Insider Scaling System is a print-on-demand ecommerce course by Tom Bell of ViralStyle that teaches you how to create, manage, and scale a print-on-demand business. You will learn how to create and sell your print-on-demand products on Etsy, Amazon, and ViralStyle. The Insider Scaling System teaches you everything you need to know to create print-on-demand designs, set up your store and list your products, market your products on Amazon and Etsy, and automate the process using the 4-stage blueprint. The end goal is for you to be one of the best sellers on Tom's own platform, ViralStyle.
I have found no Insider Scaling System reviews by students. There are a lot of customer reviews for ViralStyle, which is Tom Bell's print-on-demand platform and what Insider Scaling System is based on. The reviews for ViralStyle are widely mixed with many complaints about printing quality, shipping issues, refund issues, poor customer service, and more.
Print-on-demand businesses have a high fail rate with estimations of 98% on Etsy, 80% on Redbubble, 99% on Shopify, with similar high figures on other platforms. In this Insider Scaling System review, you will learn if Insider Scaling System can help you be one of those successful few. We will go over Tom's 4-step blueprint, who the Insider Scaling System is for and what you get with it, and if the students are successful and if it's worth it. We will also go over what ViralStyle is and if it's worth it, who Tom Bell is, and what his claims are and if they are reasonable.
Tom Bell's Insider Scaling System Review: Pros and Cons
Pros
Tom Bell is highly successful and is featured several publications and was a guest speaker for the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization in 2017.
ViralStyle is a full service solution that provides tools, marketing, printing and shipping, handles customer service, and more.
Cons
No transparency with the price and what you get with the program.
Tom claims that you can find success without doing any marketing, which is misleading.
ViralStyle has had many complaints about its services.
Price
The Insider Scaling System does not display how much it costs, but it is often at the discounted price of $1,997. You need to schedule a phone call in order to find out the current price.
Refund Policy
No refund policy listed but previously had a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Reputation
Mixed reputation because of many ViralStyle complaints.
4-Step Blueprint for a Successful Print-On-Demand Business
Who Is Insider Scaling System For?
- Beginners who want to create a low-cost ecommerce business without the difficulty of dealing with physical product issues. The Insider Scaling System gives you a step-by-step how to start your print-on-demand store on Etsy and Amazon.
- Experienced ecommerce store owners who want to learn how to sell print-on-demand products. The Insider Scaling System teaches you how to create designs and how to set up the system that will print and ship out the orders.
- Current print-on-demand business owners who want to scale their business. The Insider Scaling System gives you a list of vetted printing companies and teaches you how you can outsource most of the work to create a passive income business.
What Do You Get With Insider Scaling System?
Are Students of Insider Scaling System Successful?
Tom shows screenshots of what he claims are the earnings of his students on ViralStyle. He claims that one student earned over $38,000 in 1 week, another earned almost $45,000 in 2 weeks, and yet another earned over $33,000 in just 3 days. There is no way to verify these claims and Chris does not give any information about who these students are or what their businesses is. Take these results with a grain of salt.
Is Insider Scaling System Worth It?
Insider Scaling System is worth it if you want to learn how to create a print-on-demand business as a sideline. It is a legit course that teaches you the same foundations that Tom used to find success. This course is best if you want to sell on ViralStyle. There are many alternatives to Insider Scaling System, such as Rachel Rofe’s Low Hanging System, Brittany Lewis’ Top Seller Secret, and Dr Chris’s Millionaire Vet. Each of these courses specializes in a specific strategy and on selling on a specific platform. Millionaire Vet teaches how to sell on TeeSpring, ViralStyle, and GearBubble, Top Seller Secret teaches selling on Etsy, and Low Hanging System teaches selling on the large ecommerce platforms.
Who Is Tom Bell?
Tom Bell is a 9-figure ecommerce entrepreneur and founder of ViralStyles and Insider Scaling System from Tampa, Florida. His print-on-demand company, ViralStyles, made over $300 million dollars in total revenue. From Oct 2009 to June 2014, Tom also owned a real estate wholesaling company, Local Home Investments, LLC, that bought and sold houses in the Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco county area. Tom also had a digital marketing company, Advantage Mailers, LLC, from 2011 to 2012.
Tom started his ecommerce business in 2012 with a T-shirt brand called "Ready to Rage." He found success through the use of Facebook ads for marketing and by leveraging the print-on-demand strategy. After he created ViralStyles in 2014, he made $10 million within the first three months. In 2017, Tom was the guest speaker at a live webinar hosted by the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization in collaboration with the University of Tampa, Future Founders, and Self Employment in the Arts.
What Is Tom Bell's Claim?
Tom Bell claims that Insider Scaling System will teach you how to make $10,000 a month without running ads, email marketing, or having social media presence. He claims this is done by just leveraging the customer base of Amazon and Etsy and can be done with just a few products and be completely passive. Print-on-demand ecommerce is a low-risk business model, but it also has many downsides.
4 Major Downsides to Print-On-Demand
Tom Bell's claims are exaggerated and misleading. There are several realities with the business model that make Tom's claims very unlikely. Print-on-demand ecommerce is a highly competitive business, marketing is a very crucial part for success. Added to this, there are 4 major downsides that further lower the chance of Tom's claims turning reality.
To summarize, Tom's claims are unrealistic for most beginners starting out. The fact with ecommerce is that you need to have a marketing strategy. Low-cost organic marketing strategies take a long time to grow, which would not work in print-on-demand businesses that chase trends. Running paid ads is the most effective form of marketing in this case, but will cost a lot of money. That said, the chances of you becoming one of the 100+ 6-7 figure earners on ViralStyle is very unlikely.
What Is ViralStyle?
ViralStyle is a print-on-demand ecommerce platform by Tom Bell where you can sell custom products. The platform is free to use and specializes in print-on-demand products. Viral Style is a global leader in the print-on-demand industry, offering a variety of services that include order management, customer service, printing, and shipping of customized items to 160 countries.
After undergoing a major corporate restructuring in 2022, Viral Style saw a growth increase of 43% in 2023. There are over 100 6-7 figure earners on the platform. ViralStyle was acquired by Bergio International, Inc in July 2023. Viralstyle made it to #3342 on the 2019 INC 5000 list of fastest growing US companies.
How Much Can You Make on ViralStyle?
How much you can make on ViralStyle depends on your profit margin and sales. ViralStyle is completely free to use. You can set your own prices for your designs and ViralStyle will only take a cut based on their base prices when you make a sale. For example, if you sell a shirt for $24 and ViralStyle takes $7.40 for the product and printing plus $4.95 for shipping, you make $11.65 in profit.
ViralStyle Reviews
Reviews for ViralStyle are overwhelmingly negative on Trustpilot with a 1.5 rating, but are highly positive on BBB with a 4.77/5 rating. Negative reviews on Trustpilot are mostly about poor customer service, shipping issues, poor quality of the products, refunds not being processed, stolen designs sold on the platform, and many more. Positive reviews often mention great customer service in addressing their problems with printing quality, wrong items, and other issues.
Most of the negative reviews on BBB are before ViralStyle's corporate restructuring. Since then, it appears they have improved largely with their customer service. ViralStyle is also quick to resolve complaints on BBB. Reviews on Trustpilot remain negative as complaints continue to come in.
Is Print-On-Demand Ecommerce Worth It?
Print-on-demand ecommerce is worth it if you will invest a lot of time and money into the business. Like any other ecommerce business model, you need to invest in effective marketing and product research. The great thing about print-on-demand is that you can do it at a very low cost as you don't need to pay upfront for production costs or storage fees. If you have the eye and skill for it, you can create your own designs for free using websites like Placeit or Canva. You can list your designs for free on ViralStyle where they provide the printing and shipping services.
If you are looking to do print-on-demand as a sideline, don't expect to find much success. If you do not have the skill or time to create your own designs and do your own research, you could outsource the work. However, outsourcing costs money and creates a risk of losing money if you do not sell. I would not recommend the print-on-demand to anyone new to ecommerce who wants to create a passive income business.
Create a Low-Cost, Low-Risk Passive Income Business With Local Lead Generation
Local lead generation is a low-cost, low-risk business model that creates passive income without the need to outsource the work. It costs as little as an initial investment of $500 to start and costs as low as $30 a month to maintain. Compared to a print-on-demand business where you only earn when you make a sale, a local lead generation business earns a predictable income every month. You don't need to worry about things like trends dying down, low-quality products, customer experience, etc.
Local lead generation works by creating and ranking a site on Google, then renting it out to local business. As a type of digital real estate where you are the landlord, you earn rent consistently every month. Because there are no physical things to maintain, you earn completely passively.
When customers search for services in their local area, they will click the top result. Businesses who rent the site you rank on the top will benefit from the customers you send their way. This is why they will pay you up to $3,000 a month to rent your site.
Scaling a print-on-demand business requires you to hire teams to work on every aspect of your business. This adds to your operational costs and creates more risks. To scale a local lead generation business, you simply need to create, rank, and rent out another website. There is no limit to how many sites you can rank and rent. A site can stay ranked on Google for years so you don’t even need to update it constantly. This is why local lead generation is my recommended business to create time and financial freedom in 2024.
