Home Business Success Academy (HBSA) is a training organization for home business entrepreneurs, network marketers, and retail business owners. Founded in 2008 with the goal of providing top-tier training to marketers and entrepreneurs world-wide, they have gotten much notoriety for their blunt style and cutting-edge direct response marketing and education.

However, not everyone is a fan of the HBSA – in this brief article, we’ll review the good, the bad, and maybe even the ugly of becoming an HBSA student.

Let me be up front in saying that I have a vested interest in the HBSA. That said, I think I can be objective enough to talk about the strengths and weaknesses of the organization.

HBSA – The Good

The HBSA is direct and to-the-point. One of the good things about becoming an HBSA student is that all the staff have a very direct style. The education itself is very meat-and-potatoes – the attitude is “here is what works, now go and do it”. They don’t necessarily provide a lot of “motivational” or “feel-good” information, which is nice sometimes. However, in network marketing, there is plenty of feel-good information, and the education provided is very effective.

It mainly focuses on prospecting , closing, and using online marketing sequences to target interested prospects. They talk about Web 2.0, copy writing, and other marketing tools . It’s a neat curriculum.

HBSA – The Bad

For starters, HBSA is definitely not for people who want to get rich quick. They state repeatedly that growing the skills to develop a successful business take some time, and that the only people who get rich quick are lottery winners. They are also pretty hard on hype – they don’t like exaggeration, and they support many of the FTC regulations that affect the network marketing industry.

Their training is also not cheap – their training packages run into the thousands of dollars. There are some substantial guarantees that are included, which is nice.

HBSA – The Ugly

The only really ugly thing about HBSA is their refund policy – in order to get a refund, you have to either return your training package within a week of getting it, or you have to actually use the training and apply it to qualify for their guarantees. However, they state this up front, so it’s not in any fine print. The only time it will be an issue is if someone enrolls and then decides they don’t want to work their business any more.

To sum up, if you are anything less than dedicated to your success as an entrepreneur and self-sufficient marketer, then hiring the HBSA would not be a good move. On the other hand, if you are serious about your business, want to learn how to become pro-level marketer, and are willing to work for success, then the HBSA would be a great asset.