This is the ultimate VA Success System review.
The Techie Mentor is a series of virtual assistant courses by Susan Mershon. Today, my focus is on her flagship course, The VA Success System. My team and I have researched the training thoroughly and shared our insights below.
(Have you taken this course? Add your rating!)
If you’d like to know…
- What exactly they teach you in the course
- How it compares to other virtual assistant courses
- The pros and cons of The VA Success System
- Are students getting results?
Then you’re in the right place.
Jump to…
About the Author
Hey, I’m Niall Doherty.
I quit my last 9-to-5 job back in 2010.
Since then, I’ve earned my living online in various ways. Over the last 4 years (through 2023) I’ve earned $842,000 from my laptop.
I’m on a mission to accurately rate and review all the best online business courses. My team and I are spending many 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.
The Best Virtual Assistant Course?
We’re on a mission to find the best virtual assistant course, based on feedback from real students combined with our own extensive research.
While the VA Success System is a solid course, it doesn’t quite make the top of our list…
🏆 Best Virtual Assistant Courses 🏆
How does The VA Success System help you make money?
The VA Success System aims to help you start your own freelance virtual assistant business.
A virtual assistant is someone who works online, helping another person or business with various tasks. Examples of such tasks: uploading content to a website, managing email accounts, scheduling or posting content to social media.
As a freelancer you would be running your own business. Clients would hire you as a virtual assistant to help with their business activities.
As Susan puts it on the course’s sales page…
A unique + comprehensive training program that teaches real strategies + systems for creating a sustainable business that attracts a steady stream of clients + makes you money. Without filler of fluff!
Who is The VA Success System for?
The VA Success System sells itself as a platform for virtual assistants from all walks of life…
This course is designed for ALL Virtual Assistants, whether new or experienced, who are not getting the results they want or need.
I would agree that there’s something here for everyone. But, like most other VA courses, I feel this one is mainly for beginners.
For example, the last of the 10 main modules in the course is about launching your business, which established VAs will surely have already done. (Although one could argue that established VAs could benefit from relaunching their business using Susan’s approach.)
Susan later states on the sales page…
This ONE program has everything you need to start, build, launch + run a profitable and sustainable VA business. In fact, this course could be used for ANY online business NOT just a VA one. It’s that robust + comprehensive.
But again, I would argue that it’s aspiring virtual assistants who stand to gain the most from this course.
- 70+ ways how to make money online (including easy options)
Does Susan Mershon have a good reputation?
Yes.
Susan has been a virtual assistant for 10+ years, and has even more experience with project management. She’s a project management professional (PMP), and seems to use her extensive knowledge to help VA’s thrive.
Susan launched The Techie Mentor all the way back in 2013, and you can find lots of helpful content via her blog and podcast.
Below is a snippet from one of her podcasts. It will actually give you something of a feel for her premium training, as each lesson is Susan talking over a slideshow.
Susan also has quite a large following on LinkedIn, where many people seem to regard her as an expert in the VA space.
In short, Susan seems as legit as they come.
Are VA Success System students getting results?
It’s easy enough to find people praising The Techie Mentor in general, as well as many of the other products and courses sold by Susan.
However, I was mostly interested in seeing testimonials for the VA Success System.
I did find some encouraging testimonials on the course sales page.
For example…
I would have liked to see more testimonials like this, that actually speak to results achieved by students of the course.
But the vast majority of the testimonials simply offer rather generic praise for the training…
It’s nice to hear things like this, but again, it would be far more helpful to hear about the specific results achieved by students.
I believe the issue may be that Susan’s VA Success System hasn’t reached the audience it deserves. I found it to be a solid course, but it doesn’t look like many students have been through it.
How much does The VA Success System cost?
For access to the VA Success System training, there are two options:
- $998 one-time
- 11 payments of $99
The latter adds up to a total price of $1089.
You get lifetime access – and free updates – with either option.
Although the sales page doesn’t seem to mention it, be aware that you will need an additional budget for setting up and running your VA business. For example, Susan recommends setting up your own website, so you would need to pay for a domain and hosting.
Expenses like this are minimal, IMO, but do keep them in mind.
VA Success System Discount?
No discount codes turned up in my search.
I think it’s full price or nothing.
Refund Policy
The sales page for the VA Success System specifies a 7-day money-back guarantee…
I offer a 7-day money back no questions asked guarantee. If you decide this program is NOT for you simply reach out and let me know.
Personally I prefer to see at least a 30-day refund policy for a course like this. And you should know that many of the course bonuses are only available after the 7-day refund period has expired.
That said, I haven’t seen anyone reporting issues getting a refund on their purchase of VA Success System, so you can rest easy with this guarantee.
How is The VA Success System structured?
This is what the training looks like once you’re logged in…
With around 140 lessons, all of which are in video format, this is one of the bigger virtual assistant courses I’ve seen.
Each lesson comes with action steps, aka homework. These homework assignments are usually fairly straightforward, however, so they shouldn’t take you much time to complete.
The training is quite comprehensive, even addressing topics like business types, taxes, and insurance needs. (Not every VA course does this.)
However, some of the lessons may feel a bit long for some students. Many are only about 10 minutes long, but I’ve seen a few that go on for about an hour.
There is a search function to help you find your way around the abundance of course content. But it didn’t work well for me in all cases. For example, looking for taxes didn’t bring me to the lesson that covered that topic.
There are also various bonuses, such as PDF downloads, but I didn’t find these very useful. Some of them provide the same action steps that are visible on each lesson, or a place to enter notes that you’d first need to print.
As mentioned, many of the bonuses only become available on the 8th day after your purchase. In other words, you’ll get them after your refund period runs out.
Those bonuses are:
- VA Business Template Bundle
- Discovery Session System Training
- Your Own WordPress Website
- 1 Page WordPress Theme Template
- Lead Magnet Funnel with Templates
- Sales + Welcome Email Sequences
- Task Management Training on ClickUp
- Mini Tech Trainings on Must Have Tools
- 8 Additional Bonus Lessons
- 100+Templates, Guides + Checklists
With the VA Success System, you’re also getting direct access to Susan. She offers Group Coaching Calls and Hot Seat Coaching. That’s a pretty great value-add if you ask me.
The former are monthly live calls that go through a specific module or topic to help students digest the training materials. The latter are calls for up to 4 members who want help on a specific issue.
Finally, there is a Facebook group, but it has fewer than 100 members and doesn’t come off as particularly active 😕
Green Lights 🟢
Here are a few things to like about The Techie Mentor’s VA Success System…
- No hype or sleazy sales tactics.
- Surprisingly comprehensive core training.
- You pay once and get lifetime access with free updates.
- Monthly live group calls and hot seat coaching.
- Susan seems to be the real deal.
- Affordable payment plan option.
Red Flags 🚩
A few things about The VA Success System that might give you pause…
- Lack of significant success stories from students.
- The search functionality didn’t work great for me.
- No mention on the sales page of expenses beyond the price of the training.
- The bonuses only become available after the refund period.
- Small and quite inactive private community.
Other things you should know
- Susan’s training provides a detailed analysis of what she’s done to build her successful VA business. This exclusive info becomes available to you with your course registration.
- The training is complemented by a variety of useful downloads, including checklists, transcripts, templates, spreadsheets, etc.
- The VA Success System has seven additional bonuses, each of which disappear after a full day of you NOT buying the course. While the countdown timer seems to truly work, it doesn’t transfer to another browser. It looks like it’s only based on cookies, not your IP address.
- All lessons apparently have audio versions. Even though Susan advertises them on the sales page as downloadable, I haven’t been able to find a download link for any of them. However, you can apparently email Susan and she will send you a download package of all the course materials.
Should you join The Techie Mentor’s VA Success System?
If you’re an aspiring virtual assistant and Susan’s free content resonates with you, then you’re likely to find her VA Success System a worthwhile investment.
The training does have its flaws, such as the short refund period and a lack of recent + significant success stories. But the VA Success System is so comprehensive and nicely designed that I have no problem recommending it.
The Techie Mentor Alternatives
Here are the top virtual assistant programs we’ve reviewed…
Your Thoughts on The Techie Mentor’s VA Success System
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