There has been a lot of buzz over Anthony Morrison during the last few years. His nice guy persona and authoritative, rapid fire approach to sales has summoned him a shining social presence and a devoted fanbase. But there are many detractors, too, accusing him of scamming and offering little more than flashy, convoluted, and feel good language and ideas.
According to the Better Business Bureau, for which he is unaccredited, a concrete business model is something his courses are often lacking. He was also notably kicked off of ClickBank, which is ripe with scams and get rich quick schemes (getting kicked off CB is an accomplishment in itself). He has since launched Morrison Publishing; an aggregate of his various programs, each situated behind a steep paywall, which we'll discuss later in this article.
So what does Anthony actually sell? The answer is in Affiliate Marketing (which I personally spent over four years doing). The business model is dated, spammy, expensive, and usually requires some shady and tasteless tactics if you plan making a profit; however, money can be made - and lots of it if you play your cards right. In this article, we'll discuss a few of Anthony's programs, the pros and cons of affiliate marketing, and hopefully offer you enough insight to decide for yourself as to whether or not his courses are right for you.
While I still run a few of my more successful affiliate programs, in 2016 I switched my focus towards Lead Generation, which offers true passive income and nearly unlimited scalability. It's a work-hard-get-rich business model, unlike affiliate marketing, and requires a brain, the willingness to learn, and some determination. But the model works - and unlike other forms of digital marketing - it can actually offer a reprieve from the 9-5 office grind. If you're interesting in learning more, check out the link below.
Inside look at how over 6300 students are learning to generate passive income online by building, ranking, and licensing websites for local businesses.
1. Who is Anthony Morrison?
Anthony Morrison has been an internet marketer since the age of 21, launching his first business in 2005.
Since then, he claims to have built eleven other companies that have also become highly profitable.
He’s authored several books, been a prominent speaker at events, and has created a lot of courses
Anthony is an amazing marketer, and has been able to promote himself and his products masterfully.
That being said, he has come under a lot of negative criticism for being a scam artist.
2. Is Anthony Morrison a Scam?
During 2010-2011, Anthony Morrison was running ad spots on television late at night, and search engine traffic was through the roof looking for this guy!
So, during a time of international economic recovery, Anthony was promoting a message of financial success online.
To give him the benefit of the doubt, Morrison probably was able to accomplish all of the things that he was promising to teach others how to do.
Maybe he just isn’t cut out to teach others, at least at that time.
Regardless, over the following year(s), there were a lot of people who felt like their money was wasted on some of Anthony’s courses.
In fact, so many people were requesting refunds for “Success with Anthony”, that Morrison and his products were actually banned from the Clickbank affiliate platform.
This pushed Morrison to start his own company, now publishing all of his courses under Morrison Publishing.
There have been countless negative reviews of his courses, as well as negative reports filed with the Better Business Bureau.
In fact, from another internet marketer’s perspective on some of his courses, Anthony seems to have a bad habit of selling rather fundamental information at a premium price - and also having a somewhat vague, or misleading return policy...
That, and perhaps there is a bit too much selling, without enough actual results for the customers.
Either way, if you have ever heard of someone getting burned by a marketing guy…
Or when you hear another marketer talk about a “guru” with disdain…
They might be referring to Anthony Morrison.
2. How does Anthony Morrison's Business Work?
Anthony Morrison makes money by selling money-making ideas to others.
Yes, he creates a ton of content that does present the theories on how to make money online.
But, as disclosed in his online bio, from the age of seven until now, he’s been a salesman.
He certainly has to have some level of marketing expertise in order to have gained his current level of fame/infamy.
With his Ambassador Club specifically, it is simply an in-depth training to become an affiliate for all of his courses on his platform.
It’s sad to say, but it definitely seems on-brand to sell people a membership for them to make you more money…
That’s Anthony Morrison.
But, this is essentially the nature of Morrison’s whole game.
He is an information product creator.
He creates products that are filled with information that could be very useful to some, and is useless to others.
In his higher end programs, he often provides bonuses that help reduce the friction between where someone is before the course and where they want to be after.
Where he seems to receive the most backlash is that he is an excellent salesman of these products.
If Morrison Publishing were a company in the home cleaning supplies game, there wouldn’t be as much complaining about a floor cleaner that’s not as good as Pine Sol.
However, since Anthony Morrison is in the “I can help you make more money” industry, he often falls short of meeting people’s expectations.
4. Are Anthony's Programs Legitimate?
Morrasin sells training courses.
For example, some of Morrison’s courses cover topics of funnel hacking, Instagram, chatbots, and even cryptocurrencies.
*If that last one doesn’t throw up a red flag for you, you might be a raving Morrison fan.
However, being a very skilled salesman, he will mercilessly upsell, cross-sell, and downsell you.
You could be introduced to a product that is in one portion of a sales growth funnel, and in another part of a separate growth funnel.
Then, you would be upsold, cross-sold, or downsold on multiple other products.
One of the biggest complaints and criticisms launched at Anthony is how he presents his coaching packages.
Oftentimes, they are presented as a tailored solution to your specific problem, and approached by a team of people devoted to your success.
Yet, most complaints about this upsell besides the fact that it was way overpriced, is that this “success team” simply pushed more products.
The coaching packages alone could cost anywhere from $4,000 to well over $30k, so it's a bold move to then train team members to try to push other products.
There have been many complaints regarding the devious and forceful selling tactics that are used by these sharks disguised as coaches.
5. How Much do Anthony Morrison's Courses Cost?
Morrison offers a lot of different ways that you can pay him money.
From intro courses that are free to less than $20, to complete programs from $997, and software from $1497 and up.
There are also books, PDFs, merch, and everything else one could possibly use to make a few extra bucks...
Finding the prices is difficult. One must navigate through a complex menu system, from one funnel page to the next, and then sacrifice your email address and phone number before you even get close to the price reveal. It's extremely annoying.
Anthony uses the traditional marketing tactics to promote scarcity and/or prompt action.
Often, this is by connecting a discount with a countdown timer, and even bonus stacking.
Have no fear, Morrison will always take your money… but can you ever get it back?
We HIGHLY recommend that you actually read the terms and conditions before purchasing his products.
Most of the time, we have found that there is little to no refund policy.
6. Great Marketing Mind
This is an observation from a distance, but I can see how Anthony Morrison and his products are so appealing.
He really is a great marketer of himself and his products.
Take away all of the negatives, and by looking at what he actually does to promote himself, a lot could be learned.
In spite of a lot of harsh criticism and negative reviews, he has built up a nice social following of almost 191k Instagram followers, 50k YouTube subscribers, and over 134k likes on Facebook.
In order to achieve his company’s financial objectives of selling more products, he has done a great job of growing the brand of Anthony Morrison.
Especially knowing that there really isn’t bad publicity.
7. Opens Up a Whole New World
I think this is overshadowed by all of the negative aspects of how Morrison approaches some aspects of his business.
But, the reality is that he markets to the individual who knows the way of the future is online.
He does do a really good job of introducing a lot of people to a variety of concepts of making money on the internet.
For some, this opens them up to an entirely new way of earning money, and ultimately living life.
This can be a very empowering thing, and for some it really is thanks to Anthony Morrison.
8. He Shoots for the Stars
While many people would’ve crumbled under such constant criticism and scrutiny, Morrison has persevered.
Others would’ve been more apt to walk away or change directions after a major affiliate marketplace platform banned them from selling on it.
Instead, Anthony Morrison invested in creating his own affiliate marketplace and software platform.
This not only enables him to unleash a multitude of people paying to promote his products…
But also provides the equivalent of in-app purchases and upgrades to other products that Anthony has created.
He has created his own ecosystem for his own products.
That is a bold move, and kudos should be given.
9. He Over-Promises
In the world of business today, there is a common disdain for the slick salesman.
The reason is because they have crafted a skill of making us believe in something that it is not, simply to make a sale.
The crafty huckster who swindles us out of money… all because they knew how to push the right psychological buttons.
From an early age, Morrison figured out how to push certain buttons to sell, and has gotten pretty good at it.
He has found success by continually making the right promises to the right people…
Selling promises.
10. He Under-Delivers
I hope that Anthony is a genuine human being, and is simply a terrible teacher.
Because if he is, then this is just a con against him… but if he’s not, this he’s just a con.
I think his true goal is to provide great information, and that seems to go very well with a much older demographic.
At least, there are an overwhelming number of supporters online for Anthony's methods who are older and perhaps are learning how business can be conducted online.
However, it does seem like his goal is to sell you as many products as you’ll buy, but that’s the next con.
A huge con against him is that he always seems to package together a product that doesn’t really match the price.
Maybe he is mentally stuck back in ‘05 where some of the information he is providing isn’t accessible elsewhere for much cheaper or free?
Perhaps he’s simply a tiger shark, knowing exactly who his target customers are, and exploiting their ignorance?
In the video below, his "success story" consists of his own father giving a testimonial... He also paid to have this interview done on late night TV.
Regardless, his products do contain some original teaching, but are usually filled with basic information that could be gained by doing some research.
11. Pushy Sales Tactics
There is no doubt that if you ever get any product from Anthony Morrison, you will be offered more.
Not simply through an occasional email, or a single upsell offer.
Complaints have been lodged that you get multiple selling emails per day.
Some have stated that they have actually gotten phone calls attempting to upsell them.
If that weren’t enough, for those who purchase products only to find that they aren’t really teaching them and are wanting even more help…
There’s always the upsold “coaching” offer.
There are clearly numerous coaches, employed by Anthony, and most likely former students of his, who are directed to further promote his products for an affiliate cut. A pseudo pyramid scheme, it would seem.
There have been numerous complaints circling these team members, from using malicious sales tactics to degrading language, all in order to result in another sale.
For people who are truly looking at how to make money online, they go from investing $100 in a single product to sinking thousands of dollars into Morrison’s products.
Anthony has been very upfront that he creates products for the inexperienced and new internet entrepreneur.
This works well because of the ever increasing growth of people looking to make money online.
These sales team members are taught to uncover the maximum amount of credit available on personal lines of credit (under the guise that other students pay off their debt with their success).
However, they simply use this information to figure out how much you can be sold by a “senior business consultant” aka high ticket closer.
How?
Because they unethically utilize the good entrepreneurial teaching of using other people’s money as investments towards an intended ROI.
Even though leveraging credit to accomplish business goals is a great strategy, it is a very fast way to soul crushing debt for the newbie.
Unless you can provide at least a 100% money back guarantee, then it is shady at best and completely unethical at worst to lead well intentioned, inexperienced people down this path for your own financial gain.
12. Vague Refund Policy - and High Refund Rate
Speaking of a 100% money back guarantee, that’s not always the case with Anthony Morrison products.
When it was the case, that’s exactly what got Anthony booted from the Clickbank platform.
There were too many people not seeing the value of what they paid for, and were requesting a refund.
And that hasn’t seemed to change even over the years.
Complaints and poor reviews over the last decade all indicate refund requests.
At least for those who were lucky enough to purchase a product that included somewhat of a refund available.
There are several instances where refunds are not available, and I’m sure that this was mentioned in the fine print to legally cover their own asses.
I’m sure chargebacks are outrageous, if there have been this many people openly complaining about refund issues.
13. Do Anthony's Students Actually Make Money?
Well, there are some testimonials woven into his videos, but they speak more to who Anthony is as a person.
There are not many (if any) success stories promoted by Morrison Publishing or Anthony Morrison.
I’m sure there are students of his who were able to take concepts that he teaches, skills he introduces them to, and software that he promotes and be successful.
They just seem to be completely outnumbered by the overwhelming number of scathing reviews for people who didn’t find that success…
Or in many cases, any success.
In Anthony’s defense, his marketing attempts to bring complete novices into the world of internet business.
So, there are a lot of people who are sold on the ideas that he promotes - financial freedom, work from anywhere, etc.
But in reality, these aren’t the right people to actually pull it off.
It takes an incredible amount of patience, hard work, perseverance, a good amount of skill, and a little bit of luck to actually accomplish this.
There are a lot of people in the world who aren’t naturally suited for this lifestyle.
So perhaps, some of the negativity could be placed on them…
But then we would want Morrison to be held to a higher standard of properly vetting people prior to investing in his products.
This is the discovery of the true nature of Morrison’s business: he creates informational products and sells them to whoever will purchase them.
14. Who Should Take Anthony's Courses?
I would be reluctant to say anyone because even if you were a complete beginner…
And he provided a free training that could help you on your path to success…
You’d still have to deal with the wolf dressed up in grandma’s clothes constantly in your inbox.
It’s Anthony’s job to build an audience so that he can sell his products to his audience.
He treats himself like a major corporate brand, and his products are always the “next greatest thing.”
When in reality, even if there are a few golden nuggets tucked away in the courses, most of what he teaches can be found elsewhere at a much cheaper price if not completely free.
15. Affiliate Marketing Course Alternatives
If you want to learn more about Affiliate Marketing, you could check out Super Affiliate System by John Crestani, Savage Affiliates by Franklin Hatchett, or Affiliate Marketing Mastery by Stefan James.
Those are 3 examples off the cuff of much better investments to learn the skillset of Affiliate Marketing that Anthony teaches on.
He has way too many products to sift through and make recommendations for replacements.
My overall advice would be to do your research thoroughly before purchasing anything.
Look for reviews, actual testimonials, risk free guarantees, etc.
Also, if you are prone to be subjected to Shiny Object Syndrome, where you are constantly looking for “THE” next product that is really going to give you the breakthrough you’ve needed…
Don’t even sniff around Anthony’s products.
You will be upside in debt from courses that never amount to anything because you haven’t put in the work on any of them.
If there is a course that you’d be interested in taking or a skill that you’re wanting to learn, there is someone else you can get it from than Anthony Morrison.
Pros & Cons of Morrison Publishing
Parting Thoughts: Anthony Morrison
Anthony Morrison has certainly established both raving fans and venomous opposition. Those who love him, seem to love his style of information presentation, and are on average a notably older demographic.
Those who are outspoken opposition have had personal negative dealings with his sales tactics, his refund policies, or his product quality.
Those who are outspoken about Anthony, for the most part, seem to be more internet marketing literate, or at least relatively tech savvy. I think there might be a distinct correlation, that might also explain why he draws so much criticism.
It is possible that his presentation style works better for someone who is newer to the marketing game (or at least to making money online).
For those individuals, he delivers on his promises by showing them a whole new world. For those not so new, his grandiose promises fall completely flat on his elementary teachings, especially when the more tech savvy individual could go find other teachers and courses who have way more social proof that investing into their courses would actually bring a return.
If you've made it this far, first of all, thank you for reading! I hope this article has provided the insight that you may have been looking for.
Regarding Anthony Morrison, however, our final conclusion is a bit of a mixed bag.
Compared to his competitors, he has made courses of reasonable quality, but overall we find them both convoluted and too basic for the price.
Anthony is in the business of selling ideas.
He wants to sell you on the idea of making lots of money; that you can be the CEO of your own company - and because of this the actual course content suffers.
In reality, those who find success through his programs are those who he employs to sell on his behalf.
I spent half a decade focusing on affiliate marketing - and at my peak, I was pulling in six figures - but it came at an enormous cost. We're talking 70 hour work weeks, with a great majority of that time spent setting up Facebook ads from 15+ accounts. There is a ton of competition in the field - and to rise above you're going to have to make some real sacrifices.
Not only are you shackled to Facebook and Google ads, but even worse, there is nothing you can do about the fact that there are hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of other people around the world who can hop right into affiliate marking and go into the same niche as you.
Back in 2016, I shifted my focus towards Lead Generation, which unlike affiliate marketing, has real potential for passive income and nearly unlimited scalability. The business model has been effective to a point that I am regretful of my involvement in affiliate marketing all together. In hindsight, quite frankly, AM has provided me with a valuable lesson in what not to do...
Up next, we'll briefly discuss the Lead Gen business model - and what makes it so effective at generating passive income. But first, some thoughts on Facebook Advertising.
MARKET SATURATION & COMPETITION
There are tens of millions of ad accounts - and more independent FB ad agencies are popping up every day, all of whom are fighting for the same attention. In 2021, getting your advertisements seen is a matter of outspending your competition.
Ad prices have doubled in price over the last year. When you factor in ad development, split testing, and monitoring, a single ad campaign can easily cost thousands of dollars.
Effective ads are easily copied - and Facebook has little to no protection against plagiarism.
The key to long term wealth is in building and owning valuable assets, but with Facebook advertising, you own nothing. You're bound to the confines of an aging social media platform with an advertising system that is increasingly ineffective.
Facebook is quick to shut down advertising accounts - and their terms of service are ever changing. If 2 people report a single ad (for every 5000 impressions), it is likely your account will be suspended.
Facebook advertising does not provide passive income. You will work for every penny.
Facebook ads have grown increasingly ineffective, especially with Gen X, Gen Y, and Millennials. Ad blockers are becoming a standard feature of web browsers, too. Ask yourself: When was the last time you clicked on a Facebook ad?
Apple users will no longer see Facebook ads. They also can no longer be re-targeted by Facebook Pixel. To advertisers, this means that their potential reach has been cut by nearly 60% (Apple's mobile market share).
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