eCommerce business has seen a massive boom in recent years. Many people are jumping on the online business train as it has proven to be a very lucrative business. Start and Scale is an eCommerce course that goes beyond just teaching you how to start an eCommerce business. Creator Gretta Van Riel will show you how you can commercialize your idea and turn it into a money-making enterprise. Therefore, this course might be applicable to almost any type of business. Nonetheless, there is a waiting list for the course, and if you’re like me, I had to wait quite a while before getting a spot as the course is still in its early stages. To find out if this is true and if the course is suitable for you, keep reading!
What is Start And Scale?
Start and Scale is an eCommerce course, but it also teaches you about branding and succeeding in any business. Program creator Greta is an experienced eCommerce entrepreneur who believes in the importance of branding and is master of turning ideas into million-dollar businesses. For a reasonable price at $547, you get decent course material and good quality audio and visuals. There is also a guest speaker in one of the videos on marketing psychology. You get 30 to 40 videos in six different modules.
Start and Scale isn’t your regular dropshipping course where you learn how to build a Shopify store to sell other people’s products. It’s more than that. It teaches you how to come up with your products to sell and slowly build an empire. With this, Greta stresses the importance of branding as its uniqueness is what sets you apart from the rest. However, this means that you will incur more start-up costs than having a regular dropshipping business. You will need to invest money in developing your product.
Who is Greta Van Riel?
Greta Rose Van Riel hails from Australia, and she is a serial entrepreneur. She’s very young, but already she has bright ideas about creating successful businesses. You can see this from the several start-ups and brands she owns that has generated millions of dollars in profits. You might recognize some of her brands such as SkinnyMe Tea and 5th watches, although she’s recently shifted her focus to newer ventures.
Other than this, she is also very active in social media, where she’s built her influencer relationship marketing firm called Hey Influencers. Start and Scale is a course for her to share her ideas and strategies that have made her brands like SkinnyMe Tea successful. Unlike most gurus that offer dropshipping courses, Greta’s successes are evident with a simple Google search. However, one questionable thing is that she claims she started her business with just a mere $20. But then she goes on saying that she outsourced her logo designs etc. If that were true, I doubt she started with just $20.
Who are Start and Scale For?
Start and Scale are for anyone who is thinking about starting a business in general. It is not just about dropshipping or affiliate marketing but a broader outlook on starting a business. So, if you’ve always wanted to be your boss but are always stuck for ideas, this course will help you brainstorm ideas and even come up with a successful branding strategy. Nevertheless, this also means that your business will require more start-up costs than a dropshipping or affiliate marketing business. Having said that, the course is also quite hefty, so if you have the funds, then go for it.
What is included in the Start And Scale?
As mentioned earlier in this review, Start and Scale is not your regular eCommerce dropshipping or affiliate marketing course. It is more about teaching you how to come up with original ideas, to brand them, and sell them to launch an empire. The course consists of around 40 videos in 6 modules, of which we shall dive deeper below.
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Finding Your Idea
Course curator Greta first gives an introduction to ways you can come up with good business ideas. She discusses ideas that can help you stand out and be at the top of the competition. Then, she goes over how to develop a business plan.
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Million-Dollar Branding
Branding is so important to succeed in business. Take McDonald’s or Starbucks, for instance, and you won’t fail to recognize their logo or colors anywhere you go. So in this section, you will learn how to create a unique branding for your store by choosing the right name, products, and even how to buy a domain to build your store. However, you should only choose to have a brand once you have decided on a product. There’s no use starting a brand when your product is going to fail on the market.
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Idea To Inventory
Greta will then teach you how to make your prototype into a product for sale. This section includes dealing with suppliers and pricing your products, which also includes bundling, upsells, etc. Greta includes dealing with both local and international suppliers. Keep in mind Greta is from Australia, so she has experience with both suppliers from the US and also China. This means that the course is suitable for international people.
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How To Build A Hungry Audience Of Buyers
Nathan Chan is a guest speaker for one of the videos in this section, where he talks about marketing psychology. He also covers referral marketing and building waitlists. I find this a little mischievous as myself, and I’m sure everyone else also had to be on a waiting list before getting a spot on the course. As you can see, she’s using this ‘marketing psychology’ on us too. Additionally, this waiting list technique doesn’t usually work for eCommerce stores. It usually only works for big brands like Apple or Nike.
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How To Launch Your Store To Sales
Before launching your store, there are several things you need to arrange, such as handling payments and customer support. Greta gives some tips on doing this successfully and also includes a checklist so that you won’t miss out on anything important.
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How To Scale Your Online Store
Scaling your business is the next step once you start getting some sales. Here, you will learn some methods, such as getting discount codes and upsells. Greta finally mentions the first marketing strategy in this section, which is Facebook Ads. I was beginning to question the course at this point as traffic is most important in getting people to your store, which translates to sales and profit. Here, she also talks about warehousing, but this shouldn’t be a worry until you get more inventory.
Bonuses
Besides the comprehensive course material, Greta also includes a bunch of extras that will help in building your brand. Extras are standard for programs like these, but Greta goes beyond that.
- Private Facebook Group helps members get access to any help whenever they need it.
However, the group still looks in its early stages as the program is newly launched. I would suggest waiting until the community grows a little as some private Facebook groups remain empty, and you won’t get any help at all.
- “$40 million a year influencer marketing secrets” is a video interview between Nik Mirkovic (HiSmile) and Alex Tomic, where they talk about their experience with building their brands. If you are always on the internet, then you have probably seen promotional material for HiSmile at least once. I also know the brand from its aggressive marketing on my social media feeds. These guys are successful business owners so its interesting to get some of their ideas for success.
- Templates for email marketing and scripts of what to say when dealing with influencers are also included. Email marketing is crucial but saying the right thing is even more critical. You don’t necessarily have to use these templates, but they can be a guideline for your business. Also, not every model or script can be applied to every niche. It’s better to be original and come up with your own anyways. As for dealing with influencers, not all influencers can be easily contacted, so what you say is also crucial in getting their attention. You should focus on the way you describe your products, to make it relevant for them, and also worth their while for promoting your products.
- Lastly, if you have a business partner, they can also get a license from your account! What this means is that you and your business partner can undertake the course together for free! If more people use this, then there is hope that the Facebook group will have more people. More people means you will have a great community to help you out in no time.
Start And Scale Final Verdict
Start And Scale can be a hit or miss depending on what you are looking for in a business. If you are looking for a dropshipping course specifically then this isn’t for you. However, if you are motivated to start your own business, then this course will be suitable for you. Nevertheless, I think Greta’s course is pretty good as it gives a different perspective compared to your usual dropshipping courses. Some people think the course is quite highly-priced but compared to all the other courses out there they are double the price, and I’m not complaining. But, if you think about the extra costs you would have to spend to get more information, then this isn’t worth it. So, should you sign up for the course? This review should be able to help you decide as you go through the modules and find what you’re finding.
I have gone through a lot of these dropshipping guru courses and personally, a lot of them are overpriced courses with very little information. They always try to sell you the dream or the lifestyle rather than actually selling you information. Dropshipping is not an overnight get-rich-quick scheme but, a lot of these gurus make it out like that. That’s why they ask for ridiculous prices for their courses. So, I personally get why you’d not trust these courses.
I have reviewed over 50+ dropshipping and eCommerce courses on my blog and by far the best course I recommend for any beginner or intermediate dropshipper is eCom Elites by Franklin Hatchett. Now, the reason why I love this course is that it’s one of the most affordable dropshipping courses out there and it has literally over 150+ videos. Franklin’s been doing dropshipping for many many years even before it was made famous by a lot of the gurus.
Now if you are still wondering whether you should try it out or not, you should read my eCom Elites Review to make an informed decision on whether or not you should get it or not.
