The Full-Ride Headquarters™ Package from The Hemon Group is an online training program that helps freelance entrepreneurs build a scalable service funnel to close clients and get paid on a retainer. The goal is to help freelancers position themselves as top-tier digital talent in their market with a 3-step system.
Headquarters™ works in 3 ways. They provide you with a core curriculum that includes 2 courses previously sold by the Traffic and Funnels platform, active homework and feedback with your funnel creation, and three live coaching calls per week to help you measure your progress.
This Headquarters review will uncover if what you get inside the Headquarters™ Package will help you earn a recurring passive income each month as a freelance entrepreneur. I'll then break down what kind of income you can make with the local lead generation business model using free organic traffic, instead of paid traffic ads on Facebook or Google.
Pros
Ashton has helped the most successful and popular online coaches and companies make millions of dollars with Facebook and Google ads.
Course material is kept updated.
They hold 3 live weekly coaching calls and monthly event trainings.
Decent price for everything you get, including the two courses that were once $9,800 each.
Cons
Freelancing doesn't pay you a reliable income you can predict each month or year (no peace of mind).
Paid traffic is getting more expensive year after year because of competition and the increase in CPM.
Long-term program (6 months).
All the extra course material isn't free. You must pay extra if you want to take other courses in Headquarters™.
Price
The Full-Ride Headquarters™ Package costs $997.
Refund Policy
30-day money-back guarantee.
Training
Headquarters™ is a 6 month training program working with Ashton's team.
Group
Private Facebook group
Origin
They bundled this package together with courses that previous Traffic and Funnels members sold.
Reputation
Ashton Shank has an excellent online reputation. His paid traffic skills are well known in the world of digital marketing, earning praise from 8+ figure earners for his work as a paid traffic freelancer helping them scale their businesses. Companies like Google, ClickFunnels, Dell, and more have had Ashton manage their advertising spend.
4 Problems Faced by Freelancers
1. Not Finding Enough Work
Freelancers don't find enough work for many reasons, such as not pricing their services correctly, not prospecting enough, not showcasing their work, and more. As a freelancer, you must find the right balance of productivity with your current clients while also staying consistent in your search for more clients, and presenting yourself as a high-value freelancer. It can be stressful for freelancers to not have enough work to pay bills. Fully creating profiles on platforms like Upwork and Freelancer will help you expand your reach and increase your chances of taking on more work. Not finding enough work is usually a big problem for new freelancers who don't have the case studies enough to grab the attention of a company who is looking to hire a qualified freelancer full time.
2. Budgeting
Freelancers may have a hard time budgeting correctly because many times, clients don't pay on time. This can make it difficult for you to pay your bills on time if you only rely on the income of one client. Also, there is no job security as a freelancer. Your clients can fire you anytime and there's nothing you can do about it. The money you make as a freelancer is not one you can rely on in the long-term, which is why you need to find as much work as you can to ensure you can pay your bills.
3. Pricing
Pricing can be a headache for freelancers who don't know how to value their work. Some overprice their work on platforms like Upwork, which makes companies not want to select them for their projects. Others believe they will win jobs by offering the lowest price. This is also a red flag for companies because it makes you look desperate for work. Falling into the habit of dropping your prices will make it difficult for you to scale to 6-figures. It is something inexperienced freelancers tend to do.
4. Limited Benefits
As a freelancer, you don't get the benefits that employees do. An employee gets paid time off, overtime pay, 401K, and easy access to health insurance options. As a freelancer, there is no vacation pay, overtime pay, or pension. It's on you to make enough of a recurring income that will pay you even when you aren't working due to vacation or when you are retired. How much money you make will determine if you can financially survive when you're sick, on vacation or retired.
What do you get inside of Headquarters™?
The first program you have access to is ClientKit. This course and workshop was offered by the Traffic and Funnels platform and used to sell for $9,800.
ClientKit is a system that helps you build an advanced sales funnel that will influence your prospects to make a purchase as they go through your funnel. You learn to find who your target audience is, build your webinar funnel, run paid traffic ads to your webinar, and automate your funnel.
When you sign up for the Headquarters™ Package, they give you access to all versions of ClientKit that have been released.
How to create a sales funnel
To create a sales funnel, you must:
- Identify the problem you want to solve for your customers
- Create an initial offer (bait) to attract your ideal audience (PDF, free training, etc.)
- Nurture your leads with email marketing campaigns or re-targeting ads
- Offer a higher ticket product or service that provides more actionable value (Ex. course)
- Set up a meeting using an appointment scheduling software and close the deal
This section teaches you how to make money online by become a salesperson for online coaches and consultants. This course was previously sold by the Traffic and Funnels program for $9,800. As with the ClientKit, they give you access to all versions and updates of this course.
The content in The Sales Mentor YouTube Channel teaches you all about how to become an inbound closer and help online coaching programs close more deals. Finding solutions for your clients is vital to providing excellent service. Asking questions is something that helps you come up with a specific solution. Ryan Levesque teaches in-depth methods to find solutions for clients in The ASK Method Masterclass.
Headquarters™ includes:
- Advisory on your freelance operations
- Course material
- Marketing material
- 3 weekly coaching calls on mindset and performance
- Sales
- Proposals
This playbook gives you some advertising strategies to help you create ads that convert on platforms like Facebook and Google.
Who is Ashton Shank?
Ashton Shank is one of the best paid traffic experts in the world from Springfield, Missouri. He is the CEO of several media companies, such as The Sales Mentor, Hemon X, and The Hemon Group. Ashton has earned himself the nickname, "The Savage Media Buyer".
Ashton never thought about being a marketer or entrepreneur. For years, he worked as a freelancer and juggled several clients. He struggled to earn a recurring income each month. He and his wife, at one point, were living off of credit cards because his income wasn't steady enough.
In 2012, he worked as the marketing director at Flash Technology, where he was making $28K per year. He helped that company generate $3.2 million per month in revenue by doing Facebook ads. In 2015, for 8 months, he was the director of marketing at an ecommerce company called The Lamp Stand while also being active as a church intern. Ashton even helped build a church in New Orleans.
By 2017, he and his wife moved to Seattle because he wanted to intern at a church there since his plan was to become a pastor. While in Seattle, he worked at Verizon selling phones. Eventually, he became the digital marketing manager at the N2Q Consulting agency in Seattle, helping ecommerce companies efficiently scale past 6 figures.
At the same time, he applied for an internship at Traffic and Funnels but got fired because of a grammatical error he made in a marketing campaign. A week later, Taylor Welch hired him back into the company.
In 2018, Ashton had ascended to the position of director of advertising at Traffic and Funnels, managing over $500,000 in ad spend and generating over $1 million in revenue. As of June 23, 2022, he was named CEO of the Traffic and Funnels company.
Ashton Shanks Net Worth
Ashton Shanks has an estimated net worth of between $1 million and $5 million if you factor in the $100 million he's managed for his clients, the massive mansion, and Aston Martin he posted on Instagram. He is also the CEO of 3 multi-million dollar companies after having helped several companies scale their businesses past 7 figures. This estimate of Ashton Shanks' net worth is possibly a conservative estimate given his success as a direct response marketer.
Is Traffic and Funnels HQ legit?
Traffic and Funnels HQ is legit because many large corporations have trusted Ashton with their advertising budget and he has provided them with a positive return on investment. If someone of Ashton's proven paid traffic caliber is selling something, it's most likely going to be legit. Ashton has no reason to mess up his online reputation after having helped so many large companies scale. He is the CEO of 3 multi-million dollar companies after having worked as only a freelancer. There are plenty of positive testimonials praising Ashton's work as a media buyer.
What is the role of a media buyer?
A media buyer purchases ad space and time on digital and non-digital platforms such as social media, Youtube, radio, television, and more. Ashton Shank has generated millions of dollars in revenue because of his media buying skills.
Headquarters™ Testimonials
Dan Henry is the CEO and founder of GetClient.com. He recommends Ashton and The Hemon Group to anyone who is looking to implement advanced copywriting and media buying on Facebook and Google. Dan worked with Ashton several times and together, they generated millions of dollars in revenue. He calls Ashton a genius with paid ads.
Ashton was one of the first media buyers to work inside Tanner Chidester's company, Elite CEOs. Ashton scaled Tanner's company from $20K in ad spend per day to $400K per month. He says that Ashton was instrumental in Elite CEOs becoming an 8-figure company and that Ashton is one of the best media buyers in the industry and he is grateful for all the work he put in for his company.
Colin Wayne is the CEO of Redline Steel. His company has worked with Ashton for years. Thanks to Ashton and the HemonX team, they generated over one billion impressions on paid ads. Something that stood out to Colin was how dedicated Ashton is with buying media. He would send emails at all hours of the day and was always looking to continue improving his clients' campaigns. Colin said he never worked with anyone who cares the way Ashton does. Redline Steel has serviced over 1 million customers to date.
Headquarters™ Alternatives
Shaqir Hussyin is the CEO of Funnels.com and shows you how to create a sales funnel which includes a video sales letter (VSL) that will help you attract more customers for your business instead of having to prospect all the time. You learn the basics of what he teaches in a 7-step sales funnel webinar. Shaqir then upsells you into a higher ticket program that has helped thousands of consultants and coaches have success with his blueprint.
More Info: Shaqir Hussyin Free Training review
Freelance Marketing Secretes by Keala Kanae is free PDF that shows you the basics of how to build a sales funnel for your affiliate marketing business. Keala created this PDF to lure you into buying Fullstaq Marketer courses. Whether you are new to freelancing or already an entrepreneur, you will learn how to build your funnel to increase sales for your business.
More Info: Freelance Marketing Secrets review
Closer Cartel 3.0 is a course by Luke Alexander shows you how to close high-ticket sales over the phone for online coaching programs and companies. After taking this training, Luke will set you up with a company that needs salespeople. Luke teaches you how to find sales clients, how to handle objections, how to follow-up with leads, and more. He holds 3 live coaching calls per week for all members. There is a private Discord community of over 450 members, and the course was updated in 2023. This course gives you the chance to make money each month from your home without having to work a 9-5. All by doing sales calls and getting people to buy your client's product or service.
Price: Closer Cartel costs $4,000.
More Info: Closer Cartel Review
Is freelancing worth it in 2024?
Freelancing is worth it in 2024 because, according to the US Census Bureau, there are 4.4 million new businesses started each year. There are also countless services you can provide for new and existing businesses, from marketing, SaaS, affiliate marketing, social media management, lead generation, and more. If you can provide on specific service to businesses, land multiple long-term clients, and provide them with lasting results, freelancing will be profitable.
Before you grow your business to 6-figures and beyond, you will have to work tirelessly to find clients who can provide you with steady, long-term work and you'll need to prepare for an unpredictable income initially. Ideally, start freelancing as a side-gig and go from there.
Is freelancing good money?
Freelancing pays you good money if you can take on as many jobs as you can and provide positive results for your clients. According to a study conducted by Upwork in 2020, over 75% of freelancers earn as much, if not more, than they did when they were working a full-time job.
Though there are many paths you can take as a freelancer which will pay you good money, none offer the benefits you gain when you become a freelancer who generates leads for local small businesses using digital properties you own.
Local lead generation with free traffic pays you more long-term as a freelancer than with paid traffic
Local lead generation works without having to spend your money for ads to get clients, and you are in more control of each aspect of your business.
To get clients, you build simple websites that offer a service, rank them on Google, and send leads in advance to local business owners who doesn't have the best online presence and could benefit from more leads.
Leads in advance is a great ice-breaker with a business owner because you are coming with value in hand instead of asking for money first. It's an easier sell and instills confidence. With this process, you don't need to create a sales funnel to get new clients. Your lead generation sites funnel more customers towards your clients and makes them want to keep paying you.
This tree care lead generation site I built and ranked over 7 years ago in Grand Rapids, Michigan has paid me $2,000 every month ever since it ranked.
I sent leads in advance to a local tree care company for about a week and the client couldn't resist. They were looking for more work and I supplied it to them each month on autopilot because my site stays ranked at the top of the search results.
There's no need to pay for ads to generate leads, which means my profit margin is now at 100% each month. If I was paying for ads to generate traffic, that would cut into my profits by about 15% to 40%.
To learn how you can keep 100% of your profits after building your digital real estate properties, look into the local lead generation training program.
