Now I am going to let you in on the details of Tai Lopez's Social Media Marketing Agency 2.0 (updated November 2019)
In this review, I both summarize his course as well as share the pros and cons of starting a Facebook agency in 2020.
You'll learn how Tai has made his course to take the beginner to the expert level in 120 days or less.
The best part?
Tai gives you lifetime access to his course, so you can go back again and again to make sure you have a solid grasp on each step of the process.
Quick Stats on SMMA 2.0 (including the current price)
Who is Tai Lopez?
Tai Lopez is one of the most well-known figures on social media, having over 6.2 million followers on Facebook.
Where'd he grow up?
He's a So-Cal guy born and bred.
Here's a little of Tai's background:
Tai grew up in Long Beach, California and now lives in the hills of Hollywood.
Entrepreneurial from the start, Tai opened up his first business, a cherry tomato stand, when he was only 6 years old. Soon, he realized the market for ice-cold lemonade was much more profitable than the tomato market, so he set up his own refreshing beverage stand.
Instead of joining a gang as a teen, he became a bookworm, imbibing Aristotle's Ethics and Durant's History of Civilization.
Striving to understand the nature of the Good Life, he began traveling to the 154 different countries he'd read about.
After about a year, he ran out of money and went back to live with his mother in a trailer park. #eminem
Not having any more funding to fuel his education, Tai began flipping through the Yellow Pages (remember those?) until his eyes lighted upon the finance section.
Selecting the financial advisor with the largest ad, he borrowed an oversized suit and found a ride down to the advisor's office.
The way that Tai convinced the advisor to work with him was by offering him the following proposition:
"You teach me what you know, and I'll work for you for free."
That was the start of Tai's financial education.
Since then, Tai has owned several businesses, including a nightclub and several sketchy dating websites. #reddit
In 2007, Tai began working on the internet and has since put together many different courses teaching both mindset and business skills.
He even ran a daily podcast called "The Tai Lopez Show."
One of the habits that Tai is known for is his voracious reading practice, reportedly digesting one book per day.
The man reads so many books, he's got 8 cases of literature in his garage next to his lambo.
Today, Tai serves in an advisory capacity to many multi-million dollar businesses and, in his free time, enjoys playing basketball, collecting unique sneakers and grappling, mma style.
The Rise and Fall of Tai Lopez
Early Business Challenges That Tai Lopez Faced
The early business challenges that Tai encountered included the lack of funds, finding the right marketing strategy, and establishing his name in a saturated market. He initially struggled with various business ventures and faced skepticism from the public, especially when he used YouTube to boost his online presence. He eventually learned how to refine his marketing approach and differentiate his offerings in this competitive industry.
Marketing Strategies Implemented
How Tai Lopez Is Doing Now
Tai Lopez remains actively involved in both business and social media. He expanded his online business by acquiring and revamping known retail brands like RadioShack and Pier 1 Imports. He plans to fully transition to e-commerce and offer educational courses and mentorship in entrepreneurship and personal development.
What's not mentioned in the interview: Digital marketing is a very competitive industry. There are over 48,000 digital marketing agencies in the United States alone, and this number continues to grow as businesses increase their social media spending by at least 12%.
What You Should Expect of SMMA 2.0
Comprehensive.
Tai and his team of specialists lay out a holistic process showing how to set up a social media marketing agency from A to Z.
Here's a few topics that he covers throughout the 33 hours of training.
Tai's Social Media Marketing Course Includes
Break Down of Tai's Social Media Marketing Academy 2.0
Phase 1 - Laying a Solid Foundation of Your Business
In this initial phase of the course, Tai covers the basic topics that are the cornerstone to performing as a successful agency. Tai also brings in experts who specialize in different aspects of Social Media Marketing, such as setting up your business legally to protect your personal assets in the case of a lawsuit, putting together a professional agency website and creating a Facebook offer.
Naming and Forming Your Business
Don't overthink your business name.
Here are the dual considerations of naming your new legal entity:
First of all, make the name broad enough to encompass any services that you will be offering.
For example, if you are planning to do Facebook and Twitter marketing right off the bat,
but you think that maybe a year down the road you'll add website building and optimization to your list of services, then don't name your business "Lightning Social Marketing Agency."
Rather, consider naming your business "Lightning Consulting," or something like that.
That's a bit more general,
but still indicates that you are in the marketing sector.
Secondly, create a name that is professional.
Don't name it after your high school nickname or your favorite cartoon character. You want people to see that name and see the professional agency that will take good care of them.
Selecting a Business Entity to Form
Tai recommends using Legalzoom to establish your legal entity
It's pretty straightforward, but Tai offers some tips:
Choose an LLC because they are flexible when it comes to doing your taxes.
When you go onto Legalzoom, you can put your business name idea into the searchbar and see if that name is the available.
After you've found a business name that is available and filled out their questionnaire, if you're in the states, you'll have to choose which state to license your business in.
Since your business is on the internet, you can basically select whichever state is the best for your circumstances (some like Wyoming because the low taxation level, while others pick Delaware because of their low fees).*
*This not to be considered legal advice. Please consult with a lawyer to find out what is best to do in your particular case.
How to Reprogram Your Mind
Tai spends 20 minutes discussing how you can develop a mindset that will give you the capacity to achieve success in social.
He has 2 main tips:
Keep Success in Front of You
Find examples of people who are doing what you want to do and people who have accomplished what you want to do.
When you repeatedly look at these experienced professionals, you are reminding your subconscious mind that what you are aiming to do has been done by many others.
To find these professionals, Tai recommends looking in the facebook community that comes as a part of his course as well as subscribing to affordable publications like Entrepreneur Magazine.
Learn the Power of Verbally Entering Positive Information in Your Mind
Tai recommends affirming yourself outloud 3+ times a day for the duration of the 4 month program in the following fashion:
This is similar to what Wesley Virgin teaches in his courses.
Phase 1 Conclusion:
Tai's first phase is comprehensive.
He covers the many basic topics that must be addressed when beginning your digital marketing business.
Additionally, he proactively provides tips that will keep your business from hitting the same obstacles that Tai's did when he initially started, like becoming a licensed business immediately rather than putting off jumping through that official hoop until your business is established, which is doable, but arguably a more risky move.
Once you have completed the foundational tasks laid out in Phase 1, you are ready to move into Phase 2, where you'll practice to become a master social media marketer.
Phase 2 - Mastering Social Media Marketing
In this second phase, you'll learn the core social media marketing platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Linkedin, Google, and Youtube) as well as how to exponentially increase your conversion rates through the incorporation of several kinds of funnels and advanced copywriting tips.
Everything You Need to Build a 6 Figure Funnel
One of the main subjects in Phase 2 is sales funnels.
Tai has guest professionals teaching both the basics setting up your sales funnels (basic structure, what programs to use, etc.) and advanced techniques to garner the most conversions out of your funnel (generally involves attaching an autoresponder and composing an email follow-up sequence).
The infographic below shows the 3 Step-to-the-Sale structure of a mid-range funnel:
How to Build a 3 Step Funnel
1st Step: Prospect Clicks on Ad or Website
The interested party, while scrolling through their feed, clicks on either your Facebook ad or, as they search your topic via Google, your optimized site pops up.
2nd Step: Prospect Opts In
The interested party decides to put in their contact information in order to receive a free guide that explains how they could solve their problem for themselves (or by using your services) in more detail.
The purpose of this guide is to establish you as the expert in the space, showing off your knowledge of the topic by providing a helpful resource to the prospect.
3rd Step: Email Sequence
The interested party receives three or four emails (each with its own purpose and theme) and then decides to invest in your services or buy your product via the sales page.
Why would you want a sales funnel?
What a funnel does is it enables you to get a lot more conversions out of a small amount of ad spend, which is digital marketing language for:
It saves you money or the business you are working for money, while enabling either you or them to get a higher percentage of conversions which leads to a higher percentage of sales.
Bottom line about Funnels:
Having a well optimized funnel attached to your site or PPC ads will get your clients more bang for their buck.
Phase 3 - Acquiring Clients
In this third phase, it's time to find some clients that will pay you to use the skills you learned in Phase 2.
You'll learn where to look, what to say and how to close them on working with you and your Agency.
Tai's team of experts cover many topics including the following:
Pros
Using Websites to Find where to Meetup with Businesses - Guest Contributor: Joe Soto
1. Meetup.com
Use this site to find local professionals as well as BNI Chapters near you (BNI allows visitors to come to two meetings of a chapter)
2. Facebook Networking Groups
Search Query: Your Location + "Networking Groups"
If you are looking for more local networking tips, you might consider checking out my review of Joe Soto's Local Consulting Academy.
3 Keys to Attracting Your Clients to Your Agency - Guest Contributor: Austin Distel
1. Select a Niche of Professionals that You get Fired UP Being Around
One of Austin's suggestions is to build a customer avatar, a profile of your ideal client through the lense of your niche (i.e. your perfect chiropractic client).
2. The GGG Strategy
The goal of the Give-Give-Give strategy is to provide your prospect with so much value with the intent to enable them to do their own marketing themselves, while also showing your expertise in that field.
Solve their biggest pain point with the value you bring.
One of the book's that Austin recommends reading is:
Dale Carnegie - "How to Win Friends and Influence People"
3 Quick Networking Tips from Austin:
1. Remember their Name
2. Mirror their Posture/Body Language
3. Create Friendship and Rapport during the meeting, don't sell when you are there, rather schedule an appointment.
The Closer Mentality: Seeing Them Sign the Contract in Your Mind - Guest Contributor - Grant Cardone
1. Believe that You can Close
Have confidence in your skills and ability to fulfil the work that you want to do for them and your ability to show them the value you'd bring to a business relationship.
2. See the Evidence that They can be Closed
What items do they have on them that they probably bought for more than that item is worth?
Grant uses his watch and hair care product as examples.
Remind yourself that this person has been sold other services, so they can be sold your service as well.
3. Commit to becoming a Professional Closer
You don't become a closing expert by watching a single video or reading a book, but rather by training and roleplaying frequently.
If you are interested in developing your closing skills without spending any money, check out my review of Cardone University, Grant Cardone's online sales training school.
Phase 3 Conclusion:
When you've acquired the max number of clients you can handle on your own, it's time to look into outsourcing and constructing a team.
Phase 4 - Automating, Servicing, & Building Your Team
The 4th phase of Social Media Marketing 2.0 by Tai Lopez is, in a word, is all about scaling.
Once a business hits 10k a month or so, solopreneurs typically hit a plateau, hitting their max work threshold.
In order to break that barrier, you must build out your team, whether that's virtual assistants, employees, 1099 contractors or your family.
Topics that Tai's team covers in Phase 4 are:
3 Parts to Scaling Your Agency - Guest Contributor - Nicholas Kirschner
1. Systems
Nicholas discusses how to build systems with remote contractors, commonly referred to as "virtual assistants."
Sharing two online platforms that enable businesses to find VA's, Nicholas recommends using remote employees if you can't yet afford local employees.
2 Resources that Nicholas recommends:
1. Hubstaff - a multi-source platform ranging from helping you monitor your current VA's with time tracking tools to finding contractors to do the work you are looking to have done.
2. Upwork - a middle-man platform that helps digital nomads in search of gigs and businesses looking to get certain tasks done find each other.
2. Employees
The two main sides of a digital marketing business, Nicholas says, are the front-end and the back-end, a.k.a. sales and fulfillment.
Depending on which side of the business you are most competent in, NK suggests hiring either a commission-based salesperson or a Media Manager to monitor and direct your fulfillment team.
3. Duplicatable Sales Processes
This part is all about establishing a flow of inbound leads that have been nurtured to the point where either you or your sales person only needs to get on the phone and close them, getting a contract signed so that your fulfilment team can take over.
Outsource Your Clients' work in 10 Steps - Guest Contributor - Chris Record from Tecademics
In this lesson, Chris goes through the entire process of building your dream team using Upwork.com.
It is the process that he used to build his business from 100k per year to a Million dollars a year to 10 million dollars per year.
Welcome to Upwork
First, Chris gives a brief introduction to the Upwork Platform, doing a brief walkthrough the process of how to set up a job.
Then, he shows how to use the filters on Upwork's search engine to sort out the highest quality contractors from all the others.
10 Steps to Outsourcing
Now, Chris begins his 10 step process
Step 1: List out all the tasks needed to build an ecommerce store on Shopify.
Step 2: Go to Upwork and create a new job for each task.
Step 3: Invite the 100 most experienced, yet least expensive contractors to look at the job.
Step 4: Select the best 10 of that 100 to interview via Skype.
Step 5: Determine the best 2 or 3 contractors to give the job (one at a time, so that if the first one falls through, you've got a backup)
Step 6: Get estimates from all 3 of the number of hours it would take to do their task
Step 7: Multiply the highest hourly rate by the number of hours needed to complete the job and you've got your cost per job.
Step 8: Add up all the final cost per task and get your total cost for your client's job.
Step 9: Chris recommends tripling the cost of your outsourced job and use that number as a quote for your client.
Step 10: If you close your client on the job, then go through and create new jobs and invite the first contractor for each task to the new job.
Here's an infographic to Review the 10 Steps that Chris lays out:
Phase 4 Conclusion:
As you scale your agency, it's important to begin to give back to your community. Tai lays out some principles for getting the most out of your new wealth below.
Extra Training: SMMA Lifestyle Bonuses
Tai includes hours of extra value in this section.
His first talk is on how to live after you've hit your first financial milestone, which Tai indicates is around 10k per month.
Tai's 5 Lifestyle Principles:
Principle 1: Don't live to impress others.
Make material things the subserviate goal.
If you like nice things for intrinsic reasons, have those nice things.
For example, Tai owns several extremely nice cars, but he explains that he didn't buy them because he wants to flaunt his wealth, but because he enjoys the quality, the craftsmanship and the speed.
Principle 2: Incorporate travel into your life even if you are a homebody.
2 Types of happiness:
(Tai's future principles show how to achieve both. Don't be satisfied with only the first, seek to have both. Because if "you can have your cake and eat it too," wouldn't you want to?)
Momentary Happiness: enjoying the current moment.
Memory Happiness: Looking back and enjoying the recollection
How can you create happy memories?
One way Tai suggests is travel.
Travel opens you up to new ideas, suggesting that if you like to travel, get out of town once a month, if you are more of a homebody, try to get out of the country every quarter.
Principle 3: Use your new money first to get a nicer place to live.
Your blood stress levels will be higher if you simply try to grin and bear it.
If you would be healthier by leveling up your home, Tai is saying that you won't regret it.
Tai recommends the following book at this point in the video:
The Happiness Hypothesis is made up of 11 chapters each with a different quote by a certain historical figure, some of whom are Confucius, Epictetus, Seneca, and Nietzsche.
Reading the thinkers of history was Tai's pastime when he was a teenager.
Rather than diving into the difficult original texts, you can discover the main streams of thoughts these brilliant philosophers had about living the good life (which is what Aristotle meant when he wrote about being "happy").
In short, this book serves as an excellent summary of foundational questions that many academics have spent their lives investigating.
I found this book to very accessible as someone who didn't do much formal study of philosophy in college.
Gave me a lot to think about.
Highly recommend.
Principle 4: Spend some money fly your long time friends in to spend some time with you at a vacation destination.
Tai shares about when he started making some money, he took his family to Puerto Rico for a week, and recounts the fond memories that were made on that vacation.
Principle 5: Find a charity that you love and become involved both with your money and your time.
In doing this, you are creating a new community for yourself.
If you've got no idea of where to start, here's what Tai shares in his lifestyle bonus video:
His big 3 three charities that he rotates supporting are:
Big Brothers, Big Sisters - this organization is very near and dear to Tai because when he was growing up, he had a big brother that helped him start his life well.
Innocence Project - this non-profit is dedicated to righting the wrongs of the judicial system, specifically finding wrongly convicted people and working to get them out of prison legally.
Heifer.org - this organization works with communities in 3rd world countries, helping them create sustainable economies through helping individuals and families start small businesses.
Should You Invest in Tai's 2.0 to be Successful in 2020?
Tai has put a lot of time into constructing a high-quality, comprehensive educational program for those wanting to learn both the practical skill set and the undergirding mindset necessary to operate a successful social media agency.
And for 500 bucks, the amount of knowledge that he and his team of experts share is huge and some of what was shared was helpful to me as an experienced marketer.
You can check out other specialized agency courses like Joe Dickinson's Learn It Earn It which focus on web design.
Your Answers to These 2 Questions Determine Whether or Not You would Benefit from Tai Lopez's SMMA:
1. How do you learn? (What's your level of self-awareness?)
While you do get a lot of hours of education for the pretty minimal price, what Tai’s SMMA lacks is a clear sense of organization.
Tai has no step-by-step process, but more of a scattershot way of covering all the bases.
Tai's course is comprehensive, because it covers all the topics necessary to start your own agency, but it lacks a clear sequence of specifically what you need to do as you build your digital marketing business.
Is that okay with how you learn?
To pull from the famous Gary Vee here,
when you invest in a course,
self-awareness is very important.
Are you someone who likes to piece a business model together or one who appreciates a more structured approach?
Don’t know?
It’s okay and probably good to admit that at this point.
Your next question as an aspiring entrepreneur should be:
“How do I solve the problem that I don’t know myself very well?”
Entrepreneurs are solution-oriented problem-solvers.
When I encountered this issue myself, I worked through several personality tests, (think the Myers-Briggs, the DISC assessment, etc.).
While those common personality exams added to my gross knowledge of myself, I found the Myers-Briggs to be too general with its descriptions (i.e. I’ve taken the test multiple times and came out both an extrovert and an introvert) and the DISC unhelpful due to how shallow its assessment abilities are (it will tell you if you lean in 1 of 4 directions: Action-Taker (Dominance), Collaborative-Extrovert (Influential), or Patient-Accommodation (Steady), or Analytical-Introvert (Conscientious).
So, if I’ve had such bad luck with personality tests, why am I still recommending them?
Because I found a test that uses hard data (not introspection or “self-opinion”) that depicts my friends and myself quite accurately.
Enter the Enneagram
The Enneagram is Simple: To do this quick personality test, all you need to know about yourself is your birth date: month, day and year.
It will tell you the rest.
For more details on how it works, learn how the Enneagram has helped me.
Since you are looking into Tai’s course, perhaps you’d be interested in the personality test that he sees as the most accurate: HEXACO.
HEXACO summarized in a sentence is a very in-depth, introspective assessment, gauging your personality using 26 unique identifiers, each with its own numerical range of 1 to 6. (yes, this is a very nerdy test)
Here's a short video (6 minutes) where Tai explains what HEXACO stands for and how he uses it in business.
As you learn more about yourself, it's also important to learn about the different ways you can make an income online.
I will compare Facebook advertising to a couple other models to help you make the best choice for your situation and ambitions.
2. Quick Evaluation of Facebook Advertising
In his book, the Millionaire Fastlane, MJ DeMarco lays out 5 characteristics of businesses that provide the most long-term passive income in the form of the acronym C.E.N.T.S.
Here's a gif of one of the sites I made in 2014 that is still paying me today:
Check out this infographic that sums up the CENTS eval done in detail above:
As you enter 2020, do you want to have little control of over your business or have total control?
For me, I like owning the platform that I do business on, because then it will never be shut down without my consent, unlike Ad Zombies' ad account.
A little about me:
Similar to most folks, I went to college and then get a 9-5 job pushing auto parts at a store in Michigan that paid me a low hourly wage.
The only way I could earn more was to put in more hours at the office.
Then, maybe like you, I stumbled up on a website late at night while checking out what other ways I could make money, ideally using the internet, because then I could operate my business from anywhere, and quit my 9-5.
I bumped into this program that taught me local lead generation and now live life with my friends and on my own schedule, like Tai, in Southern California.
Doubt me?
Check out my instagram profile or learn more about the local lead generation program.
My Better Alternative To Social Media Marketing
Local lead generation is my better alternative to social media marketing because you only need little capital to start and income is consistent. The biggest problem with SMMA is it's a highly competitive business. You need to use different strategies and service offers to rise above the competition.
You also need to constantly keep up with the algorithm changes and platform updates. It's not a passive business because you need to constantly upskill and learn new strategies to adapt to the changes in technology. SMMA businesses are very dependent on clients. Losing one or more major clients can significantly impact the agency's financial stability.
The best online business for me is local lead generation because it's low-maintenance and income is consistent. This biz builds simple websites for local service providers like plumbers and towing companies and ranks them on Google. Once the sites are ranked, they generate leads you can sell at 85% margins.
Unlike SMMA, clients stick around long-term because they benefit from the leads you give them. I built a tree care site over 7 years ago that's still making $2K passive income monthly. That's just one of the many ranked sites that makes income for me on autopilot.
