Timothy Marc – Secret Society Mastermind – Review

** Later update to this review here. **

---

I’ve been aware of Timothy Marc since at least 2007. Back in those days he wasn’t an internet marketer but a dating coach. Well, when I say he wasn’t an internet marketer, it’s maybe fairer to say that wasn’t his main job, because the job involved a fair bit of internet marketing. He appeared in his own coaching DVD set, did public speaking and met and coached many individuals.

He was pretty good at his job too, no snake oil salesman, and always struck me as a lot more grounded and honest than many in the field of life/dating coaching.

Then he disappeared from the company he worked for, I heard he did a bit of DJing as well, and assumed he left to pursue that.

So, I was interested to note when he next popped-up in my Facebook feed, but now not as a dating coach, but fronting something called the Secret Society Mastermind.

---

The opener

That was last year. I read his pitch and watched his accompanying vid, but have to say that for the hour of my time invested, there was nothing workable in the pitch at all. I was left feeling good, positive, but Tim hadn’t left me with any idea of how I was going to achieve this awesome life of freedom he promised – all for signing up to his program. So I left it. I wasn’t convinced, but good luck and all that.

Then a couple months ago, a new ad appeared in my Facebook news feed, which was for Timothy’s Thirty Days Build A Business Challenge. I was intrigued. It was free to sign up, and then you had to apply to join the program’s closed Facebook group.

I thought, what the heck, and did. I still liked Tim. He hadn’t struck me as a BS artist in his old life, so I thought I’d look further into this other venture of his.

Signing-up got you an email a day from Tim, which were accompaniments to his video blogs. These blogs ranged from ten minutes or so, up to half an hour, and as the name of the program would suggest, there were thirty of them. The idea is you’d watch one a day, and take the prescribed action in them. In between you could tune into the Facebook group and speak with other members, Tim himself, and some existing members of the Secret Society Mastermind.

Because that’s the point of the Thirty Day Build A Business Challenge – to funnel you to the Secret Society Mastermind (SSM).

---

Wingmen

That’s okay, that’s not meant as a negative. I didn’t think Tim was running the challenge because he liked making videos and hearing his own voice; of course there was a bigger point to all this!

I don’t consider myself green, but as far as drop shipping goes, I am. Tim isn’t, and that seems to be the internet sales strategy he’s pushing. And from there maybe creating your own products.

It’s not just drop shipping, though, as he also advocates service based sales in the form of consultancy or digital products for clients. There were as many members pursuing ideas in website and SEO services etc., as there were looking at physical product supply.

The ultimate end point is to out source the majority of this work, and just leave yourself with the bits you do well or like.

A lot of the chat in the Facebook group should be read with Caveat Emptor very much in mind, because the majority of the discussion was from the amateurs and new sign ups i.e. people who possessed zero experience and were talking from a “here’s what I’d think would be best” viewpoint. Occasionally Tim would chime in (at least I think it was him, it could’ve been an assistant) and so would more experienced members. Except you’d no way of knowing who was who, so whilst lively, it was mostly noise.

It was a good group, though, very enthusiastic; and as helpful as they could be.

---

Still a flawless natural

Regarding the meat of the Thirty Day Challenge, Tim’s videos, they were pretty damn good.

There was some filler, short ones, the content was dragged out a bit, but Tim had to create thirty of these things, so that was understandable and forgivable; he’s an engaging guy, so he’s easy to watch and has an infectious enthusiasm all of his own. So, whilst a few of the vids could’ve been culled and incorporated in others if we weren’t sticking to the full thirty regime, Tim was never boring.

He was never salesman-y either. He was your mate, that guy you like hanging out with because he’s bright and a laugh. He knows his stuff too.

I liked the videos. I learned a lot and thought they were full of good content, and workable content this time around. Tim gives you the broad brush strokes to get a business off the ground, and the process involved. They were really very good.

You get introduced to a few guys who’ve been on board with the SSM program for a while, one of whom is Matt, who seems to be doing very well and appears in the advertising literature on the website too.

---

The bootcamp

Now, all of this leads up to pushing signing-up to the SSM. It is a well managed campaign, and by the time the doors open to membership, enthusiasm has been whipped-up on the Facebook group to a suitable level. Again, that’s just good marketing, not a minus.

Membership of the SSM is billed as an exclusive club, that the books are only opened up once a year, and not everyone gets in. Only the ‘lucky’ ones.

Okay, I can see how that works, again that whole scarcity thing is a good angle, doesn’t reflect one way or the other on the actual product.

But what is the product? It’s training. Further training on the concepts we’re introduced to in the Thirty Day Challenge. And more too that we’re not I’d hope.

But that, as far as I can make out, is the crux of it.

You’re not selling the training on like MOBE or Empower, nothing as sordid as that, you’re buying entry to a system that Tim says when correctly implemented, will give you a life of freedom from a healthy income. Your entry also gives you access to the SSM group, wherein you can get mentoring and advice from existing experienced members.

Now, this doesn’t come cheap. The price is revealed on the day membership becomes available, and you get 72hrs to make an application to join. Then it’s closed for another year.

The price? It was about £5,000 (just under).

I like Tim, I liked his Facebook group and his videos, but I wasn’t for sending him five grand of my money. There was a money back guarantee, but a lot of these guarantees have strict requirements, like demonstrably providing evidence that you implemented all aspects of the training, which can be difficult to unequivocally prove, and thus is why so few people get any money back at all. I’m not saying the SSM comes with similar small print, as I decided against purchase, I didn’t drill down. What I am saying, is I’m wary of these sorts of guarantees, no matter who’s promising them. And the program has the usual caveat, that all success stories are examples only, no guarantees can be made about individual earnings. That’s sort of the ‘gym’ small print, though, to cover themselves in the event you join up and do nothing, and then still blame the program. It doesn’t mean anything without some more stats on what success figures and earnings are like in the membership i.e. are 1% making more than £100k a year and 90% less than £100? I don’t know because we’re not given that data.

Also, one of the guys held up as a success story, Matt, we’re told he was forced out of university because he couldn’t afford the fees, so had no choice, he had to join the SSM and make it work – except I’m asking myself how he had £5k for SSM but not university? Even if it may have been a lower price back when he joined, the question still stands. Along with the wisdom of spending the money in that way (even if it did apparently pay off).

---

Final Report (FR)

I can’t recommend the SSM at this time, not because of the quality of SMM itself, but simply because I didn’t purchase it and try it. I can say I remain intrigued, though… Whether I get intrigued enough to get my plastic out and order… we’ll see.

If it was £500 I’d maybe had a punt. Even £1,000 – because I really liked what I saw. But I didn’t £5k like it. That was just a leap of faith too far for me at the moment.

I can definitely recommend the Thirty Day Build A Business Challenge, which I believe Tim will be re-opening again shortly. I’d say look out for that and join up, there’s zero cost involved, and the videos contain a lot of very good advice.

I think they contain enough advice to certainly get yourself a business created. Whether they contain enough to be successful is something else, but there’s enough there to test the veracity of Tim’s method – or what he reveals of it to that point. The rest is up to you.

This is very different to the approach of Wealthy Affiliate, which remains my #1 rated recommendation, but I’m testing it out, though, the advice of Timothy Marc…

So watch this space.

---

And that space can be watched here with my follow up review.

---

Recommended further reading:

Online Business Startup

The entrepreneur’s guide to launching a fast, lean and profitable online venture.

By Robin Waite