When ‘Online Business’ Becomes a Chain Letter: The Truth About digitial marketing.

Before You Buy That Digital Blueprint, Read This

There’s something troubling happening in the online “digital marketing” space — especially here in South Africa. I’m talking about so-called “Digital Blueprint” courses and programs that are marketed as the ultimate “work-from-home business” for busy moms. Two hours a day. Big income. Spiritual testimonies of how “God answered my prayers.” All of it packaged as a glamorous, low-risk business opportunity.

Except: the model isn’t actually digital marketing. It's digital recycling. Selling the same course you just bought, teaching others to sell the course to teach others to sell the course.

And when hundreds of moms are buying and reselling the same pitch, the outcome is clear: saturation, minimal differentiation, and no real sustainability.

What the pitch looks like

• “Moms of South Africa, this is your chance. Two hours a day. On your phone. Start today.”

• A short video: someone tearfully recounting how their prayers were answered, how suddenly their bank notifications ping, how their life changed.

• A link to a slick landing page (often built on Systeme.io) promising a special opportunity, master resell rights, and you keep 100% of what you make.

• Testimonials showing screenshot payments, “Mom of two now making R xx 000 a month”, “I quit my 9-5”. No real talk about what service they provide or what clients they serve.

This isn’t digital marketing in the traditional sense

• True digital marketing businesses help clients solve real problems: “We’ll get you more leads,” “We’ll increase your Facebook ads ROAS,” “We’ll manage your content strategy and social media growth.”

• These courses instead teach you how to put up a funnel, send traffic, and resell the same course. The underlying “business” is the course itself.

• When the product is simply “join this system and sell it too”, you end up with a network of people selling the same thing to each other. The market saturates fast.

It’s unsustainable — especially for South African moms

• When 100+ moms join Facebook groups or WhatsApp groups and post the same pitch daily, the offer gets tired. The “exclusive opportunity” becomes visibly generic.

• If you’re all competing with the exact same funnel + price + script + testimonies, differentiation drops to near zero. And buyers become the same pool.

• Most traffic is paid (ads) or based on their personal networks. Without real client work and unique value proposition, the scale is limited and risk is high.

• Cultural/context issue: In South Africa, with changing tax rules, exchange rates, ad costs, and personal responsibility, the “just 2 hours a day and you’re rich” promise often doesn’t factor in the grunt work, the traffic cost, the algorithm changes, the time zone issues etc.

• Emotional angle: Many are drawn in by the “God answered my prayers” narrative, and that trust gets leveraged into sign-ups. But trust doesn’t replace a real business model.

What YOU could do instead

• Differentiate. Stop pitching “join the blueprint” and instead create your own product or service. For example: if you’re a mom who knows Instagram reels well, offer “Reels for small SA businesses”.

• Build a VA or Service Business. Virtual assistant, content creator, ad manager — these roles are real, in demand, and you can start modestly, build case studies, charge a proper fee.

• Own the value chain. Instead of reselling someone’s funnel, design your own lead magnet, your own niche, your own offer. Provide service, gather clients, show measurable results.

• Be transparent. If you’re selling a program, show exactly what clients you’ve served, what results you delivered. Show your own business traction, not just your screenshot payments.

• Think long-term. Two hours a day might work for initial setup, but once you scale, you’ll need systems, repeatable service delivery, maybe a team. A funnel alone doesn’t replace strategy, service, client relationships.

Final thoughts

If you’re a South African mom looking for extra income — fantastic. But don’t fall into the trap of believing that every digital marketing opportunity is the ticket out of your mess. When the pitch is: “Buy this course, sell the course, earn overnight,” you’re not building a business.

You’re buying a chance to sell a chance. The real businesses are built with unique offers, real services, real clients, and real problems solved.

If you go the resell-course route, at least make sure you:

• Know exactly what you’re offering (to whom)

• Understand the funnel is only step one — you’ll still need traffic, follow-up, service delivery

• And most importantly: you have your own voice, your own domain, add your own value to the course. Because when hundreds of others sound the same, the offer loses its power.

All this to say, I dont think the content of these programs are not worth the trouble - its an awesome resource, just use it wisely and be diferent, add value so you can build a sustainable income. And giving credit where credit is due there are SA moms who are really succesful, thinking of one specifically, BUT she took the resource and ran with it, built a fully functioning ecommerse website offering products that actually solve a problem - thats the rolemodel you need to follow

I am working on a resource that will help you build your own digital product if you want to build passive income. In the meantime you can do some research into real digital marketing, do some courses, learn the skills you need to build a sustainable businesses.

Here is a list of a few free digital marketing courses I found - if you want to offer digital marketing (which is very high in demand btw) as a service and dont know where to start, you know where to find me :)

Course & Provider	Certificate?	Key Topics	Why it’s useful
HubSpot Academy – Digital Marketing Certification (free) HubSpot Academy	Yes (free)	Strategy, content marketing, SEO, social, email, lead generation HubSpot Academy	Great foundation course. Good for someone trying to build real skills rather than just reselling a funnel.
Google – Fundamentals of Digital Marketing (via Google Digital Garage) Grow with Google+1	Yes	Broad digital skills: online presence, ads, mobile, analytics Grow with Google	Strong pick if you’re based in SA and want globally-recognised credentials.
Alison – Free digital marketing course catalog Alison	Free access, certificate optional (paid or free with conditions)	Various micro-courses: social media, Google Ads, YouTube, etc.	Good for picking up specific skills (e.g., YouTube marketing).
Digital Marketing Institute – Free online classes & micro-lessons Digital Marketing Institute	Free lessons - full certs usually paid	Strategy, PPC, SEO, content, eCommerce	Useful for bite-size learning and skill refreshers.
Local/SA-focused: Digital Marketing Academy (SA) – free training courses in SA context Digital Marketing Academy	Free training (some may come with certificate or accreditation)	Local digital marketing strategy, Google Ads, building your brand online etc.	Very relevant for South African market, small business/entrepreneur context

Ok I hope you found this helpful - here is a free on demand workshop if you want to learn how to build a buisiness as a Virtual Assistant and offer Digital Marketing.

Im adding this here so you'll have the links I used to do my research and write this blog, if you wanted to dig a little deeper for yourself:

 I did targeted research on “Legacy Builder” and various programs sold under names like “Digital Blueprint / Digital Marketing Blueprint” and pulled together the pattern they follow, how they recruit customers, and how sustainable (or not) the business model is. Below you’ll find a concise research summary. I’ve cited the most important sources for each claim.

Research summary (what these programs actually are)

Core product: these programs present themselves as “digital marketing” training but — in many cases — the real product is a resellable course or a system for selling the same course. Buyers are often given “master resell rights” or “done-for-you” funnels and are encouraged to sell the course to others. The training frequently centers on how to market that program (not how to run a diversified digital-marketing business). Funnel Scene+1

How they recruit & convert people

• Free webinars / live events / heavy social proof. Promos use polished testimonials, screenshots of earnings, and frequent live calls to create urgency and FOMO. Funnel Scene+1

• Low-entry or interest-free payment plans + upsells. They offer an affordable initial entry price, then push upgrades, add-ons, or recurring “community” fees (which increases lifetime spend). Funnel Scene+1

• “Done-for-you” funnels and resell rights. Buyers can immediately start selling the same product (take full payment), which blurs lines between student and distributor. That structure naturally incentivizes recruitment. Funnel Scene

• Affiliate / gifting / tiered payment models. Some variants attach income potential to how much you pay into the program (higher tiers = higher promised returns), a pattern often flagged in MLM/gifting analyses. BehindMLM

Typical promises vs. reality

• Promise: “Learn digital marketing and build a sustainable business.”

• Reality (common): Most training focuses narrowly on selling the course and using platform funnels to funnel leads back to the creator; income often depends on recruiting/reselling, not on operating a normal service/product business. Independent reviews and forum threads raise concerns about how many members actually achieve sustainable external clients or products. Funnel Scene+1

How sustainable is it to “build a business” from these programs?

• Weak long-term sustainability. If your income depends mainly on recruiting other participants or reselling the same course, growth stalls once the pool of willing buyers is saturated. Those who build true, diversified businesses (clients, unique products, ad skills, staff) typically use different, broader training and real client work. Analysts of similar offers call out the heavy reliance on recruitment and the high churn of participants. BehindMLM+1

• Real digital marketing businesses require different skills. True service-based digital marketing relies on client acquisition, measurable campaign ROI, bookkeeping, proposals, scaling delivery — not just funnels and resell scripts. Many of these programs teach funnel tactics rather than core, transferable marketing skills. WSI+1

Mixed public sentiment

• There are positive personal testimonials and reviewers who say they got value; others (forum posts, MLM watchdogs, consumer complaints) warn that the structure funnels revenue to the creators and that actual income claims are exaggerated. That split is common — glossy sales pages + a few success stories vs. many quiet failures. Trustpilot+1

Key sources (most load-bearing)

• Review/overview of Legacy Builder program (detailed breakdown, pricing, claims): Funnelscene review. Funnel Scene

• Analysis that flags gifting/affiliate tier problems: BehindMLM (gifting-scheme analysis). BehindMLM

• User reviews and testimonials (positive and skeptical): Trustpilot / Reddit threads. Trustpilot+1

• Consumer-protection guidance about “blueprint”-style get-rich claims and urgent pressure tactics: U.S. FTC consumer alert. Consumer Advice

Ok Im really done now. Let me know what you think in the comments.