:
- Electrolyzed reduced water (ERW): exposed to electric current separates charged particles
- Hydrogen rich water (HRW): hydrogen gas dissolved in water (acts as an antioxidant)
- Oxidation reduction potential (ORP): the lower the score the more antioxidants in the water (which is good)
Some of the "claimed" health benefits from distributors (who mostly know nothing about any of this science) include:
- Slows aging process
- Boost immune system
- More hydrating
- Boost metabolism
- Relieves heartburn
- Cures cancer, diabetes, measles
- and a ton of other stuff
However, a ton of this sounded quite wishy washy to me. So I dug into some studies and found that it's clear more research is needed to be sure about any of the health claims.
I won't bore you with all of this right now (Anna's analysis has you covered there if you want it). But here's the summary from Healthline...
"However, more research is needed beyond these small studies. In particular, research is needed to answer other claims made by alkaline water supporters"
Enagic flagship product
The K8 is the flagship product at Enagic.
It can produce 7 different levels of pH water ranging from 2.5-11pH.
Here's what it is promoted as being good for:
- Acidic 2.5ph: remove pesticide off food and a good disinfectant
- 6.0pH: "beauty water" for skin and hair
- Alkaline 11pH: best for drinking
If you want a deep dive into what these machines and products do (which you prob should if you plan on selling these to other people) you really should watch the next 5 minutes of this video...
- 6:40 - Enagic Machines, Prices, Uses
Can you make money with Build Your Empire University?
It is possible to make money using the Build Your Empire University training. By selling water machines and recruiting people into the Enagic MLM you can make some decent money, especially if you focus on recruiting.
But the vast majority of people do not want to become *that* person on social media, so they won't make a penny.
Here's your two options the way I see it:
- Sell yourself on social media, make it look like your life is amazing (even if it's not) and DM as many people as possible to "be their own boss" (even though you haven't made any money yet). Force crazy expensive water machines down people's throats that simply can't afford them. Encourage them to get into debt to buy it cos this new "online biz" will make their money back in no time (maybe... you hope!)
- Feel too weird about faking it till you make it and never earn a penny
So people can and do make money from the BYE University training.
But are they doing it ethically?
How to make money with Build Your Empire University
There are three ways you can make money from the BYE Uni training:
- Sell the BYE University course and earn a commission
- Sell water ionizers (or turmeric supplements) and make a commission
- Recruit people into the Enagic MLM and make commissions from any sales they make
You'd think that selling a $4,980 water ionizer machine should make you some decent coin, right?
Well, wrong.
It makes you $340. But if you recruit a ton of people into Enagic and they sell a $4,980 water machine, it could end up making you $2,040.
This is exactly why the successful people inside BYE Uni know they are a recruiter and sales manager. If that's your ideal job, then you can make money.
How much does it cost to join Build Your Empire University?
It costs $1 for a 7 day trial to join Build Your Empire University. It then costs $99 a month on an ongoing basis for the training and FB group and weekly calls.
But the costs do not stop there!
It costs at least $1,980 for a machine, which you must purchase to join the Enagic MLM. And then there's the hidden ongoing monthly costs...
Build Your Empire University monthly cost
You will need to pay $99 a month to get access to the Build Your Empire University training and community. But there are some additional costs that you need to be aware of to make the most from the training offered at BYE University, such as:
- Email autoresponder ($15+ a month)
- Funnel builders ($25-$97 a month)
- Tracking software ($25+ a month)
- Paying for ads (at least $100 a month)
It's reasonable to expect to spend over $250 a month on your education and tools.
There are technically no monthly costs to remain as a Enagic MLM member. Honestly, this is great compared to many other MLM programs out there that require an "autoship" or a minimum monthly sales quota.
However, as soon as you have a 6A title or above, you need 10 machines to be sold in the qualifying month.
If you don't make a sale for 6 months you will start earning less money from indirect sales (people in your downline selling the machines).
The "Trifecta" (which you are encouraged to buy) costs around $10,000 after tax.
You'll get:
- A K8 machine for $4,980
- An Anespa DX machine for $2,890
- UKON Turmeric supplements for $760 (4 month supply)
The reason I'm mentioning this inside the monthly costs section is because of the turmeric supplements...
They autoship 3 times a year!
So realistically you need to allow for:
- $2,280 (if you get the turmeric supplements)
- $3,000 a year on the training and tools
- be prepared to buy extra machines to hit your 10 sales quota once you are past 6A ranking or above
So technically there are no monthly fees.
But you should probably be prepared to spend $5,280 a year on supplements and tools. After all, your upline will say "if you don't pay for these, how you can you expect to sell them to other people?"
Build Your Empire University compensation plan
You get paid a 30% commission for anyone you introduce to BYE University. So if they stay as a member for 4 months you would get paid around $120.
But you make the "real money" inside the Enagic MLM...
There are 6 main "ranks" in Enagic:
- 1A (1-2 sales) - receive 1 point
- 2A (3-10 sales) - receive 2 points
- 3A (11-20 sales) - receive 3 points
- 4A (21-50 sales) - receive 4 points
- 5A (51-100 sales) - receive 5 points
- 6A (101+ sales) - receive 6 points
The 8 point system means how many points get handed out per sale.
For example, if you sold your first K8 machine for $4,890 you would make $340 (you are 1A rank and get 1 point). The other 7 points go to your "upline". If the person directly above you was a 6A rank they would get 6 points ($2,040), leaving only one point to person above them, no matter what rank they are. Anyone above them would receive diddly squat.
I just want to point out this fact here...
You may have been trying to sell anything to anyone for months.
You finally sell a huge $4,980 product...
But you only receive $340.
Yet the people above you earn $2,380!
If that is not an incentive to recruit more people so you can get a bigger chunk of the earnings, then I'm not sure what is?!
Watch the next 5 minutes of this video to get an insight into the true compensation plan for Enagic...
- 7:34 - Enagic’s Compensation Plan
Or you can find the full Enagic compensation plan here.
Is Build Your Empire University a scam?
Build Your Empire University is technically not a scam.
It offers "attraction marketing" training so you can use social media to try to recruit people into Enagic and sell expensive water filter machines.
But some people call it a scam because it is not clear what you are getting into until you're up to your eyeballs in debt.
There are some shady marketing techniques used by BYE Uni and its distributors.
But it's hard to blame them as this is what they've been taught to do. And many of them aren't even aware there are other ways to create real online businesses... rather than create a recruiter/ sales manager job for yourself.
Common positive reviews
Here are some of the positive reviews we had from Trust Pilot about the job opportunity...
- "This platform is teaching me more than how to make money and online business. It’s teaching me how to upgrade my life and the lives of the people I love most. I’m levelling up my life and this platform helps make it easy! The online community is so supportive. Brodie and Ash are nothing short of legends and are always happy to help."
Common negative reviews
And here are the common negative reviews we got...
- "You still need to work a lot to recruit people so you can earn more money. And that to me is not so good."
Just to be fully transparent with you, I am not a distributor myself and I do not endorse it in any way.
I have researched the website, testimonials and information on the Internet to get to the bottom of what this program genuinely does. This is because I have been burnt from programs just like this in the past and I want to prevent others from making the same mistakes.
Tired of MLMs? Check out how I make money online here!
What I like about Build Your Empire University
Here are two things that I like about BYE Uni...
#1 If you promote Enagic MLM this will help you to recruit (morals aside)
Look here's the truth...
If you really want to join Enagic and recruit people into it to sell expensive water machines, then BYE University will help you.
Nobody can deny that this "attraction marketing" stuff works...
I got drawn into it from a couple of old "friends" a few years ago.
It's very compelling and they really do look like they have all their s*** figured out.
They didn't and don't!
But if you half good looking and don't mind posting woo woo things on the gram or FaceB all day every day, you will "attract" people to slide into your DMs.
#2 Alkaline water trend
Another thing BYEU has going for it is the fact that more people are Googling alkaline water...
When people are jumping on a trend it definitely become easier to sell.
However, below is the exact same chart just compared to the trend for Bitcoin...
As you can see everything is relative. And that chart is comparing alkaline water to something that around only 1% of the world owns.
What I don't like about Build Your Empire University
There are some hidden truths that you must be aware of before diving in.
At least this way you have your eyes wide open and know what you're getting into...
#1 Expensive products
Just compare the price of Enagic water ionizers to similar products on Amazon...
So many distributors argue that the Enagic machines are superior for one reason or another.
But the fact is you can pick up water ionizers that can change the pH of the water from 2.5 to 11pH for a fraction of the cost...
There is way too much for me to dig into every argument about why the machines are, in fact, not superior.
But one of the big things Enagic hardcore fans argue is that Enagic has superior Oxidation Reduction Potential (ORP aka more antioxidants, therefore it's better for you).
Watch 2 minutes of this video to see if that's true...
- 40:23 - ORP Comparison Graphics
If you continue watching that video you will find a ton more of the same, such as a study from Alkaline Water Plus...
Enagic water ionizers are nothing special compared to other models.
It's just that every Enagic distributor hasn't done the proper research themselves or ever tested another ionizer brand themselves. They are very good at regurgitating the same things they see other distributors say though...
#2 Not allowed to promote other products
Once you are inside any MLM there is nearly always a condition that you are not allowed to promote other products or MLMs outside of that one...
A true entrepreneur is allowed to promote or advertise anything they want. They can also create any product or service they want to help people. Once your inside Enagic, you technically are only allowed to sell their water machines.
You can read the full Enagic Policy and Procedures here.
#3 Is Build Your Empire University a pyramid scheme in disguise?
OK before I get shot by die hard BYE fans, let me say this again...
Build Your Empire University is not a pyramid scheme.
However, it doesn't get away from the fact that if you want to make decent money (over $30k a year) using the training you will need to focus on recruiting people into the Enagic MLM.
And no matter what, when the focus is on recruiting the payout always looks like this...
You could call this a triangle. Or you could change the shape completely and draw squiggly lines connecting people so it looks like a star.
At the end of the day, most people will lose money.
And a few will make very good money (usually the owner of one of these training programs like BYE Uni... hey maybe that's why there's so many of them?!)
Sure you could be one of the few that make great money. But you will need to do this knowing that all the people you recruit will most likely lose money.
#notmyideaofethical
#4 Shady tactics to keep people in
Ok, these are the last few minutes that you must watch from this video...
- 1:25:05 - 1) The Only Way You Can Fail Is If You Quit
- 1:25:36 - 2) Law of Attraction
- 1:28:46 - 3) Money Mindset
- 1:32:14 - 4) Echo Chamber
- 1:33:45 - 5) Cult-like Behavior
- 1:42:44 - Pseudoscience Promoted in Community
- 1:45:42 - Conspiracy Theories Promoted in Community
- 1:50:10 - 6) $$$$$
But the shady tactics do not end there.
What about how they actually find so many people that can afford a few thousand dollars to pay for a water filter machine?
These two minutes will just shock you...
- 44:00 - Can’t Afford to Join? Commit Fraud!
"Credit card companies have no way of checking your income. So go ahead and manifest $90k coming your way and put this down as your salary."
So there are people outright encouraging other people to commit "loan application fraud".
If you get caught doing this (prob not hard as people publish this on social media!), then you can face up to $1 million in fines and 30 years in jail. And yes, real people are getting caught doing this all the time!
#5 No real interest
The final nail in the coffin is found back on Google Trends...
If you absolutely must go down the MLM route your best bet of making the big bucks is by finding a new MLM that is gaining momentum.
If you get in early you could be lucky enough to ride the bandwagon all the way to making those new suckers skint!
As you can see Enagic has been around for a long time, but it still has hardly anyone searching for it each month. Unlike some other MLMs.
Ready to make passive income online?
I've created a growing passive income online with no previous marketing skills or online experience...
I've made a special video for you to explain exactly how I did this.
My opinion - Build Your Empire University
I have two words about my thoughts on Build Your Empire University...
If you are attractive, love to post woo woo stuff on social media all day and already have a bit of a following you could make a quick buck or two.
But the simple fact is this...
You are not "being your own boss". You won't be building your own "online business". You are creating a recruiter/ sales manager job for yourself that doesn't pay you a salary.
And it just so happens that there are much better ways that you can learn valuable online business skills by creating real value...
How I make passive income online
MLMs are not scams or illegal. However, I'm not a fan of them because of the restrictions to the expensive products you have to promote.
Once I learnt about affiliate marketing, I realised it's a far superior business model because:
- You can promote anything you want and truly own the business
- You never need to sell to friends and family
- It's completely free to start
In 2018 I had no idea what affiliate marketing was.
But I went from a full time PE teacher to making a passive income online within one year...
If you want to discover how I did it then check out this special video I created which explains exactly how. You can also get your free 7-day bootcamp to get started.
