Is Southwestern Advantage a Scam or Easy Money Opportunity?

Southwestern Advantage Review

The overview and rankings

Name: Southwestern Advantage

Founder: Rev. JR Graves in 1855

Type: Book + Online system for preschool to college prep Direct Sales company (door to door & remote sales)

Products (Including Pricing): 75 out of 100

Success Stories: 20 out of 100

Price To Join: Free- but you will need to allow for travel costs and living expenses (99 out of 100)

What is Southwestern Advantage?

Southwestern Advantage is a Direct Sales company that only consists of selling education resources. There is no compensation for people recruiting others into the company, unlike many other direct sales companies.

It was founded in 1855 and has developed a lot over the years. 

The company offers sales training to help students work as door to door reps in their summers out of college.

The 30 second video below gives an insight to what to expect from the company...

So it may be starting to sound like an interesting opportunity. 

But you may still be wondering...

Is Southwestern Advantage a pyramid scheme?

No, Southwestern Advantage is not a pyramid scheme in any way. 

I actually saw someone write this on a forum, so I was intrigued to learn more about the opportunity.

However, sales reps can only make commission from sales they make. They do not make any money from recruiting other people into Southwestern Advantage.

What is a pyramid scheme?

A company that promises payment to its members for recruiting people rather than selling a product or service.

They are illegal in most countries because it's impossible for everyone to earn money inside this business structure.

Just see the Wikipedia diagram below to see why...

Many MLM (multi-level-marketing) companies offer legit products or services so they cannot be called outright pyramid schemes. But some of them have a heavy focus on recruiting to get paid. 

Southwestern Advantage is not a scam and does not reward their reps for recruiting people into the company at all. It is a direct sales company without the MLM side.

You can learn how to spot these pyramid schemes in disguise in the 5 minute video below...

How does Southwestern Advantage Work?

Southwestern Advantage sells books that accompany its online learning system for preschool to college prep. 

They save money on advertising and marketing because they get everyday people to help sell these products. 

Typically they try to recruit college students in their summer breaks to sell the products by knocking on people's doors and working through recommendations and referrals. In return, the students receive some great sales skills and can receive a commission for anything they sell.

The 3 minute video gives you an insight into the requirements of a Southwestern Advantage door to door salesperson so you can tell it's not a scam...

Southwestern Advantage products

If you are interested in joining any direct sales opportunity then it's crucial to understand more about their products, as this is what you will be selling.

Their tagline is:

Conquer homework, tests and quizzes for kids Pre-K through 12. 

There are a number of products under a few different categories:

• Pre-K through 2nd Grade- fun words, reading, shapes, colors and number books
• 2nd Grade through 6th Grade- explore and learn
• 6th Grade through 12th Grade- college entrance advantage
• Just for parents- ideas, advice and inspiration

There are online tools and loads of physical books on offer with DVDs...

Southwestern Advantage Books- flagship product

Southwestern Advantage's main products are their books and website.  

It's very hard to tell how much these all cost as there is no information for that on their website. I guess the reason is because the only way to to buy them is by ordering through the sales reps. 

The online learning service is a $19.95 monthly subscription (I still don't know what this is for). 

You can also find a lot of their products on Amazon or eBay like the ones below...

However, the books and online service are designed to work together, and the student rep consults with the family on how to use their products. This is something not available to these second hand books online. 

Some of the main features of the books for the older students is that it helps to save time with research and preparing for exams.

For example:

• Easy to use table of contents
• Website links for online videos for anything you don't understand
• Links to sources and citations for reports
• Condensed information for easier research
• DVD included 
• Practice exams

But note that there are other MLMs that have similar processes and offerings out there, such as:

• Financial Education Services 
• Usborne Books
  
• Tupperware MLM
  
• Cutco
• Credit Star Funding
  
• Online Team Builders

The 4 minute video below explains more about some of the education books and resources on offer... 

Can you make money with Southwestern Advantage?

You absolutely can make money by selling these educational resources and making a commission.

However, it's also possible to spend a 12 hour day without making any sales.

The people that tend to do the best from Southwestern Advantage are those that dive in and commit to developing sales skills.

Note that you don't have to be great at sales already, but being more extroverted will certainly help. These are skills you can learn though so don't worry if you feel you are extremely introverted (I'd actually recommend this more for introverted people so they can learn these sales skills!)

Here's a very honest review from a former sales rep. She had a lot of concerns and wasn't comfortable doing door to door sales but has learnt a lot from it...

How to make money with Southwestern Advantage

You can only make money by selling Southwestern Advantage products to people to earn a commission.

How much does it cost to join Southwestern Advantage?

It's free to join, but keep in mind you will have costs such as travel and general living expenses as you will live with a host family in a new location.

Southwestern Advantage compensation plan

There is a 40% commission on sales made as you can see in the review below...

It's not a typical MLM company though so there isn't a compensation plan as such.

But Southwestern Advantage also provides a five day training "camp" before sending the students out to knock on doors.

Typically the sales reps are connected with former sales reps (alumni) to find a host family to live with in a new area. This could all be seen as compensation as this training and accomodation would typically need to be paid for.

Is Southwestern Advantage a scam?

No Southwestern Advantage is not a scam. 

They sell legit products and pay their reps exactly like they say they will. 

All reps, and their parents, are given proper expectations before they are allowed to begin selling.

The first expectation is that it takes all summer to have a great summer. Students who do not complete the full selling season, and drop out in their first few days or weeks, make little to no sales income and often end up leaving scam reviews over the internet.

The rest of this Southwestern Advantage review will show you the pros and cons of joining so you can make an informed decision if it's right for you or not.

Common positive reviews

Here are some of the positive reviews we had from Trust Pilot about the job opportunity...

• "Very rewarding place to work that helps face your fears and grow as an individual. You earn what you work for which can be stressful but overall very rewarding no matter how you do."

Common negative reviews

And here are the common negative reviews...

• "Please do not engage these dealers at all and just turn them away right at the door. These unethical, mis-selling people do not deserve the respect and kindness one would have for hard working door to door salespersons."
• "They have no respect for your time and impose themselves to get in to your house to wear you down and mis-sell so just don't let them get that foothold."
• "Please avoid this company. Please be kind to their staff – there but for the grace of God go you and I."

Just to be fully transparent with you, I am not a distributor myself and I do not endorse Southwestern Advantage in any way.

I have researched the website, testimonials and information on the Internet to get to the bottom of what this program genuinely does. I have also had the help from emailing a Southwestern employee to ensure this information is accurate.This is because I have been burnt from programs just like this in the past and I want to prevent others from making the same mistakes. 

What I like about Southwestern Advantage

There are some points that I personally really like about Southwestern Advantage.

I think this makes it stand out compared to a normal "summer job" and other MLM companies...

Key Terms:

• Pyramid Scheme – recruits members via a promise for payment from referring others to the service rather than providing a product
• Affiliate Marketing- Connecting a customer to a product they are looking for and receiving a commission for doing so
• Red Flag - A warning sign

#1 Established company

It's been going for over 160 years!...

It's changed and adapted but the basic skills taught are still valuable today.

This is a great sign that Southwestern Advantage is not a scam and it won't disappear tomorrow!

#2 Positive product reviews

There are places online that you can find what people think about a company, such as the Better Business Bureau (BBB).

Some of the most common pros that people say are: 

• Wonderful company
• The books are great quality
• Products has been very helpful to my children already
• The representative from the company was kind and considerate

There are over 600 reviews on there with many of them being positive so it does make me wonder if people are encouraged to leave good reviews on here.

Typically you only find complaints on websites like the BBB!

#3 Develop important skills

This is without doubt the BIGGEST pro!

You can learn some skills that most people will have to pay for...

• Sales skills 
• Confidence
• And the ability to speak to new people!

Just listen to what this former Southwestern Advantage rep has to say...

He's debt free after just leaving college and has some amazing sales skills that he can use in any future business or work.

#4 Southwestern Advantage is not a pyramid scheme

Many people throw the phrase "pyramid scheme" around. 

However, there is no compensation for people to recruit others into Southwestern Advantage. Therefore it's not a pyramid scheme or scam. 

What I don't like about Southwestern Advantage

There are some hidden truths that I think everyone should learn before jumping in...

#1 Misleading advertising

Truth in Advertising found 9 occasions where Southwestern Advantage has used misleading income claims to advertise the company...

Yes, some people will be able to pay off their debt. 

But this will take working each summer with 12 hour days 6 days a week and real hustle. 

It's not the norm!

#2 It's pretty intense & hard work

80+ hour work weeks sounds pretty standard in this company during the summer. 

If you're willing to give it your all then you could make good money. If not, then you may make the odd sale here and there. 

#3 Living with a host family

For some people this is a pro! You can experience living in a new place and see it as an adventure. 

But for many college students they look forward to spending time back home with friends and family. 

It's just something to be aware of before you decide.

#4 Negative Southwestern Advantage reviews

The BBB has a lot of good reviews but it also has over 100 complaints. Just remember this is out of millions of sales but here are some of the common concerns...

Some of the most common complaints were:

• Horrible customer service
• Scammed out of $60-$600 for books I didn't want
• This is a company of liars and thieves
• I wasted almost $600 for 14 books
• I got charged a monthly fee of $19.95 and I wasn't aware of this

If you do become a sales rep, then make sure you are totally honest and upfront about what you are selling and any monthly costs. 

If you don't you are actually being a scam artist!

#5 Trading time for money- there is another way!

The main concern for me is that reps are still being taught to trade their time for money. Southwestern Advantage reps are taught how to sell to families both in-person and online through video consultations.

But there is another way to make money that is simply not taught in schools or colleges and it nearly always has to do with the power of the internet!

The internet never sleeps and can work for you 24/7 if you know how to "sell online" without trading your time for money.

There are shady ways of selling online and then there are completely white hat and ethical ways that genuinely helps people. 

The thing is, people are still not being taught this!

My opinion - Southwestern Advantage

Southwestern Advantage is not a scam but some people do join believing it is a typical job earning $10+ per hour.

It's not!

It's purely commission based selling. But sales reps will also learn some vital skills that can help them for the rest of their life!

However, what do I think about the method of making money to build income long term?...

As soon as you stop knocking on doors your income will stop. Sure you can sell some monthly online subscriptions, but how long will people keep that up for? 1 year? Maybe 2 if you're lucky!

What if there was a way to learn some crucial skills that every business needs and create an income stream that will continue to grow over time?...

How I make passive income online

Direct sales jobs are not scams or illegal. However, I'm not a fan of them because of the restrictions to the products you have to promote and that you have to trade time for money still.

Once I learnt about affiliate marketing, I realised it's a far superior business model because:

• You can promote anything you want and truly own the business
• You never need to sell face to face
• It's completely free to start

In 2018 I had no idea what affiliate marketing was.