“Quality is the best business plan” – John Lasseter
Let’s hope the products you find on Amazon are of quality, if you are going to make any sort of long lasting profit from the Aiden Booth and Steve Clayton program called 7 Figure Cycle.
The 7 Figure Cycle was created as a mentor program that teaches you how to gain success on Amazon by sourcing current successful products, locating a cheaper price from a manufacturer and reselling it under your company.
This is what is known as arbitrage. In finance and economics, arbitrage is the practice of taking advantage of the price difference of two or more markets.
Creating a set of matching deals that capitalize on that imbalance and profit the difference.
This is a trade that profits from the exploitation of a price difference in similar or even identical products in differing markets.
If it isn’t a 7 Figure Cycle scam, it sure sounds sketchy as hell to me.
I’m here to give you an unbiased account, so with that being said; this program does offer an affiliate opportunity.
I will firstly state that while I have taken this course and familiarized myself with the business model of retail arbitrage, I have not become an affiliate for them.
Who are Aiden Booth and Steve Clayton?
Aiden Booth started his first company in 2005 and by 2006 he had cranked out over 1,500 websites with the help of a master team from the Philippines.
May of 2010 crashed over 500 sites, never to be seen or heard from again thanks to the now famous “May Day” Google algorithm crash.
By 2013 he had partnered with Steve Clayton. Steve had previously been the CFO of a Fortune 500 company before starting his online business.
Together they formed the power duo they are today, launching this and many other courses and programs together.
My Unbiased 7 Figure Cycle Review
Now this particular business blueprint cannot be done with every product on the market, however with a bit of research you can find the best niches to source from.
It is very similar to what is done on eBay:
- Find a product that is selling well
- Find a manufacturer that has the same product for less
- Source that product
- Make a profit
There is a pretty large difference with this program and say something like Amazing Selling Machine.
In ASM you are guided on how to develop your very own product to sell on Amazon or you can choose to design a whole packaging and brand outfit to repackage a similar product that is already selling very well on Amazon.
In my review I will catalog the Pro’s and Con’s of this program and business model vs. designing and creating your own brand and/or product.
Included with my stellar review, I would also like to share my own story of how I made money as an Amazon FBA but how in the end (spoiler alert) I ultimately chose to invest my energy in lead generation as my first income source.
It’s all about those multiple streams of income, however lead generation by itself offers me a 45k monthly profit.
If you care to check out the exact program I used to get me to that glorious monthly profit you can go here.
Now there is plenty to talk about and loads of things I like about being an Amazon FBA business, however lead generation is for sure my number one go-to in terms of steady reliable income.
It is my goal within this article to explain everything I was taught within the 7 Figure Cycle model and how it is different from other similar models.
What Stands Out About Amazing Selling Machine
First, Amazing Selling Machine is probably one of the more well known Amazon, Fulfillment By Amazon coaching programs.
How is it different from the 7 Figure Cycle?
Well in Amazing Selling Machine you will be educated on how to build your own brand and/or products.
So the largest aspect of the success of your business will be how aesthetically pleasing your packaging and logo designs are.
We all know people shop with their eyes so hopefully you have created a stellar brand that will stand the test of time.
You will also be shown how you can optimize your listing by using paid traffic and customer reviews so that you eventually (hopefully also quickly) gain traction and become the authority product/brand.
As you know the time spent on product research is crucial.
So if you are good it may take you weeks or even months before actually deciding on an initial product, some niches can be way too obscure while others can be highly competitive.
So what you can do is either choose a very similar product to what is already being sold through the Amazon platform or you can just repackage it.
Some students have even gone above and beyond by creating some hybrid or designing, creating, and launching a product that isn’t even on the market yet!
However, that is always a toss up as you don’t know if your product will actually gain traction or if it is even something there is a market for. That’s why that product research stage is pivotal!
Here is a prime example of how that particular method can work for some but not for many others. I have a friend who is an Amazon FBA seller.
She has been in the game for quite awhile, at this point in time she has a team of five full time employees.
Her team is in charge of product design and development, they are in a constant state of design and development so that they can launch a whole slew of products into the market at any given time.
Which is great because it increases their chances of finding those winning products because they know that many will fail miserably.
So, while she has the resources and funds to do that, do you?
How is 7 Figure Cycle Different?
When it comes to the 7 Figure Cycle program, you are quite simply taught not to reinvent the wheel.
Just go ahead and pick products that are already doing well on Amazon.
Your goal is to source that very same product, look for quality manufacturers that will offer you the same product for less than its current selling price, buy it, ship it, and create your own Amazon listing.
Then you wait…you are supposed to wait for the sales to come in but let’s be honest it could take awhile.
The idea here is that IF you are able to source your product for less than its current market value then you can make a profit.
Now one of the bigger drawbacks of NOT creating your own brand identity is you can’t really have possession over that market.
You lose BRAND EQUITY.
Meaning since you have lost the competitive edge by differentiating yourself by having a well recognizable brand, you have also lost the ability to create brand loyalty.
You may have even lost the opportunity to sell your business for a lot of money like so many Amazon FBA’s have done before.
While I think Steve and Aiden were trying to simplify the process, their business model basically goes like this:
- Product Research
- Find Product
- Find Supplier
- Purchase in Bulk
- Ship to Amazon FBA warehouse
- Create Listing
They guarantee you will make good money as long as your cost to acquire said product is less than what your competitors are selling it at.
Here is one of those Con’s I was talking about earlier with this program though, since you are not also taught the skills needed to optimize your product listings it may be a long time before you see those profits rolling in.
Your best bet is to do your own research on how you can gain traffic by using paid advertisements and increase your positive customer reviews.
7 Figure Cycle Scam – Is It Though?
Here is one thing that really impressed me with this program.
Aiden and Steve have created proprietary software that enables them to scan Amazon and find products for you that are the most likely to succeed.
They even offer a list of products they selected for you to choose from.
Here is a little breakdown of what you can expect while completing this program.
- Master Blueprint
- This is the full monty if you will, of what the arbitrage model really is and why it is successful. The steps to get you on Amazon FBA quickly and efficiently. The biggest advantage you have here with the lack of branding/packaging/new products is that you are just modeling after the success of other people. There is less for you to screw up.
- The Nerve Center
- Another bad ass aspect and one I thoroughly enjoyed was they have their own interface which helps you track all of your inventory in one place with your warehouses and suppliers. Because Amazon FBA does all the returns, shipping, and packaging; you just need to maintain your bulk orders so you have good inventory numbers.
- Income Producing Product
- There is a team within the program whose sole responsibility is to find income producing products for its students so that they can immediately begin to sell. These have all the right stuff to prove their success based on the metrics and potential earnings from the IPP team. Every student is given their own product to launch, you by all means can choose for yourself but the option is available to you.
- I know I stated above that the product research phase is one of the most influential steps to the success of your business, however that may not be the whole truth. I do feel it is important but I should caution spending too much time in the cerebral phase of your business can be a death trap. Actually executing and implementing your knowledge and skills with actionable steps as many times as necessary is what you need to do to find your success.
- The Success Predictor
- Yet another proprietary offering: the data they have collected from students and products showcases the sales trajectory of each one and guides you an understanding of exactly what you need to look for so you can also identify the best products. They are offering this data, provided after many trials and errors to help you make the best decisions during the selection phase, which will significantly cut down your learning curve.
- Buyers Club
- An incredible resource for beginners! You will gain access to a plethora of vetted suppliers. You will have instant access to view thousands of products these proven and legit suppliers offer.
- Profit Hunter
- Yet another proprietary offering, the Profit Hunter is an analyzing software that goes through hundreds of products per minute to find the best one just for you. While this is very cool within their system and program, there are similar offerings out there such as ASInspector and Jungle Scout.
- Seller Society
- Some of the more successful coaching programs offer private communities for their students. They understand the value of helping each other, offering similar concerns or trials, and also being able to read each other’s successes. When your mindset is right you can accomplish many things and having a network of like minded and driven people will help you on your path to success.
The lead generation program I am in, also has an amazingly supportive private community on Facebook.
There are daily success stories and quite frankly I think it adds immense value and supplemental knowledge to a course like this.
There is a saying that you become the five people you associate yourself with most.
That when you surround yourself with people who are where you want to be, you automatically start modeling after them and soon find yourself in a position you once envisioned as only a dream.
By connecting and reaching out to other entrepreneurs was a huge contributor to the success of my business and myself and I see those benefits every day.
In Conclusion
This program will set you back three grand.
They do offer a payment plan of three payments at $1000 each.
With that said, what will help you gain the most success within this program will be being able to find that “winning” product that has enough buyer interest and sense of need while the competition level for that product niche is relatively low. For now.
The reason I say “for now” is because in almost every niche within Amazon FBA the competitiveness has been steadily increasing since 2017!
Which was when many courses and coaches started coming out of the woodwork.
So if this is what you want to do, I suggest no longer waiting as it’s only going to become more and more difficult to make your mark.
This arbitrage model worked a lot easier back in 2014 in my personal opinion.
So we know there is major work and a lot of factors in picking the right niche and product and if you truly want to find success it is imperative you do the extra digging and find the right information to help you optimize your listing with paid traffic.
Which would mean also learning how to best use Facebook Ads to bring that additional traffic to your listing so that those positive listing reviews can come in even quicker.
These extra tools needed are not part of the 7 Figure Cycle training program, which means you are missing out on some serious knowledge and tools to help you reach that promised first page of search results.
What you are told is to just launch a product and wait for that organic traffic to miraculously show up.
But if you just wait and hope it will pick up you are gonna be missing out because your competitors will be launching their products into the stratosphere by using paid traffic tactics.
The advantage you do have with such a simple business model is you could potentially launch multiple products and see which ones catch and which ones don’t, then based on those trends move forward.
However, you will lose out on enormous skills which can help you build a full brand for your future and THAT ultimately will be the greatest difference to successful online businesses moving forward.
You need to know all aspects of the digital market no matter your business or niche or product to truly have a leg up on your competitors.
The attractiveness of the 7 Figure Cycle is in its simplicity.
They provide many systems within their program to help you pick a product that’s already selling and as long as you are able to find that product and source it for cheaper, you will be able to profit.
You are going into a program that has essentially taken as much of the risk out for you because they give you products that are working already.
Since you are only modeling after someone else’s success, you are not actually in control of your profits as much as you think.
Someone else is dominating the niche, fulfilling product needs, and establishing their brand. You are sitting in wait until their results come through.
Granted creating your own product or brand has a much higher risk and is definitely more work upfront, the gains would be way more significant especially if you found that “perfect” product or products.
How I’m Making 45k/month In 2024
You can have success with Amazon FBA but I will always recommend lead generation over every other business model and here is why: by working with FBA, you are receiving a 10-20% profit.
You are selling a tangible product and there are costs involved with that, and as more competition increases it drives the profits down.
Comparatively, if you create a lead generation site which is completely digital you will receive nearly 100% profits once it has ranked.
With FBA the largest success factor is the customer reviews. Which honestly gives too much power to someone else over the success of YOUR business.
With lead generation the success of business is way more predictable since it is based on my skills and how I use them as compared to a tangible product I did not make or may not have even seen in person.
You can scale your FBA business since you are not in charge of managing the inventory or the shipping because Amazon provides all of those services for you.
It is possible to scale your business to an even greater extent by using lead generation.
Since every city has many niches that are in dire need of a lead generation expert, you have an almost immeasurable opportunity to take advantage of your skills.
All that’s needed from you is about $25-50, which is a small monthly hosting fee and a slightly larger yearly domain fee.
This is per site but you can imagine how easily scalable this is, especially when renting finished lead generation sites out for $1000 or more a month, just like this one.
Lead generation is a lot more dependent on your skills. As I continue to learn and grow and educate and hone my skills my confidence and financial acumen increases as well.
While there is a sense of knowledge and expertise in sourcing products and setting up a listing in Amazon there is no demand for that skill.
You may be able to transfer that skill set to other avenues of digital marketing however the skills learned with lead generation will provide you with a skill set that has been in high demand since the beginning of time.
I employ you to invest in your skills and build those skills up so that you can manage your businesses in a way that many out there are not capable of doing.
When you invest in yourself you are ensuring your own stability and how long you and your business are in the running.
Lead generation is a skill that is very much in high demand and is quite specialized which keeps competition minimal.
You are in charge of your sites because you own them, you are in charge of your income based on how many sites you run. You can achieve an empire with infinite profit potential when you hire a team.
It is all under your control and that is why lead generation will always be my number one recommendation!
Click here to learn about the lead generation program I use that gave me the confidence to become a full time entrepreneur and retire from the military (basically my 9 to 5).
