Is Six Figure Mentors A Pyramid Scheme Scam…
I’ve read and seen a lot about Six Figure Mentors. There are some passionate people up there who want to stand up for this business and some very angry individuals too.
So, I’m Curious… What’s your experience?
Last week, I was directed to the program after viewing a YouTube video created by one of their affiliates.
These people seemed really genuine and like great positive people.
I’ve no doubt plenty of the affiliates are good people and believe they are promoting something of value here.
So, some people think it’s amazing, while many others claim it’s a scam, or pyramid scheme – which is it!?
Well, I don’t want this review to just involve my personal take on it…
So, I invite you to share your personal experience of Six Figure Mentors in the comments below.
I know that many people who have paid big sums of money to access some of the levels of training, are bound to feel sensitive about anyone criticising it.
But there are also others who do feel angry, after losing thousands of dollars to the Six Figure Mentors.
My Introduction To The Program:
I had a look at their introductory 7 part sales video series, I checked out videos on YouTube and read a multitude of different reviews and comments from others online.
The six figure mentors is a program created by Stuart Ross and Jay Kubassek and they claim their program can teach anyone how to create an incredible income online
I was sent the first video to six figure mentors by one of their affiliates, who appeared to be a lovely middle aged couple, I guess they went all into this system to try and create the retirement of their dreams and who can blame them.
… So, I was curious what this initial first introduction video of the Six Figure Mentors would involve and eager to see what they had to say.
Well, rather typically, the first video was all about striving towards financial freedom.
They go on to say how they can teach you a system, that will change your life forever.
Exactly the type of thing you will hear listening to any over-hyped sales pitches for various internet marketing programs.
“You’re here for a reason…. maybe it’s burning desire, maybe it’s necessity… what I can tell you is that we can provide you everything you need to create the lifestyle of freedom and flexibility in this digital economy…”
I really want to like Stuart Ross.
He’s a fellow Brit and – for some reason – the way he talks reminds me a little bit of Chris Farrell.
He’s good at selling the Six Figure Mentors, I can see why people may feel compelled to join this program.
The interesting thing – is they have all this talk about how they’re going to change your life and give you everything you ever wanted, (oh, with a little “hard work” thrown in, they do say that)…
But they don’t actually say HOW anywhere during that first video.
They say you’re going to be able to essentially create this successful abundant life, but they don’t mention anything, regarding WHAT they will be teaching you yet.
Anyone sitting through that initial video will finish it and not have a clue what they could be potentially be buying into.
But that video will have intrigued you enough, that you will sit through the next videos. Well, they are online marketers after all, this is what they’re supposed to do.
So, you will go ahead and click on and be enticed in further.
In the second video they talk with more depth and substance.
They talk about creating a website that can provide value and solve peoples problems and can recommend products and services to others.
Essentially, they describe what is known as affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing is a legitimate business model and one that I use myself.
it was this training that taught me about affiliate marketing & it’s affordable, (free to start).
So, nothing they’re saying is misleading at all and really they’re just describing the business model of affiliate marketing.
They then talk about how people may often be interested in affiliate marketing, but don’t take action, because they have something holding them back.
They say that people worry about things such as…
– Being unable to set up a website
– Being unsure what niche to go into.
– Worrying that they’re not an expert in a particular topic.
They then try to put your mind at rest by saying that actually, you can get articles created for you affordably, by a professional and an expert in your niche.
Plus, that you can create a website super easily and so on.
This is all completely true.
One problem is: they mention purchasing 500 word articles…
which would never rank on the first page of Google! Far more in depth articles will typically rank on the first page.
Later on though, they go into more depth about the types of affiliate offers that you should promote that will be more profitable to you.
Ultimately offers that can lead on to higher ticket value items and give you more chance of getting multiple sales from each initial sale…
(really what they’re leading on to here is getting you to become affiliates for their own offers and products).
You can purchase the initial set of training for $29.95 and this does have a 30 day money back guarantee.
Some people have been impressed by the training available at this level and if $29.95 was the only cost of this program, then of course this would be a cheap education.
But that is not the only price you’ll need to pay for if you want to progress within the Six Figure Mentor training.
Further on in the free training, you’re shown how to create a website at a click of a button; which is something they provide on their platform.
They show you how to set up a website via their own “internet business lounge,” via the six figure mentors; which has a WordPress integration that you can use to create a website from a variety of themes.
Throughout the intro videos, although they give you plenty of info about how you can create your own affiliate marketing business, which initially struck me as a good thing.
But as the videos went on, I realised that they’re actually very gently coaching you towards choosing the “easier road,” and following their own system, rather than building a business entirely independently.
Am I right in this presumption? Let me know your thoughts!
Following their own digital system, will involve buying and then selling their own products, including the Six Figure Mentors system itself, (that you’ve just signed up to).
But to follow their advice and just become affiliates of SFM is not an ideal long term business plan.
Because, to rely solely on their system, you are really restricting yourself as an affiliate marketer.
Six Figure Mentors Business Coach:
They also talk about you being allocated a business coach.
This is not just someone who is there to support you, but someone trained to determine how much money you could be willing to spend and to get as much money out of you as they can.
They know well, that speaking to you over the phone and building a relationship with you, a relationship of trust, is going to be one of the best ways to generate the most profit from you.
After you have invested thousands into this, you bet you’re going to be passionate about recouping that investment.
But with a lot of negative feedback regarding this program, it won’t take your prospective customer long to understand, that this may not be the best place to invest their time and money.
While they stress that affiliates can choose to promote any products they want… they do say that a large number of students choose to promote their own products.
So, I feel they’re trying to cover themselves here by suggesting they are giving people the education and ability to promote any products as an affiliate marketer.
Even though, the motivation behind the six figure mentors is clearly to point people towards promoting their own products.
They make it seem like an attractive option in comparison to many programs; because of the commissions you could make from their high ticket items.
Stuart Ross says: Six Figure Mentors is not a scam.
Stuart says this is due to the fact there is a 30 day money back guarantee, you can check it out for yourself and then you will be able to see whether there is value there, or not.
He also says that you get what you look for.
So, if you go and look for negative reviews of a particular thing, you will find them.
Therefore, he says, it’s not always a fair way to judge a product or service.
While that’s true to some extent, I think the problem here isn’t with this initial $29.95 payment, for the initial training.
People have lost thousands and thousands of dollars with the Six Figure Mentors and this is not money that they were able to get back.
Additionally, there is a problem in getting people to pay more and more for products, in order for them to be able to sell them themselves – but at a really low commission rate from what I see, (see more below).
Meaning, it will take a long time and significant sales of high ticket products – to even break even.
Have you lost money with the six figure mentors? Please share your experience below, whether good or bad!
Some Key Problems:
One of the primary things wrong with the Six Figure Mentors was that you had to buy all of the Six Figure Mentor products, in order to sell them.
So, if you want to sell their high ticket items, you have to purchase them first.
Now they have changed things a bit, so that there is a free affiliate program you can join too, but this won’t allow you to sell their high ticket items.
A majority of people that you bring into Six Figure Mentors, are also going to then try selling their products, who are then going to recruit others, to sell the products and so on…
This will ultimately lead to a problem of over saturation.
While I don’t see a tonne of blogs promoting SFM, (largely because they are not blogs that rank highly in the search engine) I do see a lot of blogs linking to SFM via YouTube and YouTube Ads, which seems to be one of their primary targets.
There is an incentive to get those you recruit others to sell SFM products, because you will also earn a percentage of their earnings as well and you can build a downline, just like a multi-level-marketing business.
SFM do not seem to want to be called an MLM business and talk about affiliate marketing primarily, but the SFM model does have an MLM structure; because you do create a downline below you.
With an affiliate marketing model, you get paid for a sale and sometimes you will be paid every month if your referral has signed up to a membership program… but you do not build a downline.
You do not earn a percentage of your referrals earnings, with a purely affiliate marketing model.
This is and important distinction I feel.
Because, there is more of a danger with MLMs, that they can eventually become little more than recruitment schemes.
This reality has been revealed multiple times over with many MLM businesses.
Related Post: Is LuLaroe A Pyramid Scheme.
What Can You Earn Selling SFM Products?
You can see for yourself some of the commissions you can receive for selling some of their various products.
You’d think with such a massive investment on your part, you’d be able to sell these items for a return.
But just check out their highest priced ticket item of $20,000… you only get a 10% commission back if you sell that item!?
I don’t really understand that, I would have imagined the commission return to be considerably higher.
At a 50% return, for example; I can see more people willing to invest.
But 10%!?
Again, please give me your own thoughts on this!
For your $20,000, you can get to hang out with those guys and other internet marketers and I guess the idea is that some of their expertise will rub off on you.
Well, you’re certainly paying a premium for that.
So, why do you have to purchase these high end products in order earn the highest commissions?
Well, they may say you need to experience what’s on offer directly in order to sell them to others.
But really, this is how they make most of their money.
If you buy into the system and fail, (which will happen in a vast majority of cases) it doesn’t matter. They still get paid.
If they just let you promote their product without paying the high premium, they’d get paid far less, because a majority of affiliates won’t be successful promoting Six Figure Mentors!
Conclusion: Is Six Figure Mentors A Pyramid Scheme Scam?
I am sure Six Figure Mentors contains some decent and worthwhile training if you’re new to making money online and would like to know how some of this stuff works.
They do provide training that isn’t solely related to promoting SFM, but they are still primarily encouraging you to go that way, by showing you how well you could make money following their own digital system.
The only way that I could conclude that Six Figure Mentors was a pyramid scheme, would be:
If I could be sure that the products they’re offering at SFM are basically irrelevant to their main purpose and aim of bringing people into SFM.
I can’t entirely say that right now… but it seems close to this.
I do think that they are swimming dangerously close to those pyramid scheme waters.
With many programs being shut down with a similar structure…(Dare I say, MOBE!?)… I would imagine they could feel a little uneasy right now.
I think they must acknowledge this danger, by the fact they’ve now made part of their affiliate programs free to access.
No doubt, many people believe they’ve been conned out of thousands of dollars, but what do you think?
Do you think Six Figure Mentors a scam? Let me know in the comments!
If You’re Interested In Affiliate Marketing… This Bit Is Important!
As Six Figure Mentors do start off by saying, there are skills you can learn that can help you build up your own business online from scratch.
You don’t have to follow a system and you don’t have to be loyal to one single brand/product or service!
In fact, it’s unwise to do that – because then you are putting all your eggs in one basket and you become part of a company, rather than owning one.
If that company fails, so do you.
While there is a main training program I recommend on this website, I actually promote lots of different products and services… not just one.
I can promote anything I want and change it at any time that I choose – why not have the freedom to do that?!
For example – this is the main program that I recommend for beginners.
I recommend it because, it helped me to make my first sales with a niche site…. in the kids toy niche originally & also the kids room decor niche.
It’s given me the skills to make affiliate sales, in any niche.
Plus, it’s not full of upsells and hidden costs – it’s just simply set up, which id unusual to find.
While those high ticket products may be awesome to sell when you make a commission, I think people do deserve value for money.
Even more importantly, when they are just starting out.
WHY??!
Because – a majority of people fail at making money online!
Most people who try don’t even make their first dollar online before they quit!
With this in mind, I don’t think people should pay out thousands of dollars for training, when they’re not even sure whether it’s really for them yet!
If you think that paying for expensive training will make the difference between success and failure, it really doesn’t.
More often than not, people just don’t stick at it, (no matter how much they’ve paid!).
People could spend a lot less money figuring out whether something is for them.
That’s why I recommend people choose some free training options – way before they consider paying for a highly expensive course.
Unless you have the money to throw away… 😉 .
You’re welcome to share your own experiences below.
All the best,
Some other posts that may interest you:
Explained very well, I think that finding a mentor and being able to gather ideas and energy helps you move forward. Ideas are key and learning is journey. So i don’t necessarily feel for the person purchasing the product to be in a negative situation although I have found that selling it seems to be a bit harder then it seems, where would the audience be for this system?
Hey dragon – well, they’re targeting anyone who wants to make money online. Although, they do strongly sell the “financial freedom..” “life changing..” type deal. Possibly people who have already tried and failed to make money online too.
Hi Nat,
The Six Figure Mentors is a Scam – they use marketing heuristics to influence people and that’s why things like the 30-day money back guarantee are just a ruse. Their communication strategy involves building a confirmation bias, which means most victims won’t realize what’s hit them until well after the 30 day period has elapsed. Stuart, Jay and all the Affiliates pushing this Company out to others are nothing but shameless opportunists, selling a product for far much more than what it’s worth. And it isn’t multiple products – it is one product divided into multiple parts. The only way to do what it takes to sell such a bogus Company to others is to be completely remorseless over your actions, because eventually – there’s no way to carry out the Scam successfully without realizing that you’re carrying out a Scam.
Hi James,
Thank you so much for your input here, I really appreciate it and everything you say makes complete logical sense. Were you a part of this program personally and, if so, how long did you stay?
Thanks again,
Nat
Nat, you’re welcome. I was an active member for 2 months but didn’t quit until month 6 (victim of the Sunk Cost Fallacy as well).
You’re distracted for the first 60 days or so with education and system building, but once you face up to the reality of what you need to do (recruit more recruiters into a bogus Company), only those that are completely complicit are going to do what needs to be done, and spend the amounts necessary to successfully attract others into the system. Their motto is that “All you need is the right strategy, mindset, and a commitment to action”. Unfortunately, that is completely untrue. But like I said, they’re shameless opportunists. If the average person knew exactly how much their trust was being betrayed by these people and this Company, there would be a riot.
Hey again James,
You’ve outlined what I thought was the likely scenario, but it’s really good to hear it directly from a previous member. I hope this encourages other people to share their stories as well – I have read about people ploughing thousands of dollars into this and losing everything. Unfortunately, there are plenty of programs similar to this out there.
I wish you all the best going forward now – and thanks again for sharing!
Nat
Hello James, I would really like to talk to you – I hope you see this but I fear that it is too long ago now!
If you do, is there any way of contacting you?
Thanks,
IJ
Hi Nat,
Scam, Pyramid or Business Opportunity? Possibly it is all three.
Interesting article, you have positioned your views very well.
I joined because I am interested in Affiliate Marketing and considered that this offered the education that I would require to attain this, and maybe it will.
If you are new to this, as I am, you spend the first few months or probably 6, like James, but in my case 2 to date, immersed in the Dashboard. The whole thing can be overwhelming and difficult to get off the ground. I am no nearer to a laptop lifestyle than I am to the moon.
No one said it would be easy, no one guarantees that you will make a single $. One thing for sure is it will cost you $. I thought $97 a month would get me all the tools I needed, it doesn’t at my level, you need more, your monthly subs can start to add up.
In addition, as an Affiliate of their products, there are different price structures you can purchase depending on the level of commission you want in return for any sales made from your leads. In my case $2500 a year.
However, the fact remains that the world is changing, the way we buy things is changing, the way we work is changing. The way we re-educate ourselves has to change it and in so doing perhaps secure an income for the future.
This is the Business Opportunity this company offers.
Scam, Pyramid?
Do your Due Diligence -when you find a tap running there is a strong urge to turn it off.
Hi there,
thank you for stopping by and taking the time to share your story! I might be wrong but SFM seems to get you through the door by suggesting they’re teaching you about affiliate marketing and clearly they must teach you some skills there – but unless you can walk away from the training confident that you could promote things in a variety of niches, (not just selling SFM) then that is not helping you create an independent business. You don’t want to solely rely on SFM them and that’s it. Then you’re entire success, rests on them being a success. While I do know of a couple of high ticket programs that are probably worth investment – a majority that I have seen are not. They’re just massive sales funnels designed to suck as much money from you as possible and to trap you really, so that you have little choice but to try and earn back your investment. :/ Plus, the whole thing of having to purchase these more and more expensive products in order to sell them as an affiliate and get higher commissions….this is not how legitimate affiliate programs work. But it does work nicely for them, as they can make tonnes of money off you, whether you sell anything or not.
The reality is a bit more convoluted. Let’s take an MBA program in the USA. The midwest schools gross some 1500 students per year at $50K year tuition. They keep students up to 3 years ( let’s make it simple and calculate 2000 students in residence a year for $50K) that is $100M a year in revenue.
Everyone would agree that right or wrong the MBA school will be there for a while and that alumni help recruit new students. Nobody would actually complain if for each new recruit the school was to pay a 20% referral fee.
Some students will not have the time to recruit, some will only focus on telling their friends on a very part time base, some of them will realize a business opportunity and may focus on this completely.
In the early stage of the school probably there are more students to refer than students currently enrolled. Thus it maybe possible that the first students only need to refer other students.
The difference is that the MBA school (which is a scam in a way of its own) offers other exit strategies, jobs out there in the market.
As far as I see with the Amazon FBA program and other programs coming in the SFM is starting to offer alternative revenue avenues. If these alternatives fully take off than there is not much problem if people create a portion of their revenue by referring to the school itself.
A note, although I do not belong to this category, there are lots of spiritual type of people. They are just looking for that, being part of a community that makes them feel in a certain way and they are ready to pay for that. THEY WANT THAT.
I know that for very greedy, pragmatic and result oriented people this is something difficult to get but some people on this planet look for that.
I have seen people paying $100 a month and getting a tons of material and webinars that otherwise, they would not. The human aspect of this, being able to talk , meet people and flush out your frustration is key.
I have also seen people selling their houses to buy the black membership and I find that personally wrong but, SFM is not obliging them.
Not all people on this planet are the same.
Wow… selling their houses to buy the black membership.
That’s pretty shocking.
I also completely relate to what you’re saying about the spiritual aspect for some people, when it comes to online communities.
Being a part of an online community myself, I have found that a great deal of people are looking to simply be part of a
community and a group… to feel part of something.
A great deal of the benefit they gain from it, isn’t always about the training or making money, (for this group of people) but simply from being part of *something,* and feeling a sense of belonging. While I don’t think there is anything necessarily wrong with this; I have found this aspect of online communities, quite an eye-opener.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your opinion. 🙂
Hey Nat,
Interesting article. Just wanted to mention that 10% of the $20,000 sale is at “Elite” level, so you can still sell the higher level products, without buying them yourself. You’ll just earn less commission on them. If you join as a DEA Black member, you will get 25-40% commission on this sale, depending when you purchase.
I’m a member of The SFM and have made a few high ticket sales now. I can see both sides. If you pay and give up, it’s going to be a sour pill to swallow. But there are people who are making full time living now through just the SFM business. Most people will give up though before they get to a level of being able to leave their jobs. Something like 3% of people will actually make it happen.
Hi Tim, thanks for your input there. You mention 3% of people may make it, before they leave their jobs. But do you feel that joining a business like SFM is really a stable one to get into & leave your job for? If SFM fails, would your business be gone? I’m feeling that SFM has similarities to MOBE… (which has now been shut down). What do you think? Cheers for stopping by! Nat
I wouldn’t bother with Six figure mentors unless you’ve got at least £10,000 to spend on their education. I spent £3000 with them over 3 years as a basic member and they teach you nothing you couldn’t learn for free. In that time I didn’t earn a penny using the education they offer at essential. You pay $19.95 for your application, a one off fee of $129 and that’s before you’ve even started, you then pay $97 a month, for nothing more than what are for the most part outdated videos and overpriced web hosting. Once you go through their essential curriculum they immediately try and get more money from you by asking you to go elite at $2500 and if you don’t the things you learn at essential don’t earn you any money anyway. The people are nice enough but the offer wouldn’t be so enticing if they weren’t. I wouldn’t waste your time with this company. I wasted 3 years and earned nothing. Then 4 months after leaving the company they took $97 from me, overdrawing my account and when I requested a refund they claimed I hadn’t cancelled as a member and I’m still trying to get back.
Thanks for taking the time to share that – I hope you manage to get that payment back!
Hey Nat 🙂 great to find your site, I plan to explore it much more thoroughly in the coming weeks!
Firstly, man…I apologise for the length of this comment, but there is a lot that needs to be said.
I enjoyed reading your analysis! Well thought out, with a logical conclusion similar to the one I’ve drawn myself, sadly it’s taken me a couple of months of trudging through their “training” to come to that realization.
I got suckered in out of a mild curiosity to see just what exactly was being offered, as I’ve recently started doing a lot of research into starting my own online passive income adventures, inspired by many other guys and girls that are making it happen for themselves online.
As I upped the intensity of my research, the Youtube ad. algorithms swiftly bore down on me and I was presented with a Youtube ad where a young guy of a similar age to me (32) was talking about how he’d turned his life around in under a year, and created a six figure income for himself via an affiliate marketing mentorship programme.
I stuck in my email address, and sat through the painfully salesy video series, ignoring the ferraris, tropical imagery and various other visual tactics and marketing language, hanging on mainly because these two guys seemed so genuine despite some of giveaway lowbrow tactics.
I signed up and after going through a few of their training modules I quickly started to realise that most of that information they’re peddling is the same basic stuff you’ll find for free online anyway.
I dug a little deeper thinking there must be more to it, and upon attending a “business strategy call” (to help set my expectations apparently) I was asked what my income goals were. After indicating a modest annual income of $60,000 I was shown some “business roadmap spreadsheets” the point of which was to demonstrate that I would only be able to achieve those sorts of numbers by buying into one of their advanced “mentorship” programmes, the DEA Black membership, which would unlock those 50% comissions on their high value products. How much is that membership you ask? The eye watering “discounted” sum of $14,800!
The absolutely worst part of this, is that I caught myself actually thinking about a loan for a time before I realised how utterly insane it was, snapped myself viciously back to reality and saw through the sentimentality and group brainwash. I wanted to like these guys…but this was the final straw. I could stomach no more.
What doesn’t help is that there are now a few guys out there on Youtube who are touting their “lifestyles of freedom” as a way to entice people in…but after engaging with them for a few weeks, you eventually learn that the only way they were able to build the kind of incomes they have is because they ponied up that $14,800 for a “Black” membership which allows them to earn 50% commission when they sell those same products.
At this membership level it does seem that you do get to spend a certain amount of time with the two company founders, as well as some other online business “experts”, weekly mastermind calls and a few other perks such as surrounding yourself with this “spiritual community”.
Ostensibly you will also be coached through activities like placing YouTube/Facebook/Google Ads and shown how to tweak and optimise your email marketing and “sales funnels” for maximum sales etc…but again most of this information can be found online either for free or a relatively low cost or is just common sense.
In reality the only guys really making money from the SFM affiliate program are the mere handful of poster boys and girls preaching via Youtube Ads and customer testimonials to recruit even more disciples, mostly consisting of people desperately looking for someone to hold their hand through their foray into online business – which I get, don’t get me wrong – part of what makes it seem so predatory.
It is difficult to say because again, many of the people I encountered from the support guys to the individuals running the training webinars and daily motivation calls do seem to be genuine individuals who want to help others improve their lives. There is definitely a vibrant, helpful, genuine community as well, in terms of the SFM members themselves, all very willing to help each other out and give support, motivation and advice. This of course contributes to the feeling of security. And there was many a discussion about finding meaning in your life, etc, you know, the real value of wealth and material possessions vs freedom etc, especially on the 6+ hours worth of new member orientation calls/webinars.
I’m sure many of these individuals would be horrified to think that people thought of their beloved SFM as predatory in nature…yet I can’t say that I’ve seen evidence for anything else.
And there is definitely ample opportunity to learn a few new skills and put yourself out of your comfort zone. Although one of the amusing things is that some of the more useful webinars and instructional content that I saw whilst nosing around in there (mostly about things like video editing/photography/design) was put out not by the founders and “experts” but by some of the young affiliates. And again, you can get that, and way more, from google/youtube and far better quality and cheaper online courses.
The “mentors” themselves will repeatedly drum it into you that “most people are not willing to put the work in” and that you should “know this will take hard work and consistent daily action to move toward your goals.” This is of course both true, and good advice, which adds to the feeling of credibility and genuine-ness (is that a word?).
And this is where we come back around to your conclusion. One the one hand there are all the warning signs of an MLM marketing scheme, and on the other there are people with genuine intent who want to help you achieve your lifestyle dreams and welcome you into the community with arms open. Strip away all the sentimentality and spiritual stuff and you are basically left with a pyramid scheme, albeit maybe a slightly confusing one with five or six sides instead of the traditional four, just enough to throw you off, ha.
There are also some other aspects to be explored, as one of the previous commenters mentioned…e.g. there is an eCommerce program where you will be shown how to research, procure and import physical products. However, again this is done in such a way as ties you into the SFM/DEA system, as does every other part of their “complete digital business package” (as if that wording alone makes me squirm uncomfortably – it makes it feel even more like it’s targeted toward people who have very little knowledge of the internet, more fool me).
Even if the Amazon aspect of it does take off, again why do you need to pay for this information when there is far higher quality information available often for free? Also there are groups and communities that exist again, for free? And there are definitely very high quality webinars, podcasts and other training courses that are available either for free or for a small fraction of the money SFM want to charge.
So in summary, if you a) have a spare $15,000+ or are willing to put yourself in debt for the sum, b) your sense of integrity has no problem with building people’s hopes with videos of guys driving ferraris and sitting on beaches and then sell them down the road to a system that probably won’t make them any money and also might get shut down at any time, and c) willing to put yourself in the position of having the SFM as your sole source of income (because you won’t learn how to affiliate market any other products, aside from two short videos in one of their early training modules which really just serves to introduce you to the concept of affiliate marketing)…well, then I guess the SFM is for you. Sign on the dotted line and you just might make your first $100,000 in 10 months or so.
For some more perspective, here are some examples of websites belonging to a few top performing members…for all their talk of marketing your individuality, isn’t it amusing how similar these sites look and feel?
scrapthe9to5.com
alifestyleofadventure.com
alexandgin.com
I’m know I wouldn’t be comfortable with my name being up there, even for the privilege of earning $100,000 in the fist year.
And just to conclude with a few words from Stuart Ross’s own bio at stuart.blog/about/
In the last two years he has…
“Helped 9 people make their ‘first million’ online in under two years and starting from scratch.
Helped thousands of people make their first dollar online.
Helped hundreds of people every single month improve the quality of their lives within 30 days of working with us. (Not necessarily money related.)
What I am most proud of is the hundreds of people I help every single week to find more meaningful work.”
So, 9 people have made some serious money with Stuart and the SFM, in all likelihood because they paid the $14,800 to get those high commissions and then peddled SFM like crazy, earning commissions from the two tiers below them.
Thousands more made their first dollar online! I’m sorry? $29.97 application fee, $197 joining fee, $97 monthly fee and they made a dollar? I’ll say no more, not to mention the hundreds of people every month who are somehow finding more meaningful work, I’m not even sure what to say on that one. Anyway I digress…
Apologies again for the length of this comment…I just saw that quite a few people had visited your page and thought I would share my perspective on the entity that is the SFM.
Jimmy
Jimmy – wow – thanks so much for taking the time to comment and really, thank you for going into depth like that. It’s really interesting to hear your side of it. As programs similar to this have been shut down, I wonder whether it’s a matter of time, (unless they drastically change it).
But yes, it’s interesting all these people talking about financial freedom, when they are entirely relying on SFM for this. Would I want to base my entire financial security on being a sales funnel for SFM?… I mean, frankly, some affiliates seem to act purely as sales funnels for some of the things I’d recommend as well, but that’s their choice and not something I would do personally. I would advise people to build up different income streams and not purely rely on one product or service.
If you’re going to work really hard at something, make sure that what you have at the end of it is yours alone and not intrinsically connected and reliant on one thing.
It’s important to learn the skills you need to be independent – such as, how to drive traffic, how to rank content and so on. All the internet marketers pedaling these high ticket programs learnt from scratch, they didn’t buy into some system.
It’s interesting when you bring spirituality into it as well, as I seem to have encountered a lot of this myself with people in the make-money-online sphere… but particularly within MLMs, where some of the leaders to have a cult-like status and meet-ups seem to resemble spiritual conventions! 😮 Anyway, I wish you all the best on your journey… take care of your wallet!
Fortunately, after a couple of emails back and forth I’ve been able to retreive the small amout of cash I had parted with!
I get the feeling they are going to be around for a while, they seem to be trying to include just enough diversity in the course materials (Amazon & other affiliate programs, ecommerce, etc) to avoid being directly labelled a pyramid scheme.
At best the advertising is extremely misleading, most relying on people not seeing straight through it, to hang on to existing customers.
If it wasn’t for those high ticket sales they wouldn’t have a business, as that small group of affiliates earning huge numbers wouldn’t exist…and in turn without them, there would be nothing to lure people in with.
So a lot of smoke and mirrors and no real substance!
Meanwhile, I’m glad I found your site! It’s a great resource and I’ll be back regularly, for sure!
Best,
Jimmy
Hi Jimmy,
I’m really pleased you managed to get your money back! I’m sure there are many that have not managed to do so :(.
Yes, sounds like a lot of smoke and mirrors – I think they could definitely run into trouble though, even with those additional training materials. But time will tell!
All the best,
Nat
Hi Nat I see I am behind the curve here what with the age of the article and the commenters of the last couple of years above — but I’ll add my thanks to you for publishing just the kind of article that fully confirms my concerns about the SFM ‘opportunity’.
I have ‘kicked the tyres’ the last two weeks– as a result of seeing just an avalanche of YouTube ads and wondering for a moment if i was missing out on something to add to my past 15 years of accrued online knowledge (you may correctly read into this that i have not made huge buck — hence tempted at least to ‘check out’ SFM… but I have enough hard won experience to see a honeytrap when it is laid before me).
I will admit that I was impressed by Stuarts charming authenticity, and by the general feeling of support ‘inside the walls’ of the SFM community dashboard and facebook group…BUT I was not able to shake the feeling that this so-called opportunity smacked too much of that feeling I had when dabbling with Network marketing some years ago, where the business becomes about ‘recruitment’ of others (usually in a financially or psychologically –or both — imperiled position looking around desperately for the solution to their ills!
I can see that there ‘may’ be value in SFM’s training — although the Essential level is very limited (certainly way below what I know already)… and my little insight to Elite level sounds as if it ‘nothing new’ to anyone who does some effective searching online for solid information… BUT I can see that the community may be the biggest value to some who need that kind of encouraging/goading/back-patting/approbation on a regular basis to ‘keep on trying’!
What concerned me was that people who were evidently in financially dire positions were being encouraged into deeper levels of commitment… and frankly I don’t like the concept that you have to pay to be an affiliate… as it is not possible to step out of the monthly subs’ regime and simply continue act as an affiliate after a time… This is too much like the MLM ‘scams’ for me.
There is far to much talk of the most successful people being a ‘product of the product’ and the repeated, subtle and not so subtle implication that it is a ‘no-brainer’ to spend many thousands more on continuing your education!
Whilst there may a very small number (oft quoted or cited by the introductory ‘mentors’) who benefit enough from this kind of approach to acquiring education for moving into an online business pathway — there will I feel probably be 95+% who simply add to the coffers of the top echelons millions and leave worse of an even more disenchanted after anything from a few months to a year or two… It is clear that the psychological pressure to ‘keep going’ and to absorb the message that ‘if it isn’t working then you aren’t trying hard enough’ is very high! This is also concerning…
But the most irksome aspect of this very expensive ‘opportunity’ –in terms of time, money and effort — is that it does seem to attract many authentic and well meaning individual who do not apparently seem to see that they have been inveigled into the modern day equivalent of the ‘age old’ (and possibly apocryphal) tale of the man who made his millions with small ads in the Sunday papers advertising ‘The Secret to Making a Million’ …and when the hapless individuals sent him their $5 he sent a small slip of paper back to them merely stating: “Sell the Secret”…
the BIG income in SFM seem to derive from a slice of the cake from recruiting others to join the team ten also start to ‘sell the secret’… I DO acknowledge that they also include the possibility of ecommerce training and support –and that there may be value there..although that option is notably down-played compared with becoming a recruiter who pays to keep recruiting other ‘poor saps’!
I hope that many people who might look at SFM see your article before they miss their 30-day-money option…or even avoid the whole thing an move on to something more ‘real’ and less costly!
Thanks again.
Hi there,
Thank you so much for your feedback and taking the time to comment. It’s as much as I’d suspected. That is, that anything beyond the recruitment side is basically a smoke screen to avoid them getting into murky waters legally. Hopefully this article & your comments may prevent some others investing huge amounts of money here. All the best!