Amy Porterfield's Digital Course Academy Review: Course Creation Pros, Cons, and Alternatives

What Are the Pros and Cons of Digital Course Academy?

Pros:

• Proven framework from a highly experienced instructor
• 9 structured modules walking you through course creation step by step
• Active and supportive Facebook group community
• Access to Q&A Vault and weekly Q&A calls
• Bonus resources like student-only podcast, tech library, and templates
• Lifetime access to course materials

Cons:

• High ticket price may be out of reach for beginners
• Content can feel outdated in fast-moving markets
• Pushy sales techniques and high-pressure upsells
• Some users found the sales strategies too aggressive or overly “masculine”
• Managing the course content workload alongside real life can be overwhelming
• Focus is heavily on live launches and paid strategies
• No guarantee of profitability even with Amy’s strategy

Price: Digital Course Academy costs $1,997.

Refund Policy: Digital Course Academy has a 14-day refund policy with conditions.

What to Expect From Digital Course Academy?

In Amy Porterfield’s Digital Course Academy, you can expect a comprehensive step-by-step guide to creating, marketing, and launching a successful online course. The course includes the 9-module core training and access to the Facebook group, Tech Library, The Q&A Vault, and other resources. You also get several bonus training modules.

Digital Course Academy Modules

• Module 1: The 9 Key Decisions-In this first module, you’ll learn about the nine important decisions needed to create your online course. You’ll get a worksheet to help you plan out everything from picking a topic for your course, defining who it’s for, and deciding how it will be taught. You’ll also choose a name for your course, figure out pricing, and decide on the teaching methods.
• Module 2: Validating Your Course - The second module is all about making sure your course idea is something that people will actually want. Amy teaches you special methods to help you describe what your course offers and figure out who will benefit from it the most. This is the stage where you can start telling people about your course and potentially making early pre-launch sales.
• Module 3: The Art of Outlining & Recording Your Course - This module helps you move your course idea into an actual plan. Amy shows you how to organize your knowledge into a clear outline that your students can easily follow. She also talks about how to record your lessons, turning your expertise into practical advice for your learners.
• Module 4: The Digital Course Sales Blueprint - Learn how to make a sales page that attracts and convinces people to buy your course. Amy guides you through setting up the right package for your course, adding bonuses, and providing extra support to make your offer more tempting.
• Module 5: The Profitable Webinar Framework - In the fifth module, Amy explains how to use webinars, which are live online classes, to introduce your course to your audience. She provides a plan to make these webinars successful and profitable.
• Module 6: Crafting Your Email Sequences - This module focuses on email communication. Amy teaches you how to write effective emails that invite and remind people about your webinars and courses. This includes crafting messages that encourage more sign-ups and participation.
• Module 7: Recording Your Course - The last module covers everything you need to know about actually making your course. Amy shares her experience with the best ways to record and deliver your lessons. She talks about the tools you’ll need and gives tips for creating engaging course videos. You’ll also get resources like templates to help you make your teaching materials.

What Are the Digital Course Academy Reviews?

Kathie Owen, a corporate wellness coach, wrote on her blog why she did not recommend Amy Porterfield’s Digital Course Academy. Kathie joined DCA in March 2021, hoping to learn about online course creation. However, her experience turned out to be disappointing, leading her to retract her previous recommendations to friends.

Kathie explains how the course material is outdated. She also expressed her disapproval of the pushy sales tactics used by Amy and her team. The upsells and hidden costs were also a disappointment. While criticizing what she was as an unethical practice, she did have some positive feedback. Kathie praised the accountability pod where members could give and get support.

Rachel Harrison-Sund is a KDP course creator who recommends Amy’s Digital Course Academy. She found the course very helpful and praised it for its detail and organization. She also liked the tutorials for all the tech tools needed, which makes things much easier. Rachel also pointed out the benefit of the weekly Q&As, Facebook group, and even a Q&A vault.

What she found challenging was managing the coursework along with personal and business responsibilities. Since the coursework is released weekly, not everyone could keep pace.

Sara Avant Stover is a Certified Internal Family Systems (IFS) Practitioner who took Amy’s Digital Course Academy. She found it to be an extremely valuable resource for creating and launching online courses. Sara praised the high-quality content and the supportive community in the Facebook group. She also liked the student-only podcast and extensive tech tutorials. These resources helped her significantly develop her own course and improved her business strategies.

Sara felt that some of Amy Porterfield’s sales techniques were too aggressive and didn’t align with her more introverted, sensitive personality. She managed this by adapting the strategies to better suit her style and needs.

Who Is Amy Porterfield?

Amy Porterfield is an online marketing expert and educator who is renowned for her digital marketing courses. She has built a reputation for delivering high-quality, actionable training to thousands of students worldwide. Before establishing her own business, Amy gained valuable experience working in marketing for several corporations. She worked as the marketing coordinator for Harley-Davidson, where she mastered her marketing skills.

Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Amy was originally from Carlsbad, California. She has a degree in communications and marketing from UC Santa Barbara. Amy has a lot of experience working in marketing and sales. She worked as the assistant director of telemarketing for UCSB Development and the distributor relations sales manager for ABC-CLIO. She also worked twice for the Dream Foundation and as the director of content development for Tony Robbins. Amy started creating and selling her courses in 2009.

How Amy Porterfield’s “First Ten” Strategy Generated $40,000 Revenue For Her Students

How Amy Achieved $40K Revenue

• Amy taught her students the First Ten strategy through the Digital Course Academy.
• Her students implemented the “First Ten” strategy in their own courses and validated their ideas with their own “first ten”.
• Collectively, Amy and her students generated over $40K revenue from signups on their “first ten” students. One of her students, Celie Cauley, made $16K solely from this launch strategy.
• The early adopters of these courses give valuable feedback that helped Amy refine and restructure the program before offering it to the public.

What is the “First Ten” Strategy?

The “First Ten” strategy is a method designed for entrepreneurs to validate their digital course ideas before fully launching them into new courses. Through this strategy, the course creator engages with a small group of students called the “first ten”, by enrolling them at a discounted rate. In return, the course creator learns from the students and improves the course before its full launching.

This approach reduces risk and losses while allowing for course refinement based on the target customers’ initial feedback.

What Is Amy Porterfield’s List Builders Society?

Amy Porterfield’s List Builders Society is a 5-week list building course. It teaches you the method that Amy used to grow her email list from 0 to over 400,000. The core training comes in 3 modules. You also get access to monthly Q&A calls for 1 year.

• Module 1: Grow Your List - This module offers a 3-step plan to help you grow your email list, create attractive opt-ins (like free resources to get people to sign up), and launch your products smoothly. It’s easy to follow with clear, step-by-step instructions.
• Module 2: Create Content That Sparks Attention - In this module, you’ll learn everything about creating engaging content. It covers how to come up with ideas, stay consistent in your posting, and make your content stand out online. You’ll also get tips on starting or updating your lead magnets, landing pages, and newsletters quickly.
• Module 3: Attract Your Ideal Customer - This module focuses on attracting the right audience for your business. You’ll learn seven easy SEO (search engine optimization) secrets, how to turn social media followers into email subscribers. The course focuses on Facebook Live and Instagram Stories for marketing. You will also learn how to write engaging, non-spammy emails. These will help you build a strong connection with your audience and grow your email list organically.

During the duration of the course, you will have access to the tech library, resource library, bonus courses, and more. You will have lifetime access to the 3-module training. Paying in full also gets you the How To Get Started With Paid Ads To Grow Your List course. List Builders Society costs $497 or 3 payments of $179/month. It comes with a 60-day refund policy with conditions.

What Is Amy Porterfield’s Systems That Scale?

Amy Porterfield’s Systems That Scale is a 4-week business systems course. It teaches you how to establish a solid business foundation by streamlining the day-to-day operations. The core training comes in 4 modules.

• Module 1: Foundation - In this module, you’ll learn how to set up the core parts of your business. Having a strong foundation means it runs smoothly and saves you time. You’ll learn what you need to focus on making your business successful in the long run. This includes learning how to track your progress and making sure your finances and legal matters are in order.
• Module 2: Organize - This module will show you how to organize your calendar and schedule your week effectively. You’ll learn how to create team calendars and set up virtual filing systems to manage your documents and assets.
• Module 3: Systematize - In this module, you’ll learn about the importance of project management systems. You’ll find out how to create processes within your business and improve your internal communication. You’ll also learn how to set up standard operating procedures so your business can keep running smoothly without your daily input.
• Module 4: Scale - In this module, you’ll learn how to grow your business by hiring the right people. You’ll get tips on finding and bringing new team members in. You’ll also learn strategies to help you scale your business when you’re ready to scale.

There are also some bonuses, including the tools you’ll need to hire a team. Systems That Scale costs $297 or 3 payments of $117/month. It comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

What Do People Say About Amy Porterfield?

Reviews for Amy Porterfield’s programs, especially the Digital Course Academy, are mostly positive. However, reviews of Amy Porterfield overall are mixed. Many point out her history with Tony Robbins and involvement in MLM as a red flag. They also criticize the hard upsells into high-ticket programs. There are several Reddit threads that talk about Amy and her red flags. As these are mostly opinions, take them with a grain of salt.

Is Selling Digital Courses Worth It?

Selling a digital course is worth it to earn extra income out of your expertise. You can sell your course on platforms like Udemy and Teachable for free or for a small subscription fee. However, you will not earn 6-7 figures selling a course this way. Trying to earn 6-7 figures like Amy Porterfield means a lot of marketing.

That said, selling courses for extra income can be worth your time. You only need to create your course and keep it updated. Selling on platforms means that you can still have visibility without doing marketing. As everything is online, you don’t have to worry about fulfillment or any other issues that come with physical products. If you have any expertise, consider creating a course as a side online business.

Final Verdict: Is Digital Course Academy Worth the Investment?

Digital Course Academy is worth the investment if you’re committed to building a course-based business and are comfortable using paid strategies like webinars and email launches to sell. The program delivers structured content, solid community support, and tools to get your course off the ground but it’s not for everyone. If you’re a complete beginner or overwhelmed by tech, you may find the pressure of the launch strategy too much.

Is Local Lead Generation Better Than Selling Digital Courses?

In my experience as a coach myself, local lead generation is better than selling digital courses because it removes the pressure of personal branding, product launches, and constantly marketing yourself to stay relevant.

Comparing course creation to local lead generation is like Super Mario Maker versus the Transcontinental Railroad. Super Mario Maker demands hours of building and play-testing before anyone plays. Courses involve outlines, scripting, filming, editing, platforms, and launches that soak time and cash just to get traction. The Transcontinental Railroad moves freight once the rails are laid. Similarly, inquiries roll through on their own with ranked local lead generation sites with minimal effort and zero marketing.

Why Does Local Lead Generation Create Predictable Passive Income?

Local lead generation creates predictable passive income because it relies on search engine rankings instead of sales funnels or personal influence. Once your lead gen sites rank, they stay there with minimal upkeep, unlike courses that require launches, nurturing audiences, and evergreen funnel maintenance. You aren’t selling; you’re renting out space to local businesses who already need leads. This model has no product delivery issues, no refund requests, and far fewer customer support headaches.

One of my clients is Janesville Superior Roofing, 2504 Milton Avenue, Janesville, Wisconsin 53545, 608-530-0602, https://janesvillesuperiorroofing.com/. When 4 of my high-ticket leads closed for $69,700 in a month, I earned $3,485 from 5% commissions.

If you’re looking for a business model that quietly builds wealth without tying your identity to your income, check out the local lead generation.