PlayCare Health is a LaCore Enterprises MLM company. The company combines the personal development and nutritional supplement MLM niches.
PlayCare Health Inc. was incorporated in Texas in February 2022. Terry LaCore is listed as the sole Director of the company.
While PlayCare Health and LaCore Enterprises are owned by LaCore, he typically doesn’t front the MLM companies he launches.
To that end we have Ron Williams heading up PlayCare Health.
The above is from an official PlayCare Health marketing video. No, I don’t know what look Ron was going for there either.
William’s executive role within PlayCare Health isn’t specified on PlayCare Health’s website. Marketing videos however cite him as PlayCare Health’s founder and CEO.
Ron Williams has been around the MLM industry for decades.
Williams launched Brain Garden in 1998. The company was sold a few years later with Williams going on to launch ForeverGreen in 2004.
In 2006 ForeverGreen purchased Brain Garden, integrating the business into ForeverGreen’s operations.
Williams resigned as ForeverGreen’s CEO and President in April 2017.
He next popped up as founder and CEO of Uforia Science in late 2018. Uforia Science was launched after LaCore Enterprises acquired what was left of Foru International.
Williams disappeared from Uforia Science mid 2020, following a failed merger with MaVie.
A year later Williams resurfaced as President of SuperDraft Pro.
Today SimilarWeb reports virtually no traffic to SportsDraft Pro. The website itself is just an affiliate login form.
When exactly Williams left SuperDraft Pro is unclear.
In a marketing video on PlayCare Health’s website, Williams suggests his time at Uforia Science was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Words cannot express the gratitude for what I’ve just been through. A couple of years ago I’m cruising along, a serial creator, leader and successful entrepreneur. [footage of Uforia Science plays]
Filled with certainty and confidence. Taking on the challenges and thrills of life, along with my precious kids.
Then one day our world as we know it changes. Suddenly I’m looking in the mirror asking questions like, “What just happened?”
As per Williams’ detailed executive history above, this is misleading. Williams was very much active in the MLM industry throughout the pandemic.
Read on for a full review of PlayCare Health’s MLM opportunity.
PlayCare Health’s Products
PlayCare Health combines personal development with nutritional supplements.
The personal development side of PlayCare Health’s product suite is an “Inner Balance-Coherence-Coach”.
The Inner Balance Coherence Coach helps you achieve coherence with only a few minutes a day.
The free downloadable app available for Android and iOS helps you keep track of your progress.
This is a rebranding of HeartMath’s “Inner Balance Bluetooth for Android & iPhone”:
The device is available from both PlayCare Health and HeartMath for $199.
The nutritional supplement side of PlayCare Health targets the brain, the usual offering:
- N-Think – “supporting your brain health”, retails at $55.95 for a box of 28 single-serve packets
- C-Feel – “supporting your heart”, retails at $65.95 for a 375 g tub (13.2 oz)
- G-Guide – “supporting your gut health”, retails at $44.95 for a bottle of 56 capsules
- I-Support – “supporting your immune health”, retails at $29.95 for a bottle of 28 softgel capsules
PlayCare Health’s supplements are also available on combined monthly autoship for $139.95 a month.
Note that at time of publication, all of PlayCare Health’s products are listed as “out of stock”.
PlayCare Health’s Compensation Plan
PlayCare Health’s compensation plan combines retail commissions with recruitment bonuses.
Residual commissions are paid via a binary compensation structure, with a unilevel team used to pay matching bonuses.
PlayCare Health Affiliate Ranks
There are twelve affiliate ranks within PlayCare Health’s MLM opportunity.
Along with their respective ranks, they are as follows:
- Player – sign up as a PlayCare Health affiliate (not qualified to earn commissions)
- Team Player – generate and maintain 75 PV a month
- 1 Star – maintain 75 PV a month, generate and maintain 300 GV a month, refer and maintain one retail customer and recruit and maintain two personally recruited Team Players
- 2 Star – maintain 75 PV a month, one personally referred customer and two personally recruited Team Players, and generate and maintain 1000 GV a month
- 3 Star – maintain 75 PV a month, one personally referred customer and two personally recruited Team Players, and generate and maintain 3000 GV a month
- 4 Star – maintain 75 PV a month, one personally referred customer and two personally recruited Team Players, and generate and maintain 9000 GV a month
- 5 Star – maintain 75 PV a month, one personally referred customer and two personally recruited Team Players, and generate and maintain 20,000 GV a month
- 6 Star – maintain 75 PV a month, one personally referred customer and two personally recruited Team Players, and generate and maintain 40,000 GV a month
- 7 Star – maintain 75 PV a month, one personally referred customer and two personally recruited Team Players, and generate and maintain 80,000 GV a month
- 8 Star – maintain 75 PV a month, one personally referred customer and two personally recruited Team Players, and generate and maintain 150,000 GV a month
- 9 Star – maintain 75 PV a month, one personally referred customer and two personally recruited Team Players, and generate and maintain 250,000 GV a month
- 10 Star – maintain 75 PV a month, one personally referred customer and two personally recruited Team Players, and generate and maintain 500,000 GV a month
PV stands for “Personal Volume”. PV is sales volume generated by sales to retail customers and an affiliate’s own orders.
GV stands for “Group Volume”. GV is PV generated by an affiliate and their downline.
Note that from 3 Star, the following GV criteria applies:
- 3 Star – no more than 70% of required GV can be counted from any one unilevel team leg
- 4 Star and 5 Star – no more than 50% of required GV can be counted from any one unilevel team leg
- 6 Star and higher – no more than 40% of required GV can be counted from any one unilevel team leg
Also note that in order to count towards rank qualification, enrolled retail customers must be ordering product(s) each month.
Retail Commissions
PlayCare Health affiliates earn a 40% commission products ordered by personally referred retail customers.
Recruitment Commissions
PlayCare Health affiliates earn 40% of purchase volume generated by personally recruited affiliates, paid during their first four weeks with the company.
Residual Recruitment Commissions
PlayCare Health pays residual recruitment commissions via a three-level deep unilevel team:
To qualify for residual recruitment Commissions, a PlayCare Health affiliate must have signed up with a $399 Power Play Pack.
Once qualified, residual recruitment commissions are paid as a match on retail and recruitment commissions earned down three levels of recruitment:
- level 1 (personally recruited affiliates) – 20% match
- levels 2 and 3 – 10% match
PlayCare Health’s retail and recruitment commission details are provided above.
Star-Tribe Bonus
The Star-Tribe Bonus is another recruitment bonus.
The Star-Tribe Bonus has four tiers:
- qualify at 2 Star or higher and recruit and maintain two Team Players or higher, who each recruit and maintain Two Team Players or higher = $100 monthly Star-Tribe Bonus
- qualify at 3 Star or higher and recruit and maintain three Team Players or higher, who each recruit and maintain three Team Players or higher = $200 monthly Star-Tribe Bonus
- qualify at 6 Star or higher and recruit and maintain four Team Players or higher, who each recruit and maintain four Team Players or higher = $300 monthly Star-Tribe Bonus
- qualify at 8 Star or higher and recruit and maintain five Team Players or higher, who each recruit and maintain five Team Players or higher = $500 monthly Star-Tribe Bonus
Residual Commissions
PlayCare Health pays residual commissions via a binary compensation structure.
A binary compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a binary team, split into two sides (left and right):
The first level of the binary team houses two positions. The second level of the binary team is generated by splitting these first two positions into another two positions each (4 positions).
Subsequent levels of the binary team are generated as required, with each new level housing twice as many positions as the previous level.
Positions in the binary team are filled via direct and indirect recruitment of affiliates. Note there is no limit to how deep a binary team can grow.
At the end of each week PlayCare Health tallies up new sales volume on both sides of the binary team.
PlayCare Health affiliates earn a percentage of sales volume generated on their weaker binary team side.
Residual commission rates are determined by rank:
- 2 Stars earn an 8% residual commission rate
- 3 Stars earn a 10% residual commission rate
- 4 Stars earn an 11% residual commission rate
- 5 Stars earn a 12% residual commission rate
- 6 Stars earn a 13% residual commission rate
- 7 Stars earn a 14% residual commission rate
- 8 Stars earn a 15% residual commission rate
- 9 Stars earn a 16% residual commission rate
- 10 Stars earn a 17% residual commission rate
Check Match Bonus
4 Star and higher ranked PlayCare Health affiliates qualify for a check match on residual commissions paid to downline affiliates.
The Check Match Bonus has three tiers:
- 10% is paid to the first upline 4 Star or higher
- 10% is paid to the next upline 5 Star or higher
- 10% is paid to the next upline 6 Star or higher
There aren’t any limits to how far up the Check Match Bonus can be paid. If you’re the next required rank upline affiliate, you’ll receive the Check Match Bonus from any depth across your unilevel team.
Revenue Sharing
PlayCare Health takes 1% of company-wide revenue and pays it out to 10 Star ranked affiliates.
10 Star ranked affiliates earn a share in the Revenue Sharing pool each week they maintain rank.
Shares are earned over a recurring twelve-week period, effectively meaning Revenue Sharing is paid out quarterly.
Joining PlayCare Health
Basic PlayCare Health affiliate membership costs $59.90 annually.
To be able to qualify for all commissions and bonuses in PlayCare Health’s compensation plan, new affiliates must sign up with a $399 Power Play Pack.
Although not explicitly clarified, I believe after the first year Power Play Pack affiliates also have to pay $59.90 annually.
PlayCare Health Conclusion
There’s no getting around Ron Williams launching a new MLM opportunity annually since ForeverGreen imploded.
In researching what Williams had been up to since we last saw him here on BehindMLM, I came across this (unverified) account from someone claiming to be a former ForeverGreen employee:
In college I worked for a multi level marketing company. I was a bilingual customer service rep so not a recruit 😆. I was highly underpaid but the schedule was flexible.
The company started going under really quickly and the CEO asked us to “help save some money”. We were told we would be taking turns in cleaning the entire building.
But guess what car he drove. Yup, Porsche! Guess what class of service he flew.
I can’t believe I worked for such scam. They’re now out of business.
Sooo many people believed his BS. We listened to many inspirational talks given by him 🙄
I’m referencing this account because Ron Williams’ “inspirational talks” are on full display in PlayCare Health’s marketing.
Every video is Williams banging on about positivity and personal development cliches. Williams has firmly latched onto the pandemic and current economic climate, hoping to use them to his advantage.
There are of course plenty of people and companies (MLM and non-MLM) doing this. But within the context of due-diligence, it’s important to factor William’s past into PlayCare Health’s marketing approach.
Moving on to PlayCare Health’s products, we have a heart rate monitor and app combined with LaCore Labs supplements.
The supplement line is pretty forgettable. You can probably get similar through other LaCore Enterprises companies. Active ingredients are provided so shop around for comparisons.
My interest is in the HeartMath device – which, let’s face it, is what differentiates PlayCare Health from being just another LaCore Enterprises supplement company.
HeartMath claims their “scientifically validated HeartMath techniques” can “guide you to a state of higher Coherence”.
This is done by attaching the heart rate monitor to your ear, connecting that to your phone via bluetooth, and trying to keep your “heart rhythm” between a determined range.
Hearing the word “science”, I went looking for peer-reviewed scientific studies.
HeartMath products, tools and techniques are based on over 25 years of scientific research conducted at the HeartMath Institute on the psychophysiology of stress, emotions, and the interactions between the heart and brain.
There are over 300 peer-reviewed or independent studies utilizing HeartMath techniques or technologies to achieve beneficial outcomes that have been published.
On that same page, none of these studies are provided.
So you’re probably wondering how, after clipping the monitor to your ear and staring at your phone, does one modify their heart rate to achieve the desired result. HeartMath calls this “coherence”.
My first thought was “this is just meditation” but, while breathing does factor into it, HeartMath is adamant their “coherence is not relaxation”.
An important point is that the state of coherence is both psychologically and physiologically distinct from the state achieved through most techniques for relaxation.
At the physiological level, relaxation is characterized by an overall reduction in autonomic outflow (resulting in lower HRV) and a shift in ANS balance towards increased parasympathetic activity.
Coherence is also associated with a relative increase in parasympathetic activity, thus encompassing a key element of the relaxation response, but is physiologically distinct from relaxation in that the system oscillates at its natural resonant frequency and there is increased harmony and synchronization in nervous system and heart–brain dynamics.
I see. So um, how does one go about this… coherence?
The main difference between the HeartMath tools and most commonly practiced breathing techniques is the HeartMath tools’ focus on the intentional generation of a heartfelt positive emotional state.
Think happy thoughts. You’re clipping a heart monitor to your ear and thinking happy thoughts.
Or as Scott Alexander, a “psychiatrist on the US West Coast” puts it;
The Quick Coherence Technique is a relaxation/focusing exercise where you concentrate on your heart area, breathe deeply while imagining the breath coming through your heart, and imagine a happy situation.
According to HeartMath, this causes your heart rhythm to enter a state called “coherence”, which looks like a sine wave on graphs of heart rate variability and which can be detected by cheap and simple monitoring devices.
Alexander wasn’t happy about HeartMath coming into his hospital for a third time back in 2014. His writeup, published that same year, is worth a read (so are the comments below the blog entry).
The general retail price for an ear clip heart monitor seems to be between $20 to $30 USD. I found the exact same model in an FCC listing, dating back to 2016.
For pricing we hit Alibaba, but while close and delivering what appears to be the same functionality, it’s not the exact same model:
Bearing in mind HeartMath’s app is given away “for free”, I’ll leave it up to you on whether $199 is justified.
I noted HeartMath has it’s own 10% one-level affiliate program. I believe PlayCare Health has signed up as an affiliate, with their 10% commission funding MLM commissions on sales of the device.
As for the rest of PlayCare Health’s compensation plan, retail is present but not a particularly strong focus.
For some reason only one retail customer is required, regardless of whether you’re generating 300 or 500,000 GV a month. I think retail customers should scale with sales volume across PlayCare Health’s ranks.
The intent however appears to be a match on an affiliate’s own monthly autoship order.
A PLAYER is required to meet a minimum of 75 PQV to be eligible to earn a rank and commissions in a commissionable period.
Most PLAYERS choose to be PQV qualified with their personal orders, using the convenient AUTOPLAY.
For example, when you purchase your product for 75 PQV or more, this purchase qualifies you for 4 weeks.
Framing affiliate purchases as commission qualification lends itself to pyramid recruitment. This would occur if a PlayCare Health affiliate had their own spend, one retail customer and a boatload of recruited affiliates.
Zoomed out, company-wide if PlayCare Health’s generated sales volume was primarily from recruited affiliates, with just a token retail customer per affiliate, that’d be a pyramid scheme.
It’s a bit of a shame as some effort has been put into retail customer generation, provided their on autoship.
Retail customers on autoship get 10% of their order in rewards points, each of which knocks $1 off their next order.
The recruitment counter to this is the Star-Tribe Bonus, which is aimed at getting you on autoship and recruiting others who do the same.
One last thing I found odd was, whereas there are typically no volume requirements to earn retail commissions, PlayCare Health locks them behind the monthly 75 PV requirement.
Again the idea is, as an affiliate, you’re on a 75 min PV monthly autoship.
Between Ron Williams’ MLM history over the past few years, questionable pricing for a heart rate monitor, “me too” supplements and a compensation plan light on retail, PlayCare Health isn’t something you want to hastily jump into.
Not if you’re spending $399 for a Power Play Pack, which you’ll need to fully unlock the compensation plan. Pay to play again lends itself to pyramid recruitment.
Approach with caution.