If you’re thinking about starting a business on Amazon, you might have heard of Sophie Howard, also known as the “Amazon Selling Queen.”
Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) has been one of the few businesses that has continued to grow during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has attracted a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs to the eCommerce platform.
To really succeed with Amazon FBA, you need a tried-and-true plan that’s easy to follow.
One course that’s getting a lot of buzz these days is Sophie’s Blue Sky Amazon.
But you may ask, “is Sophie Howard a scam?” Is the Blue Sky Amazon course worth it?
Since I’m not an affiliate of Sophie’s course, so you can rest assured that my review is genuine.
Blue Sky Amazon Course Review – Key Takeaways
- Course Name: Blue Sky Amazon Seller Academy
- Course Instructor: Sophie Howard
- Price: $3,995 USD or 7 payments of $713
- Pros: Regular webinars; 1-on-1 coaching calls; supportive Facebook group
- Cons: Too many complaints; very expensive, poor customer service
- Overall Rating: 2/5
- Verdict: An overpriced Amazon FBA course that can’t help students build a profitable online business.
In this Blue Sky Amazon course review, I’ll be covering the following topics:
Table of Contents
- Who is Sophie Howard?
- What is Blue Sky Amazon Course?
- How Much Does It Cost to Start an Amazon FBA business?
- Pros & Cons of Amazon FBA
- Who is Blue Sky Amazon For?
- How is The Training Program Structured?
- Is Sophie Howard A Scam? An Investigation Into Her Business!
- Are Blue Sky Amazon Students Getting Results?
- How Much Does Blue Sky Amazon Cost?
- Blue Sky Amazon Discount?
- Refund Policy
- Praise for Blue Sky Amazon
- Criticism of Blue Sky Amazon
- Is Blue Sky Amazon a Scam or Legit?
- Should You Join Blue Sky Amazon Course?
- Amazon Seller University (Free Alternative To Blue Sky Amazon)
- 5 Challenges of Amazon FBA Business
- Is There A Better Way to Make Money Online?
Who is Sophie Howard?
Sophie is a New Zealander who was born in the UK and started her FBA business in 2014 while taking care of her newborn baby at home.
Within 18 months, she successfully built a 7-figure e-commerce business on Amazon with a team of virtual assistants, selling tea products.
So, she probably has a net worth of at least a few million dollars?
Today, Sophie is known as “The Amazon Selling Queen” and the founder of the Aspiring Entrepreneurs brand.
Evidence of their proven private label system is their organic tea brand called “Higher Tea.” This brand received a takeover offer from a company she always mentions in her courses.
In 2016, Sophie published a book called Amazon Jetstream Income, in which she describes her sales experiences and promises to help people build a business on Amazon. I bought her book on Kindle, but I did not find much useful information for beginners. It’s more like an extended sales pitch.
That said, Sophie has appeared on a number of podcasts since 2017. One of the podcasts, featuring Sophie and Augustus Kligys, the creator of Orange Klick, gives you some helpful tips on Amazon FBA.
After the outbreak of Covid 19, Sophie launched a new course Kindle Publishing Income which claims to teach students how to earn money through Kindle Direct Publishing.
Recommendation: Here’s The Best Alternative
What is Blue Sky Amazon Course?
Sophie named the course Blue Sky Amazon Seller Academy which is made of two courses.
It includes 14 modules of teaching that cover the entire Amazon FBA business model. The main focus is helping the mid-level seller create long-selling products and scale with virtual assistants, sales funnels, and other online services e.g. Feedback Genius.
I don’t mean that an entry-level seller can’t learn from Sophie’s course. But if you already have an idea of how the Amazon FBA model works, you will benefit most.
FBA stands for Fulfillment by Amazon, a service that enables you to store and ship your products via Amazon’s huge warehouse network.
The Amazon FBA process is a simple but powerful way to grow your online business without having to invest thousands of pounds in warehouse facilities or staff.
Amazon charges a per-product fee based on the weight and dimensions of the package, and a monthly storage fee based on cubic feet. These fees include per-item order fulfillment fees, storage fees, and long-term storage fees.
You can read our guide to learn more about Amazon FBA.
Learn more: legit ways to make money online.
How Much Does It Cost to Start an Amazon FBA business?
If you’re looking to start an Amazon FBA business, you’ll need to budget anywhere from $5,500 to $13,000 for all the necessary tools to give yourself the best shot at success. Keep in mind that trying to start on a super tight budget (like $3,500) might actually hurt your chances of success in the long run.
Here’s a breakdown of what you’ll need:
- $5,000 in inventory: Some suppliers won’t even consider working with you unless you have a certain amount of inventory.
- $2,000-$3,000 for branding: This includes creating a logo, designing packaging, getting professional photos, and making samples.
- $5,000 for pay-per-click advertising campaigns.
All told, you’re looking at around $10,000 to $15,000+ in startup costs, not including the extra $3,500 you’ll need to pay for Sophie’s course (if you decide to go that route).
- Learn more about Amazon FBA startup costs.
Pros & Cons of Amazon FBA
Pros
If you sell on Amazon, you can use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) to take advantage of the many benefits Amazon offers, including:
- Having Amazon’s name attached to their products: By using FBA, your products will have the Amazon name associated with them, which can help you gain the trust of consumers who expect good customer service and fast delivery.
- Manage customer service through Amazon: Amazon’s customer service team will also handle inquiries, returns, and refunds for you, although there is a fee for returns processing for certain product categories.
- Inventory management: With FBA, you can store your inventory at Amazon’s fulfillment centers, which can help you ship products quickly and handle inventory that you sell on multiple channels.
- Shipping standardization: When someone orders an item from you, Amazon will pick it from their inventory, pack it, and ship it to the buyer, just as they would with their own merchandise. This means you can feature items on your own website and have Amazon handle all the fulfillment through the FBA service.
Cons
- Costly fees: Amazon’s fulfillment and storage fees can add up, especially for larger or slow-moving products. Sellers may also be charged for defective, damaged, or unsellable products, as well as fees for disposing of unsellable inventory.
- Product handling Issues: There is also the risk of inventory getting lost or damaged in the fulfillment process, which may not always be the seller’s fault. In these cases, Amazon may reimburse the seller, but it is important for sellers to keep records of their shipments in case of discrepancies.
- More returns: Amazon’s easy return policy may lead to higher return rates for sellers using the fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service.
Who is Blue Sky Amazon For?
Blue Sky Amazon seems specifically geared towards people who are brand new to selling on Amazon. I really appreciated Sophie’s teaching style and found the lessons helpful.
However, after putting a ton of time and effort into studying the subject, I’ve realized that it’s actually pretty tough to build a successful Amazon FBA business.
Even with a course like this, it can still be a challenge.
So if you’re just starting out with your online business, I’d probably recommend looking into other options.
I’ll introduce another business opportunity at the end of this review.
Learn more: best Amazon FBA courses
Recommendation: Here’s The Best Alternative
How is The Training Program Structured?
There are over 35 hours of video tutorials available on Blue Sky Amazon, which is actually a combination of two separate courses:
- Product University
- Amazon Navigator
It seems that these two courses have been combined by Sophie into a single course, which may be why some students have complained about overlap and confusion in the material. Additionally, some students have reported issues with the video quality in the course.
Below is an overview of the modules:
Product University Course
Module 1 – Foundation
Video Duration: 5 hours, 37 minutes, and 50 seconds.
This module is a foundation for the course. It is divided into four sessions and covers introductory concepts, including
- Sophie’s resume
- The positive mindset to help you build a successful FBA business
- Planning for the coming year
- Exploring the Pros and cons of other business platforms e.g retail arbitrage.
Apart from that, there’s a discussion on how to build a sales funnel. Sophie would show you how she creates one. On a large scale,
There’s also a discussion on sales funnels. And she would walk you through the process of building a funnel much faster than she did some years back.
Overall, this module contains some valuable information. But since Sophie crisscrossed the ideas and concepts, this module is not structured in a way that helps you to take notes easily.
Module 2 – Product Selection Strategy
Video Duration: 5 hours, 16 minutes & 41 seconds
Unlike most Amazon FBA coaches who teach you to select products that sell quickly, in this module Sophie believes that a high MOQ (minimum order quantity) is beneficial to a seller because it creates a higher barrier to entry. This can reduce the number of competitors.
In other words, Sophie wants to teach you how to create highly exclusive products that sell for a long time.
Module 3 – Basics of Sales Funnels
Video Duration: 5 hours, 24 minutes & 19 seconds
This module is broken down into four sessions. In the beginning, Sophie would provide you with an overview of sales funnels and their components e.g. ads, lead magnets, etc.
In the second session, Sophie would walk you through the process of setting up a funnel using Russell Brunson’s Clickfunnels.
This is followed by the 3rd session where Sophie shows you how she sets up a funnel for her student’s chosen product and a Facebook ad campaign to drive traffic.
Finally, the 4th session begins with an evaluation of her student’s funnel and a 30-minute Q&A session.
Module 4 – Who will you hire to be your Virtual Assistant?
Video Duration: Time: 4 hours, 28 minutes & 20 seconds
This module consists of 3 sessions, all focused on how and where to hire virtual assistants (VA’s). Sophie tells you how she outsourced tasks to VA and the difficulties she encountered.
She shares with you her experience managing her team of virtual assistants. For example, Sophie outsourced the tasks of vendor negotiations and product selection to her skilled VAs.
Module 5 – Behind the Scenes: Selling on Amazon
Video Duration: 5 hours, 16 minutes & 41 seconds
In this module, Sophie tells you how she started her business on Amazon. You’ll get an idea of the pros and cons of Amazon FBA.
She then goes over some basics, including the steps to set up a seller account, business licensing, and how to use tools (LSI Graph, Keyword Inspector, Google Keyword Planner, etc.) to find converting keywords.
This is followed by a demonstration of creating product listings, from title to description, and using Amazon PPC to launch products
This module covers the basics of FBA, which will be helpful for both mid-level sellers and newbies.
Module 6 – Forgotten Product Sourcing Places
Video Duration: 42 minutes & 8 seconds
In this module, Sophie talks about 8 different ways to find out unique product sources, including Amazon Catalogue Technique, Amazon Scroll, and Search Technique, Browsing the Local Classifieds, Visiting Markets, and Bazaars, etc. (I’ve also written a guide about how to source products to sell on Amazon.)
Finally, Sophie shares with you her personal experiences in developing unique product ideas by combining business with pleasure during her travels.
Amazon Navigator Course
Course Duration: 9 hours, 42 minutes, and 16 seconds
Module 1 – Welcome
Video Duration: 32 minutes & 46 seconds
Sophie knows that most new FBA sellers will experience many ups and downs in the first 3 to 5 months. That’s why she starts this course with a positive attitude to deal with challenges.
How to do that It all starts with setting goals. Sophie asks her course, participants, to keep their goals in mind and use the 3 basic steps to achieve them.
She ends this module with some FBA fundamentals, including how to calculate Amazon’s fees, product costs, and profit numbers as well as getting a business license and signing up for a professional Amazon seller account.
Module 2 – What you don’t know About Branding
Video Duration: 1 Hour, 35 Minutes, and 7 Seconds
This is the module that sets Sophie’s courses apart from other FBA courses. In this module, Sophie shares with her students the branding strategy that helped her to scale up her Amazon stores to multiple 7-figure businesses. With this strategy, she can differentiate her products from other similar ones in the marketplace and charge a higher margin.
Simply put, Sophie teaches you the concept of branding and how to position your product to achieve higher perceived value.
While most FBA courses only teach you the basics of branding, such as setting up a brand website and Facebook page, Blue Sky Amazon shows you how to launch a brand that is hard to copy and compete with.
Module 3 – Finding Products that Sell for the Long-Term
Video Duration: 21 Minutes and 2 Seconds
The reason Sophie is successful with Amazon FBA is her ability to locate products that sell for a long time. So you can replicate her success and build a sustainable FBA business.
In this module, Sophie reveals how she finds unique and long-lasting products from sellers who are not in the public eye. She reveals a number of countries she works with to source special products. These include Indonesia, Bali, India, Thailand, and the USA, to name a few.
Module 4 – Are your listings Pristine?
Video Duration: 1 Hour, 36 Minutes & 25 Seconds
In this module, Sophie gives her students a walkthrough on the process of creating a product listing that catches the eyeballs of Amazon visitors. This covers the areas of sales copy, such as title construction, product description, and so on.
Some of the topics include
- Keyword research
- How to create titles that appeal to customers
- How to create offers that are irresistible
- Product descriptions
She stresses the importance of creating a product message that appeals to Millennials, who make up a large portion of the online population.
Module 5 – Don’t Get Samples, Order the Entire Shipment
Video Duration: 19 Minutes & 19 Seconds
This module covers shipping, samples, and labeling. Unlike other Amazon FBA sneakers, Sophie gives you simple, practical, and actionable tips on how to streamline the shipping process.
She points out the most common shipping difficulties and offers you solutions to work around them. You’ll learn three effective methods to deliver your products to the Amazon warehouse. In this module, you’ll learn all the details.
Module 6 – Promoting the Sh*t out of your Product
Video Duration: 28 Minutes & 2 Seconds
This module covers 5 proven marketing strategies that can help you launch your products. Sophie gives an indication of 7 key performance indicators you can use to keep track of sales performance.
She also gives you step-by-step instructions for setting up coupon codes. For example, Sophie advises you to create a limited number of coupon codes and make sure the codes are not visible in the product listing.
Module 7 – Maintaining Your Account
Video Duration: 40 Minutes & 12 Seconds
If you want to build a sustainable Amazon FBA business, you need to learn how to make data-driven decisions and stay in control of your business.
In this module, Sophie shows you how to create business reports from Seller Central, streamline customer support, process international payments, and request help from Amazon.
Seller Central offers a variety of business reports, including sales reports, inventory reports, payment reports, customer concessions reports, relocation reports, and FBA business reports.
As an owner, you need to keep track of these numbers and metrics on a weekly or monthly basis. For example, you need to know the profit margins of your products and find out the best-selling products.
It’s impossible to grow your business if you don’t manage to get a handle on these tedious tasks.
Module 8 – Scaling Beyond Amazon and Hiring VAs
Video Duration: 1 Hour, 9 Minutes & 17 Seconds
In this final module, Sophie shows you how to outsource some of the monotonous tasks so you can focus on growing your business. She recommends that her students hire multiple virtual assistants to save themselves the hassle.
Last but not least, she encourages her students to expand their business beyond Amazon and create an exit plan to enjoy life.
Additional Resources
Blue Sky Amazon offers a range of additional resources for its students, including a private Facebook community with over 10,000 other students, weekly group Q&A calls, and seven 1-on-1 coaching sessions with a personal coach.
Recommendation: Here’s The Best Alternative
Is Sophie Howard A Scam? An Investigation Into Her Business!
The short answer is no. According to Sophie, she has a few successful Amazon businesses under her belt, with one of them bringing in a whopping seven figures per year. She also jumped on the cognitive function medication bandwagon by launching an herbal tea on Amazon.
In addition to that, Sophie is working with a partner on a project in Auckland that aims to connect artisans with buyers through a digital marketplace. To help out other aspiring entrepreneurs, Sophie is currently working through a B2B Amazon program and even writing a book that will be published on Kindle. Sounds like she’s got a lot going on.
However, there have been some rumors floating around that some of Sophie’s endorsements may be fake. A recent investigation found that a lot of her positive reviews on Facebook were actually posted by her friends and family!
In the following sections, we’ll take a closer look at her business endeavors to determine if she’s a scam artist or a legit Amazon FBA coach.
Sophie’s Tea Business
To find out if Sophie is a real entrepreneur, we need to look at her track record, especially her most famous business idea: the private label High Tea.
In a Podcast episode, The Secrets Behind Making $1 Million With an Amazon Store (Episode 13), Sophie talked about her business journey.
Sophie Howard said she founded an organic tea company, Higher Tea, and sold it for a multiple six-figure sum. However, she did not disclose the name of the buyer. Therefore, we could not verify whether the deal is real or not
We found out that Sophie has already opened a Twitter page for Higher Tea.
In the bio, you can see that the website URL is higher-tea.com.
But when you click on it, it shows that the website is no longer active.
So it’s entirely possible that Sophie closed the website after selling the brand
But there is no way that the company would change the name of the Higher Tea brand if it was worth a six-figure sum.
However, I could not find any relevant results about Higher Tea on Amazon. The only website that claims to sell Higher Tea is called Purplecart.
You can see the collection of Higher Tea products on Purplecart below:
In this case, it is impossible to tell whether Purplecart acquired the brand Higher Tea or if Sophie founded the company.
As far as we know, Purplecart is located in Pennsylvania, while Sophie lives in New Zealand.
Is Purplecart the buyer? Did the company buy Higher Tea from Sophie for more than six figures?
But Ubersuggest, an SEO tool, shows that Purplecart has no traffic before 2022.
So it’s unlikely that this is an established company that can pay a six-figure sum to buy a tea brand.
To sum up, we suspect that Sophie has never sold any Amazon brand for multi six-figures.
In other words, Sophie might have made most of her money from selling Amazon FBA courses instead her Amazon business.
Other Business Ventures
Sophie also said she founded Sell Global in 2016, a company designed to help exporters increase their sales and sell high-quality products online.
But now, in 2022, Sell Global’s Facebook page has only 233 likes.
Also, I couldn’t find any information about Sophie Howard on their About Us Page. The founder is called Hamish Conway, not Sophie Howard.
Is Sophie a really successful Internet entrepreneur who made millions from eCom? Is it possible that her only income source is selling digital programs?
It is not uncommon for gurus to tell lies, and Sophie might not be an exception.
Recommendation: Here’s The Best Alternative
Are Blue Sky Amazon Students Getting Results?
I found some mixed reviews for this course. On Trustpilot, it only got a 2.4 rating out of 280 reviews, but there are a few success stories from students.
One student, Filomena, mentioned launching two products but didn’t say anything about how well they’ve been selling.
There are also a bunch of video testimonials on the academy’s YouTube channel, but it’s hard to know if they’re telling the truth since they don’t show their stores.
Also, in one video, the students seem to be reading from a script while talking about their success selling on Amazon.
How Much Does Blue Sky Amazon Cost?
It looks like the cost of Blue Sky Amazon’s course ranges from $2,500 to $4,000, but on their official sales page, it’s listed at $3,995, or seven payments of $713.
If you want to take the course, you’ll need to schedule an “Amazon Fast Track” call to see if you’re eligible.
And keep in mind, there are also costs for creating and promoting your product on Amazon.
I’ve talked to a few Amazon sellers and they’ve mentioned that you’ll need at least $5,000 for everything besides the cost of a course.
So, if you’re thinking about going with Blue Sky Amazon, make sure you’ve got a budget of around $9,000 or more to cover the course and everything else.
Blue Sky Amazon Discount?
I’ve heard some buzz about a Blue Sky Amazon discount but I haven’t been able to confirm it.
But here’s a pro tip: definitely check out Sophie’s free webinar.
By signing up, you’ll get added to her mailing list and be in the know about any sales or discounts she offers. Hope that helps!
Recommendation: Here’s The Best Alternative
Refund Policy
On the page Refund Terms, it specifies a 7-day money-back guarantee for Blue Sky Amazon:
“If, within 7-days of enrolling in the program you determine that it is not for you (for whatever reason), we will provide you with a 100% refund of the amount you have paid.”
It looks like Sophie’s team does honor the refund policy, but some students have said they’ve had to follow up more than once to get their money back.
If you’re looking to request a refund, it might be best to shoot an email to [email protected].
If you’re new to Amazon FBA, I’d say that a week might not be long enough to really get a feel for a training program like Blue Sky Amazon.
I’d recommend setting aside at least a week to really dive in and see if the course is a good fit for you before making a payment. For example, you can read our guide to learn more about how to sell on Amazon.
Praise for Blue Sky Amazon
- Sophie Howard has personal experience with FBA.
- This course is suitable for beginners.
- All necessary information included, no need for additional courses.
- Regular webinars to learn about updates on Amazon FBA.
- 1-on-1 coaching calls.
- A private Facebook group for support and extra knowledge.
Criticism of Blue Sky Amazon
- This course is two courses in one with some overlap.
- Some people may find it confusing because the course is disorganized.
- This course is too expensive, and there are a lot of cheaper alternatives available.
- Only a 7-day refund guarantee is offered.
- Some students said the after-sales service is so poor that they didn’t get any reply to their inquiries.
- Suspicious testimonials on YouTube.
- It has received too many complaints on Trustpilot and some of them should be real.
Recommendation: Here’s The Best Alternative
Is Blue Sky Amazon a Scam or Legit?
I cannot claim that Sophie Howard’s Blue Sky Amazon course is a scam because there is insufficient evidence to do so.
As mentioned above, Sophie Howard seems to have real experience in Amazon sales, having built several 7-figure businesses.
However, she does not make it clear that building an Amazon FBA business requires perseverance and relentless focus, which is not for the faint of heart.
If you want to make money selling products on Amazon, it’s a lot harder than you think.
More importantly: I do not think Blue Sky Amazon can give you an advantage over other Amazon FBA sellers.
While I would not call Blue Sky Amazon a scam, I would not recommend the course.
The course only has only a 2.4 rating on Trustpilot out of 280 customer reviews. There are many customers who bluntly call the program or Sophie Howard a scam.
For example, this customer complained about not receiving customer service from Blue Sky Amazon as promised by Sophie.
Another customer said that Sophie’s course doesn’t provide much information on building an Amazon FBA business.
Even though some reviews might be fake, possibly from their competitors. But I think many of them are genuine because Trustpilot’s algorithm is good at detecting slander.
Should You Join Blue Sky Amazon Course?
Blue Sky Amazon sets itself apart from other courses by offering one-on-one coaching with its FBA students.
If you place a high value on personal coaching, this could be a good option for you. If you’re not sure if Amazon FBA is right for you, you can try out one of the cheaper courses I’ve listed below to get a feel for it.
Personally, I did well with Amazon FBA, but there were a few reasons why I decided to leave the business. It took me two years to become profitable with private labeling and it was a pretty exhausting and costly journey. I’ll talk more about the biggest challenges of Amazon FBA business in the later section.
Amazon Seller University (Free Alternative To Blue Sky Amazon)
If you’re an Amazon seller looking to expand your customer base, you’re in luck. Amazon offers a free, constantly updated course called “Seller University.” If you’re looking to save some cash, you might want to skip the pricey Sophie Howard degree and check out what this university has to offer instead.
Now, I know there are people out there who aren’t actually Amazon sellers but still want to learn more about the company. For those folks, Amazon has a YouTube channel with some informative videos (even if they’re not the most polished).
And if you’re not a fan of repetitive lessons, you might find the trainers at Amazon Seller University a little off-putting. But if you don’t want to spend money on Sophie’s courses, this could be a good alternative for you.
In addition, I’ve also compiled a list of the best Amazon FBA courses to help you compare them.
5 Challenges of Amazon FBA Business
1. Intense competition
One of the most significant challenges of selling on Amazon is the intense competition. If multiple sellers offer the same product, only one seller will have the highest Buy Box Score and win the sale. Winning the Buy Box is even more critical on mobile devices, where customers are less likely to scroll down and review other sellers. Therefore, a long-term strategy is essential to remain competitive.
2. You need at least $10-$20k to get started
Starting an Amazon FBA business can be costly. You’ll need to pay for inventory, product samples, labeling, and shipping costs, not to mention Amazon Marketing Services. On top of that, you’ll need to spend money on product launch services and pay-per-click advertising. All in all, your first 10k will be gone in no time. If you’re not ready to take a financial risk, you should think twice before starting an Amazon FBA business.
3. No quick cash flow
Cash flow is crucial to the success of any business, and in the Amazon FBA business model, you’ll need to invest a significant amount of money into buying inventory from Chinese suppliers. If you want to create a unique private label product, the costs will be even higher.
Creating a prototype in China can cost a few hundred dollars, and production can take 1-2 months. After the package has been shipped and cleared by customs, it takes 2 weeks for it to arrive at Amazon’s warehouse. Moreover, it can take months for you to get paid for the inventory you purchased. If you’re not prepared to wait for your money, the Amazon FBA business model might not be for you.
4. Hefty Amazon fees
Amazon charges retailers a commission for every product sold through them, and if you choose to go with the FBA route, there are other fees to consider. You’ll have fulfillment fees per item, as well as monthly storage costs. Therefore, it’s essential to calculate your total costs and ensure that your profit margins can cover these fees.
5. Strict Amazon policies
Another potential issue with running an Amazon FBA business is dealing with changing sales tax laws, category restrictions, and Amazon policies. Amazon has the final say on what you can and cannot sell on their platform, and violating any of their rules could result in a permanent ban. This means you may lose everything overnight if you get banned. To avoid this, it’s recommended that you build your own website where you have more control over your business, and can make your own rules and grow your business on your own terms.
Is There A Better Way to Make Money Online?
If you’re new to online business, you might wonder if there’s a better business model that doesn’t need initial capital and can do it as a side hustle.
Of all the business models I’ve tried, affiliate marketing is the easiest and most rewarding so far. It is less time-consuming since you don’t have to manage inventory or handle customer service.
It can help you to generate a steady stream of passive income while going on vacation or working a full-time job.
Since the world is full of uncertainty, I’d always choose a business model that has the lowest risk.
But How Much Can You Earn in Affiliate Marketing?
A 21-year-old student from my #1 recommended training platform of affiliate marketing was able to earn $7,395 in just 1 week, which means he made more than $1k a day…all while using free traffic methods and affiliate marketing.
For more information, you can check my full review of Wealthy Affiliate.
Where to Join Wealthy Affiliate?
Wealthy Affiliate has a very simple pricing scheme. It has a free and premium membership.
If you want to feel about Wealthy Affiliate, you can sign up for the starter membership here (no credit card required). You can select to be a free member with no time limit.
And as a starter member, you can get instant access to the community, live chat, over 500 training modules, 2 classrooms, networking, commenting, 1 free website, and access to the keyword tool.
You can enjoy all these values without paying a penny.
So I strongly recommend you register a free account and see it yourself.
If you’d like to be the next success story and get the most out of Wealthy Affiliate, you can upgrade to the Premium Membership later.
After that, you can get access to everything without the bother of any upsells.
Recommendation: Here’s The Best Alternative
Jeff Smith, Founder of High Income Source, is an online business coach with a BBA in Marketing and Entrepreneurship from the University of Pennsylvania. His online business coaching program is so popular that more than 100 students have benefited and started successful online businesses under his guidance.
Jeff started dabbling in online business while he was in college, where he began with dropshipping. After college, Jeff worked at a marketing agency and freelanced as a writer. His breakthrough came when he realized the potential of blogging, leading to a $100,000 sale of a dog-focused website. His expertise includes SEO, affiliate marketing, Amazon FBA, blogging and dropshipping.
I hate it when people use acronims, FBA and I have to look it up.
What is FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) I have put it hear in the hope you can update your review.
Hi Paul, thank you for your feedback. We’ve updated the review.
HOLD UP!
How much did she invest to start up?
Now tell me how this doesn’t sound like another “get rich quick – provided you’re already rich” scheme?
I spoke with one of her advisors who told me I would need $6k including course fee to setup my first product. You are saying its $15-$20K?? Please explain??
I was about to sign up with Sophie this week !!!!
Hi Paul. Thanks for your comment. I think a majority of the $6k is just the course fee. You cannot launch a profitable Amazon business with just $6k as you have a lot of costs like advertisement, purchasing inventory, warehousing, shipping, taxes, transaction fees etc. If you are new to online business, Amazon FBA might not be suitable for you as it is much more complicated than you thought. That’s why I would recommend you to start an easy but profitable online business that does not need capital. Check out Wealthy Affiliate and see if you like it or not. It’s free to open an account.
Umm stay well clear it’s a bloody con rip of next best thing to a scam. I was possibly looking into doing this course but if the course price are that high I won’t be bothering!
Yeah it’s a scam, all these Youtube ads on making money on amazon are scams. I fell for Sophie Howard, because she said she would not charge for the courses and I thought she looked like a good person. Now I look back, I did not look closely enough and now notice red flags, that she actually looks like a drug addict. Her eyes are very tired and cheeks are more droopier than normal people. Of course I would never fall for this scam, so when they said they wanted 6,000 for the courses when even during the phone they said the courses are free, what bs. All that is regretful about this experience, is the creepiness.
Victims that fell for this, immediately dispute the charge with your credit card company. If you cannot and spent cash or used something else that will not allow you to dispute, sue in small claims court. You can find their address using a private investigator. It will not be cheap, but compared to the money that was lose. It is not even close to that number.
I regret buying this program. It is so much harder to start up and the costs are so much higher than what it is initially said in the beginning. Now I am trying to get a federal tax id number from them so that I can add this expense to my taxes and no one can answer me. Don’t buy this program. It’s a waste of money
Hi Ada, thanks for your comment. I don’t recommend Sophie Howard’s Amazon course, which is too expensive and not suitable for beginners. I would recommend starting an affiliate marketing business with Wealthy Affiliate instead. It costs much less and is easier to start.
Thank you for this information, as a beginner I was going to sign up for this program. I don’t have a lot of money and was going to borrow to get started with the 6K. now I see I would need a lot more. Thanks again for the heads up.
Hi Sandra, thanks for your comment. It’s very difficult to make money with Amazon FBA as the competition is very intense. And Sophie Howard’s course it too expensive. So I don’t recommend getting into this business if you are a beginner. I recommend starting an easier business with Wealthy Affiliate, which you can check out.
Don’t join Sophie Howard’s course!! It’s not worth it. I hope I read this review before I made a payment. Now I cannot get a refund…
Did you dispute it with you credit card company? Sue them, there is enough victims from this case. You can gather them all together, put money together and sue her. Should be easily able to find a lawyer willing to do contingency and get a lot of money back and extra compensation. Since what she is doing something definitely against the law.
How can you still sleep at night. Shame on you Sophie Howard. You’re a despicable bitch for letting honest, hard working people get taken for their hard earned money. You clearly have no conscience. Sooner or later, karma will come knocking 🤬🤬🤬🤬
Hi! Thanks for your comment. Sorry to hear that you had a bad experience with Sophie Howard. I don’t recommend her course as she overcharges people too much.
Thanks for the review of Sophie Howard’s course. I just read the customer reviews and many people say it’s not good. I wonder how much capital I need to start an Amazon business. If it takes hundreds of thousands of dollars, I’m not going to take it.
Hi thanks for your comment. Yes, I don’t recommend Sophie Howard’s course as it is overpriced. In addition, to pay the expensive course fee, you still need a lot of capital to buy stock and sell on Amazon. So if you are new to online business, I would recommend you start with something easier, like Wealthy Affiliate.
Can you please be clear about the cost of wealthy affiliate course?
Hi! Wealthy Affiliate is free to get started. So you can give it a try without risk. Of course, if you want to get access to all the training, tools, and support, you would have to upgrade to the premium membership. The first month is just $19.
So how Can I get started in wealthy affiliate, does it does it cost me to pay any dime
It doesn’t cost you a penny to start in Wealthy Affiliate. You can simply open a free account. Here’s the detailed information:https://highincomesource.com/wealthy-affiliate-top-recommendation/
Thank you for all the advise on Sophie Howard course. I was thinking about taking the course, and with all the negative feedback, I have changed my mind. I will try Wealthy Affiliate. Thanks so much!
Hi Carrie. Thanks for your comment. Yes, I don’t recommend Sophie Howard’s Amazon course. Many people lose money because it is a difficult business model and Sophie Howard’s course doesn’t guarantee anything. Wealthy Affiliate is a better option to build an online business. It is easier and doesn’t need large initial capital. Good luck!
I purchased Sophie’s program based on information given in two long phone calls with company rep and videos. Only after $4K did I see how completely complicated it was. Nothing like what I was sold. They even gave me incorrect information before I purchased and refused to refund any money. Don’t purchase! Research on your own and use the $4K to start making money! There is so much available online!!
Hi Elizabeth, thanks for your comment. You don’t have to spend so much money to learn how to do online business. Sophie Howard’s course is very much overpriced and not worth it. Actually, if you are new to online business, Amazon FBA is too complicated for you. Instead, you should start with something simpler and less risky. I recommend joining Wealthy Affiliate. Check it out. It’s free to get started.
Blogging is a great idea…just created an account with Wealthy Affiliate…
I’ve been with Wealthy Affiliate for 2-3 weeks and have been following their training since the first day I joined. The training I received guided me in developing my niche and establishing my first affiliate site. As a result of that training, I made my first affiliate commission within the first week of signing up with my first affiliate. It was a total surprise. Without Wealthy Affiliate’s training, I would not have been able to go this far.
Cool!
I’m happy to have read all the comments here re: Sophie Howards FBA course.
I definitely will pass, and will be looking into the Wealthy Affiliate’s training.
Sophie Howard makes it seem easy but I KNEW it would be a lot harder. Plus it’s $10,000 to get started. That’s a lot for a side hussle.
I smell a rat in Sophie, stay clear. She seems all too happy to pay little to suppliers so that she can profit, I think she is no better than some of our worst corporate offenders. How can we get NZ authorities to investigate her??
That’s a great question BEx. I’m in NZ too and fell for her lies… what a complete scam Blue Amazon is!