
Welcome to our definitive review for The VA Foundry’s Scale It Mastermind.
The Scale It Mastermind is a platform for experienced virtual assistants, created by Samantha Browne and Jo Jensen of The VA Foundry.
(Btw, this program was formerly known as The VA Foundry Members Club.)
My team and I signed up for the training and researched it thoroughly.
(Have you taken this course? Add your rating!)
If you’re eager to learn…
- What exactly you can learn in Scale It
- How it compares to other virtual assistant programs
- The pros and cons
- If Sam and Jo are legit
- Price and discount info
Then you’ve come to 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 Training?
We’re on a mission to find the best virtual assistant course, based on our own extensive research plus feedback from real students.
The Scale It Mastermind is one of the best VA courses we’ve seen…
🏆 Best Virtual Assistant Courses 🏆
How does the VA Foundry Mastermind help you make money?
This program aims to help you become a better and more successful virtual assistant.
A virtual assistant is someone who works online, helping another person or business with various tasks (eg. email management, data entry, customer service, etc).
As Sam and Jo write on the course sales page…
We’re here to show you our proven method to scale a thriving virtual assistant business.
With expert coaching, a library of templates, videos, checklists, and worksheets – we share everything we’ve used to build our own successful VA businesses.
Get our support and that of a tight-knit group of global VAs so you’ll never feel like you’re doing this alone.
Note that Sam and Jo also have a course more geared towards beginner VA’s: Launch In 30 Days.
Who is the VA Foundry Mastermind for?
The Scale It Mastermind sells itself as a platform for experienced virtual assistants that are looking to take their career or business to the next level…
Having seen inside the training, I tend to agree: it’s mostly focused on more advanced topics, but there are also tips on more fundamental things like website creation and hosting.
Also, I’m pretty sure it’s mainly intended for women, as one of the stages is named “Boss Babe.”
- 70+ ways how to make money online (including easy options)
Do Samantha Browne and Jo Jensen have a good reputation?
Yes.
During my research of Sam and Jo – as well as the Mastermind – I only found praise for the training and its creators.
They both apparently have ~20 years of personal assistant experience and now lead their own virtual assistant businesses.
Samantha founded The Virtual Assistant Network of New Zealand in 2019. Jo started her VA company, Strictly Savvy, in 2012, and launched The VA Foundry in 2017.
The sales page says about Jo…
In fact, [growing a team] is one of Jo’s areas of expertise. Over the past 10 years, Jo has grown her 7 figure VA agency to a team of over 30.
Sam and Jo also run a blog on The VA Foundry and have their own podcast, where they discuss trending virtual assistant topics.
Here’s an episode from their podcast so you can get a feel for their style…
Are VA Foundry Mastermind students getting results?
Browse through the VA Foundry website and you’ll find no shortage of student testimonials.
For example…
Such testimonials speak to results achieved, but only generally. I would have hoped to see more specifics, such as the number of clients secured or income generated. It’s also unclear how old the testimonials are.
I didn’t manage to find any testimonials outside of the official websites. Nevertheless, it looks to me like the training proves effective for most people who follow it consistently.
How much does the VA Foundry Mastermind cost?
There are monthly and yearly payment options for The VA Foundry Scale It Mastermind…
- $247 NZD or $229 AUD per month (approx $154 USD)
- $2470 NZD or $2290 AUD per year (approx $1540 USD)
You essentially get 2 months free if you opt for the yearly payment.
You can cancel your membership at any time.
There are some additional expenses, mainly related to scaling your business. These depend on the direction you take; e.g. for a domain and hosting for your website, growing a team, or SEO and paid ads.
Unfortunately, I didn’t see any “heads up” about such expenses on the sales page 😕
The VA Foundry Mastermind Discount?
I’ve looked everywhere for any discount or coupon code, but it’s been fruitless.
Seems the total cost needs to be covered for access.
Refund Policy
The terms page for the Mastermind specifies a 30 day pro-rata refund policy…
The company may, in its sole discretion, refund the initial fee charged for any use of the site and/or any content or a pro-rata portion thereof consistent with the company’s refund policy. The company shall refuse any refund thirty (30) days after your payment for use of the site and/or any content, either pursuant to the company’s customer license agreement or otherwise, regardless of the reason for disruption.
In other words, if you cancel your Mastermind subscription in the first 30 days, you’ll be refunded for the days of the first month that you haven’t used yet.
I haven’t seen anyone reporting issues getting a refund on their purchase, so you can rest easy with this guarantee.
How is the VA Foundry Mastermind structured?
Here’s what the training looks like once you log in and open one of the lessons…
The core training is broken up into six stages which are further split into steps.
There are about 160 lessons in total. Most of them are text only, and some have videos with just a few lines of text. The videos vary greatly in length, from several minutes to more than an hour.
I found the training to be comprehensive, tons of info in there. I also found the training is easy to navigate thanks to an awesome search function.
Some of the videos are just “talking heads,” which I’m not a big fan of. But there always seem to be at least slides in front, with Sam and Jo talking in the background. And there are plenty of screencasts as well.
Scale It Mastermind also has weekly Facebook live calls and monthly group sessions. Together with well-designed worksheets and templates, I found all these to be a nice value-add.
Finally, there’s also a Facebook group for Mastermind students. It looks quite active despite few members…
Green Lights 🟢
A few things to like about The VA Foundry Scale It Mastermind…
- Active private community.
- 30-day money-back guarantee.
- Lots of live calls and group sessions.
- The training is practical and comprehensive.
- Sam and Jo seem like the real deal.
- No shady marketing tactics.
- Plenty of bonuses.
Red Flags 🚩
Some knocks on The VA Foundry Scale It Mastermind…
- Lack of significant success stories from students.
- Recurring cost to keep access to the training.
- No mention on sales page of expenses beyond the price of the training.
Other things you should know
- Sam and Jo’s training presents a thorough overview of everything they’ve done to build their own successful VA businesses. As a new member of the mastermind, you gain access to this special material.
- The training features handy downloads you can use, containing things like templates.
Should you join the VA Foundry Mastermind?
Scale It Mastermind looks like one of the better virtual assistant programs out there, and with a subscription-based model it’s fairly inexpensive to start.
The training is mostly intended for experienced VAs. But there’s so much inside that I believe it’s also a solid choice for newer virtual assistants.
VA Foundry Mastermind Alternatives
We’re 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…
🏆 Best Courses to Make Money Online 🏆
Your Thoughts on the VA Foundry Mastermind
- Have you taken this course yourself?
Add your rating so others can see if it’s worthwhile. - Do you have a question about this course?
Let us know below and we’ll try find the answer.