Name: AWOL Academy
Website: www.awolacademy.com
Price: $99 – $17,997
Owners: Kameron George & Keala Kanae
Overall Rank: 37 out of 100
AWOL Academy Product Overview
AWOL Academy is a training program for affiliate marketing.
AWOL describes itself as:
The Good & the Bad
The Good:
- There is a lot on mindset – I totally believe mindset has a lot to do with success.
- The FREE webinar has good introduction to affiliate marketing.
- AWOL Pro has some good training in it – the best part is the training on how to use Click Magick
- Step-by-step training on setting up hosting (Ataama), capture page(LeadPages), autoresponder(GetResponse), tracking (ClickMagick)
- Good motivation and other “feel good videos”
- Monday night training calls are free with AWOL pro
The Bad:
- The trainings and calls on mindset are 100% focused on telling people that AWOL Elite is the way to reach your goals. The AWOL Pro Academy is like a big sales promotion – so are the Monday night calls. Always selling.
- AWOL Pro costs $99 one time (overpriced, under-delivered)
- Free “coaching call” that comes with AWOL Pro is a sales call for high priced upgrades – as much as $17,997 for AWOL Elite
- “Community” is a private facebook group – not very active, helpful or well organized costs an additional $49.95 a month (free with Awol Elite)
- Affiliate program costs $39.95 a month (pay AWOL to recommend AWOL)
- Additional costs – hosting (Ataama), capture page(LeadPages), autoresponder(GetResponse), tracking (ClickMagick) – all affiliate links – Meaning everytime you buy a tool they recommend – someone is making money off you for the life of your Internet marketing business.
- Day 2- Back office does not remember where I left off in training – started me at the beginning of “pre-academy” — I had to manually find the place I left off in pro academy. Day 3 – (not in a row) – some trainings showed complete – another “bonus” training I had finished showed 0% finished. I started rewatching it and recognized that I had seen these videos before- this was the biggest sales series for the next levels called AWOL 101 Basic. (see the names of videos on the right – screaming BUY MORE AWOL)
- Finished the Pro Academy ($99) and all the “bonus” training in 2 days – much of it was outdated – very little new stuff for me. Some of the training was on things they don't recommend anymore — which I found out in the paid community – so people who did not pay the extra $49… would not know that the training is outdated.
Who is AWOL For?
AWOL is meant for people who want to become successful with affiliate marketing online and have $14,997 to $17,997 to invest in their training – and more for advertising – because they teach to buy solo ads for traffic.
They prey on people who have failed in Internet marketing and entrepreneurship before and use psychological tactics to manipulate them into buying high priced training in the hopes that this would lead to success.
AWOL Tools & Training
AWOL PRO Academy – $99 – sold at the 90 minute free webinar I attended
AWOL Inbox Academy – $500
AWOL Conversion Academy $1,797
AWOL Traffic Academy $2,997
AWOL Masters Academy $5,497
_____you can purchase everything up to Masters for a “discounted” $7997
And then, there is Elite where you get weekly webinars and coaching in those webinars. As far as I can tell it is group coaching.
The AWOL Elite includes everything they have for training for $17,997
Someone can correct me if I am wrong and there is 1-on-1 coaching with Elite.
AWOL Elite is $17,997 – and if you purchase within 10 days –
it's discounted… to $14,997 – more scarcity and loss sales tactics.
AWOL Support
The AWOL community is a paid facebook group $49 a month and it is not very active. I did some searches – looking for people who were asking the same questions as I was and found each post has minimal interaction. Lots of people leaving the group. Still, the group has over 4,000 members.
As a friend said to me about this company – I like math. AWOL makes $200,000 a month from a facebook “support” group for a program that charges way too much to “help” people succeed in Internet marketing.
IMO – The so called support is Not worth the $49 a month.
Today – 9am EST, March 30th, 2018 – I emailed support to cancel the facebook support group. I paid for the 1st month only.
As you can see, there are many emails taking care of their different levels of membership.
I am unsure I emailed the right people because the email address under the “Support” tab is not for support@ but concierge@
I will update this page when I get a response from that email.
Update: At 12:25pm EST on the same day I sent an email to concierge@awolacademy.com which is 9:25am PST – I got an email back saying my subscription is canceled. Great service for canceling. I paid for a month, I should have access to the group until the end of that month. About 2 more weeks and I will check the exact date. As of this time – I still have access to the facebook group.
My Final Opinion of AWOL
AWOL is not offering a quality product at the $99 level – I don't have confidence that the higher levels are going to be any better.
The $49 a month for a Facebook page is redonkulous – which is worse than ridiculous.
If you feel like paying a whole bunch of money for a promise of success, AWOL may be for you. They have a $15K guarantee… saying if you don't make $15K in 90 days, using their methods and the ELITE level of training… they will pay you the difference. I prefer keeping my money to spend wisely and learning a give more, get more approach to success in Internet marketing.
I paid a total of $148 for the AWOL Pro Academy plus one month of the facebook community and I got 2 days of that got me no further in my business. Oh, I also got a couple of hours of high pressured sales videos and a couple of scheduled “coaching” calls that were actually high pressure, high ticket “you do want to succeed?” calls.
AWOL Price = $99 to $17,997
Again – back to the math
When I was researching AWOL – I found a community with Internet marketing training, tools and a very active community and I had joined as a FREE member five years before.
I could do more training for FREE than I got for $99 in AWOL.
I joined the Wealthy Affiliate community (WA) as a paid member (cost: $19 for the first month) and have learned so much in just the couple weeks that I plan to join for one year for $359 — so I can continue to learn. If I didn't want to pay the yearly price – I could join that other training for $49 a month.
The WA training taught me how to build THIS WEBSITE that you are on – in less than a week. So, anyone can join WA for free, build a free website and not pay a dime until they are sure they are going to like it.
Let's convert what I am getting in the WA training I chose compared to AWOL
At $49/mo it would take 367.3 months or over 30 and a half years to reach $17,997.
At $359/yr it would take just over 50 years to spend $17,997.
I'll take the 50 year plan, thank you.
On top of the cost comparison of the 2 trainings – instead of all the added costs that are in AWOL's plan – WA offers free hosting, link tracking, keyword tool and more – so it's actually a better deal than just better training.
Not only is $17,997 an insane amount of money for training, but it's taking advantage of people, too.
AWOL at a Glance – An overpriced training system that could bankrupt many people and help a few people – maybe.
Name: AWOL Academy
Website: www.awolacademy.com
Price: $99 – $17,997
Owners: Kameron George & Keala Kanae
Overall Rank: 37 out of 100
VERDICT: NOT LEGIT
DOES HEATHER RECOMMEND? ABSOLUTELY NOT!
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Hi Heather,
Yikes! Thank you for the heads up with this review on Awol Academy. It’s unfortunate, many scam companies get successful just by using fancy graphics like the one you shared. I’ve personally fallen for a few of them and it really sucks when it happens. I’m glad you’ve found better success with Wealthy Affiliate, though! I’ve been a member there for around 6 years and have nothing but great things to say about it. It’s so rare to find such a quality product that only wants its users (re: members) to succeed these days. Thanks again for the warning on Awol!
Right – I’ve seen graphics like that one before too. I am glad I looked into AWOL further and found out they were a scam! I hope to see you around in the Wealthy Affiliate community. I’m glad you found my blog!
Let’s see, Wealthy Affiliate at $359/yr of AWOL at, oh it doesn’t matter because WA is the only way to go. AWOL and other platforms are sharks laying just below the surface to hit you with the next hidden cost.
It is unreal how they have a system that is making people rich at the expense of your failure. Not at WA, everyone is going o succeed. Everyone wants everyone to succeed.
Thanks for the review and reminding us why we joined WA!
Thanks for stopping by, Don. I am glad I found my way back to WA. The community support is amazing. How everyone wants to help each other – it’s like I came home. Thanks for visiting my site.
What a hefty overpriced program! Like you said in your article, they prey on unsuccessful Internet marketers and use it to their advantage!
And who has that kind of money if you haven’t been able to make any trying? No wonder that Americans are over one trillion in debts.
It’s people and programs like this that are pushy and convince the innocent to get further into the hole instead of helping them out!
Would you agree that, even though they have some shady work ethics and practices, that it is a legit business? They don’t do anything illegal. It may be unethical, but do you really believe it’s a scam? I would NOT recommend it, but I don’t think that it is a real scam. Do you agree?
Denis – you know, you are probably right. It is a legit business. They are selling training. It’s kind of like selling an education. They may even think they are helping people. But they are not. They are gouging people and hanging them out to dry.
When I see people say they cannot afford $49 a month to go premium in a training that is truly helping a lot of people (Wealthy Affiliate) A training and tools package that is truly making a difference in people’s lives, I think – well at least it’s not $17,000!!
Most people can come up with $49 – and Wealthy Affiliate shows you how! Pick one of 100,000 products that have affiliate programs – there has to be one you believe in. Go out and tell the world about it!
I don’t believe in AWOL. I could never recommend it. I believe they are hurting people. Maybe it’s not a scam in that it is an illegal business. It is immoral.
I hope the people who are doing AWOL wake up and come on over to some affordable and fantasticInternet Marketing training.
Hello Heather,
I’m just disturbed by these con artists out there. $17k is just too much for an IM product. There are way better platforms that teach internet marketing. You can check out Making Sense out of Affiliate marketing, Affilorama and Chris farrell membership. However, the icing of the cake is definitely Wealthy Affiliate. No product in the market compares with WA
I’m disturbed too! Charging $17k is price gouging and fear mongering. These people should be ashamed of themselves.
I don’t know about those other trainings but it will take me a while to get through the training that is available in Wealthy Affiliate – I am 3 weeks in and not through 1/8 of it and already made gigantic leaps and bounds with my business.
I hope you are finding the same kind of success with the WA training!
Hi Heather
Sounds like an older product when I first started working on the internet, Called Jeff Paul’s working in your underwear. It is a scam to get as much money out of your pocket as they can. Thank you for the review I had looked at it once before, however when looking at prices like that, it just makes me run the other way.
For those who are just starting out, and want to do online work, you would be surprised how many will take the plunge.
My advice to people who want to learn how to work on the internet and be successful, is to take this ladies advise. VickiG
Thanks, Vicki – I’m glad I didn’t run into Jeff Paul in his underwear or mine! He probably went and crawled under a rock somewhere because that’s what you have to do when you scam people! Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.
Thank you for this review! It was very thorough.
AWOL Academy seems like a very expensive program with no guarantees of success.
You are welcome! Thanks for your comment.
Hi,
Wow AWOL is definitely not something people should ever consider. It is way too expensive for what they have to offer.
That was a great review, thanks for the heads up. I agree with you, Wealthy Affiliate is a platform suitable for everyone that want to start their online business.
I can’t believe some people are paying those prices. We have a goldmine with Wealthy Affiliate! I’m really glad we connected!
Great review about awol. I have heard many people say that awol is very overpriced for their training — and after reading your review it just confirms this bilief.
It’s sad that so many companies out there are just ok it for the money, instead of truly trying to help individuals.
I’ll be sure to stay clear of this program and find something better thanks.
Awesome – glad I could help!
Hi Heather,
Your review of Awol Academy pretty much confirms my suspicions about this program. I haven’t joined yet to get an insider’s view. But I’ve read enough of their promotional materials to find their approach to Internet Marketing alarming. They appear to be relying entirely on paid traffic and email marketing which is not an approach that makes sense to me. I’ve seen zero references in any of Awol’s materials to keyword research or other search engine optimation techniques that lead to free organic traffic. I see a lot of hype about sales funnels but nothing about providing real value to customers.
I’ve been an affiliate marketer for 2 years and see nothing in this program that I could ever in good conscience recommend to one of my readers. On the other hand, Wealthy affiliate offers a one-stop approach with all the tools, resources, training, and support you could ever need to build and grow your business. And, at a tiny fraction of the cost!
You’re right – AWOL doesn’t teach keyword research or SEO – they teach 100% paid advertising and lead pages followed up by aggressive email marketing – sending emails once a day or more. They hammer selling the high ticket training – I paid $148 for training that was outdated and basically useless – the higher levels would probably be the same low quality. I am glad I found Wealthy Affiliate when I did. Even though I have been Internet marketing, building websites and advertising for a long time, I know I have a lot to learn especially now that I have started the WA training. You’re right about the value – and the fantastic people I have met in Wealthy Affiliate are a bonus!