Welcome to my Agency Master Academy Review
You may be looking for an escape. A way out of your current situation. Or maybe you're just tired of the same old job and need something new.
I can relate. I've been there before too.
Courses and coaching programs like Agency Master Academy claim they can help, but is it a scam?
In this review, I'll explain what Agency Master Academy is, how it works and why it may (or may not) be for you. I'll also discuss whether it's legit or just another make-money scheme.
The topics I'm going to cover are:
- What is Agency Master Academy?
- Is Agency Master Academy Legit?
- How Does Agency Master Academy Work?
- Agency Master Academy Training
- Registering, Costs, and Refunds
- Who Is Agency Master Academy Good For?
- Agency Master Academy Reviews and Complaints
- What I Like, and What I Don't Like
- Where Do You Go From Here?
Disclaimer:
Please note, I am not a member or an affiliate for Agency Master Academy. This review has been researched with information and/or testimonials that are available online in the public domain. Any recommendations and/or conclusions are strictly opinions and may not apply to, or agree with, all persons or situations. See full disclaimer for more info
What Is Agency Master Academy (AMA)?
Agency Master Academy is a personal coaching and training program that teaches you how to run a social media marketing agency.
The program's creator, Jeff Baxter, shows you how to run ad campaigns and generate leads for local businesses and professionals.
It's a practical approach to making money, and it's one I've recommended before.
Having worked with many social media marketers and website owners struggling with their own businesses, I've noticed the same thing that happened to me. Buried in early disappointment, they overlook the skills they've acquired, valuable marketing skills that small businesses and professionals need.
Agency Master Academy teaches you those skills specifically to help businesses and professionals, and it also shows you how to get them as clients.
Is Agency Master Academy Legit?
Agency Master Academy is legit, but I admit I was skeptical. I've reviewed hundreds of similar programs, and as you might expect, most have been scams.
My first impression is that Agency Master Academy was no different.
It starts with a YouTube ad and a claim that what you're about to see is different.
Of course, every “guru” has something different to show you, right?
Something you've never seen before.
Jeff then shows you his account of real-time incoming payments…
- $3,500 USD
- $2,500 USD
- $3,500 USD
- $4,250 USD
- $5,000 USD
- $5,000 USD
- $4,500 USD
… the list goes on.
It motivates you and makes you envious at the same time.
To be fair, I also share a few of my income-proof screenshots on this website. And I know, as Jeff surely knows, income-proof claims invite skepticism.
So, even though I don't doubt Jeff's proof of income (I know from experience how much money can be made online), it was with that skeptical frame of mind I approached Agency Master Academy.
There were a couple of other red flags that had my scam bells ringing. Not loudly enough to click away, but enough to make me curious.
And you might be curious too…
First was the countdown timer at the bottom of the free training page. I don't mind legitimate scarcity. Whether it's an online course, a new car, or a fast-food burger… you get incentives and limited-time offers every day. Not a big deal.
The timer for Jeff's program though, was only six hours. That means you can't return to it later when you have more time and fewer distractions. You also have no idea how long the video is.
Of course, all of this is to create urgency.
As mentioned earlier, I've reviewed hundreds of programs like this and when the urgency is ratcheted up too high, it's usually a scam. So, I was surprised when Jeff actually shared real (and valuable) information in his free training rather than selling a lifestyle.
Instead of hype and secrecy, he walks you through the process of what he does and what you'll learn. You can see what Jeff teaches is real, not a scam.
Agency Master Academy Pyramid Scheme?
Although Jeff did not ramble on and on about mansions, yachts, and Lamborghinis as many gurus do, one part reminded me of a pyramid scheme or MLM.
During the training, Jeff says to imagine the following scenarios…
– 10 clients x $1,000/month
– 10 clients x $3,000/month
– 10 clients x $5,000/month
Watching this gave me the same feeling I had 30 years ago sitting in a room of ten(ish) people watching a Diamond Amway distributor draw circles on a whiteboard. If you've ever attended an MLM presentation, you'll know those circles represent your potential earnings.
The math was different back then, but just as simple. And I remember mentally calculating how much I'd be making each month and what I was going to buy.
This part of Jeff's presentation had me feeling the same way as that MLM (or “legal” pyramid scheme) presentation did so many years ago, and it was nostalgic to be honest…
“Ten clients at $5K per month? What would you do with $50,000 per month?”
Anyway, overall, I was impressed with the free training. Jeff shared more than he needed to I thought, and it was refreshing to have someone walk you through exactly what you'll be learning BEFORE asking you to buy.
I was still curious about Jeff Baxter, though. Was he legit, and could he be trusted?
Who Is Jeff Baxter?
Jeff started his online journey quite a while ago, in 2008. After high school, he promoted products online as an affiliate, earning enough through commissions to leave his day job.
For most people, leaving their day job would be enough.
But Jeff quickly realized that the people making big money were not the affiliates. Instead, it was the product owners.
So, inspired by a Zig Ziglar quote, “You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want,” Jeff became a product creator.
He started out with consulting packages sold through free webinars about entrepreneurship. Eventually, he earned enough money holding those webinars to pay for advertising and scale his business.
That led to one of his courses called Consulting Master Academy.
Jeff is also the founder and CEO of an advertising agency called Ad Ninja Pro. The knowledge and experience he has gained from running his agency are what he shares with you in Agency Master Academy.
From his early days as an affiliate, Jeff has since grown his online businesses into a six-figures per month income.
But can you trust him?
Is Jeff Baxter Legit?
While researching if Jeff Baxter was the real deal, I found this video of a young Igor Kheifets praising him…
You may not know who Igor Kheifets is, but he's a very successful online marketer I followed and trusted years ago (when I was starting out online).
The above video is from 2013, either before or around the time Igor became a top affiliate himself and famous in the internet marketing world.
Igor is the host of the List Building Lifestyle podcast and some of his strategies helped me build a list of almost 50,000 subscribers (and growing). So, his endorsement of Jeff Baxter is significant.
And I wonder now, how much of what he learned from Jeff, he taught me. Without knowing it, some of what I've learned over the years may be a product of Jeff Baxter's knowledge and expertise. And I'm sure his knowledge and expertise will help you too.
How Does Agency Master Academy Work?
Jeff does an excellent job of showing you what he does and how it works during his free training. He breaks it down into two fundamental steps if you haven't watched it already.
Step 1 – Prospect
- Find local businesses who are not running ads by using the Facebook Ads Library.
- Get clients (local businesses who do not have active ad campaigns) using Agency Master Academy's prospecting templates.
Step 2 – Land Clients and Setup Facebook Ad Campaign
- Negotiate a retainer fee.
- Set up your client's ad budget
- Target their ideal customer (age, gender, city and radius (or zip code), etc.)
- Create and run ads
Your job as an agency owner is to make sure your clients are happy. Keep their ads running and their phones ringing.
What you charge each client will vary, and it's up to you. A reasonable fee to aim for would be $1000 – $5000, starting out on the lower end when you're new. As you gain experience, confidence, and a proven track record, you can increase your fee for new clients.
When assessing a client's ability to pay you for setting up and managing their campaigns, keep in mind they are also paying for their ads. Therefore, their credit card is connected directly to their ad account.
Agency Master Academy Training
The steps above sound simple enough, but there is more involved in starting your own Social Media Marketing Agency.
Agency Master Academy breaks it down into the following modules.
Agency Master Academy Curriculum
- Module 1: Business Foundation
- Module 2: How to Setup Your Client Acquisition Sales Funnel
- Module 3: How to Attract Clients for Your Agency Without Spending A Penny
- Module 4: All About Facebook Ads
- Module 5: How to Outsource Your Business
- Bonus: Business Funding Secrets
Module 1 – Business Foundation
- What business structure is right for your business? Sole proprietorship, LLC, or S-Corporation?
- Launch a successful agency by narrowing your niche, attracting clients, and getting your pricing right.
- Find out if a niche is profitable so that you can attract clients who are willing to pay more.
- The tools required to build your agency.
Module 2 – How to Setup Your Client Acquisition Sales Funnel
- Leverage automated systems and templates to get more done with less effort
- Learn how to build your mailing list and set up automated emails.
- Jeff introduces you to ScheduleOnce and Zapier and shows you how to set up and implement them into your funnel.
- Learn how to create high-converting video sales letters (VSLs).
- Putting it all together to build and test your client acquisition funnel.
Module 3 – How to Attract Clients for Your Agency Without Spending A Penny
- Using LinkedIn and Jeff's proprietary methods to acquire new clients.
- Examples of cold calling to acquire clients.
- Enrolling clients over the phone.
Module 4 – All About Facebook Ads
- A guide to creating high-converting ads.
- Rules of advertising
- Learn how to set up Facebook Business Manager and bring your clients on board.
- Preparing your clients to run ads with Facebook Business Manager.
- Steps to verify your domain, set up Facebook pixels, audiences, and conversions.
- Learn what a dynamic test campaign is and how to set one up.
- How to create standalone campaigns from winning ad combinations.
Module 5 – How to Outsource Your Business
- Learn what and how to outsource the right way.
- Everything you need to know about contracting out sales calls and service delivery.
What Else Do You Get with Agency Master Academy?
Done-For-You Templates
In addition to the core training, you get “done-for-you” client acquisition templates. Templates are great for getting you up and running quickly, but they also bring together the theories and concepts you've learned into a single visual example.
Business Funding Secrets
Jeff goes over some business funding secrets, including how to improve your credit score and what you can do to get large amounts of funding.
You will also get mindset and entrepreneurial advice and training.
Coaching Calls and Hands-on Support
Jeff and his team of certified success coaches currently provide two live coaching calls per week. Of all the online programs I belong to (not only for online business), the ones with live coaching calls (and/or chats) are the most valuable.
They provide an opportunity to get your questions answered and lead to critical insights outside of the official curriculum.
They are also ongoing, so you'll learn about industry and strategy changes as they happen.
Registering Your Account
You can't currently purchase Agency Master Academy directly. To register, you must apply when you've finished watching Jeff's free training.
Agency Master Academy Cost
Just like you can't purchase Agency Master Academy directly, you can't find a published price.
There may be a few reasons for this.
One is that Agency Master Academy is relatively new, so Jeff may be testing different price points. The price could also change if new materials, bonuses, and support options get added.
Also, since onboarding is done over the phone, the price could be flexible. Students may pay different prices based on their ability to pay.
So, if they published a price of $3,000 (just as an example) and $3,000 is what you paid, you'd feel cheated if you found out I paid $1,500… even if the published price was fair.
With that said, the main reason they don't publish a price as you may suspect, is likely to avoid the sticker shock.
A $3000 price on their website (again, just an example) might scare people away before they've had the chance to learn about your situation and explain again what they offer. Agency Master Academy is a personal coaching product and not just a course.
And according to Jeff, they only work with ten students at a time. I suspect that's flexible, but regardless… with personal coaching and a dose of exclusivity, AMA will not be a $47 download. Expect the full version of AMA with additional costs (some optional) to be in the four figure ball park.
Additional Costs
In addition to the course cost, ScheduleOnce and Zapier are recommended.
ScheduleOnce offers a free plan which should be sufficient, but if you opt for their upgraded plan with more support, while-label branding, and integrations, you'll pay $10/month.
Zapier is a tool that helps you automate your tasks and also has a limited free plan. For more options (and to automate more tasks), their paid plans start at $19.99 per month.
There are also optional social media management tools you can look into like Social Owl, which makes it easy to set up accounts, curate and post content, add client banners, shopping carts, etc.
Agency Master Academy Refund Policy
According to Agency Master Academy's Legal Page, they do not provide refunds.
Who is Agency Master Academy Good For?
Agency Master Academy is for someone willing to work hard. As I mentioned earlier, it's not a sub-100-dollar course you'll download once and forget about (I have plenty of those on my computer, and you may too).
This is a real business that requires accountability. You're working with clients directly, and they are paying you thousands of dollars.
And acquiring those clients requires you to hustle.
Even with proper training, templates, and techniques… your conversion rate will likely be low. Higher than if you were doing it on your own (without Agency Master Academy), but still low.
In other words, you should be comfortable with rejection. It's a numbers game.
You should also have financial resources and not be in a rush. For example, if you need AMA to pay rent this month, it's not the right program for you.
You may get your business up and running quickly, but it takes time to get clients. And your clients, being small businesses, are accustomed to paying vendors in 30, 60, and even 90 days.
This is a great business model for the right person. There are no physical products to deal with, and it's more affordable than most traditional businesses.
Owning a Social Media Marketing Agency
A proper review of Jeff Baxter's Agency Master Academy is also a review of running a social media marketing agency (SMMA).
This is one of my favorite ways to make money online. It's easier than selling products though Amazon like BJK University teaches, for example. And it's better than peddling get-rich-quick type programs.
Another program that teaches you how start an SMMA is Agency Navigator.
I also like this type of business because it gives people with digital marketing skills a tangible way of earning a living. Most start out learning these skills for themselves and get discouraged when their businesses don't take off.
They start by posting on social media to gain followers, for example, or building a website to generate search traffic. They are learning and getting good at their craft, but it takes time. It can take many months or longer to start making money.
Doubt creeps in, but they often don't realize that in the process, they've acquired a marketing skill set that countless businesses (and professionals) need, but don't have.
I took on my first clients this way, and based on my experience, have some insight into the drawbacks of having an agency.
These drawbacks shouldn't discourage you because they're the same for most traditional businesses, but you should be aware of them.
Competitive
Starting an ad agency is less competitive than most online business models, but it's still competitive.
Over the last few years, it has become increasingly popular as a barrage of ad agency courses have been unleashed on the public.
Depending on your local market, you may have a lot of competitors fighting for the same clients.
Outstanding Receivables
In a perfect world, clients would just cut you a check on the first of the month, no questions asked. But unfortunately, the world is not perfect.
Some clients will drag out your payment because they can (or because their accountant advised them to). Others will drag it out because they're broke.
Whatever the reason, expect some clients to be more difficult than others when paying. Of course, you can always pull down their campaigns, but that won't help you get paid. And it won't help you keep your client.
Clients Who Know More Than You
Some clients hire you because you're the expert. You know your business better than they do, and they need your help.
Others hire you, but they think they're the expert for some reason. And they'll tell you how to do your job.
That's fine if they're paying you by the hour. But instead, they are paying you for results.
If they insist their ads should be one way and you know they should be another way, they'll still blame you when they don't work. And then they won't want to pay you.
Rejection and Frustration
The challenges described above are not necessarily bad. Frustrating for sure, but at least you have clients. It's getting clients in the first place that's the biggest challenge.
Agency Master Academy will make it a lot easier than if you were to do it on your own. But it's important to know that you're going after businesses who get inundated daily with offers.
They have salespeople pushing everything from industry-specific products to random cleaning supplies, chocolates, and children's books. When I was in distribution, a guy would show up at one of my branches every month selling lobster tails.
And, of course, you're likely to have competitors selling social media services as well.
This business is very rewarding if you can “run the numbers” and deal with some rejection and frustration.
Again, I do recommend it for aspiring entrepreneurs. But it's good to be aware of the drawbacks.
On a positive note, the benefits of a social media marketing agency (and what Agency Master Academy teaches) include:
- No physical products, inventory, warehousing, shipping, product returns, defective products, etc.
- Less competitive than most online businesses (because online business owners typically shy away from working directly with clients).
- A quick way to turn your online skills into income (again, relative to other online business models).
- Businesses have money (it's easier to sell a $5,000 service to a business than it is to sell a $5,000 product to an individual).
Agency Master Academy Reviews and Complaints
There are not many Agency Master Academy reviews yet, and even fewer complaints. I'll keep an eye out as more students share their experiences online, but for now, we can get an idea of what to expect from Jeff's previous course, Consulting Master Academy (CMA).
Some of the good things people had to say about CMA on sites like Trustpilot are:
- “Great program that helped lay out the foundation for my consulting business.”
- “Jeff is very knowledgeable about YouTube ads and webinars.”
- “I was able to 4X my campaigns.”
- “I was stuck putting the marketing pieces for my business together… now I have them all together because he (Jeff) held my hand and helped me set up everything within two months.”
What I Like About Agency Master Academy
- Live weekly coaching calls.
- Jeff is upfront, telling you it requires effort and is not for everyone.
- Your client's ad budget is separate from your payment.
- Jeff does in real life what he teaches and is good at it.
- Easier to start than a traditional business.
What I Don't Like
- You can't buy. You must “apply”.
- Working with clients can be a hassle.
- Competitive in some markets.
- Only focuses on Facebook ads.
- Currently no refunds
Where Do You Go From Here?
You want more freedom and independence in your life. You'd like to travel and spend more time with the people you love.
That's the attraction of an online business and what you want is not unreasonable. A social media marketing agency can do it for you, but you must be committed (real clients are hiring you).
Also, to join Agency Master Academy, you'll need some money and you'll have to qualify. But it is free to apply.
What if you're unable to join?
You might be a student in school with limited time and a tight budget, or a single parent at home. You may have health challenges that make regular work difficult or job you just don't enjoy.
If that's the case, there are other options.
With all the scams and schemes out there though, knowing how and where to get started the right way is what you need in order to get what you want.
Now, I'm going to give you a free step by step beginner's guide to making money online and you can get it by Clicking Here
If you're just looking for some extra spending money and unsure about the direction you should go, online surveys like surveyjunkie.com and inboxdollars.com are a quick and free way to make money. They don't pay as much as an online business would but they also don't require a long-term commitment.
I hope my Agency Master Academy review has been helpful. If you have any comments, questions, or experience with Agency Master Academy, please share in the comments section below.
I completely agree with your conclusion, GoCashouts seems too good to be true and I'm glad I read your warning…