Ben Donovan Brand Builder Course Review: I Got It!

There is plenty of Amazon FBA courses out there including Ben Donovan and his Amazon Masters program. But is it worth it compared to free courses?

That’s an important question to ask. A more important question is: Are you willing and able to commit to the FBA journey? Because there are a lot of shiny objects around.

As I’m entering the UK Marketplace, I was looking for a specific marketplace course that could help me understand more about the nuances of the UK.

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Ben Donovan doesn’t have many reviews about his Amazon Masters course, unfortunately, but I still wanted to research and look more into it.

Update: Ben has named his course Brand Builder University. I recently went through the entire course in October 2021 and will share my thoughts.

Let’s begin.

Ben Donovan: My thoughts

So I’ve been following a lot of Ben’s content on YouTube for quite some time.

Like 5 months actually. He hasn’t got that many subscribers, but I’m one of them.

I like his communication style. It’s very clear-cut and straight to the point.

And we actually share a lot in common. You know – trying out all sorts of things.

Most importantly, he shares a lot of stuff for free. For example, this one:

It’s pretty obvious that he just wants to share great content, just like me.

I like this his video thumbnails aren’t so click-baitey like many others out there.

(You know what I mean, right? Like shock-horror videos designed to draw you in)

Ben Donovan takes a more professional approach to his tutorials and presentation.

And he likes to do long-form content for Amazon’s United Kingdom marketplace.

So you’ll see this emulated well in his paid course called Amazon Masters.

Quite clearly, one of the best YouTubers out there sharing the good stuff.

Brand Builder University Review

Let me begin by saying that I’ve already taken a fair few Amazon course.

And look – a lot of them are actually great. You do need to take one.

Because I’ve reviewed a lot of them on the blog, I know what they should contain.

This gives me the position to fairly evaluate the Amazon Masters FBA UK course.

Since you’re looking to get started, but you’re not quite sure yet if you should do it.

But I just *had* to take a look at Amazon Masters, so let’s unpack the course.

1) The Brand Builder Blueprint

This is the nuts and bolts of the course and takes 8 weeks to go through.

Immediately we can see one big difference right away: The video content.

In Ben’s YouTube videos we’re used to longer videos. He does talk a lot after all. 😅

It’s a decent change here: The videos are much shorter, like bite-sized content.

5 to 15 minutes generally. This flow extends to most of the other modules as well.

There are 114 lessons and Ben uses a very professional studio setup.

If you’ve seen a Tony Robbins or Grant Cardone virtual event, then it’s similar.

2) Ben Donovan’s PPC Masters

I’ll admit that the PPC part of Amazon really overwhelms me and many others.

And thus, in any Amazon course, it becomes a challenging part of the training.

However, Ben was able to disect down the concepts much more easily.

So much so that I found this the best PPC training module I’ve so far done.

Still though, you don’t have to do this training until your product(s) are live.

3) Outsourcing Masters

Once you start scaling up your business, you’ll need to start outsourcing.

From listing copy to images, to sourcing and inventory management.

It can get overwhelming if you’re wearing all the hats at once (I tried it!)

Ben teaches you how to find the best people and use SOPs for success.

This is one of the shortest parts of the course, yet I learned the most.

4) Amazon Masters: Global Expansion

Once you’ve tapped out the UK or US market, you’ll want to expand globally.

For instance, here in Australia, Amazon FBA is absolutely booming with sales.

As a consumer, I get ridiciously fast shipping though not everything is available.

So a real opportunity for someone who has the capital to expand their business.

Again, this is a small module but Ben covers the uniqueness of each market.

Plus getting your products into foreign warehouses and language conversions.

5) Building A Brand To Sell

I’ll admit that my favourite part of building businesses is selling for big paydays.

I’m highly addicted to the Quiet Light and Empire Flippers blogs and podcasts.

And I can say that Ben really nails the content within this part of the course.

This is something I would do straight after finishing Brand Builder University.

Because you’ll come away feeling excited and motivated to build your business.

Ben discusses valuations, when to sell and making your business exit-ready.

6) The BBU Vault

There are fewer lessons taught within the BBU Vault, but it’s a goldmine.

Inside you’ll find many templates and resources to refer back at times.

As well as past recordings from workshops and coaching webinars.

I haven’t quite gotten through the whole lot that’s in here just yet.

But there are about 90 sections with many PDFs and spreadsheets.

Course Negatives

While the course is fantastic, some negatives come to the surface.

These aren’t necessarily red flags, but things to be mindful of.

a) Ben’s community is a bit smaller than most other FBA UK courses

I’m in many FBA courses. On average, they have between 1,000 and 3,000 students.

Some even have up to 35,000 students but that’s overwhelmingly large.

Ben is continuing to build Brand Builder Uni and so he may prefer to keep it smaller.

b) Ben understates the starting capital. I recommend $10k USD minimum.

If you really want those lifechanging results, you really need some more capital.

Ben proposes about half of what I propose, but it’s enough to learn the platform.

$10k is good for a profitable start, while $40k really gives you a much better shot.

Those who are truly ‘crushing it’ are starting at the $100k mark and more.

Amazon FBA is a capital-intensive game after all, unlike building digital assets.

c) The Facebook group is kinda distractive and could do better on Slack

This isn’t a dig at Ben’s course at all, but all FBA training who still use Facebook.

The many communities are quite distracted by advertising and algorithms.

I personally prefer Slack or Discord for real-time chat and communication.

Better yet – a custom built forum within the course would be even better!

Brand Builder University Summary

This is one very good course, although very long in nature to cover all the basis.

What you’ll find evident is that Ben Donovan clearly has marketplace experience.

So much so, that I would say Amazon Masters is one of the best Amazon UK courses around.

It’s built as both beginner-friendly but also for the person who will treat this like a real business. Because that’s exactly what is on offer right here.

Your chance to get started today on a 10,000 mile journey, right now, today.

He doesn’t upsell you on additional products or services, so your inbox doesn’t get flooded.

Likewise, doesn’t promote FBA as easy, and neither will I. For that, he gets my respect.

Also, expect challenges to come your way, both now and into the future.

More importantly, you will need some starting capital.

Facebook Group

The last bit that’s worth noting is the Facebook group.

Hundreds of questions have been asked in here and answered.

I’ve noticed that Ben is pretty active plus a dozen or so others.

But I wouldn’t start networking in here on Day 1.

Of course join as soon as you’re in the course, but don’t ask questions.

This is because it’s likely been answered already in the course. 🙂

I’d use the course as my foundation and the group as my sounding board.

If you’re ready, you can check the price of the course here.

Summary of Ben Donovan’s FBA Course

Ben Donovan has created one special Amazon UK course which I praise.

It’s not the only one out there, but certainly one of the best.

Plus it’s quite affordable too. The pricing is lower than most others.

For that reason, I rate it quite highly in this review. He’s done very well!

So it is worth it? Absolutely. It’s way more than his YouTube content.

Then again, you’ll still need to pay for some software as well each month.

That’s going to help you find the gold on Amazon: Those winning products.

And if you get some world-class software, it has a full A to Z course.

Like it’s got everything you need for the US marketplace.

Heaps of videos, study guides, handouts and more.

Catch you in the Facebook group! 👍

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