Remote Business Academy Review (2026): Derek Gray's Digital Real Estate Costco Method?

What Are the Pros and Cons of Remote Business Academy?

Price: Remote Business Academy costs $5,500.

Refund Policy: Remote Business Academy does not offer any refunds.

Origin: Derek Gray founded Remote Business Academy in 2023 with his cousin Dakota Gray.

What Is Remote Business Academy's Costco Method?

1. Choose a local service and location. For example, handyman in St. George, Utah.
2. Create a simple local website using RBA’s AI-powered drag-and-drop website builder.
3. Optimize the site’s SEO so it ranks on Google for searches like “handyman services in st george utah.”
4. Qualify the leads and send 2 to 3 leads to local businesses for free. This is where the “Costco method” comes in.
5. If the leads close profitably for the business, offer the site for rent.
6. Maintain the site’s Google ranking so that the business continuously get exclusive leads.

The Costco Method gives assurance to potential local business partners that your site can deliver leads. They see the value of your leads before deciding if they should pay you monthly. This method is not unique. I also use this method in my digital real estate business.

However, the Costco method does not guarantee consistent lead quality moving forward. If not enough leads convert to be profitable for the business, they’ll end their partnership with you. Fixed monthly retainers also limit your earning potential where lead conversion is great. You earn the same amount even if the business makes way more.

How Did Josh Talley Earn $25K a Month After a Year With Remote Business Academy?

Josh Talley earns $25K a month after a year with Remote Business Academy by renting out digital real estate sites and offering GBP clients. He has 3 digital real estate sites paying $2.5K to $3K a month and about 60 GBP clients, mostly paying $500 a month. Josh says that he likes that the training videos were easy to digest, being only 10 to 15 mins each. He also highlighted the importance of the Skool community and coaching calls in giving much-needed support.

Before joining RBA, Josh was a food-truck operator. He initially wanted to learn SEO in order to optimize his own website. He was also hoping to earn an extra $3K from digital real estate to invest back into his business. However, his food-truck business fell through, but his digital real estate assets made enough. He later expanded to offering GBP services to local businesses and founded the King Me Digital agency.

Josh’s success is a good example of the earning potential of digital real estate. However, Josh did not take full advantage of the model’s high scalability. Instead of focusing on building more digital real estate sites, he shifted focus to GBP services.

What Do You Get With Remote Business Academy?

• The Digital Real Estate video course that cover:
  • Website-building
  • Market research
  • Google ranking
  • Website rental strategy
• Weekly coaching calls with Derek, Dakota, and other coaches.
• Multiple market-research Zoom calls every week.
• Access to the RBA team for assistance in:
  • Website building
  • Client acquisition
  • Google Business Profiles
  • Paid ads
• Access to the Remote Business Academy Skool community.

Who Is Derek Gray?

Derek Gray is a digital marketer and the co-founder of Remote Business Academy. He specializes in rank-and-rent and GBP optimization. His digital real estate assets bring in $500 to $2,000 a month each.

Before 2021, Derek delivered ice to grocery stores, gas stations, and restaurants across Southern Utah. He later worked 10-hour days as a window cleaner. Then he started experimenting with AI prompts and building websites. However, Derek said that he failed to find a business model that works with that skill set. So he started looking into GBP management and found quick success.

Derek also developed an AI GBP optimization tool called Quepo. He says that he was making an equivalent of $2,942.50 an hour from his GBP clients. Around the time he was doing GBP management, Derek started doing rank-and-rent. This is where he put most of his effort. Soon he co-founded Remote Business Academy with his cousin Dakota Gray.

What Is Derek Gray's GBP Mastery?

Derek Gray's GBP Mastery is a free short course and Skool community. Derek founded it in 2025 to teach the GBP management model. GBP Mastery is not a full coaching program like Remote Business Academy. It is a free course that is meant to upsell Remote Business Academy.

Final Verdict: Does Remote Business Academy Teach a Good Digital Real Estate Model?

Remote Business Academy teaches a good digital real estate model as you learn how to build assets that bring in passive monthly income. The program also teaches the GBP management model for an alternative or additional cash flow.

However, Remote Business Academy relies too much on AI to generate web content. This makes it harder to rank on Google with each update cracking down on AI.

This Remote Business Academy student posted their experience on Reddit. They explained that the program claims that you can easily build and rank sites using AI. They also said that converting the leads and finding contractors is another challenge.

In my experience, relying completely on AI to generate websites that rank is unreliable. This is why I also teach my students several strategies to make their sites more “human.” For example, I tell my students to add unique information specific to the business. I also teach strategies to ensure that local businesses are more willing to work with you. For example, instead of only doing monthly fixed rentals, the commission model reduces risks local businesses take. They’ll be more willing to work with you if they don’t have to pay if leads don’t convert.

How Does Remote Business Academy's Model Compare to My Local SEO Lead Generation Strategy?

Remote Business Academy teaches the rank-and-rent and GBP management models. My local SEO lead generation program teaches the rank-and-rent and SEO agency models. Remote Business Academy’s rank-and-rent model focuses on fixed monthly retainers. My rank-and-rent model offers both fixed and commission-based strategies.

Why Choose My Local SEO Lead Generation Program?

You should choose my local SEO lead generation program because I built mine with over 11+ years of experience in digital real estate. I’ve been learning the original rank-and-rent model and continue to build new effective strategies as Google algorithm changes. Compared to Derek Gray, I have a decade of experience coaching students. I’ve helped coach over 7,000 students to date.

In 2025 alone, I’ve ranked over 150 local sites. 1 of my clients is Anaheim Elite Hardwood Flooring, 2070 E Lincoln Ave, Anaheim, CA 92806, (657) 695-1915, https://www.anaheimwoodflooring.com/. I secured a deal where I get 10% of the value of my leads that close. I had 16 leads close for $29,665 in 1 month. My take-home was $2,966.50. Check out my local SEO lead generation program to learn the best digital real estate strategies and stay updated.