Is MOBE a Scam? (Yes, It’s been Shut Down by FTC!)
Update June 2018:
Just like Digital Altitude, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has taken action against MOBE for bilking more than $125 Million from thousands of consumers worldwide with fraudulent business education program.
Finally, I can rightfully claim MOBE (My Own Business Education) by Matt Lloyd as a SCAM!
Here's the proof from FTC:
FTC Action Halts MOBE, a Massive Internet Business Coaching Scheme
Tired of Scams?
Welcome to my MOBE review!
First of all, I have to say, MOBE is NOT a scam. There is a ton of value in this company. However, I really need to warn you to stay away from it and I'll explain to you exactly why is that so in this review...
But first, if you've done your own research on this company, you'll know that MOBE is very controversial and extreme.
MOBE affiliates will promote this program to you heavily and claim it as the best training company in the world to help you succeed online.
Just take a look at John Chow, world famous blogger, he's one of the top earners in MOBE and I'm sure MOBE is his best income source.
On the other hand, skeptics and critics of MOBE will strongly condemn this program. Some of them will even call it a MLM or a pyramid scheme.
So, who is right and who should you listen to? Is it really the best program to help you make money online? Or is MOBE a scam?
I'm not an affiliate of MOBE so why not give my review a shot. I'll provide you with the most comprehensive and easy-to-understand facts for you to make your decision...
MOBE Review Summary
Product Name: MOBE
Founder: Founded by Matthew Lloyd Mcphee (aka Matt Lloyd) in 2011
Product Type: Business Training Company
Price: $49 + a TON of upsells up to $29,997
Best For: People who have thousands of dollars to invest in the first place
Summary: MOBE is a legit company providing lots of valuable training to help you succeed both online and offline. The most controversial part of this company is its "affiliate program". It's good for those who have the money to invest and use money to make money. But not for the rest. And I firmly believe most of its products are severely overpriced!
Rating: 45/100
Recommended: No
More...
This will be a very in-depth review of MOBE. Please use the Navigation Menu below to find the information you're looking for:
What is MOBE?
MOBE currently stands for "My Own Business Education". I said "currently" because its name keeps on changing.
Initially, it was called "My Online Business Empire". Then it was changed to "My Online Business Education", and now "My Own Business Education". Basically, they're all the same.
According to MOBE...
"MOBE is a business training company catering to small business owners and entrepreneurs."
They offer quite a lot of help & resources, such as:
- Online Training Products (video or text format, including webinar)
- Services (e.g. coaching, done-for-you sales funnels, 1-on-1 support, etc.)
- Live Training Events
- Exclusive Mastermind Groups
I mentioned that they have a ton of valuable training. This is evident on their website homepage:
They also have a marketplace where all of their courses are located.
One of the benefits of this marketplace is that if you have your own course, you can put it on their marketplace and other affiliates can help you promote your course as well.
So, what are all these courses about?
Good question!
Some of you might think that the courses are all about things like how to make money online, how to build your websites or even how to blog (since John Chow is such a successful blogger today). That was my thought as well.
To my surprise, they're a lot more than that.
For the online business part, they have training on:
- Traffic generation
- Email marketing
- YouTube marketing
- WordPress
- Facebook Advertising
- Sales funnel
- Twitter marketing and many many more
Apart from online business, they also have training on:
- Personal Development
- Public speaking
- Consulting business
- Leadership
- Startup Business
- Investing (e.g. stock market, global macro investing)
- And even things like Tax Liens Mastery and how to pay less taxes legally
As you can see, the courses inside MOBE is very diverse and covers a wide range of topics.
However, you need to understand that all these courses come with different price pints on their own. Some cost $20 but some cost up to a few thousand dollars.
It's not like a membership thing where you get access to all the resources. If you want to learn how to set up your WordPress blog and also how to generate traffic to your blog, you have to pay for two different courses.
That's why I said these courses are extremely overpriced.
Just take a look at the following example:
This is just a typical personal development course called "The Secrets of Habits" and they claim to teach you how to use habits to achieve your goals things like that. And it costs $97!
Who the hell will spend $97 just to learn how to achieve their goals when there are tons of free information online?
I believe you can learn a lot more by just watching some YouTube videos or listening to Podcasts by Tony Robbins.
How Does MOBE Work?
Listing a ton of courses on their website is just one part of their business. Like I've mentioned in the beginning, the most interesting and controversial part is their "affiliate program".
MOBE is leveraging the affiliate marketing business model to promote their courses.
There are 2 main ways to make money as a MOBE affiliate:
- Promote MOBE's courses
- "Recruit" more people to become affiliates of MOBE (They call it "MOBE Consultant")
However, what I found is that MOBE put A LOT of focus on "recruiting" more members because they have a really attractive and highly profitable "affiliate program" in place.
Have you noticed that I used the word "recruit" and I always put inverted commas for "affiliate program" despite I said MOBE is not a Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) company?
Pretty weird right?
You'll find out very soon in the MOBE Compensation Plan section below.
But first, let's take a look at MOBE's upsells/sales funnels that are waiting for you if you want to join them...
Inside MOBE (Short Overview)
I'm going to be little different here compared to other MOBE reviews. Other people simply list out A LOT of the information for MOBE's different membership levels.
It can be really overwhelming for people reading it and not everyone will be interested in every single detail of the program. That's what makes a review boring.
So what I'm going to do here is to give you a quick overview of the entire core training of MOBE and the prices you're going to pay. This short overview is enough for you to understand how to become a MOBE Consultant and make money.
And if you want to learn more about the details for each level, please go to my next section below to read the full explanation.
Sounds good?
MOBE Core Training
There's a difference between MOBE's core training and all the courses listed on their site. MOBE core training are the different membership levels for its affiliates.
Each position has a different price point and a different set of training. The training is focused on helping you to promote MOBE and make more money as a MOBE Consultant.
The 7 different levels are:
- My Top Tier Business ($49)
- Standard License Right ($19.95/month)
- Silver Masterclass ($2,497)
- Gold Masterclass ($4,997)
- Titanium Mastermind ($9,997)
- Platinum Mastermind ($16,667)
- Diamond Mastermind ($29,997)
My Top Tier Business (MTTB) is the introductory course for MOBE. You'll need to purchase MTTB ($49) and the $19.95/month Standard License Right to become an official MOBE Consultant.
Afterwards, you're only be eligible for commissions for the levels you've personally purchased.
So the higher your membership level, the more potential commissions you can earn. (By the way, that's already a RED FLAG! I'll explain to you in just a moment.)
In short, as a MOBE Consultant, you are basically purchasing their training and resell rights to resell their membership!
If you add all the cost up, it's almost $100K of investment. It's ridiculous.
I know supporters of MOBE and those who are successful with MOBE will say that you can earn a lot more in the process.
Yes, I agree with that. If you put your mind into this business and do whatever it takes to make it happen, you can achieve the kind of success people like John Chow has achieved.
But, I just want to ask, do you even have $3K to invest in the first place? (for Silver Masterclass)
Some of you have but many of you don't (I guess).
If you don't have that money to invest, here's my good news to you...
My top recommended program here allows you to get started for Free. If you decide to become a Premium member, it's just an investment of $49/month and you can have access to all the essential tools & training you need to build a profitable online business. NO further upsells like what MOBE does.
Haven't Made Your First $1 Online?
Studies have shown that more than 70% of the people who want to make money online have not made their first dollar yet. So you're not alone!
Wanna Check Out My Top Recommended Training?
Inside MOBE (The Details)
So for those of you interested in the membership details, this part consists of the essential information you need...
(If you're not interested in the very LOOONG detail of all the membership levels of MOBE, please skip to the Pros & Cons section where I will discuss why MOBE is a good program and why it isn't.)
1. My Top Tier Business (MTTB): 21-Step Introduction
Like I mentioned just now, MTTB is just an introductory course for MOBE. There's a 21-step training with some valuable information, such as:
- What is top tier and why is it a MUST in today’s economy?
- What are the pros and cons of the different systems available?
- What is the missing ingredient 99% miss in business success?
- What business has the highest ratio of success while most other businesses fail?
- How to license a proven & profitable online business?
- How to get the expert support you need to succeed?
- How the right phone sales team makes you money 24/7?
If you're observant enough, you'll realize that the main purpose of this MTTP course is to prepare you mentally for the upcoming upsells they're going to introduce to you.
In fact, once you join MTTP, a coach will be assigned to you to guide you along the way. This can be seen as a very good support for beginners. But what many failed to realize is that the main job of these coaches are to upsell you the back-end products.
Yes, they will help you along the way. But they'll give you a lot of "hints" and make you believe that purchasing their upsells is the right thing to do.
Just take a look at the brief MTTB overview above, all the topics being discussed here are all hinting to you that if you want to make a lot of money, you're going to require a proven system, a great support and the right phone sales team. These elements are all parts of the MOBE program.
For your info, the "coach" system is not uncommon today. There are many other programs, such as Six Figure Mentors and Digital Altitude, which will assign coaches to their new members. And the main job of these coaches is really to upsell you more products.
2. Standard License Right: Become a MOBE Consultant
This is the stage where you can become a MOBE Consultant and officially promote MOBE's products to make money.
It's $19.95 per month. If you want to continue earning commissions from MOBE, you have to keep paying this fee.
With this License Right, you can now promote MTTB to other people and earn a $24.50 commission for every MTTB sale.
Beyond the Standard License Right, there are 5 different Core Training programs listed as follows:
3. Silver Masterclass: Mindset / Mental Foundation
To be honest, this is just a bunch of video training teaching you about the typical mindset stuff like:
- How to increase your productivity
- How to think like the rich
- How to have a success mindset
- What are the habits of successful people
- How to identify your strengths and weaknesses
Yes, I understand that these are extremely important if you really want to succeed. That's why they teach about the mindset first.
But don't forget, this Silver Masterclass costs $2,497 + $27/month if you want to be a part of their Inner Circle. The main product you're getting here are those online training videos.
(P.S. Inner Circle is just a monthly newsletter which you can receive in print or PDF to give extra tips at your membership level.)
Seriously, I can learn all those online by watching YouTube videos or I can read personal development books. Those knowledge doesn't worth $2,497 at all.
You know why?
Because I've attended Tony Robbins' LIVE event before. If you've heard of him, you'll know that he is the World Number One coach/mentor in the a lot of areas such as business, relationship and most importantly personal development.
I can attend his 4-Day LIVE Event at just less than $600. I'm pretty sure you can learn a lot more from the World Number One.
You really don't need to pay $2,497 just to get a bunch of online training videos to learn about personal development. By spending $2,497, you're not even getting a LIVE event or some sort.
That's why I believe the $2,497 is mostly for purchasing the resell right of this product. Being a Silver Masterclass member, you're eligible to earn 50% commission for each Silver Masterclass sale, which is $1,250.
4. Gold Masterclass: Customer Acquisition
Gold Masterclass's main focus is on traffic generation, both Free & Paid. This include strategies like:
- Facebook Ads
- Solo Ads
- Organic Traffic
- Email Marketing
Basically, it's another set of video training focusing on how to get eyeballs onto your website, your offer or anything that you're promoting.
Gold Masterclass costs $4,997 + $64/month for Inner Circle.
With that, you'll also get:
- A 3-Day Live Event called the "Get More Customers Summit"
- Three 30 min private consulting call with your coach
- 50% commission for Gold Masterclass Sale (=$2,500)
5. Titanium Mastermind: Marketing & Sales
From this membership level onward, they are event based learning programs, instead of just online video training.
For Titanium Mastermind, it's focusing on learning marketing & sales strategies to scale your business to 7-figure and beyond.
Things provided in this membership level include:
- 3-Day Marketing & Sales Core Training
- 6 LIVE Summits (Get More Customers Summit, Traffic Summit, Conversion Summit, Leverage Summit, Sales Summit & Joint Venture Summit.)
- Five 30 min private consulting call with your coach
- Earn $3,300 commission per Titanium sale
Titanium Mastermind costs $9,997 + $121/month for Inner Circle. (Note: Accommodation & Food for LIVE Events are not included in the membership cost!)
6. Platinum Mastermind: Long-term Wealth
Platinum Mastermind is a 5-Day LIVE Core Training Event. It covers things like:
- Passive Investment (Wealth Creation)
- Assets & Wealth Protection
- Tax Saving Strategies
With Platinum Mastermind membership, you're eligible for a total of 13 LIVE Events. On top of the ones included in Titanium, you'll are eligible for:
- Super Charge Summit
- The Home Business Summit
- Stock Investing Summit
- Real Estate Investing Summit
- Precious Metal Investing Summit
- Asset Protection Summit
- Prosperity Mindset Summit
Apart from the Summits, you're also provided with 8 private coaching calls and earn $5,500 commission per Platinum sale.
To be honest, there are really some great training here. I believe knowledge on things like real estate, asset protection and prosperity mindset are very important.
But the training here are getting a bit too broad. I mean, not everyone will be interested in stock investing, right?
To me, it feels like they're just adding in more and more training to pump up the value so that they can create another membership level to sell at higher price. What do you think?
Look at precious metal investing. Do you think everyone will be interested? Hell, no!
And that is always why I believe these are just for the sake of having very high-ticket product in place to earn high-ticket commissions.
The focus is no longer on the training already.
By the way, Platinum Mastermind cost $16,667 + $198/month for Inner Circle.
7. Diamond Mastermind: Selling Your Business
One of the most important part of any business is "how to exit". I've heard this kind of advice from many entrepreneurs.
Diamond Mastermind is a 9-Day Advance Training Program focusing on the "exit strategy" of your business, i.e. selling your business to have your biggest payday of your life.
Apart from the main event, you'll also get:
- Done-For-You product & sales funnel
- Training on how to build your own consultancy business and charge a premium fee for your clients
- 12 Private coaching calls
- Earn $10K commission per Diamond sale
Diamond Mastermind cost $29,997 + $295/month for Inner Circle.
Sales Partner Program
Sales Partner Program (SPP) is basically having MOBE's professional sales team help you close all the sales for you.
MOBE has their own phone sales team so if you're not good at selling or you're just a complete newbie, you can rely on their team to do the selling. You don't have to be calling people and pitching for sales.
But there's definitely a trade-off. If you rely on their sales team, your commission per sale will be lower. A part of that will have to go to the team.
MOBE Rewards Program
Last but not least, MOBE has some very attractive Rewards Programs such as MOBE vacations, MOBE Milestones, MOBE Motors, etc...
These are just incentives based on your sales performance. You can earn reward points according to the amount of commission you earn from promoting MOBE.
Then you can use these points to redeem these Rewards Programs.
For example, below is a video by Matt Lloyd, founder of MOBE, explaining the MOBE Motors program and how you can win your dream car:
MOBE Compensation Plan
After understanding what's inside MOBE, it's time to dive into their extremely controversial Compensation Plan.
But before that, I need to raise a few of my concerns here...
MOBE claims that they're using affiliate marketing to promote their membership and their products and it is not a MLM.
Yes, I can see that there's no complicated downline structure in this program so I believe it's not a MLM. But it's also not a "pure" affiliate program either.
Why?
If it's a pure affiliate program, why is it using terms like "compensation plan", "rewards program", "MOBE Consultant"?
If you're familiar with online marketing, you'll know that all these terms are commonly used in MLM companies.
There's no affiliate marketing company out there that will call their own affiliate program as a "compensation plan". You get what I mean?
MOBE's 2-Tier Affiliate Program
Here's the tricky part...
The reason why MOBE is not a "pure" affiliate program is because they have a 2-tier system, which means you can still earn commission from the referral of your referral.
There are no downlines after downlines but there are 2 layers of referrals.
In affiliate marketing, there should only be one level of referrals. You can make money from the referral of your referrals.
That's why MOBE has a pretty blur "compensation plan". It's the combination of affiliate program and MLM compensation plan.
Watch the following video to understand the entire "compensation plan" or "affiliate program" of MOBE:
Also, if you want to understand all the details of MOBE's Core Training and their commission structure, check out their Compensation Plan PDF. It has all the information you need.
Pros & Cons
The Good
1. High-Paying Affiliate Program
You see, MOBE is selling high-ticket products, starting from $2K all the way up to $30K.
From the consumer's point of view, these products are extremely overpriced. But from the affiliate's point of view, high-ticket products means high-ticket commission.
That's why MOBE claims that you can earn up to $10K per sale.
Yes, I believe selling high-ticket products is a great way to make lots of money if you know how to do it.
But it's not so good when you need to spends thousands of dollars to purchase these products yourself.
Not everyone can afford it and I believe your hard earned money can be spent on something more worthwhile.
2. Lots of Valuable Courses & Information
With all the different online and offline training, masterminds, Live events, it's no doubt that you can learn a lot of things from MOBE.
Like you've seen earlier on, they have training in a wide range of topics from online business to personal development to startup and even to investing.
If there's anything you want to learn, I believe they'll have it.
But the downside is that a lot of these courses are severely overpriced.
3. Phone Sales Team
Remember I mentioned about the Sales Partner Program (SPP)?
This is a really good system for you to earn that 4 to 5 figure commission without doing all the selling.
Let's be honest, not everyone of us are good at selling. In fact, a lot of people are afraid of selling. That's why it's very valuable to have a team to professional "closers" to help you.
4. Networking Experience
Last but not least, since MOBE hosts a lot of Live seminars and events, you'll have a lot of networking opportunities to connect and learn from like-mindset people.
I firmly believe the saying that "Your network is your net worth". These valuable opportunities can really help a lot when the time is right.
For example, recently I met a very young millionaire friend from Tony Robbins' Unleash The Power Within. And now, he's helping me to build my passive income stream and we're building on a business together.
Cherish every networking opportunity you have and always have an open-mind!
The Bad
1. 'Pay-to-Play' Program
For a pure affiliate marketing program, you DON'T need to pay anything to join a program and promote a product. That's why I call MOBE a 'play-to-play' program.
I understand that they have some really valuable training and support that justify the price somehow.
But I really hate such system that you are only eligible for commission for the membership levels you've personally purchased.
In fact, if a company has quite a number of membership levels, it's usually a sign for you to stay away from such companies.
2. Upsells Galore
I believe this requires no further explanation. Just look at the number of membership levels and the price for each of them.
In my opinion, it's ridiculous!
3. Extremely Overpriced
Take the examples I used earlier on...
If I can learn directly from Tony Robbins, the World Number One mentor, at $600, why would I purchase a $2K online course and learn from someone I don't even know?
Look at Gold Masterclass...learning about Free & Paid traffic generation methods at $5K?
Come on! I know the training is valuable and helpful. But in today's digital world, it really doesn't worth the price.
4. 2-Tier Affiliate Program
2-Tier Affiliate Program is what makes MOBE's a very controversial company. It doesn't draw a clear line between MLM and affiliate marketing. Instead, it's trying to leverage the benefits of both systems.
To be honest, I rather rely on a much simpler system like Wealthy Affiliate.
5. Sales Coach Strategy
From the very beginning when you enroll in MTTP, the 21-step introductory course, you'll be assigned with a coach. Along your journey, you'll also have the opportunity to work with your coach and consult them privately.
This is a great support system. However, one thing that many failed to realize is that the main goal of these coaches is to convince you to purchase the next upsell and the next and the next.
They'll definitely not show that explicitly. But that is their inherent motive. I've seen this kind of strategy being used in many companies.
6. "F" Rating on BBB
Last but not least, don't just listen to my words. Let's take a look at Better Business Bureau's (BBB) rating.
MOBE has been around since 2011 and it has since became a very huge and influential company worldwide.
However, it's still not accredited by BBB. Not only that, it's rating on BBB website is "F"!
That's really bad.
BBB even had a News report warning people about this program.
In the report, BBB confirmed my point that, "If you do not purchase anything, it is impossible to make any money from them."
Is MOBE a Pyramid Scheme?
Simple answer, NO, MOBE is not a pyramid scheme.
Because it has legit products and services for sale. It's only a pyramid scheme if the only way to make money is by recruiting people into the system.
I know MOBE put a lot of focus on "recruiting" people into the system because they have a very lucrative and attractive "affiliate program".
But they have real products to sell and they don't have a complex downline structure so it's not a pyramid scheme.
MOBE V.S. It's Competitors
This is a very important section.
MOBE has quite a number of competitors. If you've been considering any of them, this part will be very helpful for you to make your best possible decision...
1. MOBE vs Digital Altitude
MOBE is very similar to Digital Altitude. Digital Altitude also has numerous membership levels and you can only earn commission from the levels you've personally purchased. Not only that, their highest upsell costs up to $30K as well!
However, Digital Altitude has been sued by FTC early this year and it's probably going to be shut down because it's identified as a pyramid scheme.
So what's the difference?
MOBE has been around since 2011 and it's still doing well today.
The difference is that MOBE has a ton of training products but Digital Altitude didn't. All they had was the training to teach you how to promote their own memberships. That's what got them into this lawsuit.
Similarities:
- High-ticket products
- High-paying "affiliate programs"
- Numerous membership levels
- Pay-to-play
- Assigned coaches
- Live events
- Phone sales team
Differences:
- DA doesn't have real products or services
- DA's operation has been halt while MOBE is still doing well
2. MOBE vs Six Figure Mentors & Digital Experts Academy
Six Figure Mentors (SFM) & Digital Experts Academy (DEA) are the programs that introduced me to this online marketing world.
However, I'm quit them long ago and I've since been with Wealthy Affiliate till today.
The reasons are very simple...
They are again high-ticket products and mainly focusing on promoting themselves. It's hard for you to build your own online business in whatever niche of your own choice.
You're kind of being forced to promote their membership.
Similarities:
- High-ticket products
- High-paying "affiliate programs"
- Numerous membership levels
- Pay-to-play
- Assigned coaches
- Live events
- Phone sales team
- Still operating
In fact, I can say SFM and DEA are almost the same as Digital Altitude. The reason why they've not been shut down is also probably because they have their own digital products to sell.
Differences:
- SFM & DEA don't have the vast amount of online courses in different like MOBE
- They only focus on digital marketing
- They don't have a Dream Car incentive program
3. MOBE vs Legendary Marketer
Once again, Legendary Marketer is a very similar company with upsells up to $30K.
I'm not sure why is there such a coincidence that their maximum price points are the same for all these companies. I'm guessing it's like a market price for this kind of programs.
Anyway, Legendary Marketer is also the same that they are selling high-ticket products with numerous membership levels.
I just want to show you that all these companies are really really similar to one another.
And that's why I don't recommend all of them.
4. MOBE vs Wealthy Affiliate
Wealthy Affiliate is a little different. Wait no, it's a lot different!
Similarities:
- Affiliate Marketing company
- Have their own affiliate program
- Step-by-Step training
- Live webinar
Differences:
- Wealthy Affiliate only has 2 levels of membership - Free Starter & Premium
- WA doesn't have high-ticket products
- WA's main focus is NOT about promoting themselves. It's about helping people to build their own online business in whatever niche of their choice. And they can promote any products they like.
- No pay-to-play
- WA has a pure affiliate program. No 2-tier or multi-level.
- You can get started for Free!
As you can see, Wealthy Affiliate has a much simpler platform and affiliate program. You don't have to spend thousands of dollars to make money. Instead, you can get started for Free!
The best part about Wealthy Affiliate is that you are not forced to promote their affiliate program. In fact, beginners are encouraged to start with their own niche website first.
So, if you're someone who doesn't have a lot of money to invest in the first place or you don't want to join a program just to promote that program, Wealthy Affiliate is a good platform.
I highly recommend you to give it a shot 🙂
Is MOBE a Scam? (+Conclusion)
Like I've said in the beginning, MOBE is NOT a scam! Nor is it a MLM or a pyramid scheme.
They have a ton of valuable training to help you succeed online and offline.
Yes, you can still apply what you learnt from MOBE to build your own business. You're not forced to promote themselves.
However, they put A LOT of focus on their own "affiliate program". In fact, MOST of the members are just reselling MOBE's membership.
But in order to do that, you have to invest in their overpriced training first.
Conclusion
Overall, MOBE is a very good business training platform which offers a ton of value. The biggest problem is still the price and the controversial "affiliate program".
In fact, according to BBB...
"Many work-from-home offers that require advance payments are not legitimate."
MOBE is one of the programs that require such advance payments. And the payment is a lot.
I'm not saying MOBE is a scam. All I'm saying is that you need to be careful when you can't try a certain program for FREE, just like BBB has warned us.
My #1 Recommendation
Wealthy Affiliate is still my #1 Recommendation.
Yes, MOBE's high-paying commission is very attractive and it can be very lucrative. That's how people like John Chow made their million dollar and own their dream cars.
So everything is achievable if you're willing to put your mind to it and be committed. But the most important thing is that you need to put a lot of your hard earned money into it first, without a guarantee of success.
That's why I recommend you to give Wealthy Affiliate a shot. There's no guarantee to succeed either. But at least you can get started for free.
And if you're satisfied with the community at WA, your Premium Membership fee only cost you $49/month. NO further upsells!