Are you intrigued with programs that sell the lifestyle dream and claims to have ‘the formula’ to achieve online success? Well, I am – not because I want to chase that dream – but I wish to know what is actually being taught by these so-called experienced millionaires. My curiosity leads me to investigate the Six Figure Mentors cost of joining and the hype that surrounds it.
What’s so great about this program? Should you join? Let’s find out.
What Is SFM?
Created by Stuart Ross and Jay Kubassek in 2010, SFM portrays itself as an educational platform that provides high quality training, tools, resources and community support for anyone who wants to start or accelerate the growth of their online business.
What determines your success, as stated in their disclaimer, is ultimately how much effort you put into the program. Totally agreeable. Since this is not the typical get-rich-quick kind of thing, I thought I’d give the free trial a go and see what’s inside.
The Pros
1) The program has a professional looking website (not a squeeze page) that explains what are being offered in great details.
2) There are quite a number of video clips from the members, used as testimonials and from Stuart himself for training purposes. At least you get to see some real people in action.
3) When you sign up, a consultant will be assigned to help you with sales related questions, but this only applies if you choose to promote SFM as an affiliate.
4) The program recommends using WordPress, which I think is a good foundation for any online business start-up. They even take away the technical side of things by using their own hosting system called the Digital Business Lounge.
5) The training are quite extensive, ranging from step-by-step modules to video tutorials facilitated by Stuart and other experienced marketers.
Next, comes the big question. How much does the program cost? Unfortunately, the answer isn’t as straightforward as you might think.
The Cons
1) In the free trial application, you’d be asked for your credit card information before granting an access. Honestly, I am not a big fan of this because it gives the organization an upper hand to charge whenever they want and it’s cumbersome to go around and delete the account.
2) As far as knowledge gain is concerned, there’s very little to expect from the free trial. You only learned about the basics of online selling. No hands on whatsoever.
3) Clearly, this technique is to steer you towards buying their higher plans and/or other in-house tools. Do the math after you study the list below and see how much you are willing to fork out for the full features of the program.
Membership Upsells;
- Essential Enrollment Fee – $297/time
- Monthly Membership – $97/month (gives FULL access to training and community support, but the Essential Enrollment is a prerequisite)
- ELITE Mastermind – $2500/year (gives MORE training coverage and commission perks, but becoming an Essential member is a prerequisite)
Product Upsells;
- Digital Business Lounge – $37 or $67/month (software that hosts and creates WordPress websites)
- Simple Lead Capture – $29.95/month (software that creates lead pages)
- Graphix Creator – $99 (software that creates designs for digital products)
- Simple Trakk – $9.95/month (software to track marketing efforts)
And as if those aren’t enough to confuse you, there’s more. The SFM also promotes a premium online education platform under a different brand called the Digital Experts Academy (DEA) that they hope to someday replace the higher education curriculum by 2025 (very ambitious).
DEA Membership Upsells;
- Silver – $3,000
- Gold – $8,000
- Platinum – $11,000
- Black – $20,000
Crazy price tags, right? Makes me wonder, who has that kind of money to spend online, anyway?
3) In the introductory module, Stuart advocated the importance of choosing high ticket items (preferably 4 figures) as the core selling products because hey, they make more profits, right? This gives me the feeling that he actually wants members to promote the Elite Mastermind more than anything else.
4) I am sure Stuart has a lot of knowledge under his belt and his training advice is probably worth a million bucks, but I was really keen to know if any of the in-house tools he recommends were up to standards.
Well, I discovered that the Simple Lead Capture is still in beta-testing, the Graphix Creator is so-so, the Digital Business Lounge is not really working and the Simple Trakk software is way outdated. Seriously Stu, is this what you are offering to people who are paying 4 figures for your program?
After these revelations, it seems to me that SFM has many red flags hidden behind what looks like a professional education platform on the outside. I would be very cautious before signing up for any of their products.
Demystifying The SFM Principles
Having started my own online business from scratch, I had to disagree with some of the things that were taught/recommended by this program and would like to offer some advice for you.
- You don’t need expensive training kit, or high-end software to launch a business. Practically speaking, you would need a website and learn what keyword research is all about. Until you know how to drive good quality traffic with these two, all the other shiny objects are secondary.
- High ticket products are great, but they are less affordable to the general public. Something that is expensive will take people a longer time to consider and hence, delaying the purchasing cycle (meaning up to the point that they actually pay for something).
- A profitable niche is not determined by the price tag of a product and certainly not limited to just digital ones. It has a lot more to do with current shopping trends, consumer behaviors, affordability and the overall value that makes people want to buy them online.
- As for the in-house tools, I must say that there are more reputable lead capture software out there, the free Canva is great for graphic designing and Google Analytics is by far, the most comprehensive tool that you can use for tracking sales.
So, my verdict is that the Six Figure Mentors cost of joining is not really worth it. For a dollar a day, you can build a WordPress website, get access to training AND a keyword tool at the Wealthy Affiliate platform. Their program features are second to none when it comes to helping people like you, start an online business.
I hope this review has given you a better sense of direction in selecting a program for your online venture. Take a look around WA and if you have any thoughts or questions, just leave them in the comment below and I’ll get back to you.
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Very thorough and reliable research, thank you, Cathy. I’ve been worried about these scams for years, luckily I have never parted with any cash, just my time trying to figure out the scams. You explain it well.
I agree that having to give up your payment details just for a free trial gives the company the upper hand and is quite wrong. You shouldn’t have to reveal anything just for a free trial. I am also not a fan of paying lots of money to get the actual hands-on experiences. Sounds like Six Figure Mentors is mostly in this for the money. Not actually helping people.
Honestly, the SFM program sounds like a total rip-off. It almost sounds like a scam. Who in their right mind would pay those prices for products that you describe as mediocre?
I’m surprised they’re still in business. They are providing expensive products that don’t deliver what they promise.
Did you investigate to see if anyone was making money with their systems?
Yup, most of my ‘investigation’ lead me to scam reviews which pretty much say it all. The program exists to take as much money out as possible from the members. There’s nothing in the system that’s worth investing. All the software that I could access are faulty or no longer in operation so this is something the public should know.
Hi, Cathy. As soon as I saw the name Jay Kubassek as being one of the co-founders of this Six-Figure Mentors program my ears perked up, as well as my eyes staring at his name.
It is not necessary to get into long details, but I know Kubassek from a program that I got foolishly involved with a little over a decade ago. I got into this program through Jay and he was my mentor. He also eventually got kicked out of an MLM program because of illegal recruiting techniques that he practiced which all were against this company’s policies.
So, Kubassek who I remember always wanted to become a millionaire has created a program that involves a lot of upsells. It is clear that a person perhaps interested in pursuing this venture had better understand that it would be in his/her best interests to invest $$$ in these various up-sells.
It truly upsets me when a program, such as this one, is always so willing to withhold all aspects regarding educational training that a member could receive in trying to create a successful revenue-generating online business. That is unless he/she, almost being extorted, would be willing to pay to receive more of the company’s training.
The most absurd up sell is the one that Kubassek and his co-founder Stuart Ross have in play – $2,500/year for the “Elite Mastermind” program. No thanks!
The fact as seen in your graph that for the price of at most $2,500/year a member would not receive his/her own dedicated website, (nor it being hosted by this company), no keyword research tool, and finally no way to contact Kubassek and Ross themselves for one-on-one counseling is further proof that this is one opportunity to pass on completely.
A person would be much better off investing much less money to join the program that you compared Six-Figure mentors to, Wealthy Affiliate.
Hey Jeff, thank you for sharing your experience with us. Seems like Jay has got some past history that we need to watch out for.
Hi Cathy,
Thanks for a thorough review on SFM. There are many people who don’t know anything to do with online marketing and so they would get easily deceived by such programs. When I saw the cost of this program of $2,500 per year, I was like “What?” is this serious? Is there any newbie who would be willing to surrender all this amount for something as this? Is the training really worth this amount?
It’s a relief when you provide a better alternative at the end and I really like the idea of creating an online business from scratch for less than $1 per day. Now it’s almost a year since I joined Wealthy Affiliate and I’m really enjoying the benefits. I would recommend this program to anyone who is ready to learn and earn at the same time.
Anything that offers you an exclusive membership, software or bonuses at a more-than-you-can-afford fee is something to be cautious of especially in the online world. Most of the time, these are just hypes to scam you off your money.
The reality is, it is possible to start an online business for $1/day for the maintenance of a website, hosting and some training. At Wealthy Affiliate, you are part of a community (not a special club), that shares their knowledge without any add-on fees. For me, that’s a more practical and worthy deal to consider.
Hi Cathy, wow those prices are truly absurd! Anyone that has 4 figures to dump into just training is probably already doing things right to begin with. But of course, as with any numbers game, there are people that will do it because if it costs more, it must be better right? Well, thanks to your article, maybe people will find a better place to go and find success online that is also affordable. Those prices are just crazy.
More doesn’t necessarily mean better, especially in the online world where you can’t actually ‘touch or see’ a product before buying it. The only way to gauge is if they provide a free trial, which isn’t very common these days.
Instead, you are pressured with a countdown timer that says, if you don’t buy it now, you’ll miss the golden opportunity forever. These are all just craps. Buying an expensive training product will not make you successful. taking the time to learn the foundation will. People need to realize that.