I very rarely take the time to review a product, but today, I’m making an exception to review Sam Ovens’ Consulting Accelerator.
This course claims to be the ultimate training for would-be, new, and even experienced consultants. It’s a 6-week course that includes action-based homework each week. It costs buyers around $2,000 and perhaps most controversially, includes an action-based refund policy, where customers must complete certain pieces of the training in order to be eligible for a refund.
Like most courses that cost a lot, make big promises, and sell like hotcakes, Consulting Accelerator (and Sam Ovens himself) has it’s share of detractors. There are several websites and social media pages dedicated to calling Sam and his training a fraud.
At the same time, Sam Ovens has a website with 3,000+ video reviews, the vast majority of which are very positive. So which is it? Is he legit or a fraud? And furthermore, why am I taking the time to review this course?
I’ve reviewing this course for the following reasons:
- I took the course myself and want to share the results.
- There are people in my audience of writers, marketers & freelancers who have seen Sam’s ads on Facebook and would appreciate an honest review.
- There are a lot of people in my audience with the goal of being consultants, and those people will absolutely want to hear about my experience.
- There aren’t many in-depth, balanced reviews available online about this course, so I’d like to fill that gap.
Obviously, if all I wanted to say was “Yes, it’s a scam,” or “No, it’s not a scam,” there would be little point in writing out a review. There’s a lot of complexity to evaluating a course like this, so here’s what we’ll be covering:
- Breakdown of the good, the bad, and the ugly of everything offered in the course.
- Discussion of who the course is intended for and whether it’s effective
- Account of my personal experience with this course and how it’s impacted my business.
Well that’s enough of an intro. Let’s get started.
(Sam is currently offering a free trial and $500 discount on the course. If you read through my review and decide the course is a good fit for you, click here to get access to the free trial and discount.)
What Is Sam Ovens’ Consulting Accelerator?
To evaluate whether something delivers on its promises, we have to first discuss the promises. So let’s look at what this Consulting Accelerator claims to be. These next bits are pulled directly from the course landing page, which you can view in it’s entirety here (NOT an affiliate link).
How To Start A Wildly Profitable 6-7 Figure Consulting Business & Get Your First High Value Client Within 42 Days
The Consulting Accelerator is a proven and tested 6 week implementation program that teaches you how to start a wildly profitable 6-figure consulting business and get your first client in 42 days.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t have any tech skills or any previous business experience. Everything you need to know is provided step-by-step in this training program.
The methods taught in the Consulting Accelerator program have been battle tested and proven with over 10,000 students around the world.
The program has created 21 millionaires, 451 six-figure earners and 2,838 people have been able to quit their 9-5 jobs. Our students have made over $400,000,000 in reported income.
- Week One – Fundamentals and Foundations
- Week Two – New Paradigm & World View
- Week Three – Alchemy of Client Conversion
- Week Four – Alchemy of Client Attraction
- Week Five – Fractal Facebook Evaluation
- Week Six – Minimal Viable Service Delivery
Here’s A Summary Of Everything You’ll Get:
- 6 Week training program
- Boxset with workbooks
- Community + Weekly Q&A Calls
- Lifetime Access
Absolute Satisfaction Guarantee
Our training program is proven with 3,000+ testimonials. However, if you’re still unsure about joining we offer a full 14-day money back guarantee. Try the program risk free and if you’re not happy with it ask for a refund within 14-days and we’ll refund you in full.
Now that we know what the course claims to be, let’s look at what it actually delivers.
Consulting Accelerator: The Good, Bad & Ugly
So let’s dive into the course, pick it apart, and see what is good, bad and ugly. I’ve decided to break down my review into the following sections:
- Design & Production
- Core Content, Weeks 1-6
- Mastermind Community
Here’s what you see when you enter the paid area:
1. Design & Production Review – Rated A
It’s sort of funny, because if you look at Sam’s general website or even the landing page I linked to earlier, everything looks really unprofessional. The design is poor. There are numerous misspellings and errors.
But when you get into the course itself, via the above pictured dashboard, everything is crisp, professional, and top of the line. The videos are in HD and Sam’s delivery is very clear, articulate and professionally recorded. The copy is clean and bold. The downloads are in neat, simply designed PDFs.
I’ve taken several courses around this price point (and higher) in the past, and Sam’s is one of the best in terms of design, aesthetics, and usability. Obviously, that has nothing to do with the content itself, and when you pay $2,000 for a course, you probably don’t care a whole lot about the aesthetics, BUT a lot of courses at similar prices are incredibly ugly, with poorly recorded audio and buggy downloads, so it’s nice when everything looks, sounds, and works like it’s supposed to.
2. Core Content Review – Rated by Section
This is the most important part. Does the content deliver? The core sales process Sam Ovens is teaching looks like this:
- Attract your target audience via Facebook Ads
- Capture their email via a Lead Magnet
- Have them apply for a Consulting Call
- Engage, train, and close them in a 1-to-1 Phone Call
That’s the core process, and as you can already see, it’s nothing ground breaking. Many other people are using this exact same model to sell their products and services. That said, Sam’s training is a lot broader and more complex than these 4 steps. He covers something unique in each of the six modules, with varying degrees of effectiveness.
In order to review the content, I’ll need to review each week one at a time.
Week One: Fundamentals and Foundations – Rated B
This section is relatively generic as far as courses go. Mindset, markets, niches, etc… If you’ve ever taken any course on marketing/consulting/etc or really even just spent any amount of time reading about online business, you’ve seen it all before.
That said, I know from personal experience that skipping stuff like this can set students up for failure once they get into the real meat of the training. Sam is expecting that a decent portion of students will arrive with little business background and the foundation he provides in week one is solid. Ironically, it was a revelation from this first week that had the biggest impact on my own business (I’ll share more on that later in the review).
One of the biggest problems in this section, and probably THE reason some people are upset with the course, is that Sam’s definition of “consulting” is incredibly loose.
As you can see in the above slide, Sam considers any sort of service business, coaching, or training to fall under the consulting umbrella.
Why is this problematic?
Because that’s not what most people think of when you say “consulting” AND Sam doesn’t explain or clarify this AT ALL in his advertising or marketing materials. So in essence, you get people coming into the course with a more traditional idea of consulting and the desire to make it happen, and then they are hit with something that more closely resembles generic online business training.
That said, Sam’s business model can work for a more traditional idea of consulting, and to be honest, given the current market, his model is probably a lot more viable for the average person than the traditional consulting model. Still, it’s important that anyone reading this understand that the above descriptions are what Sam Ovens’ course defines as “consulting”.
Week Two: New Paradigm & World View – Rated C
If you’ve followed Sam Ovens for any length of time, you know he is a very philosophical person. He is fascinated by psychology and the core motivations that run both individuals and the global economy.
Week two is devoted entirely to these concepts, with Sam focusing in on why some people succeed while others fail and how to end up in the first category.
The content here will be beneficial for two types of people:
- People who really enjoy philosophy and psychology
- People who actually need a paradigm shift and are ready for an “aha” moment
I suppose an argument can be made that all of us are held back by limited thinking, but this has never been something that I feel I personally struggle with. I’ve never been one to sit passively in a situation I didn’t like. I tried the 40-hour per week office job for a few months, and I hated it…. so I stopped. I realized I liked copywriting… so I built a copywriting career. I never really required a big psychology breakthrough to realize I didn’t have to hate my life or be in a bad situation financially.
As I’ve come to realize, that is not the case for a LOT of people. A lot of people legitimately don’t believe they are capable of making good money while working for themselves. They don’t believe it’s possible to be secure financially. Or maybe they do, but they are caught in one of many psychological cycles that holds them back from achieving their goals.
For these people, Sam’s Week Two content might result in the biggest breakthrough of their lives.
Or it might not.
It’s hard to know how effective this section would be for someone who isn’t me. Personally, I just hit x4 play speed and powered through. It was definitely interesting, but I think it’s going a big deal for a small group of people and a “meh” for everyone else.
Week Three: Alchemy of Client Conversion – Rated A+
Week three is all about sales, and this is where we start to understand why so many students have had success with Sam’s training. Sam opens the week’s module by saying that it is the most important module and worth the price of the course by itself. I’ve heard that exact statement in countless webinars and courses, and I have to say, this is one of the only times I’ve ever agreed with it.
PEOPLE SUCK AT SALES!
Seriously. I did a door-to-door sales job for one summer in college, and in addition it paying for my education, it was also the single most valuable thing I’ve EVER done for my career. There is literally nothing more powerful a freelancer, entrepreneur, marketer, or really any sort of business person can learn. I’ve written multiple times on how important it is to master sales, and it was even the #1 recommended skill on our writeup on the most valuable skills for young entrepreneurs.
YOU NEED TO LEARN SALES!
Yeah, okay… you get it.
Okay, so that’s great, but Sam isn’t the only one teaching sales…
Most of Sam’s process is pulled from long established sales practices that you can find in many different places. He certainly didn’t rewrite the book on direct sales.
BUT here’s the deal, people. Sometimes we get this idea that information being available makes it ours, but that is obviously not the case, or we would know a million times more than we currently know. The way information is presented and applied matters a great deal to whether or not we ever actually benefit from it.
And on that point, Sam Ovens hits the ball out of the park. His sales training is VERY thorough, with nearly 2 hours of video content, and VERY specific, even to the point of providing you with a 13 page script designed specifically for an effective sales call.
Sales is one of my personal areas of expertise, and that’s why I can say with certainty that both his script and overall sales training are very good. Most importantly, it’s not just random, standalone tips and strategies that you then need to know how and when to implement. It’s presented as part of a broader system, allowing you to immediately take action.
Each of these things I just mentioned are the difference between students walking away clueless and walking away with a business, and that’s why I’m giving Sam an “A” on week 2 of his core content.
Week Four: Alchemy of Client Attraction – Rated B+
Attraction and Conversion are the two halves that make up a successful business, and Sam devotes a week to each one.
I would consider these two sections, along with the Facebook Ads training in Week Five, to be the crux of Sam’s system.
Remember that Sam’s pitch is that he will help build a six figure consulting business. Up to this point, he has taught students how to develop their mindset, select a niche, present and close sales, and even land a few quick clients, but none of these things constitute an autopilot system for scaling a consulting business into six and seven figures. Week four is that system. Sam takes students step-by-step through the process of setting up a lead generating funnel, including:
- Creating a video/webinar script
- Creating visual slides to accompany the script
- Recording and hosting the video
- Creating the required landing pages
- Testing and publishing
Sam is incredibly thorough throughout this process and there is zero reason anyone should get through this section without a working funnel in place. Everything you need is right there, spelled out in simple language.
This is the point in most people’s training where they try to upsell you more shit. They try to get you to buy there “done for you” funnel or pay thousands of dollars to have a custom funnel built for you. Or they have a slate of affiliate products that can do all this for you and they tell you that you absolutely need all this overpriced crap in order to get the real results.
Sam Ovens does none of that, and it’s a big part of why I even considered writing this review. There are no upsells. There are no affiliate products. He tells you how to build everything without spending one extra penny, and then for those who are willing to spend some additional money for added convenience, he tells you which products he personally uses to build his own funnels.
I have paid $5,000 in the past for lesser courses that were bursting at the seams with upsells, affiliate offers, and recommended software that turned out to be completely useless. So I was very pleased with the complete lack of that stuff in Sam Ovens’ Consulting Accelerator. You get a very thorough training series with none of the other shit.
So… if I was this happy with it, why’d I give this section a B rating?
Copywriting.
The training teaches you absolutely nothing about copywriting, which I feel is something of an oversight. On the one hand, Sam gives you his entire script to customize for your own use, but he always encourages students to make their scripts unique without providing any of the copywriting tools for making that happen. In my admittedly biased opinion, you will need to either employ professional copywriting services or spend some time learning how to become a copywriter in order to customize the script and create your own successful landing pages, and given how thorough the rest of the course is, I was very surprised to see a complete lack of training on writing the copy itself.
On the plus side, there are a lot of free resources available on copywriting, so you won’t be at a loss. In fact, here are the main resources I refer to as a full-time freelance copywriter:
Week Five: Fractal Facebook Evaluation – Rated A
Similar to the sales training, this section could legitimately be it’s own separate training, and in hindsight, I would strongly consider paying the full $2,000 course cost solely for this module.
I haven’t yet created the products needed to setup a full campaign, so why do I feel like this is good training?
There are four reasons.
First, it’s incredibly in-depth and insanely detailed. From the macro strategy to the micro details, you don’t have to figure out a single thing by yourself. Just follow the directions. I like that.
Second, Sam Ovens has a net worth of $65 million, 90% of which was made getting clients and customers through Facebook Ads. There are very few people who have had more success using Facebook advertising than Sam, so he undoubtedly knows what he’s talking about.
Third, I did actually run one campaign. While Sam doesn’t recommend investing in “Like” campaigns as a general rule, he does recommend that you run a single Like campaign if your page has less than 5,000 likes in order to get to 5,000 likes and build a minimum threshold of social proof. He has designed an ad campaign intended to get likes incredibly cheaply. He predicted that anyone running this campaign would get the needed 5,000 likes within 48 hours and for less than $100.
I ran the campaign myself and the results were EXACTLY as Sam predicted.
Fourth, and most importantly, while I have zero expertise dealing with Facebook’s algorithm, I do have significant expertise dealing with Google’s algorithm, which is probably the closest thing on Earth to Facebook’s algorithm, and Sam is focusing on all the right things.
Let me explain.
Google’s algorithm has one primary goal. Show people what they want to see. In the early years of Google, when their algorithm was much less refined, people would exploit the algorithm’s shortcomings and trick Google into sending traffic to low quality websites. As Google has refined its algorithm over the years, people stopped being able to exploit it, and the people who had always been focused on giving Google what Google actually wanted – quality content – begin making more and more money through Google search and SEO.
The main reason Sam is so successful with Facebook ads is because he knows exactly what Facebook wants to do with their algorithm, and his training isn’t built around exploiting the system, it’s built around giving the system exactly what it wants. This is why he has been successful for the last 4 years, across numerous algorithm changes, and my expectation is that Sam’s method will actually continue to improve as Facebook continues to refine its algorithm.
Week Six: Minimal Viable Service Delivery – Rated B
Week six is the final week in Sam Ovens’ Consulting Accelerator course, and its focus is on some practical requirements for scaling a business to six and seven figures. This week is a bit of a hodgepodge, and it would benefit from a more consistent focus, but it does provide some very useful things for new and even experienced consultants.
- Necessary legal documents
- How to setup credit card payments
- 3 strategies for generating referral clients
- How to promote and build your platform
- How to use marketing automation
- How to setup marketing automation
I wrote a book last year on making six figures as a freelance writer, and one of the final sections was on “becoming a player in your niche”. This is more or less what week six is all about in Sam’s course – building your platform and becoming a well-rounded player in your niche. To accomplish this, you need to be protected legally, and Sam has had a lawyer create a series of supposedly universal documents that students can use to cover themselves. These include:
- Terms Of Service (For Your Website)
- Privacy Policy (For Your Website)
- Earnings Disclaimer (For Your Website)
- Terms & Conditions (For When You Engage Your Client)
- Non Disclosure Agreement (If Your Client Requests One)
- 1 Page Proposal/Scope Of Work Sample (If Your Client Requests One)
- Payment Instructions Document
Again, this is with the mindset that you are scaling your business to six figures and beyond and thus, have a continuously increasing need for legal protection. I think it’s a good starting point, but really, once you cross that six figure mark, you’re going to want to run this type of stuff by your own legal counsel just to be safe (and hire a good accountant as well).
With the credit card and marketing automation stuff, Sam shows students exactly what he does and how they can set it up as well. This isn’t advanced stuff. It’s pretty simple, but having setup my own automation, I’ll say that being able to essentially copy/paste what someone is already doing saves a TON of time and will probably result in a better system at the end.
And finally, Sam spends 45 minutes talking about how to promote and build your “platform”. Sam’s system is essentially a single conversion funnel. You use Facebook ads to drive traffic into the funnel, and consulting clients come out the back end.
Building a “platform” around this funnel is really just incorporating other digital marketing strategies to build a brand, establish authority, and grow an audience. If you aren’t very familiar with digital marketing, this will be a great introduction to some key concepts. If you come from the digital marketing world, this will be review with maybe the occasional noteworthy point.
Overall, this section does a decent job of ironing out some practical steps for automated scaling and creating a framework for becoming an authority in your niche. It’s nothing revolutionary, but it’s not phone-in filler content either.
3. Facebook Community Review – Rated B+
The last piece to review is the Facebook group new students are added to. Facebook groups have pretty much become standard for anyone selling a course these days, and nine times out of ten, the don’t add a whole lot of value to the experience. In fact, I would rate most groups I’ve been in a 4/10.
The Facebook group for Consulting Accelerator, however, gets a solid 8/10.
The community is FAR more active than other groups I’ve been a part of, and Sam’s weekly calls are helpful and informative as opposed to the standard “hype calls” dished out in most groups. It’s very rare to see a post go unanswered by the community, despite there being literally 100+ posts in a given week.
The only reason I’m not giving it an “A” is that posts celebrating new clients get a lot more engagement than posts asking questions.
That said, it’s very rare to see a question post go unanswered, which is in stark contrast to the majority of groups like this, where getting any response at all is hit or miss.
For example, I’m currently paying $30 per month to be in an entrepreneurship group, and my last two questions haven’t received a single response. That’s pretty standard, which is why it’s pretty phenomenal that Sam’s group is significantly more engaged.
And finally, Sam himself regularly participates in the group and answers questions. I just hopped in the group to look up his last response, and as you can see, he’s responded to students within the last 30 minutes:
Like most course sellers, Sam likes to say that the community is worth the price alone, and while it’s hard to overvalue networking, I really wouldn’t go that far. It’s a very useful addition to the course, and if you don’t have an existing online network, I’d imagine it could be very instrumental in helping you get up and running. But at the end of the day, there’s not really anything intentional about how the community is run. It’s more of a “what you make of it” arrangement.
Why I Don’t Think Sam Ovens Is A Scam
So now that I’ve gone through the entire course, let’s get back to the original question. Is Sam Ovens a scam?
Well, obviously, my answer is “No”.
But at the same time, it’s not for everyone.
Let me explain.
I’d say Consulting Accelerator is EASILY the best course you can take if you are wanting to start an online business from scratch.
- The production is better than 90% of courses I’ve taken.
- The content is better than 80% of courses I’ve taken.
- The Facebook group is THE best group I’ve been in.
- The price is less than 50% of the courses I’ve taken.
- The course has increased my revenue more than any other I’ve taken.
I spent most of 2016 writing off-and-on blog posts for various clients and doing one-off copywriting projects. I had one client on a monthly contract, but my other recurring clients were more “a la carte” for lack of a better phrase. They would contact me when they wanted to create something new, and I’d write it for them.
There was very little consistency. I could make as much as $4,000 in a single week, but I also had a month last year where I only made $4k for the entire month.
After watching the first week of Sam’s training, I stopped offering my services “a la carte” and started focusing on monthly packages. I upsold several of my existing clients to these packages and then pitched and landed several additional clients in my network, as well as several new clients from incoming website leads.
All told, I have around $15k in monthly contracts in place right now, with new clients coming in every month. That’s around double my monthly average from 2016.
Now, while Sam’s course didn’t launch my business from scratch, it would be very silly of me to look at my current $15k per month income and think, “Man, $2,000 for that course was not worth it.” In my world, $2k is a relatively small number.
At the same time, with the stage my business is at, a relatively simple piece of advice can result in tens of thousands of dollars in ROI. I spent $5,000 on a different course last year that hasn’t resulted in a single dollar in ROI for me, and you know what? I’m not too worried about it. I met some really cool people with some expertise I plan to pull from in the future, and while I might take it back if I could go back in time, at the end of the day, a $5,000 loss really isn’t that bad.
That’s not true for everyone. For some people, spending $2k on training feels like a MASSIVE investment, and as a result, they have some crazy expectations for what they’ll receive as a result.
This is precisely why Sam Ovens’ course is NOT for everyone.
- If you don’t plan on devoting the next two months to following Sam’s system, DON’T buy this course!
- If you don’t want to get on the phone, this course will NOT work for you.
- If you don’t have an existing business and you aren’t really interested in building one, this course will NOT work for you.
- If you don’t like sales and you aren’t willing to learn how to sell, this course will NOT work for you.
- If you prefer to learn theory and experiment constantly instead of following simple directions, this course will NOT work for you.
- If you are set on a specific business model that doesn’t match Sam’s, this course will NOT work for you.
- If you are looking for the 4-hour work week, this course will NOT work for you.
This isn’t a situation where you drop $2,000 in a slot machine and wake up the next morning with a six figure business. There’s a lot of work involved. Yes, you can simply follow Sam’s step-by-step instructions, but that’s also 40+ hours worth of work, and then you actually have to get on the phone with people again and again and again.
In other words, you still have to run your own business.
That’s not for everyone. There are a lot of people in this world built to be employees. They function best when they are showing up, clocking in, and having most of their decisions made for them.
That’s okay. If that’s you, Sam Ovens course might feel like a scam. If you are expecting the benefits of entrepreneurship without all the downsides, you might feel scammed.
But for a lot of people, this course isn’t a scam. It’s the door they’ve been waiting for into the world of entrepreneurship.
Sam has allegedly created 25 millionaires thanks to his training, and as you can see from the above Facebook posts, a lot of regular people are reaching full-time income and beyond using his methods. As someone who tries really hard to help writers make a decent living, I think it’s pretty cool that a lot of people seem to be succeeding with Sam’s training.
The question then, is whether or not it’s right for YOU. Here’s my take:
- If you want to sell a high cost service, this course will benefit you.
- If you want to build a consulting business, this course will benefit you.
- If you are desperate to work from home, and you are willing to work hard and follow directions, this is probably the best course you can take.
- If you don’t have any skills but you want to start earning money, you can learn how to outsource work with this course.
- And of course, if you are a consultant and you want to reach six figures and beyond, this course will give you everything you need.
Conclusion
It’s possible that I’m a bit biased given how much this course has benefited me. It’s also possible I’m overestimating how beneficial this course will be to someone who hasn’t already spent 5 years on their business.
But overall, I think this course does exactly what it promises and delivers far more value than nearly any other course I’ve seen. In short, Sam Ovens’s Consulting Accelerator is definitely not a scam, and if you want to build a six figure consulting business, it’s probably the best value you’ll ever get for $2,000. That’s my take, anyway. If you have any questions, or if you’ve taken the course and have your own thoughts to add, feel free to sound off in the comments.
Update #1: After this review hit first in Google, Sam reached out to me about doing some SEO work for him, and I consulted for him on his site’s SEO. This review has not been materially changed in any way since I started working for Sam.
Update #2: This review has now been live for over a year, and with the launch of Consulting Accelerator 2.0, is starting to get outdated. Accordingly, I have made some changes to the week-by-week breakdown to accurately reflect the new course layout. While I think the overall course has improved slightly with the updates, I have not changed any other sections in order to maintain the integrity of this review.
Update #3: Sam is currently offering a free trial and $500 discount via a student referral offer. If you’d like to take advantage of that offer, you can do so here.
Thanks for this honest review, from someone who has actually taken the course.
Sure thing Felix!
Hey Jacob,
A very thorough analysis of Sam Oven’s course, thanks.
On the face of it, there didn’t seem to be a lot in there that I’ve not come across somewhere before – either in courses I’ve taken or content I’ve consumed. And, yes just like you, I’ve wasted up to $5,000 on high-level, actionable content thin, BS courses.
You make a very pertinent comment right at the end of your piece in the conclusion, the bit about having spent 5 years on your business already. Here’s the point.
In building an online business we absorb ideas, thousands of them. Sometimes, it’s only with the value of hindsight and failure, yes failure, that we see the benefit of information we stumbled across years ago. It’s the same information, but it didn’t work for us previously because:
1) We got distracted and didn’t follow through.
2) We thought the info was too basic, and therefore of little or no value.
3) We tried to make simple things way too complicated.
4) Mentally we weren’t ready to succeed.
5) We were human, with all the shortfalls that entails – including being overwhelmed, indecisive or just plain stupid 🙂
So, here’s the real point.
The basics work. People have been building businesses for centuries using tested sales techniques, effective communication and human nature – the basics don’t change. We’ve become hugely more sophisticated in the methods we use to “get our message out there” but the essentials of the message are the same as they were 100 years ago.
The thing is, it might just take us 5 years to realize it.
Thanks again for a great review.
Great points Les. That’s absolutely true. The longer you are in business, the better you are able to focus on what matters and utilize good advice when it comes your way.
There really is nothing new under the sun, but we all have to learn from somewhere. As I mentioned in the review, information without context and application is pretty useless, and this course does an amazing job of providing and applying some great information in it’s appropriate context.
Par excellence. Now this is how you write a review. Thank you for such an in depth review based on your actual experience. You are an amazing writer. Much appreciated.
thanks for your review. I’m very fascinated by what Sam said, but after having wasted quite a lot of money on useless courses, I don’t have the luxury to spend such an amount of money without thinking a lot. Thanks for letting me know about what to expect from it.
I came across his facebook ad and I was skeptical. I took part in his free webinar but it was over 2 hours long and really drawn out and repeated a lot of the information that he already told you in his value video. I really appreciate the review you’ve done as it serves as a concise summary. What’s more, I can’t afford his course right now, but I was able to question a lot of things and learn a lot just from your review. For example, changing my business from ‘a la carte’ to regular clients for me is going to be a GAME CHANGER. Thank again and look forward to following your blog from now on!
I HATE webinars, so I feel you on that. Glad you found some good pointers for your business in my review!
JMac that’s Awesome. I really appreciated your review.
This is a great review. Thank you so much.
Thanks Jacob for such a thorough review. While I’ve researched a number of similar courses and even used a few, I have also noticed every online course, no matter how good it is, has detractors. And sometimes, the detracting reviews are fake, we know (posted by competitors).
Another reason sometimes people may feel a course or offer is a scam is due to different perceptions of terminology or varying definitions of what success really means. As you said, for some people $2k may be peanuts and so if even if they get nothing out of it, they wouldn’t consider it a scam. For other, $2k would mean investing their monthly income, and so the level of their expectation would be completely different.
Also, a majority of people are not ready to work on themselves (aka their mindset) while they work on their business, and so can either lose their way or not reap the gains that the offer promises. In other words, since they are not ready to change their ways of working, it becomes harder for them to embrace new methods.
Thanks again, as your review has helped me understand Sam’s offer better.
A question though, if you can please answer: Does the program give a website template you can use to build your own website, or is it just landing pages templates that you are provided? Is there any extra costs on these fronts that you have to fork up apart from the $2k?
Hey Virin, well said. Economic context really does make a difference as to how pricing is perceived… and with good reason.
And like you said, if someone isn’t willing to follow a set of instructions, it really doesn’t matter how good those instructions are. They are never going to benefit from them if they aren’t following them.
To answer your question, nothing is provided in terms of infrastructure. It’s just training. You still have to go set everything up. Sam walks you through it using his tools, but he always mentions where you can use free tools in place of what he’s using.
For example, Sam uses Unbounce for landing pages, which costs a minimum of $49 per month. Several of Sam’s most successful students use ClickFunnels, which costs a minimum of $99 per month. Personally, I prefer to create my own landing pages for free using WordPress and Elegant Theme’s Divi builder (example here: https://jacobmcmillen.com/blueprint/).
Pretty much anything Sam requires you to do can be done for free OR via a premium tool. The difference between the two is typically going to be convenience. The one exception would be Facebook ads, which are obviously pay to play.
Hope that helps.
Thanks Jacob, yes that’s helpful to know.
Also thanks for sharing the resources you’re using in your own business (SiteOrigin looks good). That was one point I was stuck on. Since Sam’s program says that you won’t need to spend another penny, I assumed they provided the infrastructure too.
That was reinforced when I noticed one of his students using exactly the same website template and processes. But obviously that student would have chosen to go for paid options.
I also believed the infrastructure would be provided as one of his students says in the video testimonial that Sam provides a plug n play system. Again, that could mean different things.
Also, I wondered how they can claim you would be able to secure a paying client organically with free methods, if some of them would cost money to execute, eg lumpy mail.
ps: Have you heard of or tried Elite Coaches Mastermind (Sai Blackbyrn)?
Thanks!
Well first of all, if someone goes into any sort of program or training with the expectation that they are going to hit six figures without spending another penny, they are absolutely going to fail.
Scaling a business requires a lot of reinvestment back into the business, regardless of what growth system you are following .
With most of the training programs I’ve seen, the trainers are actively trying to sell you their products and services throughout the entirety of the course, and these products tend to be wildly overpriced and horribly serviced.
With Sam’s program, he doesn’t try to upsell you at any point throughout the entire training. He shows you the products he uses, which are all fairly low-priced and frankly, almost mandatory for online businesses anyway, and he also suggests ways to do the same thing for free if you can’t spend a few extra bucks.
Students can easily land several thousand dollars worth of new clients by following Sam’s advice, but to fully implement the built-to-scale system, you will need to reinvest some of that money back into the business… which will be true no matter what methodology you follow.
Fair call Jacob. It makes perfect sense and meaning to reinvest some of your earnings to grow your business.
And it’s great to know Sam doesn’t do that kind of upselling.
Thanks!
Thank you so much for this in depth review! I have been looking into this course and put off by all the bad reviews. However I also know most people are not willing to put the effort in!
My one question is, does the course explain how to get clients onto a monthly retainer? Most of my consultancy clients just pay me for a month or two as a sort of one off job. I am wondering how to do that transition. Then how do you have the time to be working with all these clients?
Many thanks,
Hannah
Hey Hannah,
The course will teach you the “how” part. It will help you identify an offer people will want and will give you the phone script to make the sale. Getting a retainer is just a matter of selling services as a retainer… provided they make sense to sell as a retainer.
As far as delivering the value, that’s going to depend on your preferences. You can deliver the value yourself. You can hire contractors to help. You can just white label someone else’s service and do nothing but close the sales. It really depends on your expertise and preferences, but Sam provides some recommendations on each direction.
Very interesting read, I would also like to know what was the best course you have taken. Thanks Jacob
Hi Jacob, your site is very resourceful and I appreciate you taking the time (and big effort) to lay out your experience with the Sam Ovens course.
I am looking at your site and want to commend you. As a fellow freelance writer, I am really impressed with all the information you provide. I have currently signed on a trial with Contena and I am not impressed because the Modules Kevin offers do not address content or marketing themselves, but rather focuses mainly on the pitch – although the job board is nice (I’m sure as a writer you’ve heard of Contena). Anyway, I’m wishing for a truly great site for writers to come together online and encourage and impart wisdom to each other. All I got was a complementary coaching on my pitch from Contena for $600 (no real assistance with the content or support to better my product.) Contena would probably be better if it had those things. But for now I can dream, unless you know of such a site for us writers.
Hi Melissa,
I actually hadn’t heard of Contena, so thanks for the fyi! I haven’t personally used job boards in a number of years, but it’s always nice to have another board to recommend to my readers.
I’ve created a membership group called The Overpaid Writer’s Club, the goal of which is to provide exactly what you’re talking about: education, feedback, personalized help, etc.
Interaction is still a bit sparse as there are only around 10 members, but I personally respond to every question and plan to grow the group over the next few months. There are several other six figure writers in the group as well, so it’s definitely a criminally underused resource at the moment.
If you’d like to join, you can do so here for $29 per month (cancel anytime): https://gum.co/lmLXh
Would love to have you included!
Hi Jacob, Your comments about the program are interesting. I would have liked very much to have gone through the course even though I paid for it last year. At some point Sam changed to a different portal access but never sent me any links to access it. I sent him numerous emails but recently determined that the ‘support’ email address I have was no longer being used. As I am sure you know Sam recently came out with a new version 2.0 that will be an upgrade for the previous version. Again, none of my previous concerns are being addressed regarding access. Seems no one understands what I am writing about or I am being ignored again.
Based upon my experience the program I paid for was a scam. But since I have never had access I have no recourse either.
Hi Paul, oh wow, that would be really annoying to deal with. Have you tried this support email – looks to be the new address: [email protected]. I have had a few interactions with their support team, and in my experience, they have been super responsive and very committed to solving any problems I am experiencing.
Jacob,
Thank for writing such a candid review of Sam’s program. I’ll be watching it for the second time tonight as I never jump on an opportunity based on the excitement of the moment. Though I’m intrigued by the potential of the consulting business, I’ve never been a good salesperson. (I guess it’s been more a case of heat not light.) Do you think Sam’s scripts overcome this weakness? Also, my recently earned Associates Degree prepared me for a field unrelated to business. Is my expectation of success by following directions more akin to wishful/hopeful thinking? I value straight shooters so please, give it to me straight. Thanks.
Hi Jerry, it seems to me like the scripts will work for anyone, and the success I’ve seen in the group makes me think it will probably work for you if you follow it to the letter, but I’m more of a naturally talented salesman, so saying “Yes this will work for you” would be like the naturally ripped dude in the gym telling people to just follow his routine and they’ll get ripped too.
It’s designed to help people who aren’t naturally talented at sales. It works for people who are good at sales. And with the sheer number of success stories in the facebook group, I highly doubt they are all from the “good at sales” end of the spectrum.
Hi Jacob
I really appreciate your objective feedback on Sam Ovens program. Its very difficult to find a review like this online. So I am glad I came across this.
Hi Gerald, thanks for the kind words. I’m glad you enjoyed my review!
I found your page because Sam Ovens popped up in my Facebook feed for the first time today. This is such a great review! Really helpful, and (naturally enough for a successful copywriter) very engaging and well-written.
I don’t suppose you’ve done Zero to Launch by Ramit Sethi? If you have, I’d love to hear your take on it.
Thanks too for the sample Divi sales page. I was considering shelling out for OptimizePress, but those pages get the job done just as well!
Hi Trish, thanks for the kind words! I have not taken any of Ramit’s courses because his “look at my cool life” marketing style annoys me, but that said, I’ve seen a lot of positive reviews on that course – the type of reviews from the type of people that make me think it’s probably a solid course.
If you aspire to be a highly paid consultant or offer a set of services within a consulting package (what I do), I think your $2k is better placed in Sam’s course. If you are interested in any other business model, Ramit’s course will probably be the better choice.
Hi Jacob thanks for your review. I am on the fence. I am 64 and have just started my own consulting business in January . I have over 25 years experience in the substance abuse treatment profession. 15 years of that experience was implementing, and supervision of 14 Hospital Detox Contracts in Hospitals. Most Contracts were 2-3 years at $25,000.00 a month and the Company supplied the management and staff for the program. The hospital provided the nursing, Doctor etc.. We did all the Marketing and census Development.Since all admits had to have a payer it was a money maker for the hospitals. I am trying to do offer a different version of that service differently. My Company would Implement the services , train the staff, and after it was up and running consult on a monthly flat or hourly rate as needed . I am conflicted as I am told better to go after the long contracts, I am leary at my age (64) with all those headaches constant traveling etc.. or go after the other option where I help them be successful by setting up their programs but can walk away and consult as needed. I know I am very capable and can do this. I have 9 proposals 2 look promising with various hospitals, but they have to go through corporate etc. I also am unemployed and have to watch expenses. It runs out in 5 weeks but I have enough savings to last 8 more months. I do have a job offer that a new startup is proposing, doing the same idea but working for them. ( there goes my dream) just not sure if Sam’s program will teach me how to close those deals and whether his program fits my needs. Plus the technology would be a challenge as I would need some help as you can tell by my web. I appreciate any feedback, and thanks again.
Hey Frank, one thing I like about Sam is that he is process focused rather than technology focus. For the handful of tools required to run his process, he shows you exactly how to set them up, so that won’t be an issue.
If you have the experience and industry connections, you should be in a good position to making consulting work for you, and I think Sam’s program will probably help you fill in the gaps on any areas of weakness.
That said, running your own business is no cake walk and not for the faint of heart. If you believe the market opportunity is there, you just have to be able to answer the question, “Can I afford to fail?” If the answer is “No,” then the next question becomes, “Do I want this bad enough to guarantee that I don’t fail?”
Running a consulting business is really a matter of problem solving, both for yourself and your clients. If you want it bad enough, make it happen. If you aren’t sure, it’s definitely safer to take the guaranteed income, at least in the short term. That’s something you have to decide for yourself.
Thanks Jacob for authentic & thorough review! I’m looking at mobe.com which appears to be up selling on steroids (not sure who started 1st, Matt or Sam, but interesting there both from Australia.
Mobe.com seems like a decent course with some good reviews. I don’t have any personal experience with it. If your goal is consulting, 100% go with Sam’s course. If your goal is some other business model, Mobe.com might be better suited.
Does his course help with MLM? I am going to be a wellness coach for Herbal life, completely new in marketing but I really want to scratch some income out of this business
Not really.
Incredible review. Thanks for sharing Jacob!
Sure thing Carlos, much appreciated!
I really appreciate this review you wrote as I look into Sam’s program. My only thing I have still not seen explained is what Sam teaches you to actually sell to your clients?! Are most of these consultants selling marketing services/assistance in the form of facebook/google/instagram ad’s to generate business?
Hi Cody,
What’s being sold is consulting, which is essentially problem solving. Sam’s course is geared towards people who have some type of expertise that they want to monetize and sell. But for people who would say, “I don’t have any expertise, what do I sell?” he also has an entire module on how to sell digital marketing services, which can be applied to his training.
I’d say most consultants these days do a mixture of advising and some level of service providing as part of their consulting package, but it’s really going to vary from consultant to consultant.
Interesting. Thanks for the quick response. I had not seen any talk about what you are supposed to package, pitch, and sell to the clients so I was just curious if this topic was covered in the training program or not. Can you give an example of what kind of “service providing” and “advising” one might sell to… let’s say a dentist or a plumber or something?
Like I mentioned, consulting is a very diverse field with many applications.
For example, a management consulting firm might charge $1,000 per hour to help a Fortune 500 firm navigate a merger.
Or on the other end of the spectrum, a marketing consultant might charge $1,000 total to help a plumbing company build and run a Facebook ads campaign.
There are a billion and one variations out there.
Hey James,
Good point. I didn’t have any personal experience with support as I had no need for it, but I do know Sam just hired 25 additional staff with better support being a big goal, so I’ll probably send some dummy emails here in a bit and see what the response is for a post update.
Thanks so much Jacob, for such a detailed and honest review.
I also love the fact that you’re not trying to upsell me anything :O
Keep up the great work man!
Thanks Lucas!
Jacob, thank you for your very in depth review of Sam’s course. It is very beneficial.
I am also interested in what you stated you felt was the numer 1 course and have you every heard about TAB consulting Franchiase ? If so any comments ?
Great review,
I’m still not sure on what exactly you do with the consulting.
I get the Facebook ads and making them a website and managing their social media to drive traffic to their business, but that’s pretty much social media marketing.
What else does this teach you to do?
How would this help you help businesses that have way more experience in their field than you do, other than the tactics listed above?
The course is primarily intended for people with some level of expertise in a given field who want to create a system for finding, closing, and retaining consulting clients using that expertise.
If you don’t have any expertise, Sam tacks on training for how to provide certain digital marketing services or simply outsource them, as that is one of the easier fields to build a business in, but that’s not the primary intent of the course.
Thanks Jacob,
I just watched the Sam Ovens 2 hour Webinar/sales pitch. I’ve seen many before and this one looks no different. I am a Professional Web Developer already and was curious if some of these ideas would help me obtain customers and find a niche. I’m NOT a sales or marketing person AT ALL, so I am trying to get ideas on how to get my name to more potential customers using what I know about the internet already. I have also joined some networking groups and talked to local business owners in my geographic area to learn how and where local businesses network with each other.
I offer services to local small businesses, not really over-the-internet or over-the-phone consulting, so this course overview alone points me in the right direction in few ways, but not the direction I want to take for my business.
Just his sales pitch and your insightful review has been a big help pointing me in the right direction.
Your very detailed and helpful review just saved me $2,000. Other concepts I need, I can get from friends of mine that are successful in sales and marketing, and won’t cost me a penny.
Thanks for your detailed and honest review. It was very refreshing instead of the “Best program ever!” or “Total SCAM and BS” reviews I often see.
Thanks again,
Tom
Hey Tom, awesome! That is the exact reason I wrote this review. I’ve been in a similar spot before, where I don’t really think it would be a good fit, but I’m battling a little bit of FOMO, and then it’s impossible to find a thorough, objective take.
Glad I could provide that for you, and best of luck with your lead gen process! If you ending up finding a process that works well for introverts, A) let me know! and B) congrats on becoming a millionaire lol!
In terms of the course that has been most influential on my personal business, it’s Brian Dean’s “SEO That Works” course.
The main thing I get paid to do is write content that ranks on the front page for competitive search terms, and about half of my ability to make that happen comes from Brian’s course.
Hey Jacob
Not only you spent a lot of time on the review you are giving a lot of time on the Q&A and we all appreciate that ????
I am considering an Accounting course from Andrew Argue CPA and while researching him I saw a video on which Andrew mentioned that he took the course from Sam.
I guess my question is , have you heard about Mr Andrew ? If yes , any suggestions?
Just FYI for every body he is charging $6K and no refund ????
Hi Farhan, no clue about Andrew. I’ve seen his ads on Facebook, and it doesn’t surprise me that his course is fairly expensive, since it is solely for accountants – a generally high income group.
Thanks Jacob for the quick response ????
I am brand new in online marketing and consulting . What is your sincere suggestions for people like me ? Is it fairly easy to make $5K a month once I commit about 15 hours a week.
“Is it fairly easy to make $5K a month once I commit about 15 hours a week?”
Definitely not.
What were are talking about here is building a business from scratch, so there are going to be 3 core pieces that you’ll need to build:
1. A strategy and system for continuously bringing in leads
2. A strategy for turning those leads into paying customers
3. A system for delivering a high-value service
If you are working a fulltime job right now and 15 hours is the most you can spare, that’s enough to start making progress, and Sam’s course will definitely help you optimize the value you are extracting out of each hour, but 15 hours per week isn’t enough to build a fulltime career, especially at the beginning.
I can maintain my current business at around 25 hours per week, but that’s after several years putting in fulltime hours (or more) to get my lead generation system in place.
Since Sam’s system uses paid ads, you could end up getting there a lot quicker than I did, but “easy” is not the word I would use.
If you want easy, entrepreneurship isn’t the right choice.
Thanks for a great review. I signed up to the program on the strength of your words. I’m in week 2 and excited/ freaking out, but can already see the change in the way I think about my offering and also (now that I have read the sales script) can see why I didn’t close at least 2 out of 5 of my recent prospects. So while i am annoyed at myself, at least I can now see a way forward.
Hey Elizabeth, awesome! Now that it’s a few months later, how has the course been working out for you?
Hi Jacob, thanks for your insights. I’ve been looking at the accelerator program for quite a while. I have an idea and would like to know your opinion. I’m thinking on purchasing the program and get 2 to 3 persons with specific knowledge in specific high value niches to develop consulting through them. That way, I get to have 2 to 3 consulting businesses. That makes sense? Is that possible?
Thank you for your thorough and sincere, honest review. You answered my main question. I was seriously considering spending the $2,000, but was concerned that I don’t have any expertise in anyone subject to be a good consultant. So, this would not be a good fit for me. Unfortunately, because, I am a natural at selling.
Thank you for saving me my hard earned money.
Grace
Hey Grace, sure thing! Honestly, if you are already great at selling, the only thing left for you to do is pick something you want to sell and make lots of money.
Thanks so much for this review. It saved me from spending money I really don’t have. I know that I’m not at “that place” that you talk about when the investment would really count. I am so thankful that you wrote this review and I found it before spending the money. I was close. Thank you.
Hey Arleen, absolutely! The key to great courses like this is that you are confident you are in a place to benefit from them and can go “all in” following the roadmap. There is plenty of time for you to build your business to the point where you can benefit from this course and then revisit, or who knows, by then you might find another model or marketing channel that works really well for you.
Hey Jacob, awesome review and good to see an honest on, not begging for affiliate commissions.
Something you may not have covered or I missed it is:
Does Sam cover how to retain clients, its pretty simple coming up with an automatic client funnel, but having a system in place that can consistently add enough value to retain high paying clients is an absolute game changer.
So my question is does, he cover this and if so how well?
His core theory of consulting is that consulting = problem solving. So if you are solving clients’ problems, it is both easy to close them and easy to retain them.
At no point is he advocating selling solutions you can’t actually deliver, so the retention is sort of built in. His starting point for the entire course is that you know how to solve a niche’s problems and then he’s going to teach you how to find and close people in your niche.
Jacob, what a fantastic review you have published. I came across this gentleman’s program last year but didn’t pull the trigger because I figured it’d be too good to be true. As it turns out, it appears to be very well the investment after reading your review. How do you think this model would fit someone in the financial planning, insurance, and wealth management field? Your feedback is very well appreciated.
Hi Jacob,
This review was so helpful!
There isn’t anything I can say that hasn’t already been said, so I will just repeat: thank you…for your transparency and thoroughness.
Hey Cate, thanks for the kind words. I’m glad you found it helpful!
Hey Jacob,
While I am grateful for the depth you’ve gone to in order to deliver this rather comprehensive and objective review, I am puzzled as to how you were able to justify the hours of your life to obviously took to craft it. Is reviewing commercial on-line offerings part of your current business model?
Kindly advise. Thanks in advance,
Alexander
If you want to know why people write reviews like this, look into Search Engine Optimization and you’ll find your answer there.
Hi Jacob
Thanks for your honest review.
I’m a beginner copywriter.
Just wanted to clarify how Sam’s course benefited you.
Are you now a copywriting consultant who was once a copywriter or can this course also suit an actual copywriter who isn’t a consultant?
Thanks
Hi Jacob, thank you for your great review. In terms os social media, Sam uses Facebook. In my specific target market, LinkedIn is more appropriate. I am engaged in service consulting, not on-line. I
Welcome your thoughts.
Hey Jacob, this is a great review and many thanks for it. I like what I’ve gotten already from Sam’s sales video and have carded it as a course I might like to invest in soon. Having googled reviews a bit and seen some of the bad stuff yours really does build trust.
If you’ve got any comment on the following though I’d appreciate. I’m a bit of a stickler for honesty and trust, and it seems a good number of people have tried to redeem Sam’s proud guarantee offer for money back and gotten ignored until the guarantee period was up and then gotten shafted. Of course that’s a mega breaker of trust and red flag about scams. It’s worse he tries to build trust by saying he’d even at $100 to the refund.
Secondly, though less important admittedly is why the constant sell of “today only for $1997” when you can access the same deal today, tmrw and every day?
As I said your review did a great job in building trust on some of the value in the course. Just asking your thoughts, mainly on the money back guarantee cheating, as it really does destroy overall credibility – where I’m pretty sure if folks got their money back as requested they’d have no reason at all to write such harsh reviews, so I can only assume they must be true.
Hey Jonathan,
Great questions. I actually sent this question over to Sam’s head of customer support, and he said that they have issued 581 full refunds to date (over 10,000 students have taken the course), and that a lot of the complaints about refunds had to do with people expecting the usual “no questions asked” refund and then being upset when that wasn’t the deal. He mentioned that through the first two years of the course, the refund policy was included visibly on the sales page but wasn’t extremely prominent and obvious, and they have since made it much more attention grabbing to help eliminate that confusion.
I’m not involved in their actual customer support, so I can’t personally verify anything further that that, but I know from working with several companies like Sam’s that failing to issue refunds is typically a lot more expensive to a company than issuing them, especially when the business is doing 7+ figures in revenue.
As for the “today only for $1997” bit, that is standard practice in business of any sort. Urgency is a key psychological factor that pretty much everyone selling anything in the last 100 years has tried to tap into. If you have every bought anything “on sale”, you’ve had this used on you. You are certainly justified in finding it a bit distasteful, but just be aware 9/10 companies you’ve ever interacted with have used this technique, and the 10th company would have if they thought it could increase their bottom line.
Hi Jacob, I have two questions. I have gone through Russ Ruffinos Clients on Demand course and since I work with established business owners who want to increase sales by optimizing there sales process. I found it difficult to find these people on Facebook with the information I learned. Does Sam’s course enable you to attract my target market of existing business owners and professional service providers? Second question. I know Sam has higher levels of training. Have you signed up for them and do you think they are nessesary to build a $500,000 coaching/consulting business? Thank-Your for your response.
Hey Edward, I don’t typically get into “will the course work for this specific thing” questions, but before I met Sam, I worked for one of Sam’s students who had 3 different businesses hitting multiple six figures in revenue via Sam’s Facebook ads strategy and lead generation method. One of those businesses was geared specifically toward entrepreneurs and another was geared specifically toward business owners and service providers. So I would guess reaching that audience via Sam’s training would be very doable.
Also, while Sam’s training is used by students in a variety of ways outside its intended use, its primary intent is to close high-ticket consulting contracts with large businesses and successful business owners, so it sounds like you would be using the course for something similar to its primary intent.
I’m taking his course too and absolutely LOVE it!! The mindset work has opened my eyes and my brain in a way I didn’t even see coming. The way he explains it totally resonates with me. I just started week 5 and can not recommend it enough. Will write a review about it once I finish too.
Very cool Kristin, glad you’re enjoying it!
Hi Jacob, Sam Oven´s ads are always on my Instagram feed, and I always have the question… Is there any difference between the Sam Ovens method and a sales funnel based in FB Ads+ some guest posting+Lead Magnet+Tripwire+Core Product (consulting based) with Active Campaign emailing? Because this type os sales funnel is already teached here in Spain for less money.
If it´s really better than an the typical automated sales funnel, I would also think about creating a similar course in Spanish.
Thanks for your time, Jacob!
Hi Raúl, in terms of funnel building, Sam’s training is fairly simple, and as you mentioned, you can find funnel building courses elsewhere for much cheaper.
Making funnels isn’t hard. Running Facebook ads isn’t hard. Sending emails isn’t hard.
Making profit through each of those things is the hard part. Having them work together and get results for your specific business is the challenge.
Sam has basically put together a virtually auto-win system for a businesses that offer high-ticket consulting services and training packages. He spent years testing it on his own business and has been refining it based on data from 10,000 students.
If you are looking to build a business that falls under this umbrella, I’m pretty confident in saying it’s the best training on the market.
If your business falls outside the umbrella, then it’s probably going to be on the same level as other more general funnel courses.
Hope that helps!
Jacob, this is the first time I’ve been on your site. This is a great review for a product I was trying to figure out whether to purchase or not. You answered all my questions and helped me make a final decision I was struggling with. Thank you so MUCH!
Pam
Hi Jacob. Thank you for the review. I was hoping you would go deeper into whether the course is really solid in helping people find their niche. I don’t really know what mine is yet, so I wanted to get your take/grade on the courses ability to help people figure out there niche.
Thanks for the time.
Hi Joseph, it definitely spends some time there and will give you a clear strategy for identifying a few solid niche options you can target based on your experiences and interests. If that’s all you are looking for, however, there are plenty of free resources available that will help you identify a good niche without you needing to spend money.
Wow. Now that’s a review! Well done. I sat through the 2 hour webinar but that was it for me. I had decided not to proceed before I read your review but you pretty much nailed why I don’t want to do it.
I HATE sales. I had an older brother who could sell ice cubes to Eskimos while I couldn’t sell them to desert dwellers dying of thirst.
I definitely am in the “learn theory and experiment constantly” camp. That is just what makes things interesting for me. Start from a base of knowledge and improvise, tinker and try try again stuff. Had a great career for 3+ decades in information technology doing just that. Loved it.
I think everyone considering the course should read your list of reasons and honestly evaluate themselves FIRST.
Glad it worked for you and others but it’s not for me.
Hey Tim, that’s a great point! It’s very common for people to think they are cut out for a certain skill set, business model, or style of entrepreneurship when they simply are not. Having the self awareness to know what you AREN’T good at allows you invest your time, money, and energy in what you ARE good at. That’s big! And the good news is that as long as you aren’t in a rush to see results, taking more of an experiment, learn, and evolve approach will eventually help you identify a business model that plays to your strengths. Best!
Hi Jacob,
Great, fair-minded review. I just sat through the 2.5 hours plus webinar and was probably most intrigued by the mindset module.
You mentioned it gave you a huge breakthrough that you’d come back to in the review, but I couldn’t find it mentioned again,
Any chance you can elaborate? Cheers and thanks!
Any chance
Sure thing! To clarify, it was a recommendation he made in the first week where he is talking about mindset primarily. It wasn’t the mindset training in particular, although I do find the course to do well in that area.
“After watching the first week of Sam’s training, I stopped offering my services “a la carte” and started focusing on monthly packages. I upsold several of my existing clients to these packages and then pitched and landed several additional clients in my network, as well as several new clients from incoming website leads.
All told, I have around $15k in monthly contracts in place right now, with new clients coming in every month. That’s around double my monthly average from 2016.
Now, while Sam’s course didn’t launch my business from scratch, it would be very silly of me to look at my current $15k per month income and think, “Man, $2,000 for that course was not worth it.” In my world, $2k is a relatively small number.
At the same time, with the stage my business is at, a relatively simple piece of advice can result in tens of thousands of dollars in ROI. I spent $5,000 on a different course last year that hasn’t resulted in a single dollar in ROI for me, and you know what? I’m not too worried about it. I met some really cool people with some expertise I plan to pull from in the future, and while I might take it back if I could go back in time, at the end of the day, a $5,000 loss really isn’t that bad.
That’s not true for everyone. For some people, spending $2k on training feels like a MASSIVE investment, and as a result, they have some crazy expectations for what they’ll receive as a result.”
Thank you Jacob – the webinar was too much and too long. I really appreciate your review which allowed me to cut the webinar of redundant information short. 🙂
This is a great review Jacob, and so useful. Thank you for taking the time to write it
Great Review, thanks Jacob!
Hey Jacob – thanks for the review, very helpful! you said that if we don’t have a business now or don’t have a pretty good idea of what we would want our business to be ( Power-phrasing ), this course isn’t going to work. I think that one of Sam’s statements on his vids was that EVEN if we don’t have a clear vision of what space / business / niche we’d like to be in, he can help with that? Just wanted to clarify this point as it’s a very important one. I have a few directions that I’m interested in but am still not sure which ones are 100% viable for me specifically.
Would appreciate your response on this.
Thank you!
Hi Yaniv, it certainly CAN work for anyone, even someone who doesn’t currently know what direction they want to go or doesn’t have a business already started.
It’s just my personal opinion from watching a lot of people try entrepreneurship that if someone hasn’t already invested time, energy, and money into turning an idea into reality, they are much less likely to succeed with the help of an online course than someone who already has already put work into their business and already has a general sense of where they are headed.
The average person is not cut out for entrepreneurship, and that’s why there are so many people crying “SCAM” after taking courses like Sam’s and many others.
In terms of Sam’s course specifically, if you have a clear idea for a high-ticket service business that you want to start, Sam’s course might be exactly what you need to get things rolling.
If there are other business ideas you are wanting to pursue, there might be courses better suited for those business models. Sam’s course is not a one-size-fits all, so for the average person who sees $2,000 as a massive investment, it’s better to save that for when they know what they want to build.
For me, $2k is around half of what I invest in my business each month, so it’s more of a value question, and for anyone in my position, Sam’s course is easily worth the $2k multiple times over.
Hello,
I see this post is pretty old so I might not get an answer lol.
Would this course work in generating leads and clients for an online personal training business?
I’m not personally in that niche, so I can’t answer that, but Sam has been interviewing several students in the fitness industry lately. Their conversations might shed some light on that: https://www.consulting.com/channel
Hi Jacob,
Your review is so refreshing. Thank you. I am the kind of person that believes you can do ANYTHING you set your mind to doing. It is all about the mindset. Even though I would love to be a great salesperson, I don’t love selling because I hate the rejection! You did mention in one of your posts that there are great resources out there for free to help folks find their niche. Do you have one you recommend? Thank you again for all your wonderful information. You sir are one of those folks I will follow regularly because you appear to be the real deal.
Jacob,
This is seriously the best review I’ve ever read! Well done! Thank you for your time and insight. I’m thinking we should work together in the advertising field in the future.
Peter
Hi Jacob,
Thank you so much for your honest review! Highly appreciated. I got a lot more clarity about Sam’s course. I have watched the 2 hour webinar and got really excited. But then I read here that it’s catered more towards high-ticket consulting services and training packages and I have my doubts. I am not sure whether i will be good at that, or at phone sales. I sometimes think that not being good at sales could be a result of having blocks. And that it seems like a person is not a sales person but maybe with a removal of blocks they can ultimately be successful. What are your thoughts on that? Thanks
Great question Marisa. I don’t know how you personally will vibe with phone sales. I’m great on the phone but 75% of my sales happen via email without ever getting to a phone conversation, so it’s not a sure thing that you will need to run your business over the phone. Your ability to master any one specific skill is less important than your general persistence and commitment to finding a way to succeed online regardless of what it looks like.
At the end of the day, the course you take is just going to be one factor in your success. I’ve seen people get completely scammed on worthless courses and just shrug it off and succeed (I spent $5k on a worthless course a few years ago… no biggie). I’ve also seen people be personally mentored and given every possible opportunity to succeed and they simply didn’t have the internal drive to do it.
Sam’s course is one of the best courses I’ve come across. It’s absolutely worth the $2k ($1,500 with referral discount). But it’s not an automatic path to success. I don’t know you or your situation. If the webinar resonated with you and its a question of do you skip one weekend trip this year or do you get the course, I’d say get it and take a chance on yourself. If it’s between buying the course and taking out credit or something like that, I’d say spend some time pursuing some of the many free resources on online business out there and see where that takes you.
As a general rule, I think Sam’s course is best suited for people who already have an online business and are wanting to scale, but I’ve seen numerous people in the group start from scratch and hit full-time income within the first few months, so I don’t what to overly encourage you or discourage you to take the course. I would just encourage you to decide what you want, make a plan to get there, and then commit to that plan over an extended period of time.
Your review has been very valuable for us, without it we would not consider it at all. I have sent you a message in your inbox.
Do you think someone who does not have a business or even a clear idea of their business or target market could really use this course to find their niche, target market, identify the target market’s problems and even find clients? I am very interested in the course, and yet after your review (thank you for it, by the way), I am wondering if these are realistic expectations – given one is willing to do the work the course asks you to do.
I think having an existing business helps a good deal, but more because you are already headed in a direction and have something to immediately apply lessons to.
You can definitely use the course to find your niche and business, but the problem is that would-be, first time entrepreneurs tend to be very indecisive and can spend months second guessing themselves on their business ideas before actually doing anything.
Picking a niche and business is not an exact science. There is some trial and error involved. If you are willing to embrace all that and just pick something, Sam’s course will help with that, but I see a lot of people take the course who get really hung up on that initial stage and never actually start anything.
Thanks a lot for this review and for honestly and clearly responding to my question. I really appreciate it and it helps me a lot to make a more informed decision.
Of course, best of luck!
Jacob,
Thanks for the in-depth, honest review. I just finished watching his webinar and I am on the fence. Sam does an excellent job creating a vision for “us looking for something” and I find myself really wanting to do the program. Like many others out there, I have been burned/scammed and I am so tired of it. Your review gave me great insight, just wanted to say thank you!
Hi Shawn, sure thing! I’ve sent the discount invite your way just in case you decide to go for it. The main thing I recommend to people considering this course is to really, honestly think through the next month and a half and ask yourself, “Can I fully commit to putting everything else in my life on the backburner (or at least lower priority) and investing the majority of my energy into getting a business off the ground?”
If you already have a business in progress, you might not need to be that extreme, but most people who contact me are thinking about starting something from scratch, and unless you are in a position where $1,500 isn’t a big expense, you really want to be ready to go all-in on this thing in order to make it worth your while.
This isn’t the type of course where you can sort of play around with it for a few months and get results. It’s very step-by-step, so you either follow each step or you don’t. Best of luck!
Excellent review. Going to watch the Webinar tomorrow to see if this is something that will work with a small IT company offering networking solutions to clients. Have one decent client now and want to expand. I have little business experience, but am a mass communications major, which can be useful for some of this. Think from all the information you provided this system could help my partner and I acquire more clients. This program uses FB ads, but is there any guidance on how to leverage LinkdIn and Instagram too? Thank you for any insights.
Please send me the referral discount link.
Hi Jacob,
I appreciate the fantastic review and disclosures. It’s reassuring that isn’t a scam.
I will graduate with my MBA next March and I don’t have an existing business. Consulting is one of the directions I wanted to go after I graduate. Do you think this is a course that I will benefit from?
Thanks! And please do send me the referral link.
Hey Scott, if you are looking to break into the management consulting world, this course won’t really be relevant for you. But if entrepreneurship and having your own independent consulting practice is more what intrigues you, this is far and away the best course I’ve come across for that objective.
I really appreciate this review. It helps to put it into perspective as to what I’m ready for and what I might need to do to ready myself for a course like this. The tough part is narrowing down what I want to do. I have a few different self-employment skills and struggle with which one to choose or to branch out into something else entirely. It was not clear as to whether Ovens’ course would truly help me on that issue. One question for you: How many courses like this have you done? Do you do them for the purpose of bettering your own business or is it the nature of your business to review online sources? I’m sorry if you’ve addressed this previously. I didn’t read through all the comments. Thanks.
This is the only course I’ve ever reviewed. I’ve taken a total of 3 courses, each for the purpose of learning something specific. I’ve taken an SEO course from Backlinko.com which was fantastic and helped me build my freelance copywriting business to around $80k. Sam’s course helped me double that by repackaging and re-framing the way I was offering and selling my services.
The third course was something I took a few years ago. I spent $5k (more than the cost of the other two combined) on a course teaching local lead generation. I thought I could leverage it into passive income. I wouldn’t say that course was a scam but it definitely wasn’t worth $5k, it was sort of a front for them to upsell a bunch of other shit, and in the end, I didn’t make a dime off it. Oh well. I’ve invested a lot of time and money into my business in other ways that never paid off… it’s just part of being self-employed. Ya win some, ya lose some.
Hey thanks Jacob. Great review. I read it only because I have a fascination with Sam’s YouTube ads which keep getting put in front of me and I like his style but also wondered if he was legit. Happy to discover he is. You write with an intelligent head!
Thanks for a great review Jacob. I only watched Sam’s webinar the other day but have seen his ads popup numerous times and I figured it was just another over the top sales pitch. I was very impressed by his webinar however, really question whether his course would suit my niche. Now I’m thinking that I need to somewhat change the particular consulting niche I thought would best. Will this course answer that question for me?
Hey Carolyn, picking a niche is hard because it’s not an exact science. Some niches are more profitable than others, but certain people will make far more money in a less lucrative niche than they would in a more lucrative niche. It’s a balancing act of all sorts of factors, many of which can’t be accounted for in a course. Sam’s course will help you identify WHERE your key decisions will be, but it will never be able to tell you WHAT your choices should be.
Hi Jacob, thanks so much for the review, very helpful (and I will definitely use your referral link if I choose to join the course)!
I have a pre-existing consulting business, and I do believe that his course may help me drive up value of existing or prospective clients.
My concerns are twofold, and I’d love your feedback:
1. Does the course go into best practices for scaling (and outsourcing), from a workflow perspectiv?
I am primarily leveraging my professional background and clout when selling my services. I’m a bit apprehensive about the additional time it’d take up to add additional clients, and at a loss with how to overcome these challenges.
I’d love to automate and standardize some of my services, as well (perhaps development of a course) – does Sam’s course address this? If not, do you have any recommendations here?
2. Does the course talk about business models that are strategy vs. implementation from a niche & services perspective?
I do brand partnership/sponsorship consulting, and often I am asked to sell on behalf of clients (which I do not do). I believe this course may help with identifying the prospects who will want strategy vs. implementation, but that challenge is my other big concern with investing in this course. I want to be sure that I can target those who want to be coached vs. those who want the work done for them.
Thanks in advance for your feedback!
Hi Justin, fantastic questions:
1) The #1 value of this course is in scaling leads/customers. Sam does talk a good bit about fulfillment and outsourcing, but neither are the primary focuses, so if you are already overflowing with leads and really just want to know how to scale fulfillment, this might not be the best course for you.
2) This course spends a good deal of time talking about both strategy and implementation. It covers 5 different delivery models, both of those included and mixed and matched in a number of ways. Done-for-you services are easiest for new consultants to sell, but as you know, the real goal is to be able to simply sell your advice in some fashion without adding workload per client, and that is also the goal in the training.
I hope that helps! If you have further questions, shoot me a line via my contact form and I’d be happy to discuss via email.
Hi, interesting review, but I noticed that you answered to every question except of Joseph’s from April 2nd, 2018 about how good his program is for finding your nitch. I, also, have no clue and having a hard time to believe that someone is going to figure it out for me:)
Hi Lana,
I actually did answer it! Here’s my response:
“Hi Joseph, it definitely spends some time there and will give you a clear strategy for identifying a few solid niche options you can target based on your experiences and interests. If that’s all you are looking for, however, there are plenty of free resources available that will help you identify a good niche without you needing to spend money.”
Speaking of free resources, here’s a great article from Consulting.com with a sizable discussion of niche: https://www.consulting.com/how-to-start-a-consulting-business
To further elaborate on that, people tend to get hung up on choosing a niche because it’s not an exact science. It’s an educated guess at best. You identify what the market seems to be wanting, find out where you can step in and offer it to them, and then you launch a business. If you do your due diligence, you have a good chance of succeeding, but success is never guaranteed.
If it was possible to guarantee success, there would be no opportunity for any of us to be entrepreneurs. The people with the most money could simply pick and choose the guaranteed success niches and make more money.
Entrepreneurship is inseparable from risk, and that risk starts with choosing a niche.
Hey! Thank you very much for your post, it has clarified many doubts although I am still thinking whether to pay all those dollars or not.
However, the big question for me is the following. I am Spanish, from Barcelona. I understand English well, especially reading it. But when it comes to hearing it, understanding it through videos, I was wondering if the content of the course is subtitled in English (if it were in Spanish it would be a success) to understand it better.
Thank you very much!
Hey Mauri, I just hopped into the course to check and it doesn’t look there are any subtitles currently available.
Wow, great review and very in depth. Thank you for taking the time to review this 🙂
Have you taken any other courses? What would you say are the best courses out there?
Thanks Nish! It really depends on your goals. The best courses are very good at accomplishing something specific. Sam’s course is very good at helping high ticket service businesses generate a large volume of new leads every month. If that’s what you are trying to do, I’d say it’s very likely the best option available to you. If you have different goals, there might be other courses out there better suited to those goals.
Jacob,
Thank you for the review. I have recently sold my business and have been doing limited consulting utilizing contacts. I would like to scale my business and develop subscription-based, residual generating assets (doesn’t everyone?). I have several areas of expertise including business start-up, restaurant operations, and food safety. My challenge is figuring out what to focus on. Will this course provide guidance in choosing a niche and the tools to develop that type of business?
Hey Alex, yes it does. The first week is devoted to niche selection. I’d recommend starting the free trial that’s being offered right now and seeing for yourself if the niche coverage is what you’re looking for. Keep in mind that at the end of they day, choosing a niche is something of an educated guess. You gauge the market against your own skills and interests, take a shot, and then adjust from there.
Great review Jacob! I’m currently going through the course myself and really loving it. If any of your readers are interested, I can offer a student referral discount of $500 off here: https://hopeburn.com/sam-ovens-discount/
Hi Jacob, thanks so much for this review!
I have a question. I’d like to know how helpful this might be for someone who feels they don’t really have many marketable skills, or at least is not aware of them having one. I feel like creators of similar courses (not necessarily Sam) say that everyone has marketable skills. I’m not sure I’d agree. I remember back in 2015 I tried out Ramit Sethi’s Earn1K in which he says not to worry about your thinking you don’t have marketable skills to sell, I’ll help you figure that out. Although there was a module for that I was pretty disappointed by that, and while I did choose a niche, I wasn’t happy with that at all, didn’t feel I could earn any real cash in that niche, and consequently gave up on the course soon after. How do you feel Sam’s course is for such things?
Hi Dan, you are tapping into two of the most common misconceptions related to online business, so I’ll try to address both.
The first is expertise. Many people believe they need a certain expertise threshold in order to sell a service. Guys like Ramit, Sam, and many others who are on the “other side” of entrepreneurship (myself included) realize that isn’t the case. It’s just a matter of finding a problem people want solved, finding a way to solve it, and then getting progressively better at solving it. Some problems do require some experience and expertise to solve, but many don’t. Many just require some digging and persistence. Those guys preach what they do because they are trying to remove imaginary walls that prevent people from starting something.
On a similar note, the second misconception is related to niche. Niche is not an exact science. At worst, it’s a guess. At best, it’s an educated guess. There is risk involved. It’s not a sure thing. But starting off in a niche that turns out to not be ideal isn’t a death sentence. You learn from doing, so pursuing the “wrong” niche will teach you a lot and get you much closer to identifying the “right” niche.
The simple truth is that persistent, fearless people succeed in online business. They might take a failure-packed road to get there, but they get there eventually. Ramit and Sam know this, and while it’s certainly advantageous to their businesses to try and convince people to ignore the imaginary walls holding them back and just start something, that doesn’t make it incorrect.
So all that to say, if you weren’t satisfied with Ramit’s discussion of skills/niche, I doubt you will have a different experience with this portion of Sam’s course. Just understand that over 3,000 people (many of them less skilled than you) were able to start businesses with the same training, and if starting a business is an important goal of yours, at some point, you are going to have to make peace with the inherent uncertainty that comes along with that. Hope that helps.
Hi Jacob,
Thanks for this review.
Taking this course right now. Firstly i feel Consulting maybe misleading more like sales accelerator but its been enlightening although the video are a tad bit too long over 2 hours each mostly.
Did you do all the worksheets and practice all the mindset stuff?
He says you won’t make money if you don’t do all the worksheets. I feel like its BS lol
Hi Izy, I’d say you are both right and wrong.
On the one hand, does filling out a worksheet or following a mindset practice actually make that much of a difference? On it’s own, no.
On the other hand, having been behind the scenes helping with copywriting and SEO for a number of courses like this, I can tell you that the biggest factor influencing success is compliance. The people who follow through and do the work are always the ones who end up succeeding and getting results. That’s why Sam makes such a big deal about stuff like worksheets and practice. It’s not because those are actually the key. It’s because if you mentally “buy in” and do everything you are told to do, you are going to have a much higher chance of succeeding than if you only do the things you think matter.
In college, I did a door-to-door sales job, where they gave us absolutely ridiculous instructions. They told us to do stuff like canvas for a place to stay for the summer, wake up at 6am, work from 8am to 9:30pm, and a bunch of other stuff no sane person would do. For some reason, I “bought in”, so every ridiculous instruction was just a step to follow in my mind, and I ended up making $16k in 10 weeks. In hindsight, I’d never do it again, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, but the reality is that one summer gave me the sales background that has driven most of my career, so in a lot of ways, I owe much of my success to allowing myself to temporarily be “brainwashed” and just go all-in on something.
I’ve seen this same dynamic happen with online courses. You see people who just go all-in, and you almost feel sorry for them, and then a week later, they scored a $10k client. Then the people who are asking all the right skeptical questions are still there asking those same questions a year later with nothing to show for it.
I definitely don’t think that skepticism is bad. I’m a generally skeptical person, and I see it as a benefit. But I think if you want to achieve something you don’t know how to achieve, sometimes choosing to temporarily drop the skepticism and just “buy in” for a season is probably the only way to get results you’ve never managed to achieve on your own.
Just my two cents. Sam’s course certainly isn’t the only option for taking that all-in mentality, but if you’ve already bought the course, I’d definitely recommend “buying in” and seeing where it takes you.
Hi Jacob
Like you, Sales Training was the best thing I ever did for myself, after graduating from Uni. After discovering Sales I took frequent breaks back into sales all my working life from my government job as a Counsellor.
My history of failed internet marketing helped me see Sam’s template that will at last get my ducks in a row and replace my struggle with success.
I bought Sam’s course in April 2019 and 4 months later, am still mid-way through Week 1, stalled at: “Taking a View on the Market.
(I’m retired and bought this course before major surgery – as a focus to pull me forward faster through the boring healing process and damage from the opiates. I got through 30% of the course transcript in the hospital setting).
I believe I’m stalled due to the many words Sam uses to describe concepts that I would describe in 3 words. His transcript is quicker. I read and understand one third of the 3 weeks Training Video transcripts in one day, in hospital. However that puts me only one sixth of the way through the 19 videos
I was beginning to waver until I came across your review! I now realise I made better progress shut away from the world – in hospital or trapped in waiting rooms. Now I’m back in the distractions of life it is very difficult to focus for long enough to understand a concept before having to go back and start again.
You effectively summarised each section and that helps to recognise my strengths and weaknesses – thus, where I can expect to run into trouble.
So I’ve answered my own question here.
Nonetheless I want to thank you for your time spent on the review.
I have to lock myself away from all the ‘loving helpful people” around me and push through.
Hey Robby, haha Sam definitely doesn’t skimp on wordage, especially when discussing more philosophical topics. I personally found that changing the video playback speed to x1.5 helped a lot for the more conceptual videos.
But as you said, setting up your environment to allow you to focus goes a long way. I’m glad my review has been beneficial for you, even as someone who already purchased the course. Best of luck!
The best consulting course on the planet. Sam will teach you everything you need to start your online business. From facebook ads, funnels, choosing your niche right up to taking online payments. I’m only at week 4 right now and can tell you it was worth the money by the end of week 2 (mindset training). Anyone on the fence, just do it. I did and I’m so damn grateful.
I NEVER leave comments on random websites, but this writeup was fucking good. Quality content, and I’ll be subscribing to read more. Thank you for a non-bullshit and super-well done review.
Thanks Roman, much appreciated!
brilliant detailed objective review…