Whenever you discover a new course or business opportunity, you aren’t always thinking about how successful it could be but rather how bad everything can go when you decide to give it a chance.
This isn’t any different with this Simplified Dropshipping course, even when Scott Hilse is the creator and someone you might know for his YouTube channel and how he has been featured on some of Oberlo’s videos on the same platform.
What we’re trying to say is that despite who the creator is or how popular a course and business opportunity can be, you never know if it truly works and if you won’t be wasting your money in the process, and believe it or not, this is more accurate when it comes to courses and options some gurus offer them to the public.
Why? Because they’re usually using their influence and making people buy something that, at simple sight, works, but it isn’t the best alternative for the price, investment, and goals you have in mind.
This takes us to want to review the Simplified Dropshipping course and help you determine if it is part of the group of scams you have to avoid or a great opportunity you cannot miss and be able to find after a long time.
Ready to learn everything you need? Here we go.
What Is Simplified Dropshipping For?
Its name kind of spoils you the purpose behind the course. However, you might not know this unless you are familiar with the term “dropshipping.”
To make sure you understand this, we have to start with this term in specific.
Dropshipping allows online retailers to fulfill their orders directly by purchasing products from third-party suppliers.
The products are then sent directly to the customer. The seller does not have to deal with the product directly.
In other words, you can work in selling products, but you don’t need to have the products available or in your inventory to sell them since the retailer will ship them to your customers for you.
What does this have to do with the course we are about to cover? Everything.
Since Scott Hilse is a dropshipping expert, from where he has claimed to have made his fortune, he decided to focus now on teaching people how to make money with dropshipping, and the result was this dropshipping course for anyone who wants (and can) access it.
The course is supposed to take you over the entire journey of creating your eCommerce, understanding dropshipping, choosing products, and how you can get started and make money with it.
You can complete the course in under three hours, including the introduction and outro videos.
This course is a great choice if you are looking for a quick way to get started. However, is it worth it in the long run or for people who are trying to achieve more advanced results?
This depends since all dropshippers have their focus on this niche, and in the case of Scott, he thinks that one item for selling is enough. What does this have to do with the course? That what you will learn might not be the best approach to this business model.
But First, Who Is Scott Hilse?
We have mentioned him several times already, but do you actually know who he is?
Scott Allen Hilse was born on September 21st, 1995. He is an entrepreneur, media personality, and digital marketing expert who specializes in dropshipping.
He is located outside of St. Louis and has invented the term “location neutral income-automation.” His one-product dropshipping strategy was endorsed by Tai Lopez.
Scott was featured in Week 10 of Everipedia’s Culture Roundup.
His career in dropshipping started when Scott researched strategies and enrolled in an online class about social media marketing.
Scott would soon use his new skills at a car dealership, but he was still searching for a way to make a living from the Internet.
This led him to join a Facebook group about eCommerce and was able to follow the steps of setting up Shopify’s general store using dropshipping.
Scott realized that thousands of people were following the same tips and advice about dropshipping, and getting poor results, which is what led him to think that he needed to make a difference.
This is the simple part of his curriculum. Still, if there’s something we have to point out (which is quite related to his course), it is that Oberlo has ended all endorsements of Scott Hilse due to the recent controversy surrounding his treatment of students in the Simplified Dropshipping Program, as well as offensive and racist tweets that have been brought to his attention.
Inside Simplified Dropshipping Course: Lessons & Classes
The course comes with 28 lessons and an extra, which we have to add that find it quite a lot considering how long it is (a bit less than 3 hours).
However, we understand why it is divided in this way though we don’t find it to be the most productive option in distribution. That being said, let’s get started on what you will learn from it.
- Lesson 1: One Product ($1.600)
Scott Hilse dives right into demonstrating how he made $1.600 in one day with this dropshipping model and business by only selling one product.
We have to point out that he doesn’t mention that this was a 2017 result, and it doesn’t mean you will continuously obtain the same result and achievement every day after starting this business and method.
He also introduces you to some of his websites but mostly discusses how he made this alternative possible and how you can make money with it as well.
- Lesson 2: Inner Store Set-Up
Part of learning about dropshipping lies in knowing how to use Shopify for your eCommerce, which is why Scott Hilse teaches you how to set it up.
During this introduction to the web, he covers the essentials (but quite briefly):
- General Store Setup.
- Make sure to check out the settings.
- Refund Policy, Terms, and Service, Privacy Policy.
- Adding Pages (Policies, Contact pages).
- Add menu items.
- Shipping Zones.
- Payment providers.
- Selecting a plan for your store.
- Lesson 3: Buying and Connecting a Domain
Just like the previous ones and the following, this lesson is very short.
Scott Hilse suggests using Google Domains as part of your Shopify and how you can do it.
He shows how to search for a domain name and register it. After that, connect it to Shopify.
- Lesson 4: Setting Up Your Facebook Page
Everything about how to set up your Facebook Business Page, including using Canva to design a logo, banner, and a button to send people to your website, are some of the short parts you will witness in the video.
However, the tools he recommends aren’t the best according to us, and you might think the same after reviewing this lesson (if you decide to acquire the course).
- Lesson 5: Business Ad Account & Pixel Setup
This is a very short part of how to open a Facebook Business account (which can be learned on YouTube easily).
- Lesson 6: Product Research
To start your dropshipping store, he will continue by showing you how to find products for sale using Facebook, Google Trends, AliExpress, or simple research you could figure out yourself.
- Lesson 7: Importing Your First Product
You will learn how to import products by using Oberlo and start adding them to your store.
- Lesson 8: Testing Your Pixel
Scott shows you how to use Test Mode when you go into Shopify Payment Providers, and since it is free, this is some information you can find from other videos on the Internet without paying for the course.
- Lesson 9: The Freedom Funnel
Scott downloaded a number of apps on his site. This was to increase his conversions.
The purpose? Scott explains how to set up Abandoned Cart apps and Countdown Timer apps to guarantee the improvement of the website.
- Lesson 10: Getting tons of free page likes in seconds
You will be advised to invite all of your Facebook friends to like your page if you want to get tons of Facebook likes for free.
He will dive a bit into this topic but won’t explain to you that this is a very bad idea over 50% of the time.
- Lesson 11: Understand This Before You Proceed to Facebook Ads
What does the name of the lesson mean? Well, it only works as a disclaimer.
Scott Hilse warns that before you start the Facebook Ads training, you need to be open to the possibility of losing money.
Although it may sound paradoxical, this is actually good advice since Facebook Ads are somehow, a gamble and you can lose money even when you have been working with them for a while.
- Lesson 12: Launching your First Facebook Ad – Method #1
This lesson shows how to create an advertisement on Facebook using video.
Scott Hilse is very quick at this, so it may be difficult for beginners to follow his steps.
Instead of taking the time to go over each detail when needed, you will need to rewatch the lesson several times to keep up the pace.
- Lesson 13: Launching your First Facebook Ad – Method 2
Scott Hilse shows you how to create a video that drives interest in your products and stores.
He uses humor to get a lot more shares and make the video viral. This is nothing special because anyone who knows a bit about the business must know that selling isn’t as simple as just posting messages all over again.
- Lesson 14: Get Tons of Facebook Like from Ads
If you want to find out who liked your ads then, invite them to your store or page. Scott sets this lesson to go over the details.
- Lesson 15: Order Fulfillment
This lesson will teach you how to use Oberlo to place orders with suppliers quickly.
- Lesson 16: From 0 to 100 orders – Facebook Ads Strategy
Scott Hilse explains in this lesson how to target specific areas with your video ads using what you have learned from the interactions of your videos.
- Lesson 17: When to form an LLC
Scott Hilse explains when an LLC should be formed in this lesson. He also recommends a company to use when you want to register an LLC.
- Lesson 18: When & How to Outsource
This one explains what tasks to outsource and which sites to use for you to find a virtual assistant.
- Lesson 19: From 100 to 10,000+ orders – Advanced FB Ads Strategy
As soon as you hit 100 orders, Scott Hilse recommends creating Lookalike Audiences and introduces you to his scaling method.
He believes that this will allow you to exceed 10k orders.
- Lesson 20: Manual Bidding
Scott Hilse demonstrates how he manually bids on ads. Scott Hilse demonstrates his bid-manual process.
- Lesson 21: Converting to A Niche Store
During this lesson, he recommends that your Shopify store should be converted to a niche store once your product stops selling well.
To do this, he demonstrates how to purchase a new domain, set up a Shopify store, and create a FB page.
- Lesson 22 – When and How to Sell Your Shop
Scott Hilse will teach you all about Shopify Exchange Market and when it is a good time to sell your store.
But forgets something crucial: how to do it.
- Lesson 23: How to Use Results to Take on Clients (Extra Passive Income)
Scott Hilse suggests that small businesses can be trained to either run their ads or coach them.
This lesson lasts only two minutes, so it is not a comprehensive guide for anyone who wants to make money from this business model.
- Lesson 24 – Sam Walton’s Price/Steve Job Method
Scott Hilse, who has a combined knowledge of Sam Walton, Steve Jobs, and Jeff Bezos, explains his pricing strategy in this lesson. It does not cover how to price your product whatsoever.
- Lesson 25: Multiple Product Method
To me, this lesson is not very logical.
Scott Hilse has dealt only with single-product stores, but now there are multiple products.
He doesn’t suggest how or when to include multiple products in your store nor how he has made it possible, considering that he only talks about single product ones.
- Lesson 26: Managing Online Reputation
This lesson teaches you how to manage your reputation by only using your phone.
You simply need to keep an eye on your Facebook feeds for negative comments and then delete them (we don’t recommend it since you’re supposed to sell products that actually work).
- Lesson 27: How to Get Free Targeted Traffic
In this one, he teaches that niche-specific forums can be a great way to promote your product, especially if you don’t have the budget for advertising or want to try products.
- Lesson 28: Outro
During the final lesson of the course, he thanks you for participating and wishes you success.
He also encourages you to continue studying and adds some tips on how to make your life easier by using certain apps on your phone.
- Bonus
Scott’s Mentorship Facebook Group is available for you. Scott promises to answer your questions and guide you while you also have access to live webinars.
Is It Worth the Price? Pros & Cons
Let’s set the record straight: it isn’t worth it.
The Simplified Dropshipping course costs $497, and if we consider it is only a barely three hours course, you can see why we believe it is expensive.
Besides, is it actually valuable?
To be honest, it isn’t. Over 80% of the information included in the course can be learned with some research on YouTube, Reddit, and other platforms where content creators and dropshippers teach you how to handle certain things.
Of course, you won’t have everything organized like a course, but you can find an idea of how to start and continue with an outline on the Internet or even use the lessons of the course as a guide.
Now, we don’t want you to make a decision just because we’re saying it is bad. Instead, here are some pros and cons you can evaluate to make your own decision:
Pros:
- It teaches you the basics about dropshipping, and you can start once completing the course.
- You can learn how to run Facebook ads.
- Scott Hilse is someone who truly earns money with dropshipping and teaches you based on his experience.
Cons:
- The course is too basic, and you can find most of the content for free.
- Most of the strategies aren’t as effective as he promises unless you’re just starting.
- The stats available in the course are outdated.
- The course is expensive, for only three hours.
- There aren’t any tips that actually guarantee you will make money.
- The business model works, but you need much more lessons and information than what he provides in the course.
- With $500, you can access other courses and finance your investment.
Is It A Scam? A Business That Isn’t
As we previously mentioned, this business model works, but you have to learn how to do it and work around trends and how dropshipping changes.
Scott’s course isn’t a scam because he does teach things and elements that are crucial, but it isn’t the best tool nor the only one out there.
If you want to be successful dropshipping, other courses and mentorships are available with more information than what this course offers.
All in all, it’s not worth the price because of its lack of valuable content.
We recommend you do your own research or buy something else instead of betting your money on this one. Though, this is something we have mentioned a few times already.
On the other hand, if you are interested in starting a business venture with less risk and without having to invest in this course, we recommend one that has been working for us for a while: lead generation.
It is very simple. You have to choose a niche that is preferably small and has companies around you that are always trying to bring new customers. When done, you can start working around the ideal business:
- Contact the businesses to ask if they would like to generate more leads. If you’re not familiar with leads, they are all about traffic brought to a website and converted into clients later.
- If any of them says “yes,” you will have to build a website.
- Next, rank it on Google for organic traffic (no paid advertising).
- If you rank it correctly, you can start to generate leads for your company. Each user converted into a lead means you will earn a commission from it.
You can still make more money even after you have completed your site since it is a passive income you will enjoy later.
It is simple, and you can compare it with the other one, which is as profitable. However, it will be better over the long term.
It is easy if you are able to follow all the steps. You will need to build websites, rank them, manage customers, and so on.
However, it is crucial to keep this in mind: you need to get training.
This guide will take you from A to Z with all the details, basic information, and advanced techniques that will guarantee you make money even before you complete it.
Do you want to learn more? Here’s the information you need.
Here’s Our #1 Recommended Online Business Model:
Interested in starting an online business to build passive income? Check out the local lead gen business model. Click here to learn more.
