Welcome to my My Online Startup Review!
Are you wondering if the free training within My Online Startup is free? Is there a catch or could My Online Startup be a scam… Relax, all will be revealed to you.
But if you’re in a hurry, then know that it isn’t a scam. Chuck Nguyen is a legitimate online marketer with a lot of value to share within his course. There are a few issues we do have with the platform, but nothing that would have us label it a scam.
For the right person, My Online Startup is a good option. But that person would also require a decent budget to be able to follow through on the training. They must also be willing to promote it to others.
With that in mind, know that I am not an affiliate of My Online Startup and am not promoting it. I just want to ensure you get all of the details you need to decide on whether this is the right training platform for you.
Disclaimer: This My Online Startup review has been thoroughly researched with information and testimonials that are available online to anyone in the public. Any conclusions drawn from that information are my own opinions.
My Online Startup Review Overview
Product Name: My Online Startup
Founder: Chuck Nguyen
Product Type: Affiliate Marketing training course
Price: Free Membership, though anticipate spending $1,000+ to implement the training
Best For: Those willing to put the effort in and have the right expectations
Pros
- A High-Quality Course For Free
- Well Structured
- A lot of Members are seeing Success
Cons
- Chuck Gives You Some Really Bad Advice
- It Won’t Work in Every Country
- Chuck isn’t Upfront About The REAL COSTS Involved
- Constant Encouragement to Upgrade!
- You Have to Pay to Promote It
Quick Summary
My Online Startup is a training program that will teach you all about affiliate marketing. The training is free. Although you should be prepared to spend over $1,000 to follow through on the methods that are taught. This isn’t explained enough and is something that newbies could be caught out on.
The free training will give you a good grasp of the basics of affiliate marketing, but I don’t feel it is worth you paying out for Chuck’s Partner program or the additional programs he recommends.
People are seeing success, but this is mainly down to them promoting My Online Startup rather than you having the freedom to choose a niche of your own based on a hobby or passion.
I think there are much better options out there…
Recommended? Yes and No (I'll explain later in the review)
Table of Contents
What is My Online Startup?
My Online Startup is a training program created by online marketer Chuck Nguyen. The training is going to walk you through the steps to starting an affiliate marketing business.
The free training is spread across 8 modules.
Here’s how the program is explained to you on the sales page:
That same sales page makes some pretty big claims:
- They’ll show you how to build a 6-figure online business and become an authority super affiliate
- They’ll show you the easiest, fastest and simplest way to build multiple passive income streams
- This will work even if you’ve never made a cent online and can only work a few hours per week
- Chuck GUARANTEES you WILL make money with his “earn to learn” program
We’ll examine these claims and more in this review.
But one thing to consider at this point is that Chuck has changed the emphasis of the program. Rather than focusing on talking to you about building a 6-figure online business. He is now encouraging you to “partner with him” and make money that way.
What does that mean?
Well, it means that you can pay to then promote My Online Startup to others as an affiliate. But the issue is that you have to pay to gain the right to promote this.
That goes against everything about what affiliate marketing is about… As affiliate programs should be free to promote.
But that aside, when checking out the training videos. I can see there is a lot of value in the training. That is a good sign and shows it isn’t a scam.
But it would have been better if Chuck had disclosed the paid premium membership upfront. I would have also liked him to be honest about the other costs that someone would need to consider too.
Related Post: Wealthy Affiliate Review
Who's Behind My Online Startup?
So, who created My Online Startup? It’s Chuck Nguyen.
Who is CHuck Nguyen?
Chuck Nguyen is behind My Online Startup and is based in Melbourne, Australia. He got started with internet marketing in 2004.
He claims to have created My Online Startup to help people around the world create a successful online business:
This isn’t his first course though. Back in 2017, he created Digital Elites. This was online until he started with an MLM called Earn Easy Commissions in 2018. But it got renamed My Online Start in March 2019.
Chuck has a fairly successful YouTube channel. He creates content covering topics related to affiliate marketing. Things like keyword research, email marketing, and productivity.
He has over 11.8K subscribers. But what I was more surprised about was that he hasn’t uploaded a video in the last 2 years.
But if you want to get to know Chuck a little more before making your decision, you can check out one of his most popular videos on How to Make Money with ClickBank as an affiliate marketer…
Related Post: Invincible Marketer Review
How Does My Online Startup Work?
My Online Startup is first and foremost a training platform. There is a clear message throughout that Chuck wants you to join his Partner program. He does this a lot, by the way.
It is a little distracting if I’m honest. But if you do take that bit away, the training is pretty good.
I’ve gone through several of the videos and can see that Chuck has taken the time to put some great content together.
The training is a step-by-step guide through having the right mindset and then providing you with the knowledge to build an authoritative website in your chosen niche.
Chuck does try to persuade you to choose the “Make Money Online” niche. He does this so then you will want to join his partner program and then promote My Online Startup to others as an affiliate.
This is part of the reason why this program doesn’t score as high as it could.
The MMO niche is so competitive and can be hard for a beginner to get their head around. You need to be working hard every day to crack this nut.
So, there is some bad advice coming from Chuck from this program. Especially if you’re a newbie.
Alongside the training, there is a Facebook Mastermind group. There is a knowledge base that acts like a support team, FAQs and the affiliate program.
Let’s take a look inside the platform…
Related Post: Affiliate Lab Review
Inside My Online Startup - Free Training
There are 9 modules in My Online Startup. Chuck comes across well in the videos and his explanations are clear for anyone to understand. But if you want to get a sneak peek inside My Online Startup, check out this video…
Let’s break down the modules for you…
Getting Started (1 Lesson)
This video is an introduction to the platform and Chuck himself. I have to say though, I was disappointed to find that the majority of this video was related to pushing you to upgrade to the Partner Program.
This is basically inviting you to become an affiliate that can then promote My Online Startup to other people. But to do this, you have to first pay a one-off fee and sign up with ClickBank.
ClickBank is an affiliate network and is legit. But it’s also known for many low-quality programs.
This would come naturally at the end of the course. But with it being the first thing Chuck talks about, it can easily give beginners the wrong impression.
Step 1: The Gameplan (1 Lesson)
With the content of the first video, this is the real introduction to the course. It will give you a brief overview of what will be covered in the rest of the course.
Step 2: Success Mindset (7 Lessons)
Having the right mindset is one of the most important aspects of having an online business. Ensuring you are setting realistic goals and timescales is key. Too many people quit before they see anything, as they didn’t get this stage right.
So, it’s a step in the right direction for Chuck as he has created seven lessons about having a success mindset.
These lessons go through everything from knowing your “big why” and setting the right kind of income goals. Whilst also having the self-confidence and belief to see it through.
He also shares some hacks you can use to boost your productivity.
Step 5: Affiliate Marketing (5 Lessons)
This is the module where Chuck really gets into the nitty-gritty of how affiliate marketing works, how to choose the best niche and the right kind of products to promote to maximise commissions.
Step 4: Lead Generation (6 Lessons)
What Chucks calls his “Super Affiliate Formula” where he explains why creating a capture page and offering a high-value lead magnet to collect emails is so important.
He says email marketing is the way to build multiple income streams and the biggest asset to any online business and he’s not wrong. 80% of your affiliate income will come from your email list.
He really shares valuable insights in this training. How the big picture works and then he gets into the detail of how things work. Like how to setup a capture page, what kind of lead magnet to create, and how to track your conversions step-by-step.
Step 5: Authority Platform (7 Lessons)
Now we get to the part where Chuck describes how to build a website. You’ll need one of these to build a profitable and reliable long-term income stream.
It’ll walk you through the entire process of how to create and set up your very first affiliate marketing website and start the process of creating the right kind of high-quality and relevant content that’s going to attract those all-important visitors and start generating your commissions.
For me, getting your website ranked on Google is the best way of generating high-quality traffic that converts. So it was good to see that Chuck also says this throughout his training. This will prove to be an important step in building your affiliate marketing business.
Step 6: YouTube Marketing (6 Lessons)
YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google. Who, owns YouTube… So, learning how to create a YouTube channel is another important way of expanding your reach.
This module covers how to set up your first channel, how to shoot and edit videos, choose the right keywords, etc.
Step 7: Forum Marketing (1 Lesson)
In this video, Chuck recommends signing up to the Warrior Forum and start answering digital marketing-related questions as a way to generate traffic to your offers, with an emphasis on promoting My Online Startup.
I’ve seen a lot of people follow the same technique using Quora and while it can work really well, it is very time-consuming and labour intensive and not something I would waste too much time on personally.
Step 8: Targeted Solo Ads (4 Lessons)
In this final module, Chuck advocates paying for solo ads through sites like Udimi as they are the “easiest and fastest ways to generate sales”.
This is terrible advice for affiliate marketing beginners and you’re better off sticking to building a blog and YouTube channel modules.
Why?
Solo Ads are both expensive and ineffective. It’s really hard to find a solo ad vendor that you can trust. You can spend hundreds of dollars sharing your links via this method and not see a penny in return.
That’s been my experience anyway. If you’ve ever had success with solo ads then let me know in the comments, I’d love to hear from you!
My Online Startup's Support
There are mixed reports in regards to the support within My Online Startup.
You’re promised a members-only community where you will always get your questions answered. This is also meant to work as a motivational and supported option too.
But the comments section within the training area isn’t that at all…
Yes, you can ask a question… But don’t expect to get a response…
These comments clearly state that the link to a “crash course” isn’t there. There is also another question. But they have received no response, and these comments were from last year!
The ability to ask questions is great. But if you’re not going to get an answer from them, then what’s the point?
The alternative is to join Chuck’s Mastermind Facebook Group. He has over 79K members. So, this is the more likely place to get answers to your questions.
It’s mainly a group of members left to help each other with occasional input from Josh Becker, a My Online Startup staff member whose main job is to promote Chuck’s Lifetime Partner Program:
The group does appear. to be quite active, with many posts being added each day. There are also hundreds of new members joining each month.
Turn Your Passion into Profits
Is My Online Startup a Scam?
My Online Startup does look to be a legit course. There are students showcasing success stories and the training is free to access. With some good content included too. However, there are some questionable methods taught within the training too.
I wouldn’t consider My Online Startup to be a scam as you get this training for free and due to the number of success stories there are too.
Although, there are a couple of red flags that are worth considering, such as:
But I’ll go through these problems in more detail later in the review…
However, despite those issues, My Online Startup is still a decent option for those looking to learn affiliate marketing. It will give them insightful information that will help them get started with their own affiliate marketing business.
But, if you’re looking for a top affiliate marketing training platform, that provides both the tools and community support you need, without the hidden costs, then you can check out my top recommendation here.
How Much Does My Online Startup Cost?
My Online Startup does offer training with a free membership. The training is good. But you should know that to get anywhere with affiliate marketing, you will need to invest some money at some point.
But the big issue with Chuck’s training platform is that he hides the level of investment you will need to make here.
That is because he promotes 17 different tools within this training. The majority of them only have a limited “free” trial, etc.
So, if you were to follow them all, you would need to pay a lot of money each money to get them.
Then there is the paid ads element.
Breaking Down The Additional Costs
As I said, the sales page doesn’t tell you the number of tools that they talk you through to be able to apply the training and achieve success.
Now, you don’t need all of these tools. In fact, most of them are not needed. But a complete beginner wouldn’t know that, and so they might feel like they have to.
I mean, Chuck is telling you to and he’s the expert behind the course, right?
Each lesson has a list of “Must-Buy” memberships and subscriptions that you need to sign up to.
So why give you so many unnecessary upsells and cross-sells?
Because, like any done-for-you sales funnel, it entices people to join Chuck’s Partner Program so they can add their affiliate links to earn commissions on any product you buy, versus just earning commissions on the Partner Program fees as a non-member.
The hidden additional costs within My Online Startup can be broken down into 3 categories:
- Tools
- Chuck’s Partner Program
- Paid Ads
Tools
As you progress through the training, there will be several tools, membership sites, and resources recommended to you. According to Chuck, these are the tools that you need to be able to take action and apply the training at My Online Startup. Don’t worry, though I’ll recommend some free alternatives as we progress through the list.
ClickFunnels: $97/month after a 14-day trial
This is software that helps you create landing pages and sales funnels
GetResponse: $15/month after a 30-day free trial
Is an email autoresponder. It helps you start building up an email list and automate your email marketing campaigns.
ClickMagick: $37/month after a 14-day free trial
Tracking software that enables you to see where your clicks are coming from and which traffic sources convert the highest.
Thrive Leads: $67/year
A premium WordPress plugin that aims to increase your email opt-in rate.
Sqribble: $67
Software that supposedly helps you easily create eBooks you can use as lead magnets to build your email list.
Affiliate Swipe Email Profits: $9.95
427 done-for-you email swipes you can copy and paste into your email campaigns.
Bluehost: $4.60/month
Domain registration and web hosting for your affiliate marketing website.
Longtail Pro – $25/month
Similar to Jaaxy, this keyword research tool will give you data on monthly keyword searches and how your website is ranking.
All In One SEO Pro: $49.50/year
Another premium WordPress plugin for creating sitemaps and inserting your posts’ meta titles and descriptions.
All the full-time affiliate marketers I know do fine on the free version so there’s no need to sign up for this. You’ll do just fine with the free version.
Chuck's Partner Program - $7 for 7-day trial then $49/month or $497/year
If you want to collect additional commissions from the memberships and subscriptions your referrals are buying, you will need to become a Partner.
This is a mentorship program where you get group coaching from Chuck Nguyen and gives you access to:
- The Partner’s Inner Circle
- 100+ affiliate income streams
- Done-for-you email marketing campaigns
- Partner-only training modules
Paid Ads
Step 8 of the training recommends using solo ads as a way to generate traffic to your landing pages through Udimi and Traffic For Me; sites promising “quality traffic” at 55¢ a click:
With these additional costs in mind, I wouldn’t recommend you sign up for My Online Startup if you are on a limited budget.
If this is you, then you can check out these lower-priced alternatives instead:
Alternative: On the other hand, if you’re looking to learn the best business model to earn passive income online as a beginner, there are other, more suitable, and cost-effective alternatives elsewhere…
My #1 recommended course has helped me go from earning $0 to $100’s per day!
Can You Make Money with My Online Startup?
Yes, you can make money with the training that is offered at My Online Startup. But you must be willing to invest the time to go through the training and take action.
If you can follow the training properly and then complete the steps that are laid out for you, you’ll end up with an online business that is generating a full-time income for you each month.
But the thing you need to understand is that this will not happen overnight. You will need to put time and effort in as often as you can to create high-quality content over and over again to generate traffic for sales to follow.
Essentially, you’re going to learn how to build an affiliate marketing business where you make money recommending other people’s products and services so you don’t have to create any products yourself and all of the payment processing, customer service and shipping is done for you.
READ – Affiliate Marketing for Beginners + Top Tips to Speed Up Success!
The income potential is limitless, but the amount of money you can earn will depend on how much time and effort you put in. It’s true what they say, you only get out what you are willing to put in.
My Online Startup: Pros
Here’s what I liked about Chuck’s My Online Startup…
#1 A High Quality, Structured Course for Free
The course is a high-quality course that is structured well, especially for beginners.
Chuck has a lot of experience and the video lessons showcase this well. He has a teaching style that keeps you engaged, which is important when you are learning a new skill.
I’ve been doing affiliate marketing for 5+ years now and I got a lot from his lessons on productivity and time-management lessons. Chuck also does a great job of breaking down the whole digital marketing process in an easy-to-understand and practical way.
The training is kept to a point where even a complete beginner will understand how affiliate marketing works, and how to create a website that will generate an income. As well as creating a YouTube channel and managing an effective email marketing campaign.
The training area is also super easy to navigate and the modules are structured in such a way that you can track your progress as you’re working your way through the course.
#2 A Lot of Members Are Seeing Success
The Facebook Group within My Online Startup has plenty of examples of those who have gone on to make their first sales. This is a good sign that Chuck’s training works and the methods can work for you too.
There’s no doubt you can make money with this…
Even if it is solely by promoting My Online Startup!
But even if you don’t want to promote My Online Startup, you could take the principles, strategies and methods laid out in the free training and apply them to your own business to take advantage of any of the 1,000s of affiliate products that are available out there for you to promote.
So when Chuck claims that My Online Startup can help you earn $1000’s per week, he’s telling the truth because clearly, a good number of his students are doing just that.
My Online Startup: Cons
There are some good positive points about My Online Startup. However, there are a few concerns I had too. These are definitely worthwhile you checking out before you make your final decision…
#1 Chuck Gives You Some Really Bad Advice
One of the most important decisions that you’ll be making when you are getting started with affiliate marketing is choosing a niche. It’s often a big stumbling block as people aren’t sure which one is the right one for them.
If you choose a niche that is too narrow, then you will limit your earning potential. But too broad or competitive and you will end up having no chance against the authority sites in that market.
But as you need to spend so much time researching topics and writing about them, it makes sense that you also choose a niche based on something you enjoy. Like a hobby or passion.
There are a lot of things you need to consider when choosing the right niche for you.
So, where is this bad advice that Chuck gives you and why’s all that related? Well, in one of the lessons Chuck starts pushing people towards choosing affiliate marketing as their niche. This is down to him wanting you to promote My Online Startup to others. He also makes claims like:
- “The bigger the competition, the bigger the market which means more money for you to tap into.”
- “You can choose affiliate marketing as your niche. Trust me, it’s very profitable and easy, especially if you follow this course.”
- “I recommend, if you’re stressing about what niche to tap into, just tap into the affiliate marketing niche guys because you will become an affiliate marketer and it just makes life a lot easier.”
This is some of the worst advice to give to a beginner, for two main reasons…
- If you’re completely new to affiliate marketing and aren’t earning any money from it. How can you advise people on how to earn money from affiliate marketing? It’s like teaching people how to bake a cake if you’ve never cooked in your life. Or advising someone on a fitness routine when you’ve never stepped foot in a gym, etc.
- Then there is the competitiveness of the make money online market. Affiliate Marketing is a small part of it, and yet there are so many bloggers all competing for a slice of the pie.
A better way would be to get started with your niche. A niche that is based on something you love and enjoy. Get the knowledge and experience you need, and then come back and start a niche website offering advice on affiliate marketing.
But Chuck would rather you start a niche site promoting My Online Startup which isn’t the best route for beginners.
#2 It Won't Work in Every Country
Since this is a course about how to make money with ClickBank, you’re going to need to set up an affiliate account which is only available as an option in certain countries like:
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Canada
- Australia
- New Zealand
- Ireland
- Switzerland
- Sweden
- Norway
- Netherlands
- Luxemberg
- France
- Germany
- Denmark
- Belgium
- Austria
- Spain
- Italy
If you’re from Kenya or Nigeria you will most likely not be able to join ClickBank’s affiliate program.
If you’re from any other country you can contact ClickBank directly to confirm.
#3 Chuck isn't Upfront About The REAL COSTS Involved
I’ve already shared with you the real costs behind My Online Startup. But the fact is that whilst the training is free to access and he does offer some good training. You will still need to have funds available to follow through with the training.
He offers paid training and “must buy” memberships and subscriptions under each lesson. Stuff that you don’t need.
So why give you so many unnecessary upsells and cross-sells?
Because, as with any done-for-you sales funnel, it encourages people to join Chuck’s Partner Program so they can add their affiliate links to earn commissions on any product they buy, versus just earning commissions on the Partner Program fees as a non-member.
The hidden additional costs within My Online Startup can be broken down into 3 categories:
- Tools
- Chuck’s Partner Program
- Paid Ads
#4 Constant Encouragement to Upgrade to Lifetime Partner Membership
Within the member’s area, you will find constant encouragement to upgrade to the LifeTime Partner Membership.
But the training is free, so why would you need to upgrade? Well, it turns out you need to pay to be able to promote it. Or, at least that is what it seems like.
Feel free to correct me in the comments. It might be as simple as the training isn’t always going to be free, so you can get locked in for now. But either way, there is a common theme of promoting paid memberships that will benefit Chuck and you can benefit from promoting My Online Startup to others.
#5 You Have to Pay to Promote It
Covered in the last point, but you need to upgrade to be able to promote these sales funnels to others. That makes it a “Pay to Play” system, which we are not fans of….
Who Should Join My Online Startup?
I would recommend this training course to people who are brand new to affiliate marketing… But they must also be able to…
- Invest at least $1,000 to apply the actions set out in the course
- devote at least 10 hours a week into building your business (the more the better)
- not expect to become rich overnight
If you want to join and accept those three conditions, then My Online Startup might be a good option for you…
Do I Recommend My Online Startup?
I am honestly divided about this one. There are benefits to joining My Online Startup. The training works and there are proven success stories coming from the curriculum. It’s a free training and is delivered by an expert.
However, there are also many concerns, like the hidden costs and the need to invest at least $1,000 to fully uncover the methods that Chuck recommends.
But if you’re brand new to affiliate marketing and are looking for an option that teaches you effective measures and allows you to work at your own pace, then I wouldn’t recommend My Online Startup to you. There is constant pressure to spend more money and I don’t feel it is appropriate that Chuck pushes you to pick the MMO niche to get started with.
That is a hard route to get started with. Especially if you lack the knowledge and experience in it. If you are limited on time or money, you are better off going with a safer option.
One that will give you the training you need to work at your own pace and choose a passion of your own. You can learn more about that training here.
But if you do have a budget and can put the time and effort into following Chuck’s methods, then it could be an option I recommend.
It’s all subjective, you need to pick the right option for you and hopefully my review has given you the answers you need to make that decision.
My Online Startup Review: Conclusion
If you’re still with me, I applaud you and thank you for taking the time to read my Online Startup review. Chuck has created a solid training program that will help you learn affiliate marketing for free. Using his tried and tested formula, the right person would make this work.
However, there are a few things that a beginner would need to be mindful of here. Aside from the hidden costs and memberships that are constantly pushed onto you, he employs Solo Ads which again doesn’t always bring the results they claim they do.
That is my way of saying you can easily lose a lot of money that way if you don’t get it right the first time.
It can work for the right person, but for most beginners, I feel there are better options out there… Read on to find out more.
A Better My Online Startup Alternative?
There are many alternatives online to learn affiliate marketing. Some are awesome and some are ok. Some require a huge budget and then some are more reasonably priced. I have my personal favourite, but there are also a few others you can check out to see if they have a better fit for you, if you decide My Online Startup isn’t the right one…
Here’s a link to my personal favourite (review), and then there are these too:
How Do I Make Money Online?
My #1 recommendation is a platform that offers everything a budding affiliate marketer would need. It offers a step-by-step beginner-friendly training course that will take you through all the steps you need to build your own profitable online business. It has helped me go from $0 to earning $100’s a day with affiliate marketing.
The reason why I recommend it over all of the other courses is that they are the leader in the affiliate marketing training industry.
Not only do they offer world-class training, but they also offer all of the tools you need too. Including web hosting, website builder, keyword research tool, etc.
The success rate speaks for itself, with thousands of users earning good incomes from following their methods.
Then there is the fact that my top-rated course is the largest online community of marketers you will find, of all levels.
This means that you can get help 24/7 and get answers from thousands of expert coaches, including me!
Best of all, I used this exact system to go from $0 to $1000’s per month in passive income!
Amongst the best features of my #1 ranked course is that you can take it for a test drive (just a $49 Premium subscription).
You will get one complimentary site and access to the very first ten lessons from the course to try things out.
Wealthy Affiliate is the best course online for learning effective strategies to make money online with affiliate marketing!
If you’re looking to do the same, then click the button below:
Thanks for reading my My Online Startup Review! If you have any questions or experiences to share, please write them in the comments below. ;).
