This is a one of many Fullstaq Marketer Reviews but a different kind of review. I want to make two simple distinctions for this paper. First, I want to distinguish between what to do and how to do it. They are not the same. This distinction involves being told what to do and you do what you are told. Just because I tell you to do something does not mean that you actually know how to do it. For example, I tell you that you should eat more vegetables. You understand what I have said, but do you actually know how to arrange your eating habits so that you do eat more vegetables? Saying is not the same thing as doing. So, what if I ask you what changes will you make in your eating habits? What if you tell me that you will eat more vegetables? Should I conclude that you have changed your eating habits? But I know that knowing what to do is not the same as knowing how to do it. Thus, I would want more evidence that you have, in fact, changed your eating habits. I know that saying is not the same as doing.
In evaluating any affiliate program, we want to keep these distinctions in mind. All affiliate programs say many things, but we cannot conclude from their saying what they do that they in fact do those things– that they even know how to do the things they say they do. As a novice in affiliate marketing, I knew nothing about affiliate marketing, so I was left depending on that what a program said was in fact what they did. Only after going through a couple of programs, did I realize that saying is not doing. What I want to examine in my critique of the affiliate training program, Fullstaq, is whether a novice should conclude that their saying equals their doing.
My Experience
When a prospective student decides to try Fullstaq, the student is invited to a webinar at minimal cost in which the student will build a sales funnel. I once was such a student and was very excited about acquiring a sales funnel. I had been through several affiliate programs that told me I needed a sales funnel, but the sales funnel was always on the horizon, requiring me just one more program to make it happen. For months and many dollars later, the sales funnel remained just one more program or coach away. When Fullstaq told me they guaranteed me a funnel by the end of just one webinar, I had spent over a year working hard every day in pursuit of a funnel, I was thrilled. I believed the promise with all my hopes and dreams. The day of the webinar came and I was there early. As we waited for the presenter to come on stage, I liked what I saw. I saw a very professional set. There were extra staff to help the attendees. We were told the tools to make a sales funnel would be given in this webinar. I knew my hunches had been correct. In all the other programs, a sales funnel could have been made in one session if only the instructional programs had wanted. We all waited in expectation and soon, the main presenter appeared.
The Fullstaq Team for Fullstaq Marketing
There are three major players at Fullstaq. Keala Kanae, Ray Kakuda, and Cara Yamagushi Kakuda. Kaela is the CEO and Founder, Ray is the Chief Operating Officer, and Cara is the Director of Sales and Development. Because I want to distinguish between saying and doing, I will quote from Fullstaq’s about page.
The “About Page” says the following about the CEO and Founder
Keala Kanae believes that Giving IS Gaining, Win-Win is ALWAYS the answer and Love will save the world! As an Entrepreneur, he combines his passions for Social Media Marketing and Personal Development into one unbeatable success breeding machine. As a Personal Growth Facilitator, Coach, Blogger and Marketer, he has a passion for inspiring others to achieve the highest of their human potential.
The “About Page” says the following about the Chief Operating Officer
Ray Kakuda started his online career back in 2013 while searching for a way to escape the corporate rat race of 25 years. Through mastering the skills necessary to create a 6-figure income online, he was able to fully retire and become a full-time husband and father. Today, Ray has planted his flag at Fullstaq Marketer as the COO where he aspires to inspire others to create their own freedom.
The “About Page” says the following about the Director of Sales and People Development
With over 20 years of sales design, support, and corporate management with specialties in the communication’s arena, Cara Yamaguchi Kakuda believes that assisting others is the key to success. She has won multiple awards in the areas of leadership, sales, retention and entrepreneurial excellence by abiding by the principle “If you take care of them, they will take care of you”. Cara holds Bachelors of Science in Economics and invests her spare time building up her kids, as well as other women, to be strong entrepreneurs
I was very impressed with the biographies that were presented for the team. These people shared my values!!! The stage set of the webinar gave an impression that the program was well-designed and I would receive what it promised. Soon Kaela appeared and his enthusiasm and promises reinforced my beliefs.
My First Experience
I remember being excited about what was happening. Kaela knows how to project his personality into your personal space. He connects in a very personal way. My experience of the man who had created Fullstaq was so personal I entertained no doubt that his program would deliver exactly what he promised. The promises were from a friend, not a program. Keala not only explained how we would build a sales funnel by the end of the webinar but that some of us would already have closed customers from our sales funnel. The last expectation was so assured that the webinar kept a running account with participant names of those who did and their dollars earned. To assure us of the ability of our funnels to attract and close traffic, Keala lent us his email list of customers ready to buy. This would get us started and motivated! First, we had to build our funnel, and showing us how to do that was the subject of the webinar. Keala even had support available online to assist if we needed such. My expectations were high. I had spent over a year purchasing programs that had told me I had to have a sales funnel and that had promised to help me build one; but, going on two years later, I still had no sales funnel. Obviously, my journey had ended with Fullstaq. I thought about how different my life would have been the last couple years if I had just found Fullstaq sooner. But I was here!!!
The webinar proceeded with many promises and enticing descriptions of success that lay just a couple of hours away. For a very small amount of money, I was getting coached by Keala Kanae, himself. Yes, there were perhaps 700 participants, but each one of us had direct access to Kaela. The technology provided that!! I had found several problems with the other affiliate training programs and one such problem was a failure to close the learning sequence for the student. At least for me. I don’t remember a program in which I had problems with the content, but they all had crashed against a technological brick wall. This crash seemed to happen in them all at about the same point in the programs. About three-quarters of the way through the program, just as my expectations began to rise in expectation of an imminent sales funnel, I would be given an instruction to “click on the green tab in the far right-hand corner of my screen.” When I would go to the far right-hand corner of my screen, there would be no green tab. In fact, there would be no tag of any color. But not to worry, I would tell myself. Just go to support. And so I would. I would explain my problem to support and I would receive the answer: “Click on the green tab in the far-right top corner of your screen.” Then I would be asked: “Did this solve your problem?”
If I told support my problem had not been solved, support would repeat its answer and again, ask if my problem had been solved. This sequence could be repeated as many times as I wanted. I was told to stay with the webinar. There would be 3 extra days for those who did not get their funnels completed during the webinar where we could go to receive individualized help to complete our funnels. I could understand that technological problems would arise; if the support at the webinar was not that helpful, after all there were probably 700 viewers, Three extra days of help, that is what I expected from Keala Kanae. This is what I expected from a program that connected with its students and provided the support each needed!
Three More Days
Well, is this Fullstaq marketing? I didn’t get my sales funnel completed by the end of the webinar. There were those who did, and throughout the afternoon, we heard reports of those participants who were already getting traffic and closing deals. Hundreds of dollars were already being made for those who had not encountered a technological snag in building their sales funnels. I was just one technological snag away from making money! The end of the webinar approached and I realized I would be one who needed extra days. Those of us who did not finish our sales funnels, I got the sense there were several, would receive in our email a link to the extra days of help. There would only be three day we were reminded. The webinar ended with me disappointed but in a state of hope and expectation. The next day I glanced through my email looking for anything from Fullstaq. The day came and went without an email with the link. We had been told the help would only last for three days. I didn’t think the problem would take long to fix and I had two more days. Not a large problem but a little anxiety provoking. The second day, no Fullstaq email, no link. No response came from attempts to reach out.
Signs of Competence
Fullstaq Marketer Scam?
The story ends with, once again, no sales funnel. In my search for a sales funnel, I have learned much about educational programs for affiliate marketing. I have come to recognize one sign of a competent program. A competent program delivers. Competent programs know how to solve the technological problems presented by their students. In a competent program, there are no technological brick walls. One sign that a program will solve your technological problems is having access to the founder of the program. Not only having access, but the founder should seek you out to see how you are doing. For me, this has only happened at Wealthy Affiliate. Kyle, one of the founders of Wealthy Affiliate (WA), stays in touch with students in his program. In other programs, the founder is unapproachable. At WA, there are highly qualified support who quickly answer your requests for assistance and an engaged community of students willing to help. Every educational program has a community of support, but not all communities are engaged. WA keeps its students engaged with one another. WA understands that things like supportive communities don’t grow organically. They require structure, engagement, and nurturing from the support staff and the programs’ creators. That is what you get at WA. There are other indicators of competence, but I think these are the most important. These are the most visible. All educational programs say what they do but not all do what they say. When the creator of the program does too much talking, be aware, especially if that talking lacks detailed information about the program. You should question any program that does not give you, at least, a test drive. WA does.
