There has been a lot of hype created around the Rainmaker Challenge by the owners of the Rainmaker Academy, Stephen Diaz and Chelsey Diaz. Finding the Rainmaker Challenge reviews online is almost impossible as this course has not launched at the moment of publishing this post.
This article will help you understand why the Rainmaker Challenge might not be the right fit for you.
I’ve been making a living from home since 2007. Over the years I had the opportunity to venture into a large number of online business opportunities including affiliate marketing, e-commerce, Amazon selling and many others. Amazon FBA business model has been making waves in the online marketing community for the past 5+ years.
More often than not you’ll find successful people selling Amazon FBA courses, rather than actually making money through Amazon and there is a reason for that.
What is The Rainmaker Challenge?
In short, the Rainmaker Challenge is a 7 day introduction course to selling products through Amazon’s FBA program. This means that you will learn the basics of sourcing products and signing up as the third party seller through the Fulfilled by Amazon platform.
The Rainmakers Academy challenge isn’t an actual challenge but rather a short course, broken into 7 parts (hence the 7 Day Challenge).
There are hundreds of similar courses available online, free and paid. The rainmaker challenge by the Rainmakers Academy seems to be targeted at stay-at-home moms who want to start a business from home.
Amazon FBA is a viable business. I have tried it in the past with some success. A friend of mine has been doing it full time for the past 10 years. There are many ways to earn a legitimate income from home. However, I would not necessarily recommend this specific business model and this rainmaker challenge review will explain why.
What’s Inside The Rainmaker Challenge?
I have to admit that the sales page for the rainmaker challenge looks enticing. They use phrases such as “start your own “hands off” business”, and “creating wealth through a little known method of selling on Amazon” that trigger emotions and excitement.
However, since I’ve been looking at sales pitches for the past 13 years I can actually analyze such offers without getting lost into my emotions. “Little known method of selling on Amazon” did trigger me to be honest. Amazon has over 8,000,000 (yes, 8 Million) registered sellers so this method is not that unknown.
The Rainmaker Challenge Day 1
The first day you will learn about the newest gold rush: Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon). Anyone can sign up to be a seller on Amazon. The platform offers 2 ways of selling: orders being fulfilled by Amazon or directly by the seller (FBN). FBA means that you will send your inventory to Amazon warehouses and they will dispatch the products to customers when they order your products.
If you let Amazon fulfill the orders they will take a much higher cut from your sale. This makes sense as they store your products, ship it and deal with returns if there are any issues. FBA sellers are also eligible for Prime program and non-FBA sellers usually aren’t eligible.
The Rainmaker Challenge Day 2
In the second day you will learn how much time you will need to invest to build this business. As the owners of Rainmaker Academy put it: “How much time does it take to make passive income happen”. I am sure they’ll tell you you can spend only a few hours a week and earn 6 figures a year but you need to be realistic. Passive Income is incredibly hard to achieve and takes years to build.
To get close to a true “passive income” you’ll need to hire a team of people who will run and manage the business for you. And even then, you’ll need to invest your time to make sure everything is running smoothly and that, my friend, is no longer a passive income.
A few years ago I interviewed Pat Flynn from the Smart Passive Income on my podcast. At that time Pat was earning over $100,000 per month with his brand and he was very clear that success cannot be achieved with just a few hours of work per week. In fact, over a hundred of other successful entrepreneurs who I interviewed had the same claim. If you want to earn money – get ready to put in the time. Anyone telling you otherwise is trying to sell you snake oil.
The Rainmaker Challenge Day 3
“How Much Money Do I Need?” Starting an Amazon FBA business is becoming more and more expensive. I did my first Amazon FBA product launch in 2016 with less than $500 USD. There were a lot less competitors so I could launch small and try to scale later.
However, those days are gone. Look up any product on Amazon and you’ll find at least 10 different sellers (usually more) pushing the same item, with slightly different branding. Just look at this example:
When this happens, sellers usually end up in a race to the bottom. Everyone drops prices hoping that they can outlast the other competitors. When this happens, everyone loses money.
The seller that has the deepest pockets and can afford the most losses usually wins, as others abandon the race.
Most products require marketing and this includes paid advertising within Amazon platform. A very similar competitive scenario can occur here as well. As more and more sellers start paying for display ads, the prices for these ads go up, causing you to incur more losses.
A few recent events also caused a much higher expense for Amazon sellers. Higher tariffs on imported goods (if you are located in the USA) is one. The second is COVID-19. Shipping costs from Asia skyrocketed and some sellers are reporting that it now costs them up to 7 times more to ship products, compared to shipping costs prior to January 2020.
In my opinion you need to be able to invest at least $10,000 to start this business. As long as you understand that you also might lose this investment.
7,000+
The number of people who went through my Affiliate Marketing Training.
Want to build you own profitable niche website? Put your credit card away, this is 100% Free.
Rainmaker Challenge Day 4
Getting product ideas. “What kind of products can I sell on Amazon?” – that’s a very natural question. A quick way to get an idea of some products you could potentially sell is simply heading over to Amazon and start digging deep into their bestsellers.
Example: on Amazon go to Kitchen and Dining Department then Kitchen Utensils & Gadgets. Click on Measuring Tools & Scales, then Spoons. There, your first idea. You will see several listings of measuring spoons with thousands of reviews – this means that the product sells well. It can (potentially) be a great product because the product cost is low, size and weigh are small (this means cheaper shipping and cheaper storage). If you click on any of the listings you’ll probably see: “Fulfilled by Amazon, Sold By XYZ”. This means that the product is sold by a third party FBA seller, just like you.
You can drill very deep inside some obscure categories and you’ll generate loads of ideas for products that could be sold on Amazon. Getting ideas isn’t enough though, you need to figure out if the product is actually profitable. This is when Day 5 comes in.
Rainmaker Challenge Day 5
Finding profitable products to sell. This is a hard part of any business. If you jump into affiliate marketing – what kind of niche should you go into? Starting a YouTube channel – what kind of content should you produce? Picking the right and profitable niche is not an easy task.
There are loads of apps and services that will help you make a decision by analyzing some data. I can’t personally recommend any since I don’t use these tools. You can check out this interview I did with Greg Mercer the founder of JungleScout, one of the most popular Amazon product research tools in the market. Just remember that the numbers inside these tools are approximations and not actual sales numbers.
I’m rather sure the founders of the Rainmakers Academy will mostly talk about such tools and services in Day 5 of the Rainmaker Challenge.
Rainmaker Challenge Day 6
From product idea to the actual product. In this training the Rainmaker Academy will explain how to actually source the products. This isn’t very complicated. You can head over to Alibaba website and look up the products you wish to sell. You’ll find loads of manufacturers (or their agents) offering products of interest at ridiculously low prices.
Most will have a rather high minimum order. However you can contact those agents and ask for a sample. They can even stamp or print your logo on it. A sample would usually cost much more than the stated retail price which is normal since you’re ordering just a few units and not a whole box (or container).
Besides Alibaba and a few other known sourcing directories there are also a bunch of companies that can offer you their sourcing services. Since not everyone is on Alibaba it can be very useful to contact local agents who have contacts with different manufacturers and can help you find more unique products. This of course comes with a price.
I’m not here to teach you how to source products. I’ve done it but it’s not my specialty. Besides, there are hundreds of amazing YouTube videos and blog posts that can teach you how to find manufacturers, negotiate prices, place orders and so on.
Rainmaker Challenge Day 7
Taking your business to 6-figures. To be honest I am not sure what the Rainmaker Challenge teaches you in day 7. Since it’s about scaling your Amazon business – it could be a lot of things. It can be about launching 2nd, 3rd and more products. It can be about branching out to e-commerce. Possibly they’ll talk about running ads on Facebook and Instagram.
Rainmaker Challenge Price
This Rainmaker Challenge review wouldn’t be of much help if we didn’t talk about the cost.
The Rainmaker Academy shows you a price tag of $27 USD for the 7 day Rainmaker Challenge. It doesn’t seem like much. In fact, Udemy has loads of complete Amazon FBA courses all under $20. Many of them have 2,000+ positive reviews.
However the pricing for the Rainmaker Challenge doesn’t end at $27. At the very least you will be offered two (2) different upsells.
First: The 7 Day Rainmaker Challenge Replays at $147. Second: 1-on-1 Product Feedback Session at a not-so-modest $247 USD. If you go for the basic course and the 2 upsells, The Rainmaker Challenge is costing you $421. There are probably other upsells to join mastermind groups, more courses and so on. Be careful with your money.
From the description on the Rainmaker Challenge sales page it seems like the course is very basic and is targeted to complete beginners. There is nothing wrong with that, we all have to start somewhere. However, I’d like to point out that there are tons of great resources on this very subject available online, free of charge. Besides blogs and YouTube I highly suggest checking out the FBA Reddit community with its 60,000 members.
Is The Rainmaker Challenge Legit
Unfortunately there are a lot of scams online. However, I do not think that the Rainmaker Academy is a scam. The Rainmaker Challenge seems like a legit course without obvious red flags.
I dislike how they market their course by making it seem like success with Amazon FBA is very easily achievable and doesn’t require much work. You can certainly earn money as an Amazon seller but if you actually do, it will not be easy. Remember, there are no shortcuts to riches.
I also dislike products and services that do not explain their pricing before I make a purchase.
The rainmaker challenge website forces you to give them your name and email address, just so you could see the price of the course. This way, if you decide to not go through with the purchase they’ll still be able to contact you and try to sell harder.
The Rainmaker Academy shows you the price tag for the 7-day Rainmaker Challenge (once you give them access to your name and email) but they don’t mention that you will need to pay an extra $147 to access the replay of the course. I am suspecting other fees as well but we’ll learn about those when we get access to the rainmaker challenge reviews once the course goes live.
The Rainmaker Challenge Reviews?
The sales page also talks about some bonuses. Notably the bonus # 3:
We’ll Show You An Insider Way To Get Products From Amazon™ for $0, While Growing Your Business At The Same Time.
Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it? Here is how it works.
One of the ways to get your products ranking high in Amazon search is getting reviews from your customers. But if you’re a new seller, you don’t have any reviews. How do you deal with that? I imagine that the Rainmaker Academy runs a review group (or points you to one). In that group sellers offer their products to buyers completely free, in exchange of a review.
This means that you actually purchase a product on Amazon from a specific seller. Write a 5 star review for that product then the seller refunds you the full amount through PayPal, Venmo or other system (not through Amazon, obviously). A seller review club is where sellers buy each others product and leave reviews in order to boost the product rankings.
You can find such groups on Facebook and other social media platforms.
However, this review strategy is completely against Amazon’s rules. Sellers that get caught (and they do get caught) usually get kicked out of Amazon for this practice. There, you have been warned.
Can You Make Money With The Rainmaker Challenge?
The rainmaker challenge teaches you about Amazon FBA, just like hundreds if not thousands of other, similar courses. The real question should be: Can you actually make money by selling on Amazon?
The short answers is yes. But there are a few numbers to keep in mind.
8 Million Amazon Sellers
According to Marketplace Pulse there are over 8,000,000 Amazon sellers. Only 2,000,000 of them are active. Why do you think other 6 million Amazon sellers no longer have products listed for sale? It’s because they simply couldn’t make a profit.
Earning $10k per year
According to the same source:
Every year more than a million new sellers join Amazon, however less than 10% of the currently active sellers were able to achieve $100,000 in yearly sales.
The Rainmaker Challenge talks about showing you how to grow your Amazon FBA business to yearly 6 figures ($100,000+ in sales).
Profit is very different from revenue. Most Amazon sellers claim that their profit margins are around 10% – 15%. This means that top 10% of Amazon sellers actually earn $10,000 – $15,000 per year as profit. In most western countries this is around (or less than) minimum wage.
Saying that your Amazon FBA business makes $100,000 in sales is awesome. Admitting that your actual yearly profit is only $10,000 sucks. That’s the reality of it.
The Risk Is Real
We love sharing success stories but we need to look at both sides of the stick. Here are some negative experiences from people who started an Amazon FBA Business:
Filing for bankruptcy because of Amazon FBA does not sound like fun.
Ouch, $70,000 down the drain. I can’t even imagine.
This seller lost over $30,000 trying to sell sourced items through Amazon FBA. The risk is real and you need to understand it.
This person lost $8,000. Not as dramatic as $30,000 but still a huge number for many. I know I wouldn’t want to lose this much money.
Conclusion
Making money on Amazon is possible. It’s incredibly hard and only getting harder by the day. If you want to work from home I recently published a list of 12 ways to earn a legitimate income online in 2020. If I had to share a single piece of advice, it would be this: there is no shortcut to riches. You will only succeed if you are willing to invest your time and your efforts.
The Rainmaker Academy is legit however I am not sure it’s worth the money. If you would like to share your Rainmaker Challenge reviews with other readers please use the comment box below or send me a private message.
7,000+
The number of people who went through my Affiliate Marketing Training.
Want to build you own profitable niche website? Put your credit card away, this is 100% Free.
WOW!! Just before I said “YES” to this marketing scheme, I researched and BAM!! we came across Alex’s post and with all the other comments attached thereto. Alex, your post are pretty clear and they, with along others who object to your research have caused us to seek those arenas which are more viable for the average person. Even “JESS” of March 2021 was a great example of decouraging us to partake in such marketing schemes that could possibly inflict everlasting pain.
Seeing the part about “purchase a product on Amazon from a specific seller. Write a 5 star review for that product then the seller refunds you the full amount through PayPal, Venmo or other system (not through Amazon, obviously). A seller review club is where sellers buy each others product and leave reviews in order to boost the product rankings.” was priceless. Thank you kindly for that WARNING
“According to Marketplace Pulse there are over 8,000,000 Amazon sellers. Only 2,000,000 of them are active. Why do you think other 6 million Amazon sellers no longer have products listed for sale? ” Don’t need to be a math genius to see that percentage gap. Alex, I could only thank you for taking the time and energy to educate us moms who don’t have time nor money to waste for there is more than enough to know this is not an outfit I would seek to participate in just to to be “KICKED OUT” if after we “sat through the first 3 days which provides absolutely no info on selling through FBA but instead is their sad sell fulfilling, sappy life reliving bull squirt to try and “motivate you”. It’s full of spun memories and nonsense. And if, like me, you ask “when will you be getting to the info on FBA? I didn’t sign up for motivation stuff” you will find yourself kicked out.” just to learn a lesson in a fickle promise to make 5 figures income. Wow! The scale of entertainment people will descend to, for the sole American dream.
I very happy that Michael of June 20, 2020 wrote their heart-felt post which sold us and our committed friend to RUN after seeing it….. “The big “catch” is at the end they try to sell you a $3,000 annual membership (mastermind) program. And I’ll be honest, my wife and I are considering it. We’re both college educated and love to make fun of naive people who fall for dumb scams… and we’re almost certainly going to do it.” From $27 to $3,000? Now that’s true HUSTLING! LOls. Alex, keep up the good work.
Thank you for sharing this helpful information as a stay-at-home mom do my research on these “catchy” courses and you helped out a lot! Thank you for the information.
God Bless,
DEE