Success University review: bonus or bogus?

Here are my recommendations:

1. if you already spend around $50 a month on personal development and creating success, you would be hard put to find a better resource than Success University - go for it!

2. if you want to earn an income from Success University, be aware of the the complex compensation system, the revenue bias towards the big hitters and the difficulty of retaining paid members - if you can recruit large numbers of members on a continuing basis, go for it!

3. if you want to master affiliate marketing and earn an equitable residual income for your efforts, I would strongly recommend Affiliate Classroom as an alternative. Affiliate Classroom has been the primary source of my success.

The Downside: the monthly subscription, complexity of the commission system and the difficulty of recruiting and retaining new members.

Monthly Subscription

All members of Success University pay a monthly subscription. Although I do not like paying a monthly subscription, I realise that if I am to earn ongoing, residual income there has to be some form of regular payment by myself and my referrals. The issue then becomes what value am I receiving for my payment and how easy is it to recoup my outlay.

Complexity of the Compensation System

The major downside for me in terms of income generation is the complexity of the compensation system. Success University offers five different methods of compensation ranging from fast start bonuses to binary weekly and monthly commissions. Success University uses a number of media to try to explain their complex system of commissions: a diagram (pdf), 2 page explanatory notes and a 40 minute audio. The underlying problem is that the Success University commissions (even "fast start" bonuses) vary according to the membership level and sales rank and have a number of qualifying conditions. Income from Success University is potentially very lucrative if you can recruit a large number of paying members on an ongoing basis (to replace dropouts and meet the qualifiying conditions).

Difficulty of retaining paid members

This is a consequence of (1) and (2). Many people find it difficult to meet an ongoing monthly commitment at the level required by Success University. They can hang in there, if their costs are being offset quickly by affiliate commissions. However, the Success University Compensation system does not generate fast income for the majority of members. It really favours the big hitters and the people with large mailing lists.

PS - do not be fooled if someone offers you heaps of downline members - make sure that they are offering "paid members" as your downline members, not just "freebie" (or $2) sign-ups who do not generate income for you.

NEWS

Success University has announced a merger with World Ventures. This will result in changes to Success University's compensation plan. Many Success University members are not happy with this change. See the debate on the Warrior Forum:
Changes to Success University's compensation plan

Success University represents a new wave in online learning - the self-funding, personal development program. I explain the underlying concept in this review of success university.

The basic concept is that you earn while you learn from the world's top personal development trainers and writers on success and personal achievement. You earn an income by promoting Success University, your own success training business. The income from your promotions not only defrays the costs of your success training and tuition fees but also creates a residual income.

Students of Success University become affiliates who earn weekly and monthly income while they learn success by becoming successful at marketing their own online success training business. Training in internet marketing is provided free by some of the world's leading internet marketers who are themselves members of Success University.

As I explain later in this Success University Review, the commission structure for Success University is biased towards the big hitters and those with a large mailing list. So you will find that many of the top internet marketers have joined and promoted Success University. They are motivated to do this because the commission system rewards them richly and they know they are promoting a quality product with high integrity.

Success University is the premium, self-funding, personal development program because of its success training, the quality of its faculty, flexible online learning, and the income potential offered. It is the most visited personal development website in the world.

1. Success Training and Personal Development

Success University training encompasses every sphere of success - relationships, selling/negotiation, time management, money/investment, communication, goal setting, leadership, accelerated learning, networking, life balance, motivation and health (spiritual/physical/emotional).

2. The Very Best Faculty

The faculty of Success University are the world's leaders in personal development such as Jay Abraham, Asha Tyson, Robert Allen, Kandee G., Zig Ziglar, Jim Rohan, Tony Alessandra, Patricia Fripp, Lisa Jeminez, Denis Waitley, Dr. Wayne Pickering and Dr. Sheila Murray Bethel.

3. Flexible Online Learning

Success University training uses the latest in online learning technology. Personal development training and success tuition are provided via video and audio streaming, recorded conference calls, automatic e-mail lessons, e-books, downloadable workbooks, live conference calls with leading experts and an electronic library.

4. Weekly and Monthly Recurring Income

Success University provides weekly and monthly bonuses based on the number of people you refer. However, as discussed in this lens, you need to be able to recruit large numbers of members to qualify.

Free 9 day email course on Squidoo Marketing Strategies. Receive weekly follow-up emails with the latest Squidoo marketing tools, techniques, tips and strategies. Email support also provided to help you build and market your Squidoo lenses.

To subscribe to this free email course, created by the author of the Squidoo Marketing Strategies eBook, CLICK HERE

Success University Testimonial

Stone Evans

(Caveat: This testimonial has to be read in the light of the fact that Stone is a "big hitter" with a huge list}

Interview with Stone Evans reported in the Success University Newsletter.

1. Why did you join Success University?

Stone:I joined Success University to make a lot of money in an industry that will grow exponentially with or without me. I figure that it's smarter to position myself in front of a wave rather than trying to make a wave happen all by myself. I don't join or commit to anything lightly but when I do, you can be sure that it's because the company is positioned to SKYROCKET and those onboard and committed will have an opportunity to profit (personally and financially) like never before. Success University is such an opportunity.

2. Why are you excited about Success University ?

Stone: I'm excited about Success University because it's such an easy business to build - especially with the Internet. You see, I love the multi-level marketing model because of how much passive income I can generate from it.
...The demand for this product is red-hot and the population of people coming online every day looking for an opportunity like this is HUGE and virtually untapped. That's what I am excited about.