Is Hempworx a Pyramid Scheme? Don’t Sign Up Until You Read This!

The overview and rankings

Name: HempWorx

Owners: Josh and Jenna Zwagil in 2014

Website URL: hempworx.com

Type: Health and Wellness CBD oil MLM

Products (Including Pricing): 40 out of 100

Success Stories: 10 out of 100

Price To Join MLM: $20 + $39-$599 for products

40BV monthly sales quota = $69+ a month (50 out of 100)

What To Look For In An MLM:

What is HempWorx?

HempWorx is a CBD oil Multi-Level-Marketing company.

It was founded in 2014 and merged with  My Daily Choice in 2017. It has jumped on the Cannabis legalisation bandwagon as it sells hemp based supplements and oils. 

It's also possible for everyday people to make money by selling these products and recruiting more people. 

The 2 minute video below explains more about what the company does...

It sounds pretty unique and interesting, right?

But you're smart enough to know this is just a sales video.

So you're probably still wondering...

Is HempWorx a pyramid scheme?

No Hempworx is not a pyramid scheme.

It's possible for their MLM members to make money by selling their CBD products without recruiting anyone. 

However, a better question for MLM companies like this would be...

Is HempWorx a pyramid scheme in disguise?

What is a pyramid scheme?

A company that promises payment to its members for recruiting more people into the company rather than selling a product or service.

These are totally illegal in most countries. 

This is because it's impossible for everyone to make money in pyramid schemes as this Wikipedia diagram shows...

Most MLM companies do sell legit products or services. 

However, some MLMs use their product to hide the fact that they are really just a pyramid scheme. This is when the only way to make any decent money and not lose money is by recruiting people. 

Typically these companies have expensive products and monthly sales quotas to hit. 

We'll investigate HempWorx in more detail later in this review. For now you can learn how to spot these pyramid schemes in disguise in the 5 minute video below...

Success is rare with HempWorx

In fact, it's hard to see success in any MLM company.

Did you know that between 73% and 99% of all MLM representatives lose money?

The reason for this is because many MLMs have this "sales quota" meaning that their members can only stay "active" and receive their commissions if they sell a certain amount of products every month. 

If they don't sell this much then they have to buy the products to remain active. 

This results in many members being hundreds or thousands of dollars out of pocket before they make any sales or recruit a single person. 

We'll also dig into the HempWorx income disclosure later in this HempWorx review. 

How does HempWorx Work?

HempWorx produces CBD related products.

They offer everyday people the opportunity to work from home by selling these products and receiving a commission.

So in theory it should be a win-win...

HempWorx saves marketing costs and normal people can work from home. Before we see if this is the case let's find out more about...

HempWorx products

If you want to join any MLM company then it is crucial that you understand what products that company sells.

HempWorx offers CBD related products in a number of categories including:

• CBD Tinctures
• CBD Topicals
• HempWorx for pets
• CBD bath bombs
• CBD coffee
• CBD keto creamers
• CBD gummies
• Hair care

It is important to realise that the CBD MLM market is already very saturated. There are tons of companies that offer a very similar product line such as:

• HealX Nutrition
  
• My Daily Choice
• Touchstone Essentials
  
• Emris International
  
• Bocannaco
  
• Kannaway
• CTFO
• Zilis
• hempSMART

This will make it harder to sell these products as there are a lot of companies trying to sell the same thing. 

So you may be asking yourself...

So let's look into their main products and see if we can find out what they claim makes them different...

HempWorx CBD oil- flagship product

HempWorx's main product is their CBD oil...

They claim the thing that makes them different to all these other similar companies is that they own their own farmland in the USA. 

It means they know exactly what is put into these products.

CBD oil has some benefits for certain illnesses and diseases such as:

• Relieving pain
• Reduce anxiety and depression
• Alleviate cancer symptoms
• Reduce acne
• Ease Parkinson's and epilepsy symptoms
• Reduce blood pressure
• Reduce diabetes

However, there is very little benefits for everyday people to take this regularly.

Plus, the evidence suggests more research needs to be done to prove any of these benefits. 

The below video is the same as the one above (they really do save their money on marketing!) but it will start at the part about the products if you'd like to learn more about them...

How to make money with HempWorx

This is probably the part you're most interested in!

So we won't hang around...

There are 2 ways you can make money as a HempWorx MLM member:

1. Sell the products and earn a commission
2. Recruit more people into the company and earn bonuses from your "downline"

Note- You earn bonuses from your "downline's" sales NOT by just recruiting them.

So before we dive into the compensation plan let's find out...

How much does it cost to join HempWorx?

It costs $20 as a one time fee to become an "affiliate" (often called distributor, ambassador, consultant etc.)

Once you are enrolled you will likely want to purchase a product pack so that you can try some of the products or even potentially sell them on in person.

This will set you back $39-$599.

But the costs do not stop there amigo...

HempWorx monthly cost

At first glance I really thought that you didn't need to hit any monthly sales quota at HempWorx.

This is always a great signal to me that an MLM company does not work like a pyramid scheme in disguise.

Just look at the compensation plan...

However, when you read the fine print you see this...

Again this seemed to me like you don't "have to" sell a certain amount if you just want to be an affiliate. 

However, after some more digging I found that you do need to sell 40BV (at least $69) every month to remain active and receive any commissions from sales you make.

That means that if you do not sell this in a month you will need to buy it yourself to remain active.

This means the total cost for one year as a HempWorx affiliate is:

• $20
• $39-$599
• $69 x 12

Total potential expenses for year 1 = $887 - $1,447

This is obviously much lower than starting your own bricks and mortar business like a restaurant. But it's also much more than $20!

After some more research I also found this on the income disclosure...

The average annual expenses of an affiliate was actually $1,608. 

So my estimated calculations above actually under exaggerate your costs!

HempWorx compensation plan

For some reason most MLM companies make their compensation plan harder to understand than solving a rubik's cube blindfolded. 

HempWorx is no different.

So I will try to keep this simple...

There are 8 ways that HempWorx will pay you as an affiliate:

1. Retail commission (25%)
2. Jump start bonus
3. Binary commissions (see diagram below)
4. Leadership check matching
5. Global bonus pool
6. Rank bonuses (see all ranks below)
7. VIP auto club
8. Elite expense accounts

So you're probably still pretty confused, right?

Well you honestly don't need to understand all of this to get started. All you need to know is what you need to do to get paid:

1. Sell HempWorx products
2. Recruit people 

And when you really understand the compensation plan you will see that the only way to make good money or "residual income" is by recruiting people into the MLM program.

If you want to understand the compensation plan a bit more then the video below helps...

Find the full 16 page compensation plan here. 

Is HempWorx a scam?

No HempWorx is not a scam.

They sell legit products and pay their distributors just like they say they will. 

However, is it the right opportunity for you?

Only you can be the judge but the rest of this HempWorx review will help you to make an informed decision. 

Just to be fully transparent with you, I am not a distributor myself and I do not endorse HempWorx 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. If you’d like to learn how to “Spot an Online Marketing Scam” then click the highlighted text.

What I like about HempWorx

There are genuinely some things that I like about HempWorx. 

I think some of them make this MLM stand out to other similar ones on the market...

Key Terms:

• Pyramid Scheme – recruits members via a promise for payment from referring others to the service rather than providing a product
• Affiliate Marketing- Connecting a customer to a product they are looking for and receiving a commission for doing so
• Red Flag - A warning sign

#1 Low cost to start

It will only cost you $20 to join and then a product pack to start promoting HempWorx products. 

So for $59 you can give this a shot and see if it's something you like. 

It's not a lot of money but it is important to remember that if you want to stay active you will need to sell at least $69 worth of products every month. 

If you can't sell this then you'll need to buy it.

#2 Positive product reviews

Some MLMs have loads of obvious spam positive reviews from their MLM members. 

However, it's clear to find some good reviews from real people for HempWorx... 

When people write real stories like the ones above it's more likely that they come from genuine people who use and like the products. 

This is another good sign that HempWorx is not a scam.

#3 Marketing materials- landing pages & emails

This is the part that makes HempWorx stand out compared to other MLM opportunities out there for me.

There is a marketing system provided by My Daily Choice as you can see in the video below...

First of all I want to say this...

There is probably some sort of monthly or annual fee for this but I can't find any information about it online. Maybe it is actually free, but I'm afraid I can't say for certain.

Secondly, these "done for you" or "plug and play" systems still need to get visitors or "traffic" to the website aka landing page. 

People don't just stumble across these ready made pages.

So in reality for this to work you need to allow a budget of at least $100 a month for "paid ads" on things like Facebook, Google and YouTube. 

These are all a skill in themselves, just because you pay for an ad it doesn't mean people will actually click it!

But if you can get traffic to these pages and they actually do what they say they do, it's more helpful than a "replicated website" that most MLMs leave you with.

What I don't like about HempWorx

So here are the hidden truths that I believe everyone should know before joining HempWorx...

#1 Expensive products

This is always the first thing I check when I review an MLM company. 

Expensive products combined with a monthly "sales quota" is a HUGE red flag that the company operates like a pyramid scheme in disguise. 

I'll explain why soon, but for now just check this out... 

• HempWork CBD oil = $69/ oz
• High rated amazon CBD oil = $5- $20 per oz

So HempWorx sells their very similar CBD oil for 200% - 1,000% more than other products. 

These are not some average CBD oils on Amazon but oils that have over 4 stars from thousands of reviews.

Just ask yourself this... 

Why would anyone pay 200% or more for basically the same thing?

#2 Hidden monthly expenses

This is the really sneaky part.

At first I really thought that you could be an "affiliate" and not have to hit any monthly sales quota...

But on further investigation into the compensation plan I found this...

I still thought... oh maybe they just don't earn bonuses from their downline and they can still earn commission from sales, which isn't too bad. 

But then I found these on the Better Business Bureau...

It appears that if you do NOT sell 40BV ($69) worth of products a month your commission goes to someone else that is "active".

When you combine these two points together you can start to see why...

#3 HempWorx is a pyramid scheme in disguise

If you need to keep spending $69 a month to remain active, there is only one way you can make sure it's not you that keeps losing $69 on overpriced hemp oil each month...

And that is to recruit some people under you.

Then you can guarantee that they will need to sell $69 worth of products (or more likely they'll have to buy this amount!... but at least it won't be you ey?!... that's a bad joke by the way)

Even if you still don't think HempWorx sounds like a pyramid scheme in disguise from this, then some of these hidden truths add up to something a bit fishy...

• 7 out of 8 ways you get paid require you to recruit some people
• The only way to move up the ranks is to recruit people
• Every sales video or compensation plan has a chart or picture similar to the one above

Let's get this straight right now...

HempWorx is NOT a pyramid scheme.

But you have to agree that HempWorx is very similar to a pyramid scheme in disguise. 

#4 Low income potential

Here's the hard facts...

0.38% of HempWorx distributors earn more than $15,891 on average per year.

Put another way...

1 in 300 members make over $15k in a year.

Actually, I'm being generous there.

Because the numbers above only includes "active affiliates". So all of the people that join and do not hit the $69 monthly sales quota are not included in these stats. 

See the full income disclosure here. 

#5 No training on how to get traffic

This is the biggest concern for me. 

Anyone new to internet marketing will see that video about the marketing materials and think...

"Ah, amazing this is how I can really scale my "online business" with HempWorx."

But here's the truth...

That whole funnel will not work unless you get "traffic" to the sales page.

The only way you can do that is by messaging people directly (which defeats the point of the online thing) or by paying to place ads to get traffic there. 

I only know this because I fell for these kind of sales tactics before and realised that without visitors these "done for you funnels" are useless.

Since then, I've learnt how to get traffic to my websites for free every month...

And this is the way that real online businesses that actually help people are made!

#6 Downward trend

The final nail in the coffin for HempWorx is this chart from Google trends...

People simply aren't interested in HempWorx any more. 

And the whole phase of CBD oil has already passed...

MLM companies like Farmasi that are still on the up are the way that distributors can get "in early" and make some decent money from an MLM company.

My opinion - HempWorx

OK, here's my honest opinion about your chances of making good money from HempWorx...

If you can create an online business and drive traffic to your website from people that are interested in CBD oil, then it could work.

You could get "qualified leads" to your website 24/7 and chances are some people would buy the products or be interested in joining the MLM company. 

But there are ethical ways to do this without having to sell overpriced hemp oil to unsuspecting victims...

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.