My review of Marie Forleo’s B-School
Hi friends! How’s the morning going? Thank you so much for your wonderful comments yesterday. I appreciate you so much. <3
So, a couple of years ago, I decided to make an investment in my online business and sign up for Marie Forleo’s B-School. I was feeling stagnant with the blog -my traffic had plateaued and I wanted to explore new ways to increase my platforms- and many of my blog friends and successful online entrepreneurs had completed B-school. At the time, we were living in Tucson, I felt like I finally had a handle on life again since Liv was still pretty tiny, and I decided to go for it.
I thought I’d share my review of B-school for those of you who have blogs or online businesses and have considered taking her course, especially since enrollment ends this week. A heads up: many of the partnerships you’ll see online with special bonuses are through affiliates. I have no affiliate relationship with B-school, and did not get any freebies or compensation for signing up. Just wanted to share my experience for those who are on the fence.
So what is it exactly?
B-school is an online social media course, led by Marie Forleo, who happens to be one of my biggest inspirations and girl crushes. She has educated and empowered thousands of people all over the world, and I’m always impressed with the quality content she provides so generously. I’ve watched her YouTube videos for years, and I figured that if her YouTube videos were that good, her course had to be mind-blowing.
Here’s what B-school includes:
-Access to all of the member files, lessons, and Facebook group. You also have the help and support from thousands of current B-school students and alumni, who all have online businesses and varying degrees of expertise.
-Lifetime membership. You can repeat B-school as many times as you’d like, whether you do it along with the new class or on your own throughout the year. The beauty of this is that you can stop and restart it as often as you need to, or repeat it entirely with a group of like-minded individuals for extra energy and motivation.
Here’s how B-school is set up:
B-school is 8 weeks long, and each week a new module is released. There are also some implementation weeks throughout the course to catch up on modules you may have missed, or to implement all of your new ideas. All of the information is contained within the member area, including videos, templates, fun sheets, audio files, and Q&A. After you register, you also get access to the interactive Facebook group. If you want a better idea of how it works, they have a program tour here.
Modules:
Profit plan
Website:
Communications
List building
Offerings
Marketing
Pros:
Customer service. I’ve emailed customer service a couple of times (first because I didn’t receive my bonuses and another time because I actually wanted to quit. More on that in a second!). They responded right away, and were helpful and kind. They also chime in on the Facebook page.
Quality of lessons + multimedia options. Some people are visual learners, while others prefer text, and some enjoy audio. They have the lessons in a variety of formats (you can watch a video, download an MP3 file, read the transcript, and fill out fun sheets), so no matter how you learn, you will have access to the method that is beneficial to you. I personally love the videos because Marie has a great way of presenting the information, and I felt like while it was slower to watch a video, I retained the information much better if I watched it with my Fun Sheet handy to take notes.
If you have an online business, and want to take it to the next level, I highly recommend it. As you guys know, my undergraduate degree is in Finance and I also completed half of my MBA courses before dropping out. This course was more valuable to me and what I do each day than all of the MBA courses I took. I could instantly take the B-school module information and apply it to my business.
Cons:
The Facebook group. I’m not the hugest fan of the Facebook group. There are sooooo many people in there that’s it’s easy to get lost in the crowd. I’ve found when I have a simple question (“Anyone know how to do this in Mailchimp?”) it gets buried under the hundreds of “Check out my latest course!” posts. I think Team Forleo has done a great job of minimizing the self promotion posts -they’re only allowed on Fridays now- but I’ve found that the Facebook group wasn’t the best part of the package.
It’s expensive. The course is 2k, which is a significant investment. I debated quite a while on it, but thought that if it gave me a dose of motivation and some new ideas it would be worth it. I also liked the fact that I could repeat it later when things were less crazy.
It’s a nice dose of reality. To be totally honest, some of the lessons were more rudimentary and include things you have to learn when starting out in the online business world. For example, if you already have a website, chances are that you don’t need to learn how to design one because you already did it, or hired someone to do it for you. Also, there is a point where Marie talks about how it’s nearly impossible to make money from blogs. She said if you’re one of the rare people who can make an income from a blog, “rock on with your bad self.” and I was like “WAIT. This is why I took this course. My blog is my job and I was hoping to expand that.” This is actually where I considered quitting because I figured it wouldn’t be useful to me. I emailed customer service and told them my thoughts, and found out that I had missed the window to leave. They were kind and honest, and urged me to stick with it. I wondered if I might have wasted my enrollment fee, but kept trucking along. Finally, I started to understand what she was saying: a blog is not a long-term business model. I’ve learned that you have to constantly change things, because the online world changes. She said that a blog can be used to support your business, but you can’t depend on a blog alone. This is why many bloggers do outside brand partnerships, sell physical products and create digital products. She inspired me to be more creative and diverse, and while ad income is amazing, my world won’t come crashing down if ad revenue drastically changes again. (When I first took the course, my blog revenue was based on pageviews. Now, blogs are often on a revenue share model, where you receive a percentage of what your ad company makes from your site.)
The idea fairy tends to go out of control. This can also be a good thing. 😉 I tend to get visits from the idea fairy fairly often, and there are so many things that I want to do and create. B-school ignites this for me each time I crack open the materials. I’ll start a list of things I want to create and changes to implement to this site, and start cranking on the steps to accomplish them! For the past few years, I’ve been picking at it in bits and pieces of B-school and am excited to do it again this year.
So there ya go! Have you done any online courses that you loved? Who’s your biggest girl crush/inspiration? If you’re thinking about joining B-school, I recommend signing up through Kris Carr. I just love her in general, and her bonuses were awesome when I initially enrolled.
xoxo
Gina
22 Comments
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Hey there,
You refer to contacting customer service at one stage because you wanted to quit – what was the reason and was was the reaction? (Apologies if I am just missing something really obvious that is written in the piece – I promise I re-read it before asking!)
She explains this under the Cons section, it’s in the subsection titled “It’s a nice dose of reality.”. Hope that helps! 🙂
Wow that is pricey but definitely sounds like a good investment if you’re at the right place to take that leap. I will definitely be keeping this in mind. P.S. Facebook groups drive me nuts. I was just telling a friend the other day there needs to be a real forum for “ask a blogger” a question like how do I do XYZ in WordPress or how do I make a Pinterest-y image for my recipe. In Facebook groups, that stuff gets lost and ideally, it should only take a few minutes to get an answer.
I took B School last year and walked away with very similar pros and cons. Overall I thought it was worth the money as the quality of the lessons was very high and the ideas it generated for me were solid. I love the lifetime access since I can revisit the lessons when I need a boost or a new plan. My only disappointment was the “community” aspect. I felt like the comments and the FB group were just people complaining or promoting themselves. I was hoping to connect with other like-minded people and that didn’t happen at all. I gave up on the group/comments. There may just be too many people participating for that type of connection.
I second signing up through Kris Carr. Her bonuses were awesome and she just seems like an awesome person!
Maybe I missed it, but didn’t see where you mentioned again why you were wanting to quit?
I came to say the same thing. I’d love to hear about why you almost quit and what ultimately kept you on board.
sorry about that! missed that piece of the post haha. i just updated it!
i updated the post! it was mostly because i thought it wouldn’t be applicable to the blog world
I love hearing a review from someone who isn’t also an affiliate. I just signed up myself (through Amy Porterfield) and read some terrible reviews on yelp after doing so. It made me nervous that I was “had” by great marketing. Glad to hear that you did feel like you got something out of it in the end.
AHHH i love amy porterfield
hope you enjoy it too!!
Thank you for the very honest and thorough review. It was super helpful!
so happy it was helpful for you!
Kudos for the honest review! I’ve definitely checked out her stuff but ultimately didn’t find the right fit in joining B-school. This was a great way to get a peek 😉
In a semi-related note, have you ever considered selling your fitness plans?
I mean, I *love* getting free winter shape up and summer shape ups but if you put a price on them — $49 for exercise, $69 with diet plan — I would think that’s totally fair for the time you spend developing the work outs. Maybe not everyone agrees but you give out such great content on this site, I wouldn’t think twice that what you’re selling is quality.
All the best! Keeping my fingers crossed over here for your doc having a cancelation so you can get your surgery early 🙂
hi mila!
thank you so much- i really appreciate it <3
yes, i thought about it, but when i first started the blog, i wanted the shape ups to be free, so they always will be. i'm hoping that if readers enjoy them, they might consider other purchases like pbb or fitness dvds. i'd like to keep the balance of lots of free content with handful of extra options for cost
thanks for crossing your fingers for me, too! i want to get it over with
xoxo
Wow, that is pricey, but I’m paying way more for graduate school I guess! I definitely can see the benefit from doing classes like this for online businesses. I’m terrible at marketing, so I’d need all the help I could get! 🙂
No way, I didn’t know you were a bschooler too 🙂 I did it last year and absolutely loved it. Some of my closest friends came from the program! I’m alrwady back in the “start the right business” and feeling more excited than ever! I totally hear your thoughts on the blogging part and her mentioning the money aspect, but I think you balance it all so well (free and paid content)! Especially now with PBB on the way! Anyway, I had to comment because I always get excited to see other bschoolers! It really does feel like a family and I love that I’ve been supporting you for so long (sharing your blog with everyone I know) and had no idea you were a bschooler!
Lastly, I wanted to say that today I was at the gym doing a workout I found online from “Barry’s Bootcamp.” I heard about his workouts recently and the coolest thing about it? I immediately googled “fitnessista Barry’s bootcamp.” You really are my go-to for all things review related, fitness and recipes! Thanks for providing such awesome content, I’m a big fan! Xoxo
thank you so much, friend! so awesome you did b-school too 🙂
I love Kris Carr too.
Thank you for the feedback.. I like your chair where is it from?
I think about things like this ALL the time for my blog, but I always talk myself out of it because I don’t feel like I really have anything else besides the blog…right now. I hear you on the blog idea fairy…she’s been popping up a LOT for me lately too! I have a list a mile long but, unfortunately, time is just SO tough with working, the kiddo, being preggo, trying to have a life outside the blog…haha you know how it goes! 😉
You’ve inspired me to think a little harder about the updates I want to keep doing and what other directions I might be able to explore. I’ve had a few in mind…I guess we’ll see what happens! Thanks for another great post, my friend. xoxoxo
Well, I’m not a girl, so I hope I’m not out of line by commenting. 😉
First off, thank you Gina, for such a clear review of the B-School (I haven’t taken it , BTW).
I just wanted to add, for anyone considering, one the the real value and selling points, for me, on these programs, are the connections and friends you make.
I don’t think it can be overstated that having people of like mind and similar objectives to chat, brainstorm and learn from, is of inestimable value.
Just 2 cents from someone who has taken similar programs.
Thanks for sharing your honest experience with B-school! There are two affiliate bonuses that I’m considering signing up through and trying to decide which one to go with (Kris Carr being one of the two) and wondered if you could share some details on what made her bonuses awesome? Would love your insight. Thanks!