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This is a review of Four Percent, an online business training created by Vick Strizheus.
You may have heard it referred to as FourPercent Group or The Four Percent Challenge.
(Have you taken this course? Add your rating!)
Four Percent (4%) is a collection of courses that aim to teach you online business skills, and seems to have a strong emphasis on how you can apply those skills to promote Four Percent itself.
If you want to know:
Then you’ve come to the right place.
Let’s get started.
Hey, Iβm Niall Doherty.
I quit my last 9-to-5 job back in 2010.
Since then, Iβve earned my living online in various ways. Revenue for my latest business is at $1+ million and counting.
I’m on a mission to accurately rate and review all the best “make money online” courses. My team and I have spent 1000’s of hours investigating these courses and getting feedback from real students.
All that to say: we know a thing or two about such courses and making money online.
Four Percent is an entire suite of courses, all focused on online business.
The full Four Percent Gold Membership gets you access to such courses as…
However, most people who sign up to Four Percent seem to focus on the affiliate marketing aspect of the training.
This is likely because Vick invites you to a webinar about affiliate marketing right after you join Four Percent, calling it “the fastest way to make money right now.”
Affiliate marketing is when you promote other peopleβs products or services, and collect a commission for every successful referral.
Four Percent’s affiliate marketing training is somewhat unusual in that you’re mainly taught how to promote Four Percent itself.
At least that’s the impression I’m left with having researched successful 4% students and browsed through the private Facebook community (more on this later).
So essentially Four Percent teaches you how to become a commission-based salesperson for Four Percent. The more new customers you refer to the training, the more money you make.
Below is a video from Vick’s YouTube channel so you can get a feel for his style. He also gives an overview of his affiliate marketing philosophy (ie. the “hub” model).
Having researched Four Percent extensively, I would say it is mainly aimed at people new to working online who are looking for training and coaching that will help speed up their progress.
Vick Strizheus has had big success with Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) in the past, and there is a strong MLM vibe from the Four Percent training. So if you’re down with that sort of thing, you’ll probably enjoy being a member of Four Percent.
That said, I do consider Vick’s pitch for his affiliate marketing training to be quite misleading. I have significant experience with affiliate marketing, and I flat out disagree with many of the claims I’ve heard Vick make.
Such as:
“There is nothing, absolutely nothing, simpler or more lucrative than affiliate marketing”
“This is the easiest money you can ever get yourself into online right now”
Affiliate marketing is great in many ways, but to call it easy money and make it out to be a very simple type of online business is grossly misleading, IMO.
Vick acknowledges this β and thereby contradicts himself β by citing a statistic that 95% of people who try affiliate marketing fail π³
Given that the Four Percent training is so focused on affiliate marketing, Iβd say that itβs actually NOT great for newbies.
I’ve reviewed lots of affiliate marketing courses over the years, and in terms of reputation, Four Percent is one of the more questionable I’ve seen.
It all starts with Vick Strizheus himself.
Google around a bit and you’ll soon find two big skeletons in his closet…
Indeed, Vick still seems to be a big advocate of the MLM business model.
During his affiliate marketing webinar, he names “network marketing companies” β another term for MLM companies β as his #2 source of products to promote…
There’s even a premium course within Four Percent showing students how to promote 7K Metals.
And, as mentioned, there is a strong MLM vibe from Four Percent itself, in that the students earning commissions mainly seem to be earning them by recruiting other people to Four Percent. (See examples below.)
Another red flag for me are the regular complaints about Vick not following through on his promises.
For example, there are many complaints in the private Four Percent Facebook group about a training program called Coop that Vick launched a few years ago. Apparently it fell through and many students were left hanging indefinitely for refunds and commission payoutsβ¦
There certainly seems to be a pattern of Vick promising students of Four Percent various things, and then either failing to deliver or keeping them waiting for a very long timeβ¦
That last comment speaks to another issue: anyone in the private community who criticises or questions Vick or Four Percent is often dismissed as a naysayer and told to “stop whining”.
Vick himself seems to encourage this “shouting down” of critics, saying in his webinar that he succeeded by doing whatever his mentors told him to do, without question…
I was smart enough to listen. I did not question my mentors. If I had a mentor and I knew the mentor knew what he was doing, I did not question anything.
But waitβ¦
You might have seen that Four Percent has thousands of positive reviews on Trustpilotβ¦
Unfortunately, those reviews and the overall rating must be taken with a large pinch of salt.
I say that because most of them come from excited newbies taking the free Four Percent training, who are asked to leave a review after every lessonβ¦
Accordingly, most of the Trustpilot reviews are empty platitudes that don’t tell you anything about the quality of the premium Four Percent training.
For example…
When I searched the Trustpilot reviews of FourPercent for words like profit and revenue, the results were sparse. Indeed, searching for words like refund and scam brought back more results π
All that said, Vick has managed to build multiple successful online businesses over the years. He is clearly doing a lot of things right, and so there’s plenty to learn from him, especially if you’re a fan of MLM.
I spent several hours researching Four Percent, going through the private community, and searching for reviews online.
In one session I found 16 people in the Facebook group reporting that they’d recently earned commissions.
Here’s an example from the first categoryβ¦
WebinarFuel turns out to be a product that is promoted within the Four Percent training, so ultimately all 16 of the those “success stories” I found were Four Percent students earning commissions from other Four Percent students.
I would much rather see success stories that show students earning affiliate commissions from other sources, and not being so dependent on convincing other people to join Four Percent.
But maybe that’s just me.
Coincidentally, that WebinarFuel software is owned by Anthony Morrison, who also has an affiliate marketing course called Partner With Anthony (reviewed here).
The “success stories” for that course look very similar to Four Percent, with students mainly earning income by referring other people to the same training.
This wouldn’t be so bad if such income was scalable and sustainable, but it doesn’t appear to be. For example, the person responsible for the above screenshot elaborated in the comments of the same post…
That means it cost him $200 to generate $229 in revenue, leaving him with $29 in profit.
Granted, he could go on to earn recurring commissions on those referrals, if the people he referred stay in the training for several months. But as of this writing he has been a member of Four Percent for 5 years, and the above screenshot is the only income he’s ever reported π
Given the popularity of the Four Percent program β there are 24,000+ students in the private Facebook group, and Vick claims the course has more than 300,000 members from 130 countries β I would have expected to see lots of legit success stories. But as illustrated above, they are sorely lacking.
Especially when you consider that Vick promotes his affiliate marketing training as a way to “make a minimum $5,000” in only 30 days…
All that has me skeptical that anyone who signs up to Four Percent today can earn a decent income from it π
You can sign up to Four Percent and take a couple of courses for free, namely 7 Steps to Freedom and Mass Traffic Blueprint.
This will also get you access to the private Facebook group.
To unlock the other courses within Four Percent, you will need to upgradeβ¦
Unfortunately, the silver plan shown above seems to have been discontinued. Clicking on it, I get an error message that reads:
Weβre currently not accepting new members for Silver level. Get started with Gold.
So Gold Membership is the cheapest plan available.
The price for Four Percent Gold:
Your Gold membership includes:
After 12 months, I assume you will have to pay the regular monthly price to retain access to ESTAGE and ChickyBoom:
So as you can see, if you stick with Four Percent for more than a year, you’ll likely be on the hook for $196 in monthly payments to retain full access π±
Furthermore, while it seems you can become an affiliate for Four Percent without paying anything beyond the cost of Gold Membership, Vick does have an upsell to the Four Percent VIP Partner Pack, which gets you 40% commissions instead of 30%.
That costs another $497 per year.
I’ve heard reports of other upsells within the training, but I’ve been unable to verify them. It seems Vick regularly launches and tests new offers and pricing plans, so best not take the above info as gospel.
But based on reports I’ve seen from students, it’s a safe bet that you’ll need to spend at least $3000 in the first 12 months to make the most of the Four Percent training.
I havenβt seen any legit discounts available for Four Percent, and didn’t find anywhere to enter a coupon code at checkout.
You can of course save some money on your Four Percent Gold Membership by signing up for annual instead of monthly. The annual costs $1997, whereas the twelve monthly payments add up to $3564.
The refund policy for Four Percent is a bit confusing.
Per their terms and conditionsβ¦
Due to the nature of the The Four Percent Group business and the accessibility of our products immediately upon purchase, there is a strict 30-days refund policy, which begins on the date of purchase. This 30 days refund policy is relevant to programs only. Any subscription based products such as The Four Percent Group Membership, The Four Percent Group Member promotional rates, Summit and/or event tickets are non-refundable.
From that, it sounds like you can get a refund on one-time payments so long as you request your refund within 30 days of purchase.
But if you sign up for a payment plan, it seems you are not entitled to a refund. But you should still be able to cancel future payments.
It’s worth reminding you here that I saw several people in the Four Percent Facebook group saying they were waiting several months and even years for a refund on a 4% training called Coop.
And I’ve seen a few claims that Four Percent makes promises to keep you in the training past the refund period, but then fails to follow through.
For exampleβ¦
“I have lost about $2300 due to four percent and got nothing in return. When I asked for a refund I didn’t get it because the 30 day refund policy was over. Throughout these 30 days we were promised a lot of stuff that never came true and therefore didn’t ask for a refund. We were promised that we would get traffic to our landing page for free which never happened. They switched the affiliate vendor at some point because too many people were applying for credit card refunds.” 4
Here’s how the Four Percent program looks once you’re logged inβ¦
You get access to a couple of basic courses with the free Four Percent membership.
With a Gold Membership, you also get access to the following courses and coaching programsβ¦
Not all of those courses are taught by Vick. For example, the two Facebook courses are taught by Anthony Morrison.
The content is mostly video. Vick also does a live coaching call for students each week.
All members of Four Percent β even free members β get access to the private FourPercent Facebook group, which has 27,000+ members and is very active.
Here are a few things to like about Four Percent:
A few things about Four Percent that might give you pause:
If you are new to entrepreneurship and are looking for a quick and easy way to make money online, you’ll likely end up disappointed with Four Percent.
Vick Strizheus may tell you that affiliate marketing is “the easiest money today” and that you can quickly “turn your passion into a 6 or 7-figure business”… but the results of his students β or rather the lack thereof β seem to prove otherwise.
Furthermore, Vick’s past misadventures β eg. convicted of insurance fraud and being a big proponent of network marketing β combined with reports of him often failing to follow through on promises to studentsβ¦ well, it all makes me hesitant to trust the man.
Lastly, while there does seem to be lots of courses on offer inside Four Percent, the price tag is quite steep compared to other affiliate marketing courses. Sure, 4% will teach you more than affiliate marketing, but I’ve yet to see compelling evidence that students are successfully building all kinds of online businesses.
In summary, I’d recommend steering clear of this one unless you’re a big fan of Vick Strizheus and the MLM approach to affiliate marketing.
Weβre on a mission to find the best “make money online” course, based on real student feedback and our extensive research.
Here’s our top 5…
This reviewer has a business relationship with the course creator or a competitor. Not included in overall ratings. Learn more.
This course came at the best time in my life’s journey. It has helped to change my entire outlook on life, mainly my career direction. It requires a lot of time and commitment if you are planning to absorb all the information, but it is worthwhile. If you plan to do nothing and be rewarded for it, this course may not be your fit.
I have had my realtor license for over three years, but now I prospect for clients. I’m in the process of locating properties for three clients at this time. I have also built my web pages and I currently have over 662 emails on my list.
I particularly liked Modules 1 & 4 where Rick talks about the importance of believing in yourself. Since completing the 7 Steps Program, I resigned from my career in health services and have taken on entrepreneurship full-time.
Even though my monthly income is just slightly higher than from my previous employment, the liberation of no longer being tied to a j.o.b. and feeling stuck is priceless. I would attribute this life/mindset shift to Four Percent. Stagnation had a grip on me but has been lifted.
Like many hopeful people who want to start an online business, I wanted to join a community and hoped to learn from a guru. Unfortunately, there are so many dishonest sharks out there. One of the sharpest in the industry is Vick Strizheus, with a company called fourpercent.com.
He promised a fully proven and developed system in his so-called HUB, with two huge guarantees. I paid 1997 USD for the course, for which he guaranteed at least 3k income within 30 days. He also promised a 30-day refund policy. My membership included a website platform called Estage which was, and still is, at its initial stage. I was also promised personal coaching, and a network that provides you with everything you need.
But I got none of that.
It seemed like I shouldn’t have a problem earning 5k within ten days from his promises. He told me that he would give me his private network called Chicky Boom, done-for-you funnels, list building, etc., tools which would generate money right away, without me even lifting a finger. Up to this day, that network and all the other stuff he promised do not work, or I do not have access to them.
It has been a 7-month journey of waiting and confusion. My efforts to reach the company ended with no results. I still haven’t earned one penny.
Based on many complaints on the internet/YouTube, I believe that Vick will make us invest even more money to continue. I must pay up to 300-400 USD or more monthly to keep up this part of my business, which he never mentioned when I signed up. I think he’s been doing that repeatedly over the years. How does he still keep going on without any consequences?
Thank you for displaying all this information and for sharing your experience!
Last night, after watching Vick’s 2hour webinar, I was about to enroll into the program but my credit card was declined. After numerous attempts, calling my credit card company twice and unlocking it twice, it still didn’t work. Long story short, today the fraud department contacted me and explained that the reason why the system blocks it is cause they had too many fraudulent events with “Four Percent” and they’ve become “high-risk merchant”.
This unmotivated me and made me suspicious, so I decided to search the web to find out more about Vick, Four Percent & ABS (Affiliate Business Systems).. and here we are now, this article confirming my red flag of having my credit card declined.
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I hope more people read this avoiding them getting scammed!
You’ve just saved me from enrolling into a program that just released by the same source called “the affiliate syndicate”!
I almost fell into the it!
The three-day webinar was based on a claim that says by joining the program you’ll be able to make $10K a day with success rate of 100% even if you didn’t make a penny before!
In addition I came across another course you reviewed called “Scale Your Travel Blog” which made a good webinar today, that’s more realistic and achievable regardless of the fact that it’s unjustifiably pricy!
Thanks man, you’re doing a great job!
Thanks for saving us our time and money