Josh Elizetxe is the perfect example of how you can take an idea and turn it into an 8 figure operation through internet marketing.
Starting his business when he had only $20 to his name, this guy has come a long way since starting up his online business.
And now he's here to share his secrets..
You might have hear of Josh by his nickname Josh Snow: he gets this name from his biggest business to date: the SNOW® AT-HOME TEETH WHITENING KIT.
This kit has sold more than 500k units, and one kit is sold every 37 seconds, with 99% of satisfied customers.
From this, Josh has been able to move to other enterprises, all in the 7 or 8 figures ballpark:
It probably would make sense to hear him out when it comes to online marketing, don't you think?
As from 2009, Josh has earned a verified (Forbes) $1 billion: if that's not proof enough that we're talking about a pro, I don't know what is!
When VIPs like boxing legend Floyd Mayweather are happy to sponsor your product, you've really made it.
Now Josh has launched a new digital marketing agency course, Agency Blueprint, designed for you to replicate his success.
In the following review, I'm going to be answering the questions that you really want to know the answer to.
No messing around.
But before I start this in-depth review that will cover every module, a bit about me..
I was working in a corporate job from 9 to 5 until 2014.
Not only was it crushing my soul, but it didn't give me any time to pursue my other dreams.
That was until I discovered a method to rank sites organically, generating free leads for my clients.
That website you see above, for the tree care company, I created it in 2015, and since then I haven't had to touch or update it:
It has gained me a passive income of $2000 a month.
That's more than $100,000 for one site, in 5 years.
That's the magic of the Lead Generation business, it's by far the best model to generate passive income. If you want to know more, just hop over here!
Time for the review!
Agency Blueprint Review
The course sets out to teach you how to your own digital marketing agency, or in Josh's words:
'A super profitable online advertising agency with ZERO start-up costs and no prior marketing experience'.
The course also promises to teach you how to 'find business owners who are more than willing to pay you, and land your first client within 24 hours, even with zero experience'.
Sounds to good to be true?
Let's check out the basic info on the course.
Preliminary Info
Key Takeaways From Each Module
Module 1: Introduction
First modules are always tricky to cover:
They are mostly motivational stories of how the course instructors have gone from rags to riches.
In Josh's case, it's pretty impressive to see what he has achieved before the age of 30 (he's 26 years old now!).
But there is something that I enjoyed about one of the videos in Module 1:
Josh and Matthew make it immediately clear what it is that the course is all about and what it will be covering.
Thanks to their help and coaching, through the Modules and activity on their private Facebook group, you are going to learn
How to create an SMMA Business from scratch, without spending a cent.
SMMA stands for Social Media Marketing Agency and this is what you are going to get from this course.
Josh is going to give you his blueprint (that's why the course is called Agency Blueprint) for you to start your business in a streamlined way.
The two main aspects of your SMMA are going to be:
- Client Generation
- Content Marketing
Client Generation is nothing more than good old Lead Generation repackaged and called by another name, so no surprises there!
Content marketing is focused on creating, publishing, and distributing content for a targeted audience online.
It is often used by businesses in order to attract attention and generate leads.
All of this, in this course, is going to be made through Facebooks Ads, which in turn lead to a Clickfunnels landing page.
Nothing too crazy that we haven't heard about or done before!
The idea is to attract 5/6 clients at the price of $1500 each in order to get to six figures a year: wow, do they make it sound easy!
This, according to Josh and Matthew can be accomplished in three ways:
- Word of Mouth (Friends/Family).
- Running your own Ads.
- (Cold) Calling Businesses.
Module 2: Foundations
This module is all on the foundations you need to have before you jump headfirst into the crazy world of digital marketing.
My biggest takeaway is a 20 minute lecture by Australian digital marketer Jason C Fox, who talks about habits to cultivate to be successful marketing.
I think that this lecture can apply to every walk of life if you are planning on being successful, so it's important regardless of whether this cours is for you or not.
The talk begins with suggestions on how to maximize your productivity:
Some of the suggestions may seem pretty harsh, and the idea of deleting all non essential phone apps and putting your phone in airplaine mode can sound pretty drastic.
However, once you realize how much more stuff you get done in the same amount of time, without your phone to distract you, you'll be glad to have done this.
Other plugins and software also aim to minimize your downtime during your work hours: the Sleep Cycle App, Newsfeed Eradicator and Remove Recommendation are great examples.
The next section of Jason's talk is on what we deal with in our two circles of focus:
- Your income sources
- Your business agency
Jason argues that in order to be successful you cannot have too many points of focus in either of these circles:
Behaving in this way will only disperse your energies and you will get less and less done.
For example, when you start your agency, you won't be able to focus on providing your clients with all the service seen in the second circle.
You simply cannot be average at SEO, Google Ads, Facebook Ads etc.
You have to become great at two of those things and make a name for yourself in one or two specific activities, Sales Funnels and Facebook Ads, for example, and delegate for the rest.
Here is how your wheels of focus should actually look to increase productivity tenfold.
Jason's recommendation, for the income circle of focus, is to dedicate most of your time to your new business agency, and the minimum necessary to a job that is going to help you pay for your expenses.
Similarly, the focus in your agency circle should be dedicated to maximum two activities, in this example Facebook Ads and Funnels.
By eliminating clutter from your life and pinpointing your focus on the essential it is much easier to reach your goals and to reach them quicker.
Jason then concludes his talk with his daily routine, in which he tries to complete his extra-work tasks by 9 am, so as to have the whole day for his agency.
On the left column, Jason has listed all the things he does before 9 am, so that he will have all day left to dedicate to the right column.
As you can see, huge importance is given to health and mindset, with meditation, affirmations and healthy food being the fundamentals of a profitable day.
Hethen moves on to planning the rest of the day, diarising everything.
By 9 am he will then have all the time in the world to devote to admin and to contacting prospects, creating content and commenting on Facebook and Instagram.
As I was saying earlier, it doesn't really matter what course you do and which guru you follow: this is golden advice that should be picked up by anyone wanting to be more efficient in life.
Module 3: Services to Offer
This module is packed with solid info:
How much should you charge your client?
How do you know what service your client needs?
How are you going to implement your knowledge to meet the needs?
The main lecture that Josh and Matthew deliver is probably the one with most golden nuggets, and as we move into more practical subjects, Josh's expertize begins to shine.
Both Josh and Matthew pick up on what Jason had suggested in the previous module: master a couple of skills only rather than being mediocre at all of them.
Then they talk about setting the expectations once you have made contact with your client.
- You should always give yourself extra time to deliver: this way your client will be happy if you deliver early and won't get ticked if you are on time.
- Always discuss money with the client in terms of potential and growth: how much is he prepared to scale his business? How much does he want his business to skyrocket. Talk real amounts once he's sold.
- Make sure that you get to meet the person who will be calling back the leads, establish a rapport and give that person (secretary, receptionist..) some solid tips on how to behave with leads.
- You should go level with your client as soon as possible, from a position of offering something to him to that of equals: your time is just as valuable as his time. The sooner he knows, the better.
Josh and Matthew then cover the platforms for monetary reosources: which one are you going to focus on? Which works best for your chosen niche?
- Facebook Ads (surprize!)
- ClickFunnels
- CRM - Active Campaign
- Google AdWords
I have to say there are no surprizes here: all these methods have been tested and tried thousands of times in the past ten years, and they have made Josh and people like him millions.
The route that Josh and Matthew suggest you go for is Facebooks Ads paired with a ClickFunnels landing page:
I will explain later why I am not convinced about this approach in 2020.
The two gurus then talk about platforms to deliver Social ROI:
- YouTube
Social Return on Investment is a method of measuring extra-financial value.
Any company may use it to identify ways to improve performance and enhance investment performance.
The avenues to pursue Social ROI are the usual ones.
Module 4: Systems and Processes
In module 4 the guys really pack it with videos and pdf resources: it's hard to choose one takeaway so I'll go for two:
- Managing Content Delivery
- Client Reporting
Managing content delivery is all about what kind of ad you are going to be running: what will its content be? What photo will you use? What about the copy?
The types of content that Josh suggests you use, depending on the niche you have chosen are three:
- Before/after pics, which could be used if working for a dentist, a gym, a fitness instructor, a chyropractor.. anything that can show the change your client has operated is a sure way to grab the lead's attention.
- Infographics work for most businesses: the most amount of information you can pack into an ad, the more likely the lead will be tempted to click and provide his/her details.
- Industry tips related to the niche chosen, like pool cleaning care for the pool industry or oral hygiene tips for a dentist's ad.
The next cool topic covered by Josh and Matthew is one that rarely gets discussed in courses on online marketing:
Reporting to our clients.
How often is too much? When is it too little?
What do our clients want to know from us?
The section of this module dedicated to reporting gives us some cool tips.
- Weekly check-ins, very short and informative sessions: the client already knows he is getting leads, so focus on information rather than results, and various updates with Facebook that he should be aware of.
- Monthly report, more or less five days before billing: this is where you go ballistic with good news like number of leads, cost of leads decreasing, CPC decrease, CTR increase..
- You also should keep your client excited with what more is to come the following month, split testing, changes in ad strategy et.
This section was really fun and informative to watch.
I guess we all develop our own way of reporting to our clients, and maybe some don't do it at all and just let the leads speak for them, but it was really cool to see what someone like Josh thinks about it.
Module 5: Preparing for Sales
Week 5 is all about the preparation before the sale actually happens.
These are crucial interactions between you and your potential client and a lot is at stake in this part of the process.
I've been creating leads for clients since 2014, so I know a thing or two about what to say, how to gauge a client's intention from the tone of his voice etc.
But still, I am always willing to learn from people who have been at the game for longer than I have, so I was definitely curious to see what Josh had to say:
One thing that all great sellers have always stressed, and Josh does too, is to get on the phone and communicate the good old way.
There are a lot of tips that a person's voice can give away, allowing you to understand when to step back or when to go all in.
Also, a straight communication in person or via phone will help you establish that it is a business to business relationship: you are not there to be the client's employee.
You are solving his problems.
Josh suggests to be flexible at the beginning and study your potential client, but also to set definite boundaries, so that the client knows you're not one of the tens of salesmen calling him everyday.
You are unique, in that you are going to skyrocket his business and profit in the meantime.
This is a good point to remember when you seem to have a bad client:
Remind him that you're in the same boat and that his success means your success and viceversa.
The most interesting part of the talk on preparing is about the idea that the bigger the client is, the more bossy or stroppy he's going to be.
In Josh's experience, and I have to agree with him, it really works the other way around.
Small business owners have much more to lose spending money on something they don't completely understand, and will be much harder fish to fry.
In fact, Josh suggests you go for big clients:
They are going to be more willing to spend and will probably have an idea of the services you offer.
That doesn't mean that I do not value getting leads for small business owners:
My whole methodology is based on helping out smaller businesses with lead generation, but I get what Josh is getting at.
Every client is different, never approach one with preconcieved notions!
Module 6: Sales
This is probably my favourite module in the course.
I love sales, the whole business revolves around sales and this is why I love reviewing these courses:
There's always something to take away, and there's always an approach I haven't tried yet.
There are two aspects I want to go to in depth, and that is a video by Jason Fox on 5 methods of getting sales and Josh's video on crunching sales numbers.
In the first video Jason goes through 30 mins with 5 ways he has used to get to the 10k mark a month.
- The Personal Facebook Post: a post on your account, that will reach all your friends, explaining your new enterprize and what you expect to do.
- Personal Facebook Outreach: Individually contacting business owners, entrepreneurs, start-ups and aspiring business owners through DM, playing a numbers game and hoping for one or two clients.
- Partnerships: Although this is a taboo word in the SMMA world, friends of friends, personal connections and Facebook groups could turn out to be profitable.
- COLD cold email, a stab in the dark, sending a template email out to potential people who might be interested and following up if anyone is.
- Use LinkedIn like you use Facebook Ads: LinkedIn is definitely under-utilized when it comes to selling yourself, so why not give it a shot and let your name do the rounds?
I know that these tips may sound corny summarized the way they are, and I don't really do business like that personally, but it's always interesting to know how 6 or 7 figure earners make their $$$.
The second video in this module I wanted to shortly focus on is the number crunching one by Josh.
I want to do this to dispell the myth of the entrepreneur hiding behind his laptop and never reaching out to people in real life.
To make it in this biz you will have to make calls.
Lots of calls.
Heaps of calls.
You better get ready for it, because that's the name of the game.
What Josh does is basically break down the numbers needed for you to reach your $10k a month income.
Sure, it may look brutal onscreen, but that's the way it is!
Take it from Mr $1bn himself.
That's the spirit!
Turn it into a game: how many phone calls are you going to be able to do today?
Remember that for every 'no' you're getting closer to a 'yes' and you don't need many of them to earn those 6 figures!
Module 7: Delivering the Results
This course was designed in a pretty weird way.
Modules 1-6 are basically theory:
You don't learn how to create a Facebook Ad, a funnel or how to set up your pixel.
All these 'practical' videos are lumped in module 7, where you have hours and hours of tutorials on the hands on parts of the business.
There isn't much to takeaway here, other than to notice that Josh really seems to have covered everything he had set out to teach:
Facebook Ads, ClickFunnels, Results Analysis, Facebook Lead Ads.. everything is explained in detail and made super easy and it's nice to have these videos all in one place for future reference.
Don't get me wrong, you won't find anything groundbreaking in this module, but for a beginner it really is a godsend.
For that I applaud Josh and his team.
The Verdict: the Good and the Bad
Before I go on and look at the pros and cons of Josh's course, I want to reply to those early questions I'd set down, and that anyone reading a review wants to know immediately.
When talking digital marketing and starting a digital agency from scratch, there are few people I would like as my mentor more than Josh Snow.
The course is very down to earth, you won't be scratching your head wondering what to do next:
Josh has really simplified things and the videos seem to flow into each other really well.
There is so much to unpack in the various slides that Josh & Co. use in this course and I believe that if you really want to, you're will be ready to start an agency as soon as you've finished the course.
The course itself does deliver what it promises, and remember you will be in a Facebook Group with Josh, Matthew, Jason and others, all ready to help you out.
I'm not even going to get into the idea that Josh may be a scam. The guy is one of the most legit I've ever reviewed, has made $1 billion by the age of 26. really, what more do you need to know.
As for the price, it's not the cheapest at $997, but you know you're getting the quality right there..
PROS:
CONS:
If you're a beginner, you can't go wrong with Josh's course.
However in 2020, I don't really recommend going down the path of building digital agency like Josh teaches it.
There is a better way than Facebook Ads to find leads for your clients, let me tell you all about it.
Lead Generation, where you rank your own website, is a far superior model to monetize your digital skills.
Let me explain, keep reading...
Why I Quit Doing Facebook Ads... Lead Generation Proved to be a Much Better Biz Model, Here's Why...
I run a $50K per month lead generation business, but all of my leads are generating through free traffic or SEO. So it's pretty much passive income, I don’t have to worry about the performance of my ads or anything.
I don't know even where to start when talking about the use of Facebook Ads:
Reasons why I don't like Facebooks Ads.
Like I just said, I run a $50K per month lead generation business, but all of my leads are generated through free traffic or SEO. The website I create ranks on the first page of Google, in the so-called map pack, and the leads just start rolling in.
We're talking passive income: I don’t have to worry about the performance of my ads or anything. Once my site ranks it generally stays ranks with very little to no maintenance.
Don’t get me wrong you can still make money running FaceBook Ads but its very challenging to keep over the long term.
The problem with Facebook ads is that you are constantly looking at your CTR and conversion rate. How many people are clicking on your ad, and out of those people, how many actually end up buying what you are advertising?
If things go wrong, it's back to tweaking, spending more money, trying a different approach. Facebook Ads are unreliable at best: believe me, I spent a lot of cash into them before moving into free traffic lead generation.
For all these reasons, I still recommend people look into doing lead generation with free traffic, because then you have full control over the lead gen properties so clients have to keep paying you, and not have to pay FB’s expensive ad fees.
Conclusion
Josh's course is pretty solid, everything is there to create an agency working through Facebook Ads. However, from my experience, Facebook marketing really depends on the niche & the product & service you’re offering.
Sure there are niches that work with Facebook ads, but the problem is there are many niches that really struggle with Facebook ads.
Unlike Facebook Ads, if you know how to generate leads with free traffic, you can virtually go into any niche and create amazing results for yourself.
That’s how 90% of my multiple 6 figure income is generated. And I should add that it's passive income: see free traffic never stops.
In 2020, even during Covid-19, I continue to build more lead gen sites and I write at least 1 blog post for this site, because I’ve come to realize that these are the high-income producing activities, because it directly increases my free traffic every month.
