A Brutally Honest Review of Tai Lopez’s Courses (67 Steps, Social Media Agency, Etc.)

Tai Lopez Review on If He's A Scam

This review is not sponsored or influenced by Tai Lopez or his team. I hope to keep it that way.

People are seeing a man called Tai Lopez run numerous ads on social media and selling courses that essentially promise to make you rich and successful. They’re wondering if he’s a scam. I have actually paid for his program and wanted to give my brutally honest review of him.

Who is Tai Lopez? What Do He Do and How’d He Become Rich?

As a quick recap, let’s cover who Tai Lopez it. Tai came onto the online scene in 2015, and quickly rose to become one of the top personal development gurus on the web.

How do I know? I’ve watched his whole journey from the start. I have consumed a ton of content (paid and free) from Tai. He has repeatedly admitted to these things. However, he been notorious for not revealing the specific details on how he made his money and how much he has.

Growing up, he found six mentors that helped him. One was Joel Salatin, a successful, wealthy farmer, known for his involvement in the documentary, Food Inc., and the book, Folks, This Ain’t Normal. Tai chose to work as an apprentice farmhand for Joel for a couple years.

He also spent a couple years living with the Amish, a group of traditional Christians living in the U.S. who live simple lives and avoid modern technology. This was a pivotal time for him because it taught him about happiness and simple living. He often claims the Amish have much lower suicide rates despite living such simple lives.

When he was a young adult, he found himself broke and sleeping on a coach. He went through the Yellow Pages (a thick book directory that gives you all the phone numbers of everyone in an area) and saw a huge insurance ad. He figured someone who can afford to run such a large ad must be rich, so he went in-person to the company’s founder and asked to work for free. This man replied, “I have been waiting 40 years for a man like you.”

Tai went on to post record-breaking sales numbers for the company by being one of the first to leverage Google AdWords. Back then, it was really cheap to get in front of thousands of people online.

He then went on to build and run a salsa nightclub. After being burned out from the nightclub business, he invested in online dating sites. Now, he is the CEO of an online education company where he sells training courses teaching people how to achieve “health, wealth, love, and happiness.” You can buy his stuff on his http://TaiLopez.com and his motto is “Everybody wants the good life. But not everybody gets the good life.”

Tai Lopez Review on If He's A Scam
Tai Lopez runs an online education company where he sells training courses teaching people how to achieve “health, wealth, love, and happiness.”

Tai Lopez really started going full force with his online training company in mid 2015. He started buying video ads on YouTube and went from nobody knowing him to an Internet meme. He split-tested a number of ads, and this one caught storm:

His video ads reached at least 100 million viewers. People speculated how much he spent and how he could afford it. This video by the popular YouTuber H3H3 explains it well:

His ads went to a sales page where you could buy an online course. So most likely, he paid for more ads with the money he made from them.

In 2015, he moved into a new mansion in Beverly Hills, California, which he calls “Knowledge Society Headquarters.” Some speculate that he rents it and not owns it because it’s listed on Zillow.com.

Tai and his team releases a large amount of consistent content on social media (especially YouTube and Snapchat) and new ads to drive new people back to his site to buy stuff. It’s clear that all his time is now spent on his new online training business because his social media shows his entire day-to-day is spent creating content and promoting Tai Lopez’s programs.

You may be wondering, “Is he really rich?”

Possibly. At least for now. In 2016 and 2017, he has ramped up the expensive purchases and posted pictures of it on social. Part of that is clearly to attract more eyeballs and get more customers. He went from owning one Ferrari and one Lambourghini to renting a private jet and buying an Aventador, Rolls Royce Ghost, and Rolls Royce Dawn. His business has clearly made money and he employs an entire team to help him.

Tai Lopez Rolls Royce Ghost Dawn
Tai’s Instagram post showing off his new cars: an Aventador and a Rolls Royce Dawn.

He has also been spending money getting Instagram models to advertise for him and to do prize giveaways. You will often see a flock of models with him in social media. He has claimed to give away cars, iPads, xBoxes, and more on Instagram. Will it last? Who knows? He’s also forming a lot of relationships with influencers; if he does go bankrupt, he might be able to reach out to them for help to bounce back.

How I Stumbled Across Tai Lopez

He was mentioned by a millionaire, Michael Sartain, who I conducted an interview with on my Youtube. I looked him up as I tend to do with every book or person of influence mentioned to me. He has his own youtube channel and website (search Tai Lopez, you’ll find him) where he teaches 4 main things: success in health, wealth, happiness, and love. Anyhow, I watched his videos and eventually bought his products. Nowadays, he has gained notoriety because he has spent tens of millions of dollars on Youtube ads to promote his products. He has gone far beyond the threshold of what is called “ad fatigue” and everyone I go online, people in the comments are hating on him or making fun of him. They are calling his stuff “get rich quick scams.” Many people have seen the same ad from him over ten times.

There are some people who still love him and fight for him, and I have got into heated debates with some of them. I would say he has gone way over the edge in terms of over-promoting his ads and compromising long-term brand value reputation for short-term gains. I don’t think he took into account over-exposure and there is a huge movement of people who have seen his ads dozens of times online and are sick of him. Countless videos on Youtube have been made making fun of his ads.

Is Tai Lopez A Scammer? Brand and Product Reviews (Including 67 Steps)

Is Tai Lopez legit?

TLDR Summary:

If you don’t have time to read the big block of text that follows reviewing his stuff. The biggest problem I had with it was that it was too generalized, and took advice from successful people of different fields and applied it universally.

It’s easy to do that when you are promising success in so many different domains (health, wealth, love, and happiness). I just don’t think the secrets that made a chess Grandmaster win and those who made Sun Tzu into a famed war general apply to every domain. The laws that make someone a great Basketball player aren’t the ones that make someone a great insurance CEO.

Having said that, I think this is an issue that most personal development influencers out there share. Tim Ferriss tends to do the same thing in his podcast interviews.

The 67 Steps Review

Here are my thoughts on the 67 Steps. It’s worth the buy. It’s $1 per video. And each video, in my opinion, is well worth the purchase if you actually listen and absorb what he is telling you.

He gives you 67 steps lessons with good examples from successful people and books he has picked out. It was well worth it and I hope to re-watch all of them again one day to remind myself of things. Hopefully, he updated some of them because some videos are fairly old with old camera equipment but nonetheless good. My warning is make a commitment to watch all the 67 videos.

I downloaded the MP3 versions provided and listened to them at 2x speed on my iPhone. Some more than once. I have talked to many people who also purchased 67 steps and many stopped watching and listening to them a quarter or half of the way through. They give many excuses such as “I’ve heard all of this before” or “it’s common sense” which I don’t think is true.

Additionally, I got an Audible audio-book version of Managing Oneself by Peter Drucker (anything by this man is gold by the way) with my purchase. That is at least a $5 value. I listened to that book twice. It’s a VERY quick read so it may not be that valuable. The print version is about $4 including shipping on Amazon. You may not get this free bonus when you take the course.

Did I pick up anything useful? Yes. There was some interesting insights he pulled out that made me change how I thought of myself and stopped me from complaining.

One was his “Man on the Moon” video where he says that it took hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of astronauts to accomplish the impossible: go to the moon. So if that is possible, how can you be complaining that what you are doing is impossible when it’s probably much less difficult than that?

That shut me up since my goal’s are actually pretty modest in comparison (making six figures a year and then a million, leaving a positive impact on people online, becoming fit, improving my dating life, etc.).

One Year Update: I am leaving an update to this post after over a year since I bought and consumed the 67 Steps course. I want to leave a review of the product after the dust has settled and I had some time to clear my head from the hype.

Even though I listened to the course a few times over, I for 99% of it. All that remains is Tai’s general vibe and attitude while teaching it and the “Man on the Moon” lesson, which impacted me the most. Note: you have lifetime access to these videos so you can get a refresher when you want. And a different lesson may leave an impression on you.

Overall, after a year of mulling it over and reflection, I do feel he may have just pulled out these 67 topics from his butt. There was definitely some improvisation for many of these videos going on and no actual script. I don’t like that, especially for someone claiming to teach the secrets of life success. Having said that, he’s probably fixed up the videos by now.

As far as the Mini MBA program, I have some even more critical things to say…

Tai’s Mini MBA Program

At the time I bought 67 steps, his Mini-MBA program was offered at $1000 for the first 3 months. I learned from successful people to always try to haggle the price lower.

I emailed in and they were willing to lower the price to what I asked for, which was around $500. They were pretty quick to accept the offer and I should have pushed further but out of politeness I didn’t (Argh! I regret that). They were definitely still in the phase of testing prices. I tried it for the first 3 months and then cancelled.

I have spent even more money on other online courses. For this one, I was not satisfied. $500 is a lot of money to me and I definitely feel I could have gotten a better return on investment elsewhere. I went through all his videos loyally multiple times. But I can’t say there was anything that great that you can’t get online or anything that made back the money for what I studied in there. It’s been a couple years since my purchase, so I can say that for sure.

Along with a video library, it comes with weekly Q&A live calls with the members that are recorded for later use. Around 30 people showed up in the calls when I was a part of them. You could tell the groups were growing as time progressed. I was able to get in questions but he would not always answer them. Sometimes, he would but it is understandable given the amount of people in the call. I found the videos fairly informative and they talked about some general and specific principles. The topics were all across the board and sometimes fairly general. Some of the videos were on specific books read and how they related.

I thought it was not worth the price I would be charged every month so I cancelled after my first 3 months. The course was not really structured and it was just access to a bunch of videos. I couldn’t really see any structure or how I could earn the “graduation certification” I heard about. I was a bit disappointed about the Mentor interviews. There were only a couple available. These include the man who played Superman (in the movie before the last Superman movie.. the black and white one) and Joel Salatin, Tai’s mentor. I definitely think I came out of it better than I was before. But for me personally, the lack of structure, tangible knowledge, and nature of the material left me without a deep sense of displayable skills or knowledge I would think to get out of a MBA or anything like it.

The Mini-MBA material is really easy to understand and no level of complicated math was used in it at all. Basic math was as hard as it got (which could be a good thing if you suck at math). There were a lot of anecdotes he used in his videos from his readings in books and some from his personal experiences with other people. I think it is better than nothing and you will come out of it better than you came in if you listen and are willing to learn. Is it worth the excessive price? I am not sure. If you have plenty of money to spend, maybe.

It seems he has been making upgrades to his camera and microphone equipment lately. I think the Mini-MBA program could use a bit more structure, key things to teach, an upgrade on the user interface for members, and provide more tangible/specific skills, knowledge, and abilities. The style is a bit too informal for my taste. It is him lecturing in front of a camera for around an hour per video. It is unedited and he tends to ramble a bit, get off track, or proceed to anecdotes.

The categories were kind of clunky and it made me feel like things were missing. Some were organized into different karate belt colors yet some belt colors were missing. When I inquired, they said that was another program (it seems to have discontinued as I couldn’t find it on their website. One of them was a persuasion program). Other categories were organized into big topics like Mentor Interviews.

Regardless, it is cool to see how Tai has built this sales funnel program through his YouTube and social media. He’s doing a decent job testing prices and using it to do other things. I’ve seen him sell a conference through this. I saw how he booked a ballroom and hired professional cameramen to record it. I admire his landing page and notice how his site actually works enough for people to buy a product online through him if they want to. Those are things that I’d like to do one day. If anyone has any interest in what value you think I can provide to you that may help your life, let me know and I can start working on a product. It is nice to see that Tai is not afraid to take action and release his product/business without the fear of inadequacy or failure.

TLDR: It definitely felt like he was just throwing together videos about whatever he wanted to talk about and doing a mediocre job of organizing them into some system. I can’t say it was worth the $500 I spent.

Tai Lopez’s Social Media Marketing Agency (SMMA) Course Review

Lately, Tai has released a new course that will supposedly teach you to “travel the world and have fun” while making thousands of dollars managing other’s social media. The payoff of being “a traveling CEO” is plastered all over the sales page.

It teaches you (over 4 months) to start and run a social media marketing agency and gives you a certification. Supposedly, it will let you work virtually and travel the world.

I haven’t bought the course, but I have talked to dozens of people who work in social media marketing and advertising as agency employees, managers, or individual consultants. Recently, I wanted to investigate if this was legit, so I reached out to tons of people on LinkedIn for phone interviews.

Two big patterns emerged from all of my interviews:

  • There’s a lot of smoke being blown up people’s asses. Businesses who don’t know anything about social media but think it’s interesting get burned and scammed by people who are trying to make a quick buck.
  • Businesses really only want sales and customers from social media. It’s really hard to deliver these by just posting social media content or managing ads. It is possible, but it’s very difficult and competitive.

This leads me to the conclusion that this course (and social media in general) is a great area to build a short-term pyramid scheme: scam people so that they can scam others. Again, I could be wrong.

I really don’t think Tai Lopez’s certification is worth as much as people who actually can produce results or follows on social media (as is the case with most online marketing certifications)

Time will tell. In five to ten years, we will know whether it works or not once the general public has become savvy.  The smoke will have cleared and those who actually deliver results will remain. Right now, we’re still in the stages where it’s a new thing and people can be tricked. If this course actually delivers results, then it will still be here.

My Overall Thoughts on the Whole Tai Lopez Ordeal: What I Like and Hate

What I Like

I have seen a couple millionaires outwardly admit online that they like him. Jeremy Frandsen of Internet Business Mastery even admitted in a Facebook group that he spent thousands of dollars on the guy, and really liked his Persuasion course. At first, I was a bit outraged even he would fall for this guy. But then, he explained how he liked a lot of the lessons Tai teaches, such as “the more you learn, the more you earn.”

These are the subjects that initially got me attracted to him in the first place. These were topics I was deeply interested in, and no one else I knew in real life really cared for it. I loved his emphasis on learning from the best in the world, science, and his admiration of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. He clearly talked about a lot of important principles to success, like honestly assessing your weaknesses, hard work, and giving back.

His emphasis on books has really leveled up my game. He has introduced me to a lot of useful scientific books and increased my love of learning.

He has also still maintained some level of conservatism. Unlike Dan Bilzerian, another rich guy who likes to show off his life, he hasn’t shown any level of sexual activity with any of the models in his content.

But something about him is rubbing me more and more in the wrong way.

What’s Rubbing Me The Wrong Way

His behavior and business model is what is repelling me.

He has been showing off more and more expensive possessions on social media, which goes against any philosophy he used to have about “knowledge being more important than possessions.”

As for his business model, I think it may be flawed. A get-rich-quick infomercial scheme is nothing new. Every couple decades, someone new comes along with an ad showing off his expensive possessions and promising a formula where you can do the same. Tom Vu was the famous guy for doing that. Here’s one of his old ads:

But they inevitably get exposed over time, when customers aren’t getting results. They disappear along with their businesses. In Tom’s case, he was also sued. These business models don’t last for decades or grow to billions of dollars because they don’t deliver true value.

Tai Lopez may just be the modern version of that, and he won’t be the last. Maybe he was able to convince the latest generation of naive, young people who don’t know any better. Already, he’s gotten a lot of backlash and skepticism for being a fraud. Almost immediately after his 2015 ads came out, tons of parodies of his ads came out that got hundreds of thousands of views.

Time will tell.

All I know is that I’ve been studying tons of billionaires and successful people for years, and my gut feeling is that something is a bit off that’s preventing him from ultimate success and repelling me away. What’s shocking is how many successful millionaire influencers online have pledged allegiance to him, including John Lee Dumas, Lewis Howes, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Jeremy Frandsen. Maybe I’m wrong. Or maybe I’m right and they’re too caught up in this age of “make friends with everyone because it expands your network.”

Too Long Did Not Read (TLDR)

Here’s the summary:

  • A lot of the time, it seems like he is just churning out rants about whatever he wants to talk about. There is a lot of quantity inside his vault, maybe too much.
  • It is better than nothing. If you were to compare it to getting advice from a homeless man or sitting at home doing nothing, it is better. But there is a lack of structure, focus, and accountability to what he does.
  • The topics and objectives he tries to cover are too broad. It’s everything from getting rich, to improving your body, to reading more books, to nutrition. This may not be good because the lack of focus leads to no accountability or check-in’s on if you are actually getting results.

What Top Entrepreneurs Have To Say

Neil Patel and Eric Siu are top online entrepreneurs who have consulted, met, and worked with Tai Lopez and similar people. They disagree with me and believe that Tai is in no way a scammer. Here’s what they have to say:

21 Patterns of Successful People

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By Will Chou

I am the the founder of this site and I am grateful you are here to be part of this awesome community. I help hard-working Asian American Millennials get rich doing work they love.

79 comments

  1. HI Will,
    thanks for the article!
    What Instagram course would you recommend for someone who’d like to make engaging reels and understand metrics?
    Thanks for your time!

  2. Hi Will,

    I was about to take his four-month course on e-commerce and he claims it also covers digital marketing. But I am glad I did further research by checking for reviews. I didn’t want to spend money and not get value, plus the exchange rate is also very high. I will just keep trying to learn all I can learn from the tips he dishes out.

    Speaking of E-commerce and digital marketing where do you think I can get practical knowledge?

    I also realized this post was posted 4 years ago. Any update about him in recent times?

    XO from Nigeria

    1. I’d suggest smartpassiveincome.com and myqifequitherjob.com for e-commerce and digital marketing tips. Tai’s popularity has subsided a bit, but he’s still selling courses

  3. Hi Will,

    I was about to take his four-month course on e-commerce and he claims it also covers digital marketing. But I am glad I did further research by checking for reviews. I didn’t want to spend money and not get value, plus the exchange rate is also very high. I will just keep trying to learn all I can learn from the tips he dishes out.

    Speaking of E-commerce and digital marketing where do you think I can get practical knowledge?

    XO from Nigeria

  4. I’ve gone through the 67 steps, and I’m doing it again. I dunno if Tai’s stuff is worth the outrageous price tag but it definitely is worth something.

    I hear a lot of people complaining that you shouldn’t have to purchase business advice so it must be a scam. To them I say, “Have you seen how much a Harvard or Wharton MBA costs these days? You also pretty much have the same level of success getting it.”

    Sure you can poke around on the internet and get everything he says for free but chances are, you’re too stupid to even know where to begin.

    For example, you can go and find MIT’s engineering syllabus and course breakdown and you probably could piece together the degree from free materials dotting the internet, but would you ever really be able to compete with an MIT engineer?

    If you’re smart and adept, you can find all of Tai’s stuff for free on the internet through cracks and crevices. I have everything he’s ever put out and I can assure you, it’s not a scam.

    But idiots who buy things want instant gratification. “Oh, I purchased this course and I’m not an instant millionaire, this thing is a scam and trash!”

    What are some scams? High school is a scam. Name anything you learned in high school that applied to your regular life? Did high school teach you about managing dept? APR? Financing? Good Credit Practices? Forming an LLC?

    Nope.

    How about college? Why do you need to pay for phys ed credits in college? Have you ever been to a job where they asked about your badminton skills?

    At least Tai is attempting to open the mist about real business.

    1. I have approved this comment, but the other comments on here are too negative and lacking respect. We can debate but do it in a civilized, friendly way. No need to attack or insult by jumping to the extremes. Name-calling isn’t allowed here. While some may be expecting instant gratification, some may just not be seeing any results from the courses and be dissatisfied.

  5. I tried to purchase Mr. Lopez’s program SMMA 2.0, they took my money and never delivered my product. After several attempts to reach them, they have now blocked me. I will tell you they are not good people to work with in my opinion. Does anyone know how I can get my money back or receive the product I paid for? They have refused to answer me, feels like a SCAM to me.

    1. That is rather unfortunate. I am sorry. Their support is rather unresponsive. They didn’t send over some of my affiliate commission so I am considering pulling that link from the article.

  6. I propose a simple rule of thumb: never, ever trust anyone who poses with expensive possessions.

    You see this a lot with online trading of financial markets. It’s known as ‘trader porn’. It’s designed to sucker in the gullible, the naive, the easily-impressed, the desperate, and the lazy.

    Anyone who is making a substantive, authentic living does not need to advertise themselves in such a blatant, shallow, flashy way because the message and model stand up in their own right. The reason people do this is simple: they need to underscore their supposed success with seductive badges of wealth because it distracts attention away from the flimsiness of their proposition. They’re hoping you’ll fixate on the car and not the business model. They’re hoping that the mansion will cloud your common sense. They’re hoping that the Rolex will drown out those alarm bells in your mind.

    Ask yourself this question: if the marketeer really is a super-rich guy who drives a Lamborghini and lives in a mansion, why bother flogging $297 ebooks? Why bother blogging? Or making videos? It makes no sense. Super-wealthy people simply don’t do things like that. They’re chasing large, strategic investments. Or they’re interested in major structural, societal changes that they can profit from. Or they want to be part of something that changes the world. They simply wouldn’t debase themselves with tacky marketing videos. Trust me.

    Sadly, the people who fall for this kind of thing are predominantly young with the least disposable income. Older people, with more life experience, can spot these shysters and hucksters a mile off because we’ve seen it all before. They appear in every generation, and whilst the proposition morphs towards whatever is fashionable at the time, the message is always the same: I will tell you how to get rich without much effort. Sadly, it’s a message that people never tire of hearing, or of paying for. Don’t be one of them.

    1. I’ve found and heard that the richer someone is, the less flashy they are (save for some exceptions in the entertainment industry). They don’t need to show it off. It’s fascinating how this type of marketing successfully repeats every generation.

  7. Hey Will nice article. It made some of my doubts cleared. I am a recent computer graduate from India, and I wanted to know what specific, detailed and most practical courses you recommend of such great businessmen like Tai lopez, Jay Abraham or Grant Cardone etc or any other people as I am not that much aware of their programs and courses. I am currently just studying from online sites like coursera, edx, open study and other free course sites(udemy torrents :D) etc and it feels the information is not that much practical and relevant. Please suggest me any good practical life courses where at the least you can start somewhere. Also i am mostly interested in entrepreneurship and innovation and continue to learn any business related fields like marketing, sales etc and acquire possible experience. Although coding really bores me to depth I will still do it on a small basis particularly app development. And finally what’s your POV on Tai Lopez’s new scheme Knowledge Society, is it worth a try? Hope you see this message.
    Wish you future luck in your life and sorry for bad grammar.

    1. Thanks for writing in.
      I’m not familiar with Tai’s new scheme, so I won’t give my feedback on it.
      It depends on what specifically you want to do. If you want to start an online course or affiliate business, Ramit Sethi or Pat Flynn have courses. There’s psychology to paying for a course versus getting a free version of the torrent. You’re more motivated and committed to finish out of accountability because you paid the money.

  8. Hey I keep seeing all these wealthy show off their money videos on Youtube talking about the 9-5 is for suckers. My question is, I am 25 and stuck in a rut, I want to go to school to get my bachelors but everyone keeps saying school is a waste of time and money and you can be your own boss and make money that way. But the thing is you need money to make money so how do you become a six figure salaried entrepreneur when your starting from ground zero. Or should I ignore all the Youtube fades and just go to college. I have this idea for a Youtube channel I want to do Music Videos and Photo Shoots but the investment is out of pocket which is $8000.00 for a start up kit. Please Help Me! Thanks. Also I have invested in JumpCut Academy a guide for Youtube Influencers but just don’t have the time or money.

    1. Hi Jacob, thanks for writing in. I would avoid people who make their money by teaching you how to make money when you’re this young and impressionable. Put on a free YouTube ad blocker extension to block those people out. Get advice from people who where were you are and are where you want to get to. These are plenty of videos and books proving you don’t need much start up cost in this age to succeed. Chris Guillebeau’s books are a great source of inspiration. Successful people have to do what unsuccessful people are too lazy to do. That means you will have to make the time to go through JumpCut academy or anything else if you don’t go to college. College has its uses depending on what job you’re going after; it’s not useless. I recently made a youtube video and blog post addressing whether or not to go to college; check it out.

    2. Read One Million in the Bank: How to Make $1,000,000 With Your Own Business, even If you have No Money Or Experience. It’s on Amazon. Just a lot of practical information and case studies of people who became millionaires in 3-7 years starting with nothing. Nothing else to sell, it just tells you how to do it and where there are free resources to help you.

    3. Go to college. In most things in life it depends on the situation but this is very simple: knowledge is a foundation on which to build any business any other foundation such as greed and pride will surely result in failure. Go to school and get an edge over everyone else you will be competing in the business world

    4. From experience nothing is just handed to you overnight. It takes years and hard work!! Find your passion and be the best in what you do and the money will follow!

  9. Will, i liked the article and think its cool that you reply to all the comments…I have been reading books by men like Tai for most of my adult life, I am 44 now. Recently I have begun to look around to find something in a decent package like the 67 steps. I don’t know what to search though. What category is a training like the 67 steps where you get a lot of beginner and advanced stuff to really unlock so many different areas of thought. Are there other courses out there like the 67 steps?

    1. Hi Dennis, Thanks for the positive comment and for writing in.
      There’s definitely a good amount of self-development beginner fundamental to advanced courses out there, many from people I can’t trust recommended yet because of credibility.
      There are a couple that I am though:
      Brendon Burchard’s membership and courses. He has a high performance one and a Secrets of Successful people.
      Ramit Sethi’s Mental Mastery course.
      Tony Robbins and Brian Tracy’s courses.

  10. Personally I am a big Tai fan! It seems people either love him or hate him, and there’s not much in-between. I find his snapchat, in particular, to be inspiring on a daily basis, and feel he does give away a lot of golden nuggets for free on his various social media channels. I’m also a member of more than one of his programs and have not been disappointed. I do see how his personality and ego can turn people off, but I have no problem with him. Thanks for your honest opinion too!

    1. I didn’t ask for a refund as I thought it was worth the price at the time and didn’t consider a refund for a couple months after. Likely, the refund period is over now.

  11. Thanks for writing this review. I saw a FB ad for mentorbox which seems pretty new and interesting, then I saw Tai Lopez is a cofounder. That turned me off and couldn’t understand why all these big players (Arianna Huffington, Ryan Holiday, and many more) are involved. I’m among the many who also got turned off with all the million YouTube ads he did. I even commented after the bajillionth Tai Lopez ad, can I just not see his ads anymore! I listened to the interview you shared with Neil Patel and Eric Siu. They’re saying, look past the scam vibe and try out what they’re doing. Heck no. I’d rather invest my time with coaches I find reputable from the start and not have in the back of my mind the thought that this better be worth it. When I do courses I put the effort in and it’ more motivating when you know the material and coach you’re working with are top notch. I was disappointed to hear those two take that perspective – look past the fake money and leased cars.

    And getting insight to the quality of the videos he’s produced for the courses you described, why wouldn’t he be mindful of the quality of the work he’s delivering to maintain long term brand trust. Instead he’s “showing off”, he doesn’t across as having an abundant lifestyle at all, but a fast track to debt. I see all that flash and what comes across to me is insecurity. Credit to him for the connections he’s made etc, but you can’t fake trustworthy.

    Thanks for taking the time to write this comprehensive review!

    1. You’re welcome. Yes, I am split-opinion on him. I do like some of what he’s doing and not some of the other stuff. But like you said, might as well just find someone you completely trust to follow, right? Just make sure you actually find someone (Jack Welch, Warren Buffett, etc.) rather than always skip around and make excuses to never invest in yourself with a course or training or coaching. That could be another mistake.

  12. Nice write-up, but don’t put up your affiliate links if you don’t agree with Tai. It seems you don’t really recommend his courses and say it’s not worth too much. Even though you have criticisms of him, it looks like you are paid to advertise for him. Don’t let him get you with “commissions” from his links, it’s not worth your reputation.

    1. That is a great point. I didn’t have links up at first but some I know in real life recommended I do it because I already wrote the article anyways — might as well. I will gauge for more feedback from more people about the sentiment and may take them off. I don’t mind either way.

  13. BE CAREFUL. I signed up with one of his programs and asked for a refund on the 31st day not the 30th. They didn’t give me the money back :( be sure to keep track on when you need to cancel your subscription if you decide to join one of his programs.

  14. HEY TAKE A LOOK
    I just read your article fully to the end which I rarely do, so for me it was good! And it deserves a good comment to balance the scale.

    I’m going to disagree for the most part, well kind of. First off, the man TY Lopez is a marketing genius. Obviously, it has got us all here dropping comments about him. Controversy sells know this and also girls in bikinis!

    So those of us who want to take our biz to a higher income bracket it makes since to see what he’s doing and reverse engineer. Complain about a gazillion ads, but obviously its working since it’s been years now and he’s still doing it. His retargeting list is in the millions, how’s yours?

    THE PIMPMED OUT BEVERLY HILLS HOUSE
    He plainly states in many of his videos he has a lease on that house because it would make no since to own it, since its reached it market appreciation and he gets tax benefits from it being a business lease but I guess the goofball making the parody didn’t care to watch enough videos of his to know this. And even more you don’t have to own a house to call it your house, 80% of home owners don’t own their house the bank does. He obviously has turned that house into a video making cash cow because he thinks like an investor, how much does the house you rent or own net you each month? Girls in Bikinis playing basketball and free giveaways, GRAB EYE BALLS nough said

    HIS KNOWLEDGE COURSES
    I haven’t reached the purchase point, because I’m still applying all the FREE KNOWLEDGE he gives you on his YT channel. Sure he goes on rants but he’s dropping free content and on a side note I just Applied one of his free social media strategies a week ago and it exploded my FB growth. Really just fantastic!

    So some complain he’s selling other peoples knowledge, stuff you can find in other books, some stuff you can find online and what’s wrong with that! The internet is mainly regurgitated content anyway, that’s how mankind has survived the ages, we regurgitate and create variations, remakes, new models, new functions with the same base components, look at cars, cell phones, Laptops, movies, social media YT videos and blog articles, were all copycats so get over it and dive in.

    You made the statement, something is a bit off and preventing him from his ultimate success. He banged out 50 million last year, He hangs out with superstar athletes and celebs just drop by his house. I know a lot of people who have reached “ultimate success” and still don’t get that. How much more successful do you want the guy to get? And what’s preventing you from reaching your ultimate success?

    YOUR AFF LINK
    For me this is an integrity issue. Although you give your honest review of the course which I totally respect, it comes off as a bad review in my opinion. So why would you put a link to the course? To make some extra bucks perhaps because you saw the article views take off, and seized an opportunity to make some quick scrilla. Aren’t you doing kinda of the same thing he’s doing? Trying to make money online selling someone else’s knowledge regardless if it works or not. ?
    As far as the whole not giving refunds, most of my experience has been its not always easy getting refunds on open and used items. The fact that they refund at all is surprising, since people can just ripp the digital content then get a refund. So I can see why it’s common in this industry to be a prick about the refund. But getting refunds should be easier especially if it’s guaranteed.

    I can say this, if you don’t apply and take action to even his free stuff then you won’t get results from his paid stuff. Yeah he rants and talks about himself, his money and lifestyle a bit overboard but there’s a thing called a fast forward button.

    And thank you so much for that TOM VU commercial, I remember him, my father took his course and made a few million in real estate from it back in the 90s. Not kidding, I’ll have to send him the link hell love it!

    outtie 5000

    1. Thanks for writing in. You are welcome to your opinion and this was an honest comment that isn’t just trying to spread negativity, so I will approve it.

      There is definitely stuff I like and stuff I don’t about Tai, some of which you mentioned. I just prefer someone who has nothing but positive signals and no red flags and a decades long track record of success; there are plenty of others to choose from that meet these qualifications. Tai is quite new into the online space.

      On your affiliate link issue, I can understand how this may not seem transparent. You think I would be more influenced to say good stuff about him to make money. But I do say quite a lot of things I don’t like about him and recommend against getting some of his products. I only mention that if you happen to still want to purchase and want to help me, you might as well go through my link, which I only added recently.

      Thanks for your feedback though; I’ll take it into account as a data point amongst everyone else’s feedback. I value my true fans (my email newsletters’ subscriber’s opinions) the most though as they have been with me longer and I can actually see some of their faces rather than a stranger who can say whatever they want online with no consequences.

  15. Will, what are your thoughts on Jay Abraham? I’m torn between starting with Tai Lopez’s courses and Grant Cardone’s Sales University or starting with Jay Abraham’s Lifetime Reference Library. I just want to know what do you recommend for someone just starting out.

    Note: I have access to all of them due to a inside source.

    1. Jay Abraham is likely the most trustworthy but most advanced too. He’s had decades more success in business and a legacy to build off of. Tai’s likely more broad in topics and beginner. Grant is similar to Tai but more sales-focused and tactical.

      1. Thank you for your response. I definitely agree with you on the fact that Jay Abraham is catered to more “seasoned” business people. Due to the fact that the programs didn’t cost me anything, I think I’ll be looking into Tai Lopez over the next 4 months to see what all the hype is about.

  16. This was a great post! Thanks so much for the information. Trying to understand what this guy is about, came here looking for information about mentor box. I do agree with you though, this was a well put together article about him. Will follow you for more info on other topics!

  17. Tai Lopez is not the real deal.
    I bought his Online Marketing program. But I changed my mind and wanted a refund. They didn’t want to give a refund and I had to go through the disputes apartment of my credit card company to get my money back. I don’t think I would have got my money back if I didn’t do this.

    Tai Lopez worked hard to get his money but now he sells things that he read from books to people.
    He needs to maintain a lifestyle but he needs people to pay for it so he sells programs.
    There are systems of passive income (like the online marketing program) that keep him rich and getting more money as he talks about random crap on youtube and Instagram.

    His own motto says it all. The first sentence applies to him and the second sentence applies to the rest of the people. He makes money of people buying his programs.
    He stays rich while people stay poor. Basically, you still have to work for the money while Tai has created a system to generate him a passive income.

    I’d love to see how much he is really worth and how many of his proteges are as rich or richer than him.

    1. Yes, he does tend to skate the line when he does things with refunds like this. I’ve had a tough time getting affiliate earnings from him as well. At the same time, I’m surprised how many people I meet who say they bought his $2,000+ course and was satisfied (even if they don’t have much results to show for it).

  18. Hey Will, nice article but is Tai pretty much a scammer and with his social media and real estate program which is like 1000+ and it’s just a waste of money correct and I won’t actually make money? Also wanted help with some youtube stuff and blog stuff, you could use email or something.
    Regards,,
    Krishna

    1. Hi Krishna,

      I don’t know if he is a scammer or not. Like I said in the article, we will find out 5 to 10 years from now when people get results from his teaching and he’s still around with a good reputation … or he gets found out. It’s skeptical because he hasn’t proven great success in real estate or running a social media marketing agency himself yet he’s selling this stuff. Having said that, I’ve seen a couple success story videos for his SMMA course on YouTube.

      P.S. I don’t understand your email comment. I have an email newsletter you can sign up for with the pop-up box that shows up on the site or the button on the side bar. It’s my most important and valuable resource but only for action takers that commit and believe in what I teach.

  19. Thank you Will, for you honest, beautiful and detailed review. No negativity or extremely promoting, just telling it the way it is in the way you experienced it all. You definitely gave it a fair try and you sound like someone that is doing what successful people all do. I applaud you for that and I wish you lots of success on your way. I’m traveling the same road. Thank you for sharing this, you’re a great person and I KNOW you’re going to DO it and MAKE it! Kudos to you! ♥

    1. Thanks Anja for writing such a positive comment. I don’t get as many as I want compared to the negative sometimes so this is great.
      Yes, I am just trying to succeed myself and honestly sharing what worked, what didn’t, and what didn’t meet expectations (unfortunate but a part of the real world).

  20. Your article is very weird and you seem shady. Some programs you didnt go through yet you want to promote it and you bash the program and you want to promote it. you seem like a scammer and now you have these “21 Actionable steps to getting anything you want in life”. I believe you could just be another “scammer”.

    1. Hi Kenny,
      I’m not trying to scam anyone. Here’s my story: I wrote a honest review of the programs which may have been negative you viewed it as “bashing.” After it was up for a long time, someone suggested I throw up an affiliate link anyways. My concept is this: if you’re going to buy the program anyways even after my review, please go through my link if you thought I provided value. I will get a small cut.

      I was scared I would get comments like this that try to make my day worse from strangers but that is the risk you take when you put up a post on the Internet. I decided to be warm and respond to all comments rather than block it. Hope this helped.

  21. Thanks for the Tom Vu YouTube Video, very hilarious it made my day!. I had never heard of him before.
    BTW: Would you please recommend for me about 7 financial development books that you read before that made you think differently. I plan on starting my own business and quitting my 8-5 job.

  22. Thanks Will for your input on Tai’s courses. I am a “late bloomer” you might say in the pursuit of personal success and financial independence although I have been entrepreneurial minded all my adult life. I have learned in the recent past how it is ‘the getting started that has always stopped me”. Going after a bunch of paradigm changes at present so I can break through that “terror barrier” (Bob Proctor) and make it happen!
    My joke in life has continually been…”I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up” and let’s just say… I have been “grown up” for many years now so it’s time I figured it out.
    I have a lot of ideas and would hope to connect with some younger more tech savvy peeps that might help bring one or more into fruition.
    I sense you are an honest young man. I allowed push notifications from you but honestly don’t even know how or where they will come through. teehee
    Have a happy today and keep pursuing those dreams!!
    Lisa

    1. Thanks Lisa,

      There’s many books that helped me with this. The biggest thing I learned was that you shouldn’t have it all figured out because it’s impossible and will lead to a boring life. I suggest Winning by Jack Welch and So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport.

      Thanks for allowing push notifications.

  23. Nice review.

    I had actually never heard of Tai Lopez until tonight. I saw a bit of one of his ads and I liked the way he speaks and presents things, but I am also cognisant of the fact that the best scams are by very charismatic, likable people. I think your review is fair and balanced and I love how you sum it all up with a TL;DR at the end.

    I’m going to have to go through the rest of your site…

  24. I did read your review above. I just want to be clear. I am trying to start my own business and am having problems with organization and procrastination. I do know what my issues are, the problem is dealing with them. So I think that you are recommending the 67 videos to help with that from Tai. Are you implying that you can help with that with you free videos. I have a discounted offer from Tai that only goes through today. Also can I negotiate that price down. Of course I would like a prompt response. Thank you.

    1. He covers productivity at a broad level in his 67 videos. I don’t think it would be a great fit. Brian Tracy has actual productivity courses. Again, I’m not affiliated with him (your question makes me think you think I’m customer service). Be careful with those discounts; many businesses always have a “limited time offer” going on.

  25. “If you were to compare it to getting advice from a homeless man or sitting at home doing nothing, it is better.”

    That gave me a very, very hearty lol.

    1. Maybe a long time ago. It is probably well updated or new, so no.

      He did spend millions paying for ads and subscribers (rather than get them organically) but nonetheless has retained a healthy 50k viewership so it’s a toss-up. He’s not the best at the world at it but not the worst.

      1. In your opinion, who is “the best in the world” at it? Would love to hear your opinion on that question. Note: I just entered my email address into your system to keep updated on what you offer now and in the future. You seem quite credible and that is not phony praise. Look forward to your response.

        1. Thanks for the compliment and words, Bowie.

          There are different people who are the best at the world at different things. Tai covers some broad topics, like making money, love, happiness, and so on. For happiness, I’d turn to the top positive psychology scientists. This article goes into detail: dreamlifelab.org/happy

          For money, Napoleon Hill and books by billionaires are a great place to start.

          For love, I’d turn to science as well. There are studies you can find at PubMed and Google Scholar where they cross examine the longest living couples. There’s a book too by the leading scientist on it called The Mathematics of Marriage.

          As you can see, I turn to achievements, net worth, and rigorous science.

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