There are a lot of well-known names in the online business world who specialise in teaching people how to make passive income or recurring revenue either as an addition to their business or as a side hustle, so it can be difficult to know how to choose online courses wisely. Online courses can be a completely legitimate way of learning new digital skills, however in recent times there has been a trend in creators who are selling their courses with Master Resell Rights to unsuspecting buyers hoping to take a shortcut to creating an extra income stream by selling on the exact same course made by someone else to another unsuspecting buyer. No wonder people are calling this the latest pyramid scheme. I only ever want to buy original content from creators who have lived experience in the subject, otherwise, who is going to help me when I have questions or run into a stumbling block? When you are looking to buy training courses online, especially in the digital marketing and business domains, it’s crucial to do thorough due diligence to avoid scams and low-quality Master Resell Rights (MRR) courses. Here are some steps you can follow to ensure you make a wise investment: 1. Research the Instructor’s Background Check Credentials: Look for the instructor’s qualifications, experience, and professional background. Verify their expertise in the subject matter. Online Presence: Review their social media profiles, LinkedIn, and personal website. Authentic experts usually have a consistent and credible online presence. Look to see how long they have had their accounts. Do they have a legitimate website or is it a one-page Stan Store site just with links to their courses? The MRR trend is to sell without ever having to show your face, so you can never see who is truly behind the account. 2. Read Reviews and Testimonials Third-Party Reviews: Look for reviews on independent platforms like Trustpilot, Reddit, or specialised forums related to the course topic. You can usually tell if reviews are useful or just plain gushy; Gushy makes me suspicious, maybe the seller got their friend to write a review, or maybe they’ve been promised something in return. Testimonials on Their Site: Be cautious of testimonials on the course’s sales page. Obviously, these can be carefully selected by the seller. Verify the authenticity by checking if the reviewers have real online profiles. 3. Course Content Verification Preview Content: Many legitimate courses offer a free trial, preview videos, or a detailed syllabus. Evaluate these to gauge the quality and relevance of the content. Learning Outcomes: Ensure the course clearly outlines what you will learn and how it will benefit you. Look for specific, measurable outcomes rather than vague promises. 4. Check for Red Flags Overhyped Promises: Be wary of courses that promise unrealistic results, like making a fortune quickly with minimal effort. Wild Income Claims: Avoid sellers who claim to have made large sums of money in a short space of time, this is a common tactic used to convince people they can have this too. Often if you scratch beneath the surface you can spot signs of dishonesty. 5. Instructor Interaction Availability for Questions: Check if the instructor or course provider is available for questions or support. Good courses often offer some level of interaction with the instructor or a support team. If you are unsure if the seller has created the course themselves, ask them outright. Community and Support: Many quality courses provide access to a community (e.g., a Facebook group, Slack channel) where you can interact with other students and sometimes the instructor. 6. Refund Policy Money-Back Guarantee: Look for a clear and fair refund policy. Reputable courses usually offer a money-back guarantee if you are not satisfied within a certain period, although if you get instant access to your content it may be that there is no refund option, either way it’s good to know. Terms and Conditions: Read the fine print to understand the conditions under which you can request a refund. If there are no visible Terms and Conditions this is a red flag and you at least want to be asking for them. 7. Accreditation and Endorsements Accredited Courses: Check if the course is accredited by a recognised institution or endorsed by reputable industry professionals.  Accreditation is not the be-all-and-end-all, but you need to be seeing lots of social proof at least. Partnerships: Courses partnered with or recommended by well-known organisations or industry leaders often have a higher level of credibility. Be aware that anyone standing to gain from a sale (e.g., an affiliate for a course getting a commission for each sign up), needs to be disclosing this information. 8. Comparison with Other Courses Similar Offerings: Compare the course with other similar courses. Look at the content, price, reviews, and instructor credibility to make an informed decision. Price vs. Value: Evaluate if the course offers value for the price. Extremely cheap courses may sometimes indicate low quality, while very expensive ones should justify the cost with exceptional content and support. 9. Trial Periods and Samples Free Modules: Some legitimate courses offer free introductory modules or a trial period. Take advantage of these to assess the course quality. Content Depth: Assess the depth of the sample content. Quality courses should offer detailed, practical insights even in their free content. 10. Contact Past Students Alumni Feedback: If possible, contact past students of the course for honest feedback. They can provide insights into the course quality and its real-world applicability. Remember that sometimes alumni might also inflate their experience for exposure to a large audience so get a range of feedback from those not standing to gain from it. My golden rule is if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Do your research and don’t rush into buying anything. There are no short cuts to making money online and you need to have your own credibility radar tuned in too. If the person you’re buying from is in a

Time is one of those precious commodities that money can’t buy more of, although we can all be more efficient with the time we do have and get clever with time-saving strategies.     Forget the pomodoro technique and time-blocking, the techniques below are where the big shifts happen.     You’ll notice these are all action words, so if we put that effort in and take action up front, our rewards will accumulate by way of time saved in the long run.   My challenge to you is to find at least one thing in the next week that you can change or improve by using one of these suggestions.   These 5 Strategies Will Change Your Life Automate Set tasks to run without your consistent input.   Eliminate Remove tasks that just don’t need to happen.   Delegate Pass tasks onto someone else to complete.   Accelerate Speed up the task by using templates or a system.   Collaborate Share the task with someone else.   No. 1 Automate There are endless automations and we already use some of them in our daily lives. A Direct Debit, a saved password, or an automated email response are all examples used regularly.   I’d be willing to bet that most small business owners could automate even further and get tasks to run themselves.    I use a gym where to book a class I need to log on at 07:00 eight days before the class. Classes are really popular and sometimes places have gone by 07:01. I have set an automation on my phone to run at 06:58 every day which opens the app so I’m ready to book. I’m happy with this as I don’t always go to the same classes, however another gym goer has automated his class booking completely and after he programmes in what he wants to do his system does it all for him.   I’ve also built an automation for the Hello Pink Business Hub, if all goes to plan when someone buys a listing they should automatically get an email, this provides a link for them to submit their listing. The listing responses will them be mapped out in a Google Sheet. After that, the relevant data gets copied to a new sheet, then the tool where the directory sits will automatically take this data and update it. An automation likes this takes a lot of testing, but when it’s done it will work even if I’m on holiday. No. 2 Eliminate Although obvious, how many times do we really sit and think about the tasks we could ditch?   Social media is a good example of this as many of us try or have tried at some point to be omnipresent.   Yes, there are ways to repurpose content, however if a platform just isn’t working for you, this is quite a valid task to eliminate.    I recently decided my Instagram would just be reels and stories, but I didn’t like my wall looking untouched, I therefore went for an 18 grid post so it doesn’t look empty when someone first arrives on my profile and I can focus more on reels and stories. No. 3 Delegate This could quite easily be a home or a work task. Sometimes we forget there are other people who could do things and we persevere because ‘by the time I’ve shown someone, I could’ve done it myself’, which of course is true for one-off tasks, but you’ll get that time back in abundance for ongoing work.     Show someone once or write them notes and they may take a while to get it, but once they’ve perfected it, it’s gone from your workload for good.   I will just add that in order to delegate, it’s a good idea to administrate with Standard Operating Procedures (also known as SOP’s) so the task can easily be passed onto someone else if necessary. No. 4 Accelerate Different to automation, there are often quicker ways of doing something. If you want to find some customer details but don’t have a CRM and need to trawl through emails, then you could accelerate that task next time but organising your data better.     The other side to accelerate is to use templates or tools that other people have created which get your task completed faster. You can get templates for email marketing or templates for your Pinterest pins, you can get sales page templates, website templates, copy templates, and many more.     AI tools are the ultimate in accelerating tasks of course, you just need to get good and putting the right prompts in.     I use a truly amazing AI tool for marketing which helps me create branding and content ideas in record time, it’s better than off-the-shelf AI because you build your brand identity into it. I’m an affiliate for it now because I love it so much, if you want to have a look, it’s Marketing Magic Dashboards.   No. 5 Collaborate  Collaboration is a great way to save time. For example, if you’re trying to build an audience, collaborating with someone else who already has a similar audience can rapidly grow yours. Some people do this by participating in a summit or bundle, or by speaking at someone’s event or in their membership.  There are also opportunities to collaborate on a joint venture, for example a networking event, when you collaborate you can share the workload with others but achieve the same goal. Like all of these strategies, a little investment in time up front can really pay off by saving time in the longer term.  You just need to think creatively and taking some action to preserve your time, is better than taking none. Get Help Working with someone like a VA for delegation or a tech VA for automation pays for itself in no time. If there is something you need help with, feel free to send me a