Gretta Van Riel Review (2023): Start And Scale Best Dropshipping Course?

Updated On: November 23, 2023

Welcome to my Gretta van Riel - Start And Scale review. My goal is to answer common questions like: how much it costs, if it's a scam, and if you can actually make money with it. The end goal is to help you understand if it's a good fit for you personally, and if there are any better alternatives out there.
Gretta Van Riel review

This Gretta van Riel - Start And Scale review has been throughly researched with information and testimonials that are available online to anyone in the public. Any conclusions drawn by myself are opinions.

Table of Contents

Program At A Glance

What I liked
High-quality and information-packed videos
Gretta uses her businesses as examples for her lessons
60-day money-back guarantee
What I Didn’t Like
Still expensive even with the monthly plan
Training on paid ads is not extensive
Instagram influencers don't do promotions for free

You’ve probably seen ads for Gretta Van Riel’s Start and Scale on social media if you’ve ever searched up how to make money online or anything connected to generating money with eCommerce.

She shows you how she used social media to develop multiple million-dollar eCommerce businesses in the ads, and how you could do the same.

Start and Scale is a course that will teach you how to build an eCommerce business from the ground up, even if you have never made money online before.

Gretta utilized the same approach to build her multi-million dollar eCommerce businesses, according to Foundr, the website that hosts the program.

Is this true? Or is it just another scam that wants to get your money?

Let’s see about that.

Now, I do want to be totally up front here, so…

Gretta Van Riel is pretty much your standard dropshipping course.

If you’ve followed my blog for long, you know that I don’t like dropshipping as a business model for a few different reasons.

That being said, it IS possible to make money with it, so I want to give you an honest review of this particular program.

But first, let me clear the air on one important thing:

Dropshipping has never been – and will never be – a passive, recurring business. No matter what the guru might tell you, it requires constant work.

I’m telling you this from my own personal experience running several dropshipping stores on both Shopify AND Clickfunnels.

If you’re looking for a business that you’ll need to be super active in, dropshipping might be for you.

If you want to make money while you sleep and travel the world, dropshipping just isn’t it.

The main reason?

To succeed with dropshipping, you need a bulletproof system for finding the hottest new products before anyone else.

In the very best-case scenario, you have a relationship with your supplier, where they give you a heads up on products that are about to pop. These relationships don’t typically come around until you’ve done 6-figures in business with the supplier.

In the worst-case scenario, you’re testing a bunch of products with ads, losing money until you find that one winner.

I’m not saying dropshipping is a bad idea based on that alone… most businesses require you to lose money before you actually make money, so it’s somewhat normal.

But let’s assume you DO in fact have the next fidget-spinner craze product, months before anyone else knows about it…

That’s great! But now you’re gonna need to get people to buy it.

Translation?

  • Tens of thousands of dollars in ads
  • Tons of time spent split testing to find the best landing page variations, best product descriptions, best ad copy, best ad videos, etc.

Again, some people thrive on that and love it. So, it might be a good fit if you’re looking for that level of constant testing and gambling.

It’s also worth calling out that Facebook has a track record of banning you FOR LIFE from advertising on their platform for dropshipping.

Think about it: it ruins a user’s experience with Facebook when a product shows up 45 days after they’ve ordered it, and is nothing like the product they thought they were buying.

So Facebook would rather ban you from their platform than risk a bad user experience.

Suffice to say, it’s a lot of stress for not a lot of payback.

As someone that actually ran a dropshipping business, I can tell you from personal experience that your time can be better spent with other business models.

If you’d prefer a business model that generates recurring, semi-passive income, you may be interested in using the Digital Rental Method.

This means:

  • No sketchy suppliers
  • No razor-thin margins
  • No banned ad accounts
  • No super angry customers
  • No spending $10K testing an ad campaign

It’s something that you could make anywhere from $2,000 – $10,000 with consistently, month after month.

A stream of income that you can build as high (or low) as you feel like building it.

If that sounds interesting, you might want to think about using the Digital Rental Method.

For the Gretta Van Riel review, let’s keep reading.

Who Is Gretta Van Riel?

Who is Gretta Van Riel

Gretta Van Riel is a successful young entrepreneur from Australia who has created several eCommerce products, including the 5th, SkinnyMe Tea, Dropbottle, and others.

She is also a winner of the Shopify Build A Business Award, granted to the Shopify Store with the highest six-month sales. She is, undoubtedly, a successful eCommerce business owner.

In just six months, Gretta Van Riel could generate $600,000 for her first eCommerce business. Yes, she achieved great achievement in a relatively short amount of time.

Gretta has used this model to develop four other multimillion-dollar brands.

She is a pioneer in using Instagram to establish eCommerce brands and is also an authority on influencer marketing.

What Is Start And Scale?

Start and Scale Review

Foundr collaborated with Gretta Van Riel to develop the Start and Scale course. The course has over 100,000 students and is said to be the “most popular eCommerce course worldwide.”

Compared to other eCommerce courses, Start and Scale teach you how to build a long-term eCommerce brand from scratch. This implies your online store will remain for years and give you a steady stream of passive income.

Other online courses typically teach you how to construct a dropshipping store and sell low-quality products, which rarely endure a few months due to poor product quality and consumer feedback.

However, the Start and Scale program is not the same. You will learn how to create and advertise your own brand through Facebook ads and other platforms. Because you are making a long-term asset, it is a more sustainable company strategy. Furthermore, others cannot mimic you and steal your business with a trademarked brand.

The course is priced at $997.

A Quick Overview Of The Start And Scale ECommerce Course

Overview Of The Start And Scale

In the Start and Scale, Gretta Van Riel explains her eCommerce success secrets. This course will lead you through every stage of the process if you want to build an online store to sell physical items.

Because you’ll get step-by-step training videos, workbooks, and templates, you’ll save a lot of time and money. You can also learn from other users by joining a private Facebook group. Your business partner has access to your account as well.

Below, I’ll walk you through each subject to better understand what you can learn from the course.

Module 1: Discovering Your Idea

Discover Your Idea

This module will show you how to develop a lucrative product idea. Gretta also shares her unique method for validating product concepts, so you can make sure your product will sell.

Module 2: Branding And Establishing Your ECommerce Business

Branding And Establishing Your Ecommerce Business

Gretta is a branding mastermind. Module 2 will teach you how to create an eCommerce brand that customers will trust and recognize for years to come.

If you like your business to be sustainable, this module will assist you in laying a solid foundation for your online store.

Module 3: Creating And Planning Your Idea

Creating And Planning Your Idea

Many individuals have a wonderful product idea but don’t know how to bring it to reality. Gretta will discuss how to get the product designed and find a reliable manufacturer in this section.

You should have a good idea of designing and building your prototype by the end of this lesson.

Module 4: Making Your Product Profitable

Make Your Product Profitable

You must understand finance to ensure the profitability of your business. Gretta will teach you how to keep track of your finances in this section.

It is important that you carefully follow the instructions in this module to ensure that you have a positive profit margin.

Module 5: Building An Audience Prior To Your Launch

Building An Audience Before Launching

Gretta believes that before launching a product, you should build an audience. First sales might take months for many people who launch a new product with no audience. On the other hand, Gretta will demonstrate how to avoid this.

You will discover how to grow a social media audience for your brand. As a result, you will have sales on the first day of your product’s release.

Module 6: Blueprint For Million-Dollar Influencer Marketing

Use Influencer Marketing to Generate Millions

Gretta specializes in influencer marketing. She has made millions of dollars through the use of influencer marketing. She even designed “Hey Influencer,” an influencer marketing platform connecting marketers with influencers.

This section will teach you how to discover and work with influencers to promote your product and grow your brand.

Using only one strategy, you will be able to skyrocket your sales.

Module 7: Operations & Launch Of Your Online Business

It would help if you streamlined your logistics and operations to run a profitable online store. Unlike other dropshipping courses that merely teach you how to sell your product, Start and Scale takes you by the hand & walks you through every aspect of your business.

You’ll learn how to set up payments and logistics, deal with local and international suppliers, and provide customer support, so your business runs smoothly.

Module 8: Growing Your ECommerce Store

Grow Your Ecommerce Store

You learned how to build a lucrative product, launch it to the market, and maintain your store in introductory modules, but this course goes beyond that.

Gretta teaches you the most advanced marketing and sales strategies in this lesson to help you grow your online business to a seven-figure eCommerce brand.

That is why the title of this course is “Start and Scale.”

Are There Alternatives To Gretta Van Riel’s Start And Scale?

Alternatives

Yes, there are plenty of Dropshipping programs and resources to choose from if you want to pursue this business model.  Here are just a few:

Is Gretta Van Riel’s Start And Scale A Scam?

Is It A Scam

So, time for the question you’ve been waiting for: is Start and Scale a scam?

No, not technically speaking. They aren’t going to take your money and ride off into the sunset without delivering you access to a course.

It’s 100% possible to make money with this program, but it’s not nearly as simple as Gretta Van Riel wants you to think it is.

There is A LOT of upfront work to do, and no guarantee of success.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m all for doing hard work now to collect checks in the future.

But if I’m going to spend 3 months of my life working super hard & spending thousands of dollars, just to break even… it’s just not worth it (in my opinion).

Think about it: what if you worked that same 3 months with just an hour or two per day, and in return, you could collect a $500-$2,000 check that continues to come in every month?

Even better, what if you could actually get that first check in as little as a week?

And what if you could double or triple it over the next month or two?

That’s what you get when you use the Digital Rental Method.

All you really need is a laptop and some internet.

Some of my friends are Digital Rental Method that run their 6-figure businesses from:

  • Camping trips at national parks
  • Beachfront in Hawaii
  • On the road in a camper van (with a pet pig!)

They focus on living an enjoyable life first, and focus on income second. All thanks to this program

They can take weeks or months off, and money keeps rolling in.

Living happily is the top priority.

If the thought of living perpetually at your dream vacation spot interests you, using the Digital Rental Method might be for you!

What Is My Top Recommendation For Making Money In 2022?

Make Money Online With Digital Landlord

I’ve personally tried all of the major online business models:

  • I’ve dropshipped a toilet bowl putting green on Shopify
  • I’ve dropshipped jade rollers via Clickfunnels
  • I’ve sold fidget spinners through Amazon FBA
  • I’ve sold women’s health supplements via Clickbank affiliate marketing

And I made money with all of them, so trust me when I say: there is no “perfect” business model.

That being said, my #1 recommendation for making real money online is, hands-down: being a Digital Landlord.

Whether you’re a complete newbie or have been around the block before but have never had that “big win” to propel you forward, using the Digital Rental Method is for you.

Read Our In Depth Breakdown Of The Top 5 DropshippingOpp Courses For 2024

Did Gretta van Riel - Start And Scale Make The List?

Why?

1)Time: If you’ve got a spare hour or two each day, you can do this. You can do this if you want to drop everything and go all-in. More time obviously means faster results, but even putting in a few hours per day is enough to see real success.

And because of that flexibility, you don’t need to trade your time for money. Once the income starts, it’s recurring.

That means you can take a month off, travel the country, pursue a passion project, chill on the beach, or charter a boat across the world.

But you can only do that once you’ve created an income stream that doesn’t require YOU to be there all day, every day.

2) Ownership & Control: With dropshipping, you don’t actually own anything. You can’t control your product quality, or even what the package looks like when it shows up.

Technically you own your Shopify site… but ad platforms could shut you down at a moment’s notice… so you don’t really have much control there.

Why pour your soul into a business that could be taken away from you at the drop of a dime?

With the Digital Rental Method, you literally own all of the assets, which means you have ultimate control.

3) Fulfillment: Alright, so you don’t have any inventory… but that worry has been replaced with the pains of overseas fulfillment.

That means your customer is going to have to wait 3-4 weeks to receive their order.

Then add in the current global supply chain woes… and you’re looking at 5-6-7 weeks!

Then the customer slaps you with a refund, and all of that time spent testing and spending money on ads was for nothing.

You don’t have to worry about any of that when you’re renting out digital properties.

4) It’s Effectively Copy-Paste: Here’s my favorite part: once you have your first Digital Rental Property up, you can literally copy-paste another version of it and find another willing “renter” in a few days. DOUBLING your income doesn’t get much easier than that…

If you wanted to double your income with dropshipping, you would need to sell twice as much inventory, or double your profit margins. And I can guarantee you (from my Shopify dropshipping days) that it’s a lot harder than a few clicks & a phone call.

5) Big Margins: With dropshipping, you’re often going to have really slim margins. That means you need to hit a serious scale to make serious money. This usually entails spending A LOT of money on ads and other methods for growing traffic to your product.

using the Digital Rental Method, your profit margin is nearly 100%. Watch here to learn how.

Just a reminder: these Digital Rental Properties are worth (at a minimum) $500/mo in semi-passive income. And each time you create another one, your income increases, and the effort put into creating the next property decreases.

Best-case scenario, you have properties bringing in over $3,000+/mo on auto-pilot.

6) You’re Helping REAL People: My biggest gripe with dropshipping is that you’re usually finding some product that’s complete garbage and are tricking people into buying it. It provides no real value to them or the world in general.

It’s cool in the short term to make a quick buck, but in the long term, it gets really old fast.

But With the Digital Rental Method, you’re helping solve REAL problems that people are ASKING for help with.

Small local businesses around the world need one thing: customers. Without them, their business would fall apart. If you can provide those customers, they’re going to be really happy – and they’re going to pay you for it.

You’re helping a struggling mother or father put food on the table for their families, put their kids through college, or simply live life a little bit more comfortably.

Having this type of impact on the world is what will help you sleep soundly at night.

So, the rest is up to you. You could keep looking at other dropshipping programs like Start and Scale, which might make you money 12 months from now.

You could keep researching and researching for the next few months (or few years), never making a concrete decision.

OR, you can look deep inside, think about those dreams, hopes, & desires, and make the decision to ACTUALLY make it happen, just like it has for thousands of other students before you.

Making a fortune while actually helping real people that need it.

If this sounds like you, click here to see how it all works.

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