The Digital Experts Academy/Six Figure Mentors (DEA/SFM) does have some serious training to offer. They aren’t a scam however; the cost of their products has become totally insane! They continue to offer new product offerings, with their product suite becoming more and more confusing. And worst still extremely costly.

As a result, I have decided to end my membership with Digital Experts Academy, however, for the time being, I have decided to remain as an affiliate of the product. I know that sounds counterintuitive but let me explain.  

*This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure for more information*

Digital Experts Academy is also known under other brand names, Six Figure Mentors, Mentors, and their most recent product is Launch You.

They are all run by the same crew and work using the same principles.

I am not writing this as a bitter ex-member because I am not. Like I said I am still an affiliate, as I think there is some value in their training but there are also some cons in the product which I did not buy into, which I want to share with you.

In this post, I will share with you my journey and the reasons why I made this decision.

There is no doubt that I have learned a lot since I joined Six Figure Mentors, especially in the first years as a newbie. I was totally green without any prior internet marketing or any sales experience when I first started out online.

The terminology was all new and frankly what I was learning, totally blew my mind. I believed in the product when I joined, and I learned a lot. I know that I would not be where I am today, without this program, it has given me a firm understanding of internet marketing.

When I look back, I hadn’t even a clue what affiliate marketing was. It seems surreal when I look back on it now as to how much I have grown since then and all that I have learned. That is why I still believe there is value in the product.

In addition, to the technical learning, the program also spends a fair chunk of time on mindset. Whilst I have ended my membership, because I no longer need it and believe I have gained what I need to move forward, I do think that the modules around mindset and goal setting are highly valuable.

They have a lot to offer to newcomers just starting out in the online marketing world, which is why I have decided to continue to promote the basic offerings. I will not earn very much as an affiliate, by doing this and I will explain a bit more as you read on.

If you are wondering whether I made any money when I was an SFM member? I can honestly say I did make some money with this product when I first started out. But nothing that was going to cover all the bills . I earned enough in the beginning, to make me realise that this internet marketing stuff was real. I knew that you could really make money online.

My DEA EARNINGS

As you can see, I had some success but nothing to sing and shout about. Enough to know that a passive income online is real.

You don’t have to be a member to be an affiliate however if you are a member then you get access to their insider toolbox which consists of their ready-made system. I will tell you a bit more about the system later on.

Is it worth it to join Digital Experts Academy/Six Figure Mentors?

Digital Experts Academy Review/Six Figure Mentors/Launch You/Accelerate

Product Name – Digital Experts Academy

Founders: Started by Stuart Ross with the Six Figure Mentors in 2012 and then co-founded with Jay Kubassek in 2012. In 2020/21 they started their latest offering Launch You.

Product Type: Affiliate Marketing Training Membership Site

Price: From $97 per month monthly membership, product fees from $997 to $20,000

Best for: Internet Business owners wanting to scale their business

Summary:

Digital Experts Academy, Six Figure Mentors, Launch You call it what you like, are all affiliate marketing training membership sites run by the same founders.

They promote themselves as an educational company and have a lot of training and resources about internet marketing. They start you with a free membership and very soon try to upsell you into their main program.

Ultimately their system is designed to keep you buying into their upsells and new products. Their highest offering called Ultimate Platinum costs an eye-watering $19,950. I know you are thinking, wow that is a lot to invest into a product. But some people are buying these products. I know because I have seen those members behind the scenes in the community.

The problem with Digital Experts Academy is that they keep bringing out new training and products. Old members are then encouraged to buy the new product, whilst the old products do not stop working, they are no longer kept updated. Unless you buy into the new offering you are left out in the dark.

Rating: 3/10

How my Rating System Works:

1 = Don’t waste your time

2= Some value, but not really worth the price

3= Some valuable teaching, but there are better courses out there

4 = Well worth buying and giving a try

5= Recommend buying

Recommendation:

If you are a newbie, then the initial video workshops are full of value and give insight into what internet marketing is all about. I would even go as far as to say, start at their lowest offering and go through the initial module training. I would say you do not need to buy into the upsells when you first join. There will be a lot of pressure to do so in the first 7-10 days of joining. Just ignore these. However, there is a monthly membership fee of $97 you also have to consider. You probably won’t be making any money for a while but will still be paying out this monthly fee, so bear that in mind.

If you have some experience in internet marketing and maybe already have a business and you want to learn to market better in order to propel your success upwards, then this product may be a better offering for established small business owners and entrepreneurs. If you have a marketing budget and want to increase your online sales, you will learn a lot about the customer avatar and customer journey. The modules and training on the selling process online will open up new avenues of thought as to how to capture your target market.

Here’s My Top Recommended Program, you’ll be surprised at this

Let’s get on with the full review of Digital Experts Academy from someone who has used the product.

What is Digital Experts Academy (DEA) also known as Six Figure Mentors (SFM) and now also Launch You and Accelerate.

Digital Experts Academy is a membership site. It teaches members skills of affiliate marketing to make money online and create home businesses of their own.

How does DEA/SFM/LAUNCH YOU/ Accelerate work?

The products offer step-by-step system with training when you first join to support you on your online journey. The goal is to help beginners to get started to learn online digital marketing skills.

When the program first started in 2012 there wasn’t a step-by-step system.

This is something that they have refined over the years since launching. Looking back at the training offered when it first came out to what it offers now, I would have to agree that it now has a lot more value to offer than when it first started.

The biggest change is a done-for-you mini-site system, with ready-to-go landing and thank you pages and also a follow-up email series. The system is seen as a business in a box, with all the elements all set up and ready to go.

How Do You Access DEA/SFM Business in a Box System

Once joined, you have to pass through the sequential modules first. You only get access to the modules after you complete the Orientation Webinars.

The orientation webinar is to ensure you understand the product as by becoming a member you are essentially also an affiliate of that product.

Their system teaches you to sell the SFM/DEA, Launch You or Accelerate products.

The orientation webinar will also offer you to upgrade your membership level to the next level up, with the promise of receiving higher commission pay-outs.

You have to pass through Modules 1-4 with each one unlocking as you progress. The modules teach the basics of internet marketing. The goal of the system is so that you will learn how to build an online business and know how to become an internet marketer.

This all sounds good, and it is.

Is SFM/DEA/LAUNCH YOU Legit?

I can honestly say that it is legit.

This is not a scam and you will get training on affiliate marketing and becoming an internet marketer. That is the main focus of its teaching.

Digital Experts Academy is the parent company of another membership site called The Six Figure Mentors. The founders and the team behind these two platforms are exactly the same. Their latest offering Launch You and Accelerate are run along similar lines.

Each product offers training and internet marketing systems to entrepreneurs. Although, what it can often feel like, is upsells being offered to existing members to keep them buying into these new product offerings.

There is no doubt that the founders, Stuart Ross and Jay Kubassek are in this to make money for themselves, otherwise, why would they keep offering new products and not updating the old ones, thereby streamlining you to buy into the next product.

Their marketing page – What Will You Do with Your Digital Life?

Their marketing is sleek. It would be fair to say that they have probably spent a fair amount on their marketing to entice the right person who has an entrepreneurial mindset and wants to build an online business.

It would also be fair to say that you need to be able to do some selling yourself, no matter what they say in their marketing. I know this because the members who are having a lot of success, are those who are front-facing and have Youtube channels selling the dream of the online lifestyle.

They run a 90-Day-Video Challenge encouraging you to learn to be more comfortable in front of video. This is because video is the fastest growing media and also their teaching is predominately about video marketing.

You will learn how to craft ads and to write your story with the aim of selling the online dream. You will then be encouraged to record it and post it on You Tube. I can often tell almost immediately, when a You Tube ad comes on as whilst each member tells their own story if is set in a basic style unique to SFM/DEA.

I would agree that video selling is powerful, but what if you do not want to be front facing?

I would say your growth will be slower and you will have to work harder at other methods of advertising.

You will learn how to craft ads and how to advertise the SFM/DEA product.

Is SFM/DEA/LAUNCH YOU/ACCELERATE an MLM?

DEA/SFM/LAUNCH YOU/ACCELERATE do not consider themselves to be an MLM.

But when you look at how they manage their affiliate commissions, you will learn that it will benefit you to have members below you who are buying products.

It also depends on the products that you have purchased as to how much commission you will receive.

The more you buy the more commissions you earn.

You also earn commission from your first downline.

So, whilst they may not see themselves as an MLM, there are principles of MLM inherent in the system.

How much does SFM/DEA/LAUNCH YOU/ACCELERATE cost?

Let me explain the membership system as it can get a bit confusing.

To become an affiliate, it is FREE but you do not get access to any of the training that is on offer and you do not have to pay the monthly membership fee.

• Affiliate Access (Free)
• Student Access ($29.95)
• All-In-Package ($99)
• Essential Membership ($297 plus $97 per month)
• Elite Membership ($2500 every year and $97 membership)

SFM Membership is a must if you want to join Digital Experts Academy (DEA).

So apart from the DEA product cost, you will also have to pay for Six Figure Mentors (SFM) fee of $97 per month.

Are you still following along or are you feeling lost?

Looking for an alternative program that is not so complicated to follow?

Here is the course that I recommend for newcomers to online digital skills, by building niche websites to get started with earning an income from home.

You may also be interested in 5 Ways to Create an Income From Home (Whilst Raising a Family)

You cannot just join Digital Experts Academy (DEA) directly, you will first have to become a Six Figure Mentors Member (SFM member).

Here’s what their product suite looks like:-

Mentors

What Is Mentors?

Mentors is still in beta mode and only available to SFM members who buy the All-In-Package costing $99 at present.

The idea behind Mentors is that it is going to be an exclusive private community.

Mentors is being sold as a place where members can share ideas and knowledge with others.

The idea is that everyone can be a Mentor and share their insight with others. That you are always a step ahead of someone behind you.

The platform will go through your values and has developed a range of tools such as the Fourtopia Challenge. Having worked through the Mentors tools and the Fourtopia challenge, I have to say I was impressed.

The Fourtopia Challenge helps you to focus and align your values and goals all in one space online.

The only problem is if you want access, you have to be an SFM member, which comes with the monthly $97 fee.

I am not sure if that fee structure will change once Fourtopia is fully launched, but I have to admit there was a lot of value in the Mentors community and the Fourtopia training on offer.

With Fourtopia you set goals and the tool takes you through a range of steps to work through your mindset around these.

It walks you through Micro-commitments over 30 days.

You set micro-challenges in the areas of Health, Wealth, Self, and Social.

You can see some members sharing their journey on You Tube just search Fourtopia Micro 30 day Challenge

Full Breakdown of SFM/DEA/LAUNCH YOU/ACCELERATE Products

The product suite can be confusing, especially for new affiliates and members, and the product offering changes so quickly that it can soon become overwhelming.

Here is what their full product suite looked like as of September 2021:

• SFM Application ($29.95)
• All in Package ($99 per year and monthly $97 membership)
• Lift Off Challenge ($997)
• Incubate ($1995)
• Accelerate ($4995)
• Collaborate ($9995)
• Accelerate with you ($11,990)
• Brand incubator ($12000)

You can see why it can be confusing.

Where do you start?

As an affiliate, you would need to know the difference between the packages.

But this is true for members as well, because there is this pressure for you to upgrade to the higher packages.

This is because your affiliate earnings as a member are based on your level of membership.

The higher package you buy, the higher your commission pay out will be.

This is their incentive to get you to buy into their higher product offerings.

The commissioning structure just keeps getting more involved and intricate that soon it can become confusing as to what level you are at what you need to promote and keeping track of the new products that are being sold.

We’ve talked about SFM/DEA but let’s break down what you get if you decided to upgrade to the Launch You or the Accelerate Products.

LAUNCH YOU – PRODUCT Review

As I have said SFM/DEA seem to continue to offer new products.

It makes you wonder what was wrong with the old and why they don’t just update those?

Their newest product line is called LAUNCH YOU.

The LAUNCH YOU products are promoted as packages, however, you can also buy the individual product as well.

These are the Launch You product suite:-

Bronze Package $997

Ultimate Start UP Bundle – Bronze – Bundle price $2495 (affiliate commission $1500)

Ultimate Start UP Bundle – GOLD – Bundle price $9995 (affiliate commission $3000)

Ultimate Start UP Bundle – PLATINUM – Bundle price $19950 (affiliate commission $4000)

Let’s go through each of the Launch You Packages and see what you get with each.  

Bronze Package –  $997

If you purchase the Bronze Package, you will get the Lift-Off Challenge

The Lift-Off Challenge is just 3 months old and is a new product that has been added more recently.

Lift Off is an 8-week challenge program.

For $997, you will learn internet marketing skills.

You will learn who your target audience is and start to develop digital skills.

It will help you to connect between your avatar and your niche

It will teach you what the difference is between a niche and an avatar

Here is what you cover in the 8 weeks:-

Week 1 – Universal Secret to Success  

Learn the mindset required to stand out as a digital entrepreneur

Week 2 – Choosing a hot market to serve

How to understand your customer’s problems and meet their needs.

Week 3 – Your Target Audience

Where are these people, how do you pinpoint them, focusing on your customer avatar.

Week 4 – Dream Business Model

How to get your business set up the right way and eliminate the guesswork.

Week 5– Branding and Design

How to launch your website, choose the right colors, font and images, and logos

Week 6 – Launch Your Website

Use their tools and strategies to launch using ready-built templates, with step by step instructions and support

Week 7 – Attraction Marketing

How to turn online marketing into revenue and how to promote, engage and build a loyal audience without ever having to spam social media, pick up the phone or chase people. How to build your email list.

Week 8 – Perpetual & Holistic growth

Discover the steps to grow your business and still have a life. Develop the systems to ensure your business isn’t always dependant on you being there for it to succeed.

With the 8 Week Challenge, you also get workbooks & study guides, accountability groups, and 90-minute support sessions.

If you have a spare $997 that you don’t know what to do with, then join Lift Off Challenge.

If you are at home trying to figure out ways to earn some money and don’t have a lot to spare.

Then take a look at these ways to earn money from home.

Their next newest offering is called:

Incubate  $1995

Incubate is marketed as defining your direction.

Helping you to gain clarity to bring your business idea to life.

It is an interactive self-discovery process, where you will uncover your value, define your mission.

The course will help you to craft a message that reveals your true value to the marketplace.

You will learn how to attract your dream customer and connect to your customer.

The Incubate product has 6 workshops.

Sessions can be attended live or via recordings.

You will have access to the Incubate product for a year.

Here’s what you get for your $1995

Workshop 1 – It’s Not Too Late

Discover why now is the time to leverage the digital economy to build your dream business and how to define your direction and get where you want to go.

Workshop 2 – The Value of Your Journey

Learn how your experiences have made you who you are today and how this can be of value to others.

Workshop 3 – Vision & Mission Statements that Inspire Action

Clearly define why your business matters so that you see a way that effortlessly attracts the right people.

Workshop 4 – Creating Life-long Customers

Deep dive into understanding what your ideal customer wants as it relates to your offer. Then craft an irresistible tagline and bio that make you the clear solution.

Workshop 5 – Standout From The Noise – Branding 101

Learn how to utilize the 10 common denominators of successful brands to cultivate a consistent and powerful feeling through everything that you do.

If you want to get started now, and don’t have that investment, here is an alternative program that is a fraction of that price and that you can get started with today.

Let’s get back to Launch You Product suite.

Because the product suite does not end there.  If you are interested in both Lift Off Challenge and also Incubate (frankly they look very similar) but you can spend a bit more and go for their bonus which are categorised as Silver, Gold, and Platinum

If you purchase the above as part of the bundle, you will also get the following bonuses

Bonus 1 – How to sell on Amazon like a pro.

How to sell with Amazon FBA, source in-demand products, creating desirable listings, attract buyers, and get profits in 90 days or less with the right tools.

Bonus 2 –Elite Influence Workshop –

Master the art of influence your audience, 8 part workshop series that teaches communication strategies to attract high-level customers

Bonus 3 – Done for you Ambassador Template

Have a done-for-you launch template so that you don’t have to build a business from scratch. If you don’t want to build out funnels on your own, then this program will build it out for you.

Ultimate Start UP Bundle – Bronze – Bundle price $2495

Prepare and launch your dream business in 8-12 weeks

Includes Liftoff Challenge $997 & Incubate $1995 and get the bonuses

Ultimate Start UP Bundle – SILVER -bundle price $4995

Prepare & launch your dream business in 8-12 weeks and get 12 months access to world-leading expert-led group coaching workshops certifications and done for your resources.

Prepare and launch your dream business in 8-12 weeks

Includes Liftoff Challenge $997 & Incubate $1995  + Accelerate $4995 and get the bonuses

Ultimate Start UP Bundle – GOLD  – Bundle price $9995

Prepare & launch your dream business in 8-12 weeks and get 12 months access to world-leading expert-led group coaching workshops certifications and done for your resources. +$6900 in bonuses +one on one mentoring and implantation partnership

Prepare and launch your dream business in 8-12 weeks

Includes Liftoff Challenge $997 & Incubate $1995  + Accelerate with you $11,990 and get the bonuses

This bundle is marketed as ‘Change Your Life in a Year’.

Ultimate Start UP Bundle – PLATINUM  – Bundle price $19950

Prepare & launch your dream business in 8-12 weeks and get 12 months access to world-leading expert-led group coaching workshops certifications and done for your resources. +$6900 in bonuses +one on one mentoring and implementation partnership.

Brand incubator- Professionally done for you branding, website & online presence

Prepare and launch your dream business in 8-12 weeks

Includes Liftoff Challenge $997 & Incubate $1995  + Accelerate with you $11,990 and Brand incubator $12,000 and get all the bonuses

If you are still following along, then you will recognise that each bundle is upselling with the same offering and then adding a twist to make it look different. You will have to agree that it is confusing. And the cost of the bundles are eye-watering.

One of my criticisms was that they tried to upsell these products to new customers only for a time-limited period after they first join. To do this, they hold live webinars within the membership, then schedule you to have calls with their sales marketing team who also will try to upsell you when you first start. They try to sell you a dream which probably is way out of your pocket.

What would say is that to start any business, whether online or in the physical world, will take money and your time to perfect. But it does not have to cost that much when you are first starting.

If you are a newcomer to the online world, you would do well to stay away from the upsells until you learn what you are doing.

If you are interested in the SFM/DEA product, then their basic offering is well worth trying.

I would recommend you start with the lowest offering you can get.

There is a strong incentive for you to keep buying in order to increase your commissions.

Disclaimer *I am still an affiliate, however, I wanted to share everything, the good, the bad, and of course the ugly. I would not want you to spend your money on something that is not suited to you. If you are starting then there are other more cost-effective programs out there that you would be better looking at.

Take a look at my post about >>Building Niche Websites here

Have a read of >> 5 Ways to Create an Income From Home (Whilst Raising a Family)

You are probably wondering Can you still make money with a blog? If so I’ve got you covered take a look at the post here >>

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