My 1 Dollar Business Review: Powerful $1 System or BS?

Chances are you have heard the sales pitch for My 1 Dollar Business and you want to know if you could really build a profitable home-based business for just $1 or is it some kind of scam? Well, I’ll show you what I found.

The company was launched by Steve Gresham in October of 2016 who claims this is an easy way for people to save money and build a profitable home business at the same time.

In a YouTube video presentation, Steve runs through a hypothetical example where anyone could simply “get 2 people who get 2 people” and make in excess of $10,000 per month. He also explains this as the “perfect feeder program” for any other MLM business opportunity.

It is totally possible to make that kind of money with this system and grow your network, but it’s not quite that simple as I explain.

The Products

The company has 5 main products that are tied in with the affiliate program. I haven’t purchased any of these myself but from what I understand they are all about saving on everyday expenses, your taxes and savings on holidays around the globe among other things.

Unfortunately, the company doesn’t offer these products to retail customers and the only way to get these is to become an affiliate and recruit others first to ‘unlock’ the ability to purchase them. Each product relates to a new “phase” of income as I explain below and you are automatically signed up for these products as you reach certain milestones.

The Compensation Plan

The company uses a downline system known as a ‘2X10 forced matrix’ which means each affiliate can only ever have 2 affiliates directly under them and so on, down 10 levels.

2 Wide Forced Matrix Example

The end result of a complete 2X10 matrix is a total of 2,046 positions on all 10 levels of your downline. Anyone you personally recruit will earn you a 20% recurring commission and anyone that lands within your downline earns you a 5% commission. You can earn up to 25% on every direct referral, regardless of where they land in your 10 level downline.

You see, while you can only have 2 recruits directly underneath you, you can still ‘directly refer’ people into your downline no matter where they actually land.

Quick Example

  • You refer John and Sally who land on your first level which banks you a 25% commission on their $1 joining fee, or 25 cents total commission.
  • John and Sally are super motivated and place another 100 people in your downline without you lifting a finger. This would earn you a 5% commission on all of these, or $5 total.
  • Let’s imagine you now get proactive (while John and Sally do nothing) and recruit the next 100 people on your own. These recruits would count as your direct referrals even though they are way down the line somewhere. Those 100 people would earn you $25 total commission.

Compensation plans can be pretty confusing at the best of times, which is why I like to give these examples to clarify the details. The more you know, the better decision you can make.

Anyways, the total possible commissions you could make from a given matrix depends on how many affiliates you refer directly and how many your team has recruited for you.​

Advancing Through The Matrix Phases​

There are 5 seperate matrices to fill in order to take full advantage of the opportunity the company offers. These are referred to as “phases” and each new phase represents a new 2×10 forced matrix downline allowing you to earn addittional income. 

In order to advance to these higher earning phases you must meet certain criteria and when you do, the system automatically advances you and uses any commissions you have earned up to this point to pay for that advancement.

I’ll break down the costs and income potential based on the whole “get 2 who get 2” concept this company is promoting which I think is a bit of a stretch on how things actually work to be honest. To be successful with a business like this, you will need to recruit WAY more than 2 people that’s for sure.

​The $1 Matrix

This is the starting point with this business and it’s just $1 to get started. Your total income potential with this matrix is $102.70 if you “got 2 who got 2” all the way down 10 levels, more depending how many affiliates you recruit directly.

Phase 1 Matrix

To qualify for this phase you must recruit at least 2 affiliates directly and purchase a $10 per month subscription for some kind of tax saving product. This phase pays out $1,027 or more per month. 

Phase 2 Matrix

To qualify you must have at least 10 people in your phase 1 matrix downline and purchase the $20 per month travel savings subscription. This phase pays out $2,054 or more per month. 

Phase 3 Matrix

To qualify you must have at least 20 people in your phase 2 matrix downline and purchase the $50 per month ‘luxury condo’ subscription. This phase pays out $5,135 or more per month. 

Phase 4 Matrix

To qualify you must have at least 100 people in your phase 3 matrix downline and purchase the $100 per month ‘Pro membership’ package. This phase pays out $10,270 or more per month. 

What exactly you get with this pro membership is not clear at this stage, although it looks like a combination of savings on everyday expenses, travel and so on. It appears much of this is similar to what was offered through Steve’s previous company called Savings Highway which doesn’t appear to be doing very well these days. It may be worth looking into this since the products are very similar.

The Bonuses

There are various bonuses on offer to high performing affiliates as follows:

  • ​Reach phase 4 and refer 10 affiliates who do the same for a 7 night holiday package
  • Reach phase 4 and refer 100 affiliates who do the same for a share in global membership fees
  • Refer 100 affiliates (50 who’ve been at phase 4 for 3 months) for a super affiliate vacation

What I Liked

  • Potentially good savings on various products and services
  • Possible to build a downline quickly given the low barrier to entry

What I Didn’t Like

  • No retail sales happening and a strong emphasis on chain recruiting
  • You are automatically signed up for additional memberships 
  • Difficult to understand the true value of the products before joining
  • No training shown about building your team beyond warm market

Final Thoughts​

It is possible to create an income with something like this and maybe even save some money on products and services you already use. Also, based on what I have seen, there hasn’t been a huge amount of hype and getting to $10k monthly isn’t a crazy claim. At least, for those who know how to get people to the sales page and who get in the early stages.

Unfortunately, it’s never as simple as getting 2 people who get 2 people. That’s just not how these things work. Period. In order to get to the profitable ‘phases’ you will need to do a boatload of recruiting and help your team do the same, since you can only progress when your team ‘follows you through’ each phase and not everyone who joins stays on. It is very important to understand this concept.

For example, you don’t just start filling your ​’phase 2 downline’ once you get there. You must help those from the previous phase and their people from the very first phase qualify or you simply cannot fill your matrix or progress. It is very important to understand this concept as it outlines the sheer volume of recruiting that will be taking place to reach the higher levels of income.

Again, it’s possible, but only if you have the right skill set and only for a set period of time. If you are relying on your warm market, it won’t work out so well. Also, there are only so many people willing to join this in the first place which means recruiting will inevitably slow down.

Once recruiting slows, new members make little money and naturally drop out. When they do, so does their upline and so on. This is the unfortunate reality of a business that places too much emphasis on recruiting instead of retail sales.

The ONLY way people would stay on when recruiting slows is if a large percentage of them were getting genuine value from the actual products themselves. Time will tell how good the savings are and how sustainable the business opportunity really is.

Whatever you decide, hopefully this has given you some insight beyond the sales pitch!

4 thoughts on “My 1 Dollar Business Review: Powerful $1 System or BS?”

  1. Hello. That was a fair article. The company is still extremely young and 11 years in the making. (Disclosure, I am a Phase 1 rep).

    To answer Mohamed above, no you don’t have to wait for your income. You begin earning as soon as you get two people to join you. You automatically upgrade to the next more profitable and benefit-rich Phases when your team has met the requirements. The fee for the next phase will just come out of your current commissions. The fee when you go UP to the next phase automatically, will always be covered by your commissions anyway, and all the rest of the money is yours, and you’ll be paid.

    To Answer Renald. You can only have one account. However another family member in the same household can open an account as well. I believe the limit is two people on one payment method, or two people with accounts in one household.

    Thanks again for the fair article. I am so far very pleased and excited about the company. And yes, you really do save money right away. Like on things you always buy anyway, like cereals, snack foods, milk, soaps, entertainment, etc. $500 worth of coupons soon as you join.

    I am shamelessly going to tell anyone interested that I am a good sponsor and don’t leave my members hanging on their own hoping for the best 🙂 Feel free to contact me if you have any more questions.

    Reply
    • I don’t believe so, no. From what I understand, a portion of your income automatically goes into purchasing the next ‘phase’ though but you income over this should be paid monthly. I could be wrong though, email them and check. That’s what I’d do. Thanks for commenting 🙂

      Reply

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