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H-Com 3030 by Alex Becker, Matt Schmitt, and Devin Zander: FULL Review . A course for eCommerce heroes?

August 16, 2020

H-Com 3030 course logo
Hero Commerce 3030 (aka H-Com Red) by Alex Becker, Matt Schmitt, and Devin Zander.
H-Com 3030 is a dropshipping course and mastermind created by Alex Becker. For this third installment of Hero Commerce, Alex partnered with Matthew Schmitt and Devin Zander. 

Matt is a successful dropshipper and Print-On-Demand products, while Devin is the founder of Smar7, a company that produces apps used on the Shopify platform.
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H-Com 3030 Course Overview

Rank:
Ranked #13 out of the Top 10 Dropship Courses for 2020 (See full list here)
Length:
12 hours 2 minutes
Content:
Good content, but not comprehensive. 
Rating:
 
Price:
$1,997  (March 2020)
Alex Becker

Introduction to Alex

Alex Becker is an online entrepreneur, well-known for his YouTube Channel, his collaboration with other online entrepreneurs to create courses, and an author. 

Most recently though (March 2020), he is better known for being an extreme minimalist, following a woke way of life. Apparently, Alex sold his house, cars, even his furniture.

Yet, he still has the apartment where he shoots all his YouTube videos... And speaking of which, Alex announced on 11 March that he was even considering letting his YouTube Channel "die" so that he can focus on being a CEO for his software company - so it's uncertain what the future holds where Alex Becker and his eCommerce training is concerned. 
According to wealthypersons.com, as of March 2020, Alex Becker has an estimated net worth of $15 million. He made his fortune from his career as an online entrepreneur, as well as an SEO guru and course creator. 

Regardless of his new-found lifestyle, Alex still has a very good YouTube following wth over 400k subscribers. His YT Channel also has almost 25 million views. 

That is seriously impressive. 

Before Alex decided on his extreme minimalist/woke way of life, his YouTube Channel was mostly dedicated to eCommerce. 

Please note:
I AM NOT AN AFFILIATE. I do not receive any money by doing this review or providing links to the H-Com 3030 course. This means you get an honest, unbiased review. 

What H-Com 3030 claims to offer you

The Hero Ecommerce Program, or H-Com 3030, is a 9-week online program. Its purpose is to teach you how to create a Shopify store and getting it profitable in as short an amount of time, as possible. The program offers "proven" step-by-step methods, taught by eCommerce experts making at least $500k a month in revenue. 

The course starts by showing you a step-by-step process to pick your first products, build a store, and use seuper cheap Faceboo Advertising to get customers within two weeks

The course is said to be 100% beginner-friendly. This program is designed to work for the complete novice who does not have any prior experience in eCommerce. During the 9-week course you will get everything you need to build stores in successful niches, pick the right products, and getting buying customers. 

Let's see if these claims are nothing but hype, or whether there is some substance to them.

The H-Com 3030 Course Breakdown

The Accelerator Program contains 88 different video lessons, with a total of 15 hours and 23 minutes of tutorials.
WEEK 1: MIND
Week 1 starts with the expected "The best decision of your life" video. Alex tells you why you made a great decision and hammers the point that you will not succeed if you do not follow through and take action. (I hate to admit, but he is correct. My mentor Dan Klein also stresses the importance of taking "...massive action." 
The entire week is thus dedicated to mindset.

This week long module contains 11 lesson videos with a total length of 46 minutes. 

WEEK 2: 3030 BUILD
This section is presented by Matt and Devin. They take you through all the basic steps of setting up your Shopify store.

Throughout the course of the week, they cover what Shopify is and why it is used, domain and store names, signing up for Shopify, choosing a theme, the Shopify dashboard, payment, checkout and shipping set up, and choosing your plan.   
This week long module contains 15 lesson videos with a total length of 51 minutes. 

WEEK 3: PRODUCTS
This week is split into three separate sections. There's a short introduction/overview section of two videos, followed by a Dropshipping and Print-on-Demand section.

Each section covers the basics such as choosing products and suppliers, adding products and/or designs to your store and scaling. 
This week long module contains 13 lesson videos with a total length of 2 hours and 1 minute. 

WEEK 4: SALES
Week 4 covers what everyone is most interested in - making money! 

The main topics covered are Store Conversion Rate Optimization through store optimization, page optimization, checkout optimization, and improving sessions conversion.
This week long module contains 6 lesson videos with a total length of 1 hour and 23 minutes. 

WEEK 5: ADS
Without proper marketing, your online business will be dead in the water. One of the biggest and most popular advertising platforms for dropshippers is Facebook.

In this week's training you will:
- Set up your FB accounts.
- Learn about the FB Pixel and how to set it up.
- How to set up an Ad and Ad Campaigns.
- Learn about targeting, including the do's and don'ts.
- Test your ads, including when to kill an ad set and when to re-use it.
This week long module contains 16 lesson videos with a total length of 2 hours and 26 minutes. 

WEEK 6: SCALE
The next part of the course deals with scaling, that includes increasing your budget, creating ads, lookalike audiences, and taking you through different scaling stages. 
This week long module contains 6 lesson videos with a total length of 1 hour and 2 minutes. 

WEEK 7: MAINTAIN
Once you've scaled your Ads successfully, it's time to maintain them at optimum capacity. You will use this module once you have a product/s that perform well, based on the previous two stages. This module includes a Manual Bidding Strategy, Scaling based on Data and an LAA Strategy. 
Matthew explains it all in simple terms and shows you over-the-shoulder examples inside his Ads Manager account. 

This week long module contains only 3 lesson videos with a total length of 33 minutes. 

WEEK 8: ADVANCED TACTICS
Once you've scaled your Ads successfully, it's time to maintain them at optimum capacity. Week 8 is broken down into 3 sections: Email Marketing, Influencer Marketing, and Advanced Sales Tactics. 

Alex shows you some great tips on how to use the Hero Marketer Software. However, for an email marketing campaign to be successful, you need an actual email list. When you are just starting out, don't expect to make tons of money this way. It takes months to build a decent-sized mailing list, so be warned. 
This week long module contains only 17 lesson videos with a total length of 2 hours and 1 minute. 

WEEK 9: ELITE LEVEL SCALE
By Week 9, the hope is that you have a lot of sales under your belt, which will warrant the following scaling techniques: Retargeting, Product Pipeline, Launch Scheduling, and Team Scaling. 
This week long module contains only 6 lesson videos with a total length of 49 minutes. 

Is it a worthwhile course?

Let's start off with this statement from the course sales/landing page:
"This is 100% beginner friendly. This program is designed to work for a total novice without any prior experience. Through the 10 week course you will get everything you need to build stores in successful niches, pick the right products and get buying customers to those products."

If, however, you do some research on H-Com and the Hero Commerce courses, you will find threads in Reddit and other forums where beginners are not happy, and do not agree with the above statement. 

There are students who feel that the program is not always clear as to which steps to follow and that the support system is lacking. In the private FB Group, it's no better. It's claimed that instead of peer support, the more seasoned students make fun of the newbies - and this includes the course creators! Apparently the vibe is very condescending, and that's not a healthy environment to help and nurture newcomers.
Alex Becker with his orange Lamborghini in the background

If you follow Alex or watch some of his videos on YouTube, you'll realize that he can be a harsh teacher. He has been known to even shout at "students" on his YT Channel. He also doesn't go into the details and sometimes rushes over parts that will be difficult to students - so some of the complaints are warranted, I guess.

It all depends on you as the individual. Some people need a kick in the rear to get them going, others need to be handled with kid gloves. 

As I worked through the H-Com training, I didn't find it particularly difficult, but I do have years of dropshipping experience. Beginners, on the other hand, will find some of the training challenging.

Which is why a supporting community is so important. You should never be afraid to ask questions...

Luckily I am part of a close-knit group that offers motivational and professional support when I need questions answered. Sorry to say, but it's not a dropshipping group. If you want more info, just click below.

Review Conclusion

At just over 12 hours of content, you would expect the course content fir H-Com 3030 to be pretty comprehensive. Although it covers most of what a beginner dropshipper needs to get started, most of the content can be found on YouTube for free. 

With such a creative and hugely successful team at the helm, you would expect a lot more from the course. But neither Alex, Matthew, nor Devin offers much in terms of "insider" tips and methods. 

You would also think that the exclusive apps and tools developed for Hero Commerce by Smar7 Apps would be a game-changer, and yet there are numerous complaints of bugs and compatibility issues.

Some of these complaints have gone back to 2 years ago, and it's pretty disconcerting to see that people are still complaining about the same issues.  (Head on over to TrustPilot and you'll see what I'm talking about. Hero Commerce also has a 2 star rating, which is not great...) 

At $1,997 you would expect to get much more bang for your buck - and you'd be right...

H-Com 3030 course logo
3.0/5

What I like:

  • Good layout and presentation from three very successful eCommerce entrepreneurs.
  • Actual methods and formulas that show how much to spend, and when to spend it on FB Ads. 
  • Good scaling techniques. 

What I didn't like:

  • Group support is lacking. 
  • Currently, Alex's continued commitment to his programs, is in doubt. Will be there continued updates and support in the future? 
  • It's overpriced at $1,997.  
  • Not the best online business model in 2020.

Is dropshipping still an option in 2020?

There are no two ways about it, dropshipping is under pressure these days. 
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There's more and more competition and marketing costs, especially FB and Google Ads, that are constantly going up. 

Even Alex Becker has gone and sold all his posessions - Alex says its because of his minimalist/woke lifestyle, but there are rumours that it is because dropshipping profits are way down. (That will also influence how many people buy his courses...)

A couple of short years ago, there were a few new dropshipping millionaires per year. Now, you're considered a great success if you make six-figures in a year. 

The game has changed. 

But what exactly has changed? 
For one, there's a lot more competition. If you look at Google Trends, it shows that dropshipping is still trending upwards in searches. This means more entrepreneurs entering the dropshipping market. 

Every new dropshipper finds his/her products in the same fashion from the same source. So, even if AliExpress has thousands upon thousands of different products, there's still a good chance that you will be selling the exact same products as a hundred other beginner dropshippers, because you either did the same course, or you watched the same YouTube video. 

The marketing landscape also changed, especially FB Ads. Costs have gone up, and you there's more competition trying to sell similar products on the same people's feeds. 
FB Ad Costs rise 90 percent year-on-year
This makes it much more difficult for new dropshippers to cash in on instant success.

Unfortunately, the days where you could start a Shopify store with any old product, throw a few buck at Facebook and make some money, are over. 

In 2020, you need to know what you're doing, especially where marketing is concerned. Putting down $50, putting FB Ads on autopilot and hoping for the best doesn't work.
Setting FB Ad bidding on auto is bad for ROI
You need to become an expert at manual bidding, analyzing data, creating lookalike audiences, scaling ad sets, and retargeting. 

Not only that, but running a dropshipping store also entails a lot of hard work, you also have to become good at:

  • Product research in order to keep selling winning products. 
  • Supplier research, otherwise you'll get order that are never fulfilled.
  • Then there's also Re-targeting and Email Marketing, Placing Orders, Shipping issues, Chargebacks, After Sales and Additional Costs that no one talks about, such as Shopify Apps subscriptions.
  • Smarter Shoppers who knows that you can get the same products that you advertise, on AliExpress and Wish directly for much cheaper.
And be warned, it could take months before you see any profits. 
  

So, what is the best online business option for 2020?

For me, there is only one viable business option in 2020.

I've been doing lead generation for several years now and it has consistently outperformed all of my other online businesses.

Using tried and tested methods, I still rank websites to Number One on Google. And, this is done without any marketing whatsoever. 

All you need is to learn some new skills and a drive to succeed. 

Have a look at one of my lead gen sites as example:
I have had many different online businesses in many different niches, and markets using different business models. Lead gen has (by far!) been the most successful and consistent over the years. 

There's no competition really. 

Lead gen offer the following benefits over the other online business models I've been involved with: 
  • Highest ROI. Since there's no marketing costs and other major overheads involved, your Return On Investment is much higher.
  • You learn a new specialized skill set, which is not easily obtainable. This means you become a sought-after expert. Unlike, in dropshipping where just about anyone can copy your store and have a new one up and running within a few short hours.  
  • Local Lead Gen is a long-term business opportunity, not just a short-term hustle.
  • It generates a true passive income. With the minimum of maintenance on your lead gen sites, it keeps creating a monthly income, month-after-month, year-after-year. 
There's no competition, really. Dropshipping made me a mere 10k per month at the best of times, whereas Lead Generation makes me $50k per month. That's why it is STILL my Number One business recommendation. 

Want to know more? Scroll down and follow the link. 
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Ippei Kanehara
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