Elepreneurs’ rebranding as The Happy Co was announced back in February.
Sharing Services Global, Elepreneurs’ parent company, rebranded the MLM company following a fallout with former executive Robert Oblon.
Sharing Services Global is based out of Texas in the US.
The Happy Co has its roots in Elevacity, a travel booking engine themed MLM Oblon launched on or around 2014.
Oblon, a former Sharing Services Global executive, launched Elepreneurs in 2017.
BehindMLM only recently revisited Elepreneurs for an updated review in September 2020.
Based on our research into the company at the time, here’s what went down.
In a memo provided to Elepreneurs affiliates in February 2020, the company accused Oblon of “gross financial misconduct”.
Courtesy of Troy Dooly’s MLM News Desk;
Robert Oblon was removed from the Board of Directors and stripped of his position of authority as a result of gross financial misconduct.
He voluntarily resigned to avoid punitive legal actions arising from his malfeasance.
Oblon would go on to return to the MLM industry with Amplifei, launched earlier this year.
Today Sharing Services Inc. is known as Sharing Services Global Corporation. The company is headed up by CEO John Thatch.
At the time of our last review Elepreneurs was headed up by CEO Keith Halls.
The Happy Co rebranding saw Halls dumped for Bo Short.
Bo Short (right) has a long history in the MLM industry, dating back to Amway (Quixtar) in the 1990s.
Short left Amway in 2001 to launch Passport.
As per an accounting of Short’s MLM history on The Truth About Amway;
That company apparently didn’t do so well and the Passport folk merged into Oasis LifeSciences, which then became Univera LifeSciences.
After Univera LifeSciences Short promoted Max International up until 2008.
In 2009 Short was a “prelaunch partner” with EIRO Energy, a since defunct energy drink company.
There’s a gap of five years here, after which Short joined Jeunesse in 2014.
In 2018 Short signed on as Nerium International’s Chief Sales Officer.
In early 2020 Short signed on as CEO of Nutricellix. That lasted a few months before parent company LaCore Enterprises merged Nutricellix into Uforia Science.
On or around September 2020, Short was appointed President of WorldVentures.
In December 2020 WorldVentures filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Declarations filed as part of related legal proceedings suggest Short was fired after a failed WorldVentures coup led by Michael Poates.
That brings us to The Happy Co’s launch in early 2021.
On paper Short leads The Happy Co as CEO of Elevacity Holdings LLC & Elevacity International Holdings LLC.
There is no executive information provided on The Happy Co’s website. Bo Short isn’t mentioned in any capacity.
Update 16th January 2022 – Research into Hapi Travel Destinations has revealed both it and The Happy Co. are owned by Fai Chen.
Why this information is not provided on The Happy Co.’s website is unclear. /end update
Read on for a full review of The Happy Co’s MLM opportunity.
The Happy Co’s Products
The Happy Co’s product offering builds on what we found last September with Elevacity.
The Happy Co’s products fall in the wellness and skincare niches.
Wellness
- Elevate MAX Daybreak CA Coffee – “we call it MAX because it delivers Mood elevation, Appetite control, and Xtreme energy”, retails at $55 for a 3.2 oz tub (90.6 g)
- Elevate MAX Happy Coffee – seems identical to the Daybreak variant above, retails at $55 for a 3.2 oz tub (90.6 g) or a box of twenty single-serve sachets
- Elevate Nitro Bold Coffee – “gives you energy, focus, motivation and promotes muscle-pumping nitric oxide”, retails at $65 for a 3.2 oz tub (92 g) or twenty single-serve sachets
- Elevate Smart Coffee – “Better focus. Better energy. Better flavor. Same great mood elevation.”, retails at $55 for a 4.7 oz tub (133 g) or twenty single-serve sachets
- Choclevate Happy Chocolate – “a unique combination of natural nootropics delivers the kind of happy that doesn’t stop after the delicious taste goes away”, retails at $55 for a 6.4 oz tub (181 g) or twenty single-serve sachets
- ElavaciTea Georgia Peach – “southern sweet tea with delicious, natural Georgia Peach flavor in every sip”, retails at $55 for a 4.6 oz tub (131 g)
- ElevaciTea Vanilla Chai – “expect sustained energy, elevated mood, and weight loss”, retails at $55 for a 7.5 oz tub (212 grams) or twenty single-serve sachets
- Elevate Zest Happy Lemonade – “Afternoon energy. Craving control. Happiness … on demand”, retails at $55 for a 5.29 oz tub (150 g)
- Zest Plus Happy Lemonade – “the taste is smoother, the appetite suppression is more significant and your focus will be OFF THE CHARTS!”, retails at $65 for a 5.6 oz tub (160 g)
- Liquid Sunshine Defense Drops – “Zinc, Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Vitamin E, Echinacea, and a warm ray of sunshine from Vitamin D3”, retails at $28.95 for a 2 fl. oz. bottle (59.14 ml)
- Unwined Chill Drink – “like wine, without the alcohol or bitter taste”, retails at $65 for a 2.3 oz tub (66.24 g)
- Elevate MAX+ Energy Caps – “we call them “magic capsules” because your perspective goes from black & white to technicolor”, retails at $65 for a box of 30 capsules
- Elevate Pure 2.0 – “may eliminate harmful toxins that challenge your health, clog up your organs, and dampen your mojo”, retails at $65 for a 2 fl. oz. bottle (60 ml)
- XanthoMax Happy Caps – xanthohumol supplement, retails at $55 for a bottle of 30 capsules or a bag of 20 blister pack capsules
- KetoCre Keto Creamer – “puts your body into weight loss mode”, retails at $65 for a 15.9 oz pouch (450 g)
- Extreme Energy Patch – “vitamins, minerals, adaptogens and natural extracts deliver pure, clean, productive, fatigue-fighting energy”, retails at $50 for a thirty-day supply
- Hangover Defense Patch – “if you don’t want to wake up feeling bad after a night of feeling good, just put on this little patch”, retails at $50 for a thirty-day supply
- Sound Sleep Patch – “delivers a special time-released blend of natural ingredients to help you get to sleep, stay asleep and may even help you lose weight while you sleep”, retails at $50 for a thirty-day supply
The Happy Co’s wellness products are also available in various discounted bundle packs.
Skincare
- Eller Facial Serum – “your skin will look noticeably better or we’ll take the bottle back”, retails at $67.50 a bottle
- Eller Moor Mud Mask – “a spa-quality facial in the comfort of your own home”, retails at $27.50 for a box of ten sachets
- Timeless Eye Gel – “Firm. Tighten. Hydrate. Nourish.”, retails at $55 for a 0.33 oz bottle (10 ml)
The Happy Co’s Compensation Plan
The Happy Co’s compensation plan is functionally identical to Elepreneurs as reviewed last September.
The only difference is the renaming of the first “Elepreneurs” affiliate rank to “Brand Partner”.
The Happy Co Affiliate Ranks
There are thirteen affiliate ranks within The Happy Co’s compensation plan.
Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:
- Brand Partner – sign up as a The Happy Co affiliate
- Star – generate and maintain 80 PV or 240 RPV a month, refer and maintain one retail customer who orders at least 40 RPV a month and generate 1250 GV a month
- Bronze – maintain 80 PV or 240 RPV a month, refer and maintain two retail customers who order at least 40 RPV a month each and generate 2500 GV a month
- Silver – maintain 80 PV or 240 RPV a month, refer and maintain three retail customers who order at least 40 RPV a month each and generate 5000 GV a month (max 90% from any one recruitment leg)
- Gold – maintain 80 PV or 240 RPV a month, refer and maintain four retail customers who order at least 40 RPV a month each and generate 10,000 GV a month (max 80% from any one recruitment leg)
- Platinum – maintain 80 PV or 240 RPV a month, refer and maintain six retail customers who order at least 40 RPV a month each and generate 20,000 GV a month (max 70% from any one recruitment leg)
- Diamond – maintain 80 PV or 240 RPV a month, refer and maintain eight retail customers who order at least 40 RPV a month each and generate 40,000 GV a month (max 60% from any one recruitment leg)
- Black Diamond – maintain 80 PV or 240 RPV a month, refer and maintain eight retail customers who order at least 40 RPV a month each and generate 80,000 GV a month (max 50% from any one recruitment leg)
- Royal Black Diamond – maintain 80 PV or 240 RPV a month, refer and maintain eight retail customers who order at least 40 RPV a month each and generate 150,000 GV a month (max 50% from any one recruitment leg)
- Ambassador – maintain 80 PV or 240 RPV a month, refer and maintain eight retail customers who order at least 40 RPV a month each and generate 300,000 GV a month (max 40% from any one recruitment leg)
- Crown Ambassador – maintain 80 PV or 240 RPV a month, refer and maintain eight retail customers who order at least 40 RPV a month each and generate 500,000 GV a month (max 40% from any one recruitment leg)
- Royal Crown Ambassador – maintain 80 PV or 240 RPV a month, refer and maintain eight retail customers who order at least 40 RPV a month each and generate 1,000,000 GV a month (max 40% from any one recruitment leg)
- Triple Crown Ambassador – maintain 80 PV or 240 RPV a month, refer and maintain eight retail customers who order at least 40 RPV a month each and generate 2,000,000 GV a month (max 40% from any one recruitment leg)
PV stands for “Personal Volume” and is sales volume generated by a The Happy Co affiliate’s own purchases.
RPV stands for “Retail Personal Volume” and is sales volume generated by personally referred retail customers.
GV stands for “Group Volume” and is RPV generated by an affiliate and their downline.
The Happy Co’s compensation plan states that PV is excluded from rank calculation volume, with the exception of Happier and Happiest Packs.
The volume from personal orders (PV) does not count towards Rank Qualifications (with the exception of Happier and Happiest Packs in the first month).
Rank-based Commission Caps
The Happy Co caps monthly commissions earned by affiliates based on rank:
- Brand Partners can earn up to $750 a month
- Stars can earn up to $1250 a month
- Bronzes can earn up to $2500 a month
- Silvers can earn up to $5000 a month
- Golds can earn up to $7500 a month
- Platinums can earn up to $12,500 a month
- Diamonds can earn up to $20,000 a month
- Black Diamonds can earn up to $32,500 a month
- Royal Black Diamonds can earn up to $50,000 a month
- Ambassadors can earn up to $70,000 a month
- Crown Ambassadors and higher have no income cap
Although not explicitly stated, I believe the caps apply to all earnable commissions and bonuses.
Retail Commissions
The Happy Co pays retail commissions on retail customer purchases.
Retail commissions are 10% to 20%, calculated based on the difference between the wholesale and retail price of products ordered.
Note that retail autoship orders only pay out 10%. Trial packs pay out $10.
Customer Acquisition Bonus
The Customer Acquisition Bonus rewards The Happy Co affiliates for referring retail customers.
The Customer Acquisition Bonus is a three-tier bonus, calculated monthly as follows:
- refer three or four new retail customers in a month and receive a $25 CAB
- refer five or six new retail customers in a month and receive a $50 CAB
- refer seven or more new retail customers in a month and receive a $100 CAB
Note that in order to count towards CAB qualification, new retail customers must place an 80 PV or higher order.
Recruitment Commissions
The Happy Co pays commissions on the recruitment of new affiliates who sign up with optional packs.
Recruitment commissions are coded and based on how much a newly recruited affiliate spends when they sign up.
- recruit a Happier Pack affiliate and receive $75
- recruit a Happiest Pack affiliate and receive $150
A coded bonus is paid based on tiers, which are in turn tied to The Happy Co affiliate ranks:
- Brand Partner to Silver are tier 1
- Gold and Platinum are tier 2
- Diamond to Royal Black Diamond are tier 3
- Ambassador and higher are tier 4
Coded bonuses paid out on the Happier and Happiest Packs are as follows:
- Happier Pack tiers 2 to 4 – $12.50 on each tier
- Happiest Pack tiers 2 to 4 – $25 on each tier
The coded nature of the tier commissions sees higher ranks able to collect the difference in commissions paid to lower ranked affiliates in their downline.
If we use the Happiest Pack as an example, $75 ($25 divided by 3) is paid as a coded bonus on each Happiest Pack affiliate recruited.
If a tier 2 ranked affiliate recruits a Happiest Pack affiliate, they receive the $150 base commission plus a $25 coded bonus.
This leaves $50 to be paid out ($75 minus $25).
The system searches upline for either a tier 3 or tier 4 affiliate to pay the remaining coded bonus out to.
If a tier 3 affiliate is found first, they receive their $25 share and system searches further upline for a tier 4 affiliate to pay the remaining $25 out to.
If a tier 4 affiliate is found first, they receive the remaining $50 coded bonus.
Note that anytime a tier 4 affiliate recruits a Happier or Happiest Pack affiliate, they receive the full coded bonus with nothing passed upline ($37.50 and $75 respectively).
Residual Commissions
The Happy Co pays residual commissions via a unilevel compensation structure.
A unilevel compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a unilevel team, with every personally recruited affiliate placed directly under them (level 1):
If any level 1 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 2 of the original affiliate’s unilevel team.
If any level 2 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 3 and so on and so forth down a theoretical infinite number of levels.
The Happy Co caps payable unilevel team levels at ten.
Residual commissions are paid as a percentage of funds generated across these ten levels as follows:
- Brand Partners earn 7% on level 1 (personally recruited affiliates) and 6% on level 2
- Stars earn 7% on level 1, 6% on level 2 and 5% on level 3
- Bronzes earn 7% on level 1, 6% on level 2, 5% on level 3 and 4% on level 4
- Silvers earn 7% on level 1, 6% on level 2, 5% on level 3, 4% on level 4 and 3% on level 5
- Golds earn 7% on level 1, 6% on level 2, 5% on level 3, 4% on level 4, 3% on level 5 and 2% on level 6
- Platinums earn 7% on level 1, 6% on level 2, 5% on level 3, 4% on level 4, 3% on level 5 and 2% on levels 6 and 7
- Diamonds earn 7% on level 1, 6% on level 2, 5% on level 3, 4% on levels 5 and 6 and 3% on levels 6 and 7
- Black Diamonds earn 7% on level 1, 6% on level 2, 5% on levels 3 and 4 and 4% on levels 5 to 7
- Royal Black Diamonds earn 7% on level 1, 6% on level 2 and 5% on levels 3 to 7
- Ambassadors earn 5% on levels 1 to 5, 6% on levels 6 and 7 and 1% on level 8
- Crown Ambassadors earn 4% on levels 1 and 2, 5% on levels 3 to 5, 6% on levels 6 and 7, 2% on level 8 and 1% on level 9
- Royal Crown Ambassadors earn 3% on levels 1 and 2, 4% on levels 3 and 4, 5% on level 5, 6% on level 6, 7% on level 7, 3% on level 8, 2% on level 9 and 1% on level 10
- Triple Crown Ambassadors earn 2% on levels 1 and 2, 3% on level 3, 4% on level 4, 5% on level 5, 6% on level 6, 7% on level 7, 4% on level 8, 3% on level 9 and 2% on level 10
Leadership Bonus
The Happy Co rewards Platinum and higher ranked affiliates with a monthly Leadership Bonus:
- Platinums receive $400
- Diamonds receive $600
- Black Diamonds receive $800
- Royal Black Diamonds receive $1000
Diamond Pool
The Happy Co takes 0.5% of monthly company-wide sales volume and places it into the Diamond Pool.
Diamond and higher ranked affiliates qualify for a share in the pool, which is paid monthly.
Shares in the Diamond Pool are calculated pro-rata on GV generated by each affiliate (i.e. their GV contribution as a percentage of the total GV of every qualifying affiliate).
Ambassador Pool
The Happy Co takes 1.5% of monthly company-wide sales volume and places it into the Diamond Pool.
Ambassador and higher ranked affiliates qualify for a share in two pools, which are paid monthly.
The first is a 0.5% pool, in which an equal share is distributed monthly to all qualifying Ambassador and higher ranked affiliates.
The second is a 1% pool, in which shares are calculated pro-rata on GV generated by each affiliate (i.e. their GV contribution as a percentage of the total GV of every qualifying affiliate).
Joining The Happy Co
Basic The Happy Co affiliate membership is $49.
Optional pack memberships are also available:
- Happier Pack – $299
- Happiest Pack – $549
The difference between the packs and regular The Happy Co affiliate membership is bundled products.=
Conclusion
One of the most important lessons from writing at school was “show, don’t tell”.
By rebranding as “The Happy Co”, my initial impression is Sharing Services Global is trying too hard.
Imagine if a car company came out with a new family model named “The Safe Car”. Or a sport model named “The Fast Car”.
It comes off as wanky and that’s how I feel about “The Happy Co”.
This is strictly a marketing critique, it has nothing to do with the substance of the company itself.
Unfortunately the “happy” marketing carries into The Happy Co’s product line. Whereas Elepreneurs was pretty fluffy to begin with, The Happy Co’s marketing cranks it up even further.
Take the official product description for Elevate Zest Happy Lemonade;
It’s the world’s first “Happy Lemonade.” Actually, it’s more of a zippy, zingy, citrusy lemon-lime.
Very unique. Fresh. Sunny. Bright. Goes down easy. Basically, what summer tastes like. Afternoon energy. Craving control. Happiness … on demand.
It’s powdered lemonade mix. What are you talking about?
By adding “happy” to everything, some of the product branding is off too.
XanothMax Happy Caps, for example, sounds like something I’d buy from a dealer in a dark alley on a Saturday night.
Obviously its far too late to rethink the branding at this point, but as a potential The Happy Co affiliate this is something to think about.
Are you going to able to market these products and the company with a straight face?
And even if you play into the… happiness of it, is anyone going to take you seriously?
This is a recurring theme. I wasn’t comfortable with Elepreneur’s pseudo-medical “D.O.S.E” marketing either.
The products themselves lean heavily into “happiness” marketing, which I’m not a fan of. I got the impression Elepreneurs see their product range as an alternative to people who aren’t feeling happy (read: depressed).
Surprisingly with the rebrand, The Happy Co has leaned even further into that concern.
One last thing I want to mention regarding the products is that some of The Happy Co’s offerings have been literally halved in cost.
Elepreneur’s D.O.S.E. Choclevate was $105 for a 6.4 oz tub. The Happy Co’s Choclevate Happy Chocolate is $55 for a 6.4 oz tub.
Elepreneur’s D.O.S.E. Zest was $105 for a 5.29 oz tub. The Happy Co’s Elevate Zest Happy Lemonade is $55 for a 5.29 oz tub.
Assuming no corners have been cut on the manufacturing side, this a big win for consumers of the products.
Or a poor reflection of Elepreneurs’ pricing if you were a customer of the products prior to the rebrand.
Not having visible company executives does The Happy Co no favors. If anything, it presents a dystopian image of forced happiness.
Yeah, you’re gonna be happy whether you want to be or not. And we’ve got the products you need to buy to make it happen.
As a consumer the branding just rubs me up the wrong way.
Bo Short made a bad decision in WorldVentures, leading to his termination.
Other than a revolving door of MLM companies these last few years though, that seems to be a blip on the radar.
Hopefully Short learnt his lesson and WorldVentures was a one-off. And maybe this position will stick.
Seeing as The Happy Co’s compensation plan is no different to my last Elepreneurs review, the points raised then are still valid.
I still think the 300% increase in required retail volume could be reduced at the lower ranks, but given the retail customer requirements this isn’t necessarily critical.
I’m definitely not keen on capping earnings based on rank, as someone could be punching above their weight volume wise and having commissions withheld. When you factor in the retail customer requirements however, you could look at it as incentive to personally build your retail customer-base if you want to earn more on your downline.
I’m still in two minds about it as you don’t typically see unilevel-based compensation plans capping commissions based on rank.
One other thing that stood out was the reduced unilevel team percentages.
I know the idea is that deeper levels receive corresponding percentage increases but still, at those depths your relying on people multiple levels down from you to build.
Your own efforts are diminished by reduced percentages, which I imagine can be disheartening.
On the flip side;
Retail sales are not only encouraged, they’re required and that’s great to see.
I stand by that, and I’m glad to see The Happy Co didn’t cut the retail focus from Elepreneurs’ compensation plan.
I’ll finish up with the same conclusion I wrote in our Elepreneurs 2.0 review which, post-rebrand, is even more applicable;
Before you gung-ho with the happiness marketing, please try the products first and evaluate whether they actually have any effect on your happiness.
Not sure how you’d quantify that on an individual level, much the less from a marketing angle – but that’s the branding Elepreneurs have opted to go with.
Good luck!