Fortress Community markets itself as “the chance of a lifetime”.
The corporate is predicated out of North Carolina within the US and headed up by President and CEO Akili Dorian Omari.
On social media Omari (proper) goes by “Dorian Akili Omari”.
Earlier than founding Fortress Community, Omari was selling native nightclub occasions. I wasn’t capable of set up whether or not he has an MLM historical past.
Learn on for a full assessment of Fortress Community’s MLM alternative.
Fortress Community’s Merchandise
Fortress Community has no retailable services or products inside its MLM alternative.
Outdoors of the MLM alternative, Fortress Community associates are capable of promote numerous services for a fee of “as much as 25%”.
Fortress Community’s Compensation Plan
Fortress Community pays associates to recruit new associates.
Recruitment commissions are paid out of a $10 month-to-month affiliate price, tracked by way of a 3×9 matrix.
A 3×9 matrix locations a Fortress Community affiliate on the prime of a matrix, with three positions instantly beneath them:
These three positions type the primary degree of the matrix. The second degree of the matrix is generated by splitting these three positions into one other three positions every (9 positions).
Ranges three to 9 of the of the matrix are generated in the identical method, with every new degree housing 3 times as many positions.
To qualify for MLM commissions, every Fortress Community affiliate should personally recruit three associates.
After this qualification standards is met, Fortress Community pays $1 per affiliate instantly or not directly recruited into the matrix:
- degree 1 – 3 positions to fill equates to a possible $3 a month
- degree 2 – 9 positions to fill equates to a possible $9 a month
- degree 3 – 27 positions to fill equates to a possible $27 a month
- degree 4 – 81 positions to fill equates to a possible $81 a month
- degree 5 – 243 positions to fill equates to a possible $243 a month
- degree 6 – 729 positions to fill equates to a possible $729 a month
- degree 7 – 2187 positions to fill equates to a possible $2187 a month
- degree 8 – 6561 positions to fill equates to a possible $6561 a month
- degree 9 – 19,683 positions to fill equates to a possible $19,683 a month
If the three×9 matrix is stuffed and each affiliate recruited into it continues to pay month-to-month charges, the entire potential earnings is $29,523 a month.
Becoming a member of Fortress Community
Fortress Community affiliate membership is $10 a month.
Conclusion
Versus being “the chance of a lifetime”, Fortress Community is a typical recruitment-based pyramid scheme.
You enroll, pay a month-to-month price and that price is used to pay as much as 9 different Fortress Community associates who joined earlier than you (together with whoever recruited you).
You then earn within the MLM alternative by recruiting others who additionally pay affiliate membership charges.
That is actually the mannequin of a pyramid scheme, as specified by Fortress Community’s personal advertising and marketing movies;
All it’s a must to do to change into profitable is change into a professional rep. That is quite simple.
All it’s a must to do is solely share this with three of your folks.
As soon as they change into members they’ll begin to share with their associates, and also you’ll see how briskly the community begins to develop.
Seemingly conscious he’s been operating a pyramid scheme for a while, on January 2020 a video titled “Is It a Pyramid Thingy” was uploaded to Fortress Community’s official YouTube channel.
Within the video, Dorian Omari claims “most individuals don’t know what a pyramid factor is”.
Versus explaining how Fortress Community will not be a pyramid scheme, Omari trots out a sequence of rip-off excuse cliches.
[0:49] The underside line is life is a pyramid. Doesn’t matter the way you need to take a look at it.
Whether or not you need to use church buildings, organizations, firms, there’s at all times somebody on the very prime, just a few individuals beneath them, then extra individuals beneath them, and the plenty beneath them.
So principally life is constructed like a pyramid, however what it’s a must to ask your self is, “is that this an unlawful pyramid scheme?”
[2:08] What makes a pyramid unlawful, a pyramid scheme, is when an organization doesn’t have something to supply for the worth of the membership price.
For example, if you happen to’re paying $50 a month into one thing and there’s nothing you’re getting in return for that, that might be a pyramid scheme.
And/or if the corporate you’re concerned in solely has recruiting and nothing else.
As somebody who’s conscious about what a pyramid scheme is, let me make clear that Omari’s waffle is nonsense.
Whatever the compensation plan used, if an MLM firm doesn’t generate nearly all of company-wide income by means of retail gross sales, it’s a pyramid scheme.
That’s actually all there may be to it – each at a commonsense and regulatory degree.
Fortress Community’s MLM alternative has no retail gross sales. 100% of commissions are paid out of affiliate membership charges, that are tied to recruitment.
Ergo 100% of commissions Fortress Community pays out by means of its MLM alternative are tied to recruitment, making it a pyramid scheme.
Connected to that is the “promote our merchandise and earn direct commissions” part, however that has nothing to do with the MLM facet of the enterprise.
No MLM commissions are paid on the sale of merchandise featured in Fortress Community’s on-line storefront. Which means that 0% of Fortress Community’s company-wide income, with respect to their MLM alternative, is generated by way of retail gross sales.
It’s because of this I didn’t even trouble overlaying the merchandise listed on Fortress Community’s on-line storefront.
Each Fortress Community affiliate pays $10 a month. $9 of that’s used to pay recruitment commissions and Omari collects the remaining $1.
As with all MLM pyramid schemes, when recruitment inevitably collapses so too will the enterprise.
Along with being unlawful the mathematics behind pyramid schemes ensures that after they collapse, nearly all of members lose cash.
Replace thirteenth December 2020 – As on the time of this replace Akili Dorian Omari has deleted each Fortress Community associated video from the corporate’s official YouTube channel.
This contains the “Is It a Pyramid Thingy” video referenced on this assessment. Whether or not that is reflective of the state of Fortress Community as a enterprise is unclear.