Today I want to give you an inside look into eCom Family Academy. Is this an opportunity that can help you make money online or is it just another way for whoever’s behind it to make money from you without providing the value it promises? Stay with me and let’s find out the truth.
What Is eCom Family Academy?
The focus of eCom Family is on training you to set up an online business where you will be selling products and leveraging the power of print-on-demand dropshipping with Shopify. Tania Jennings and Reginald, the creators of this platform are respectable and have gained the rather endearing names Mr. Ecom and Mrs. Ecom.
They are experts in using print-on-demand and this is what they teach in eCom Family Academy. You will be learning all about print-on-demand which is a highly successful and legit business model. For your e-commerce platform, you’ll be using Shopify. eCom Family Academy claims it’s the best course/academy out there for those wanting to go from A to Z, learning the ropes and building their own online shop.
Okay, just a disclaimer. I’m not affiliated with this program and I’m not writing this review from a position of a promoter. Rather, I’m here to give you the facts and details so that you can decide for yourself if you want to pursue this opportunity or not. Let’s see whether eCom Family Academy lives up to it’s claims and whether it is something both trustworthy and worth investing in. Remember, you ideally want to have a real interest in the e-commerce business model. Personally, my ideal business model, while slightly similar, has its differences and is affiliate marketing, especially through blogging.
How Does eCom Family Academy Work?
In eCom Family Academy you will find a detailed and structured approach to teaching you the ins and outs of launching a successful Shopify store with the help of print-on-demand.
The process contains a nucleus of four steps:
Step 1: Identifying the Nature of your Competitors
You will be taught how to use online tools that will help you discover and analyse your competitors. Knowing what and who you’re up against is considered an important element of most forms of online business so this is a valuable piece of training. Tools include Commerce Inspector, Google Trends and SimilarWeb. Once you are familiar with the strategies and top selling products of your competitors, you’ll be better informed on how to go about your own business and marketing strategy.
Step 2: Building your eCom Website
The next exciting step after you have got a good idea of your competitors and some of the best and trendiest products in the market, is to setup your own e-commerce website. There is in-depth training on using Shopify as the tool to build your online store. It will show you how you can give your site that attractive, professional look that will attract customers and give you the best chance of selling those nicely presented products.
Step 3: The Product Marketing Strategies
You’ve made your preparations, done your research and set up your online store. The next step is get out there and reach your customers, telling them about the products you have that they need! The marketing strategies you will learn cover running efficient ads on all the major search platforms: Google, Bing and Yahoo. Besides this you will also be advertising on major social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Finally, you will be learning SEO strategies so that your site gets maximum reach both via ads and organically. From experience, I can tell you that it’s never easy to rank a static website like a Shopify store that actually gets a good flow of traffic. It is a competitive industry with many others doing the same thing as you. But you’ll learn the best strategies you can implement to give you an advantage.
Step 4: Sourcing, Packing and Shipping
Making sales through effective marketing is still only step 3 in this business. What comes next and last of all is the process of sourcing, packaging and shipping out of your goods. The skill to master here is to always ensure that orders from your customers are processed properly and accurately and delivered in good time.
You learn from Ecom Family Academy how to efficiently source your products using various online platforms: ShineOn, AliExpress, CustomCat, and GearBubble. The more of a pro you become at packaging and shipping to your customer’s satisfaction, the better you and your brand is likely to grow, reputation wise.
Who Are Tania and Reginald? (Mr. & Mrs. Ecom)
We’ve seen the blueprint, the business model taught by Ecom Family Academy. Now let’s take a look at the people behind it. Having been in the online industry for a long time, they tried many different things before they both gained expertise in e-commerce. Reginald had a passion for computer studies and programming since he was very young. He was already building websites when only 13 years old. Some of these included sites for the US National Guard. Pretty impressive.
He went on to earn a degree in Management of Information Systems from the Central State Connecticut Sate Uni.
One side hustle he got into some time after this was repairing old PCs and selling them on Craigslist. This was impressive but an he achieved greater success while working for Alpha e-com, an e-commerce site created by Justin Taylor. He got so good at his job where he was a virtual assistant, bringing traffic to the business that he generated over half a million in sales. He then understood that he could use the e-commerce business model to become really wealthy and that is what led him to start his own e-commerce store and eventually extend his knowledge to other people. This is how Ecom Family Academy got going. Through it, he and his wife Tania focused on teaching and assisting newbies in the e-com business.
Tania Jennings (Mrs. Ecom) had her own experiences of doing e-commerce but originally her passion was culinary arts. Following the ideas and wishes of her father, she got into the tech industry and eventually met Reginald. They teamed up, sharing a common interest in the e-commerce business life style.
Between them, they bring over ten years of knowledge and experience to the people whom they coach.
How Much Does Ecom Family Academy Cost?
You can purchase the entire course in one go and that will cost you $1,495. With this you get all the course modules and are free from hidden costs and monthly bills, etc.
What you also need to take into account though, is the marketing costs and product sourcing costs that go with running a print-on-demand business. Personally, when all is added up, I think most people would struggle with having an available budget for this kind of business.
Who is Ecom Family Academy For?
Since Ecom Family Academy is all about Reginald and his wife sharing their knowledge and experience about e-commerce with print-on-demand and Shopify, the program is designed for anyone wanting to make money online, especially with an e-commerce store.
It can serve to meet the needs of multiple types of people:
- People who already use Shopify: There are loads of people out there who have seen ads about Shopify and have started their own store but without having any deep knowledge about how it all works and how to do it efficiently and what tools to use etc. Ecom Family Academy could provide these small businesses with what they are lacking and what they really need to get off the ground and become the success they set out to be.
- Anyone looking into viable side-hustles: Anyone going through the course content and leaning about all the online resources available through Ecom Family Academy can start a promising side-hustle with the potential to bring in good money.
- Those wanting to leave their job and be financially free: In fact, if someone does well with the help of this program, they could get to a point where they are making more than enough money to allow them to quit their conventional job and work for themselves long term. Financial freedom is a very real possibility with an e-commerce business that is done correctly.
- People already interested in print-on-demand: Print-on-demand is a popular and clever business model. It allows you to design your own products, or have them custom-designed and created. It is the kind of thing that attracts creative types. But with Ecom Family Academy, people can learn this stuff really thoroughly, ensuring that their products, designs and marketing are all done to a sleek, professional standard.
Refund Policy
There is a 30 day refund policy with Ecom Family Academy. If you purchase and later aren’t happy with what you’ve received, you’ll be able to avail of this. I am presuming that there aren’t any serious issues with this policy. I haven’t heard of anyone trying to get a refund and not being able to with this program.
What are Some Pros and Cons of Ecom Family Academy?
Ecom Family Academy is a decent course overall from what I can see. But I want to list what I like about it and also what I’m not so thrilled with.
Pros:
- The Founders are experienced and trustworthy: Mr. and Mrs. Ecom really know their field of work well and are a great help to their students. The online community linked to Ecom Family Academy is active and supportive.
- The business model is legit and can be very lucrative: Ecom Family Academy teaches a tried and tested business model: e-commerce with Shopify and print-on-demand. They teach it well and those who follow carefully and take action could achieve life-changing results for themselves.
- A Print-on-demand orientated approach: e-commerce is a broad strategy but Ecom Family Academy focuses on leveraging print-on-demand which, besides being more targeted is also very popular and a good route to take as an e-commerce online business person.
- Variety of useful resources: Ecom Family Academy, besides being an in-depth course with high level training, introduces members to a wide range of very useful online tools and resources like Canva, AliExpress, Shopify and others, all of which help with design work, marketing and website development. It also shows how to use these tools efficiently.
- Can be great is you already possess some basic e-commerce skills: There’s probably no better way to really grow and refine your knowledge and skills as an e-commerce enthusiast than to invest in a course like Ecom Family Academy. The quality and value inside the program are pretty top notch. The founders started in the 2000s and are still going strong.
Cons:
- Steep upfront fee: Honestly, that’s quite a scary price tag that you need to pay to get your foot in the door: $1, 495. Personally, I would rather take advantage of the training which you get as a separate side series of classes on this subject by another expert whom you can access in the program I myself use (and you pay only $49 per month for this).
- Other costs that are required in e-commerce: It’s just an unavoidable fact. If you get into e-commerce, dropshipping, print-on-demand etc. you are getting into a business that doesn’t rely on free traffic at all. It relies far more on paid marketing strategies. Plus you’ve got sourcing and shipping costs to take into consideration. This kind of business is great but you need to carefully weigh the costs and decide whether you have the budget for it or not.
- A place of high competition: The world of e-commerce including the trendy print-on-demand niche is pretty cluttered with a lot of competition. You’ll need to be unique and stand above the average e-commerce business owner in order to really stand out and get ahead of the competition. The simple fact is that there are probably many other people in this industry who are a lot more experienced than you and you will need to do a fair amount of catching up.
- Possible stressful aspects: Some people might find the sourcing and paid marketing aspects of this business to be stressful. Plus you may have some headaches in dealing with clients such as suppliers/shipping companies.
Is Ecom Family Academy a Scam?
Based on what I’ve seen so far, it seems clear enough to me that that Ecom Family Academy is not a scam.
It’s not misleading. It doesn’t hit you with endless upsells or make any outrageous money claims or tell you that you can become rich over night.
It does deliver what it advertises which is a comprehensive training platform on e-commerce and print-on-demand, plus it gives you many other resources to help in the building and running of your online business.
Concluding Thoughts
I’d have to say Ecom Family Academy is a sound product and I hope I’ve managed to do it some justice in this review.
I do still think that you could do better if you are simply on a mission to make money online. Wealthy Affiliate is a more affordable but also a very in-depth all-in-one training and resource platform. It focuses more on affiliate marketing than e-commerce but as stated earlier in the pros and cons, you can also learn e-commerce from Jay (an expert) and other experts over at Wealthy Affiliate. You will have more skills under your belt as well as save on money.
Ultimately it’s up to you whichever path you want to take from here but now that you have the information you came for and an alternative option, I will leave the rest to you.
I wish you every success in your online journey.