Affiliate Institute Review – Is it a scam or MLM?

September 15, 2023

So you’re interested in one of the most mysterious and secretive trainings out there.

You hope that despite the positive yet strangely vague reviews, this might be the right course for you and you won't have the sensation of… Getting ripped off.

You're looking for something you can take and immediately use to make money right from the start.

But how can you know if this is the right one out of 10,000 affiliate marketing courses?

  • You might wonder why the Affiliate Institute recently changed names
  • You’re afraid of wasting your money
  • You’re concerned that they might actually be an MLM company

After checking out what I have to say about AI, you can go see how I've ranked up all the top affiliate marketing courses and pick which one is best for you.

So you’re interested in the Affiliate Institute by Mathieu Jang and Julian Sherman, but you’re doing your research like a good buyer before making a decision.

Well, you’ve come to the right place.

The most unbiased guide to this training platform is right in front of you.

And the only thing you have to do is keep reading for a few more minutes.

1. They Do Promote An MLM Offer

So is AI just an MLM in disguise?

Well, not exactly. But it is a 50/50 split.

After being in the program for a little while, they will usually try to persuade you to buy an Enagic or Kangen water filter (which is similar to what Expand Your Horizon Academy does). 

While this does give you access to a high ticket offer, those can be found anywhere on Amazon or Clickbank without paying thousands of dollars for a water filter.

So what does one of these water filters cost before you can even think about turning around and selling them to others?

Wow, that's definitely not cheap.

While I'm all for investing in training and education, buying a water filter isn't exactly what I'd consider important.


2. The Basic Training Is Cheap, But Upsells You Required Info

So how much will you have to pay before even being able to know what AI is all about?

$99 per month with a 14-day money-back guarantee is the price of the Level 1 training, which isn't bad.

But what about the upsells you'll be required to buy into?

Well, Level 2 is currently valued at $2,995.

Do I think that's wrong?

No, but I definitely wish they'd be up front about their prices.

3. This Is Just Global Affiliate Zone By A Different Name

But why did they change the name? Are they hiding something?

Supposedly, they restructured their system to comply with the government accreditation process so you can actually get a certificate for completing the course.

Why would you want that?

This means that potential students may be eligible for government grants.

The name change was also for branding purposes, because it communicates that it’s an education platform.

Interesting, huh?

In order to accomplish this, they thought it was easier just to start from scratch and build the platform under a new name.

AI was in the beta testing phase in July of 2019 to figure out all the bugs in the system, and GAZ is slowly being phased out.

4. They're Highly Secretive At Every Level Of The Training

Why doesn't AI give you a breakdown of what you'll be learning from the beginning?

A quick search on Reddit shows some of the same questions that others are asking.

I don't know about you, but manually approaching people online to try and get them to join AI doesn't sound like a very good use of my time.

And doing all of that hard work for you for just $100 a month?

Either it's low quality, or it's for their MLM offer.

Wanna see their headquarters?

Seems a little odd, wouldn't you say?

Not that I'm hating on their headquarters...

But why wouldn't they just have their office at one of the mansions you see in all the videos?


5. Affiliate Institute Is Sketchy At First, But There Are Some Perks

So is there anything good about this platform?

Well, One thing I liked about AI is that they immediately tell you that you’ll need money for advertising (in this case for running ads.)

What do they teach you about ads? I'll tell you in just a little while.

They also tell you about things like CPA (cost per acquisition) and LTV (lifetime value, or the amount that a customer will spend with you over their lifetime.)

This is pretty basic stuff that you can learn for free on Google...


So what's the reason for buying into a program like AI?

  • There is a supportive community of like-minded people
  • They plan to roll out more trainings in the near future
  • Level 1 is pretty cheap

6. Affiliate Institute Students Seem To Make Most Of Their Money Selling AI Itself!!!

So, what do you get from selling the course itself?

They offer you a 30% recurring commission on memberships as well as a 30% on additional courses or mentorship…

In fact, their training pushes brand new students to sell their program to others while they learn.

This disappointing fact makes me more skeptical...

That's because each time I see a positive review of AI, it’s probably because they’re hoping to make a commission from somebody.

7. AI Relies On Paid Traffic, SEO Is Not Taught!

So what kinds of paid traffic do they teach you about?

The Facebook Business Manager has a Traffic 101 course that's useful for all kinds of things.

What else can you use this skill for?

Some go on to provide Facebook ads for local businesses and focus only on this skill.

But what about Google Ads?

Well, it appears this essential ad platform is not taught at this time.

Google Shopping?

Nope.

But what about YouTube?

While they do talk about building a personal brand and making YouTube videos, it seems they don't give you in-depth strategies about running ads on this platform.

AI focuses on using personal branding to bring in more people to push the MLM offer they have from Kangen.

8. AI Teaches Basic Business Skills

So exactly what are you going to learn in this course?

Well, not only is there a copywriting course, you'll also learn to build funnels, get traffic (mostly through social media,) write content, build follow-up email campaigns, and even some personal finance.

  • Each of these courses is composed of a number of modules, which are then composed of individual lessons.
  • There’s about 2-8 lessons per module.
  • At the end of each module is a quiz to make sure you’ve learned what you went over.

The first level can take you anywhere from 30 to 50 hours to complete. 

They also teach you to downsell smaller offers if they don't buy a high ticket offer.

There’s a “discovery” section that walks you through the “inner work” such as finding your “why” and the goals you have.

This takes you about 3 ½ hours and helps you see if IA is a good fit for you.

It might sound cheesy, but it’s actually pretty important to be aware of these things.

9. You Can Dig Deeper Into Certain Topics By Purchasing Additional Courses

Things called “tracks” are user-paid courses that dig deeper into certain subjects such as Facebook marketing, videography or even things they cover in the main course like copywriting…

These aren’t available at the time of writing this review, but they’re working on them.

They’re also creating purchasable mentoring packages from industry leaders, which also aren’t yet available.

What can you get currently from AI?

  • There's an online community where you can interact with other students and get your questions answered.
  • There are regular webinars, for example one of their themes is “take charge tuesday” which is about self growth and improving yourself.
  • You get a welcome call, an advisor call, and a specialist call.
  • Wednesdays and Thursdays are course reviews plus Q&A. 

They also record these so you can watch them later.

So then, what's the verdict?


Lead Generation is my #1 Online Business Choice 
(IMO Less Hassle Than Affiliate Marketing And MLM)
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Ippei Kanehara
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$52K per month providing lead generation services to small businesses

Ippei.com is for digital hustlers, industry leaders and online business owners.

His #1 online business recommendation in 2024, is to build your own lead generation business.

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