
Name: Secret Success Machine
Owner: Not Disclosed
Price: $697 – $20,197
Website: www.secretsuccessmachines.com
Overall Rank:Β 0/100
The Secret Success Machine is officially Dead.
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The Secret Success Machine – What are they really selling?
Is Secret Success Machine a real money making opportunity or just another online scam?
I believe that for most, it’s a scam, but for those who are experienced network marketers or sales people, it can be a real opportunity…
That is, if you don’t mind scamming people out of their hard earned money.
Now you can argue that the Secret Success Machine is selling a quality educational system that teaches personal growth and online marketing skills.
I’m not arguing that.
However, their products are never the focal point of their sales pitch.
It’s all about making fast cash online and living the good life.
Two points that strike a chord in any human being.
Who doesn’t want to make 10 – 20 K a month?
“We all do”.
Within my review of the Secret Success Machine, I will explain exactly what they offer, and why I feel this is a poor investment for those that want to create real wealth online.
I also want to let you know that much of the information that I gleaned during my investigation, is based on an interview with a Secret Success Machine Representative.
Note: There is very little information online about the Secret Success Machine because they switched their name recently from Millionaire Marketing Machine due to a legal issue with another (MLM) company named, Million Dollar Marketing Machine.
Millions of Marketing Machines to Drive Dollars into your Pocket, right? Is it just me, or is it starting to smell a little bit SCAMMY in here.
What Is The Secret Success Machine?
The Secret Success Machine is a educational system that sells “levels” of products that are related to online training about personal growth and internet marketing.
Yet when you listen to the Secret Success Machine’s sales pitch, the products are not the main focal point, the big money and easy lifestyle is.Β
This should tip you off that something is wrong.
Franchises sell products and reputation, not over glorified infomercials about how wonderful your life will be after you buy into their franchise.
If you haven’t listened to the Secret Success Machine infomercial, I’ll brake it down for you and save you the tedious sales pitch.
It’s riddled with selling points that are all emotional based…
- Testimonials of tons of personal success stories
- Automated income concepts
- No sales experience required
If your scam sensorΒ isn’t tingling by now, it should be. π
There’s nothing discussed about the quality of the “Marketing or Educational Training’s” that they are actually selling.
That’s training on…
- internet marketing
- developing social media networks
- website creation
- leveraging landing pages
- and driving traffic to your sales page
That should raise concern for you. If you are selling a product, wouldn’t the focus of the sales pitch be about the product?
Of course it would, but that’s not the case with the Secret Success Machine, it’s about the easy money and the road to financial freedom.
There’s nothing wrong with this ambition, it’s awesome in my opinion.
But the SSM is not selling you a quality education worth it’s price tag. It’s selling you an over-glorified, super expensive Multi-level marketing program.
Don’t worry, there’s a much better solution than the SSM for those of you out there that want to create real, long-lasting online businesses.
You don’t have to buy into the Secret Success Machine fad to achieve your dreams.
And you don’t have to look like the lady on the cover photo.
You can have a little more dignity than that.
Now back to the Multi-level Marketing Machine, I mean…The Secret Success Machine..
Forget Online Scams and Become Awesome at Online Business, 100% Free Training β
What’s Up With These Levels?
In order to be able to sell one of their products, you first have to buy that product.
They relate this concept as to paying a “Franchise Fee” like you would if you were buying a McDonald’s or Subway franchise.
Franchises provide tangible products, not over-hyped money making schemes.
There are 6 different product packages and each package is considered it’s own franchise.
Whatever level you buy into, you can only sell and earn commissions on that level. So this encourages people to buy the most expensive level they can afford.
Why?
Because if you sell someone a higher priced package, you only get credit for that sale on the franchise level you purchased in at.
The products are broken down into 6 different packages, each one with a $197 administration fee.
Each package contains a certain number of CD and Video training’s for you to implement in your Secret Success business.
The higher levels include additional training of course, but also include the same training from the lower levels – makes sense.
Below I have listed the courses and broken down the hourly rate based on the hours of content per course.
- $25 dollars per hour for the content in the Bronze Package.
Β
- Now you still get the same content as in the Bronze Package, but you pay $58.82/hour for this 34 hour course. That extra 14 hours must be pretty special. Essentially you are paying $107.14/hour for that extra 14 hours.
- Β This package comes out to $52.23/hour. The additional content hours are valued at $45.45/hour
- Now this one has got to be the worst deal. For an additional 7 hours, you pay $3,000. This course comes to $87.83/hour. OUCH, EXPENSIVE.
- I stand corrected, this one comes out to $125/hour for only 22 more hours of content.
- And with the Elite (Sucker) Package, you pay a whopping $180/hour. What A Deal!
“Something doesn’t seem right with the valuation of this program, does it?”
Pros And Cons To The Secret Success Machine
Pros:
- The CD’s and Video Courses cover a good range of relevant topics for Internet Marketers and Sales People. However, I can’t verify the quality of the training.
- 100% sales commissions
- You get to chose between 9 genericΒ landing pages
Cons
- Very expensive training that you can get for less than $50/mo (Take a tour of a My #1 Recommended Make Money Online Training Program)
- You have to purchase the affiliate product you want to sell (big hint friends: this only happens in MLM schemes, not in affiliate marketing)
- The bogus concept of buying into a Franchise.
- No customer support, owner information, or business address available (All Signs of a Scam)
- No community support
- Extremely Over-priced Products compared to what’s available online for Free
- The system is built off of Big Name Marketing Gurus that never have any direct mentoring to you as a student of the program.
As a matter of fact, they have Napoleon Hill on their list. I didn’t realize the dead have risen and come back to work for the Secret Success Machine Β π
- Your encouraged to buy the highest priced “Franchised Fee” if you want to receive commissions on the higher levels.
- It’s pretty much a complete scam (see below)
What Are The CommissionΒ Structures?
The commissions are large, and that is exactly why the people who are recruiting a lot of people are making big money.
The commission is a 100%.
So if you bring in someone into a Silver Level Membership, they pay $2,197 dollars.
$197 of that goes to Secret Success Machine, the other $2,000 dollars goes to you.
You’re first commission actually goes to the rep who brought you in.
After that you get the full 100% commission of whomever comes into your network.
If your new members buy a membership above your membership level, you only receive commission at the level you bought into. So you’ll never receive higher commission unless you buy the highest franchise level.
By knowing this,Β one is inclined to buy the highest “franchise” product they can afford. Otherwise you’d be loosing out on higher level commissions whenever someone buys a more expensive product.
What’s The Product? You or the Training CD’s
Now if you’re reading this review and you’re considering buying into the Secret Success Machine, what does your gut tell you?
If it’s a little uneasy, then you’re probably not hooked yet and you should listen to your instincts.
Let me tell you one thing I’ve learned by reviewing online money making products.
Everyone wants the fastest easiest way to get rich online.
And it’s easy to fall victim to a program like this.
The reality with the Secret Success Machine is that they sell concepts; like “Making Easy Money Online”, “Make Great Money From Home”, “Quit Your Corporate Gig and Live in a Tropical Paradise”.
Followed by tons of personal stories of people who made $40,000 in the last 90 days, etc.
They are not focusing on the training, the long hours that you have to put in, or the marketing skills that are imperative to learn.
And this is what real online success takes, not over inflated success based on following a machine to success.
They are selling this program based on human desires to be rich and live the good life.
If you’re going to go forward with the Secret Success Machine, know that you are going to have to learn how to sell, market, network, and do everything else required of any real business.
The only difference is, can you ethically live with yourself for selling this overpriced system?
The products you are selling, although educationally based, are not what you are selling.
You are selling the concept of making fast and easy money online.
You are selling a a dream.Β
I spoke to my Secret Success Machine Rep tonight, and the first thing he mentioned was the big sale he just made.
Nothing about educating his new recruits on building their businesses, nor about the awesome training he received.
Just about the fast cash.
As a matter of fact, the sales rep didn’t understand several concepts that are explained in the Secret Success Machine training program on building a website, understanding SEO,Β writing content andΒ driving targeted traffic to his site.
All which are part of the course that he paid for.
As a matter of fact, you can’t even control the content management system of the website that you receive with the Secret Success Machine.
My SSM rep called a content management system the back-end of a website.
How’s that for a quality level education in internet marketing π Β I kid, he’s got the idea right, it’s just funny that after spending a year with the Secret Success Machine and you still don’t know how to manage your own content management system.
That’s not a good education friends.
Now maybe he hasn’t gotten to it yet, but it leads me to believe there is no structured educational system within the Secret Success Machine whatsoever.
“The reality with these types of online schemes is that the majority of people who enter, will loose big”
The average income for these types of high pressure sales-type MLM programs is less than $300 dollars per year. It’s only the top sales people that are making all the money. And for good reason, they’re making your franchise fee.
Who’s the Secret Success Machine For?
The Secret Success Machine is really for experienced sales people.
If you don’t have a good understanding of marketing, social networking, website development, and writing internet content, then you shouldn’t risk 1,000’s of dollars on this program.
And based on my experience with SSM, you’re not going to learn these skills. It’s high pressure sales, plain and simple.
It’s a system on selling people, and if sales isn’t your calling, then it’s not the business for you.
There are real online business opportunities available.
And there is a ton of money to be made online.
But the only automated magical system out there is to take what you learn and apply it to your own business, not some MLM bogus franchise.
You have to work hard and create a marketing system to promote whatever product you are selling.
The product that the Secret Success Machine is selling isn’t education, it’s you and the concept of making “easy money”.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Create A Real Online Business Without Wasting $1,000’s of Dollars
All the information listed on the sales page of the Secret Success Machine is based on internet marketing skills.
And all of that is exactly what anyone who wants to make money online needs to learn.
You’re just not going to learn this with the SSM.
Based on the conversations I shared with my SSM Rep,Β andΒ from the feedback of this review byΒ people who have worked with the Secret Success Machine (as well as my SSM rep himself), education isn’t the priority, sales are.
You don’t have to pay 1,000’s of dollars to learn these skills.
Before you go blowing 12,000 dollars on a program that may or may not work for you, remember you can learn the same skills for free, or much cheaper, elsewhere.
I would hate to see you loose thousands of dollars and a month of your life just to realize that you got yourself into another online scam.
If you want to really make money online, start building a business that can turn into a passive income source.
Build a site. Monetize it. Write for it. Get traffic.
Check out This Free Email Series to Learn How to Do It. It’s Easy >>
Take a look at the comparison chart below to see the difference in value between Wealthy Affiliate and the Secret Success Machine.
Mind you that the cost difference is $30/mo versus thousands of dollars depending on which franchise you purchase. The choice is yours, you’re a smart person, you’ll make the right decision.
My Final Product Overview Of Secret Success Machine
Name: Secret Success Machine
Owner: Not Disclosed
Price: $697 – $20,197
Website: www.secretsuccessmachines.com
Overall Rank:Β 00 out of 100
Verdict: Scam, they’re selling the concept of Making Easy Online Money, not Proper Training. Not recommended.
Need Help Making Money Online?
If you’re looking into Secret Success Machine for the money-making opportunity, you should check out my top recommended training instead. It has all the tools, training and support you need to build a successful online business. Plus 10 free classes to get started!
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If you have any questions or would like to leave a comment about my review of the Social Success Machine, by all means, please do.
Todd. You have missed the whole point. Obviously you have an arrangment with Wealthy Affiliate, who knows, you may be one of their hottest sellers. But the way you compare SSM with Wealthy Aff is like comparing Ford with Dodge. Two completely different vehicles but they serve the same purpose. You say that you don’t need money to get involved in online marketing but the fact is, no money and its a long haul to start making money. Buy in at whatever level and you start making money. And that’s what it should be all about. I wont go into the in’s and out’s of this comparisson but what I will say is this. The whole idea about getting into online marketing is to see if money can be created and how quickly. SSM can do just that and the beauty about this is that there is no obligation on you to sell anything at all. Sell one a year, one a month, one a week or go beserk and sell one every day. There is no upline, no downline. No one depends on you selling anything. I got into this at the lowest entry of $500 and I recommend others to do the same. One sale and you break even. Then its up to you how you want to structure your marketing combined with the back office with SSM. This is the purest one on one direct selling system there is. People out there……go for it.
Hey Indrek,
I think you’ve missed the whole point. If the service you sell doesn’t help people, but takes their hard earned money without giving them skills to achieve something or to give them something of value in return, then your service will eventually fail.
Like Secret Success Machine, 9 months ago plus there were over 3500/mo new visitors to this post, now it’s 130/mo. Why such a drastic decline, because people have wised up to the SSM scam and so it’s tanking.
It’s not just about sales. It’s about selling something of value. I am an affiliate of Wealthy Affiliate and do make commission when someone signs up and takes their education.
I’m proud to recommend Wealthy Affiliate because for over 10 years they’ve been helping people create real online businesses. Ones that last for years that also provide value to their respective niche audiences.
So yeah, sell like crazy. I do it because I know how to rank content and reach limitless people online. That’s why this review is #1 in Google,
For those that want to learn how to create real, long term success online, go with the winners at Wealthy Affiliate.
This site will be making money for years to come. Scams will come and go, but things of value thrive and stay.
Cheers,
Todd
FCC now says you can’t call cell phones or individuals without permission for robo dialing, this is what they use to promote mainly.
New MLM laws says mlm companies can’t sell all of their products to distributors or they are an illegal pyramid- 2016 ruling-
How this gonna affect them?
Better question Dawg. How cares? Get out of the mlm’s and learn internet marketing. Even if you have a good MLM product, you can promote it so much better when you understand basic internet marketing concepts.
I’m talking keyword research to reach your niche product (mlm or whatever you promote) and basic SEO skills to learn to rank your site to promote what you want.
Do your think an auto dialer is a good idea? Really? Who answers a freaking auto dialer. Your niche market must be desperate people that want to believe in fairy tails like the Secret Success Machine. That’s funny. Where’s the SSM now? Dust in the wind…
Look, get educated in internet marketing and make your life so much easier. You have to put in the initial work, but it’s worth it Dawg.
Cheers,
Todd
Does anyone have a corporate address for these people? I want to sue them for all the unlawful robo calls I keep getting.
Hi Brantley,
This is the only info I could dig up on these jokers.
Secret Success Machine email: secretsuccessteam@gmail.com
Their legal firm: GARDERE, WYNNE, SEWELL, LLP Mr. Ed Burbach (Firm)
Best,
Todd
You know, I went through Wealthy Affiliate for a while and was pretty impressed with the amount of training they had, I just got a bit overwhelmed about the process. In your opinion, is it something that was difficult to learn.
I also wondered how long it might take to make a profitable niche website and is it worth it?
Hi Ryan,
I think a lot of people can relate to what you experienced. I was a bit overwhelmed at times when I first started and you ask some great questions.
I wrote this post after a WA student asked me pretty much the same question. Check it out… How Long Does It Take To Make Money Online.
As to whether it’s worth it or not, you better believe it is. I wake up and make full time income online and I now work 5-10 hours a week. You need to learn the basics and put in the time, but you can do it and the training is simple to follow.
Cheers,
Todd
I joined ssm almost a year ago and have generated some sales. But it’s purely high pressure sales and most people don’t make any money. It also seems that the word is out on ssm as another scam like mlm.
I wanted to get a real education on how to make money online from a website, not cold call people all day and try to talk them into the ssm sales team.
This is a direct sales program and there is no real training on internet marketing or how to build a website that makes money. I’m now at a point where I’m checking out Wealthy Affiliate as a serious education to help me learn how to do this.
I’ve read your review and signed up for the free membership and have played around inside their training platform. I’m very impressed with all the training videos and the daily classes and I’m close to buying my domain name. I have some cool ideas for an online business but wanted to ask you how much time will I need to put into this education before I’m making consistent money.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Good day John,
I get questions about achieving results within 12 months using WA training program and of course it varies on hard you work through the program and what your sites all about.
It takes some time to build any online business, but the cool thing about it is that it has sort of a snowball effect. For those that commit themselves to their online business, can start to see results within a month or two, but what I see is those people who stay committed to their websites for 2 – 3 years achieve what everyone reading this post wants to achieve – fulltime income to passive income.
One WA member start his first year averaging about $1,000/mo, the next year he was at $2-$3K/mo, and now into his 3rd year he’s making over $10,000/mo.
But here’s a pretty recent story I wanted to share with you and you’re welcome to visit his post at WA to see the results yourself.
Meet Colton
He joined WA on Nov. 4, 2014 and started with little to no knowledge of internet marketing. But he had a passion to learn and so he did!
At the 11 month mark, he posted a great success story inside WA showing that he is making over $4k a month in Amazon commissions from one site. His Amazon screenshot is at the bottom of the post.
And he’s just 21 years old.
So what is the difference between Colton and you?
Nothing except for one thing.
Colton made a year long commitment to Wealthy Affiliate and in return, WA gave him training, tools, support and a community so that he could achieve $4k a month in Amazon commissions.
Now, if you think you’re ready to build your future, I think it is your turn. Click here at get started on your classes, put in an honest effort and bring your online dreams to life John.
Let me know if you need any help when you get rolling with the training. Stick to it daily and you’ll see results like Colton.
Cheers,
Todd
I got scammed. For $3,000+ dollars.
Thanks Jacob for sharing your experience with Secret Success Machine, sorry to hear they scammed you and wish you would have read our review first and saved 3K.
If you’re looking to really learn how to make money online, check out my #1 rated resource.
Cheers,
Todd
Well Todd, I have read a lot of your page here but in all honesty I cannot bear to read it all. When call one program a scam or what they are doing a scam, I think you should maybe look at what you wrote from a ways back. It seems it is always this way when one person calls another program a scam and the reality of it is that you are more interested in promoting your own agenda than pointing out different facts and realities.
When you join any program it is always beware. I once joined the Navy for 6 years and got scamed in that deal too. To some degree. More recently I did the empower thing and while I did not get scammed, I did not do all I could to besucessful because ultimately it was not for me and I did give up a few thousand on that deal. I will not however call it a scam anymore than I would call your program a scam, even though your program is not for me.
I started my selling years ago in California knocking on doors selling Fuller Brush and did ok for a partime gig. It was kind a scam too but not too bad cause I got paid and some one got a broom but the guy that drove us around and dropped us off got more money than we did…lol..he made good money as a team leader.
Getting back to this page, your aswers are so predictable it is amusing. I’m sure you are a good fella, but you are just pushing some over to your way of thinking rather than explore what may in fact be a bigger truth. I have no intention of doing that because it is not my job. If you do not like a program, don’t do it. If you do not know how to fish and you buy a fishing pole anyway and think you will catch fish you are in for a suprise. You just lost the cost of the pole but you made the decesion to buy the stupid thing anyway so please stop whining and move on with your life. Sympathy for those who make mistakes is only in the dictionary. I have spent a lot of time looking for it myself as I have made mistakes almost daily as I continue my trip through life. Whining about it I do not, ever, do however. lol…not where anyone can hear.
If you want others to join up with you, please have the decency to find a way to do it without runing down another way of thinking unless you are setting yourself up as judge which you are not qualified to do for anyone. Being politically correct is a bloody boor and wastes everyones time.
Well John, you didn’t have enough time to read my entire review which takes about 5-10 minutes but had time enough to write me close to a 500 word response to tell me of your life story.
You sound perfect for writing your own content based affiliate niche website. I don’t want to get into a debate about scams, either you can tell what is a scam or you can’t.
I try to help people in this world and work at making things better for myself and others. I only refer people on my site, Learn To Grow Wealth Online, to products that are beneficial to people and I don’t think the secret success machine is a good program. I think it’s an overpriced poor training MLM that applies high pressure sales to snag thousands of dollars from inexperienced online marketers.
The top products I support on this site are educational based and you can take a look at them on my home page or reference them here.
Wealthy Affiliate: perfect educational system to teach people how to create online businesses and website development.
Jaaxy: The perfect keyword research tool I use to get my posts to rank on page one of Google.
Skip McGrath’s Amazon/eBay sellers guide: Perfect for anyone who wants to sell/import products to sell on Amazon/eBay
Bring The Fresh: Another guide educational program that’s doesn’t make the grade compared to Wealthy Affiliate, but still a worthwhile educational system that actual teaches solid internet marketing skills
Shopify: eCommerce platform with an excellent reputation
ClickBank University: Solid training to develop your own digital information products
I also support email marketing through Aweber, Uber to pickup some extra cash offline.
WPZOOM: For professional WordPress Themes that really stand out
Hoth: For picking up white hat backlinks to increase Google rankings quickly
Thrivethemes: For building landing pages and content and a few other programs, you can see them on my sidebars of any page on this site.
Thanks,
Todd
I am sorry old man. If you joined Empower Network and lost thousands of dollars but you still think that there are no scams? That is a ‘big fat scam’ because they tell you that anyone will make millions with their ‘proven system’. So what went wrong? Bottom line is, you fell for the hype and got scammed.
HI Todd, I understand your points and you aren’t wrong. But I recently became a member at SSM via a gift from a friend. I went from struggling single mom barely making it to a steady 6 figure income in 6 months. I don’t understand why your saying you have to market all of your own products. That’s what I use their lead generating system for. It’s basically fill in the blank work. I treat it like my job and work it 5 days a week 8 hours a day. I’ll never look back. Or wait on another table. I realize it’s expensive but they never hide exactly what it is your marketing. I feel it would be a scam to not give you this info from the beginning. And, I could care less who owns the company. Those checks come to my street address. I just feel to say scam means you can’t profit at all. And, that’s just not the case. Thanks, I do think you write well though and I enjoyed the read.
Thanks Donna on your feedback to me and my review of Secret Success Machine. And I’m glad to hear that it’s helped you out. Will it last? I don’t know. Are you getting people to sign up for a MLM that most likely won’t work for 99% of the people? Absolutely.
I do care about those things and also care about helping people create real online niche businesses that will last for years to come and I don’t think you’ll find that with SSM. Nor do I feel you are getting a true internet marketing education which is what the secret success machine is selling. So in that point of view, I think the secret success machine is a scam.
If you compare SSM to programs that I promote on this site (Wealthy Affiliate, Shopify, Clickbank University, Bring The Fresh, Skip McGrath’s eBay/Amazon Seller Training, etc) you’ll see these are all real services and educational programs that are designed to give people real internet marketing or online selling skills.
I hope you understand my perspective, it’s like selling someone an accounting degree for 20K without any actual training in accounting law and practice versus going to a real university to get a degree and license in accounting.
Thanks for your compliment on my writing, much appreciated.
Todd
You see Todd…this is exactly what I am talking about…..You assumed my comment was directed at you….it was not….it was directed at David’s comment….That’s why I said “Well said David….Well said”…did you not see that??? I also asked him if HE had considered running for President….Not You….I am pretty sure you would not make a good leader base on what I have seen here. Additionally, you fail to see that I am both a member of both SSM and WA programs….and I think I have a unique advantage here….some of your points are correct but some are just not true……I certainly agree that SSM is not the Harvard of IM education….but neither is WA…..SSM is not for everyone but either is WA. I joined WA year ago and SSM 8 months ago….the fundamental difference I see is…..cost of entry….plain and simple….No one is going to SSM for education…..but if I was looking to make descent income I would not use WA to do it. Both depend on you bringing others in to prosper….and and both programs are ultimately about making money…no one joins these programs to get educated…. you know that’s true…..I mean isn’t that why you joined…to make money….I mean otherwise…you could set up a blog and preach to the world but the minute you setup Adsense, accept advertising, promote products and/or service to your blog or website visitors, then your credibility is diminished. You want something from the visitors to your site and that’s OK….but don’t be the town drunk preaching the glory of clean living…..it just doesn’t work. So is SSM a scam….no, is WA a scam…no. Are there people in both programs that make it bad for others…yes. To to me, the key is do your own hardcore research on any program you plan to join. Know your limitations, and most of all….don’t join anything that baits and switches like your sight does….If WA wraps your packages then so be it….go with that. If SSM is your thing….don’t knock other programs or services with no proof that it is a scam….and please, “None of that In My Opinion” bullcrap….cause your opinion is like an asshole. Dig deep enough and you will find some crap. Own your position and tell the truth. That…. my IM brother, works.
Aren’t you the smooth talker Aaron,
I don’t think you are fully understanding what Wealthy Affiliate is. You are like most people who go online looking for ways to make money. You have no specific passion or goal of helping other people while you help yourself.
Everyone works to make money, but it’s those that make money by helping people that I find more interesting. If you went through the Wealthy Affiliate program in it’s entirety, you’d be a super affiliate with a ton of knowledge. Do you ever catch Jay’s weekly webinars, do you know how to rank on YouTube, do keyword research, get your posts to page one in Google?
Most people like you who come into WA skip the idea of building a niche website based on something you love or a hobby and you go straight into WA’s bootcamp instead of the Entrepreneur Training Course. Not the right move unless making money online or affiliate marketing are your passions.
I wanted to learn the process of making money online, so I started with this site. Now this site makes consistent monthly income for me, I changed gears and I’m making a site based on my passions as an Occupational Therapist, again with the intention of helping people while applying affiliate marketing techniques.
I provide valuable information and get paid a commission if someone goes on to buy a product I support and recommend.
SSM is based on high pressure sales and paying a lot of info for what most people have told me is a very poor education. None of the reps know how to do the things that they sell, so that makes it a pretty shabby education. For goodness sake, the rep Brian called me up after I wrote this review a said he had 2 questions for me. #1 would I take down my review, hahaha and #2 was, how was I able to get my review to rank an page one, position one in Google.
I’m sure you know how don’t you Aaron.
Since you belong to both, which has taught you how to put up websites, landing pages, video marketing, content marketing, rank for keywords and YouTube videos. If it’s not WA, then you need to go back and hit the classes, there’s only a couple thousand hours of training at WA. I’ve been there for over 16 months and still haven’t gone through all the webinars and both programs.
Thanks,
Todd
Too many people join a program thinking they will get instant riches.
From my perspective, the SSM system is not a system, it is more of a business model…just another way
to generate income.
Comparing SSM and WA is apples/oranges. they are completely different.
WA is a great program. It is a little more honest with the basics in starting from the ground up.
SSM in itself is not necessarily a scam. You may feel you are scammed if you join with
an unscrupulous mentor or expect instant riches but if you join with a good teacher and some who trains you how to market the system and generate income
then in that respect it is not much different than other opportunities.
In theory, you could join WA and learn how to effectively market SSM and teach other people how
to do the same.
SSM is less of a system, but closer to a tiered membership system that is geared around using
SSM approved tools with big ticket pricing.
SSM is not a system in my view, but is just a business model. The variables are how you join, who you join with and
how you operate your business. There is more room for people to feel “scammed” with SSM, but not
necessarily by “SSM” but with who, how and what you expect from it, what you do with it and how you operate it.
You can join SSM with an unscrupulous mentor and feel scammed or you can join with a great mentor and
free you have a great business and make money. SSM has guidelines, but nothing is guaranteed.
While WA is a great system teaching the basics, SSM has something to offer as well.
You could join either one and make money or make nothing. It is up to the individual.
Thanks David for your feedback on my review of the Secret Success Machine.
Cheers,
Todd
Wow…well said David…..very well said…… I see most people here totally ignore the you have to work and more importantly….you have to do your own research part….I am sure Todd is a great guy….but he is selling something too….and not totally unbiased in his approach. If I were to join either program….I would look for you or someone like you to guide me…….Ever thought of running for President of these United States?
Nice Aaron, I wouldn’t run for president if it was given to me and nor am I dishonest if that was your reference to being a politician. My site, Learn To Grow Wealth Online, is a teaching website not a scam or BS. Read my site, I teach people how to build websites, write content, affiliate marketing, online business, and reviews of good and bad online products.
BTW, SSM is not on the good list.
You just got to see the fundamental difference in the secret success machine and Wealthy Affiliate. It’s profoundly different.
The difference that you are not grasping here is that one product, Wealthy Affiliate, is selling a real education. You know, like the one’s people pay 25 – 50K dollars/year to go to. And they sell this for less than $1 dollar per day.
It’s an incredible education and makes total sense to anyone with even partial common sense. Think about it, you actually have to work, gain skills, in order to make real money online. Amazing concept, like doctors that go to real medical school for 12 years, pay 1/2 a million for their schooling and make 500K/year thereafter.
What a concept.
Have you gone to college Aaron? It’s incredibly expensive and 50% of the time it’s effective in getting you a decent job. But when we’re comparing even college level internet marketing courses, website development courses, or even entrepreneurial courses, you won’t get as good as education as you can with Wealthy Affiliate.
The people who teach these courses teach from experience and already have websites that make them $1,000’s a dollars a day.
Maybe SSM does too, but from all the feedback, investigation, etc. that I’ve seen from SSM indicates it’s a MLM that doesn’t educate anyone on anything more than high pressure sales.
The people that use and sell the Secret Success Machine are selling the concept of a real internet marketing education that will help you get rich. Wealthy Affiliate doesn’t mention any of this type of BS to get people to their training center. They only promise you a real internet marketing education.
All the levels of the SSM advertise learning skills related to internet marketing. But none of the the reps know anything about what they advertise that you will learn. That’s why the secret success machine is a scam and that’s why Wealthy Affiliate is a real education for learning how to create your own online business.
I hope you understand the difference Aaron and I wish you the best of luck with your online goals. Check out my top recommendations to guide you on your journey.
Thanks,
Todd
Todd, I recently joined and quit the “Secret Success Machine” what can I do to warn other people to stay away from this ?
Hi Pete, just by posting here is help enough to warn people of this SSM scam. The reason being is that with the skills that I learned from the Wealthy Affiliate Internet Marketing Training Center, I have learned how to rank this post #1 in Google, Yahoo, Bing, wherever. So anyone who searches any terms with the term Secret Success Machine will be prone to visit this post and see your comment.
I’ll also prove this by putting in multiple terms with the secret success machine name so you can see that this post ranks #1 using the keyword tool/rank checker called Jaaxy in any search engine.
And to make the comment more pronounced, I’m going to screen capture this comment so that everyone will be able to see your comment right in the front of this SSM review, plus tomorrow I’ll post this review on all the social networks so that more people can see your personal comment and experience with this secret success machine scam.
Thanks for your personal feedback working with SSM.
Take care Pete,
Todd
Hi Pete,
I was scammed by this as well and Im looking for others who were scammed. I’m trying to round us all up to move forward with it legally. If you get back to me, you may be able to get your money back or a portion of it.
That’s fine Jason and thanks for leaving your feedback about your experience with the secret success machine. You’re welcome to use my site to find others to support you cause… “Bring down the Machine”
Best,
Todd
Does no one find it strange that every single one of these “this business is a scam” reviews goes into incredible detail to trash system A, only to include a promotion for equally scummy system B at the end? You can’t pick up a turd by the clean end.
Wow Bangalor, aren’t you a smooth talker. To help you understand the difference, Program A is the Secret Success Machine (that’s your turd), and program B is Wealthy Affiliate, that’s your real training program that actually teaches internet marketing, website development, how to make real money online. All the stuff the Program B, Secret Success Machine, advertises to it’s victims about learning, but doesn’t really teach shit.
Hope that helps you understand things a little better. No need to thank me, I’m hear to help educate people on online scams and how to make real money online.
Cheers,
Todd
I’ve SEEN WORKS OF ART SELL FOR MILLIONS THAT ARE CRAP. THINK THAT’S A SCAM? Philanthropist give millions away for nothing tangible in return . . . scam? In this day and age of worthless entitled people’s attitudes I believe hard work should be rewarded and in a way that you can live freer and without fear. I’ve learned a vast deal about sales and marketing through the secret success machine that NO COLLEGE could teach. It’s at worst people helping people with amounts of money that ACTUALLY CAN HELP.
Hi Wendell,
Thanks for your point of view on the SSM. Hard work should be rewarded and if you are using SSM’s education to help people and better your life and others to live more freely, that’s awesome.
But if you read this review and look at others peoples comments who have not received good support, a good education or help from SSM/SSMreps as well as the high pressure sales that is associated with the secret success machine, then it’s easy to see why the SSM is a scam.
Your involved in an MLM that has a reputation of high pressure sales just to get a persons money and then there really is no structured education or application of internet marketing. Network marketing is MLM’s, Pyramid systems. Affiliate Marketing is providing education based on a product or service that someone will use in their life and is completed by building a website that offers value to it’s niche audience.
The SSM advertising education on internet marketing, but non of the SSM clients learn anything about website development, building traffic, promoting products, email marketing, etc. And this is what the SSM claim to teach. It’s paying for an auto-dialer and high pressure sales.
And the majority of people, 99%, who enter MLM’s that are way overpriced, like the SSM, loose big money. That’s not education to me and it’s not good for anyone except the SSM rep who sold the overpriced SSM system.
For those of you out there that want to really create an online business and not risk the bank, check out the best training program in the market, Wealthy Affiliate.
Thanks for your comment Wendell,
Todd
Ok you all want the real skinny? I will give it to you. But first a quick lesson for the fbi comments. Never wish that on anyone because no one is going to pass their smell test including the Wealthy Affiliate.
Ok here it is. SSM, Tidom inc, secret formula seminar and most others are just bad copies of Magnetic Money Miracle, that turned in to automated money machine, and then Millionaire Marketing Machine which is the original and still #1 big ticket money earner.
The owner of Secret Success Machine was a top producer there and decided to steal the program and create Million Dollar Marketing Machine which is now called Secret Success Machine. And the owner and reps name is Bob Shafer.
So SSM is a bad illegal copy. They don’t tell you that the admin fee is every year or that you must pay a monthly fee for Aweber to use their program. There you go.
Hi LL
Thanks for your comment and feedback. Wealthy Affiliate would have no problem passing any FBI test, it’s a real stand up company.
I only promote real, beneficial and honest products on this site as well as any of my sites. I learned how to make real money through affiliate marketing with the skills that Wealthy Affiliate teaches on a daily ongoing basis.
Personally, I think all the companies sound like MLM scams but I never have reviewed Millionaire Marketing Machine or Magnetic Money Miracle. So I can’t honestly have an opinion. But if the SSM stole their idea, then they’re probably just another over inflated MLM.
I do appreciate you straightening out this point about who stole who’s name/idea for previous readers comments and for giving the SSM owner name. Cheers.
There are a lot of people out there that want this information to pursue legal action against SSM.
Thanks and have a nice evening,
Todd
Todd
I’ve also been SLAMMED with at least 4 call per day with SSM so today I actually called back to see what it was all about. I talked to a man that JUST got into it and I said have you made any money yet and of course he hadn’t but said that his ‘sponsor’ is making 60,000 per month. So he sent me the website and the more I checked it out…the FIRST think I noticed was that you can ONLY pay with a cashier’s check or cash??? That alone smells like a scam to me.
I AM in an MLM business because I LOVE the products and have been using them since 2006, but ALWAYS get a 1099 at the end of the year and people pay with CC’s, Debit cards or e-checks. So wouldn’t the IRS be up their butts with all the CASH that’s pouring in to these people and are they REALLY claiming it??? Also…isn’t it illegal to harass people with phone calls these days?? Just sayin!!!
Hi Karen,
I’m sorry to hear about the Secret Success Machine harassment you’ve received. As well, I think you have an excellent claim to make about the cash form of payment.
I would contact your phone service and local law enforcement and ask them how you can deal with this phone harassment.
More importantly, take your complaint to the FBIβs new Internet Crime Complaint Center and file a report.
Thanks for your feedback, this will help others who are considering the SSM scam and might help them come to the same conclusion that so many of us have, the Secret Success Machine is a scam – stay away.
You could always make the conversation really annoying for them the next time they call, start playing some pranks, let your imagination run wild.
I hope you have a great day Karen and take care,
Todd
Have you or any of your contacts been able to identify the individual or entity (names, address, tel#,etc.) behind “Secret Success Machine”?
Thanks
Hi pbuck1,
I have never been able to get that information, sorry.
The only information that I could find on the Secret Success Machine isβ¦
Their emial: secretsuccessteam@gmail.com
Their legal firm:
GARDERE, WYNNE, SEWELL, LLP
Mr. Ed Burbach (Firm)
Hope that helps.
Best,
Todd
Hi Todd
I bought into the secret success machine, I’m ashamed to say that I did and at what level. All this piece of Sh?i business is is a mlm scam. They try to get you to spam Facebook, your family and friends, and the training that was sent to me was a bunch of self help crap.
There is no practical training using the secret success machine. Education my ass.
You don’t learn anything that they advertise, it’s all high pressure sales.
Why didn’t I read this review before I signed up with this jackass salesman from SSM.
You know, I’ve been looking at Wealthy Affiliate and have researched them a bit, everything I read is positive about them and they seem to be focused on quality internet marketing training.
I think it’s time to get a real education, like wealthy affiliate, and forget these fast cash scams like SSM.
How I wish I would have read your review months ago. Well, I’m glad it’s out there and warning people about these jerks.
Thanks,
Ned
Hi Ned,
Thanks for your comment on my review of SSM. I’m sorry to hear about your experience, but not surprised. Try to forget about it, we all make errors and you’re not the first nor the last to get scammed online, it’s happens all the time.
But you’re onto the right track and you’ve got Wealthy Affiliate figured out. Just click this link right here and you can sign up for their free course. Take some classes, introduce yourself to the community and start learning.
Making money online isn’t some BS system that makes you money on autopilot or some systm you can buy into and expect a 120% return on your investment. These are what scams promise.
Making money online takes education and then applying what you learn to your online business. It’s that simple. WA is a great place to explore your online business ideas and learn while getting all the support you need. It’s easily the best online and offline education to learn internet marketing.
Best of luck and thanks for your personal feedback on the Secret Success Machine.
Todd
Do you have any contact info for the owner behind Secret Seccuss Machine? I need his real name, phone and/or address so that I can name him in a civil lawsuit and get him served.
Thanks,
π
Hi Toni,
You know that was one of the big complaints when I originally made this review that people shouldn’t invest in a company where you can’t find the owners name or address.
The only information that I could find on the Secret Success Machine is…
Their emial: secretsuccessteam@gmail.com
Their legal firm:
GARDERE, WYNNE, SEWELL, LLP
Mr. Ed Burbach (Firm)
Other than that Toni, I think the crooks that started the SSM have done a good job at hiding their identity. Funny how that works, you think if the SSM was so proud of their educational program that the owners would want to step forward and take some recognition.
Hope this helps Toni and best of luck,
Todd
Check this out, Todd:
https://buckinghamadvisor.com/three-ways-to-write-your-own-story-like-baseballs-daniel-norris/
Reading your comments made me think of it.
How does someone follow you contentwise on subjects other than this one? Do you have a blog?
Hi Russell,
Thank you so much for the link. I would encourage anyone reading this review to take 5 minutes and check this story out that Russell has listed above.
βPlay outdoors. Love the earth. Live simply. Use only what you need.β What an amazing quote.
Thanks Russell for sharing this story with me. Very cool story.
And you’re question about my blog. Just look to the top Right of my website or click here to be taken to my Blog Roll.
I just put out a new post on my experience using Amazon’s FBA program that I did last year (netted $1,500/wk with Amazon) as well as reviewed an Amazon training program called Amazing Selling Machine – It’s an interesting little program made by two extremely successful internet marketers, but is it worth it?
Have a nice evening Russell and thanks for thinking of me in relationship to this story.
Salud,
Todd
Hi Todd. Yeah, I thoroughly read everything in this conversation and did find your interaction with the guy you interviewed – Brian, I think – amusing. Who could not?
You are exactly correct about the feedback I can expect from friends and family on anything like SSM. But they are typically very conservative thinkers where business is concerned and not knowledgable in the area of online anything. That’s why I appreciate the opportunity to think this through with you here.
Can I push back a little on the philosphical and ethical concernes you have expressed? I can afford to lose a little money (not much) on something, but I can ill afford to make a unethical decisions. Bare with me for a few counters to the three main objections you have communicated: 1 – overpriced products, 2 – actual sales being buy-in to SSM selling (i.e.: franchising), and 3 – absence of societal value in a system that is essentially a money-grab.
1 – The actual product value:
It seems to me our entire economy is moved along by marketing masters that create perceived value. The result is $1,000 t-shirts on Fifth Avenue in NY, baseball players making $20,000 per at bat and singers making at least that much per song performed on stage all because the real product is not premium talent but fame and hype of sights and sounds far inferior to what can be enjoyed at home for free on a good audio/visual system. Don’t we all participate in and support these with every purchase of $200 ticket and $10 beer? What about pricing (and decisions about purchasing) of fine art products? One oil painting is $100,000, while another that appears to have required more talent, time and effort is $1,000. Isn’t it just judgment calls based on perceived value? Is this all unethical, or just the nature of valuation currency?
2 – The real product:
If the product package is inseprable from a buy-in to SSM and opportunity sell the same to others, and everyone can see that and make their own choice about it, is there a scam or anything deceptive going on?
3 – Absence of societal value:
It seems to me that what is done with money – however much, as long as it is come by legally – is what ultimately determines the value to individuals and society.
Thanks for lending your expertise to all this as a conscientious thinker and someone involved in the internet, and marketing in general, on levels I am not. I value your feedback.
Hi Russell,
Nice to hear back from you. I live in Colombia for the last several years except when I come back to the states to see my family. And I think the valuation of life, products, and many of these concepts that you mention in the US are not valued correctly. But I have little control over the value of paintings, the cost of a soda that rots your teeth and increases your risk of diabetes, etc.
But what I do know is a valuable education and how to spot a scam. If I told 10 of my intelligent friends about the Secret Success Machine, they’d laugh at me silly. It’s just common sense when you hear all the details about the Secret Success Machine to think it’s not a joke.
The only thing that really captures peoples attention is when they hear of all the big sales commissions. That’s it. GREED & MONEY – Aren’t we slaves to them both.
The fact that SSM is selling an educational system with little value is the key thing to focus on here. And there are people that are going to buy into this scam, they are going to lose big money, and it is sad that someone doesn’t guide them correctly.
When I was a mortgage broker in the early 2000’s, I would specialize in helping people re-establish their credit and get them what we called a Band Aide loan. A loan that they would have for 2 or 3 years that would re-establish their credit. Then we’d refinance them to a normal A credit loan so they would get a nice 15 or 30 year fixed loan with a low interest rate.
I would teach them about credit and in 2 years I would call them back up to refinance their loan into a normal-improved loan program. Many times, some slick talking sales man would have them refinance early, pay a $5,000 dollar pre-payment penalty along with another 5k in Closing Costs, and do little to nothing to help their financial situation. Maybe they went down a half of a percent which doesn’t mean anything to them financially. Especially at a cost of losing over 10K in equity in their home.
So who was right, who got scammed, what’s the moral of the story. The moral is, there’s always scammers out there that try and take advantage of uneducated consumers. I could have convinced them to refinance early so that I could have made another 4-5K dollar commission, but it wasn’t right, it wasn’t ETHICAL.
I didn’t care then and I don’t care now that someone made my commission and screwed over my clients, there’s nothing I could do about this except educate them and hope the next time they’re not filling for bankruptcy.
You have to decide yourself if you want to push the Secret Success Machine along to others, if it will make you proud of who you are. I know their education is BS at this point after listening to what SSM reps know and have learned – which is nothing more than sales.
I’m interested in helping people create REAL online businesses that will help them financially for the long haul. What are you interested in Russell?
If it’s just money, you’ll eventually fail. Maybe you’ll get some money, but you’ll run over some people to get it. If you can live with that, than that defines who you are.
I’m an Occupational Therapist, an ex loan specialist, a ex nursing home assistant. It does my heart good to help people. If you really want to make money online, invest in something that has long-term potential and learn how to build a website, write content, help other in a niche that you love and you can find all the success you need in life.
I promote Wealthy Affiliate, Jaaxy, and Clickbank University because I believe in these products. I don’t promote SSM, even though I could have probably made a killing with them. Look who’s always on page one of Google. But I don’t promote them because I think the majority of people will fail and lose their money with the SSM.
Hope that answers your question Russell. The more people that push SSM, the more people research and the more people will see my post in position one. My goal is to educated people so that nobody else will lose money with this obvious scam.
Best of luck to you,
Todd
Todd, thanks for initiating this dialog thread and for handling disagreement in a way that preserves dignity. These comment platforms often default to base verbal assaults and counter-assaults. Your balanced responses set the tone for respectful interactions, which makes this a helpful forum for someone, like me, trying to practice due diligence regarding SSM. The pros and cons here are all important to consider.
As an fyi: An earlier contributor mentioned daily phone harassment by an SSM representative. I have had the opposite experience thus far. I received a phone call and, intrigued, returned it. after hearing about the plan, I said I am not an immediate canditate, just currious. The SSM rep said, “That’s fine. If and when you’re interested and want to learn more, just give me a call back.” That was it. Some time went by and I decided I did want more info. The conversation has moved along comfortably by my lead since then. Thought you and your other readers might want to know the other side of that issue. I was actually impressed by the lack of recruiting or even selling me on the product.
Also, I don’t get the ‘sick the feds on ’em,’ expressed by a couple of people. am I missing something? Is there something illegal that has evaded my radar?
Hi Russell,
Thanks for feedback on my site and your comment. It’s nice to know that all the SSM reps are not sleazy sales people. You are actually the first reader who has had anything positive to say about SSM reps. So maybe there are a few of them out there that have a little bit of dignity.
I think the Fed comments comes in when people get hassled so much by the high pressure sales people of SSM. These sales people harass potential clients to the point that they feel that they need to take some sort of legal action.
The SSM is selling educational products, so I would imagine there is nothing that the FED’s can do. But the point to my review is that the SSM isn’t REALLY selling you a quality education in internet marketing.
Their selling a pseudo MLM program that has internet marketing information, but this is never the focus of what you will learn with these guys. If you can sell to people, then maybe SSM will work for you. But run this concept over with some of your friends, neighbors, etc. I would imagine most all would look at you like, why are you getting sucked into this MLM scam.
Internet marketers are those that make real money online by developing websites, marketing real products, providing value to their niche audience. These are real skills that need to be learned, unfortunately you won’t learn these skills with SSM.
Just read what the SSM I interviewed has to say in the comments section here. They just want to make money by selling this overpriced educational system which doesn’t appear to have much of a value and they could care less to who they sell it to.
If you really want to create an online business, start with a real education where you have to take real classes and apply what you learn to your real online business.
If you want a generic SSM landing page and then try to go out there and sell this to whomever will listen, then maybe the SSM is for you. Most of their leads come from autodialers.
I don’t know anyone who even listens to autodialers these days, but that will be your clientele that you’ll be trying to convince that the SSM will help them make 1,000’s of dollars for doing nothing. And this just doesn’t sit well with me, I’m not the snake in the grass waiting to prey on less informed individuals.
But I do try to help educate people on this site and show them proper ways to make money online.
Best of luck to you Russell,
Todd
Okay, I responded to one of their calls and asked if i wanted to make $10,000 a week.. so just for shits and giggles. I responded. That was months and months ago.. and i get a call every day from this guy Orlando Diaz… I sent him texts, emails, voice messages to STOP CALLING me and I STILL GET CALLED EVERYDAY. So far there have been 6 different numbers he’s called me from!! I AM BEYOND ANNOYED. DO NOT RESPOND TO ANY PHONE CALL ASKING IF YOU WANT TO MAKE $10,000 A WEEK.
Wow, that’s absolutely horrible and sounds like harassment to me. I’m really sorry to hear this.
This isn’t the first comment like this that we’ve had here, but it’s by far the worst.
Here’s what you do Sara, take your complaint to the FBI’s new Internet Crime Complaint Center and file a report.
You might also be able to block all his numbers, not sure how to go about that.
Thanks for comment and sorry about your troubles with the Secret Success Machine.
Todd
Learn To Grow Wealth Online
Personally I got into this industry to make money, I will learn as much as I can about the industry, BUT, if I have the opportunity to sell a big ticket item and get paid more for less work, I am all for for it.
I give it to you though, you are a great talker, people who cant see through it will definitely buy it…..
Hi Kevin,
Thanks, I think, for the compliment. I just understand this industry and I am breaking things down to help educate people.
You sound like you really do want to learn how to make a successful online business to live a better life, and I wish you the best. You can do it and so can anyone who is willing to put in the time, effort, and dedication. It takes a real passion.
But as you express, you and everyone else in the world wants to make easy money online. You think it’s get up, press some buttons for a few hours, and watch the money roll in. That’s not the case Kevin.
But let me tell you that we are NOT talking about the same industry.
The industry that you’re considering is Network Marketing (MLM’s and Pyramid Programs). By most people in the world, they’re considered scams or at least very annoying professions. You try to convince your relatives and friends on this product you believe in, but it’s like you’re blinded. It’s just embarrassing in the end.
I speak from experience, I’ve been in a couple MLM’s in my 20’s and I too wanted to make it big, I was selling health products and telecommunication services at the time, it was a big let down. Even though I made some sales and so forth, the experience just left a bad taste in my mouth. It wasn’t ever about the product, it’s always about the high pressure sales.
The industry I am in is Affiliate Marketing, and this is where the REAL, long term money is. You either create a product or you sell other peoples products based on your passions in life.
People who like sports, exercises, cooking, whatever it is, you can create something special if you have a passion, a special skill, or a particular interest. And if your INTENT is to help people within your niche, the money and success will come.
I understand about selling high priced items and I’m all for it. If you can sell a house for 200K or a farm for 2 million and you get a 3% commission, regardless the sale, who’s not going to want to sell the farm.
But if your goal is only money, you will fail. You may make some sales, but you’ll never create the dream business that you originally wanted.
You’re also considering entering into the niches of: Internet Marketing and Make Money Online Niches. Two extremely competitive niches, you would be better off exploring what you’re really interested in instead.
Figure out what your passionate about, then see if there’s products related to your passion. Or maybe you have a special skill to show the world.
People make helpful infomercials that sell products by the millions because their products are helpful and only cost $20 – $30 dollars, you don’t just have to sell high ticket items.
Anyways, there’s my 2 cents for you. Have a nice evening.
Todd
Todd
The main misconception here is that I never told you ssm was about Internet marketing. Sure there are courses about IM , but the majority of the courses are business training and personal development. If I wanted to learn SEO and content writing I may buy a course like yours. But … I don’t care a out that crap. I don’t want to blog or build websites and neither do the folks who join SSM. In fact that’s precisely the reason for joining ssm. No blogging or content writing BS.
Cheers
How funny Brian, your course sells marketing and making money online and you don’t want to learn how to put up a website or write content that ranks to drive traffic to your site where you then sell a product.
Friends, if you’re reading this review this is the kicker right here. Secret Success Machine sells you on having this ability to do just that.
For $3,697 the highlighted selling points of advertising the SSM’s Gold Product Package is that it offers the following..
– How To Get Top Rankings On Google and Yahoo
– How To Get Good Page Ranking
– How To Use Press Releases And Acquire Free, Targeted Traffic
– How To Use Articles To Consistently Feed Traffic To Your Site 24/7
– How To Use CPA Networks To Drive Amazing Amounts Of Traffic (BTW – I wouldn’t recommend this – POOR ADVISE)
– How To Use Google AdSense To Enjoy Incredible Traffic
– How To Monetize Your Blogs And Web Sites
– How To Use The Yahoo Publisher Network For Huge Traffic
– How To Pick The Right Keywords And Other Optimization Secrets
– Testing And Tracking Your Site And How To Simplify It
And Much Much More! …
So what are you guys learning over there at the Secret Success Machine – too funny. Apparently nothing the course is advertising.
Friends, this is a major difference in Network Marketing (MLM’s and Pyramid Systems – which are seen by the majority of people in the world as scams that sell BS intangible products) versus Affiliate Marketers or Internet Marketers that sell real products and provide valuable services.
Until you learn real skills to build sites and market yourself, you will never make money online, maybe you’ll scam some people into your bogus SSM system, but you’ll never learn the skills to make money online. It’s like a guy who wants to be a doctor, but refuses to go to medical school.
Affiliate marketers make anything from a passive income of a couple thousand a month to more experienced marketers who make $100,000/mo. But affiliate marketing is a real service and skill.
Shoot, I have a couple of friends who started learning affiliate marketing skills and website development 7 years ago. Now, one friend can’t decide between buying a beach house in Malibu or Santa Monica. The other made $400,000 in commissions last month. He used to stay at my guest house in Colombia, but now prefers the penthouse in the nicest hotel.
It’s funny how people get blinded by wanting the push button make money lifestyle, but until they realize that it doesn’t exist, they’ll never make any progress. You have to learn how to make money online just like any other skill. It takes education and some time to achieve your goals.
Those that stay in the mind frame that they don’t want to learn anything new or that there is some magical system that they can pay for that will make them great money are just in self denial.
A LOT of people want to make REAL money online, Brian, you’ve just proved that the people who buy the SSM don’t really have any desire to learn what the SSM is advertising.
And that’s the whole point of this review and the truth of what the SSM is, a MLM scam that sells people on making easy money and DOES NOT provide a proper education (which is what they’re selling) – And that folks is what makes the SSM a scam. Thanks Brian for proving my point.
When you’re ready to really learn how to make money at home and create a real business, come on over to Wealthy Affiliate and we’ll help you out. It takes a passion, a good work ethic, and education. If you don’t have that, forget about making money online.
Happy Sunday!
Todd
Todd,
The interesting thing here is that the information you are conveying is simply not true. You interviewed me as at potential prospect for secret success machine. I told you what we we’re all about. You then took that information and skewed it for your own purposes. ( to sell wealthy affiliate) People in SSM DO make money, and I could prove that….Plus the products that are available are second to none. Anyone with half a brain can see through what you are doing here. Come on people, he is just cross promoting to sell his own program! The reason there are no other posts on the google good or bad is because we DON’T compete against one another, so unfortunately Todd gets all this valuable real estate. So I put this out there…Have no doubts about SSM it is the real deal with real products and real training. Don’t believe it a scam because one guy says it is! Think for yourself and have faith in your gut feeling. If your considering SSM don’t let this one sided blog post be your decision maker. Thanks for reading
Hi Brian,
I never said people aren’t making money with the SSM. The top sales people who can convince others to risk a #### load of money to try out your secret internet marketing educational product I’m sure are making a ton of money.
It’s the people that you’ve sold that will then have to get more people to buy the SSM product to make money. And the cycle goes on and on. It’s a sales job, that’s it. But is anyone in the SSM learning anything about Internet Marketing or how to create a long term online business? I think not.
I didn’t take anything out of our conversation and misrepresent anything you said. You said it was an internet marketing education, I asked to see your website, which was a generic landing page to try to convert people to one of the levels in the SSM.
You spoke about all the big money you were making, how easy it is to make. I asked you if you learned how to write content that gets ranked, or if you had made a landing page yet, if you know how to get traffic to your site, if you know what plugins were. All of this you didn’t understand and all of this is what the SSM is selling.
So based on our conversations, education was never the focus for you in my opinion and I wouldn’t know for sure, but your education that you had received with the Secret Success Machine at the time seemed that you hadn’t learned anything that an internet marketer needs to learn.
If anything, I forgot to mention the auto-dialer that you told me about. The SSM reps can pay for an auto-dialer (something like $50 bucks for 15,000 annoying auto-dialer calls) to generate sales leads for the SSM rep to call on.
Raise your hand out there folks if you like being a telemarketer or if you like annoying telemarketing calls. My hand isn’t up.
That’s right, the Secret Success Machine are responsible for those INCREDIBLY annoying auto-dialer calls people get at home that are sales pitches to get you to leave them your information. How cheezy is that.
Let’s talk about education Brian and let’s let everyone know what the Secret Success Machine has taught you and how much you have spent on your education with them.
And I’ll tell you what I’ve learned and spent with Wealthy Affiliate.
I’ve spent: $340 dollars for Wealth Affiliate for 10 months of education, another $171 for Jaaxy Keyword Research Tool – That’s one of the big reasons this post is always in position number one in Google. And I don’t even have the keywords Secret Success Machine in my URL. How’s that for SEO?
And I’ve spent $38 dollars on Aweber and an article from Fiverr for $10 dollars. I also spent $12.50 on my domain name. Wealthy Affiliate provides Free hosting for all of my websites.
So that’s a total of $571.50 I have spent on this website; Learn To Grow Wealth Online and that’s only $340 dollars worth in the educational part. This has all occurred in 10 months.
What have I learned from Wealthy Affiliate:
– How to build my own websites (local websites, authoritative websites, landing pages)
– How to write quality content that gets ranked extremely quickly
– How to add functionality to any website from a blog to an eCommerce website.
– A solid understanding of how to use auto-responders, PPC campaigns, Social Marketing
– Write solid product reviews that, as you can see, rank extremely well π
– How to understand keyword competition, how to choose keywords that get top rankings
– How to set up Google & Bing Analytics
– How to create graphs, headers, banners
– How to set up Google Webmaster Tools
– How to set up niche based affiliate websites
– Pretty much ever aspect about affiliate marketing
– How to sell Brand Name products without ever owning them
– How to create my own videos and get them to rank on Youtube
– How to increase conversions by putting up my own Webinars
– How to create funnel conversion strategies
– The core fundamentals of working with HTML & CSS
And mind you, putting up websites is a real business, but it takes time to generate traffic. What’s important to understand about putting up profitable niche websites using affiliate marketing techniques is that you are creating a long term business that can eventually provide you passive income. And Wealthy Affiliate teaches you how to do exactly this.
How’s my site done. It’s tough to say, I have written 71 posts to date and 10 pages for my site. I have over 85% of those pages ranking in Google with about 10 – 15 of my posts ranking in page one, several position one of Google.
-I make a nice passive income that grows daily
-83% of the traffic that comes to my site is organic, meaning naturally searched traffic
-And currently get about 8,000 monthly visitors to come to my site at this point
Well that’s what Wealthy Affiliate has taught me for $340 dollars. What has the Secret Success Machine taught you? You spent over 6,000 originally right? Do you think you’ve learned anything in comparison with what I’ve learned? Do you know half the terms I mentioned above?
Just admit the Secret Success Machine is a high pressure sales job, it’s not going to lead to passive income or a true online business.
Thanks,
Todd
ALSO, their products educate you on ALL the things you mentioned, plus they have other products very valuable to marketers. You believe they should promote education instead of the fact you can make big money at a fast rate. I say why not have both, regardless which one they promote on the front end. If you get paid by following their system “great”, then you can also get the education to promote any opportunity you have. Not to mention the training to start up your own products. You are also down playing their support system. I know you wrote this awhile ago and some of these things may have changed…..
The last I heard of the Secret Success Machine support system was a group of people sitting in a room passing the phone off to one another in order to convince a potential SSM client/new rep to join their program.
Their sales approach was “Yeah, you got to do this, everyone’s making a ton of money, it’s really easy”.
Since you’ve seen their products and they are so good, then why is it that SSM reps not know anything about how to rank their websites, or how to do keyword research, or even understand how to promote affiliate products. I spent 30 minutes on the phone with a SSM rep educating him on Long Tail Keywords – he was completely clueless about what I was talking about.
Also, if you want to create your own online digital products, try Clickbank University for $295. It’s a heck of a lot cheaper than SSM and you’re getting an education from one of the largest affiliate networks in the market.
Cheers,
Todd
The people you are dealing with may not know anything , BUT the individual I am dealing with has all those things you mentioned set up and more, and also offers free training/tools that teach you how, if you deal with him. The guy was making money before he joined SSM. When you purchase a franchise you are purchasing a “system” that is already in place to generate money in ANY industry. Just because it is online does not make it a scam. I am not saying you will not have to do anything but, alot of the work is done in this case…..
Hi Kevin,
Well if this guy at the SSM tells you it’s true, it must be true, right?
Anyone can tell you they know something or make such and such money doing something.
But until you see the proof, it does fly with me. Why don’t you tell the SSM rep you’re working with to put up your fee into the program if he’s so confident that you’ll make good money.
Then when you get a couple sales, you’ll pay him back, see what he says. The commission is going to go to him anyway. Just offer to pay the SSM admin fee.
Or, you can get to work right away with a real educational program and you can CHECK THEM OUT COMPLETELY FOR FREE. You can take 10 Free Classes, put up two Free Websites, and see what you learn with those 10 classes.
I mentioned it was free right, kidding π
The choice is yours.
Best,
Todd
Basically you label this as a scam and peddle your own opportunity on the back end. Pretty smooth there, 2 questions: Is SSM legal AND can people really make money with it? BOTTOM LINE, if the answer to both of those questions are YES, then it is NOT a scam. You bring up ethics and things like that, wow, like what you are doing here is ethical, do people really think you are doing this to help inform?; LMAO! You are trashing this (AND other) online businesses and driving them towards your online business, theres ethics for you. So what, they market by emphasizing how you can make big money fast. If they can deliver that is great, I am NOT in SSM, BUT I have checked out the products and there is plenty quality there, I dont know what price to put on them but they are valuable. People want to make a lot of money as quickly as possible and if this is legal and you can make fast money then why the hell not. Dont bring in ethics and that crap when it does NOT apply. Basically over analyzing in order to turn people off various MLMs and drive them to yours. This is why it is so hard to find good reviews for online buis ops, most of them have ulterior motives. My 1st RED flag are the words “SCAM” and/or “SCHEME”. This is the biggest problems for people in this business, those words are used so lightly; just because you dont agree w/ a busi op or believe it is unethical does not make it a scheme or a scam. Good day sir, still searching for an objective review for SSM because I have not made a decision just yet…..
Hi Kevin,
First off, I don’t peddle MLM’s, nor do I support them because they don’t work for the majority of people who enter and work the MLM program (they work for the top 1% of people who either start them or get other people into them).
MLM’s are solely based on bringing new members into their system. Affiliate marketing is about promoting a product that you support and know (that is if you’re an ethical affiliate marketer), you promote said product and when someone comes to your site and buys the product, you get a commission for the referral. It’s paid from the owner of the product and never effects the price to the customer.
This is what I offer, it’s a real education with real classes and real objectives that you have to complete in order to start Niche Affiliate Marketing Websites.
In internet marketing, there’s affiliate marketing and network marketing.
You can read all about affiliate marketing here, but network marketing are your pyramid systems and your MLM’s. The products that SSM are selling are products that an internet marketer needs, but you can get the same education for less than $50/mo.
The Secret Success Machine is a guise for selling an internet marketing education, but they are really selling you on making big money. The reason this is unethical is that number one, education is never the priority and number two, most people won’t receive a good education from SSM to become successful online. There is no set structure with the SSM educational program, it’s high pressure sales.
It’s the same thing with a college education, you can go out and read all the books that a college major would study, but most don’t have the discipline to do this, or you can pay for college and have set classes, homework, etc. and eventually get your degree and make money in your chosen profession.
What’s funny is that you can look at the educational pieces the Secret Success Machine is selling for a way over inflated prices and say, this looks like a good education, but show me one SSM rep who even knows how to set up a Landing Page, run PPC ads, write content that gets ranked, and bring traffic to their website.
None that I know of. The SSM rep I know doesn’t even know how to run his own content management system or know how to install a plugin. Do you even know what I’m talking about? I imagine not, but any internet marketer should know how to do these things, their elementary lessons in this industry.
I wrote this post with the intention of helping unsuspecting and untrained people out there that want to make REAL money online so they would avoid loosing thousands of dollars on this bogus SSM course. Read other comments from people who have been hassled by the SSM, it’s nothing but high pressure sales.
The goal is to get you to sign up for the highest BS Franchise and then turn around and sell the highest BS franchise to whomever you can.
I offer a real education, it’s not a get rich quick scam, but it does work and you do learn a ton of information on website development and internet marketing.
It’s based on you following a passion you have and creating a niche website that helps people. You then sell related niche products on your site. It’s a real online business and people can make great money with niche websites.
But it takes time, work, and skills – and I know that this is not what most people want.
People do want to get rich quick, it’s human nature to want the easy life and that’s how internet scams hook people. They get people to fork over lots of money only to realize that they’ve gotten into something that they are not cut out for or doesn’t offer what they promised.
But this is not the reality in life. How many real professions in life do you know that you don’t have to get a proper education, sit for board certifications, and then put your skills into practice? None. Would you want a doctor working on you that got some BS education from a Cracker Jack Box.
Kevin, you have a choice, go with the get rich quick scam and get frustrated after loosing a ton of money and time, or go with a real education and start creating a business that will serve you for a lifetime.
The choice is yours.
Best,
Todd
I guess you didn’t read the post from Dana on December 31st, 2014?
I am interested in knowing the facts behind that statement.
Hi Carl,
I guess you didn’t read my response below Dana’s comment from December 31st concerning the name change of the Secret Success Machine. Please see my comment below hers. Again if you or Dana has any substantial information on this or a reliable source of information to back up Dana’s information, please send it to me so I can correct the post. Thanks.
Carl, I don’t think it’s really a big deal regardless, Secret Success Machine, Millionaire Marketing Machine, whatever automated income machine name you want to call it, it’s all a scam.
There is no substitute for creating a real online business, anything that sells itself as an automated income producing online money maker is a warning sign that your looking at a scam.
You can choose to believe the salesman of the Secret Success Machine that is supposedly selling you a very expensive education on internet marketing, or you can learn from real professional internet marketers that have been in this profession for over 10 years running successful niche affiliate marketing websites/businesses.
I chose a real educational program that teaches website development, SEO, content writing, PPC campaigns, video marketing, etc.
Do you ever ask yourself why this post is on page one of Google, Yahoo, and Bing. And not only that, you can search Secret Success Machine Scam/Review/Reviews/or any other keywords that would go along with the SSM term and I’m in position one, why is that?
Because I got educated from a real honest online program called Wealthy Affiliate . Are there any other Secret Success Machine participants that even know how to put up their own websites, how to manage their CSS, add a favicon, understand keyword research, etc. Or do you even know what I’m referring to?
For those that are reading these comments and this review, get real with yourself. If you are really looking to learn how to make money online, there is no secret machine that’s going to do it for you.
It requires a few things to really make money online and they are: a passion, education, support, guidance, work, and some time. No one wants to hear this, they want to hear of an automated income producing system that will make them money on autopilot.
Wealthy Affiliate provides the education, support, and guidance, all you have to do is be willing to learn and work at something that you’re passionate about.
You can eventually get to the position of making good money online if you put in hard work and develop a site that is based on a niche that you are passionate about, build content that is beneficial to your readers, and strive to help people within your niche.
As you build your site, build traffic, you eventually monetize your site and can see real money being produced on a daily basis. And the beauty of an online business is that it works 24/7. So once you have a nice site that provides good information for it’s users, you can be making money on autopilot.
Thanks for your comment and best of luck,
Todd
Your information is incorrect. SSM used to be MDMM. Millionaire Marketing Machine is still a thriving and prosperous program for many. It was the founder of Million Dollar Marketing Machine that got sued and was forced to change the name.
Hi Dana,
Thanks for your comment and if you have anything on this information about SSM/MDMM/MMM from a substantial source, please send it to me and I’ll update my post. I couldn’t find any updated information when I recently took a look. I made this post a while back, so any updated information would be great.
Thanks,
Todd
Sued for what and by who?
Do you have proof of this?
Hi Carl,
Not sure what you are referring to here. There is no talk of someone being sued here on this review of Secret Success Machine.
Please clarify as to what you are talking about.
Thanks,
Todd
I love that you posted this and have online marketing skills!! these scammers at secret success machine are so annoying. I was inundated by calls today from them from all over the country (yes illegal telemarketing and yes I am on the do not call list). I love so much more that these morons scam artists try not to leave a trail at all. I would love to see the FEDS arrest all the people involved and go after them with the full extent of the law!!
They are now using scam or spoof websites too like this one https://5854311777.com/
Thanks for letting me vent about this stupid scam called the secret success machine!
Hi Jeremy,
Thanks for your comment and kind feedback about my Secret Success Machine Review. I’ve heard of their sales reps harassing people before, but not to this extent. This style of aggressive sales just strengthens my point that this program is all about high pressure sales, selling the concept of making fast cash and the good life. All under the guise of selling a quality educational program.
The Secret Success Machine is all about sales and nothing about helping people learn to make money online or create a “real” online business.
Jeremy, your comment makes me think back to when I first published this article. The Secret Success Machine Rep that I originally interviewed for this review only had two questions for me after he read this review. His first questions was if I would take down my review, and his second question was how did I get this review to rank position one in Google so fast.
I thought this was funny because he was selling a program that advertises SEO techniques to bring in traffic to your site, yet he had no clue about how I got ranked so quickly. I told him it was just by applying what I learned from Wealthy Affiliate and it only cost $30/mo for their educational program. He paid over $6,500 dollars. Who do you think got the better education for the better price π
Come on back anytime you want to vent about the Secret Success Machine. Glad to hear you got off their calling lists.
Cheers,
Todd
After reading Dr Dan’s message I wanted to try the program Secret Success Machine. Now that I’ve spent the last hour reading about it I’m not so enthusiastic about signing up. I already have several program I’m a part of that sound just like the one above. Yet I find each one is different for everyone I imagine. And Like Dr Dan says, maybe working on the mental attitude is the right way to make anything in life work. I know I’ve believe I was going to make $14,000 a month for a long time now…but that belief has not turned me into a six figure bank account just yet! So maybe a combination of believe and the right program for the right character. I know now that if you don’t have a passion for something here online you can bet your bottom dollar it will be so! Meaning, no passion, no success!
Rick
Thanks for the comment Rick. The mental attitude in any job or career is a key factor to ones success, online or offline. And agreed, no passion equals no success. Thanks for your feedback and have a great day.
Best,
Todd
Greetings Todd,
I am M.D. and The Secret Success Machine has allowed me to earn additional income for my spouse that can not work after 2 car accidents. I know that everyone has there different views but unless you have experienced the Secret Success Machine that is not fair to call it a scam. The Products are excellent for Increasing Intelligence focused on Wealth meaning the products are enhancements to creating prosperity by focusing an individual’s Mind to a State of being Wealthy and having a Wealthy Mindset is very valuable beyond mention. There is not a dollar price that can be put on creating Wealthy Places and Spaces that can replace poverty low thinking and being. Secret Success Machine is giving a real opportunity to the Entrepreneurs and Trend Setters of the World. The address is irrelevant because the business owners are made up of individual savvy Big Thinkers and Doers Movers and Shakers if this world that make things happen. There is actually very good support that answers all of my questions in timely manners. The support team better known as admin are behind the scenes making sure everything technical is running in a stand up condition at all times. Secret Success has been around since 2009 or 2010 I joined in 2012 and I am very satisfied and well pleased. The name change was an excellent addition to the new changes that makes Secret Success Machine the best business opportunity online to date. Ask the Motivational Speakers of the World how these products have Increased their bottom line when they give seminars this same system has creating multimillionaires if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. I don’t think you or anyone should call Secret Success Machine a scam because if it was would you be using it’s name to promote your own opportunity and ask yourself is trying to tear down something good to make yourself look good or sell something not a scam? Just my 2 cents Prosperity and Success to all
Hi Dr Dan,
Thanks for your feedback and your information on the Secret Success Machine. Motivation and self improvement are wonderful things, but I don’t feel the need to fork over thousands of dollars to be trained on these concepts. I’m a self motivated, positive person naturally.
I see the SSM as a system that sells people, not quality training. The product is not education, but selling the concept of making easy money. The only way to make money with the Secret Success Machine is by bringing in new participants, and in that sense, it’s a closed system.
The SSM is not teaching you how to build websites, understand SEO, how to write quality content, get your site ranked, or sell affiliate products on your site. It’s only about selling the SSM. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
And in that light, it reminds me of a “Ponzi” scheme. It’s not producing anything tangible, it’s dependent on bringing new SSM members into the SSM system in order to make money. The guys at the top make great money, but for new members to make money, they’re going to have to bring in other new members. And the system continues in this manner.
Are the educational products worth $500 dollars to $20,000 dollars, that’s for the individual to decide. I paid over $50,000 dollars for my education as a Occupational Therapist and I know what a quality education is worth. I’m sure you paid over $100K to become a doctor, so the SSM may not seem like much money to you.
But for the majority of people that get involved in this system, they won’t see success. And to have to spend thousands of dollars to learn this lesson seems extremely expensive to me. And that’s also based on my perspective in getting a proper online education for $47/mo. I’ve learned a plethora of information in a short period of time from a real educational program.
Everything the SSM advertising in their educational system is exactly what you can get at Wealthy Affiliate, you just don’t have to risk thousands of dollars to try it out. You can check it out for free.
I’m not trying to bad mouth SSM either, I’m trying to help people avoid this money pit and show them that if they really want to try their hand at making money online, there’s a much better system available. And that’s where Wealthy Affiliate comes in, they teach all these skills and more for a much better value. Plus they help you apply what you learn to your online business. Education is not the focus of SSM, sales are.
I wouldn’t be doing the public a good service by not showing them a better system. There are a lot of people who want to learn how to make real money online, and that’s what I’m teaching here at Learn To Grow Wealth Online.
I’m glad the SSM is working out for you Dan, I’ve never meet a doctor with a second job, maybe sales is your true calling.
Best,
Todd
How long will Secret Success Machine last?
I was on conference call with them.I think all the money sent to sponsors by new recruits have to go Fed Ex, or UPS so they can’t get hit with Mail Fraud from US Postal Service.
On the conference call they had the same four people giving testimonials of the Big Money they were making as last time I was on the call. It reminds me of the old Gifting Club Conference Call in the 90’s. There was always a “Ken from Chicago”, a “Cindy from Denver single mom Stewardes”
and a “Damian from Texas” all making at least $5000 every week on the call with the fake clapping and cheering in the background.
Is any Attorney General from US looking into them yet?
Hi DJ,
Thanks for your excellent testimony to what the Secret Success Machine is really all about. Selling people and not education.
I’m not sure if the Attorney General is looking into this program yet. But they should be. Your comment just reiterates the point to my Secret Success Machine Review. And that is, they are selling the idea of fast cash and lots of it. Not the educational system. And that is why I think it is clearly a scam.
If you really want to create a successful online business, go to a real program that provides the highest quality training. I’m taking step-by-step instructions, video classes, and weekly Webinars. I STRESS EDUCATION. The quality of education at Wealthy Affiliate is amazing because after you take your daily class, then you have to implement what you learned into your online business.
It takes time to build your business, but that’s true of any real business, online or offline. But at WA, you’ll be working to accomplish your business that is based on your passions and skills. Not some hyped up scheme that is leaves you with nothing but debt. Plus the community support at WA is awesome.
Check out WA and get started with a Free Starter Membership if you really want to create a online business that can turn into passive income.
Thanks again for your feedback DJ and have a great day.
Todd
Personally, I have been involved in the “home business” & “make money online” industry for over 10+ years. I have helped hundreds maybe thousands make money for the first time. My impression of Secret Success Machine is that it is NOT a scam. I researched SSM for 3 weeks and found it to be a legitimate, viable and highly profitable business. People need to understand that with any business comes with risk. Most opportunities seems less riskier than others simply because the cost to join is less but at what risk. I’ve known others who have been in this industry for 10+ years and have never invested more than $300 for any one business and still have not made money. Actually, I was in Amway for 10 years. I did everything I was suppose to do, but that business model did not work out for me. But you don’t see me writing about how Amway is a scam. That would be unprofessional. For some the road to profit is a long and windy journey. My own piece of advice is to find a coach or mentor and work directly with them in what they are doing that generates income.
Hi Jerry,
Thanks for your feedback. Amway has been around for a long time, people still buy into their concept. Most people don’t make much money with them either. But they are selling products. Selling something for that matter.
I’m really not a big fan on MLM’s because they don’t work for the majority of people. They get people pumped up on the ideas of becoming rich only to disappoint those that entered the system without realizing all the challenging work that they needed to do.
You are absolutely right that you need to have couching when you try to create an online business or a website.
And all online businesses really need to have a website. Some don’t, some where you are doing PPC campaigns. But that can be quite risky for someone without any online marketing experience. All these concepts of affiliate marketing, managing and building your website, writing quality content, getting your site to rank, social networking and PPC campaigns are part of Wealthy Affiliates Educational Program.
And again, you are right. You don’t have to spend $1,000’s of dollars to do it. That’s the beauty of an online business. You pay for you domain name and if you use Wealthy Affiliate for your professional education, you can pay as low as 30 dollars per month. And they provide free hosting.
There’s other programs out there that are legit and teach all these topics I listed above. But none with the value that Wealthy Affiliate provides. They just have every topic covered and have been doing this for almost 10 years.
How long has the Secret Success Machine been around? Where is their home office based? These are questions that people should ask themselves before investing $1,000’s upon $1,000’s of dollars with Secret Success Machine.
If you’re real goal is to make money online. You need education and support. You need help. And that’s what Wealthy Affiliate provides.
Thanks again for feedback and take care,
Todd
I agree with you on some things, but I think you are missing a point. I understand that you are promoting wealthy affiliate program which is great, but it has its own downsides too. I have studied SEO and know that building sites is not free. You could invest hundreds of dollars into a site and see no income. You could build 10 sites and only one of them could give you the kind of results that you want. In the end the result is very much the same, you could lose money, get disillusioned and give up, which can happen in any business. Customer of wealthy affiliate could be paying a monthly fee, but with not much money to invest into new sites or projects, they could end up in the same situation, which is no results and no income.
So, if members don’t take any action, they will not make money, right? High ticket programs do have their place, and in my opinion they can offer more value to beginners, because training plus larger commissions can equal real profits. In most cases they will be given a website, tools to promote themselves and the product, and training, which is a complete business in the box. Wealthy affiliates cannot offer that, can it? instead the person has to become the jack of all trades before they can succeed. They need to become a some sort of expert, they need to create some sort of product, and learn to build a website, and learn to create unique content. This is true because as you know the new trend is that one way to succeed with affiliate marketing is to be a product creator. This kind of approach can work for someone who has the skills and a lot of time on their hands, but those who work, and have very little time for themselves will not succeed, especially if their budget does not permit to continually invest in new projects. I signed up for a very good SEO training, but then realized that it will cost as much as $1500 or a minimum of $500 to build a site. I didn’t have money to do that, but kept the program. I could say that I was scammed but I got the amazing training, I just wasn’t told what it would take to run a business. It would have been nice for them to be a little bit more transparent on the sales page, but I didn’t see this on wealthy Affiliate site either, which I guess has to be expected as with anything els in life. If you go to a driving school, they don’t warn you that the car could cost a few thousand dollars, even though the training is about $200. You could say that it can be all done for free, but, if you studied SEO you know that free will not get you far.
I believe that high ticket programs are legit programs. I don’t know much about secret success machine, and totally agree with you that support, training, and transparency is a must, but any company has the right to sell their products at the price levels that they wish to sell them, and people are free to purchase them if they want too. I don’t believe that people who did purchase high end products are victims. They have made their choice, and they have to suffer the consequences, or live up to the standards of their chosen business, which means actually taking action. I got an accounting degree, and accumulated over $10,000 in loans, but government does not care that I cannot get a job in accounting because I don’t have any experience, or that no company is willing to give me a chance, how is it a less of a scam? Why formal education is devalued to a point that degree means nothing, and more often acts as a dis-qualifier for many positions then a qualifier. You go to a doctor, and pay large sums of money, only to find out that he cannot help you, how is that not a scam? Those things are not scams simply because the law says so, and in this case this is no different.
I personally wouldn’t have purchased from a company that is not transparent, that offers no training, support and more information about their product, but I would purchase high ticket program that gives a complete business in the box, and offers large commissions. I would also purchase a much more expensive affiliate program because I don’t want to watch 1000 hours of content. Instead I want to learn something very specific, that can give me instant results, because in the end it is about taking action on something that works counts, then learning 1000 hours of content, and in the end still have no idea what to do to make your business profitable.
So, what is better for a beginner? To learn all ins and outs of internet marketing? (1000 hours of content) or a business in the box that could provide them with a job replacing income, provided that they have the money to invest and operate their business, be trainable, and ready to take action?
I don’t believe in making others do what they don’t want to do, or uncomfortable doing in their present situation. I definitely don’t like when some sales man take advantage of people in their most vulnerable moments of their life through friendship, especially if its done intentionally.
But in the end we are individually responsible for our own actions, our won well being, and our emotional state, which is why we don’t have the right to move our own responsibility on someone else.
Most sales people are trained to push the client to buy, because that is the only way they can help him or her, especially if they believe in their product, and in their solution to the problem.
Unstable people or vulnerable people, don’t know what they want, and if they have access to money, they can make a poor decision, and due to their inability to be consistent in anything they do, they will not recognize the opportunity anywhere and will not succeed in anything, and those whether the price is high or low, no matter what they do, the program according to their perceptions will be ultimately a scam because you can always argue the victims card, or a beginners card.
You can say “well, at list they will not spend thousands of dollars” The thing is that it has nothing to do with the amount, it has to do with a mindset, because people go to court for as little as $20 just out of principle.
So, it has nothing to do with the amount, it has to do with their situation, amount of money they are willing invest, and amount of brain cells they are willing to spend for every God given day on their business. If some one spends few thousand dollars to sign up but don’t have any money to promote their business, who’s fault is that?
Not everyone can or is willing to write a book, do endless research, and write loads of unique content, be active in social media, and or run a cooking channel on youtube. Wealthy Affiliate is $30 dollars per month, but I am almost certain that the projects are not free and could run into thousands of dollars in costs over time, but income is not guaranteed and can disappear much faster then it took you to build the site. The thing is, this is the risk of any business, and the person who is considering to run a business, should be aware what it takes to succeed.
Amway is not a scam, but it’s emphasis is not a product, its a business, where you can buy things from your own store, (everyday things that you could buy in a grocery store). It has a quality product, but they concentrate on a business. You can become a customer, but there is no reason to do so, because products are largely over priced. The only reason you would buy the products is because you get points for doing so, which in turn keeps you qualified for commissions. This is what keeps their business going. You can easily buy similar quality products somewhere else at a much lower price, but if you want to build a business, live a certain life style, build your retirement, and be able to transfer your business to your children, you can do that with Amway.
The only difference with secret success machine is that it is so secret that you don’t even know much about the quality of the product, but there are programs out there that give you that information, and offer trial period, and a few go as far as giving a complete refund regardless of the amount invested.
Hi Dan,
Excellent points and I agree with you on pretty much everything you stated here. I know I paid over 50K for my education as an Occupational Therapist and went straight into the mortgage business after college.
I made good money and often thought, “why didn’t I skip college and go straight to selling mortgages”. I was 26 years old when I sat for my national certification and I had just made 18K the month before. It was like, why did I waste so much time. But I got burned out on mortgages after a while and was thankful to have my degree and have a job that is somewhat recession proof that I can always rely on.
The point is that my OT training had a significant value and has allowed me to travel the world and make decent money, so it was worth the 50K.
The only thing I would say is that with Wealthy Affiliate, you can come in a check out their training center for free, try them out for a month for $19 dollars (the first month), then $48 the next month unless you go yearly which costs $1 dollar/day to see if internet marketing is right for you or not.
The other cool thing is that you can create your own website based on something you are passionate about. And with time, as your online business grows, you can have a website that produces you PASSIVE INCOME. With SSM, you’re always waiting for your next sale – you’re not creating a real business that can eventually grow on it’s own.
As a matter of fact, this site is now somewhat on autopilot and I’m starting another site based on my passions as a therapist.
Wealthy Affiliate has no other hidden costs and to create a website can cost a total of 30/mo for the training, including free hosting, $13 dollars for your website domain name for the year, and another $19 dollars for an awesome keyword tool like Jaaxy (which is how I rank my content so high btw plus the training I received from WA).
But with a program like SSM, based on everything I know about them, you are risking quite a bit to see if this is something that would work for you or not. And that can be financially devastating for many people.
You try Wealthy Affiliate for a couple months and don’t like it or think it will work out, well, at least you’ve learned some cool stuff and you’re out a total of $68 dollars. You try SSM for a couple months and you’re out anywhere from $700 dollars to $20,000 dollars.
The secret success machine advertising all the things that the Wealthy Affiliate training center actually offers. Yet none of the SSM reps have a clue how to do SEO, website development, content creation, etc. And that’s the real issue here. SSM claims you’ll learn it, but it’s all BS, it’s high pressure sales and selling the concept of making easy money.
If you go to accounting school and pay a shit load of money and end up not knowing anything about tax laws or accounting principles, I’d call that a scam as well. Just as if I went to an OT school and didn’t learn how to create a treatment plan or work with patients after they’d suffered a stroke, joint replacement, etc.
So I hear you and you’re points are valid. The question then becomes, is the SSM a real education or an overpriced MLM of high pressure sales.
I think everyone reading this post knows the answer to that one.
Thanks for you feedback Dan and have a great night.
Salud,
Todd
And the fact you have to moderate you responses, answers my other question about this being an add for another product.
Hi again James,
I use WordPress to build my websites, and have the default commenting option that you used that is built by WordPress. Or I have the Facebook commenting section through my social share buttons.
But as you can see, you’re comment is responded to.
Take care,
Todd
Todd,
Let me give you an example of a SCAM. A SCAM is when you purchase you new motor vehicle and you opt out of the extended warranty (as you have owned that warranty before, only to be told what ever is ailing your car isn’t covered) but you do pay for 12 oil changes in advance at a much reduced rate. Upon taking your vehicle in you are told “I’m sorry sir, you car has 36,001 miles on it, we can’t do it, it is no longer under warranty (this is a true story, down to the 36001 miles). You tell them the oil changes are not related to the warranty but they still refuse. You get home and after a 30 minute drive you receive a call saying they have talked to upper management and can do your oil change. They then ask you if you will need a rent car or will obtain a ride. You ask them why, this is only an oil change. They explain to you that they will change your oil in the 36000 mile check up, which is going to cost you 270 bucks. That’s a SCAM. But a lot of people will continue to buy cars from the same dealer and put up with that kind of treatment.
I see the Secret Success Machine as a different type of opportunity, but not that different. Many multi level marketing schemes are riddled with pay out structures that resemble a pyramid. The Secret Success Machine structure is not a pyramid. I think you have to be willing to go in, and if you know nothing about the Internet marketing business, take a few bog downs on getting started. I would suggest you have some capitol or at least access to it.
I think your review has a little harsh and has a bit of a mob, band wagon mentality to it.
Thanks for your time
James
Hi James,
Thanks for your feedback and comment. Your take is correct on the Secret Success Machine not being a pyramid scheme. It’s not set up that way.
But the Secret Success Machine is selling an extremely overpriced system to inexperienced internet marketers. Selling them on how much money they’re going to make. And how easy it is to make an online business. And this is not true.
Try to even find the owners of the Secret Success Machine and ask for an income disclosure statement. And this leads me to another reason why I feel the Secret Success Machine is not a legitimate program.
When you can’t easily find information on the companies location, owner, or disclosure statements, you’re looking (at the least) at a shady company.
One piece of advise I have to give you and anyone out there looking into online training programs is that you really need be able to enter a program for free.
Most honest training programs will allow you to come in and check them out for a free trial period. If they don’t have this and you have to spend a ton of money to join, be leery.
You need to be able to check them out. Programs that are legit almost always have a free trial period.
The reason that I see it as a scam is because it’s not really selling quality training to people. People really want to really learn how to make money online or how to create a real online businesses.
What the Secret Success Machine is doing is selling you 20 to 111 hours of content from $500 dollars to $20,000. And the emphasis is never on the training, the content or their system of training. The emphasis is on the money. Nothing but easy money.
If you go to a foreign country, take a taxi from the airport, and the taxi driver charges you double price because he thinks you’re an inexperienced traveler and can get away with it. Would you call this a scam? I would consider this action unfair, taking advantage of someone, or simple scamming them. What do you think?
There is no doubt that the Secret Success Machine is selling the concept of learning online marketing. And they will teach you tactics on how to sell their product. But are you really selling a quality product with the Secret Success Machine?
Are the people who are buying the SSM educational program really learning anything?
I think not. If you really want to learn how to do these things, then why waste potentially $697 to $20,197 to find out.
Why not sign up for a real educational program that stresses education, daily classes, and has 1000’s of hours of content. Plus they have incredible community support. Even the owners will take the time to help you out personally. Can you even contact the owner of the Secret Success Machine? I’d love to know.
For people who really want to create online businesses, learn to make websites and learn to make money online, you want the right education. And I don’t believe the Secret Success Machine provides a good education. But I know Wealthy Affiliate does.
And you are right, it takes some money to start any business. Affiliate Marketing and Niche Websites provide a much more cost effective business model than any traditional brick and mortar business.
If you are new to internet marketing, then don’t waste $697 to $20,197 on the Secret Success Machine. Start with a Free Starter Membership from Wealthy Affiliate and see if it’s right for you. If it is, the monthly membership to learn everything and more than the Secret Success Machine offers, is a monthly fee of $47/mo or $30/mo (on an annual plan).
Which makes sense to you James? Encouraging new inexperienced people that are interested in making money online to buy the Secret Success Machine program for thousands of dollars or recommending people to choose a company like Wealthy Affiliate. They’ve been teaching people affiliate marketing, how to put up niche websites, and how to build an online business for 10 years. Do you even know how long the Secret Success Machine has been around?
It’s hard to find any concrete information about this company so I imagine it’s less than a year. Again, this tells you a lot about the program and hopefully makes more sense to you why I support real programs of value.
Best of luck to you and if you need any help learning how to make money online, just let me know.
Todd
Todd,
I found your web page after receiving a message from these people. First of all, is this a critique or an ad for another system/product?
I didn’t get any of that from their add. Napoleon Hill is listed as a book they offer access to for free, not someone that works for them. And everyone knows that if you want to immortalize yourself, you write a book and live beyond your years, that’s what I did π There are some big names and huge books they have listed, some of which I have read. I understand the buy in is a little deep for most people, but it doesn’t sound like “most people” are what they are targeting.
I am thinking about buying their product, and I’ll tell you why. I have money, money to risk, but I’d surely like more. And I surely don’t think you buy into any thing like this without understanding risk, so what part of my conscious would you be talking about, the part I’d have to live with?
And there is nothing in this life you can’t learn from, even losing money if that be the case. Winners, real winners, learn from everything and every single person on this planet.
No, I’m not a member yet, but I think after another nights sleep on this, I will be. This review helped with that decision.
Hi James,
If you want to risk your money and buy into this program. Go for it. The part I refer about your conscience is that the system works by selling people on the concept of making lots of money in an automated system. Not on helping others be successful with their online business.
Otherwise the training to the Secret Success Machine would be the focus. It’s a top tiered systems and with most every type of multilevel marketing program like this, only the top 1% really make any money. They make their money because they usually have a well developed marketing system. Most people don’t have a developed marketing system and end up loosing money in MLM’s like the Secret Success Machine.
The other 99% of the people don’t make good money. The average income earnings for tiered business platforms like Secret Success Machine is less than $500 dollars per year.
James, this is an honest review based on public information from Secret Success Machine. When a company doesn’t even provide their business address, what does that tell you about them?
I don’t believe in these types of systems because I don’t think they help people. But that’s just my opinion. I also do promote a product I believe in.
I do believe that people can make honest money off of the internet by selling real products or educational systems. Affiliate marketing, eCommerce, these types of things. I don’t think the educational system that the Secret Success Machine is selling is worth $500 dollars nor $20,000. And I do offer an alternative for people who want to put up real online businesses.
I recommend it all day long because I know it works, and I know the quality of the educational system of Wealthy Affiliate is the real deal. There are thousands of hours of content, thousands of videos that walk you through your online business one step at a time. So when you see 111 hours of content for $20,000 dollars, I’ve got to point out the flaws of the system and offer people a real solution.
People want to make money online. They want to learn how to do it for real. Wealthy Affiliate teaches how to build websites, how to create online businesses, and how to create niche websites based on affiliate marketing concepts.
So if you’re interested in making money online. You can try it out for free with Wealthy Affiliate. They have a Free Starter Membership that allows you to openly come and check out there educational program. You get 2 free websites and free hosting. You get 10 classes that teach you how to set up your website. And if you want to continue your education, it costs $47 dollars per month. Not $500 to $20,000 dollars.
So if you are really weighing out your options to try to start an online business. Do you want to risk those kind of dollars. Or do want an educational program that really stresses “EDUCATION”.
Or do you want a system that only stresses easy automated online income?
We’d all love to have automated income without putting in work or effort, but this is pipe dream. That’s why it’s a scam. You can make amazing money through affiliate marketing and niche websites. It’s a real honest business. But it takes time, dedication, training, and passion.
I know so many people who have gone down the road that you are considering James. They waste years and thousands of dollars and eventually find Wealthy Affiliate to create a real online business.
Best of luck to you and thanks for your feedback.
Todd
Is there anyway to get a business address for this company to file a complaint? They keep calling my personal phone, costing me minutes.
Hi Tom,
I’ve been researching your question for a couple of hours and couldn’t find any physical address for the company. I called a rep that I know that I interviewed when I created this review of Secret Success Machine and he declined to give it to me. He stated that even if he had it, he wouldn’t give it out. So I guess that says a lot about the Secret Success Machine company. That is also a tall tale sign of a scam. When you can’t find contact info or a physical address – WATCH OUT.
I Googled Secret Success Machine Contact Info/Home Office, and only got other affiliate marketers who are promoting this product. One thing you could do is contact one of the marketers and ask them. If their honest and not ashamed about what they are promoting, then they should have no problem giving you the address.
Sorry I couldn’t be more help than that. Here is the contact that I have via facebook. He’s a real nice guy, but won’t give me the info because he is upset about my review here of the Secret Success Machine.
But he’s a nice guy and maybe he’d help you.
Best of luck,
Todd
hey Todd are there any legit sites where one can actually earn money, without answering surveys.
thanx, Laura.
Hi Laura,
Thanks for your question and the answer is absolutely, there are tons of ways to make money online. I would recommend getting a proper education on affiliate marketing and niche website creation. These are basically the same thing. But there are thousands of untapped niches that can be turned into online businesses. But like anything you need to get an education.
I would recommend Wealthy Affiliate. They have a really cool philosophy to their business model. They allow you to enter for a free membership to check them out for a week as if you were a premium member. They also give you two websites and free hosting. After the 7 days is up, you can get a premium membership to continue your education for a whopping $47/mo or pay for a year membership at $30/mo. Where else can you find a college level education for that price.
Check them out, you won’t be disappointed.
Cheers,
Todd
Wow, I can’t believe people can actually get away with selling these types of programs. Thanks for doing the hard work and investigating to get to the real information behind the hype. I could not imagine paying $20K for something intangible. I can imagine folks have taken out loans and put this amount on credit cards in hopes of being able to get rich quick. I hope everyone who wants to get this sees your article before they get scammed. Thanks for digging deep on this and trying to do the right thing to get the word out!
Great work!
Thanks Christy,
Yes the Secret Success Machine is really selling some pricey marketing material. The reality with all these types of scams is they sell the same thing,
“EASY ONLINE MONEY”. And unfortunately, that is what most people want to hear. They get this idea in their head that it’s so automated that they’re going to make great money. They get a false sense that life is going to be alright, that they’re finally going to be rich.
A few months later, reality sets in and hopefully they’ve made back their money. But that’s not what happens in most cases. A very small percentage of people make back their money, in most cases, people loose everything they invest.
Christy, you will be happy to know that this article is getting in front of the people who need to see it. Using the training that I learned from Wealth Affiliate, this article (in less than 10 days) is already on page one of Google when someone types in “Secret Success Machine” or “Secret Success Machine Review” or “Secret Success Machine Scam”.
So hopefully this will help people from making an impulsive decision and joining this pyramid scheme. If one really wants to start an online business, you can get started for free with Wealthy Affiliates Starter Membership. And if you want to keep learning at a professional level, the education only costs $30 dollars per month.
That’s a much wiser decision to see if online business is the right fit for a person.
Nice to hear from you and thanks for your feedback.
Happy Monday,
Todd
Hello, Todd
The thing is with these online scams, the titles always say it all! There is no success when it comes to making money online because it’s down to hard work and commitment. The secret success machine really comes across as yet another Empower Network type program. I’ve probably mentioned EN a million time to people, lol.
From reading your article and looking at the costs involved, this is a real scam to avoid!
Your recommendation of Wealthy Affiliate sure does tick all the boxes and I will look into becoming a free member.
Just out of interest, how many times have you been scammed online?
Neil
Hi Neil,
Yeah, the Secret Success Machine name sounds pretty scammy. It’s so obvious that they are selling people and money concepts and not a true education of how to make money online. It’s tempting when you hear of the big money, but that’s the lure to watch out for. It’s not a long term business, it’s a money making scam.
You know, I haven’t got into any programs like these. I also take the name of the program and search them a bit to find out what they’re about. I’m in the process of review a couple other “money making” opportunities I have found off of Facebook for the time being.
However, I can tell you about being scammed on Aliexpress. One day I was robbed for 57 orders from one supplier. He took my order, money, and never delivered anything. I was luck that Aliexpress has an escrow service in place and caught the punk. I received all my money back, but what a horrible way to run a drop-shipping business.
How about yourself? Any scams you wish to share.
Good to hear from you Neil, have a great day.
Todd
Hey, Todd.
Yeah, when we hear about the big money, it is tempting and especially when they try to fool us with false promises too. There are many gurus who are involved in online money making scams and who make it sound too easy to get rich. What they don’t tell you is, it’s taken them years to become rich AND they only want your money.
It’s good to hear you got your money back, but many people don’t receive refunds. I’ve never been a fan of drop shipping businesses because many of them come across a bit dodgy any way.
I was scammed by Empower Network for 8 months and lost over $1,000+. The hard work I put in wasn’t the issue. It’s the fact that I was using a blogging platform that didn’t work and nobody wanted to invest into the EN products either. It was like trying to flog a dead horse! Pardon the expression, lol.
Hey, I signed up for the Wealthy Affiliate course and I must say, I’m very impressed. I love the online classroom structure and the lessons are easy to apply to your own website/business. Thanks you very much for the referral.
Neil
Hi Neil,
Man that’s disappointing to hear. 8 months of your life dedicated to something that you didn’t believe in. Rough stuff.
Well I’m glad to hear that you found the right foundation for your online career with Wealthy Affiliate. They’re a positive community and awesome training platform for anyone who wants to learn how to put up an online business.
Thanks for sharing your personal story with us, and I’m glad you didn’t loose any more money than you had to. With the Secret Success Machine, you could loose thousands of dollars in just a matter of a couple of months. It’s quite sad.
Anyways my friend, thanks for getting back with me a have a great week.
Todd
Hey Todd,
I’ve seen some scams in my time, man but this one really takes the BISCUIT! How many levels – 6? Unreal!
Gimme an S… gimme a C… gimme an A… gimme an M!
MOBE pales in comparison with this bad boy π
Nic
Tell me about it Nic,
I would think MOBE and the Secret Success Machine are on very similar playing fields. Regardless, thanks for taking the time to read my review and provide your feedback, much appreciated. People need to be informed and really see the Secret Success Machine for what it really is – a sales position selling easy automated money and not selling a proper education.
Take care,
Todd