Wondering if Tai Lopez scam rumours true? In my unbiased and firsthand experience, they are not.
I’m going to cut right to the chase and say that Tai Lopez is not a scammer but a marketing genius!
Most people know Tai because of his famous “here in my garage” advert on YouTube or some other ads he has run on Facebook (like his house tour).
They then start wondering whether Tai Lopez is legit and end up on this blog looking for the truth. So, I’m about to give you all the details in my review here even if you just discovered Tai Lopez existed yesterday.
Astonishingly, a lot of people who claim that Tai Lopez is a scammer have never taken the time to find out who he is and what he is about.
Since I was curious, I decided to do a Tai Lopez Scam inquiry and put everything I found out in this review, updated for 2023 with accurate information.
Before I start…
If you’re tired of scams and want a real solution for making money online, check out my no.1 recommendation.
This is the best business to start in 2023 and made me over 27k last month alone:
Go here to see my no.1 recommendation for making money online
Tai Lopez Scam? – The Truth
Here is what I’ll cover in this review:
Tai Lopez is A Polarizing Figure
If you spend time watching videos on YouTube, chances are you’ve encountered an ad by Tai Lopez.
Mr. Lopez is a self-help guru in the mold of Tony Robbins who teaches people how to live a good life.
He constantly talks about living to your full potential in terms of health, wealth, love, and happiness — key components of the good life mantra he pushes in his work.
The most famous of Tai’s videos was the one he shot at his home using the selfie camera of his iPhone in 2015.
It is titled “here in my garage” and as of writing this, it has more than 70 million views.
The video description reads:
“Here in my garage… The more you learn, the more you earn. It’s all about KNOWLEDGE!
Bill Gates & Warren Buffet both agreed that if they could have one super power they would be the world’s fastest readers.
Books and Mentors have made all the difference in my life. They taught me 67 Steps to go from broke and sleeping on a couch to doing bigger things.”
It was a marketing campaign for his 67 Steps program.
In the video, he shows off his Lamborghini to undoubtedly get people’s attention, and if that is what he was after it definitely worked.
The video was a cultural phenomenon and the most obvious evidence for this was how it was subject to both parodies and remixes that were watched millions of times.
However, in the YouTube Ad, Tai Lopez is also keen to show you his book collection because the video pans to a massive bookshelf stacked with hundreds of books.
Whenever he is asked about arguably the most watched video campaign in history considering how it has inspired both love and hate from the internet, he says that he wanted people to focus on the bookshelf more than the car.
He wanted people to focus on gaining knowledge by reading books to reach their full potential, which embodies the approach he takes in his work.
Odd enough, it garnered multiple times more attention than the video earlier shot at a TED talk that so far has 12 million views.
Most people questioned whether he was really a millionaire or just an actor posing in front of a rented car to dupe people into joining his program.
While many wrote his business off as a get-rich-quick scheme and an overhyped program, some took him seriously, followed his teachings, and ended up sharing positive reviews about him.
With that in mind, you can understand why he is often seen as a polarizing figure and I hope that by the end of this article, you will have a better idea of what he is all about.
Recommended: Go here to see my no.1 recommendation for making money online
Who Is Tai Lopez?
Before I jump into the details, if you want more info on the social media marketing agency course (one of Tai Lopez’s programs), go here and read my full review.
Tai Lopez’s full name is Taino M. Lopez.
He is an affiliate marketing guru and life coach who dropped out of university after a couple of semesters. He left school when he decided that he was made for other things.
He went into business and so far, he has started and/or run multiple multi-million dollar businesses.
In his formative years, he met his mentor Joel Salatin, and learned from him while working on a farm. Joel was in the farming business.
Then he went and lived and worked with the Amish for more than two years and traveled to India to explore the vast country.
Tai Lopez became a certified financial planner and spoke at TEDx about the importance of reading a book every day.
He has spoken at global institutions like the University of Southern California and the London Business School.
He is also a MENSA member. According to its official website:
“Mensa was founded in England in 1946 by a barrister named Roland Berrill, and Dr. Lance Ware, a scientist and lawyer. Mensa’s original aims were, as they are today, to create a society that is non-political and free from all racial or religious distinctions. “Mensa” means “table” in Latin, and the organisation was so named because Mensa is a round-table society where ethnicity, colour, creed, national origin, age, politics, educational and social background are all completely irrelevant. In fact, the only relevant qualification for membership is scoring within the upper 2% of the general population on an approved intelligence test. Mensa takes no stand on politics, religion or social issues, and it has members from so many different countries and cultures, each with differing points of view; so, for Mensa to espouse a particular point of view would go against its role as a forum for ALL points of view.”
Mensa is an organization that was founded in England to createto create “a society that is non-political and free from all racial or religious distinctions.”
You have to be intelligent to join the organization and that goes to show that Tai Lopez has a bit about him.
He is also known for his YouTube videos because he runs a couple of YouTube channels.
That out of the way, what’s the truth about Tai Lopez?
Is Tai Lopez a scam?
More importantly, what’s the point of his videos and ads?
A lot of people think that because he is selling online programs on how to be successful in life and business, he must be a scammer.
The truth is he offers actual value. He has not just rehashed other YouTube videos.
You only need to go on his YouTube channel and you will see that literally 90% or more of his videos are not selling something. He is not always just promoting some money program.
They are videos geared towards helping you improve your business acumen and alter your perspective on life.
Occasionally, he will pitch a webinar he is doing or some kind of promotion for his online business, but most of the time it’s free content that has value to it.
Social Media
As a social media guru, he is also on all the major platforms. This includes Facebook and Twitter:
His Facebook and Twitter are also the same, he is almost always giving away free content in the form of videos (with almost zero money advice), sharing his life experiences and his thoughts and only maybe 10-20% of the time is he pitching something about making money online.
Recommended: Go here to see my no.1 recommendation for making money online
How can he be a scammer if that’s the case?
Tai Lopez has also collaborated with or interviewed many celebrities and famous entrepreneurs.
If it was just Tai talking shit and scamming people left, right, and center with the amount of exposure he has got online, I doubt those famous people would want anything to do with him.
For example, a billionaire like Mark Cuban has been to Tai’s house, played basketball, and talked business with him.
Therefore, if Tai Lopez is a scammer then he must be the best scammer in the world to convince a billionaire like Cuban to come round to his house.
Learn more about Tai’s Social Media Agency program here (full review)
Is he renting his house?
What about people who say that Tai Lopez rented his house in Beverly Hills to show off and give the false illusion that he is well off when he, in fact, doesn’t own it?
This one really makes me laugh because who cares if he bought it or rented it?
Either way, he’d still have to be loaded because he revealed on the Iced Coffee Hour podcast that he used to pay $93,000 per month to rent the house.
He has since moved out but he was living there for a couple of years and not just renting it to shoot his videos.
He also said that he wasn’t just renting it for the optics (although that did help with his message), it made sense for him financially because he ran his production teams from there and didn’t have to rent office space.
It was both his living space and office space.
Recommended: Go here to see my no.1 recommendation for making money online
What is Tai Lopez Business Model?
Okay, if Tai’s not a scammer then what’s his business model?
Many people think Tai is full of BS because he speaks about some offline businesses he has but never really talks about his current business that much.
The truth is that Tai Lopez’s main business is right in front of your eyes: it’s his personality and marketing skills!
He has other ventures and behind-the-scenes business stuff, of course, and we will dive deeper into that, but that is the main one.
Tai Lopez is an experienced internet marketer in the online marketing/business/entrepreneur space. He sells a number of courses and coaching programs and those are most likely his main source of income.
Another part of Tai’s business is affiliate marketing.
He doesn’t do this as often as he does for his own products/services but he does occasionally recommend other people’s products. This is usually done via webinars and live training sessions.
I believe some of the people who label Tai Lopez a scammer who offers just rehashed old crap sprinkled with a few relevant things must be doing so because he sells courses teaching people about running a business and they may be thinking “oh why doesn’t he give his courses away for free.”
To those people, I ask: Do you pay for college or university?
If the answer is YES, is that a scam too?
In my opinion, you can make more money applying the principles that Tai Lopez teaches for a lot less than traditional education costs.
Where is Tai Lopez These Days?
Tai Lopez is still around but he is not as popular on the internet as he used to be.
His explanation for this is that he is preoccupied with running the stores he bought via Retail Ecommerce Ventures.
You have to remember that these companies were on the decline and, therefore, needed a lot of work to make them profitable again.
He balances his time between living in Europe and living on his farm. He still offers his courses and produces content on YouTube and TikTok.
Tai Lopez’s Courses
Tai’s ad campaigns are usually meant to promote his self-help courses. Since they tend to pop up everywhere, most people think that everything he promotes is a Tai Lopez Scam, which is untrue.
His entry-level product is his 67-step program, but Tai also has a number of more expensive products and courses on building a successful business, social media, lifestyle, and other topics like his social media marketing agency program and, more recently, his millionaire mentor program.
Quick Update: Since I originally put this Tai Lopez review together I’ve shared reviews of the SMMA 4.0, DSMC Program, Knowledge Society and HSMC Program.
What is The 67 Steps Program?
The 67 Steps Program was the program he was advertising in the famous “Here in my garage” video, so naturally, many people automatically decided that it was just a Tai Lopez Scam without even finding out what it was about.
You have probably seen a YouTube video or two of people reviewing the program and the truth is, a portion of them are not being candid.
Tai Lopez says that to live your full potential, you need a mentor.
His program is, therefore, supposed to be the easiest and fastest way to learn from the most successful people in the world. On the order page, it reads:
From discovering the secrets of investing with Warren Buffett to learning how top athletes like Michael Jordan train, 67 Steps is like having cheat codes for the game called life. In as little as 15 minutes a day, 67 Steps reveals the priceless golden nuggets Tai Lopez learned from books, mentors, and his experiences.
The program comprises videos of Tai talking about various subjects drawing from his life experiences.
He is a big believer in living a balanced life whereby you take care of your finances, your health, and your social life.
There are also life coaching calls, book recommendations, and other bonus content.
The program used to cost $67 per month but it now appears to have gone down to just $5 if you join via Tailopez.com (You may still pay $67 if you join via other links. For example, the link in the video description on YouTube still charges $67).
Remember, that this is a monthly membership fee so you will be charged $5 every month unless you cancel it.
It feels a bit like a Tony Robbins program because Tai insists that it is all about showing people how to improve themselves.
He asks you questions and encourages you to keep a journal.
When you purchase the program and you feel that it is not worth the trouble, you can cancel the subscription. Tai Lopez also insists that people can get refunds if they find his work to be unsatisfactory.
With that in mind, it is surprising that people consider Tai Lopez a scammer running a “get rich quick scheme.
SMMA 4.0
Social Media Marketing Agency 4.0, or SMMA 4.0 in short, is a course that teaches you how to launch and run a social media marketing agency.
When you launch your social media marketing agency, it targets small businesses and Tai basically gives you a blueprint to get them to pay you to handle their social media marketing.
Other programs that cater to this include Iman Gadzhi’s Agency Navigator.
Social media marketing agencies were huge when Tai Lopez first started offering the course (the first SMMA) and this is just an updated version that pays homage to emerging trends and new platforms such as TikTok.
150 Body
In this course, Tai Lopez teaches you how he manages to get lean and strong while running multiple businesses that consume a lot of his time.
The Ultimate Guide for Dating When You’re a High Paid Entrepreneur
The Ultimate Guide for Dating When You’re a High Paid Entrepreneur is a dating guide for people who are busy.
67 Ecommerce
67 Ecommerce teaches people how to start and run an ecommerce that is aided by Artificial Intelligence.
Sell Your Knowledge
Sell Your Knowledge is a course where you learn how to sell online without dealing with physical products.
5 Minutes a Day Mentorship
5 Minutes a Day Mentorship is a program where you get daily mentorship from Tai Lopez
Recommended: Go here to see my no.1 recommendation for making money online
Retail Ecommerce Ventures
Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV) is a private fund established by Tai and his business partner, Alex Mehr. It is designed to take over old ecommerce companies and turn them around with a new management approach.
For a while, he wanted to transform them into online retail brands to capitalize on their name recognition.
He has since changed his perspective and is open to turning them into thriving hybrid stores; they will still be having brick-and-mortar stores.
The funding welcomes investment from the public. You can invest in the fund for a stake in the companies they manage on the condition that you are an accredited investor.
On the marketing page, it reads:
“Retail Ecommerce Ventures is looking to work only with Accredited Investors. All Investments contain risks. It is important before investing to conduct independent investigation and consider each investment closely. You should consult with an investment tax, financial and/or legal advisor.”
REV has been reviving legacy businesses that were struggling in the age of ecommerce. These retail brands are household names that have made more than a billion dollars in sales.
Tai and Alex bring in their experience in advertising and digital marketing and use it to transform these operations into online stores.
Only accredited investors are allowed to invest in REV.
An accredited investor is an individual or entity that meets certain financial criteria, allowing them to invest in securities offerings that are not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
To be considered an accredited investor, you must have earned income exceeding $200,000 in each of the past two years (or $300,000 in joint income with a spouse) and have a reasonable expectation of reaching the same income level in the current year and have a net worth exceeding $1 million, either individually or jointly with a spouse, excluding the value of your primary residence.
The minimum investment in REV is $500,000 (in some promotional material, they say it is $25,000). The minimum holding period is 5 years.
Alex and Tai promise an annualized return of 15% if you invest in their fund.
Some of the iconic ecommerce brands they have invested in are:
RadioShack
RadioShack is an American retailer that was founded in 1921. It specializes in electronic goods.
REV announced the purchase of certain Radio Shack brands and related assets in late 2020. They purchased its intellectual property and its remaining operations.
Pier1
Pier1 Imports, Inc. is an online retailer that specializes in imported goods.
It used to be a retail chain and was publicly traded up to January 2020 when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
It closed all its retail stores due to the pandemic and in July of the same year, Retail ECommerce Ventures (REV) bought the rights to Pier 1 to revive it as an online store.
It now operates as Dallas-based Pier 1 Imports Online, Inc.
DressBarn
Dressbarn was launched in 1962 and it specialized in wear-to-work dresses and clothing for the working woman. It went public in 1982.
In May 2019, it closed all its stores and the brand was sold to Tai Lopez and Alex Mehr. They relaunched the website in 2020.
Modell’s
Modell’s Sporting Goods is an online retailer of sporting goods and related apparel. At the height of its success, it had more than 150 retail locations and had revenue of approximately $765 million in 2015.
The company filed for bankruptcy in 2020 and eventually liquidated its remaining 134 stores. It was relaunched by REV as an online retailer.
Stein Mart
Stein Mart was an American discount men’s and women’s department store chain that sold recent trends in clothing for both men and women. It also sold home decor, accessories, and shoes.
Stein Mart filed for Bankruptcy in 2020 after the pandemic decimated its business. It now operates as an online retailer after REV acquired its intellectual property.
Ralph & Russo
Ralph & Russo is a UK-based luxury brand that is known for its leather goods, sunglasses, accessories, and ready-to-wear items. The globally celebrated brand was hit hard by the economic crisis of 2020.
REV bought it because they felt that it had a unique position in the luxury sector with significant brand affinity. The goal is to tap the massive potential that the Russo brand possesses and leverage its market-leading position in luxury design.
Recommended: Go here to see my no.1 recommendation for making money online
Other Businesses Tai Lopez Has Owned
Tai Lopez owns a couple of businesses and over the years, he has been involved in a few entrepreneurial ventures.
He got into entrepreneurship when he started his own business as a six-year-old selling cherry tomatoes. He then started selling lemonade when he was a little older.
Remember that he also worked as a certified financial planner at one point.
Over the years, he has been involved in a couple of businesses:
GE Capital LLG Financial
Tai Started the Legacy Life Group together with John Dewar. He later changed it to LLG Financial and later, LPL Financial. He is associated with GE Capital.
Elite Global Dating LLC
It was a dating site that was mired in controversy. Many people considered it a Tai Lopez Scam and they made it known through online reviews. For example, there were accusations that Elite Global Dating had fake profiles of attractive people “interacting” with clients. It is no surprise that Elite Global Dating LLC had to rebrand a couple of times to evade controversy.
Night Club
Tai Lopez has started or owned nightclubs on the East Coast.
Recommended: Go here to see my no.1 recommendation for making money online
What is Tai Lopez’s Net worth?
A common question people have about Tai is what his net worth adds up to.
It is rumored to be around $72 million but that has not been verified.
The issue of net worth is a tough question to answer directly because there is a lot of secrecy involved in calculating this even for someone as public as he is.
He also said on the Iced Coffee Hour podcast that he’d rather downplay his true net worth because it discourages predatory lawsuits.
Tai Lopez no longer shows off his car collection and massive house as he did when he went viral but we can use them to gauge where he is in terms of wealth.
If you followed Tai during his aggressive ad days, you know that he used to drive flashy cars and live in a big house in LA. But was all that his or was he a snake oil salesman disguising his act with rented cars and property?
Wealthgorilla pegged his net worth at $60 million in 2021. Much of it was attributed to the house, which was worth approximately $44 million.
But, he admitted that he didn’t own the house and was actually renting it.
When VICE paid him a visit in 2015 to ask him about his lifestyle and wealth, his assistant said that he owned a lot of things. She even hit back at the allegations and stated that Tai Lopez has never rented a car except when he is at an airport on a business trip.
She said that the property was rented through his companies and estate trusts.
People who have looked into his wealth found that he did not rent the house. He leased it. They also found that he makes a lot of money every year from his numerous ventures.
If you think about it, it makes sense because most famous people do not own their stuff, especially when it comes to non-leveraged assets like massive houses. They lease them rather than rent because they get good terms when they do.
This, however, is seen by many people as problematic because they argue that renting or leasing a house and not disclosing that to your audience is reprehensible.
He owns a farm over 1,000 acres where he spends a lot of his time these days.
How Tai Lopez Makes His Money
Other people who’ve looked into Tai Lopez’s net worth estimate that he makes $20 million in a good year, although that sounds speculative.
They estimate that he was making around 2-3 million dollars earlier in his career and as he has grown his platform, he has progressively added more to his revenue streams.
He offers a couple of courses that he promotes through paid ad campaigns on various social media platforms although he hasn’t quite gotten the same level of attention he commanded at the height of his powers.
Recommended: Go here to see my no.1 recommendation for making money online
What I Like About Tai Lopez
- In his programs, Tai Lopez insists on the importance of changing your attitude, a key component needed for success.
- Tai also encourages you to be actively engaged in improving yourself. For example, he encourages you to get into a journaling habit.
- The video courses are great if you prefer them to reading books.
- Most of Tai Lopez’s courses are offered via Clickbank. Clickbank is an affiliate marketplace that, besides helping marketers find products to sell, protects consumers with their iron-clad return policies. When you buy a product via the platform, you have an extra layer of protection from scammers.
The Downsides To Tai Lopez
- Some of Tai’s coaching programs charge you on a monthly basis and not a one-time flat fee. Sometimes people who don’t read the terms are unaware of this and they get deducted the fee unwittingly.
- You could argue that his self-improvement advice is not original and you can find free alternatives. For example, some people say that Lopez straight-up stole the 67-step philosophy from a book by Jack Canfield called “The Success Principles.” The counterargument is that Tai does not say he owns the ideas and that they are just distilled from lessons learned from uber-successful individuals.
Recommended: Go here to see my no.1 recommendation for making money online
Complaints about Tai Lopez
Tai Lopez has had to deal with complaints from his students and other media entities. For example, one student who bought his “67 Steps Program” had this to say about Tai:
“Tai seems like a very knowledgeable person, a very smart person, but he’s an internet marketer. That’s all he is,” Godar told me. “I’ve watched a dozen and a half motivational videos on YouTube and got more out of them than Tai’s program. They are one in the same and preach the same regurgitated information. Read a Tony Robbins book for God’s sake! Tai’s program is Tony Robbins and YouTube motivational videos rolled up into hour-and-a-half long sessions of listening to Tai talk.”
That example exemplifies most of the complaints people have about his work. People get buyer’s remorse and they feel like they are not getting their money’s worth.
It almost all boils down to his marketing style, which I have to admit can be rather aggressive (some would say misleading but I think marketing by nature tends to be misleading).
Some people think that renting his house would be okay if he disclosed it fully in his ad because he gives the impression that he owns it and, therefore, deceptively appears even more successful.
Is Tai Lopez Legit?
In my firsthand experience testing Tai Lopez programs I can verify that Tai Lopez is a legit self-help guru and internet marketer.
Some people have tried out his programs and found them to be quite helpful.
Sure, there have been complaints about his methods and the content of his courses but as the Tai Lopez lovers will tell you, you need to try things out on your own before you pass judgment; there is a learning curve to everything and you have to be patient. Most people who dismiss him haven’t tried his courses or put their mind to it when they did.
As I mentioned before, some of his online courses have a refund policy backed by Clickbank, which means that you can cancel if you don’t like them.
When a guru is an obvious scam, you can tell pretty quickly. I have reviewed hundreds of programs and I don’t think he is one of the obvious bad elements.
It is also important to note that he does not promise to make you rich. He even states in his disclaimers that you should not expect to get rich quickly.
Recommended: Go here to see my no.1 recommendation for making money online
Tai Lopez – His Expertise (In My Opinion)
The main reason I follow Tai Lopez is that while most people see him as an internet guru, I see him as an expert and genius when it comes to internet marketing and social media.
Since my own business has a lot to do with internet marketing, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that when I saw them, I immediately resonated with the Tai Lopez videos.
Whether you care about this or not, you have to admire him as a marketer because the guy has unbelievable exposure and has really taken things to the next level having spent millions to grow his social media channels.
He’s huge on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram & Snapchat and those are not easy channels to grow especially when you are in the business, lifestyle, and self-development niches.
Recommended: Go here to see my no.1 recommendation for making money online
My Verdict – Tai Lopez Is NOT A Scammer
Tai Lopez is not a scammer and anyone thinking that he is one either doesn’t understand Tai’s business model or has not bought any of his courses.
Tai Lopez is a guy who’s followed by millions of people, including top business people and celebrities (not to mention a billionaire).
It’s easy to label him a scammer because he operates in an industry where there are many scammers. However, amid all that, I think Tai Lopez is one of the good guys.
I have bought one of his programs so far (The 67 Steps program) and the reason I’ve only bought that and nothing else (yet) is because he offers so much value for free on his YouTube channel.
If you’re thinking Tai Lopez is a scammer I urge you to watch his videos on YouTube (the non-promotional ones) and you’ll soon see how much value he is offering for free without asking for anything in return.
Before You Go…
If you’re tired of scams and want a real solution for making money online, check out my no.1 recommendation.
This is the best business to start in 2023 and made me over 27k last month alone:
Go here to see my no.1 recommendation for making money online
Ps – Were you looking for more information on Tai’s Social Media Marketing program? Go here for my full review
FAQ
Who Is Tai Lopez?
Tai Lopez is an entrepreneur who has been featured in publications such as Forbes and Business Insider. Tai Lopez also has amassed a huge following online and boasts over 1 million subscribers on YouTube and 3 million followers on Instagram.
How did Tai Lopez Make His Money?
Tai Lopez made his money selling online programs such as 67 Steps and SMMA. He also ran other businesses outside his online endeavors. He has been buying well-known but failing companies for a fraction of their original value.
How old is Tai Lopez?
Tai Lopez was born in 1977, which makes him 46 years old in 2023.
How much does Tai Lopez read?
Tai Lopez claims to read a book a day.
How much does Tai Lopez cost?
Tai Lopez courses cost anywhere from $1 to $67 depending on the offer.
What Does Tai Lopez Offer?
Tai Lopez has many online education systems that teach people how to grow businesses and generate passive income. His most popular program to date has been his SMMA program, but he rose to fame through his “here in my garage” advert on YouTube which promoted his 67 Steps course.
Is Tai Lopez Legit?
Tai Lopez is a legitimate entrepreneur. Reviews of Tai Lopez are positive and he has been featured in top publications like Forbes. Tai also has one of the most viewed Ted Talks of all time.
What Is Tai Lopez Net Worth?
His net worth is not in the public record but some have estimated it to be $72 million. Tai has joked about his net worth being reported as very low online compared to what it actually is. Some of the Businesses Tai owns have been generating a decent return and he lives in a Mansion in Hollywood Hills.