Is ONEHOPE an MLM? This one is a little tricky to find, but the answer is yes.
Just a quick recap: MLMs are essentially legal pyramid schemes. While they sell products, the primary focus is on recruiting people into your downline. Most money is made from recruiting people whether you’re given a commission based on the amount of people you recruit, your downline’s sales, or both. You can read a little bit more about MLMs in my blog post here.
Now, what is ONEHOPE? Just like Scout & Cellar, ONEHOPE is a multi-level marketing company that sells wine. ONEHOPE sells regular wine and none of that clean-crafted BS, and they actually donate money to causes around the world for each bottle that is sold. They’ve donated to causes to end hunger, build schools, save the environment and so much more, which makes it hard to hate this MLM. The multi-level marketing model still applies here and let me show you why.
When you click the “Enroll Now” button, the first thing that pops up is a lovely picture of a wine glass and a laptop that says, “Be your own boss.” If you click the “Learn More” button, a nice little pop-up comes up and says, “Find out more about how easy it is to start building your own business.” The number one thing to know about MLMs is that you are NOT actually starting your own business! You are still working for the company and selling their products, so you’re essentially a salesperson that doesn’t get benefits such as healthcare, 401K, etc.
Once you get through the sign up process and get a “sponsor,” you end up reaching a screen that says “Select Your Starter Kit.” There are three Starter Kits to choose from. For $29, you can get the Virtual Kit that comes with whatever the welcome gift is. For $149, you get the welcome gift, business bundle, and 6 wines. Lastly, for $199, you get the welcome gift, business bundle, and 12 wines. I suppose this is a way they get you to try their wines because there are laws in place that prevent you from selling alcohol directly to people without a liquor license.
For shits and giggles, I pressed the virtual option and was directed to the next screen which asks you to select a membership plan. You can either pay $99 annually or $12 monthly and this fee covers your personal ONEHOPE website, digital and print collateral, world-class wine education, world-class support, and “personal mentorship.” Paying for marketing materials is sounding less and less like a job and definitely more like an MLM.
And finally, the jackpot is the terms and conditions that I found on the payment page even though there wasn’t too much to dig through. Let’s get into those, shall we?
Note: It’s called the CEO Program. Ugh.
“Acceptance into the Program does not qualify you as a ONEHOPE salesperson or grant you any license to sell alcohol. Your Program participation allows you to be a marketing and brand ambassador of ours, assist Hosts at Events, and maximize fundraising for our vetted nonprofit organizations. Any commissions earned through the Program are paid relative to your success with your marketing efforts on and offline, and not as sales commissions.” Right off the bat we know that you can’t sell alcohol in person and that you’re more of a marketer that makes sales and not technically a salesperson.
“You agree that any and all ideas, improvements, inventions and works of authorship conceived, written, created or first reduced to practice as a CEO (the “ONEHOPE Inventions”) shall be the sole and exclusive property of the Company and hereby assign to the ONEHOPE all its right, title and interest in and to any and all such ideas, improvements, inventions and works of authorship. You further agree that ONEHOPE is and shall be vested with all rights, title and interests including patent, copyright, trade secret and trademark rights in all of your work product as a CEO. This section shall survive termination of this Agreement for any reason.” What in the dictatorship is this? Not only do they own your work, but even after you ditch the company and the contract, anything you post that’s ONEHOPE related (blog post, etc.) belongs to them.
And let’s take a look at the compensation plan. It’s really boring to look at, but you can spot a few pyramids in it which is really funny.
Apparently there are title ranks in the compensation plan with the lowest being called “Cause Entrepreneur” and the highest being “National Executive Director.” You know… on top of also being a CEO. Your commission is 20% until you’ve earned $1,500 in sales and then you can start earning 25% in commission. Then you can start earning a certain percent of commission based on your downlines (levels). Depending on your title, you can start earning 5% commission from your downlines (up to four levels).
If you want to take a look at the compensation plan in full detail, watch the video below:
Mary Kay is the same as any of the wine MLMs except for the fact that they sell makeup. I really liked this book because it gave a behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like to be in an MLM. If you’ve never joined one and never plan to like me, it’s extremely insightful and thought-provoking.
