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The Craigslist Middleman Review – Who teaches this course and is generating leads on Craigslist legit?

April 16, 2024

In the Ultimate Craigslist Middleman guide, you learn how to run ads on Craigslist offering services like logo and website design at high-ticket prices, to then outsource those jobs to freelancers on Fiverr. You're shown the exact ads to use, how to close clients over the phone, and how to find the best freelancers to do the work at low-cost prices. In this Craigslist Middleman review, we'll cover if this course is a scam, if there is any information on who the course creator is, if this business model actually works, and what the best alternative to generating leads is. I'll then compare how this compares to another popular lead generation business model.

Pros

Step-by-step guidance on how to make money by outsourcing work from Craigslist to freelancers on Fiverr

Several recent student success stories

They share a list of the top designers to outsource work to on Fiverr

You get the top 10 niches and top 20 cities to implement The Craigslist Middleman strategy

Cons

There are more people going directly to Fiverr and not Craigslist if they need a logo or website made.

Websites can easily be made on drag-and-drop website builders like Snapps.

Logos can be made using sites like Canva.

Google gets more traffic than Craigslist

Price:

The Craigslist Middleman costs $97. They only accept 10 people in the program each month.

Refund Policy:

Full refund if you aren't making $8K-9K per month within 90 days

Training:

4 main training modules; Ad templates, headlines, posts, photos and ad copy are provided for you to implement immediately in your ads.

Group:

No private Facebook group

Origin:

Course creator made 6-figures in 2021 by outsourcing work from Craigslist to Fiverr.

Reputation:

According to the course creator, he made $125,550 last year from this method.

Who is The Craigslist Middleman's Course Creator?

Craigslist Middleman’s course creator is Joe from Austin, Texas. There’s not much said about him online. He only appeared a few times on some of Craigslist Middleman’s YouTube ads. Judging from his looks on YouTube, he’s probably in his mid-20s. Joe said he attended university and had a 9-to-5 job when he started Craigslist Middleman. He made $10K that year and now makes $125 annually through this side hustle.

What is Craigslist?

Craigslist is an online marketplace that provides a variety of services and was founded by Craig Newmark in 1995. It is one of the most well-known sites for classified ads on the internet. People can look for work, buyers for items on sale, a property owner can find rental properties or connect with a potential buyer, and more. Companies and service providers can also list jobs on Craigslist or even a gig.

Although there are over 70 countries that use Craigslist, and the site comes in 14 different languages, they receive most of their traffic from the United States (190 million visitors).

What do you learn inside The Craigslist Middleman?

The following are the 4 main steps that you learn in this course.

Step 1) Post an ad on Craigslist for Website or Logo Design

The first step is all about posting an ad in the services section of Craigslist.

The services you're taught to post an ad for are website and logo design. To a certain extent, these are services that are the easiest to outsource because even freelancers from overseas can handle these jobs. In the course, you're given his exact posting strategy and how to optimize your Craigslist listing.

Step 2) Creating Your Craiglist Ad Sets

The strategy of creating a Craigslist ad sets will help you attract customers who want high-ticket design services for anywhere between $500 and $3500. The strategy in this course is called 'Get Calls Like Crazy'.

Step 3) How to close clients via Phone or Text

The third step to this business model is closing deals. You're taught how to talk to customers and how to price the designer gigs. The goal is to close clients at thousands of dollars for high-ticket design jobs. You're given access to the exact scripts that work to help you close the deals.

Once your potential client agrees to your fee, you collect your payment via PayPal.

Step 4) Outsourcing the jobs on Fiverr

Outsourcing makes this business model flow. You're shown how to go to Fiverr and find freelancers from overseas to fulfill your clients' needs.

The idea is to outsource for 10% of the cost of the job. This allows you to pay them around $50-$200 dollars per job even though you charged your clients thousands. All you do is outsource and keep +90% as profit.

Once the overseas designer completes the job, you simply send it to your client. You also learn how you can scale this business to 6-figures.

The Craigslist Middleman Successful Students

James is from Austin, Texas and has had massive success with this business model after having bought this course. He is already making $10K per month from outsourcing Craigslist jobs. James says that this course will teach you everything you need to know to make this system work for you and be profitable.

Jesse is from San Clemente, California and bought this course in May 2022. He was able to reach over $6.5K per month from this side gig after only a month of implementing what he learned in this course. His number one way of reaching out to business owners is by emailing them to take on jobs that he's generated with his Craigslist ads. Jesse believes that this course and business model are perfect for anyone who has an already busy schedule.

Craigslist Middleman Review by Kyle

Kyle's Background and Story

Kyle used to work in the television industry for 10 years. Halfway into his television career, he started exploring different business models to find better financial opportunities. This exploration led him to a successful venture that allowed him to work independently, finally escaping his 9 to 5. Kyle has bought many online courses since he started exploring this industry and has spent over $100,000 on different money-making programs.

Experience with Craigslist Middleman

Kyle sees Craigslist middleman as a valid business strategy, but points out that the business is high-maintenance because you need to constantly interact with customers and clients. It is not a passive business because you're always in search of freelancers where you can outsource jobs to.

Lessons Kyle Learned From Craigslist Middleman

Understanding the Service: Interested students of the Craigslist Middleman should have a good understanding of the different freelancing services offered online to manage the tasks well and communicate better with clients.
Customer Interaction: The Craigslist Middleman business model requires active engagement with clients. You need to address inquiries while ensuring expectations are met. Overall, it is a high-maintenance biz.

What's not mentioned in the video: Craigslist does not support advanced filtering and sorting, which leads to lower visibility of listings. It also does not have a built-in payment system, so customers are forced to pay either in cash or through third-party payment facilities.

The Craigslist Middleman Alternative (Local Lead Generation Coaching Program)

The Local Lead Generation Coaching Program by Dan Klein is the best alternative to generating leads online. Inside, you learn exactly how the business model works, how to create your digital properties, optimize, and rank them, and forward to local small business owners who are looking for more customers. This business model is also called rank and rent. The training program has many step-by-step training videos that teach you everything you need to know and do to be successful. The private Facebook group has over 7400 students who are on a mission to become financially free and many are earning 6-figures because of these skills. Every week there are two live coaching calls by Dan and the other mentors within the program. The contacts and resources you have at your disposal are valuable and always available.

For more info on who Dan is, read my article, Who is Dan Klein?

Is The Craigslist Middleman business model a scam?

Of all the online business models that exist, the one taught by The Craigslist Middleman course isn't a scam. Just like Amazon middleman, you can make money with Craigslist middleman. Craigslist is a legit online marketplace and Fiverr is a legit place to find freelancers from all over the world you can outsource work to for cheap. Lead generation can be accomplished with paid or organic traffic.

The issue I have with this course and manner of generating leads is in the fulfillment aspect. You learn how to outsource work to freelancers from overseas on Fiverr. The problem with that is you don't know if the quality you and your clients expect is going to be there. When you close a deal for a 10 page website at $3500, for example, more is required than just putting some pictures and basic content together. At that price point, those are more detailed jobs. What if your client doesn't like the layout or needs several changes to be made? The process can become a hassle because it will take time to communicate back and forth between client and Fiverr freelancer, to get it all done. Especially because of the time difference.

Now imagine your client doesn't like the work that was done at all and wants their money back? You've lost out on your profit and the time to build the site. You also lose out on the money you spent on ads to generate that lead in the first place.

Although Craigslist receives over 250 million visits each month, according to First Site Guide, this method of generating leads is risky and not one that you really are in control of because the fulfillment may not be what your clients want. Many people do local lead generation with digital real estate on Google because there is less risk and more control.

Final Thoughts

With local lead generation, you create your digital properties in the niche and market want, then rank them on Google. Google is where almost everyone goes when in need of a service like plumbing, paving or tree care.

I created sites like this limo rental site back in 2014 that still pay me a passive income today.

After you rank your site on Google, you don't have to do much to them. They will continue to generate leads for your clients. In the process, you keep getting paid each month. Scaling is easy at this point. All you do is build more lead gen sites and rent them out to increase your monthly income.

For more info on how you can do the same, check out the local lead generation training program.