Digital Experts Academy Review – Can This Give You Financial Independence?

Name: Digital Experts Academy (DEA)

Website: digitalexpertsacademy.com

Price: $2,499 – $19,999 + upsells

Founders: Stuart Ross and Jay Kubassek

What is Digital Experts Academy?

Digital Experts Academy (DEA) was co-founded by Stuart Ross and Jay Kubassek in late 2012. The company specializes in digital marketing, and their goal is to make you a digital expert.

Digital Experts Academy is an educational organization that provides a step-by-step digital marketing program for you to learn how to be a digital marketer (a fancy way of saying online/internet marketer). Their programs were developed to help people recognize and pursue their talents and passions, in order to create their ideal business. They will help you learn how to become financially self-sufficient with coaching and support specialists/mentors to help you.

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Pros and Cons of Digital Experts Academy

Six Figure Mentors (SFM)

Six Figure Mentors is the affiliate system and the affiliate community of Digital Experts Academy.

• They also have tools, training, resources, and a community to help you
• There are 3 levels of memberships that specialize in affiliate marketing and lead generation.
• As a fully qualified Digital Experts Academy affiliate you can earn up to $8000 in commissions PER SALE , promoting Digital Experts Academy membership (but it takes work and investments)
• If you want to promote any DEA product (SFM Digital Business System, Digital Experts Academy, Digital Business Lounge, SimpleLeadCapture) you will need to join the Six Figure Mentors affiliate community

Digital Business Lounge (DBL)

Digital Business Lounge is the “all-in-one” with internet marketing tools and resources associated with Digital Experts Academy.

• This one again, provides you with the digital business tools and resources you need
• The Premium Digital Business Lounge membership comes free with the basic Six Figure Mentors Membership.
• It is a DEA retail product, but you can also purchase it without being a SFM member

Digital Experts Academy Tools, Training, and Support

These are the 4 levels of memberships offered through Digital Experts Academy, and what comes with each of them.

• Silver Membership – Digital Mindset Training Program, they teach you how to become a marketing consultant and help local businesses find customers by using the internet and social media.
  • Communication and Service
  • Sales and Marketing Fundamentals
  • Leadership Fundamentals
• Gold Membership – 12-Month Digital Marketing Mastermind, they teach you how to earn a full-time income as a digital marketer. However, attendance is limited on the workshops in order to keep the event as intimate as possible (so there aren’t enough spots for everyone to learn, lame).One-on- One Personal Mentoring (using skype) with a DEA Mentor
  • A 6-week live-coaching course that teachhes you all about online marketing (such as affiliate marketing, list building, getting traffic, getting conversions, monetization, etc.)
  • 2-day intensive Digital Marketing workshop
• Platinum Membership – Digital “Brand Incubator,” they help you transition from a digital marketer to a digital expert by helping you customize a professional online brand identity. Basically they help you build your website (but you can actually do that for free here )
  • Hands-on 2 day brand building workshop
  • You create a custom-built, professional website with social media icons (to help share your site)
  • “Done-for-you” authority and personality profile pages for your blog (build a page about you)
  • Professional portrait reflecting & supporting your personal brand (a picture of you)
  • Unique positioning statement (Strap line)
  • Ongoing training & support
  • One-on-one tech support (through phone, skype, and email)
  • Personal branding webinars with multiple leading brand experts
  • Private Platinum mastermind lead by Stuart Ross, Jay Kubassek, and other experts
• Black Membership – Invitation only, takes you very close to the leading experts in the digital marketing world. You become an advisor that people can contact for help.
  • Exclusive annual mastermind retreat
  • Opportunity to partner with DEA

How Much Does Digital Experts Academy Cost?

There are four levels of memberships within Digital Experts Academy, and they range from $2,499 to $19,999. All four levels of membership are yearly recurring.

• Silver – $2,499 for an “e-learning” course
• Gold – $4,999 for a 12 month coaching program and a 3 day bootcamp
• Platinum – $9,999 for a 3 day workshop, a website with social media profiles, and brand building training
• Black – $19,999 for a ticket to their annual mastermind retreat. The Black membership also requires you to join the Platinum membership as a pre-requisite.

How Much Does The Six Figure Mentors Program Cost?

In addition, the affiliate membership to Digital Experts Academy is $99 a year, and it is a prerequisite to get into The Six Figure Mentors membership. Then to get into the SFM membership it costs $297 upfront and $97 a month after that, and there is also a $19.95 fee just to apply for the membership. Below is a picture of the different options to take with SFM, but they will almost force you to get the Basic Mambership.

Digital Experts Academy claims their memberships will take you “ from an opportunity seeker all the way to a digital expert.” However, it will take a lot of work, and you have to actually DO everything they tell you. Your success will not just happen over night.

Digital Experts Academy Compensation Plan

The Digital Experts Academy compensation plan revolves around people selling memberships to new recruits and people that need to upgrade.

You get 40% commission on sales and 10% goes to the person who referred you. This is a classic MLM ( Multi-Level Marketing ) compensation plan, but with Digital Experts Academy you get more percentage commission.

You can only make these commissions if you “qualify,” which means you have to either purchase a membership or sell 5 memberships. If you sell 5 memberships, you will not get any commissions until the 6th sale.

I have not found a refund option anywhere with Digital Experts Academy (BAD), but there is a refund process you can go through with SFM. You have to email their support desk with the request and reason for canceling (since a lot of people are paid commissions for each sale, I doubt refunds will be an easy process).

Final Thought

There are still a few MLM companies out there that are trying to promote their products and be successful (like Herbalife, Kyani , Rodan and Fields , etc.). But they promote products and Digital Experts Academy only promotes tools and training you can buy. You can sell different memberships a DEA, but they all come at a very hefty price.

All you are doing with this program is learning a lot about digital marketing, and trying to get others to learn as well. It is going to be hard to sell someone something if you cannot afford it yourself, because the buyer wants to know that you are successful. And it will be even harder when you tell people they have to sign up with Six Figure Mentor first, pay an application fee, be interviewed, pay $297, and THEN be able to join Digital Experts Academy. It will be a hard sale, but that is what they want you to do (because that is how you make the most money).

You have an opportunity to make money with affiliate marketing that they teach you as well, but making money with that will take longer. Your website will need time to generate good site health and SEO, so the search engines will rank it high in searches (this is best done by using keyword tools and optimization)

I think Digital Experts Academy is a great place to learn how to become a successful digital marketer, but it is WAY too expensive for me (especially when you can learn for free with other options like my #1 ranked business ). I also NEVER join anything that is set up like an MLM company.

Verdict

If you have any questions or have had experience with Digital Experts Academy and want to share, please leave a comment below!

Your Friend,

Karissa